Day 239.

River: I have actually a post coming up by this French band! Well this might be good news. So the 7″ the band released in the year 2000 with the songs “Strawberry Lipstick” and “Madoka” is available to purchase on Bandcamp on Safari Records.

The Sea at Midnight: here is a self-titled mini-album consisting of 8 songs. We can preview the first 6 on Bandcamp and it looks like this release is only available in digital format. The band hails from Los Angeles and they do play some very nice guitars!

Bootchy Temple: this French band is totally new to me. They have a cassette coming out on November 27 on Safe in the Rain Records from Paris. This tape is their album “Consummated Bloom” that will include 12 songs. At the moment we can only preview one of the tracks, “Nowhere Else”, which I like a lot. If the rest of songs are similar, then we are in for a treat!

Afternoon Naps: one of my favourite US bands from the time I started Cloudberry (and no wonder we did a 3″CD together) was the Afternoon Naps from Cleveland, Ohio. Well it seems they are now on Bandcamp and have a few copies left of their “Summer Gang” 7″ which is really nice. So run and get it!

My Raining Stars: the French project by Thierry Haliniak is back with a new  EP called “Obvious Reasons”! It is up now on Bandcamp and it includes 6 poptastic tracks. I am hoping this gets properly released as it is really good! Don’t miss it.

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Another great band I discovered thanks to the WokingSoundscene Soundcloud were the Aldershot based combo West One.

I am assuming I will find very little information about them. But we can start with the song that was uploaded to Soundcloud called “House of Cards”. This song had appeared on the “Son of Farnborough Groove Vol.2” in 1992, a compilation tape released by Farnborough Groove Music. This was not the only song that got released in these series of compilations. In 1995 they would have their song “Dreaming on My Feet” on the fifth volume that was called “Farnborough Groove Strikes Back!”

We also know who the band members were:
Patrick James Sullivan (vocals/guitar)
Paul ‘Moggy’ Morris (vocals/guitar)
Mick Goddard (bass)
Vince Southey (drums)

According to the bio on the Woking Soundscene Facebook page we learn that the band was around between 1985 and 1988. They were influenced by The Alarm, The Ruts, The Jam, and more. They mention that their name may come from The Ruts’ “West One (Shine on me)” song. The band was formed in May of 1985 and yb December of that year they were supporting Squeals of Delight at Farnborough Tech. Then in 1986 they played many gigs at the legendary Buzz Club that our friend Jo used to run. There they supported Steel Bill and the Buffalos, Second Balcony Jump and the most amazing The Jeremiahs. In February 1987 they supported Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band at the West End Centre in Aldershot.

In 1987 the band was supposed to release a 7″. It was to be released by Robot Records and the songs to be included were “Dreaming on my Feet” and “New Town”. For some reason it was never released.

In 1988 the band participated in the Battle for the Limelight held at Princes Hall.

Other gigs we know of were at the Lion Brewery, The Fox & Hounds Fleet, The Royal Oak, Fulham’s King’s Head in London, The Robin Hood Stanford, The Subway at South Hill Park in Bracknell, alongside The Body Politic and The Shift at The Riverside Club in Fetcham, The Majestic in Reading, The Tunnel Club in Greenwich, The Mean Fiddler in Harlsden, The Royal Standard in Walthamstow, Aldermoor School in Southampton, Princes Hall with Ministry of Sound and the superb Blue Train, another gig at Princes Hall with Java, at the Beehive and The Crimea. In many cases they played at same venues. If you want to check the dates you can do so by clicking on the images on the Facebook page.

It also looks like at least they recorded a demo tape in 1986, but can’t say which songs were included in it. We also know that they made t-shirts with the band’s logo.

Other information in this Facebook page is that Paul Morris was in the band The Perfect Circles after West One. Patrick James went to perform as a singer/songwriter. And sadly Vince Southey has passed away.

A fan of the band has put together a Facebook page with more stuff about the band. Here we find something amazing, the sleeve of the single that never got released. It even has the designs for the center labels of the vinyl. Other stuff to look for in this page are the amount of great photos of the band and their crowd.

And that’s it for West One. It is interesting that they shared gigs with many favourite bands of mine but somehow I’ve never heard about them before. Well, now I know a little more, hopefully we’ll get to know more soon!

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Listen
West One – House of Cards

Day 237.

The Seashells: our Swedish friends are back with a wonderful new song called “Sandi”. The band is not that prolific these days but now and then they surprise is with a new gem. Oh! and remember they appear on the latest Cloudberry fanzine!

Sapphire & Steel: “Assigment 1” is the name of this short EP of 3 songs. The new band is a duo formed by Jørn Åleskaer from Norway and Estella Rosa from the Netherlands and it sounds really lovely. This is very promising. Let’s hope for more songs!

Love Tan: here is superb sounding cassette with 7 songs that I feel everyone should get. It sounds really really good. The duo hails from Brighton and is formed by Ben Nightingale and Céline Doméné. Sounds a bit like The Pastels or The Vaselines. I hope they get a CD or vinyl release!

The Laundromat Chicks: here is a project from Vienna that is totally new to me. Their latest songs date from a few days ago. They are called “Dance on my Grave Tonight” and “Nobody Believes Me”. Fuzzy upbeat pop!

Terry vs. Tori: the Seville, Spain, band is back with a new record! That’s great news. Their new album, “Heathers”, is available now on vinyl and includes 10 terrific songs. I need to get this record when I get back to NYC. Will copies still be available?

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Another short post because this is a terribly obscure band. I found this as many other bands lately on the AGMP Youtube channel.

The Inner Sense was formed by Andy Stevenson on bass and vocals, Roger Snelwar on guitar and vocals, Andy Thorpe and guitar and vocals and Ian Bradford on drums.

They didn’t properly release anything as far as I know. The only thing we know about is a demo tape called “The Day Has Just Begun” that was put out in 1985. This tape had at least four songs, “It’s the Only Way”, “Happiness In Your Heart”, “Is It the Love Inside” and “Waking Up”.

All songs were recorded at Wild Roots, in Gillingham, Kent. United Kingdom that is. England. Were they based somewhere close to Gillingham? Were they part of the Medway scene? Perhaps?

Aside from this I haven’t found any information about the band on the web. Were there more recordings? I can’t say.

On Facebook I tracked down a Roger Cavendish, that has Roger Snelwar as a name in parenthesis, from Gillingham. Could it be the same one? I wasn’t able to find the other band members, but this might be my best bet.

I can’t find any other information about the band as I said. But I hope someone remembers them and can shed some light about them.

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Listen
The Inner Sense – Is it the Love Inside

Day 234

Stephen’s Shore: our Stockholm friends will be back with a wonderful 7″ on January 22nd. This new 7″ EP will be titled “Brisbane Radio” and will be released by the great Meritorio Records from Spain! There will be 4 songs, one of which we can preview right now, the opening track on the A side, “Brisbane Radio”. Other songs in the record are “Midvert”, “Skogen” and “Up to No Good”. Essential!

Boy with Apple: I don’t know anything about this Gothenburg based band only that their new song “Iceage” sounds really good to me. It is on their label’s Bandcamp, Varø. I should keep an eye on them.

Cassie: the Isle of Wight band which I interviewed not too long ago, and who re-released their classic 7″ earlier this year on Reminder Records, is going to be back with “The Light Shines On” LP! This LP that includes many of there great songs that never got to see the light of day is available now to pre-order on Reminder Records site. There are also 4 songs there to preview, “Falling”, “Boys will be Boys”, “Keep in Touch” and “She’s a Flirt”

Talking Bloom: here is a Windsor, Ontario, Canada, band that have just released a new song called “Bloom”. They make swirling shoegaze/dreampop and they do it well! The band is formed by Nate Blackton, Jill Goyeau, Jay Turnbull and Jeremy Brousseau.

Rilev: and one more. And yes, more shoegaze. This time from Mexico City where the band Rilev released their album “FADE” just today. It is a short one, 7-songs, but it is quite dreamy and moody that sounds good for this very gray Lima day.

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So I did write about the Glasgow trio Christine’s Cat and I mentioned that I had to write about The Besotted as Robert Smith had been in both bands as well as The Golden Dawn. Today I am making that promise true.

I doubt there’s much to find about The Besotted on the web but I will try of course. I know them thanks to a 7″ that Blam-A-Bit from Germany released in 1992. This was the “Kaleidoscope” 7″ (BLAM 014) that I do own but I can’t seem to remember where I bought it. I feel it was through an obscure German mailorder many years ago, but it could as well have been eBay. In any case it was a 7″ that I really enjoyed playing a lot when it got home. It has some great noisy songs.

These songs were four, two on each side. The A side has “Kaleidoscope” and “Mooncrash” while the B side has “Everyday” and “Dolls House”. Something cool about the vinyl is that it has some etchings on the runout. The A side says “Scratch it out!” while the B side “What’s Your Perversion? – Phone 06257-86248”. Who’s phone was that?

The 7″ itself has no more information.

We do know though that the band contributed songs to a few compilation starting in 1990 with “Sugarpuff” to the compilation “And they Call it Pop” released by Fragrant in the UK and on the 1990 tape compilation “Heol Daou” from France they had the song “Every Day”.

The song “Sugarpuff” would appear too on the “Around the World” (ER-016) tape comp released by Elefant in 1992 and on the “Firefly 2” cassette that came along the US fanzine “Burning the Midnight Firefly” that Keith D’Arcy made.

In 1992 the band would contribute “Kaleidoscope” to the “Around the World Again” tape released by Elefant (ER020) and  the song “Mooncrash” would appear in the “Everlasting Happiness” compilation released by our friend Andreas from Germany.

And that’s it when it comes to releases and songs it seems. We know too that Robert Smith went to be in the band Meth O.D. during the 90s.

Our Madrid friend Alex wrote about this single in his blog 7iete Pulgadas back in 2016! In this blog post he mentions that he can’t find any information and even Cloudberry Cake Proselytism hasn’t written anything about them! Oh dear! He was counting on the blog and we disappointed. Hopefully we can make up for it now.

Of course one thing we need to find out is who was the female vocalist. That is something I am curious about. I suppose it was just Robert and her. Was she in other bands perhaps? Another interesting thing would be to know if there are more songs. We know at least of 5 songs.

Who would know more about them? Any information will be appreciated!

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Listen
The Besotted – Kaleidoscope

Day 232.

So this post finds me in Lima, Peru, for family reasons.I should stay for 10 days, so no orders will be posted during this time. It has been one of the most stressful trips I’ve ever made. The preparations, all the paperwork needed, all the health affidavits to clear, the PCR test, it just so complicated. When returning to NYC it won’t be as difficult but there is a mandatory 14 day quarantine. So yeah, I honestly hope this nightmare is over soon.

The Slow Summits: wow, a new wonderful song by the Linköping, Sweden, combo. It is called “Not the One” and it sounds terrific with the string arrangements. I contacted the band some time ago and they told me that they are looking to release an album. I hope that happens soon. The songs they have so far are so good.

Beverly Kills: another Swedish band that sounds amazing is this Gothenburg combo. I am so glad that great bands are appearing now in Sweden. I was missing that. The band has a new song called “Trophy Hunt” that is a very fine single. I need to track down their previous releases for sure.

The Blue Herons: another new song, this time from Lucerne, Switzerland, from a band we have featured in the past, The Blue Herons! This new song is called “In the Skies” and it is a wonderful jingle jangle song. Andy Jossl makes the songs as usual and this time Gretchen DeVault sang and wrote the song!

Spunsugar: more from Sweden, now from Malmö! It seems it is all about Sweden today. The shoegazy band has releasde their album “Drive-Through Chapel” on Adrian Recordings and there are some superb dreampop tracks here. The album consists of 11 songs and is now available on vinyl.

U.S. Highball: lastly we check out this duo from Glasgow who will be releasing their album “Up to High Doh” on November 20th. It is coming out on vinyl and there will be a US version and a Rest of the World one. Right now we can preview the opening track, “New Neighbour”, which is a very Scottish pop sounding track. And yes, that is a good thing.

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Another fantastic Irish band I discover thanks to the Fanning Sessions blog! Wow really wow!

So who were behind The Riordans? Pat Clafferty on vocals and acoustic guitar, Jill Hahn on guitar, Damien Byrne on bass and Milo Maden on drums. Jill and Pat would go to form Mexican Pets, and later Pat was in Wheel.

Did they release anything? I think not. The story says that Mother Records approached them to record a single. The band actually end up recording it at Windmill Lane Studios, but it doesn’t say which songs or how many. In the end nothing was released.

Did they record a Fanning Session? Yes, that they did. At least three songs were recorded, “Lay Down Your Burden”, “Whistle”, “Which Road to Go” and “Glee”. What year was the session recorded? It doesn’t say…

The same blog posted another song later on on a different post.  It is called “Blue Blue Blue”. The post says that in the recording session for this song the band also recorded “Which Road to Go?” and “Dustbowl Dress”.

The third and last post about The Riordans was not long ago, this past April. Here they shared a song called “Greener Elsewhere” that dates from 1988. There is also a photo of Pat and Jill taken in Eustace St.

And that’s it really. I feel kind of stealing all the info from the Dave Fanning blog, but honestly I would add more but there’s no more to add. There’s nothing on the web about them. So yeah, maybe I’ll get lucky and learn more about them through the Comments section? Crossing fingers!

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Listen
The Riordans – Greener Elsewhere

Day 230.

The Crystal Furs: the great Portland trio are back with two songs on a digital split EP titled “Emptiness So Near” with New Charms, also from Portland. The songs seem to be Halloween themed and sound really ace! The Chrystal Furs tracks are “Werewolf of Love” and “Haunted Space”. Very very good!

Axolotes Mexicanos: the Madrid by way of Asturias, Spanish band have a new video for their song “Cara de Idiota”! This song should be included in the band’s new album that will be released next year on Elefant Records.

The Midnight Greetings: here is a lovely song called “Youth” from the bedroom project The Midnight Greetings from Manila, Philippines. The song has been put out by Lilystars Records and it sounds soothing, sweet, and melancholic. The person behind this song is Kurt Kyle Maraton. Good work!

The Legendary House Cats: the ex-Aberdeen, John Girgus, has a new track called “A Hollow Room”. It is a dreamy pop song, with electronic touches, that feels classic as well as modern.

Corduroy: lastly a new band from Norrköping in Sweden. They do have a sound I really like. And they have two songs, “Blomster” and “Blasé”. Would they make a nice 7″? I think so. The songs are very good and from some photos I found online, they seem to be 3 guys and a girl who like a beer or two. They also consider themselves Sweden’s handsomest band. Super.

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Elephant Noise appeared on the “Still Mad At Me? (15 Years Firestation Records 1998-2013)” 4CD compilation released by Firestation Records in 2013 (FST 100). Of course they were on the CD titled “The Sound of Leamington Spa Vol. 7”. On it they contributed the song “New Town Tom”. And that’s how I discovered them.

The booklet had some info about them. And I was very grateful for that.
Elephant Noise wanted to change the world. When singer/songwriter Neil Barber met bass player Neil Tayler in Edinburgh Scotland’s capital in the mid eighties they were drawn together through a love of seventies art-rock bands like Roxy Music. Neil Tayler, a seasoned rocker from Guernsey in the channel islands had moved to Scotland to form a serious band. Neil Barber had a classical musical background and had been playing Scottish folk music for several years. It was onky when they met flamboyant lead guitarist Stuart Allardyce (a school friend of drummer Crum Hall) that the romantic guitar band Elephant Noise was born. Stuart’s mastery of feedback and inventive post-modern guitar style combined with Neil’s achingly melodic writing made up  a sound that was huge on the Scottish music scene for almost a decade. All with university degrees in philosophy and English, the band, critically acclaimed by a national music scene weary of Stock Aitken and Waterman was very popular on the student circuit. Neil’s lyrics celebrated a visionary atheist spirituality and melodies were both light and dark.
There are few bands where each member is uniquely individually talented and though they had three drummers over the course of their career, Elephant Noise were a happy band with a good musical rapport and all founding members are still close friends to this day. Some fans like the band’s earlier more experimental if rougher sound. Others prefer their later more crafted song writing. Although they were one of Scotland’s most influential bands at the time enjoying a cult following and airplay on local and national radio, Elephant Noise never quite made the really big time. Maybe they were too brave, too fragile, too earnest, but they changed the world just a little bit.

During their time the band only would release a record, the “Elephant Noise” EP. It was released in 1991 on RUB Records (RUB001). This is the only release listed by this label so I would assume that it was a self-release. It included 4 songs, two on each side.

The A side had “This Song is Our Friend” and “Halloween Day” while the B side had “Remember the Big Time” and “Cactus Talk”. They were recorded at Pier House Studios in Edinburgh. The producers were Pete Haigh, Neil Tayler and also the band. The cover art was created by Carolyn Burchell. Neil Barber wrote the songs, played rhythm guitar, violin and sang. Neil Tayler played bass, Stuart Allardyce lead guitar, Tom Heaney played drums and keyboards and Dave Patrick played keyboards on the B side. Raymond Albeson is credited for the photos of the band members on the back cover.

The only other info that Discogs has is that Stuart Allardyce played on a few records by Rosie Nimmo in the 2000s. We know one of the drummers that was in Elephant Noise was John Gurney, he would play in the band Nectar 3 in the 90s. But about the rest of the band members, we don’t know much more.

Firestation would continue their relationship with the band and would release in 2017 a compilation album called “Remember the Big Time”. This compilation would have 13 songs. Are they everything they recorded? I don’t know, but this is a great comp. It had the following tracklist: “This Song is Our Friend”, “in Secret Dreaming”, “Remember the Big Time”, “Hearsay”, “In my Room”, “Halloween Day”, “Cactus Talk”, “The Motorway Song”, “Lost to the World”, “Wallpaper Tour”, “New Town Tom”, “Indian Summer” and “She’s an Aeroplane”. Sadly the compilation’s liner notes are the same as the Leamington Spa compilation so we can’t learn any more details through it. It does have lots of great photos of the band though!

I found that on The List, on its March 13, 1992, edition, they featured the band. Here they describe the band as a mad clash between The Monkees, The Smiths and King Crimson. We know through The List that the band played ad Music Box and the Pelican in Edinburgh,

And that’s it really. Then they disappear into obscurity.

I would love to know more about these Scottish band and its members. Any other details to add, please use the comments section!

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Listen
Elephant Noise – New Town Tom

Day 227.

The B-Team: this is fantastic! here is an 8 song album called “Window Shopping” by the classic mod pop band The B-Team that were interviewed on the blog not so long ago! These 8 songs come from a 1985 and 1986 at various gigs!

Aiko el Grupo: a new song by this Spanish band that will soon be releasing a 10″ mini-lp on Elefant Records that will be titled “Va Totalmente en Serio…”. This new song is called “Quiero Conocer (Por tu Actitud)” and it also has a promo video for it!

Star Party: a new band from Washington State, with a 4 song demo available now on tape. And they also sell t-shirts. That’s cool, no? What’s even cooler is that they make a very fine cover of the Shop Assistants classic “Something to Do”!

Beach Vacation: another Washington State band that has a new release is Beach Vacation from Seattle. They are releasing on November 13 a tape with Z Tapes from Slovakia. This tape is actually a 9 song album and is titled “I Fell Apart”. We can preview two songs now, “Break the Ice” and “Our Night is Falling”.

Fine.: one of my favourite new bands as of late is this Boston, UK, band. Now and then they release a song that is just precious. Their latest is no exception. It is called “Little Voices” and again, it is very good.

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Let’s take a trip to France. Let’s talk about the Yachines.

I have wondered for a long time where did the name Yachines comes from. My theory is that it comes from Lev Yashin. The great Soviet goalkeeper. The “Black Spider” For many the best goalkeeper of history. I’ve seen his name written in French as Lev Yachine. So could it be?

I am still on the lookout of the records they put out. This French band actually came to my attention around 10 or so years ago, thanks to the Neo-Acoustic Guide, that great book the Japanese indiepop fans put together. They were known in Japan, perhaps thanks to a compilation put together by the fine Quince Records in 1998. This compilation was called “Yachines” (QRCP-9007) and included 20 songs in total. The first 14 songs were from the band’s first album “Fancy Kane”, the next 3 from the mini-album “My Love is a Star” and the last 3 were unreleased. The running tracklist is as follows” “Smashing Days”, “Yachines Town”, “I Believe”, “Les Nuits Magnétiques”, “Joséphine”, “Peppermint Drops”, “Superstar”, “Promesses”, “Just in Time”, “Fancy”, “Kane’s Dream”, “Paul”, “Here Today”, “Mr. Tambourine”, “My Love is a Star”, “One Love”, “Do You”, “Veronica”, “All Around the World” and “Le Reve Americain”.

The first release by the band was the mini-album “My Love is a Star” released by Pop Life United (94001) in 1994. This labels seems to be tha band’s own, but I can’t be sure 100%. The only two releases listed on Discogs by this label are Yachines releases. The mini-album songs were “My Love is a Star”, “One Love”, “Monday Man”, “Colors”, “Do You” and “Les Promesses”.

Two years later, 1996, the album “Fancy Kane” was released also  on Pop Life United (CDLPU 96002). 14 songs were included and these were: “Smashing Days”, “Yachines Town”, “I Believe”, “Les Nuits Magnétiques”, “Joséphine”, “Peppermint Drops”, “Superstar”, “Promesses”, “Just in Time”, “Fancy”, “Kane’s Dream”, “Paul”, “Here Today” and “Mr. Tambourine”.

So the band. Yes. It was formed by Olivier Brion on guitar and vocals, Stéphane Bienne on drums and backing vocals, Nicolas Brion on bass and backing vocals. Miss Lever added backing vocals to “Les Promesses” and also on a cover song of “A Felicidade”, original by Antonio Carlos Jobim, which was included in the “A Tribute to Antonio Carlos Jobim” released in 1997 by XIII Bis Records (177192) in France, Gut Records (GUT-0046) in Taiwan and Quattro (QTCY-2112) in Japan. Worth mentioning that this compilation includes terrific bands including Cloudberry Jam, Ray Wonder or even Louis Philippe.

The only other compilation appearance I am aware by Yachines is on the “Fair 97” CD compilation released in 1997. This was a promno compilation and the band included the song “Les Promesses”.

The band members were in other bands too after the band called it a day. All three band members were in the band Discover in the early 2000s. Olivier also released a solo album called “Hôtel D’Angleterre” in 2007. And this year he released the single “Jekyll & Hyde”.

In 2013 the band did a reunion gig, a 20th anniversary reunion gig. They played in Paris on February 8th of that year. There’s a video with live footage of that gig!

I find a 1994 review of the mini-album on Les Inrockuptibles. Here it does say that the band named themselves after the legendary goalkeeper. It also mentions that Olivier Brion used to be in a band called Dorian Gray. Would be nice to find recordings by this band!

Then I do find Olivier Brion playing acoustic solo at the Bistropolitain in Paris on September 21st, 2018! How cool. At this gig he played a few songs and among them he played the Yachines song “My Love is a Star“.

I find the song “My Love is a Star” on Youtube. There it says that there was going to be a 25th anniversary edition of this song to be released on vinyl. Not sure if that happened. There seems to have been a website for Olivier Brion in 2018 when this was posted. But there is none. What a song this is. I hope someday it gets re-released of course.

Not too long ago our friends Toshiko and Fabien dedicated a post to them in their Anorak Crumble blog. And not much more for Yachines. I see a few more posts about Discover, the band that came after. But I am curious now about Yachines, his jangly indiepop band.

Who remembers them? Did they record more songs? Appear on more compilations? Would love to find out more about them. Such a great sounding band!

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Listen
Yachines – Yachines Town

Day 225.

Astragal: the Houston shoegazers have uploaded a short EP to their Bancamp. It is actually a live EP, one where they play at the Satellite Bar. It is just three songs, but for many of us who have never had the chance to catch them live this is a nice surprise. All proceeds of this EP will go towards keeping the Satellite Bar open.

Dog Dept: this is an older song, from 2018, but just discovered it now. It is called “Fools” and it is by this band from Palembang, Indonesia, called Dog Dept. It sounds really nice and I wonder how come I didn’t stumble upon it before. It is also the only song up on Bandcamp by this band but they do have a Soundcloud with two more songs. Indonesian friends, who are Dog Dept?

Grazer: a new song by this Melbourne combo formed by Matt, Mollie, Nic and Adie. And what a song it is! “In Sight” is dreamy, powerful, mysterious even. The guitars sound great as well as the vocals. It is a moody track, and I really enjoy it! Keep them coming!

The Wellington: this is for me the best news this week so far, the album by The Wellington! Wow! Guerrilla Records form Jakarta is releasing it digitally but I really want a physical copy! I Want to play this at home all the time! Wow! 9 songs of perfect indiepop. Definitely a true favourite for this year. Beauty, I needed music like this.

Still Dreams: on my last post I recommended the Japanese band Still Dreams who were releasing a digital single on Elefant. Well good news now is that the song “Ultra Doomed” is getting video treatment and here it is!

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And now to Brazil! To find out more about the band Brilhantines!

My first stop is promising. A Facebook page. There is a link to a band website but that doesn’t seem to be working. But there is a link to a Soundcloud and that is really helpful!

We learn then that the band hailed from the municipality of Cerquilho in the state of Sao Paulo.

But let me tell you how I found about this band. It was through their song “Amanhã” that was included in a compilation called “People are required for People, People’s Love is Absolutely Required for People” that was released by Plan de Sens in Japan. This compilation featured  Brazilian indiepop bands from at least 7 different. Brazilian states and was curated by the Brazilian label Midsummer Madness. I suppose this compilation that I just got not too long ago could be interesting to explore Brazilian indie, which I know very little! I only know a few of the bands included, Luisa Mandou um Beijo, Multisofá and Pelves. The rest are all unknown to me!

It looks as if the band didn’t release a record, at least according to Discogs. It doesn’t even include the compilation I just mentioned. There is another one from 2005 called “Ainda Somos Inúteis” released by Migué Records (048) where the band appears with the song “A Festa”.

The other compilation listed is the one that came with the Cooke Scene Magazine issue 33rd. On this October 2003 compilatiojn the band appeared with the song “Amanhã”. Speaking of that song it is worth mentioning that the band made a video for the song “Amanhã“.

Back then to the Soundcloud. Here are tons of songs. And looks as if there was a self-titled mini-album. This mini-album is called “Das Lições Apreendidas na Infância na Idade Adulta” and dates from 2011. It has the songs “Supernova”, “Sub Rosa”, “A Nova”, “Correndo Assustado”, “Amanda”, “Tanto Faz” and “Dolores”. It is said that it was released by Pisces Records but couldn’t find a website.

From Facebook I learn that there were two EPs, one called “Cançonetas Pra ti Entoadas” from 2001 and another “Tucatacá do Burum Burum” from 2004.

The first one, “Cançonetas Pra ti Entoadas” had the songs “Burum”, “Amanhã”, “Dramática”, “Esplendor”, “Meus Dias”, “Canção de Amor”, “Por Teu Amor” and “Desabafo”. The second one had “Se Você”, “Tucatacá”, “A Espera de Primavera”, “Eu Não Sou Mau para Amar Você”, “Horas e Horas”, “Foi Teu Beijo”, “Meu Caminho” and “Doce Valentina”.

On Soundcloud there is one extra song that doesn’t seem to be part of any of the releases, “Agora Que a Vida Faz Sentido”.

I keep looking for info, at least who are the band members. I find that the band played the Rock Fwstival in Rio Preto in 2006 and the Sonic Flower Festival in Maringá in 2007.

And then finally! I hit the bullseye.

The band is formed by Dadá Costa on drums, Neto Nunes on guitar and vocals, Nilton Denardi on bass and Yuri Colaiacovo on guitar. I know too that Neto also played in a band called Old Suit.

And that’s it really. Not much more on the web. But I am sure some of you remember them. Any info will be appreciated!

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Listen
Brilhantines – Amanhã

Day 223.

Still Dreams: is a duo from Japan formed by Maaya and Ryuta and are releasing a digital single now with two songs, “Ultra Doomed” and “Envy”. But the good news is that they are working on a 10″ mini LP to be released on Elefant Records!

Soft Blue Shimmer: this LA trio formed by Charlie, Kenzo and Meredith, make some terrific dreampop! They are going to be releasing on November 27 an album called “Heaven Inches Away” on vinyl LP. Right now we can preview one of the 9 tracks that will be included, “Cherry-Cola Abyss”.

The Color Waves: finally one of the albums I awaited the most this year is out! The self-titled album by The Color Waves, 10 songs of perfect pop, is available to listen on the band’s Bandcamp. Remembering of course that a few years back we released the “Chirology” 7″ (copies still available) which we think is a gem of a record. Precious guitars. Precious songs. Pop perfection.

Kindsight: a new song by the Copenhagen band we featured not too long ago. They are just giving us one song at a time. That’s ok if they continue being so good! This new song is called “Terminal Daze” and I am very much into it. Really like the vocals.

Grids and Dots: lastly another new song, this time by these Sydney popsters! The song is called “Hazy Jane” and it is quite nice. I look with envy that they have planned a gig on January 28. I wonder, will I go to gigs again? I really hope so. Will I be able to go to Australia someday? Makes me a bit nostalgic of good times. And this song works well, this cover of Nick Drake, which will be included in the band’s forthcoming debut EP.

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A Glasgow trio that released a 5″ flexi-disc on Sarah. A flexi that only had one song, the ramshackle noisy beauty that is “Your Love Is…”. A song that is not a favourite among Sarah fans, but I think it is great.

Of course I don’t own this release as it is very hard to come by many Sarah releases. This one as it is an early one, SARAH 13, it proves to be a bit hard. And that’s not all, alongside this flexi two fanzines came with it, the “Lemonade: a Fanzine” (SARAH 14a) and “Cold: a Lie” (Sarah 14aa), both of 16 pages. So getting the whole bundle these days should be quite difficult. Or maybe some of you are lucky. I don’t know. It’s been a while since I had the drive to be a Sarah completist.

But for sure I’d love to have this song in my collection.

Robert Smith was on guitar and vocals, Kenny Forte was on guitar and Christine Grant was on vocals. That was the trio’s lineup. Robert Smith would later be in some great bands like The Golden Dawn and Besotted. Yeah, I owe Besotted a post. Maybe that’s my next post.

When it comes to Christine’s Cat there is barely anything written on the web. Aside from the flexi they were featured on the boxset “C89” released by Cherry Red in 2018. It included the one song we know.

That’s it really. I would be very curious to know if Christine and Kenny were involved in any other bands, and if Christine’s Cat recorded more songs. Who knows the answer?

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Listen
Christine’s Cat – Your Love Is…

Day 220

Soulbird: Last Tuesday I interviewed Peter Green from the great Hearts On Fire. As mentioned on the interview he has been making music as Soulbird and actually just released an album called “Sparkledust”. It is up on Bandcamp now and it sounds really good! 14 top songs.

Hamburger: out on December 11 on Specialist Subject Records is the 6 song EP by this terrific Bristol band. The EP will be released on vinyl and you can check out one of the songs to be included, “Supersad”. There’s also a tote bag for sale and that’s nice. It’s been a while since I’ve bought one.

Flying Fish Cove: I enjoyed a lot the record this Seattle band put out on Jigsaw Records. Now the band is back with a 4-song EP called “Viridian”. A few things about it, 50% of the sales will go to Mutual Aid South King County.  And also very important is that there’s a song called “Xuxa”.

Rosehip Teahouse: now back to this Cardiff band that have been a favourite on the blog this year. They will be releasing a 12″ EP titled “Fine”. It will have 5 songs in total and we can preview two of them, “I Meant What I Said” and “A Million Times”.

The No-Yeahs: From Vallejo, California, here are 5 songs of lo-fi bedroom pop, which takes us back to the days of soulseek and CDR burning and mix CDs and blogspot, and all those things, the time when many of us fell in love with indiepop. This sounds like that. Proper DIY in this “Homily for a Gloomy Day” EP. Very nice.

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We all know Alison’s Halo, right? The great Tempe, Arizona, shoegaze band  that featured Catherine Cooper on vocals and guitar, Adam Cooper on guitar and Lynn Anderson on bass. But are you all aware of the EP Adam and Catherine released as The Pastry Heros?

After the demise of Alison’s Halo in the late 90s, Adam and Catherine relocated to Chicago. But before this relocation, just in between they would record a different sort of record, more chamber-pop sound than dreampop, and self-release it. It would be a five song EP called “Horn Rim Fury”. It was to be released on their own Submersible Records in 1998.

The story says that in 1999 they would change names again, this time to Insta, and then re-release the EP on Sunday Records.

But let me go back to the original release on Submersible (SBM001). It had 5 songs as I said. These were “Sydney”, “Nite-Lite”, “Sparkle”, “Jazzed Up!” and “A View from Space”. They were recorded to analog tape at Jetpack Studios between August 1997 and March 1998. Then they were mastered at Sonic Fish Studios by Ken Mari.

Aside from Adam and Catherine other people that were involved in the record were David Rogers (Alison’s Halo, Half String, Insta, Kitten Factor) on bass, Ken Mari (from Soul Shock Remedy, Arizona Dry Heat Rescue and Insta) on drums and Ben Currier (Air Miami, Eggs) on drums on “A View from Space”.

Aside from this release the band had their song “Sydney” on a compilation called “The Unheard Pleasures of Inane – Somewhere in Europe, 1972 Vol. 1” released by Sinedín Music (SM004) and Inane Records in Spain. This CD came alongside the magazine Factory on its 22nd issue. It featured lots of great indiepop bands like Eggstone, The Cherry Orchard or Club 8. A cool detail, our friend Gregorio Soria did the artwork for this compilation!

I believe that the Insta re-release of the EP that came out on Sunday Records (SUNDAY 940) in 2002 is the same. There is different artwork and instead of coming in a slim jewel case the CD came in a cardsleeve. I am curious why they changed names. And why re-release it?

We know that both Catherine and Adam continued making music in other projects. We know of Insta of course but also of Kitten Factor.

Not much more about The Pastry Heros. Much more on Insta. But I like doing things in order. I want to know what happened during The Pastry Heros days. Did they play gigs? Why the change of style of pop? Why a new change of name? And a re-release? Many questions, that I hope I get answers someday! Do you remember them?

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Listen
The Pastry Heros – Nite Lite

Day 218

The Jack Rubies: wow! this is exciting! I should try to get in touch with the classic band now that they are on Bandcamp! Yeah, the London band (though now they have Brooklyn listed on Bandcamp) has appeared on Bandcamp with two remastered releases, the classic “Foolish Boy” 7″ with extra tracks and “Witch-Hunt in Lotusland”! It would be cool to interview them, right?

The Sound of Young Sumatera: a fantastic compilation featuring 12 bands from the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. It is being released and curated by the great Shiny Happy Records and it features bands like Lajur, Lazy Eye or Beetleflux.

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: two more from Glenn Donaldson, “Saw You at the Record Shop Today” and “Don’t Come Home Too Soon”. As usual they are really good.

Coloring Book: another wow! Another band I’d love to interview of course. The New York band that existed between 1992 and 1998 that featured Hamish Kilgour on drums, Jon Chaikin on vocals and guitar, Jen Matson on vocals and Tony O’Blaney on bass is now on Bandcamp. The debut single by the band that included amazing 4 songs is up now. Classic and timeless!

Fandor: the Bordeaux musician is back with a new jingle jangly song called “Plus Rien à Craindre”. This song will be included in the upcoming album “En Quatrième Vitesse” to be released by Nemo Records on CD!

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Big Love. From London. What do we know about them?

According to Discogs they were the brainchild of “Big” Russ Clayton who wrote all the songs and put the band together. It also mentions that the band was fronted by the extremely beautiful Julie Rogers. I am intrigued already!

So Russ Clayton played guitars, as well as writing the songs of course. Julie sang. Then Ben Bartlett played bass and Andrew Maltman the drums. This lineup released a 12″ in 1980 on their own Big Love Records (BL001) and I think we should start there!

The 12″ EP had three songs, “Excuse Me” on the A side and “Wonder’s Never Cease” and “Nothing’s Sacred” on the B side. The cover art doesn’t say much, though it does look like the record came with a band photo as well as an insert. The insert is pretty interesting as it sheds some light about the band.

Here they mention some gigs coming in up for the band in 1990. On Tuesday March 27 they were to play at the Opera on the Green in Shepherd’s Bush. Then on April 14 at the Pop Club at the legendary Bull and Gate in Kentish Town and lastly on Wednesday May 2nd at the Cricketeers in Kenington Oval.

We know too that after the demise of Big Love, Russ would be in a band called The Direction which would release a 7″ and 12″ in the early 90s.

And that’s it really. I immediately face a wall. Not much more info about them. A single that I don’t own, three songs, a few gigs, and not much more. What happened to Big Love? Did they record more songs? Where are their band members now? Still making music?

Edit: a demo tape has appeared on Youtube with two songs, “Career in the Cold” and “Crestfallen”!

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Listen
Big Love – Wonders Never Cease