I so hope to have news soon. March is about to end and I haven’t been able to announce new releases. That is not fun. The mastering is taking longer than expected, but hopefully I’ll be able to announce the next Cloudberry Cake Kitchen release soon. Also I must say that I am working now on two upcoming 7″s which is very exciting!

Now, what’s new around the world of indiepop? Well, this weekend Madrid Popfest is happening and I’m sad that I won’t be attending. But I really wish everyone attending to have a great time! There are a few bands that I don’t know so I will check them out today!

Luces Negras: Anna, Blanca and Pilar form this Barcelona band. They have a three song self-titled EP they put out last October. I guess the name of the band comes from their song “Fieras” which is the opening track. This is fine fuzzed up pop, could be interesting to check out their full set.

Amparito: four girls from Madrid form the band. Their latest on Bandcamp dates from March 2017 and is a 4 song demo with the songs “Crudo”, “Daño”, “Explosión” and “Fin”. It is lo-fi garagey punk pop so I’m not totally into it…

Guay!: now it is the turn of a Barcelona band whose latest release is quite new, December 2018. It is a 12 song album called “La Sociedad” that is an interesting mix of new wave pop and indiepop, and that even includes a cool cover of “Smashing Time” by the TVPs.

Belenciana: this is the solo project of the bassist of the band The Chillers. She released a self-titled EP in 2018 with four songs, “Camino Amarillo”, “Sobras”, “Juego de Tronos” and “Cañerías”. The first song even as a nice video which is the one I’m sharing. I don’t think there’s a Bandcamp or Soundcloud though. So you have to listen the EP on Apple or Spotify, two platforms I don’t like supporting. But that’s your choice of course. Anyhow, the one song I heard, “Camino Amarillo”, is a pretty one.

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Another oldie, another 7″ that is in my radar to add to my collection is the one that the Septembers released back in 1991. I believe it was their only one. Discogs at least only has this one listed. I don’t know much about it, but have heard the A side, “Something Better”, and thought it sounded great!

This 7″ was released by two labels, Penguin Records (PEN1) and Abstract Records. Penguin Records doesn’t show any other releases, but Abstract was an important label (that if it is the same Abstract) that released the likes of 1000 Mexicans, The Three Johns and more.

Aside from the already mentioned A side the single included two B sides, “Garden of Eden” and “Going Insane”. These three songs were recorded at RMS Studios in south London. The engineer was Andy Le Vien and the producer was Pete Briquette.

That’s all the information available on Discogs. No band members, no other releases, no compilation appearances. Could I be able to find anything else on the mess that is the web?

The answer seems to be a big no. Can’t find anything about them. It is difficult without any band member names. So I need to ask you all, I need your help. I would love to know their story, what happened to them? Why only one release? Who knows more?

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Listen
Septembers – Something Better

So after all the Indietracks reviews I can get back to finding new bands, new sounds. Some of these might not be as new and you might already have heard about them but just in case you missed them I present them again to you.

Patience: this is the great new video for “Girls are Chewing Gum” which is a song that will be included in the debut album “Dizzy Spells” that is to be released on May 3rd. I just saw the band play here in New York and had such a good time. This is one not to miss by the ex-Veronica Falls and The Royal We’s Roxanne Clifford.

Different Angels: two electropop songs by this London band are being released on 12″ vinil. “Problems” and “Reasons” sound pretty good. I don’t know who is behind the songs though it seems the songs were recorded by four friends, not only in the UK but also in the West Coast of the US.

Vacations: “On Your Own” is the name of the latest song this Newcastle, Australia, band has released. I must say it sounds really great! It is blissful, catchy and dreamy. One of the best songs I’ve heard so far this month!

Shiny Times: Kim Weldin from the lovely Tape Waves has just released a new album called “Can’t Be Depressed” but this time around is for her solo project Shiny Times. It is a short one, 8 songs, which are available now on Jigsaw Records on CD and Shiny Happy Records from Indonesia on tape. It is a very sweet record. I miss lo-fi pop done with this care, so happy this exists.

The Wendy Darlings: our French friends are back this May with a new album called “Against Evil”! That is great news. 13 songs of fun pop songs which we can’t listen yet. Only one of the songs, “Always Late”, is available to stream on the label Oddbox Records’ Bandcamp. It will be available on CD.

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This will probably be a short post. All I know about this Irish band is whatever is posted on the delightful Fanning Sessions blog. I can’t find any other bits of information anywhere else.

I’m hoping the band recorded more songs other than the three demo songs that are available to stream on the aforementioned blog. These songs are “Pittsburgh”, “No Comebacks” and “Halloween Cafe” and were part of a 1988 demo tape that was engineered and produced by Pat Dunne during August of that year at Sun Studios.

We do know too that the band was formed by Simon Crosbie (rhythm guitar and vocals), John McCabb (lead guitar & vocals), Eoin O’Broin (bass and vocals) and Gavin Buckley (drums).

Thanks to some press clippings that are available on the blog we know the band had other songs like “Cody”, “So Sentimental”, “Chocolate Dreams”, “Rock n’ Roll Party Five”, “Kill Eek!” and “Tom Buchanan”. Were these songs properly recorded? It also seems that the band was very young. An article calls them “teenagers”.

And that’s all there really is on the web about them. So I’m hoping for some help. I liked what I heard so far and would definitely want to know more about this short-lived Irish band!

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The Foremen – No Comebacks

There are only 6 more bands from Indietracks that I am not familiar with. So I’ll cover the six today and hopefully this has helped everyone a bit to decide which are the bands to check out. I’ve discovered a few that were pretty good and I am happy about that. I do believe the lineup so far is better than the last 3 or 4 editions. And that is of course a good thing!

Thud: This is quite a surprise, a band from Hong Kong playing Indietracks? It must be the same time. Dreamy shoegaze is what I found on their EP “Floret” that was released in 2015. It sounds pretty good, I would add them to the list of bands to check out this year.

Molar: four girls from London form Molar. Their latest is a 5 track 12″ called “Straniero” which is the record I’m listening now. Sadly for me it is not the kind of music I like, this is way too rocky, too garagey for my taste. I would skip them.

Randolph’s Leap: from Glasgow, an 8 piece folk-pop band. They have a lot of releases on their Bandcamp, so I decided to check out their latest, the album “The Isle of Love” that was released last June. It is a long one, 21 songs! IT does sound ok I think. It is poppy and they seem to care to craft songs with good melodies. So that I appreciate. It is the kind of pop I love the most, but it is totally fine.

Porridge Radio: their latest release is called “Rice, Pasta and Other Fillers”. I try listening to their first song and I don’t get it. Then their second song “Lemonade” gets better, but I don’t like them much in the end. I tried. Not indiepop at all.

Stealing Sheep: 60s sounding girl trio. Odd enough the latest seems to be a December 2013 release on Bandcamp. That’s quite a long time ago. Oh well. It is also a “Remixes” release. So I skip that and end up listening a 2011 EP called “I Am the Rain”. It is nice. But I do wonder if in all these years they have changed at all?

Big Joanie: I read the description they have, The Ronettes filtered through the 80s DIY and riot grrrl. I dunno if that is right. I guess on some songs I could see it. But I feel it has lost a lot of the poppy parts of The Ronettes as Big Joanie is much rockier. Not exactly what I like to listen.

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When I found a very old website, probably dating from 2001, by the French band Sandy Shores I thought I had stumbled upon something great. There were 8 songs to stream on a tiny Flash player and that was quite exciting. How many times I’ve found an old website that is broken, that you can’t play any songs or the images are not found?

So, even though I didn’t know absolutely anything about the band yet I could hear their songs “Star”, “Last Night”, “She’s Going Out”, “331”, “Love’s Not Me”, “Martinis and Bikinis”, “Listen” and “Whenever”. And that was fantastic!

On Discogs I found out that their song “Last Night” (25F025) had appeared on a compilation called “Out of Order” that was released by 25 Records in 2001. That was all. But it can’t be, right? If there are 8 songs shared on their website. So I start reading the only piece written in French on their site, one that seems to be written by Marielle Armand. I don’t think she was part of the band.

She talks about the latest album of the band, an album called “Start”. She mentions a song called “Pacifique”. That one is not available to stream. So there were more songs other than these 8. Then I get to know that the band live and work in Paris and that they are very much influenced by English pop. England is also the nationality of their vocalist, Angus. He had met the Frédéric, the bassist, at the Reading festival of 1998. Then David, drums, and Thierry, guitars, joined them. Most importantly at the time of this note the band had recorded around 20 songs, some of them that appeared on their debut album “Plymouth Sound”. Also they had gigged extensively, more than 150 gigs in Paris and its region.

Many of these gigs are listed on this site. Their first gig being at Denfert Rochereau in May 1998. Then they have played at many venues. They played in St. Etienne, in Lyon, and Nanterre. They played many Irish pubs it seems too like Flan O’Briens, Bally Roan and Le My Goodness for example.

Then I find something even better! A soundcloud by Angus Newton, the vocalist! There are 8 songs of the album “Plymouth Sound” to stream too! Plus many more songs of himself going solo. These are really great! From what I read in his short bio he has been living in France since 1983 and started playing in bands since 1995. His first band was called Swanlake. Then it says that Sandy Shores released another album called “Trainspotting”. Then he went back to London to play in a band for a year. Then he decided to go solo. He moved to Chamonix where he still lives.

Sadly I can’t find any information about any of these records. I wish I could find a copy for myself. But they are not even listed in Discogs. It is a big shame as everything I have heard sounds terrific! But having played so many gigs in Paris and around France, someone must remember them! Someone must have their records. I would love to know what is the story of the other band members. What songs appear on each album. If they appear on any compilations. Who can help me with all that?

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Listen
Sandy Shores – Martinis and Bikinis

Last Wednesday I went to see the ex-Veronica Falls’ Roxanne Clifford’s new band Patience deep in Bushwick, at a venue called Elsewhere. She was supporting Molly Nilsson.

I was very curious as I had really liked both the 7″s she released (I missed the first one but did get a copy of the 2nd one) and also the latest song she has released “The Girls are Chewing Gum”. So 3 out of 3 were great. And I just arrived in time to her set. I was around 9pm at the venue and on stage there was already a little sign with the name Patience over a chair. I thought it was just a white board with the name written with a marker but at some point it got light up and we would see a cool beaming board with the name of the band.

I must say that I was kind of worried with the first song. It wasn’t what I was expecting. It was slow and not catchy. It was just Roxanne and a guitar player. Then after this song a keyboardist joined and also two girls that would do backing vocals. Later Roxanne would mention that the band was an impromptu band, I suppose just formed for the tour supporting Molly Nilsson? In any case they were tight! And they sounded pretty good throughout their short set. For me definitely my favourite moment was when they played “White of an Eye” but all of the songs were superb, so we can expect a lot from “Dizzy Spells” the album that she will be releasing soon. Catchy, bouncy, poppy, with great lyrics. It is very promising.

So keep an eye on that. And if she plays in your town, go check it out. Molly Nilsson is also pretty good even though you know I’d prefer if she had a band. But she has some very good songs, “1995” is superb for example. But I’m sure you know more about her than me.

Now, I need to continue with all these Indietracks bands I don’t know about!

Kagoule: this band hails from Nottingham and on Bandcamp their latest songs date from 2015. They are a rockier band, not indiepop at all. Here I am hoping they became poppier in the last 3 years. Maybe not. Wasn’t a fan.

Kermes: now a four-piece band from Leicester. Their latest is an album called “We Choose Pretty Names” which is available on LP at their Bandcamp. The band is kind of a lo-fi punky band. They have some indiepop elements perhaps but I don’t like the vocals at all. So the melodies end up being affected by this. Not a fan of this band either.

Cheerbleederz: three girls from London, Kathryn, Phoebe and Sophie, are behind this band. They have a 4 song EP that was released on tape that is already sold out. It was titled “Faceplant”. It is a shame as it sounds really nice, especially the opening track “Staying Up Late”. This is a winner. I have found another band to the list of bands everyone should check out at Indietracks.

Child’s Pose: another London band. Their latest was just released this month and it is a self-titled EP on 7″. Four songs are included on this piece of vinyl released by Nervous Energy Records. Sadly for me I don’t like it. Way too rocky. There’s no hint of indiepop here. Skip.

Fresh: it seems I will only like the one band today? Fresh is a band I don’t end up disliking though not loving either. Punky and emo, the band released their album “Fresh”, back in 2017. 11 songs packed with energy and fine vocals I think. Some good melodies too in a few songs. But I’m not totally sold.

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I have just discovered this fantastic sounding Japanese band. I tried getting their records but I couldn’t find them for a decent price. With the risk to make it even more difficult to get the records I want to recommend them on the blog! There are two CDs, one mini-album and an album, that I think should be in every Japanese indiepop collections.

“One Hundred Reasons to Love Birds”, the mini-album with that cute artwork of an owl on a branch and a half moon was released in 2002 by Living, Dining & Kitchen Records (1270LDKCD). It is the first time I hear about this label too. Were they an indiepop label? I must say I barely know they bands on their catalogue. I see Cub from Canada, that’s the only familiar one. I should explore when I have some time.

This mini-album had 8 songs: “Humming”, “One Hundred Reasons to Love Birds”, “Honey Bee”, “Parrot”, “18 Candles”, “Owl”, “Die Die Die” and “Time Machine”.

Strangely it would take 7 years for the band to release their album. In 2009, on Captain Haus Recordings (CHRS-019) the band would put out “Wonder of Dear”. This is another label I know nothing about. I am hoping to discover lots of Japanese indiepop bands this way.

There are 12 songs on this CD album: “Wonder of Dear”, “Flamingo Knee Lounge”, “Atmosphere”, “Answer Call”, “Innocent Paint”, “Pond Skater”, “Dwarf”, “Kissani*Mon Chat”, “Esperanza”, “Sugar Stock”, “Weekender” and “Tikkaus…”

Discogs has scans of the booklet of the album. Thanks to that I learn that there were a Noriko, Masato and Gamae in the band. No last names are listed though. With a little searching I could find that the band was formed by:
Noriko Kobayashi – all words, music, vocal & synths
Naomi Iwasaki – bass, violin, backing vocals
Ryo Daikai – guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocals
Yuuichirou Yamazaki – drums, backing vocals
Masato Abe – music, vocals and guitar

There is also just one compilation listed. One called “Killermont Street 2001” where the band appears with the song “18 Candles”. This compilation was released by LD&K which I suppose is the same as Living, Dining & Kitchen Records in 2001. There are some great bands here like Citrobal, Advantage Lucy or Our Hour.

That’s all Discogs has listed but… there are more releases as I have found out.

“Imprint****” was released sometime in 2006. Ok. So the wait wasn’t that long between mini-album and album. This album included 12 songs: “Amber Poetry”, “Imprint****”, “Kick Frip”, “Wimpy”, “Equal”, “Patch Work Water”, “Parasite”, “Medicine”, “Emergency Solar Still”, “Pillow”, “Joy Song” and “Chorus”. It was released by Captain House Records (CHRS-016).

There is another record by the band. One called “Homing Pigeon”. This one seems to have been released in 2003 and I guess it was actually the first album by the band. There were ten songs in it, “Montgomelly”, “Merric”, “A Camp”, “Homing Pigeon”, “Home Line”, “Kindergarten Bell”, “Fog”, “Mirinda”, “Benjamin” and “Little Qoo”. It was released by Living, Dining & Kitchen Records (LDKCD-014).

The Japan Live blog has a post about them, when they played live at the Basement Bar in 2004. According to this post, at that time the band had among their members Umu who was also bassist for House Plan and Bank$.

Then there’s a compilation, with no sound bits, on Bandcamp called “OK!Powerpop“. It dates from October 2007 and it seems to have included a new song by polyABC called “Sugar Stock”.

Aside for this post I can’t seem to find any other important details or information about the band. Only websites that seem to sell or auction their CDs. I think this time around I will need my Japanese indiepop lovers to help me out. Find out where are the band members now? If they had been involved in any other bands? I’d definitely would love to find out!

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Listen
polyABC – One Hundred Reasons to Love Birds

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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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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Listen
Showcase – Hello