So, I have some interesting news. So I’m leaving my current job and joining another graphic department in two weeks time. I don’t know how busy it will be at the new place, if there will be time to update the blog at the pace I’m used to. It will just be a matter to adjust. I like posting the blog in the mornings, as it gets more views if I do it at that time. In the evening, after coming back home from work is never good. Most of the European people who read the blog are already going to bed or sleeping.

In any case these last few weeks at this place I’ve been writing about bands a lot. I have many drafts saved for obscure bands I want to feature. So there will be posts, for sure, even at the busiest times. The only thing that I do more or less at the time of posting are the five new indiepop finds on the web. Those have the be “new” right? And it is not like every day there are 10 or 20 new things to share with everyone! We’ll see how it goes. In the meantime, here are my newest finds over the weekend.

Rådjuret: the latest release by Rasmus’ label Luxury Records sounds ace! The self-titled album by Rådjuret is now available to stream and it is very limited, just 150 copies on vinyl LP. It will be released on September 7th and includes 10 songs of lovely female indiepop. It is the first time I’m listening to this band and I must say I’m impressed. Oh! and they sing in Swedish, and I like that!

Kassia Klein: another find on the Luxury bandcamp is this song called “Du Är Stormen” by Kassia Klein. I suppose a digital single. There is no physical release. This intimate-sounding song is also in Swedish. Even though I thought Kassia Klein was the name of the vocalist, it is not. It turns out they are a duo formed by Kåre Vernby and Maja Gödicke. On their Facebook it says an album is slated for release this September.

De Montevert: my friend Ellinor has been putting out great music under the name De Montevert for many years. But lately she has been kind of quiet. Until a few days ago when she unveiled a new song called “Jag Vet Inte” I hope this means that more new songs are coming up! Perhaps too a new release!

The Goon Sax: the brilliant Brisbane band shared a new song last week called “We Can’t Win”. It is an audio track on Youtube. This song will be included in their upcoming album “We’re Not Talking” that is to be released by Wichita Recordings and Chapter Music. It is great. The band will announce tour dates for the US soon too. I’m excited. I had such a good time at their gig last time in NYC. Even better chatting with them, even though I think I disappointed them as I went home early haha. I’m an old man these days! Maybe if they play on a weekend I can have a couple more beers and chat about obscure Australian bands. Don’t miss this album!

The Daysleepers: one of my favourite bands from Buffalo, NY, are returning after a 10 year break with the album “Creation”. Their dreamy and upbeat shoegaze sounds are back indeed! The band formed by Jeff Kandefer, Mario Gimbrone, Scott Beckstein and Elizabeth Kandefer are returning with a 9 song album and 4 of these songs are available to stream on their Bandcamp! Very exciting! Oddly enough it looks like the album is only available digitally at the moment. That can’t be! I hope there is a physical release. Crossing fingers!

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With the future “Leamington Spa” German compilation Firestation is preparing I’ve been wondering which bands will be featured. And what name will they give their compilation? “The Sound of…” what? Berlin? Probably not. Maybe some other town? Or maybe something totally different?

One of the bands I think would be great to include is Schade Schokolade, mostly because I know nothing much about them and some bio in a booklet would be greatly appreciated. That if I don’t get the chance to interview them before. I hope that happens.

It is true that the band didn’t release any proper records. They only contributed songs to compilations. According to Discogs just 4 compilations. The first one dates from 1992 and was on the “Wegweiser Durch’s Eiswürfelland” tape released by Eiswürfel Tonräger (EIS 2). I’ve mentioned this label in the past, especially when I interviewed the band Die Busfahrer. On this compilation, that has that cool artwork of what looks a superhero with a globe of the Earth as its head, the band contributed “Gute Laune” and “Liebe aus Der Dose”. Both songs are credited to Gelting.

The next year, in 1993, the band appears on yet another fine tape compilation that has been mentioned quite a few times on the blog, the “Frischer Morgentau” tape. This was released by Twee.net Peter Hahndorf’s brother Ulli’s label Steinpilz Tonträger (STEIN 1). On this tape the band appears with one song and was called “Ach Wär’ Doch Sommer”.

The band was to work again with Eiswürfel Tonträger on a CD compilation called “Die Schönste Platte Der Welt” (EIS 7). This compilation was released in 1994 and included many classic German bands. On this CD the band opens the album with “Sommerlied” and also includes a second song, “Tomatensuppe”. I’d love to have a copy of it!

Lastly there is a double CD compilation from 2002 called “Meet Me at Club 2 – A Benefit Farewell”. I suppose the band contributed a song from the early 90s, or did they reform to record a song? The band gave away “Die Szene Wird Dich Leben” for this comp and here we find a few credits. We see that this song was produced by Bernd Hartwich who had been in bands like Bish, Der Englische Garten, Merricks and Silow. Then we see that the track was written by Carl Oesterhelt and Jörg Prigge. Carl was the songwriter and drummer of F.S.K. and keyboardist in Merricks as well as being in bands like 3 Shades of Blues, The Johnsons, Tied & Tickled Trio and Ms. John Soda. I suppose at this point it is safe to assume that the band was based in Munich.

I find on Youtube a video of Schade Schokolade performing “Ach Wär Doch Sommer” or is it Der Ware Grand Prix playing that song? I don’t find it very clear on the Youtube description as it has names on the band lineup that are none of Gelting, Prigge or Oesterhelt.

There also used to be an old Myspace page where there were three songs to stream. Three songs that weren’t part of any compilations as far as I know, “Lang Nicht Gekuesst”, “Ich Will Die Sonne” and “Bleib Locker”.

Sadly there is not much more on the web about them. I wonder if there are more recordings. If there was ever a proper release. Who were the members? Did they play all over Germany? Was there any offers of labels to release their music? Maybe my München friends remember them?

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Listen
Schade Schokolade – Tomatensuppe

A quick note this Friday letting you know that the BV’s 7″s are already at the pressing plant being pressed. We are hoping then that our release date will be sometime in late October/early November. There’s been already a bunch of pre-orders so I’ll keep everyone updated!

Now, here are a few new finds on the web for you all!

Toy Tambourine: this Bandung, Indonesia, band has uploaded three covers of Another Sunny Day which sound really good! They are very faithful though they do add some/more distortion compared to the originals. They have made covers of “Anorak City”, “I’m In Love With a Girl Who Doesn’t Know I Exist” and “I Don’t Suppose I’ll Have a Second Chance”! They also have a new original song called “Candy Kissed (Demo)” worth checking out!

Herlights: one keeps discovering brilliant music coming out from Russia. Herlights is the latest one with their song “SHE”. This is the first time I listen to them and I hope to keep finding out new tracks by them. They have a few more of course, but the previous one dates from 8 months ago, from December. Maybe they do like taking their time.

Ease: another band from Indonesia in this post reviews. This one hails from Jakarta and is a dreampop band, with different influences to Toy Tambourine. They have two songs on their Bandcamp, “Longing” and “III”. Their latest is “Longing” which has very cool wall of guitars over female vocals.

Davey Woodward and the Winter Orphans: the ex-frontman of the Brilliant Corners has a new band, I’m sure you all know that, and it is called like this. They have signed to the German label Tapete Records and they’ve put a video for the song “Dylan’s Poster” to promote their self-titled debut album. And what can I say other than it makes me happy to see my indiepop heroes keeping guitar pop alive!

Sunbather: lastly this Durham, North Carolina, band who has put together a jangly digital album called “Melancholy Daze”. It starts pretty good with the self-titled song “Sunbather” and then it is all very simple, with simple track names, and straight to the point pop songs. Very summery too! Would love to know a bit more about them or him if it is a solo project!

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I’ve been googling for Cross Town Traffic and I keep getting results for Jimmi Hendrix. Dear, dear. That is not what I want, and it is truly disappointing. Hendrix doesn’t have anything to do with the sound of their sole and wonderful single.

The black and white sleeved single, with it’s iconic art, is another record most of us indiepop lovers would love to have. One day perhaps that dream will be true for me. In the meantime, I’m writing this post, hoping to get in touch with the band members as would love to interview them, learn the story behind the band.

There is little I know about them. I do know the band was formed by:
John Ralls on bass
John Wolfendale on drums and percussion
David Adshead on guitar and vocals
Glenn Vinnicombe on keyboards
Nick Clark on lead vocals and guitars

Their double A sided 7″ single was released in 1983 and it was a self-release. I wonder how many copies they pressed. They included two songs, “No For an Answer” and “Hanging On To You”, both written by Nick Clark and both recorded at The Elephant studios.

On Discogs I click on each member of the band hoping to find any project they might have been involved with. But there’s no luck. Only Cross Town Traffic is listed. There are no compilation appearances either. There’s nothing. Hitting a wall so soon doesn’t feel good. I need to find something else about them, this is too little. I love their song “No For An Answer”, I need to find out more.

But I was going to find a blog post on My Life is a Jigsaw dating from July 2016 were Glenn Vinnicombe is listed as a keyboard player during the years 1981 and 1984 in a band called 20th Century (whose “Mad World” song is pretty good! maybe worth a post?). It must be the same Glenn. Following a link to a website where it tells the story of the 20th Century band, I deduce that Cross Town Traffic was based in Cambridge. So with that detail in mind I find a Dr. Glenn Vinnicombe in the department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge. Could it be him?!

What about the other band members? I believe I also think I got the right John Wolfendale. It seems he now lives in Spain and works in developing eco-friendly villas! But no music associated to neither him or Glenn on the web. Maybe they stopped after Cross Town Traffic?

The other band members prove to be much more difficult. Maybe David Adshead studied architecture at the University of Cambridge. But can’t find much about John Ralls (he now lives in Bristol it seems) or about Nick Clark. I would love to know if they all made music with other bands.

That’s all this investigation could dig. It is better than nothing. I couldn’t find out if the band did any other recordings, nor if they had any other releases or compilation appearances. I couldn’t find much. But I’m hoping I’ll be able to find out more about them in the near future. Do any of my Cambridge readers remember them from the early 80s?

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Listen
Cross Town Traffic – No For an Answer

I am still very excited about the news that The BV’s are releasing a 7″ with our little label. You must have listened already the A side, “Every Story is a Ghost Story‘, and loved it as I did? I hope so! If that’s the case let me tell you that the pre-order button is now live at our website. So don’t miss out! The record went to press today, so hopefully in around two months time we will have it at home shipping first to everyone who placed a pre-order.

I’m really impressed that in these times we’ve managed to put out 45 7″ singles. And we are getting closer and closer to 50 7″s. It is not an easy task. But can only thank your support. I hope you keep supporting the label as you’ve been doing for the past 10 years!

Now here are some new finds for you to enjoy in the middle of the week (?).

The Science of Words: our friend Pete from Horowitz, The Rosehips and more is now in a band called The Science of Words alongside Corinne Plant and have just released their debut single called “In a Space” on Next Phase:Normal Records as a 7″. They’ve made a video too for it, which I’m linking here. The sound is a bit different, a bit rougher and rockier, but still you can find the pop sensibility in it.  And the video is very cool!

Foundlings: a London band formed by Amber, Bry, Matty and Oly. Another lovely sounding band that didn’t get invited to Indietracks. The list keeps getting longer and longer. Their latest song was just released on their Bandcamp and it is called “Horizon” and it is just sweet sounds for my ears. The band have a few more songs available like “Misery” and “Your Sister”. Looking forward to them releasing them in physical format!

Tight Knit: a bit of shambolic pop from this Melbourne trio. I don’t know much about them, but there are two songs on their Bandcamp, “Too Hot” and “Want You”, and they are not that new, they are from 2017. Crashpop, lo-finess, and female vocals. It is a good combination.

Todavía: this dreampop project by Rhyan Riesgo from Los Angeles have just uploaded a new song called “Visitor” to their Bandcamp. And what can I say other than it is dreamy? That is pretty obvious, right? It is the first time I’m listening to his music, but I see there are many more songs to keep me busy all afternoon. Good stuff!

Grupo de Inventores: the Zaragoza band has a new song called “La Edad de Oro” which will be included in their new EP “Abgrund”. The band formed by G. Inventor, J. Parra, J. Castejón, Thomas Mazel and Enrique Villanueva, are not new in the blog, last year I recommended their song “Sin Ayuda (Joseph K)”, and now, little by little, they unveil new music.

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I’ve been featuring some 90s Swedish bands in the last few months, and I hope to continue doing son in the coming months as well. As I’ve mentioned before I’m much more familiar with Swedish guitar pop from the 2000s, and the 90s are a time when the Scandinavian country released a massive output of quality music.

As I’m trying to familiarize with many of these bands by buying their records I’m also writing these posts about them, hoping to understand and figure out their scene. A few interviews have been posted and some others are underway, maybe we could paint a picture of it in the near future.

Suredo is one of these bands I’m only giving a proper listen these days. I have heard a few songs on compilations in the past, but only know I’m paying attention to their album and EP. But looking at Discogs, that is not exactly where their story starts.

There are two demo tapes listed, from the early 90s. The first one is quite mysterious. It is just called “3 Songs”, those being “Spoiled”, “Stronger” and “Think” and the band appears with the name Suredoh, instead of Suredo. There is no date on it, and it says that all songs were written by Louis Barlow. Is this not Lou Barlow from Sebadoh? These were cover versions then by the band clearly.

The second tape, from 1990, is for sure our Suredo. The tape titled “…Is Manhate” was self-released and included 4 songs: “Down to the Sea”, “See the Sea”, “Still I’m Counting” and “Cracking”. All of them were recorded between April and May at The Forest studio by Lachen Jonsson. The band members were at this time Anders G. Mobjörk on bass, Ulf Stenport on drums, Anders Arfvidsson on guitara and Mikael Mynerts on guitar. It is important to mention that the last song on the tape was a cover of the Suzanne Vega original.

Two years after the band from Linköping was signing to the legendary Ceilidh Productions and releasing their first proper record. The “Swell EP” (CEI 029) included four new songs, “Sonic Atmosphere”, “Levitate”, “Harmonizer” and “Inside Your Eyes”. The band style was already there, that mix of guitar pop with rough edges, sometimes rockier than poppier, but a good mix altogether.

That same year the band contributes the song “Sonic Atmosphere” to the “Stockholm Party” CD compilation released by Stockholm Records (STOPROCD2).

In 1993 the band appears on another compilation CD. This time on Rainbow Music. The comp was called “Life’s A Joke” (RMCD 3020) and interestingly enough it was compiled by Nicke Boström, the same person behind the classic record store Delicious Goldfish Records, right?

That same year the band was going to release their debut album, “Whatahandsomeface?” on Ceilidh (CEI 035). There were eleven songs on it, all recorded, mixed and produced by Micke Herrström at Decibel Studios in Stockholm. The artwork was created by Anders Arfvidsson, H V Platen and Anette Nantell who had done some artwork for other Swedish bands, like Drug who were featured on the blog not so long ago.

The eleven songs on the album were “Byes”, “Swell”, “Here On My Own”, “Turboprop”, “Childlike”, “Pullover”, “Down-Come”, “Average Cell”, “Pituitary Gland”, “Spare Me Logic” and “Ultramarine”. Everyone of them great, except “Turboprop” that is kind of a metal track (!). Yes, odd. But well, it was the 90s.

Something interesting is that the album was re-released in 2003 as a CDR by the label Commercial Suicide (CSR010). It included 4 bonus tracks, the ones that were on the “Swell EP”. I believe this was the band’s own label  which also was to release a compilation of rare tracks by the band that same year called “Wewerenotespeciallyyounganddiditonlyforthemoney”. A difficult name indeed!

This compilation included 10 songs: “Stronger”, “Spoiled”, “Harmonizer”, “Levitate My Heart”, “Follow”, “She’s Thinking”, “What’s Your Profession”, “Down to the Sea”, “Think!” and “Sonic Atmosphere”.

The first two songs on the record were recorded by Jörgen Värnström at Toodle Recordings in 1994. They were meant to be released as a follow up to the album. “Harmonizer” and “Sonic Atmosphere” were recorded by Lachen Jonsson in 1991 at the Forest and these were the edit versions of the songs that appeared on their third demo called “Gibbon”. “Levitate My Heart” on the other hand was also an edited version of the song that appeared on their fourth demo “Burgundi”.

“Follow” was an outtake from the “Gibbon” demo sessions. The next song, “She’s Thinking” was taken from the band’s second demo “SeaweedIknomore” and “What’s Your Profession” is an outtake from the sessions for that demo in 1991.  “Down to the Sea” was included in the first demo which I mentioned earlier “…Is Manhate”. Lastly, “Think!” was recorded on a 4-track in their rehearsal studios in 1994.

As mentioned, all of the songs but the first two and “Think!” at The Forest between 1990 and 1992. Some other musicians appear on these recordings like Markus Lindén playing bass on “Spoiled” or Jan Altsjö playing a guitar solo in the same song. I would love to listen to these rare recordings.

So now we know that there were more demo tapes, at least three more, “Gibbon”, “Burgundi” and “SeaweedIknowmore”. What other songs did these tapes include? There were more recordings then by Suredo clearly?

I could find on Popfakta some information about “SeaweedIknowmore”. It was released in 1991 and included 4 songs, “She’s Thinking”, “See You”, “Man in the Moon” and “Inside Your Eyes”.

Lastly there are a few other compilations where the band appears. In 1997 on the “Ceilidh 039 Singles & Vinyls” which has been mentioned in the past on the blog several times with the song “Sonic Atmosphere” and lastly their song “Average Cell” appears on the North of No South Records double CD compilation “Svensk Indie 1988-2006 – En Kärleks Historia”.

There is a very good find I did almost immediately I started looking for them. There is a promo video for their song “Byes” on Youtube!

I keep looking for information about them and there is a short bio on the Ceilidh website. There it mentions that the band formed in Linköping in 1990 and they played that same year the annual Ceilidh party on December 28th. Then after the album was released the band split. Mikael Myrnerts went to play in a band called Aloon while the other three members, both Anders (Arfvidsson and Mobjörk) and Ulf were joined by Per Byström of Cloudberry Jam and started the band Auntie Nell which was then renamed to Coach Bob.

I also had a look on Discogs, see what other bands the band members might have been involved with. Anders Mobjörk seems to have been in Galler, Njurmännen and Kvinnan. Not other bands listed for the rest.

On the blog Popvinminns there is a short interview from 2011 where they say that their favourite color was red. Another find on the same blog is a review of their album where they criticise their EP but rave about their album saying the song “Average Cell” could rival Popsicle’s “Hey Princess”.

Then on Last.fm there is a proper biography of the band. Here we learn that originally they wanted a female bassist and proposed Eva from the band Abdullah to join them, but she turned them down. The name came from from the first demo, which was originally called “Sure Do is Manhate”. They decided to combine Sure and Do. They got airplay on the radio show Bommen and the fanzine Sound Affects featured them. In 1994 Anders Arfvidsson left the band as he went to Finland to study architecture and it is at this point that Markus Lindén joins the band. Sadly the year after, 1995, the band split.

At some point the CDR releases were available to order from the Commercial Suicide website, but now it looks that the website is about a totally different thing. So no way to order them. Shame.

What else? Not much more sadly. I lost their trail too soon. Not sure if the band members are still making music or what. Whatever happened to them? Why didn’t they continue with the band? How did their other projects sound like? Did they play all over Sweden? Why so few releases, even though it seems they were very prolific, recording 4 demo tapes? And what songs were included in the demos “Gibbon” and “Burgundi”? Would be great to know. Do you remember them?

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Listen
Suredo – Sonic Atmosphere

Very happy to start this week with some FANTASTIC news. I can now announce our next 7″ which will be coming out this autumn!

You can now check out and listen the A side called “Every Story is a Ghost Story” from the upcoming 7″ by the Falmouth (UK) and Augsburg (Germany) based duo The BV’s! Formed by Josh and Fred, the band, who has released two singles and an album on the German label Kleine Untergrund Schallplatten, are in top form in this new single, the first on this side of the Atlantic. With a superb mix of classic sounding indiepop a la Sarah Records, dreampop, kraut and noise, the BV’s, have been gaining a faithful following and we hope you join too!
The 7″ includes this track on the A side and “Happy, Alright?” on the B side. The artwork was created by German illustrator Marie Doerfler.

In the next weeks I will be adding a pre-order button on the website, but don’t worry I will let you know when that happens. I’m very excited about this release as I’ve been a fan of the band for long, featuring on the blog many times. Also I was really thrilled the day I saw them play live at Madrid Popfest playing a precious set. I hope you all are excited about this news as I am!

So with that exciting news in mind,  here are a few finds I made this past weekend:

Happypills: a nice surprise from Fukuoka in Japan are these 4 songs from this band inspired by “indie pop, dream pop, shoegazer and power pop”. These bedroom recordings are part of an EP titled “Lazy Sun, Late Risers” and they are “Lazy Sun”, “Port Town”, “Circles” and “Whale(late riser)”. I don’t know much more about the band but they have a few more releases to listen.

June Parker: first time I’m listening to this Richmond, Virginia, band and I’m quite surprised I haven’t stumbled upon them before as they have many other releases on their Bandcamp. Anyways, their latest is a self-titled EP released on July 13 and it includes 6 songs of mid 90s sounding guitar pop: “Lava”, “Hold a Mirror”, “My Mantra (That You Said)”, “I Can’t Relate Anymore”, “Sit and Watch” and “Cardinal”. They are formed by Mike, Chris, David and Chad.

Goodnight Moonlight: it is a shame that only one song is available to stream from the “Letters to Japan” EP because it is a super track. It is called just as the EP, “Letters to Japan” and it is the last song, out of 4, included in this 7″ which is available to preorder from Coaster Records from Rotterdam, Netherlands. This Dutch band is formed by Jente Lammerts, Jim Luijten, Micha Zaat, Jasper Bogaard. Hopefully I can find myself a copy before it sells out.

The Bascinets: 5 songs from Columbus, Ohio. That is what the “378 Vol. 1” EP is. This band formed by Nick Wellman, Nick Shew, Tristan Huygen and Trevor Joellenbeck is a new for me. And these songs are not by any means their only ones. They seem to have been going since 2016. There are some great jangly songs to discover here.

Sharesprings: I was recommending on my last post the new album by the fantastic Indonesian band called “Paraparlor”. Well the band has also put together a promo video for the song “Something Soon” and I think it is ace! Check it out!

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From what I know, which is very little, The Sensible Pencils released only one 7″ back in 1983. It was self-released and had the catalog number SRTS83 CUS 1662 and it didn’t even come with a sleeve. Discogs doesn’t even list it.

Of course, I would love to get a copy. It’s been on my wishlist for years. I know I want it because I’ve heard the two songs that were included in the record. They are on Youtube. That helps of course. The names of the tracks are “In a Matter of Time”, which appears on the A side, and “Family Code” which is on the flipside. Will I be able to find anything else about them on the web?

The band was a four piece. That we know. They were formed by Jim Callanan, Phil Milburn, Ronny Slater and Steve Nesbitt. Both songs on the record were written by Jim.

Discogs does list a compilation called “The First Great Wave” where a band called The Sensible Pencils appear. Is it the same band? I wonder if that’s the case. The thing is, this LP comp was released in 1988, 5 years after the single. Could it be the same band? There are two songs credited to them, “Jumping On the Slave Train” and “Weekdays”. The label that put it out was Great Records (OGRT1) from Washington in Tyne & Wearm. Was the band also from the area? Is this the first mystery I need to solve?

To my big surprise I find a Facebook page for them that was created last year. What are the chances? Doesn’t look like there are lots of information but I’m sure I’ll find something. I look through the few photos they have uploaded and there is a newspaper clipping from the Sunderland Echo written by Paul Woods, later of the Kane Gang. On it he mentions that the band hailed from Low Fell and Wearside. Where is that?

Low Fell is a suburb of Gateshead situated in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead in Tyne and Wear, England. Built predominantly on sandstone, grindstone and clay. For centuries little more than part of a windswept, barren and treacherous heath, the settlement at Low Fell was initially established by a moderate influx of tinkers and miners in the 18th century. 

Wearside is an area of North East England centred on the continuous urban area of Sunderland by the River Wear, and in the wider sense, including separate neighbouring settlements such as Seaham.

Okay, the north east of England. Sunderland is a big name, there is a footie team. But let’s get back to the article which seems to have been written in 1983 as the writer mentions that the single is about to be released. It also says that the band’s live set comprised with many cover versions of bands like the Rubinoos or The Jam, and that they had a Postcard Records sensibility.

An important details is that only 500 copies was pressed of the record.

Another photo I find lets us know the band played more than a few times at The Honeysuckle in Gateshead. It seems this venue is no more and now a Tesco sits in its place. Another post lets me know the band played at a venue called the Gosforth Hotel and another one at the Biddick Farm Arts Centre in Washington, in 1981. Wow. So the band was around at that time already!

Something else that caught my attention on the web is that the band changed their name at some point to The Playground, and under that name they re-released the single, with the same two songs. The only difference being that the labels had changed. Now they were red and black with a different design. Why?

And just like that I hit a wall. There is nothing else written about them. Because of what I found on the Facebook page, I can tell that the band had many more recordings. I would love to hear them. And definitely find out why they changed their names. An email interview with them would be fantastic. Do you remember them?

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Listen
The Sensible Pencils – In A Matter of Time

So, my trip to Puerto Rico was good in the way of having some days off work. But I do feel that I wouldn’t recommend going there for more than 3 or 4 days. I was almost 6 days there. There were too many as there are not that many things to do unless you rent a car I suppose. But then the island is quite expensive so don’t know if you want to become poor there?

Definitely the best of it was the Old San Juan area, the historical area of the capital. It is colorful, picturesque and very pretty. The two old forts are also worth visiting. There are museums and nice areas to walk. The cathedral is not impressive though, it is a small church. All of  Old San Juan is a UNESCO world heritage site, so they take care of it. So that’s good, and good for a day or two walking experience.

Then the beaches are ok. Not impressive. I heard the best beaches are in the island of Culebra. Or in the main island but not on the North where San Juan is. We visited Isla Verde beach on Monday, and I think that was my favourite, but maybe because it was a Monday and there weren’t many people there.

The food wasn’t something to go crazy for sadly. I enjoyed some dishes of course, but they were more like pan-Caribbean dishes like picadillo, mofongo or ropa vieja. Their snacks, like the alcapurrias or sorullos, I thought were whatever. And again, the worst part was the prices of these meals. Much more expensive than New York!

And then, I really hated the hiking in the national park El Yunque. I got my shoes wet. Not for me. And then the bioluminescent bay kayaking? I barely saw those bioluminescent bacteria that are in the lagoon. Maybe there are not many because there are so many tourists going to that? And the tour price for these two? Steep, not worth for what you get. So, my suggestion again, go 3 days, enjoy Old San Juan and a beach there and you get a nice summer escape. That I would say is a good plan.

Of course, there was no indiepop there at all.

So that’s that. Now music time!

Nancy Sin: Joey Bautista and Nick Noble form this San Diego, California band. It seems these 3 new songs that form “Fall For You” EP are their first effort since the 2015 “Room for Rent/Again and Again” songs. Quite a break! On this new fun and upbeat EP we find three songs, all recorded at Earthling Studios and with the help of their friends Nicolas Lara and Clara Valenzuela: “Fall For You”, “Daydream” and “Two Words”. Great to see more latinos making indiepop!

Sharesprings: our favourite Indonesian indiepop band have just released 8 new songs! How can I not be happy about that? The band formed by Ardhi, Putriani, Rusli and Yehezkiel have penned in the past many favourite songs, even one of them included in a Cloudberry compilation. Now they show they are still in top form with these songs that form their first album “Paraparlor” which is available on CD from Dismantled Records. Oh! I need a copy!

Frankie Valet: out now on It Takes Time Records from St Louis, Missouri, is the tape album “Stop Apologizing”. Sadly I can’t say if it is all good as only 2 songs are available to stream out of 8. But they are fine songs, especially the first one called “Something To Do With a Mouth”. The other one is not as upbeat and is called “Why Blue”. The band also hails from St. Louis and is formed by Alison Setilli, Felix Nelson, Gram Tolish and Jack Elliott-Higgins.

Рыцарь Диких Яблок: a few Russian bands have been appearing in the last two years. This is the latest one, and I believe it translates as the Wild Apple Knights. They are based in St. Petersburg and have two collections of songs on their Bandcamp. I don’t know much as everything is written in Cyrillic, but I do know the songs sound good to me. In the end that is what matters, right?

Caramel Snow: lastly for this week these two new songs from Delmar, New York. The digital single “Who’s Afraid of Sasha Grey? / The Secret Diary” are the latest songs by this artist that has been on a few labels like Jigsaw Records and Shiny Happy Records.

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Oostkamp is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. On January 1, 2014, Oostkamp had a total population of 23.016. The name Oostkamp comes from the Medieval name “Orscamp”, meaning place of the horses. The old word ors is a cognate of the English word horse.

That’s where we are heading with today’s post. Definitely the first time I feature a band from there. It is also true that not many Belgian bands have appeared on the blog. But it is definitely worth it.

I discovered His Royal Fume this year. I stumbled upon their music on Youtube and I have been getting their records. So far I’ve got their first 2 7″s and I’m missing their last 7″ and their album. I hope to complete my collection sometime soon. Crossing fingers.

As I said, I only found out about this brilliant guitar pop band this year, about three months ago. So I know very little about them. Time to get to work then, find out who were His Royal Fume.

According to Discogs their first release dates from 1991. It was a 7″ released on Boom! Records (BOOM! 41) that included two songs, “Miles Away” on the A side and “Closing the Gap” on the B side. I may dare to say that my favourite of their songs is “Miles Away”, a brilliant jangly track.

Their label, Boom! Records, is new to me too. I learn that it was founded in 1987 by Jean-Pol Van Haesendonk in Halle, Belgium. But there are other details in this record, we know that the cover was designed by Carlo Wauters and JP Van (that is Jean-Pol from Boom! Records) with the photography of Olivier Matthys. Carlo it seems did a lot of the art for the label.

It is worth mentioning now the band members. The band was formed by:
Patrick Provoost – vocals
Filip Depreeuw – guitar
Geert Maertens – guitar
Johan Isselée – drums
Peter Vanlandschoot – bass

On this first 7″ they got Jan Hautekiet, a well known Belgian National Radio host, to play keyboards. The record was produced by Paul Despiegelaere and engineered by Peter Bulkens.

Their next 7″ was released that same year, 1991, again on Boom! Records (BOOM! 54). This 7″ also had two songs on it, “Cut To Heal” on the A side and “So Confused” on the B side. Now playing keyboards on the songs was Jeroen Ravelsoot. The producer and engineer were the same as in the first 7″ though this time Paul Despiegelaere helped playing percussion, walga and vocals too. The songs were recorded at Ace Studios on October 1991. The art this time was a painting created by Peter Jonckheere while the layout for the art is credited to Herman & Isabelle.

Then there is a small silence by the band. They return in 1993 with their last single, “I Can’t Follow”. This 7″ had on the B side the song “Words Don’t Come”. This 7″ was released to promote their self-titled album that was going to be released that same year. Both of the songs on the record were written by the drummer, Johan Isselée. But there is also another difference. The band had changed labels. Now they were on Play That Beat! (AMC 10.3.310). This was also a Belgian label that according to Discogs is a dance-related label. Odd, as His Royal Fume doesn’t sound dance at all!

The self-titled album came out in 1993 on Play That Beat! Records (AMC 59305). It was released on CD and all 10 songs were recorded at Ace Studio and Square Studio. The songs from previous 7″s were included, the tracklist being: “I Can’t Follow”, “Words Don’t Come”, “Cut To Heal”, “Falling From Grace”, “Beautiful Crime”, “Digging Holes”, “Little Hands”, “Miles Away”, “So Confused” and “Closing The Gap”. The art, the photography of a crown, was created by Jo Clauwaert.

The band have a few compilation appearances listed. The first on a 1992 tape called “No Songs to Waste / Vol 1” released in Belgium. It has no label nor catalog number but we do know it was compiled by Peter Slabbynck, who had been in bands like The Brilliant Drumheads, The Boy Wonders and more, trying to document a part of the local scene around the city of Bruges. On it the band appears with a song called “Do Or Die (Demo 1989)”.

In 1993 the contribute the album opener, “I Can’t Follow You”, to a Play That Beat! compilation called “Die Nieuwstraat Van Studio Brussel Vol. 1” (AMC 59310). It would take more than 10 years for their next contribution. In 2006, the same song, “I Can’t Follow You”, appears on the compilation “Bel 90 – Het Beste Uit De Belpop Van 1993”. I suppose a sort of greatest hits of Belgian pop of 1993?

Lastly, the same song, appears on “Bel 90 – Het Beste Uit De Belpop Van 1990-1999”, which is actually a box set that includes the 1993 CD compilation they were on.

Are the band members listed in other bands? Well Patrick Provoost, Geert Maertens and John Isselée were part of the postpunk band Red Zebra in the 80s. John was also part of a band called The Man With 2 Faces in the 2000s. Peter Vanlandschoot was involved in Birkenhead, Sooner, Gloin and Substance 69.

I look for more information on the web but it doesn’t seem to be my lucky day. Whenever the band is mentioned it is through Red Zebra. It seems Red Zebra was a pretty popular band in Belgium. Much more than His Royal Fume it seems. I do find a listing of a gig on May 3rd, 1993, at the Ancienne Belgique in Brussels.

So I will have to resort in the few Belgian readers of the blog. Help me out here. Do you remember them? Whatever happened to them? Are there any other recordings by them? They had very fine songs, and two songs that for me should be classic of Belgian pop like “Miles Away” and “So Confused” which are brilliant!

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Listen
His Royal Fume – Miles Away

Just got back from a small break in Puerto Rico and I wanted to start blogging immediately, being sure that I’ve missed a lot of music these past few days! What have is new in the world of Bandcamp?

The Perfect Kiss: “Filter” is the name of the 10″ mini-album that the band released on Elefant Records late in June. There are 8 songs of terrific synth-pop that I’m already hooked with. I definitely need to order this record in the next couple of weeks after I recover of my trip expenses! I hope by then it is not sold out. It does look as its 500 copies are only available on vinyl.

Ultra Material: Sarah Deasy, Nick Skepper, Zuzana Kovar and Matt Deasy form this band from Brisbane, Australia, a city that in the past few years have given us so many great bands and songs. The band are releasing their second full lenght titled “Cosmic Anti Stuff” on August 29th on Black Wire Records and you can hear/stream two of the songs to be included, “Rhodamine” and “Transfer” at their Bandcamp. They sound ace!

яблоня: I have no clue about this Moscow, Russia, band. But it sounds AMAZING. At least that was my first impression when I played “мысли”, their latest song on Bandcamp. Who are they? There is very little information. But there is a trove of super bedroom indiepop with boy/girl vocals. Would be great to know if their music was available in physical format.

Hyperdream: the new project by Jesús Sandoval from Emma’s House Records and many great bands, shoegaze and indiepop, from Culiacán in Mexico. There are three songs on his Bandcamp (with lyrics!), “Abstention”, “Selfish Dream” and “Someone Like You”, were their trademark are a fuzzy wall of guitars. My favourite is the oldest one of them all, “Someone Like You”, which perhaps is also the poppiest of them all!

Arsenic!: this New York band which I have never seen live have two lovely classic sounding songs on their Bandcamp: “What Tone Colors The Whole?” and “Amy”. Please have a listen to both of them, they do sound great! The band formed by (two Italian-Americans or second or third generation, am I guessing right?) Tony Fischetti and John Mazzoni (with help from friends) may have recorded their best two songs!

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I stumbled upon “Crashing Down” by The Gift on Youtube and wondered how come I have never heard about this brilliant track before? I’ve been an avid guitar pop fan for a long time I think, but had no clue about it. Well, it happens. Of course you can’t know it all, though I do try to find out as much information about the songs and bands I like. I will have to find out now, anything, any details, related to this obscure band.

Discogs lists one record the one that has “Crashing Down” and “It’ll End In Tears”. A double A-sided record. But the mystery starts here. There are two versions of the same single! Let’s investigate!

The first version was released in 1982 on Venus Records (Orbit 1). It is no surprise to anyone that this is the only record listed on this label. It might have been a self-release. Also notice the year. 1982. It was pre-indiepop. Around the time where a bunch of bands were starting to create what I like to call proto-indiepop, bands that were punk and new wave influenced, like many that appear on the Messthetics comps. Though it must be said that The Gift sound more elegant, more proficient than the bands on those comps.

Both songs were recorded at Spaceward Studios. This was a recording studio based in Cambridge, in the UK, that was founded by Mike Kemp and Gary Lucas. The studio was around from 1972 to 1988.  The producer for the record was of course Mike Kemp and the band. We do get some credits on the sleeve for the band members. We get to know it was formed by Carl Walker, Dave Hodges, Daz, John Jacques and Nick Halliwell. We also find an address for Venus Records in Exeter.

The second version of the single came out two years later, in 1984. This time it was released under the name Nick Halliwell & The Gift. I wonder why they changed the band name, why now Nick’s name was on the front. Also as I mentioned earlier, the A side was now “It’ll End in Tears” and the B side was “Crashing Down”. Maybe because “It’ll End in Tears” was written by Nick while “Crashing Down” was written by Carl? The art also changed, before we had seen the band’s name typed big using kind of a Japanese looking font, whereas this new version had the black and white photo of a woman. This 7″ was released by Off Chute Records (OCS1), and as you imagine, it was the only release on the label. So probably a self-released record.

Discogs also has 3 compilation appearances. One of them dating from the 80s and the other two much more recent. The 80s one was a tape called “Advice From a Caterpillar” that was released in 1985 by Acid Tapes (TAB 022). I’m familiar with Acid Tapes as they released the Stormclouds, a big favourite band of mine, but to be honest don’t know much more of their output. This label was started by Alan Duffy in 1983 and released records until 1998 I believe. Anyhow, on this tape, The Gift contributes a song that wasn’t included in the 7″, one called “I Saw Blue”. I wonder then if the band had more songs, more recordings. I definitely would love to hear them.

Then in the year 2000, the band contributes “It’ll End in Tears” to a compilation called “Year Zero: The Exeter Punk Scene 1977-2000” that was co-released by Hometown Atrocities (Home 008) and Boss Tuneage (Bostage 509). To be honest I don’t know any of the bands that appear on the comp, but what I do get from it is a very important detail, what each of the members of The Gift played. Daz Coles played bass, Dave Hodges played drums, Carl Walker played the guitar and sang while Nick Halliwell sang and played the guitar.

Lastly there is an unofficial CD listed called “2008 Choking on Cufflinks Gift Pack” that was given away to the people who pledged to the Choking on Cufflinks show during the 2008 WFMU fundraising marathon. It is a CD compilation put together by this US radio station. I wonder if they got permission by the band to include their song “Crashing Down”?

I look as always into the band members, if they have been involved in any other bands. I see Daz Coles had played for The Lou Reichner Band who released a 7″ in 1980. The only other band member who seems to have other bands listed on Discogs is Nick Halliwell. He was also in The Lou Reichner Band but most interestingly he was in bands that I have recommended in the blog before like The Distractions or The Granite Shore. And that’s not all, in 1984 he released a solo album called “Tender Hours”. It was put out by Acid Tapes on tape. Would love to hear that too!

More interesting details. Nick Halliwell also runs the label Occultation Records who released the comeback of The Wild Swans for example. And of course I was aware of the label and his bands, but never knew about his 80s past, about this great record by The Gift.

I find an article on the page Velvet Sheep where Nick picks 7 songs. On there he mentions that when he was in The Gift he used to play Kim Wilde’s “Kids in America”. Are there any recordings of that? Then on another interview, on the Stereo Embers magazine, Nick mentions The Gift but he doesn’t seem to be pleased with the record, he says it wasn’t noteworthy.

I can’t find any more information about The Gift. Of course there is quite a lot written about Nick’s other projects, and there are a few interviews with him. But none really mention this band. But I’m curious. I would love to know more about The Gift. And if possible listen to more recordings. Do you remember them?

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Listen
The Gift – Crashing Down

I’m publishing this post just hours, minutes, before I head to the airport for a few days in Puerto Rico. I will be away for 6 days, so no posts on Friday or Monday. Any orders placed these days will be mailed next Wednesday. So don’t worry!

But before I leave I’m leaving you some cool music to check out!

Zimt: “Empathielosigkeit”, one of the songs that was included in “Glückstiraden”, the debut album of the German band, has just got a video. And it is top class. Zimt is one of my favourite bands and I owe discovering them to Ronny, but now the band is on Tapete and I suppose they keep getting bigger. Maybe one day I’ll get to see them in New York? Or in Germany? It is been a while since I’ve visited!

The Sunbathers: “If Only” is the new song and video our old friends The Sunbathers have shared with everyone as they promote their upcoming album “A Weekend Away With…” that will be released by the good Chris Mac on Jigsaw Records. It is gorgeous. It brought me such good memories of the time I got to release a few of their songs, and even better when I saw them at Indietracks, when on the platform they played a few songs for me and a friend. It makes me nostalgic, their precious music. One of the albums I’m looking forward the most this year.

The Lousy Pop Group: the one man project from Depok, Indonesia, has uploaded a brand new popstatic song to Soundcloud called “I’m Waiting For You to Shine”. Will it be released in any other way? Will some of the fine pop labels in Indonesia pay attention to this brilliant song? I hope so!

Tracey Read: this is a new discovery for me, that I found through David, but it does look as these recordings are older. They date from 2001. Tracey Read had released before the “Buster Keaton” 7″ on Chapter Music, and this 8 song album called “Everything is Real” is long sold out on its CD version but it is available digitally. Lovely indiepop in the vein of Tiger Trap or Tracey Thorn (?).

Glider: there are a few copies remaining of the Falmouth’s band new 7″. It includes two songs, “See You There” and “Wen (Summer1991CE)”. The duo formed by Tom Lobban and Louie Newlands recorded these songs back in 2015 and the record was released in 2017. Now, I want to buy everything I recommend, but it is not easy. Bands that I feature, I’d love to get your records and review them, but I don’t want them for free, maybe we could trade. Drop me a line if interested. If not, doesn’t matter. I do it for the love of music. And I’m really loving what I hear from Glider. Are they still going?

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This might surprise you, but Cyclon86 will be the first band I do some “investigative blogging” since I came back from Mexico. Yes, that’s right, I’ve had a bunch of posts ready, always a step ahead.

As I’ve been rotating the countries of origin of the bands featured on the blog, I thought it would be a great idea to return to Japan. And even better with a band I know very little about, whose records I still don’t own, a blank page. I only know the songs that I’ve been able to hear on Youtube, which are just 4. Are there more? Where were they released? Interested? Then join me in this search.

Cyclon86 on Discogs has very little listed, mostly compilation appearances. There is one split 7″ though, one that they shared with Soft Parade sometime in the early 2000s I believe. It is also the only record listed for the label, Pillow Case Records, having the catalog number PCR-001. Was it a self-release by one of the bands on the split? Or perhaps it was a joint effort? Or maybe just a label that was interested in both bands? How could we find out?

The band had the A side for themselves. There they had two songs, “K Girl” and “Shooting Star”. Soft Parade on the other hand appears on the B side with “Blue Blouse Female” and “Sunday”. The first song by Cyclon86 catches my curiosity, is it about a K Records fangirl? And what about the band’s name? Is the 86 in their name a homage to C86?

The first time I heard the band was through a 2002 compilation I had Mp3s of. Must have been through Soulseek ages ago as I don’t have those files anymore. It was the “Bluebadge Compilation Vol.2 Pop Comes Up!” that was released by Bluebadge Label (BBCD-002) back then. On this gem of a compilation (there are many obscure Japanese bands on it) the band contributes the song “Letters”.

But that wasn’t the first compilation appearance by the band. A year earlier, on another CD comp, they had the song “Running Planet”. This CD was titled “Mo-Rough” and was released by Coa Records (COAR-0008) in 2001. Something interesting about this release is that Cyclon86 appears as Cyclon 86, with a space between letters and numbers. Was it how they were called originally? Or did they change a little bit their name after this compilation?

Lastly, in 2005, on another Bluebadge compilation, “Guitar Pop Crazy! (Bluebadge Compilation Vol.3)” (BBCD-009) the band had the song “Scapegoat”. I believe I’ve talked about this CD before, when I featured the fine band Margarets Hope*.

Then I’m pretty sure the band contributed to a compilation called “Sunshine Pop Show! Vol.3” released by the Smile Pop Label in 1999 with the song “Summer in the Pool”.

But most importantly, what Discogs is missing, is a split CD with the band Harmony Hatch. I could find a tracklist for the CD on Amazon Japan but doesn’t specify which songs belong to who. There are 8 in total so I’m going to guess there were 4 for each band. If that was the case Cyclon8 contributed “K Girl”, “Scapegoat”, “Summer in the Pool” and “Ice Coffee” while Harmony Hatch had “White Pearl Worts”, “Blue Blue Bicycle”, “My Red Watch” and “His Honey Bunny”. Would love to hear this records sometime, discover Harmony Hatch as well.

My next big find in this investigation was to find out that one of my favourite Japanese shoegaze bands, Bertoia, has at least one member that was in Cyclon86. That is Yuta Ikawa or Shokk as he likes being called. According to a blog I found, he also was a support musician for the one-woman band Murmur.

There used to be a Myspace for Cyclon86 too, but it doesn’t exist anymore.

On Twitter, on the Philia Records account, I find a post where I clearly see a cassette by Cyclon86, a red cassette. What is in that one? I would love to know. The mystery becomes bigger and bigger. It is strange, but I can’t find gigs they played. It usually is easy with Japanese bands to find that. Usually gigs are very much recorded on the web, on old geocities pages and such. Not this time around.

I can’t find the other band members names either. Who were they? What was their complete discography? When did they start as a band and when did they split? Where they based in Tokyo or another Japanese city? The questions are many. But there are little answers. Do my Japanese friends remember them?

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Listen
Cyclon86 – Shooting Star

So all Okama Flannel Boy 7″ pre-orders are on their way to everyone who placed an order. Very excited about it. Looking forward to what you think, and any reviews that may appear in the next few weeks. I will also make sure the Bandcamp with Okama Flannel Boy songs is updated.

There is no time for being lazy now as I have a new 7″ around the corner by a superb band. I will be announcing it this Wednesday. I do have to say that there won’t be any posts this Friday or Monday as I will be away in Puerto Rico for a small break. I will return next week of course.

What did I find this weekend when it comes to new indiepop? Let me share with you:

Jasmine Minks: definitely a great thing is to see surface the “Scratch the Surface” album demos on Soundcloud. There are 7 demos available to stream that were recorded as demos for the 1989 album. Some of them made the final cut, others didn’t, some became live favourites, and some haven’t been heard publicly before. And I urge you all to have a listen! I remember when I got the chance to interview Jim Shepherd, and later meet him in the UK, happy times!

Space Daze: not sure if Seapony is still going, but Danny Rowland, their guitarist and main songwriter has been making available songs for his solo project Space Daze. The latest is a 5 song digital EP titled “Miss the World”. The music is a bit different to the poppier Seapony, but don’t be afraid. There are some very sweet moments like the song “In the Dark”, with a jangly guitar and a dreamy vibe.

Citrus Clouds: the Phoenix, Arizona, band that I have featured in the past is back. The trio formed by Erick, Stacie and Angelica, have two brilliant new jangly tracks on their Bandcamp, sort of a digital single. They are called “Golden Sun” and “Nothing Familiar”. Also worth noting for those in the Arizona area, the band will be touring this August, so please don’t miss them!

The Jangle Band: the brilliant Perth, Australia, band is back with a limited CD single! The band formed by legendary Australian musicians like Ian Freeman, Jeff Baker, Joe Algeri, Dave Wallace and Mark Eaton, is sharing with us “The Guy Who Used to Care” and “Now That’s Over” which I’m hoping are a teaser of a second album to be released in the near future (?). I hope that’s the case, but if not, it doesn’t matter, these are superb songs to have on repeat.

March, April & May: there is a new fanzine by February Records. It features a bunch of great bands, interviews with Tracyanne & Danny, Night Flowers, Sushi Backpack or Math & Physics Club. It also comes with access to download the 6-track EP that you can stream on the label’s Bandcamp with bands like Famous Problems, Gabardine, Mini Dresses, Sushi Backpack and Kevin Hairs.

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The name Justine is a girl’s name of French, Latin origin meaning “fair, righteous”.

I go back to the Kittenish CD. I still don’t own a copy but most, if not all, of the songs are on Youtube to stream. I should try to get a copy soon. The bands on it are mostly unknown to me so I keep discovering new sounds and new bands from Sweden thanks to it. Last time it was the Soapflakes, who I got in touch with and I hope to get interview answers pretty soon. Today I want to investigate about a band whose song I also liked quite a lot, a band called Justine Ahead.

The song they contributed to this compilation CD released jointly by Ceilidh Productions (CEI 037) and the Ultra Magazine in 1994 was called “Popflower”. And it is brilliant. If you want to read a bit more about the Kittenish CD and also about the Soapflakes, I leave you the link of my previous post here. As you’ll see for Soapflakes at least I could find a poster, an image, to create the top image of the post. For Justine Ahead, I haven’t found any photos nor memorabilia of the band. Were they that obscure?

Well, the band doesn’t count with any other release listed on Discogs. Maybe this song, “Popflower”, was the only one that was properly put out on a physical record. But I’m sure they must have recorded some more on that same recording session. It has to be that way. And I would love to listen to any other songs by the band.

I find a blog called Tidskriften Pop Revisited. There is a mention of the band, more like a small review. They mention that the band could be the next Stevepops, that they are the typical Ceilidh band. Maybe they are right, but the truth is Ceilidh didn’t release ay records by them.

Then the Kristina venue page mentions them. I can’t recall, but I’m sure I’ve mentioned this Växjö classic venue on the blog before. In the about section the Cafe/Venue, writes about the bands that hailed from Växjö and played at their club in the 90s like Wagon, The Ark or Justine Ahead.

But after after searching and searching I’m going to have a break. The website Svensk Mediedatabas, which I assume is a database of records and the sort of Swedish artists, has another release listed other than the Kittenish appearance. There was a 1994 release called “Catchy Tunes” that seems to have been self-released by the band on cassette. There were three songs included in it, “Rain”, “Weekend” and “Summersong”.  Oh my! Would love to hear these songs someday. Anyone can hook me up with that?

Lastly I found another hit, on the Scandinavian Indie Mailing List of the 90s, as usual there is a list of addresses for fans to get in touch with bands. Justine Ahead appears among them, and here it confirms that they were based in Växjö. Also it adds a name, surely one from the band, Jorgen Westergren. What did he play in the band is of course the first question one asks?

As you can see, lots of blanks left to fill. Not much more to go on. I could find a Jorgen Westergren still in Växjö, but couldn’t find him connected to any music bands. Maybe it could be him, maybe not. Who knows. The truth is, I would love to listen to more songs by them. Would love to know who else was in the band. How many years were they active? Where in Sweden did the play gigs? Why no proper releases? Maybe some of my Swedish friends could help me out with this mystery?

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Listen
Justine Ahead – Popflower

Okay, so as you know by now all orders of Okama Flannel Boy debut 7″ have started shipping. But that’s not all. I’m very happy to announce that our 45th 7″ will coming out in a few months. Do you want more details?

Well, then you’ll have to wait until next week. I can give you some hints. It will have two songs. The band is formed by two people. They have released already a few records, and always in the same European label. The two members come from different countries. Have your guess.

So having said that, let’s see what we find on the web, what new music there is for you to enjoy this weekend.

Lost Ships: let’s start this review with the debut EP by Lost Ships from Portsmouth. The band which features Simon from the terrific band The Kites (who were interviewed in the blog), Ashley, Dev and Dave have titled this jingle jangly effort as “Best Laid Plans”, and indeed it is a good plan. The four songs on it are “Best Laid Plans”, “Rose Sings the Big Tunes”, “Half Life” and “Here’s What You Could Have Won”. All were recorded, mixed and mastered at Southsea Sound by Tim Greaves. Give them a listen, you won’t be disappointed!

Andrew Younker: the latest from the superb Mexican label Emma’s House Records is a 9 song album by Andrew Younker who I have never heard before. The album is also available on tape on Hidden Bay Records. But I’m more of a fan of CDs. Though make it fast, don’t be like me, as there are only 100 copies available. Right now only three of the songs are available to stream, “Turning Twenty”, “Oracle Girl” and “Nervous to Exist Around You”. All of them are golden.

The Muldoons: this new single by this Paisley band is truly brilliant! Where do they come from? The two songs “Lovely Things” and “Rub it In” are lovely and jangly, with all the right influences. They give me goosebumps! Oh these Scottish janglers, they always know how to do indiepop the right way. They do remind me quite a bit to Northern Portrait. And that’s a GOOD thing. Honestly, this is a winner. Please release it in physical format!

Massage: didn’t know Alex who used to be in the Pains of Being Pure at Heart had moved to Los Angeles. That there he had formed a band called Massage and that this month they were to release an album called “Oh Boy”. To promote it the band has uploaded “Lydia” to their Bandcamp which will be included in the record. It is great! Before that, in 2016 they recorded two songs, “Crying Out Loud” and “Under”, both highly recommendable. The band is formed by Alex, Andrew Romano, Gabi Ferrer, Michael Feliz and David Rager. Looking forward to getting the album when available!

Orchin: lastly this digital single by another Los Angeles band. “Hate” and “Talking Alone/Walking Alone” are very fine guitar pop songs, 80s new wave influenced, that sound classy and elegant. For some reason they bring to mind the Spanish band Sr. Chinarro to me. Maybe it is the way the vocalist sing. They are formed by Jeremy, Peyton, Nathan and Griffin. Top stuff!

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Sold only at their gigs and parties. That was the way the only proper release by Mondo Popless was distributed in the early 90s. How to find a copy these days? That is the question, though to be fair the two songs that appear on the 7″ are not that hard to find. I’ll explain why in a bit.

But say you attended their gig at the Portsmouth Polythecnic in 1991, you’d have a chance to buy a record directly from the band. And get two of their songs, “Last to Know” on the A side and “Canned Groove” on the B side. Perhaps you would have loved a sleeve for this 7″, but it seems there wasn’t one. A shame really as it seems the band had a good eye for design judging from the band’s logo on the B side label.

The 7″, released in 1991, on the band’s own label Totally Excellent (MOND 1) was the only release as far as I know by the band and the label. But as I mentioned earlier, these two songs are not that hard to find. They appeared on a compilation CD, in 1992, called “Kill the Flippers With Guitar” that was released by the legendary Japanese label Vinyl Japan (ASKCD9). Actually it wasn’t only released on CD, there is also a vinyl LP version of the compilation (ASKLP9).

This compilation had a cool illustration on the front cover done by the French illustrator Antoine Bernhart and incluced bands like The Revs, Joyriders, Lovejunk, Elmerhassel, Leatherface, The Hysterics and The Beyonds. Not exactly indiepop, right? But that’s how it was. Two songs each.

I find some mentions of the band on a Youtube channel called BoomhauerUK. There is one video where a user comments that one of the songs by Mondo Popless was included in an old skate video from 1993. Was it a TV commercial? or what is this person talking about? I would love to find out. Of course it is the song “Canned Groove” the one that is on this video.

Another mention I find about this band is on a book called Pop Club 1992 that was written by Mick Mercer. A short book of 100 pages on A4 size paper. On this book there are 53 black and white photos and 231 colour photos. Among these photos some belong to Mondo Popless. Would be interesting to get a copy of this book as there are other good bands I’m interested in like The Bedflowers, Thin Gypsy Thieves or Ludicrous Lollipops.

Then I find the photography website of Al Pulford, a UK based photographer. Here he has a gig list, I assume that he attended, where Mondo Popless is listed. It seems Al attended a Mondo Popless gig in Ipswich on April 24th, 1992, at the Caribean Centre. The bands that played that evening were Mondo Popless, Phobia and the Ludicrous Lollipops.

Sadly that’s all I have been able to find on the website. No band members names, nor where the band hailed from. I am waiting now for my copy of the Vinyl Japan compilation, hoping that maybe there some credits will be included and shed some light about this obscure early 90s band. Do you remember them?

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Listen
Mondo Popless – Canned Groove

Tomorrow I should be getting the Okama Flannel Boy inserts so on Friday I’ll start mailing every pre-order! I’m very very excited 🙂 That’s all I have in mind now! And of course when you receive the record, on the insert, you’ll notice that our next 7″ is announced there! What is it? I’ll announce it on the blog next week!

Now, onto some nice indiepop finds:

Bodega Sisters: I think this is the third time I mention this Swedish band on the blog. I’ve been following their music as it is one of the most interesting and enigmatic bands I’ve found in the past few months. Their latest song is called “Footnote/Static” and it has been included in a compilation called “Breakfast #3” released by Breakfast Records from the UK. Great stuff!

Coming Up Roses: a new dreampop band from Singapore that I found through the Facebook of Singapore’s one and only Vernon, the indiepop master. The band formed by Emily, Darius, Bruce and Lorenzo was formed in 2016 as a duo but last year they expanded into this full lineup. Now, in full force, they have recorded a few demo, being “Sky” truly lovely. Looking forward to their next recordings, see how they evolve.

Sky Faction: the Oakland/San Francisco band is back with two songs, “Cyber Lover” and “Farmer Joe’s”, and one starts to wonder how are they not much more known around. All of the songs on Bandcamp are terrific, very much influenced by the female led indiepop bands from the late 90s. Hoping these songs get a physical release soon!

The Catherines: I feel every time there is a new The Catherines song, which is quite often, I’m recommending them. The band makes my job easy when it comes to finding new music. And I’m not complaining, because normally their songs are great. Last week they released a new song on their Bandcamp, “I Was Struggling With Your Magic Biscuit Tin”. There is also an uncut version of the song that lasts 40 seconds more.

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: Glenn Donaldson has been in a few bands in San Francisco like Skygreen Leopards or the Art Museums. Under The Red, Pinks & Purples he has uploaded 7 demos to Bandcamp. They are lo-fi indeed, almost bare bones, but they are a wave of fresh air. What is nice though is that there will be some studio version of these songs sometime soon. Let’s keep an eye open.

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I was thinking about a Spanish band I used to love back in the day, in the mid 2000s. They were called Nobel and I really didn’t know much about them. I knew they were a girl group that made upbeat catchy pop music. That their songs were sweet, and you could probably categorize them as a tweepop band. I have one album and I had uploaded a video to Youtube. I can’t remember where I got it from. It was a live performance of the band at the 17th Pop Rock Villa in Bilbao where they are performing the song “Dónde Estará?“. I don’t remember having the rest of the gig on video. Just this song. But where did I get it from? I can’t remember!

The album I have is the one called “En el Corazón” that was released by the fine Spanish label Discos de Paseo (DP002) in 2005. The label doesn’t have any information about the band on their website. I wonder why. Maybe they sold out the CDs and there is no point for it? They do have information about their other bands. This album is a lovely sugar rush of popsongs. The opening track, “Menú Para Dos” was always a favourite of mine. Then there is “Sueño”, “En el Corazón”, “Un Nuevo Hogar”, “Levanta Tío”, “Esos Que Se Van”, “Dónde Estará?” and “El Mundo al Revés”. It is worth mentioning that “Levanta tío” is a cover version of “Wake Up!” by The Boo Radleys. There is a secret track at the end of the record, the cover of “Canción de los Electroduendes”, which is a song that was part of the 80s Spanish kids show “La Bola de Cristal”. The album was recorded in July 2004 at the Twobascos studios. It was mixed and mastered at Sweet Soul Music in March 2005.

This CD is listed on Discogs but doesn’t have much information about it. Aside from it, only two compilation appearances are also on this website. The first, a 2003 double CD called “Le Touriste Rebusca en el Desván de la Nueva Ola” where the band contributes the secret track from the album, “Canción de los Electroduendes”. This compilation was released by Ventilador Music (CDM 031) and included a bunch of classic bands from the period like Zola, Souvenir or Cola Jet Set, all of them covering songs from the 80s.

Then in 2005 they appear on a promo CD compilation called “Contamporánea – 10 Años Pop (Concurso Grupo Revelación)”. I believe all of the bands here were part of that year new band contest at the Contempopránea festival. We see some fantastic bands like Garzón, Verano en Lisboa, Tecnicolor and even our friend Zipper. Nobel appears on this record with the song “En el Corazón”.

That hasn’t really told me much about the band. So I am going to do some detective work on the web. As they were around in the WWW era I’m sure I will stumble upon some worthy details. The first hit for me is the website Pop Thing where there is a short interview with César Prieto, who runs Discos de Paseo, the label who released Nobel’s debut album. This article dates from 2005. There César mentions that Nobel was a band that was based in the Basque country, in Bilbao specifically. Is it the first Bilbao band to be featured on the blog? Perhaps. What I do know is that I would really love to visit this city in the near future!

Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the province of Biscay and in the Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the tenth largest city in Spain, with a population of 345,141 as of 2015. The Bilbao metropolitan area has roughly 1 million inhabitants, making it one of the most populous metropolitan areas in northern Spain. After its foundation in the early 14th century by Diego López V de Haro, head of the powerful Haro family, Bilbao was a commercial hub of the Basque Country that enjoyed significant importance in Green Spain. This was due to its port activity based on the export of iron extracted from the Biscayan quarries. Throughout the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth, Bilbao experienced heavy industrialisation, making it the centre of the second-most industrialised region of Spain, behind Barcelona.[10][11] At the same time an extraordinary population explosion prompted the annexation of several adjacent municipalities. Nowadays, Bilbao is a vigorous service city that is experiencing an ongoing social, economic, and aesthetic revitalisation process, started by the iconic Bilbao Guggenheim Museum, and continued by infrastructure investments, such as the airport terminal, the rapid transit system, the tram line, the Alhóndiga, and the currently under development Abandoibarra and Zorrozaurre renewal projects. Bilbao is also home to football club Athletic Club de Bilbao, a significant symbol for Basque nationalism due to its promotion of Basque players and one of the most successful clubs in Spanish football history.

From this small article we also get to know that César used to do the Le Touriste fanzine, the same that had put out that compilation called “Le Touriste Rebusca en el Desván de la Nueva Ola” where Nobel also appeared. Was it the first time the band and César got in touch? Was it the seed for their working relationship? But most importantly I find out the names of the band members: Eriet, Iratxe, Noemi and Begoña.

Then I stumble upon an old Myspace. The band had a bunch of songs one could stream in the past, “Qué Tonta Soy!”, “En el Corazón”, “Contenta”, “Pequeña”, and “Comunicando”. Seeing some songs not on the album awakes my memory of some demo CDRs the band had released previously and that I use to listen a lot on MP3. I wonder why I didn’t try to get their CDRs or get in touch with the band. I used to do that quite a bit on Myspace back in the day, trying to get copies of these rare DIY CDRs.

Having said that, and because they are not listed on Discogs, I went to look for info about them. There is a blog called “Solo Maquetas” that has information about two of their demos, “Disciplina Inglesa” from 2001 and “Esos Que Se Van” from 2003. This blog though, says that the band weren’t exactly from Bilbao proper, but from a town that is part of the metropolitan area. A town called Portugalete. A town that celebrates the San Roque festivals. Well, I should like that, right? Also this town has the Vizcaya Bridge, a transporter bridge that was declared a World Heritage Site in 2006.

The first demo had five songs: “Menú Para Dos”, “Una Noche en Marrakech”, “Condena a Plazos”, “Acento Oriental” and “Carolina”.  “Carolina” being a cover version of Formula V. The second one just three songs, “Esos Que Se Van”, “Pensamientos de un Viaje” and “Dónde Estará”. The first demo has no information on the whereabouts it was recorded, but the second one was recorded by Alfredo Ledesma and Gorka Esczuriana at the Katxy Producciones studio in Logroño in June 2003.

The blog also offers a bunch of interesting bits and bobs about Nobel. The band formed in the year 2000 as a five-piece formed by Bego on vocals and guitars, Eriet on bass, Iratxe on vocals and guitar, Jose on drums and Noemi on vocals, handclaps and violin. They were part of the 24th anniversary party of the radio show Flor de Pasión, playing live at the Siroco venue in Madrid on March 24th, 2003. Their 2nd demo, “Esos Que Se Van”, would be voted 4th best demo on the Toxicosmos radio programme and 5th on the Disco Grande show in 2003. That same year they would play many festivals like NovaPop or Parrilla Rock and all around Spain. They are said to have recorded a cover version of Los Nikis. Which one was it?

After the release of the album “En el Corazón” the band lineup changed. Iratxe and Noemi continue in the band but Itsaxo joins to play bass and Larry on drums. With this lineup the band plays more concerts and festivals like the Easy Pop Weekend, PlastidePop, HegoPop, Anciles Directo and many Flor de Pasión parties and Contempopránea gigs. And here is the big piece of information that caught me by surprise. The band released a 2nd album in 2007! I had no clue about it. I guess it didn’t get much promotion or something? I don’t know. I never heard about it.

Their second album was called “Cada Momento es el Mejor” and was released in 2007 by Gasoil Records. I am going to have to find out more about it.

The Gasoil website has the CD still for sale at a very good price, 2.31 euros. I will order a copy of course! I wonder how these songs sound like, if similar to the first album or not. It is a much longer album it seems. At least there were more songs. 14 in total. The were: “Comunicando”, “Cada Momento es el Mejor”, “Pequeña”, “Siempre te Quise”, “Loca, Loca!”, “No Se”, “Tus Fantasías”, “Imaginación”, “Sábado”, “Así se Recompone”, “Si Tú Te Vas”, “Un Mundo Perfecto”, “Estoy Mejor Sin Ti” and an untitled hidden track. They had some release parties at the FNAC of Bilbao and Donosti.

I found an article about this last album on a blog called La Suerte del Perdedor. Here they review the record and compares the band to classic Spanish outfits like Los Fresones Rebeldes or the Undershakers. But they mention a promotional CD called “Vuelve” which I have no clue about.

I find some information about it on the website of El Planeta Amarillo, our friend Rafa Skam’s paper and online fanzine. Herehe mentions that this “Vuelve” CD single was released in 2007. It was self-released and was a preview of the album they were working on, “Cada Momento es el Mejor”. The CD included 4 songs, sadly Rafa doesn’t specify which songs, but he does say that one of them is a cover version of Vainica Doble’s “Habaneras del Primer Amor”.

El Planeta Amarillo also has a concert listed for Nobel, supporting Vacaciones and Naif at the Siroco venue in Madrid sometime in 2005. Then the same website has an interview with the band. Maybe I’ll learn more about them by reading it! Let’s see!

• The name has nothing to do with the Nobel prize. It is actually an acronym of the names of the band members, NOemi, BEgoña…
• When they played live they used to do, aside from the Boo Radleys and the Electroduendes ones, covers of “Canto en Inglés” by Los Nikis and “Si Tú Te Vas” by Los Flechazos
• There were no like-minded bands in Portugalete 🙁

This is not the only interview I was going to find. Another website, called La Furgoneta Azul, interviews them as well. What other details can we get from this one?

• They had played the NovaPop festival in Ceuta
• They had also played an acoustic set at the Jungla Sonora of Radio Euskadi

Lastly another blog called Euskal Musika has a 2013 interview, possibly the newest I’ve found on the web. Must be the last piece of news about Nobel on the web. This interview clears up a few doubts I had, and adds quite a lot of interesting information:

• The band has had a few drummers, Jose, Lander, Igor and Larry
• Nobel started writing songs in 1999 but the band properly started in 2001
• Itxaso has been involved in the folk band Eztauz, Larry has played drums in Playskull and is part of the percussion group Tarumba

As I said that was the last piece of news I could find about Nobel. I suppose the band is no more. Whatever happened to them? It feels they try to succeed for many years, in a small way of course. But for a reason or another their name sadly didn’t become a household name as other similar bands in Spain. Did the band members continue making music up to this day? Had they been in other bands? Are there are any other recordings? It would definitely be interesting to find out more. I loved their music back in the day and playing these songs again after so many years has been a lovely walk down memory lane. They were great!

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Listen
Nobel – Menú Para Dos