Some finds from over the weekend. But also be aware the on Thursday I start shipping the Dayflower 7″s that have been pre-ordered. Exciting times!

Tvärtom: this Helsinki band may be my favourite discovery this week. They have everything I like, good melodies, catchy songs, boy/girl vocals. They have a self-titled EP with four songs which seems it is only available digitally, but well, it is better than nothing! I do hope they get these tracks on CD or vinyl. That would be amazing!

Night Hikes: “Avila” is the lead single from their upcoming “Chalice” album. The Seattle duo has dedicated this song not to the Spanish city of the same name but to a beach in California. The song is great! With fantastic vocals and a very interesting mood!

Fascinations Grand Chorus: now a duo from Jersey City that will be releasing their album “Presentations of Electrical Confectionery” on October 25. Looks like a digital only release at the moment, but who knows, if there are news I’ll let you know. Right now you can preview the opening track “Can’t Let Go” which is a fine 60s influenced indiepop song!

Rocketship: the legendary American band is back with a track called “I Just Can’t Get Enough” which sounds as if they are going back to their roots. That is a great thing I think! Not sure if this is just a digital single or if it will be releasing eventually in a record, but it is worth the listen!

Secret Meadow: another example that Indonesia keeps providing top pop to us is this nice video for the song “Of One’s Desire”. I am not that familiar with the band, even though I’ve recommended in the past on the blog, but check them out here, shoegazy, dreamy, it is good stuff.

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Who were behind The Magnificent Everything? This is another band I remember seeing in the old list that Twee.net had for bands they wanted to get in touch with, to ask them if they would be part of the Sound of Leamington Spa series. I didn’t look for them at the time. And not ever really. Only today I decided to check them out, see what I can find.

So far I’ve only listened to the A side of the one and only record they put out. It was a 7″ released in 1982 by Handful of Snakes Enterprises (HOS 001) which may as well being the band’s own label. The back of the sleeve has an address for the label in Wakefield, Yorkshire. Maybe the band hailed from there as well.

Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England, on the River Calder and the eastern edge of the Pennines, which had a population of 99,251 at the 2011 census. The Battle of Wakefield took place in the Wars of the Roses and it was a Royalist stronghold in the Civil War. Wakefield became an important market town and centre for wool, exploiting its position on the navigable River Calder to become an inland port. The name “Wakefield” may derive from “Waca’s field” – the open land belonging to someone named “Waca” or could have evolved from the Old English word wacu, meaning “a watch or wake”, and feld, an open field in which a wake or festival was held. In the Domesday Book of 1086, it was written Wachefeld and also as Wachefelt. 

Interesting. Would like to visit someday.

The 7″ had just the two songs, “Tuxedo Lights” on the A side and “Jackpot” on the B side. The sound is not strictly indiepop to be honest. It is poppy and fun though. And I think that is totally fine, let’s call it proto-indiepop as I like calling many of the records that were released in the early 80s with this sort of sound. Or neo-aco how the Japanese call them. The first song is credited to B. Snaith while the B side to A. Wilson.

The sleeve is yellow, printed in black ink. We see a well dressed couple, well, a drawing of them, behind them a palm tree island, a cloud and a moon. On the back we don’t see the couple anymore. The illustration is credited to Lee Walsh.

The back of the sleeve also gives details about the band members. Stuart Kennet on drums, Bob Marsden on bass and vocals, Bas Snaith on guitar and vocals and Ada Wilson on guitar and vocals.

Aside from this 7″ the band is listed in two 1983 compilations. On the LP comp “On The Rocks” (TPL 99) that was released by TPL Records the band contributes two songs, the first two actually. They are called “Blue Sky, North Street” and “Uptown Electric”. Would love to listen to them. Four other bands appear on this record, David Stratford, Stephen Sharpe, Open Windows and John Duke. Maybe there was a connection? Maybe all of them were from Yorkshire? Who’d know? The curious thing about this record is that it came with a board game called “Musotrek” with counters, playing cards and instructions!

The other compilation was a tape one. It was called “Real Time 7” and was released by Unlikely Records and it had no catalog number. On this comp the band contributes 2 sons, “Blue Sky, North Street” and “Big Casino”. There is a note by Robert Cox, from August 1983, written on the sleeve. It mentions that this was the 7th issue of Real Time. Was this a fanzine? Other bands on this record are Nine Dangerous Fish, Inc., Personal Effect, Three Damn Cheers, etc, etc. I must say I am not familiar with any of them!

Something interesting is that I find a review of the 7″ on a Smash Hits magazine dating from June 24, 1982. It is written by Neil Tennant. It says: “A jaunty, jazzy slice of swing that sounds a little bit pleased with itself”.

Looking a bit into the members previous bands I notice Ada Wilson, Bas Snaith and Bob Marsden had been in the powerpop combo Strangeways. Ada Wilson had also been in Tattoo Hosts Vision On!, Ada Wilson & Keeping Dark and in Ada Wilson & That Uncertain Feeling. Bob Marsden was also in the band Dino & The Travellers.

And that’s where I hit the wall, no more hits for The Magnificent Everything. It wasn’t everything but it was something. Much more than I expected. Now I need to find out if they had more songs. Also I’d love to listen to the other songs they released that I haven’t had the chance to yet. Why no more records? And also what did they do afterwards? What other bands aside from the ones I’ve mentioned had them as members? Did they play all over the UK? I noticed that with Strangeways they even played on TV.. what about with The Magnificent Everything? Would be great to know!

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Listen
The Magnificent Everything – Tuxedo Lights