Day 387

The Francine Odysseys: The LA based project by Gretchen DeVault (from the Icicles) and Ian Patrick sounds great. They have just released an EP titled “My Favorite Distraction” that caught my attention even before listening to it. The artwork for it is gorgeous. But then listening to their beautifully crafted popsongs I was won over. Four songs are included in this digital-only release.

Helen Love: wow a collection of unreleased songs by Helen Love! “Helen Love From Under the Bed” are 12 songs that come from different album sessions. So great! On top of that I see myself on the banner photo of her Bandcamp. Wow. So cool to find Helen Love here. I’m such a fan. Love it!

The Manhattan Love Suicides: our Leeds friends, who once upon a time released a mini CD with Cloudberry, have put together “Dirt in the Grooves”, a 23 song compilation that is now available on CD! The CD comes nicely packaged on a DVD package and comes with card insets that are replicas of previous releases. This compilation doesn’t include all of the bands song, but what the band and the label Next Phase : Normal Records picked as their best. And they did have tons of BEST songs if I may say.

The Death of Pop: a few weeks ago I shared some songs that were going to be included in the “Seconds” album. Well now you can check out all 10 songs that are on the 12″ record that Hidden Bay Records and Discos de Kirlian are releasing. The album is out now and is limited to 250 copies.

Holiday Ghosts: “North Street Air” is the name of the album this Falmouth, UK, band will be releasing on May 1st! Right now we can preview two of the songs, “Mr. Herandi” and “Off Grid”. Both are fun, catchy, a bit like The Vaselines can I say? The boy/girl vocals work great too.

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Another day checking the Calgary Cassette Preservation Society blog. Why? Because they have some great music that I want to share with everyone. The latest band I’ve discovered there is called Citrus Park and it sounds pretty good.

Discogs lists three tapes by this Calgary, Canada, band. The first tape dates from 1989 and was called “A Fine Morning”. It was self-released and included 8 songs, 4 on each side. The A side had “Golden”, “The Battle is Over”, “Malpractice” and “The Morning at Home”. The B side, on the other hand, had “Run Away”, “Annette”, “The White Sky” and “Crown of Thorns”.

The tape tells us also the band members, Jeff Burns on vocals and guitar, Stephen Bandola on vocals and bass and Dana Lyons on drums and percussion. The tape was engineered by Jeff Burns and was recordeed at Sound Kitchen and CJSW, in Calgary, during the 1989 winter. The cover photo, of the three members, is credited to Dean Burns. The tape too came with song lyrics. That’s always nice.

In 1990 the band released a new album titled “South”. Now we get 11 songs, “Here I Am”, “Carry On”, “The Only Voice in Town”, “Falling to Pieces” and “Strangers” on the A side and “A Pretty View”, “Sell Out”, “Eagles’ Bay”, “Standing Still”, “A New Fallen Theme” and “Listen” on the B side.

Again this tape has a photo by Dean Burns of the three band members on the front as well as the lyrics of all the songs. Once again the band worked with Jeff Burns as the engineer but the songs were recorded on an 8 track during the fall of 1990. The drums were recorded at CJSW studios.

Lastly in 1992 the band released a third tape album, “Swirl”. This one came out with 8 songs and was also self-released. We find the songs “Take a Trip with Me”, “Mending Fences”, “All For What?” and “Snow” on the A side and “Two Candle Light”, “A Different Speed”, “She Still Bleeds” and “Daughter” on the B side.

This time around there are no song lyrics and the band doesn’t appear on the cover. The songs were now recorded by Tracy Noga and Citrus Park.

The only other release I know by them is an appearance on the double CD “90.9 with a Bullet – 20 Years of Calgary Music” released by Saved by Radio and CJSW. Here the band appears on the first CD with the song “Take a Trip with Me.

One interesting fact I’ve found so far is that before the band was called Citrus Park they were called Feast of Fools and they even released a tape album called “Carnival”. I need to check it out. Maybe that’s a future post.

Another interesting fact is that Steve Bandola is brother of Mark Bandola of The Lucy Show.

Then on Soundcloud, on the CJSW Radio account, there is an interview with Stephen Bandola and Jeff Burns talking about Citrus Park.

And then why not check Youtube! Here I find live footage of the band playing the song “Golden” at the Westward Inn in Calgary 1990. There’s two people dancing in the front, close to the stage…. ah! how much I miss gigs! And then from the same gig I find the songs “The White Sky“, “Here I Am“, “Engles Bay” and “Strangers“.

And that’s what I could find about the band! Quite good stuff. Hopefully we’ll be able to learn more about them in the near future!

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Listen
Citrus Park – Snow