Day 457

Jane and John: from London comes this cool duo that started during the pandemic. They have released three songs so far. The latest two are brand new, “Here at Last” and “Boing Boing”. They are fun electronic pop, influenced by Helen Love I’d say. Or if you liked Supercute, that’s a good comparison too. This is great. Fun, addictive pop!

Famous Mammals: we head to Oakland, California, now to discover this combo of lo-fi pop. They released a self-titled EP last month and it is still available. It comes with 10 songs of bedroom pop goodness, an amateur-ish vibe that can easily win over your heart (and ears).

Amor Butano: now I am checking the Madrid based label Jeanne D’Arc and I discover a few things. The first one is a cassette titled “Benimaclet” by the Valencia band Amor Butano. The tape, which is still available, has 4 songs of fun straight up wavey synthpop. Good summer music.

Perdón: the next one I wanted to tell you about from Jeanne D’Arc is the band Perdón from Murcia, Spain. They have a tape also. It is called “Te Invito a mi Fiesta” and it is an 8-song album. This one is much more an indiepop record. With male/female vocals, fun melodies, catchy choruses, you know, all the stuff we like! The band is formed by Arturo, Irene and Leyre, and of course I will keep an eye on them!

Dismal Plight: our friend Gustav from the fantastic Salt Lake Alley has another project that you should know about. That’s how I want to end the week! Presenting you the two songs he has on Soundcloud as they are really good, especially “A Man Who’s Already Drowning” which I think is terrific! The other song is good too, “I Want to Take You There” but it is much less indiepop, more of a post punk song. So give them a listen, they won’t disappoint.

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After I wrote about the Swedish band Violett my friend David shared with me yet another wonderful demo tape from Sweden, Alexis’ “…In Sun” from 1995.

I looked for more info on Discogs but it is not listed there. But I can tell you a few details about this Swedish band and maybe you can help me fill in the rest.

The tape released by Clown Productions, the same as Violett (!), had 5 songs, “Afternoon Tea”, “Barbie”, “Sunny Side Up”, “Meadow” and “Sunbeams”. As mentioned it was released in 1995 and that same year was when the band recorded and mixed the songs at Studio Mary in Ystad. Oh! Ystad again!

Right, so there is a connection between both bands! So in Alexis all songs are by Daniel Permbo while the music is by Mårten Cervin (with the exception of “Sunbeams” which is by Cervin and Dan Lindgren). Okay, these three are the same band members as in Violett! The Violett tape is also from 1995. Why did they have two different bands?!

This is truly a mystery to me. On the sleeve of the tape we find what each of them played on this tape.

M. Cervin: lead and backing vocals, guitars
D. Lindgren: bass, backing vocals on “Barbie” and grand piano on “Sunbeams:
D. Permbo: drums and percussion

All of them are credited for keyboards, handclaps and fingersnaps. The design of the sleeve is credited to the band and the oil painting for the sleeve to Daniel Permbo.

In my post about Violett I mentioned some of the stuff I found about the band members, but I’ll add them here just in case!

I look for the band members then. I believe Mårten has been playing keyboards with a singer songwriter called Fredrik Larsson as of late. I don’t find any music related projects by Daniel Permbo but I think he has his own film/animation company called DejPej Film and has made this cool video about the city and Wallander! Even cooler he used a Sambassadeur song as background music for the video. Class.

No more information. But now we know two bands by this trio. Will we find more about them soon? A third band? A fourth? This is quite interesting!

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Listen
Alexis – Meadow

Day 455

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: two new songs from Glenn Donaldson. That’s always good news, isn’t it? The most prolific indiepop songwriter out there I would say. The latest songs are now on Bandcamp and they are usual, full of jangly power. Check them out, “Dull Panic & Sunday Gloom” and “I Almost Changed”.

Mad Honey: this three-piece formed by Tiff Sutcliffe, Branden Palesano and Austin Valdez hails from Oklahoma City. They make some sweet dreampop as you’ll be aware from their latest digital single, “Good Grief”. The band seems to have been around since 2018, so I need to check out their back catalogue.

Airu: time ago I had recommended some songs from this Bilbao, Spain, band. Now I have to recommend a 7″ that will be out on June 14. The two songs on this fine slice of plastic are “Con las Ventanas tan Grandes me da Vergüenza Mirar” and “Voy tan Deprisa”.

The Umbrellas: Many say this is pop perfection, and it might as well be! Slumberland is releasing the band’s debut album on August 6th and we’ve already heard the song “She Buys Herself Flowers”. But we hadn’t seen the video. At least until now! So have a look!

HANN: and here is another two song, it seems this is the way to release digital singles too. It makes sense. Why just the one song. HANN hails from Manchester. HANN is a band but is also Hannah. The two songs in this latest single are pretty good, poppy, catchy, fun and with an edge. They are called “Daddy’s Drugs” and “Essential Travel Only”.

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Yet another band that released just one 7″ and disappeared. How many of them are there?!

Sons of Shane released the “Fly” 7″ in 1987. It came out on Whippet Records (WHIP 1), probably their own label. The A side was “Fly” and the B side was “All I Had”. I’ve only heard the A side which is a fine slice of indiepop.

The cover art shows a huge pigeon and some people walking in the background. On the back of the sleeve there is not much info. There is an address, 116 Galton Road, Bearwood, Birmingham. As I am curious I have Googled it. It is a two floor house with a light blue door. Looks nice. It is sort of close to Birmingham center, about 30 minutes on train.

On Discogs there are no other releases listed nor compilation appearances.

The name of the band may have been inspired by:

MacShane was also the name given to the group of sons of Shane “An Diomas O’Neill”, Prince of Ulster, Lord O’Neill, and Chief of all the O’Neill clans from 1558-1567. When he died, his ten or more sons were spread out among family within Ulster and Scotland. In the early 1580s they regrouped and for nearly a decade battled with their O’Neill cousins for dominance of Ulster and their father and grandfather’s estate, the Earldom of Tír Eoghain. The English officials used the term “the Mac Shanes” (the sons of Shane) as an all encompassing term to describe many sons that made up this army in Ireland.

Or maybe not.

The only other info we have is that both songs are credited to someone with last name Wilson.

I hit a wall quite fast. I can’t seem to find any more info. One thing though, this blog, your always reliable Cloudberry Cake Proselytism, has a mention of the band. When I interviewed the Subtonics many many years ago, I asked them for any bands that they liked. They mentioned Sons of Shane. They say they hailed from Stafford. That is not close to Bearwood. That is even much further north of Birmingham, actually in between Birmingham and Stoke.

The Subtonics also give us a name, Deryck. He was in Sons of Shane and also played keys on some Subtonics recordings. And that the Subtonics suggested to join forces with Sons of Shane to create a label but they declined.

Well, any other details would be appreciated! Oh! And I need a copy of this 7″, anyone able to help?

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Listen
Sons of Shane – Fly

Day 453

The Umbrellas: the fine San Francisco band will be releasing their self-titled album on August 5! This is great! Their brand of jangly indiepop, classic-sounding, influenced by The Fairways, #Poundsign#, and the UK bands from the 80s, they are one band to follow. Their album will be out on vinyl and CD and you can preview now a cracking track called “She Buys Herself Flowers”.

Watoo Watoo: a new re-release by the French band is available now on Bandcamp. Their classic “Picture of a Lost Friend” EP is reissued now on a 3″ CD. This is a lovely thing if you missed the original release. The EP has 6 songs of elegant and sometimes jazzy feel. Lovely.

Riel: this duo from Argentina formed by Mora and Germán sounds pretty good. Dreamy, punchy, melodic and throw in some sweet vocals. That’s how I would describe their music in a nutshell. Their latest digital single is called “Blanco & Negro” and it is worth checking out.

Pastel Coast: On July 21 Shelflife Records is releasing the album “Sun” by these French popsters! This is the band’s second album and will be available on CD and vinyl. All 10 songs are available to check out and I urge you to do so. Their happy-go-lucky music, infused with surf melodies, works great.

Señor Kino: not too long ago I recommended this wonderful Mexican band when they released their single “Aurora Boreal”. Now the band is releasing an album also titled “Aurora Boreal” that contains 10 songs. This is a really good effort and hopefully they get a bit of a buzz with it. It is really refreshing to see many good Mexican bands appearing in the pop panorama. The album is only available digitally.

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The Irish name Muineachán derives from a diminutive plural form of the Irish word muine meaning “brake” (a thickly overgrown area) or sometimes “hillock”. Patrick Weston Joyce interpreted this as “a place full of little hills or brakes”] Monaghan County Council’s preferred interpretation is “land of the little hills”, a reference to the numerous drumlins in the area.

Yup, today we are heading to Monaghan town in Ireland to find out details about the band The Storm who released a 7″ and appeared on a couple of compilations in the late 80s!

One thing that is worth mentioning since the start of the post is that there was another band called The Storm in Ireland at the same time. They were from Dublin and appeared on a compilation called “Swimming Out of the Pool”. That’s not the same band we’ll be talking about today according to Irishrock.org. Discogs has it as the same band.

Irishrock.org, that great resource for bands from Ireland tells us some more details about the band. To start they give us the year they were formed, 1987. We know the band members too, Anthony “Swifty” Swift (vocals), Marty Smith (drums), Tony Fanthorpe (guitar, backing vocals) and Keith Corbett (bass and keyboards). The band members had previously been in a band called The Vision Fades. Marty Smith was actually the last one to join that band, it happened when the lead singer, Shaun, who was his brother, left for London. When Marty joined the band thought it was good time to change their name to The Storm.

I wonder if in the internet days they would think The Storm is a good name. Quite difficult to google!

Anyhow, as mentioned the band released a 7″. That was in 1989 and on the fine label Danceline Records (DLS 004). This 7″ included just two songs, “Raging Soul” on the A side and “Meltdown” on the B side. I don’t know much about this record but I know that Aidan Foley and the band produced both songs. They were recorded in Dublin at Sun Studios. The art was created by David Pollock.

When it comes to compilations they first were featured on the “Nationwide” (DLP 1002) compilation from 1989 where they appear with the song “Twilight Town”.

One thing that is worth noting is that it seems this song was already released on a self-released tape titled “Thee Sacred Rights of Pride” from 1988 that included the tracks “Twilight Town”, “Mother Box” and “Left Me Up to a Higher Ground”. The only other info about this tape is that it was recorded in Dublin.

Then I stumble upon something unexpected. A Facebook page! What info can we find there? That the drum kit Marty Smith used was a Pearl Export? That the guitar combo used by Tony was a Laney LC-30? That the bass combo by Keith was a Carlsbro Cobra 90?

The band played at the Baggot Inn in Dublin back in the day as well at The Venue in Derry.

One thing I discover is that the 7″ was also released on tape. The cassette version even had two extra songs, “Lost on the Highway” and “God-Zone”. Interesting. I had no clue. This is sort of rare, no? Usually there’s 7″ and 12″, but 7″ and cassette?

And that’s it. No much more info. So, we know then in total the band recorded 7 songs. Is that it? Or are there more recordings by them? How come just one 7″? And what did they do after the band split? Who remembers The Storm from Monaghan town?!

Edit: August 5th, 2021, Keith Corbett was in the K2Project, The Flicker Effect and Empire of Hurt.

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Listen
The Storm – Twilight Town

Day 450.

Kelly Slusher: I remember long long time ago when Kelly Slusher released a beautiful album on Elefant Records. Since then I’ve checked her music on and off. Today I am glad to have stumbled upon “Someday”, her latest song on Bandcamp. It is a pretty pop song. A classic pop song. Perfect for any mix tape you are doing. Bright and happy-go-lucky melodies with smart lyrics.

Pop Crimes: the Paris-based label Howlin’ Banana Records always have some nice music. One of their latest is a two-song 7″ by Pop Crimes. This record is available now for pre-orders and will be out on June 4. The songs included are “Up to the Moon” and “There Were Smiles”. You can preview the first one.

Moon Museum: now we head to San Francisco and we check this project that makes some terrific dreampop. Formed by Ryan Joseph, Olivia Barchard, Ian Zazueta and Aaron Hazen, they have just released a new digital single, “Contraptions”, which I totally recommend.

The Servants: now I want to share a different version of “She’s Always Hiding”. This is cool. The original way the song sounded is this one, recorded in 1985 in Wapping, produced by Adrian Borland. This is amazing really. And it will be included as a B-side on the “She’s Always Hiding” reissue on Optic Nerve Recordings.

Remember Fun: and another oldie but goodie. As you know Firestation released a new retrospective by the Scottish band Remember Fun. What is cool is that just recently the band found old super 8 footage and made a video with it for their classic song “Train Journeys”!

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I stumbled upon the 1983 video for “Wasted on Me” on Youtube and got terribly curious about the band behind it, Stormboy’s.

The video has not many views and no comments. I am not familiar also with the imagery, what town is that? There is an iconic bridge I am sure, but need my UK friends to help with that. Is it Newcastle?

The video does show two guys and the details added to the video confirms that the band was formed by Brereton Preen and David Athey. Now, on Discogs we see a different name, Ian Lightfoot for Brereton. I guess that was the name he used to use for the band?

They appear on Discogs because this song was released as a 7″. It was on the A side and on the B side. The B side was a remix though. There is an address for the band, they were based in Whitley Bay. I believe these days David lives in Orlando, Florida.

The record was released in 1984 by the label Guardian Records N’ Tapes (GRC 360). This label was headquartered in Durham, England. It doesn’t exist anymore.

Other details that are important is that the record was produced by Terry Gavaghan, who was thee owner of Guardian Studios. I guess he also owned the label?

Other musicians were involved in the song. Deborah Home did backing vocals, Gary Tawse played bass and Ian Telford the drums.

There are no compilation appearances listed.

Not much more info on the web…. so yes, any help will be appreciated!

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Listen
Stormboy’s – Wasted on Me

Day 448. A difficult weekend, my phone died. It feels very strange not to have one. So used to it. Like you lose a limb. Hopefully I should have a replacement phone by the time I am publishing this. Hopefully. Then add all the apps and set up anything that needs setting up. I probably lost a lot of information and files. But well, what can you do. Tough luck.

The Suede Crocodiles: One of the best indiepop songs ever is “Stop the Rain” by The Suede Crocodiles. Who can’t argue that. The Glasgow band that was fronted by Kevin McDermott has now a Bandcamp page. Also on this same page you can find all other projects and recordings by Kevin which is great as I was unaware of them. So there’s lots of listening here. Would be a good idea to do a Suede Crocodiles interview, right? Should try soon!

Robert Scott: The Bats’ Robert Scott also has a Bandcamp now. In there we find both albums by The Magick Heads (which are wonderful!) as well as other recordings. But there’s also a new record called “Level 4” which is a collaboration between him and Dallas Henley. It is a bit different to what one is used but quite enjoyable, especially for a rainy day like today.

Lazy Eye: the Pelambang, Indonesia, band has been making some pretty tunes in the last few years. I can’t remember when was the last time I recommended them. Probably last January? Well, today is also a good time. I found out they have a new song called “Polaris” which is really pretty. Dreamy, poppy, chiming, good all around.

Río Arga: I love this Spanish band from Pamplona. They make terrific songs. And it is great news they are releasing a new album called “Piscina y Lagos”. Sadly it is coming out on a label that has been problematic for me. But you may have had better communication, better experience with Caballito Records. I guess in the end what matters is the music, and that’s why I keep recommending them, because they are favourites for sure. The album is coming out on 12″ vinyl on June 9 and will include 8 songs. You can preview two songs now on Bandcamp.

The Umbrella Puzzles: and we finish today’s review with Ryan Marquez’s lovely project. Here he presents us 4 acoustic recordings, an acoustic session he has called “All Our Friends”. This set was recorded for Alternatrip’s All Our Friends Online Music Festival on May 29. The songs are very nice, as usual, influenced by the BMX Bandits, right? And a cover of The Steinbecks!

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We return to Sweden, to the CDR days of early 2000s. Great times. Great memories. A period I miss a lot. And I am sure many of you do too.

The Winston Solution was a band from Göteborg. There is not much information on the web, but there are a few things we can say about the band. We can say that the band started in 1999 by Erik Jonsson and Jonas Lundvall. They previously had been in a band called Odd Man Out.

Their home studio was called PlayNow. It was there that they recorded their songs. As far as I know there were three demo CDs released. The first one dates from 2001 and was called “Nine Wrong Songs”. The songs on this CDR were “I Know I’m Wrong”, “Read Between the Lines”, “The Magic of a Shy Conversation”, “Empty Streets and City Lights”, “The Look in Your Eyes”, “The Story Ends When the Paper is Full”, “Sister” and “Is this Real?”.

The 2nd CDR was called “Good Things Will Come to Those Who Can’t Wait”. This one was released in 2005. I don’t know the track list for this one. I know the name of some of the songs, “It’s Easier to Say”, “Jenny Fame” and “Left Hand Writing”.

The third one was called “The Diplomat EP”. Again, don’t know the tracklist but songs names were “I Don’t Know What I Would Have Done Without You” or “Make a Plan to Love Me”. I think it was released in 2008 but I could totally be wrong.

On Discogs they only appear listed on a compilation CD called “CD 7 2008” released by Groove (GROOVE0807). On this comp they appear with the song “History Book”.

The only other detail I could find was that the band played at the Malmö festival “We and You” in 2003 that was organized by Revolution 9, a fanzine from that time.

I don’t know if this actually covers well everything they released. There might have been more CDRs. There were definitely more songs, having a look at Last.fm tracks, I see some that I don’t know where they were released like “Your Boyfriend Does Not Understand”, “Photographs from a Broken Planet”, “Consider Me in Love”, “Nothing is Natural Only Impossible”, and many more.

I know that Jonas Lundvall was later in a project of his own called Klifton Filente.

So yeah, who remembers them? Whatever happened to them?

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Listen
The Winston Solution – It’s Easier to Stay

Day 446

Kevin Robertson: Aberdeen’s The Vapur Trails are a band that have been featured here in the past. Well, one of their members, Kevin Robertson, has gone solo this time around to release “Sundowns End”! It is out now on the fine Subjangle Records on limited edition CD. It includes 11 jangle popsongs, all of which are available to preview. It is definitely a good way to start this week, such a bright and shiny record.

Foreign Correspondent: another band that we like a lot here are the Australians Foreign Correspondent. On even better news they are now working with a label we love, Kocliko Records, from Spain. One of our favourite labels! So it is quite obvious what the result was going to be, right? A wonderful album titled “A Quizzical Look”! it is very limited, to 100 copies and it is expected to start shipping on June 23. You can preview two songs, “The First One” and “Crying In your Sports Car” and understand why I praise the.

Hanemoon: Jigsaw Records is now releasing the second album by the German band! Great news! The first album was really nice, and Hans’ last band, The Seaside Stars, was pretty good as well. If you like jangle pop this is for you. “Last Thing I Heard” is the name of this 12 song album that jangles like any Scottish pop bands that come to mind!

Neilson Family: Jigsaw Records have more new releases. “Be Normal” is the 2nd album by the Neilson family. I don’t know much about them, first time i am listening to them. Jigsaw compares them to Kincaid or the Mendoza Line. The record has 12 songs like my fave, the straight up poppy track “Golden Handcuffs”, and other quieter or midtempo jangle songs. Enjoyable!

The Rightovers: and last band for today is yet another on on Jigsaw Records. This one is a mini-album titled “Kruise Kontrol” and has 7 tracks. The songs are punchy, they have loud guitars and synths, they are poppy and exciting. So definitely a recommended listen. All of these Jigsaw releases are available now.

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Time for obscure pop… okay that’s a bad opening for a post in this blog. Every single band is obscure here. So ok, one more obscure band to keep in mind. One more that I hope to find more information about them!

In the 80s there was a UK label called Wag Records who released three bands, Roxette (not the Swedish band), The River Boys and Chapter One. I am not familiar with any of them, but today I want to check Chapter One as I’ve heard their song “When the Summer Comes” and I really enjoyed it.

The person behind this label was Paul Waghorn. He was also the person behind Chapter One.

There are two releases by the band. The first dates from 1984 and was a sleeveless 7″ single with “I Know That She Knows” on the A side and “Take My Advice” on the B side. On the labels we see that “I Know that She Knows” is credited to Waghorn but also to Creasey. The B side only to Waghorn. Both songs were produced by Mr. Angry. Okay, who is Mr. Angry and who is Creasey? Can we find that out? This was the fourth release on the Wag catalog (WAG4)

Two years later, in June of 1986, the band released the “When the Summer Comes…” 7″. This record came out on Wag Records (WAG5) and had three songs. “When Summer Comes” is on the A side and “Stephanie Powers” and “Girl on the Phone” appear on the B side. Again all songs written by Paul Waghorn. It is good to see that this time the band was able to have a sleeve for the record.

The sleeve has a pencil illustration of a strangely dressed person. We don’t see his face, he is not facing us. We see his back. It looks like he carries an umbrella. He has a hat. Not sure what he is looking at on the floor. Looks like a pail and a bucket in the sand? I can’t tell. The good thing is that the sleeve does give us some more information.

For example that the art was created by Stringell and Casbourne. But there’s more.

The three songs were produced by Ashley Norton at the I.C.C. Studios in Eastbourne (was the band based here or nearby?). And even better we get the band members names:

Paul Waghorn on vocals, guitar and synths, Titch Stringell on drums and backing vocals, John Hall on lead guitar and Darren Rodoham on bass,

The question about Eastbourne may be answered by the compilation “Dodgy Demos for Arty Parties! – An Eastbourne Area Compilation” released by Wag Records (BIG1) in 1985. Here the band appears on the B side with the song “Miss You Miss You” which was recorded at ICC Studios in 1984. So it all looks like the band was from Eastbourne then!

Eastbourne is a town and seaside resort in the non-metropolitan county of East Sussex on the south coast of England, 19 miles (31 km) east of Brighton. Eastbourne is immediately to the east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the larger Eastbourne Downland Estate.

I’d like to visit, especially because Penvensey Castley is close and I like visiting castles.

So back to the other bands on Wag Records. We know that Paul Waghorn was also in Roxette. But couldn’t find any info of any bands he was in after Chapter One. And about the other band members there was no info either.

Also searching for Chapter One doesn’t really help. It is quite difficult.

So yes, looking for help now, anyone remembers this Eastbourne band!?

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Listen
Chapter One – When the Summer Comes

Day 443

Acid House Kings: this is great news for all indiepop fans around the world. Is there an indiepop fan that doesn’t like the Stockholm based trio? I would say no, everyone likes them. So after such a long time, a more than a decade, of silence, they are back with a wonderful single, “A Little Dancing”! Essential!

The Goon Sax: another good this is that the Brisbane trio will be releasing an album on July 9th titled “Mirror II”. You can already pre-order it. It is available on vinyl and CD and will include 10 songs. One of them is available to preview, the opening track, “In the Stone”, which is a great pop songs with male/female vocals. Still hoping for them to come back to NYC!

Ta Toy Boy: finally! I thought it wasn’t going to be released physically. Or maybe it was a trick for me to write about them many times. First recommending the new album on Youtube, then on Bandcamp and now a third time when you can order a vinyl record of “Endless Life”, their second album. It is out now on Make Me Happy Records.

The Tubs: here’s a cool 7″ released by The Tubs (ex-Joanna Gruesome) on Prefect Records and Trouble in Mind. This 7″ will have four songs, “Illusion”, “Names”, “Two Person Love” and “Crystal Ball”. I don’t know how they all sound, but “Two Person Love” sounds great. Looks like something worth getting.

Lentillas de Colores: our friends from León, Spain, are back with a new split EP with the band Microfilme. There is a physical release of “Cuentos de las Cuatro Estaciones” limited to 100 CDs. The record was released last week and there are still copies available, so don’t miss this one out.

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This post will terribly short. I am sure of it.

You have to consider a band called Welcome, in the internet days, is impossible to track down. Now consider that they probably didn’t release any records. On top of that, I only know one song. It is called “Swim”. And it sounds great indeed. But that doesn’t matter.

My friend David from Barcelona, a great archaeologist when it comers to Swedish indiepop, put up on Youtube this song. “Swim”. A lo-fi, poppy song. From what I understand it came from a demo tape titled “Jukebox Classics”. Okay, that is also a terrible name to Google. How will I find any information.

Oh, yes, the band is Swedish if it wasn’t obvious. The tape dates from 1994. A good time for Swedish indiepop. The first wave of indiepop bands. They were making a splash. And some would become big.

The sleeve of the tape shows a man. Probably not a band member. I am pretty sure the band members were younger than the guy on the photo. Maybe it is someone famous. But I can’t tell who is it.

I search on Discogs. No luck. On Popfakta. No luck. Musikon. No luck.

Where else could we find any information? Who were the members? Or at least where in Sweden where they from. There’s nothing, no clues. I am hoping some reader remembers them and can shed some light. I hope so.

EDIT: Found out that this was Roger Gunnarsson’s first band which he formed with his childhood friend Carl-Magnus. The photo of the sleeve was taken by his brother Tommy.

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Listen
Welcome – Swim

Day 441

No Suits in Miami: one of our favourite Swedish bands is back with a terrific new single, “Buffy”! And no, the song is not about vampire killing! As usual, lovely vocals, jangling guitars, and top melodies. It is always a pleasure to listen to the Lund based band!

The Edible Eyes: another favourite band, formed by ex members of The Blanche Hudson Weekend and The Manhattan Love Suicides is back with a new song too, “Until the Morning Comes Around”. This one is a bit more post punk than indiepop if I could categorize it. It is being released on a split 7″ with the band Sissy Space Echo & the Invisible Collaborators. Preorders are up on Bandcamp.

Answers: now let’s head to Melbourne. There, in Australia, we find this guitar-driven project and their second album, “Fools in Despair”. It is available digitally only it seems and has 7 songs. The guitars chime and the melodies are great. They consider themselves post punk, and that might be right, but they are on the melodic side of the post punk spectrum!

Señor Kino: now we go to Hermosillo, Mexico. There we find the dreampop band Señor Kino and their newest song, “Aurora Boreal”. The song is quite nice and even has a video worth checking out!

Not Even Close: and we round up today’s bands with Sweden’s Not Even Close. Their latest single is “Dödsgest” and is a fine slice of punky pop in Swedish! I don’t know much about the band but previously, earlier this year, they released another single called “Lemons”.

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One single released in 1991 in their own Satyrday Records was all this British band left us. Two songs and one remix. Can we find any othere details about them?

The single came out on 7″ and 12″. The catalog number was SATYR T001. The 7″ didn’t have a sleeve. The 12″ did. The producer was Charlie Francis who had played bass with Toyah. The engineer was Ian Caple. The songs were recorded at Stone Room Studios, in Shepherds Bush, in London. I went once to that area. Many many years ago. It has been such a long time since I’ve been to London. I need to return soon. But, would it be safe to assume the band hailed from London?

The 7″ had “Shooting Air” on the A side and “Oh Yeah!!” on the B side. The 12″ had both of the songs on the A side and we find the “Shooting Air (The Blitz Mix)” on the B side.

Discogs lists a name, a band member, Chris Hill. He is a bassist it says and had been in the band The Buzz in the early 80s in Shrewsbury? Is it the same Chris Hill?

There are two compilation appearances. Both of them have the band contributing the song “Belief”. The first dates from 1991, a compilation CD called “Exposed – New Noise for the Nineties” that came as a freebie with the Exposed magazine. Then in 1992 the band appeared on “Tape Horn”, another compilation from a magazine. This time it was a tape comp given away by Deadline Magazine.

I found the drummer, Ian Davies. He lives in Marseille now. He has a Soundcloud and there he has shared music he has worked on, The Satyrs’ “Shooting Air” and “Believe” included. Other projects of his are Sister Jo Jo, The Gilberts, Texas Martha and the House of Twang and Ochre.

Another member was Stuart Evans. On a website called Famous Welsh it mentions that The Satyrs are progenitors of Britpop. It also says that he was born in 1962 at Llandovery, Wales.

I have three names. I haven’t found any other details. But I hope I get some help eventually. The three songs I’ve heard are very good. Who remembers them?

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Listen
The Satyrs – Shooting Air

Day 439

Beach Vacation: let’s start this week in Brest, France. That’s where the label Too Good to Be True is based. They are releasing a limited CD album by Beach Vacation on June 4th. This 11 song album is titled “I Fell Apart” and sounds pretty good! We can preview three tracks from the album now and as I said, really enjoyable.

April June: now we cross the southwest border and we are in Spain. Not sure exactly where in Spain. But there’s a band there called April June that makes beautiful pop songs! Wow. What a nice surprise. Their latest song “Have a Hell of a Nice Life” sounds like a slice of Swedish indiepop circa 2006. This is very good!

Gus: “It’s Gus!” is a demo tape from the early days from Chapter Music from Australia. It was formed in the 90s by Guy and Richard from that well known label and the Salty & Delicious fanzine in Perth. As a band they existed for a few days in Brisbane in 1994 and recorded these 5 songs. As an indiepop archaeologist I love this. Would love to know more about this project. An interview could be cool?

Valentina Way: is this the new project by Charlie Darling? It looks like it! Just one song is on their Soundcloud, “Say it Say it Say it” which is superb! Fun and catchy, with a “back story” that could well be true! We should keep an eye for any new songs they put out!

The Laundromat Chicks: and because last week we featured the Austrian band’s Bandcamp and new songs, well, it makes sense to now check out their new video for the song “Catch It”! This is a superb song, very The Bats! So don’t miss this one!

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We head to Finland today. It has been a while since I featured a band from that country. A country I really enjoyed visiting and I hope to be back again in the near future, when all of this nightmare of the pandemic is over. Have a nice salmon soup and a karelian pie. Why not.

The Autobiographical Dancers hail from Finland. I don’t know much more right now. Not sure where from Finland they were from. But I hope while I write this post I’ll find out. I got to them a long time ago, thanks to the blog From a Northern Place. The person behind that blog, who I have never met or exchanged emails which surprises me!, shared a song called “Night Falls” from the band’s album “Fey”. And I immediately loved the soft and elegant sounds of it. It sounded timeless. And I wondered how come this band is so obscure!

According to Discogs the band hailed from Helsinki. Okay, that’s a good piece of information. Easy detective work. Lovely city too. I remember now getting a moose kebab at the old market. Interesting things one does when traveling. Yeah, I miss it. I will guess then that the recording studios where they made the album, Viidakkorumpu Studios, was in this same city, the capital. The songs were recorded and mixed there in July 1988.

That same year the album was released. It came out on Gaga Goodies (GOOD-6), a label founded in 1987 by Kimmo Miettinen. The idea behind this label was to release Finnish bands who sang in English and didn’t use keyboards. In their catalog I see Poverty Stinks which I know, but in general most of their releases are unknown to me. I should try to discover any treasures there.

The album is kind of short, 7 songs. The A side has “Heaven”, “Ghost of You”, “Night Falls” and “April” while the B side has “The Glass Bead Game”, “The Twerp” and “Before Leaving”.  All songs are credited to the band but “The Twerp” which is credited to the band and to Sakari Kukkonen (I found info about a Veli-Sakari Kukkonen, is he the same? If so he was in bands like Zero Nine, Ramblers, Nights of Iguana and U-Bayou). He also is credited for additional percussion.

The band was a four piece. It was formed by Pola on vocals and guitar, Zu on drums, Tape Riihmäki on bass, and Jay on guitar.

Other credits on the record are for Annika Ursin on backing vocals and Petri Eskola (From Monday and Standing Ovation) on piano. The cover photography is credited to Tape and the band’s photo by Ursula.

Aside from the record the band contributed the song “Heaven” to two compilations.

The first is from 2005 and I’ve mentioned it before on the blog, “Sivulliset – Valikoima Suomalaista Vaihtoehtorockia Vuosilta 1985-2000”, a 4CD boxset that sort of compiles the most important indie bands of Finland. This record was released by Poko Rekords (VALOSA1). Then in 2011 we see them again on another 4CD boxset, “Miettinen – Pieni Rockhistorikki 1979-2000”. This one was released by their own label, Gaga Goodies (MBOX-1).

I also find some other bands they were involved with. Tape was in a band called Variance in the early nineties. And Jay, whose real name is Jukka Hannukainen, was in many bands like Emmenthal Socapex, Palms on Hips and Variance. He also works as a composer, sound designer, producer and DJ. He has a soundcloud here.

And that’s it. No more info about the band. I am curious about the rest of the songs. I haven’t heard them. Are they as good as “Night Falls”? I hope so. And what happened about the other members? On Discogs I saw comments saying that the drummer Zu is quite a mystery. How come? What are they now? Did they continue making music? Had they made music before The Autobiographical Dancers? Did they gig much? Did they have a big following? Hopefully we’ll find out some day…

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Listen
The Autobiographical Dancers – Night Falls

Day 436

The Laundromat Chicks: we return to Austria, to Vienna to be precise. Months ago I discovered this nice pop combo and now that I was revisiting their Bandcamp I notice they have an album out. It is called “Often in the World” and includes 9 songs. The songs sound great, clearly influenced by Flying Nun Records’ bands.

Poster Paints: this new Glasgow band formed by Simon Liddell and Carla J Easton. Their debut single is called “Number 1” and is now available to check out on Bandcamp. I am enjoying it, the cool mix of indiepop sounds and dreampop guitars.

The Sensitive: it is always a good idea to check what is happening with Shiny Happy Records from Indonesia. Today I found a new song by The Sensitive called “No One Top Felix Delta Alpha Sierra Sierra” which I believe will be part of a tape called “Do Everything or Else”. I am very curious about the other songs on the tape as this one sounds really good and even has Edwyn Collins on the sleeve!

Glixen: now we move to more dreamy, shoegazy, sounds. We travel to Phoenix, Arizona, and theere we discover Glixen and their debut digital single, “Sugarcube”. There’s no other info in the page, but we have the lyrics. Let’s keep an eye for more songs as “Sugarcube” does have a punchy sound!

Hazte Lapón: and we end this week’s recommendations with “El Baile de la Medusa”. This fun song was actually recorded in 2011 and included in a self-released single in 2012. Now, 2021, the band have remixed and remastered it to re-release it again. And it sounds great! Perfect for dancing, perfect for any indiepop party!

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I wrote about a UK band called The Counting House many years ago. I never found anything about them. Today I discovered another British band called The Countinghouse. I honestly don’t know if it is the same band. Who would know?

About The Countinghouse (one word) there are more details on the web. There was a 7″ released in 1988 on Clear Cut Records (EASCCR 1) which probably was their own label. This double A sided record had “Pack Your Bags” and “Closer”.

A demo tape is also listed on Discogs with four songs, “(Within These) Four Walls”, “Makings of You”, “Song Three” and “Broken Toy”.

The only other detail we know about the band is that they hailed from Leicester.

I dig a little bit more and find 5 songs on Youtube. Sadly there is no more details in here either. These songs are “Streets Where You Live“, “Wish I Was There“, “Within These Four Walls“, “Makings of You” (which appears on the demo, but here on Youtube the song seems to be faulty and unlistenable) and “Closer” (from the 7″).

I search for The Countinghouse and look for any relation with Leicester. Well, there is a venue called The Counting House in that city. So that makes my search futile.

And that’s it. Like The Counting House, information for The Countinghouse is almost non-existent. The songs on Youtube are a rarity. Anyone remembers them? Would be nice to find more info about them!

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Listen
The Countinghouse – Streets Where You Live