I know, I know, I said I was going to announce a new release this week! It is all ready but just waiting for the mastering of the songs. I want to share a song at least when I announce the album, right? So that’s what is keeping me. I am crossing my fingers I get something over the weekend so I can share and announce this. On the other hand I have already contacted 20 bands (hoping all of them say yes) to be part of the first volume of the Australian indiepop compilations I hope to start releasing this year. I am aiming for summer, no later than that, for the first release. I am very excited about this and I hope it works out well!

Now, what have I found lately?

Corduroy: this was a very cool surprise! I wasn’t aware that Paul from Expert Alterations had a new band until I got an invite on Facebook to like this band’s page. Then I listened and I immediately fell in love with this TVPs ramshackle pop influenced band from Baltimore, Maryland. THe band has released a demo back in May 2018 and their latest is the “Corduroy EP” that came out a week or so ago. It is a 6 song EP and it is available on tape. Of course I’m hoping a vinyl record or a CD in the near future, but in the meantime I’m enjoying these top songs!

She Sir: this very good band that had released previously in Japan and the US seems to have signed to Austin Town Hall Records to release their latest effort, a 6 song EP titled “Ways a Season”. It will be available on March 22nd on 12″ vinyl and so far we can only preview one of the songs, “OK Tono Omepo”.

Funeral Advantage: I’ve been a fan of this Boston band for a while. This year the band is releasing a limited cassette mini-album called “Nectarine” which is coming out on February 22nd. Only one of the songs is available to preview now and it is called “Black Horse” and it sounds great!

Dream, Ivory: Christian Baello and Louie Baello are Dream, Ivory, a band who has just released a tape on the San Francisco label Blind Love Tapes. Their self-titled 8 song mini-album sounds terrific. Dreamy, jangly, blissful, evocative. The interesting thing is that these 8 songs seem to have been originally released in 2016. I didn’t hear them then. I don’t really know where or how they were released at that time. But I’m glad all these songs are available one more time even if it is on tape.

Elna Rae: and of course I decided to explore more releases on this label which is new to me. And I found Elna Rae who have released a lathe cut that is limited to 20 copies! So hurry up I suppose? Because it is pretty good, 4 lovely guitar pop tracks, “Ultra Lord”, “Marmalade” “Turkish Silvers” and “Sonic” make up the “Dexter EP”.

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I must say that the first song I ever heard by this Norwich early 80s band I really liked. It was poppy, fun, kind of a proto-Anorak Girls kind of song. Then I went to check out their other songs and I wasn’t that into them. They were darker, less poppy. I suppose that makes sense as the band is normally categorized as a synth-wave band. But still I thought recommending the one song I loved,”Life’s Not Worth It (yeah)”. I think it is a great slice of indiepop if I may say so.

At first I thought the song I liked was an earlier track. You know this happens a lot. The band is first quite poppy and then they develop a different sound. But it might not be the case this time as this song, “Life’s Not Worth it (Yeah)” was included in a 1984 compilation called “Reel Number 3″, whereas their first 7” came out in 1983. Or it could have been a song they had saved from their early days?

This compilation actually included two songs by them. The other song was “Bandwagon Tango (Edit)”. This song was actually the A side of their first single. I’ll get to that in a bit. But what else do we know about this compilation? Well it was released by Backs Records, the label and shop based in Norwich, and didn’t have a catalog number. There were some great bands on it like Vital Disorders, Mad About Sunday, Kamikaze Sex Pilots and The Farmer’s Boys among others.

As I said “Bandwagon Tango” was their first 7″ and came out also on Backs (NCH 004). The B side was “Unfamiliar Room“. Actually both of these songs have promo videos and I’ve linked to them. And you’ll notice that the sound is much different to “Life’s Not Worth It (yeah)”.

The 2nd and last 7″ was “Third Stroke” with “If Only If it Wasn’t”. Again the sound is heavier, and darker. Perhaps “Life’s Not Worth It (yeah)” was the only song of theirs in that style, with that pop sensibility. I wonder. This single also was released by Backs Records (NCH 010) and came out in 1984.

There are a few more songs by the band. There was one called “Damp Hands and Breathlessness” that appeared on the 1984 cassette comp “The Norwich Tapes Vol. 1” that was released by Nationsounds (STN 09). This same song also appeared with a remix version on a 1985 tape called “A Street Tape Named Desire” that was released by Venue One. Then the song “Blanket Expression (Peel Session Version)” was included in the 2013 tape “Pap Smear Tears – Cindy’s HitszTape” that was released by Grovl. It seems only 19 songs were made of this tape. Is it an official release?

Their B side “If Only if it Wasn’t” was also included in an unofficial CDR comp called “None Night of Flexipop Vol. 4”. Flexipop being a bootleg label from Germany.

Now we know a thing or two. And we know they did a Peel Session. When was that? What songs were recorded? The answer is easy to find. It was on December 18th 1982 and they played the songs “Bandwagon Tango”, “Blanket Expression”, “Ransom” and “Unfamiliar Room”. I find too the lineup of the band on the BBC site.
Sue Hope – vocals
Pete Roberts – synthesizer
John Hartwell – electric drums
Vince Rogers – organ

Keep looking. I find an article on the website Sofacom. Here it mentions that the band formed in 1981 and had recorded an early demo that was supported by Radio Norfolk. What songs were on that demo? The writer, who seems to be familiar with the “Testies”, describes the bands gigs as shambolic. I like that. That they had a very primitive drum machine and that they played gigs at places like The Big Apple in Great Yarmouth where they had some issues with the police! We also know the band supported OMD and SPK, and won a Battle of the Bands. Then the band was over.

The Battle of the Bands gig is actually on Youtube. The TDK Battle of the Bands Norwich, October 30th 1982 were the band played “Desire is My Downfall”, “Suburban Life”, “Blanket Expression”, Unfamiliar Room” and “Unfamiliar Room (Encore)”.

It also tells us a bit about the band members. Pete Roberts used to call himself Pete Casio. Vince Rogers after the demise of the band went on to Gee Mr. Tracy and at worked at the BBC in the Soutth East. Sue Hope seems to have been replaced by Angie Thornby Burt in July 1984 and later by a Rebecca Slater. John Hartwell is/was a technical guru at Norwich Arts Centre. The article mind you was written in 2004!

It is also safe to assume they took their name from the tuning signals test card that were broadcasted by the BBC. Test Card F seems to be the most famous one and even has its own Wikipedia article. It was the longest-running test card and it featured Carole Hersee and Bubbles the Clown.

Lastly the website Music from the East Zone – East Anglian Music Archive can give us in which other bands the members were involved with.
Vince Rodgers had been as mentioned earlier in Gee Mr Tracy but also in The Browning Version.
Susan Hope (also known as Susan Flynn) had been in Count Lorenzo and Funk Turkey.
Rebecca Slater had been in The Browning Version.
Angie Thornby Burt (also known as Angie Nee Dixon) had been in Egotism, The Kamikaze Pilots, Children of the Revolution and Garden of Delights.

And that’s about it. It is true that I’m not loving all of their songs. They are not what I normally listen to. But the one song I like, I think it is ace. I hope you like it too. Also if anyone know if they had more poppy songs like this, perhaps on their demos? Or if they have any other details about the band, please share!

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Listen
Testcard F – Life’s not Worth it (Yeah)

Back from 9 days in Peru. Not re-energized to be honest, quite tired!  But that doesn’t mean I won’t be updating the blog… you know I just did yesterday with an interview! And today I have a new post and tomorrow a new interview as well. There were no indiepop news in Peru, but I did have the time yesterday to find some good new music!

Chestnut Bakery: one of my favourite Chinese indiepop bands is back with a wonderful 7″ on the superb Boring Productions label. Well, it was also available on tape, but it seems the tape is already sold out. The band formed by Rye, Leo and Sango presents us two new fine songs here, “Dust” and “To Sylvie”. Check it out!

Dayflower: one of the best guitar pop bands for some time have put up a new album on their Bandcamp. Titled “Honeyspun”, the 9 song album, is a treat to all indiepop fans. I only wonder why it is not released on a physical format. From jangly guitars to dreamy wall of guitars, there’s a little surprise here for everyone.

The Reds, Pinks and Purples: again and again this lovely band fronted by Glenn Donaldson gives us jangly demos that I can’t stop wondering when will the album be released. Or something else. Anything at all. Why not put 4 of them on a 7″ EP for example? I think it would be fantastic. “Dead End Days (demo)” is his latest song. And once more I’m liking it a lot!

Dreams of Empire: this duo formed by Andrea and Jane, who met in the 90s indie band Luminous, are based in Brighton. They plan to release a series of singles and an album in 2019. So far two songs are on their Bandcamp, “Skinny Dipping” and “Drive On”. Let’s keep an eye on them.

Kings and Queens of the Do It Now!: this is the name of a wonderful compilation the Arizona based label Emotional Response has put out as a sampler of releases that are due in 2019! There are tracks by favourites Mick Trouble, Boyracer, The Ocean Party and more!

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While writing the Ronnie Can You Hear Me? post I was wondering about many of the related bands I mentioned. I had no clue about them. And because they were all, most probably, in the same scene as the Farmers Boys, I thought that they must be good. Poppy at least. So I decided to investigate.

I started with Terminal Fun. Why? Because I knew it had Carole Bush, the vocalist of Ronnie Can You Hear Me? That was important of course because I like female vocals a lot. Why not, right? So, I found out that they did have one release, a 7″ released in 1982. I tracked it down and just ordered it from Discogs. Not too cheap, but it has been a while since I bought myself an obscure record like this.

The 7″ that included “Great Moments” on the A side and “Twist and Survive” on the B side, was released by two labels, Projected Image (PRIM 4) and Backs Records (same catalogue number). I suppose Projected Image was just created for this record as it is the only record listed on this label. Or maybe not? About Backs Records we know much more. We know they were from the same area of the band, Norwich, and was actually a shop too (which closed in the early 90s).

The 7″ was engineered and recorded at Spaceward Sudios in July 1982. These studios were not in Norwich, but actually in Cambridge. The songs were produced by Joe Bull who also produced “Whatever is He Like?” by the Farmers Boys.

The back sleeve gave us that information and more. We know the band members too:
Paul Rayner – bass
Pete Sparrow – drums, synthesizer, vocals
Paul Day – guitar, vocals
Carole Bush – vocals

Something interesting about the back sleeve is that it has ads. Yes. Like stores where Terminal Fun shop at. For example Quality Shoe Repair, Cookes band instruments, Audiotime (Anglia) and Urry Video from Norwich, and Benkson personal stereo radio and cassette players from London. They thank these sponsors for helping get the record funded. Each of these stores have some illustrations which are credited to Pete Siree.

Looking at the same website that gave me lots of information the other day, the Music from the Eastzone, East Anglian Music Archive, I notice they list other band members that doesn’t appear on the record, Jacqui Brown and Steve Smith. Who were they? At what time were they in the band? Also now we know that the band was active between 1981 and 1982.

Let’s check what other bands were they involved with:
Carole Bush: we already knew she had been in Ronnie Can You Hear Me?
Paul Day: he was also in Cultural Collapse
Peter Sparrow: was in Running Dogs
Steve Smith: he was a drummer and he had been in The Funk Police, Giant II, The Fire Thieves, Cultural Collapse, La Host and Pendragon
Jacqui Brown: was a vocalist and only seems to have been involved in Terminal Fun

I look for more information about them on the web and I stumble upon a website called Futures and Past which is run by Erika Elizabeth. On a post dating from January 23rd, 2018, she posts a column she wrote for a the Maximum Rock’n Roll magazine in their December 2017 issue where she reviews the 7″ by Terminal Fun. Thanks to it I find out that there are another 3 songs the band recorded in 1983 for a scrapped EP! I need to find them!

So I end up on Paul Day’s website Luv Music. I start reading his biography. On the biography I learn that Jacqui and Steve were actually part of an earlier incarnation of the band, from a time they were not yet named Terminal Fun. I also confirm that Paul Day was the main songwriter. They got a manager called Steve Jackson who had been a radio DJ in London. Then something odd. He mentions that the songs were recorded at Spacewood Studios in Suffolk. But the sleeve has Spaceward. Maybe there was a typo? Which one was it?

Other interesting details was that the Projected Image name of the label was actually called like that because of a Paul Day song of the same name. It got a bad review in the NME by Danny Baker. And John Peel played it several times. The band played gigs throughout East Anglia supporting Screen 3, The Farmers Boys and more. The 3 songs that were supposed to be released in the scrapped EP were called “Lucifer”, “Something Must Break” and “The Sun is Cold”. You can listen to this song plus many more recordings by Terminal Fun on his website. The other songs the band recorded were: “Growing Inside”, “Shine”, “Demise”, “Hello”, “Shout!”, “I’m Different to You”, “Tear Down the Barricades”, “The Things We Said”, “Running From the Dogs” and “Who are You?”.

And that’s all I could find about the band on the web. Not little for sure. Especially as I could find audio bits on Paul Day’s site. It’d be great if we could get in touch and do an interview and fill in the blanks the story of Terminal Fun. But maybe you can help too, any of my Norwich area readers remember them?

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Listen
Terminal Fun – Great Moments

Well, later tonight I’m heading to Lima, Peru, for a week. I’ll be back to blogging, not next Wednesday but the following. During this time you can catch up with the blog. Also any orders placed during this time that I will be out of town will be shipped on that same Wednesday, January 23rd. I promise to come with lots of news then!

Cristina Quesada: one of my very good friends is back with a new 7″ on Elefant Records. Four brand new songs, “Hero”, “Mona Lisa”, “Think I Heard A Rumour” and “Into You” will be on it! To promote this record a promo video has been made for the first track, and that’s what I’m linking to here because it is awesome. You’ll notice that Cristina’s music has changed a bit here! It is an electronic song, in the vein of St. Etienne! And I must say I do like this new direction!

Axolotes Mexicanos: looking at other Elefant news I notice this punky song called “Nacida para Sufrir” which is included in their album “Salu2” which I don’t have it yet! I guess I need to hurry up because this track has taken me back in time, it is like Juniper Moon are back! And that’s a good thing in my book!

Parsnip/The Shifters: there is a new 12″ split on the French label Future Folklore Records. It includes the Melbourne band Parsnip which I recommended some time ago and The Shifters, also from Melbourne. Each band contributes 3 songs. On the label’s Bandcamp you can preview 1 song each, Parsnip’s “Counterfeit” and The Shifters’ “Photo Op”. I will say that I really like Parsnip’s song which is superb and catchy, but I couldn’t listen to more than 10 seconds of the second song.

The Crystal Furs: is my memory wrong? I thought the Crystal Furs were from Texas. I see now on Bandcamp that they list Portland, Oregon, as their hometown. They have a new album which will be released on January  28th and is called “Pseudosweet”. Two songs are available to preview, the title track “Pseudosweet” and “Dysfunctional Mythology”. I wasn’t liking much the first track sadly, but the second is pretty good! So I’m hoping the record includes more sweet and jangly songs like this instead of the rockier style of “Pseudosweet”.

Estudiantes: lastly this new release on the very prolific Mexican label Stupid Decisions. Estudiantes are putting out their self-titled EP which is also available on very limited cassette on January 25th. There are 5 songs in it and you can preview three of these lo-fi shoegazy tracks “Mejor No”, “Es Verdad” and “Es Tarde”. There are more new releases on the label, so I’ll be keeping an eye on what to recommend.

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An Indian summer is a period of unseasonably warm, dry weather that sometimes occurs in autumn in the Northern Hemisphere. Indian summers are common in North America and Asia. The US National Weather Service defines this as weather conditions that are sunny and clear with above average temperatures, occurring September to November. It is usually described as occurring after a killing frost.

Arno Kammermeier, Claus Brandenburger and Walter Merziger were Indian Summer. They were German. Released two records, which I’ve listened but don’t own. And then, it seems, were kind of forgotten. Knowing very little about them, and thinking they could be included in the German version of the sound of Leamington Spa, it is time for me to dig out any details I can find about this late 80s band.

Both their records came out on Blue Cue Records. This label was as sub-label of Blue Clue Musikverlag that released some big names in Germany like Culture Club for example. They must have money?

The first release was a 7″ with two songs, “Faceless” on the A side and “Golden City” on the B side. Catalog number BC 78801. The front sleeve mentions that the record includes the hit “Golden City”. Was it a big song in Germany at some point? Something interesting is that for each song the band lists the beats per minute. “Faceless” is 132bpm and “Golden City” a slower 120bpm. Both songs were produed by Peter Hayo. They were recorded and mixed at Blue Cue Studio in Bexbach. The guitars on “Faceless” were played by Thomas Blug while the art is credited to Axel Tams. Then there’s an address for Arno Kammermeier, an address in Hamburg.

Ok, so that would mean that the band was based in this beautiful city. A city I’ve visited many times and which I’m missing these days. I need to return to Germany sometime soon. It’s been like 3 or more years since the last time! But what about the label? Bexbach? Where’s that? Never heard about this town.

Bexbach is a municipality in the Saarpfalz district, in Saarland, Germany. It is situated on the river Blies, approximatively 6 km east of Neunkirchen, and 25 km northeast of Saarbrücken. The Saarland Mining Museum is located in the town.

That is quite far from Hamburg!

Their second record was “Wonderland” which was released on 7″ and 12″ formats. IT came out on Blue Cue Records with the catalog number BC 78807. The 7″ had “Wonderland” on the A side and “How Many Times” on the B side. We see that the record was edited by Peter Hayo and Stefan Mayer. Hayo also produced it. The writing credits are for Arno Kammermeier and Walter Merziger. Keyboards were played by the three band members, percussion by Arno and Claus while the guitar was played by Walter Merziger. Additional guitar on “Wonderland” by Thomas Blug. The photo on the front was taken by Bernd Merziger.

The 12″ version was a bit different. The A side had “Wonderland (Edit the Wonder)” and “How Many Times (Fourtyfive Mix)”. The B side had “Electric Kiss (Pure & Simple Mix)” and “Wonderland (Acoustic)”.

Something interesting is that there are no compilation appearances listed. On the other hand I do find that the band members were involved in more than a few bands.

Arno Kammermeier was on among others Avenue, Planet Claire, Parade, Sitara, Subtopia, Temple of Light, Lanyx, Tony Travolta, etc. etc.

Claus Brandenburger was involved in Avenue who released a 7″ in Blue Cue Records in 1989.

Walter Merziger was in Planet Claire, Booka Shade, Temple of Light, Trashbox, Sugar Sisters, Mos Eisley, etc, etc.

There is a very good find I stumbled upon on Youtube. It is a life performance of the band in Hermeskeil sometime in 1990. The band is playing the song “The Horror You Sent Me“.

Not much more about Indian Summer on the web but there is an interview on Youtube (Part 1 and Part 2) with Arno and Walter by Face Culture from the Netherlands. On it the band mostly discusses about their current band Booka Shade but also about their other bands Planet Claire and briefly about Indian Summer.

From this interview I know that “Golden City” reached the charts in Germany. Oddly that song is not available on Youtube. It seems the band members gained popularity when they were in Planet Claire. But about Indian Summer very little is known. Were they really from Hamburg? Did they record any other songs? Why did they split? Many questions, nothing written, at least on the web.

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Listen
Indian Summer – Wonderland

Wednesday! Two more days and I’m off once again, this time to Lima, Peru. Please do let me know if you’d like me to bring any records to Peru. I will gladly do so so you can save on postage.

Not much news today (but do come back in two weeks exactly for new releases announcements) so I will go ahead and recommend 5 new bits of music I’ve found out on the web!

Love Dance: very excited about this news! Our friends at Kocliko are releasing the “Cul-de-sac” EP by Love Dance that I believe was available digitally in the past. As I love physical releases this is fantastic! Especially by this band that I saw live at Indietracks once and thought they were wonderful, whose discography I do own at home, and who I would have loved to work together too! There are 5 songs here that are just PERFECT. I do hope there will be new songs by them in the near future! Do run, this release is very limited!

Tullycraft: two more songs by the band, not new as they are from recording session of their previous album, “Lost in Light Rotation” but still new to my ears! “Touch Me, I’m Sick (over you)”, “Bad Connection” and “Lost in Light Rotation (demo)” are now available to stream on their Bandcamp. As a big fan of Tullycraft any new music by them makes me terribly happy!

Bridal Shower: the Scottish label Common Records are putting out a 6 song tape of this band. The EP is titled “Documentary Footage” and I’ve only been able to preview one of the tracks, “Mirror Maze”, a top lo-fi shoegaze track. This is their second ever release after their album “Negatives” on Gold Mold Records.

Castlebeat: “VHS” is the name of the album this New Yorker put out last March. I’ve only discovered them now. The record is available on vinyl, CD and even tape. There are 10 songs in total, 9 of which you can preview on Bandcamp. Jangly and chiming songs here that are quite a surprise to me. Does he play live? I’d love to go see him play.

En mi Mente: time for 8 songs (only 4 available to preview) by this Mexican shoegaze band. This digital mini-album is in the prolific label Stupid Decisions that in the last year has surprised us with many quality releases. If only they would come in physical format! Good stuff.

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Just found out about this 80s UK band on the Messthetics CDs that I got some months ago and also what I’ve heard online was really good. How come I’ve never heard them before?

Maybe they are pretty obscure. Or maybe indiepop fans haven’t really noticed them. Discogs lists them as a new wave band. Could that be it? They are listed with two records in the 80s. So why don’t you join me in finding out more details about them?

Their first 7″ dates from early in the 80s, from 1981. It was a 7″ with 2 songs, “No Next Time” on the A side and “Removal” on the B side. It was released by My Death Telephone Records (TEL 001). This might have been the band’s own label. Probably it was a self-release too. Both songs were recorded at RMS Studios in London. The recording was coordinated by David Trevor-Jones and engineered by Andy Le Vien. The art is credited to Ryan Baptiste and it came out as a fold-out sleeve that came in a plastic bag with sticker.

We also find the names of the band members.
Ian Sturgess – bass
Mike Barnes – drums
David Parker – guitar
Colin Parker – organ
Malcolm Harris – vocals, guitar

Their second record is a 12″ that came out 6 years later, in 1987. It included 4 songs, “Despatches” and “Black Point” on the A side and “Taking Off Again” and “When a Stranger Calls” on the B side. It was released by Primitive Records (Prime Cat. 14), the same label that put out some stuff by Mega City Four and The Trudy. The engineer was Julie-Ann Jones.

Their song “If I Could Turn the Clock Back” appears on a few compilations: in 1981’s LP comp “We Couldn’t Agree on the Title” which was later remastered and re-released as CDR in 2004 and on the 2006 “Messthetics #102” compilation that Hyped to Death put out. They also appear on another Messthetics comp, on the “Messthetics Greatest Hits” from 2006, the band had “No Next Time”.

There are two other Messthetics comps that are not easy to come by anymore. On the “Unreleased Messthetics Vol.1”, which looks like a bootleg, and unofficial release, the band has “Last Telegram (Demo)”. And then on the “Messthetics #4 UK ’78-81 DIY Punk/Postpunk Bands V-to-Z” that was released as CDR the band has “No Next Time” and “Removal”.

Lastly on the tape compilation “Seven Tiny Heads” that Acid Tapes (TAB 030) put out in 1988, the band appears twice with “Somebody Told Me” and “There’s Still Time to Go”.

I look for information about the members. Mike Barnes seems to be these days a music journalist, a regular contributor to The Wire and Mojo. He has published too a book called “Captain Beefheart, The Biography” in 2000. He has also been involved in bands like Lemon Kittens and played drums for Paul Goodwin. Ian Sturgess has also been in Lemon Kittens, played on some recordings of the Jazz Butcher, and Danielle Dax.

Time to check out what the Messthetics comps! The Walking Floors took shape in the punk-deprived climes of Basingstoke –originally as The Brothers K. The five of them first played together rehearsing Malcolm Harris’ songs at the home of David (guitar) and Colin (organ) Parker in 1978. In August of 1980 Mike Barnes (drums) and Ian Sturgess (bass) helped out the Lemon Kittens on their Cake Beast EP, and in payment they got a day to record their own songs including: “If I Could Turn The Clock Back” Within a matter of weeks the ‘Floors had their own 45 out as well (“No Next Time”). “Last Telegram” is from a December ’81 demo (unreleased). After the Floors split, Ian recorded with Danielle Dax, The Jazz Butcher and others, Mike wrote Captain Beefheart, a biography (Quartet Books, 2004), and David became a premier chronicler of the life and times of the late Syd Barrett with his Chapter 24 fanzine and Random Precision (Cherry Red Books, 2001). Harris, Barnes and Sturgess now play together as The Swinging Signs, whose double album is Lime (2007).

Last.fm has some interesting details on their bio. It tells that it was when Ian Sturgess joined the band that The Brothers K changed their name to The Walking Floors. Or that the band  supported The Diagram Brothers and also supported The Lemon Kittens at Reading University in 1980. Malcolm Harris and Mike Barnes were lately recording as Lewis Lear and the Jets.

Something funny I found on the web is that The Walking Floors were heckled by U2 at their debut London gig in 1980. It seems there was an article written by Mike Barnes about it on Mojo but it seems that piece has been deleted or something. Can’t find it.

And that’s about all the information I could find. It is not little for sure. We know the names of the members, bands they’ve been involved with, where they came from, their releases, and more. But still would be great to get in touch, interview them, and fill in the blanks! Does anyone remember them?

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Listen
The Walking Floors – Despatches

Monday! This week we’ll have three posts at least, today, Wednesday and Friday. If by any chance we get some interviews, then on Tuesday and Thursday. The usual. Im just saying this because there won’t be any posts next week nor the following Monday. That is because I’m heading to Lima, Peru, for holidays. Having said that, if anyone in Lima wants any records from the label please let me know no later than Thursday so I can take the records with me and then we can meet up in Lima of course.

After this vacation I’ll be announcing new releases, so keep an eye on the blog!

Now, moving to what you came here for, new music:

Terry: yet another good band coming from Melbourne, Australia. I’m a bit late to the party as this band released their album “I’m Terry” back in late August 2018. Not sure if there were physical copies but the album is available to stream on Bandcamp. There are a total of 10 songs and I think, at first listen, that “Oh Helen” is my favourite song so far.

White Town: the classic band headed by Jyoti Mishra released “Deemab” on January 1st. It is a new album and he dedicates it to his father. 13 songs on it of all sorts of pop, quirky, electronic or guitar-driven. So far it looks as it is only available in digital format.

The Total Bettys: another album! So far no new singles! Interesting. This one is not that new, it came out just over a month ago, last November. It is called “This is Paradise” and it is also the first time I listen to this San Francisco band.  They are formed by Maggie Grabmeier, Reese Grey, Chloe Lee and Kayla Billos. An all girl summer fun band!

Wolf Circus: ok! now an EP. 6 songs on a digital EP titled “I Don’t Want to Go Back” by this Santa Clarita, California band. Two California bands today. What do we know about the band? Well that it is a combo led by Lesley Price who wrote 4 songs out of the 6 songs, the other two are by Yukihiro Takahashi from the Yellow Magic Orchestra and Brian Wilson from you know who.

Автоспорт: I think their name translates to Autsport. This Russian band just released a compilation tape of their fast-paced shoegazey sounds on Pow! Pop Kids Records from their home country. From what I understand these songs are all their recorded output. They date from 2017 and 2018. And even though I don’t understand a word they do sound superb.

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This 7″ has been on my wishlist for a long time. I wonder when I’ll get around getting a copy and have it in my collection. It is true that lately I’m buying less records, much less than what I used to. Not sure why. I guess it is become more expensive. Shipping costs from the UK are not friendly. And I don’t blame them. Shipping from the US is not nice either.

Ronnie Can You Hear Me?’s 7″ with “Vroom for Romance” on the A side and “Patrick’s Them” on the B side is a great single. Sadly of course there is barely any information about them on Discogs. I wonder if I’ll find any other details somewhere else. I’ll try.

Their 7″ was released by their own Ronnie Records (Spoon1) in 1984. The art for it has this cool cartoon printed in black over a yellow-green paper.

The only other recording listed on Discogs is the song “Chachi’s Theme” that appeared on a compilation called “Good Morning Mister Presley” that was released by Grunt Grunt A Go Go Records (GGAGG 1) in 1986. On this compilation they appear alongside top bands like Yeah Yeah Noh, Microdisney or The Fire Hydrant Men. It does tell that all recordings on this compilation were made in Norwich, Leicester, Leeds, Manchester and London. So, most probably our band hails from one of these cities.

I find out some important detail. So Ronnie Can You Hear Me? are actually an offshoot of the Norwich band The Farmers Boys! I also find out that the song “Vroom for Romance” actually had a promo video for it. Where is it? I would love to watch it!

According to Music from the East Zone. The band was formed by: Ian Thirkettle, Carole Bush, Tom Fenner, Mark Kingston and Paul Kingston.

Ian, a guitarist and keyboardist, had been in bands like Uncle Romeo, Uncle Rodeo, Heigham Sounds, Bluegrass Boys, The Ordinaires, Bang Goes My Stereo, The Farmers Boys, Dr Fondle and The Great Outdoors.

Mark, the bassist, was in The Great Outdoors, Uncle Romeo, Uncle Rodeo, Dissolute Youth, Heigham Sounds, The Ordinaires, Dr. Fondle, The Avons, The Farmers Boys, The Nivens and Blues Machine.

Paul Kingston, vocalist and guitarist, had been in Polish Corridor, Dissolute Youth and The Ordinaires.

Tom had been in The Monotones and Dr. Fondle.

Carole, the vocalist, had been in Terminal Fun too.

Well that’s a lot of band names. Many that I’m familiar but even more that I have no clue about!

Maybe this could start a couple of posts about related bands from the Norwich area? Could be interesting. In the meantime, anyone know anything else by them? Gigs? other songs? their promo video? Any information would be great!

Edit: My friend Jessel just pointed me out to a promo video for “Vroom for Romance“! How cool is that?!

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Listen
Ronnie Can You Hear Me? – Vroom for Romance

Back to blogging in 2019, back to finding new sounds, new music on the web. Not much news yet on the Cloudberry side though in a week I’ll be flying to Lima, Peru, for a week. That means that if you are in Lima and you’d like to order some records and save in shipping send me a message and we can figure it out.

Now, what is new in the world of indiepop?

Milkmustache: well, this is a Christmas song, so maybe it is not what you wanted, but you could save the song for next Christmas? I mean, it is really pretty, the season shouldn’t matter. The new song by the Chinese band is called “Christmas Song for Christmas Night” and it is available on the Boring Productions Bandcamp.

Furry Loser: Rolf is from Costa Rica. He likes recording pop songs in his bedroom. He has put together an EP called “Loser Dance Party”. Only one of his songs is available to stream. It is called “Marco & Marty”. It is based on a web coming of the same name. It is bouncy, poppy and fun. Will the other three songs, “Don’t Like You Anymore”, “Tom (working title)”, “Loser Dance Party”, on the EP available to listen someday?

Golden Teardrops: our friends Ryan and Lei have re-released (and re-mastered) their song “A Summer Escape” and a demo version of “Pieces of Our Love”. As expected they are top songs. So give yourself 5 minutes and check them out!

In Space: this Singapore project by Juan Sawitt, a 19-year old “with a computer”, sounds really nice. Their latest is the song “Heartache” which he uploaded just before Christmas on his Bandcamp. Lyrics are available to sing along and there is also another song worth listening called “January” that dates from last March.

Pleasures Pale: the Dayton, OH, band that I interviewed just a bit ago have uploaded on Soundcloud a compilation of various live performance recordings from 1986. Two tracks come from a gig at the Canal Street Tavern and the two others are live rehearsals. The jangly guitars on the first track, “Muscleman”, are superb! And then you get “An Awkward Kind Thinks Twice”, “Life is But a Dream” and “Uneasy’s Disease”. All being great of course!

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So far, after searching and searching I could only find one interesting tidbit about the band Big House. They played a gig at the legendary Rock Garden on November 10th, 1985. As many of you know this was a venue in London, in the Covent Garden area, that among other feats The Smiths played their first London gig there. These days sadly it is an Apple store. The worst thing ever of course.

The problem is of course the band’s name. It is not original enough to search for them. I can get all sorts of results on Google and even worst the 7″ I know they released doesn’t even get listed on Discogs, 45cat or Rateyourmusic. It seems as it doesn’t exist.

I don’t even know what was on the B side. I only know, thanks to Youtube, that the A side was called “Real Eyes”. I know it is a superb song, with female vocals, catchy, fun, upbeat, all sorts of things I like. The guitar is bouncy, the drums rolls at the start of the song are ace. What more can I say? It is the sort of song that should be included in an obscure female fronted UK indie compilation. But how can one do that if you don’t even know who the members where?

On a Japanese blog I read that the label that put the record out was based in Cambridge. Sadly it doesn’t tell what was the name of the label. It also looks as if the record didn’t have a picture sleeve. The information is really scarce.

This band and single are a true indiepop mystery. We have two cities, London and Cambridge, as possible places where the band was from. Or maybe not even. We only know one date, 1985. And one song, “Real Eyes”. This time I will need any help I can get. Anyone remember them?

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Listen
Big House – Real Eyes

Happy New Year! Happy 2019! I’m hoping this will be a better year for everyone and for indiepop too of course! Shipping prices are what hurts us the most these days. I dream of them being lowered in the future but I feel that might be just wishful thinking. They may just go up again and again. But that’s what I hope for. I think that would all of us involved in releasing, listening and collecting beautiful records.

As I mentioned in my previous post I was away on holidays. It was nice to disconnect for a while of course. There was no indiepop involved at all in this trip, it was just mostly relaxing in the Mexican Caribbean and visiting a couple of Mayan ruins.

Now I’m back since very early today and I haven’t had time to investigate and find new music on Bandcamp, Soundcloud, Youtube, etc. But for Friday I promise you that. For tomorrow I have an interview to post too, so it will be a 3-post week, not bad to start this year.

Also keep an eye on the blog and the label Facebook because we have a few releases in the pipeline set to be released in 2019! It is going to be great!

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Nick Garrard, an English writer, designer, band manager, etc, started Upright Records in the mid-80s. Among the bands he released there are a few that interest me: The Doctor’s Children, Yeah Jazz and the Weeping Messerchmitts among others. I surely should feature them three at some point on the blog. But I’ll start with the Weeping Messerchmitts today!

They only released one record mind you. A 12″ maxi single with three songs, “Nothing Yet” on the A side” and “Say Goodbye” and “Panthera Parvos” on the B side. It was on Uptight Records of course (UPT 17) and came out in the year we all like, 1986.

All songs are credited to Alexander, Jeavons, Oliver and Webb on the labels. Aside from that there is really not any other worthy piece of information on the record. True, I don’t own it yet, I should try to track a nice copy for myself in the next couple of weeks. But little by little my friends, step by step.

There is something strange about this release. You know, in 1994 it was reissued. But not in the UK but in Spain by the label Old Gold (OLD GOLD-015-MX). I wonder how much interest there was on this band in Spain at the time. What I do know is that this label used to reissue cool records by bands like The Mighty Lemon Drops or The Raw Herbs.

Now, this Spanish label was a sublabel of a bigger one called Contraseña Records. This bigger label had, in 1997, included “Nothing Yet” by the Weeping Messerchmitts in a CD compilation called “Lo Mejor de los Ochenta” (CON 101 CD). The best of the 80s. Not sure if it was really the best of the 80s what was included in here, but I definitely like this song.

So, what was a Messerchmitt? It looks like it was a German aircraft manufacturing company, thus a messerchmitt was an airplane and they did come in various modles, BF 109, KR200, Me 262. etc.

Through Discogs I end up on Youtube. There is a promo video for “Panthera Parvos“. It was filmed by Martin Webb on location at the British Federal Tipton and JBs in Dudley. The song was written about Donald Neilson the notorious Black Panther who prowled the streets of Tipton and the Black Country during his infamous period striking fear into and terror into that community. Something odd though. The first screen of the video says The Railway Children “Panthera Parvos”. What?!

On Youtube I find another song, one not on the 12″. It is called “Will They Ever Believe Me“. Then another called “Just To Hold You“. And lastly one called “Fashionable Smile” that it is said to be the last written by the Alexander Jeavons and Oliver Webb partnership. I believe these songs were uploaded by David Webb, the vocalist of the band. Where does these songs come from? A demo? A live recording? There are few other live videos on this Youtube account. There’s one for “Your Heart” from their last gig at JB’s in Dudley in 1987. And then there’s “Say Goodbye” also live at JB’s, and probably from that same gig.

So yes, the band members full names. So we’ve mentioned that Dave Webb was the vocalist and guitarist. Then we know that Gary Oliver played guitar, Mark Alexander bass, Mark Jeavons guitar and Gary Odea played drums. Oh! And the band hailed from Wolverhampton!

A cool find, even though I’ve never been a fan of Terry Malts, is that they covered “Nothing Yet“. You can check their version on Soundcloud.

I try to look for the band members, what they are up to these days. There is a Mark Jeavons in the Midlands that works as a script writer. Could that be the same one? Then I find a Mark Alexander that is a writer and has a poet friend called Gary Oliver. It sounds like they might be the ones from the band, right? If that was the case, our Mark Alexander wrote a book called “Meandering & Muses” that was published last year, 2017.

Sadly there is not much more information about them, nor the band. No gigs listed. No other bands they might have been involved with. Why? Their 12″ sounds great, influenced by The Smiths and The Wild Swans. Why not more love to them? Anyone remember them?

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Listen
Weeping Messerschmitts – Nothing Yet

Last post of the year!! I’m going on holidays to Cozumel, Mexico. To the beach!

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I hope you all had a good 2018 and I’m hoping we all have an even better 2019! This year was good for Cloudberry! We released a few 7″ (Salt Lake Alley, Okama Flannel Boy and The BV’s) and one retrospective CD (The County Fathers). Not bad I think!

Next year there will be new 7″s and new retrospectives! I think by February we should be releasing a retrospective by a classic Scottish pop band from the 80s. After that we have another retrospective planned by a Portsmouth band. For 7″s I’m hoping to have a Spanish and French bands joining our series. And that won’t be all. There are more plans! Our Australian indiepop nuggets compilation is starting to take form and I should be announcing something early next year! I’m very excited!

With all of that news, do you really need me to go find music? I’ll skip this time. I want instead that you recommend me some, that you tell me what were your favourite releases this year? your favourite gigs? Please send recommendations my way!

A new blog post will be available on January 2nd! Until then my friends! Have a good one!

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A few weeks ago I got a very nice package from Jesper in Sweden, with recordings of his band My Favourite Martians and also a CDR of recordings by a band called Sallystream. He was telling me that he lost touch with them many years ago, in the 90s, but he loved the music and would love to know what happened to them. So I listened the 8 songs he had burned for me… and I loved them. So here I am writing about them on the blog with the hope of finding out what happened to them!

The band seems to have been based in Norrköping as they practiced at the same studio as My Favourite Martians. They didn’t get to release any records. They did though contribute 4 songs to 2 compilations. I think that could be a good start in solving this mystery.

There was a fine compilation released by Blind Dog (BDCD001) in Sweden called “Dogstew”. It came out in 1993 and included the likes of Cod Lovers or The Persuaders. Sallystream appears here with two songs, “Changing” and “Laura Knows”. These two songs were recorded at KM Studio in Norrköping. On the inner sleeve there are some credits for the songs. So “Changing” is credited to C. Sandell and H. Johansson while “Laura Knows” to H. Johanson and Sallystream. Hopefully these two last names prove to be handy…

Two years later, in 1995, they contributed the songs “The Sun” and “Perfect Match” to the H. Lime Records compilation “In the Limelight” (HLR 951-2). This is another fine comp with bands like aBle, Pineforest Crunch or The Leslies.

Those were the 4 songs that were released. Jesper shared 4 more with me. Sadly two of them, from their 1992 demo don’t seem to have a name. One does but I can’t figure out what’s the name, “Tickled Jon” perhaps? Then there was “Beautiful” from a 1993 demo. I feel there must have been more songs. These can’t just be it.

On the Blaskoteket website there is an article that appeared on Sound Affects #23 in 1994 about Sallystream. This might be helpful! First thing I find is the name of Anna Jonsson, I think she did backing vocals. Then the next name to pop up is Håkan Johanson, vocalist and guitarist (now I have the first name). He is a big fan of The Housemartins. Then the Sound Affects reporter is surprised by the drummer, Jesper Nyström, taste. His favourite bands are Red Hot Chili Peppers and Primus. Then the guitar player name is Christian Sandell. I learn too that Jesper wasn’t the original drummer. The original drummer left to China. And then I complete the quintet, the bassist name is Magnus Eriksson. I have the complete band. All their names.

But then I find out that in the Harry Lime compilation the drummer was someone called Joakim Svensson. So there was another drummer change?

I look into what other bands have the members been involved. It seems Christian Sandell had been in Stan, InterRail, Burek V, Eve and the Last Waltz and Oh Lucky Star.

I think that’s quite a good investigation. I see other bands on Popfakta that Magnus could have been involved but they go back to the early 80s. It may be him or not. I can’t be sure. Then about Christian I find many hits with him playing other instruments on the web, even drums. Is it the same Christian? Maybe. I can’t be sure unless I get to chat with him. That would be nice. Find out more about them. Find out why they didn’t get to release a record for example? I wonder if my Norrköping readers remember them?

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Listen
Sallystream – Laura Knows

Last weekend for our Cloudberry 3CDs for the price of 2. Monday will be the last day I’ll be able to go to the post office as I will be away for a week. Any other orders placed between Christmas and New Years will be posted on January 3rd.

Beauty Parlour: I’m really loving the dreamy sounds of their “Fall in Love” EP. This Forth Worth, Texas, band’s first release on Bandcamp is a true gem. There is very little information about them, just the four songs, “Fall in Love”, “Chance on You”, “Mistrals” and “Jamais Vu”, that are great with superb boy/girl vocals!

VA – We Love You, Jerry: The Rosebuds from Sacramento have added this EP to their page. The band contributes the first song, “We Love You, Jerry”, but it is not all. There is a song by Dusty Miller, Bunny Nightlight, Sad Numbers, Soul Brother and Rocketship. Yes, very important. There is a song by the most amazing BUNNY NIGHTLIGHT!! “Song 3” it is called and it is brilliant!

Posh Lost: another digital EP. This time from this band that hails from Minneapolis. The EP is titled “Fortune” and comes with four songs, songs that are an interesting mix of post punk, dreampop and shoegaze. Worth checking out.

Tullycraft: some days ago they unveiled the song and video for “Passing Observations”. Now they have put it up on Bandcamp with a “B side” called “Stop Press Girl”. The cool (or not cool?) thing is that this song won’t be part of the album “The Railway Prince Hotel” so I guess we can only listen to it on repeat here!

Star Horse: one of my favourite Swedish bands is back with an album! At the moment you can only stream one of the songs, “Albatross”, that will be included in the “You Said Forever” LP that will be out on Startracks in February. There will be 9 songs in it, and I can’t wait to listen to the whole thing!

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Frank Pryce on vocals, Gerry Fahy on guitar, Brian Neavyn on bass and Pete Kinsella on drums were The Slowest Clock, a Dublin based band. I know very little about them as it is the common thread among all the bands I feature on the blog. So why don’t you join me into discovering their music and their story.

They started late in the 80s, releasing a 7″ in 1987 on the Comet Records label (COMET 004) that included “Clarke & Jones” on the A side and “Secret Flowers” on the B side. This is of course an important label as it released the classic Irish compilation “Comet EP One” that included Cypress, Mine!

The songs on this 7″ were recorded at Temple Studios in June 1987 and were produced by the band. Declan Morrell and Mark Power were the engineers and the mastering was done at S.T.S. Studios by Liz O’Toole. The art is credited to Dave, and the photograph on the front cover is a still of Truffaut’s “The Bride Wore Black”. There are no band members listed on the sleeve (I’m looking at the scans, I don’t own a copy, I wish I did!), but there are many thank yous and among them we see lots of important names like Guernica, Microdisney and more.

Their second release came out on Bewildered Records (BED 6001). It feels like this might be the band’s own label as the three releases listed on this label are all by The Slowest Clock. The first one was the “2-Car Garage” 12″ that included four songs, two on each side. The A side had “Carnival” and “Fear in Me” while the B side had “That Girl” and “Mothers of America”. On this record we find out who formed the band:
Brian Neavyn on bass
Dave Burke on drums
Gerry Fahy on guitar
Frank Pryce on vocals

That same year the band would put out another 12″, the “No Hand Signals EP”. It also came out on Bewildered Records (BED 6002) and again 4 songs were recorded for it. The A side had “Millenium Train” and “Where’s Andi” while the flipside had “You’re Wrong” and “Raindrop Hill”.

It would take the band a little over 5 years for another release. Their album “Life Still” came out in 1995 on Bewildered (BED 6003) with 12 songs: “Little Fishy”, “Wasted”, “Warhol”, “Say It”, “Le Bordel”, “In the Cinema”, “Cherie”, “Desert Mouth”, “Acid Lake”, “Say What’s On Your Mind”, “You Never See Me” and “Memories”. The songs were engineered by Albert Cowan and Joe Wearan and I believe were produced at Sonic Studios by David Wallis.

There is another release that I’m curious about. In 2014 the CD compilation “Smile Futurismo! All I Heard Was Purple” was released on Eye Unseen Records (DACA 7051). it was a 15 song compilation that were original studio recordings made in 1989 and 1990 that were intended for their debut album. Odd. So “Life Still” would have been their 2nd then? It is strange as many of these songs were in “Life Still”. It says that these earlier recordings were lost and only found a decade later. That the ones on “Life Still” were a totally different recording session and that the band run out of funds and interest and split prior to “Life Still”. The songs on this compilation were “Going Home”, “Warhola”, “You’re So Strange”, “Le Bordel Philosophique”, “Little Fishy”, “Cherie”, “Eastern Flowers’, “Acid Lake”, “Turning Green”, “Say What’s On Your Mind”, “Wasted”, “You Never See Me”, “Desert Mouth”, “Rejoice” and “In the Cinema”.

As I mentioned earlier, the band appeared on the “Comet EP One” compilation on Comet Records (COME1T) that was released in 1986. The band contributed the song “Little Boy Lost”.

I look at Irishrock.org, which is always a great place to find out about Irish bands. Here it mentions that the band performed the song “Clarke & Jones” at a TV show called “Visual Eyes”. I found the video on Youtube. Another interesting detail is that the band recorded several demo tapes and one of them, the 1986 3-song one, was produced by Ritchie Taylor and engineered by Paul Thomas.

According to this website Dave Burke who I listed as a band member wasn’t an original member.In 1987, tThe ex Cliff Edge Panic (fantastic band who I featured on the blog before) actually replaced Pete Kinsella who was the original drummer. After The Slowest Clock split, Gerry Fahy went to join Candy Apple Red while Brian Neavyn and Dave Burke joined the Screech Owls.

It also seems that in October 1985 the band had recorded a RTE Radio 2 Session for Dave Fanning Show.  Three tracks were recorded then, “You’re So Strange”, “Looking Up” and “Birds of Prey”.

Irishrock seems to be more complete than Discogs and has more compilations listed. On the tape “Moonstruck Christmas Casette” released by Moonstruck (MS 005), the band contributed “Say What’s On Your Mind”. This was a live recording at the Comet Records Punk Festival at the CIE Marlboro Hall in August 1986, which happened to be the band’s 3rd gig. Then on the “National Wash Day Single” 7″ released in 1987 the band contributed the song “Looking Up (Fanning Session 1987)”. I see, so there was also a 1987 Session! I need to find more about that one.

The band contributed the song “Mothers of America (early version)” to a 1988 tape called “Where to? What for? Witchunt” that was released in 197 by FOAD Records (FOAD 2 SPUC 88).

Lastly two sessions are listed. First a Dave Fanning Session from April 2nd 1988 with the songs “Mothers of America”, “Turning Green”, “Going Home” and “Where’s Andi”. Second a BBC Radio 1 Session for Liz Kershaw  from September 1988 with the songs “Rejoice the Burning”, “Turning Green”, “Desert Mouth” and “Where’s Andi”.

According to the Fanning Sessions blog there were just the two sessions, the ones from 1986 and 1988. So that one listed as 1987 can’t be. Neither the one from 1985 that Irishrock has. I think Irishrock is off by a year on both. I trust Fanning Sessions blog for this case.

On the Fanning Sessions blog there is a press clipping from Hot Press dating 24th September 1987. This press clippings shed some more light about the band. For example we learn that the band came together through the Musicians Contact section of Hot Press. Brian Neavyn find about an add Gerry had put on the magazine.  The band supported A House, Guernica, The Stars of Heaven, Something Happens!, The Gorehounds, Microdisney and The Celibate Rifles.

On Youtube I found another TV appearance. The band is playing “Turning Green” but I’m not sure what show they were on. There is also a promo video for the song “Millenium Train” which is a very noisy track. It is true the band played different sorts of guitar pop, from the jangly, to the noisy to the rockier. Of course I love the jangly the most, like in their song “Going Home”.

Another promo video they made was the one for “Mothers of America” in 1989.

More videos on Youtube. There is a live gig at McGonagles from November 23rd 1989 opening for Fugazi. Also a video of the band playing “Little Boy Lost” in 1987 at the Underground Club, at the TV show “Action Station Saturday” playing “Where’s Andi?” in 1988. ”

What about “You’re Wrong” in a TV show in 1989. What show was this? They seem to have been quite popular during those late 80s. There’s also “Fear in Me” at the Baggot Inn from September 1989.

Sadly there is nothing else written about them on the web. I guess the information I found is quite good. But still would be interesting to know about the demo tapes Irishrock mentions, why they didn’t become bigger if they were on TV shows, at least, how come they didn’t sign to a big label? There are many questions. Why weren’t the band members more active musically after the demise of the band. I’m sure my Dublin friends remember them. I actually saw a girl from Lesotho mentioning the manager of the band on a Youtube comment. Who knows where any information, any details may come from!

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Listen
The Slowest Clock – Going Home

Don’t want to be repetitive but next week I’ll be away until January 2nd. So while I’m away there won’t be any new blog posts and also the Cloudberry Records offer of 3 CDs for the price of 2 will be over. So take advantage of it these last days of December.

It is proving a bit harder to find new music during the end of the year but I’m going all over the web trying to find some good tunes that haven’t been featured on the blog.

Ring Snuten: our friend Patrik is back with a Christmas song, and its instrumental version of the same song, on Bandcamp. “När det lider mot jul” sounds great, full of ramshackling guitar fun! I hope to hear more songs by him the coming year!

Gentle Ivanhoe Death Skulls: the great Toulouse based label Hidden Bay Records just put out a 10 song tape called “Beaches” by this Stockholm based band. There are only 70 copies of the tape so do hurry! Important to mention of course is that the band has in its rank a fellow Cloudberry friend, Rickard who used to be in Robert Church & the Holy Community who once upon a time put out a 3″ with us.

Adam John Miller: the ex-Manhattan Love Suicides has released a digital EP called  “¡Alas, Montañas!” with the label Cath’n’Dad Records from London. There are four upbeat and sunny songs, inspired by the time he spent on the coast of Spain.

Seeing Hands: as there aren’t many finds from this last month, I’m going back, back in time. I did feature Seeing Hands on the blog when they put out a 10″ on Discos de Kirlian. But before that it seems they put out a 7″ last March with the songs “I Knew You” and “It’s True”. Perhaps the Spanish label heard them thanks to this release. It does sound great. I wish I had known, now I need to make miracles to find a copy of the 7″ as it is already sold out.

Crabber: “Bluesbusters” is the fantastic debut album by this Hamburg  based bands that has members of top bands like Kristallin, The Legendary Bang and more. 13 songs of top noisy jangle pop, influenced by the poppier moments of The Wedding Present. It is now available on CD on Jigsaw Records!

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I found this band and song, Rain Sometimes’ “All My Time With You”, on my friends Youtube channel. There are plenty of goodies at David’s account. I’ve discovered lots of music thanks to him. And Rain Sometimes might be the latest one even though this track was uploaded much earlier, in May of 2018.

I wonder where he finds all these treasures. A lot I know of course. He likes the same Swedish pop from 2000s that I love too. So even though if I don’t know the rare track he has uploaded, I know the band, or some people that were involved in it. But with many of them, my knowledge is zero. That is the case with Rain Sometimes.

It looks as if David doesn’t know much about them. He hasn’t added much on the description aside that this song was part of a 4-track EP that was released in 1998. The image he uses has a title, “Not That Kind”. Was it the title of the EP? Or perhaps the name of the first song?

I google and google. And I can’t seem to find anything about the band. If it was a band, or perhaps a one-man project. I can’t figure out where in the world were they based either. If this 4-track was a CD or a vinyl record. It doesn’t seem to be listed on Discogs or Rateyourmusic or anywhere else. I must be missing something.

There has to be some information. Or someone must know something. The song is really nice and that’s why I am curious. I hope that someone can help!

Edit: Patrik, from Ring Snuten (what a coincidence!), just told me some great info about Rain Sometimes! “And yeah, got some inside info about Rain sometimes for you! It’s (of course..) one of Roger Gunnarssons many aliases. If I recall correctly it was a short lived proto-Nixon era project, might even be contemporary with the earliest Nixon stuff. Feel free to confirm this with Roger! And in fact, a re-recorded “All my time with you” was featured on the cd-r only Nixon release “Snow day” EP from 2003. On that version, Mathias Malm of Funday Mornings / Everyday Mistakes fame lays down an extremely characteristic guitar solo!”

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Listen
Rain Sometimes – All My Time With You