Day 137. In the end I will be around all August. It is quite impossible to have vacations this year if you live in the US.

Anuncio en Blanco: the latest on the Mexican netlabel is a new album called “Un Lugar” by Anuncio en Blanco. At the moment we can preview two out of the 9 tracks included, “Siento Que Estés Aquí” and “Juntos Otra Vez”. Both are nice dreamy tracks. The album is to be released on August 14th.

Boosegumps: some low key bedroom pop in the “5 demos” tape release on Lost Sound Tapes. This project by Heeyoon Won from Philadelphia does remind us of The Softies, right? Especially the track “Perfect Autumn Day”.

Ribbon Stage: this New York band is releasing a 7″ EP with 5 tracks on August 7th. Right now we can preview two of the songs, “Favorite Girl” and “Cry in the Driveway”, two noisy pop songs that were recorded in Brooklyn and mixed in Olympia. Makes sense!

Shiny Times: “So Alone” is the newest track from Kim Weldin, one half of Tape Waves, is really good! If you like sweet, smart, melodic bedroom pop, that doesn’t sound too lofi, then this is perfectr for you.

Fritz: and perhaps my favourite song in this little review is Fritz’s “Arrow”. This band hailes from Newcastle, Australia, and is formed by Tilly Murphy, Cody Brougham and Darren James. Check them out!

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Who were 99th Floor? This Swedish band is a mystery to me. I don’t own any of their records (yet). But I think I will be able to get some information on the web!

It looks like their first ever release was a self-released 7″ with two tracks, “Dreamland” on the A side and “The Blue Hour” on the B side. It also looks like this was a promo release. And only 171 copies were pressed! The release had a sleeve, a black and white photocopy looking logo of the band. Here we also see who were the band members:
Andreas Brodow: bass
Anders Lindgren: guitar, piano
Bengt Lindbäck: guitar
Gunnar Sätterkvist: musical box
Ylva Lindgren: vocals, glockenspiel

Of course the first questions is if Anders and Ylva are siblings or family?

The band’s next release was a 7″ on Joker Records (JOKE 920). This label was based in south Stockholm, in the Johanneshov area and interestingly enough it was the first indie Swedish label to release a CD in 1989. That same year, they released the “I Walk Alone” 7″ by 99th Floor, with that track on the A side and “Blue Hour” on the B side. We know too that Anders and Ylva wrote the A side while the B side is credited to both of them and Bengt too. The band lineup continued being the same as the previous 7″ and one detail one here is that Anders Hörling was the engineer for both tracks. It is also worth mention that Ylva by this time had changed her last name to Håkansson… and that in the label of the 7″ we see Lindgren spelled Lindhgren for Anders. What was the correct spelling then?

So far my favourite song by them is “(Take Me To) Wonderland”.  It may change after listening more and more their songs. I have just discovered them a few weeks ago. Well, this song was their third single, a 7″ with that song on the A side and “It’s Time to Leave” on the B side. This time around the band would change labels, now the label to release them was Exercises in Style (EIS 003). The year of this release was 1991 and the people behind this early 90s label were John Cloud, Joakim Jähnke and Peter Lindholm. The band members were still the same on this record. The two songs were recorded at Park Studio in Stockholm, with Anders Lindhgren from the band and Jan Olov Gullö (from the bands Sjöstrom&Gullö and Safari Season) as producers. Per Sommarström would design the art of the sleeve while Joakim Pirinen, a well known illustrator and comic book artist, provided the drawings. So now, can we agree that Lindhgren is with an H?  Or did Anders change the spelling of his last name?

Their next release would be a CDEP called “”Sad Songs on a Happy Day”. Four songs were included in this 1992 EP: “Happy Revolution”, “Annie C/o Loneliness”, “Say Hello to the Day” and “Inside of Me’. It was released by Gullö Gram (GG-5991) which was possibly Jan Olov Gullö’s label who once again co-produced the songs.

Two years later, in 1994, the band would release a CD single with two tracks on Hawk Records (HAWKCDS1173). The songs were “Happy Revolution” (is this a different version of the previous release?) and “Window with a View”. I notice too on the credits on Discogs a credit for Lars Sköld (who played on Tiamat, Avatarium, among others) on drums, Malin Bjurberg on backing vocals and Niklas Olsson on organ.

In 1995 two of their songs would appear on the Swedish movie “Vackert Väder”: “Happy Revolution” and “Window with a View”. The same songs as the CD single. Then a few years later, in 1999, the band would again contribute a song to a movie, “Mamy Blue”.

The band also appeared on 5 compilations during their time. First in 1989 on the compilation “Nordic Sounds Volume 2” released by Joker Records (JOKE 917) they had the song “I Walk Alone”. Then the next year, in 1990, their song “Sell My Soul” appeared on the compilation “Motion” on Exercises in Style (EIS CD001).  Munster Records from Spain would include them, in 1991, in the comp “Not the Singer but the Songs: An Alex Chilton Tribute”. On this one they would cover “Nightime”.

In 1991 the band would also contribute “Another World” to the LP compilation “The 4th Adventure” released by the Danish label Guiding Light Records (JEWEL 4). Lastly, “Happy Revolution”, would be incldued in “Pop & Rock! (Hit Acts Sweden 1995)’. This last one was a promotional CD released by ExMS (INFOGRAM 27) in 1995 in Sweden.

Then something quite surprising is that in 2016 the band released an album in MP3 format through Gullö Gram (SEVJR160001). I wonder if these were new recordings or sort of a retrospective. Who’d know? There were ten songs in this their one and only album that was called “Different Colours of a Stone”. The tracks were: “Dreamland”, “Ydoi”, “Happy Revolution”, “Having Fun”, “Carried by Imagination”, “Another World”, “Waterfall”, “Funny Tragic World”, “And Death”, “Outside my Window”.

Something that I noticed too is that Ylva, Anders and Lars had been in the band Safari Season that had releases even in the US on Zip Records. And this band actually has a website. Here it tells that he started his music career in the punk band Ebe Johnsson’s Swing Quintet, in his hometown of Karlstad. Then he would move to Stockholm and there with Ylva they started 99th Floor. With this band they would play in many festivals in Sweden and get airplay and TV appearances in Sweden and abroad.

And that’s what I could find. If they were popular at their time I am sure people remember them. Oddly enough there’s not much online about them, and I couldn’t find their TV appearances on Youtube. I’d definitely would love to learn more about them. Who remembers them?

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Listen
99th Floor – Take Me to Wonderland

Day 134. Friday!

Here is new music.

WYWY: I had to write about this dreampop duo. I am a sucker for “exotic” bands. And this one is at least for me. It is the first time I have heard a band that sounds like this hailing from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Their latest song, “Isolated”, is pretty good to boot.

Post West: now another band that I couldn’t let pass. The band hailing from Providence in Rhode Island has released a wonderful EP called “Bronco”. The curiosity here is that they have a song called “Astoria”, and that’s where I am based! In Astoria, New York. This is very very cool for me!

Grizzly Coast: now onto a more produced band, one that sounds a bit like Camera Obscura. And that’s a good thing of course. Five songs are out now on their EP “Party of One”. Digital only it seems. But hey, you can have on repeat their amazing opener “Catch & Release”. Really enjoying this project formed by Allanah Kavanagh, Pavel Soitys, Jacqueline Tucci and Taylor Lucas.

Floodlights: time to head to Melbourne, the land of amazing indiepop. The 12″ album “From A View” is already sold out. But good news is that the 2nd pressing on vinyl is available. On top of that, we can listen to this solid 11 song record on Bandcamp and preview it there.

The Apartments: “Initials PMW” is a 4 song EP out now on Microcultures label from France. The amazing project by Peter Milton Walsh recorded these 4 songs in Ashgrove, Australia. And they are really pretty.

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This is as obscure as it gets. I really hope my Japanese friends can solve the mystery of who were Camera Works.

I only know the one song they had on the “Pop Comes Up! Bluebadge Compilation Vol. 2” that was released by the Bluebadge Label (BBCD-002) back in 2002. That song was called “Is She a Happy Girl?”. It appears alongside many bands that I have featured in the past like Margarets Hope*, Clean Distortion or Cyclon86. But I could find more info for these bands.

When it comes to Camera Works there’s absolutely nothing on the web. I know there’s a girl singing. I know they are Japanese. But aside from that there’s nothing.

The band also appeared on the first Bluebadge compilation which was called “Send My Badge!: Bluebadge Compilation Vol. 1” (BCD-001). This one is not listed in Discogs so that makes it a bit harder to get info. I do know that the song they contributed was called “Crumble”. I believe it was released in 2002 as well.

I haven’t heard “Crumble”. Maybe that is something someone can help me too. At least. I love the Bluebadge label, but it is hard to get the records and info on their bands! Any help will be appreciated.

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Listen
Camera Works – Is She a Happy Girl?

Just last week I wrote about the Isle of Wight band Cassie on the blog. It didn’t take long, as you see, that Hugh Lewis, the drummer, got in touch with me! And even better he was up for an interview! So here it is, the chance to learn a little bit more about this obscure powerpop band that left a classic 7″ that now has just been reissued!

++ Hi Hugh! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Still making music?

Thanks for your interest in Cassie. I’m very well!!! Sadly I’m not involved in the making of music anymore although I did stand in on the drums for a Turkish band a couple of weeks ago, really enjoyed that

++ Let’s go back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what was your first instrument? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen at home while growing up?

I must have been 6/7 when my Mum first took me to a folk night.Loved it and we went quite a few times after that. It was 1972 when I pestered my parents to buy me my first 45’ Starman by David Bowie.
Played about a bit on the guitar in 1977, within a few weeks I wanted to play the drums. Had a handful of lessons, but after that used to watch drummers play when I could, and then lots of practice.

Early 70’s glam rock!! Bowie, Faces, Rod Stewart, Stones, Who, Slade, Sweet. Mid to late 70’s Punk/new wavw. Early 80’s: NWBHM

++ Had you been in other bands before Cassie? I read that you all were in a band called Flirt? How did it sound like? Are there any recordings?

Yes Hunter, you can hear the material we did on isleofwightmusic.com, made my live debut with them in late 79′.

++ And aside from Flirt, were you all in any other bands?

Flirt was the same as Cassie, same line up, it was Wilf Pine our manager in the early 80’s who got us to change our name. As mentioned I played in Hunter originally, also Warrior a NWBHM band, sadly there are no recordings.Also Rendezvous- go to Isleofwightmusic.com and you can hear everything I recorded with them

++ Where were you from originally?

I was born in Bromley, Kent, UK, but we moved to the Isle of Wight when I was about 2 years old.

++ How was the Isle of Wight at the time of Cassie? Were there any bands that you liked? Were there any good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?

The IOW is a holiday destination, it was always great in the summer, quiet in the winter. There were loads of places for bands to play in those days.

Local bands I liked were The Pumphouse Gang, Last Straw, Thin Red Line

Studio 4 in Ryde was the best!!!

Stacks of them at the time – Prince Consort, LA Babalu Club,Crown Inn, Royal Sandrock, Eight Bells, Solent court etc etc

++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?

We think about 76/77

++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?

Nigel wrote the riff, Debbie would have the lyrics down,Me and Eric would sort out the rhythm section. In a little village called Binstead, in a converted shed

++ What’s the story behind the band’s name? 

Wilf Pine who signed us to a.k.a records changed us from Flirt to Cassie

++ And who would you say were influences in the sound of the band?

Blondie, Pretenders, Kim Wilde??

++ So early on you signed a deal with Video Records and even a publishing deal. I don’t think that is quite common these days, so quite curious how did you caught their attention? Through demo tapes? Gigs?

It was a demo we recorded late in 79’.

Radio victory a south coast radio station featured us and played the demo, Video Records heard it from there I think!!

++ But for some reason the songs you recorded for Video Records never pressed on vinyl. The label folded, right? What happened? How did the band take this blow?

No they never got out. Yes that’s right, ran into financial problems. To be fair in our stride, although we were all pretty gutted.

++ After this you went to record demos for Wilf Pine who was Black Sabbath’s manager. How did this relationship happen? And how was that recording session?

To be honest I can’t remember how Wilf got involved!! One day he wasn’t there the next he was!!

Arnie’s Shack in Poole, 3 tracks were recorded.The A’ Side , ‘B’ Side plus Falling which was to be a follow up single

++ Again for some reason you couldn’t get a record deal, right? So in 1982 you self-released a 7″ on your own A.K.A. Records. How did this work out for you? How did you raise money? Was the 7″ sold? Or was it mostly for promo copies?

Not well, the label was nothing to do with the band more Wilf’s project. There was no official release, and from what we can tell hardly any pressed, no media interest.

No idea, Wilf paid for the recordings. We don’t know anything about sales as there was no feedback, certainly no royalties paid.

++ There was no sleeve for it, right?

Nope, everything done on the cheap!!!

++ And did A.K.A. Records name mean anything?

Don’t think so, if it did I don’t know what!!!

++ Then there was interest from Dakota Records. But again nothing came out of this. What happened? Was there interest from any other labels?

Yes. The band never had any management again when it all finished with Wilf so nobody drove the business side of the band!!

No the band called it a day after the Dakota thing never materialised!! 3 Labels and nothing to show for it, I guess we’d had enough by then

++ The Isle of Wight Music website have all your recorded output, 12 songs. Well, I have to ask, is that all your recorded output or are there still unreleased recordings by the band?

Not anymore they don’t, we have asked them to take them down.

I think including the single and B side there are a total of 18 songs

++ And from where do these recordings in that website come from? Different demo tapes?

Yes from 80 to 84

++ And aside from the 7″ you put out, did you appear on any compilations?

The band no. I also appear with Rendezvous on the feet on the Street compilation

++ This year a reissue of the 7″ came out on Reminder Records. I only noticed that it is a US based label! I am curious about the story of how this release came together? How did the label track you down?

Yeah great isn’t it!!! Our fourth label !!!!! Yes from Brooklyn, New York City.

They heard the song on Yo tube, saw us on isleofwightmusic.com and got the band members names from there.After that they found that Nigel Hayles is no longer traceable as he sadly passed away in 02’ Eric Biggs has no social media presence at all.Debbie Barker is now married and obviously had a different name Debbie Coles. That left only me they could traceI spoke to the Labels CEO Jeremy Thompson in December last year about it all, from there as they say ’the rest is history’

++ I think my favourite song of yours might as well be “Change of Image”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?

Great song.

Who knows, Debbie wrote the story!!! It’s about female empowerment

++ If you were to choose your favorite Cassie song, which one would that be and why?

“Hold Me” or “Find a Way”.  I think. Just really like the groove of both

++ What about gigs? Did you play many?

Yeah at one stage, three times a week

++ You even got a six month residency at the Royal Sandrock Inn in Nilton. How did this happen? How many gigs did you play there? Did you have a big local following?

That’s right. The owner of the pub saw us at a different venue, liked us and asked us to play there. No idea, I guess once a week for 6 months, around 24/25 I would think

Not really, but we were very popular in Niton lol!!!

++ And were there any bad gigs?

Plenty lol!!! Sometimes you’d hear ‘“ Your shit you are”

++ When and why did Cassie stop making music? Were you involved in any other bands afterwards?

I think we’d had a gutful by 84. Yes Rendezvous until 86 time.

++ What about the rest of the band, had they been in other bands afterwards?

++ Has there been any reunion gigs?

No

++ Did you get much attention from the radio?

A fair bit, but only mainly local stations

++ What about TV? Made any promo videos?

Nope

++ What about the press? Did they give you any attention?

A little bit at the time

++ What about from fanzines?

Nope

++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?

We wrote some catchy tunes and the fact that people seem interested in them 40 years on is great!!!

++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?

My main other love is football, I’m a qualified UEFA ‘A’ Coach and have earned a living in football for over 20 years.

++ Never been to the Isle of Wight. So I will ask for some recommendations. If  I was to visit your city what shouldn’t I miss? What are your favourite sights? And any particular food or drinks that you think one shouldn’t miss?

The Isle of Wight Festival!!! Brilliant festival. It’s a stunningly beautiful Island

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Nope I think we’ve covered it all pretty much, thank you for your interest in Cassie!!!!!

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Listen
Cassie – Change of Image

Day 132.

In Space: this Singapore project has a new song called “Inside Out” which is quite nice! I don’t know much about them, it seems it is just one person behind it who describes himself as a bottom bunk boi. Any of my Singaporean friends know him?

Airhockey: a few posts ago I was telling you to check out “Try” the one and only song you could preview from the EP “Walkthrough”. Now the cassette EP is sold out and luckily all 6 songs are available to play on Bandcamp. They are really good!

Eterna Joventut: a few months ago I recommended the debut song by this Barcelona duo, and I was raving it! Now their second song is actually a song the duo formed by Júlia and Asier wrote for Mujeres. This time around they play it themselves and is called “Tu Amor”. Fun guitars!

Asian Shoegaze Compilation Vol. 1: this 8 song comp came out last May. It features bands from Japan (Oell), Hong Kong (Sea of Tranquility) and China (The Pillow Man and Endless White). Each band contributes two songs and you get the feeling, even if these places are so far for many of us, that a cool scene is brewing there!

Pop at Summer: last April the Bandung band published a new wonderful song called “Kiss Berry”. Not sure how I missed it. This is one of my favourite Indonesian pop bands and I believe that it should be yours too. Really lovely.

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I must say I am not that familiar with Australian indierock from the 90s. Not at all. So forgive me if I don’t know things that might be obvious for many of you. I know indiepop and I think I know quite a bit. But indierock is not my forte.

It seems there was a band in Australia during the 90s called Custard. It seems it was quite popular releasing albums and singles. Lots of them. But before that Dave McCormack ad Paul Medew, two of their members, had a band called Who’s Gerald? who I thought contacting long time ago when I was planning to do Australian indiepop compilations. As you know these never happen. The lack of interest and lack of help from the bands sort of disappointed me. What can you do?

See, I had discovered Who’s Gerald? not too long ago. They had been part of a compilation called “Young Blood” that was released by rooArt  in 1988 in LP, CD and tape formats. It even got a US release. And so, I knew on these compilations (because there was even a “Young Blood II”), new up and coming Australian bands were featured. The Hummingbirds for example were there. And so I found Who’s Gerald? on it with a terrific song called Pins and Needles”. Thought I had to find out more info about them.

We know they released only one single, a 7″. And we know that the band was formed by:
Cathy Atthow: drums
Paul Medew: bass
Glen Donald: keyboards
David McCormack: vocals, guitar

They hailed from Brisbane.

The 7″ was released on their own Gerald Corp. label (GER 0002). Now the catalog number makes it look as if there had been a previous release. Was it perhaps a demo tape? Would be good to find it. It was released the same year as the rooArt compilation, 1988, and included two songs.

The A side had the song “Wrestle Wrestle” while the B side had “Gerald is Stumbling Away Along the Highway of Life”. After this song title you can’t stop wondering who is Gerald. Was it someone they knew perhaps?

The art for the jacket is quite cool. The front cover has a black and white illustration of some guy with a cool haircut over a red background. The band shows the bands legs/shoes on a photo as well as lyrics for their two tracks. We see too that the B side had some flute played by Peter Evans. The tracks were produced by the band and Jonnee Acid and they were engineered by Peter Wragg at Southwind Studios.

So I was saying, David McCormack had been in Custard. But that’s not all. He has been in C.O.W., The Millionaires, The Titanics and David McCormack and the Polaroids. Paul Medew was also on a band called Miami aside from Custard. I couldn’t find any other bands for the other members.

Interestingly, David McCormack even has his own Wikipedia entry. Here it mentions that in 1986 Who’s Gerald? was formed. And then that in 1988 the band released a cassette called “Who’s Gerald’s Greatest Hits”. This might have been the first release of Gerald Corp Records. It also tells something quite interesting, that in 1988 3 of their members, Atthow, McCormack and Medew briefly formed a band called Automatic Graphic with Scott Younger. Are there recordings for this band?

Something that I also found interesting, as I love the Go-Betweens, is that McCormack recorded with Robert Forster for his second solo album, “Calling from a Country Phone”.

A little more of digging and I find a proper treasure. A Bandcamp with 10 songs to listen by Who’s Gerald?! It is like an expanded version of the single, adding 8 songs to it. These are: “Pins and Needles”, “Hell on Wheels”, “Affrodeedies Principal”, “Burning Up”, “Banging in My Ear”, “Cowboy”, “Road Metal” and “You Really Got Me”.

Then on the credits the break it by different releases I think. For example some of these songs were recorded at Payne Street, Indooropilly on a Yamaha 4-track cassette machine. Then “Banging in My Ear” seems to be among their oldest songs and this one was recorded by Lee Lee Ingram at Creative Space Studios in Milton.

“Affrodeedies Principal”, “Burning Up” and “Road Metal’ recorded and produced by David Lennon at Creative Space Studios in Milton.

Then there’s a note by Dave about the last song, “You Really Got Me”: You Really Got Me’ was recorded circa 1986 in Dave’s bedroom at Tarbet St, Kenmore using Christian Dahl’s Yamaha 4track cassette recorder. “It must have been winter because I remember it being very chilly. The guitars and keyboards and bass were all run through my crappy Princeton amp (because it had 4 inputs so it acted as a pseudo mixer). I recall the bedroom was a new addition so we were all standing on a concrete slab, very chilly. Soon after my parents managed to purchase some sea-grass matting as flooring.

Then I stumble an article about the band on the blog That Striped Sunlight Sound.  Here it says that the band was named after a response of finding a wooden coat hanger with Gerald written on it. That was the legend. But there is another theory that says that they were named after Gerald V. Casale from Devo.  Here it also pinpoints Ipswich as the place where the band was formed. Then it tells us to which universities each of them went, Paul went to James Cook University and Glen and David went to Queensland Uni. There they would meet Cathy who had never drummed before.

The band used to practice at the Queensland Uni at their Activities office or at Christian Dahl’s house in Indooroopilly. Christian had answer and advert where the band was looking for a bassist. Their first gig was at The Outpost in the Valley. Their second gig was at The Love Inn. Their third was back at The Outpost. They also played 4ZZZ Market Day a few times. Their two biggest gigs according to David were supporting Sonic Youth at The Patch at Tweed Heads and INXS at Brisbane Entertainment Centre.

Someone commented too that the band played at the Chelmer Bowls Club in Toowong in 1988.

Another hit on the web takes me to the book”Pig City: From the Saints to Savage Garden”. Here it mentions that Cathy Atthow earned her place as the band’s drummer partly through David’s obsession with the Go-Betweens and Lindy Morrison!

I couldn’t find much more information about them. I do see many people saying that the songs were badly recorded, or they weren’t good. But I think in general most people agree that the track they contributed to “Young Blood”, the song “Pins and Needles”, was their best. And yeah, it is a pretty good song!

Who remembers them?

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Listen
Who’s Gerald? – Pins and Needles

Day 130. Again a quiet weekend. Not much news on Cloudberry HQ.

Robotboy: behind the name of Robotboy is Petter Strömberg from Stockholm, Sweden. He makes superb bedroom-pop reminiscent of our hero Nixon. His latest track is among his best if I may say and is called “Our Time”

Carry On, Cupid: more lo-fi catchy music. This time from Houston, Texas. I am guessing it is a new-ish band as their first release on Bandcamp are three demos, “Ocelot”, “If I Should Die Tonight” and “Drive Home”. And all three are pretty enjoyable, though if I have to pick my favourite, I’d say the first one, “Ocelot”.

The Primitives: I missed this! So The Primitives covered the classic The Aislers Set song “Been Hiding” for a tape compilation called “Be Gay, Do Crime!”! Wow! And the cover is very good! So definitely check it out. It seems this cover dates from 2016 but I wasn’t aware of it. This tape is out on August 1st and the proceeds will go to Prism Health.

“Text Me When You Get Here”: this is the name of the latest compilation from the Toronto based indiepop label Fallen Love Records. There is no physical release it seems but we can for sure stream on Bandcamp the 18 songs that make up this pretty interesting release. There are many bands that are familiar to me and even more that aren’t. Time to listen!

Go Fever: Austin-based band with Australian songwriter Acey Monaro fronting it. That’s Go Fever. But it is also more. The band also has Benjamin Burdick, Keith Lough and Josh Merry in their ranks. And their latest song is a fun upbeat one called “Sound of Me Leaving”.

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“Cajun Moon” is a song written by Jim Rushing, and recorded by American country artist Ricky Skaggs. It was released in January 1986 as the second single from the album Live in London. “Cajun Moon” was Ricky Skaggs’ tenth number one on the country chart. The single went to number one for one week and spent thirteen weeks on the country chart.

The Hull band Cajun Moon was a total new discovery of mine thanks to the ninth volume of “The Sound of Leamington Spa” that Firestation Records (FST 16) released in 2018. I had never heard of this band before.

And to this  day I have only heard one song by them, “In the Waves”. Thankfully, the booklet of the compilation does give a little more information:

Cajun Moon were a Hull based band from 1989/90 which evolved from the band The Mirrors which was first established in 1987. The core of the band remained the same bu the name change made to highlight a shift in musical direction as well as a change in lineup. The songwriting duo of Heidi Kruger (vocals, guitar) and Paul Ford (guitar) remained as did The Mirrors drummer Stephen Hardaker. They were joined by a new bass player Jon Wynham and Sara Philips on backing vocals. The bands influenced ranged from R.E.M. and the 10,000 Maniacs to Leonard Cohen and JJ Cale. A JJ Cale song also providing the inspiration for the name of the band.

True, JJ Cale also played “Cajun Moon”. And I am now also very curious about The Mirrors. Did they leave any recordings?

And where does this song, “In The Waves”, come from? Most probably a demo tape. But there must have been other songs. Had the band members involved in any other bands? The information on the web is non-existant. I hope someone can shed some light about Cajun Moon!

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Listen
Cajun Moon – In the Waves

Day 127. Happy Friday. No news. Just some new music today.

Bathe Alone: Bailey Crone’s solo dreampop project is back with a wonderful new song called “Go Away”. This song is actually the 6th single off her upcoming LP that will be released this year. The album should be called “Last Looks” but we don’t know yet when this Atlanta band will release it!

Dog Day: first time listening this band that will release their album “Present” on the Halifax, Canada, label Fundog Records. It seems to be all about dogs! The album will be out on August 12 and we can preview one of the tracks, “Hell on Earth”, which is great! A luminous pop song that hints us what the album may offer! Looking forward to it!

Sonntag: Who are Sonntag? We know they hail from Los Angeles and that their latest track called “Vespa” is a lovely sweet one. It is the first time I listen to them so I must say I am very curious. I will have to check the previous releases.

H!: the latest from the Shiny Happy Records digital club is the song “B’day” by this Jakarta tweepop one-man project. Behind H! is Adi Cumi who is a big fan of Another Sunny Day and St. Christopher. Sounds good indeed!

Mary Queen of Scots: so great to hear a new song by this classic UK band! This new song is taken from the upcoming album “With Friends Like Us Who Needs the NME?” and is titled “Only Time Will Tell”. It is really really good!

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Continuing with great Australian bands from the 80s, I just discovered Other Voices and their song “She Walks Down”. What a track!

Now I need to track down the 7″ that had this song and hopefully their other single from the early 80s. In the meantime I’ll try to find more information about them. Join me?

So there is a small blurb on Discogs about them where they say that the band formed in Brisbane and moved to Sydney in 1983. What year did they form? That is something I’d need to find out. I do know though that in that same year, 1983, they would release the “Other Voices” 7″ (SUN 0035) on Sundown Records. This label was set up by Eleanor and John Briskey in 1981 in Lawnton, Queensland. I think at this point they were still in Brisbane.

This first 7″ was a double A side, with “World War III” on one side and “Another Tuesday” on the other. Both songs were recorded in Brisbane in December 1982. The songs were engineered by Ashley Keating and Lee Faulkner at Basement Studios. Here we also learn who formed the band:
Glenn Bevan – bass
Cameron Earl – drums
Richard Farmer – guitar
Graeme Norris – saxophone
Roger Norris – vocals

The cool art of the artwork is credited to the band. That’s great.

Then after moving to Sydney they would sign with the well-known Waterfront Records and release their second 7″, “She Walks Down” (DAMP 12). Discogs has the release date for it for 1985. The A side has the title song while the B side had the song “Cats Neva Land”. We also notice some lineup changes here. Paul McGrath had replaced Glenn Bevan on bass and Andrew Clement replaced Cameron Earl on drums.

According to the blurb on Discogs the band split up just after this single. Afterwards vocalist Roger Norris would front the Plug Uglies in 1990 and then join Panacea in 1994. I also see that he was in another bands called The Dobie Gills Experience and Fie on Love. Graeme Norris also was in different bands like The Original Otto Orchestra, The Dobie Gills Experience and West End Composer Collective. Richard Farmer was also in the Dobie Gills Experience, so maybe we can say that this band, who released a tape album in 1983, was the seed of Other Voices? Seems like a fair assumption.

The band also left us some more songs on a few compilations. For example on the cassette compilation “Castrak” that came along the Ratsack fanzine 3rd number in 1983, the band contributed the track “Scene/Unseen”. Then their song “Another Tuesday” was included in the double vinyl compilation album “The Southern Cross”. This comp was released by Ink Records (INK 4D) in the UK in 1984.

And then I find some treasure, a promo video for “She Walks Down“! Amazing! Here we learn that the songs for the 2nd single were recorded at the M Squared Studio in Surry Hills and the video was filmed at various locations around Sydney. This was uploaded by Roger Norris himself. ON the comments I find something interesting, that a Greek student made a short film called “One Way” that included their song “Another Tuesday” as part of the soundtrack! Would be cool to find that!

That was quite something. I couldn’t find anything else nor a fair-priced copy of the 7″s. But I am sure some of you remember them and will let me know any details about them that come up to mind!

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Listen
Other Voices – She Walks Down

Day 125. Not much news still, waiting for our next release to come home from the pressing plant in this weird year. In the meantime here’s new music!

Blue Heron: a new album bu the Boston band. That is good news indeed. Titled “Forever Ending”, the 11-track album was recorded this year between February and July. It is indeed a beautiful pop album, totally worth your time.

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: Three new songs by the prolific San Francisco band. “All Night We Move”, “My Soul Unburdened” and “Brave and Cruel” come just in time for the summer. Something interesting, the first two songs contain lines from the poems of Rumi.

Star-Crossed Lovers: we stay in California and we find this band who released last month a digital single called “In the Shadows” with an accompanying track called “Not Everyone Has Friends”. Both are well crafted shoegaze/dreampop songs. Nice to meet you Star-Crossed Lovers.

Hiki: it is no surprise to find amazing music from Russia. This latest discovery is no exception. The album “A Trip to the Sea” is a swirling dreamy pop journey. There are 7 songs and it seems this is their 7th album! So yeah, I guess I will need to check previous releases!

For Not: the latest on Meritorio Records is the album “The Close is Open” by the Kungälv, Sweden, band Fort Not! The band consists of two friends Fredrik and Robert and they do make catchy pop songs. So this is very very good. I hope I get a copy when it comes out on September 18! Great find!

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Simon Coffey used to run an indie label in Aotearoa, New Zealand, called Onslaught Records in the 1980s. I checked a few of the bands on the label and they sound quite different to Guava Groove. How come?

It is a good question I think. But at the same time I don’t know much about the 80s in New Zealand, aside from what we know most, which is the Flying Nun releases. If we check other stuff it is always a surprise. Guava Groove then is quite a surprise.

The band only released one 7″ back in 1987 on Onslaught Records (CNT 002). This 7″ was more of an EP as it included four songs, two on each side. The A side had “Who’s that Girl?” and “Liquor Lover” while the B side had “Fight! (We Got to Use What We Got to Get What We Want)” and “Boot Girl”.

All four songs were recorded at Montage Studios on May 29 and 30 as well as June 20 and 21 of 1987. The band produced the tracks while Richard Hansen mixed them. The sleeve is quite interesting too because it tells us that the band WAS. Meaning that the record was released posthumously? Could be the case?

We know that the band was formed by:
Craig Bracken on vocals and harmonica
Darrin Kennedy on drums
Daniel Salmon on bass
Troy Shanks on guitar and vocals

The 7″ also includes some “Special Guavas”. I am guessing people that helped in the songs: Clare Bennet on vocals (she had been in the band Soul on Ice) and Nicky Bracken on vocals and sound.

But that is not all, there is Nathan Haines (he had been in bands like Freebass, Phoojun and Sci-Cione but whose solo album “Shift Left” was the biggest selling NZ recorded jazz album of all time) who played sax on tracks 1 and 3 and David Walker who also played sax on track 4. Peter Reid played trumpet on tracks 1 and 3. Then there are credits for Nicky Bracken for the photography on the sleeve, Tony Shanks & Thermostat for the sleeve and Paul Ullrich for the label design.

Other interesting credits come from the labels, “Who’s that Girl?” and “Fight!” were written by Troy Shanks while” Boot Girl” “Liquor Lover” and by Greaves and Turner meaning that the original was actually by 9 Below Zero, an English blues band,

Aside from Guava Groove we only know that Craig Bracken was later on in the band The Flaming Mudcats. And I couldn’t find any compilation appearances by the band!

After a bit of searching around the web for more info I find a website called There is No Cat. There is a comment on a blog post by Troy Shanks that tells a bit of the story of the band! This is just what I was looking for!

Here he mentions that the band formed in 1985 when he was 17 years old. They were based in the north shore of Auckland. In 1987 the band split as he moved to London. So yeah, the band only lasted 2 years and that would explain if the release came out after the band had already split.

The other band member found someone to replace him but I am not sure if they kept the name, though it seems they continued making music. He mentions that they didnt have enough money to press it as a 12″ 45rpm. That is why the four songs were in a 7″ at 33rpm. Other detail he mention is that his brother Kurt plays in a band called Stellar.

So the band was formed by Troy and Craig just a few months before leaving high school. They had a different drummer for their first gig (it was a talent competition at a bar). They came on third place it seems. Then their drummer was replaced as this original drummer was committed to an asylum. Then they got another drummer, Darrin. He also had been a classmate of his in school. Then they found their bass player, Dan, who was younger than the rest. With this lineup they played lots of gigs.

Something interesting that he mentions is that Flying Nun wouldn’t have been interested in their music as they were more like mods.

When I search Craig Bracken I find that he was also in a band called Los Diablos and run a label called Roots Music Aotearoa alongside Darcy Perry and Paul Merriott.

And that’s it! Whatever happened to them? Many questions, and not much information about this obscure New Zealand band!

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Listen
Guava Groove – Fight! (We Got to Use What We Got to Get What We Want)

Day 123.

More new music!

The Muldoons: finally the “Made for Each Other” album is available to preview on Bandcamp. The 10 songs are there and they are wonderful jangle pop. Among the best I’ve heard this year. Remember that the album is out now too. I need to get a copy myself of this superb Paisley, Scotland, band’s latest release!

Jaguar Sun: some very nice tunes coming from this project from Ontario, Canada. The latest is called “Keep You Warm” but in the past few months they have been putting out other tracks like “Next Year” or “Those Days”.

Films on Song: now we have to check out the “Too True” EP by this Charlottesville, Viriginia band. What do we discover? 4 songs of classic indiepop with chiming guitars, influenced by who? Flying Nun Records? Could be. They tag themselves as rock, indie and neosoul though. Anyone’s guess then. But the songs sound good especially the opening track “A Place I’d Rather Be”.

Jenny Genius: now we drive north, to New Haven, Connecticut. Here the band formed by Maggie, Chris and Dan have just released a cassette album. it is self-titled and has 7 songs. Okay, maybe a mini-album. The songs are raw, lo-fi, punkish indiepop. So yeah, pretty good.

The Wolfhounds: lastly the legendary band released “Electric Music” just like a week ago, on July 3rd. I missed the announcement so yeah I am probably late, even though many months ago I shared a link to the one song we could preview then. The limited edition 12″ is sold out. But there are other options, the non-limited 12″ and the CD. What matters in the end are the 10 songs that are included which are great. Lots of energy as always.

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Continuing with Australian discoveries here is another band from the great city of Perth, home of so many indiepop bands in the late 80s. I don’t know very much about them to be honest, but I am here to find out any details about them. Let’s start with what I know. They released just one record and then disappeared into obscurity.

This 7″ came out in 1987 on one of the most recognizable labels from that period, Easter Records (MR-7038). This label released bands of the quality of The Summer Suns, The Palisades or The Stolen Picassos among others!

The 7″ the band released came with two songs, “My Husband Beats Me” on the A side and “Coca-Cola is Coke” on the B side. Both songs were recorded at Northlake Studios, which was a recording studio located in the area of Myaree and where bands like Martha’s Vineyard and The Marigolds also  recorded.  They were engineered and mixed by James Hewgill.

We also know the band members names. And in parenthesis the nicknames they used.
Val Tarin (Pablo) – vocals and guitar
Craig Weighell  (John Boy) – vocals and drums
Dan Tarrant (Wally) – bass
Glen White (Tennessee) – lead guitar

Trumpet on the A side was played by Adrian Wood (aka. Huck Walton).

The cool art, the black and white illustration on the front cover, is credited to Fred Gilbert. The photo of the band on the back of the sleeve is credited to David Gerard.

Prior to this 7″ the band had included the A side, “My Husband Beats Me”, on a tape compilation called “The Attic Tapes”. This was actually a live recorded album, where I suppose all of the bands listed played that night. The venue was the Red Parrot and the date was Friday May 16th of 1986.

Then in 1989 the band would appear on an LP compilation called “Hometown Farewell Kiss” released by 6UVS-FM. This was a radio station based also in Perth. Nowadays it is called RTR FM. On this compilation the band contributed the song “Truck Drivin’ Man”. This looks like a terrific compilation, with many favourite bands of mine. I should try to get this record!

Lastly, many years later, in 2003, the band appeared on a CD compilation called “Off the Hip Fanzine 5” which as the name says came alongisde the fifth issue of the Off the Hip fanzine. Here the band contributed the song “Cherry”. Maybe it was an old recording? Or maybe they got together to record it?

Then I stumble upon something cool, The Waltons performing live at the Coronado Hotel in Perth! They are playing “My Husband Beats Me” and it seems this video dates from May 1991. Then there’s another clip of them playing the song “Quando” at the same venue. Then there’s another video of them playing the song “Cactus Jack” at the Shenton Park Hotel in Perth, January 1987. And lastly the song “Cherry” with an accompanying clip! Cool! It seems this song was to be the third single by the band. But then, which was the second?!

According to Last.fm there was a single with two songs, “Coast to Coast” and “We’re the Waltons”. And then that “Cherry” had a B side called “Crawly Man”. I need to find about these! “”Coast to Coast” was also released by Easter.

Then I find a blog called “Something Old, Something New“. Here they mention again that there were two singles. But what interests me is that they say that the songs were put together into a retrospective CD! I would love to find a copy of that. Another interesting detail is that it mentions that the band was active between 1985 and 1992.

It seems that this CD was remastered and compiled by someone called Trevor Hilton. He comments on the blog post. He says that the CD contained all 8 songs recorded in studio plus a gig from 1991 at the Coronado Hotel and a rare song called “Lost in Suburbia”. He also mentions that it was never properly released! What a shame! Would be great to hear these tracks, right?

Ok. So I found some more info about the 2nd single thanks to the blog “History of Australian Music from 1960 until 2010“. Here it mentions that James Hewgill again recorded them in Northlake Studios. This was 1987 and the single was released in March 1989. At this same time the band recorded the song “My Baby Left Me for a Truck Driving Man”. That seems to be the right song title for the song that was included in the radio station compilation LP. Then we know that “Cherry” was actually recorded somewhere else. It was recorded at Planet Studios in 1991 and were co-produced by the band and Dom Mariani from The Stems!

And there’s more. On Souncloud an account by Peter Morse (from Love Pump) has the A side of the first single for everyone to listen, and a rare song called “Superbird“.

Lastly the 5th issue of the Perth-based fanzine Party Fears has an interview with the band! Head to page 20 after clicking this link.

Then I keep googling and googling. I believe Dan Tarrant’s latest band was called Small Motors. Before that he had been in Josephine Killen. Val Tarin had been in Love Pump and Los Locos. Craig Weighell was also in Love Pump.

And that’s it. Quite a lot actually. I wasn’t expecting to find out that there was another single that I want to listen. And that there are more recordings that were once on a CD compilation. It is time to track all of this down. But definitely if you remember them and have extra details let me know. Would love to hear the whole story of the band!

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Listen
The Waltons – My Husband Beats Me

Day 120.

More new music from around the web!

Kammahav: our friends Christian Gustafsson and Tony Jenkins are back with a new song called “Thirty 4”. It is a bit rockier than previous efforts but I still like it. Are they working on an album or something? We should just wait.

Airhockey: the Miami band will be releasing a tape EP called “Walkthrough” on the 17th. It will have 6 songs and we can preview one of them, the opener track called “Try” which is a dreamy song.

Populardays: the Filipino band did a quarantine session for Shiny Happy Records, now four of the songs from the session are up on Bandcamp as part of the label’s digital club. These are terrific dreampop songs, so don’t miss them out.

Chavales: another digital single by this Spanish duo. “Ernesto” is the name of the song and no, it is not a cover of the classic Los Nikis song of the same name. Maybe it feels like a sequel to that song? I can see that.

“What You’ve Missed So Far” The First Hundred Releases of Blackbean and Placenta: remember the American label Blackbean and Placenta? Well here is a 21 song compilation on the Japanese Galaxy Train label. It is really cool as it includes songs by many classic bands like Boyracer, Orange Cake Mix, The Shermans, Aikagi, The Mondo Crescendo and a favourite of mine, The Ninjas.

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Jämna Plågor, the even plagues, was formed by Justus Björk on drums, Sam Carlshamre on guitar, Matilda Kihlberg on vocals and synth, Markus Amalthea Magnuson on organ and vocals and Philip Wigselius on bass. This was back in the mid 2000s. Some names do sound familiar, no?

When I wrote many years ago about Your Place or Mine, a terrific Stockholm based band, I got in touch with Sam Carlshamre who pointed me to this other band he had been involved with (he also was involved with Corduroy Utd.). He was the only Your Place or Mine person I got in touch but he wasn’t one of the original members, so he wasn’t keen on answering my questions for an interview. Would have loved to interview Matilda Kihlberg who was the vocalist of the band. Here in Jämna Plågor she sings too. And I notice another name that is familiar to me, that of Markus Amalthea Magnusson. He was in another top band from the period, The Fermats. I was actually in touch with him when I included them in the first volume of The Sound of Starke Adolf series that didn’t become a series (at least not yet!).

So we have some names. But we also have a website the band put together which is still up with links to 6 songs. 6 songs that made up their “Kapitalstaden EP”. 6 songs that were mixed and mastered by Mattias Valenca, I don’t know if this was released in a physical format (I hope there was a CDR – and if there was I’d kill for a copy). But here we have downloads for them all. The songs in the “Kapitalstaden EP” were “Kalla Kriget”, “Berlinlåten”, “Ungdomslåten”, “Konst och Vanliga Saker”, “Plankaren” and “Intro”.  Even cooler, there is a lyric sheet and also guitar chords for each song in PDF format. So if you want to practice your Swedish, take advantage!

It seems the band also had a Myspace back then. That is useless now of course. And that is all it seems. But we can also mention that the song “Plankaren” is actually an adaptation of the French writer Boris Vian’s “Le Déserteur”.

Not much more about them. Don’t even know if they played live. The good thing is that they left this amazing 6 songs that I urge you to discover (or rediscover) as time has passed by they sound still fresh to my ears!

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Listen
Jämna Plågor – Berlinlåten

Day 118.

Something for those looking for old Cloudberry zines, it seems Horowitz, the fantastic Stoke-on-Trent band who did a few releases with us have a bunch of copies for the first 7 fanzines that have been long sold out! So run before they disappear https://horowitz.bandcamp.com/merch

More new music from around the web!

The Bunbury: this Indonesian band has become a favourite. Now what is odd though is their shoes in Bandcamp, in Zaragoza and Mexico. I wonder if Bandcamp is listing Enrique Bunbury’s gigs there? Could be. Heroes del Silencio, the band Enrique was in the 80s and 90s hailed from Zaragoza and they are big in Mexico, the places where the gigs are to happen. In any case the Indonesian band who may or may not have taken their name from him have a wonderful new song called “Track 4”.

Tough Age: who are this Toronto/Vancouver band? They sound amazing to me! They will be releasing an album on August 6 called “Which Way Am I?”. It is going to be released by Mint Records and it will be available both on vinyl and CD. It seems the band has many other previous releases, but this is the first time (I think?!) that I’m enjoying these shambolic songs!

Bdrmm: the Hull’s band album “Bedroom”, released on July 3rd, seems to be sold out already. Both CD and vinyl versions are sold out. This is quite incredible I must say. How many copies were made? I am curious. Who sells out so fast? This shoegaze band must have the answer!

Caucus: so happy to see our Japanese friends making music again! Now on the great Galaxy Train label they have released a four song EP titled “Exploration of the Moon” and it is wonderful! Among these songs there is even a cover of the classic hit “You and Me Song” by the Wannadies. So cool!

122 North: Danny Provencher is back with another amazing song, “Drive”! I feel this is a special song for sure! Wow. I am speechless. It is part of a four song EP called “Drive” which includes the song “Better Stranger” and two mixes/remixes of Drive, Highway mix and Love Dance remix

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Another band I discovered doing my research for the series of compilations featuring Australian indiepop from the late 80s and early 90s was The Goddards. Prior to 2019 I had never heard of them.

I was lucky with them. I was to find a Soundcloud page that included lotsof songs. Even the A side, “From You For Now”, that was included in their only release they put out back in 1989. Sadly not the B side, “In Your Hands”, which I still hope to listen sometime soon! Maybe I’ll get a copy of the record. That might be easier as it seems the Soundcloud hasn’t been updated for 8 years.

The band released their 7″ in 1989 as I said. It came out on the label Lunchbox Spider (JDJ 100). It does look as if this label was the band’s own as there are no other releases listed. The front of the sleeve has a very cool illustration of a city, airplanes, a highway and men in hats. This illustration was created by T. Edwards.  The back of the sleeve has a photo of the band members and credits.

So thanks to that we know the band was formed by John Fitzgerald on drums and vocals, James Vidler on guitars and vocals and Richard Vidler on guitars and vocals. We know that both songs were recorded at Trackdown Studios in Sydney and were engineered by Tim Ryan. The band produced both tracks with help from Tim Ryan. Also Natassia Broofkisser played all strings on “From You For Now”.

And that’s it. No other releases are listed for them, not even compilation appearances.

But thanks to Soundcloud we know the band hailed from Newcastle in Australia. And that they recorded more songs like: “Thread”, “In My Mind”, “Invisible Blue”, “Best Friend”, “Skin Fest”, “Natasia”, “Fade Away Pretty”, “The Push”, “That’s How I love”, “Sea Shed”, “Randy”, “No Time” and “Hurt”.

Then I found an article on the Newscastle Star dating from April 2, 2016. Here I learn more about James Vidler, the guitarist and vocalist. There was a documentary in 2008 called “Rock I Gave You the Best Years of My Life” were four Newscastle bands were featured. The Goddards was one of them.

Something I learn from the article is that the band was originally formed by James, the youngest of the Vidler brothers. Then it mentions another Vidler brother that didn’t appear on the record it seems, Bob Vidler, who was a bassist.

Their first gig was at the Lass O’Gowrie Hotel in January 1988. At some point Richard got into a business relationship with the Troy Horse studio. This would lead to the creation of the Troy Horse label.

It seems they were recording an EP but they broke before they released it. Maybe many of the songs on Soundcloud were intended for that EP? That would make sense. After the breakup James was in bands like Bloodloop Beautiful and The Donkey Brothers.

Interesting.

Found quite some info and most importantly a bunch of music by The Goddards! That’s great! Now I’d love to hear the story directly from the band members. Will that ever happen?!

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Listen
The Goddards – From You For Now