Day 352

Pelvic Fins: Augusburg, Germany, has becoming a nice hotspot for indiepop. We have the fantastic Kleine Untergrund Schallplatten label there and today I discovered Gebrauchtemusik, another label from there I believe. Their latest release is a 15 song collection by the band Pelvic Fins. The album is called “Muxik Vorher & Nachher” and is available digitally. This is actually not a new release, this album came out back in 2003 in CDR.

Collapse: this Japanese shoegaze band is a new discovery for me. Their latest song is called “Vertigo feat. Ishikawa”. I believe Ishikawa is in a band called My Dead Girlfriend. There’s not much more info about the band or the release here, just that it is a digital only release. Sounds good though! Should check their previous releases.

The Keep Left Signs: I really like this Swedish band that features two ex-Lost Homeboys, Jimmi and Gustaf. The band released a new EP on December but as it’s only on digital platforms I haven’t been able to share it. The good thing is that on Youtube they’ve made a video for the first song of said EP and as soon as you listen to it you know it is a winner. The song is called “Make it Shine” and the video was filmed in Japan, while Charley was visiting last March. I hope it gets a physical release!

Lentillas de Colores: another new video! This one comes from Spain from the band Lentillas de Colores! The band has just released a 7″ EP and the song they’ve chosen to make a video is called “Arrancacorazones”. Thee video is really nice, with lovely and well thought aesthetics. Very p!o!p!

Haus Plants: and lastly we discover a new band from Lisbon, Portugal. Their latest track is called “Visual Diaries” and it is an upbeat jangly tune. Really enjoying it.

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Back to the CDR days. The year is 2008 and there’s a label that’s been releasing a bunch of good EPs and singles. It is Cosy Recordings from Stockholm, Sweden. At this point in time I believe the label owner is cool with me, and we have sort of a friendship. That will change later on, but that’s not an interesting story. The story today is about the 11th release on that label, Little Big Adventure’s “Saltsjö-Duvnäs” EP.

Back then 100 copies for a CDR was a good idea. I wonder if today too? It was limited and hand-numbered, as was the trend that maybe I started with the Cloudberry mini CDs. It worked well. This EP with catalog number COSY 11 had four songs, the title song “Saltsjö-Duvnäs”, “Son of St Jacobs”, “Saltsjö-Duvnäs (Performed by Erik Halldén)” and “Saltsjö-Duvnäs ’08 (Performed by Erik Halldén and Little Big Adventure)”.

Little Big Adventure was Magnus Lindroos from Sundsvall and we can assume he had a good relationship with Erik Halldén. Erik Halldén perhaps should get an entry on the bog sometime. He was quite representative of the period, releasing albums on Bedroom Recordings as well as EPs on the very fine My Secret Garden Recordings. What’s interesting is that actually Erik Halldén was the one who wrote the song “Saltsjö-Duvnäs”.

Saltsjö-Duvnäs is actually a residential area in Nacka. That’s within Stockholm county boundaries I believe. Perhaps Erik hailed from that area? Or Magnus? That’s something to find out of course.

We also know that the other original song on the EP was written by Henrik Berggren. That means then a cover of the Broder Daniel’s song “Son of St. Jacobs”. Okay. What else do we know about this release? The artwork is credited to Lisa Persson and the layout to Karin Ringvist.

There are two compilation appearances. Both of them is with the same song, “Happiest Times”. The first one dates from 2008, it is on the “Club King Kong: Säsongen 07/08 – Med Musiken i Mitten Volym 3” CDR comp released by Donkeyboys Recordings (DKNYBYS003). I would really like to get all of these club King Kong CDRs… if anyone wants to get rid of them let me know. I am very curious about them.

The other compilation is one called “Stockholm Belong to Us” (PLAB139) that came out on Labrador in 2011. It was a CD and was also published in the Philippines that same year by Universal Records.

To my surprise there is even one more release by the band, a CDEP from 2009 on Labrador! So the band ended up leaving the CDR for a proper CD. The EP was titled “The Hateful Eye EP”. I totally missed it. This EP had four songs, “Happiest Times”, “The Hateful Eye”, “Any Questions?” and “Son of S:t Jacobs”. There was even a video made for “Happiest Times“!

Aside from this project, we know that Magnus Lindroos was in a band called Supertuff who released a split tape with the band There is Thunder in Our Hearts on 2014.

One thing that is confusing is that on Labrador’s website there is a bio about the band and that one is penned by Magnus Sätterström. Is it the same Magnus as Magnus Lindroos? That confuses me. Who’d know. The bio doesn’t give us much details about the band. At some point the band had a website and a twitter.

One thing that I figured out is that the band’s name come from the 1994 PC game Little Big Adventure.

Now if it is the same Magnus Lindroos, which I am quite confused by now, I found a Soundcloud with a song called “Vill Du Hälsa På Mig?” from 6 years ago. Sounds nice! And from there we find a Soundcloud for Little Big Adventure!

The songs are as old as 10 years old, but there are more recent ones, the latest from 2 years ago. The songs we find here are: “Lazy Kind of Flirt”, “Moop”, “Lba-Wow”, “Woods”, “20 ft. Until Ground”, “Bureaucrat”, “No Love Or True Affection”, “I Remember Things”, “Olof Broström”, “The Standoff”, “Run and Hide”, “My Last Wurds”, “Friends Wiv Nazis”, “To Whom it may Concern”, “Young People”, “The Further Away the Better I Feel”, “Little Boat”, “Gutted Fish + Bonfire”, “Paleremix”, “Ben and Jerrys”, “Visitoldpeople”, “The Easiest Thing”, “Call of Heart (Tcentralen)”, “Don’t Hurt My Eye”, “Powerpoint” and “Kids”.

And that’s I guess the last music he has published. From the photos it seems he has a family now and perhaps left music a bit on the side. Totally understandable. Still would like to hear any anecdotes, anyone that remembers the band? Maybe they played live? Who remembers them?

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Listen
Little Big Adventure – Happiest Times

Day 350.

Texpack: Anoa Records is a very good label from Jakarta. So it is a good idea to check them out now and then. Their latest is a limited edition 3″ single by the band Texpack. Titled “Early Serenade”, this short EP comes with three songs, “The Early Serenade”, “Between 4 and 10 (Strawberry etc.)” and “My Trumpet”. The last one is a cover of the classic Eggstone song!

The Catenary Wires: what a cool thing to see The Catenary Wires on Shelflife Records! The band is releasing a 7″ with two songs, “Mirrorball” and “I Wish You Were Here Now” and has a very nice sleeve with Amelia Fletcher, a chair, nice typography… I dunno, I was sold even before listening to the very good title song “Mirrorball” that is available to preview! The record is coming out on April 16.

Shiny Times: not too long ago, a few posts ago, I was recommending some new songs by the project from Charleston, South Carolina. Kim Hart Weldin’s Shiny Times have now four new songs on Bandcamp that are maybe not that new? They seem to date from February 2020 to February 2021. Which are the old ones? Which are the new ones? Check out this nice EP titled “Starts with S”.

Orion Lake: let’s cross the Hudson river. Now we are in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and checking out the song “Rabbit” by Oriol Lake. And it does impress at first listen. It is fuzzy and warm track, with upbeat melodies. Happy to meet you Orion Lake.

Genders: and lastly we discover this duo formed by Maggie Morris and Stephen Leisy from Portland, Oregon. Their first single from their second album is called “The World Fades Away” and it is quite good! Jangly, female vocals, and classic indiepop melodies.

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What a lovely discovery! I stumbled on Youtube upon The Grain’s song “A Splendid Day” and was hooked! Very Choo Choo Train, very jangly, great melodies. Everything you want to ask for a pop song!

As it is normal with these discoveries the band ends up being terribly obscure. We can see on Discogs that the band released one tape in 1991, and that’s where this song was released. We also know that the band hailed from Calgary, Alberta, in Canada. That’s some good info already, right?

The tape seems to have been self-released and was titled “A Moment’s insight”. It included 7 songs. The A side had “Will I Be Here”, “Save it for Another Day”, “A Splendid Day” and “Watch You Smile”. The B side featured “Happenings”, “Now and Then” and “People Say”. The songs were recorded and mixed by Frank Slide at ReelRock Studios in Calgary. They were produced by the band and Frank Slide.

Who were the band? That we know too:
Mike Hendrix – bass
Craig Clements – acoustic & electric guitar, vocals
Rob Virdis – acoustic & lead guitar, vocals
Dino Finot – drums

A little more googling lets me know that Rob Virdis had been in a band called Glider afterwards releasing two tapes. I believe he also played in a few songs of Matt Gillespie’s self-titled EP released earlier this year.

Then I find that Dino Finot is a motorcycle enthusiast who attends the Calgary Motorcycle Show every year. Interesting! But what about music?

And that’s it. Not much more information on the web, but some great music here, right? Hopefully we’ll learn more about them soon!

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Listen
The Grain – A Splendid Day

Day 348. Almost a year now. I’m glad the Verandan 7″ is out now, it is a good way to manage the expectations. One year of being mostly stuck at home. One year without gigs. And one wonders when will it end. Don’t know if counting the days is the most sane thing to do.

Beach Youth: coming out in April is the album “Postcard”. It will be available on CD and vinyl. There are 11 songs, and we can preview four of them, “Love Yourself II”, “Two Bedrooms”, “A Changed Man” and “In My Chest”. The release is coming out on two French labels, Music from the Masses and Wewant2Records, and on Shelflife in the US. What I’m hearing is very good. I should talk to Ed soon, I will need a copy of the record!

Fightmilk: another upcoming release is the album “Contender” by the London band Fightmilk. Coming on vinyl and CD on May 14 we get to preview two out of 14 songs on Bandcamp. Yeah, we can check out “I’m Starting to Think You Don’t Even Want to go to Space” and “If You had a Sister…”. I really enjoy the guitars and female vocals on both of them. Definitely we should look forward to the second album by Fightmilk!

The Line Managers: first time I check this Birmingham trio. They seem to be brand new as the two songs on Bandcamp have just been uploaded there. And that’s all, no more songs. “Nothing Seems to Work” and “You Should Know” are how they are introducing themselves to indie fans. They sound fine to me. Only available digitally too.

Creature in the Spiral: we head to Laredo, Texas, to discover this cool shoegaze band. Their latest release is only available digitally it seems, a short EP titled “FEB”. The opening track, “Play”, is probably my favourite, fuzzy and with great melodies.

Juliper Sky: and we end up this roundup with a band I have featured in the past, Juliper Sky from Manchester. They make beautiful guitar-layered music. As they mention it, they do know how to marry shoegaze, dreampop and psychedelia. Their latest song is not exception, “Another Life”. Check it out.

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Time to head to Sweden. The year is 1992. And a maxi-single is released by the band Julia Dream. It comes out on the unknown Yellowmoon Productions (catalog YEL001) and we don’t know nothing more. Did it make a splash within the indie scene in Sweden? That’s something I’ll try to find out.

Yellowmoon Productions seems to have been the band’s own label. There are no other releases listed on this label. We do know though some details about the release and that always makes me hopeful about finding more information about the band.

Three songs were included in the CD single, “Liquid House”, “Angel” and “Seeing Out”. They were produced and mixed at White Room, in Copenhagen. The producer was Lars Paulström.

This makes me think that the band hailed from the south of Sweden, probably from Skåne. Maybe from the city of Malmö? We’ll see…

We know the band members too.
Thomas Lundberg – guitar, vocals and drums on “Angel”
Anders Westerström – bass, vocals
Anders Linén – keyboards
Nicklas Johansson – drums on “Liquid House” and “Seeing Out”

The other credit worth mentioning is that Christina Curman did vocals on “Angel”.

Then I find an address on the sleeve. Yes! Yellowmoon Productions hailed from Malmö. The street is Agnesgatan, about 15 minute walk from Malmö’s central train station. In the old town area. How nice. I remember walking those streets and would love to go back soon.

Discogs doesn’t list any compilation appearances nor other releases by the band. It is a shame. Their songs are great.

But there are good news. There is a Bandcamp! I should have started there, right? Well, I didn’t know it existed! Here they have the three songs of the “Julia Dream” CD-single and two demo cassettes to boot.

The first demo dates from 1990 and has four songs. These are “Angel”, “Insomnia”, “A Multitude of Ladybugs” and “The Madcamp Laughs”.

The 2nd demo is from 1991 and has four songs as well, “Here We Go”, “Like Magic”, “Leafsong” and “Sun”.

This is great, I’ll spend an afternoon listening to the songs. Now it would be great if we get in touch with the band and find more information about them. These are all good and would love to know if there are even more songs! If the band members went to be in other projects and more. There’s always tons of questions to ask!

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Listen
Julia Dream – Liquid House

Day 345. Today I mailed the first batch of Verandan 7″s to those who have preordered! That’s great! Keep supporting the label for more and more releases 😀

Grrrl Gang: an Indonesian band getting a vinyl release? That’s not too common but it is definitely great news! The Yogyakarta band is releasing a 7″ on July 1st with two songs, “Honey, Baby” and “Ghost to You (Live at Teras Belakang Studio)”. The one track we can preview, the first one, is really good! Perfect pop! 300 copies are made of this 7″ and it is selling for 8 pounds by Damnably Records. Definitely one we can’t miss!

Vary Landers: now we head to Detroit to discover this lo-fi bedroom pop project. There is little information here, but we can definitely enjoy the guitar strums on the two songs we can check out, “Amaryllis” and “Uji”.

UJU: and back to Asia, to Cebu City, Philippines. I discover the label Melt Records, and their latest release, “Dream of Better Days” by UJU. This is a 10 song album which already came out on January 29. It sounds great! Dreamy with female vocals and very nice guitar arrangements. The artwork for the album is nice too! I hope they get to release the album in physical format!

OutControlJoys: wow! a shoegaze band from Pokhara, Nepal! This is really exciting. Never knew there was a scene there. Ris Records is a label that started in 2016 and supports bands from their country. Good idea! Here I’ve discovered the “Division” EP which seems to be a demo. In any case it sounds good! It has 5 songs of very exciting shoegaze sounds. Check it out!

John Myrtle: and to end this week of discoveries here is John Myrtle from where else? London! The place that reigns supreme for indiepop? I am not sure anymore… it used to be and probably is still, but I don’t find that many London bands as of late. So good to see this solo project who have just released a great slice of pop, a digital single called “Get Her Off My Mind”.

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This is actually the first post I write since returning to NYC in January. I’ve been a bit slow researching obscure bands. On my defense I can say that I am up to date with everything else. Also I’ve written many interview questions for many interviews that I hope get published someday. If I get the answers that is.

Now I want to focus on The Wishing Well, an American band, I believe from Atlanta, who released one EP and one album in the late 80s.

Information about them is not easy to come by. Discogs tells us that the band was formed by Kib on vocals, Pat Luckett on guitar, Marion Smith on bass and Scott Snyder on drums. That’s something.

Then their first release was a 12″ vinyl EP released by Token Bird Records (catalog WW-0915). I want to assume that this was a self-release. The only two releases by Token Bird listed on Discogs are by The Wishing Well.

This first EP came out in 1987 and included 5 songs, “Paradise”, “Wish You Away” and “Sweet Caroline” on the A side and “Immaculate” and “Market Rain” on the B side.

Their album “Maybe” came out in 1989 on Token Bird (WW0123). It was released on vinyl, CD and cassette. The songs on the LP were: “Maybe”, “Wide Awake”, “Anything” My Girl”, “Drink Myself to Sleep” and “Ransom” on the A side and “Don’t Try to Change Me”, “My Favorite Song”, “Big White House”, “Bsusa”, “Nobody Cry” and “Letter” on the B side. 12 songs total.

On this record they credit Jeff Stanley for playing fiddle, Bill Turpin for playing Harp and Ed Roland, the producer. Ed Roland was in the well known band Collective Soul as well as in The Living Room and The Sweet Tea Project. From what I understand there’s a song by Collective Soul called “Maybe” which was dedicated to the memory of Kib Browning. It seems he died in 1995 of scoliosis complications, being 26 years old.

That’s not the kind of information I want to find. But sadly I can’t seem to find much more details about the band. So hopefully some of you remember them. Know of more songs, more releases. Or what happened to the other members? There are no compilation appearances listed either. So would be good to know more about them and the Atlanta scene. Maybe there were more cool jangly bands down there?

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Listen
The Wishing Wall – Paradise

Day 343. Verandan 7″s are at home and I am terribly happy! These are the moments that are totally worth having a label… it is like Christmas!

The Pleasures Pale: remember that we did a wonderful interview with the Dayton, Ohio, 80s band? Well there are good news! Their self-titled album has been remastered and is now available on a deluxe edition CD! So run and get it! You won’t regret it. 12 great jangle songs including classics like “No, Joy” or “My Town has no Cafés”. It also looks like they have 11 copies of the original vinyl pressing. Again, run!

Biarritz: we head to Murcia, Spain, to discover the 7-song mini-album by this project. Titled “De Paseo”, the mini-album is only available digitally. The sound reminds us of the first decade of this century, where Spanish pop, with bright jangly guitars and female vocals was a thing. It does have a nostalgic feel to hear these songs. It brings a big smile to me.

Sonia Gadhia: new song by this artist written and produced by the fine Castlebeat. The label is Spirit Goth. I have to admit I don’t know much about this scene. I do know though that “Be Mine” is a very nice slice of pop. Simple but well done. Dreamy.

Flu Flu: Shore Drive Records from Brighton has now released the mini-album “Mi Mundo Interior” by the Seville band Flu Flu! It is out now on CD and seems that very few copies are left. The band is formed by Fran Lora, Cristina Mohe, Javi Vass and Carlos Díaz, and here, they have 6 terrific songs, some in English and some in Spanish.

Fritz: and let’s end this roundup with the amazing album “Pastel” from the Newcastle, Australia, band. 9 songs which you can ore-order now. I don’t know much more other than the title song is available to stream. It is really really good song, lots of fun. I will definitely want this in my collection.

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Jonas Johnsson was Thehelpmeplease, a Swedish bedroom pop band from the 2000s.

I still recall those days with nostalgia. Even though I would visit Sweden in 2008, and already past the time when the scene was booming, I still have the best of memories of those days. So many creative people releasing records and playing in bands. Those years were amazing and every single day that passes I regret not being able to do a 2nd volume of the “Sound o Starke Adolf” compilations. Maybe one day I will be able to retake that project…

Anyways, Thehelpmeplease. I discovered them around 2004. It was the days of Soulseek and all indiepop kids from Sweden were there. They were sharing lots of great music. There was a cool CDR label called Bedroom Records then and they were the ones that released the first EP by Jonas, it was called “Buzzing like Bumblebees on Speed”. The catalog number was BED004, yeah, an early release in the label.

This EP had four songs, “Buzzing like Bumblebees on Speed”, “Rupert Murdoch”, “Son of a Gun” and “Someone Special”. “Sun of a Gun” was a cover of the classic song by The Vaselines. All songs had been recorded that same year, during autumn, at Jonas’ home. The photo on the front cover, who I assume is Jonas, was taken by Terése Wikström.

In 2005 he would release another CDR. This time it would be on the label Snowbeam Records (003), also from Sweden. Three songs recorded at home that year were part of this CDR, “A Little Love”, “She Said” and “Hesitate in Love”. One thing to note is that here the name of the band appears as The Help Me Please.

At that point in time the band had a website. I remember visiting it, but I can’t remember what sort of info was available. Anyone remembers?

In 2005 the band would contribute a few songs to compilations. The song “Bumblebee (Original Falu Version)” was included in the CDR compilation “Cosy Den Goes Lägenhet Ett År” on Cosy Recordings (COSY 001). Then the song “A Little Love” shows up on the great CDR comp “Popkonst, Love & Understanding” released by Popkonst Recordings (POPK12). And lastly, that year, they have “Buzzing Like Bumblebees on Speed” on the CDR comp “Club King Kong: Med Musiken i Mitten Vol. 2 Säsongen 06-07” released by Donkeyboys Records (DNKYBYS002).

In 2007 the band starts working with the label Series Two. They appear in the compilation CDR “Series Two Records Christmas Special” with the track “Hear the Bells Rings”.

The next year, 2008,  an album is finally released. It is called “You Still Have Summers” and has 9 songs, “A Little Love”, “Louise Dyer”, “Hesitate in Love”, “Someone Special”, “Buzzing Like Bumblebees on Speed”, “1992”, “She Said”, “Hear the Bells Ring” and “Bumblebee”.

Lastly, in 2009, they have the song “A Little Love” in the compilation “Series Two Compilation Vol. 23”.

A good find on the web is a blogspot page from the band dating from 2005. Here I find some setlists were there are some songs that weren’t included in the records. For example The Vaselines song “Lovecraft” and “No Other One” by Weezer used to be covered by Thehelpmeplease.

On the old Myspace I find a song “Lousy Weekend”. There I find a band, among the top friends, called The Johnsson Colors. I want to guess, because of the last name, that it was another band Jonas was in. Who would know?

I also wonder whereabouts in Sweden were Thehelpmeplease based. There is really no information on the web. A shame.

So yeah, who remembers this great bedroom pop band?

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Listen
Thehelpmeplease – A Little Love

Day 341. So yeah, don’t forget that this week I will start shipping Verandan orders!!! Very exciting! Pre-orders will be shipped first of course. The official release date is February 20.

Ski Saigon: “Sees the Albatross”, the debut album by the London based Ski Saigon will be out on the label Too Good to be True. This label, from Brest, France, is actually a new label by the people behind Beko Disques. The album is getting a CD release on March 4 and it will be very limited, just 150 copies. One of the songs is available to preview at the moment, “It’s Already Tomorrow”, and I highly recommend checking it out.

The Lodger: the great Leeds band will be back with a new album called “Cul-De-Sac”. 13 new songs. We can check one of those songs, “Dual Lives”, on Bandcamp. The album will be available through different labels around the world and it seems only in vinyl LP format.

Grids and Dots: the Sydney, Australia, band is back with a new song. It is called “What Happens to Friendships in Winter?”. That’s a good question indeed. Here in the north we are in winter and in a pandemic. So yeah, haven’t seen many friends. Speaking of pandemic, it seems the band actually have some gigs coming up in February and March. Lucky indeed.

CIEL: the Dutch combo also returns with a new song called “Pretty Face”. As with previous songs I’m enjoying this quite a lot. Very nice female vocals and melodies. I just think it’d be great to see a release by them, an album would be nice, right?

Shiny Times: and lastly on today’s quick reviews of indiepop discoveries on the web we find that Kim Weldin has continued making new music! It’s been a while since I last hear from her, probably 7, 8 months? so it is cool to see two new songs on her Bandcamp, “Dark Day” and “Everything is Gray”. Lovely bedroom pop.

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I keep discovering new Australian bands from the 80s and early 90s thanks to that great Youtube channel stoneeyedkiller. It is true he sometimes recommends some bands I’ve posted here but as of late I think I am being inspired more by his posts than him from mine!

The latest discovery is this Sydney post punk/pop band from the 80s called The Call. I already know, by their name, that it will prove difficult to find much information about them. Their name is not a good one for Google.

But there are some good news. There’s a Bandcamp and a Facebook page. So we’ll be able to find songs and some information!

Firstly, on the Bandcamp we find six song: “Winterland”, “Model”, “Andy’s Day”, “Memories” and “Road to Freedom”. We don’t know if these were properly released or not. We do know that they were recorded between 1981 and 1993. That seems a bit odd, six songs recorded in 12 years? There must be more! Anyone would know?

We also know the band members: David Thompson, Michael Pickells, Peter Ciobo and Steve Starr (Thompson). On the Bandcamp photo there are only 3 members though.

It also tells us that the band played in Sydney, Canberra and Newcastle. It also tells us that the band reformed in the year 2020 to play live shows as well as live streams and they plan to record. That’s interesting!

Their Facebook has less information. There are just a few photos of their 2020 rehearsals.

Looking for more information about the band members I find that Michael Pickells played in a band called The Lounge Lizards. And I am pretty sure that Peter Ciobo was in the band Deckchairs Overboard. I had a hard time finding any projects by the other band members.

But yeah, not that much info, but we get to listen to them and hopefully we’ll learn more about The Call in the near future!

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Listen
The Call – Road to Freedom

Day 338

Klaus & Kinski: just a few days ago I was recommending Alexanderplatz, the solo project of one of the Klaus & Kinski members. Well, there’s some news about this band! There is a vinyl reissue of their album “Tierra, Trágalos” for its 10th anniversary coming up on Jabalina! It is coming out on March 1st on vinyl! It includes all songs from the original release plus a cover of “Lalala” by Ataque de Caspa.

The Leontini Vernacular: the latest on Shore Dive Records from Brighton is an EP titled “Anthropause” by The Leontini Vernacular. Here are 6 songs, three labeled as demos and one remix, of psychedelic guitars and shoegazey feel. Out now on CD though it seems it will be sold out soon!

Arrest! Charlie Tipper: the Bristol band will be back with a limited edition 7″! Limited to 120 copies, this new record on the Local Underground label, will have two songs, “Five Aces” and “(I’ve Never Been to) Alaska”, and we can preview the opening track as we speak. The opening track will also be part of the double album “Adventures in Wonderland” that will be released this summer.

А в голове море: I don’t understand nor can read Russian. But I can see “Москва” and now it is Moscow. That’s the name of the latest song by this band. It is a fine slice of new wavy indiepop with female vocals. I don’t know much about the band, but I enjoy this song!

Bad Visuals: and to end this week on a high note let’s check out “So Broken” by the Oakland, California, band Bad Visuals. This four piece formed by John, Geoff, Chris and Josh are new to me. So it was a nice surprise to listen this fuzzy and bright track. The melodies and vocals kind of reminded me a bit of The Ocean Blue, though yeah, the guitars being a bit different. It’s cool!

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Who were The Marnies?

The information seems scarce. Discogs does list the one and only record they put out, a self-released 7″ from 1989 that was titled “Watch the Clock”.

This record had two songs, “Electric Wires” on the A side and “Watch the Clock” on the B side. The information that we gather from the record sleeve and labels is that the band was formed by:
Damian Tesoriero on drums
Patrick McArdle on guitar and vocals
Anthony Camm on bass and vocals
Terrance Vella on guitar

We also know that the two songs were recorded at Apollo Sound Studios in Coburg, on December 12, 1988, and that they were engineered by Maurice Coppola. The photo of the band that appears on the label was taken by Maria Sokratis. We also find an address of the band, North Fitzroy, that’s Melbourne, right?

The sleeve of the record that I’ve seen online looks hand-printed, on purple ink. Discogs lists two compilation appearances, but of much more recent days, so I really doubt it is the same band.

It seems the first blog to write about them was the fine Wilfully Obscure blog. The post actually dates from 2011! 9 years ago. That’s what it took me to discover them. Sadly the details shared are the same as I just mentioned in my post. BUT….

There is a comment by someone called Dr. Keats. He mentions many interesting tidbits about the band.

The band formed in 1987 and their name was taken from the 1964 Hitchcock film “Marnie”.  He mentions too that Patrick McArdle had been in a band called Vacuum Safari Suits, and he, Camm and Vella met at LaTrobe University.

The band played many of the classic venues of Melbourne including Punters Club, Evelyn Hotel, Empress of India, Royal Artillery, Limbo Club and more, playing alongside the Rhythm Pigs, Tyrnaround and a favourite of mine, The Falling Joys at The Tote.

Here we learn too that McArdle was the one who sang “Watch the Clock” while Camm sang “Electric Wires”. That at their gigs teh band used to finish their show with a cover of “Yesterday’s Hero” by John Paul Young. In 1989 Tesoreiro left the band andw as replaced by Maurice Toneatto. Later Tesoreiro would rejoin. In late 1990 or early 1991 the band called it quits.

And then some good information, McArdle and Tesoreiro were later in a band called Power Chime.

Lastly I find a Soundcloud by Patrick McArdle! There are a trove of songs here! I wonder if any of them are by The Marnies!

That was quite some good information. I honestly thought I’d find less info about them. Again, how come I couldn’t put together a compilation of Australian bands, I don’t know. They seemed all so little interested. It would have been so cool.

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Listen
The Marnies – Electric Wires

Day 336

Ruth Po!: on Po!’s Bandcamp there are two new tapes from back in the day that have been digitized. That’s fantastic news! These tapes are “Bedroom Tapes 1” from 1989 and “Bedroom Tapes 2” from 1990. They are wonderful, as everything Ruth has been involved with. Yeah, I am still wondering why we haven’t done an interview for the blog yet…

Mister Baby: I discover this band and release a bit late. The cassette mini-album “Sidewalk Pop” is already sold out at the band’s label Paisley Shirt Records from San Francisco. The mini-album is a nice lo-fi pop effort by Katiana Mashikian. Very enjoyable. 8 songs including a cover of “Dr. Jones” by Aqua!

Pleasure Pill: not much info about this project from San Diego, California. They have a few songs on their Soundcloud, the latest called “You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory (But Baby I’ve Tried)” which is great. Lo-fi crashpop like no many do these days. Also surprised to see a cover of “La Tentación” by legendary Spanish band Kaka de Luxe.

Racketgirl!: another band from California that doesn’t tell us anything about them! So little info! This one hails from Chula Vista and in the last few weeks have put out a few demos on Bandcamp, “Flowers for Eyes”, “Broken Glass” and “On the Floor”. They are great popsongs influenced by Tiger Trap, Talulah Gosh, Shop Assistants and on and on!

Alexanderplatz: last January the Spanish label Jabalina Música released a new album by Alexanderplatz. Available in vinyl, the 11 song album is called “Parques Nacionales Españoles”. The band as you know is the project of Alejandro Martínez who once was part of the great combo Klaus & Kinski. Recommended.

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Another discovery on the blog Calgary Cassette Preservation Society is the Edmonton, Canada, band Foes of Respiration. Seems I should dig here more often. But in due honesty the Youtube channel stoneeyedkiller is the one on top of this blog helping me find these bands. So thanks to both!

Anyways, the tape that is shared from this band is called “Avoid Inhaling”. This tape looks like an album, a demo of an album? or maybe a proper release that was sold at gigs. It doesn’t specify. What we know is that the tape had 12 songs, which were “In Place”, “Not the Same”, “I Don’t Understand”, “Extra Body”, “It’s Always Winter” and “Hot Babe” on the A side and “And You Don’t Care”, “The Gift”, “No Longer Young”, “Someplace”, “Promised Land” and “832 Juxtaposition Rifles” on the B side.

One thing that mentions the blog is that this band was the precursor to the Minstrels on Speed. I don’t actually know the Minstrels on Speed, but did find that two of the members were there, Bob Kross and Kelly Service. So that doesn’t help. In any case, right now I am focusing on the Foes of Respiration.

Luckily there are scans of the sleeve of the tape and that way we find the band member’s names:
Ken Hartig – bass, vocals
Bob Kross – guitar, vocals
Scott Lingley – drums
Kelly Service – guitar, vocals, harmonica

Other people that participated in the record were Johwanna Alleyne and Kelly McPhillamey doing vocals on a song.

All the songs were recorded in Bob’s and Kelly’s basements on December of 1988 and were produced by the band. The songs were engineered by Bob and Kelly too. They were mixed by Ian Armostrong and the band on January of 1989. The artwork was made by The Tim Okamura Experience.

Then there’s an address, so the band hailed from Sherwood Park in Alberta, if we want to be more exact.

Sherwood Park was founded as Campbelltown by John Hook Campbell and John Mitchell in 1953 when the Municipal District of Strathcona No. 83 approved their proposed development of a bedroom community east of Edmonton. The first homes within the community were marketed to the public in 1955. Canada Post intervened on the name of Campbelltown due to the existence of several other communities in Canada with the same name, so the community’s name was changed to Sherwood Park in 1956.

On Discogs I found that the band actually had one song properly released. The song was “Take Another Dream” and came out on a compilation LP called “Don’t Let the Fruit Rot on the Tree” that was released by Nine-B South in 1988. This compilation came with a booklet with information about each band on it. Would be great if anyone has it and can share any information. I am not familiar with any of the bands on this record either.

Right, Canadian bands, I don’t know that much. There are great ones, and have covered only a few on the blog. The last ones might have been The Grain and Cannon Heath Down.

I stumble upon an article from January 26, 1990, on the Calgary Herald. Sadly I can’t access it as you need an account. I wonder what it says about the band.

Then I find a cool poster of a gig of the band from October 27, 1989, at The Sunset Club. The band is playing alongside Hambone Headcheese. Then anothe rposter, this time of a gig at The Ambassador on November 11, 1989, with Pop Crisis, Rex Morgan B.C., A-Okay and Things That Wouldn’t Leave.

And that’s it. I did find that Bob Kross had been in another band, The Loved One, releasing a cassette and CD album in the early 90s. I couldn’t find information about the other band members. I think Scott Lingley may be working at the University of Alberta, that backing vocalist Kelly McPhillamey has a hair studio, and the other backing vocalist Johwanna Alleyne has an online store of pickles and preserves. Cool!

Who remembers them?

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Listen
The Foes of Respiration – It’s Always Winter

Day 334

The Catherines: the Hamburg duo is releasing their new album! It is called “Drenched”. It is a short one, maybe we could call it a mini-album. It has 7 songs with great catchy melodies. It is out now on CD and cassette. I’ve featured the band many times, so you know I like them and you know what to expect. It is always a pleasure to read their song titles, always quirky and smart.

The Apartments: a new release by the classic Australian band! “A Life of Farewells” is coming out on April 2nd and will be available on vinyl and CD. The album will include 9 songs and we can preview one now, “The Failure of Love is a Brick Wall (You Prayed for me to Hit it)” and I can say I think it is wonderful. Can’t wait to hear the rest! Pre-orders are available now.

Hadda Be: “Another Life” is the latest single by this Brighton/London combo. This track will be included in their forthcoming album to be released in April of this year. There is no more info other than that. But the song (and the artwork that goes with it) is good, so should definitely look forward to it.

Mocca: the Indonesian band has continued releasing great records since their debut on Fruit Records, more than a decade ago. Their latest release is the album “Day by Day” and I just discovered it through the fine Blue-Very label. They are putting out the Japanese version of the CD that will even include liner notes by our friend Toshiko Matsumoto who ran the fine Apple Crumble Record! The album has 8 songs and right now we can listen to 4 of them on Bandcamp. The album will be released on CD.

Letting Up Despite Great Faults: oh! I always liked this dreamy band. Now the band is releasing “Movement EP 15 Anniversary Edition (Remastered w/B-sides)” on cassette. The record will include the original songs from the original release plus 3 more songs, “Bloom”, “Lux” and “Shine”. And there’s also the song “Halos” which is exclusive for those that order on Bandcamp!

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When you stumble upon a trove of songs, 21 songs to be precise, of an obscure Sheffield band called Mr. Morality, you have to post about it immediately!!

So here I am, trying to learn a little bit more about them. They never released a record, but got a little bit of attention last year, 2019, when their song “Treehouse” appeared on the “Dreams to Fill the Vacuum – The Sound of Sheffield 1977-1988” boxset released by Cherry Red. I didn’t get this compilation, but I hope to get a copy when I return to NYC in January. Maybe there are some other great bands I might have missed.

Aside from this boxset the band did appear on another compilation, but 34 years earlier, in 1985. A tape called “Outrage Entertainment” had two of their songs, “Terry and Jane” and “Valium Days”. This tape is probably very rare as it includes two Pulp songs. This tape, which was homemade, was sold at Pulp’s “Outrage” concerts in late 1985 and early 1986. Mr. Morality (and Dig Vis Drill) supported Pulp during this tour.

The songs on Soundcloud are many. It seems they are all their recorded output and probably would make a great compilation. These songs are from 6 demo tapes that were recorded between 1985 and 1988. The intention of these tapes was of course to get radio play, attract A&R and press and get gigs. They use to sell these tapes at gigs. But most importantly, we don’t know what songs were in which tape. That is something we’ll need to find out.

The songs are as follow, they may be in chronological order, but can’t say 100% sure: “Terry and Jane”, “Sometimes I Wonder”, “Valium Daze”, “A Less than a Perfect Thing”, “Secret Ships”, “Men and their Gods”, “A Day by the Sea”, “Our Little World”, “Blue”, “Strawberry Mountain”, “Boy Down our Street”, “Autumn Winds”, “The Inevitable End”, “The Invisible Man”, “The King of Nowhere”, “Treehouse”, “This Higher Passion”, “Sand”, “You’ll Never Be”, “Scream For Me” and “Intro Track”.

It is my luck that I find a Facebook page for the band which seems to still be active. Should contact them. Here we learn that the band was formed by Steve Genn (vocals, guitar), Dave Oldale (guitar), John Furniss (bass) and Martin Spivey (drums). Though on Facebook we see other photos with more members like Dean Methley, Steve Naylor or Dave Hinckler.

There are many different mentions of gigs. We know that:
– March 16, 1985 they band played at Rockwells
– March 26, 1985 they played at the Hallamshire Hotel
– May 18, 1985, they play for the 2nd time at The Hallamshire Hotel (this was their 5th ever gig)
– May 31, 1985, we see the band playing at The Library Theatre supporting the band 777
– June 25, 1985 the band plays at Rockwells
– July 16, 1985 they play at The Limit in a battle of the bands competition
– Aug. 1, 1985, at the Sheffield Uni alongside Pulp, Treebound Story, Revelation, Half Past Midnight, Spring Street Band, Massai Warrior, The Cast, Hole in the Wall, Mr President
– Aug. 5, 1985, the band plays at The Underground
– Aug 29, 1985, they play again at The Hallamshire Hotel
– Sept. 1, 1985, the band plays at the Dolebusters Festival
– Sept. 22, 1985, with Pulp and Dig Vs Drill at The Leadmill
– Sept. 24, 1985, the band plays at the Thekla Old Profanity showboat in Bristol.
– Oct. 4, 1985, the band plays the first of the “Outrage” gigs at the Darlington Arts Center
– Oct. 7, 1985, the band plays again with Pulp and Henry Normal at the Adam and Eves in Chesterfield.
– Oct. 17, 1885, alongside Pulp and Dig Vis Drill the band plays Bradford University
– Oct. 25, 1985, the same lineup plus Popular Front play at the Maze Bar at Sheffield Uni
– Nov. 6, 1985, the band plays at The Wellington Club in Hull with Pulp, Dig Vis Drill and Bible Brothers
– Dec. 14, 1985 they played at The Leadmill supporting Microdisney
– July 11, 1987 they played at The Leadmill with support of The Jack Rubies
– Nov. 5, 1987 they played at The Depot Club in the Sheffield University Lower Refectory

Wow! the band really must have kept a diary or something! They even have setlists for many of these gigs in their Facebook page.

Another interesting fact that I find in the Pulp wiki is that there was a Pulp song called “Mr Morality” that remains unreleased. According to the wiki it was first played live at the Possibly Crucible Theatre in Sheffield in Oct. 1982. Did the band name themselves after this song?

The big question is still why they didnt release any records? Was there no interest? There are some great songs here, at least two could have been put on a wonderful 7″. Why didn’t any label see it? It is something I wonder.

I hope to learn more about the band soon. In the meantime, let’s listen to all of these songs!

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Listen
Mr. Morality – A Less than Perfect Thing

Day 331

Lande Hekt: from Bristol comes this solo project who have just released an album called “Going to Hell”. The album is available on vinyl and CD and includes 11 tracks. The one thing that I don’t know is that it says that the record was recorded in Australia in 2020, but then the band is from Bristol? How did they do to travel like that during the pandemic! In any case that’s just something curious, the songs are strong, upbeat and catchy. That’s what matters.

The Yellow Melodies: a USB digipak with 36 songs, all of the songs that had appeared by the Murcia band in different compilations between 1997 and 2016 is now available directly from the band. There are only 100 copies made, and at the time I am writing this there were just 19 copies left!

Honey Pine Dresser: when Marie Pascale Hardy from Quebec moved to London she met Robert Cann, Becky Dixon, Sally Frampton and Dimitri Sudell. They started this band and have just released an EP titled “Not Pandora”. It is not all indiepop, there are some folky influences here. But there are some very is a good indiepop songs called “English Game”.

Sullen Eyes: my favourite discovery this week is this fun band from Bangor, Maine. Their 5 song self-titled EP is so much fun! Who are behind this band? There is really not much information other than that the songs were recorded a year ago. A year after they upload these songs to Bandcamp to make me very curious! Really good!

Traveling with Monika: the latest from the best indiepop band from Thailand is called “Break Down These Walls”. It is a dreamy, moody, track, sung in Thai. The lyrics translated to English are available on their Bandcamp. Definitely check it out.

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I think part of the premise of this blog is to remember. To remember bands that no one else seems to remember. Bring their songs back. And listen to them one more time. If possible find out what happened with them. Interview them. That’s what I try, to keep a record of all the great indiepop out there.

Today I remembered a band I used to be in touch with. A band from somewhere in Mexico. I can’t remember much more about them. I think it was a boy and a girl. I can’t remember the names. The year was 2004. The band was called Piscina, which translates to “swimming pool”. Now that is quite an interesting name for a Mexican band. Most Spanish countries use the word piscina for a swimming pool, but in Mexico the most common word for swimming pool is actually alberca.

Anyways. It was 2004 and I was compiling a compilation album called “¡Es Pop, Mamá! ” that was to accompany the Peruvian music magazine Revista 69. I have written about a few bands that appeared on this compilation like Hey, Miss! from Brazil and Abeja and Robotril from Mexico. The compilation ended up being a success and created a bit of a buzz about indiepop in Peru and since then there’s been indiepop bands, labels, gigs and festivals. I want to think I had a little part in it.

But back to Piscina. I can’t remember anything at all. I know the song that was included in the comp was called “Megapasión”, which you can guess what it means, it’s the same in English. It is a fun song as you’ll see.

The only other song I know they released was a cover of “Soy Una Intelectual” by the Galician band Aerolíneas Federales. This song was included in a tribute to said band called “Alegra La Cara – Tributo a Aerolíneas Federales” on the label Ya Estas Ya Producciones (YP-10), also from Peru.

So yeah, I want to remember them, hopefully get in touch with them again. Did they continue making music? Did they actually release anything? Where are they now?

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Listen
Piscina – Megapasión