Happy New Year! This is the last post for 2019 and of course I’ll continue posting and updating the blog. It will be the 12th year of updating it! Time does fly! The format has changed through the years but still the curiosity, the hopes of finding new great popsongs and popbands. Meeting bands, making new friends, and releasing records as part of the Cloudberry Cake Kitchen.

We have two releases for the series lined up for the new year. I am working on a new fanzine as we speak and also discussing possible new releases on Cloudberry as part of the 7″ series. It is exciting times!

Here are my last finds for 2019!

Loca Polka: another great Indonesian band? Yes! It is no surprise anymore to surprise more great Indo Pop! This band formed by Nuri Hapsari, Mikael Yudi Priamuda, Ginanjar Wahyu Aji and Christian Agung formed back in 20017 in Magelang. But only this year they released their super first single “Surrender”!

Tusindfald: this Danish band has made a very good 80s new wave influenced dreampop mini-album called “Blik”. The record is quite short, 7 songs, and seems to be only available now in digital format. It does sound great and I hope it gets released properly, meaning, physically.

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: three more songs by the San Francisco band, “The Record Player & the Damage Done”, “Life with the Damned (has gone Sour)” and “The Walking-Away World” are now on their Bandcamp. I don’t know how they are this prolific. Really impressive!

Blondehouse: more from Indonesia! The label Don’t Fade Away Records has just released a tape by the band Blondehouse titled “Melt”. It is a 5 song EP of shoegazy sounds and dreamy melodies. The EP is out now in cassette format.

The Orange Peels: the classic California band has put together a new version of their debut album “Square”! it is released on vinyl LP and it comes accompanied by a double CD that includes a bunch of demos and bonus tracks. This is a terrific release that no none should miss!

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The label Cornflakes Zoo was created in the early 90s by Stéphane Teynié who at the time was the writer of the Anorak fanzine and also was in charge of the Anorak mail order. This label released many classic French bands like Les Autres and Non Stop Kazoo Organization, both featured already on the blog. Among these French bands there was one that excelled when it came to jangly guitars, that was Des Garçons Ordinaires!

But the band’s first release wasn’t on Cornflakes Zoo. it was actually on Glam Records. It was a single sided flexi (GLAM 003) and it is not surprise as this label had previously released flexis by Solace and Smily Post (both also featured on the blog in the past!). I believe Des Garçons Ordinaires’ flexi was the last one this label released. They managed to include three songs on the flexi, “Sister Love and Mr Moon”, “Caroline” and “My Favorite Garden”. These songs were recorded on a 4track in November 1991. The artwork for the sleeve is very indiepop I’d say, with a drawing of four girls.

Des Garçons Ordinaires released their debut album in 1993. This one came out on Cornflakes Zoo (ZOO6). The album was self-titled and included 12 songs of superb jangly pop. The songs were: “Flower Power”, “Bung a Loo Goo”, “Nice Price”, “Funk Them All”, “Galaxy”, “Clouds”, “Freud’s Hairstyle Technique”, “La La La”, “Bass Drum”, “Sometimes We Smile”, “Sixteen Cannons” and “Lost in Space #3”. All songs were recorded and mixed by Damien Bertrand on most of the songs and Vincent Lecouplier (also known as Vincent Balloon, owner of Studio balloon Farm in Rennes, France) on “Nice Price”, “La La La” and “Bass Drum”.

The credits give us the names of the band members:
Alban Rautenstrauch – bass
Emmanuel Lamour – drums, guitar, keyboards, vocals
Bors – guitar
Stéphane – vocals, guitar, harmonica.

The band appeared on many compilations during the 90s. First was the song “Into Space” that was included in the “Heol Daou” tape compilation that Katiho (Katiho 002) released in 1990. Then in 1991 they included two songs on the compilation tape “In the Limelight” which was a French ompilation as well. This tape came with a fanzine-type booklet that I would guess had information about the bands on it. Des Garçons Ordinaires appears on this one with the tracks “Circle Corners” and “Into Space”.

Elefant Records from Spain would include them in “Around the World Again’ (ER-020) in 1992. The band had the song “Summer Songs” on this one. That same year the band had their song “Little World” on the French compilation “Whoops!” that the label Houpla (HOUPLA01) put out. The song “Summer Games” would also be included in “Garden Party” another tape compilation from 1992. It was on another famous French label, Aliénor Records (ALIEN α).

Then in 1993 the band would have their song “Sometimes We Smile” on the tape “Ces Chères Têtes Blondes” (CIN 01) on Cindie. And then in the classic German CD compilation “The Noise and The Melodies – The Pearl Compilation” (PERLE 1).

Lastly in 1994 the band had their song “Laughing Box” in the Alienor Records’ box set of 7″s called “The Onion Most Dangerous Game” (ALIEN λ). I believe this compilation was sort of a tribute to the fanzine Onion’s Soup.

It is also worth mentioning that in 1994 the band had the video for their song “Flower Power” on the VHS compilation of indiepop videos “Munch Part I (An International Independant Music Video Compilation )” that Season Records (Season Two) put out. Oddly enough I can’t find a copy of the video on Youtube. I feel it was on Youtube some years ago? Maybe?

Aside from all this info I know that Emmanuel Lamour has made music under the names Emmanuel, Manu, Manu Love, Mr De Cuny, Polar Bear, Mark 2, Love and Dave Quartet and Shop. Stéphane on the other hand had been in the band Mum’s The Word.

The blog of the Shoegaze Movement has a post about them and there the author talks mostly about the quality of the tracks. There is also a post about the flexi the band released by my good friend Alex at his blog 7iete Pulgadas.

Then on Les Autres’ Bandcamp I find them covering Des Garçons Ordinaires’ “Sister Love and Mr Moon”.

What else? Well, the band hailed from Rennes. I know that thanks to the archive page of the venue Krakatoa in Mérignac, close to Bordeaux. I know they played there on January 23rd 1993.

And that’s it really! I thought the band was much more known, at least to have more written about them on the web. I still have many questions about them. And I really hope I could find out why they split? What other bands had the band members being involved with? What are they doing now? Are there more songs recorded by the band? I hope to find out soon!

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Listen
Des Garçons Ordinaires – Clouds

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! Here are some cool finds, see you again Monday!

Night Flowers: the London band has a song called “Snowfall” which they’ve recorded just for this holiday season with a good cause behind it. All proceeds will be donated to the Epilepsy Action charity. I really like this band a lot. And I think everyone should too. This reminds me I still haven’t got myself a copy of their album. I should change that in 2020.

Drinking Boys and Girls Choir: Damnably Records, home of the excellent Say Sue Me, seem to have found another great Korean band! It may sound more punky than pop, not your usual recommendation on the blog. But it is poppy enough, fun enough, I think. The vocals are sweet. And I said why not. The band has just released a self-titled album packed with 18 tracks! It is available on CD and vinyl of course.

Les Bicyclettes de Belsize: a very fine Christmas song called “Another Christmas Song” is what the London band presents us this year. Lyrics are posted too for singing along. The last few days I was making a playlist of cool indiepop Christmas songs, and I missed this one. But for sure it is going on my next year playlist. You do the same.

Close Lobsters: the Scottish band is back with a new album on February 28th. We are able now to preview one of the tracks, “All Compasses Go Wild”, and it sounds faaaaaantastic! I can’t wait to get a copy of this record which will be available on orange and grey vinyl. And CD too. The album which is called “Post Neo Anti: Arte Povera in the Forest of Symbols” comes with 10 tracks and a very cool artwork on its sleeve!

The Fisherman and his Soul: and lastly another Christmas song, ” A Christmas Tree Bright as a Lighthouse”! This one comes all the way from Münster in Germany, thanks to Sebastian Voss, who you might know from the lovely Nah… and his older band The Grindcore Poppies which made me a fan of his music. This track is another one I need to add to my Christmas playlist next year!

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Wow, really wow! What a discovery for me. This Falkirk band, who once supported The Bluebells at the Queens Hall in Edinburgh, has a brilliant sound. At least on this superb song I’ve found on Youtube called “I Believe its Love”. I really want to hear more! If there’s more, and they sound like this, I wouldn’t mind releasing a retrospective compilation too!

I know only a few little facts about the band. “I Believe its Love” was a single. I think it was taken from a cassette single released in 1983 by A&M Records called “Long Summers”. It got some radio play on Radio One by Peter Powell.  Was there a B side for the cassingle? I would love to know.

The band was around from 1981 to 1985. It was formed by:
Gordon Davidson on guitar
Chas Fotheringham on bass and vocals
Ally Gibb on guitar, saxophone and keyboards
George Smith on drums
Barbara on vocals

The band recorded a Radio Royal session in 1982. Where is that? I’d love to hear it. What songs were recorded?

After this session Barbara was replaced by Diane Smith. I am confused if on the song “I Believe its Love” is Barbara or Diane singing? Who could confirm me that?

Then in 1983 the band recorded a Radio Forth session. Again, what songs were recorded? Is there any way to listen to it? After this session more lineup changes, Davidson was replaced by Alex Irvine (ex Shout) and with this new lineup the band would win the Levi’s Battle of the Bands in Edinburgh which was judged by Radio One DJ Peter Powell. Thanks to this success the band ended up supporting The Bluebells.

Another interesting fact is that Ally Gibb guested in the Cocteau Twins album “Head Over Heels” playing sax on the track “Five Ten Fiftyfold”. It also seems that David Hair, who would later be in the Smokehouse Blues Band, played a few dates with the band.

In 1985 Diane Smith left the band as she wanted to become a dancer and even appearing on the Cadbury’s Twirl advert and in the video for “Radio Ga Ga” by Queen! It was this year too when the band split. Ally Gibb would join The Breakfast Boyz and later The Bottleneck Blues Band and Alex Irvine would join Frank’s Wild Years.

I find also some info about gigs they played. For example headlining at The Burns with support of Complex. It seems they played this venue many times.

Then an old Myspace. Here I see two more songs by the band, they are called “What Does it Take” (which looks as it was the last song the band recorded), “Make My Day” (recorded at Cava Studio for A&M Records) and “Fred Astaire” (recorded live).

Then I find out that Ally Gibb played last November a solo gig at The Graeme Hotel in Falkirk. I believe he played many of the songs of Pastis 51 in this occasion. Must have been a nice evening!

I am craving so much to listen to more of their tracks. The one I’ve heard is great. Hopefully I’ll be able in the near future! Maybe someone will help me with this wish!

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Listen
Pastis 51 – I Believe It’s Love

Started working on the fanzine this weekend. At least planning it. I will email today the bands I hope to interview and hopefully there will be news soon about that early in the next year. Then of course there are many projects for releases in the coming year, so yeah, should be a good one. This is the last post before Christmas too, so I do hope you all have a merry merry Christmas, and I’ll see you on Wednesday, right? Lots of indiepop presents I hope everyone gets!

No Middle Name: the Saint Leonards, UK, band is back with a two part single called “Meet the Folks”. Yeah, a single that is broken apart as “Meet the Folks Part 1” and “Meet the Folks Part 2”. Interesting idea! The two songs are really lovely as usual. No Middle Name never disappoints.

Grids and Dots: always looking and checking what’s happening in Australia. That country, alongside Japan and Indonesia, are the places where more indiepop I see been made in the last few years. And quality indiepop that is. The latest is this Sydney band that only has one song on Bandcamp, “Never Change”. But it is great. It seems there will be more songs recorded in the near future, so we should bookmark their site!

The Groove Farm: the Bristol classic band is also back with a new album called “Groovy Pharmacy”. It is now available to pre-order on their Bandcamp on vinyl. It does look like there are only a few copies left though. So be quick! The record is being put out by their own Raving Pop Blast! Recordings and it sounds like everyone expects, catchy garagey noisy pop! Cool!

The Perfect English Weather: the ex-Popguns have recorded four acoustic tracks live at Sunny Studios in Hove. These are part of a new live EP they have available on Bandcamp that includes acoustic versions of “English Weather”, “Rockin’ to the Beat”, “Under My Feet” and “Christmas Single”.

Lia Pamina e Os Peregrinos: “It’s Gonna Be a Cold Christmas (Unas Navidades tan Frías)” is only available digitally on Bandcamp and I suppose other digital platforms. Lia who recorded one of my favourite 7″s some years ago has teamed up with Os Peregrinos, the band of Charlie Mysterio and Roger de Flor, and with them they have covered the original 1975 song by Dana and adapted it to Spanish. It is a good one to add it to your Christmas playlist.

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Time to fly to Japan! To the early 90s and to one of my favourite bands from the period, the Tip Top Planets. What a name! I love it. So poppy, so colorful and sounds like fun. And indeed this band made among the best anorak-pop to ever come from the land of the rising sun!

The band’s first release dates from 1992, a 7-song mini-album called “We Can Stay in Paradise For Ever”. It was released by the label Chocolat Art Records (CA002) and had the following songs “We Can Stay in Paradise for Ever”, “I Don’t Care”, “Wake”, “Every Time”, “Paranoia”, “Tell Me Why” and “Thunderstom”. On this record we see that Naomi Funakoshi sang and played tambourine and maracas, Koji Isaka played guitar and sang, Kazutoshi Ohno played bass and Kaname Banba played drums on the first and last song while Takehide Fukasawa played drums on the rest of tracks.

The names are not too familiar to me. Maybe Kaname Banba is a bit more known as he had also played in bands like Luminous Orange, Lucy Van Pelt, Littlestone and Advantage Lucy. And Kazutoshi played in the very fine Jenka. The rest seem to have only been part of Tip Top Planets.

In 1993 the band released their debut album called “Bomb” on the superb label Pushbike Records (UFPB-003). As you know I love this label, so I must get this record in my collection! The 12 songs on it are superb, “Speak Your Mind”, “To the Shining Sea”, “Cosmic Panic”, “Silent”, “Pearl”, “Scarlet”, “Blue Boat”, “Until You Come”, “Sun Dress”, “Bomb Bomb Planet’s Hour”, “Sunday Everyday” and “In the Time Casket”. Here the drummer changed, we know see Shigeto Morohara. Also it is worth mentioning that Seiko Ishiguro (from Sunshower and Jenka) played accordion in “In the Time Casket”.

Lastly in 1995, on Vinyl Japan, the band would release the “Go Go Pepper EP” (TASKCD32). This is the one release I have of theirs. And I love it of course. It only has four songs, but what songs! “Go Go Pepper”, “Sunshine Babies”, “Rain” and “Rady Made Boy – Dear Violet”.

Aside from these three releases the band appeared on many compilations.

There was a 7″  that was given for free at the Japanese tour of the Television Personalities and The Chesterfields. Not sure what year it was. But it was released by the Pop Anarchy Label. On it we find three bands, Sunnychar, Tip Top Planets and Melcles. Tip Top Planets appear with the songs “My Day Star” as the A2 and “Give Me L” on B1.

In 1992 the band appeared on the first ever release of Chocolat Art Records, a comp tape called “Story Under Fun” (CA001). On it they appear first and last with the songs “My Day Star” and “Brand New Morning” . That same year they appeared on another comp, “The Reality of Flowers” (FLOWER-002), that was released by Under Flower Records. Here the band contributed the song “Holiday”.

Pushbike Records would include them on the CD comps “See-See-You, Tomorrow!” (UFPB-001) with the songs “Rosy Moon Knows” and “Big Boy And Little Girl” and “Happy Day, Happy Time! Pushbike Compilation Vol. 2” (UFPB-004) with the song “He has the White Dream”. Both came out in 1993.

That same year they contribute the song “Give Me L” on the tape “We Don’t Need Another Hero” (HAAR002) on the Japanese label Haarnadel.

Then Vinyl Japan included their song “Wake” on the compilation “What Do You Want a Japanese To Do Again?” (ASKCD 36) in 1994. Then they had the song “Brand New Morning (Dry Breeze Version)” on the Giant-Robot Records comp “Here We Go ‘Round Giant-Robot Compilation Vol. 1” (ROBOT-002). And afterwards, to close 1994, they appeared on yet another Pusbike comp, “Into Somethin’ Pushbike Compilation Vol. 3” (UFPB 006) with the song “in the Time Casket” and on the comp “The Cacaous Go Like Hotcakes” released by Chocolat Art (CA-010) and Pushbike (UFPB 005) with the songs “Let Me Fly to the Brightest Star” and “Cherry Red Guitar Girl”.

Lastly, in 1995, the band appeared on the CD compilation “Cloudy Records Compilation Vol.1 / Cloud6” released by Cloudy Records (CRCD001) with the song “Rainbow Way”.

Lots of songs in compilations, they may have been able to put out another CD I think!

Something curious I stumbled upon was that the UK band The Hannah Barberas covered the song “Go Go Pepper” in September 2018.

Sadly as it is the case with many Japanese bands the information is scarce. I wonder what happened to the band members afterwards. What did they do? Were they in other bands? Where are they now? Who remembers them? Such a fun band, I hope I can find more information about them!

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Listen
Tip Top Planets – Speak Your Mind

Alright! weekend is here! And here are 5 good finds for you to listen this weekend. I hope too that I will have time to start planning the new fanzine I want to put out next year. At least get an outline done and then contact the bands I want to interview.

Salt Lake Alley: our friends from Stockholm are back after releasing a 7″ on Cloudberry! And that is good news! I know they have recorded enough songs for an album, and only now I am trying to catch up after being out for holidays. But they have put out one of these songs, “Chop Away!” as a digital single and what a track this is! It is definitely one of the best they have recorded. It starts with an 80s sort of vibe and then carries on with some great melody, a bit JAMC, a bit The Prayers, a bit great Scottish pop then. This definitely tells everyone they are up to great things. Can only wait for more. If you haven’t heard them yet, this is a good place to discover the wonderful music Gustav and Mikael are making!

Las Perdón: I featured this duo from Madrid some time ago. Back then they didn’t have the EP “Melón y Sandía” out yet, but two songs were on their Bandcamp. Well, since last week there are 4 songs, 2 more. So we find “Asco Total”, “El Chico Más Tonto de Madrid”, “Toc, Toc” and “El Secuestro” now, four songs of  catchy indiepop with fun singalong lyrics, boy/girl vocals, and infectious choruses. I can’t wait for a Spanish label to pick them up. A 7″ would be nice!

Brunch Club: the Edmonton, Canada, band became quickly a favourite of mine. Definitely one of the most exciting bands in the last few years. Terrific indiepop with classic influences. Surprising though their latest album is only available digitally. The 8 song album “Another Wasted Summer” is jangly and wonderful. I really hope I can play it at home on a CD player, or on the turntable someday. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this on many year-end lists.

Sugar World: the San Diego band has also been featured in the past. But hey, they do have a brand new song “We Fell in Love” that I have been playing on repeat. It has that feeling of the late 90s indiepop, early 2000s. Kind of a sweeter Marine Time Keepers, sort of? It is dreamy, evocative of good past places and times. This is another band that needs to put out some records!

Goodbye Idiots III: this is the name of the new compilation put together by the Mexico netlabel Stupid Decisions. There are a bunch of great tracks by mostly unknown bands (at least they are not known to me) on it waiting to be discovered.

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I was reading a post on Blaskoteket, a post that is actually grabbed from a Sound Affects article I believe. It was about the Kristiansand, Sweden, band Leslies. A superb pop combo that released a bunch of records in the 90s in many labels like H. Lime, Labrador, La Belle Pop and more. The part that caught my attention about the article was that it said that the band was born from the ashes of two pop bands, Shelleys and Shoplifters.

So what did I do? I went to look for music and information about these two bands. So far I haven’t been able to find anything about Shelleys but I did find a post on a Japanese blog about Shoplifters. There I could even listen to two tracks, “I Don’t Like to Think” and “Kneedancing”, and I thought they were really great.

Sadly the songs are not complete, they are kind of cut at the end. Shame, I would love to listen to the whole thing. In any case it seems these two songs come from a demo tape called “Shoplifting the Moon”. Happily the blog mentions some details about this tape. It was released in 1993 and included six songs in total, “I Don’t Like to Think”, “Getting High in a Paperbag”, “Kneedance”, “Dizzy Reflections”, “Miss Place” and “Ode to Friends”. It mentions too that the vocalist and guitarist from the Leslies were in Shoplifters. Does this mean that Tony Ivarsson and Martin Berndtsson (or Martin Engvall) were in Shoplifters? I would love to confirm this!

I keep searching for any other details about them but I can’t find really anything. Were these the only songs they ever recorded? The two I’ve heard, even incomplete, sound fabulous, that’s why I am sharing them like that. I would really love to listen to the rest. And of course find out any details and sounds by Shelleys! Any help will be appreciated!

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Listen
Shoplifters – I Don’t Like to Think

I am still jetlagged and haven’t managed to organize myself. I want to write a new fanzine. I want to find the next 7″ release on the label. These should be my next projects. The next Cloudberry Cake Kitchen release is already set. So that front is in a good state now. Just needs the mastering done. But the other two are still things I need to put time and effort. Hopefully by the weekend I’ll have a better idea. In the meantime I continue discovering new music. And so, I will share it with you!

The Know: a husband and a wife, from Los Angeles, making music. That’s how the band describes themselves. I would add that they make pretty dreampop. At least that’s what I can tell from the only song they have up on their Bandcamp, “143”. Do they have more? That is the question as I am left wanting to hear more by them.

The Hannah Barberas: this favourite band is back with four new tracks which make up an EP called “Christmas Bandwagon Vol. 2”. Yes! It is the time of the year for Christmas songs, and these songs are perfect for the season. Jangly and ramshackley. And also they have a good purpose, the proceeds form the EP will be donated to Shelter.

The Reds, Pinks & Purple: the San Francisco band must be the band I have featured the most. They are so prolific! Two weeks ago they released two new songs, “I Should Have Helped You” and “Losing Something”. Maybe you’ve heard them already, but hey, if you didn’t this is a good reminder as they are great (as usual!).

Citrus Clouds:  the Phoenix band is another one that I have featured in the past. This time I write about them because they have a new track, “A Pastel Sky”. And as expected it is a terrific shoegaze song. Lyrics are shared if you want to sing along.

Fanclub: and the Austin band have also released a new song that is truly sweet and catchy. I really hope this one gets released physically. The vocals are great, it does feel like early 2000s indiepop, with the lo-fi cosy melodies and the sugarcoated female vocals. The song is called “Trespassing” and I highly recommend it.

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I’ve been going through a few old compilation tapes. Seeing if there are bands I’ve missed, bands that deserve a second chance. Bands that need to be rediscovered. Bands that didn’t get the attention they probably deserved back in the day. Today I went through the track list of the classic “You Can’t Be Loved Forever No. 3” that our friend Phil Ball released in 1990. And I found that I didn’t know nothing about Big Decision.

I have featured a bunch of the bands on this tape like Nervous Curve, Blue Summer, The Hoverchairs, Home and Abroad, All Over the Place and more. I don’t have this tape, but I do have MP3s of the tracks. This tape came with a fanzine of the same name. That I don’t have either. Did it include any info on the bands?

Big Decision appeared on the B side with the track “Greg’s Theme”. It was the seventh song on this side of the tape, in between The Hoverchairs and Blue Summer. What inspired the song? Who is/was Greg? Perhaps someone in the band?

On Discogs there are no other songs or releases listed for this band.

Then I look and look and find a PDF of the magazine “Scene and Heard”. The issue is Oct./Nov./Dec. 1991. This magazine covered Mid-Anglia’s scene. Here I learn that after The Charlottes, some members formed Ether. Then in the review section I see a tape called “…Gorgeous…” being reviewed. It is by a band called Donald Elsey’s Big Decision. Is it the same band? I notice that the opening track is called “Greg’s Theme”. It sounds like it is the same band. Right? It mentions that this demo tape had been played by WFDH-FM in New Jersey. It traveled far!

Aside from “Greg’s Theme” the tape included the tracks “Mystery” and “Strange Fascination”. It also says that these are not the first recordings by the band, that there have been at least one previous demo tape. Then we know that for this demo there was a new line-up (what was the old line-up?) formed by Martin Holt (from The Denial, where he played guitar and vocals) and Gary Todd (the former bassist of Cactus Jack. Plus Donald Elsey of course.

Not much more to be found on the web. Now it is just a matter of finding the other tracks from that demo tape. How they sounded like. I definitely want to know more about them. And where from Mid-Anglia was the band from?!

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Listen
Big Decision – Greg’s Theme

Thanks so much to Fred Twigg for the interview! I wrote about this obscure Midlands band like a month or so ago. Happily Fred wrote me to set the record straight of who were the original members of the band. That let me to ask hi if he’d be up for an interview, and his answer was just what I hoped for, “yes!”. So finally I know some more details about them! Discover them!

++ Hi Fred! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Still making music?

I’m fine thank you and yes,still making music.

++ Let’s go back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what was your first instrument? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen at home while growing up?

My first instrument was guitar. I bought a book by Burt Weedom called play in a day and had guitar lessons at the Bandbox based in Wolverhampton. I started listening to Lonny Donnigan, skiffle music and later Jimi Hendrix.

++ Had you been in other bands before The Blue Toys? What about the rest of the members? If so, how did all of these bands sound like? Are there any recordings?

I don’t know about the other members of the Blue Toys,but I had a successful band with my brother called the Suspects ,based in Norwich. We had a compilation album out in the alternative charts ( it was number one for six weeks) on the Crass label distributed by Rough Trade called the Bullshit Detector 11.The name of the track is Random Relations Part 2. We also played a lot of gigs in the Norwich and Yarmouth area and a tour of Holland. The music was protest ( punk -rock).

++ Where were you from originally?

Wolverhampton (West Midlands)

++ How was your town at the time of The Blue Toys? Were there any bands that you liked? Were there any good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?

Wolverhampton had a good music scene at the time. There was a venue called Croakers, J.B’s in Dudley,and the Blue Toys had a residency spot in the Bull’s Head in Bilston,Wolverhampton ,but we played all over the West Midlands and a festival in the West park. The bands around at the time were the Neon Hearts,Slade,killing Joke and the Jazz bass player Dave Holland. Record stores: Sundown records and HMV.

++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?

Myself and My twin brother who is a drummer were looking for a bass player so I put an advert in the Express & Star and Baz Ketley answered the add. We formed a 3 piece band called the Sudden Impact.We played a few times together ,but it didn’t work out,so Baz quit and the band fell apart. Later Baz informed me that he was setting a new band up and he needed a guitarist /singer,so I agreed to join. Then came Vernon Charles on bass ,because Baz decided to change instruments from bass to guitar. Vernon was working at the local music shop in Wolverhampton.Later Baz came down to my house and introduced me to saxophone player Anne Marie. We were short of a drummer so we held auditions in a local pub and Dennis Coke passed the audition. We were now complete and Vernon came up with the name the Blue Toys.

++ There were some lineup changes too right? You were telling me that the names that appear on the book “The Charlatans We Are Rock” are more of a second lineup of the band and that creates confusion. How did these changes come about?

After 2 successful years of gigging around the Midlands,Baz decided to call a band meeting.During that meeting in the Bull’s Head Baz told the band that there were 2 members of the band he didn’t want to continue with any longer.The 2 members were myself and drummer Dennis Coke.No explanation or anything,he just wanted me and Dennis out,so we had no choice but to leave.He had already lined up 2 new members.Later Vernon had enough and left the Blue toys,so Anne Marie was the only Original member left,apart from Baz himself.

++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?

Baz wrote most of the songs. He would come to me with an idea and ask me my thoughts about the song. I would arrange the guitar parts and then work them out in the practicing room at the Bull’s Head pub,with the rest of the band.

++ And who would you say were influences in the sound of the band?

We had our personal influences. Mine were from the Stranglers to Hendrix.

++ As far as I know you only put out one record though it did come out on 7″ and 12″. It was released by the London-based label Sedition. I was wondering if you could tell me a bit about them? How did you end up working with them?

I couldn’t tell you about that,because I was thrown out of the band before the record came out. Myself ,Vernon and Dennis were not involved with the record company at that time.

++ Then the B side was “Survivalists” and this one was actually from a Radio One Session for the Dixie Peach Show. I haven’t been able to find any info about this session. When was it recorded? How did it happen? Were more songs recorded other than “Survivalists”?

I never went on the Dixie Peach show,because that was after my time with the band.I don’t know anything about that session. The only thing that I have of my time with the Blue Toys is a video recording of “Survivalists”  and “This is Not Heaven”.

++ I read that one big reason for the band to split was that your manager wanted a new direction for your music. What direction was that?

I never met the manager. At the time Baz was acting very strange, because he had contact with a manager,I don’t know which one,but he got invited to a gig of ours in Snobs Birmingham and after that Baz called the band meeting and wanted us out.

++ Are there more recordings by the band? Unreleased songs?

Yes, there were a lot of unreleased songs

++ If you were to choose your favorite The Blue Toys song, which one would that be and why?

Survivalists. The music,the way we played and sang it.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many? 

Yes, throughout the West Midlands. Favourite gigs are the West park (festival  2/9 1984 Wolverhampton) and Snobs’s in Birmingham.

++ And what were the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?

In Cannock

++ And were there any bad ones?

++ When and why did The Blue Toys stop making music? Were you involved in any other bands afterwards? The Bells I believe?

That was after my time ,but apparently I heard after receiving a call from Baz, he had done all he could with the band. I moved to Holland and form the Clean Cut Guru’s, Criminal Noise gang, Alice D ,The Silent Srceam and band under my own name Twigg and I just released a single called “Borrowed Time”.

++ What about the rest of the band, had they been in other bands afterwards?

Only Vernon played in other bands and still is. Anne Marie went to work on cruise ships as a solo act.

++ Has there been any The Blue Toys reunions?

Yes in 2010 with the Original Blue Toys members in Stoke on Trent.

++ What about the press? Did they give you any attention?

We had a write up in the Express and Star of the West Park gig.

++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?

Being together and playing with Wolverhampton Lads. Only Anne Marie came from Bloxwich.

++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?

Traveling, backpacking, international cuisine.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

I would like you to add the Original member of the Blue Toys :
Baz Ketley : guitar/lead vocals
Fred Twigg ; lead guitar/vocals
Vernon Charles: bass / vocals
Dennis Coke : drums
Anne Marie : saxophone

This was the Original line up from 1983 till 1985. Thank you for this questionaire .  I hope this will set record straight.

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The Blue Toys – A Good Day

Just got back from the airport. I am quite tired but wanted to let you know that any orders placed during the last two weeks that I was away will be posted tomorrow. And also as promised here is a new post, hopefully you already caught up with any previous posts you might have missed!

An Earlier Autumn: very lovely sounding band from San Diego formed by Sergio Esparza and Cristofer Garcia. They have a self-titled 3 song EP up now on Bandcamp. The sound is poppy , jangly and lo-fi. Very enjoyable.

La Casa de Emma: this wonderful Chilean band is back with a 9 song album called “Desventura de Verano” on the label Junko Records. The record may or may not be available on cassette format, I am not sure. But what I am sure is that there are 9 tracks of superb fun and upbeat tweepop!

The Sensitive: Indonesian bands keep producing quality indiepop. The latest surprise for me is just one song called “World is Evil” by The Sensitive. This song is only available digitally through Bandcamp and their label Heaven Punks/Let’s Kiss a Secret from Jakarta.

Japanese Heart Software: the Melbourne solo project s back with a wonderful new song called “Holiday” that features backing vocals by Blush Response. The song is lovely, and the lyrics have been shared too if you want to sing along. If Indonesia is a hotspot nowadays for quality indiepop, Melbourne is definitely another one.

The Hazy Seas: and lastly let me introduce the Chicago shoegaze four-piece The Hazy Seas. The band seems to have been going for a while. They have another release on Bandcamp dating from May 2016, but only now, with their December 2019 song “Heavy Heads”, that I have discovered them. And it is great! This track is really really good. Let’s hope for more in the near future.

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I feel this will be a very short post. I am writing about a very very obscure band called the Bummer Twins. And I know for a fact that stumbling upon any information about them will be almost impossible. I know because I’ve tried in the past.

The thing is that I am hoping you can help me, maybe some of you have information about them. The one thing that I know is that they recorded two songs, “Songs About Girls” and “Windmills and Milestones”. Maybe they recorded more songs. I couldn’t say. Perhaps there was a demo tape.

These two songs were included in a Swedish compilation tape that is now legendary, “Grimsby Fishmarket 4 – Norrkoeping 0”. This super tape that was released by Records from the Cookie Nose Tower (CNT001) came out in 1991. It should have come with the fanzine Grimsby Fishmarket, with its 4th issue. Did this fanzine had any info on the bands that were included?

Marcus Törncrantz used to run the fanzine. He also released a second indiepop compilation tape in 1994 called “Second Half”. I would like to think that the Bummer Twins were Swedish. Most of the bands on it were either Swedish or English, though there were a few Japanese ones. Afterwards Marcus became manager of the band Bob Hund.

Yes, there’s more info about the tape than about the Bummer Twins or their two songs. They are so lovely. And I really want to know who were behind them. And I definitely want to listen to more of their recordings if possible. It is even very probable that their members were involved in other bands before, at the same time, or afterwards. Who’d know?!

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Bummer Twins – Song about Girls

Holiday time! I’ll see you in two weeks time, on Monday 16. Again just a reminder that all orders placed in these two weeks will be posted on Tuesday, Dec. 17.

Now, if you are not up to date with the blog, there will be lots of post perhaps for you to catch up. That until there is a book of course. One day. That’s the dream. In the meantime go through the obscure bands, the interviews, because there will be more of them after my return! And of course, new releases too on the label. So as always keep an eye to this space!

5 new finds for you to enjoy this coming weekend!

Jetstream Pony: definitely one of my favourite contemporary bands, and it is one that is not on the Cloudberry label, so that means a lot I think? They continue to release quality popsongs on the amazing Keline Untergrund Schallplatten label from Augsburg, and their latest 7″ is not an exception. Because it is not an exception, because it is terrific it is also no surprise that the band has put together a cool video for the song “I Close My Eyes”. I really need this record!

Lucie, Too: the Japanese band will be releasing a new CDEP on Thistime Records. The EP is called “Chime” just like the opening track. The CD will be available on December 4 and from the two songs we are able to preview we know they are a rush of poptasticness! Exciting, catchy and fun!

Short Story Picture Book: Leah Short and Liam James Marsh are a duo from Nottingham and through 2019 they have recorded a handful of songs which they’ve put together on a digital EP called “These Days”. There are 5 jangly poppy lo-fi tracks here that shouldn’t disappoint popfans.

Sprinters: Meritorio Records from Madrid have been quite active this year. Their latest release comes from Manchester and in a form of an album called “Struck Gold”. Sprinters is the name of the band behind 11 songs that are now available on vinyl LP. Jangly and dreamy, contemporary-sounding indiepop.

Fred Fredburger: Elefant Records won’t be releasing “Colegas” or “Ei, Uriel” the two songs that are now on Bandcamp as a digital single. There is though a video for “Colegas” and that is a good thing. The good news though is that next year, 2020, the band will be releasing a 10″ vinyl on the Spanish label and that is exciting! The band sounds so much fun, and it feels a bit like a revival of the punky pop that was quite common in Spain back in the late 90s, early 2000s. Definitely one to keep an eye.

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I believe Beware the Green Monkey sometime in the early 2000s put together a CD called “The Good, the Bad & the Ugly”. Probably in 2003, I can’t say. The issue is that I don’t know how to find a copy of it. Maybe it was very limited. Discogs doesn’t list it. And I don’t see any mentions to it aside from forums. So it is a big mystery to me. I would love to get a copy as what I’ve heard so far I really like!

Where have I listened to them? Well there are a bunch of songs on Soundcloud. All of them date from the early 1990s, that’s when the band was around. Also something curious is that there are different versions of songs, you could find the same song with Bruce, Ian or Lara’s vocals. That’s quite interesting.

I don’t think the band released anything at all during their time. I read that many labels wanted to sign them but the band ended up splitting, not releasing any records. Discogs lists a demo tape from 1991 that included four songs, “In My Time of Dying”, “Precious Time”, “Overnight” and “Caroline Kisses”. Are these songs with Bruce, Ian or Lara’s vocals?

Then I know that another demo tape exists with 5 songs, “Precious Time”, “Million Smiles”, “Happy Man”, “8L:23” and “Stone Garden”. Also released in 1991 and this one has a green sleeve while the other one had a black one.

Colne is a town and civil parish in Lancashire, England, six miles north-east of Burnley, 25 miles east of Preston, 25 miles north of Manchester and 30 miles west of Leeds. It is a market town and the cross allowing a market to be held there dates to the 15th century. The cross was originally at the junction of Colne Lane and Church Street. It was first moved to the grounds of The Gables on Albert Road, the location of Colne Library until around 1970. It has now been relocated to outside the Market Hall on Market Street, part of the main road through the town centre.

The band hailed from Colne in Lancashire. Just like the Milltown Brothers who they supported on their “Slinky” tour. There is a mention of Beware the Green Monkey on the Milltown Brothers Wikipedia page where it says that Bruce Thomas was fronting the band and Paul Chapman was on bass. That’s two names, I am missing at least 3 if I guide myself by the photo of the band on Soundcloud.

Back to the Soundcloud. Yes, so you can find with Lara’s vocals the following songs: “Wake Up”, “Precious Time”, “Mother”, “In My Time Dying” and “8.23”. With Bruce’s vocals there’s “Pray for the Rain”, “Party Town”, “Overnight”, Mother”, “Happy Man”, “Caroline Kisses”, “Precious Time” and “In My Time Dying”. And Ian has “Gary Boy”, “8.23”, Beatrice Dalle”, “2 Amusing Ourselves to Death” and “BTGM”.

That’s not all. On Youtube I found two promo videos. There’s a video for “Precious Time” and for “In My Time Dying“. The comments give me some little details. For example that they played at the Canal Boat in Nottingham or at the Subterrania Ladbroke Grove. Also that their manager was called Steve Stone.

And as you’ll see after listening to the tracks, there are many that are fantastic. You wonder how come there were no releases by them. It is so odd. With songs so good they deserved at least a 7”. And how do I get my hands a copy of the CD? This is superb. They deserve to be more known! Just listen to Lara’s version of “Precious Time”, you’ll get hooked immediately. Whatever happened to them?!

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Listen
Beware the Green Monkey – Precious Time

Okay! Holidays start this Saturday! Exciting times. So this will not be the last post of the week, but Friday’s. Also keep in mind that orders placed during the next two weeks will be shipped on December 17th. Thanks again and see you very soon!

Here are some good finds from the last few days.

Kawaii: some amazing news that the Norwegian duo formed by Mats and Hedda are finally releasing their unreleased second album. I thought this was going to happen at some point on Plastilina but I guess it never happened. I am glad then that the Spanish label Kocliko picked it up and are putting this album as a 10″ vinyl record! It is a short but sweet one. 10 songs are on it and I must say I am addicted to it on Bandcamp. Now I need my copy! I guess I will have to get it after my holidays. Even cooler, the artwork has been done by my friend David. Such a lovely package. All friends in this release, from Antonio, to Mats and Hedda to David. Great stuff!

Gizpel: the Indonesian band is participating in a compilation called “The Jakarta Connection”. It looks it is only available digitally on Soundcloud and it is being compiled by Sprechen Music. Gizpel sounds terrific in the song they are contributing called “Eyes on the Street”. High quality dreampop here.

Dayflower: our Leicester friends have put together an EP that collects songs that have appeared on cassette compilations, alternate versions of singles they have put out, including a cover of “Pristine Christine”. This is the first release of the band after the wonderful 7″ they put out with me, Cloudberry! The EP is called “Petal Drops” and it comes with 6 beautifully crafted pop songs. Not to be missed.

Filles Europees: a new band from Barcelona is always a good thing in my book. Formed by Helena, Irene, Júlia, Nil, Víctor and Xavi, they have just released a self-titled cassette EP by themselves with the help of La Nada Colectiva. The songs are terrific, energetic and catchy, especially the track “Júlia Aguilar” that will keep you playing it on repeat. The EP comes with the aforementioned track plus 3 more!

Rosegaze: and finally a Montreal band. We’ve been around the world today! Rosegaze are releasing a 7 song mini-album on December 5th called “Don’t Talk to Her, You’ll Fall in Love” I believe it will only be released digitally but one can hope there will be a physical release as well. At the moment we can only preview one of the tracks, the second one, “Sapir-Whorf”, which is excellent.

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Back in 2007 there was a band Papa Go Riot who self-released a CDR called “…What’s This?”. I missed it that time. I wonder if I’ll be able to get a copy of it.

I believe there was just one person behind this band: Jon Gredmark. Of course he was much more known because of his other band, Elenette. This band was around the mid and late 2000s releasing three albums and many singles. But Papa Go Riot only released the one CDR as far as I know.

The CDR EP included 5 songs: “You Don’t Know Me at All”, “My Apartment”, “On My Way”, “Everything is Nothing” and “Entertainment”. All songs were recorded at Studio Räven on August 2007. Kalle Berglund, also from Elenette, and Jon Gredmark produced the songs.

At the time the band also had a website. It sadly doesn’t exist anymore.

I notice that the band name was probably inspired by the book “Père Goriot” by Honoré Balzac. In many languages the book is called “Papa Goriot”.

Sadly can’t find any other details about the band. Was this their only release? Did they appear on any compilations? Did they play live at all? Are there any unreleased tracks? Who would know!? Any info would be appreciated!

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Papa Go Riot – On My Way

Some finds from over the weekend!

Pop at Summer: the superb Bandung, Indonesia, band that once had a song on a Cloudberry compilation is back with a three song that sounds ace! The EP titled “Chamomile Rhymes” comes with  “Summer Night”, “There’s Me in Your Heart” and “Everything’s Fine”, all of them three timeless pop songs with female vocals that really makes us hope they get released in a physical format. It sounds very very good!

Pia Fraus: one of my favourite contemporary bands is the Tallinn based Pia Fraus. They continue releasing quality records and next January they will be putting out a new album. And I can’t wait. It will be called “Empty Parks” and it will come with 11 songs. Available in CD and vinyl, as it should be. The artwork looks great, and the two songs we can preview “Hidden Parks” and “Sweet Sunday Show” also sound great. This is very promising!

María María: a band from San Luis Potosí in Mexico. It must be the first band I listen that comes from there. That’s exciting. The band is formed by Carlos, Luis and Boris. and they have three cool demos here, “Take Me Away”, “Seen” and “Your Cat”. They are lo-fi pop songs and a clear picture of what’s happening in Mexico as of late, where a new and interesting scene seems to be brewing.

“F.A.R. Out”: this compilation came some weeks ago and I only now noticed I haven’t recommended it. And the CD is sold out. So yes, blame it on me. I missed it too. I wonder how many CDs were pressed, they went out so fast! It may have to do too that a lot of amazing bands were included like Pale Lights, Young Scum, Nah…, The Suncharms and more. At least you can play it many many times. Really, so many good songs in here.

Math and Physics Club: the Seattle classic band will be back with a 7″ single on Matinée and it will also be their farewell. Two songs will be included in this release to come out in December 2019, “Indian Ocean (The End of Everything)” and “In Dreams”. So far I have listened to the A side and it is so pretty, but also bittersweet. What a song indeed. This one can’t be missed.

Majorelle Blue: oh this band sounds amazing to me! Wow. That is exciting! The band has 5 songs up on Bandcamp, “Forever Naive”, “Stay in Bed”, “Dudes”, “Shut Up and Make Way” and “Don’t Have Time to Be Your Boyfriend”. All great songs, but especially the opening one!, with female vocals, catchy, jangly, smart. I really would like to see a record released by the Malmö band!

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In the early 2000s there was a very fine duo in the US called Jinx. For a reason I don’t understand they are not very well known. The band was formed by Chris Butler on vocals, guitars and other instruments and Wendy Skratt on vocals and bass. When they were based in San Francisco, I guess in their beginnings, the band also had Peter Butler in their ranks playing bass and drums.

According to the band’s website which still exists Chris started in Louisville. He was originally from Detroit, but moved to Kentucky during his high school years. Then he moved to Boston for college. And then to San Fran where he started the band The Rescuers and where he met Wendy.

Wendy on the other hand hailed from San Jose in California. She went to art school in DC and then returned to San Fran. There she met Chris who persuaded her to lend her vocals to a single he was recording. Thus Jinx was born. And then they moved to London (on Feb. 17, 2001).

Sometime when in London the band would meet Matthew who would become their new drummer.

During their time they only released one 7″ in 2002. It came out on the very fine Becalmed Records from London and founded by the Spaniard Jorge Cortes, home of the superb The Pines. The 7″ (KLE 10) included two songs, the A side “King of the Rats” and the B side “Bed of Pipes”. The songs were recorded by Matthew Lazowski (from The Lollies) and mixed by Mike Jones (who worked as producer on many The Pines records and even on the 3″ CD we released on Cloudberry by the amazing The First Division).

Aside from this release the band contributed, in 2000, the song “Marco Polo” to a compilation CD called “C188 Papercuts” that came for free alongside the Papercuts Fanzine and was released by Sheepish Recordings. This CD looks great by the way as it includes top bands like The Visitors, The Foxgloves, Spearmint and more!

There is another compilation they were part of. They contribute the song “Nothing More” to the superb 2002 compilation “A View of Our Dreams” that my friend Nikola put out on his label Balcony Records from Belgrade, Serbia.

On Discogs it doesn’t show any other involvement by the band members on any other music projects. Just a photography credit for Wendy Skratt on a Mates of States 7″.

But according to the band’s website there were more recordings. First it seems that from the same recording session from “Marco Polo” there was another song called “Nothing More”. It seems this session was called “Warm Without the Fire” and it also mentions that the full name for the song was “Marco Polo (DeLeon’s Fountain)”.

Then we learn that after the “King of the Rats” session there was another recording session called “Are We There Yet?” where at least two songs were recorded, “The Rings Within Our Tree” and “Terrible Two”.

While in London the band played some gigs. Mostly acoustic shows. On April 11, 2000 they played the Betsey Trotwood alongside The Foxgloves. Then on June 5, 2001, they played another show with Joe’s band The Foxglove somewhere in the East-end. Next up was a superb lineup, on Sept, 15, 2001, they played at The Blue Posts alongside The Relict, Bart from Cat’s Miaow! and The Pines!

January 14, 2002, would see them play at The Bull & Gate with Sokay and Squeaky Buddha. Two weeks later, on the 31st, they played at the same place.

Then in 2002 the band returns to the U.S. They relocate to Williamsburg in Brooklyn, NY. There they would play gigs at Galapagos with The Windmills and Simpático on May 7th 2002. What a lineup! Would have loved to be at that gig. Don’t think these sort of gigs happen anymore in WIlliamburg. At this gig they debut a new drummer, Aaron Woolsey.

Then I find something interesting, the Stamford-based nonprofit World Affairs Forum named Wendy Skratt as their executive director last year, 2018! This article mentions that Wendy had been in this nonprofit since 3016 as director of events and communications and before that she was president of the League of Women Voters of Stamford and also ran her own photography studio.

About Chris Butler, I can’t find any info. There seems to be a Chris Butler that worked on movie music, like Kubo. Is it the same Chris? Who’d know.

I would really love to hear the rest of their tracks and recordings. The little I’ve heard about them is great. “Nothing More” is just a gorgeous track, which I had uploaded to Youtube many years ago… sadly not getting any comments. I’d love to know more details about them!

Do you remember them?

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Listen
Jinx – Nothing More