Day 399

Po!: good news for Po! fans! A new “bedroom tape” is on the band’s Bandcamp. This one is number 4 and has 9 songs on it. As always Ruth Po! delivers beautiful songs, music, melodies. This tape was released in 1993 and six of thee songs on this tape were later re-recorded and released on Po! albums.

Madder Rose: “To Be Beautiful” is the name of the album that was released last June. I am only discovering the 9 songs that were on it today. They are really nice. Smartly crafted. And Mary Lorson’s vocals are reall y nice. The album is still available from Trome Records from England on blue vinyl.

The Tropicanas: when I first heard the song “Your Man on the Moon” I thought… wow, this is like the Jim Ruiz Group. And I was sold. The four-piece from Livingston in the UK have just released this song and also one called “Shooting Star”. Digital only.

The Churchhill Garden: a favourite of the blog, this project that is made up of Andy Jossi in Switzerland and Krissy Vandeerwoude in the US, has a new song. It is called “Lonely”. It starts slow and soft, but then it becomes bright and shiny. A bit different to the more direct songs the band has put out previously, but still it possesses that beauty they know how to make.

FERS: and the last band on this Wednesday review hails from Singapore. This new project released the “Shallow EP” back in March and it is great to find out about it. It has 5 songs, a combination of vibrant and dreamy sounds.

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Returning to one of my favourite blogs out there, the Fanning Sessions Archive to discover a post from 2014, when Dave wrote about the band The Kendalls.

There is a song posted there, “A Place in the Sun”, which I really enjoy, jangly as I like them. There’s also a photo too. I think I can see the lead singer with an acoustic guitar, a bassist to his left and a guitar player on the right. Happily the post tells us some names. So we know who they were. Johnny McMahon was on vocals, Ben Rawlins on guitar, George Murphy on bass and Alan Biggs on drums. The only other details we get from this post is that the band hailed from Walkinstown in Dublin and that this song came from a 1988 demo tape.

Walkinstown (Irish: Baile Bhailcín) is a suburb of Dublin, Ireland, situated on the Southside of the city, approximately 6 kilometres south-west of Dublin city centre. Walkinstown is a suburb consisting primarily of privately owned residential housing with some social housing remaining in the Dublin City Council area between the Walkinstown and Long Mile Roads and Ballymount Lower. It was built as an estate of starter homes after World War 2 with the council housing being developed as social rented homes later in the early to mid fifties. 

Then I check at the comments and I find a very sad thing, George Murphy, the bassist, seems to have passed away. That’s not the kind of info I like finding when I search for obscure bands.

There seems to be no more info about the band on the web.

So I try to see what are they up to now. I am not sure how common the name John McMahon might be in Dublin. There is a musician of the same name who was in a band called Rollers/Sparkers. Is it the same person? Ben Rawlins I believe is a recording engineer these days and part of a band called Saso.

I couldn’t find anything for Alan Biggs…

Not really surprising. But what surprises me is that even Irishrock.org doesn’t have any info on The Kendalls, they usually do.

So I will require help from anyone that remembers them. Would be great to find more info about them, especially what other songs were on that 1988 demo tape and if there were more demo tapes of course!

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Listen
The Kendalls – A Place in the Sun

Day 397

Lavender Blush: we have to start this week with the wonderful new 7″ by San Francisco’s Lavender Blush. Three tracks, “Sundays”, “Lullaby” and “Come Along”, make up this nice release that is coming out on April 23 on Blue Aurora Audio. $10 for the regular black vinyl and $15 for the coloured vinyl. Right now you can preview the opening track, “Sundays”, which sounds great!

Grrrl Gang: the Yogyakarta trio is back with a new punk poppy EP titled “Honey, Baby”. But it is sort of a different sort of EP. Yes, Grrrl Gang’s song opens the EP but then we find 4 other Indonesian bands covering the same song. These bands are Vira Talisa, Dongkere, Kaveman and Yosugi. The EP is also available on CDR on Kolibri Records.

Remanentes: “El Tiempo de Nuestro Lado” is the latest EP from this Argentinean band. It sounds quite good to me, very influenced by Spanish indiepop I’d say! This EP has 4 songs and is available digitally, but what caught my attention is that the band has been going for many years and it is actually Buenos Aires’ Production Minister who leads the band!

Portable Radio: last month the Manchester combo released their self-titled album on vinyl. It is still available, which is good news. Here we find 11 jangly songs. They are nicely crafted songs, with lots of care you can tell. I especially like the more upbeat songs like “Hot Toddy” or “Worse Case Scenario”.

Butohes: this Tokyo band is new to me. Formed by Michiro, Ryuto, Keisuke and Naoto, they have unveiled their latest track “Hyperblue”. It is a fun song, with lots of guitar textures, a very fine slice of dreampop. The upbeat kind. The uplifting kind. Great stuff.

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The Youtube channel stoneeyedkiller is a good place to look for unknown indiepop bands. The latest band I discovered there was The Niagaras. In the channel the song uploaded is called “Grand Dame”. It immediately picked my curiosity.

I find a blog called Jim Santo’s Demo Universe where a demo tape including this song has been shared. They are actually in a Soundcloud so we can listen all four songs! This is good news. The three other songs are “Coronation of the Clown Prince”, “Hands of Providence” and “Two Women”.

I guess the opening track is my favourite, but the other ones are good too! On the aforementioned blog it mentions two names, two brothers, Robert (vocals) and Frank (drums) Whaley. But who were the other members?

It seems that in 2014 the band did a reunion gig but can’t find any info about that. What I did find was that this NYC band did a rock musical called Wrong Way UP at the New York Performance Works’ Red Line Theater on October 19 of 2000. The band even had a website then.

This is a bit confusing. Because of the song I would think this band hailed from the 80s. But maybe not? Maybe they are more recent?

The blog also mentions that Robert Whaley was in a band called Comic Tales of Tragic Heartbreak and that his brother Frank was an actor/director. And indeed he is an actor, having appeared in Pulp Fiction, The Doors and lately on Hustlers for example.

I find that both brothers contributed to each other, Robert wrote music for the movie “Joe the King” which Frank directed and wrote.

On a forum I find that the band used to play in venues like The Continental or Mondo Cane. They mention that Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman would often go to their gigs. So this means not the 80s. Probably the band was around in the 90s.

I find on Youtube some videos of The Niagaras playing live! There are two videos. Here is part 1, and part 2. It is true that on these videos they are a bit more out there, less indiepop than in the tape we heard on Soundcloud.

Now we head to Discogs and discover that the band left us two albums. The first was a self-titled album that came out on CD in 1990 on the JoLynn Productions label (JL – 0001). This album which features a band photo on the front had 14 songs, “Terrified”, “Reborn”, “Charitable”, “One Left”, “Train of Thought”, “Blacklist”, “Down with the Door”, “Last Words”, “The Twenty-Sixth”, “Two Woman”, “My Woman Wants Me Home”, “The Coronation of the Clown Prince”, “Overdrawn On Your Account” and “For Some Reason Leah”. On the back of the sleeve we find the names of the other band members: Tony Grimaldi (lead guitar, vocals), Paul Himmelein (bass guitar, vocals) and Ken Rizzo (acoustic, 6 and 12 string guitars, vocals).

The 2nd album, “Report From the Interior”, came out in 1997 on Charitable Records (000228). This record was produced by Tamir Muskat and included 11 songs: “Report From the Interior”, “Pieces to Fall”, “Mexicali Marriage”, “Larrisa”, “How Obvious”, “Lonely Tuesday Night”, “Dreams Already Are”, “Nudged Along the Gangplank”, “Near Missus”, “My Request” and “Love is Like an Icicle”.

I believe there is even a third album, though not sure when it was released. It is titled “Enchantment” and had 12 songs: “Today We Are Beautiful”, “Dropping of the Veil”, “Love, So Sad”, “This Time”, “A Somewhat Lurid Night”, “Big Things Are Coming”, “Find the Hidden Faces”, “Easier to Love a Stranger”, “A Couple of Unknowns”, “To Lose an Acquired Taste”, “Enchantment” and “Big Things are Coming, Epilogue”.

After hearing a few tracks from the last two albums I must say they are less jangly and poppy than the demos, which are really fantastic. But the first album is indeed jangly and indiepop, the self-titled 1990 album. It has some great songs, clearly influenced by The Smiths. Very good!

Quite interesting to find this band, with these connections to Hollywood, to the movies. A band that looks like it could have been big. Perhaps it was popular during their time? They were on TV many times clearly. But I must be honest and say I am only discovering them now. And I am enjoying this first album and the demo of course!

Who remembers them?

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Listen
The Niagaras – Grand Dame

Day 394

Massage: the band of Alex Naidus, the ex-Pains of Being Pure at Heart now based in Los Angeles, sounds really good. I’ve recommend it in the past of course. Well, now there is a 12 song album that you can preorder. It is coming out on vinyl on June 25th. We can preview the opening track, “Half a Feeling”, which sounds terrific!

Fine.: one of my favourite bands as of late wsa this duo formed by Liam James Marsh and Alice Kat. I’ve previously praised their singles, so today I will praise their album “I’m Glad It’s Over Now”, that you can find on Bandcamp. These are 11 songs of beautiful jangle pop. You’ll get hooked immediately.

The Armoires: now we head to Burbank, California, to discover this pop band that sounds really good! They have just released an album called “Incognito” that has 18 songs! All of them are online to preview on Bandcamp but you can also buy it on CD thanks to Big Stir Records.

Nuevos Dolores: now to Madrid, to check out another album, the 2nd album actually by Nuevos Dolores. They have titled it “Nuevos Dolores II”. Not the most creative name perhaps, but what matters here are the songs. The Zaragoza one-man project by Jorge Castejón recorded 8 folky indiepop songs, with great melodies and lovely arrangements.

Peach Garden: and we end this week’s new sounds, new music, reviews, with the song “Sunset Drive” by this Moscow four-piece. The song is a lovely slice of dreampop/shoegae, and one wonders what’s going on in Russia with shoegaze. Is it a big scene? Are people connected? When the pandemic is over will they have shoegaze festivals? I am just very curious.

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Today we head to Ireland, to the town of Sligo to discover this band with an interesting name, The Boy The Boy.

I was in Ireland a few years ago but only visited Dublin. I really want to go back and discover more of the country. The time I was there was truly fantastic. I didn’t know much of Sligo but I’m checking out now on Wikipedia. Looks like a nice place to go! Sligo Abbey looks like a place I would really enjoy.

Sligo, meaning ‘abounding in shells’, is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of approximately 20,000 in 2016, it is the second largest urban centre in the West of Ireland, with only Galway being larger. The Sligo Borough District constitutes 61% (38,581) of the county’s population of 63,000.

Anyhow… back to what you came here for, discovering a new band. The Boy The Boy only released one 7″ and it was self-released in 1989 I believe. It had two songs on it, “.38 Jackson Mississippi” on the A side and “Prizefighter” on thee B side. Both songs were recorded in Sulan Studios in Cork and the producer and engineer was Dennis Herlihy.

There is a small insert in the 7″ (I’m looking at Discogs, I just discovered the band and I don’t own yet the record, would love to do soon!) that has the credits for these recordings but no band members names! We only see two musicians here, Sean O’Neill who did vocals and Niall Macken who played piano. Both are listed as guest musicians. I believe both of them were from the Cork band Burning Embers.

Aside from this release the band appeared on a compilation CD in 2015. This compilation was called “Sligo Rocks” and included 10 songs from different bands in the area. It was released by Sound Records (SUN CD53) and the band contributed “.38 Jackson Mississippi”.

I wonder about the name of the song. The city of Jackson is the capital of the state of Mississippi. What about the .38?

Irishrock.org, that great website with lots of info about Irish bands, have some more information. Here it tells us that the band was active from 1988 to 1991 and the band was formed by:
Fran Healy on vocals
Shane Boyce on guitars
Finn Corrigan on keyboards and guitar
Martin Harte on bass
Enda McGoldrick on drums

Sadly it also mentions that Finn Corrigan has passed away in 2002.

It seems the core of the band was previously in a band called Sid & the Stonecrushers. It was when Martin Harte joined the band, replacing the previous bassist, that the band went under the name The Boy The Boy. Then in 1988 Martin Harte would leave the band to be replaced by Darrell Rainey. That year the band participated in the band contest by Carling/Hot Press and were runners-up. Then in 1989 they were finalists again.

In 1988-1989 it seems they were a lot in London. Maybe they relocated there? In 1991 the band recorded a live album titled “The Contact Centre” which hasn’t been released to this day. It was recorded live at the Youth Contact Centre. That same year they disbanded.

The website also tells us about other bands the members had been in. Martin Harte had been in Absolute Zero, Diesel Heart and Indian. Shane Boyce in State of Mind and Dorian Remains. Finn Corrigan in Auto Da Fe and Strong are Lonely. Darrell Rainey on Lemon Aftermath, Restless Natives and Sack.

If you want to listen some of these bands, and the two songs by The Boy The Boy you can find them in this Soundcloud. I believe the venue Hennigans is the one who uploaded the songs. There was a Hennigan’s Bar Reunion back on May 19th 2012 where a feew bands from Sligo played.

The great blog The Fanning Sessions has shared some stuff by the band. For example a rare song called “The Devil & the Deep Blue Sea“. Where did this demo come from? What other recordings are on that same demo tape? Would be great to know!

And that’s it for today. Some good info about The Boy The Boy. I hope we learn more and find out ore, especially about if they have more demos, and also about that unreleased live album! Would be great to hear it some day!

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Listen
The Boy The Boy – Prizefighter

Day 392

CF7: let’s discover this Helsinki-based band! There is not very much information on their Bandcamp, just the one song called “Golgata” which is a jangly song. So of course I like it. This is so far the first song of the band, mixed and mastered by Joel from the band Tvärtom. I look forward for for their next releases.

The Lodger: what a nice video and song is “Black and White (Pete’s Song)”. I need to order the new album “Cul-de-Sac” by the Leeds popsters so I can listen this song on repeat. I’ve seen so many friends posting their copies on Instagram. And as usual I am late. But I’ll make up for it in the next couple of days. Promise. Watching this I have felt that I need it now.

The Harriets: this Leeds band will be releasing “A Little Something” on May 7. This is a very limited CD, 50 copies, that will have 5 songs. Right now we can preview the opening song, “Little Something”, that has a very nice feel to it. It is a bit chamber pop, folky, with indiepop melodies as well. It is a nice combination I think.

Mashmellow: what a nice lovely song is “In the End” by the Moscow band. This song is to be part of the “Pole Pole EP” though we don’t know which other songs will be included in this EP. We only know of this one song and it’s good to play it on repeat. Great stuff by Masha and Egor again.

Vanille: now we head to Montreal, Canada, to discover Vanille! This band started as the solo project of Rachel Leblanc in 2017 and back in January she released the “Soleil ’96” album. The album came out in vinyl and is already sold out. Yeah, we got here late. But we can listen the 9 songs on Bandcamp.

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A few days ago I got the compilation CD “Shake Yer Popboomerang”  released by Popboomerang Records (PB 002) in 2003. This Australian label as many people know release fine indiepop and powerpop. I have a few of their releases. I actually had ordered the lost Earthmen album “Periscope”, which I think everyone should get and got a few more records I didn’t have.

I know compilations are not the type of releases that do well these days. They are the hardest to sell I think. But back in the day they were a great way to discover new bands. That’s how with this compilation I discovered quite a few new bands. I wanted to recommend this time the band Magneto who are featured in this comp with the song “Living on the Moon”.

I was to discover that the band released an album packed with upbeat pop tunes and also got to appear on a handful of compilations.

You can actually listen to the full album “Resistance is Futile” on the label’s Bandcamp. Copies are still available. This record came out on CD in 2006. Catalog number PB018. It had 11 songs, “Underground”, “Shooting Star”, “Let it Go”, “Stronger Everyday”, “Living on the Moon”, “Falling”, “Heart of Mine”, “Everything Has Gone”, “Not a Day Goes By”, “Prima Donna” and “Incomplete.

Here we find that the band was formed by Geoff Barnes on drums, John Baxter on vocals, Michael Snowball on guitar and Paul Inglis on bass. The album was mastered by Craig Lewis (from the band Kaleidoscope) and mixed by Craig Lewis as well and Shane O’Mara. All songs were recorded at Octane Studios in Melbourne. Another interesting bit is that four songs of the record were written by Andy Strachan from the bands Alcotomic, The Living End and Violetine.

There are connections to these bands of course. John Baxter had been in Alcotomic, Five Mile Sniper, Holocene and Prettyness. He also owns and operates Mountain Sound Studio in Victoria. Paul Inglis was also on Alcotomic, Five Mile Sniper and Prettyness. Michael Snowball had been in another band as well, Groundswell. Finally Geoff Barnes had been in P76 and Jericho.

The blurb on Bandcamp tells a little bit more details about them. It mentions that the band hailed from the town of Richmond. That they were influenced by The Stems. That they liked crafting pop songs under 2 minutes and a half. That was their philosophy.

As I mentioned earlier the band had a few compilation appearances. I already told you about “Shake Yer Popboomerang”, but then in 2006 the band contributed “Shooting Star” to “The Kids Who Kill for Sugar: Popboomerang 5th Birthday Sampler” (PBPRO-03). This same song would appear on the 2007 US triple CD compilation “Sweet Relief” that came out on Jam Records (JCDSW 17).

Then in 2012 once again the song “Shooting Star” gets released on the double CD compilation “Aches and Shakes: A Decade of Popboomerang 2002-2012” (PB084).

There is at least another appearance, but this time a digital compilation titled “Popboomerang Presents: PopGeekHeaven.com“. Here the band appears with the song “Everything Has Gone”.

A few more details I found on the web. For example that Michael Snowball was born in the UK. I also believe that John Baxter and Paul Inglis were later together in a band called The Douglas Normans.

Not much more info on the web. Seems that after the album release they sort of went quiet. I wonder if they left more recordings? And I wonder too if they named themselves after Magneto from the X-Men?

Who remembers them?

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Listen
Magneto – Let it Go

Day 390

Love, Burns: let’s start with my friend Phil and his solo project Love, Burns. He has released two new songs, “Wired Eyes” (alternate mix” and “Hard to Fall” as a new digital single especially for Bandcamp Friday. The idea of this new single is that all profits are going to the Sandy Hook Promise. That’s really nice. On top of it all the songs are really good. It is no surprise that Phil can make some beautiful jangle.

Shiny Times: of course, I’ve recommended Shiny Times many times. But then there was no physical release. Well, now there is. A CD on the fine Thessaloniki label Melotron Recordings! The mini-album “Let’s Get Shiny” is being released on May 16 and includes 6 songs. Right now we can preview the fifth song, “Scroll Away the Night”, which is really ace. On top of that it has artwork by our friend Casio Van Doesburg. Superb pop!

Tambourina: now to Kalamazoo, Michigan. This project is new to me. Also it mentions the band members have been in bands like Glowfriends, Overly Polite Tornadoes and Vida Eterna. I don’t know these projects either. I must say I don’t know much of any scene in Michigan. My fault. But it is great to discover this band who is releasing their album “Tambourine Dream” on both vinyl and CD on April 22. Now we can preview two of the songs, the opening track “Acknowledge You” and the closing track “Dedicated”. Good stuff.

Impossible Tymes: back to Greece. Remember I interviewed Impossible Tymes? Well now is a great time to refresh our memories because the great label Make Me Happy has 7 songs by the band on their Bandcamp. I don’t know if they will be released in physical format. I hope so. It would be amazing. For now we can enjoy all the tracks online.

The Hannah Barberas: and we close this review with the wonderful new 7″ by The Hannah Barberas! Wow! And it sounds ace. It is titled “Party from Hell” and has 3 songs, the title song, “Love’s Coming Back in Fashion” (nice nod to Biff Bang Pow!) and “Puppet Show”. The record is out now on Spinout Nuggets and Doo Lang Records. And it sounds really good. I think this might be my favourite release of theirs so far!

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It has taken me a while to sit down and be able to write this post. Sheggi from The Fat Tulips passed away last November. Sheggi’s only other band as far as I know was The Melons. Then she moved to the U.S., and here she wasn’t involved with music I think. I’ve been meaning to write a piece about her music, a bit of a tribute, a bit of something important I wanted to say, both of her bands were favourites of mine, and I wasn’t sure how to approach this.

In the end I thought I know more about The Fat Tulips. They were a band that have accompanied me for so many years. I know a lot of people say they are a singles band but I love the album as well. I’ve played it so many times. I wonder how it hasn’t been reissued yet. Actually how come their back catalogue still hasn’t got a reissue. That’s a big question.

The Melons were a band I discovered later. They didn’t release that many records. I knew they were a duo. I knew Sheggi was half of The Melons. But to be honest, aside from owning all the 7″s they released, I know very little.

I’ve DJed many times “From Hell to Helsinki”, what a song. I always wondered, after moving to NYC, if I was going to ever stumble with her. Maybe at one of the Popfests. It never happened. I never met her. Never exchanged emails as I have with other favourite bands of mine. I did meet once a Fat Tulip in London. I wanted to release a band he was in those days called The Cutouts. That never happened. But that was the closest I was to Sheggi. Very far away indeed!

I don’t know any details about her passing away. Anyways, it doesn’t really matter. I want to celebrate her music, learn more details about her time in The Melons. About the Fat Tulips, well, I really hope I get to interview a band member one day. That’d be cool. About The Melons and interview would be great as well. Who knows.

The Melons started their adventure in 1993 releasing a flexi called “Show Me Wishes Worth More Than These”. It was released on Nottingham’s Heaven Records (HV07). This label of course was ran by The Fat Tulips. It made total sense to support this new project.

Three top songs were included in this single-sided clear flexi, “Fire-Engine Girl”, “Wishes” and “A Hard Day’s Rut”. The release also included the Heaven Sent fanzine volume 8. A terrific fanzine that included for example a story about a football match between Sarah Records band members and Heaven Records band members. So much fun!

The fine US label Sunday Records picked them up for the band’s second release, the “Strictly Melonhead EP” 7″ (Sunday 034) in 1994. Now we discover four terrific songs, “Me and Finn” and “Strictly Melonhead” on the A side and “Throw Your Arms Around Me” and “Doormat” on the B side. All songs were recorded at The Track Station, the same studio in Burton-On-Trent where the Fat Tulips recorded their “Starfish” album.

The photography on the sleeve was credited to Alison Wonderland while Shelly Melon is credited for guitar, bass, organ and backing vocals and Helen Melon for vocals and keyboards. Shelly Melon was the name Sheggi Clarkson used in The Melons.

Then the band started working with Damaged Goods. With them they released the “From Heell to Helsinki” 7″ in 1995 (DAMGOOD 79). This song is a true favourite of mine. Makes me happy all the time. This song appeared on the A side while on the B side you find “See If I Don’t” and “That Sunshine”. This time around the band recorded in Nottingham and again Alison Wonderland is credited for the photos. The drawing on the sleeve was done by Colin while the overall design by Katy. Now Vanessa Turner was on vocals and keyboards. I guess that’s Helen Melon from the first record. Sheggi appears as Katy now. Then Nigel is credited for additional bass and Colin for additional guitar. According to Discogs these were Nigel Turner and Colin Altuccini.

Damaged Goods released in 1996 the “Fast Lane” 7″ (DAMGOOD 91). This one had the title song on the A side and “Little Death Wishes” and “Losing it (Toot Sweet Mix)” on the B side. All songs were recorded at Square Centre Studios in Nottingham in January of that year. Now the photography is credited to Andrew Turner, we see Vanessa, Sheggi/Katy, Colin and Nigel being credited. But also a Rob. According to Discogs this is Rob Scott.

The last release was a new 7″ in 1997. Now on a different label, Pickled Egg Records (EGG 1). This record is actually the one I am missing! I thought I had all! I will have to track it down. It had “Black and Blue” on the A side and “Eskimo” on the B side.

I am thinking now a retrospective album would be amazing. I would do it. But I am not sure who to contact. Damaged Goods would be helpful? Seems like a biggish indie label, maybe they wouldn’t give the songs just like that. Or maybe they do. Or maybe they can do this release, in their website they mention they might do a compilation someday. It doesn’t matter who does it. It would be fantastic. Also keep in mind that the band must have had more songs.

I think they did have more songs because for example in 1994 there was the song “Me and Finn” on the tape compilation “Restaurants, Bars and Pop Stars” released by Sticky Records (Sticky 14). Then a song called “Big Freeze” appeared on “Suction Prints” an LP compilation released by Sorted Records (SRLP4) in 1998.

In 2002 Elefant included the song “Eskimo” on their classic “Casablanca” (ER-1056) compilation. Much later, in 2018, Sunday Records included “Strictly Melonhead” on the “Songs About Our Past Vol 3” (SUNDAY 970) CDR comp.

According to Damaged Goods it was actually Dan Treacy of the TVPs who recommended the label to check them out and to sign them. Here it also mentions that the band did a session with Mark Radcliffe. I’ve found that this session happened on May 18, 1995. The band played three songs, “Hell to Helsinki”, “Losing It” and “Throw Your Arms Around Me”. Oh! I would love to hear this session!

But that’s not all. The band actually recorded a second session for Mark. It was on March 15 (my birthday) of 1996. This time around they played “Fast Lane”, “The Big Freeze” and “Wishes”.

Last.fm has a bit more details about the band. Here it tells that Katy Shelagh Gaffin, or Sheggi Clarkson, moved to NYC to get married with Josh Gaffin. I believe she got a job at the Rockefeller Center. I worked there for a bit too, but never saw her! It also mentions that Vanessa Turner is married to Tim Vass from The Razorcuts and proud mum of two. Cool. Another interesting detail is that the band consisted of the two and a drum machine though at some point Paul from the Fat Tulips filled in when Sheggi destroyed the drum machine with a Scottish battle-axe after a royalty dispute!

And who else but my friend Alex would write about the band on his 7iete Pulgadas blog. He did back in 2007! The one detail I find interesting here is that Alex says that Sheggi was in a band in NYC called The Tub Sharks! I never heard of them! Would really like to hear if there were any recordings.

He also mentions that Sheggi offered making a CD with all The Melons songs… I wonder if she ever sent that to him. I should check with him!

And that’s all I could find about The Melons! It makes me happy to remember. I have been playing their songs for hours today. The legacy of the band is lovely, all of their songs are great. I don’t know if this post serves as a little tribute to Sheggi, I hope it does. I am a fan who never saw neither the Fat Tulips or The Melons live. I hope there’s a new  interest in the bands, that reissues happen, more people writing about the bands, it is what is deserved!

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Listen
The Melons – From Hell to Helsinki

Day 387

The Francine Odysseys: The LA based project by Gretchen DeVault (from the Icicles) and Ian Patrick sounds great. They have just released an EP titled “My Favorite Distraction” that caught my attention even before listening to it. The artwork for it is gorgeous. But then listening to their beautifully crafted popsongs I was won over. Four songs are included in this digital-only release.

Helen Love: wow a collection of unreleased songs by Helen Love! “Helen Love From Under the Bed” are 12 songs that come from different album sessions. So great! On top of that I see myself on the banner photo of her Bandcamp. Wow. So cool to find Helen Love here. I’m such a fan. Love it!

The Manhattan Love Suicides: our Leeds friends, who once upon a time released a mini CD with Cloudberry, have put together “Dirt in the Grooves”, a 23 song compilation that is now available on CD! The CD comes nicely packaged on a DVD package and comes with card insets that are replicas of previous releases. This compilation doesn’t include all of the bands song, but what the band and the label Next Phase : Normal Records picked as their best. And they did have tons of BEST songs if I may say.

The Death of Pop: a few weeks ago I shared some songs that were going to be included in the “Seconds” album. Well now you can check out all 10 songs that are on the 12″ record that Hidden Bay Records and Discos de Kirlian are releasing. The album is out now and is limited to 250 copies.

Holiday Ghosts: “North Street Air” is the name of the album this Falmouth, UK, band will be releasing on May 1st! Right now we can preview two of the songs, “Mr. Herandi” and “Off Grid”. Both are fun, catchy, a bit like The Vaselines can I say? The boy/girl vocals work great too.

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Another day checking the Calgary Cassette Preservation Society blog. Why? Because they have some great music that I want to share with everyone. The latest band I’ve discovered there is called Citrus Park and it sounds pretty good.

Discogs lists three tapes by this Calgary, Canada, band. The first tape dates from 1989 and was called “A Fine Morning”. It was self-released and included 8 songs, 4 on each side. The A side had “Golden”, “The Battle is Over”, “Malpractice” and “The Morning at Home”. The B side, on the other hand, had “Run Away”, “Annette”, “The White Sky” and “Crown of Thorns”.

The tape tells us also the band members, Jeff Burns on vocals and guitar, Stephen Bandola on vocals and bass and Dana Lyons on drums and percussion. The tape was engineered by Jeff Burns and was recordeed at Sound Kitchen and CJSW, in Calgary, during the 1989 winter. The cover photo, of the three members, is credited to Dean Burns. The tape too came with song lyrics. That’s always nice.

In 1990 the band released a new album titled “South”. Now we get 11 songs, “Here I Am”, “Carry On”, “The Only Voice in Town”, “Falling to Pieces” and “Strangers” on the A side and “A Pretty View”, “Sell Out”, “Eagles’ Bay”, “Standing Still”, “A New Fallen Theme” and “Listen” on the B side.

Again this tape has a photo by Dean Burns of the three band members on the front as well as the lyrics of all the songs. Once again the band worked with Jeff Burns as the engineer but the songs were recorded on an 8 track during the fall of 1990. The drums were recorded at CJSW studios.

Lastly in 1992 the band released a third tape album, “Swirl”. This one came out with 8 songs and was also self-released. We find the songs “Take a Trip with Me”, “Mending Fences”, “All For What?” and “Snow” on the A side and “Two Candle Light”, “A Different Speed”, “She Still Bleeds” and “Daughter” on the B side.

This time around there are no song lyrics and the band doesn’t appear on the cover. The songs were now recorded by Tracy Noga and Citrus Park.

The only other release I know by them is an appearance on the double CD “90.9 with a Bullet – 20 Years of Calgary Music” released by Saved by Radio and CJSW. Here the band appears on the first CD with the song “Take a Trip with Me.

One interesting fact I’ve found so far is that before the band was called Citrus Park they were called Feast of Fools and they even released a tape album called “Carnival”. I need to check it out. Maybe that’s a future post.

Another interesting fact is that Steve Bandola is brother of Mark Bandola of The Lucy Show.

Then on Soundcloud, on the CJSW Radio account, there is an interview with Stephen Bandola and Jeff Burns talking about Citrus Park.

And then why not check Youtube! Here I find live footage of the band playing the song “Golden” at the Westward Inn in Calgary 1990. There’s two people dancing in the front, close to the stage…. ah! how much I miss gigs! And then from the same gig I find the songs “The White Sky“, “Here I Am“, “Engles Bay” and “Strangers“.

And that’s what I could find about the band! Quite good stuff. Hopefully we’ll be able to learn more about them in the near future!

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Listen
Citrus Park – Snow

Day 385

Helen McCookerybook: the ex-Chefs Helen McCookerybook is back with a new EP recorded with Robert Rotifer. This EP titled “Equal Parts” is available now on vinyl. I believe it is a 12″ because of the price. But it doesn’t specify. There are 6 songs with great melodies and the trademark vocals of both. Very jangly and lovely. I recommended this for sure.

Grids and Dots: the Sydney band is back now with a 7 song mini-album titled “What Happens to Friendships?” that sounds really good. Shame it is not released on any physical format. The 7 songs are on Bandcamp to listen and I am hooked by the boy/girl vocals. Thumbs up!

Grazer: now we just head to Melbourne, very close by, to listen to the new song by Grazer, the duo formed by Matt and Mollie. This new track is called “Nostalgia” and sounds like a fresh breeze of air. It is dreamy and fragile but at the same type upbeat and poppy. It’s a great combination, works really well I think!

For Tracy Hyde: been a fan of the Japanese band For Tracy Hyde for a while, they are terrific. They have released just a few days ago a new video for their song “Sister Carrie” and it looks and sounds just how any indiepop would love it to be. So yeah, I am happy. I need to get their latest album “Ethernity” where this song is included.

Small Imperfections: wow! this is a great find. Magnus Karlsson from The Happydeadmen has a new project with Daniel Westlund, Stefan Johansson, Christian Granquist and Tove Hellerup. I didn’t know! They had been going since 2015 it seems!  I have only discovered them now thanks to their latest song, “Let’s Have Fun in ’21”, which is a very positive song! The other song that they have put up on Soundcloud as of late is called “Godsend (She Said So)”, both of them from 2021. Really sweet jangly pop.

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A jangle pop from Iowa City. That’s quite something I think. I wasn’t aware of any scene there, even less dating from the early 90s. Well, on Bandcamp I stumbled upon the band These Days who have a few releases to stream. Let’s discover them together!

The band was actually formed in 1990, in Washington DC. Then I am not sure if all members or the founding member moved to Iowa City in 1991. The band would last until 1996. In between, the band played in different US states like Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Maryland, Virginia, Tennesse and DC. No New York though. No California. I don’t know if in those times you needed to make a splash in these states, in their big cities, to get a record deal or something. I wonder…

The first release the band shares on Bandcamp is a four song promo tape but they’ve only uploaded 3 songs. Which would be the fourth song? It was called “Dare”. We know that “Original”, “I Call Your Name” and “The Circle” are also in the tape. This tape was recorded in January 8, 1991, and was produced by Marco Delmar and engineered and mixed by Marco as well at Bebop Studios, Rockville, MD.

There is a band lineup here too, Paul Elliott on vocals, H on guitars and vocals, Fred on bass and Chris Gibbs on drums. Interesting that some of the band members don’t appear with last names while others do.

I think when the band recorded this tape they were still in the Washington, DC, area. They have an address on the tape of College Park, in Maryland. Close enough to the White House.

The second release we find on Bandcamp dates from June 14 of 1991. It doesn’t have any information. We know that Marco Delmar engineered the songs again, and so I think they were still in DC. The image they share which could be a sleeve of the release shows inside the NYC subway station of 86th street. The songs here are 6, “Down & Out”, “Out of Our Hands”, “Softly as We Lie”, “I Wonder”, “Blood Dripping” and “Wedding Song”. Oh! And now the band added Guy Morgan in the lineup playing guitars.

Well I find this release on Discogs, it is self-titled. And it came out on tape. There is a photo of the release but it is quite tiny and can’t read the information. There is a band photo on the back.

In 1993 the band released “Carnival”. This one was released also on tape but I believe there is a CD version of it. The songs included on this album were “Only What You Need”, “Daddy’s Car”, “Sydney”, “See You Face”, “Sorry”, “RB (Hang On)”, “Do You Wanna Be”, “Concrete”, “Bluest Eye”, “Rain Song”, “Dare” and “Live Everlasting”. The songs were recorded at Catamount Studios in Cedar Falls in Iowa as well as in Studio 300 in Chicago. Another important detail is that the songs were released by two labels, Life Minor Music (MM004) and Happy Tails Records. The engineers were Tom Tatman, John Thomson and Ken Sluiter. Tom Tatman and Ken Sluiter also produced. Tatman mixed the songs and they were mastered by David Glasser. The photos on the sleeve are credited to Carl Bonnett and Feather Lunders.

Here I noticed that Guy Morgan wasn’t part of the lineup. He is listed as an additional musician. Andy Payne on guitars, John Thomson and Sandy Nordahl on keyboards are credited too as additional musicians.

Bandcamp has more stuff to discover. There are 9 songs recorded in a single take and live at Bebop Studios in Rockville, Maryland. They date from January 1992. These songs would be part of the “Live 92” release. Actually it seems there were 13 songs recorded that day. Here we only find 9, “I Don’t Care”, “Season of Light”, “Summertime”, “Kill the H”, “Winter’s Day”, “Say You’ll Wait”, “All I’ve Had”, “Em w/Solo” and “What is it Worth”.

Lastly we find “Live in Studio 1991 05 07”. Here the band says that the songs included here have big mistakes and embarrassing moments. That these songs were from the first time the band went into studio. That day the band recorded 26 songs in Bebop Studios, but here they have shared 10 of them, “California Life”, “Always Something”, “Suicide”, “Bagpipes”, “Arizona”, “Falling”, “Take My Time”, “T for 2”, “Rim Shot” and “Lock the Doors”. None of these songs ended up being properly released but they were part of their live sets.

With the band name These Days it is hard to google them of course. But I did find a trove of videos on Youtube. Quite a surprise.

First there’s a video filmed by Chris Karsten in 1992 where the band is playing the song “Blood Dripping“. The second video I find is a “rockumentary” of the band titled “These Days: Worst Band in Iowa City History?”. There is very cool footage here, with the band talking to the camera, playing, doing their own sound, quite interesting!

More live videos. We find them playing “Get Closer” at Cabaret Metro, Chicago on May 1993. Then “New New Song” being played at Connie’s in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1994.

It is hard to keep this in chronological order. But here they are playing “I’m Going out of my Mind” and “Give” at Cabaret Metro, Chicago in 1992. That same year they played “Pretty Things” at the University of Iowa. There is “Daddy’s Car” too but doesn’t say where it was recorded.

“I Held Her in My Arms” has some live footage from Carnaby Street venue in Iowa City.

The band appeared on a TV show called Paula Sands. There’s a song of the band’s soundcheck of them playing the song “April Song” but the video is from them playing in Phyllis’ Musical Inn in Chicago. In Chicago too they played the song “In White Satin“.

There is band footage from 1992 on this video, for “Kick In“. The curious thing it says that this song was recorded in 1996 for an album called “Columbia House”. I haven’t been able yet to find info on this album. You see Columbia House was this company that would make you join sort of music-club, where you’d get CDs in the mail. Maybe many of you signed to it? From that same album here’s “What’s the Big Deal“.

For some reason they do this a lot, audio from a place, video from a different place. Here they are playing “Down & Out” at Peoples but the video is from Carnaby Street.

There’s a very good live video of the band playing “Strummin’ Song (Comes Out Right)“. This was recorded at People’s in Ames, Iowa.

And probably my favourite song of their so far, “Sydney“, got a video! It was produced by Deb Phalen and was aired on Iowa Public Access TV in 1992.

Aside from all these, there are some songs that are not on Bandcamp like and appeared on the “Columbia House” album like “Jackie“, “Even Now” or “Pure“. And others that never got released like “Dance With Me“, “All My Life“, “Ordinary Girl” and “Don’t Mind If I Do“.

Wow! That was quite a lot of info I could find! Who remembers them? Would be great to know more about them!

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Listen
These Days – Original

Day 383

The Pivettas: we start this week with a new roundup of 5 recommendations. First is the album “Nowhere Guide” by the Berlin based dreampop band The Pivettas. The bands has been going since 2019 and this is their debut album after a mini-album that was released in the year they were formed. The album “Nowhere Guide” has 13 songs and is available digitally only.

The Umbrella Puzzles: not a formal release but two leftover songs that didn’t get included in the album “A Slowly Dawning Realization” that came out in February. The two songs we find here are “Pick Yourself Up (Original Mix)” and “Like Fine Crystal (Demo)” which sound very nice. As always Ryan Marquez delivers.

Benjamin Belinska: the latest on the reliable Kocliko Records from Spain is the album “Lost Illusions” by the ex-Paris, Texas Benjamin Belinska. 11 songs of jangly pop music on a beautifully designed CD, that’s what you can expect when the record is released on April 16. Exciting!

Romance Languages: a self-titled EP is already out by the solo project of Dane DiPierro who had been in different bands like The Capstan Shafts, Ghost Hotel and Distant Creatures. His new EP has 5 songs including a cover of “Cemetery Gates” by The Smiths. I’m really enjoying this EP, looking forward to future releases!

Still Dreams: now that “Make Believe”, the Japanese band’s album, is close to being released they have released a video for “Last True Love”.  I don’t have much more to say other than that I’ve been hooked to the band for a long time. In this song the band wear their New Order love in their sleeve, and it sounds quite good to me.

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Gütersloh is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the area of Westphalia and the administrative region of Detmold. Gütersloh is the administrative centre for a district of the same name and has a population of 100,194 people.

That’s where we are heading today. Never heard of this town before, but I have heard of the band before. I actually own a 7″ by them. But I don’t know much about them, so I thought it would be a good time to find out details about this German band!

One thing that is interesting and worth mentioning is that the band also had their own label, Alphyen Viwit. This is the label that released the “Breeze” compilations. That’s cool, right? There are many bands I am curious about on those comps. But not only that, they were true indiepop supporters back in the 90s. They also organized the St. Vit Open Air Festival where they invited the likes of the Fat Tulips or Panda Hop from France.

The band was formed by Michael Witklake on guitar and vocals, Ralf on bongos and congas, Oliver Buddensiek on bass, Alexander Pommerening on cello, Christina on violin and Garvin Nolte on drums.

According to Discogs, the band’s first release was a tape called “Leuchtende Brandung” that was released in 1996 on the Bath, UK, label Kylie Productions (SHI02). This tape included four songs, “The Grass on Your Grave” and “Bluish” on the A side and “Unreleased Dreams” and “Colour My Days” on the B side. On the front cover there’s a photo of a girl, who is she? Then the rest of the sleeve is all handwritten text.

That same year, on the band’s own label Alphyen Viwit, they put out a tape with the same name. The curious thing is that the tracklisting is different. This one has “Scream Within (cello oriented)” and “F.O. Cool People” on the A side and “Today… Please” and “High” on the B side.

Lastly in 1999 the band released a 7″ in the US, on Moonscreen Records (SCR003). This is the record I have and it includes the songs “Unreleased Dreams” and “Colour My Days”.

But that’s not all. The band actually appeared on a plethora of compilations. So we should check that I think.

The band had already been active in 1993. A Turntable Friend, the renowned German label, included their song “Unreleased Dreams” on the classic compilation “Calling At Duke Street (An Anti-Fascist Pop Compilation)” (TURN 16). That same year the band had the song “Bluish” in the ¡Por Supuesto! Records compilation “The Birth of the True II” (STAP-0314) from Japan.

In 1994 the band had “Grass of Your Grave” and “Colour My Days” on the compilation tape “Breeze 4” that they released on their own Alphyen Viwit (004). It seems too that there was a promo version of this tape called “Extract of Breeze 4” that only had 5 songs, one of them was “Grass of Your Grave”. And that wasn’t all for 1994, that same song, “Grass of Your Grave”, was included in the UK tape compilation “Because We Care 2” that had two Cloudberry friends, both The Shining Hour and Fragile.

1995 has their songs “Grass on Your Grave” and “Unreleased Dreams” on the “Magenta” tape released by Bliss Aquamarine (BLISS 019) in the UK. “Grass of Your Grave” and “Today… Please” appear too, this same year, on “Palazzo” a French compilation tape released by Pâte A Modeler (PAM 005).

In 1996 the band has once again “The Grass of Your Grave” on a tape compilation. This time around it is on the “Refuse Collection” cassette released by Refuse Collection (HOHO1).

The German label Meller Welle Produkte releases “25 – A Silver Jubilee” (MEL 25) in 1998. On this CD compilation the band  contribute the songs “Today… Please” and “F.O. Cool People”. That same year the song “Scream Within” appears on “Because We Care 3”

1999 sees the band contribute “High”, “Scream Within” and “Colour My Days” to “Zoéphile (An International Pop Compilation)” CD released by Z & Zoé Records (ZAZ 08) from France.

“Today… Please” gets included in the US CD comp “Just for A Day” (DAY 01) released by Just for A Day in the year 2000.

Lastly in 2001, they have “In America” on the compilation “Everything Went Pop!” released by Meller Welle Produkte (MEL 32), and the song “Scream Within (guitar)” on the compilation tape “Breeze C” on their own ALphyen Viwit (005).

I believe they were also on “Breeze A” with “Grass on Your Grave”, but I don’t see any listing of this compilation tape. There is though an entry for “Extract of Breeze A”, a CDR compilation that I assume, just like the previous ‘Extract’ release I mentioned, included just a few songs that were included in the main compilation.

I also know they were on “Breeze D”. Not sure what year it came out or which song was on it.

Something interesting too is that the band’s website, even though it looks dated now, is still accessible. Here they mention a compilation called “From Out of Nowhere” which they appeared on but there is no info of this release on the web. Also mentioned is an EP titled “Downpour” but I can’t find any information about that either.

On Discogs there are a few more names listed as part of the band, ones that don’t appear on the website like Rado Suk, Michael Kunigk or Frank Schiffer. Were there many lineup changes? None of them are listed on other bands. Was Glaring Surge the only pop band they were in? Hard to believe!

Lastly there is a video for the song “Unreleased Dreams” on Youtube.

That’s all I could find on the web. Who remembers Glaring Surge? What happened to them?

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Listen
Glaring Surge – The Grass of Your Grave

Day 380

Would-Be-Goods: “Spring Fever” is the 2nd set of songs from Jessica Griffin! How beautiful it is to hear her voice again. I hope at the end of the lockdown someone could release all these songs in a form or another. They are beautiful. This last set includes 5 songs, “Charm School”, “The King of the Moon”, “Temporary Arrangement”, “The Kiss of Death” and “There’s a Star on My Dressing Room Door”.

Flowertown: the San Francisco band is releasing a compilation of their first two cassette-only releases on vinyl. This self-titled collection of 12 songs is coming out on April 23rd on Mt.St.Mtn. Records. Right now you can preview two of the tracks, “The Rope” and “RCP”. Flowertown aree Karina Gill from Cindy and Michael Ramos of Tony Jay.

Beachy Head: this is the new project by Christian Savill from Slowdive. He is releasing a tape album called “Beachy Head” as well on the Savannah, Georgia, label Graveface Records. The tape album will have 8 songs and right now we can preview the last track, “Destroy Us”, a dreamy, moody, slice of guitar pop.

Tangled Shoelaces: I recommend just a few days ago the “Turn My Dial” reissue on Chapter Music. Well here is a new video and it is as wonderful as the songs we’ve heard and the video we’ve seen! This one is for the song “Oceans Away”. Can we call this band the Aussie TVPs? What a discovery!

Bart & Friends: staying in Australia it is worth noting that the classic band led by the ex-Cat’s Miaow is releasing a 10″ mini-album on one of our favourite labels, Kleine Untergrund Schallplatten. The mini-album will be titled “Tolmie Wild Thymes” and will be released later this year. We can preview on Soundcloud the pretty pretty song “All the Stage Belongs to You”.  This is a record no one should miss this year.

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After writing about Jesus Trip I sort of felt that there was at least one very obscure band on the “You Can’t Be Loved Forever vol. 3” compilation casseette that I needed to know more details: She’s Gone.

This tape from 1990, compiled by Phil Ball from The Rileys and Feverfew, is a superb indiepop tape. It is made with such great taste, all bands are great, from the well-known ones (Happydeadmen, Strawberry Story, They Go Boom!!) to the obscure ones (Blue Summer, The Hoverchairs, Big Decision). I’ve covered many of the bands on it and these past days I’ve gone back to the tape, revisit the songs, and find out more about those bands I know nothing about.

She’s Gone appears on the B side of the tape, almost at the end. They have the ninth song on this side out of eleven. It is interesting that the most obscure bands appear one next to the other, The Hoverchairs, Big Decision, Blue Summer, She’s Gone, Jesus Trip to close the tape with Dreamscape, who would later become Secret Shine. She’s Gone contributes a beautiful song called “Clear Skies”.

Discogs lists another song for She’s Gone, but it is clearly not the same band. I got excited for a minute. I wouldn’t expect the sweet and fragile She’s Gone from the tape among many DJs in a compilation. Even less if it dates from 2017.

So as it happened with Jesus Trip it seems impossible to search for She’s Gone. Back then there was no internet of course, and people didn’t think that their band names would be keywords to be searched by an obsessed indiepop fan. Nah. That wasn’t in the books. I am sure these days bands think of that. At least some bands. The truth is that that today I am bit frustrated. I haven’t been able to find any information about She’s Gone. Literally they are gone.

We know there was a female member on the band. Her vocals are so so pretty. Who was singing? Perhaps there were no other band members? I can’t say. I would love to know if anyone remembers this band. Any details will be appreciated!

Edit: our friend Phil, who made the compilation and was in the band Feverfew, just told me that She’s Gone was the band of Paul Stewart before forming Blueboy. Actually this song, re-recorded and sang by Gemma, appeared on “If Wishes Were Horses”.

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Listen
She’s Gone – Clear Skies

Day 378

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: I like this band a lot as you might know, I’ve recommended them many times. But I am slow. Only last week I was looking for their albums, but they are sold out of course. It is surprising, I am so used to indiepop bands not selling their records out. But here is the exception. Maybe one day I’ll be able to find copies, for now I can enjoy two new songs by them, “Too Late for an Early Grave” and “Chemtrails Over the Country Club”, this last one a cover of Lana del Rey.

The Hermitts: the new project from Matt from Horowitz are The Hermitts! He has unveiled two tracks, so far the only ones in his Bandcamp, “Weight of the World” and “Hold Tight”. They are quite nice guitar driven pop songs, with the exact dose of noise and distortion. Let’s keep an eye on them!

Mint Julep: the Portland duo has been a favourite for the last two or so years. I have recommended them a few times and, of course, now that they have released their album “In a Deep and Dreamless Sleep”, I had to let you all know. It is out now on vinyl LP on Western Vinyl and it includes 11 songs.

Red Go-Cart: when it comes to Japanese bands I must say I am a big fan of Red Go-Cart! They have been going since 1996 and have made all sort of pop music, from the tweest and punkiest to the dreamiest. Their latest is a dreamy one and is called “Jellyfish”. A bit Sundays-like I must say. This is the first release since 2018’s “Sprites Gave”. And it sounds great. Would be nice to interview them some day soon!

Lentillas de Colores: the other day I received “Arrancacorazones”, the first 7″ by this fantastic León, Spain, band. Today I discover they have covered the classic song “La Fiesta de los Maniquíes” that was originally recorded by the band Golpes Bajos. It is a cool choice by the band for sure!

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Last March I was surprised with the release of the “Sneaky Feelin'” 7″ by Magic Roundabout. I’ve heard their name but never their music, so it was quite a surprise when I saw the video that was uploaded to Youtube for the title song. Where did all these treasures come from?

The 7″ was being released by a label that has nothing to do with indiepop, Third Man Records, a label that was founded by Jack White, Ben Swank and Ben Blackwell in 2001, in Detroit. Now the label is based in Nashville. Yeah, this label as you can see has more to do with indie rock, something I find very different to indiepop. But this may just be an anecdotal thing. In the end they’ve done a good job rescuing an obscure band from Manchester 80s!

How did they do it? How did the contact happen? That would be interesting to find out. The blurb on the label’s webpage gives some little info. They compare the band to the JAMC and the Shop Assistants. That sounds about right. They call the band The Roundies, I am assuming that’s how the band and their fans used to call them. Then we get the important details.

The band started as such in early 1986. They played gigs alongside The Pastels, Blue Aeroplanes, Spacemen 3, Loop, My Bloody Valentine and more. They mention too that Noel Gallagher roadied their final show.

One song was released back in the day, “She’s a Waterfall Parts 1 and 2”. That sounds more like 2 songs. And when checking the tracklist of the compilation tape “Oozing Through the Ozone Layer” that Mark Webber from Pulp put out, it does look like part 1 is on the A side and the part 2 is in the B side. So there’s two songs, right? I haven’t listened to the tape, so can’t say if it is two different versions of the same song, maybe they were.

It seems there was the intention to put out a flexi but that didn’t work out. It doesn’t say the reasons why.

The two songs on the 7″ that were just released, “Sneaky Feelin'” and “Song for Gerard Langley” date from 1987. They were unearthed by Ian Masters from Pale Saints. I am guessing then that Ian Masters made the contact with Third Man? Brooklyn Vegan confirms this. It says that Ian passed the tapes to His Name is Alive’s Warren Defever who works for the label’s mastering. This page also says that there are more recordings and the label is preparing an album to be released later this year.

The sleeve of the 7″ doesn’t give any other information about the band.. o band members names. The video only says it dates from 1987. I like when bands are rescued of course, but would love a little bit of history.

Looking on Discogs I find another compilation where thee band may have been involved with, “Piranhas in the Canal”. This tape was put together by the St. Helens Musicians Collective in the 80s and was reissued in MP3 in 2018. The link that Discogs has to download the songs doesn’t work for me. So hoping someone can help. Now, St. Helens is at least 35 minutes away from Manchester. So one can doubt it is the same Magic Roundabout. But the time sounds right. So this would mean the band would have released another song too. The one on this tape is called “Talk About You”. Would love to hear it.

Now, one thing that seems easy to find out is the origin of the band’s name. A quick search tells us two things:
The Magic Roundabout is an English-language children’s television programme that ran from 1965 to 1977. It used the footage of the French stop motion animation show Le Manège enchanté, but with completely different scripts and characters.
The Magic Roundabout in Swindon, England, is a ring junction constructed in 1972 consisting of five mini-roundabouts arranged in a circle. Located near the County Ground, home of Swindon Town F.C., its name comes from the popular children’s television series The Magic Roundabout. In 2009 it was voted the fourth-scariest junction in Britain

I’m kind of annoyed that there are no band members names. Or even where the recordings were done. No history of the band whatsoever. I hope when this label releases the album we get all the information we are missing. It seems wrong to not have that. Let’s see, for now we can of course enjoy these two tracks, but would be great to track down the tracks that they seem to have released on compilation tapes back in the day!

Who has any more details about the Magic Roundabout?

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Listen
Magic Roundabout – Sneaky Feelin’