Continuing then with the Indietracks bands that are unknown to me. We added to the list of bands to see Owls of Now and Common or Garden. Hopefully after these 5 we can add some more?

Kidsmoke: when the guitar started chiming on their latest song, March 2018’s “Passenger” I immediately thought I was going to like them. And that was the case indeed. The band is formed by Lance, James, Sophie & Ash and they hail from Wrexham. This is good stuff. Happy to add a new band to the list of bands to check out!

Current Affairs: Joan, Josh, Sebastian and Andrew form this Glasgow based band who released a 7″ last year on Brogues label Not Unloved! I didn’t notice he had put this record out. Knowing Brogues, who has great taste, it is no surprise he put this out. It is good, maybe not as indiepoppy as I like my music and a bit more punk, post-punky, but it is enjoyable. I would be curious to see them live.

Songs for Walter: I would guess this Manchester band will play on the train or the church stage. I am listening to their latest album “An Endless Summer Daze” and it is a folk record, acoustic and sweet. It is all right, not my indiepop style it is true, but could be enjoyable as there are nice melodies in his music.

Athabaska: I only found a song on Bandcamp by this London band. It is called “Muddy Moons” and it is from this quick review of bands the one that I haven’t liked so far. So moving on.

Junk Whale: now a band from Oxford. I am listening to “The Captain” and I feel this will be the 2nd band I won’t like today. Oh well. The guitar is way too rocky for my taste. And the vocals too.

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I have to say I’m quite ignorant about the band Gameface. It seems it was pretty popular. Or at least there are many websites mentioning it. One of their band members was in No Such Thing back in the late 80s, so that’s what I’ve been mostly stumbling upon through Google. You see, I heard this song “Marching” on Youtube and thought it was pretty good. I started doing my investigation and well, it now makes sense why the high price on Discogs for the 7″ No Such Thing released in 1988. It is because Gameface fans will be interested in it. Right?

From what I read, Gameface was a hardcore, popcore, band. No Such Thing doesn’t sound like that. The two songs on the 7″ are very 80s sounding. “Not a Word”, the A side, is a bit rockier, more new wave. I’ve read of people likening it to U2. Maybe. The B side, “Marching”, is jangly pop tune. Guitars chiming. People say this one has been influenced by R.E.M. Perhaps?

The 7″ was released in 1988 on the Strategically Placed Raindrops (NST-2501) label. It is the only record listed under this label on Discogs. It might be a self-release? We do know that both songs were recorded at South Coast Studios. This recording studio is based in Santa Ana, California. Oh! I did mention this is an American band? Maybe not. I’m writing as I research this time.

We know thanks to the sleeve who the band members were. Scott Joslyn played bass, John Slick the drums, Michael Bains the guitar and Jeff Caudill sang. The A side was written by Caudill and Bains while the B side is just credited to Bains. The B side has addictional vocals by someone called Laurie. We know the sleeve, with that fanzine style, was created by someone called Jeffrey and that the producer for the songs was Jim Dotson. Oh! Jeff Caudill is the famous member that went to be on Gameface (and also onto bands like Ice, Jeff Caudill & the Goodtimes Band, March, Your Favorite Trainwreck).

The sleeve also gives us an address. Costa Mesa in California. Was that where they were based?

Costa Mesa is a city in Orange County, California. Since its incorporation in 1953, the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community of 16,840 to a primarily suburban and edge city with an economy based on retail, commerce, and light manufacturing. The population was 109,960 at the 2010 United States Census.

Orange County. I see many mentions to this area on interviews to Jeff Caudill. On an interview on the website No Echo he mentions that the first band he was involved with was No Such Thing. He also mentions that two of the band members were older than him. Here he also mentions the band that came after No Such Thing, it was called Ourselves and they released a tape demo.

Sadly, as it is the cases of many of these bands that released the one 7″ in the 80s the information is scarce. The great Wilfully Obscure blog has dedicated them a post where we learn that the band was active between 1986 and 1988. That they were named after an Agent Orange song and played everything from Social Distortion to The Plimsouls. Most importantly we know that the band recorded about a dozen original songs but they only released two. I would love to hear to all of those other recordings someday!

Not much information, but perhaps some Californian friends remember them? I’d be curious to find out more. Who remembers them?!

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Listen
No Such Thing – Marching

Well, well, there are many new releases that I want to feature but let’s stick to the Indietracks announcements for now, figure out which are the bands one has to see for sure.  If it was me I would totally see Kero Kero Bonito, The Orielles, Tracyanne & Danny, The Spook School, The Catenary Wires, Holy Now, Seazoo, L I P S, Foundlings, Jetstream Pony and The BV’s. There are a bunch of bands that I don’t know of course and last week I reviewed 5 of them. I thought Jacqui and Geoff was fine. But let’s see who else is worth checking out. Here are another 5 that are totally new to me.

Common or Garden: the latest song by this London band is called “Big Conversations in Bad Hotels (Uh oh)” and dates from last month. Before that the band recorded the song “Bought” and a cover of David Byrne’s “Bullet”. Three songs. That’s all they have so far? Maybe.  In this case the synth-driven “Big Conversations…” song is really nice and poppy. “Bought” is not as great, but still I think this is the first unknown Indietracks band that I’m enjoying. Add it to the list.

Squiggles: this is Niall from The Spook School. So that means that this is probably a good band to check out. I can’t seem to find any recordings though.

Grawl!x: a local band, from Derby, very close to Indietracks grounds. Their latest is an EP called “Minutiae” that was released on January 1st this year. Sadly I don’t think this is the kind of music I enjoy. I don’t see any indiepop in it. Indie sure, but it lacks the pop part.

Solution Hours: a London duo formed by Charlotte on vocals and drums and Andrew on guitar. They released a tape called “Try Again” last year in May. This is not indiepop either, it is more of an emo, post-hardcore, sort of band. It is good for what it is, but if I was to cross the Atlantic for indiepop, you know I won’t be at their stage.

Owls of Now: thought it was cool that their EP was called “Episode Four”. That’s one of my favourite bands. This Glasgow band is quite a nice surprise I think. The four songs of their EP are pretty good! As far as I know the songs were released on tape last August. Now, why not on 7″? I think they are pretty promising. The band is formed by Caz, J. Bell, Kate & Vicky.  I would totally see them if I was to attend Indietracks!

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The 2002 compilation “These are the Songs We Always Wanted to Hear” (FST045) that Firestation Records released introduced me to a few bands. One of them was The Blue Chairs. I thought of course that their song “Ask Me Tomorrow”, which appears in the compilation, was the only song they ever released. I thought it was a shame. It was a wonderful song. Only today I found out that it was actually self-released on a CD with another song accompanying it.

I don’t know much about this CD release. I found a review on the web on a page called I-94 Bar. Just a few lines long. The website looks old. Early days of the web. But here it mentions that there was a CD with this wonderful song, “Ask Me Tomorrow”, and another one called “Show Me Your Love”. The reviewer likens both songs to The Go-Betweens and The Bats. And that is always a good thing, isn’t it?

It seems that The Blue Chairs was a one-man band. The person behind it was Jürgen Felder from Germany. The reviewer does mention that the CD is not easy to obtain, that you could only get it directly from Jürgen. I wonder if Jürgen still has copies. I’d love one.

Only now too I’m putting two and two together. I do own a release by The Blue Chairs. One dating from 2009. It was a mini-CD that was released by Vollwert Records in their Edition59 series (EDI018). It included three songs, “It’s Written”, “A New Day” and “Since I Know You”. I should play this again.

Looking for any information on it on the web I find the 2008 Twee.net poll. Here I find Jürgen’s votes. He voted for himself and his songs as the best of that year. Fair enough.

Last.fm has a biography, written by The Blue Chairs themselves. It adds a new character to the story, Erich Hartig. So it seems Jürgen and Erich started the band in the early 90s as The Chairs, recording in Jürgen’s bedroom. When they noticed some other band had the same name, they changed to The Blue Chairs. They knew each other since school and actually had started playing together in the early 80s!

By the time they started The Blue Chairs they had already recorded a few hundred of demos! And then the information I was looking for, the CD with the two songs was released in 2002 on Casino Records. Perhaps, their own label?

Then it mentions that they got together in 2008 to record their first album. At this time they weren’t living in the same city. Thanks to this line I conclude that it was a duo. Not a full-band, not a one-man band, but a duo. Jürgen and Erich.

And lastly, I find the bounty. A Soundcloud page with their latest recordings. There are two albums! It seems they were only released digitally, though I couldn’t tell. They’ve only been uploaded a month ago. The interesting thing is that both albums are dated 2010! Two albums in a single year?!

“Noizeflash” had thirteen songs, “I Don’t Wanna Be Like You”, “Keep the Fire Burning”, “You Know”, “Take Me”, “It’s Just a Lie”, “Too Late”, “In the Street”, “Luck”, “Turn Around”, “On Your Way Down”, “Escape to Silence”, “The Time I Spent” and “Hang’em High in Tupelo”.

The other album is called “Art Effects” and has 14 songs: “When I Meet You”, “If I Could Hold You”, “This Way has End”, “Another Day Goes By”, “Won’t Let Her Go”, “Thank You”, “No No No”, “Square Dance”, “Dream On”, “I Am the One”, “Everytime”, “You Keep Me Waiting”, “Eighteen Three” and “Polarbeat”.

Well, well, there’s a lot of new music then to listen! But it would be great to know about their 80s and 90s projects. About the other song on their limited CD on Casino, if there is a way to find a copy of it, and if they had been involved in other bands. That and many other questions. For example, where in Germany where they based?! Who knows?!

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Listen
The Blue Chairs – Ask Me Tomorrow

Indietracks announced yesterday the first batch of bands that will be playing the festival! So as usual I will check out all the bands I don’t know. There are many of them this year too. I do have to say that at first glance this time the festival looks better than the previous years as there are some great bands like Tracyanne and Danny, The BV’s, Jetstream Pony, The Catenary Wires, Seazoo, Holy Now, etc. For those not aware of the festival, be sure that it will be happening at the same place as always, at the Midland Railway in Butterley, Derbyshire, between July 26 and the 28th. So let’s start the review!

I’ll start from the end, from the bands that are perhaps smaller towards the headliners if that’s ok.

She’s Got Spies: named after a Super Furry Animals song, the Cardiff band seems to be a one-woman project in reality. From what I understand the band has been going since 2005 which is a long time now. Their debut album though was released in September 2018 and is called “Wedi”. It is in Welsh. The Bandcamp doesn’t have any tracks to preview but I could find songs on Soundcloud. It is all right. What catches my attention is the Welsh language, though I must say I’m not bowled over by the music. These songs are 7 years old though, maybe they got better?

Rosehip Teahouse: another Cardiff band. Two in a row. Are the Welsh taking over Indietracks this year? I’m checking their latest song, “A Million Times”, which is available on Bandcamp. The band is formed by Faye, William and The One and Only Tony. It sounds fragile, and it could work in the church stage. I’m just not convinced by the vocals… they are a bit too much for me.

JC Quick: JC is based in Bristol and he plays some lo-fi punky songs. His latest song is called “Passport”. It seems it was recorded in his bedroom or on his phone (?), it is way too lo-fi. I suppose that’s the whole intention, but I don’t see the charm in it. Maybe well recorded these songs could be better. I suppose for a gig this doesn’t matter unless of course he plays by himself. I think with a band backing him it could be ok. If not, I think I would skip.

Jacqui and Geoff: So Jacqui and Geoff is not them two but also a third member, Stewart Harris. Their latest release dates from 2016, an album “Moon on a Stick”. They are more a folky pop band but I must say that so far this is the best I’ve heard on this little review! The guitars remind me sometimes of the great Zoey van Goey, and that is a good thing. They sound fine. I would see this Cambridge band at Indietracks.

Nim Chimpsky: “It Was Inside Us All Along” is the name of the digital EP the band put out on January last year. It seems that they are releasing their debut album sometime soon. They are based in Coventry  and they play some punky pop that can be a bit all over the place. Like on “No Survivors”, it is fine track, with good melodies but at some point it slow downs and gets acoustic and loses my attention.

But do tell me, which bands are you looking forward the most?

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So I have started compiling tracks and bands for a series of compilations documenting Australian indiepop 1984 to 1994. It is coming along, a bit slow, but coming nonetheless. And one band I’d like to include in them would be the Frontier Scouts who released two records in 1983, a 7″ single and a 12″ EP.

To be honest though, I know very little about them. I remember hearing some of their songs many years ago when in Soulseek a folder called “Future of Leamington Spa” was shared and shared. I don’t know who made that selection of bands. There were many bands that weren’t English in there. So it wouldn’t have fit the bill. Nonetheless it introduced me to new music.

Based in Sydney, Andy Wilson on guitar and vocals, Bradley Allen-Waters on bass and tambourine and Graeme Hutchinson on drums formed the Frontier Scouts. Their first release was the single “When Daddy Blows His Top” with “Out of Your Shell” on the flipside. It was released in 1983 by the fine Au Go Go (ANDA 28) label. Debbie Auchnichie is credited for backing vocals. These songs were recorded between April and May 1983 at Central Recorders Sydney with Steve Marr as engineer. I believe there was a video made by Kriv Stenders who photographed it in Super 8 (who made the Go-Betweens documentary) is credited for film clip as well as Robin Gold, who directed. You can watch this video here! The video was shot in Darlinghurst, Sydney, April 1983. The photos on the record are credited to Tony Hayes and Marjorie McIntosh.

Their next release was “Museum Collection”, an EP released also on Au Go Go (ANDA 34) that had 5 songs. The A side featured “Soul too Sold” and “A Fact Unknown; Even to You” while the B side had “Under the Wings Of”, “You Should Be Shot” and “Like in Salem”. These songs were recorded at M Squared Studio between November and December of 1983. David McComb from the Triffids played feedback effects on “A Fact Unknown”.

There are two compilation appearances. The first dates from 1984 on tape called “Distant Violins Number 12” that was released by Distant Violins (DV CASS 1). The band contributed the song “Belmondo”. On this same comp we see other great bands like Tiny Town, The Particles or These Future Kings.

Then in 1999, Chapter Music put together “Amateurism” (CH28), a compilation of three bands Andrew Wilson had been involved with. These bands were Four Gods, Frontier Scouts and Andrew Wilson and Associates. There are 9 songs included here by Frontier Scouts, “When Daddy Blows his Top”, “Out of Your Shell”, “Soul too Sold”, “A Fact Unknown”, “Under the Wings of”, “You Should be Shot”, “LIke in Salem”, “Good Things” and “Belmondo (Live)”.

I could find quite a lot of information about Andrew Wilson. He actually started his musical career in Brisbane with the Four Gods. They were friends with The Go-Betweens and played many gigs together. Even Lindy and Grant played in the 7″ that the Four Gods put out on the Able Label.

And that’s all I could find. Would be great to do an interview with Andrew Wilson, or the other members too, I’m sure they have lots of stories and anecdotes to share. Anyone remembers them?

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Listen
Frontier Scouts – Out of Your Shell

Hope all is good. Today is a bit quiet for me but I do have a few great finds to share.

Doggy: the wonderful French band is back with a new album on the top Spanish label Kocliko Records! Wow! It will be out on March 8th and it will be titled “Radio TP”. On Soundcloud there are 9 songs to enjoy on repeat because they are really really good. We need more Doggy in this world!

The BV’s: next Thursday we will see the release of the wonderful new album by our friends Josh and Fred. Last post I recommended their new video for “Charlie, I Don’t Know Who You Are!” and today I will tell you to check their Bandcamp, because they have another song there that will be included in the album, “Porth Sawsen”. And that is more than enough for me to tell you to head there.

Astragal: just a week ago I was recommending the digital single “Moderne Luxury’ by the Houston, Texas, band. Well today I noticed that the band has released a four track EP on 7”, so my wishes have come true! The A side has the song “Bloomer” while the B side is their older first EP. Interesting choices!! On their Bandcamp, “Bloomer” is part of their second EP which includes three other songs. This second EP will be released in tape pretty soon.

Hobby Club: I really like this band. I think it is superb. I believe they will be releasing a record soon. Not sure which label but from what I know a local one, meaning English. That’s what they told me when I got in touch to express how much I liked their sound. Now they have a new song called “Bedroom” which once again takes cues from the heyday of indiepop, sounding pretty c86 to me.

Apple Orchard: lastly there is this collection of covers, unreleased tracks and demos by the wonderful California by way of the Philippines band. Ryan and Dale crafted pretty bedroom pop songs during the noughties and here are 10 songs that are rare and all but document and show what Apple Orchard were at the time. Top stuff.

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A bunch of young people with a shared love of great pop music who coalesced around singer and songwriter Andy Fitzpatrick, The Dadas came along to brighten up the lives of Dubliners in the early 90’s.
Leaving behind a classic double A-side 12″ single, “Skyscrapers”/”Mercy, Mercy” on the Mickey Rourke’s Fridge label, and memories of some stunning live shows The Dadas parted company in 1993.
Band members: Andy Fitzpatrick (vocals & guitar), Gráinne Tiernan (backing vocals), Maelíosa Tiernan (backing vocals), Brian O’Connor (keyboards), Dan Stuttard (bass), Ciarán Lally (drums).
Recorded at Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin, January/February 1992. Engineered and mixed by Aidan McGovern, Ciarán Byrne and Willie Mannion at Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin, March 1992. Produced by The Dadas, Aidan McGovern and Ciarán Byrne.

That’s the information that appears on the Leamington Spa compilation that was included within the “Still Mad at Me?” boxset that celebrated the 15 years of Firestation Records from Berlin, Germany (FST 100). The song that The Dadas contributed to it was “Mercy Mercy”, one of the B sides of their one and only release.

This release was a 12″ single that was released by the fantastic Mickey Rourke’s Fridge (MRF 006). If you remember there’s an interview with Seán from the label on the blog. I do think though that the version that was included in the Firestation comp might be different as in the booklet it mentions that it was recorded at Windmill Lane Studios. On Discogs, the info for the 12″ says that the songs were recorded at Rockgarden Dublin in June 23rd 1992. The songs being of course “Skyscrapers (Don’t Go Jumping From)” on the A side and “Mercy Mercy” and “Maybe” on the B side.

I believe this single was also released on tape. And even a better find is that there is a video for “Skyscrapers” which you can check on Youtube! This video was produced by the band, Ciarán Byrne and Aidan McGovern. It was made on location at Windmill Lane Recording Studios on March 4th 1992.

Aside from the Firestation boxset there is another compilation appearance for the band. They contributed the song “Dandruff” to the tape compilation “My Favourite Things” (MRF 11) that was put out in 1993 by Mickey Rourke’s Fridge.

I keep looking for more information about them. The great resource that is the blog Fanning Sessions deliver again. They have a session available to stream with the songs “Dandruff”, “Early Days”, “Good to be Happy” and “Mercy Mercy”.  Here there’s a mention about Andy Fitzpatrick involvement as a long-standing member of The Harvest Ministers. He also has a solo career releasing several albums and EPs, his most recent being “Antoinette Plaza” from 2017. He now lives in New York City. Wow. I could have crossed paths with him, maybe being the same subway car. Who knows.

There is a cool article on the Blackpool Sentinel about The Rock Garden venue in Dublin. There is a whole paragraph about The Dadas which I copy here:
I had a real soft spot for The Dadas, a Northside combo led by Andy Fitzpatrick, who later went on to buttress William Merriman’s excellent Harvest Ministers ;- I honestly thought that The Dadas’ honey-coated canon had a real sparkle to it. After they attracted less than a score of paying punters into what could often be an unforgiving old cavern, Fursty took off on one in the offices upstairs. Like Brian Blessed in leather biker’s keks, he upped the ante and the volume ;- ‘The Dodos [sic]’, he drawled, ‘will never be booked here again’. An arrangement that, I suspect, suited the band as much as it suited the venue.

Not much more on the web about them. I’m looking for a copy of the record too of course. No luck as of yet. Also if there are more songs that they recorded would be great to know. Everything I’ve heard sounded great. Would love to know more about this terrific Irish band. Anyone remember them?

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Listen
The Dadas – Skyscrapers (Don’t Go Jumping From)

Let’s start the week! On Friday I got to see the New Zealand band The Beths in Brooklyn, at the Williamsburg Music Hall and it was great! There were no new records to buy, just the album, but I already got that one. If you haven’t got a copy yet I urge you to get it, it was definitely one of my favourite from last year. I did buy a cool t-shirt and took a photo with Elizabeth, the vocalist of the band while everyone was checking out one of the opening bands. It was quite a surprise to see that the gig was sold out. I didn’t know the band was that famous or well-known. The crowd as usual was very different, I didn’t see any friendly faces of other indiepop gigs. This is something that surprises me about NYC, the crowd is always different even if it is a small genre like indiepop. The gig lasted around an hour, from 10pm to roughly 11. I couldn’t get into the main floor as it was packed and was impossible to move there so went to the mezzanine this time where I got a good view of the band. Sadly this meant that I wasn’t going to be able to get a setlist. That was a bummer. But it was better than not seeing the band and being uncomfortable. The band was great of course. They played their hits and even a song from their earlier 2017 EP. They started with maybe my favourite of theirs, “Whatever”, and ended the gig with an encore of two songs. I was pretty happy to have seen a NZ band in NYC, it is not that common I must say. Indiepop gigs are not happening too often here, though today The Monochrome Set is playing but I think I will be missing it. It is tough on a Monday. Next week though I will go see Roxanne’s post Veronica Falls band Patience, which should be good too!

Now, what’s new in indiepop world?

The BV’s: the German/English band released our last 7″ so far and they’ve kept busy. They are releasing a new album on the always perfect Kleine Untergrund label from Augsburg, Germany. The album will be called “Cartography” and it will be out on March 14th. To celebrate this the band have unveiled a superb video for the song “Charlie, I don’t Know Who You Are!”. I have already been able to listen to the album and believe me it is a serious contender for best of 2019!

The Vegetablets: the lovely pop duo formed by Koichi and Miki (who I’ve interviewed in the past about their previous projects, Chain Lettery and Bitter Cherry Jam), are back with a lovely new album called “3”.  It is available on CD and it includes 8 songs. If you want an extra souvenir the band is also selling a lovely handmade “vege bear” keychain which is really cute!

The Catherines: now the Hamburg duo, a band that appears time and time again on the blog because of their ability to create top songs all the time, are releasing an album on Mondo Canapé Records. Many of the songs are already familiar of course, but it is a good chance to get a copy on CD and tape. 8 tracks appear on this self-titled album.

Heartlings: on the Depok, Indonesia, based label Don’t Fade Away Records there are lots of treats. The latest are two songs by the band Heartlings that is formed by Andi, Amy, Christo and Yanu. The songs on this digital single are “A Hundred Wishes” and “Summer Breeze” and they are two breezy tracks!

Elenin: more on this label and from a band we’ve mentioned in the past too, Elenin. Now it is just the one song, “Turtleneck”, but as it is so pretty I had to recommend it of course. Check it out.

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Edward Montgomery “Monty” Clift (October 17, 1920 – July 23, 1966) was an American actor. His New York Times obituary noted his portrayal of “moody, sensitive young men”. He is best remembered for roles in Red River (1948), The Heiress (1949), A Place in the Sun (1951), Alfred Hitchcock’s I Confess (1953), From Here to Eternity (1953), The Young Lions (1958), Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), and The Misfits (1961). He received four Academy Award nominations during his career: three for Best Actor and one for Best Supporting Actor.

Along with Marlon Brando and James Dean, Clift was one of the original method actors in Hollywood; he was one of the first actors to be invited to study in the Actors Studio with Lee Strasberg and Elia Kazan. He also executed a rare move by not signing a contract after arriving in Hollywood, only doing so after his first two films were a success. This was described as “a power differential that would go on to structure the star-studio relationship for the next 40 years”.

Don’t confuse The Montgomery Clifts with another band with the same name from Australia, from the noughties. Nope. These Montgomery Clifts I like hail from England, from the late 80s and early 90s.

They were formed in 1986 by Andy Bevan (vocals, guitar), Jeremy Purches (guitar), Myles “Bill” Crampton (bass), Dave Burbidge (drums) and Bill Bell (mandolin, fiddle, percussion, harmonica & backing vocals). They debuted in Bristol, played an open air free festival in Cornwall, and ended up in London via Hull. Bill Bell was actually part of the Blue Aeroplanes before joining The Montgomery Clifts. They recorded a demo tape and got airplay on Capitol Radio and then Native Records snatched them. With this label they released their album “Deadwood Chronicles”, which was recorded in London with Creation in-house producer Ian Shaw and was released in 1990. That’s more or less the biography available for them on Last.fm.

Discogs gives me a bit more information. Two demo tapes are listed which is great. The first one is a 3 track tape that included the songs “Next World”, “Lovesville U.S.A.” and “Lakeside (1970)”. These songs were recorded at Granny’s Recording Studio in Fulham, London. The black and white photocopy sleeve gives us an address for the band in Bristol.

The second tape included two songs, “Moth to Your Flame” and “Cradle to the Grave”. Not much more information on this one.

For the album we do know that it was called “Deadwood Chronicles” and was released by Native (NTVLP 58) and included 10 songs. 5 on each side. The A had “Next World”, “Lovesville USA”, “Her Summers”, “The Fountain” and “Jessica Daydream”. The B side on the other hand had “Judas Introduce Yourself”, “Spine”, “Lakeside (1970)”, “Tumbleweed Girl” and “Swansong”.

Two compilation appearances are listed. Their song “Next World” was included on “Guitar and Drums” a compilation released by Native Records in 1991 on CD and LP. A superb compilation this one that included the likes of The Darling Buds, Treebound Story, The Kennedy Pill and more. The other compilation listed is a US CD from 2005 called “Holiday Heart, A Hospice Awareness & Benefit Project”. I’m 99% sure that this is a different Montgomery Clifts on this comp.

I look for more information. I find out that Bill, who had been in The Blue Aeroplanes, was also later on in a bluegrass-tinged band called Angel Band. Another mention I see is that the band Nautical William used to play gigs with The Montgomery Clifts.

Dave Burbidge played drums for Hazel Winter’s second album “Death Row Bride”. He also drummed for the album “Come Around” by Shaun McCrindle. I believe that lately he has been involved in the country influenced band The Leylines.

Can’t find any information on the rest of the members though. It may or may not be that Jeremy Purches passed away though. I hope he hasn’t there is a photo of a guitar player with the same name on a “remembering” site.

I am sure my Bristol friends remember them. Their album sounds great so I’m going to try to order myself a copy in the next few days. All I have listened by them sounds great. I wonder if any one remembers them and can give me a few more details! Would definitely want to find out more about this top sounding indiepop band!

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Listen
The Montgomery Clifts – Next World

Please don’t forget that on March 9th, if you are in Stockholm, you must attend Bongo Bar in Jarlsgatan 37, at 9pm. Why? Because one of our favourite bands from the city, one that we were lucky to put out a 7″, Salt Lake Alley, will be playing a gig!! And that is not common. I wish I could be there. So please don’t miss it. More information here.

And today I will be going to see the brilliant New Zealand band The Beths!! I’ll tell you on Monday how it went!

The Artisans: the jangly band that our friend Kevin McGrother is part these days is releasing their debut album. And what can I tell you? It shimmers and shimmers. It is one not to be missed. There are 12 songs which I’ve been lucky to listen so far, including a cover of “A Week of Wednesdays” which was released on Cloudberry years ago by Kevin. The self-titled album is going to be out on April 8th and on Soundcloud you are able to check two of the songs that will be included “Two Hits, Three Misses” and “A Week of Wednesdays”. I believe we already have a contender for best indiepop album of the year here.

Hatchie: “Without a Blush” is the latest from Hatchie who surprised all of us with a wonderful EP not too long ago. This song has a video as you can see and it will be included in the debut album that is to be released on June 21st on Double Double Whammy and Heavenly Recordings.

Melenas: the most amazing Melenas have a new single out. To promote it they’ve made a video that is super cool. The song is called “Ya No Me Importa” and I’m hooked. I just ordered a copy myself of the record which is on pre-order at Snap! Clap! Club Records. This is a total winner! Definitely one of the best bands right now! So lucky to have seen them last year in Madrid. Living this side of the Atlantic is not ideal I must say!

Robert Forster: another video! now it is the video for the song “Inferno (Brisbane in Summer)” by the ex-Go-Betweens! This song is part of the new album “Inferno” which was just released on March 1st on Tapete Records. It sounds great! I really hope Robert comes to play in NYC!

Stars in Coma: our friend André has just unveiled a new video to promote his upcoming album “Every Evening, Sunset Crooks its Thumb Across the River”. The promo video is for the song “Destroying the Love” and we can see his new home, Lisbon, on the video. The album will be out on March 29th.

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Time again to fly to Japan, one of the countries that has produced lots of indiepop but for some reason many of their bands still remain unknown to the rest of the indiepopworld.

I keep exploring these Bluebadge Label compilations that were released in the early 2000s. That was a great label. It should be famous. Maybe it is in Japan. The quality of the bands they put out was great, and the bands they picked for the compilations too. I was revisiting the 3rd compilation they did, “Guitar Pop Crazy! (Bluebadge Compilation Vol. 3)” (BBCD-009) and I found out about a lovely jangly band called Showcase. I said to myself, I need to know more!

This compilation was released in 2005 on CD and included a bunch of great bands of course. Among them I see Pitcher56, Margarets Hope* and Cyclon 86 among others. Showcase appears with the second song, the aforementioned “Hello”. There are some credits for it, the lyrics and music were written by Ikunori Nakaya. Was it a one-man band perhaps?

Two years later they appear on another compilation. The 2007 CD comp “Boys (& Girls) Wonder Shibuya-K Indie-Pop Collection Vol. 2” that was released by TKO New Music Corporation (TKOK-0002) included the band’s song “Fireman”. I haven’t listened to this song yet, so I’m hoping someone can hook me up. Other bands that you might know thanks to the blog that appear on this CD are Pastelshot, Flannel, Cherry Letter and Trans Alphabet.

There is not other information about the band sadly. I believe though that I have found some information about Ikunori. It seems he is based in Tokyo and works in the information technology and services industry.

I am not sure how to continue this search. “Hello” and its guitars are fantastic. I definitely want to hear more by this band. I am hoping they had more recordings. But I probably will need some Japanese indiepop fans to help me on this one. Anyone remember the band Showcase?

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Showcase – Hello

Well, well, here is a new post.

Univers: our Barcelona friends are back with a release on the Modern Obscure Music label. The A side comes with “Joventuts Unides” and “L’Home i L’Epasa” and the B side comes with a bunch of remixes. I like of course the guitar based songs the best, you know me, not a fan of remixes. But so happy to hear these songs, do check “L’Home i L’Espasa” on Youtube which I’m linking here. Great track!

No Fucks: Discos de Kirlian is releasing a 10″ vinyl record by the wonderful Spanish band No Fucks. 10 short songs, including the superb “Punkipop”, fit perfectly in the record. Formed by Elisa, Stephen and Dani or Dru on bass, the Asturian band looks to be in good form. Now, if I’m lucky when I visit Asturias in the summer, will I get the chance to see them live?

Andy Pawlak: a few days ago the “Lost Demos 1985-1986” album was released by Firestation Records. I noticed I didn’t recommend anyone yet to check the song “Squeeky Clean” which is available on the label’s Bandcamp. I think  it is a good idea to do so and order the record too of course!

Carnival: another new release on Firestation will be that of this Liverpool band on 12″ vinyl. Titled “From Strawberry Fields to the Pyramid Club (With Love)”, the record includes 5 songs. I wasn’t aware of this band before but it seems it was around the early 80s. The story goes that Ian Fradgley from the band ordered a copy of the Candy Opera album that Firestation released and the label was sure to ask if a release could be done for Carnival!

The Linger Effect: I must say that this is fhe first time I listen to this St John’s, Canada, band. But it does say that 2019 marks 20 years since the first release of the band. Wow. To celebrate this landmark Kent Burt, who is behind the band, has re-recorded five favourites from the cassette years (1999-2002).

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I don’t have the complete catalog for the US label Candy Floss. I mean, in my collection. Though I must say I’m not sure if the label only released 17 records. Maybe there was more? Would be great to be in touch with Mike Toy who ran the label back then. I do have a CD and some 7″s. The first ever release on the label, the Delightful Little Nothings 7″ has always been a favourite for example. Or the Poastal 7″. That one is fantastic as well. I should dedicate some posts to the bands on the San Francisco 90s label, as they are not that well known (unless you are The Brian Jonestown Massacre that is). Maybe I can do that in the next months.

About The Cherry Smash I know very little. I know they put out one 7″ on the label though there is no date listed. A safe guess would be sometime between 1995 and 1996. It had the catalog number of CF-010 and it had three songs in it. The A side was “Nowhere Generation” while on the B side we find “Californya Burn Trip [You Made Me Hate the Beach Boys]” and “Airport Girl”. The first one has a sample from the Beach Boys. They must have paid some good money to do that (?)!

The 7″ EP was titled “West Coast Rip-Off”. I wonder why this name. The sleeve shows an illustration of three silhouettes, three guys. Maybe there were three people in the band?

Three compilations are listed. The first dating from 1997 on the Mint Sound (MSRCD4) label, a compilation CD called “Attack of the Terrible Boots” where the band contributes the track “Lousy California Feeling”.  The next year, 1998, they contribute a song to a CD compilation on Candy Floss (CF-017) called “Pure Spun Sugar”. The song was “Split Screen”. I have actually written a bit about this compilation in the past when I wrote about the band The Sleazy Beats who also appear in it.

Lastly, and oddly, in 2009 their song “Nowhere Generation” was included in a Captured Tracks compilation called “Captured Tracks Mix CD”. I don’t understand how the song ended up there, and you know my aversion to this label, but that’s what happened.

According to the superb Wilfully Obscure blog, the guy behind The Cherry Smash was singer/guitarist/songwriter Blake Miller who was later in the band Moving Units. With this band he has released a few albums in the noughties. He has also been in other bands like Lies in Disguise, Spectacle, Trade Secrets and Weird Science. From what I understand Cherry Smash changed names to Spectacle, and under this name they released the album “Glow in the dark Soul” on Supreme Recordings that was part of Island Records. I guess another story of an indie band signing to a major and not succeeding.

Spectacle does have a Wikipedia entry and lists three more members Alex Crain, Brad Laner (ex-Medicine) and Brent Rademaker (later of Further and Beachwood Sparks). So two of them were in The Cherry Smash. Who then?

Not much more information about them on the web as usual. So now I will have to trust in your memories, if any of you remember them. Maybe you saw them live? Maybe you know of more songs? What happened with them? Why did they change names? Had they been in other bands previously? Any information will be appreciated!

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The Cherry Smash – Nowhere Generation

Last week I got the news that Beatrice Colin from the amazing April Showers passed away. Most of us knew her band through the classic indiepop song “Abandon Ship” and we have played it time and time again. I was lucky to be in touch with her many years ago. I got to interview her for the blog and ask her many questions as her band was a mystery to me. I never understood why they didn’t release more records. Of course later in life Beatrice was a writer and a successful one at that. The Scotland Herald wrote an obituary which I say everyone should read to discover one of the most interesting voices in independent pop. Rest in peace Beatrice.

The Penelopes: a few days ago I interviewed The Penelopes. For our Japanese fans I have to say that there is now a Japanese version of the interview available here: part 1 and part 2.

The Groovy Cellar: the classic German band will be releasing a new album this year on Firestation Records called “Soulmates”. To promote it they have put together a promo film for the title song. It is really groovy of course!

Lost Tapes: our friends from Catalonia, Spain, who released with us a great EP some years ago are back with a new record, a new 7″ on Shelflife and Kocliko, a new tape on Shiny Happy Records, and four wonderful songs on it. This is not to be missed. Do check the wonderful and perfect pop of “The Bill”, “Six by Six”, “Like a Waltz” and “Letter Never Sent”.\

Homecomings: the new video for the song “Hull Down” was released back in November but I am only finding about it today! Wow! I love this Japanese band so much. This song is included in the album “Whale Living” which I need to find myself a copy as I believe it has already been released by Felicity Cap Records.

Joseiknacio: I suppose a José Ignacio is behind this EP called “Floración” that is being released digitally by Gemelo Parásito Records from Chile. There are four bedroom pop songs that are bright and jangly, reminding me of a lo-fi Los Waldners.

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It was 1991 when The Dakota Plains self-released a 7″ with two songs. On the A side they had “She Don’t Understand Me Like You” and on the B side they included “What You’re Doin to Me”. They had a cool artwork for the sleeve, with lots of instruments and a nice logo for the band, all printed in black and white. As they were self-releasing the record they catalogued the record as DAK 001, Dakota 001.

They are not listed to have appeared in any compilations. As far as I know these were the only two songs they released. We do know a few other details of the band thanks to the back of the sleeve and these are important ones. For example we know the band hailed from Newcastle in England. That these two songs were recorded in that same city at Lynx Studio. And also we know the band members for this kind of country-tinged indiepop band.

Charlie Barlow – lead vocals, lead guitar, acoustic guitar
Jimmy Cousins – drums, percussion, backing vocals
Jevvy Moroney – bass, backing vocals
Colin Stephenson – lead vocals, guitar, mandolin, banjo, keyboards

Also we know that the A side is credited to Colin Stephenson while the B side to Charlie Barlow.

Thanks to this information I end up stumbling on a great discovery. There was a second 7″ by the band. It had the song “7 Words” on the A side and “Long Way From Home” on the B side. I need more information about this though! It seems there are barely any mentions about this single in the whole world wide web!

I think I stumbled upon the Twitter account of the drummer but it doesn’t look as if he has logged in since early 2017. He seems to still be in Newcastle. I can’t track the other band members though. I wonder why are their records so obscure and if there were more. I had no clue whatsoever that there was a 2nd single!

I know I have a few readers from the Newcastle area so I’m hoping someone remembers them and can tell me a bit more about them!

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

I feel next week I’ll be able to share some news on future releases. It is taking a long time to be able to get these releases together, but they are coming soon.

As you know I’m also working on an Australian compilation and it is not as easy as I thought it’d be. I have contacted many bands and they seem interested, but it is taking time to get all the assets together. I just need to be patient I suppose. I hope this first volume gets released this year.

Anyhow, finds. New finds. Here they are:

Battery Point: one of the best bands these days have a new song on their Bandcamp titled “Desire”. The Chula Vista, California, band formed by Erick, Sergio, Jessica, Ray, Peter, Alex and Oscar, continue creating haunting indiepop. I hope to see a record released on physical format someday!

Lavender Blush: is a San Francisco bedroom noisepop band who have a tape called “Beauty is What Beauty Does To You” scheduled to be released on April 15th though it seems it will be sold out pretty soon through pre-orders. These are tapes that are handmade by the band. It seems later on a label called Sensitive wil re-release it. There are 6 songs on this tape and just one, “Fire”, is available to stream.

Leathers: Shannon Hemett is behind this interesting post-punk poppy sounding band from Vancouver, Canada. My introduction to her music is through her latest song “Phantom Heart” which sounds great! Dark but luminous at the same time. I look forward to more songs by her for sure.

Astragal: another favourite band is this Houston ensemble. I really would like to see a record of theirs. Do they have one? I wouldn’t mind a 7″. “Moderne Luxury” is their latest effort, a galloping single of guitars that sound great. Maybe the vocals are a bit low in the mix to me, but who cares, it  is a pretty strong track!

Cápsula del tiempo: is the name of the compilation the Spanish label Jabalina Records will release as a celebration of their 25th anniversary! This amazing compilation that includes great bands like Iluminados, Ama, Apenino, Portonovo or Dar Ful Ful among others will be released this March 15 on vinyl LP. Essential!

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There’s been more than a few good releases on Native Records. Some of them are quite obscure for some reason. Others aren’t, like The Darling Buds for example. But let’s say The Kennedy Pill, not much is known about them, right? But we can have a look of course in the depths of the web, see if there’s any worthy information.

Native Records was a small British indie label that was based in Sheffield. It was founded by Kevin Donoghue in 1985 after leaving RCA. They released all sorts of music, all sorts of genres. Happily there were some fine indiepop moments like Treebound Story or Raintree County. And The Kennedy Pill of course, who released a 12″ in 1990.

The “Beside the Sea” 12 (12NTV 57) included three songs. The A side had “Beside the Sea” and “All the Way Down” while the B side had “More than You Ever Know”. Aside from that Discogs only gives us two compilation appearances in 1991. Little really.

The band appeared then on the “Guitars and Drums” comp that was released on CD and vinyl on Native Records (NATVCD 55 / NATVLP 55). The band contributed their B side “More Than You’ll Ever Know”.

The other comp was “Knowing Where it all Leeds” that was released on CD and vinyl (BLAG) by Stolen Sounds. The band contributed the baggy song “Fizz Pop”. It looks like this compilation only featured bands from Leeds, as we see The Wedding Present, Pale Saints, Greenhouse, Bridewell Taxis and more. Safe to assume that The Kennedy Pill hailed from that city then? The

Wikipedia confirms this on an article about the band The Flying Hendersons. Here it mentions taht Steve Whitfield, their bassist, and Julian Coultas, guitar, went to join The Kennedy Pill in 1989.

Looking through the archive of the blog Madchester Rave On there is a post about The Kennedy Pill. In it it is mentioned that the band used to have a Myspace page and on it they had 5 unreleased tracks that I hope to listen one day. They were “Wednesday”, “Sian”, “Please Don’t Go”, “Timothy Leary” and “Me Me You”.

Thanks to this blog, as I dig deeper through their archives, I see a comment by a fellow Flying Hendersons called Rob. He mentions that the final lineup of the band was Pete, Jules, Mike, Aggi and Phil and that they started as a four piece called Wickerman.

Looking through the web I find out that THe Kennedy Pill supported the great band Bob on January 23rd of 1991 at The Duchess in Leeds. On November 5th 1988 and January 24th 1989 they played at the University of Leeds according to this superb PDF that I found.

Then a great find, a Twitter account. An account that mentions that the band supported The Stone Roses. A Pete Gibson appears many times. It must be the Pete that was mentioned in the blog comment. Going through the few tweets I noticed that the band had made red t-shirts with the band logo back in the day.

Not much more. Don’t know if the members went to play in other bands. How did Wickerman sound like? What about those unreleased tracks? Is there a chance for me to listen to them? Why just the one release? Who else did they support? Would be great to find out more about them! Anyone remembers them?

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The Kennedy Pill – Beside the Sea

Here we are again. With little news. Things are not moving as fast as I’d like with the releases I have planned. I guess I have to be patient? Any tips to be patient?

In the meantime I’ve selected new 5 finds from around the net. It’s always nice to hear new music, isn’t it?

Tullycraft: “Your Boyfriend Lost His Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight?” is a long title for a song name but it is a great song of course. This is the latest video the Seattle band has put out to promote their new album “The Railway Prince Hotel” which is now available!

Tradewinds Sailing Club: I’ve only stumbled upon these recordings made by Dale Marquez from Apple Orchard and Connie Francis Marquez. Three fragile songs recorded in 2013 as an EP titled “Offshore” which I highly recommend.

Perfect Strangers: this band from Gainesville, Florida, is formed by Hector Laguna, Mario Lopez, Myles Matheny and Jason Shusterman. They have just put out on Bandcamp 7 songs, a mini-album titled “Unlikely Partners” that sound pretty interesting. To my surprise these songs were recorded in Miami where I used to live and there was barely an indiepop fan…

The Jasmine Minks: the legendary Scottish band is back with a new 7″ on the A Turntable Records!! The 7″ will include two songs, “Step by Step” and “Gravity”. The first is now streaming on Bandcamp and sounds great, and it is no surprise if you mix in the band and Pat Collier to produce these tracks!

Tom Boyle: the last find today is the new EP by the Getxo, Spain, band titled “Mar de Fondo”. Three songs that are dreamy, melancholic and introspective at the same time. Gloria, Miguel, Oskar and Xabier, have made a very lovely record here which I hope gets a physical release. My favourite song out of the three? I think “Supernova II”.

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The “C89” three CD box set included The Magnificent Lkage. This song too, “Passion”. It is a great sounding band and it is no surprise that Cherry Red was able to track them down (or they just used their song with no permission?). I will do my post too, see if I can get in touch and also try to find more about them. See if I can tell the story of the band one day through an interview. For sure I’ll be able to tell some facts now, thanks to the info available on the web. And hopefully not make really stupid mistakes like saying that Rorschach named themselves after a Marvel comic. Come on. How lazy is that?

We know they hailed from Birmingham and were formed by:
Dean O’Loughlin – vocals and guitar
Andrew Powell – guitar and vocals
Hendricks – drums and vocals
John Morrison – bass

And they had a few releases. The first dates from 1989 and it is on this 12″ maxi single that “Passion” was the A side. Also on the A side was the superb “A Kind of Love Song” and on the B side there was “One Day the Butterfly”. It was released by Gi Records (GI 12-2). Don’t know much about this label but they released a band called Reform Club as well. The label was based in Oxon.

On this record Roberto Cimarosti played keyboards. Cimarosti had been in bands like Electribe 101, Groove Corporation or Overproof Sound System.

“Passion” was recorded at Rich Bitch Studios in January 1989 and was produced by Mark Bruce and the band. Bruce also engineered the song. “A Kind of Love Song” and “One Day the Butterfly” were recorded at The Old Smithy in Worcester in march 1988. These songs were produced by Brian Nordhoff and Joe Steven. They were engineered by Les Fleming and Lord Lucan.

After this release the band signed to a much bigger label, One Little Indian. It seems too that they dropped “The Magnificent” and just kept the Lkage as their name. On this label, in 1991, they released the single “Passion 91” (51 TP) on vinyl and CD. The songs were once again recorded at Rich Bitch Studios in Birmingham and they made four this time around, “Passion 91”, “My Head’s On Fire”, “Sway” and “Another Story from Raintown”. The engineer was Mark Bruce. Both CD and vinyl has the same running order of the songs, they don’t seem to have much difference. Two songs were on the A side and two on the B side.

“My Head’s On Fire” was their second single on One Little Indian (75 TP). Released in 1993 also on both CD and vinyl. Four songs, “My Head’s On Fire”, “Patsy”, “Fear of Falling” and “Another Story from Raintown”. Mark Bruce produced “Another Story from Raintown”, while the renowned Mitch Easter produced “My Head’s On Fire” and “Fear of Falling”. Same running order here too for both versions. The first two songs on the A side, the other two on the B side.

Lastly in 1993 they released an album. It was called “Brazilliant” (what was their connection with Brazil?) and it included 12 songs. It was released by One Little Indian (TPLP 26) and had 12 songs. The vinyl version had “Showtime”, “Dumb Dumb”, “Freed by your Love Cascade”, “Half of Everything”, “My Head’s On Fire” and “Candlesoap”. The B side had “One Day the Butterfly”, “The Loudest Silence”, “No Lullaby”, “She Is”, “Space Dog” and “The Story so Far”. The album was also licensed to the US. The A&M label released the album as a CD that same year.

In 1991 they appeared with the song “Another Story from Raintown” on a CD compilation called “Volume One” that was released by Volume (V1CD). it looks like a mixed bag of bands on it. We find New Order, The Popguns, Kitchens of Distinction, The Shamen and more.

The American label Hits would have them with the song “My Head’s on Fire” on their “It’s a Sunshine Day/Aprils Fools 1993” (HT 013) CD comp in 1993. That same year on a tape released by One Little Indian called “Outlook & Carlsberg Present: The One Little Indian Mix” (OUTMIX 2) they contributed the song “Space Dog”. This tape came alongside the Outlook magazine.

And as mentioned before they appeared on the “C89” boxset this year.

Were the band members involved in any other bands? I could find out that John Morrison, the bassist, played in Hefner and also in Rhatigan, The French and The Machines.

On the Tamworth Bands website I find a mention of the band. They played a gig in Tamworth on March 4th 1990 alongside Honeyjump, Bob Baroque and Lincolns at the Tamworth Arts Centre.

What else? Actually not much more. Even though the band had been in One Little Indian there is not much about them on the web. Would be great to find out the whole story of the band. I’m sure some of you remember them. Where are they now? Are there more releases or recordings? Let’s get the ball rolling.

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Listen
The Magnificent Lkage – Passion