Some new finds!

Star Power: this Los Angeles band sounds great! The band just released on Bandcamp an 8 song album called “The Fragrant Year” and it is quite a surprise to me. Where did they come from? Would be fantastic to find out more about them. What do I know? That they are a four piece formed by Mark Nakamura, Jeffrey Eloriaga, Luke Cook and Blake Cook and that they sound pretty good.

The Catherines: the Hamburg band is so prolific. They get featured on the blog all the time. Their latest is a digital single with three songs, “Please Don’t Freak Out While You Drive My Car”, “Jingle Jangle” (a cover of The Archies original) and “Good Golly Goo – I never Thought that I Could Love Someone as Much as I Love You” (a piano/vox version of their first ever single). Very enjoyable jingle jangly music!

Un Día Soleado: just one song by this Argentinean band from the city of Viedma. The song is titled “La Lluvia Vuelve a Caer (demo)” and it is a lovely piece of bedroom lo-fi tweepop, the sort that we used to listen in the mid 2000s. The song is available on Hikkomori Discos as a digital single.

Flaüta/Fotograma Lunar: exploring other releases on this Argentinean label I find this digital split EP by these two bands. Each contribute two songs, Flaüta has “Pensar Mucho” and “A Veces te Encuentro en Canciones” while Fotograma Lunar contributes “Pero Ahora Sé” and “El Final”. The songs are upbeat lo-fi bedroom indiepop, though I must say Flaüta is my favourite of the two.

Cloud Babies: how pretty this 4 song EP sounds. It is called “Message in a Bottle” and is being released on tape by this wonderful Kyoto band that took their name from a Blueboy song. The band is just two people, Masami and Sachi who each wrote 2 songs. This is very very pretty. I just hope it gets a vinyl or CD release so I can have a copy and play it home!

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Orans, a loanword from Medieval Latin ōrāns translated as one who is praying or pleading, also orant or orante, is a posture or bodily attitude of prayer, usually standing, with the elbows close to the sides of the body and with the hands outstretched sideways, palms up.

Today is the turn for the letter O. For the O at first I thought featuring One Night Suzan but it seems that the Greek band will be releasing a new retrospective very soon. So I will try to interview them for the blog. Another O band? Orange Juice? Oh we know a lot about them. What about the Orans?  I know very little about them!

When I interviewed Tim Alborn of Harriet Records I asked him about Orans as I knew nothing really about them aside that the band released one 7″ on his label. He told me: “Orans was Julie and Ramona from Twig, and by 1998 they had a falling out, leaving Julie all by herself in Balloon Chase Team on the “Friendly Society” compilation. So she holds the record for being in four different Harriet bands. ”

I know little about Twig, even less about Balloon Chase Team. I’ll start trying to figure out Orans first.

Orans released their 7″ in 1996 on Harriet Records (Harriet 039). It had three songs, “Windfall” on the A side and “Paper” and “Windshield Wipers” on the B side. All three songs were recorded at The Cold Room in Boston, MA, during August of that yea by Hugh O’ Donovan who also produced the record.

The record came with a square info sheet. That’s how we know that Julie Kantner was on lead vocals and guitar, Ramona Herboldsheimer on drums and vocals and Jerry Kyn on guitar. The pretty art that the jacket has was created by Eleanor Ramsay.

So yes, Ramona was in Twig with Julie, but she also was part of the band The Lothars. Julie was on Twig and also in Fertile Virgin , Balloon Chase Team and Uranium Daughters. Jerry Kyn was involved with Toetag, Kozik and Crimson Ghosts.

There is very little about the band on the web. I did find a mention on John Hovorka’s website. Here he mentions that in 1996 he, Ramona and Julie were starting a “Noise Pencil cover band” that was to be called Noise Pencil II. It seems it didn’t work in the end.

Aside from that there’s not much on the web. Did they only record 3 songs? It is hard to believe. No compilation appearances either. I wonder what happened to them. Why did they split?
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Listen
Orans – Windfall

Wasn’t feeling that well yesterday. So Monday’s post is being published today Tuesday. I’ll post something tomorrow too, no worries!

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: there are good news by the great San Francisco band that I keep featuring on the blog. They are working on an album titled “Anxiety Art” for our friend Javi’s label “Pretty Olivia”. But that’s not all, there are three new jangly tracks to listen: “City Gardens”, “Running Up Dead-End Streets” and “Desperate Parties (kitchen ver)”.

Black Sand: this New Zealand band has a new album called “Around the Sun” out now on tape. It has 10 songs of psychedelic shoegazy sounds. It does look like the tape is very limited and at the time of writing this review only 2 copies were left. It also looks like the band is actually one man, A. Evans. My favourite track? “What Do You See?”

Telever: a cool sounding shoegaze Thai band! What a discovery. I have to thank my friend David for this one. They are formed by Tae, Team, James Jansontima and Zee. Their latest is an EP titled “Have a Good Healthy” with 4 songs. My favourite song out of the four is the last one, “Everything”!

No Suits in Miami: wow, where did this band from Lund, Sweden, come from? Why am I only listening to them now? They sound great! They have an album of 8 songs available now on Bandcamp titled “I Hope That No One Sees Me”. And it is superb, jangly, catchy, with great female lyrics. I really hope they get a physical release. They deserve it. Very good!! Just how I like my indiepop!

The Metatrons: this band from Hitchin in the UK makes some terribly catchy fuzzy pop! Their music is not as new but they just showed up on Bandcamp and I’m discovering them. Their latest was the 2016 album “Pattern of Chaos” that is available on CD and vinyl. It has 9 songs on it and it is actually their second album after “Between Planets”. Good stuff.

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Turn for the letter N.

Jacques Speyser was the person behind the French band Non Stop Kazoo Organization. The band only released two records, two singles, in the early nineties and then disappeared into oblivion. Or did they?

I know very little about them, so I will try to find out, as usual, any good details about them.

The kazoo is a musical instrument that adds a “buzzing” timbral quality to a player’s voice when the player vocalizes into it. It is a type of mirliton, which is a membranophone, one of a class of instruments which modifies its player’s voice by way of a vibrating membrane of goldbeater’s skin or material with similar characteristics.

The first release was a single sided flexi that was released by the Ad Libitum Pop !? label (ad lib 1) in 1992. This is a fine label, where all releases are worth collecting like Budgie Jacket, Tree Fort Angst, The Pale Seashell and more.  The first release on this label happened to be this flexi, with the songs “Mystery Pet” and “Song About a Happy Day to Come”. Both songs were recorded by Rémi who also played lead guitar and keyboards on the first song. On that same song Renaud Sachet did backing vocals. Renaud was one of the people behind the Herzfeld label from Strasbourg and had been in bands like Buggy, Herzfeld Orchestra and Les Molies.

The next release was to be put out by the Cornflakes Zoo (ZOO 3) label. This was another French label that was run by Stéphane Teynié who when he started the label was a writer on the Anorak fanzine and also a distributor through the Anorak Mail Order. For this second release, the “Something Strange EP”, Jacques added more people to the recording sessions. Renaud did backing vocals again but also Jean-Christophe. Claire played clarinet, Francesco drums, Franck guitar, Hélène the saxophone and violin and Yves the trumpet. All songs were recorded by Didier Houbre, a French engineer owner of Downtown Studio in Strasbourg. Does this mean that Non Stop Kazoo Organization was a Strasbourg band? Looks like it. This EP was released in 1993 and included three songs. The A side had “Your Hand For an Hour” while the B side had “My Heart With Yours in the Air” and “Something Strange”. Didier Houbre played guitar on the last song.

Discogs only lists two compilations appearances by the band. The first one dates from 1990 so I’m guessing these might be among the first recordings for the band. The song “Big Mac For You and Me” was included in the cassette compilation “Heol Daou” that was released by Katiho (Katiho 002). This tape has been mentioned in the blog before when talking about Die Blinzeelberen.

Then in 1992, on another French compilation tape, one called “Whoops!” (HOUPLA01) the band contributed the song “Onion Soup”. This tape also includes a superb lineup of bands like Acid House Kings, Even As we Speak, The Tables and many more top bands.

We know too that Jacques Speyser was involved with more bands. We know he was in Les Mollies alongside the producer of the first record, Renaud Sachet. He was also in Grand Hotel and Original Folks. He has also played in records yb Buggy, Marxer and Herzfeld Orchestra.

I can’t find any other worthy information about the band. There are a few mentions of Non Stop Kazoo Organization on articles about Original Folks.  But that’s about it. I would definitely like to know the story of the band. What happened with them? Are there more recordings? Was it a bedroom band? Did they play live much?
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Listen
Non Stop Kazoo Organization – Mystery Pet

Friday at last! I hope everyone enjoys the weekend! If you need some help for that here are 5 new finds from around the web!

Fritz: wow, this Newcastle, Australia, band sounds great. Their latest song is called “Ghost Poke” and it is an infectious rush of p!o!p! The song was written by Tily Murphy last year and for the recording she got help from Cody Brougham and Darren James. So far the song is only available digitally but I see no reason why in the near future it will get a physical release.

The Umbrellas: Morgan, Keith, Nick and Matt form this band from San Francisco. They have just released a tape EP called “Maritime” that has 5 songs. It is out now on the Discontinuous Innovation label. The 5 songs are great and they even include a very fine cover of “Dance” by Strawberry Switchblade.

Flowerbed: what is it with this Denton, Texas, band? Their two songs have flower names. The band name obviously has to do do with flowers. Their latest one is called “Daffodil”, their previous was “Hyacinth”, and they have been released online a year apart. Why? I think I’d like to hear more by these dreampoppers.

Planet Loser: this duo formed by Amber and Ethan from Tampa, Florida, have a new song out called “Too Cool” which sounds pretty cool. This is their first recording since last year’s debut EP.

Patience: “Living Things Don’t Last” is the latest single by Roxanne Clifford’s new project. The ex-Veronica Falls is releasing pretty soon her debut album “Dizzy Spells” and so it is a good opportunity to release new videos and new songs for everyone to enjoy. I caught her live a few months back and all I can say is that this is a very promising album. Maybe it will end up on many year end lists. I wouldn’t be surprised!

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Now the letter G with My Guru Says!

Their sole release, a 7″ titled “3 Seasons Are Enough!”, lives happily in my record collection. Many times I don’t own the records I mention on the blog, but this time I do. It feels good.

Marsh-Marigold released this 7″ in 1991 with the catalog number GOLD06. Three songs, that were recorded in 1990 at the Soundgarden Studio in Hamburg by Carol von Rautenkranz, were included: “Sally & John” and “Something” on the A side and “Blue Days” on the B side. The three songs were mastered at Tonstudio Pfanz by Günter Pfanz.

The sleeve gives us some details about the band like the band lineup. They were formed by Wiebke on vocals, Florian Braunschweig on bass and guitar and Henning Fritzenwalder on organ and vocals.

We know too that Florian had been involved in another top band from Hamburg, Red Letter Day. While Henning was in the legendary Die Fünf Freunde and the band Camping who had releases on Marina Records.

Three compilation appearances are listed. The first dating from 1991, on the pre-Firestation Records label Smuf. It was a tape called “It’s All About Love” (SMUF 003) and it had many great songs. My Guru Says contributed the song “Sweet Clouds”.

In 1993, on “The Marsh Marigold Review Gold 01-10” (MARSH1) the band had their songs “Something” and “Blue Days”.

Lastly there is the tape “Nachtsonne – The Noise and the Melodies” that came out on Pearl Records. There is no information though about when was the release nor where the label was from. What I do know is that there are top bands in it like The Cudgels, The Ammonites, Ruth’s Refrigerator and more. My Guru Says contributes “Sally and John (Long Version)”.

My friend Alex has actually dedicated a post to the 7″ on his blog 7iete Pulgadas. So by no means I’m the first to dedicate them a post!  His favourite track on the 7″ is “Sally & John”. Actually this song was covered by The Magic Whispers on their 2007 album “Carousels & Music Boxes” that Siesta put out.

Sadly there is no more information about My Guru Says. There are a few mentions on posts about Camping, the band Henning would later be in, but about My Guru Says, nothing really. Like as if it was a footnote in German indiepop history.

And I don’t like that of course, I think this is a great 7″ and the band deserves a bit more recognition. I would love to know more about them. If they recorded more songs or if they played many gigs. Any information would be appreciated!

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Listen
My Guru Says – Something

Today is a holiday in most of the world. I have to work. We get our “labor day” in September in the US. How original! If you are not traveling and are just resting at home and want some fine new music, here are some of my latest finds!

Marieske: a French band from Rennes who just a week ago released a tape limited to 45 copies with two great dreampop tracks, “Track the Days” and “Marieske”. The band is formed by Laura Bruneau, Olivier Duval, Marc Corlett and Julien Perri and they’ve been going for some time now. Their first release on Bandcamp dates from 2016! This is the first time I’m listening to them and I think it is a great introduction to their music!

Todos tus Tanques Soviéticos: what a superb song is “La Nave de Carlos”. I believe this track was released on an 11 song album tape that the netlabel Stupid Decisions from Mexico put out.  The album was originally released last December by the band only in digital format. This band hails from Buenos Aires, Argentina and it is quite a very nice surprise, the capital city of the South American country keeps producing great pop talent!

Blue Unit: more dreampop. This time from Milwaukee in the US. The band will be releasing a 6 song mini-album on May 19th. Right now only the last track, called “Drop”, is available to preview, and it is really really pretty.

Group Photos: and one more dreampop band, this time from San Bernardino, California. The latest release is a digital 6 song mini-album titled “33rpm [UK]”. And I wonder, with that title, is there a vinyl release for this record? Perhaps in the UK? What I do know is that the guitars sound excellent. And that matters a lot to me.

The Death of Pop: the great London band was back last month with a limited edition tape called “Six (Live Session)” which I suppose was a live session (at Six?). The songs on it are “Don’t Hang Around”, “Kiss Me Quickly”, “Gardens”, “Last”, “700 Spas” and “Sun in My Eyes” and they sound wonderful. Top stuff!

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The letter L. I picked the French band Loons. I know next to nothing about them. I remember they had an album on Elefant Records but not much more. So I feel it is a good time now to find out more about them.

Discogs lists two albums. There are no singles. That’s interesting. The first one is the self-titled album that I remember, the one on Elefant. I don’t know how I remember it as it was released in 1996. In 1996 I wasn’t listening indiepop, I was quite young. It may be that I downloaded the album on Soulseek the next decade as I was exploring the music of many labels. I should get myself a copy now.

The “Loons” (ER-1035) album had 12 songs: “The Way the Rain Drives In”, “Listeners”, “What’s to Become of Bristol”, “Nosy Skies”, “Red Haired”, “Settled Ice”, “Perfect Noise”, “Some Lunatic”, “Wednesday”, “Consolation”, “The Light of Swansea” and “Cressant Cakes”. The cover art has this intriguing black and white photo of school children playing on a roundabout. This album was recorded at their home in Paris and mixed in October 1995.

5 years later, in 2001, the band released their second album on the Japanese label Galaxy Train and it was called “Dim Movies” (GAL-016). This record included 10 songs, “Leisure”, “Notting Hill Gate”, “Wind Erosion’, “Never Understand” (which is a cover of The Jesus and Mary Chain), “Holiday Run”, “Passageways”, “The Cannister”, “A Week on the Mile”, “Leaf” and “I Knew Him When He Was a Nobody”. This record has some viola played by Catherine Moraleau.

There is another interesting release. The Italian label Shiny Sunset was to include them in their 1997 tape “Split-Pop Hits #2”. Loons and the band À Table, which I believe was also French, were to split a tape, each band having one of the sides. Loons appears on the B sides with seven tracks, “Hold”, “Would That Be Spring Which Chimes”, “Streamer”, “I Desperately Ran Into Cynical Diversion”, “Wednesday (demo)”, “Some Renegade Affair” and “Lovesickness”.

The band has appeared on many compilations. The first one actually dates from 1994 on a cassette tape called “After Nine” that was released by the French label Pâte A Modeler ‎ (PAM 002). The band contributed two songs here, “Even Eyes” and “Crescent Cakes”. This tape includes also a band that I have featured in the past, Les Fleurs.

In 1996 the band appears on an Elefant compilation called “Elefant Radio 68.2 Fm Stereo” (ER-1029). On this classic compilation where they are alongside bands like Le Mans, Heavenly or Los Flechazos, the band contributes the track “Wednesday”. That same year they contribute their JAMC cover of “Never Understand” and “Seven Eyes” to the French compilation “Press Play” that Candy Chérie put out.

In 1998 the band participated on a tribute to The Cardigans called….. “A Tribute to The Cardigans” that was released by Tribute Records (TR 012) in Sweden. The band covered the song “Daddy’s Car”. That same year Elefant Records was to include the song “Ne Sois Pas Si Bête” on the compilation “Supermarket – Another Electrodinamic Elefant Compilation” (ER 1051). That same song appears on the 1999 compilation “Sniegowe Rytmy” that came out on Arnold Records (AD01) from Poland.

There’s more. In 2000 the band contributed the song “Sunny Days” to Galaxy Beach, a cassette compilation released by Galaxy Train (GAL-015). Then in 2000, on a French tape called “Eden Love” released by A Secret Song the band had three songs, “Consolation”, “Way the Rain Drive” and “Crescent Cakes”. Two years later, 2001, the band  had the song “Love Scented Bicycle” on the American CD comp “Stamp Collecting (For Beginners)” that was released by Secret Crush Records (SCRT010.

Lastly there is a tape that has no date that was called “Frances Two”. that was released by the French Les Tartines. Two songs were included, “Settled Ice” and “X-Ray”.

What else do we know about them? Well they do have a Bandcamp and I’ll scrape all important details I can find. For starters we know they were a trio formed by Erwan (guitar, vocals, backing vocals, programming and synths), Caroline (vocals) and Morgan (bass and guitar). Then I go to the Elefant Records page to find info. There is a bio there. So, the band starts in 1993 as a duo, Erwan and Morgan. Eight months later Caroline joins after Erwan had left a note looking for a singer at the famous Danceteria venue in Paris. Their name comes from a bird called loon. I didn’t know them. Did you?

The loons (North America) or divers (Great Britain/Ireland) are a group of aquatic birds found in many parts of North America and northern Eurasia. All living species of loons are members of the genus Gavia, family Gaviidae and order Gaviiformes.

I find a website for a band called Flowers From the Man Who Shot Your Cousin. It looks as it is a one-person band,  the ex-Loons Morgan Caris with the help of many friends like the also ex-Loons Erwan and Catherine Maroleau who played viola in the 2nd album of Loons. There is a small bio for Morgan where it mentions she grew up in Wappingers Falls in New York. When she moved to Paris, France, she met Erwan in school.

I keep following the thread. And I stumble upon a Facebook page for the band. Here they list two more members Pauline and Catherine. Catherine must be the viola player. What about Pauline? Could it be Pauline Callandreau who played flute? It also mentions that Erwan Broussine was in a band called Cowbird. He also runs the recording studio Waterhouse Records.

That’s quite a bit, and many links to check. Not a bad investigation. Still I can’t tell if the band played live much. If they had been in bands before Loons. If there are more recordings. Why they didn’t release any singles and only albums. What was the last name of the vocalist? There are always many questions!

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Listen
Loons – Nosy Skies

Another weekend is over! It went so fast. At least I got some new music finds to share!

Langue Pendue: there is a very cool new fanzine called Côte Ouest that is written by Frenchman Renaud Sachet. His latest edition is about French indiepop 1990-1995 and features Les Sales Gosses, 1000 Spirales, Les Autres, San July, Caramel, Les Poissons Solubles, Meek and Daisy Age. Looks like he has been luckier and better at tracking these bands than me! It also comes with a tape!

Earache: this Canberra/Melbourne band sounds great. It is no surprise that I’m writing about them again on the blog. That time I wrote about a song called “Voices”, now I know it has a lovely video. But that’s not all, last January the band released the album “Last” on vinyl with the two labels, Black Wire Records and Lacklustre Records. All 8 songs are available to preview on the label’s Bandcamp and it is indeed a treat. I should get a copy of this myself soon!

Dreams of Empire: “Northern Lights” is the last track of this Brighton duo and it is gorgeous! The band formed by Andrew and Jane (who met in the 90s indie band Luminous) is actually working on their debut album. I do hope they include this song! Looking forward to it.

Fanclub: another band that have been showcased in my little reviews of new music is this Austin based trio. They have a new song called “Imprint” that sounds lovely, I don’t have a clue if it will be released in any other format than digital, but I do hope it does. Sweet.

The Jasmine Minks: remember that not too long ago the wonderful and legendary Scottish band released a new 7″ with “Step by Step”? Now it is worth checking out the B side “Gravity” which actually has a video with lots of footage of the band! Check it out!

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Turn for the letter K.

Some weeks ago I interviewed The Moss Poles. On that interview the band mentioned that Paul Breuer played bass on the yet unreleased album by the band. The interesting fact was that Paul Breuer had been part of a band I am very curious about, the Kill Devil Hills. So today that I want to feature a band whose name starts with K I didn’t doubt to find out more information about them.

The band only released one record, a 12″ single on the Roustabout label in 1987. This label was also the house of the fantastic The Caretaker Race. This 12″, with its jacket with the band’s name in orange and a black and white photograph taken by Martyn Strickland of two boots over long grass, had three songs in it. The A side had the superb “What Comes After” while the B side had “Rolling” and “Poison”. All songs were produced by the band and Mark Frith who was also the engineer.

Something interesting about the record is that it had runout etchings on each side. The A side says “Money talks bullshit walks” while the B side says “The Exchange”.

Discogs also lists a white label 7″ which I assume was a promo release that came on plain sleeve and hand written white label. This 7″ included all the songs but “Poison”.

The band members are listed on the promo sheet. We know that Alex Breuer was on vocals and guitar, Paul Breuer on guitar and vocals, Jon Carricker on bass and Phil Savidge on drums and vocals. The press sheet also mentions that all members have been in at least one previous band and that they took their name from an area of North Carolina where the Wright Brothers took off on their epic flight.

Kill Devil Hills is a town in Dare County, North Carolina. The population was 6,683 at the 2010 census, up from 5,897 in 2000. It is the most populous settlement in both Dare County and on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The Kill Devil Hills Micropolitan Statistical Area is part of the larger Virginia Beach-Norfolk, VA-NC Combined Statistical Area.The town is home to the site of the Wright brothers’ first controlled, powered airplane flights on December 17, 1903, chosen for its good winds. The town was commemorated by the Wright Brothers National Memorial, which was dedicated in 1932. At the time of the flight, the town of Kill Devil Hills did not exist, and it did not receive its municipal charter until 1953. Kitty Hawk, popularly noted as the site of the famous flights, is approximately four miles (6 km) to the north, and was the nearest settlement at the time of the famous flight.

According to a Youtube post the band hailed from Lancaster. Is that so?

On Discogs I find that Jon Carricker and Paul Breuer were in a band called (ju.nior cottonmouth) (also known as Cottonmouth) who released records on Fire Records and also on Atlantic Records in the 90s.

Sadly that’s when I lose their track. what did the two other band members do after Kill Devil Hills? Are there other bands that they were involved with? And how come they only released on record? They must have recorded more than three songs,  right? There must be some unreleased ones, right?

I am thankful for any information available about the great Kill Devil Hills. Who remembers them?

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Listen
Kill Devil Hills – What Comes After

Lately I’ve been finding lots of music by following indiepop friends on different social media. So many of the bands and songs I share here I found through them so I want to thank them and give them so credit. Especially to David from Madrid and Heinz from Hamburg. They discover lots of new music all the time. It is really incredible.

So what can I share that’s new this week?

Asilomar: Heather, Ray, Chris and Sarah form this new band from Pacific Grove in California. They only have one song on Bandcamp called “Shimmer and Faded” and it is brilliant. Really surprising that such a good song is their first ever track. I look forward to more!

Soft Blue Shimmer: another shoegazy California band, this time from Los Angeles. The band is formed by Charlie, Kenzo, Martin and Meredith and will be releasing a tape called “Nothing Happens Here’ on June 28th. This EP will have 5 tracks, and we can already preview one of them, “Chamoy”, which is terrific.

The Reds, Pinks & The Purples: more from California, and more by this San Francisco band that is way too prolific! The latest are two tracks, “I’m Worried About the New Wave” and “Boys in the Gang” a cover of 999. Ive written many times about them, so they don’t need introduction. Just check out their jangly music.

Cristina Quesada: “Bailar Conmigo” is the latest song unveiled from the upcoming album “I Think I Heard a Rumour” which will be out on LP and CD in a few days (April 26th!). This lovely song was written by Teresa and Ibon from Le Mans and of course performed by Cristina. Get the volume up and prepare to dance with the super catchy chorus.

Life on Venus: the latest on Shelflife Records is this 4-track EP by the Moscow based band. If you like your shoegaze, the four songs recorded at Powerhouse Studio are great. You get three originals, “What Lies Beneath”, “Silver Screen” and “For the Kill” and, one of them, “Girls”, is a cover of Fawns of Love. I believe it is only available digitally at the moment. Not sure of physical plans!

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Time for the letter J. And it is also time for an American band. One that released 1 album and 2 singles in the 90s. Sounds good?

Let’s start with their first record, a single, a single sided 12″ (WISH004) that was released in Slumberland’s sub-label I Wish I Was a Slumberland Records in 1994. This label that was set up as a promo/mailorder label has released a bunch of great bands through the years, from Go Sailor to The Aislers Set. Jupiter Sun put in this record 5 songs, “Blow Up”, “Violet Intertwine”, “Accelerate”, “Tomorrow” and “Headling Beam Reaction”. The record was hand-numbered and was limited to 500 copies. There were copies on black vinyl and also on grey vinyl. It came with an insert where we could find the credits. And thus I learn about the band members.

Steve Chang was the bassist, Ollie Moore the drummer, Matthew Murdock (also later in Mover) played guitar and sang. Jeff Saltzman played tambourine and glockenspiel. We know too that the songs were recorded at Astral Sounds and Mysterious Cave in 1993.

They didn’t continue on Slumberland. Instead they were to release an album on Parasol Records in 1995 titled “Atmosphere”. The album had 12 songs: “Thoughts”, “Zookeeper”, “Sometimes I Feel Fine”, “Inside This Room”, “Coming Down”, “Seven Years”, “Blow Up”, “Violet Intertwine”, “Accelerate, “Tomorrow”, “Headlight Beam Reaction” and “Supernova”. They had the help of  guitarist Paul Tyler from the band Mover on four of these songs. We also know that The first half of the record was recorded in Yoshie’s Living Room in December 1994 and mixed at the Mysterious Cover in January 1995. The rest of the songs we know them from the previous release.

Then in 1997 the band released in their own Phase 45 Records a CD EP called “Looking Up” (001) that included the title song and “Honey Thief”, “Out of the Blue” and “Vox”. Something interesting here is that Matt wasn’t the main vocalist anymore but Nate Rockwood. And even a bigger surprise, which I didn’t know nor expect, Ollie the drummer was replaced by Rob Uytingco who I know of course because he played in the superb Bay Area band Starry Eyed Cadet! Small world indeed! The songs were produced by Jeff Saltzman.

There is another “release” listed on Discogs, a tape with the same two songs on each side, “Looking Up” and “Out of the Blue”. It was a tape called “Sampler” and it is clear that it was made for promotional purposes.

And only one compilation appearance is listed. Two of their songs, “Headlight Beam Reaction” and “Violet Intertwine”, were included in the classic Slumberland comp “Why Popstars Can’t Dance” (Slumberland 31) from 1994.

Now, you’d be surprised to know but there is a website for the band that looks from the late 90s! This website has a cool gigography of the band and we know because of this that the band was around 1992 and was still playing up to 2001. They mostly played in San Francisco area (San Jose, Palo Alto, etc) but also in San Diego and Mesa, Arizona. They played with great bands like The Legendary Jim Ruiz Group, The Earthmen, Henry’s Dress and more.

Something interesting that I find on the website is that before the band was Jupiter Sun, the members were in a band called Silver who were around 1992-1993. But also at some point they were called Snowball with whom they put out a 7″ on Silver Girl Records.

Then I find some facts about the band. For example the principal songwriters were Matt Murdock and Steve Chang. Their song “Honey Thief” reached Top Charts in Garageband.

I keep looking and I find a Soundcloud! Wow, with many tracks in it! Some rare tracks I believe. Worth checking out “I’m Over You”, “Circus”, “Violet Intertwine (demo)”, “Washed Away”, “Pacific”, “We Can Take This Boat” and “Pebbles in my Mind (Rough Mix 06/07/2018)”.

That’s about it on the web for Jupiter Sun. I can’t seem to find any more information. I am sure many Bay Area popkids remember them, right?
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Listen
Jupiter Sun – Zookeeper

The Den Baron 7″ is already in the process of being pressed. Hopefully in a few days Baby Lemonade CD will be in the same spot. Pre-order buttons for both new upcoming releases are available on the website. Very very excited about them. At the same time I’m working on new releases!! I believe this will end up being a good year for Cloudberry!

So the week started and I started to look for new music as always… what did I find?

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: why not? once again I’m recommending a new set of songs by the San Francisco pop project. “Shop Windows” is a digital EP that has four jangly tracks, “Anxiety Art (demo)”, “Living on Sunday (electric)”, “Shop Windows (demo)” and “Not Quite Sentimental (demo)”. Really good stuff!

Purplespace: is a lovely dreampop electronic band that hails from Jacksonville, Florida. I stumbled upon their Soundcloud and heard the first song “Heavy on My Chest” and was impressed. Lovely vocals, and top melodies. And I start to wonder, how come I’ve never heard them before. It seems the band has released 6 albums already! The question is then, are they available in physical formats too?

Processions: this San Antonio, Texas, band is formed by Phil Alfonso, Michael Bankston, Orion Abernathy and Justin Mora. Their latest is a superb track called “Dalliance” and it sounds great. I believe this is the first time I feature a San Antonio band… and I wonder, I lived there back back in the day for 8 months and I thought it was a wasteland when it came to indiepop… maybe things are changing!

Texpack: out on Hujan! Records from Bogor in Indonesia was the cassette EP “Courageous” by this band. 6 songs of guitar based music. Fuzzy alternative songs where the song “Kids Out” is the standout (must be because it is the poppiest?).

Turquoise: I started with the song my friend David shared on his Facebook, “Parabole”, a superb dreampop track… so so good. Never heard this band before. They hail from Brussels and it seems the band is compared to bands like Slowdive, Broadcast or even The Chameleons but with French lyrics. The band just has the one self-titled EP available on Bandcamp. The 4 songs on it are pretty pretty.

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Today the letter I. The I of Incredible Force of Junior from the US.

The band started in the mid 1990s when Chris Mumford (guitar, vocals) and Susan Robb (bass, vocals) moved from upstate New York to Seattle. There Steve Lodefink (drums) joined them and thus Incredible Force of Junior was born.

Their first release was a 7″ (SWING 001) on Swingset Records in 1994. Two songs were included in this record, “Jet Propulsion” and “Greatest Thing”, both of them engineered by Dave Dubh Black.This was a self-release.

The next year the band would release a second 7″ this time in the beloved Cher Doll Records (CHER 06). Again the band put out two songs, “Stronger” and “Walter Johnson”. There are two versions of this 7″, one with a color xerox sleeve that was limited, and another with a white, black and blue race car illustration on it. The insert mentions that the songs were recorded mostly live on August 27th in 1994 for the KCMU “live room” at Jack Straw Studios. The lyrics for “Walter Johnson” were written by Jonathan Richman while the song “Stronger” was inspired by a trip to Bellingham, Wa.

That same year the band released yet another 7″. “Blue Cheer”/”Driving in Your Car” came out in Up Records (UP 019) in 1995. Up Records being a local label that started in 1994 by Chris Takino and Rich Jensen. This label would release big names before they were big like Built to Spill or Modest Mouse.

Up was to release the debut album of the band in 1996. Titled “Let the World Fall Apart” (UP 026), the record came out on CD and vinyl LP. Ten songs were recorded at Avast! in spring 1996 by Phil Ek, “Blue Cheer”, “Five-Eight”, “Trailer Home”, “Walrus”, “Sweet and Sour”, “Stronger”, “Kid Champion”, “Playa”, “Spanish Tiger” and “Roswell”.

There were many compilation appearances by the band, from 1994 to the year 2000. Let’s go in chronological order.

Their song “Greatest Thing” was included in the CD comp “Shreds Volume 2 – American Underground” (SH-27) that Shredder Records put out in 1994. This is a cool compilation that included bands like Coloring Book, Cub or Red Number Nine.

In 1995 the band contributed the song “Freaks” to the compilation 7″ “The Airplane” (PCT 002) that Papercut Records put out. On this record they appear next to Belmondo, The Nonpareils and Wimp Factor 14. The song was engineered by Rich Hinklin and mastered by Greg Vaughn. It is said that this was one of the very first songs the band wrote together, dating from 1992.

“Hold Me Now”, a cover of the Thompson Twins original, was included in the 1996 Double Agent Records compilation “Double Agent 1980, A Tribute to the 1980’s” (DA 1980). This song was recorded together by Tullycraft and Incredible Force of Junior.

Up Records would include their song “Trailer Home” in the CD compilation “Up in Orbit!” (UP045) in 1997. That same year “Decay ’em” appears in Cher Doll’s CD comp “Something Cool” (CHER 09).

Then in 1999 the band contributes the track “Generation” to the “We Can Still Be Friends” (MMR 001) CD comp that the fellow Pacific Northwest label Magic Marker put out to start their label.

Lastly their song “Blue Cheer” appears on “Experience Music Project Presents Wild and Wooly – The Northwest Rock Collection” a double CD compilation released by Experience Music Project (EMPCD 001) in 2000. It is a strange compilation this one, as you see the band appear next to Nirvana, Pearl Jam or Mudhoney…. odd at least to me.

Then the band toured and played shows at The Frying Pan and CMJ. It seems after this touring the band split. Chris Mumford decided to focus only on the other band he was part of, the great Tullycraft who have just released a new album by the way. Susan Robb went to play on her own as Milksnake and today she is an artist works in different media like sculpture, photography, video, performance and more.

It also seems that Susan Robb started a project after the split called Goatmax1. Chris Munford recorded a bunch of the songs of Goatmax1 but they were never released.

I look for more information on the web of course. I’m curious about their name. I find that it is actually a mishearing of a NYC double dutch team called Incredible Foursome Junior. Interesting. I also found that they opened for Supechunk at Rock Candy.

The band actually started in Syracuse, NY when Susan was 18 years old and attending Syracuse University as well as Chris. They were originally called Sweet Like a Boy. Before that Susan had been DJing at WCNI, a radio station at Connecticut College.

The band was a staple in the 90s in Seattle, playing gigs with many breakthrough bands of the period like Modest Mouse or Apples in Stereo. I would love to know how much of a following they had. And if there are more songs from those early days when they were called Sweet Like a Boy. Who remembers them?
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Listen
Incredible Force of Junior – Driving in Your Car

A new week. This year is passing very fast. I don’t have much news. I guess the most exciting news last week was that Robert Forster was going to play in New York in September. At 10am, Friday, I was waiting for the tickets to be released. So yes, I am attending that and I look forward to it as I haven’t had the luck yet to see him play. He is touring all over Europe too, so I wonder if you are also planning to see him?

Then of course I’ve looked for new music to share. It has been a bit harder this weekend as I’ve been busy, but 5 finds I can do.

The Five Year Plan: on Bandcamp it says that this album, “Live at the Thekla – 4th October 1985”, a live album, was released in 2015. Maybe it was released digitally then? I can’t recall. The thing is that there is a CD version of the album that I got some weeks ago and I think, as there are still a few copies left of it, that I urge you to get one before there are no more copies. If not, 9 songs from this gig are available to stream on Bandcamp.

Zebra Hunt: the Spanish label Tenorio Cotobade has just released an 8-track album by the Seattle pop group called “Trade Desire”. The jangly guitars are very present, with nods to the Flying Nun stable. If you need to preview this lovely new record you can on Bandcamp, but I think we all would like a copy of this terrific effort.

The Bats: there is a digital EP on the NZ band’s Bandcamp called “Afternoon in Bed”. The title song was actually featured on the “Couchmaster” album but here on this EP there is an edited shorter version of the song alongside 3 outtakes from the recording session of the “Couchmaster” album. So this is very important indeed!

Body Type: this 6 song EP called “Body Type EP” was released last October, so it is not exactly a new find, but it is a new find to me. This four piece from Sydney is an all-girl band. The songs are poppy with cool shimmering guitars. They do have a more recent song available called “Stingray” on what will be their second EP to be released this May, but I think I like these older songs better.

Dreamlake: this Swedish band sounds gorgeous. How come I have never heard about them before? They are formed by Isabella Svärdstam and Niklas Lock. This song, “Someday” is their latest single and it is great! There are a  ton of songs on their Soundcloud so I will spend the rest of the day listening to them.

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Time for letter H. So Hope. Yeah we need hope. Lots of it. But better talk about the band Hope? I think that’s a good idea.

Stuart Troop is listed as a band member on Discogs. Himself a singer-songwriter and musician based in Somerset who had been in bands like the amazing The Visitors (who had a retrospective on Matinée many years ago) and Telstarr (who released a bunch of albums for Dishy). Was Hope just himself?

According to the flexi “Good Old Friends” that came out on Bewildered Records (Wild 1) he was the performer, engineer and even co-producer. On this single sided flexi the band had the title song and also the track “Suffocate”. That flexi came out in 1989.

Three years after, in 1992, the brilliant German label A Turntable Friend put out the band’s last release: a 3-song 7″ (TURN 11). This record, with it’s cool cartoon cover art had “Funny” as the A side and “There’s a Place” and “Singing Vest” on the B side. Again Stuart Troop is the sole performer credited, but a new name appears here, David Arnold as a producer. David Arnold being the guitar player for The Claim, another top band in my book.

During their time the band appeared on two compilations. They contributed the song “There’s A Place (demo version)” to the Anorak Records compilation tape “Teeny Poppers” (Shoubidouwa 01) in 1992 and the song “Feeling Fine” to the tape comp “Charmed by the Sea” that the label Little Charmer put out in 1993. I’m quite familiar with the first tape as it has been mentioned in the blog in the past but not much with the second one. It seems Little Charmer was a fanzine from Greece and this tape that included tracks by The Field Mice, Pale Saints, They Go Boom!! and more, came with the third issue of the zine.

Then two years ago (2017), when A Turntable Friend made a comeback by releasing the compilation “The Test of Time” (TURN50) on double CD and triple LP, Hope was included in it with three songs: “Funny”, “Whining and Whining” and “There’s a Place”.

Looking for more info I stumble upon an article the great Alistair Fitchett wrote for his blog Unpopular back in 2008.  He mentions he noticed Stuart Troop because he produced some Shrag records. And then he talks a bit about Stuart as a vocalist for The Visitors and then that Guy Sirman was the person behind Bewildered and then behind Dishy (that explains one connection).

Sadly that is the only mention for the band I could find. Seems the band got forgotten or something. It is odd of course as all of the songs recorded by Hope are pretty good.

Now, who remembers them? Any other details that I’m missing out? For example, did Hope perform live at all?
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Listen
Hope – Good Old Friends

After so many news on the label’s end I’ll take it easy on this post. It is the turn for the letter G, now that I’m doing an obscure band in alphabetical order. So that’s that. Of course there are new finds to share too.

Candy: “Feel”, the latest by the Melbourne based band sounds great. I can’t say I know much about them, their Facebook page doesn’t seem to be working, but previously they had released a 10 song album which is sold out.

Blushing: the Austin based band has a new digital single called “Dream Merchants”. What to expect? The band continues with their fuzzy dreampop. Worth mentioning too that this song has a video!

Gentle Ivanhoe Death Skulls: just some days ago (or was it weeks?) I was featuring the Stockholm band because they had just released a tape album. Now they have a brand new song “Cedric” which is terrific.

Foliage: one of my favourite bedroom pop bands is the San Bernardino, California, based project Foliage. Behind it is just one man, Manuel Joseph Walker, and he has penned so many lovely songs. His latest “Pattern” is no exception.

Pálidos y Débiles EP: an interesting compilation CD and book released by Discos de Kirlián where many Spanish bands play covers of The Smiths in their own style. The bands included are Vacaciones, Silent James, Selvática, Gente Joven and Lavandera. The book on the other hand is written by Julio César Álvarez and of course it is about The Smiths.

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Girl of My best Friend got their name from an Elvis song. They came from Northampton. I discovered them on Chris and Neil’s Corrupt Postman tape. Their song stood out above all the others because of the haunting quality of the singer’s voice contrasted against the jangly guitars. It was different. It was exciting. I went down to La Cave in Bristol to see them. They performed a really spooky set. I think they were supporting The Bachelor Pad. I offered to cut a record with them. They asked me if I was kidding. They came to Southampton to do a gig with Jane Pow. They performed a really spooky set. Not long after that I lost touch with them. I think they split up. I like to think they were a ghost who came to haunt me for a few months before disappearing.
Paul, The Mayfields bassist, created the cover for the Girl of My Best Friend single.

That’s what Mark Pearson, who ran Ambition Records, told me about Girl of My best Friend when I interviewed him.

The only two releases by the band were on Ambition Records.

The first release happened in 1989. It was a proper 7″ (AMB 003) with two songs, “Warm Around You” on the A side and “Seasons” on the B side.

The second one being a split flexi with Jane Pow that same year, 1989 (AMB 04). This flexi was given for free for any mail order from Ambition Records. The “sleeve” was actually a hand stamped envelope and Girl of My Best Friend appeared second on the single sided flexi with the song “Amelia”. Jane Pow on the other hand contributed “Why I Am Here?”

Their song “Merry Go Round” appears on the “You Can’t Be Loved Forever 2” tape.

Two other songs appear on compilations. “Throwaway Girl” shows up on the classic tape released by Subtle “Throwaway Girl” (Subtle 001). and “Military Days” appears on “Turquoise Days” that was released by Red Roses for Me, both in 1989. So it must have been from one of these tapes that Mark from Ambition heard their music. The band doesn’t appear on the “Corrupt Postman” tape.

I noticed a couple of mentions that the band hailed from Wellingborough in Northampton.

Wellingborough is a large market town in the Wellingborough district in the county of Northamptonshire, England, situated about 18 km from the county town of Northampton. The town is situated on the north side of the River Nene, most of the older town is sited on the flanks of the hills above the river’s current flood plain. Due to frequent flooding by the River Nene, the town was mostly built above the current level of the floodplain. Originally named “Wendelingburgh” (the stronghold of Wændel’s people), the settlement was established in the Saxon period and is mentioned in the Domesday Book under the name of “Wendelburie”. The town was granted a royal market charter in 1201, by King John of England.

The blog Did Not Chart has dedicated a post to them. Here Ben mentions that he wrote to the band in 1988 and the vocalist of the band, Jo, sent him a tape of demos and a live recording back to him. The first demo was called “Girl of My Best Friend” while a second one was called “My Best Friend”. I wonder if these songs were shared in the blog back in 2012 when this was posted. I would love to listen to these songs.

In this same post I notice that Ivan, the bassist, commented. So I have two names, Jo and Ivan. No last names. What were the other band members names?

Not much more information on the web sadly. I really hope I can find out more about them and hopefully listen to their demos and any other songs they must have recorded. What I have heard so far is fantastic! Anyone remember them?

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Listen
Girl of My Best Friend – Warm Around You

So as promised it is time to announce the next 7″ on Cloudberry!

Check out “Bonving“, the A side from the upcoming 7″ by the German band Den Baron! Formed by Swen Keller in the late 90s, Den Baron released many singles on Apricot Records and Shelflife Records at the turn of the century. This is his comeback! The songs on the 7″ builds on the band’s legacy and their catchy 90s elegant and sophisticated indiepop.
The 7” includes this track on the A side and “Done and Gone” and “Ghost Town” on the B side. To be released in the spring of 2019. Artwork by Brazilian illustrator André Ducci.

Exciting!! Right? We are now taking pre-orders on our website.

New finds? I got that too of course.

Miedo: lovely new bedroom pop band from Madrid and “Miedo” is also their first song. I don’t know much about it but I believe one of my friends from Alborotador Gomasio is behind it. Also is it true that they will be playing in New York on August 22nd as Bandcamp mentions? That’d be amazing!

The Blue Dress: a new song by Jesús Sandoval’s jangly project. “The Perfect Morning” is the second digital single the band releases and it is as charming as the first one from a year or so back. We continue to find good indiepop coming from Mexico!

Jeanines: “Either Way” is the song that we can preview of the self-titled album the New York band will be releasing on Slumberland on June 14th. This is one of the albums I look forward the most this year even though I haven’t caught the band live yet here in New York!

Los Largos: this Alicante band was formed last year and have two songs up on Bandcamp! These are “Nosotros y las Sombras” and “Bla, Bla, Bla”. I must say the first track is terrific! Will this be released on physical format?

Kythiria: Sydney/Copenhagen/NYC based Kythira is releasing an album on tape on May 30th. Kythira is actually Alyssa Gengos, and this is the first time I’m listening to her music. Only one of her songs. “Change My Mind” is the song chosen to preview her upcoming album. And I can only say that it sounds lovely.

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Today it is the turn for the letter F. So, I thought why not The Field Trip? I know little about them but I do own some of their 7″s. A good idea I think.

Their first release was a flexi single with the songs “Sunblind” and “Think About Me” that came out along the My Mum’s fanzine and the Whaaat Fanzine. But I can’t find much more information about this release.

The label Watercolour Records was the first label to champion the band by releasing a 7″ in 1991 with the songs “Falling Down Again” on the A side and “Heaven…” and “Can You See What You Speak” on the B side. This was also the first ever release by this label (Watercolour 001) that was to release great bands like The Sweetest Ache and the Snowbirds among others. This 7″ came with 2 photos by the way. One of the band and another of an older guy and his dog (?).

In 1992 the band contributes two songs to a split 7″ that the American label Sympathy for the Record Industry (SFTRI 209) put out. The songs were “Happy” and “Christmas Song”. The other band on this record was Spectrum. “Happy” was recorded at Far Heath Studio in Northampton on the summer of 1992, while “Christmas Song” was recorded at Y.P. Studio in Rugby on the 13th of November 1992.

That same year the band released their second 7″ on Watercolour Records (Watercolour four). This EP had four songs, “One Way Ticket” and “Save All Your Lovin'” on the A side and “Can’t Wait Too Long” and “Come Together” on the B side. Pete Kember, aka. Sonic Boom and a well-known musician and producer from Rugby, contributed organ and guitar while also producing and mixing the songs.

Lastly, in 1993, the band released their last record, “Take to the Streets”. This one was available on CD single and 12″ vinyl and it was released by Watercolour Records (Watercolour six). It is important to mention that the cover art for the record differ in each version. Also the CD single includes three songs while the 12″ just two. The CD single had “Take to the Streets”, “Lebby: Be Someone – Everything – We Are Together – Let This Song (Carry Your Blues Away)” and “Take to the Streets (Radio Edit)”.  The 12″ version didn’t include the last one, the radio edit. It is worthj mentioning that “Take to the Streets” was mixed by Sonic Boom while “Lebby” was mixed by the band and Angus Wallace.  Something cool about this record is that The Jazz Butcher played saxophone and brass on the record.

The only compilation appearance listed dates also from 1993. It was again on Watercolour Records and was a CD comp called “Self Portrait: A Watercolour Compilation” (Watercolour nine). The band contributed the songs “Save All Your Lovin'” and “Take to the Streets”.

It is important to mention who was in the band, right? Well, John Regan played bass, Tony Lambert the drums, tambourine and vocals, Adam Yarnold guitar, piano and tambourine, Bruce Jones guitar and piano and John Dillon vocals and percussion.

Then I have a quick look at other bands the members might have been in. John Regan seems to have been also in The Guthrie Brothers. Tony Lambert has played with The Saw Doctors and Sonic Boom. Bruce Jones played also on Da*, while John Dillon played in many bands like Locust, Olympic Smiles, Pete Davenport and his Crazy Quavers and The Armada Orchestra.

I look all over the place for more information about them and the band. But sadly I don’t seem to find much more about The Field Trip. Were they from Rugby or Northampton? Who remembers them?

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Listen
The Field Trip – Falling Down Again