Day 120.

More new music from around the web!

Kammahav: our friends Christian Gustafsson and Tony Jenkins are back with a new song called “Thirty 4”. It is a bit rockier than previous efforts but I still like it. Are they working on an album or something? We should just wait.

Airhockey: the Miami band will be releasing a tape EP called “Walkthrough” on the 17th. It will have 6 songs and we can preview one of them, the opener track called “Try” which is a dreamy song.

Populardays: the Filipino band did a quarantine session for Shiny Happy Records, now four of the songs from the session are up on Bandcamp as part of the label’s digital club. These are terrific dreampop songs, so don’t miss them out.

Chavales: another digital single by this Spanish duo. “Ernesto” is the name of the song and no, it is not a cover of the classic Los Nikis song of the same name. Maybe it feels like a sequel to that song? I can see that.

“What You’ve Missed So Far” The First Hundred Releases of Blackbean and Placenta: remember the American label Blackbean and Placenta? Well here is a 21 song compilation on the Japanese Galaxy Train label. It is really cool as it includes songs by many classic bands like Boyracer, Orange Cake Mix, The Shermans, Aikagi, The Mondo Crescendo and a favourite of mine, The Ninjas.

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Jämna Plågor, the even plagues, was formed by Justus Björk on drums, Sam Carlshamre on guitar, Matilda Kihlberg on vocals and synth, Markus Amalthea Magnuson on organ and vocals and Philip Wigselius on bass. This was back in the mid 2000s. Some names do sound familiar, no?

When I wrote many years ago about Your Place or Mine, a terrific Stockholm based band, I got in touch with Sam Carlshamre who pointed me to this other band he had been involved with (he also was involved with Corduroy Utd.). He was the only Your Place or Mine person I got in touch but he wasn’t one of the original members, so he wasn’t keen on answering my questions for an interview. Would have loved to interview Matilda Kihlberg who was the vocalist of the band. Here in Jämna Plågor she sings too. And I notice another name that is familiar to me, that of Markus Amalthea Magnusson. He was in another top band from the period, The Fermats. I was actually in touch with him when I included them in the first volume of The Sound of Starke Adolf series that didn’t become a series (at least not yet!).

So we have some names. But we also have a website the band put together which is still up with links to 6 songs. 6 songs that made up their “Kapitalstaden EP”. 6 songs that were mixed and mastered by Mattias Valenca, I don’t know if this was released in a physical format (I hope there was a CDR – and if there was I’d kill for a copy). But here we have downloads for them all. The songs in the “Kapitalstaden EP” were “Kalla Kriget”, “Berlinlåten”, “Ungdomslåten”, “Konst och Vanliga Saker”, “Plankaren” and “Intro”.  Even cooler, there is a lyric sheet and also guitar chords for each song in PDF format. So if you want to practice your Swedish, take advantage!

It seems the band also had a Myspace back then. That is useless now of course. And that is all it seems. But we can also mention that the song “Plankaren” is actually an adaptation of the French writer Boris Vian’s “Le Déserteur”.

Not much more about them. Don’t even know if they played live. The good thing is that they left this amazing 6 songs that I urge you to discover (or rediscover) as time has passed by they sound still fresh to my ears!

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Listen
Jämna Plågor – Berlinlåten

Day 118.

Something for those looking for old Cloudberry zines, it seems Horowitz, the fantastic Stoke-on-Trent band who did a few releases with us have a bunch of copies for the first 7 fanzines that have been long sold out! So run before they disappear https://horowitz.bandcamp.com/merch

More new music from around the web!

The Bunbury: this Indonesian band has become a favourite. Now what is odd though is their shoes in Bandcamp, in Zaragoza and Mexico. I wonder if Bandcamp is listing Enrique Bunbury’s gigs there? Could be. Heroes del Silencio, the band Enrique was in the 80s and 90s hailed from Zaragoza and they are big in Mexico, the places where the gigs are to happen. In any case the Indonesian band who may or may not have taken their name from him have a wonderful new song called “Track 4”.

Tough Age: who are this Toronto/Vancouver band? They sound amazing to me! They will be releasing an album on August 6 called “Which Way Am I?”. It is going to be released by Mint Records and it will be available both on vinyl and CD. It seems the band has many other previous releases, but this is the first time (I think?!) that I’m enjoying these shambolic songs!

Bdrmm: the Hull’s band album “Bedroom”, released on July 3rd, seems to be sold out already. Both CD and vinyl versions are sold out. This is quite incredible I must say. How many copies were made? I am curious. Who sells out so fast? This shoegaze band must have the answer!

Caucus: so happy to see our Japanese friends making music again! Now on the great Galaxy Train label they have released a four song EP titled “Exploration of the Moon” and it is wonderful! Among these songs there is even a cover of the classic hit “You and Me Song” by the Wannadies. So cool!

122 North: Danny Provencher is back with another amazing song, “Drive”! I feel this is a special song for sure! Wow. I am speechless. It is part of a four song EP called “Drive” which includes the song “Better Stranger” and two mixes/remixes of Drive, Highway mix and Love Dance remix

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Another band I discovered doing my research for the series of compilations featuring Australian indiepop from the late 80s and early 90s was The Goddards. Prior to 2019 I had never heard of them.

I was lucky with them. I was to find a Soundcloud page that included lotsof songs. Even the A side, “From You For Now”, that was included in their only release they put out back in 1989. Sadly not the B side, “In Your Hands”, which I still hope to listen sometime soon! Maybe I’ll get a copy of the record. That might be easier as it seems the Soundcloud hasn’t been updated for 8 years.

The band released their 7″ in 1989 as I said. It came out on the label Lunchbox Spider (JDJ 100). It does look as if this label was the band’s own as there are no other releases listed. The front of the sleeve has a very cool illustration of a city, airplanes, a highway and men in hats. This illustration was created by T. Edwards.  The back of the sleeve has a photo of the band members and credits.

So thanks to that we know the band was formed by John Fitzgerald on drums and vocals, James Vidler on guitars and vocals and Richard Vidler on guitars and vocals. We know that both songs were recorded at Trackdown Studios in Sydney and were engineered by Tim Ryan. The band produced both tracks with help from Tim Ryan. Also Natassia Broofkisser played all strings on “From You For Now”.

And that’s it. No other releases are listed for them, not even compilation appearances.

But thanks to Soundcloud we know the band hailed from Newcastle in Australia. And that they recorded more songs like: “Thread”, “In My Mind”, “Invisible Blue”, “Best Friend”, “Skin Fest”, “Natasia”, “Fade Away Pretty”, “The Push”, “That’s How I love”, “Sea Shed”, “Randy”, “No Time” and “Hurt”.

Then I found an article on the Newscastle Star dating from April 2, 2016. Here I learn more about James Vidler, the guitarist and vocalist. There was a documentary in 2008 called “Rock I Gave You the Best Years of My Life” were four Newscastle bands were featured. The Goddards was one of them.

Something I learn from the article is that the band was originally formed by James, the youngest of the Vidler brothers. Then it mentions another Vidler brother that didn’t appear on the record it seems, Bob Vidler, who was a bassist.

Their first gig was at the Lass O’Gowrie Hotel in January 1988. At some point Richard got into a business relationship with the Troy Horse studio. This would lead to the creation of the Troy Horse label.

It seems they were recording an EP but they broke before they released it. Maybe many of the songs on Soundcloud were intended for that EP? That would make sense. After the breakup James was in bands like Bloodloop Beautiful and The Donkey Brothers.

Interesting.

Found quite some info and most importantly a bunch of music by The Goddards! That’s great! Now I’d love to hear the story directly from the band members. Will that ever happen?!

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Listen
The Goddards – From You For Now

Day 116. It has been a lazy long weekend for me. So not much news, but here are some good finds from this past weekend.

Pop Filter: Australia keeps putting out terrific guitar pop bands. The latest one I’ve discovered is Pop Filter from Melbourne. They actually will be releasing an album on August 21st and will be titled “Banksia”. Three of the songs from the 11-track record are available to preview, “Big Yellow Van”, “Laughing Falling” and “Romance at the Petrol Station”.

The Radio Dept.: The superb Swedish band is back with a 7″! This record has “You’re Lookin’ at My Guy” on the A side and “Could You be the One” on the B side. Both songs are really good! The vinyl is limited to 500 copies and there are even t-shirts if you like that as well!

Blue Tomorrows: this Portland band has been recommended in the blog before, so we know a bit what they are about. The three girls behind the band craft breezy and poppy tunes and their last effort, “Violet Shine”, is no exception. A nice summery single.

Dreams of Empire: the Brighton band is also back with a new digital single. It is a cover of the song “Reflection” originally written and recorded by Intermere, the side project of Andrew from Dreams of Empire.

Rosehip Teahouse: another digital single, it seems that’s the trend these days… and it is also a very good single of course. This Cardiff project has just unveiled in their Bandcamp the song “Regretting It”. A nice lo-fi bedroom pop song.

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Recorded at Boberg Studios in Hamburg, in December 1984, the “Love in the Afternoon” mini-album was the only release the band put out. And then, German friends tell me if I am wrong, they disappeared into oblivion.

The mini-album was actually released in 1985, with no label. It was probably a self release as it had that famous “SRT” as a label and catalog “SRT5KL406”. It included 7 songs, four on the A side: “Letting Go”, “Stand Back”, “Love in the Afternoon” and “Persuasion”, and three on the B side, “The Other Side of Midnight”, “The Feeling is Love” and “Rio Verde”.

The band was a duo, formed by Herbert Behrens on keyboards and Andrew Clark on vocals. Was it a German-British duo perhaps? I ask because of their names. Or American? The sleeve doesn’t give us any other details. The front cover has a photo of a woman (who is she?), and on the back a photo of the band.

Looking for more information, after really liking their track “Persuasion”, I find that Herbert Behrens, also called HerbieB, was born in Hamburg and actually started his music career as a drummer. Then he would move to the UK and there he toured and recorded with his band Java Jive. Does this mean there are other recordings by the band? Recordings made in the UK and not in Germany as the album?

He studied at the University of Buckingham and after finishing returned to Germany. Afterwards he would move to Mallorca in Spain where he would launch his solo career as HerbieB recording at least one demo CD I believe sometime around 2004.

And what about Andrew Clark? I couldn’t find any information about him. It looks like at some point they just disappeared from the face of the Earth. The record, I haven’t found a copy for myself yet. I think only 1,000 copies were pressed.

But did they play live a lot? It is mentioned they toured the UK. Who did they support? Or maybe who supported them? Would be good to find out. Who remembers them?!

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Listen
Java Jive – Love in the Afternoon

Day 113. How many more days of stay-at-home? We are considering going away for a month or so. A deserved sort of vacation. I know this may not be ideal for the label, as we won’t be able to send any orders for that time, but I feel a little break would be ok. I’ll keep you all updated. In the meantime, here are some good finds:

Sloppy Joe: our friend Hitoshi Oka is back with “Waiting for the Night Begins” a delightful jangle pop album with 11 tracks. At the moment you can check out 5 of them of this record that is available on vinyl and CD. The CD version also includes a CDR with four songs, two acoustic and two covers!

Münchhausen: this is quite a discovery. I have been a bit dismissive with bands from Colombia as it is very rare to find good indiepop coming from there. Well, now I have to accept that Münchhausen’s latest song, “Here Again”, is a true beauty! The Bogotá based combo has put together a fine post-punk/indiepop track which I am sure everyone will enjoy!

Mashmellow: the Russian duo formed by Masha and Egor is back with a wonderful new EP titled “Someday Club”. The track “Melt” is lovely, my favourite out of the 5 in this record, though it is hard to pick!

The Muldoons: the great Scottish band is going to be back very soon with an album titled “Made for Each Other”. It is really promising and will be out on vinyl by the Last Night label from Glasgow. In the meantime I urge you to head to Soundcloud and check the wonderful song “In Love Again”, a little taster of the album!

Sweetie Darling: lastly coming from Imperial, California, is this three-piece combo formed by Camden Aguilera, April Urrutia and Megan Moreno. They have an EP titled “Love/Lies” of lo-fi ramshackle pop that is very enjoyable!

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I am going through my extensive list of bands I would have wanted to include in my Australian indiepop compilations that never happened. Why? Well let’s say bands weren’t that keen to help, they weren’t that interested. The same thing that happened with the second volume of the Starke Adolf series. If bands don’t provide songs, bios or photos, really, there’s not much one can do. I tried. And will probably try again in the future.

Okay, so yes, I am going through this list because there are many bands I discovered while doing my research on who to include. A lot of them were tricky as I knew they were pop bands but couldn’t find any of their songs online. Mind you, I am not rich to buy all of the records I want. So no, I had the names but didn’t know how they sounded, if they were fit to be included. One of the bands I did find some music from was The Snorkels. And I thought immediately that they had to be part of my project!

The band released just one single as far as I know. I know very little of course. Writing this post might help me learn more. This 7″ single came out on Method Records (MR8) in 1983 and included “When I Say Go” on the A side and “95 Miles from Sydney” on the B side.

Method Records is an interesting label. I actually found out about The Snorkels by exploring their catalog. You see this label had released Skolars and Love Minus Zero among others. They are still going mind you.

On Discogs someone has commented that each copy of the 7″ was hand coloured. We also know that both songs were recorded at Silverwood Studios in Sydney, and that the B side, “95 Miles from Sydney” was composed and sung by the band’s bassist Jon Yuncken.

Then on the Sideroom blog Bruce mentions that The Snorkels might have included Fabian Byrne from the Fast Cars and the person behind Method Records. That explains a lot, doesn’t it?!

I found another blog, Wallaby Beat, that mentions that Doug Lees the drummer of the band Progression Cult would be part of The Snorkels. All is making sense now.

We have three names now. But that’s not all. Their song “When I Say Go” was also included on the compilation “Sound of Sydney – Volume 2” that was released by Method Records in 1984 (L 38263).

And that’s it. Not much more written about them on the web. No other information. Maybe it was a short-lived band. Maybe they only recorded a few songs? Maybe not many gigs? Who’d know. I definitely would like to know more about them

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Listen
The Snorkels – When I Say Go

Day 111. How is everyone? Not much news today, but as always I bring some great music!

Accent: remember I interviewed the band some time ago? It turns out the band has just released a CD album on the Portuguese label Different Class Records. This album is called “Live Kings Head Fulham 1984” and as you can guess it is a live album. It has 14 songs, 13 for the first time on CD.

Startropics: I really like the Chicago band a lot! They have a few new songs from their Stay Home Sessions which were filmed for DKFM’s DreamGaze Worldwide III this month. There is “Running Scared” and “The Test of Time“. It is hard to pick which one I like better. Maybe the latter? Maybe the first? Both are very good!

Parks, Squares and Alleys: this Russian band is totally unknown to me but has a terrific new song called “Друг (Friend) “. The song seems to feature another artist by the name САММЕР КОМА. I don’t even know if it is a proper band, it might also be a one-man project by Sergey Khavro. In any case this song is great!

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: Glenn Donaldson’s band has a new song on Bandcamp and it is a cover of the Monkees 2016 tune “Me & Magdalena” It is really nice. On top of that he updates us that he has recorded a 12″ EP for Tough Love in the UK and an album for Slumberland. Can’t wait for both of them!

Sweet Season: lastly this amazing discovery coming from Phoenix, Arizona. This three-piece formed by Monte Ewert, Mella Barnes and Dan Radel have just released their first two songs on Bandcamp. They are “Blue Girl” and “Never Been Before” and I am sure everyone that reads this blog will enjoy them! Jangly, bright, lush songs. Thumbs up!

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Back in 1978 in the Isle of Wight a band called Flirt was formed. They played original sons but also covers of bands like Blondie, The Pretenders, The Ramones and other punk and new wave bands. The people behind this band were Nigel Hayles on guitar, Debbie Barker on lead vocals, Eric Biggs on bass and Chris Lines on drums.

Then in 1979 they were to change their name to Cassie. Under this name the band signed a deal with the Portsmouth based label Video Records and a publishing deal with Wessex Music. Also Chris Lines, the original drummer, was replaced by Hugh Lewis.

With the new lineup the band would go to Porstmouth and record two songs, “No More Rock N’ Roll” and “Keep in Touch” at Telecomms Studios. Sadly these two songs were never pressed on vinyl as the label had financial trouble and folded.

That must have been a terrible thing for the band but they continued. In 1980 they entered Tim Marshall’s studio in the Isle of Wight to record demos for Wilf Pine who used to be Black Sabbath’s manager (!). The songs they recorded then were “Change of Image”, “She’s a Flirt” and “Model in a Magazine”. But still even though these were great songs, Wilf was unable to get them a record deal.

In 1982 the band would release a 7″ on A.K.A. Records (AKS 101). It may have been a self-release, I can’t say, but I would guess so. It included two songs, “Change My Image” on the A side and “Will You?” on the B side. I don’t own this record, but would love to of course. It may also have been a 7″ the band would send to labels, to make them known, as it doesn’t look as they invested in a sleeve for it. What we do know from this record, is that “Change My Image” was written by Debbie Barker while “Will You?” was written by Chris Line. Both were produced by Wilf Pine.

The band would continue playing live and trying to get a deal. They would get a six month residency at the Royal Sandrock Inn in Nilton. Then the band would break up and then reform in 1984 to write new songs for the Feet on the Street Project. It is at this time then that at The Rod Gammons Sound Studio in Brightstone they would record the songs “Hold Me”, “Driven by the Tide” and “The Light Shines On”. This songs would catch the attention of Dakota Records but nothing ended up released. Then in 1985 the band split.

Then I found a great find, all their recorded output is available on the Isle of Wight Music website! Wow! They could put it together as an album. I don’t think they are in chronological order but 12 songs are available in MP3 format to download and listen: “No More Rock N Roll”, “Change of Image”, “Find a Way”, “Falling”, “Boys will be Boys”, “Dimensions”, “She’s a Flirt”, “Hold Me”, “Driven by the Tide”, “The Light Shines On”, “Keep in Touch” and “Model in a Magazine”.  Some of these are not mentioned in their bio on this website, so I wonder when where they recorded, if in different demo sessions, or what?

And even better, this last find on the web. The 7″ has been reissued by Reminder Records (REM-01) this year. It includes both songs from the original record. It is available on their website! So don’t miss it!

So yeah, I know very little, but I find their songs fun and catchy. I’d definitely like to know more about this female-fronted band from the early 80s!

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Listen
Cassie – Change of Image

Day 109! Not much news from the past weekend, but some good finds worth recommending. In the meantime I work in findnig the right art for the sleeve of our next 7″ and wait patiently for the Macguffins release to come out from the pressing plant.

The Bunbury: the Indonesian label Shiny Happy Records have more new releases. The latest is a digital single called “Evil Knievel” by this somewhat newish band from Yogyakarta. Jangle pop, shoegaze, post punk, all mixed here in a very good way. Can’t wait to hear more by them!

The Crystal Furs: Subjangle Records are releasing on CD the “Beautiful and True” album by the great Portland, Oregon, band The Crystal Furs. I have recommended this band quite a lot and it is no surprise that they found a fine home for the 12 songs that make up their third album! If you like great popsongs, with hooks and sweet melodies, you should get this album that will be out on July.

Various Artists – Moments: this is the name of the new compilation tape released by the very fine Osaka label Miles Aparts Records. This compilation has songs by great bands as Pale Beach, Pictured Resort, Superfriends and a favourite of mine for years, Mariana in Our Heads. Sadly the label is not shipping to US so… bad luck for me. Maybe you are lucky.

Morningwhim: wow! This Japanese band sounds amazing. I wouldn’t seeing them in a label that starts with a C and ends with a Y. Hidetoshi Murai, Hikaru Mori, Yui Nishio and Aya Katsumata have just released a tape single with two songs “Talking to Myself” and “Smoke from Cigarettes”. Both are bright, luminous, songs!

Cindy: what an amazing release is the album “Free Advice” on San Francisco’s Paisley Shirt Records. Sadly for me it is on tape which I will skip. But I strongly believe this is a very beautiful album and I hope if it is not the same label, someone else will re-release it in a better format (better for me that is, don’t take it personal!). 11 songs of smart arrangements, of great melodies, somehow reminding me of Aussie bands from the mid 90s.

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The Rainpals. I have actually meant to write about them many years ago. And then for some reason or another I never did. I don’t know why. Maybe because there were so many songs by them on Youtube? Perhaps because I thought I was going to be able to get a hold of their self-released retrospective CD and then, after knowing more details about them, write a post? I don’t know honestly. But as they say is better late than never.

The Rainpals. They released one 7″ as far as I know. It didn’t have a picture sleeeve which of course is a shame. It was self-released on their own Rainpal Records (JPL 1001). This is the only record listed for this label. The date was September 10, 1987, and it included two songs. The A side was “A New Day” while the B side was “Cool Forever”.  Both songs were produced at Cava Studios in Glasgow.

Does this mean the band hailed from somewhere in Scotland? Let’s find out. We do have a name, Kev Kirkham, who produced and wrote the songs.  He was in another band too called Kev & the Raindrops. But The Rainpals was a proper band, a three-piece. There was Kev Kirkham, Bilbo Fraser and Paul O’Donnell. Not sure what each of them played.

The interesting part of the story, I think, is that around the mid and late 00s, Kev put together some CDs under the name Kev & The Rainpals on his own RPR Records. I am not 100% sure if these are retrospective CDs or re-recordings of songs from the 80s. Or maybe it is a mix of new and old songs. Who’d know. The fact is that at least 2 CDs with a bunch of songs exist.

One is “Far Distant Silver Clouds” released in 2008 (RPR 5545). This one had a whopping 20 songs: “Castles in the Air”, “Romantic Story”, “Dream You Away”, “Far Distant Silver Clouds”, “Faces at the Windows”, “The Incline”, “Flying Phoenix”, “Why?”, “Shiny & Black”, “Forever”, “You’ve Flown”, “Fall into My Mind”, “Girl in the Sky”, “Feel the Wind”, “Circle Dream”, “Fog”, “Midnight March”, “Who are You?”, “Rainy Day” and “Reflexions”.

The second CD doesn’t have a release date but I believe it came out later because of the catalog number (RPR 7747). This one is called “A Superstorm at High Velocity” and also included 20 songs, some of them that were included in the previous CD: “High Vel’ocity”, “Superstorm”, “The Incline”, “Far Distant Silver Clouds”, “A New Day”, “Welcome”, “Heat of the Day’, “You’ve Flown”, “Forever”, “Don’t Let it Get to You”, “Climb the Wall”, “Fall in to my Mind”, “Girl in the Sky”, “Space Travellers”, “Outerspace”, “Astro Galactica’, “Universal Rhythm & Rhyme”, “Dream You Away”, “Christmas Day” and “Dream You Away”. Yeah, odd, two times we see “Dream You Away”. Why?

I mentioned I found lots of these songs on Youtube. Of course. The channel is called The Rainpals RPRRecords. We find here the following songs: “Rainy Day“, “The Incline“, “Castles in the Air“, “Climb. the Wall“, “The Wind“, “Welcome“, “Gold Circle of Dreams Medley“, “Reflexions Medley“, “Fall into my Mind“, “Why War of the Worlds“, “Astro Galactica“, “Rhythm & Rhyme“, “Flying“, “Shiny & Black“, “Feel the Wind“, “Far Distant Silver Clouds“, “Circle Dream“, “You’ve Flown Today“, “Outerspace“, “The Day“, “Heat of the Day“, “You’ve Flown“, “Faces at the Window“, “Rainwalk“, “A New Day“, “Cool Forever“, “A New Day“, “New Day“, “At the Window“, “Superstorm Inst“, “Christmas Day‘, “A New Day ext“, “High Velocity“, “Why War of the Worlds“, “Tide of Dimensions“, “Fog“, “Velocity“, “Universal Rhythm & Rhyme“, “Those Days“, “Romantic Story“, “Dream You Away voc“, “Space Travellers“, “Midnight March“, “Castles“, “Astro“, “Bell City Lights“, “Who Are You“, “Fall into my Mind“, “Circle Dream“, “Astro Galactica“, “Rhythm & Rhyme“, “Outerspace“, “Don’t Let it Get to You“, “Romantic Story inst“, “Dream You Away inst.“, “Travellers“, “Superstorm voc.”, “Superstorm video voc“, “A New Day ext“, “Travellers“, “Welcome“, “Gold Circle of Dreams“, “The Wind“, “Astro Galactica“, “Outerspace“, “Far Distant Silver Clouds“, “Forever“, “Time“, “Astro Tide Dream medley“, “Superstorm video voc“, “Reflexions medley“, “Superstorm voc“, “Girl in the Sky“, “Forever & Forever“, “Forever & Forever CD version“. Yes I know a lot of them repeat. I am not sure why this is. I haven’t included others that were also repeated. I wonder what was the idea behind these uploads. In any case there’s lots of great music to listen.

Then another finding, according to Allmusic there was two more CDs. “The Rainpals” was just a 4 song EP with “Rainy Day”, “The Day”, “Rainwalk” and “Bell City Lights” while “Gold Circle of Dreams” had also 20 songs! “Travellers”, “Forever & Forever”, “At the Window”, “Castles”, “Climb the Wall”, “Romantic Story”, “Rhythm & Rhyme”, “Superstorm Voc”, “Those Days’, “Astro Galactica”, “Rhythm & Rhyme, “Astro”, “Fell into my Mind”, “A New Day”, “Welcome”, “Gold Circle of Dreams”, “The Wind”, “Tide of Dimensions”, “Superstorm” and “Tide of Dimensions”.

All of these songs seem to be in most of the digital platforms. The curious thing is that I kind find any biography for the band. No details. I only found a small blurb in CD Universe where it says that the band have toured Britain consistently around 2004-2008. That they recorded and gigged in London (had they relocated from Scotland then?) and that they have been featured on TC and radio all over the world. It also looks like that on the CDs it was just Kevin Kirkham playing nearly all instruments. So I would guess then that the songs on Youtube are new recordings? Not  from the 80s?

So yeah. This time around it seems it will be lots of music but very little details. Hope some of you can help!

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Listen
The Rainpals – A New Day

Day 106!

Okay! Macguffins proofs are approved so that is being pressed now officially. Pre-order button is up on the website and many people are pre-ordering. Remember that the CDRs with the first demo are limited to 100 copies.

Now now music so we can start this weekend in a happy way!

Sweam: this Oslo band sounds pretty neat. Fuzzy and dreamy. This 5-piece have just released an 11-song album called “Lounge Music for Cat People” and sadly it doesn’t look to be released in physical format, at least not yet. But good thing of course is that we can play over and over the songs on Bandcamp!

Sissy Space Echo & the Invisible Collaborators: I don’t know much about them, I just know they have a wonderful song called “At 7.44” on the compilation “Signals, Wires & Amplifiers”. The comp is sort of a mixed bag of good and not so good songs. But this one is VERY good. So check it out.

Fantasy Postcards: what do you get when an Able member and a Seashells member meet in Uppsala and make music?  They make a gem of a song. For now. Because I am hoping to hear more than the one song. Under the name Fantasy Postcards they’ve unveiled “Our Special Mission” a superb indiepop song!

Airhockey: a new track by the Miami based band that is pretty good. Every time I listen to them I feel some sort of nostalgia of the time I spent in Miami. Especially because there was no band sounding this way. Not that people can go to gigs now, but at least you can feel proud of the city you live in. “Not Enough” is the name of the song. Check it out.

Juliper Sky: another new digital single is “Afterglow” by this great Manchester band that is quite familiar to the Cloudberry blog. I have recommended their blend of jangly guitars and shoegaze guitar-walls many times. And here I am doing it one more time

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Another band that I discovered thanks to the compilation “Television Personalities From Japan, Too” was Sweet Petticoat. Of course I didn’t know anything about them, but I liked what I heard. So let’s see if we can find more info about this Japanese band!

The compilation was released by the very fine label A Trumpet Trumpet Records (TT006) in 1992. I’ve talked a few times about this label, and would be awesome if some day I’d get to interview the people behind it. I am sure they have lots of anecdotes about the fantastic Japanese scene from the early 90s.

On this compilation the band appeared last out of four bands with the track “How Does the Song Go?”.

We know that the band was formed by Shoga Matsuda on vocals and guitar, Toru Sasaki on keyboards, Kunihiro Isami on bass, and Yuki Fukazawa on backing vocals. Though on the booklet the photo of the band just shows two people. One must be Shogo Matsuda, who is the other one?

Shogo Matsuda and Kunihiro Isami are two well known names in Japanese indiepop as they had been involved in a legendary nineties band, Budgie Jacket. I wrote about Budgie Jacket some time ago on the blog too.

And of course, there’s little more info about Budgie Jacket. But nothing about Sweet Petticoat. Was it a one-off band? Just for this release? Or did they record more songs? Did they play live? I really hope find some details about them!

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Listen
Sweet Petticoat – How Does the Song Go?

Day 104.

Not much news today. But here’s some new music!

Remington Super 60: the great Norwegian band have a new song out called “Still Near” which is slated to be released on an upcoming EP this fall. The song is breezy and sweet, dreamy and bright. The synth melodies work like a charm on this one. Lovely really.

Lunchbox: another band that is back this year is the California duo formed by Tim and Donna. After the 2018 comeback they seem to have been quiet. Happily they have just released two new songs on their Bandcamp, “New Year” and “All Around the World”.

Lazy Eye: Indonesia keeps surprising me with the amount of quality indiepop. Lazy Eye doesn’t fall behind and they have released a terrific EP titled “Digital Primavera” consisting of 5 songs. The band is formed by Isabllea Maulidya, Cahyo Ahdiyatman, Bambang Bimo and Muhammad Darmawan.

English Summer: now three very jangly songs from Caleb Carr and his one-man project English Summer. Based in Clare, Australia, Caleb has only started putting songs up this month. In his latest effort he presents us with “Our Compromise”, “I’ll Help You” and “I Know You”

Freddie’s World: who is Freddie? It seems just a guy from Oakland who has recorded 4 songs, one of them a Dear Nora cover, in his bedroom. It sounds like 2003-2004 days. When the bedroom pop explosion happened and we were all sharing songs on Soulseek. Maybe Freddie has come a bit late to the party? Or maybe not. Maybe there is interest in lo-fi indiepop once again!

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Maybe you already know them, maybe this is the first time you hear about them. Me, I know very little about them. I managed to get a copy of The Pranksters’ sole 7″ recently and here I am digging for more information.

This 7″ was released by one of the most famous Australian labels, Waterfront Records in 1988. The catalog number was DAMP 70 and included two songs, “Living Edge” and “Traffic”. Worth noting too that it was released as a double A sided record, “Living Edge” being A and “Traffic “AA”.

I didn’t try to track down this band when I was planning my failed Australian retrospective compilation. Maybe I would have been able to find more information about them. Not sure. Now is my chance I suppose by writing this article. Discogs has some basic information about them.

The band was formed by Andrew Young on drums, Darion McCafferty on guitar and vocals, James Dixon on vocals and guitar and Darren Jones on bass and vocals. The songs on the 7″ were recorded at Paradise Studios and engineered by Tom Colley. They were mixed by Nick Mainsbridge and the band at Earth Media. Other people that helped in the record were Andrew McIntosh on guitar and keyboards and Philip Kerney on bass. The artwork is credited to Darren, the bassist. Both songs are credited to James Dixon.  And we also know the band was based in Sydney.

Aside from this 7″ the band appeared on two compilations. The first dates from 1986 and was called “On the Waterfront” (DAMP 31). On this record the band contributed the songs “City View” and “Untitled Day”. Eric Van Der Sande produced both tracks.  Then in 1989 on the cassette compilation “Lemon Cassette 3” released by Lemon Music the band contributed the song “Waiting for the Drought to Break”.

Checking if the band members had been in any other bands I notice that Darren Jones had been in Glovebox and Big Heavy Stuff, Andrew Young in Barb Waters and the Rough Diamonds, and James Dixon in Amplifier Machine, Drop City, Odette and Swordfish.

I keep Googling about The Pranksters but I don’t seem to find any other details about them. Hopefully I will get some help from you all eventually. I am sure some of you remember them. So yeah, any info on them will be great!

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Listen
The Pranksters – Living Edge

Day 102. Over a hundred days now.

Most important news today, we have the preorder button up for the Macguffins retrospective album and also the combo pack with the 3″ with their first lost demo! Record went to the pressing plant on Friday, so hopefully in no more than 2 months from now it should be arriving home!

What new music we found this past weekend? Here you go:

Gutingukuku: “Leisure Time” is the newest single out on the very fine Shiny Happy Records from Indonesia. This song will be included in an upcoming EP by this band. I don’t know much more about this band, but I can see they make some very lovely indiepop ala early Poppyheads.

Paris Street: “Catchy shit”, that’s how the band describes themselves. “15th Street – Part One” is the first of seven albums to be released this year as part of the band’s 15th anniversary. I must admit I am not familiar with the band nor with their 15 year career. As far as I know though it is a one-man project by Carl Polgar, and here are 10 fun songs worth listening. Bedroom pop, synth pop, and good catchy hooks.

Nos Etes Trop Courts: the second demo by this band based in Nantes sounds ace. This is actually not new, but from 1991-1992. This band was from what I understand one of the first shoegazey bands in this city and they were around from 1990 to 1992. They were formed by Gerome, Pascal and Jimmy. The first two went to be in Crash while the latter went to be in Les Autres. It is very interesting! Would love to know more about this band, would love to interview them some time.

NewCastle: last week I was recommending this Uruguay band because their latest single “Skates” sounded ace. Now they’ve released the “b side” for “Skates” and is called “Sunrise”. It is good too! Maybe not as immediate as “Skates’ but it is very nice, and I suggest checking it out.

Todavia: the dreamy pop band from LA is back with a terrific track called “So Close”. This song is said to be the opening track for their upcoming LP “Orange Faint of Sky” to be released this year. It will also appear in a compilation with Nicer Living Presents. That’s what we know at the moment. We can wait then for the album patiently.

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Why not another Japanese band on the blog. As you might have noticed that’s my latest thing, discovering indiepop from the 80s and 90s from Japan. Mostly because I know much less about that scene than others. And it was quite big! So there’s lots to find out.

Bubble Bus is not that unknown to me. I do own two of their releases, the “My Funny Face” 7″ and their split 7″ with The Paisley Shirts. But there is more to them and I would love to find out!

The first release they were on was a compilation CD called “See-see-You, Tomorrow!!” that was released by the very fine Pushbike label (UFPB-001) in 1993. They contributed two songs to it, “I Wanna Be With You” and “Bubble Bus Theme #2”. We could already tell at this point that the band was into making very nice jangly songs!

In 1994 they would release a split 7″ with the band The Goldenrods from San Francisco. The release was called “Motorway Strip” and came on the Japanese label Motorway (MOTOR 002). This release I don’t have yet. I should try to get a copy myself. Bubble Bus had the A side for themselves with two songs, “Words of Love” and “You Wanna Be Free”. The Goldenrods would only contribute 1 song. Thanks to this 7″ we know a few things. Firstly that the band hailed from Tokyo. That the songs were recorded at the R.d.s. studios. And lastly we know the band members:

Takahide Horiuchi – vocals, guitar and handclaps
Fumie Tsuji – backing vocals tambourine
Atsuki Nara – 12 string guitar
Tohko Kageyama – double bass
Fumihiro Ejima – drums

In 1995 the band would release the “My Funny Face” 7″ on Motorway (MOTOR-005). This is the only release they are on their own. They would have “My Funny Face” on the A side and “The End of Dreams” and “Maybe” on the B side. The band members on this record are the same as in the previous but we do find another credit, that for Isao Orita who designed the sleeve.

Lastly in 1996 they had a split flexi with The Paisley Shirts on Rover Records (ROV000). Bubble Bus would contribute the song “It’s A Clear Day” while The Paisley Shirts had “Stack of Dreams”. This flexi came alongside the fanzine “La Grande Illusion: vol.1” and was limited to 500 copies. That same year the band would contribute a song, “Scrap”, to the K.O.G.A. Records compilation “Pop Goes the Weasel Vol. 2” (KOGA007). This one song was record at Studio JAM in June 1995.

Lastly, I suppose when the band was no more, their song “Words of Love” would appear on the 2006 compilation “Musique Dessinee 01 – Just a Groove!” released by Production Desinée (PDLP-004) from Japan. This compilation was released both on vinyl and CD and looks like a mix and match of different music styles.

Now I am looking at the band members, see if they had been involved in other bands. The only one that seems to have worked on other projects is Fumie Tsuji who was in the band Fleckfumie alongside Nick Glöckner and JOhann Von Schubert, releasing 3 albums in the early 2000s. She also seems to have contributed with the Estonian band Popidiot, in their album “1111”.

Then I stumble upon a Soundcloud by Takahide Horiuchi where he has uploaded a bunch of his own tracks.

And that’s it. But quite a bit isn’t it? I just wonder why the band didn’t get to release an album or more records. And also what happened to the other band members. It seems Fumie was quite productive but what about the rest? Would be great to know more about them!

EDIT June 24

So thanks to a reader we’ve learned there are at least 3 albums and 4 singles by Bubble Bus that I wasn’t aware of!

First there was a 1995 album co-released by Hawaii Records (HAWAII-2) and MIdi Creative (CXCA-1008) called “Assnallo”. It had 11 songs, “Adventure”, “It Won’t Be Easy”, “The End of Dreams”, “A Picture of Boyfriend”, “I’m in a Fog”, “Like a Fish in the Air”, “Happy Days”, “My Funny Face”, “Troublesome”, “Road Runner” and “Walkin’ on the Railroad”. This album came out on CD.

Then in 1996 the band goes all Japanese, no more songs in English and they even write their name as バブルバス. They release CD single with Midi Inc. (MDCS-1002) with three songs, “バイバイ”, “君がそこにいる” and “通り道”. That same year, they release another CD single with the same label (MDCS-1005) with three songs, “タイムマシーン “, ” 青い屋根” and “ボクラシマッタ”. I am very curious why the change of language all of a sudden.

In 1997 they release  “ヒトトキカイ” a 12 song album on Midi Inc (MDCL-1318). The songs on these album are “カフェ･オーレ”, “明日はバイク”, “風の便り”, “月のかけら”, “何度も言うように”, ” 祭りのあと7 バイバイ”, “4、5年前の恋の歌”, “タイムマシーン”, ” 夏がやってくる”, ” 望郷列車” and “ボクラシマツタ”.

A year later, again on Midi Inc. (MDCL-1337) they release “Bubrock”, and even though they had changed the album title to English they release 12 songs in Japanese, “夕暮れの三叉路”, “舟の家”, ” 春来”, “夕立が止まらない”, “月がいつも”, ” 19才7 エンディング”, ” 工事現場”, ” 春色(アルバム･ミックス･ヴァージョン)”, ” 遠吠え11 スクロール1″ and “カントリー道路”.

Their last release will be a CD single on another Japanese label, Rhyme (MDCS-1010) with three songs, “春色”, ” 期待しないで” and “描けない空”.

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Listen
Bubble Bus – I Wanna Be With You

Day 99. Wow. Almost a 100 days working from home! How is everyone doing? After posting this blog post I’ll be preparing files and sending to press the Macguffins album. At last! Very very excited!

Now, here are some finds to enjoy over the weekend.

Teen Idle: the Asbury Park, New Jersey, band has just released a new EP titled “Insomniac Dreams”.  I have recommended this band not too long ago if my memory serves me right. So it is good to hear from them again, with their dreamy pop music. It is also worth mentioning that all proceeds of this 6-song EP will be donated to the Movement for Black Lives.

Fine.: I remember the great band Fine from Spain. But not. This one have a period at the end of their name. They also have female vocals but they are from this side of the Atlantic. They hail from Boston and have just released three new songs under the name “Lying Alone”. Lovely EP!

The Slow Summits: wow! The Linköping band is back again with a wonderful song, jangly and classic sounding. Just how I like it! Their new song is called “Safe and Sorry” and it does sound a bit like Cats on Fire, right? Oh I love this sound. I really wanted their previous EP which I don’t even know if it ever came out in physical format. I just didn’t approach them because they had a label… maybe now is a good time? What do you suggest me?

The Clientele: I think everyone knows the London band. There is not much to say aside that they have a new song. It is called “Closer”. And it is pretty pretty. So that. Don’t miss it.

Teen Angst: Another band with Teen in their name you’ll say. But hey, this quartet comes from Perth, Australia, home of so many fantastic bands in the past. So have a listen. Enjoy their  latest two songs, “Let (Pull Through” and “Cheeseburger”, two terrific indiepop songs with Michelle on vocals, Connor on guitar and backing vocals, Emilie on bass and backing vocals and Fraser on drums. Good stuff!

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The indiepop world was shook a few days ago. The Facebook page C86 & All That: The Creation of Indie in Difficult Times would tell us that Alex Taylor, the vocalist of the legendary Scottish band The Shop Assistants had passed away. This was enough to make the indiepop community fall into a deep sadness. I don’t know any indiepop fan that doesn’t like the Shop Assistants. Everyone is a fan and Alex Taylor was a very important figure for all of us to like this band.

But the shock was even more surprising. Our hero had passed away in 2005.  Many years ago, but only it became public now. It is hard to grasp, understand, anything after that news. I was silent. I didn’t know how to take it. It reminded me the beautiful song Strawberry Fair from Sweden had written maybe around 2004 or so, “Where is Alex Taylor Now”. A classic in my book. Yes, Alex had nothing to do with the indie scene for years, decades. But we all assumed that she was doing non-music stuff and that was that. And that was cool of course.

Michael Kerr was putting together the Motorcycle Boy retrospective compilation last year. The Motorcycle Boy, another wonderful band were Alex was involved with her amazing vocals. At last and finally we were going to listen the “Scarlet” album that was intended to be released in 1989. He tried to get in touch with Alex but with no luck. He would find out the news. And perhaps share with Neil Taylor who runs this Facebook page and who wrote the book by the same name.

This is tough indeed. And I wasn’t sure how to react. I want to give a tribute to The Shop Assistants and to the Motorcycle Boy. Maybe I could interview the other band members, I will love to be able to do that. I think it would be great to share their stories. I will try.

But as I’ve seen a lot of Shop Assistants and Motorcycle Boy records posted on the web these past few days, on Facebook and Instagram, I thought people are forgetting about a wonderful 7″ Alex released with the Motorcycle Ride. And thought maybe a lot of people have missed this one. I do own a copy and took me a bit to do so, finally bidding and winning on eBay many years ago. And yeah, I think it would be a good idea to let everyone know that this wonderful records also exists.

Originally this release was a tape. A tape released by no label. Perhaps a 100 copies, give or take. There were two songs on the tape, both Blondie covers, “Union City Blue” and “Atomic”. Motorcycle Ride was actually the band Ride  (Andy Bell [guitar, vocals], Loz Colbert [drums], Mark Gardener [guitar, vocals] and Steve Queralt [bass]) with Alex Taylor on vocals. Yeah, now you can understand the name of the band, Motorcycle – Boy + Ride. That’s my calculation.

These tapes were given away at the Jericho Taver in Oxford when Ride performed a special set for a small number of friends and family members. The date December, 22nd, 1989. A Christmas party. The question is, did Alex went down to Oxford to perform the songs? According to Ride’s website she did. There is even a tracklist of the songs they performed that night: “Union City Blue”, “Picture This”, “In the Flesh”, “(I’m Always Touched By Your) Presence Dear”, “Atomic” and “Dreaming” by Blondie and “I Wanna Be Your Dog” by The Stooges. It is said that the venue was re-opened for their private party after the main show had ended.

And another question, maybe even more important is, when and where were these two covers recorded? The Ride website also answers this. So there was a recording session at EMI Publishing Studios in Charing Cross, London. It was also in December of that year, tho it doesn’t say what day. It also looks like these were the only two songs recorded. Or are there more?

Four years later the Welsh label Fierce Recordings would pick this up. In 1993 they would release these two songs on a 7″. The catalog number was FRIGHT 060. On the back of the sleeve there is a small text explaining the release: “Ride with Alex out of the Motorcycle Boy, doing Blondie’s “Union City Blue” & “Atomic”. This was originally made for a christmas 1989 free cassette in some ridiculously small numbered edition and now it’s rescued from the void by Fierce Recordings of Swansea. We look on it as a public service. This is a release in our glorious ‘Trade Mark Of Quality’ series.”

The sleeve was a black and white fold-over sleeve. Blondie is on the cover, and on the back with a Doctor X shirt.

Not much more information about it. It is clear it was just a one-off thing. But would be amazing to find out when and how did the friendship between Ride and Alex started. If Alex had contributed with other bands in similar ways or was Ride the only lucky ones. Are there more recordings? Probably not, but would love to find out. Maybe there is a recording of that gig at the Jericho Tavern? I’d be thrilled to find out more.

And once again, I’ll play my Shop Assistants records. My Motorcycle Boy records. And my Motorcycle Ride record.

Thanks for the music Alex Taylor.

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Listen
Motorcycle Ride – Union City Blue