It’s Friday and I really need this weekend. Been tired lately.

Things still moving slowly on my side. Trying to find out the DAT tapes from an 80s band that I love. Emailing here and there. Another band trying to figure out publishing deals. Waiting and waiting now for things to be more clear.

Cinema Engines: Our friend Sebastian Voss from Nah… and The Grindcore Poppies has a new project with Nero Bates from The No Colour Twins and it is called Cinema Engines. The two Münster guys have just put out a limited CD single out titled “Hello Springtime, Hello Sunshine” that has two wonderful poppy songs, “Springtime Remains” and “Netty’s House”. Both tracks are excellent. Don’t miss this one out.

The Crooner: here’s a new digital single by Zissimos from Athens! The classic project of his is teaming with Make Me Haappy aand this one is a song I don’t think I’ve heard before! Is it an old one? or a new one? I don’t know! But “I Wish I Were a Jet” is really lovely.

Amor Propio: this new project that features ex-members of Cola Jet Set sounds great. The band just released a self-titled 7″ EP! It has 3 songs of sweet pop Barcelona-style, with influences that go from bands like the aforementioned Cola Jet Set, Brighton 64 or Kamenbert.

Broke Chanter: David McGregor, formerely of Kid Canaveral, is behind this cool project that has released an album titled “Catastrophe Hits”. The album which is available on vinyl and CD has 10 songs of great pop songs! It came out a bit ago, back in October but I just find out about it. So maybe you also missed it or maybe not. The thing is this Glasgow band seems to be on the right track, this is a fine album!

Ferri-Chrome: and we end this week with yet another fantastic album! The new one by Japan’s Ferri-Chrome! Titled “Dazzling Azure” it is indeed dazzling. The dreamy band has released this record on CD with Testcard Records and I would say to everyone to get it. I will try to do so myself too. 10 songs of pop brilliance!

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I thought I had written about Mr Peculiar before. I guess not. I was looking at my 7″ collection and thought, this looks obscure enough for the blog, but I wrote about them before, right? A quick look on my list of bands on the right-hand column of the blog shows me that no, I didn’t yet. So let’s see what can we find about this British band!

The band, as far as I know, only released one 7″ on the label Lust Recordings. Lust was Stephen from Woosh second label. Mr Peculiar’s release was the third on the label (LUST 3) and came out in 1990. Three songs were included, “Loonyverse” on the A side and “How Many Times” and “Isle of View” on the B side.

The producers of the songs were Richard Fromby and Mike Stout. The songs had been recorded at Woodhouse Studios in Leeds in June 1990. There is an address. We know then that the band hailed from Leeds.

I see a photo of the band playing at Daggi’s Bar in June 1990. It says that Simon Spaceman is on vocals. The guitarist has left a comment. He links to a page of his photography. I can’t find his name though…

I find a gigography for the Pale Saints. I see that on March 15 (my birthday!), 1989, Mr Peculiar supported the Pale Saints in Lancaster.

Sadly this is all I could find about them. I hope someone remembers them and can give us some insights, some details, about the band!

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Listen
Mr Peculiar – Isle of View

Not many updates today. Been reading Pete Paphides book “Broken Greek”, it is a nice memoir of how he fall in love with pop music. I wonder if any of you have read it. On my Goodreads just two friends have and have given superb reviews, 5 stars. So far, I’m halfway through, I am really enjoying it.

Dayflower: there is an expanded version of the “Popping Candy” EP our friends of Leicester released two years ago. This time there’s  more songs including a cover of The Flaming Lips as well as different versions of other songs of their catalogue. It is always a good idea to check them out as they are one of the most creative bands out there.

The Photocopies: originally from London but now based in Michigan, we find this nice indiepop project. Their latest release is titled “Quadruple A-Side” which doesn’t have 4 songs but 5. Nice melodies, sunny and jangly, this is a very nice EP. Let’s keep an eye on The Photocopies.

Arts & Letters: now we head to Clare, Australia. To listen to the wonderful song “Asleep”. This is the latest single by this project by Caleb Carr. Previously I believe his project was called English Summer and I had recommended it more than a few times! So yeah, I like his chiming music and don’t mind recommending it even if the name changes!

Swimming Pools and Movie Stars: I already have this on CD. It came out on Jigsaw Records with the title “Modern Architecture”. An 8-song mini-album by this newish Los Angeles project formed by Laurence and Droo. Jigsaw Records comparees theem to Brittle stars, Aberdeen, New Order and JAMC. It’s a good combination of influences and the record is really pretty.

Crystal Eyes: “Don’t Turn Around” is the name of the latest single by Calgary,  Canada, band Crystal Eyes. From what I understand this shoegazy song will be part of the dreampop band’s new album “The Sweetness Restored” that is coming out on April 22 on Bobo Integral from Spain. Good stuff.

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This is weird. I was looking at the Change of Seasons Soundcloud page and noticed two songs from 2010 with a female singer. The songs sound very different to the ones I knew that date from back in the early 90s. Anyone would know? They are called “Like This” and “Why”. The strange thing is that they are in the band account as far as I know.

But let’s rewind. Let’s remember this fine Canadian band…

I first discovered them through Egg Records. In the early 2000s they were part of their “restoration” program. I didn’t get the band’s releases then but I was aware of them. A few years after I managed to get the band’s sole 7″ that was released in 1991. This was the “Soft Spoken” 7″ on Egg Records (EGG 008) that had the song “You Again” as the B side.

This wasn’t the band’s first release. According to Discogs there was a demo tape from 1990 with 6 songs, “You Again”, “Echoes of Sadness”, “Wish I Had”, “Soft Spoken”, “The Waiting” and “Pirates on the South China Sea”. I start to wonder how a Canadian band ended on a Scottish label in those pre-internet dates.

A tape was put together by Egg Records in 1991. It was a promo release that had three of the band’s songs on the B side, “You Again”, “Waiting” and “Soft Spoken”. The A side had three songs by the wonderful The Church Grims (which I’ve tried to interview, no luck yet).

When Egg Records decided to re-release the band in 2003, they put out two releases. First was the “Echoed in Sadness” (EGGREST003) CDR single that had four songs, “Echoed in Sadness”, “Tragic Town”, “Speaking too Soon” and “Buttered Toast”.

The second release by the Toronto band was the album “Pretty Mouth” (EGGREST002). 15 songs were on this CDR, “Idiot Home”, “Closet Full”, “Soft Spoken”, “After All”, “You Again”, “Portrait of these Times”, “Echoed in Sadness”, “Crocodile Skin”, “Wish I Had”, “The Waiting”, “Pirates of the South China Sea”, “Smoked Eyes”, “Restless Heart”, “Hairdressers Daughter” and “Try”. All of these songs had been recorded at Friendly Fire Studios between the summer in 1989 and April 1990. In Toronto of course.

Other than thees releases the band appeared on many compilations. In 1990 their song “Echoes of Sadness” appeared on the classic French tape compilation “Heol” released by Karen (KAREN02). “Wish I Had” appeared on “Spying on the Blue Sky” tape as well as in “Egg Records Compilation” (ER-008) tape that Elefant Records released. On this tape their song “Echoed in Sadness” is also included. Lastly on the Spanish compilation “Film Fun “There’s No Stopping Her!” released by El Vicio Seecreto de Sister Mary they had the song “Pirates”. This was all in 1991.

“I Wish” appears on “Seahorses” cassette comp that Red Roses for Me (RRT03) put out in 1992. Elefant Records releases another tape that year, “Around the World” and the song “The Waiting” is included. Also the song “Wish I Had” appears on the vinyl LP “Eating a Fish-Shaped Particle” a superb ccompilation released in Germany by Pico Records (CheW 065).

IN 2003 the band is featured on the CDR compilation “Egg Records: An Introduction to 1988-1991” (EGGREST001). Three songs are included, “You Again”, “Soft Spoken” and “Wish I Had”. Then in 2006 on “Souvenirs from Egg Records” (EGGREST015) their songs “Pirates on the South China Sea” and “Soft Spoken” get included.

There is another compilation tape called “The Cordelia Records Presents”. I don’t know when was this released. What we know is that “Wish I Had” was included in it and was released by Project Press & Tapes (PRT 14).

What else do we know aabout them? Well, that the band was formed by Mike Caricari on guitar and vocals, Cameron Gray on guitar and vocals too, Rico Gasborro on drums and Marc DiGirolimo on bass. Many Canadian-Italians in this band!

They had been involved in other bands too. We know that Michael Caricari was in Danko Jones and Tugboat. Cameron Gray was on Tugboat too.

On Last.fm there’s a bio that is really helpful. It tells that the band actually started in 1987 by Marc DiGirolamo and Mike Caricari. Then they added Rico who happened to be Marc’s cousin and Cameron.

The band’s first gig was at a high school gym in Toronto. Their proper debut was at The Slither Club in March 1988 and they would eventually open for bands like The Chills, The Verlaines and The Wedding Present.

The band released two tapes in Canada. The first was called “Up North under Opulescent Skies” that came out in the summer of 1989. The second was “Pretty Mouth” from April 1990. Both had 9 songs, and it was thanks to the second tape that Egg Records found about them and offered a release.

In March 1991, Mike and Cameron moved to Glasgow. There they recruited two members, Scott on bass and Cliff Henderson on drums. With this lineup they recorded the “Soft Spoken” single and played in Glasgow. At the end of the summer of 1991 Cameron returned to Toronto and Change of Seasons was over.

I suppose then that all recorded material by the band was included in the Egg Records album. I do wonder why they took the risk to move to Glasgow. Also why just be there 3 or so months? Were they involved in other bands before Change of Seasons? And again, what about these two songs that are on their Soundcloud!

Who remembers them?!

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Listen
Change of Seasons – Pirates on the South China Sea

++ Did you enjoy doing label stuff? Promotion? Dealing with the pressing plant? Did you think about releasing other bands?

I didn’t get too involved in that. After he became the drummer, Phil was pretty good at pushing us on. The rest of us were a bit lazy.

Dave got a grant I think and put together a compilation cassette of local bands called “God’s Great Tape Head Cleaner”. I think we all had lots of spare copies! That was on 7%.

++ And speaking of labels, was there interest from any labels to release Jane from Occupied Europe records?

We had a distribution deal, but I don’t think we had any firm label interest, not that I knew about at the time anyway.

++ Now let’s talk about your songs. On your first 7″, I find it funny that on one side you have an ocean running dry and on the other side a kingdom by the sea. Was this “water” theme on purpose?

I’ll have to speak for Jim here. Salisbury has five rivers, so you can’t go far without seeing water. We once had a song called “Where The Rivers Meet”, so there’s another one. The more literary version is that of running water as a metaphor for life.

++ After that you released “Little Valley Town”. Which town is that? Any anecdotes you can share from recording this 12″?

That would be Salisbury. Having lots of rivers it also has hills and valleys. Although it’s a city, not a town. Poetic licence!

We recorded in a village in Wiltshire called Potterne. It was in a guy’s house; he had converted his garage into a recording room. He usually had pub musicians and MOR acts, so I think we were a bit of an eye opener. He enjoyed having us though, we were so different from his norm.

++ And last but not least, you released an album: “Colorsound”. This is a different sound to your singles. The album is more varied, probably influenced by other music too. There are songs that are more traditional indiepop or shoegaze but I can see some other styles as well. What were you looking to achieve in this album? And which is your favourite song from it, and why?

I think it was just that we were learning as we went along so probably more ideas and influences came into the mix. There wouldn’t have been a conscious decision to change style or become more varied.

I don’t know what we were trying to achieve, just the best we could do, it was the next step.

It’s hard to choose a favourite, but I’m fond of “Synaesthesia”, the last track on the album. Almost instrumental and atmospheric. A good ending.

++ Who was in charge of the artwork of the records? Again, the first two records has similar artwork, and then the album, much different! Did you art direct perhaps?

Friends who were artists did them. The same people did the first two sleeves, and we used another friend’s photos. A different friend,  also a graphic designer, did the LP cover. That’ll be why they’re different. No great explanation.

++ There’s a fantastic song, “Just Like Holden Caulfield”, on a German compilation called “Mit Sonnenshcirmen Fingen Wir Den Blütenzauber”. I suppose you never played in Germany? But how come did you music ended up there?

No, we never played outside of England. This guy wrote to me when I was in Bubblegum Splash! (my address was on the E.P. insert) and asked to do something. Time went on and Bubblegum Splash! ended and Jane From Occupied Europe started. He still wanted to do something, so we recorded that as a one off. It was a bit of a stepping stone from Bubblegum Splash! to Jane From Occupied Europe.

++ And speaking of this song, is “Catcher in the Rye” a favourite book of yours? I’ve noticed you read quite a bit on Goodreads, any recent favourites you’d recommend?

I did like that book when I was younger although it was Jim’s song and title.

I do read quite a bit and have always liked music history books and biographies. Lately I’ve been reading a bit of crime fiction too.

++ Lastly I want to ask about the French compilation called “Heol”. On it there was a song called “Untitled”. I remember a blog of yours were there many “Untitled” songs, demos, of yours. Did they never got names?

When we played live, our set lists always had things written on them like “Slow Song” and “New Fast One” if they didn’t have obvious titles. They’d get names eventually if they lasted long enough.

++ All your back catalog is still on vinyl, are there any plans for a retrospective CD maybe? What about any unreleased recordings? Are there many of those?

To be honest, I don’t think there’d be enough interest. In recent years some songs have been on Cherry Red Records box sets (Bubblegum Splash! too) which has been nice, but I think that’s as far as it will get. I don’t think there’s any unreleased full band songs. Jim and Dave may have done practice recordings on their own.

Happy Monday. Today let’s go straight to some good recommendations!

Comet Gain: another wonderful set of unheard, forgotten 23 songs. “The Misfit Jukebox Vol  – Somewhere to Belong” is the new collection of Comet Gain on Bandcamp. Included is a 1997 of the classic cover of “Pinstriped Rebel” as well as a bunch of terrific tracks going back as far as 1993.

The Hazmats: Static Shock Records from London is releasing a 7″ by The Hazmats. Limited to 300 copies the single includes two songs, “Empty Rooms” and “Today”. We can preview the A side and it is really good! They mention The Clouds as their big influence and you can see a similar typeface on their sleeve as that one of The Clouds one and only 7″… on purpose? Good stuff.

Humdrum: this band is a true favourite and would be great to see them release something in physical format. The solo project of Loren from Star Tropics has a new song called “Superbloom” that is a rush of chiming and jangling guitars. Essential listening and if you are making a mixtape or CD, a must to include!

The Holiday Crowd: a true surprise to see the comeback of the Toronto band that dazzled all of us many many years ago! A new 7″ with the songs “Party Favours” and “Bullet Train” will be released in May by Shelflife Records. Pre-orders are up now and I need to do that. Hopefully they return to NYC soon too.

Ducks Ltd.: and I end this round of recommendations with another Toronto band. Here there is a great cover of the JAMC’s classicc “Head On”. On this track it says thee Illuminati Hotties are featured. Not sure who they are,  but that’s cool. It is a one off digital single.

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I was very sad to hear about two weeks ago that Vince Keenan from One Thousand Violins passed away. Probably you’ve heard this on social media and already paid tribute…

I am slow with these things as you might have seen in many posts I’ve written about of many of our heroes that have left us. But I still needed to write this. My own little tribute.

One Thousand Violins is a favourite band of mine. Songs like “Like One Thousand Violins”, “Halcyon Days”, “Please Don’t Sandblast My House”, “If I Were a Bullet” or “If Only Words” are indiepop classics, legendary!

Kevin wasn’t part of the first incarnation of the Sheffield band. He joined sometime in 1988, replacing John Wood on vocals. With Vince the band released the band last album “Hey Man That’s Beautiful”.

After the demise of One Thousand Violins Vince continued making music with the wonderful Splendid Fellows. Even though I never wrote about One Thousand Violins (I don’t know why, probably as they are one of the ‘bigger’ indiepop bands I thought I was going to interview someday…) I did dedicate a post to Splendid Fellows. On that post I say:

“Field of Corn” was written by Vince Keenan and only saw the day of light a demo tape. Splendid Fellows was formed in March 1990 and split in 1992. No records were released but gigs were well attended. In July 1994 Vince Keenan returned to play Leeds Heineken Festival under the name The Haze Office with the drummer of Splendid Fellows, Gordon Leather. He already had used this name in the early 80s before becoming the later singer of 1000 Violins. Now he is performing acoustic gigs under the name of Spigott. And it is only a question of time before he is getting a new band together again.”

And that’s one interesting bit of information, The Haze Office. Did you know though that before being in One Thousand Violins he was in a band called The Hays Office?

I don’t know much about this band or about Spigott, the band he was in in the early 2000s. With Spigott he did release something. He covered “Salvador Dali’s Garden Party” on a tribute to the TVPs that our friend Wally put together back in 2005 for his label The Beautiful Music. That’s really cool. I didn’t know about this until today.

Same with The Hays Office. I am listening to a song called “All the Colour” that is available on the Sheffield Tape Archive Bandcamp as part of a compilation called “The Hard Stuff Presents”. This tape was produced by Radio Sheffield’s The Right Stuff program. I don’t know when this tape was released, according to Bandcamp in 2018. The tape features bands from 1985, from Sheffield.

It is interesting when you start to dig, to find more information about our heroes. Other projects, other recordings, collaborations… for example here they thank Vince for providing the insert of the cassette to the people behind this Bandcamp. That’s why I think this tape was actually released in the 80s. Discogs doeesn’t list it, only the MP3 compilation.

As you continue looking, you find Vince had a Soundcloud page. I start to wonder why I never got in touch. Would have been fantastic to do an interview. There are more songs by The Hays Office here including “Dressed in White” and “Curled Up“. We know now that this project was around from 1984 to 1987.

He also left us some thoughts about the song “Dressed in White” on the One Thousand Violins facebook:
“Excusive…the hays office..vince keenan pre ..1000 violins..1986….and soundyshitty clowd banned it…..I loved doing this track…dressed in white…about a reimagining of a ghostly spirit…or mood we take….I’d just acquired a 60s red watkins guitar and pre dylans..Q jennings was kicking in on trumpet and hammond…noone did anything close to us at that time..they were a mass of ramones and jesus and mary chain clones. …when we were more..jazz…meets ..new wave..60s…and retro robots..guitars/amps….and hashish!…felt good for a short while…then judas always kicks in!..but bigger than 1000 violins in Sheffield on cred scene…..but I even told Q to buy hammond on joining when we went looking…but he did fall in love with the korg hammond himself. ..but at that time only james taylor quartet were doing instrumentals on the indie scene. …so we perservered and I wasn’t one to write normal songs being an art student…but…did want weird sounding pop!…and textured tracks!…track from an unreleased cd of demos I did called the stoned age….”

There’s a blog too, I think it was his where he comments movies. Last updated in January. This would make sense, see Hays Office is a term that has to do with the motion Picture Production Code, was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the Hays Code, after Will H. Hays, president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) from 1922 to 1945.

There’s very little information about this project. If it had more band members or if it was just Vince. He seems to have been an important part of the Sheffield scene back then. I still haven’t visited Sheffield but one thing that is true is that their music history is amazing. A city that produced quality music. One Thousand Violins one of their best for me.

I never met, never chatted, with them. One thing that kept me a bit far away was also their relationship with Cherry Red. I mean, they didn’t need promotion from this humble blog. They were in a different league. But at the same time, when you listen to their wonderful songs you feel they could be your friends, that they were a down-to-earth band. I suppose if Cherry Red offers you something it is hard to say no. It is true though that I first heard them on Vinyl Japan and also on the Leamington Spa compilation series.

One thing that could have happened is that of a One Thousand Violins gig. A reunion gig. And that won’t be happening anymore. That would have been a dream for me. I would have traveled to Sheffield. To London. To wherever they were to be booked. How much I would have loved that!

It’s time to say goodbye. We didn’t cross paths, but the music you made was important to me. I played your songs many times. I want to say a big THANK YOU for that

EDIT April 5th, 2022: My friend Richard had interviewed Vine for his Facebook blog Scratch the Surface. Here Vince shares more of the story of The Hays Office! Thanks to Richard for letting me share these lines:

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Listen
The Hays Office – Dressed in White

We start April!

Records are traveling to Disk Union in Japan, so hopefully many Japanese fans can get Cloudberry releases at a better price.

Other than that things moving slowly for the next releases. Still in very early phases.

Studio Electrophonique: we travel to Sheffield to discover this project by James Leesley. He released this year the EP “Happier Things” on 12″ vinyl and it is still available. The EP has 5 songs of lo-fi bedroom pop. Mellow melodies with simple but smart arrangements. I know it is a cliche but it is the perfect soundtrack for a rainy day.

Hydroplane: many years ago I interviewed the wonderful Melbourne band Hydroplane. Today there’s news about the band re-releasing their 1997 debut album on vinyl. This is fantastic news as the album was previously only available on CD and we know how much people love their vinyl these days. The record includes the same 14 songs as the original release, you can preview two of the tracks, if not familiar with them, on Bandcamp.

Fine.: this is something I am saad that I missed out while I was away. “Fine” was a double CD that the Boston, UK, band released this week but had pre-orders available before. The double CD includes a full album from April 2021 (that was only released digitally) and also tracks from the back catalogue of thee band. It was released by the great Subjangle label.

Truck Train Tractor: I had written about this Australian band many years ago and was in touch with Karl, their guitarist and vocalist too. Tried to do an interview but sadly never heard back. Well, good news is that the band has put all of their recordings on Bandcamp, as a compilation called “Anthologically Challenged”! This is a must listen for any indiepop fan. Hopefully this gets released properly (though it seems it was in 2005 on CDR?!)

Bedflowers: another band that I still don’t understand how there is no compilation out there. The Manchester band had amazing songs! I thought Firestation was working with them… my memory might be wrong, but I totally had the idea that this EP, with the four songs that we find on Bandcamp was to be released years ago on physical format. I was also in touch with Danny and again, an interview didn’t happen, I believe because we were waiting for the release to come out and then promote with an interview… maybe now is a good time? This is essential indiepop!

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What a fantastic find by stoneeyedkiller! Wow. I hope he/she doesn’t mind going through all of his discoveries as of late. I have been away for months and I am only catching up and, as you can see, I am enjoying a lot of their songs!

The song he has shared is called “Ebenezer” and dates from 1988. It is a superb slice of classic indiepop! I don’t know where he found this song as I’ve been googling for any info but couldn’t find anything!

Luckily he has uploaded a cassette sleeve. And there is some info there!

It seems this song was part of a tape album? There are many songs in the cassette, “Devil in my Wardrobe”, “Ebenezer”, “Summer in Africa”, “Ham Green Pill”, “The Day is Long and Restless”, “Blue and Gray”, “Two Dye the Minute” and “Bare Breasted Woman”.

It is a bit hard for me to read some of the words. Everything has been hand-written, so if anyone understands the text better than me and see typos, please correct me.

I see that the band was formed by Bongs on vocals, Jonboy on red guitar, Mike on Gibson guitar, Mayneman on fretful bass, Kevin on timeless percussion and Jim on blues harp. No last names are listed.

It says where the songs were recorded but I don’t understand the handwriting. Does it say Fermain? Les Camps Du Moulins? One thing that seems to be a fact is that the band hailed from Guernsey. So perhaps it is not strange to see these French names?

I have actually never written about a Guernsey band. Quite exciting. It is a place I’d love to visit someday.

Sadly there is no more info on the web as I said. Would be fantastic to listen to all the songs and find out more info about them! Anyone remembers them?

EDIT: All of the songs are on Soundcloud.
The A side with the band’s notes:
1. Devil In My Wardrobe: an invitation to alter ego.
2. Ebenezer: a pagan philosophy of seaweed for breakfast
3. Summer In Africa: Bougs growls in the smoky acacia glade
4. Ham Green Pill: Jim Searle’s harp is witness to the execution of the jongleurs.

The B side with notes too:
1. The Day Is Long And Restless: anthem for the lost souls of finance.
2. Blue And Gray: uneasy guitar haunts the loves games of 2 in the twenty first century.
3. Two Bye The Minute: this side of paradise is out of time.
4. Bare Breasted Woman: all you need is sex!
5. Bonus Track: Movin’ On!

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Listen
Mr. Rottcodd Again – Ebenezer

We start another week and it is almost April.

I’ve been having these great conversations with a friend about copyrights in the UK. A good question was raised, about how long does label own a recording. Is it 30 years and then the ownership goes back to the band? I don’t honestly know. I would need to do some research. I thought maybe some of you know and could explain. Or point me in the right direction. As I mentioned earlier my time is limited, and for example right now I think it might be much more important to find 5 bands with new music to recommend to you….

No Monster Club: I should check the Emotional Response bandcamp and find their latest releases. There’s always quality there. For example the album “Deadbeat Effervescent”, their 8th album! I am not familiar with them to be honest, but this sounds cool. 12 songs. Fun, ironic, smart. The Irish band’s record is out now on vinyl LP and there’s a version with a bonus 7″!

Lande Hekt: I recommended this band some time ago. I really enjoyed the mood, the vocals, that they make with superb craftmanship. Emotional Response is releasing a 7″ on May 6. It will have two songs, “Romantic” and “Octopussy”. We can preview the opening song, which is really good!

Mick Trouble: seems most versions of this record are sold out. The classic black vinyl is still available, I will have to get this version. The album is their second and it is titled “It’s Mick Trouble’s Second LP”. The bad part of getting this release is that it doesn’t come with the bonus flexi. Well, what can you do when you’ve been out of the loop for so long. Two out of 12 songs are available to preview and they sound superb!

Orange Dots: now to check “Deflated”. That’s the name of the cassette album by Shony, an ex-member of the San Francisco band The Magic Bullets. Do you remember them? The album is out now and few copies remain. It has 13 mellow pop songs.

Hipflasks: I tried to get in touch a couple of times so far with the Newcastle band after writing about them many years ago. Sadly they have never gotten back to me. Would have been nice to interview them. Especially as late last year they put together a compilation of demos called “A Lovely Scar” that is great! 14 songs from the vault that any indiepop lover would love.

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Another good Soundcloud find and also from Carlisle, UK, is the band Send it to Harriet!

There are many songs uploaded, all of them recorded between 1988 and 1992. There is no information about each track, but having listened to all of them, I can say you’ll find some great jangly poppy tracks and also some rockier ones.

The songs uploaded are “Manic Caesar”, “You Drown”, “Dischord”, “Moon (Demo)”, “Stay”, “Little Secret”, “Electric”, “Reasons”, “Petrol Man” and “Falcon”.

There is a black and white photo. It shows two guys, one playing guitar the other bass. I can sort of see at the back a drummer. Or maybe I’m imagining him. Maybe it was a three-piece?

But I google for more info. First find is of the band playing live at the Carlisle Art College in 1990. It looks like a four piece. From this gig we find the following songs, “Problem“, “Playpen“, “She Loves You“, “All Seeing Eye“, “The Chair“, “No More” and “Reversal“. None of these songs are on Soundcloud! There are also some nice collections of artwork, clippings, memorabilia, of the band that they’ve put together as slideshows. This is the band’s Youtube channel.

Through these slideshows I see that the band had played at The Grosvenor a few times with support of Bubblehouse and also of Goose. They played at the The Coach House alongside the Pop City Maniacs, at Dallington Brook in Northampto, at the Cumbria College of Art Student Union with Hung Like a Tadpole, at the Carnegie with Without Warning, at The Front Page with Ten Gladioli, at No. 10, at The Falcon in Camden, at the famous Rock Garden, at Monroe’s Bar in Workington, at the Amphitheatre in Barrow, St. Martin’s College in Lancaster, Shaw’s Nightclub in Carlisle, Opera on the Green in Shepherd’s Bush in London, The Aultnamain Inn in Scotland, and more.

They also had supported The Wonder Stuff and The Buzzcocks.

That they had a four track demo at least. Other song names I haven’t mentioned include “Good Times”, “Little Time“, “It’s Sunny“, “You Drown“, “No-one’s Home“, “The Chair / Jack Horner” and “Know My Name“.

I think I found the name of one of the band members, could it be Patrick Brett Young? Anyone could confirm?

And that’s all I could find. Again I need to rely on our Carlisle readers if any!

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Listen
Send it to Harriet – Little Secret

A few quiet days. I hadn’t heard much from you all about the many questions I had asked through my previous posts. I guess we all are very busy.

I keep trying to find time to do these posts, while baby takes his siestas. They are short. Some babies seem to sleep a lot in their naps. Mine doesn’t. Just about 30min. Complicated for me, to find time like that… but so far I’ve been managing. Also I have to say many of these posts about old bands had been prepared back in October, before I traveled. So that helps. But when I run out of these posts and I have to investigate and write new ones?!!!

Crystal Meadows: four very nice tracks by this jangle pop band from Greenfield, Massachusetts. Very little info, other than they formed in 2021. I suppose they say, let the music speak. The EP is titled “Fall to Pieces” and as mentioned it is jangly, sweet, and also lo-fi. Has the charm of a good bedroom pop band.

Chocolate Chainsaw: another band that has no info! We know they hail from Peterborough, UK, and that’s it! There are just two songs on their Bandcamp, “Jeannie Wakes Up” and “Emily’s Fine”. They are fuzzy and a bit ramshackle. A bit like songs you’d expect in early 90s indiepop compilation tapes.

The Jack Rubies: I should get in touch with this classic band. “Foolish Boy” is a true favourite since forever. Lately they put together an EP titled “Doppelganger Songs” where they share 5 rare and remastered alternative versions of their songs “Be With You (Alternative Version)”, “Vegas Throat Stomp (Original Strut)”, “Wrecker of Engines (Buskers Version)”, “Fascinatin’ Vacation (Live on the Radio)” and “Dallas Blues (Live on the Radio)”. Jack Rubies if you read this, drop me a line.

Under the Bridge: Here’s a wonderful compilation put together by Skep Wax Records, the label from Rob and Amelia from Heavenly. On this compilation, available on CD and vinyl we find 14 songs of bands that were in Sarah Records or Sarah Records alumni, meaning bands with people that had been in Sarah Records bands! Very cool! There are plenty of superb songs and this seems essential to me. Chris Jigsaw has promised me he will get copies in the US. So there’s no excuse.

Marinita Precaria: Out now on 10″ on Elefant. It is a 9 song album called “No Me Miréis” and it includes the wonderful songs “Celosa” and “Al Campo” that I had recommended in the past. I’d like to get this in my collection.

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The horse latitudes are the latitudes about 30 degrees north and south of the Equator. They are characterized by sunny skies, calm winds, and very little precipitation. They are also known as subtropical ridges, or highs. It is a high-pressure area at the divergence of trade winds and the westerlies.

I saw on Facebook a flyer from The Vertigo Club at the Camden Falcon from 1991 I believe. On it I see a gig listed for July 31 with the Horse Latitudes and Penny Arcade and thought… I should write about Horse Latitudes!

This short-lived band featured members from superb bands like The Raw Herbs, Summerhill and The Passmore Sisters. As you’ve seen I’ve interviewed two of these bands, and yes, I should try to talk with The Passmore Sisters. The band was formed by Chris Clarke on bass, Derek Parker on acoustic guitar and vocals, Robert Grace on drums and Wilson N. Scott on electric guitar and piano. And so, speaking of the other bands, let’s say that Derek Parker (also known as Del Parker) was in The Del Parker Band and The Raw Herbs. Robert Grace had been in The Rob Wilson Band and The Passmore Sisters. Chris Clarke was in Danny & The Champions of the World and The Rockingbirds. Wilson N. Scott was on Summerhill and also played with Peter Astor.

The band was signed to Cherry Red and released two records with them. Both came out in 1990. Which one came first? Not sure. Let’s start with the album…

“September Songs” (MBRED90) came out on CD and LP vinyl and there were promo cassettes as well. It had 9 songs, “O Caroline” (a cover of Robert Wyatt and David Sinclair), “What is More than Life”, “Baby Don’t Go”, “Harvest Days”, “Thrown Away”, “Building Mansions (That Will Fall)”, “Northern Country Line”, “I Can’t Stop Loving You” and “Untitled”.

The songs were recorded at Bark Studio in Walthamstow, London, in July 1990. The producer and engineer was Brian O’Shaughnessey with John William as assistant engineer. John Hymas from Hoover the Dog and who had worked on some of McCarthy’s recordings arranged the strings. David Robinson played the cello and Geraint Tellem and Philip Aird played violin.

The album would be released in Japan by Toy’s Factory (TFCK-88819) in 1991. It would include 3 more songs, “Younger One”, “Some One”, “There I Go Again”.

The “What is More than Life” single would come out in 1990 on Cherry Red (CHERRY 111). This one was released on CD and 12″ vinyl. The songs included were “What is More than Life”, “Younger Generation” (a cover of The Lovin Spoonful), “Someone”, “There I Go Again (demo 3/90)” and “Untitled”. The untitled track is not listed on the sleeve, it contains a few drum sounds.

When it comes to compilations the song “Oh Caroline” was included in Toy Factory’s CD compilation “Pastel Beans” (PR-882) in 1991. And lately, as their songs are part of Cherry Red catalogue they found the way to the many boxsets the label has been putting out. “What is More than Life” was included in “C90” (CDTRED802) in 2020 and “Northern Country Lie” on “C91” (CRCDBOX119) that came this year, 2022.

Then I find something great! A song that wasn’t released on the records. It is called “Word” and it is on Derek Parker’s Soundcloud! Wow! And then another called “Sorry“.

And that’s what I could find out about them. I wonder how long the band lasted. I read short-lived, maybe a year? And why so little then? Are there more recordings by them? Any info would be appreciated!

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Listen
Horse Latitudes – What is More than Life

End of the week. Not much news today other that Disk Union is now accepting orders for Alfie in Japan. That’s good news. I hope Japanese indiepop fans like this release!

Hope you all have a good weekend!

Fanta Panda: I wasn’t aware of this fantastic project by the duo of Frauke from Tripping the Light Fantastic and Mawe N. Klavee from Mikrofisch and The Voltarenes. Their songs are a bit old but so good! Check out “Enya”, what a fun poppy song. Wonder if the Hamburg duo are still making music?

Fleeting Joys: a very nice digital single by this Californian duo. That’s what I found on their Bandcamp. Titled “Everything You’re Running To”, the song has beautiful swirling guitars. On top of this all proceeds will go to the World Central Kitchen, so that’s great. The band is formed by John Loring and Rorika Loring and based in LA as far as I know.

Stephen’s Shore: our favourite friends from Stockholm are releasing a new 12″ on Meritorio Records. It is called “Green” and will include four songs. We can preview two of them, “Ocean’s Calling” and “Carefree Time”, as usual they sound fantastic! A must have! Will be out on April 15.

Ruth Po!: a brand new song, a demo, from Ruth from the mighty Po! It is called “Something Your Wife Doesn’t Know”. Great lyrics, great melodies… and sure it is a bit lo-fi, but that has a lot of charm to me! How talented is Ruth, love all her projects!!

Melk: and last band for this week is Melk from DC. The band formed by Melissa Kain on vocals and guitar, Alex Scheuer on drums and AJ DiGregorio on bass, have a new EP titled “Somebody, Nobody, Anybody”. The first thing that came to mind when listening their songs was Velocity Girl, another band from their area, from back in the day. Tell me if I am wrong? Sounds good!

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Tracing them back to Soundcloud. That’s where I found four songs by Flourish after discovering them on stoneeyedkiller’s Youtube. It seems he has been doing the job I love on Soundcloud, track down 80s obscure indiepop in this fine platform. I guess I need to up my game now, as I shouldn’t just rely on his/her work!

There is some information about the band which is great. We see that they were around 1986 to 1989. They were formerly called Flour and at some point they changed their name to Flourish. Was it in 1986? Or are they counting their time as Four during those 4 or so years?

They were formed by Rob Bulman on vocals, Sean Campbell on guitar, Joel Wirth on bass and Justyn Palmer on drums. They were based in a city I’d love to visit someday, Carlisle.

The songs uploaded are four demos. There is info about each of them, so let’s see…

The first one we encounter is called “Example”. This one was engineered by Alex Warnes at Omega, Cumbria on October 28, 1987. Was it recorded at the same studio? Doesn’t say. It does say that the song belongs to the Carlton Company and Kentmere Publishing though… very professional?

Then we find “Chainsmoker”. There is the same info for this song, so I am assuming they were part of the same demo tape. There is some more details saying that the band considered this song as their “anti-imperialist song” and they introduced it like that at their biggest gig which happened to be at Sands Centre in August 1988.

“When Will I See You Again?” might be my favourite. This one was recorded at Naworth Castle in Cubria in 1988 with Alex Warnes as their engineer. Here they mention that the band used to play often at a venue called Front Page mostly between 1987 and 1988.

“Endlessly Falling Snow” is the last song and was recorded at the same place and time as “When Will I See You Again?”. Most probably part of the same demo.

There is a comment by someone called G A Williams too that mentions that there are more songs by Flourish! I wonder if we will ever hear them! Were they from other demo tapes? Would be good to find out.

Not much more info online.  There is this tweet by Jim Wirth, maybe brother of Joel Wirth? He says that there was sort of a competition going on between Flour and Keltic Storm in Carlisle.

And that’s all. Who remembers them?!

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Listen
Flourish – When Will I See You Again?

++ On this record there’s Simon Pure playing guitar. What happened to him?

Don’t know what happened to Simon…probably in a pub somewhere getting rowdy.

++ Then you signed to Harriet Records from Boston. How did this happen? And how was your relationship with the label? Did you ever play in Boston?

We never played Boston. Our relationship with Harriet started when we sent a copy of Poor Flowers to Tim’s Incite Fanzine for review and he expressed interest in releasing a single on Harriet. Our relationship with Harriet has always been great. Tim’s a cool guy to work with.

++ The artwork of your singles was created by the artist Jean Smith. It is very distinct and cool. Did you art direct? Or you let her do what she thought best?

Jean Smith (Mecca Normal) is a friend of Tim and he suggested we use her to create the cover art for the singles and we thought that was cool . She’s an awesome Canadian artist.

++ Both Harriet 7″s were recorded at Gadomski Studios. Was this your favourite place to record? Or did you have better experiences at other studios?

Glen Russell who operated Gadomski in his basement was a friend of ours so we liked to record there as it was a relaxed environment plus Glen always knew what he was doing.

++ On the compilation I notice that two tracks were recorded in London, in 1986. Was the band living there? Playing there? What’s the story of the band in England?

We lived in the outer London borough of Bromley (Downham Estate) played a little and recorded a few tunes. London was a culture shock for us coming from small city Ottawa.

++ Speaking of England you had a tape released on Acid Tapes called “Moose Power A-Go-Go”. Was the connection with Acid Tapes from the mid-80s? Or how did you end up working and releasing this tape with them?

We read an article about Acid Tapes and sent them a copy of Moose Power A Go Go. They liked it and released it. Simple as that.

++ Why was this tape album not released as a CD or a vinyl LP?

No money. We were poor and Deb and I had two kids to support so we basically couldn’t afford it. A lot of other local bands were in the same boat. Cassettes were a lot cheaper to mass produce etc.

++ Was there interest from any other labels at the time?

Moose Power A Go Go got a great review in CMJ and we received letters of interest from Epic Records, Capitol Records and a few other labels requesting copies which we sent out but I guess they thought Scarlet Drops had no commercial potential as they responded with rejection letters… which we taped to the wall in the rehearsal garage.

++ You appeared on a bunch of compilations too. On one of them, “The Keeping Secret”, you made a song for “Jimmy Swaggart, the televangelist! Was he famous in Canada?!

Ol’ Jimmy was broadcast on TV in Canada on Sunday mornings. The conman was always asking for money. Sometimes we’d watch his pathetic show after smoking up but we could only bear 10 minutes or so. Ernest Angley was a lot more entertaining in a sleazy kind of way.

++ The other compilations I was curious about were the ones released by What Wave Records. It seems they were promoting Canadian up and coming bands? Who were they? And were you friends or familiar with these bands

What Wave was a fantastic Canadian fanzine and I’m still in contact with Whatwave Dave and listen to his show https://radiowestern.ca/program/radio-what-wave-0. I was familiar with some of the bands Dave would feature in his zine like UIC , Purple Toads, The Nils and The Gruesomes. Scarlet Drops had played on the same bills with all 4 bands when they played in Ottawa.( UIC at Olivers Pub – Carleton University, The Purple Toads – Roosters Coffeehouse – Carleton University, The Nils – Barrymores and The Gruesomes at Zaphods on Rideau St. )