Starting a new week. I must admit that the last few days I have been out of it. You wouldn’t believe it but I’ve been really busy collecting stickers for the World Cup sticker album by Panini. I know, I know. But I’m enjoying it, feeling like a teenager again. And not just buying them, but trading them with people from all over the US. That is kind of strange though, my memories are of me trading stickers during recess when in school, face to face with someone else. Now everything through Facebook groups. And it seems these people do these with every single football album that comes out! A totally interesting community, with its own rules. In a way similar to indiepop collecting. Anyways, I did save a bunch of new links to share with you. Here they are:

The Catenary Wires: Amelia Fletcher’s band is releasing a new 7″ with WIAIWYA Records this June. You can listen to the first track, “Was That Love”, on the Bandcamp. It is a lovely slow song. No drums. Just Amelia’s classic vocals, an acoustic guitar, and some little sound effects that give the song a cozy atmosphere. And of course “du du du du” boy/girl choruses that are terribly catchy. It is a great song. Wonder how the B side, “What About the Rings” sounds like!

Azure Blue: Tobias Isaksson’s project Azure Blue is a favourite for many years. Even had the chance to see him play live once at NYC Popfest many years ago after sharing a cab ride. His electronic indiepop is quite unique, and his records are truly great. It has been a while since his last release “Beneath the Hill I Smell the Sea”, as it was released in 2015. Well, fear no more, there is a new song streaming on Nöjesguiden now called “My Final Candle”. And it is glorious.

Jonston: here’s some bedroom pop from Spain. I kept seeing ads for the latest album by Jonston on my Facebook as I am a fan of their label, Gramaciones Grabofonicas, and thought giving this a try. “Los Sentimientos” is the name of this 8 song album of eclectic songs. José Ignacio Martorell is the person behind the Jonston moniker and it seems this is his 4th record, but it is definitely the first one I’m listening to. At first listen, I think my favourite song might be “Podría Ser” or “Canción de Autoayuda”.

Distant Creatures: got an email the other day by this Washington D.C. band and I must say I was kind of skeptical at first. Don’t usually trust bands that email me. But as soon as I played the first song from their album “Snares in Safe Harbors”, I thought, “this is great!”. There are 13 songs in this album which is available as a CD through the band page (I need to get a copy!) of superb guitar pop with boy/girl vocals. Just listen to the opening song, “A Friend’s Halo”, and you’ll understand my excitement. Or the jangly “In Real Life” which the guitar bit sounds kind of like The Smiths (right?). The band is formed by Mina Karimi, Dane Di Pierro, Chris Matthews, Ben Silvernail and Mike Lewis.

Human Music: found out about this Winnipeg, Canada, band thanks to David. He had shared a brilliant song called “Mortis” so of course I needed to investigate, find out more about them. It turns out this song is part of a self-titled cassette album that you can stream on Bandcamp. It is an album of 15 songs, but it is not long by any means, only two songs are longer than 3 minutes.  This tape is not that new, it was released back in December, and the band is not new either. Their oldest songs on Bandcamp date of June 2014. But well, I’m only discovering them now. They are formed by Mef, Cole and Jory. Good stuff!

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fallout: radioactive particles that are carried into the atmosphere after a nuclear explosion or accident and gradually fall back as dust or in precipitation.

Definitely Heinz’s Youtube channel is a trove of great indiepop music. Obscure and not. I have discovered so much music thanks to his cherry-picked uploads. It is not surprise then that many of these bands he has shared have found their way to be featured on the blog. Today’s Austrian band, Fallout, is one more to add to this list. A list I am sure will keep growing and growing especially if I keep posting 3 posts a week!

3 posts a week is quite a lot, but there is so much going right now, so much new music that if I don’t post this much a lot of music won’t be recommended. Or, if I post it later, it might be old news, maybe the records will be sold out. So I try to stay on top. I remember a year ago when there was so little going on, that even writing a post a week was a challenge. It is definitely a better time for indiepop.

I heard today for the first time the song “Sorry, Bird!” by Fallout thanks to Heinz as I mentioned earlier. I had never heard about this band. Who were they? I loved the chiming guitars. I noticed that he had uploaded the art for what looks like a compilation tape titled “Two By Art 2”. This detail definitely will help me track them down.

Indeed, I could find a Discogs page for them where the band is listed with three compilation appearances. Sadly no proper releases are listed for the band. That is bad news of course. I would have loved to track an album, or a single. But there’s nothing like that. But we do get to know that the band was formed by Chris “das tal” Gissing on drums, Gunther Aigmüller on guitars and Heimo Mitterer on bass. And they hailed from Graz, in Austria.

Graz is the capital of Styria and the second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. On 1 January 2018, it had a population of 325,021. In 2015, the population of the Graz larger urban zone who had principal residence status stood at 633,168. Graz has a long tradition as seat of universities: its six universities have almost 60,000 students. Its historic centre is one of the best-preserved city centres in Central Europe.[4] For centuries, Graz (Slovene: Gradec) was more important to Slovenes, both politically and culturally, than the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana, and it remains influential to this day. In 1999, Graz was added to the UNESCO list of World Cultural Heritage Sites, and the site was extended in 2010 with Eggenberg Palace. Graz was sole Cultural Capital of Europe for 2003 and got the title of a City of Culinary Delights in 2008.

I don’t know many Austrian bands I must say. This comes as a surprise. Of course when I was doing last year my round of guitar pop bands from around the world I featured the Austrian band Bicycle Thieves. Fallout will be the second one. I can think of one more, Die Brüder, that Uwe Firestation recommended me once. But my knowledge really ends there.

The band as around just for 3 years, from 1985 to 1987, and as I said they appeared on three compilations. The first one seems to have been on the “Zebra Graz U.T.T. Compilation”. This was an LP comp released by the label Ursprung Tonträger (IQ 0185002) in 1985. The first two songs on this record belong to Fallout. They were “Jungs Über Der Stadt” and “Sorry, Bird!”. Interestingly the first song lyrics are credited to a Bogdan Roscic who had been on a band called A Red Flag Souvenir with Gunter Aigmüller.

The Augsburg label Two By Art was to release a bunch of tape compilations in the late 80s. In two of them Fallout was to appear. On the tape “Running Out! Austria Sampler 1” the band contributes 5 songs! These being “The Tue”, “Sonnenstrahl”, “Jungs Über Der Stadt”, “Stang” and “Boy About Town”.  The other bands in this compilation were A Red Flag For a Souvenir, The Sleam, The Passengers and Pete Pram & the Perambulators.

The second appearance is on the “Two By Art 2” tape (Two by Art 2) released in 1987. This is the tape were Heinz took the “Sorry, Bird!” song. I recognize the artwork. This is also the only song the band contributes to this tape which has so many unknown bands. I wonder how did they sound? If they were also jangly or not? I do know that the tape was compiled by a Thomas Wieland who might have been the person behind the label.

When looking if the band members had been involved in other bands I notice that aside from A Red Flag for a Souvenir, Gunter had been also in Pete Pram & the Perambulators and High ‘N’ Mighty. It seems the last thing he had been involved with is with jazz music. Would be nice to find some tracks to have a listen to these bands. Heimo, in the other hand, had also been involved with a band called Portnoy who released an album in 2007. I find a website for this band where there is even a small biography for Heimo, but it is a mystery to me why Fallout is not mentioned at all. I also notice he has done producing work for bands like the Trainleaders and has contributed to Binder & Krieglstein. For Chris I could find that he had guested in a band called Rosi Lebt.

I can’t find anything else really by Fallout. I thought it was going to be hard as there are only 3 comp appearances and 7 songs total. I would definitely would love to know more. Like why they didn’t release anything? What sort of music were they into at the time? Did they gig all Austria? Maybe even Germany? Who knows, there’s very little on the web about them, so I count on you for learning any details about the band!

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Listen
Fallout – Sorry, Bird!

Continuing with the new indiepop discoveries, here are 5 more! But I also want to remind you that the Salt Lake Alley 7″ should be out around the corner. Hoping for it to arrive late this month or early May. I’ll keep you updated. So please do keep that in mind as we are taking pre-orders now !

Tiny Fireflies: Well, well, the fantastic Chicago duo whose single I’ve been recommending time and time again with every little piece of news that became available. Now they have unveiled a video for their song “Nothing”. First impression? It is really nice and cinematic. It is great indeed. And hey, Kristine and Lisle, top actors too. I can’t wait to receive the 7″ at home!

The Sunjays: I checked this Hamburg band as they are supporting the Pale Lights on April 16th. That day the Brooklyn band will play that great venue that is Astra Stube (oh! the memories!). The band defines themselves as an indie rock band and that might be right, but they do have a pop sensibility to them that makes me enjoy their music. Their last release was a limited edition CD titled “Apples” which came out in 2016. There are 5 songs total and I think my favourite at first listen might be “Konnichiwa”.

Caliza: another discovery from the Spanish label Gramaciones Grabofonicas. Not exactly indiepop but a very good synthpop band, well, one-woman project. Caliza is Elisa Pérez, who used to drum for Cosmen Adelaida and Rusos Blancos. I haven’t heard the latter but this new song that I’m listening called “El Paso” is much nicer than anything I’ve heard by Cosmen Adelaida. This song will be part of a new album, her 2nd, that will be titled “Mar de Cristal” which will be available only on vinyl (and digital too).

The Color Waves: “Better Angels” is the new song that our friends from Buffalo/Glasgow have uploaded to SoundCloud. What is this about? Well, the band seem to be working on their debut album “At Bay”. When will it be released? I don’t know. Hopefully soon! I’ve loved their music since the first time I heard them. They sent me a demo and loved it. At that moment I couldn’t put it out immediately, but the wait paid off and I released a brilliant, precious, record. I am sure their album will be as good!

The Sherbet Fountains: wow! just wow! Couple of weeks ago I was recommending Laz’s old band on the blog as he had shared the one song. Wasn’t expecting to hear more so soon. But dreams come true and I see the song “In the Picture” was uploaded to Youtube. It is a demo that dates from 1987 and here Laz tells us a bit about the band: The Sherbet Fountains were, from left to right, Ally T (vocals), Laz (guitar), Maggie (violin / drums), David (bass / keyboards ). They played gigs in and around Kilmarnock, Scotland during 1987 and 1988. I saw on Facebook that there might be the intention to release a 7″ with their songs. Wouldn’t that be magnificent? Also, I should ask Laz to do an interview about his band!!

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A shoegazey indie-rock band from Melbourne, Australia (1992 – 1995), that appeared on the Summershine label. Hamish Cowan (guitar, vocals), Nick Batterham (guitar, vocals), Chris Smith (bass), Nick Peeters (drums).

That’s how Discogs introduces everyone to this band. I look into my collection and notice I only own so far two of their records, “Plague” and “Idle Eyes” 7″s, but before that they had put out two singles and also an album. I’m far behind. Will I ever catch up?

It is true that all of their releases happened on the very fine Summershine label. Their first was even released in two formats, as a CD and a 7″. That was the “Endless” (SHINE 26) single, that had a CDEP with four songs and a 2 song 7″ vinyl single. It was released in 1992 after being recorded during February that year. The CDEP included the songs “Plague”, “To Be Found”, “Babylon Fallen” and “Endless” while the 7″ had “Plague” and “To Be Found”. I suppose the CD is t he better deal then, 4 songs instead of two. But, I must say these two releases have different art, always designed by Nick Batterham, so might be worth tracking them two. The producer and engineer for this record was Simon Grounds who had been in bands like Rococo Pops and The Shower Scene from Psycho.

Their 2nd single, “Teenage Goth Suicide Cult” (SHINE 43), also was released in both formats. 5 songs on the CDEP, 2 on the 7″. This time though the 7″ didn’t really come with proper artwork. From what I read the 7″ came in a generic Summershine sleeve. Not that nice. Released in 1993, all songs were recorded by Nigel Derricks at Metropolis Audio, a music studio in South Melbourne that sadly closed in 2006. It was mastered by Paul Bryant. The 7″ had two songs, “Teenage Goth Suicide Cult” on the A side and “Anvil…(Cop Out Radio Edit)” on the B side. The CD on the other hand did have a photo of a girl on the front and of a woman on the back as its art. This CD had the songs “Anvil”, “Teenage Goth Suicide Cult”, “In Hollow Time”, “Ebb” and “Anvil (Cop Out Radio Edit)”. Something curious is that on this record there are these names for each of the members. For example Nick Batterham appears as Beebaa and Laalaa. Hamish Cowan has Biggest Muff, Matt Sigley has Spacebass and Crazykeyss and Nick Peeters has The Beat. A new name does appear here right? Matt Sigley. He had been in many bands like The Daytime Frequency, Belles Will Ring, Drop City, Eden, Polak, The Lovetones, The Steinbecks and even The Earthmen who I had interviewed in the past.

Lastly the release of the 7″ “Idle Eyes” (SHINE 34). This time too there was a CDEP for it. It was released in 1993. The CDEP included four songs, “Gummy Bear”, “Idle Eyes”, “Lips Still Move” and “Meccano”. The art is credited to Nick once again and it seems the name of the girl on the front cover photo was Christine. For the CDEP we see a darker take of the photo, while on the 7″ it is a much lighter print. The 7″ just had two songs, “Idle Eyes” on the A side and “Gummy Bear” on the B side. The producer for this record was again Simon Grounds.

Blindside continued having the luck of not many bands in the 90s. Their album was to be released on both vinyl and CD. “Hopes Rise” (SHINELP007) was released in 1993 and had 9 tracks on both of its versions. The songs were “Barely a Glimmer”, “Idle Eyes”, “Gummy Bear”, “Comforts”, “Hopes Rise”, “Past”, “Once Before the Last Time”, “Ether” and “To Be Found”. The songs were recorded on a 16 track during December 1992 and it was once again produced by Simon Grounds. The art for the album was again different in both versions. The LP has a small black and white sort of photography, while the CD has a monotone white and blue building photo.

Then we see listed 4 compilations on Discogs. All after the release of their album. In 1994 on the Summershine compilation “Tomorrow’s Hits Today” (SHINECD002) they appear with the song “To Be Found”. Something interesting is that this album was released in Australia and also in the USA by Summershine itself. Remember that Summershine’s boss moved to the USA around this time.

On “Youngblood 4” (RooArt 4509971130),  released by rooArt in 1994, the band contributed the song “Cliffhangar” which seems to have been unreleased up to this point. This was a compilation of young Australian bands. There was also a “Youngblood 3+4” that included both volumes (volume 3 dates from 1991) of these compilations and again on one of the CDs we see “Cliffhangar”.

Then of course there was the “Just a Taste” compilation that Slumberland Records released in 1995. It was an introduction to the US public of the Australian guitar pop scene that Summershine was championing. We see all the usual suspects here, from The Sugargliders to The Rainyard. Blindside appears on the record with two songs, “To Be Found” and “Ether”.

That was about it when it comes to releases for the band. But not for the band members. For example Nick Batterham has released music by himself but also with The Earthmen or Cordrazine and Hamish had been part of Cordrazine and released some songs under his own name.

I look for Blindside in Melbourne, and I notice these days there is a Blindside Gallery there. Inspired by the band? Probably not. I need to find more information about the band. My first find is this line: Nick Batterham released his first records as the singer-songwriter of Blindside in 1991. They supported international acts like Smashing Pumpkins and received accolades including “single of the week” in UK Spin Magazine in ‘93. This on a Nick bio on Head Records.

Sadly aside from a mention saying they supported The Sugargliders, there is not much more information on the web about them. There is definitely much more on Nick’s solo project and Cordrazine. Blindside seems to be forgotten. But I’m sure the Aussie readers of the blog remember them. And will definitely let me know if the band had any other releases, compilation appearances, or unreleased tracks. If they had been in any other bands that I haven’t mentioned. And about their gigs, whereabouts in Australia they gigged?

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Listen
Blindside – Plague

Having a small break now from the Indietracks announcements. Last week I saw a bunch of interesting indiepop news from all over the world and have been saving them for this and future posts. Without further ado, let me get you the first batch of new music to check out this week:

Los Waldners: the Costa Rican band has been a favourite of mine even though I still haven’t found a way of getting their albums. Sometimes life can be hard for record collecting. But this time there’s a new song on Bandcamp that is really nice that is called “No Me Visto Para Vos”. From what I read on the band’s Facebook this song is not exactly new but the band decided to share it because of the situation of women’s violence in their country and around the world.

Olivia’s World: this is a new Vancouver band I discovered thanks to their connection to Alice who used to be in Go Violets back in Brisbane, Australia. Now Alice is in Vancouver and shared a link to their first ever song, “Blotter”, and I thought it is really promising! It is said that the band is recording at the moment their debut EP and just last week were playing with the great band Sleuth in their hometown. Looking forward to hearing more by them!

Palm Ghosts: I open their Bandcamp to encounter a brilliant song titled “Love in Winter”. Upbeat, moody, boy/girl vocals, a love for 80s music that is so obvious that makes me giggle. I read the bio for this band and I find that the band has been going for years now, like from 2014 at least. They are based in Nashville, Tennessee, definitely not the place you expect to hear these sort of sounds. I will have to explore more, see if the rest of their output sounds as great as this.The band is formed by Joseph Lekkas, Jason Springman, Rene Lambert, Erica Whintey Wilkes and Benjamin Douglas.

Foster Studio: I heard from Chiwai from the lovely, fab, unique, Fantastic Day. Remember them? We put a 3″ CD back in the day, and later the band released a couple of superb jangly albums? Well, Chiwai has a new project called Foster Studio and it sounds as good! Great guitars, top melodies, that invite everyone to dance really. Well, at least on the one song I’ve heard, “Moonlight”. It is available on Youtube and it has a cool video and even lyrics for everyone to sing along. I can’t wait to hear more, and hope this gets released! Great stuff coming from Hong Kong!

Die Time Twisters: I love this German band. I have some of their releases from back in the day. Now Tapete Records is releasing a retrospective compilation called “Guten Morgen Sommer” on both LP and CD format and I want it! I think it is a compilation not to be missed. My only concern is that the LP and the CD are about the same price? It doesn’t make sense. So if you buy a CD it costs 19 euros plus shipping. If you buy the LP it costs 24 euros plus shipping. The thing is the LP also includes the CD! So really, the LP costs 5 more euros? It is odd. I feel a bit weird about these prices. I don’t understand them. I am happy with just the CD. But 19 euros for a CD? What kind of CD is this? Made of gold? I wonder. Hopefully at some point I’ll find it for a cheaper price, or maybe, just maybe, I will never find it and I’ll miss this fantastic band, one of the best pop bands from Germany for sure.

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Nonpareil: having no match or equal; unrivaled or a flat round candy made of chocolate covered with white sugar sprinkles.

At the same time I ordered the Daisy Age 7″ I ordered The Nonpareils 7″ on Papercut Records from 1996. I had some releases by this American label based in Florida and, in general, I’d say they were good. So of course, I needed to add something else to my order, to save some on shipping costs and decided to give The Nonpareils a chance.

I had heard one of their songs, “Inside”, on a compilation 7″ that was released by this same label the previous year called “The Airplane” (PCT 002). I had bought this 7″ many years ago, probably on eBay and possibly it was cheap. I can’t remember exactly. I mostly bought this record because of the appearance of Belmondo, where the legendary Pam Berry does vocals. The other two bands that appear on this comp are Incredible Force of Junior and Wimp Factor 14. The Nonpareils appear on the A side, alongside Belmondo. All were American bands. The song that the band contributes was recoded and mixed by Dave Auchenbach who was in the fantastic Small Factory.

That wasn’t their first compilation appearance. Back in 1994 the band appeared with the same song on a CD sampler titled “A Bitter Pill to Swallow: A Providence Music Sampler” that was released by Over the Counter Records (OTC 6). The odd thing about this release is that this label was a hardcore punk label, and indeed it was based in Providence, Rhode Island. The band also hailed from this city.

Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. It was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He named the area in honor of “God’s merciful Providence” which he believed was responsible for revealing such a haven for him and his followers to settle. The city is situated at the mouth of the Providence River at the head of Narragansett Bay.

Contrast Records from Belgium asked them for a song on their 3rd 500-limited 7″ compilation of their “Split Single Club” (CT 003) series. Here the band opens the B side with the song “Tree”. The two other bands on this record are Lambchop and Bartlebees.

Lastly the band appears with the song “Fear of Dating” on the 1996 CD “Little Darla Has a Treat For You Volume 4, Summer 1996″ (DRL 023). Obviously this was released by Darla Records and was part of their very popular 1990s series of Little Darla compilations.

The first kind of proper release by the band happened in 1995. It was through the hardcore punk label, Over the Counter Records and it was a split 7” (OTC 8) that they shared with the band Difference Engine. This time around the band contributed the song “Exit”, and that was it. There is no information on the sleeve sadly.

The last release by the band that is listed on Discogs is the one 7″ I bought. The “Engine EP”, released on July 1996, by Papercut Records (PCT 003). The record included 4 songs, two on each side. On the A side we find “And She Does” and “Hazel”, while on the B side we find “See-Saw” and “Engine”. All songs were recorded to four track in Providence, the first two by Frank and the last two by Alex Kemp from Small Factory.

On the back of the sleeve we find the first names of the band members. That’s something! So:
Lisa – vocals, guitar, percussion
Ted – vocals, guitar
Frank – bass
Sean – drums

As usual after Discogs I head to Google to find information. And almost immediately I hit the jackpot, a The Nonpareils Bandcamp page with 14 songs! The self-proclaimed minimalist pop combo’s available songs for streaming are: “And She Does”, “Armchair”, “Hazel”, “Exit”, “P.O. Box”, “Lillian”, “Pain Free (*Delayed Start)”, “Fear of Dating”, “Inside”, “One by One”, “Tree Song”, “X-Ray”, “Amuse Me” and “Oblivious (Galaxy 500 cover)”. These all being a collection of assorted recordings from the summer of 93 thru the fall of 94.

Thanks to this page I get to put some last names to the band members. So it is Ted Peffer, Lisa Underhill, Frank Mullin and Sean Thompson. On the credits I see that they worked mostly with Alex Kemp when it came to record the songs, though a new name that appears is that of Toby Fitch who mixed and mastered the first 5 songs that we see on Bandcamp, which had appeared on a self released tape. Which tape is this? A demo? a proper release? There is no information about it. We also see that Mark Cummins played drums at the end of the band.

And then I find a Facebook page!! Wow. It doesn’t seem to have been updated lately, but still, quite a find. It seems it was setup for a comeback gig on January 19th of 2014 where they played along other indiepop bands like Honeybunch or Purple Ivy Shadows. I keep checking any other posts and find that in October of the same year they also played a gig at The Met in Pawtucket alongside the band Polaris. In 2015 they had a show at The Parlour on May 9th alongside Fred Thomas, Working and Pixels. And the last gig I see dates from  June 13th, 2015, at the Providence’s Rock n’ Roll Yard Sale.

I keep looking on the web but I mostly see recipes. How to make the most delicious nonpareils. Semisweet and patriotic chocolate nonpareils, whatever that means. I find a mention of Ted Peffer on the band page of The ‘Mericans. Here I see that Lisa has a different name, she appears as Lisa Dermanouelian. Interesting. It also mentions that Ted has been behind the local printing company IO Labs. Sadly there are some news in this paragraph, it mentions Sean passed away when he was 43 because of leukemia. If you want to hear the cover of “X-Ray” by The ‘Mericans, check it here. I also find that Frank Mullin was also in the Godrays and Purple Ivy Shadows and played at New England Popfest 97 with the band Flora Street as their bassist just for that occasion. I try to find out what he is doing today, and notice there is a photographer based in Providence with the same name, might it be him?

And that’s about it. Why weren’t most of the songs on Bandcamp not properly released? What about that tape mentioned there? And were there any other compilation appearances? What other bands were they involved with? What are they up to now? When and why did they call it a day? How were these reunion shows? Are they preparing any new gigs? Would be interesting to find out more about this underrated American pop band!

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Listen
The Nonpareils – And She Does

Want to start this post sharing a gig I wish to attend in Sheffield. Two great bands, The Suncharms and All Ashore will be playing the Record Junkee on June 16th.  Those in the area or close by (or why not, far away) that an attend, do so. I’m sure it will be brilliant!

Surfin’ In The Subway presents Sheffield legends The Suncharms. Returning to play live in their hometown city for the first time since 1993 this gig is unmissable for fans of jangly indie and shoegaze! Originally active between 1989 and 1993 their sound is characterised by a juxtaposition of gentle melodies and hushed vocals with relentlessly noisy guitars, producing an overall sound that bridges the gap between the noisier end of indiepop and shoegaze. Support comes from Sheffield band All Ashore! featuring ex-members of Velodrome 2000. Their buzzsaw pop and jangly overtones will have you grinning your chops off!  Tickets are £6 adv and will be £8 on the door. On sale from Thursday March 1st at this link http://www.wegottickets.com/event/431951

Now, onto the 4 bands that are left on our Indietracks review: Rebecka Reinhard, Tekla, Whitelands and The Sunset Beach Hut.

Rebecka Reinhard: might be the only one of the bands at Indietracks that on their Facebook page I don’t see any of my friends being fans. That is quite interesting. Rebecka grew up in Sweden and now lives in London. She is a singer/songwriter. Folk music of course. Now, let’s see how it sounds. Her latest songs seem to be the 5 tracks that were included in her “Cherry Trees EP”. So I’ll have a listen. Hmm. First song is “Pisces” and I’m a pisces. So I want to like it. But it is too fragile, too soft for my taste. I need some nerve, some action. Some pop. Will I find it in the other songs? Not really, but it does get close on “Like a Dream”.

Tekla: I thought it was the name of a band, but it seems it is a person called Tekla Szersynska from Manchester. I found a SoundCloud and I have a listen of the songs “The Brightest Light”, “Dressing Up Box” or “Climbing Frames”. And I sadly got bored by them.

Whitelands: more acoustic guitars, I suppose for the train or chapel stages. Their latest work is a 4 song EP on Bandcamp titled “Old News” that was released on February 18th. I’m not that interested in this sort of folksy music, so can’t say much, it is not bad, but doesn’t say much to me.

The Sunset Beach Hut: a band from Shrewsbury, let’s see how it sounds. Guitar pop, but with a hipster twist I’d say. With an eye on indie, another on the mainstream. Their last song on Soundcloud dates of just 4 months ago and is called “Comfort”. When I say mainstream, you’ll understand me when you hear the vocals and choruses. That’s the kind of music I expect on the radio. It is not bad at all, I think within its style this must be good. But not really what I go for when I attended Indietracks. I like my classic guitar pop, with jangly, chiming guitars, and that sort Englishness in its vocals. For some reason, I feel here the vocals are very US influenced? Or am I the only one seeing this?

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70s ‘Budgie’ Jacket: this jacket got it’s name from the TV series ‘Budgie’ featuring Adam Faith, always had the rounded collars. The ‘real’ budgie jacket was two tone cotton. Quite light and thin. It had side pockets too. 

Or perhaps they named themselves after the Felt song of the same name?

More archaeology on indiepop records that are missing from my collection. In this case all of Budgie Jacket releases. I can’t believe it. I thought I might have one or two of their 7″s but a closer look into my collection, as I have them sorted out alphabetically, showed me I don’t own any. I hope then that I can fix this in the near future of course.

My first encounter with the Japanese band was through compilations. They did appear on many, Discogs lists 10 of them. There might be more even, I wouldn’t be surprised. But why don’t I start in order. If I am to do that, it seems there was a tape titled “Kiss Our Thought Goodbye?” that was their first release, dating from 1991. It looks like a demo tape. Might that be the case? It has no label, and has that photocopy DIY look. Maybe. There were 6 songs on it, 3 on each side. On the A side there was “Heaven Can Wait”, “Sugarmaple”, “Ain’t Nothing New Under the Sun” and on the B side we find “International Velvet”, “Different Strokes for Different Folk” and “My Girl Friday”. Many of these songs were to be re-released later on.

1992 would see the band at its busiest. Starting with compilations they contribute the song “I’m Waiting for the Day” to the cassette compilation”Around the World Again” that was released by Elefant Records (ER-020). A fine indiepop compilation that I hope to hear sometime as there are many unknown bands for me like The Napkin’s Thorns, The Mellow Gravy or Mercenary Tree Freaks. Were they any good? Another appearance that year was on the “Whoops!” tape released by Houpla (HOUPLA01) in France. Another fine compilation with The Tables, The Cudgels, Acid House Kings and more.

More from 1992, they appear on the “Around the World” tape on Elefant (ER-016). So yes, they appeared on both volumes of this tape compilations. On this one they have the song “Wik From You”. Also on Elefant, on the label’s first release “La Línea del Arco – La Banda Sonora 3″ (ER-01) they have the song”Three Card Mountie”. I hope to hear all these songs someday!

1992 will also mean the start of the band’s relationship with two labels, Anorak and A Trumpet Trumpet. On the French label Anorak Records, they were included on a tape compilation titled “Teeny Poppers” (SHOUBIDOUWA 01) where they had their song “Gone Too Far”. On the Japanese A Trumpet Trumpet on the other hand, they appeared on the 3″ CD compilation “Television Personalities From Japan” (TT001) where they had the song “Sweet Loving”. On this same label the band had two more songs on a tape compilation called “The Birth of the Untruth”(TT003) where they appear alongside a band that has been featured on the blog, “The Love Mushrooms“.

That year was also going to be the year when Budgie Jacket was to release their first proper record, a 7″ vinyl with three songs on A Trumpet Trumpet Records (TT002). The 7” opens with the wonderful “I Don’t Care About Time I Don’t Want to Surmise” on the A side while on the B side there’s another brilliant track “The Wax Won’t Get On Your Wick” and “The Birds And the World” which I haven’t had the chance to listen yet. I’m thoroughly surprised by their ease in creating pop melodies. The guitars are great too. Indiepop in its pure form. I’m happy listening to these songs! This 7″, that came with postcard and poster, also introduces us to the people behind the band:
Kunihiro Isami on bass
Tetsuji Kamata on drums
Keisuke Hatsuda on guitar
Shogo Matsuda on vocals

The record was engineered by Yoshiaki Kondo who owned the studios GOK Sound and produced by the band and Masashi Naka who had been involved in the band Losfeld.

In 1993 the band continued appearing on compilations. On the German label Pico Records’ LP comp “Smash Tinkle – International Pop Underground Compilation”, the band appears with the song “International Velvet”. This same song, “International Velvet”, and “Puppet Hooligan” appeared on a French tape compilation called “Gloomy Biscuit 1” that was released by the Gloomy Biscuit fanzine. Here the band appears next to another two bands that have been featured on the blog, Tricycle Popstar and Bulldozer Crash.

That year their music was going to cross the Pacific to the USA. They were to release a 7″ titled “World’s Famous EP” on the Urbana, Illinois, label Parasol Records. Four songs were included, on the A side: “A Lot of Lovin’ To Do” and “When the First Rain Fall” and on the B side: “Streetwise” and “Lions After Slumber”. For this record we notice that Mami Otomo is credited with backing vocals. Mami had been involved with other important Japanese pop bands like Bridge, Chicago Bass and Maylove.

Their last 7″ was released in 1994 on the French label Ad Libitum Pop !? (Ad Lib 2). “My Girl Friday”, with artwork by the band Maylove, had three songs. On the A side, the title song “My Girl Friday”. On the B side, “A Lot of Loving To Do” and “Heaven Can Wait”. All songs were recorded at Studio Shatou.

A release that I can’t find on Discogs but does show up on Twee.net is the “Wheels Go Round” CD compilation released by A Trumpet Trumpet in 1993. On this comp Budgie Jacket appears with a love at Budou-Kan version of “Gone Too Far”.

There are two other releases listed on Discogs but they don’t have any date for when they were released, both on Anorak Records, which you can read an interview on the blog too. The first is a tape called “Anorak Demos” were we see 4 bands (Meek, The Almanacs, Maylove and Budgie Jacket) each with a bunch of songs. Actually it is Budgie Jacket the band that includes more songs, 8! They were “The Man I Love”, “Heaven Can Wait”, “Blue Juice”, “Afternoon Ritual”, “I Don’t Care About Time I Don’t Want to Surmise”, “Streetwise”, “The Wax Won’t Get On Your Wick” and “Luck From You”. It is said that this was a promo tape. The other Budgie Jacket release on Anorak Records was a self-titled tape (SHOUBIDOUWA 02). On this tape the band had 19 songs!! Maybe they were all of their recorded output? I wonder. On the A side there was “Love Hewitt”, “Bitter End… So Why”, “Blue Juice”, “The Wax Won’t Get On Your Wick”, “Genius Move” “Waiting for the Day”, “Sugarcoat”, “The Man I Love” and “Afternoon Ritual”. The B side had “A Lot of Loving To Do”, “Lions After Slumber”, “When The First Rain Fall”, “Streetwise”, “Gone Too Far”, “Luck From You”, “I Don’t Care About Time, I Don’t Want to Surmise”, “Sweet Loving”, “Bizarre Image On Screen” and “Black Bamboo Building”. Oh! How much I would love to listen to all these songs!

I start checking in which other projects the bands had been involved or credited. For example Tetsuji Kamata and Shogo Matsuda had done photography for the “Snapshot of Your Sweet Mountain” album released by the band Snapshot on Escalator Records in 1993. Keisuke Hatsuda had played guitars & keyboards, as well as writing songs, for Maylove. It is also worth noting that it is Keisuke who had been behind the fantastic label Motorway Records.

For me it is quite interesting that there is not much more information on the web. Even in Japanese. I do find one blog where the writer remembers the band but in a personal view, without many details. It is a fact that the band hailed from Tokyo, but aside from that I can’t seem to find anything else. There are a few uploads of their songs on Youtube. Not many for a band that was important at the time, in the early 90s, in the Japanese scene, a band that reached out to Germany, France and Spain, appearing in compilations in those countries. I know it is hard to get in touch with Japanese bands, but I’d definitely would love to interview their members. Hopefully that will happen in the near future!

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Listen
Budgie Jacket – Gone Too Far

The next batch of Indietracks bands are to be reviewed today! I kind of feel bad though that by doing this I have missed the lineup of Wales Go Pop, which is happening this weekend. In any case, I won’t be able to go anyways, but I’ll try to discover the new bands that played there on the coming weeks. But now let’s do some homework!

Cat Apostrophe: “radically soft pop” from Leeds. I will have a listen of their latest digital release, “The World is Fucked”. There are 3 songs, “I Left My Room” “Roast Dinner/Comfort Eater” and “Small Things”. These are by no means all their songs, they have been around since 2016 with two previous releases. The band is formed by Alex Shaw, Jack William, Julia Downes, Kate Stonestreet and Kirsty Fife. Musically it sounds ok but I’m not enjoying the girl vocals. Oh well… probably she sings better than me, but it is a bit too much for me.

Strange New Places: a band from Belfast. A nice change. One song pops up when I open their Bandcamp and it is called “Trombone”. And it starts good. Promising! Guitars, melodies. Now I wait for the vocals to kick in. Oh, this is pretty good. Definitely Belle and Sebastian influenced, but in a good way, reminding me a bit of my all-time favourite Tales of Jenny. This band I would definitely check out at Indietracks on the strength of this song. The two previous demos they have on Youtube are not that interesting though.

Panic Pocket: a London duo formed by Sophie and Nat. They write about trash men, bad bosses, being creepy on the internet. Two songs are available to stream on their Bandcamp. Maybe there’s more, or maybe two songs were enough to get them to the festival. So let’s check them out. The first song “Don’t Get Me Started” is alright. Bedroom pop casio-pop, mid-tempo. Maybe they if they sped it up, it would be more fun. “Front Teeth” does that, it is more upbeat, and even though it has a demo feel to it because of its lo-finess, it is a better pop song, it is much catchier and fun.

French Boutik: well, well, a French band. Pop Moderniste from Paris. That sounds already promising. There is a playlist on their SoundCloud called Front Pop! and that’s what I’m listening now. It sounds good and I start to wonder why my Parisien friends haven’t told me about them, or they haven’t played any of the pop gigs. Who knows really. But their first song, “Le Mac”, is definitely above the Indietracks average. I click on their Facebook page but takes me to the personal page of Olivia, the vocalist. Ok, won’t find more information there, but that’s ok. I just wanted to know if they have any proper releases. Definitely one of the bands to check out at the festival.

Ghum: atmospheric dark pop from London. I’m loving how the bands are describing themselves on Bandcamp. This all-girl combo formed by Laura, Marina, Vicki and Jojo, have four songs to stream as part of their self-titled EP: “Shallow”, “The Window”, “TV” and “Witches”. It does sound a bit dark and because of that perhaps lacks hooks and melodies? I don’t know. I didn’t get into their music at all.

And that’s it for today. 4 more bands left for next post: Rebecka Reinhard, Tekla, Whitelands and The Sunset Beach Hut. See you then.

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In 2011, after 35 years, the Panda Pop fizzy drinks were scrapped. According to news of the time, health-conscious mums were blamed for the demise of the children fizzy drink. The soft drink firm Nichols ditched the lunchbox range to concentrate on healthier juice drinks and flavoured water and that was it. I never tried it. But I do suppose, the English band Panda Pops did, and maybe they were fans of it.

The Panda Pops are not that obscure. If you consider that the members of the band went to form Tramway who released on Sarah and also on Siesta. Well, that’s sort of everything I know about the band. I know that connection. But in due honesty I really don’t know much about the band called Panda Pops. I only know they had a 7″ released, posthumously on Elefant Records, which I still don’t have on my collection!

There were three songs on the “Bristol Fashion” 7″ that was released by Elefant Records (ER-103) in 1992. They were “Pillar Box” on the A side, and “Tramway” and “Star” on the B side. Was it because of that second song that the band was to change their name to Tramway later on? That is very probable.

The three songs were recorded in 1989. The A side at P.I.J. Studios and the B side at La Cav. Both sides were later remixed in 1992 for this release. Three names appear on the credits, C. Young, M. Evans and N. Evans. Chris Young, Matthew Evans and Nancy Evans. And yes, as the title of their 7″ says, the band hailed from Bristol, and of course they were later be, as Tramway, one of the two bands from that city that released a record on the Bristol based label Sarah.

Of course, this post is about Panda Pops and not Tramway, but there are always these interesting connections worth mentioning. And all in all, it was kind of the same band as they were exactly the same members in both. Anyhow, the Panda Pops have two compilation appearances listed on Discogs. The first dates from 1990 on the classic tape compilation “Positively Teenage” released by Dolphin 7. On this record the band appears with the song “Submarine”. This is a fantastic compilation that has been mentioned on the blog before as it has many fab bands like Love Parade, Remember Fun, The Penny Candles and more.

The other tape compilation that the Panda Pops graced was the “It’s All About Love” tape that was released by the pre-Firestation Records label Smuf (SMUF 003). Just a week or so ago I was talking about this tape because of the Moosblüten, amazing. The Panda Pops in this compilation appeared with the song “Still”. What’s funny though is that on this same compilation Tramway also appears playing “Pillar Box”. Is this the same version of “Pillar Box” from the 7″?

I look as it is normal for me to check out the band members. See what other bands aside from Tramway they were involved with. I notice Matthew was also in a band called Murry The Hump who released an album and many singles in the late 90s, early 00s.

Another mention of the Panda Pops was on the Popkiss: The Life and Afterlife of Sarah Records book by Michael White. This is what it says: “This was actually the case for Tramway. The first Bristol band to record for Sarah, their original intention had been to join forces with Cosmic English Music, a label co-founded by former Razorcuts singer-guitarist Gregory Webster (who also happened to be their producer). Webster extended the courtesy of convincing the trio to make history of their original name, the Panda Pops (‘He thought that, ironic or not, it was not cool,’ says singer Matthew Evans), but ultimately decided not to release their music…”

So Gregory Webster was the reason the band changed names. I read, afterwards, on the Elefant site, that the three songs on the 7″ were two demos and a live version. That’s interesting. That raises a question though, if these songs were demos, then there was probably a demo tape with more songs on them. Or maybe more than one demo tape. I’d be curious to hear that.

Do you, my Bristol friends, remember them?

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Listen
Panda Pops – Pillar Box

Part 2 for Indietracks announcements. Let’s see, these are all the bands we have on the list still: Happy Accidents, Let’s Whisper, Wolf Girl, Just Blankets, Dream Nails, Mikey Collins, Sink Ya Teeth, Tugboat Captain, The Baby Seals, Life Model, Cat Apostrophe, Strange New Places, Melenas, Panic Pocket, French Boutik, Ghum, Rebecka Reinhard, Tekla, Whitelands and The Sunset Beach Hut. I’ll skip the repeats, Let’s Whisper and Wolf Girl. Will also skip the bands that I’ve recommended on the blog, Just Blankets, Melenas and Life Model. That’s 15 bands I need to discover! Maybe I can split them in three posts this week? That is quite a lot, especially as I have posts ready with new discoveries, that when posted will probably be “old” discoveries! But what’s promised has to be done. And also I’m very curious what I will be missing this year.

Dream Nails: self-proclaimed DIY punk witches. Interesting. The last effort from this London trio was a 2-song 7″ released last February. The A side is “Vagina Police” and the B side is “Fascism is Coming (Get Out of Bed)”. If you like shouty punk, well this is for you.  I don’t think I could listen a whole gig of shouting. So this is definitely not for me. I do salute though their efforts of giving all proceeds of their last record to the Abortion Support Network. That I respect very much. Just wish their music was much more punk pop than punk I suppose.

Mikey Collins: I can’t find any music by them. If anyone can point me out where to listen I’d be thankful. My only knowledge comes from the bio at Indietracks website where it mentions the band is formed by Mike Collins, Paul Rains, Laura Kovic, Tom Parkinson and Ian Button. I suppose the band has the advantage that Mike played in Allo Darlin’ as their drummer and that opens doors even with no records or anything under their belt. But I give them the benefit of the doubt until I hear something.

Sink Ya Teeth: their Bandcamp has no songs, it seems the band uses it mostly for selling their records and merch. But I did find this video for their song “If You See Me” where the band is described as a post-punk synth pop duo. That was their first single, later they released another 7″ for the song “Glass”. So I listen, and I must say I don’t get hooked to their electronic beats or the vocals. I need hooks I suppose and this sounds kind of flat to me. I miss my indiepop so far, 3 bands and not a good song yet.

Tugboat Captain: London band. Released two songs last month, February. The songs names are “The Distance” and “1003”. Okay, this is guitar pop at last! But while I check a song after another I see the quality vary, and that most of their stuff is quite folky. But I keep listening, and find a very good song, “Little Life”, where there are female vocals. Much better! That track appears on an album called “Everybody Seems to Think That I’m a Raincloud” and I believe there are some very fine songs (“Don’t Want to Wake Up On My Own” for example), but ends up being way too long, 21 songs, and being inconsistent.

The Baby Seals: I start playing the debut CD EP by this Peterborough based band. The first song is “My Labia is Lopsided But I Don’t Mind”. Punk pop is my first thought. Not bad, not amazing either. So onto the next song, “Nipple Hair”. Much better I think, I like the guitars, the melodies, though the chorus is not that inspired. I think they are interesting though, I see talent and wouldn’t mind checking out their gig. “Guuurrrl”, the third song, is catchy too, so far my favourite. You know this review of bands is like all first impressions. I’m not overanalyzing any of the bands. I want love at first sight with the music. I feel that is a very honest approach. There are 3 more songs to go. “Yawn Porn” suffers the same from “Nipple Hair”, good song but the chorus doesn’t hook me. The rest of the song does. And then suddenly, “Period Drama”, which is really good too! This one has a good chorus! Their last song, “It’s Not About The Money Honey”, is not upbeat and has some odd moans and well, probably my least favourite one. But in general, I’d say I would love to see how the band evolves.

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Met with Ed Shelflife last Thursday for lunch and after trading some records we talked extensively about bands that could work well on a retrospective compilation and also about some obscure discoveries he has made lately. One of the bands he mentioned to me and had no clue whatsoever were The Mistakes. So I decided to investigate.

The song he showed me was called “Jukebox”, it was on Youtube. He described it as a kind-of Dolly Mixture sounding band. I thought so as well. It was a very nice female fronted pop song. The description on the video just said that they were British and obscure. So who were they? Thankfully Discogs had some answers, the band did release some records in the 80s, but not in the mid or late 80s as many of the bands we like did, but in the very early 80s.

The song “Jukebox” and the rest of their output, all of it, came out in 1981. It seems that was their year. There is nothing listed for 1980 or 1982. Maybe they were just around for a year? “Jukebox” appeared on a compilation LP called “Club Sandwich” that was released by Polydor. I must say I don’t know any of the other bands on this LP. Maybe there are some good songs in there? The Mistakes track, produced by Michael Klein and written by Penny Wood, appears as the 4th song on the B side.

There is another compilation appearance listed for the band and this one looks pretty interesting. It is called “Making Waves – A Collection of 12 Womens Bands from the UK”. I do see one band that I know here, the Gymslips, who I like very much. The Mistakes contribute the second song of the LP, it is called “Romance”. This LP was released by Girlfriend Records (Girlfriend LP 001). This song is a bit different to “Jukebox”, it seems much more lo-fi, less produced, but it has a naivety that I love and which I think is hard to come by!

Aside from these two appearances on compilations the band had two releases under their belt. There was a 7″ single for the song “Radiation” with the B side “16 Pins”. From the sleeve we learn the full lineup of the band:
Georgina Clarke – bass guitar
Judy Parsons – drums, backing vocals
Mavis Bayton – vocals, guitar
Penny Wood – guitar, organ, backing vocals
Alison West – keyboards, backing vocals

I don’t own yet any records by the band, but happily Discogs has scans for the back cover of the 7″. Here I see that there is a little description of what the songs are about and I can tell the band was political. For example for “Radiation” it says that “Today in the UK there is more nuclear weaponry per head of population than any other country in the world”. And for “16 Pins” it says “Since the 1970 Equal Pay Act the gap between men’s and women’s wages has increased!”.

The two songs were recorded at Blackwing Studios in South London under the engineer Eric. It seems after this release Judy left the band to play with the Bellestars and Penny went onto the Dots. So the band ended up being Alison, Georgina, Mavis and Linda on drums. Jill joined as an administrator, I suppose that means manager (?). Then there’s an address for the band in Oxford. So they weren’t from London then as I initially thought. Other credits are for Janey for designed the record sleeve.  Lastly the record was put out by the Twist N’ Shout Label (TNS 2) who had released before a 7″ by Andrew Hayward & The Panic Buttons. This label was actually part of a second hand record shop that was based in South London, on Battersea High Street.

Their other record was an LP that looks as if it was self-released as the label was Mistakes Music (MS1). This LP was titled “Live at The Caribbean” and it was recorded at the Caribbean Sunshine Club in Paradise Street, Oxford on September 26, 1981. It was then mixed at Pathway Studios in London and produced by Jim Parsons.

The album had 15 songs in total. On the A side there’s “I Don’t Know”, “Do It Now”, “Cookie”, “Rose Tinted Spectacles”, “Us Or Them”, “Give Me More Love” and “File It Away”. The B side had “Romance”, “Single”, “Man Or Woman”, “16 Pins”, “Hiroshima” and “Radiation”. The back sleeve has a photo for each member of the band though they also thanks a Tinkerbell for percussion and drums. I wonder in which tracks did Tinkerbell played.

I find a mention of the band on the website Women’s Liberation Music Archive. There’s some interesting info here. Firstly I learn that the band formed after George put an advert in the local newspaper, The Backstreet Bugle, looking for women that were tired of dancing to sexist male music at the monthly lesbian disco. Just 6 weeks after the advert the band was playing their first gig. At first they played covers such as “My Girl”, “In the Midnight Hour” and “Green Onions”  and later they penned their own songs and they mention here a song called “Crystal Clear” which I don’t see in any of their records. Then it mentions that Jim Parsons who produced the live album was Judy’s husband. They together also ran a rock PA hire company. The band used to practice at a print room of an alternative press called Pauper’s Press Cooperative Ltd.

There is even more information about the band, a true treasure trove. There’s two audios (1, 2) of bassist George Clarke talking about recording with the band. A flyer where we see that the band played Action Space in London and another at Dingwalls on June 21st of 1981 alongside Jam Today in support of the London Rape Crisis Centre. Other places we know they played were at a CND gig at Greenham Common, Undercurrents, Anti-Nazi gigs, Rock Against Racism and also at 101, Rock Garden, or the ICA. During 1980 they also played Oxford Poly, U.C.H. in London, Henderson Hospital Benefit in London, Brighton Resources Centre, Norwich U.E.A., East Oxford Community Centre, Newcastle, Swan in Oxford, Reading, U.L.U. in London, Brighton Ritzi, RAS in York, Nottingham and South Bank Poly in London. They also played many gigs at the Spare Rib parties, Bisexual conferences and the Women in Manual Trade Conference in Nottingham. Bands they shared gigs included Delta 5, Poison Girls, Alix Dobkin, Girlschool and Aswad.

They seem to have also appeared on a TV documentary about young lesbians called “Veronica 4 Rose” where they appear performing “My Girl” and “That’s The Way The Cookie Crumbles” that were filmed live at the Spare Rib Tenth Anniversary. I wish there was a video of this on Youtube.

Remember I was thinking that 1981 was their year? Well according to this already in 1979 the band had signed to Oval Records that was run by Charlie Gilett. It seems he dropped the band as it was taking long to release anything by them and instead decided to fund the Thompson Twins! In 1980 the band was to sign to Deviant Records who via Twist n’ Shout released the 7″.

The story of Judy leaving the band is also explained. She was offered a temporary drumming job with The Bodysnatchers who were to tour along The Specials, Madness, the Selector and UB40. So she took it. But then the band split and her and Penny Leyton formed the Belle Stars. Then Penny decided to go solo with a band called The Dots.

During this time, and for a year, the band performed as a 4 piece. Then Penny rejoined and they did a mini tour in Italy. Which cities? Doesn’t say. Afterwards George left the band. It is at this time that the band calls it a day and does a farewell gig at the Caribbean Sunshine Club. That was all recorded and released as an LP.

Many, many, years later, Mavis published a book about why so few women were playing in bands. The book is called “Frock Rock” and came out in 1998. Would be interesting to find a copy of it. Ali on the other hand left Oxford and got into choral music.

Well, and that’s quite the story of The Mistakes. Not too little as I expected. It is kind of an obscure band but it seems that while they were around they made an impact and they are well-remembered. There are still many questions to be answered I think. For example why didn’t they record anything for Oval? Are there any unreleased songs? Why no more records, really just one 7″? Where in Italy did they play? Did they play any other countries? If they continue making music after they split? It would be interesting to know more about this pop band from the early 80s!

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Listen
The Mistakes – Jukebox

Finally, having a look at the Indietracks announcements. A bit late, almost a month late. It was on March 1st that the organizers let the first batch of bands out. At the time I was in Madrid, attending Popfest, so didn’t give it an in-depth look but I got the impression that it was kind of the same old. Now, with fresh eyes I will try to see if that first impression was right, or not.

You know I’ve been critical of the festival for the past few years. They haven’t topped earlier lineups were it was indeed Indiepop paradise. The last few years we see repeated bands again and again and bands that are not indiepop at all. To give the festival some credits they did change their motto quietly from an “indiepop festival” to a “DIY festival”. So sure, now they can do whatever they want and that’s fair. But as I come from the old school, the people that attended the “indiepop years”, I will look at the lineup under that light.

British Sea Power, Honeyblood, The Lovely Eggs, Dream Wife, Girl Ray and Sacred Paws are among 35 artists confirmed today for this year’s Indietracks festival.

So, let’s start. These are the headliners. British Sea Power is a big band, don’t need any introduction and of course we know they are not indiepop, so I will skip. The Lovely Eggs, well, they are a repeat, so I’m sure you all are familiar with them. The only band of the three that I’ve never heard before is Honeyblood.

Honeyblood:  I look for them on the web, and found a Bandcamp of Brighton-based label Fatcat Records, where the self-titled album is available for streaming. There are 12 songs penned by the duo formed by two Scottish girls, singer/guitarist Stina Tweeddale and drummer Shona McVicar. The first album seems was released back in 2014, so not new at all, maybe they have something else out? I should check. They do sound all right, a bit like hipster indiepop, in the vein of Dum Dum Girls. Noisy, with girl vocals, having the dream of becoming mainstream perhaps. Then I find their second album, “Babes Never Die”, on the same Bandcamp and it is similar to the first album. But it seems after that release their sound has changed a bit, their latest single seems to be “Walking at Midnight” and it has a video on Youtube. And this might be my least favourite song of the few I’ve heard by them.

Dream Wife: another band from that first sentence by Indietracks that I don’t know. I find their songs and press play. And I hear shouts. I’m not a fan of shouty music aside from a few exceptions. It gets a bit on my nerve. I think to myself that maybe it is only the first song, “Let’s Make Out”, that is shouty. So I give it another shot, now I play the second song “Somebody” from their self-titled album. To be honest this is much much better! I have some hope maybe. But then I continue playing the album and it continues, all the shouting, ending up on “F.U.U.” which is a scream-fest. Not for me.

Sacred Paws: I found a Bandcamp with two lo-fi recordings. They don’t sound very good. I do notice that the two members used to be in the very fine band Golden Grrrls. So there must be something good about them, it can’t just be these two demos. On Youtube I find the video for “Everyday“, and I do enjoy the guitars! And yes, this is a great song with handclaps and a bit of a party/beach vibe. There’s another video available, for “Strike a Match“, this will give me confirmation that I like the band or not. Again the cool fun guitars. Okay, I can like this one. First point for team Indietracks. Good choice.

Girl Ray: many friends are fans of this band, so I am quite curious to see what I think of their music. Well, it sounds nice. Perhaps I was hoping for something else, don’t know why, but I thought they were going to be more upbeat and packed with hooks, maybe because of the name? Instead they have a 60s vibe, they are mellow, and sweet. Poppy, Sophie and Iris comprise this North London trio that have released a few records in their short lifetime. Could work well at the church I think.

The above artists are joined by Darren Hayman (playing ‘Breaking God’s Heart’), Even As We Speak, Haiku Salut, Onsind, The Smittens, Anna Burch, Boyracer, Night Flowers and Eureka California.

Those are the next bands announced, the “big names” after the headliners. Darren Hayman seems to play every single Indietracks that is already getting boring. Onsind I don’t like at all and they are a repeat. The Smittens, another repeat. Night Flowers, I think are ace, but another repeat. Eureka California, yet another repeat. Did they run out of ideas? Haiku Salut  another repeat. This is no fun.

Of course the two bands that thrill everyone are Even as We Speak and Boyracer. Two brilliant bands from the indiepop heyday are playing the festival. I would go and see them. Totally. EAWS I saw at NYC Popfest and were the best that year. Boyracer I’ve never seen, but I wish I could. But then, these two bands need no introduction, they were part of Sarah Records and are in the “legendary” status of indiepop bands. Classics. So I have to move on. What about then Anna Burch? Never heard her music.

Anna Burch: “Tea-Soaked Letter” is the first song I play, there’s a promo video for this song, and I’m immediately hooked. It is good! What do I learn from Anna on the web? She is based in Detroit, so no, not British, so definitely a good expense by the festival. She releases records through Polyvinyl Records, just like everyone darlings Alvvays. Her last effort, the album “Quit the Curse”, was released last month and it is already sold out in its vinyl version. It is available still on CD and tape. On her Bandcamp you can order the record and also stream it all. And after listening to it on a whole, I must say that the first song I ever heard by her, “Tea-Soaked Letter”, is the best. Well, it is the jangliest and indiepoppiest. What can I say.

There are more bands announced by Indietracks (Happy Accidents, Let’s Whisper, Wolf Girl, Just Blankets, Dream Nails, Mikey Collins, Sink Ya Teeth, Tugboat Captain, The Baby Seals, Life Model, Cat Apostrophe, Strange New Places, Melenas, Panic Pocket, French Boutik, Ghum, Rebecka Reinhard, Tekla, Whitelands and The Sunset Beach Hut) but as I like to keep at 5 reviews a post, they’ll need to wait until next posts.

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I ordered the only 7″ I know by Daisy Age just a few days ago. Then I thought that it could be a good obscure French band to feature here after quite a long brainstorming. Yes, I’m trying to be more international on the blog, not just cover bands from the UK.

I must say that I know very little about this band so this is a good exercise, an opportunity, to find out more. So where to start? Maybe the name? Does it have any connection with De La Soul? Their first album by Long Island hip hop band “3 Feet High and Rising” introduced the concept of the “D.A.I.S.Y. Age” (an acronym standing for “da inner sound, y’all”). As a result, audiences were quick to peg the members of De La Soul as hippies. Could that be it? Or is there another reason for the name? Or it is just a nod to the hippies in general?

We do know that the band released one 7″ in 1994 on the label Disco 2000 (catalog Disco 2002). This was a label based in Toulouse which was run by someone called Stéphane. The 7″ had two songs on each side. The A side had “L’Imprévu” and “Hier” and the B side had “Ce N’Est Pas Si Facile” and “Wee Pee”. All four songs were recorded on an 8-track and mixed the same day. The credits for the photos on the sleeve are Fabien Rames and Laurent Lafon.

There’s no other information about the band on the sleeve. Nor on the insert that comes with the record where the label tells more or less what to expect on the 7″ and also the announcement of a tape compilation to be released next.

On Discogs the band appears on there compilations. The first one dates from 1993 on the Lo Label’s compilation tape “Summer 93 Hits”. It seems this tape came with a 32 page mini-booklet, perhaps with information about each band. Maybe there are the details I want to know. Maybe someone who has it can help? On this tape, the band appears with the song “Hier” and we see that they are in good company, mostly French bands like Les Poissons Solubles, Amanda By Night or Chelsea, but also we see the Acid House Kings.

Another compilation tape that had them participating was “A Tribute to the Jamc Vol.2”. Here they cover the Jesus and Mary Chain’s “Between Planets”. This tape was released by Candy Chérie in 1995 (Candy Chérie 002).

Lastly they contribute the song “Dieu Seul Sait” to the tape compilation that was announced on the 7″. “Etreinte & Tempo” was released by Disco 2000 and JMS Records probably around 1995. I must say that I don’t know many of the bands that appear on this tape, only a few! They were mostly from the Toulouse region and would love to hear them someday, especially those ones with poppy names like Crystal Fields, Scoubidou or Edgar Trampoline. No clue who they are. This tape also came with a booklet, a 50-page one, this time.

I look on the web and see that on March 18th 1994 there was a gig by the Daisy Age and Lucie Vacarme at Le Bikini. And that’s about it. I can’t seem to find any band member name, though from photos it seems it was just two guys. The label does have a working website but there is no information about the band whatsoever though it seems you can order a copy of the 7″ from there.

Hopefully my French friends will let me know any details they remember about them. It’s been a while since I interviewed a French band on the blog, I believe only Les Freluquets and Fear Performance have answered my questions, so yeah, I definitely would love to know more about them and try to understand a bit better that exciting French scene of the early 90s, and that of Toulouse as well!

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Listen
Daisy Age – Hier

Well, this will be the last “new findings” for a couple of posts now as I want to concentrate and discover the Indietracks bands that were announced and that I don’t know. So, that on the next post. On this one, 5 new findings!

Stephen’s Shore: the most exciting news in a while is that of our friend’s debut album “September Love” on Meritorio Records from Spain. 10 jingle jangly songs, wonderful songs, that I can’t stop playing on their Bandcamp while I wait for my copy of the record to arrive home. Actually I should be having some extra copies if anyone in the US is interested in buying one, probably cheaper from me. I will add the record to the distribution section of the Cloudberry site when that happens. In the meantime I ask you, I demand you, to have a listen of this beauty. I know it is early to say, but this might be the record of the indiepop record of the year. What a lovely effort of chiming guitars. So happy and proud to have worked with them in the past!

The Catherines: I’ve recommended the Hamburg based band a couple of times if my memory serves me right. It has always been in the way of digital releases, songs on Bandcamp. Finally I see the band is putting something out in a physical format thanks to the Alicante, Spain, label Mondo Canapé. It is a tape with 8 songs and limited to just 50 copies. The solo-project by Heiko Schneider plays indiepop, straight up indiepop, jangly, tweeish sometimes. It is impossible not to like it. If you want just a teaser you can start with “Good Golly Goo“, which they have put together a promo video.

Battery Point: I’ve been a fan of the Chula Vista, California, band for a while now. Recommending every single song they put out on their Bandcamp. So far I don’t have any of their releases as they are mostly being released digitally. I need a CD, a 7″, something like that. I’m old school I suppose. This time around the band have unveiled their latest, a 3 song EP titled “A Memory For Today”. It has three songs, “Another Year”, “Time” and “You Should All Be Murdered”. The last one of course is a cover of Another Sunny Day’s classic song. Great stuff.

Nah…: the new project of Sebastian Voss from The Grindcore Poppies is this oddly named band. For this project he joins forces with Estella and with her, and the help of Kenji from The Fairways and many other bands, he has recorded 4 songs that are available on a CD titled “Summer’s Failing EP” which you can pre-order now. The songs on the CD are “Summer’s Failing”, “This Light Will Always Shine”, “Annie” and “Linus”. Right now we can only stream one of the songs, the first one, and I am loving it. It does take us back to the indiepop halcyon days, to Sarah Records and bedroom bands. Really lovely song, so I can’t wait to hear to the rest of them!

Tiny Fireflies: happy, very happy, to be listening their new gorgeous record on Bandcamp. But not as happy as I could be if I had the 7″ at home. Yup, I need to order it ASAP, so that’s what I’m doing now. The 7″ for “Nothing” and “2040” was released on March 13th and it is only limited to 250 copies. As you know Tiny Fireflies is formed by Kristine Capua and Lisle Mitnik from Chicago. This record had the help from more friends, I see Hampus recorded drums for Nothing and Cris mastered the songs. I’m always very happy to know that I have very talented friends!! Get it, because it is really something!

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The Honeymoons from Sweden. As of the last few months I managed to get their 4 albums in my collection and I must say I have really enjoyed them listening one after the other. It took me years to do this as I had their first release, the “She’s My Heroine” 7″ since at least 2008 or 2010 as it was on a trip to Berlin, to Uwe Firestation’s house that I bought this record.

It too me years to do this, but by no means I have their whole discography now. There are many other singles and EPs that I’m missing. Most of them were released by the legendary Swedish label North of No South. The only release that wasn’t was the 7″, which actually happens to be their only vinyl release. All their other output came out on CDs. It was the mid-nineties.

The 7″, “She’s My Heroine”, was released by the label Jakaranda Records (JAR 914) in 1991. This was a label from the city of Umeå. The record had two songs, “She’s My Heroine” on the A side and “Five Fifteen” on the B side. The artwork, created by Christofer Fredriksson, with the dolphins jumping, does remind one of Orange Juice. There’s not much more information on the sleeve. Here we see that Per Rosenberg is credited of writing the songs, and I would find that he was the vocalist and also played guitar in the band.

Two years will pass until we heard again from the band. Now signed to the exciting North of No South, the band would grace the 6th release on the CD catalog of the label (NONSCD06) with their self-titled “Honeymoons” mini-album. There were 6 songs included in this fine 1993 effort by the band: “She’s Gone Too Far”, “Colourblind”, “We Could Just”, “058”, “Pale Sun” and “Hey Hey”. We could hear the jangly guitars, the love for a good melody, not too far from the Cod Lovers who I interviewed recently. It was indeed the time of the first golden era for Swedish indiepop. Again the art is credited to Christofer Fredriksson and we see that the producer was Per Helin wh had been involved in Puffin and Ray Wonder, other good bands from the period. The engineer was Pelle Henricsson (who owned Tonteknik Recording studios in Umeå) with assistant engineer Eskil Lövström, also from Puffin. Something that does catches one attention is that several drummers are listed. David Nestander for tracks 1,2,5 and 6, Joakim Ahlstrand for track 3 and the aforementioned Pelle Henricsson on track 4.

Again a gap of two years. Finally the first full-album by the band. It was titled “Domestic” and was released on November of 1995 on North of No South (NONSCD23). Eleven songs that continue what they started in the mini-album: “My Honey You”, “Travel”, “A Day Like Today”, “Entertainer”, “Some Days”, “Know You Do”, “Another Dream For Sale”, “Over and Over”, “Me and the Ghosts”, “Flowergirl” and “All Those Feathers”. Art again by Christofer Fredriksson. Once again the songs were recorded at Tonteknik by Eskil Lövström and Pelle Henricsson with Per Helin as the producer (Per also played percussion on tracks 5, 9, 10, by the way). Other credits on the record include Eskil Lövström helping with trombone, Pelle Henricsson with tambourine and our friend from The Seashells, Erik Domellöf on guitar on tracks 2 and 3. We also know that Lars Oskarsson played backing vocals and bass guitar; Magnus Öberg, drums and guitar; Jörgen Gustavsson the organ.

Just before this album, that same year, was released North of No South had released the CD single “Travel” (NONSCD22). Just two songs were included here, “Travel” and “My Innocent Friend (Demo Version)”. Here we see exactly the same credits as for the album.

The band also released that year another CD, the mini-album “Louder” (NONSCD12). 6 songs and the same credits but the art, now they had Magnus Åström taking care of the graphic design, the look, of their record. The songs on this CD were “Difference”, “Monday Bin”, “How to Change the World”, “I Can Do”, “Here Comes the Fall” and “Fifteen Seconds”. Even with the change of artist, the coherent use of fonts, color and negative space continued. I wonder if, as they were always using the same people to record, and the look of the artwork was always in the same line, how disciplined where they to stick to what worked for them. It seems they had found a comfort zone and they loved it and knew how to work within.

1996 was going to be a bit busy, with two CDs being released. The first, “A Day Like Today”, was a CD single (NONSCD28) that included “A Day Like Today” and “A Day Like Today (remix)”. I suppose they continued promoting the “Domestic” album with it. And then I suppose the band wanted to get away of that comfort zone and released a 4 song CD EP of remixes by Histrionic titled, “The Histrionic Remixes”. As I’ve said many times, I’m not much of a fan of remixes in general but well, it was the 90s I suppose. The songs that got the remix treatment were “Travel”, “We Could Just”, “Flowergirl” and “Difference”.

1997 was to see the light their final album, “The Coherent Excitation”. For this record the band had a new drummer, Markus Backstrom and  had gotten percussion help from Mikael Emsing on tracks (1, 3, 5, 7, 6, 9, 10). The album actually had 11 songs, “Never Forget” (that had backing vocals by Ludvig Boss from Ray Wonder), “Flourescein”, “Evil”, “Fabrications”, “Dreamtime”, “Would You Believe”, “Let them Strive”, “Breathe On”, “Colder”, “Turn Aside” and “As We Are”.

As it was the rule, North of No South released a CD single to promote this album. The “Fabrications” CD single (NONSCD53) included the title song and also “My Innocent Friend”.

There are 7 compilation appearances listed on Discogs. Let’s go chronologically through them. The first one is actually on the first ever North of No South CD, on the “North of No South – Compilation CD” where the band appears with the songs “You Never Say” and “Tell Me Why”. Thanks to the credits of this record I notice that North of No South started as a sub-label of Jakaranda. Interesting. Also here the Honeymoons are listed with a different drummer, Jocke Ahlstrand. And to complete the band we see of course Jörgen Gustafsson, Lars Oscarsson and Peter Rosenberg. It does seem that during the years the drumming position was the problem. Now something interesting is that even though the band was Umeå based, they went further north, to Luleå, to record these two songs with Stefan Larsson at Gateway studios.

I’ve mentioned about the great Gothenburg based Pet Sound fanzine, that introduced so many great Swedish bands to the indiepop crowd. On the 5th and last tape they put together, “Pet Sounds Vol. 5”, and in a very limited pressing of around 100 copies, the Honeymoons appear with the song “Flowergirl (Demo)” alongside fantastic bands like The Cardigans, Eggstone or Easy.

“Flower Girl” ended up being a popular song and it was included on Rainbow Music sampler “Life’s A Joke” in 1993. This CD was compiled by Nicke Boström who is better know as the guy behind the superb record store Delicious Goldfish.

“Big Smile From Big Snowflakes City” was a CD compilation released in Japan in 1995 as a sort of a sampler, an introduction, of the bands to this new public. Here the Honeymoons appear with the great “She’s Gone Too Far”.

“My Honey You” and “We Could Just” were to appear on 1996’s “A Veritable Smorgasbord of Music” CD compilation that was put out by North of No South (NONSCD50), and that same year their songs “Travel” and “15 Seconds” appeared on “NONS Vol.2” that was released on the same label (NONSCD25).

Lastly, in 1998, probably when the band was already no more, they had the songs “Fabrications” and “Evil” on the “Aaaaaah… NONSCD75” CD compilation.

I look online and my first hit is that of a blog called “Tidskriften Pop Revisited” were there are several posts about the band. There is a mention here where it says that the band had put together a tape, of not the best quality it seems, that had no cover, no information, nothing. The writer complains about it. It seems it was a demo the writer received. But there is no year, so can’t say when did this happen. On another post the writer again complains about another demo, that instead of information the band sent a naive drawing of a sailboat. He does compare the band to the Razorcuts in this occasion.

Then Musikon, the guide for Swedish music. Here I was to find out that in 1987, Per Rosenberg and Lars Oskarsson had been involved with a punk band called The Join who had released a 7″ EP titled “Total Tystnad”. On the other hand, Jörgen Gustafsson had been involve back in 1985 on a band called Ego Boys who released an LP titled “Bevara Kättjan”. Magnus Öberg, the drummer for a time in the band, had been involved in many more bands, like Ramm, Shredhead, Kevlar and Starmarket.

But probably the best ever find I could hope was an old, very old, Honeymoons website that I found through the Scandinavian Indie mailing list. Here we find the last ever lineup for the band:
Markus Bäckström – Drums
Jörgen Gustafsson – Organ and Sounds
Lars Oskarsson – Bass
Peter Rosenberg – Vocals and Guitar
Petter Sandström – Guitar and Vocals

I notice of course that there’s a new member, Petter, since 1997. Other good info found is that the band formed in spring 1990 at a garden party. Their first ever gig was at a party held by psychology students. Then we know that there was a video for the song “Travel”. Don’t think this video is on Youtube sadly.

In 1997 we have some gigs listed: Festival Lycksele on May 24th, Provinssirock Seinäjoki Finland on June 15th, O-ringen in Umeå on July 23rd and 24th and Nolia in Umeå on August 9th.

Other news are that their records were to be licensed for the Philippines that year.

On the Scandinavian Indie mailing list there’s also a mentions saying: Honeymoons – release their long sought after second “real” album called “This Coherent Excitation” on April 21st. A single from the album called “Fabrications” is released on April 1st. The band spent last weekend in Stockholm in order to record a video and do a photo shoot with Urban Ström and Johan Markusson. So I wonder, where’s that video? I would like to see it! And lastly I do find a review of the “Fabrications” CD single on the list by Erik Söderström. Something I took from there is that the band played in Linköping at J’s Place sometime between 1993 and 1994.

And that’s where I stop. The band, even though having released a bunch of records, disappear into thin air. It doesn’t seem the band members continued making music afterwards aside from the drummer, Öberg. That’s strange. I wonder if they ever go to Japan, where their records found their way. What about the promo videos they made? How many were they and how come they are not on the web yet? If they have more unreleased material? There are many questions, and little answers this time. Do you remember them?

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Listen
Honeymoons – Pale Sun

Wednesday! It’s just been about a week since I received The County Fathers CDs and I’m trying to think what would be the best retrospective to release next. Any suggestions, any ideas are welcome. In the meantime, I have been preparing several posts and I’ve noticed how far behind I am on recommendations. Especially as I have to cover Indietracks too. Maybe I’ll have to resort to three posts a week to be able to have everything fully reviewed. So let’s go straight to the point:

I Saw You Yesterday: found this cool video by this Japanese guitarpop band. It seems that the crop of Japanese bands into shoegaze, dreampop, is neverending at this point. I wonder why. In any case this is pretty good. The band fromed by Hidemasa Shimoda, Kai Murakami, Kasushige Suzuki and Reiji Shibata will be participating in the new Ano(t)racks compilation that is being put together by that label.

Pale Blue Morning: I learned about this band and their first ever song “Eleanor” through the indiepop-list. Sadly no one has given feedback to the poster. The indiepop-list is quite dead to be honest. I was always a lurker but those who were very active have been quiet for years. Anyhow, this is a very nice lo-fi bedroom pop song! I don’t know much about the band aside that they are from Quezon City in the Philippines, but I will keep an eye if they post anything new in the future!

Nos Miran: I recommended a video by this band some weeks ago. Now their label, Elefant, has uploaded all the songs that will be on their 10″ mini-LP to Bandcamp and I’m really enjoying them! There are 6 songs in total, “Amor Y”, “Humo”, “Dinero Para Nada (Feat. Capitán Sunrise)”, “La Montaña del Amor”, “No Te Veo Enamorado (¿Por Qué Será?)” and “No Puedo Ser Hipster”. The band is actually a duo and it is formed by Sergio Rodríguez and Marta Quintana after they met at a La Bien Querida concert.

Putochinomaricón: when Chenta Tsai Tseng’s song started to appear on Youtube we all loved them. The freshness, the quirkiness and the smart lyrics were easy to like. Maybe we all thought it was a bit of a joke, but we never imagined that Elefant, or anyone in the indiepop world, would pay attention and offer a release to him. Not because it wasn’t good. They are great pop songs. But one imagined Putochinomaricón to sign with a bigger label if he ever signed with a label! In any case Elefant will be releasing a 10″ mini-LP titled “Corazón de Cerdo Con Ginseng al Vapor” on April 20th, and I suppose this will sell out pretty quick. Right now you can stream one of the songs, “Gente de Mierda”, on Bandcamp.

Vamping: the Thessaloniki, Greece, label always delivers the goods. This time they introduce us the band Vamping who are releasing an album with 13 songs titled “Desert Plants”. At the moment there are two songs available to stream on Bandcamp as teasers, “Starling” and “Desert Plants”. The latter is especially really nice, jangly as we all like our songs. Vamping is the solo project of a certain Broderick Adams who records them near the Franklin Mountains in Texas. The album will be released in very limited quantities, 50 tapes and there are two different variations for them!

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I remember when I saw their only release for the first time. It was at Pete Hahndorf’s place, he had a few copies and well, he gave me a copy! My friend Nana also got a copy because he was a fan. And that wasn’t all on my visit to Bremen. Peter gave me a copy of the compilation “Ein Spätsommercocktail” where die Moosblüten appears with the song “Klee Ist Fern”. That was my first encounter with their music and well, here you have me writing about them many years after. 10 years I think!

Kalle Luft, Paule Pop and Ulli “Joe” Frisch were die Moosblüten or, in English, the moss blossoms. As I said they released just one proper release, the first one on Peter Hahndorf’s label, Steinpilz Tonträger (Pilz 1). “Aprilfrische” was the name of this for 4 song EP. All of them recorded at Paul’s living room during the time the band members were taking their secondary school final examinations on April 1991. The record came out that same year.

On the A side of this 7″ that had a colorful mushroom on its cover we find two songs, “Wandertag” and “Strandparty”. On the B side there’s “Huberts Grüne Küche” and “Lückenfüller”. The record comes with an insert of what looks the dictionary definition of Moosblüten and other words that start with “moos”.

That same year, 1991, the band appeared on the pre-Firestation Records label Smuf’s cassette compilation called “It’s All About Love” (SMUF 003). On this compilation die Moosblüten contributed the song “Herbstromantik”. This is a very cool compilation by the way with top tracks from bands like The Aurbisons, the Panda Pops or The Sugargliders.

The next year they were going to appear on another tape compilation, “Wegweiser Durch’s Eiswürfelland”, that was released by Steinpilz Tonträger (Stein 1). It was the golden days of tape compilations in Germany it seems. This label as far as I remember was ran by the people behind Die Busfahrer who I interviewed years ago. Anyhow, on this very fine compilation that had classic German bands like Die Blinzelbeeren or Friends Ahoi, die Moosblüten appears with the song “Lustige Schlittenfahrt”.

The band that hailed from Bremen didn’t stop there. In 1993 they were to work again with Steinpilz Tonträger on a compilation called “Frischer Morgentau” (Stein 1). I remember Pete Hahndorf having copies of it, but me, dumb as I am, didn’t get one while my friend Nana did. I was never into tapes. That is a true thing. But now I regret not having this great document of the time! Their song “Klee Ist Nah” appears on this tape and again they are in very good company, you can see amazing bands like Acid House Kings, Red Sleeping Beauty or Die Fünf Freunde.

1994 will see the last two compilation appearances for the band. First on Eiswürfel Tonträger’s CD compilation “Die Schönste Platte Der Welt” (EIS 7). Again among fantastic bands die Moosblüten appears on the 8th track with “Allein Zu Haus, So Ist Das Leben”. And lastly on a 7″ compilation, which I got from Peter too in Bremen, called “Ein Spätsommercocktail”. The band appears on the B side, as the last track with “Klee Ist Fern”. This 7″ included a copied cocktail recipe and a band sticker, “Mossblüten – Umwelt schützen – Rad benützen”. On the record we also find great bands like Friends Ahoi, Space Kelly and Die Wurzelsepps.

I look for more information on the web. I find an old Myspace page where you can’t stream the songs. I do have a slight hunch, and that is that Ulli from the band is Ulli Hahndorf, Peter’s brother and also the one behind the label Steinpilz Tonträger. That would make sense. But I need confirmation. And I do find it on an interview I did with Peter many years ago on the blog. He says: I am five years older than my brother and I guess you can say I had a strong influence on his musical taste. He was in “Die Moosblüten” and released a few singles and a tape on his label “Steinpilz Tonträger”. 

But what happened then to the band? Why no more releases? When did they split? Do they have more unreleased tracks? Did they continue making music with other bands afterwards? Or what about before die Moosblüten? Did they play many gigs? All around Germany? There is not much information on the web sadly, they seem to be forgotten! Do any of you German popkids remember them?

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Listen
Moosblüten – Allein zuhaus, so ist das Leben

Sadly The Sorayas news wasn’t the only bad news in recent weeks. We all know that Patrick Doyle from Veronica Falls passed away. I wasn’t too familiar with his other projects I must say, as they were not that close to the indiepop spectrum, but I really loved his work on Veronica Falls and Sexy Kids. I didn’t interact much with him, but I have a good memory of him when he signed me a Veronica Falls poster I took from a wall from the Williamsburg Music Hall back in 2012 I think. It is indeed an odd time for guitar pop fans.

Last week was my birthday and that same day I released The County Fathers album. I was extremely happy to have now 10 releases on the Cake Kitchen. Now is time to start working on the 11th one! Need to find a good band that would fit nicely for a project like this, one that has the songs, the photos and the memorabilia ready to put this together!!

Now, I know you’ve been expecting some contemporary, some new, indiepop recommendations. Let’s see what I can find for you:

Plastic Girl in Closet: I found out about this Japanese band on the Twee Lovers Club facebook page. There are always some good recommendations in there. The song that was shared was their latest, “Junior”, that is a very nice dreamy and noisy song. I don’t know much about this band, it doesn’t seem to be much information about them in English but on their site I found that they have already released a few cassette EPs, a DVD and two CDs, one album even. I want to get them! How to? That’s the question!

Boys: this Swedish band, a favourite of mine, fronted by Nora Karlsson, is now releasing their debut album. I’ve recommended previous smaller releases by this very fine band and now I’m happy to see that finally a full length album will be out. The album, as her previous efforts, is being released by the Swedish label Pnkslm and will include 8 songs. One of the songs, “End of Time”, is now available to stream from the label’s Soundcloud and it is ace!

Red Sleeping Beauty: our friends from Stockholm have put out a new song on Soundcloud and as usual it is a winner. “Top Love” should be included in the band’s fourth album which they are working on at the moment. It seems too that in preparation for this album the legendary Swedish band formed by Niklas Angergård, Kristina Borg and Mikael Matsson, have many surprises in store. I’ll try to keep on top of any news I hear!

Bounce the Mouse: interviewed them not so long ago on the blog as they were reuniting for a very special week. Now the band has just shared with me some videos of that gig I wish I had attended! Please check out part 1, part 2, and part 3!

Desperate Journalist: one of my favourite bands, and you might already know that from the several recommendations on the blog, have a new video out for the song “It Gets Better”. It is great of course and we will have to wait until March 30th for Fierce Panda to release the EP “You Get Used to It” where the song will be included!

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The Midwich Cuckoos is a science fiction novel written by English author John Wyndham, published in 1957. It has been filmed twice as Village of the Damned, with releases during 1960 and 1995.

Another record I don’t own, another band I know little about. How many great guitar pop bands have existed? Thousands for sure. I don’t even have the count of how many have been featured on the blog having a post on its own. I can’t even imagine then how many more have had a mention on the blog. Way more.

At one point Twee.net served me as a good and comprehensive list of “all” guitar pop band. These days I know it doesn’t even cover half of them. This is by no means a criticism, I think Twee.net served me brilliantly in discovering many bands. The truth is, who in their sane mind could compile all the bands? I don’t know, but I do hope it happens in a way or another (though my favourite way would be on an illustrated book, with photos and small bios if possible!).

I think I found The Midwich Cuckoos through Youtube. One of their songs, “Show Me”, has been uploaded and I thought it sounded great. I must admit too that their name really caught my attention and made me very curious. Now, after many months of discovering them and not being able to secure a copy of their one and only release because of steep postage prices from the UK (even though they are way cheaper than the American prices), I decide to investigate.

The song uploaded in 2011 to Youtube has a bunch of comments. One of them mentions that the band hailed from the area of Stockport, in the UK. As you know, Stockport is a town that is part of the Greater Manchester. So they must have been friends with so many great bands, opened or headlined fantastic gigs, visited legendary venues and so on. Well, I suppose.

Another comment mentions that the band played at the Witchwood in Ashton, also another town of the Greater Manchester. Yet other gig mentioned is that one of the band playing at The Green Room along Anne Marie Finnegan. Where was The Green Room? I wonder. Then I learn that the original singer of the band, Craig Wright, lives in Auckland, NZ. And last but not least, there’s a comment by a Steve Toon, The Midwich Cuckoos manager, saying that the band is alive and well, that they have morphed into a new band called Hit the North.

It seems Hit the North comprise the original members of The Midwich Cuckoos, John Mangan on guitar, Mark Woolfenden on bass, Dave Curley on guitar and keyboards, plus the new members Sean Canning on vocals and Martin O’Brien on drums.  This band supported Toploader at The Headlander Festival in Stockport in 2014 and at the time of the comment they were going to the studio to record an album and a single. Previously the had released a single “Rollercoaster” that was the them music for the comedian John Bishop’s last arena tour.

But let’s explore what we can find about them on the web. The Midwich Cuckoos 12″ maxi-single came out in 1990 on Big Noise Records (BIG1). It seems there are many labels listed with the same name, so I’m going to assume this was a self-release. The record had three songs, on the A side there was “Show Me”, while on the B side we find two, “Baby You’re A Rich Man” and “Drag (Demo Version)”. There is no scan of the back cover of the record so not sure if there’s any extra information. On the front we see the name of the band in that quirky handwriting and a caricature of a chicken on the lower right corner. A cuckoo.

My first doubt happens when Discogs lists them on a 1983 tape compilation called “The Great British Beat Vol. 1” alongside the Page Boys or The Mixers. But I’m sure that must be another band with the same name. The year difference between this compilation and their sole release, doesn’t make sense.

There used to be a Myspace page for the band and as you can expect none of the songs can be streamed now. But at least we get to know a few more song names: “Princes Road”, “New State”, “Police On My Back” and “Did I Believe”. When were these recorded? And were they part of any release or perhaps a demo tape?

But I was going to struck gold when I found a Facebook page for the band! And it seems there used to be a website but that is no more. It looks like as if the band was still going under the name as there is a new lineup listed and also a list of former Midwich Cuckoos members:
Brent Woodall – Vocals
John Mangan – Guitars
Mark Woolfenden – Bass
Chris Toole – Keyboards, Programming
Steven Spencer – Drums, Percussion
Steve Toon – Percussion, Production

Former Midwich Cuckoos Members
Craig Wright – Vocal
Sean Canning – Vocal
Garry Crane – Guitars
Dave Curley – Guitars, Keyboards
Gary Wyatt – Guitars
Vulture – Guitars
Stuart Burnett – Drums
Mick Brophy – Harmonica,Production
Lucy Wyatt – Backing Vocals
Mike Comer – Percussion
Adam Margetson – Keyboards

Most importantly there’s a bio of the band which is exactly what I was looking for. First of all the band was formed in 1990, now clearing all doubts about that compilation appearance. Originally the band was formed by Craig, Mark, John and Steve Toon, and later Steve Spencer, Garry and Dave joined. The band lasted three more years and during that time the band got some great reviews thanks to their gigs and their single “Show Me”, which here says it was released in 1991.

Here comes the interesting part. There was a second single, “Better and Better”, that never got released due to distribution problems. Though that didn’t impede the band to make a promo video with director Pau Kucharski who had just made videos for The Stone Roses, The Mock Turtles and The Charlatans. I’ve looked for this video but I haven’t been able to find it.

It also mentions that the band was wooed by a number of major record companies in the early nineties but were caught up in the Madchester backlash and the interest dried overnight. Their last gig was on Friday 10th of December 1993 at The Cathedral Arches in Manchester.

Looking at the Facebook page it seems it was set up in 2016 as they played a reunion gig for Steve Toon’s 60th birthday at The Ruby Lounge alongside The Cheaters on November 26th of that year. I keep looking for any interesting content and I find a few flyers from back in the day. On one I see that The Midwich Cuckoos played at the Manchester International 1 with support by Mutley and the great Machine Gun Feedback on July 6th of 1991. On another flyer, The Midwich Cuckoos were the support band for the Milltown Brothers at The Hacienda on February 11th 1991.

That’s more or less the story of the band. Of course there are blanks that need to be filled. Like the video for “Better and Better”. Where is it? I want to see it. And what about the other songs I found on Myspace? Would love to listen to them. The only good news right now is that I found a copy of the record for ten dollars including shipping on eBay. That makes me happy.

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Listen
The Midwich Cuckoos – Show Me