I keep posting Dayflower and Baby Lemonade records and also sent a few to different mailorders. Have you ordered your copy already? I am very proud about them and will start working on new releases soon! Hopefully I’ll be able to announce some news before the year ends. In the meantime support the label as that always helps to fund future releases!

Now, I know you came for new music. Here’s a fine share of that.

Dream, Ivory: the California band, from Lake Elsinore, keeps giving us wonderful songs. “Making Faces” is the third single from their upcoming album “Lost Dogs” and one can only wonder when this record will be out. Because everything we’ve heard so far sounds terrific. At least a release date would be good!

Turnover: another American band, this one hailing from Virginia. They have released their album “Altogether” and that is good news. It is out now on vinyl LP, CD and cassette. There are 10 songs of dreamy sweet songs with standout tracks like “Still in Motion” or “Plant Sugar”.

K. Campbell: two very cool songs by this Houston project are now available on tape and also on lathe cut 7″. The songs are “Chords Come Easy” and “Static Threads” and they take me back to the 90s, to American indiepop sounds from labels like Bus Stop or Harriet. Good stuff.

Basic Plumbing: I wasn’t aware that Patrick Doyle from Veronica Falls left us an album. This is very good news and it seems that all profits from the “Keeping Up Appearances” album will go to the LA LGBT Center + CALM. That’s nice. The record will be out on vinyl and CD. At the moment we can preview two tracks on Bandcamp, “As You Disappear” and “Constant Attention”. And they sound great!

Quivers: from Hobart, Tasmania, and sounding amazing, I discover this four piece formed by Sam Nicholson, Bella Quinlan, Holly Thomas and Michael Panton. Their latest track is a shimmering song called “When it Breaks” and I am really enjoying it. As their small bio says, they sit somewhere in between the janglepop that was done in Australia in the 80s with a touch of American 90s. It is a good combination. A winning one.

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I remember many years ago Kris from the Heavens is Above Your Head blog and also from the Don’t Die on My Doorstep club in Malmo recommended me to find a record. He actually wrote about it and I was intrigued…

Delphine Passant, Fabien Guidollet, Alexandre Cayrac and Thierry Tonelli might be four of my favourite French indiepopsters. No, I haven’t met them nor they probably know Cloudberry exists. But, they left a perfect 7″ that for years has been a treasure of mine, their “Longer Lasting Beauty” 7″!

Four perfect pop songs. That’s what you’ll find on this record released in France by Nessie Records (Loch 1) back in 1994. Was it their own label? I don’t really know. I’ve mentioned this label when I talked about the tape “Superqualifragilistic” when I posted about Nothing Else or Les Poissons Solubles who appear on it.

The A side, called “The Rhythm Side”, opens with one of my favourite songs ever, “Laurie”, and includes another top hit, “House of Magic Cards”. The B side, “The Ballad Side”, has two more songs, “Time” and “Close-Up”. All four were recorded at Lutecia Garden Studio with Damien Bertrand and Jean François-Marvaud as engineers. Marvaud used to run this recording studio in Clamart, a southwestern suburb of Paris. Does this mean then, that the band hailed from the French capital? The answer is yes. A small insert with the label’s catalog gives us an address for Fabien in Paris and for Thierry in Montmorency, a suburb in the north of Paris.

It is also worth mentioning that Sabine Dubocage played violin in the record. She had been in the past in a band called Christine.

The sleeve of the record reminds all of us of classic indiepop art from the late 80s. They clearly knew what they were doing. The record even comes with a sticker with the band’s name. All packaged beautifully. On the back of the sleeve we learn that all songs were written by the band, and “Time” is actually co-written with Alexandra Easton. Then we get what each of the band members played, Alex played the drums, Delphine the guitar, Fabien sang and played guitar and Thierry the bass.

Aside from this release it seems there was a 2-track tape that had “Longer Lasting Beauty” on the A side and “UFO” on the B side. It seems it came with an insert featuring a small interview with the band. This was released in 1995 and I wonder if it was some sort of demo tape, or a tape sold at gigs. Would be good to find out.

No other releases are listed but they did appear on a few compilations. On the Italian label Shiny Sunset (which I tried to interview and I hope one day I’ll get interview answers as this label is such a mystery!) they contributed two songs to a tape called “The Colours of an Enchanted Dawn” (SUNSET 9). The songs were “Drowning Memories” and “Longer Lasting Beauty”. Oh! I would really like to listen to them! No year is specified for this release.

In 1995 they contributed “Longer Lasting Beauty” and “Why Not Your Baby” to “Nine Month Summer” a compilation tape released by Does This Work? (DTW 20) from the UK. Interestingly the band Sabine, the violinist, was in, Christine, also appears on this one.

That same year on the “Sapphire” comp cassette released by the British Bliss Aquamarine (BLISS 20) they had the last song of the tape, “Drowning Memories”.

On another tape that has no release date, “Fairy Tales”, released by the German Meller Welle Produkte (MEL 23) they appear with two tracks, “Drowning Memories” and “Knife”.

Lastly in 1996 two songs, “Knife” and “Abilene”, appear on a CD comp called “Les Belles Promesses – Collection “Acoustique”” released by XIII Bis Records and Ora Pro Nobis.

In total then we know of 9 songs? Are there any more?

About the band members we know a few things too.

Fabien had been in other bands like Facteurs Chevaux and Verone. Delphine was also involved in Verone while Thierry played in Pills and Saez. Thierry Cayrac seems to go now by Leax or Alexandre Cayrac, a techno DJ (!).

But there is more. I am pretty sure that at some point they had to change names to Lollypops as there was an American band with the name Evergreen. With Lollypops they even recorded “House of Magic Cards”, “Laurie” and “Time”. Were these different versions? They even recorded at least another song called “The Girl Who Never Know Whether She Can Do it Or Not”. How did that one sound? Lollypops were also known for covering The Pastels’ “A Million Tears“.

But as it is the same band let’s check out their discography which was only appearances on compilations. Firstly they recorded a cover of “Darklands” for “A Tribute to the Jesus and Mary Chain” cassette compilation released in 1994 by Candy Chérie Records (001). This was a French comp.

Then their song “The Girl Who Never Knows Wheter She Can Do It or Not” appears on the cassette “Entendons Nous Bien” released by Loaded (LOAD 001) in 1994, in the tape “Plouf” released by Les Tartines and also on the “Des Gents Simples” another tape compilation this one released by Ora Pro Nobis (OPN 9402) in 1994. This last one was perhaps a different version, it says (version Huit Pistes), meaning 8-track version.

Their song “Time” would appear on the “Breeze” double cassette comp released by Alphyen Viwit (004) in 1994 and also on the “Superqualifragilistic” tape I mentioned earlier. on Nessie (NES587). Lastly on the Meller Welle Produkte compilation “Europopsongs” they had “Laurie” and “House of Magic Cards”.

Now all of these songs are wonderful, I am starting to think it would make a very nice collection as a compilation album. That’s an idea. What do you think? I’d be interested to explore that idea with the Cake Kitchen!

Ah! Evergreen, Lollypops, such beauty. What a wonderful pop band. I need to know more about them. French friends, do you remember them?!

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Listen
Evergreen – Laurie

Some good music to enjoy over the weekend! Today I will finally finish sending all outstanding orders for Baby Lemonade! So yeah, thanks everyone for that!  Hope you liked the album!

Unhappy Fly: Emotional Response are releasing a lathe cut 7″ that is very very limited, just 100 copies and it seems at the time I am writing this post there are only 8 left! The 7″ contains two songs, “The Vision and the Poison” and “Unhappy Fly”. None of this songs were included in the band’s LP.

Rei Clone: now a dreamy, shoegazy, band from Denton, Texas. First time I am listening to them and it is thanks to their latest effort, a digital single called “Heaven is Eternity”. It sounds pretty good I must say! The band describes themselves as an anime shoegaze band, which is quite interesting. They are formed by Ash, Zach, Charlie and Simon.

Perrogato: the superb Chilean duo has a new digital single out on Mexico’s Stupid Decisions netlabel! It is a perfect song for Halloween, even though that was yesterday!  It is called “Noche de Muertes” (night of the dead). It is a fun track with boy/girl vocals, and it makes you want to see a Perrogato album on physical format soon! Terrific band indeed.

The Epigones: this band from Ontario, Canada, is actually a duo comprised of guitarist Vic Ciampini and vocalist/bassist Darko Smolcic. They have just put up a four song debut EP on Bandcamp that sounds great! It is poppy postpunk, with class and elegance. Definitely check it out. I can’t wait to hear more by them.

West Coast Music Club: from West Kirby, UK, we meet this sweet sounding band! They have a 3 song EP now out on CD called “Sometimes EP”. The songs on it are “Saturday”, “Sometimes” and “Fall” and all three are really really good. Top vocals, chiming guitars, good melodies, everything one wants on an indiepop record!

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I had this post prepared for later in the year if I am honest. But just a few days ago my friend Vernon was talking about Rebecca Fishpond and ended up getting in touch with one of the members of the band, Zack Yusof, so I decided to unearth the draft with the little bits and bobs I had from them and see if eventually, there’s a way to get in touch with this fantastic band.

I am hoping of course there will be an interview in the coming days, but I still thought it would be a good idea not to lose all this information and maybe it serves as a good introduction to this great band!

You see I heard of Rebecca Fishpond’s existence thanks to the Firestation blog back in 2010. Back then the Uwe was running a terrific blog where he shared his knowledge of all sorts of obscure indiepop. He would have these posts called “Something to Look Out For” where he listed bands he’d like to know more or get in touch with. Many of these, if not most, were unknown to me. He wrote about Rebecca Fishpond saying that he couldn’t tell if the band existed or were just a dream. He didn’t know any details but he had listened to them. One of the songs even made a big impression and he took one of the lines from it and named the sixteenth release on his label, Firestation Records, “You Thought it was the End of the World when the Rain Ruined Your Hair”. It was a compilation CD, and yes it would have made lots of sense to have Rebecca Fishpond there, but no, no luck.

Second time I heard about them was on an interview I did on my blog with the band Kind. They hailed from the Deptford/Bermondsey area in Southeast London. I asked them if they were part of a scene and yes, he mentioned they did of the one that was happening in their area, a scene that included the bands Lavern and Shirley and Rebecca Fishpond. So I could place them now, early 90s and in SE London.

But what about sounds?

Well there is Soundcloud page by someone called Dan Rowlands. He must have been part of the band. As he has uploaded the demo of the band which seems to consist of 5 songs: “All I Ever Wanted”, “Tell Me When it’s Twelve”, “Beauty”, “Laugh” and “Always in a Dream”. This demo was recorded in 1989. At this point we know that previously the band members had been in The Kildares. There are songs on the Soundcloud by this outfit too, jangly and awesome. Maybe I should even dedicate a post to them eventually. So I believe The Kildares hailed from not SE London but from Shropshire, so did they move? And then there were some lineup changes. The bassist of The Kildares left. The drummer switched to bass and a new drummer came in. A third singer joined. So about the same people as The Kildares but two new ones.

But aside from this demo there are two more songs, “Revolved” and “Bought and Sold”. So in total we know of 7 songs. And perhaps one more, there is one called “Two Ways to Die” that at least I know there is a live performance from 1989 online, on Youtube.

Other little tidbit of information is that the band played at The Falcon in Camden on November 18, 1989 supporting the amazing Jesse Garon and the Desperadoes!

Aside from that I believe one of the members, Zack Yusof, lives now in Australia. He had been in bands like Release, Fast Boyfriends, Trafford (in Malaysia), and as of 2007 he was going under the name Kid Kowalski as well as playing in a band in Kuala Lumpur called Deserters. He is also a music journalist and DJ. Dan Rowlands, in the other hand, seems to have been in Emergency Exit, Open Up, as well as making music on his own.

Of course you also end up wondering who was Rebecca Fishpond? Why that name? But wonder if I’ll ever know. I did try to get in touch through Soundcloud but no luck. Maybe this post will help. I’ll definitely would love to hear more songs, if there are more. And as many friends have suggested, maybe these songs should be re-released. Of course I can offer myself to do that. But if anyone else does it, that’s great as well. The thing is. We want to know more about them? And what happened to the other band members?

Any help would be appreciated!

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Listen
Rebecca Fishpond – All I Ever Wanted

Still more Baby Lemonade orders that need to be sent! This is exciting! I am very glad and happy with the response of fans on this one. Soon I’ll be announcing the next release on the Cloudberry Cake Kitchen!

In the meantime, here are some good new finds from around the web!

Victorian Tin: there is a new recording by the classic Swedish band that I interviewed some time ago. it is called “Silver and Perfume” and it will be including in the upcoming Everlasting Records compilation “The Sound Your Dreams Make”. Hopefully there will be a Bandcamp to preview this compilation, but in the meantime you can check Victorian Tin’s track!

Ex-Vöid: I was raving about the song “Only One” by the new band formed by two ex-members of Joanna Gruesome that is now available on 7″. Well, they know this song is pretty good so there’s a video for it, with all members wearing metal band t-shirts (?). Definitely worth listening and watching!

Grrl Cloud: first time listening to this Manila dreampop project. Their latest track “Winding Streets” has been up on Soundcloud for about a month, so I am glad I have stumbled upon it, even if it is a bit late! It is a lovely song, with female vocals, fragile and sweet.

Alpaca Sports: so happy to see my friends from Gothenburg back in action! This video might be the last one they make to promote their album “From Paris with Love” and it is for the song “Saddest Girl in the World”! Of course this is one of my favourite songs of the album, so very happy to see some images to go with it! Now, where was this filmed? Was this a Swedish beach?!

Little Scream: Merge Records has just released a new album called “Speed Queen” by Little Scream on CD and 12″ vinyl! I’ve been playing a few songs, and even though I am not sold on them there is a track called “Disco Ball” that is gorgeous! So I recommend to check at least that one out! There are some other fine pop moments in it like on “Don’t Wait for It”,  “Privileged Child” and more… and there are some more indierock kind of songs.

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More from Ireland, and more discoveries thanks to the amazing Fanning Session blog.

See, I may have stumbled upon Wilder in the past as they released a 7″ on the Danceline label. This label put many very good indiepop records. But the thing is, the 7″ this band released is not listed on Discogs, so I wouldn’t have known about it. It was thanks to a post of the aforementioned blog, where they featured the Dublin’s band song “Babel Road” that I first met them.

The blog post is short but does give some interesting factoids. First of all we learn who the band members were:
Dez Foley was on vocals
Richard McDermott on guitar
Stephen Owens on keyboards
Bill Crawford on bass
Frank McGrath on drums

This song, “Babel Road” was actually released as the A side of a 7″ released by Oedipus Records (OR 001) in 1990. The B side being “Little Secrets”. You wonder of course who were behind Oedipus Records. Was it the band themselves? This is the only release I am aware on this label.

“Babel Road” was produced by Paul Byrne and Martin Clancy. The B side was produced by the band and Pat Dunne. The engineer for both tracks was Pat Dunne. Both songs were recorded at Sun Studios in 1990. The art for the sleeve is credited to Siobhan Hyde.

After this release I think they got the attention of the Danceline label. This label was responsible of putting out records by great bands like The Would Be’s and Rex and Dino among others. In 1991 the band would release with Danceline a 7″ (DLS 018) with two songs, “Can You Shake” on the A side and “Dark Heaven” on the B side.

I haven’t been able to find a sleeve of this 7″ so don’t have any details about it, like where was it recorded or who produced it. I should try to track copies of both records as it would be nice to have them in my collection.

The band also participated on the compilation “Fresh Evidence – New Exhibits from Ireland” that Danceline Records (DCD 1007) released in 1992. The band appears last, out of 17 songs, with “Can You Shake”. I don’t know any of the bands on this record, I wonder if there are good indiepop tunes in here?!

Fanning Sessions actually have another post about them, one where they share a song called “Get Happy” out of their 1988 demo. Well then, what other songs were on this demo tape? It’d be great to know.

Then Irishrock.org offers a couple of more details, especially about what happened after. So the band was around from 1988 to 1992, then they decided to change their name to Bliss and recorded a demo with John Scott in The Factory. Sadly they didn’t have any proper releases. How did they sound like? Are any of the tracks on that tape available to listen?

Then it adds that Dez Foley would join The Sewing Room (from 93 to 96) and later in the superb Crumb (2003-2009). According to a Crumb family tree I found, he was also in a band called Melba. Much later, in 2015 I think he went solo under the name Acton Bell. Interesting.

Cool! Now I know a little bit more about them. Now I just want to hear to more of their songs, hopefully get their records, and who know, maybe I’ll get to interview some of the band members and be able to find out the story behind this Dublin band!

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Listen
Wilder – Babel Road

Today I continue posting Baby Lemonade CDs! I am very happy about the support for this new release. Thanks everyone that have ordered! I will have new surprises, very soon (I hope!).

In the meantime, I looked for some good new music over the weekend. Check them out!

Dumb Things: the very good Australian band will be back this November with an album called “Time Again”. It is going to be released by the Coolin’ By Sound label on 12″ vinyl on the 8th! At the moment you can pre-order it and listen to two tracks, “Crash Barrier” and “Today Tonight”.

The Belafontes: we stay in Australia, but now we head to Melbourne, to discover this duo that have just released the song “Big Man” as a digital single. Jess and Paul are The Belafontes and they make fun indiepop!

Ex-Vöid: the debut 7″ by ex-members of the brilliant Joanna Gruesome has two songs, “Only One” and “Ex-Vöid”! It is out already and it was released by a new London label called Prefect Records. The two songs are a bit different, the A side is a terrific indiepop track while the B side is a punky track, that I must admit not loving much. But the A side is worth the 5 pounds the 7″ is!

Cachorro: the first songs by this Valencia, Spain, band make up the aptly titled “EP 1”. Four songs of sunny bedroom pop by this duo formed by R. Peiró and D. Abadía. I believe the songs are only available in digital format, but we’ll be keeping an eye on them.

Los Jambos: Caballito Records is a very fine Spanish label.  It is no surprise they have signed this band from Pamplona that sound really good! Lots of fun in their songs, catchy and even good for dancing! Los Jambos are a trio formed by Iñigo Maraví, Txema Maraví and Tamu Tamurai and they have released on the aforementioned label an album called “Chicos Formales”. Ten top tracks are in it! And yes, available on 12″ vinyl!

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The Gladstones is a band I discovered through the superb blog Wilfully Obscure. There are only a few blogs that are worth checking out these days, and that’s one of them. True, I love and prefer British and European bands in general and this blog’s best discoveries are American, but what discoveries there are! Like The Gladstones!

What we know about the band is that they were from Lincoln, Nebraska, and were part of the same scene as the more well-known For Against. The blog also tells that the band was originally called Playground.

The Gladstones only released one record, “Jeremy”. It was a p[roper album with 9 songs. Jangly and classy, the LP came out in 1990 on Tall Records (TR001). Why did they call the band “Jeremy”? None of the songs in the record are called like that. Was Jeremy someone important to them? Also who were behind Tall Records? According to Discogs they only put out this LP. Was it a self-release then?

With those questions I start tracking the songs, many of them on Youtube. I listen to them and enjoy them. On the A side there were just four songs, “Garden”, “Olduvai”, “Energy” and “Top of the World”. The B side had the remaining 5, “Ten Times a Minute”, “Mary I”, “Hurting In”, “Gallery Key” and “Horns of a Dilemma”. All songs were recorded at Mastertrax in Lincoln and were mixed by Dave Snider and Scott Leach at Downtown Records in Boston, Massachusetts. Snider was also the engineer.

The band, at least on the record (not sure if there were lineup changes), was formed by:
Karl Stephen on bass
Bruce Stephen on drums
Steven Hinrichs on guitar
Jonathan Baker on vocals

The record also got some tambourines on the song “Olduvai” thanks to Bobby Snider.

I wonder, were Karl and Bruce brothers? Or at least related? Was Bobby Snider related to Dave Snider the engineer?

Also why were there no more releases? Why release an album first, before releasing any singles? Why no compilation appearances? I find that quite odd. I am sure that there must. have been demo tapes and more songs.

After the demise of the band in 1989 Steven Hinrichs joined For Against. Karl Stephen also played on For Against at least on the “Echelons” album.

According to the Words on Music bio for For Against, Bruce and Karl Stephen were also part of Playground alongside Hinrichs and vocalist Marty Clough. It seems there was a tape recorded with tracks by Playground!

When Marty moved to Minneapolis, he left Playground and Jon Baker joined, that’s when they were renamed The Gladstones. Then we also learn that Karl and Bruce Stephen were founding members of the band Cartoon Pupils. Bruce also was away for a while, leaving the band (being replaced momentarily by Paul Engelhard) but came back for the recording of the album.

It seems too that the fine C86 radio show (by David Eastaugh) did an interview with Steven Hinrichs back in February this year. You can check that episode here. From it we learn that the band played a lot in Lincoln and Omaha in Nebraska, and also once in St. Louis, Missouri. A funny anecdote he shared was that the band sent a tape to Sarah Records and they got a reply saying that they “sounded too American” for Sarah!!

Steven also mentions that after recording the album they recorded 5 demos afterwards, but nothing happened with them.

Of course lots written about For Against on the web, but very little about The Gladstones. In any case, I am super amazed that I am not the only crazy person trying to find out more about them. That of course means that their songs are really good! But I do keep wondering if at some point we’ll be able to those demo songs that weren’t part of the album!

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Listen
The Gladstones – Garden

Well the big news is that the Baby Lemonade CDs are here!! I am beyond excited and at the same time not worried anymore. You see it took quite a bit to put out this release. Maybe it is the one that has waited the longest. But I am so very happy they are here now. I will post a batch of the CDs tomorrow and hopefully by Monday finish with all pre-orders. So yeah, order yours if you like. The website is www.cloudberryrecords.com… just in case!

Now I have to run to work. I am a bit tired as stayed out late yesterday as NYC was lucky to have the visit of the great Patrik who used to play in Hormones in Abundance and The Garlands and who still makes music under Ring Snuten… among other many indiepop-related things! That was a fun night.

But maybe you only came to find new music from around the web. I have that too!

Vernon’s Future: If you follow the blog since its inception you might remember that a long time ago I interviewed a fantastic Liverpool band called Vernon’s Future. Turns out the band has been making music again and recording some very fine tunes, like their latest “Just Can’t Help Myself” which is a lovely poppy tune, haven’t lost any of the band’s freshness since they put out their album back in the 80s!

Mo Dotti: this band is totally new to me, but it seems that their dreampop sounds have been around since 2017 at least! They have just released a new song called “Gravity Well” which is sweet, precious and fragile at the same time.  Would definitely like to hear more by them!

Sports Dream: more dreamy pop, this time from Pamerston North in New Zealand. They have just released an EP on Papaiti Records. Sadly this cassette EP is now sold out. But you can still stream the five tracks that were included in it on Bandcamp.

Crux of Faith: a fuzzier one now, a shoegaze band from San Antonio, Texas. I remember back in 2004 when I spent a season there there was absolutely no good music. Now I find some good bands sometimes. Things evolve, can change for good. The latest track by the band is called “November Heat”, and I totally recommend it.

Luster: and yeah, it looks like I went on a shoegaze sort of trip today. Might be that not many classic indiepop bands are around? That we are more into the dreamier and fuzzier music these days? I wonder. I still miss a good ramshackle band. But in any case this LA band sounds pretty good! They are preparing a new album called “Turbulence” and they have shared the first single from it, “True to You”!

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Who were the Birmingham band Pinkie and his Band? I’ve heard their amazing track “Burn the Citadel Down” and I am in the need of knowing more of them. It is brilliant! It does sound a bit like Strawberry Switchblade or even Young Marble Giants, and that can only be a good thing!

This song was released in 1984 on Fluffy Records (Fluff 1) as a double A sided 7″. On the other A side two other songs are included, “Certificate of Violence” and “Scared (Hay Muerta en la Casa)”. I haven’t heard these two other songs though, but I am hoping that when I do they sound as great as “Burn the Citadel Down”. I also wonder why the last song name has a part, in parenthesis, written in Spanish. Maybe someone in the band knew the language?

The 7″ songs were recorded and mixed at F2 Studios in Mont Pleasant, London. The songs were arranged and produced by John J. Leahy.  Some copies are said to have come with a small A5 letter signed by Pinkie and an A4 promo poster. All of them came with an insert. This insert had some important information about the band.

For example the band members:
Pinkie on keyboards, voice overs, synthesizers, percussion and guitar.
Angie Henry: vocals
Donna Martin: vocals
Jon Riley: bass
Neil: additional percussion
Carl Mellon: alto sax

The photographs on the sleeve are credited to Kevin Livegren.

I am curious about Pinkie. Who is he? Is it John J. Leahy? I see that Leahy is credited for written the songs on the labels. Could it be? I need to find out.

There are no compilation appearances by the band. I instantly hit a wall that way.

I try different search phrases on google. Different keywords. But it looks like there’s nothing written about the band at all! I assumed this was an obscure release but is it this obscure? Only the one track that I’ve heard is available to stream on Soundcloud. And that’s all. So many questions are left. Were the people in the band involved in other bands? Are there more songs? Why no more releases?

I think I am going to need my Birmingham friends to help me this time!

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Listen
Pinkie and His Band – Burn the Citadel Down

Good news! Tomorrow the Baby Lemonade CDs will be finally arriving! I’ll try to post a first batch on Friday and the remaining orders on Monday. I am beyond happy and looking forward to these compilations! Have you ordered yours yet?

In the meantime why not listen some of these very good new indiepop bits!

Cristina Quesada: I have really enjoyed Cristina’s album and was happy to know that one of my favourite songs from the album has just got the video treatment. Do check the new video for “Think I Heard a Rumour”!

Single: the other news on Elefant Records is a new two track single by the legendary ex-member of Le Mans. The opening track “El Roce” is truly beautiful, and the B side, “Un Roce al Paso” features Javier Aramburú from another legendary band, Family! The 7″ single will be limited to 500 copies so do get this one. The artwork is really cool too.

The Suncharms: Rich from the band told me this new track, “Monster Club”, might be a bit of a departure in their sound. I wonder. The sound is very nice. Though true, it is not the classic Suncharms sound! But it is totally enjoyable anyways! The song is sort of a tribute to The Limit nightclub in Sheffield which The Suncharms used to go in the late 80s and early 90s.

Small Planets: this Los Angeles band sounds really really good! The vocals are terrific and the melodies too. Chiming guitars, dreamy melodies, all things I like. They have a self-titled album out now on CD through their Bandcamp. There are 11 songs in total. The band is formed by Jessica Hernandez on vocals, Josh Spincic on bass, Phil Drazic on drums, Ryan Silo on guitar and Jeff Love on guitar and keyboards.

Arctic Circle:  some time ago I interviewed this great Bristol band. They have uploaded their 7″ single on Stitch-Stitch Records and you can actually get a copy of it! I think included in this 7″ is one of their best songs, “Mothers Ruin”, which is truly fantastic! Pop like this is not made anymore. The other track is pretty good too, “Prancing Pearl”!

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Some years ago I interviewed The Divorce Brothers from Dundee, Scotland. That was a great interview… and I was remembering when I asked about bands they were recommend from Dundee, from around their time, they mentioned a few. One of them was Sweden Thrü the Ages, which was led by Stephen Knight. Only now, after all this time, I am checking them out!

The band were around in the mid 80s, releasing their only release in 1986 on Snappy Records (SW 001). It may have been their own label, it is the only release listed for it on Discogs. It was a 12″ maxi single with 3 songs. The A side had the wonderful “It Helps To Cry” while the B side had “The Sweetest Sound” and “Each Day”. Jingle jangly for everyone.

The whole single was produced by Billy MacKenzie from The Associates. The engineer was Allan McGlone. The songs being recorded at Dundee’s Inner City Sound and mastered at The Penthouse.

The band was formed by Steve Knight (who wrote all the songs), Lloyd Anderson, Chris Marra and Brian McDermot. The sleeve doesn’t specify what each of them played. Maybe I’ll find that? Let’s keep digging.

No compilation appearances either are listed. Another wall I hit.

I find a blog called Retro Dundee where it mentions that Steve Knight (bass) used to play in a band called Parades between 1981 and 82. A comment by a user called Hoops says that Steve was also in a band called The Rainmates.

But there are no other mentions on the web! Strange as there is a connection with The Associates! Hmm… what a shame….

I’d definitely would love to hear more by them, they must have more than three songs. Which years were they active? Did they play live a lot? Why did they split? What did they do after? Who remembers them?

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Listen
Sweden Thrü the Ages – It Helps to Cry

Should have news this week. Please check the blog on Wednesday and Friday. Tomorrow I should be posting an interview too. Busy here!

The Bachelors: The Blue-Very label keeps releasing top quality music, unearthing indiepop legends from Japan’s past. The latest is the pre-Bridge band The Bachelors! The label is putting out a cassette tape retrospective called “River and Road” that includes 13 wonderful songs. How I wish it was available on CD though.

Soda Pop: this duo from Lille, France, have a new release out. It is a tape called “L’été, Danger” that consists of 11 tracks recorded at home. The album is being released on October 29 on tape and at the moment 3 songs are available to preview, “Night 03”, “Elton on Tape” and “Ascension to Heaven”.

Optic Sevens 2.0: this is not the newest news perhaps but I think I should tell everyone on the blog not to miss the new collection of classic 7″s Optic Nerve is putting out starting November. 12 7″s that will include the Wee Cherubs, Revolving Paint Dream, Metro Trinity, The Loft, James Dean Driving Experience, The Vaselines, Bob and more. Not to be missed!

The Go-Betweens: this is also not to be missed, the new Go-Betweens boxset “G Stands fro Go-Betweens: The Go-Betweens Anthology Volume 2”! This one comes with 5 LPs, 5 CDs and a 112 page booklet. So many many things for $180 dollars plus shipping. A bit pricey, I know, but any fan of The Go-Betweens will cherish this!

Patio Solar: lastly the band from Chile is back with a new 9 song album “La Fuente”. If you are not familiar with them Patio Solar might be the best jangle pop band from the southern country. Sadly this release doesn’t seem to have a physical format, just digital, but well, we can stream the songs on Bandcamp all the time! Very nice!

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Well, another record I want on today’s post. I feel lately I am only sharing my wantlist with everyone here on the blog. I wonder if making this known will better my chances or the opposite. Who knows. But I am very curious about these bands and their music. So, even if I don’t end up finding a copy ever I would have learned a little bit more about these great bands.

The Single Factor is one of those obscure bands that I know nothing about. I know I want their sole 7″. But that is really all I know. I’ve heard the A side but haven’t yet heard the B side. The A side is called “Fresh Upon Her Lips. The B side is “Think I’m Falling in Love”. Just so you know.

The 7″ was released in the UK in 1984 by SF Records (SINFAX 001). This is the only release listed on this label. When you stumble upon something like this you end up thinking that the label was probably run by the band (or a friend of the band). Just set up exclusively for this release.

The front cover has a photo of a girl. It is printed in black and white. On the back sleeve it says that this girl is Suzanne Sunda. The photographer is Carol Sunda. Perhaps they were siblings?

Then the band members are listed.
Arnie Carter on keyboards and vocals
Tim Southern on guitars and backing vocals
Neil Anzani on bass
Brendan Lynch on drums

The two songs were recorded at Sheen Machine on April 1984 and were produced and engineered by Martin Turner.

At the bottom there’s an address in West Kensington in London.

Then I stumble upon a great find. A website for the bands Most People and Single Factor! Who would have thought? In it it is mentioned that before The Single Factor, Arnie and Neil were in a band called The Snorkels in the early 80s. Then Tim and Lloyd from Most People joined them and that’s when the band was established. Their A side, “Fresh Upon Her Lips” was played by John Peel and it is said they almost appeared on the TV show The Tube. The band got some lineup changes, gigged a lot and finally split sometime between 1986 and 87.

Brendan Lynch, the drummer on the 7″, was originally in the Snorkels too.

Now I am curious, would like to hear some music by The Snorkels.

Something quite interesting is that it seems that on Sunday September 11th 2011 the band performed again at The Vestry in Salisbury. It may have been there last gig.

After that silence, more silence.

I am sure there must have been demos recorded by the band. There must be more songs. Not just the two. Also I would love to hear the B side. And also The Snorkels and Most People. Who can help with that?

Who remembers them?

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Listen
The Single Factor – Fresh Upon Her Lips

Another week is over. But here are some new good finds from around the web!

Static Daydream: if you like noisy pop, definitely check out this one-man project. Based in Fredericksburg, Virginia, Paul Baker has released a CD album called “Cracked Inside” that sounds ace. The ex-member of Skywave has penned 12 catchy and fuzzy tracks that are totally worth your time.

Candy: from Melbourne, Australia, comes this fine jangle pop band that will be releasing an album called “Everything in Motion” on November 15th. It will be available on tape and digital format. At this point we can preview three songs of the album, “Familiar”, “Feel” and “Sorry, Sydney”. Very nice.

Grrrl Gang: the Damnably label from UK has picked up the Indonesian band! That is good news. The label will be putting out a compilation album on vinyl sometime soon. In the meantime we can listen to the song “Dream Girl” which is terrific.

The Catenary Wires: “Tie Me to the Rails” is the new video from Amelia and Rob. This song comes from the latest album the duo has put out, “Til the Morning” which is out now on Tapete Records. I saw them just a few months back and I loved it. It is so cool to watch this video, listen to Amelia’s iconic vocals and remember how lucky I’ve been to see them play live!

Neilson Family: the fine Jigsaw Records is now based in Portland. No surprise then that they are releasing a jangle pop band from the same city. An album nonetheless. 12 songs on CD on a record called “Family Double Life” that our friend Chris likens to The Essex Green. That’s a good thing isn’t it?

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Why not travel to Japan and check out a very unknown band, Loveflare? I think that sounds like a good idea. I wish I could travel to Japan for real. Maybe next year, maybe in a few years. It’d be great. Maybe when I do I’ll find a copy of the one and only 7″ Loveflare released. That’d be brilliant.

The 7″ was released on the Harmonic! label (HJ 001) but I don’t know the date, the year. Discogs doesn’t list it. Maybe I’ll find the info somewhere else. I’ll go in order for now. It is also true that this is the only release listed for this label. Might this be a self-release then?

I know the record had two songs, “35 Summers” on the A side and “Indian Summer” on the B side. Very summery indeed. And what about the song title for the A side? Is it a nod to the great English band 35 Summers? The style of Loveflare is quite similar, influenced by Madchester.

The band continued their summery theme when they included the song “Groovy Summertime” to the 2007 compilation “Boys (& Girls) Wonder Shibuya-K Indie-Pop Collection Vol. 2″ that was released by TKO New Music Corporation (TKOK 0002). This compilation has already been mentioned in the blog in the past of course, when I wrote about Trans Alphabet, Pitcher56 and more.

Maybe on the 7”  sleeve there is information about who were the band members. I can’t find any information at all about the band. Not in English, not in Japanese. So, Japanese friends, can you help me track down who was behind this band? Would love to know when were they around? who were they? did they have any more songs (about summer)? And any other details too!

Edit October 18, 2019: I just learned from a Japanese friends a few cool facts! First, the 7″ was released in 1999. Secondly, the band members featured members of the amazing band Bobby’s Rockin’ Chair who I’ve written about in the past on the blog. And third there is actually another release by Loveflare! It was a self-titled CD released in 2004 that included six songs, “Summerlike”, “Soul Hoover”, “Indian Summer (New version)”, “Groove of Love”, “Still Goes On” and “Summer Like (Remix)”. Now I want to listen to these songs!

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Listen
Loveflare – 35 Summers

Thanks so much to Jimmy Cousins for the interview! I wrote about the Newcastle band The Dakota Plains some time ago and Jimmy was kind enough to get in touch and answer a bunch of my questions! Hope you all enjoy!

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

Hi it’s great to be talking to you about my old band. The guys are all still involved in music and I’m currently putting a new band together with three brilliant musicians a couple of which I have worked with previously in a couple of other bands and a bass player who is absolutely brilliant Steve is also totally blind I’m very excited about this project

++ 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 earliest musical memory was seeing The Beatles on tv in the early 60s watching Ringo playing I think she loves you I was mesmerised and hooked on the drums from that moment. I pestered my parents for a drum kit but money was scarce so an old Banjo with the strings removed was my first instrument. My brother started taking lessons and I was learning rudiments and a bit of reading from him I was seven years old eventually he gave me his little drum set up. I started playing percussion at school and was absolutely committed to music playing school concerts plays and musical musicals I was totally addicted. When I started in high school there was no school band so I drifted in to playing soccer and didn’t play music again until I was passing a by a garden and a band were jamming old rock n roll songs and a few 70s covers I watched through the fence as they played all right now by Free I cheekily told the drummer he was playing it wrong he asked me in to show him how to play it which I did in a few weeks he sold me his drums. I then practiced for a couple of years and got reasonably good. I left home after my mum passed away and moved from my home town of Jarrow and spent nearly two years homeless sofa surfing and living rough in Newcastle. I was drinking was drinking in a bar with a friend when I was asked by some people if I new any drummers so I told them that I was and as it transpired they had a big house they were sharing I was in a band and had a place to live I set about finding a day job and then quickly bought a new set of drums eventually after a few months and a few gigs I stole the bass player and guitars and formed a three piece band kind of Zappa kind of Police like. That band almost got signed by Miles Copeland but due to personal issues I left and drifted in and out of various projects.

++ How was your town at the time of The Dakota Plains? 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?

The city of Newcastle was bustling with great venues and great bands at this time and I was buzzing to be playing in a band that were gigging up and down England and Scotland we were going great and our following was growing we were Interviewed by the local press lots of times and we were in a fair few Fanzines. Local press really backed us and we were soon recording our debut single She don’t understand me like you that was very well received and got local and national AirPlay we sold every copy and played loads of great gigs the highlight being a support slot for a great band called The Men They Couldn’t Hang a big band who were wonderful to us. We supported Wilko Johnson with Norman Watt Roy from Ian Dury and The Blockheads that was amazing. We recorded 7 words our follow up single and that was played on local and national radio we got a lot of press coverage and were playing great. We played the Cookson Festival at the Ampitheatre in South Shields a wonderful open air venue we recorded our mini album At The Seaside it was a very limited edition and it sold out in a couple of hours we were flying.

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

As a boy and still to this day my musical heroes are Led Zeppelin I love the Bonham groove and they way he locked in with Jimmy Page as opposed to the bassist a thing I still do to this day. I played many gigs and recorded demos with various bands and artists until I was approached by Jevvy Maroney who along with the brilliant Colin Stephenson had played in a poppy Costello type band called Head Office he asked if I was available to try out for their new band The Dakota Plains I was curious but not overly keen to play in a country band. A few days later a cassette tape was dropped through my letter box I just put on a shelf and sort of ignored it my brother who was staying with us told me to play it and said it was an opportunity and it might be good so I reluctantly put in my player and was actually very impressed they weren’t a straight country band at all so I rang them and went to jam with them and within a week or two we debuted at A very hip bar in Newcastle the place was rammed you couldn’t move we played and played a half a dozen encores a big success and I was in.

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

The band were evolving and getting better both live and in our songwriting less Thrash country as Jess Cox former singer of Newcastle rock icons The Tigers Of Pantang coined us in a review he did when he was a musical promoter and journalist we became a bit more like an REM type band.

++ The 7″ was recorded at Lynx Studio. How was this experience? Any anecdotes you remember from the recording sessions?

We had such a laugh when recording Charlie in particular cracked me up when we recorded our second single and Mond Cowie guitarist with the legendary punk band The Angelic Upstarts co produced our fist single I had done my drum track and my tambourine overdub I said okay I’m making coffee any takers we all agreed on coffee except for the punk legend who asked for a cup of Earl Grey tea I exclaimed that I was flabbergasted that a man who had been banned fro every major venue in Britain and Europe wanted a cup of scented tea! Charlie hires a beautiful black brand new Rickenbacker 12 string guitar to play the solo on 7 words he played it in one take and beaming at me bragged hey there you go one take Barlow to which I replied okay maestro look behind you to which he did and the look of sheer horror on his face was fantastic as he watched the 12 string fall out of the guitar stand and onto the studio floor it was absolutely hilarious and thankfully the Rick was unmarked

++ What’s the story behind the band’s name? 

We were often asked about the name of the band my answer was always that it was a play on words.

++ And how come there were no more releases? Why no album?

Apart from the two singles and the mini album there are a fair few excellent bootlegs kicking about

++ I think my favourite song of yours might as well be “She Don’t Understand Me Like You”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?

My memories of the band are all good and even though we don’t see each other very much our friendships remain strong. You asked about the she don’t understand me like you single and it’s meaning. The song was written at the time when I was going through a very difficult and bitter divorce and my new lady who is now my wife Julie was the influence for the words of that song it pretty much summed up our life together at that difficult time

++ Were you involved in any other bands afterwards?

We were formed in Newcastle a party city a very vibrant and multi cultured city the great venues are still there but many have closed our changed however the local scene is still very cool with some excellent bands Stan the band are very cool and amongst some of the really cool bands are Big Ray and the Hipthrusters they are absolutely brilliant. My other bands did okay especially The Last Souls who became Spin Machine a funky groove rock band we split up last year and now I’m playing in a brand new group called Dead Sea Divers with Gary Lindley ain’t guitars Tony “Mez” Mason who sang in Starfish a really cool band I was in and Steve Dryden on bass we are currently rehearsing and writing some absolutely amazing songs I’m very hopeful and totally absorbed with the new band it is very groove laden with a lot of different influences I think people will like it.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

In closing let me thank you very much for your questions and your interest in my old band. It’s been nice to talk about a very special band it’s still very dear to me and I hope my answers are okay. Please keep on doing what you do it’s great! many thanks and best regards to you Jimmy Cousins

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Listen
The Dakota Plains – She Don’t Understand Me Like You

One can only keep finding new music. Maybe one day I’ll find the next Cloudberry 7″? That’d be cool.

The Umbrella Puzzles: not too long ago I was raving about Ryan Marquez’s new project. The ex-Apple Orchard and Sodajerk had made a beautiful mini-album with 6 tracks. It didn’t take long for the Subjangle label to notice and so we have good news. On November 14th the mini-album will be released on CD and it will include an extra track, “Leave the City”!

Christmas Pavilion – Natale ai Mirtilli: the Blue-Very label has been releasing top quality music this year. The latest is a Christmas-themed CD that includes 11 tracks! Bands include Three Berry Icecream, Pot-Pourri, Vacation Three, Small Garden and more. It sounds GREAT!

Oxy: well this sounds really good! From Brazil comes this duo formed by Blandu Correia and Sara Cándido and I am really impressed by their last track “Don’t You Think the Air is Stuffy?”. Top shoegaze here. I should keep an eye on this band.

Full Power Happy Hour: Australia keeps producing top indiepop. The latest finding is this Brisbane band formed by Alex, Grace, Caroline, Joe and Finn. “The Fun EP” is their second release after the EP “Complicit” released earlier this year. It comes with 3 tracks, with the standout one being “Fun”.

Soumbalgwang: wow! this new track by the Busan, South Korea, band sounds terrific! It is called “Gwangan Surf” and I am really hoping it gets released on 7″ or something. It is a fun fuzzy upbeat pop song with boy/girl vocals. Just how I love them. And it only lasts 1 minute. You are left hoping for more!

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“Lie to Me: A Compilation of Guitar Use and Abuse” (UCD 1) was released by Umbrella in 1989. This compilation was released on both CD and vinyl and from what I understand, from the liner notes written by Anthony H. Wilson, the idea originally was to do a compilation of the independent scene of the time, combining guitar based music and electronic music. In the end the label decided to release two separate compilations. The one I am interested of course is the guitar based one.

This comp featured lots of well known bands like The Heart Throbs, The Parachute Men, McCarthy and even The Wedding Present. There’s Red Harvest too who I’ve interviewed in the past. One of the interesting bands that was new to me was The Counting House.

The Counting House is terribly obscure. I have no clue whatsoever who they are. They contributed the song “Walking By” to this record.

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Listen
The Counting House – Walking By