Day 390

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Listen
The Melons – From Hell to Helsinki

Day 387

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Listen
Citrus Park – Snow

Day 385

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Listen
These Days – Original

Day 383

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Listen
Glaring Surge – The Grass of Your Grave

Day 380

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Listen
She’s Gone – Clear Skies

Day 378

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Who has any more details about the Magic Roundabout?

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Listen
Magic Roundabout – Sneaky Feelin’

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 120, 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