Day 376

Remington Super 60: thee Norwegian band is now releasing a cassette with Z Tapes from Slovakia. The 7 songs included in the “Nouvelle Noveau” mini-album sound so good. You can check them out on Bandcamp. This sounds super good and wish that it was released on another format, you know I am not a fan of cassettes, but hey, if you are, you are in for a treat. Beautiful. Two thumbs up!

Nightjacket: lately I’ve been discovering many bands that are influenced by The Sundays. Not sure if that’s a trend or not, but definitely it is a nice thing. From Los Angeles comes this band that have released a 4 song EP called “Following the Curves”. It is available digitally and we can check out two of the songs, “Lonely Archer” and “Just a Little”, both of them sounding great!

Tangled Shoelaces: this is quite an interesting discovery. Hailing from Brisbane a group aged 10-14 when they started! These are recordings dating from 1981-1984 and are being put on an LP compilation called “Turn My Dial – The M Squared Recordings and More”. This is really cool. I really want this record. And I want it even if I could only preview the first track, “The Biggest Movie Ever Made” out of 22 tracks that the album has.

The Gabriels: here is a new video for the song “We”, the second single by the UK band The Gabriels! You can also find the song, and previous tracks from the Midlands group in their Bandcamp. The band is formed by Gudg on vocals, Fran on bass, Leon on guitar and Stuart on keys.

Beach Vacation: I previously recommended this Seattle band when they released their tape “I Fell Apart”. Now 5 months or so later they unveil a new song titled “Lost in Sight” which I am enjoying a lot. It is dreamy and hypnotic, with some great melodies and guitar lines. Good stuff.

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I want to thank Jörg and Joel for introducing me and helping me with this band!

I am not very knowledgeable about Portuguese indiepop bands. I have written about only a few on the blog. So after discovering the jangly Alliallatas I knew I had to recommend them on the blog! And hopefully we’ll find out more information about this great sounding band from Guimarães!

Guimarães is a city and municipality located in northern Portugal, in the district of Braga. Its historic town centre is listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001, in recognition for being an “exceptionally well-preserved and authentic example of the evolution of a medieval settlement into a modern town” in Europe.

I’d love to visit some day…

The only appearance of the band on a “proper” release dates from 1994. This is the only thing that I see on Discogs by the band. It is a double tape compilation titled “Breeze 4” that came out in Germany. The label was Alphyen Viwit, the catalog number is 004. I should definitely explore this label as I haven’t covered many of the bands that are on their compilations. From the “Breeze 4” I’ve interviewed Les Autres of course and written about Sonic Flower Groove. So I need to make justice to many of these bands.

When it comes to Alliallatas we know that the appear on the first tape, on the B side with the 6th song out of 11 on that side. The song they contribute is the wonderful “Esqueleto” which means skeleton in English. They appear after The Fat Tulips and before Sonic Flower Groove. And then they contribute “Pintura Original” to the 2nd tape as the last song on the B side after the Greek band Sound Devise who have also been featured on the blog.

You’ll like both songs I’m sure. And if you want to give it some visuals, there is actually a video on Youtube of the band playing live “Esqueleto” song at the “Ao Vivo por Timor” gig at the S. Tiago square in Guimarães, Portugal. The date we don’t know, but it was on February 1992. I am also guessing this was a benefit concert for Timor Leste? Is that, right?

We see on the black and white images that the band is a four piece, vocals, guitar, bass and drums.

I look for more recordings by the band on the web. I find the song “A Névoa Da Manhã Nova (live)” on Bandcamp. It seems to be included in a compilation called “33 Years of Carrying it On” by Paulo Coimbra Martins. The Bandcamp owner is actually Anti-Demos-Cracia. So from what I am understanding, this song and all other in this compilation are different projects Paulo Coimbra Martins was involved in. There is a photo of a tape, so we learn it was released in a limited run of 22 cassettes in 2019. Of course it is sold out. The songs are actually different musical styles and the jangliest is of course the one of Alliallatas. But thanks to this we know that Paulo was in Anomeos, Restos Mortais de Isabel, Outubro Negro, As Flores da Náusea, Tenebre & Delirio, Dahilla Noire, The Death of Me, Oktober Black, Uzi, Träume, Archétypo, Brigada Revolucionária, Posto de Kommando, Manifestis Probatum, La Rue de Mars, Oktober Delusion and PCM.

Thanks to this information I find that Paulo was the drummer of Alliallatas. A little more digging and I find that Eduardo Silva was the name of another Alliallatas member. Eduardo was also involved in As Flores da Náusea and Blue Orange Juice. What instrument did he play in Alliallatas though?

One thing that is important to mention is that I know that Alliallatas recorded one demo tape at least. It was a self-titled tape from 1991 that included 4 songs. Here “Esqueleto” was the opening track. The other three songs were “Experiências”, “A Princesa de Neurónios” and “Pintura Original”.

Paulo Martins used to have a blog called Sons à Margem. On a post from May 8, 2006, he is doing a list of all Guimarães bands. Here he mentions that Alliallatas recorded another song, that wasn’t included in the 1991, demo. This song was to be included in a compilation on Underground Records.Not sure where this label was from, probably a Portuguese label, Sadly he says this song was never releases nor the compilation. What song was this? What was the name?

Sadly I couldn’t find any more information about this Portuguese band. It seems there was a fine scene in Guimarães and would like to discover more. From the list Paulo wrote on his blog he mentions at least another indiepop band called Quid Juris. He also mentions other bands that were pop-ish that we should check at some point like Clockwork, Fragments or Genuyn. But honestly I am right now very curious about Alliallatas, the 4 songs from their demo are amazing. Would love to hear any other recordings by them, find out who were the other band members. Anyone remember them?

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Listen
Alliallatas – Esqueleto

Day 373

BOB: there’s a new album coming out by the legendary band. It is called “Berlin Independence Days 21/10/91” and will be released on Optic Nerve on June 25. This record is actually a live radio broadcast of their 1991 concert at the Quartier Latin Club in Berlin. There are 10 songs in the LP and pre-orders are already up!

Quivers: now to Melbourne. A new album is coming out also in June. “Golden Doubt” is being released on the 11th of said month on vinyl LP. There are 10 songs and pre-orders are up. We can only preview the opening track so far, it sounds good though, it is called “Gutters of Love”. Also keep in mind that the pink vinyl version of the LP is already sold out. Only black vinyl remains.

Lightning Bug: another album where we can preview just one song. “A Color of the Sky” LP is coming out on June 24 on green and black vinyl. It  is also coming out on tape and CD. The song we can preview is called “The Right Thing is Hard to Do” and it does sound very good, promising. Hoping then that the other 9 songs in the record sound as good! The band hails from New York, so when gigs are a thing again I should try to check them out.

No Suits in Miami: a favourite band of mine as of late are Lund’s No Suits in Miami. I still don’t get how their songs are not on physical format.  I hope that changes soon in the near future. Their latest song is called “Make You See” which is dreamy, a bit Sundays-like. Definitely a band to keep an eye.

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It’s been a while since I listened to the “You Can’t Be Loved Forever” cassette compilations. I don’t own the tapes but of course as many of you do, have MP3s of the songs that were on these cassettes that my friend Phil Ball put together in the late 80s, early 90s.

Today I was listening to the third volume of this series. The third volume that had a yellow sleeve and included 23 songs. Made with love and with great taste in his home in Reading, the tape introduced me to many obscure and fantastic bands like Nervous Curve or Blue Summer, which I’ve written about on the blog. There are other bands of course, much more known like Home and Abroad or Hapydeadmen, but in general I feel I’ve done a good job documenting many of them. Which is good, right?

Today I wanted to focus on a band that I am ignorant about. A band I know absolutely nothing. They were called Jesus Trip and they appeared on the compilation with the song “Future”.

The song appears second to last on the B side, sandwiched between “Clear Skies” by She’s Gone and “Cold as Ice” by Dreamscape. Two bands that definitely deserve a little investigation. On Discogs, “Future”, is the only song listed for Jesus Trip. This was their only compilation appearance it seems.

Now, of course searching for Jesus Trip is impossible. There is a movie called “The Jesus Trip” from 1971, I am assuming the band named themselves after it.

I feel I immediately hit a wall. Google seems broken. How could I search for Jesus Trip. It is impossible. I don’t even know from where in the UK they were from. Don’t know the band members’ names. What could I search without getting anything religious? What combination of keywords?

My detective work ends here for now. I am going to need help. I am counting on you. Who remembers the Jesus Trip?

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Listen
Jesus Trip – Future

Day 371

Would-Be-Goods: there are 5 new songs from Jessica Griffin on Bandcamp. That’s amazing. One of my favourite bands is still recording even though these recordings are just by herself, no full-band. These songs are part of a challenge, one where here partner Peter gives her a daily title and then she has 24 hours to write a song. I hope a new record will happen soon. It’s been a while!

Axolotes Mexicanos: finally is out ” :3 ” the new album by the Madrid based band (with Asturian roots). Elefant Records have released it on vinyl and CD and it include 13 songs, all of which are available to preview on Bandcamp. This is great. Always fun, always poppy and upbeat, and also great live, I will definitely get a copy of this!

Ruth Po!: 10 more songs from Ruth Miller! One can only be happy with news like this! These 10 songs titled “The Bedroom Tapes 3” come from a home-made recording that was released in August 1992. This is classic songwriting and Ruth’s unique vocals. Lovely. Keep them coming!

The Muldoons: if you read yesterday’s interview you know The Muldoons were covering Cath by The Bluebells. Well if you need a link to check this song out, with guest vocals from Niamh Mullen, here it is. Wonderful!

Watoo Watoo: this is a surprise, to see the 1997 CD EP “Un Peu de Moi”. This is a reissue, even though it seems 1 copy is left at the time I am writing this, of the original release that sold 1,000 copies within a year. This is classic indiepop, in French, with top melodies. I interviewed Watoo Watoo once, saw them live once too…  the nostalgia of being stuck at home, listening to great music.

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I got confused the other day. I found on Youtube a video of an English band called Romeo Suspect. I don’t know what song they are playing, but it seems like a promo video. Made in the 80s. All my life I thought Romeo Suspect was a French band. One that released a 7″ on Aliénor Records. They do sound different, may they be two different bands? The Romeo Suspect I am a bit more familiar with released the 7″ in the 90s. Maybe the decades not overlapping is a clue? Let’s see if I can clear my doubts.

Romeo Suspect released a double 7″ on Aliénor Records indeed in 1994. Catalog number is Alien θ [thêta]. 8 songs in total. I have heard a few of them, I am still looking for a copy. Maybe soon, I’ll get one for myself. Anyways, the songs on this record were “Another World” and “Romeo Suspect” on the A side, “Loose Fitting” and “Somewhere” on the B side. That’s the first vinyl 7″. The second one has “I Don’t Know Where You Come From” and “Better Days” on the C side and “20th Summer” and “Cut Off” on the D side.

Something that seems cool about this release is that it came with an 8-page booklet about Bordeaux wine, wood pigeon’s hunting and an interview with the band. Okay, it has to be a French band to include something about Bordeaux wine, right? Who has this booklet? Would be nice to know what it says on the interview.

As far as I know there are two different sleeves for this record. One has white background and another one has half white and half green background. There is also a photo of a lady that I can’t recognize on the front. Who is she? Some famous actress probably?

Aside from this release the band appeared on a bunch of French compilations mostly. They have to be French, right?

In 1993 their song “The End” appears on “Summer 93 Hits” a tape compilation put togetheer by Lo Label from France. That same year we see the song “University” finding itself on “Ces Chères Têtes Blondes” another French tape that came out on Cindie (CIN01).

1994 sees their song “Le Sort” on “Quality Sweet” a cassette comp released by Pâte A Modeler (001). Then in 1996, on the tribute CD “Can You Talk to the Dude? A Tribute to Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers Vol. 2” (Alien o [Omicron]‎) they have “Tandem Jump”.

In 2000 the band had “Just 15” and “Soslucky” on “Eden Love” a tape compilation released by A Secret Song. Again a French compilation.

There are few other ones that I don’t know the date. On “Playing Around Sandcastles” that came out on the German label Meller Welle Produkte (MEL 31) they have the song “Atlantic Ocean”. Then on the tape “Entreinte & Tempo” a French cassette released by Disco 2000 (Discompil 01) they had the song “Rain”. This one gives actually another clue, most bands on this compilation hailed from the area of Toulouse. They must be French then. We can start forgetting the English band, right?

Lastly sometime in the 90s Aliénor Records used to put together promo tapes. One of them included three songs by the band, “Loose-Fitting”, “Another World” and “Romeo Suspect”.

And that’s it really. I can’t find who were the band members or where exactly they were from. Or why there are no more releases. I do think though that I am pretty confident that they were very much French and that they made some wonderful pop tunes!

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Listen
Romeo Suspect – Loose Fitting

Day 369

Blueboy: one of my favourite bands is on Bandcamp. Their album “The Bank of England” is now available to listen on Bandcamp and that’s definitely a great thing. The 13 songs from their third and final album are here as well as their previous two albums and a collection of singles. Essential.

Señor Kino: “Estrella Fugaz” is the wonderful new song by this Hermosillo, Mexico, band. It is quite a surprise, I don’t think I’ve ever heard their songs before. The song is poppy, upbeat, catchy, hypnotic at times. The guitars jangle and the melodies are dreamy. Looking forward to their next release now!

The Gabys: here are three songs I found on Soundcloud that don’t have any info about them. They seem to be part of a cassette release, but that’s it. It doesn’t say where the band hails from or who are the members. There’s a photo of a girl, which I assume is the vocalist, and maybe even the solo person behind this lo-fi bedroom pop band.

Painted Shrines: this new project by Glenn Donaldson from The Reds, Pinks & Purples and Jeremy Earl have just released an album called “Heaven and Holy”. It is available so far only in digital format, but it is worth listening for sure. I am sure at some point someone will release their songs on physical format as it makes a lot of sense. From this album you can check out three songs for free, “Gone”, “Not so Bad” and “Heaven and Holy”.

Count Florida: now we head to Glasgow to discover this fine sounding band!! There are two songs that sound ace, “Hot Things” and “Blake”. There is not much information sadly, only that the band is formed by Argo, Isobel and Mel. I am a fan already. Will they release songs soon? I hope so. I look forward to seeing their songs on a 7″!

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Now we head to Germany, to discover The Benjamins.

On Discogs there are three releases listed for the band. I own one of them, the 1991 album “Chameleon Show”. There is another album called “Shanghaimehome” and a 12″ EP titled “Row a Little Harder”. I should track these two down eventually.

I honestly don’t know much about the band. I am hoping with this detective work I’ll be able to find out details about them.

The 12″ was released in 1990 probably by themselves. There is no label listed. The songs on this record were four, two on each side. The A side had “Row a Little Harder” and “I Know It’s a Dream” while the B side had “Dreams Stay Unfinished” and “Oldfashioned Love”. The record sleeve show three photos, three band members. On the sleeve we see that the songs are credited to B. Rinnert, U. Knape and W. Reinfeld. They must be them. We have last names, not first names, not yet at least.

“Chameleon Show” was released in 1991 on Sound Factory (RTD 359.0041.1. 28). This label was based in the city of Bochum. Did they hail from there? There was a vinyl and two CD versions of this release.  The vinyl release had less songs, just 12, the CD had 15. In the case of the vinyl the tracklist was “The Engine”, “Three of Us”, “Different World”, “Chameleon Show”, “Cheating” and “Hey Little Bird” on the A side and “The Only One”, “Nothing Can Harm Me Now”, “The Song is You”, “Venus”, “Letters to the Moon” and “The Engine Part II” on the B side.

When it comes to the CDs, I am not sure what is different between the two versions. One has a sleeve with a blue chameleon with a yellow/orange background, the other has a sleeve with a green chameleon with a blue background. Mine is the latter. The tracklist for both CDs seem to be the same, “The Engine”, “Three of Us”, “Row a Little Harder”, “Different World”, “Chameleon Show”, “The Only One”, “Words”, “Hey Little Bird”, “Venus”, “Nothing Can Harm Me Now”, “Show me the End”, “Cheating”, “The Song is You”, “Venus”, “Letters to the Moon” and “The Engine Part II”.

The artwork for this release is credited to Daniel Schäfer. The photography by Ina Schatz. The songs were recorded at Powerplay Studio in Berlin. They were mixed by Detlef Goy while the engineers were Christoph Rinnert, Detlef Goy, Eberhardt Köhler and Nico Beurmann.

We find the names of the band members too, Benjamin Rinnert, Uwe Knape and Bulli Reinfeld. Bulli played the bass, double bass and vocals, Benjamin played drums, electric piano, violin, viola, accordion, percussion and vocals and Uwe played guitar, electric piano, percussion, harmonica and vocals.

Other people that helped create this record were Hannes Maczey who played fulgehorn and trumpet, Thorsten Doll (from Die Testbildtester’s) who played tenor saxophone, Frank Barucha the congas, and Frank Kramer the trombone.

I start also suspecting that the band hailed from Berlin. The recording studio was there. And I see Christoph Rinnert, perhaps Benjamin’s brother, owns a studio in that city called Headroom Radio.

The other album, “Shanghaimehome” I am not sure when it was released. The cover artwork looks a bit more modern, so that may indicate it was the band’s last release. The songs on it were: “What I Was Probably Trying to Say (Part 1)”, “What a Great Time”, “Something New”, “Tell Her”, “Nice Smiling Dolphin”, “Whenever You See Me”, “Woman at the Counter”, “Choose Your Sides”, “Without You”, “Don’t Say Nothing”, “Going Through the Changes”, “Restless”, “Put on the Chain”, “Winterday”, “What I Was Probably Trying to Say (Part 2)” and “Give Me a Smile”.

It is also worth mentioning that the band appears on at least three compilation CDs. The first one from 1991 called “Total Fatal Vol. 2” out on Sound Factory (359.0091.2) with the song “Three of Us”. Then came “Berlin 1992 – Bands United” where the band contributed “The Only One” and lastly in 1994 their song “Row a Little Harder” appeared on “Sound Factory. The Compilation” (359.0035.2) on Sound Factory of course.

Other good details to add is that Benjamin Rinnert played violin in a heavy metal song by the Italian band Sylvester’s Death, and that Uwe Knape had been in a band called Roxid.

But then there’s more. Uwe and Bulli are these days together in a band called Hunting Island.

I find that Benjamin Rinnert contributed music to the “House and Desert” documentary by Anna Faroqhi. He has also presented his opera “Und das war gut so…” at the Neuköllner Opera and given music to a radio play for kids called “Tartarin, der Löwentöter”. So it seems he has been quite busy with music. Perhaps not indiepop, but still!

And that’s what I’ve found out. Quite interesting what they were involved afterwards but would be great to know if they were too in other indiepop bands? If there are more releases or songs by The Benjamins? And of course details like when did they start as a band, when did they split! I couldn’t find any of that!

Who remembers them?

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Listen
The Benjamins – Dreams Stay Undefined

Day 366

Nos Etés Trop Courts: another tape has surfaced from the Nantes 90s pop band. This one is a rehearsal tape, dating from spring 1991. Here we find 8 songs, one being a Sonic Youth cover. Included is my favourite song of theirs, “Diaphane”. It is interesting to listen to this tracks like this, in a total different way.

The Primary Colours: wow! remember I interviewed this great 80s band on the blog some time ago? They released just one 7″ back in 1987 and now the band has added this 7″ to their Bandcamp (well the Bandcamp of their current band, Wily). So if you have never heard them before this it is definitely a good idea to do so now.

The Telephone Numbers: not too long I was recommending this San Francisco band and now I find out they have signed to the Madrid label Meritorio Records and are releasing an album called “The Ballad of Doug” on vinyl on June 4! Great news! We can preview one of the songs now, “You’re Nowhere”, which sounds really good!

A Estas Alturas: from Puerto Rico comes this band which I believe is now based in Dallas, Texas. The band seems to be actually a solo project by Daniel Vicente and his latest song is called “Efectos Secundarios”. He makes nice guitar driven bedroom pop. This year he has released previously two other songs, so three in total. This is a nice discovery, especially the 2nd track he put out, “Agua Que Cae del Cielo”, which is my favourite.

Julia Amor: and lastly we head to Valencia, Spain. There we discover a label called Futuras Licenciadas. Never heard about them before but I plan to check all their releases. For now I am listening to their latest, Julia Amor, which was released on tape earlier this year. Now it is sold out. But at least we can listen the 5 songs that were included in it and they make a nice surprise.

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Who were the Crimson Mints? They wrote “Makes Me Want To”, one of my favourite songs from the legendary tape “Positively Teenage”, and I don’t know of any other song by them!

There must be more songs. You don’t record just one! If you go to a studio you take advantage and at least record two. Right? Who would know?

Maybe Stephen Maughan could know? He did the fantastic This Almighty Pop! fanzine and he released the tape, “Positively Teenage” (DOLPHIN 7), in 1990.

This tape included so many great bands from Love Parade to The Penny Candles. You find the Fat Tulips, The Williams, Mousefolk, The Church Grims, The Mayfields, The Sohfas, etc, etc. One wonders how was this tape put together! It’s so good. How did Stephen found all these songs? all these bands? And of course how he found about the Crimson Mints!

I’ve found a tape with two songs on the web. The songs are “Don’t Take Me” and “Here Lies Dust”. This tape dates from 1995 and has a black and white sleeve with a dog in the cover. The band hails from Newscastle. Is it the same band?

The vocalist in this tape is Julie Grant. She suffered of myalgic encephalomyelitis. This tape came with an folded insert informing about the illness. There was an address for the Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Association and also a request to help them.  Also on the sleeve of the tape it mentions that Julie has been suffering of this illness since May 1986 and that 1 pound of each copy of the cassette was to be donated for research into the virus. The song “Don’t Take Me” is written about and dedicated to those who suffer.

When I interviewed Bulldozer Crash’s Stephen and Marc they mention the band though they don’t give any details. Marc does tell me that his brother Graeme from Love Parade though the song “Final Kick” by The Liberty Ship (Marc’s band in the early 2000s) sounded like pure Crimson Mints.

I know some more little details. For example that the Crimson Mints supported The Blue Aeroplanes in a venue called Riverside in 1990. Where was this venue? Probably Newcastle. What day? That I don’t know…

The other gig I know of is of November 8, 1990, a Thursday. That time the band played alongside Halfway House at Joe Wilsons in Newcastle.

And that’s all I could find. Anyone remembers them? Have any more information?!

Edit: on the This Almighty Pop fanzine volume 2 from autumn 1988 there is a mention of the Crimson Mints. There are not many details but two that are important. One is that the guitar player was called Alan. and that Julie was the bassist. The only other interesting bit is that they played a gig with The Wishing Stones at the Broken Doll club on Oct. 28th of that same year. (Thanks to Elias for the info)

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Listen
Crimson Mints – Makes Me Want To

Day 364

The Kensingtons: great news! Our friends are back with the “All it Was, Was Everything” EP! Now back in England, the band has made 7 terrific indiepop slices for this EP for everyone to enjoy. Jangly, catchy, poppy, upbeat, the sort of indiepop we need to end the winter!

Moon Museum: this is a new band from San Francisco and sounds really good! There is just one song on Bandcamp and it is called “Pleasures of Peace” which is a swirling dreamy track. The band is formed by Olivia Barchard, Ryan Joseph, Ian Zazueta and Aaron Hazen. This sounds very promising. Let’s hope for more songs soon.

Boyracer: wow! a new EP by Boyracer! That’s great news. The songs for “Right or Wrong” are going to be released in cassette on March 25. But for those that are no fans of tapes like me there are the good news that the band recorded another 14 songs that will be released as a vinyl LP later this year. Good news indeed!

Ural Mountains: now we head to Argentina to find a French band there. Yeah that’s a bit confusing but interesting at the same time. Their latest release “Synthetic Lights” is an 8 song album packed with superb chiming, jangly and shoegazy guitars. Really nice!

Dyl: not much information about this Portland project, but I am really enjoying “Picture demo”, the latest track on their Soundcloud. It is a fun lo-fi bedroom-pop song. Will check their rest of songs now…

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Do you remember the Bristol label Big Pink Cake? Do you remember the club nights, the great indiepop nights at the Mothers’ Ruin in Bristol that Big Pink Cake organized? I attended once and it was fantastic. I wish I had attended many more times. The job Matthew and Heather did was just inspiring.

My memories bring me back to their label. Mind you, they started as a club night and then they did the label, not the other way around. And I always find that interesting. Hopefully one day we’ll hear their story. Today I wanted to revisit the band Vanilla Ride, who I believe, correct me if I’m wrong, the last release on the label.

Their release was a self-titled album and came out in 2012. Catalog number was BPC 008. It was a CDR in the style that was common those days, in a small plastic sleeve.There you’d find the sleeve, which was printed on both sides, an insert thanking you for buying the release, another insert with the catalog telling that the next releases were going to be by The Sunny Street and The Fireworks, and lastly a folded A4 page with a photo of the band and lyrics of the song “Rocket Bicycle”. One thing though that I was curious about is that in most photos we see three people, but the band is listed as a four-piece. How come?

The album included 9 songs, “Two 107”, “Rocket Bicycle”, “Hilma”, “You and I”, “A Boring Day in Oslo”, “Katherine”, “Anti Rock Chick Song”, “Two 107 (Version 2)” and “Me Against You”.

The band members were Veronica Dajani on guitar and vocals, Bret Fulton on drums and backing vocals, Sachiko Fukuda on bass and backing vocals and Corinne Alvarado on bass. Now, the sleeve sort of solves the mystery of the band members. Corinne was in the band only in 2007. Sachiko would join in 2007 and be in the band until 2009.

Till when did the band last? Was the CD release posthumously? One thing that I notice on the photos is that the three members that were around in the end show their arms. There they have something written or something drawn. Bret has “Manc” written, he must be from Manchester, Veronica has a Norwegian flag, so was she from Norway? And Sachiko has a Japanese flag, was she from Japan?

We know too that all songs were written by Veronica Dajani but “Anti Rock Chick Song” where the music was created by the whole band.

The CD also gives us information and sort of tells you this is a compilation of different recordings. So “Two 107”, “You and I”, “A Boring Day in Oslo”, “Katherine” and “Me Against You” were recorded in 2007 at Vatican Recording Studios in Bethnal Green, London. Then we know that “Rocket Bicycle”, “Hilma”, “Anti Rock Chick Song” and “Two 107 (Version 2)” were recorded by George C. Coombs at Elderfield Studios in Homerton, London. Lastly all songs for these CD were mastered by Rocker Rosehip. Our old friend Rocker.

The photos in the sleeve are credited to Neil Anderson. The front cover art to Veronica Dajani.

Aside from this cool album the band contributed to two compilations, both in 2009. Their song “Rocket Bicycle” appeared on the first release of the Big Pink Cake Label, “Piece of Cake! – An Indiepop Compilation” (BPC 001). Also that same year “A Boring Day in Oslo” appeared on the CDR comp “Series Two Compilation Vol. 18”.

So what happened afterwards with the London band? Is that something we can find out? Bret Bolton continued making music, he was involved in MFC Chicken, The Baron Four, The Bridge Gang, The Roves, The Teamsters and in The Choo Choo Trains. Sachiko was in umez, No Cars and also on The Choo Choo Trains. She also contributed on a song by The Projects. Veronica did release a solo album on Meat ‘N’ Tatty Tapes last year and was also on The Choo Choo Trains. I didn’t know of this connection. Would it make sense to say Vanilla Ride evolved into the Choo Choo Trains?

The Choo Choo Trains last release was in 2015. What happened afterwards? Ok, we know Veronica continued making music on her own. I also believe Bret and Sachiko weren’t in the Choo Choo Trains long, The Choo Choo Trains were a three girl-piece.

Another interesting detail I find is that Vanilla Ride is actually the name of a crime fiction novel by American author Joe R. Lansdale. It is the eight book of the Hap and Leonard series. Did they take the name from this book? Were they fans of crime fiction?

Then we find a Bandcamp by the band. Here you can preview all the songs though it doesn’t any more details than what I’ve shared so far.

The Wildblanket blog has an article where they mention the band. Here it tells that the band presented themselves just as Veronica and Sachiko at the Dublin Castle.  The writer mentions he has seen Vanilla Ride as Veronica solo and also as Veronica and Bret. And also there’s a nice collection of photos here of that gig.

The band also played at the Big Pink Cake Indie-Pop! all weekender on July 11th of 2009. That time they shared bill with great bands like Pocketbooks, The Westfield Mining Disaster, Amida or Electrophonvitage!

On May 9, same year, Big Pink Cake organized a gig at the Mother’s Ruin with Pocketbooks, The Kick Insid and Vanilla Ride.

Another gig they did was sometime in April 2009 alongside The Manhattan Love Suicides, Dirtblonde and Fnords. I believe this was a gig organized by Lostmusic.

I also believe they played on April 15 at the Bull & Gate in London with Alien Milk, Elettronora and Sparky’s Magic Piano.

Well, that’s what I could find about them. There was internet back then of course, not so hard to find info about the band as with obscure 80s band, but still I feel there’s more story to tell. I hope we find out  more about Vanilla Ride in the near future!

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Listen
Vanilla Ride – Rocket Bicycle

Day 362

Monogamy: we start the week in Chicago with Monogamy’s EP “More Songs About Apartments & Lunch”. The poppy lo-fi EP is out now on cassette directly from the band. The EP has 4 songs, all recorded live this past January.

The Stammer: we continue in the US, now a band that I have featured back in the day. A long time ago I think! But I am well aware of the nice jangle pop this Philadelphia band makes. Their latest is a 10″ EP with just three songs! The songs included are “Burden on the Living”, “Wishing Well” and “Heaven”. Good stuff!

Miracle Legion: the classic New Haven band is on Bandcamp. I didn’t know! Their latest release there is actually a live album, “Live at Glam Slam 1992”. This club was a place invented and partly owned by Prince. They played there in March of 1992 and they did the 15 songs included here. Only digital it seems.

Citrus Clouds: another band that I enjoy and have featured in the past is this Phoenix, Arizona, combo. They have just released a new album titled “Collider”, 10 great slices of dreampop that are available on cassette and CD from Lolipop Records. This is a must for this month.

Firestations: ok, let’s move from the US to the UK now. There’s a cool limited CDR of the Firestations latest EP “Melted Medium”. It looks really pretty and it is actually the second installment in a trilogy of three EPs. Here are 6 lovely crafted popsongs that I totally recommend.

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I found two videos of the American band Syrup USA playing live. I have their album CD but I never put a face to the band members, nor I imagined them as a band. So this was really cool. These two videos I found on the channel RoadToRuane were actually full gigs. The first dates from October 26, 1996 at a venue called Middle East (in which city was this venue located?)  while the 2nd is from is from April 28, 1997, at the Green Street Grill (which city again?).

The band’s first release was a 7″ on the label Tru Luv (SYRUP 3), which we can guess was the band’s own. This 7″ was called “Spinning at 45 Revolutions Per Minute” and included two songs, “Joie de Vol” on the A side and “Bulldozer” on the B side. Both songs were recorded by Eric Masunaga (from The Dambuilders) at the Cold Room in Boston, in October 1994.

On the credits we find that the art was created by Leela Corman while we see Seana Carmody on vocals and guitar, Matt Fein on organ, Orrin Anderson on drums and Sam Mallery on bass and vocals.

The band’s second release was again a single. Released in 1995, this new 7″ came out also on Tru Luv (Tru Luv 2). It had two songs, “Teen Death” on the A side and “Mysterious Dog” on the B side. Both songs had been recorded at Fort Apache Studios in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Then they were mixed at Q-Division in Boston. I think by now I am pretty sure the band hailed from the Boston area. The person behind both recording and mixing was Miss Christina “Sport” Files (who had been in the Swirlies). Eric Masunaga is also credited with helping in the mixing. The executive producer for this record was Nick Hubben.

The band’s album, “All Over the Land”, came out in 1997. This is the record.I own by them. I remember enjoying it quite a bit. It was released on both CD and LP and was even released in Japan by Nippon Columbia (COCY-80775). In the rest of the world it was released by Flydaddy Records (FLY 023).   Flydaddy was the label of bands like The Olivia Tremor Control, Autohaze or Witch Hazel.

Again the band recorded at Fort Apache and Q Division Studios. The songs on this album were “People of the Lake”, “Joie de Vol”, “Thrill Fit”, “Parfait” and “Vaporized” on the A side and “New You”, “Trellis”, “Queen of the Beach”, “Stardust”, “Rosey Why” and “Harlequin” on the B side. 11 songs in total. The painting for the artwork is credited to Geoffrey Burns and the photos to Charles Peterson. In the mixing we see Owen Burkett and Richard Marr being credited. Christina Files was again the producer and engineer.

It is also worth noting that the Japanese version included three more songs, “Mysterious Dog”, “Teen Death” and “Bulldozer”.

Aside from these releases the band appeared on a few compilations in the 90s. The most well known is of course the 1996 comp “Pop American Style” on March Records (MAR024). This is a classic comp of course, and here the band appeared with the song “Thrill Fit”.

In 1996 their song “Rosey Why” appears on “Pipelin! Live Boston Rock on WMBR” double CD comp released by Slow River Records (VA016). That same year they contribute “After Dallas” to another CD compilation called “The Cool Beans! Texas Issue Companion CD” that came with the Cool Beans! magazine fifth number.

Lastly in 1997 the band had “Queen of the Beach” on “Explorer” a CD compilation that came with the 9th issue of the Japanese magazine Beikoku Ongaku and their track “Stardust” appeared on “CMJ New Music Monthly Volume 50 October 1997”, a CD that came included with the CMJ mag from October of that year.

Other worthy information that I could find is that Seana Carmody released a solo record in 2002 and was part of Raspberry Bang and the Swirlies. Sam Mallery was in the Hidden Driveways. Matt Fein seems to have collaborated with Sebadoh and Orrin Anderson worked in Seana’s album.

There is a Wikipedia entry on the band but doesn’t tell any other details sadly. So I keep googling… one interesting detail I find is that the band started in 1993 and disbanded in 1998.

And then I find a podcast, an interview with Seana Carmody. The podcast show is called All Your Things are Gone. And even better a Bandcamp with her latest release which is called “Barn Songs“. It is much folkier than Syrup USA but it is very enjoyable!

When it comes to Sam Mallery I find he has a blog!  I found a mention of Syrup USA in this article, where he mentions they played Maxwell’s in Jersey.

Another good find is this review of their album on the Boston Phoenix. It dates from October 1997 and was written by Brett Milano.

And that’s it. Where are they now? Who remembers them?

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Listen
Syrup USA – Parfait

Day 359.

The Sleeping Years: this is a really cool find for me! Dale Grundie, who is behind The Sleeping Years, was one of the members of the amazing band Catchers! His latest release on Bandcamp dates from 2013, but still, it is great to know he continued making music. The songs are a bit different to Catchers’ sound, this is a bit more pastoral, more folky. But there are great pop melodies like in “Into Sunlight”, which I believe is still available as a 7″. Maybe we could get in touch and interview him about Catchers? “Cotton Dress” is one of the best indiepop songs I think!

Corduroy: back in October I was raving about this Swedish band and wondering if they were going to release something. Well at least it seems they have found a record label, Vårø Records. There is no announcement here but a song, “Gråa Dagar” is available to stream as a digital single. I hope this means something is going to be released in the near future!

Friends Don’t Die: now we head to Los Angeles and discover Friends Don’t Die. Their latest song was released back in December and is called “Backwards”. There is not much information about the band, just a previous release, “She’s a Headrush”, dating from October. I am guessing it is a new-ish band. The sound is really good, catchy, indiepoppy with wave and post/punk influences with vocals reminding me of The Mary Onettes. Really enjoyable.

LaPara: it is rare to find a good Italian indiepop band! LaPara sounds good to me immediately. I play their latest track, “Traballa”, with the catchy female vocals and melodies, that I am sold. The band started in 2018 by Rebecca Paraciani and will be releasing an EP in April titled “Tutti Gli Animali del Mondo”.

All Under Heaven: lastly we discover All Under Heaven, a shoegaze band from Freehold, New Jersey. The band has signed to the fine Brighton label Shore Drive Records and is releasing a CD EP titled “Collider” which is already out! Four songs are included in this debut EP!

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I’m going to head to Japan to day to discover this band with an intersting name, Plain Cream Puff Spray. The band didn’t release any records as far as I know but recorded at least 4 songs and appeared on 5 compilations in the 90s. So let’s check them out.

It is in 1993 that we hear about the band for the first time. Their song “I Have a Butter Cup” appears on a cassette compilation called “We Don’t Need Another Hero” released by the Haarnadel label (HAAR02). This label I believe was run by two people, Hiroshi Kawano from Sgamihara-city and Tetsuya Ono from Atsugi-city. Not very familiar with many of the bands on this tape but a few have appeared on the blog like Tip Top Planets, All Twin’s Birthday and Sunshower.

The next year, 1994, the band would appear on the CD compilation “The Cacaos Go Like Hotcakes” released by Chocolat Art Records (CA010) and Pushbike Records (UFPB005). On this tape the band contribute the song “Lu”. Again not very familiar with the bands on this compilation, I know of Tip Top Planets, Sunny Gets Blue and Sunnychar. All great bands. I am familiar though with the Pushbike label, a superb Japanese record label.

Now it is 1995. The band starts collaborating with Clover Records, one of the best Japanese indiepop labels. They contribute, to the compilation cassette “The Solar System – Clover Records Compilation Vol.2” (C-010), the song “I Have a Buttercup (First Version)”. I don’t know if the song sounds much different to the version they contributed to the first compilation I mentioned, “We Don’t Need Another Her”, but would be nice to know. On this compilation I find another band I’ve featured in the past, Peatmos.

In 1997 the band appears on “Pop Jingu Volume 1 (A Japanese Pop Compilation)” released by Sonorama Records (Sonorama 004) and Clover Records (CLCD 1101). Thanks to this CD I discovered the band. On this compilation the band actually had two songs, “Forever” and “Prism”.

It is worth mentioning that I interviewed Dan from Sonorama Records not too long ago, so check that out.

Lastly in 1998 the band appears with “I Have a Buttercup” on the compilation tape “A Very Limited Special Promotion Tape from Clover Records”. This compilation was actually not for sale. All songs in this tape were selected from Spooky Music Club cassette only series up to catalog number 045 in the 2 years by Masato from Clover Records. Here it mentions that Clover started releasing tapes in 1995 and by the time they put out this tape they had made more than 8 thousand tapes. That’s a lot! Also by this time the label had been releasing 7″s, CDs, fanzines and more.  This is what says on the sleeve of course, but I am curious though what was the Spooky Music Club series. Does anyone have more information?

Now we know the songs and where they appeared but we don’t really know anything about the band so far. Well, on the “Pop Jingu” compilation there are some credits and that do help me find more about the band. Here it says that Naomi Funakoshi played all instruments and sang. There is address too for the Luv Lab Label in the Uguisadani area in Tokyo. Was that her own label?

So we know too that Naomi was part of Tip Top Planets. She was the vocalist. Cool. So that’s an interesting connection. On most of these compilations that Plain Cream Puff Spray appeared, Tip Top planets also appeared.

Really cool. Maybe some day I’ll be able to get in touch with Naomi then and maybe I’ll be able to learn about these two bands she was involved with, her solo bedroom project Plain Cream Puff Spray which I am writing about today and the super band she was in, Tip Top Planets, which I wrote about some time ago!

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Listen
Plain Cream Puff Spray – Forever

Day 357.

Ring Snuten: when theree’s a new song by Patrik I get very happy. This time around the ex-Hormones in Abundance and ex-Garlands has released “Mitt Livs Biljard”. But even better, the same song is also available in English as “The Pool of My Life”. Pool as in billiards of course. It’s great that last January he released a song, then now one in February… will we get one in March? I hope so!

A Young Persons Guide to Blue Very: Japanese friends and also friends from around the world. Here is a cool compilation on CDR released by the fine Blue-Very label from Tokyo. Kei’s label is great, he releases amazing bands, picking them with great taste. In this latest release, he has exclusive songs from bands like 101 Dalmatians, Sloppy Joe, Foreign Correspondent and more.

The Telephone Numbers: we head to San Francisco and I discover this lovely band! Thomas Rubenstein is the person behind the band who has just released a 7″ on the Fruits & Flowers label. The two songs included are “Leviathan” and “I Took a Walk (BZC version)”. The opening track reminds me a lot of Alpaca Sports. That’s definitely good, right?!

Toledo: now let’s discover this New York band that has just released theeir album “Hot Stuff” on vinyl. There are 10 songs here of fine dream pop, sometimes mixed with folky sounds. It is an interesting sound for sure.

Balloon Maker: wow! what a nice discovery! I owe this one to my friend David from Barcelona. The latest song by this Göteborg band is called “M.Boy” and it sounds really good! The band started back in 2014 with another name. In 2019 the band was already Balloon Maker with the lineup of Filip Orrhult, Jacob Andén, Arvid Lundén and Anton Örarbäck. The band is now looking forward to record their debut album this year.

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Here we are again discovering music thanks to the Wilfully Obscure blog. Sometimes I wonder if it is a good idea to repeat bands other fine blogs out there have featured. I would argue that it is a good idea, blogs have different readers, different reach. Also the post about the New Haven, Connecticut, band Beauty Constant there dates from August 2009. So more than 11 years. Maybe I’d get some new interest here, maybe we’ll learn new details about them!

With that in mind I check out the only release by the band, a 1987 album called “Like the Enemy”. This LP was released by Forehead Records (FHD 016). I don’t know anything about the label. Not sure where it was based. A good guess would be here in the Northeast. Maybe? What we do know is that there are credits on the back of the jacket.

So we know that Chihoe Hahn played guitar and vocals, Steve Folta guitar and backing vocals, Hugh Schoolman drums and Sandy Smallens bass and backing vocals.

Also worth noting is that the design of the sleeve was done by Donna Fringuello. The cover photography by William Vazquez while the photos on the back are by Barbara Longo. The production is credited to the band, Mike Denneen and William Garrett at Q Division in Boston for the A side and to the band and Al Hemberger at Lips, Bronxville, NY, for the B side.

Most songs were penned by Chihoe Hahn except “Thursday Night” which was written by Steve Folta and “Send a World Away’ written by both Hahn and Folta. The band’s manager was Tricia Davies and she was based in NYC.

So yeah, the LP had 10 songs in total. I’ve mentioned two so far. This was the tracklist. On the A side there’s “Ed’s Anthem”, “Under the Gun”, “Like the Enemy”, “Catching You” and “Fortunately”. The B side had “It’s One Life”, “Second Minor One”, “Site to See”, “Thursday Night” and “Send a World Apart”.

On the comments on the blog post from Wilfully Obscure we find a few little tidbits about the band. We know that the band was around at least as early as 1983, that they used to play R.E.M. covers at their gigs including “Green Grow the Rushes” and that there were other songs by the band that remain unreleased like “Halcyon Days”. It also mentions that Chihoe Hahn became a luthier and owns Hahn Guitars. Wow!

Other things we know… yes, the band appeared on two compilations. In 1985 they contributed the song “Second Minor One” to “Scream: Sampler Containing Really Exciting American Music” released by Thirsty Ear (SCRM-4) and then in 1986 their songs “Thursday Night” and “Sight to See” appeared on the LP compilation “Some New Ruins – The Yale-New Haven Compilation” which was released by I.V. Towers Records (I.V. 001). This record is on Soundcloud here.

Chihoe Hahn not only became a luthier but also released records on his own. There are at least two albums released by him. He also did engineering work for the band Jack’s Empty Hours. Steve Folta also was involved with other bands like Speed Bumps or Junket. Sandy Smallens was in Too Much Joy and Gramercy Arms and works now in Audiation.fm.

We know too that in the Spring Weekend festival of 1985 the band performed alongside Man Ray and Miracle Legion.

Some good information I found in the end, right? Not bad. Maybe we’ll find out more details about them eventually. Why just one album recorded? Were there demo tapes? Are there more songs by them? I hope we find out!

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Listen
Beauty Constant – Send a World Apart

Day 355. Well tomorrow it will be a year since I started this lockdown. I thought it was in mid-March that I started this. Maybe I miscounted the days, though I think I was thorough. Perhaps I didn’t start counting when I first started to stay at home. I can’t remember anymore. It’s been a long time in any case.

Nuevos Hobbies: Discos de Kirlian have a few new releases worth checking out. Let’s start by the 12″ “Monstruoso” by the Spanish band Nuevos Hobbies. The 10 songs in this record are beautiful and jangly, no surprise here, it feels every indiepop band from Pamplona knows how to make good records. This one is very good, and I hope to get a copy soon.

The Death of Pop: another new song on the label’s Bandcamp is “Go Back”. This song is going to be part of the forthcoming album “Seconds” that the label will co-release with the fine French label Hidden Bay. There seems to be no release date yet, but we are looking forward to it.

Always You: and lastly from Discos de Kirlian is the song “Rio de Janeiro” by Always You. This one sounds really good. The band features the twin brothers Christoph and Anton who were in a lineup of the Pains of Being Pure at Heart as well as in the own band Ablebody. The song sounds great and it is announced that Shelflife Records will be involved in a release as well. Again no data for that yet, but we can enjoy this track of course!

The Umbrella Puzzles: well, this is already sold out. So fast. This is making me think that I should change the Cloudberry releases to a limited run of 100 copies. What do you all think? I would have to sell each 7″ for $12 plus shipping though. But the good thing will be that the records will all find a home and not stay in boxes at my place for a long time. I think I should start considering this. Anyways, I missed the CD release of “A Slowly Dawning Realization”. It seems the 100 copies were sold out in a day. Wow. Really wow. But it is not surprise as the music of Ryan Marquez has always been pure quality. In this new album  he includes 10 jangly songs, filled with perfect melodies. The CD was released by Subjangle Records but you can stream the songs on Bandcamp.

The Blue Herons: who isn’t a fan of the music of Gretchen deVault and Andy Jossi by now? The Swiss-American project keeps crafting bright, luminous, indiepop slices of perfection. Their latest track is titled “Endless Rain” and it sounds classic at first listen. Everything is in the right places. Every arrangement, the lyrics, the vocals, it just sounds good to me. As my friend Jessel asked somewhere, when are they releasing something?

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Did this late 80s, early 90s band got their name after a Bee Gees song called “Red Chair, Fade Away”? Would that be the first and only indiepop band to be called after a Bee Gees song? that’s an interesting thread to investigate.

But I think in general I want to know more about the band. I own a few records by them, probably half or so of their releases. So I am missing many parts in the puzzle.

Many know the band because Tim Vass was part of it. Tim Vass had been in the legendary Razorcuts (he was also part of Dandelion Wine, The Forever People and The Cinematics). But he was accompanied by two more musicians, Shirley Souter and Richard Mason. Richard had played in the Razorcuts albums and had been in the band called Shake Appeal. Shirley actually did backing vocals on The Carousel records and was part of Dandelion Wine. She also took photos for the Razorcuts’ “The World Keeps Turning” album. So yeah, all very well-known people within the Oxford scene.

In 1989 the band would release their first record, a 12″ EP titled “Let It Happen” on the Cosmic English Music label (CTA 103). The A side had “Let it Happen” and “Myra”, while the B side had “Dragonfly” and “Grasshopper”. On this record we see that another important name in Oxford scene, Peter Momtchiloff (Heavenly) played bass. Also Struan Robertson (from Saturn V and The Would-Be-Goods) played drums and percussion.

Richard Mason played the acoustic guitar and bells in the record, Tim Vass played guitar, acoustic guitar, tambourine, finger cymbals, flute and organ while Shirley Souter played rhythm guitar. The producers were Tim Vass and Martin Pavey. The record was produced at Silent Studio in London.

There are also etchings on the vinyl, the A side says “No Clothes Don’t Buy My Soul”.

That same year the band released a second 12″. Titled “Mr. Jones”, it was another 4 song EP with “Mr. Jones” and “Chimney Pots” on the A side and “Faraway Lights” and “Out of the Grey” on the B side. Here I start to change the idea of the lineup of the band I had. So on the front cover there is an illustration of 5 members. These are the original three I thought of plus Struan Robertson and Peter Momtchiloff. The back of the sleeve lists them as three band members.

Like in the first record, all songs are credited to Shirley Souter.

In 1991 the band releases a split flexi with the American band Fudge. It was released by Waterbomb! Records (Splat 002). This flexi came alongside the sixth issue of the Waterbomb! fanzine and Red Chair Fadeaway contributed the song “Never Remember”. The red sleeve, on the Red Chair Fadeaway has a photo of a girl. I’ve tried many times to figure out who is she, if someone famous, but not sure. Anyone knows?

In 1991 the band would release their first album on both CD and vinyl. It was titled “Curiouser and Curiouser”. Originally it got released on vinyl by Tangerine Records (MM10). This version had 12 songs, “My Brother’s Room”, “Sleeping in Your Garden”, “Circus i n the Sky”, “Willo”, “All Your Old Tricks” and “Saffron’s Dream” on the A side, and “The Watermill of No Place”, “No Time”, “Rocking Boat”, “Epitaph for a Hare”, “Conjuror Trendle” and “Doasyouwouldbedoneby” on the flipside. The artwork was created by Paulo Baigent and came in a very nice sleeve from what I understand, with extra flap and even included a 10 page lyric booklet. I don’t have this records sadly. It looks really pretty from the photos.

The CD version came out on the English Garden label (ENG1013CD). This CD version included the album plus the two previous 12″s plus the song from the flexi disc, in that order. So in the end it has 21 songs! I think I’d like this version of the album, more songs! even though it probably not as pretty as the vinyl…

In 1993 the band would put out their second album “Mesmerised” released by Aural Records (AUR 102) on vinyl and on English Garden (ENG1012CD) on CD. This time around the tracklist looks the same for both versions. There were twelve songs, “I’m Not Trying”, “Homestead Moat”, “The Plaitman of Bedfordshire”, “Cristatus”, “Hot Rain” and “Happy With Your Lot” on the A side and “Clear, Clear to Me”, “Sweet Way”, “Don’t Close the Door”, “Under Clouds”, “Dream River” and “On Telegraph Hill” on the B side. Here I see there’s a mix when it comes to who wrote the songs. Shirley is still the main songwriter but Mason and Vass contribute more this time.

The artwork is credited to Shirley and we see another guest musician other than Struan Robertson, Raymond Dunthorne. Also on the credits we see that the engineer was Fred Baggs. The album was recorded at Redchurch Studio in London between the summer of 1992 and spring of 1993. Two songs, “Sweet Way” and “Dream River” were recorded at Joe’s Garage in London in autumn 1991.

The band’s last release was a 1995 7″ on the Candy Floss label (CF006) from the US. The 7″ had three songs. On the A side we find “Kingcup” while on the B side there’s “Kevin Said” and “July (Is a Long Time Coming)”. The song on the A side was recorded and mixed at Redchurch Studio on April 1995, “Kevin Said” was recorded at Joe’s Garage on August 1991 and mixed at Redchurch on April 1995 and the closing track was recorded at La Rocka Studio in London in April 1991 and mixed at Dungeon Studio in Oxfordshire in August 1991. On “Kingcup”, David Goldthorpe played rhythm guitar as backing vocals. He would later contribute in Dandelion Wine.

When it comes tom compilations the band appeared on a few. Interestingly not in their early days, but most of the compilations they’ve been on had been in this century.

The first one dates from 1995 and was called “(Garden of Delights Presents…) Seek Refuge… (From your Intolerable Situation)”. This compilation LP was released by Garden of Delights (Garden 3) and included the song “Limetree Helicopters”. Other known bands in this record include The Blind Bats, Louis Phillipe, Next Time Passions, The Television Personalities or The Pastels among others. The proceeds from this release were donated to the charity Womens Aid who provided refuges for battered women and their children.

Discogs lists a compilation called “Electric Psychedelic Sitar Headswirlers Volume 1-5”. It is a 5 CD boxset but it is listed as unofficial. Here they show Red Chair Fadeaway appearing on the fifth CD with the song “All Your Tricks”. The label was Past & Present Records (PAPRBOX 011) and it dates from 2011. Then in 2015 there is another unofficial CD boxset, a whopping 11 CDs. This one is called “Electric Psychedelic Headswirlers Volumes 1-11”. So yes, it includes CD 5 with Red Chair Fadeaway and the song “All Your Tricks”. The label name has changed though, now it is called Rubble and the catalog number is RUBCDBOX6. This 5th CD of the series was also released unofficially on its own by yet another label, Purple Lantern Records.

In 2018 Cherry Red would include thee song “Let it Happen” on the CD boxset “C89”. Then in 2019 Cherry Red would again include them on another box set called “Losing Touch With My Mind: Psychedelia in Britain 1986-1990” with the song “Myra”.

I google them. I only find blogs that let people download their records. That’s disappointing. I am looking for any other information that I haven’t found yet, perhaps I could find what are they doing these days? Are they still involved with music? That would be a cool thing to find out.

So yes, any information, any details would be appreciated. Anyone saw them playing live? Did the band make t-shirts? I reckon the design for their last 7″, “Kingcup” would have been great on t-shirts….

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Listen
Red Chair Fadeaway – Mr. Jones