Day 408.

Pony in the Pancake: a new album by the Albany, New York, band. It is called “Ocean Love” and has 13 songs of lo-fi bedroom pop. The album is out now digitally and also on cassette. I have previously recommended the band, their previous singles, so it is good to see a good old-fashioned album out.

Ta To Boy: The news of the new album by Ta To Boy hasn’t reached to me until now. It seems they are releasing their new album on May 10th on Make Me Happy Records from Athens. There is no Bandcamp or anything similar. But there have been a few songs posted on Youtube. The latest is called “Disco in Heaven”. Let’s see when they announce pre-orders and so on.

The Spires: last year I recommended this Ventura, California, band as they released the album “LOOK”. Last December they released another album called “Era Was” and I totally missed it. It is now sold out, both on vinyl and CD. The album had 10 poppy songs which you can still check out on Bandcamp.

Plastic Palms: It is always a surprise when I discover an Italian band that sounds good! That is proper indiepop! Plastic Palms from Turin is a total surprise then. Their 7-song mini-album “Yellow Panda” sounds lovely. Poppy and fun. Great melodies, great vocals by Clarissa Ghelli. This is pretty good. Hopefully gets properly released.

The Obsessives: and to end this week we check out Philadelphia’s The Obsessives. They are releasing on April 30 a very limited 7″ single for their song “Lala”. The 7″ will have two more songs, “I’ll Always Love You” and “Divine Hammer” which are not available to listen on Bandcamp. But “Lala” is and it sounds very good.

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I just discovered The Penguins. I have no clue whatsoever of who they are. There is this song on Soundcloud called “Any Minute Now” and it seems it came from a demo tape. It sounds great, with female vocals and chiming guitars. and as you will probably be able to tell it dates from the early 80s. It sounds a bit like The Big Outdoor Type or Tralala, bands like that. And I enjoy that sort of sound, of course!

The only info we get is that the song was recorded at Catch 44 Studio in Godalming. We know that this studio was run by Greg & Guy Skerman and that The Housemartins recorded in this same studio. We know too that the band was based in Basingstoke. And we get something that may or may not help me find more info about them, the band members.

Raz on rhythm guitar, synth and backing vocals, Andi Harris on lead and backing vocals, Delta Del on lead guitar, Mike on drums and Tim on bass and engineering.

On the web I find that Delta Del was in other bands like Out to Lunch and Against the Grain. But nothing about the other band members.

This is going to prove hard. To find any info about The Penguins I will require the help of the blog readers. So I trust you all. Maybe some of you were around that time in Basingstoke? Who remembers them?

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Listen
The Penguins – Any Minute Now

Day 406

Farnborough Groove Vol. 12: I’ve discovered so many bands thanks to the series of tapes, and now digital, Farnborough Groove. They have just released the 12th volume marking too the 30th anniversary of these legendary series. I am not very familiar with most of the bands, I think the only one I know is Kodiak Island, but I am discovering some nice songs here. Worth a listen!

Blue Ocean: No, not the Ocean Blue, but Blue Ocean from Oakland, California. They have an album out now on Paisley Shirt Records with 9 songs that sound fun. It is a ramshackle feast of pop songs. Crash pop, lo-fi, a sound that is endearing to me. This self-titled album is actually a compilation of the band’s two previous EPs, “Summer of Hands” and “Fade”, and I recommend it!

Las Ligas Menores: Yay! A new song by my favourite Argentinean band of the last few years. “La Nieve” is classic Las Ligas Menores. Brilliant as always. Perfect pop music. I really hope there’s a new album in the way!

Lunation Fall: here is a cool shoegaze project from Lyon, France. They just released a mini-album titled “Near” on tape and vinyl LP. The cassette is already sold out but copies of the 12″ are still available. The 6 songs in it are dreamy and really enjoyable especially when Célia Broch takes lead vocals.

The Castle Forever: this is such a blast from the past. I love The Cavalcade and the band that came after, The Castle Forever. I wanted to release a single by both of these projects. Now I see the great Indonesian label Shiny Happy Records mentioning they planned to release the “Gathering Dark” album that came out many years ago. A classic in my book. I hope the Indonesian people can put it out, so those who missed out on this record can have a copy!

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Remember the Brisbane Music Graveyard Bandcamp? I discovered this Bandcamp when I wrote about the band Who’s Gerald? I have been little by little discovering the music that was recorded in Brisbane during the late 80s and early 90s that is available in this great archive.

One of the bands that caught my attention was the Fugitive Microbes. Not that much by the A side of their own and only 7″ which is called “Mad Dave”. The one song that I think is a piece of pop genius is the B side, “Living with a Schizophrenic”. What a slice of pure p!o!p!

The band released this 7″ back in 1992 on Sundown Records which may or may have been their own label. The artwork is sort of strange, it has a Jesus Christ sort of figure walking over water and a duck. On the back of the sleeve there’s a woman on top of a wombat (?).

Luckily, on the Bandcamp we get more information.

So we know that the band was formed by Kristin Black on guitar and vocals, Tony Kneipp on guitar and vocals, Colin Barwick on drums (who was the drummer in the early days of Died Pretty), Patrick Kneipp on lead guitar and Peter Fergusson. Safe to think that Tony and Patrick were brothers? Then the A side, “Mad Dave” was written by Tony while “Living with a Schizophrenic” was written by Kristin. That makes sense. Whoever wrote the song was to sing it.

Both songs were recorded at Burbank Studios, in Brisban, between January and February of 1991.

Tony also reminisces about the band. He mentions that he met Kristin at the Kelvin Grove campus while he was studying to be a secondary teacher. That was 1989, and by the end of that year they were playing gigs. Their first performance was at the Bye Bye BCAE Breakup Bash. During those early days the band had other members like Oscar on drums and Irena Luckus from Xero and Airborne Toxic Event on synthesiser and vocals.

Irena would leave. Then soon after Colin Barwick joined the band and then in 1990 Oscar would leave. He would return to his native Netherlands. Peter Fergusson who was Kristin’s boyfriend at the time, now his husband, and who was playing in the band Splat Acrobat, replaced Oscar. Then he mentions that his brother Patrick never played live with the Fugitive Microbes, but helped with recording sessions. Actually Tony and Patrick had played together in bands like Ronnie Reebit and the Toadettes.

On Soundcloud I find some more songs by the band. Here is “Fuck Fashion“, “Blackest Heart“, “Alice (from the Brady Bunch)” and “Six O’Clock Lies“. My favourite from these group is “Alice (from the Brady Bunch)”. I really enjoy Kristin vocals and pop melodies.

Also on Soundcloud there are live recordings. These date from 1989 when they played live at the BC Club in Queensland Uni of Technology. They are “Living with a Schizophrenic” and “Mad Dave“. Then there is “Blackest Heart” when they played at the BC Club in Gardens Point Campus Club at the Queensland Uni of Technology in 1989 supporting the Celibate Rifles. And from 1990 at this same venue there’s “Fuck Fashion“.

I know that Tony Kneipp was at least on another band, The Parameters. I don’t know about the other members. I am curious what happened with Kristin, was she in other bands afterwards? About Splat Acrobat, Peter Fergusson’s band, I should write a post sometime. They had some great songs.

Anyhow, some great music from Australia as always. Again, how come there was no chance to make a compilation with obscure Australian indiepop. I still hope one day I can make it!

Edit: I’ve been told that Kristin is/was an announcer on 4zzz radio on Saturday nights.

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Listen
Fugitive Microbes – Living with a Schizophrenic

Day 404

The Pleasures Pale: you know I interviewed the Dayton, Ohio, band and that I am a big fan. Last week I received the CD for “Daily Living is a Herculean Art”, the second CD release by the band after their self-titled album.  This CD is out now and comes in a carefully packaged edition. 13 songs that show a rougher, edgier, band than in their album. Good stuff!

Rachel Love: according to Bandcamp Rachel from Dolly Mixture released “Down the Line” back on March 1! I can’t believe I missed it. I recommended her previous song, “Primrose Hill”, but this one passed me by. But what’s great is that this song is also a s pretty!  But that’s not surprise as this song was a Dolly Mixture original! It will be included in her forthcoming album!

Still Dreams: Been wanting to listen to all the songs on the “Make Believe” mini-album by the Japanese duo. A song here, a video there. Little by little discovering their music. Well, now finally we can listen to all 8 songs on Bandcamp. I eagerly wait for Jigsaw Records in the US to get copies as I want one!

My Lucky Day: now we head to Kumamoto, Japan, to discover this self-defined shoegaze-pop band. Their first release is a self-titled 5 song EP that sounds great! It is fun, it is catchy. It seems it is only available in digital format but I really hope someone puts this out. I am really enjoying My Lucky Day.

Desperate Journalist: and lastly there’s “Maximum Sorrow!” the new album by the London combo. The album is coming out on July 2nd and will be released on vinyl and CD. Right now we can preview just one song, “Fault”. It is not my favourite song of theirs if I am honest, but I like so many songs and records by them, that I am hoping any of the other 10 songs win me over. I am sure they will.

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Not too long ago I discovered the Irish band The Boy The Boy. In that post I mentioned that Martin Harte, the bassist, had previously been in a band called Absolute Zero. On a soundcloud account I find that time I actually found some songs by Absolute Zero, and I liked the songs. So I totally thought they deserved a post.

The band hailed from Sligo, Ireland, and was active between 1983 and 1986. Absolute Zero was formed by Joe Hunt on vocals, Sean Sweeney on guitar, Martin Harte on keyboards and Tommy Kivlehan on drums. The same band members plus Micky Barr had previously been in a band called Reverb.

According to Irishrock.org the band appeared at the 1984 Drumcliff Festival and at the Dublin Mega-Bash at the Ivy Rooms on August 29, 1985.

After the demise of the band Martin Harte continued as mentioned on The Boy The Boy and Sean Sweeney was on Sid & the Stonecrushers. Martin Harte and Joe Hunt would later be in Indian and The Pink Spiders.

But there’s more good info about this Irish band. They do appear on Discogs. We know then that the band released 3 7″s.

The first seems to date from 1984. It had no sleeve. It was most probably a self-release. It had red labels and it is credited to SRS Records (SRS 1A). The A side was “Go For Your Gun” written by Sweeney and Harte and the B side was “Running”, written by Sweeney and Kivlehan.

In 1985 the band released the “You Will Fall” 7″. This is the song I’ve enjoyed the most. The A side, “You Will Fall”. The B side was “I Want to See Your Face”. Both songs were produced by Eamon Carr. The 7″ was released by Hotwire (HWS 858). The sleeve was designed by Jackie O’Connell and it has the photo of someone who looks like a politician. But I can’t say. Maybe this character is well known in Ireland? The A side is credited to Sweeney and Harte while the B side to Sweeney, Harte and Meehan. Who was Meehan? As far as I know there was no Meehan in the band?

Another interesting fact of this record is that all royalties from it were to be donated to the Irish Anti Apartheid Movement.

Lastly in 1986 the band released the “Vision” 7″ on Direction Records (DIR 001). The B side was “Vale of Tears”. Again no sleeve. A shame. The producer for the songs, as well as the engineer, was Brian Taheny. This time around the songs are credited to the band.

The Fanning Sessions Archive blog also wrote about them, all the way back in 2011. They don’t add much details, but they do share a recording of “Go For Your Gun”.

Sadly I couldn’t find more info about them. Maybe I’ll find more info and details about them, now that there are posts about two related bands. I can only hope so. I have heard a few songs, but I am sure there must be more. I will try to track down their records. I think that would be a good idea.

Anyone remembers them?

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Listen
Absolute Zero – You Will Fall

Day 401

Vocal Age: this is a bit old, dating from 2015, but I am really liking the 4 songs that this Sotckholm band recorded. Their “What If” EP seems that it was only released digitally, if the band had been around 10 years earlier we’d probably found a CDR for this. Don’t know what happened to the band or the band members afterwards, but would be nice to find out. Oh! And thanks to my friend David in Barcelona for this find.

En Mi Mente: now we head to Chihuahua, Mexico, to listen Alan Aviles’ band. He has just released a digital EP titled “A Punto de Vivir” with 7 songs. The EP is a nice collection of lo-fi dreampop worth checking out.

The Lost Days: The Lost Days release 5 songs. These are called “Lost Demos”. Lots of losing here. The band hails from California, from Oakland. These songs date from 2019 during the course of 3 lost days. These 5 songs are available not only digitally but also on cassette.

Thala: there is no information about this band, their song “Weep”, or the release. This song is just on the Born Losers Records’ Bandcamp. This is a label from Philadelphia. Safe to assume the band hails from there as well? I don’t know. The song sounds good though.

The Catenary Wires: and to end this week’s new releases review we have to do it with “Birling Gap” the new album Amelia and Rob are releasing on June 18. Great stuff. The album will be released on vinyl and EP and there will be different releases depending on your geographic location. For example for the US Shelflife Records will be their label. On Bandcamp pre-orders are up and two songs are available to check, “Mirrorball” and “The Overview Effect”.

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Today a US band called Lovers Under Pressure. I think on Youtube you’ll probably be able to find two songs, the very Smith-sy “Epitaph” and “Naked Fields”. They are good guitar pop songs.

They were actually released back in 1988 on a 12″ 8-song album called “The Elvis Years”. This record was released by two labels, Stand Up Records (SUR-881677) and Pendulum Records (PP1014). Both labels were based in Minneapolis. That gives me of course the idea that the band must have hailed from Minneapolis or St. Paul. It has to be.

The information is scarce. It was actually back in 2016 that the blog Wilfully Obscure wrote about this band. You know I am against sharing full albums, that’s one thing I’m not a fan of this blog. But they do have a talent for finding great jangly US pop (among other styles of course).

Usually the blog doesn’t have much more information though it does have good descriptions of what sort of music we can expect from these discoveries.

We do know a few things thanks to Discogs. First the tracklist, “No Train”, “Leather Glove”, “The Collision” and “Epitaph” on the A side and “The Plans Went Wrong”, “Naked Fields”, “Dear Saturday” and “Something Stayed” on the B side. We know that all songs were recorded at Blackberry Way Studios in Minneapolis and that they were produced and engineered by Kevin Glynn and Mike Owens (both from the bands Fingerprints and Idle Strand). Natalie Ready is credited for the art.

The band was formed by Larry Ward on bass and vocals, Chris Bolla on drums, Jeff Becker on guitar and vocals. A trio. Jeff Becker was the one who wrote the songs.

The one detail from Wilfully Obscure that is interesting is that it seems there was a second album called “Laws of Song and Nature”. It dates from 2001. Many years after. This record is not on Discogs. It was released on CD and included 10 songs, “Almost Blue”, “Ready for the War”, “Sheila’s Halo”, “Dandelion”, “Intro”, “Frightened Girl”, “December”, “I’m Rain”, “A Day in the Tenderloin” and “Corrie”. This record seems to be available in digital format too.

A few little things that we know thanks to Discogs is that Larry Ward had been in a band called Monster X and Jeff Becker in Four Eyes.

I found a song called “Back Door” on Soundcloud that is not part of any of the two albums. It’s a bit rockier than jangly but still enjoyable.

No compilation appearances are known.

Not much more is known.

So yeah, I would like to know more about the Lovers Under Pressure. Who remembers them?

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Listen
Lovers Under Pressure – Epitaph

Day 399

Po!: good news for Po! fans! A new “bedroom tape” is on the band’s Bandcamp. This one is number 4 and has 9 songs on it. As always Ruth Po! delivers beautiful songs, music, melodies. This tape was released in 1993 and six of thee songs on this tape were later re-recorded and released on Po! albums.

Madder Rose: “To Be Beautiful” is the name of the album that was released last June. I am only discovering the 9 songs that were on it today. They are really nice. Smartly crafted. And Mary Lorson’s vocals are reall y nice. The album is still available from Trome Records from England on blue vinyl.

The Tropicanas: when I first heard the song “Your Man on the Moon” I thought… wow, this is like the Jim Ruiz Group. And I was sold. The four-piece from Livingston in the UK have just released this song and also one called “Shooting Star”. Digital only.

The Churchhill Garden: a favourite of the blog, this project that is made up of Andy Jossi in Switzerland and Krissy Vandeerwoude in the US, has a new song. It is called “Lonely”. It starts slow and soft, but then it becomes bright and shiny. A bit different to the more direct songs the band has put out previously, but still it possesses that beauty they know how to make.

FERS: and the last band on this Wednesday review hails from Singapore. This new project released the “Shallow EP” back in March and it is great to find out about it. It has 5 songs, a combination of vibrant and dreamy sounds.

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Returning to one of my favourite blogs out there, the Fanning Sessions Archive to discover a post from 2014, when Dave wrote about the band The Kendalls.

There is a song posted there, “A Place in the Sun”, which I really enjoy, jangly as I like them. There’s also a photo too. I think I can see the lead singer with an acoustic guitar, a bassist to his left and a guitar player on the right. Happily the post tells us some names. So we know who they were. Johnny McMahon was on vocals, Ben Rawlins on guitar, George Murphy on bass and Alan Biggs on drums. The only other details we get from this post is that the band hailed from Walkinstown in Dublin and that this song came from a 1988 demo tape.

Walkinstown (Irish: Baile Bhailcín) is a suburb of Dublin, Ireland, situated on the Southside of the city, approximately 6 kilometres south-west of Dublin city centre. Walkinstown is a suburb consisting primarily of privately owned residential housing with some social housing remaining in the Dublin City Council area between the Walkinstown and Long Mile Roads and Ballymount Lower. It was built as an estate of starter homes after World War 2 with the council housing being developed as social rented homes later in the early to mid fifties. 

Then I check at the comments and I find a very sad thing, George Murphy, the bassist, seems to have passed away. That’s not the kind of info I like finding when I search for obscure bands.

There seems to be no more info about the band on the web.

So I try to see what are they up to now. I am not sure how common the name John McMahon might be in Dublin. There is a musician of the same name who was in a band called Rollers/Sparkers. Is it the same person? Ben Rawlins I believe is a recording engineer these days and part of a band called Saso.

I couldn’t find anything for Alan Biggs…

Not really surprising. But what surprises me is that even Irishrock.org doesn’t have any info on The Kendalls, they usually do.

So I will require help from anyone that remembers them. Would be great to find more info about them, especially what other songs were on that 1988 demo tape and if there were more demo tapes of course!

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Listen
The Kendalls – A Place in the Sun

++ So you shared with me four songs that were part of a demo tape. Care telling me about this particular demo tape? Was it your first that you put together? Was it sold or was it just for promo purposes? What was the name of it?

It was put together for promo purposes but I think we sold a few. The ‘Knit me a clanger’ sessions. Recorded at a studio along the Oxford Road – a four track EP  which I think only was on cassette tape. ‘Gone but not Missed’, ‘Royston Way’, ‘Frozen Frame’ and ‘Before your Eyes’

++ The last song on the tape was “Before Your Eyes” and it had a promo video. Tell me, how come you put together a promo video of a song that didn’t get the chance to be released properly? Where was it recorded?

Memory once again fails me …

++ Your second song is “Royston Way”. I was wondering where Royston Way is? I see there’s one in Slough, is it that one? And why is it important to you?

Brian lived over that way and he’d know what it was all about – I was the noisy monkey at the front singing his words but I think it was part of the route to his girlfriends.

++ Were there more demo tapes by the band? If so, can we do a demography?

This was all we recorded in the studio but there is somewhere a recording of us performing a set at The Rock Garden in London

++ How come there were no proper releases by the band? Was there any interest from any labels?

We tried to get interest  but got nowhere

++ What about self-releasing? Did you consider this option?

Nope

++ Did you appear on any compilations?

Nope

Day 397

Lavender Blush: we have to start this week with the wonderful new 7″ by San Francisco’s Lavender Blush. Three tracks, “Sundays”, “Lullaby” and “Come Along”, make up this nice release that is coming out on April 23 on Blue Aurora Audio. $10 for the regular black vinyl and $15 for the coloured vinyl. Right now you can preview the opening track, “Sundays”, which sounds great!

Grrrl Gang: the Yogyakarta trio is back with a new punk poppy EP titled “Honey, Baby”. But it is sort of a different sort of EP. Yes, Grrrl Gang’s song opens the EP but then we find 4 other Indonesian bands covering the same song. These bands are Vira Talisa, Dongkere, Kaveman and Yosugi. The EP is also available on CDR on Kolibri Records.

Remanentes: “El Tiempo de Nuestro Lado” is the latest EP from this Argentinean band. It sounds quite good to me, very influenced by Spanish indiepop I’d say! This EP has 4 songs and is available digitally, but what caught my attention is that the band has been going for many years and it is actually Buenos Aires’ Production Minister who leads the band!

Portable Radio: last month the Manchester combo released their self-titled album on vinyl. It is still available, which is good news. Here we find 11 jangly songs. They are nicely crafted songs, with lots of care you can tell. I especially like the more upbeat songs like “Hot Toddy” or “Worse Case Scenario”.

Butohes: this Tokyo band is new to me. Formed by Michiro, Ryuto, Keisuke and Naoto, they have unveiled their latest track “Hyperblue”. It is a fun song, with lots of guitar textures, a very fine slice of dreampop. The upbeat kind. The uplifting kind. Great stuff.

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The Youtube channel stoneeyedkiller is a good place to look for unknown indiepop bands. The latest band I discovered there was The Niagaras. In the channel the song uploaded is called “Grand Dame”. It immediately picked my curiosity.

I find a blog called Jim Santo’s Demo Universe where a demo tape including this song has been shared. They are actually in a Soundcloud so we can listen all four songs! This is good news. The three other songs are “Coronation of the Clown Prince”, “Hands of Providence” and “Two Women”.

I guess the opening track is my favourite, but the other ones are good too! On the aforementioned blog it mentions two names, two brothers, Robert (vocals) and Frank (drums) Whaley. But who were the other members?

It seems that in 2014 the band did a reunion gig but can’t find any info about that. What I did find was that this NYC band did a rock musical called Wrong Way UP at the New York Performance Works’ Red Line Theater on October 19 of 2000. The band even had a website then.

This is a bit confusing. Because of the song I would think this band hailed from the 80s. But maybe not? Maybe they are more recent?

The blog also mentions that Robert Whaley was in a band called Comic Tales of Tragic Heartbreak and that his brother Frank was an actor/director. And indeed he is an actor, having appeared in Pulp Fiction, The Doors and lately on Hustlers for example.

I find that both brothers contributed to each other, Robert wrote music for the movie “Joe the King” which Frank directed and wrote.

On a forum I find that the band used to play in venues like The Continental or Mondo Cane. They mention that Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman would often go to their gigs. So this means not the 80s. Probably the band was around in the 90s.

I find on Youtube some videos of The Niagaras playing live! There are two videos. Here is part 1, and part 2. It is true that on these videos they are a bit more out there, less indiepop than in the tape we heard on Soundcloud.

Now we head to Discogs and discover that the band left us two albums. The first was a self-titled album that came out on CD in 1990 on the JoLynn Productions label (JL – 0001). This album which features a band photo on the front had 14 songs, “Terrified”, “Reborn”, “Charitable”, “One Left”, “Train of Thought”, “Blacklist”, “Down with the Door”, “Last Words”, “The Twenty-Sixth”, “Two Woman”, “My Woman Wants Me Home”, “The Coronation of the Clown Prince”, “Overdrawn On Your Account” and “For Some Reason Leah”. On the back of the sleeve we find the names of the other band members: Tony Grimaldi (lead guitar, vocals), Paul Himmelein (bass guitar, vocals) and Ken Rizzo (acoustic, 6 and 12 string guitars, vocals).

The 2nd album, “Report From the Interior”, came out in 1997 on Charitable Records (000228). This record was produced by Tamir Muskat and included 11 songs: “Report From the Interior”, “Pieces to Fall”, “Mexicali Marriage”, “Larrisa”, “How Obvious”, “Lonely Tuesday Night”, “Dreams Already Are”, “Nudged Along the Gangplank”, “Near Missus”, “My Request” and “Love is Like an Icicle”.

I believe there is even a third album, though not sure when it was released. It is titled “Enchantment” and had 12 songs: “Today We Are Beautiful”, “Dropping of the Veil”, “Love, So Sad”, “This Time”, “A Somewhat Lurid Night”, “Big Things Are Coming”, “Find the Hidden Faces”, “Easier to Love a Stranger”, “A Couple of Unknowns”, “To Lose an Acquired Taste”, “Enchantment” and “Big Things are Coming, Epilogue”.

After hearing a few tracks from the last two albums I must say they are less jangly and poppy than the demos, which are really fantastic. But the first album is indeed jangly and indiepop, the self-titled 1990 album. It has some great songs, clearly influenced by The Smiths. Very good!

Quite interesting to find this band, with these connections to Hollywood, to the movies. A band that looks like it could have been big. Perhaps it was popular during their time? They were on TV many times clearly. But I must be honest and say I am only discovering them now. And I am enjoying this first album and the demo of course!

Who remembers them?

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Listen
The Niagaras – Grand Dame

Day 394

Massage: the band of Alex Naidus, the ex-Pains of Being Pure at Heart now based in Los Angeles, sounds really good. I’ve recommend it in the past of course. Well, now there is a 12 song album that you can preorder. It is coming out on vinyl on June 25th. We can preview the opening track, “Half a Feeling”, which sounds terrific!

Fine.: one of my favourite bands as of late wsa this duo formed by Liam James Marsh and Alice Kat. I’ve previously praised their singles, so today I will praise their album “I’m Glad It’s Over Now”, that you can find on Bandcamp. These are 11 songs of beautiful jangle pop. You’ll get hooked immediately.

The Armoires: now we head to Burbank, California, to discover this pop band that sounds really good! They have just released an album called “Incognito” that has 18 songs! All of them are online to preview on Bandcamp but you can also buy it on CD thanks to Big Stir Records.

Nuevos Dolores: now to Madrid, to check out another album, the 2nd album actually by Nuevos Dolores. They have titled it “Nuevos Dolores II”. Not the most creative name perhaps, but what matters here are the songs. The Zaragoza one-man project by Jorge Castejón recorded 8 folky indiepop songs, with great melodies and lovely arrangements.

Peach Garden: and we end this week’s new sounds, new music, reviews, with the song “Sunset Drive” by this Moscow four-piece. The song is a lovely slice of dreampop/shoegae, and one wonders what’s going on in Russia with shoegaze. Is it a big scene? Are people connected? When the pandemic is over will they have shoegaze festivals? I am just very curious.

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Today we head to Ireland, to the town of Sligo to discover this band with an interesting name, The Boy The Boy.

I was in Ireland a few years ago but only visited Dublin. I really want to go back and discover more of the country. The time I was there was truly fantastic. I didn’t know much of Sligo but I’m checking out now on Wikipedia. Looks like a nice place to go! Sligo Abbey looks like a place I would really enjoy.

Sligo, meaning ‘abounding in shells’, is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of approximately 20,000 in 2016, it is the second largest urban centre in the West of Ireland, with only Galway being larger. The Sligo Borough District constitutes 61% (38,581) of the county’s population of 63,000.

Anyhow… back to what you came here for, discovering a new band. The Boy The Boy only released one 7″ and it was self-released in 1989 I believe. It had two songs on it, “.38 Jackson Mississippi” on the A side and “Prizefighter” on thee B side. Both songs were recorded in Sulan Studios in Cork and the producer and engineer was Dennis Herlihy.

There is a small insert in the 7″ (I’m looking at Discogs, I just discovered the band and I don’t own yet the record, would love to do soon!) that has the credits for these recordings but no band members names! We only see two musicians here, Sean O’Neill who did vocals and Niall Macken who played piano. Both are listed as guest musicians. I believe both of them were from the Cork band Burning Embers.

Aside from this release the band appeared on a compilation CD in 2015. This compilation was called “Sligo Rocks” and included 10 songs from different bands in the area. It was released by Sound Records (SUN CD53) and the band contributed “.38 Jackson Mississippi”.

I wonder about the name of the song. The city of Jackson is the capital of the state of Mississippi. What about the .38?

Irishrock.org, that great website with lots of info about Irish bands, have some more information. Here it tells us that the band was active from 1988 to 1991 and the band was formed by:
Fran Healy on vocals
Shane Boyce on guitars
Finn Corrigan on keyboards and guitar
Martin Harte on bass
Enda McGoldrick on drums

Sadly it also mentions that Finn Corrigan has passed away in 2002.

It seems the core of the band was previously in a band called Sid & the Stonecrushers. It was when Martin Harte joined the band, replacing the previous bassist, that the band went under the name The Boy The Boy. Then in 1988 Martin Harte would leave the band to be replaced by Darrell Rainey. That year the band participated in the band contest by Carling/Hot Press and were runners-up. Then in 1989 they were finalists again.

In 1988-1989 it seems they were a lot in London. Maybe they relocated there? In 1991 the band recorded a live album titled “The Contact Centre” which hasn’t been released to this day. It was recorded live at the Youth Contact Centre. That same year they disbanded.

The website also tells us about other bands the members had been in. Martin Harte had been in Absolute Zero, Diesel Heart and Indian. Shane Boyce in State of Mind and Dorian Remains. Finn Corrigan in Auto Da Fe and Strong are Lonely. Darrell Rainey on Lemon Aftermath, Restless Natives and Sack.

If you want to listen some of these bands, and the two songs by The Boy The Boy you can find them in this Soundcloud. I believe the venue Hennigans is the one who uploaded the songs. There was a Hennigan’s Bar Reunion back on May 19th 2012 where a feew bands from Sligo played.

The great blog The Fanning Sessions has shared some stuff by the band. For example a rare song called “The Devil & the Deep Blue Sea“. Where did this demo come from? What other recordings are on that same demo tape? Would be great to know!

And that’s it for today. Some good info about The Boy The Boy. I hope we learn more and find out ore, especially about if they have more demos, and also about that unreleased live album! Would be great to hear it some day!

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Listen
The Boy The Boy – Prizefighter

Day 392

CF7: let’s discover this Helsinki-based band! There is not very much information on their Bandcamp, just the one song called “Golgata” which is a jangly song. So of course I like it. This is so far the first song of the band, mixed and mastered by Joel from the band Tvärtom. I look forward for for their next releases.

The Lodger: what a nice video and song is “Black and White (Pete’s Song)”. I need to order the new album “Cul-de-Sac” by the Leeds popsters so I can listen this song on repeat. I’ve seen so many friends posting their copies on Instagram. And as usual I am late. But I’ll make up for it in the next couple of days. Promise. Watching this I have felt that I need it now.

The Harriets: this Leeds band will be releasing “A Little Something” on May 7. This is a very limited CD, 50 copies, that will have 5 songs. Right now we can preview the opening song, “Little Something”, that has a very nice feel to it. It is a bit chamber pop, folky, with indiepop melodies as well. It is a nice combination I think.

Mashmellow: what a nice lovely song is “In the End” by the Moscow band. This song is to be part of the “Pole Pole EP” though we don’t know which other songs will be included in this EP. We only know of this one song and it’s good to play it on repeat. Great stuff by Masha and Egor again.

Vanille: now we head to Montreal, Canada, to discover Vanille! This band started as the solo project of Rachel Leblanc in 2017 and back in January she released the “Soleil ’96” album. The album came out in vinyl and is already sold out. Yeah, we got here late. But we can listen the 9 songs on Bandcamp.

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A few days ago I got the compilation CD “Shake Yer Popboomerang”  released by Popboomerang Records (PB 002) in 2003. This Australian label as many people know release fine indiepop and powerpop. I have a few of their releases. I actually had ordered the lost Earthmen album “Periscope”, which I think everyone should get and got a few more records I didn’t have.

I know compilations are not the type of releases that do well these days. They are the hardest to sell I think. But back in the day they were a great way to discover new bands. That’s how with this compilation I discovered quite a few new bands. I wanted to recommend this time the band Magneto who are featured in this comp with the song “Living on the Moon”.

I was to discover that the band released an album packed with upbeat pop tunes and also got to appear on a handful of compilations.

You can actually listen to the full album “Resistance is Futile” on the label’s Bandcamp. Copies are still available. This record came out on CD in 2006. Catalog number PB018. It had 11 songs, “Underground”, “Shooting Star”, “Let it Go”, “Stronger Everyday”, “Living on the Moon”, “Falling”, “Heart of Mine”, “Everything Has Gone”, “Not a Day Goes By”, “Prima Donna” and “Incomplete.

Here we find that the band was formed by Geoff Barnes on drums, John Baxter on vocals, Michael Snowball on guitar and Paul Inglis on bass. The album was mastered by Craig Lewis (from the band Kaleidoscope) and mixed by Craig Lewis as well and Shane O’Mara. All songs were recorded at Octane Studios in Melbourne. Another interesting bit is that four songs of the record were written by Andy Strachan from the bands Alcotomic, The Living End and Violetine.

There are connections to these bands of course. John Baxter had been in Alcotomic, Five Mile Sniper, Holocene and Prettyness. He also owns and operates Mountain Sound Studio in Victoria. Paul Inglis was also on Alcotomic, Five Mile Sniper and Prettyness. Michael Snowball had been in another band as well, Groundswell. Finally Geoff Barnes had been in P76 and Jericho.

The blurb on Bandcamp tells a little bit more details about them. It mentions that the band hailed from the town of Richmond. That they were influenced by The Stems. That they liked crafting pop songs under 2 minutes and a half. That was their philosophy.

As I mentioned earlier the band had a few compilation appearances. I already told you about “Shake Yer Popboomerang”, but then in 2006 the band contributed “Shooting Star” to “The Kids Who Kill for Sugar: Popboomerang 5th Birthday Sampler” (PBPRO-03). This same song would appear on the 2007 US triple CD compilation “Sweet Relief” that came out on Jam Records (JCDSW 17).

Then in 2012 once again the song “Shooting Star” gets released on the double CD compilation “Aches and Shakes: A Decade of Popboomerang 2002-2012” (PB084).

There is at least another appearance, but this time a digital compilation titled “Popboomerang Presents: PopGeekHeaven.com“. Here the band appears with the song “Everything Has Gone”.

A few more details I found on the web. For example that Michael Snowball was born in the UK. I also believe that John Baxter and Paul Inglis were later together in a band called The Douglas Normans.

Not much more info on the web. Seems that after the album release they sort of went quiet. I wonder if they left more recordings? And I wonder too if they named themselves after Magneto from the X-Men?

Who remembers them?

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Listen
Magneto – Let it Go

Day 390

Love, Burns: let’s start with my friend Phil and his solo project Love, Burns. He has released two new songs, “Wired Eyes” (alternate mix” and “Hard to Fall” as a new digital single especially for Bandcamp Friday. The idea of this new single is that all profits are going to the Sandy Hook Promise. That’s really nice. On top of it all the songs are really good. It is no surprise that Phil can make some beautiful jangle.

Shiny Times: of course, I’ve recommended Shiny Times many times. But then there was no physical release. Well, now there is. A CD on the fine Thessaloniki label Melotron Recordings! The mini-album “Let’s Get Shiny” is being released on May 16 and includes 6 songs. Right now we can preview the fifth song, “Scroll Away the Night”, which is really ace. On top of that it has artwork by our friend Casio Van Doesburg. Superb pop!

Tambourina: now to Kalamazoo, Michigan. This project is new to me. Also it mentions the band members have been in bands like Glowfriends, Overly Polite Tornadoes and Vida Eterna. I don’t know these projects either. I must say I don’t know much of any scene in Michigan. My fault. But it is great to discover this band who is releasing their album “Tambourine Dream” on both vinyl and CD on April 22. Now we can preview two of the songs, the opening track “Acknowledge You” and the closing track “Dedicated”. Good stuff.

Impossible Tymes: back to Greece. Remember I interviewed Impossible Tymes? Well now is a great time to refresh our memories because the great label Make Me Happy has 7 songs by the band on their Bandcamp. I don’t know if they will be released in physical format. I hope so. It would be amazing. For now we can enjoy all the tracks online.

The Hannah Barberas: and we close this review with the wonderful new 7″ by The Hannah Barberas! Wow! And it sounds ace. It is titled “Party from Hell” and has 3 songs, the title song, “Love’s Coming Back in Fashion” (nice nod to Biff Bang Pow!) and “Puppet Show”. The record is out now on Spinout Nuggets and Doo Lang Records. And it sounds really good. I think this might be my favourite release of theirs so far!

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It has taken me a while to sit down and be able to write this post. Sheggi from The Fat Tulips passed away last November. Sheggi’s only other band as far as I know was The Melons. Then she moved to the U.S., and here she wasn’t involved with music I think. I’ve been meaning to write a piece about her music, a bit of a tribute, a bit of something important I wanted to say, both of her bands were favourites of mine, and I wasn’t sure how to approach this.

In the end I thought I know more about The Fat Tulips. They were a band that have accompanied me for so many years. I know a lot of people say they are a singles band but I love the album as well. I’ve played it so many times. I wonder how it hasn’t been reissued yet. Actually how come their back catalogue still hasn’t got a reissue. That’s a big question.

The Melons were a band I discovered later. They didn’t release that many records. I knew they were a duo. I knew Sheggi was half of The Melons. But to be honest, aside from owning all the 7″s they released, I know very little.

I’ve DJed many times “From Hell to Helsinki”, what a song. I always wondered, after moving to NYC, if I was going to ever stumble with her. Maybe at one of the Popfests. It never happened. I never met her. Never exchanged emails as I have with other favourite bands of mine. I did meet once a Fat Tulip in London. I wanted to release a band he was in those days called The Cutouts. That never happened. But that was the closest I was to Sheggi. Very far away indeed!

I don’t know any details about her passing away. Anyways, it doesn’t really matter. I want to celebrate her music, learn more details about her time in The Melons. About the Fat Tulips, well, I really hope I get to interview a band member one day. That’d be cool. About The Melons and interview would be great as well. Who knows.

The Melons started their adventure in 1993 releasing a flexi called “Show Me Wishes Worth More Than These”. It was released on Nottingham’s Heaven Records (HV07). This label of course was ran by The Fat Tulips. It made total sense to support this new project.

Three top songs were included in this single-sided clear flexi, “Fire-Engine Girl”, “Wishes” and “A Hard Day’s Rut”. The release also included the Heaven Sent fanzine volume 8. A terrific fanzine that included for example a story about a football match between Sarah Records band members and Heaven Records band members. So much fun!

The fine US label Sunday Records picked them up for the band’s second release, the “Strictly Melonhead EP” 7″ (Sunday 034) in 1994. Now we discover four terrific songs, “Me and Finn” and “Strictly Melonhead” on the A side and “Throw Your Arms Around Me” and “Doormat” on the B side. All songs were recorded at The Track Station, the same studio in Burton-On-Trent where the Fat Tulips recorded their “Starfish” album.

The photography on the sleeve was credited to Alison Wonderland while Shelly Melon is credited for guitar, bass, organ and backing vocals and Helen Melon for vocals and keyboards. Shelly Melon was the name Sheggi Clarkson used in The Melons.

Then the band started working with Damaged Goods. With them they released the “From Heell to Helsinki” 7″ in 1995 (DAMGOOD 79). This song is a true favourite of mine. Makes me happy all the time. This song appeared on the A side while on the B side you find “See If I Don’t” and “That Sunshine”. This time around the band recorded in Nottingham and again Alison Wonderland is credited for the photos. The drawing on the sleeve was done by Colin while the overall design by Katy. Now Vanessa Turner was on vocals and keyboards. I guess that’s Helen Melon from the first record. Sheggi appears as Katy now. Then Nigel is credited for additional bass and Colin for additional guitar. According to Discogs these were Nigel Turner and Colin Altuccini.

Damaged Goods released in 1996 the “Fast Lane” 7″ (DAMGOOD 91). This one had the title song on the A side and “Little Death Wishes” and “Losing it (Toot Sweet Mix)” on the B side. All songs were recorded at Square Centre Studios in Nottingham in January of that year. Now the photography is credited to Andrew Turner, we see Vanessa, Sheggi/Katy, Colin and Nigel being credited. But also a Rob. According to Discogs this is Rob Scott.

The last release was a new 7″ in 1997. Now on a different label, Pickled Egg Records (EGG 1). This record is actually the one I am missing! I thought I had all! I will have to track it down. It had “Black and Blue” on the A side and “Eskimo” on the B side.

I am thinking now a retrospective album would be amazing. I would do it. But I am not sure who to contact. Damaged Goods would be helpful? Seems like a biggish indie label, maybe they wouldn’t give the songs just like that. Or maybe they do. Or maybe they can do this release, in their website they mention they might do a compilation someday. It doesn’t matter who does it. It would be fantastic. Also keep in mind that the band must have had more songs.

I think they did have more songs because for example in 1994 there was the song “Me and Finn” on the tape compilation “Restaurants, Bars and Pop Stars” released by Sticky Records (Sticky 14). Then a song called “Big Freeze” appeared on “Suction Prints” an LP compilation released by Sorted Records (SRLP4) in 1998.

In 2002 Elefant included the song “Eskimo” on their classic “Casablanca” (ER-1056) compilation. Much later, in 2018, Sunday Records included “Strictly Melonhead” on the “Songs About Our Past Vol 3” (SUNDAY 970) CDR comp.

According to Damaged Goods it was actually Dan Treacy of the TVPs who recommended the label to check them out and to sign them. Here it also mentions that the band did a session with Mark Radcliffe. I’ve found that this session happened on May 18, 1995. The band played three songs, “Hell to Helsinki”, “Losing It” and “Throw Your Arms Around Me”. Oh! I would love to hear this session!

But that’s not all. The band actually recorded a second session for Mark. It was on March 15 (my birthday) of 1996. This time around they played “Fast Lane”, “The Big Freeze” and “Wishes”.

Last.fm has a bit more details about the band. Here it tells that Katy Shelagh Gaffin, or Sheggi Clarkson, moved to NYC to get married with Josh Gaffin. I believe she got a job at the Rockefeller Center. I worked there for a bit too, but never saw her! It also mentions that Vanessa Turner is married to Tim Vass from The Razorcuts and proud mum of two. Cool. Another interesting detail is that the band consisted of the two and a drum machine though at some point Paul from the Fat Tulips filled in when Sheggi destroyed the drum machine with a Scottish battle-axe after a royalty dispute!

And who else but my friend Alex would write about the band on his 7iete Pulgadas blog. He did back in 2007! The one detail I find interesting here is that Alex says that Sheggi was in a band in NYC called The Tub Sharks! I never heard of them! Would really like to hear if there were any recordings.

He also mentions that Sheggi offered making a CD with all The Melons songs… I wonder if she ever sent that to him. I should check with him!

And that’s all I could find about The Melons! It makes me happy to remember. I have been playing their songs for hours today. The legacy of the band is lovely, all of their songs are great. I don’t know if this post serves as a little tribute to Sheggi, I hope it does. I am a fan who never saw neither the Fat Tulips or The Melons live. I hope there’s a new  interest in the bands, that reissues happen, more people writing about the bands, it is what is deserved!

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Listen
The Melons – From Hell to Helsinki