Day 8. One can only be productive at these times. I have added info on the website for the next two releases. There are no pre-order buttons yet as I don’t know exactly how things will pan out in the coming week. So I am taking it little by little. I have the Macguffins and the 10th fanzine listed now on the website. All the info you need, but no ordering yet.

I hope that comes soon. In the meantime the zine booklets have been sent to print. Next step is to get the 3″ CD sleeves. Again little by little.

The zine includes interviews with Salt Lake Alley, Dayflower, Den Baron, Okama Flannel Boy, The Seashells, The Color Waves and The BV’s. It comes with a 3″ CD that has songs by Astral Brain, The BV’s, Salt Lake Alley, Tvärtom and Dayflower!

Another thing, because of the situation I will be going to the post office just once a week. So there may be a wee delay for orders to arrive home. Not too much but just keep in mind that I can’t be that speedy.

Now, some new music for the coming weekend we’ll stay indoors.

Gentle Invahoe Death Skulls: It’s been a while since I heard from this fantastic Stockholm band. So it is great to see them back with a track called “Careful is My Middle Name”. It sounds really amazing! I hope they get a new release out soon!

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: I suppose a prolific band like the San Francisco outfit will be even more prolific now with the quarantine. They are always putting out new songs and they are always good. They always deliver. Their latest two songs are “You Might Be Happy Someday” and “Sing Red Roses For Me”. I must say I really really love the guitars of the first song. This song deserves to be on a 7″!

Tricor: first time I listen to this three-piece from Marburg in Germany. They make cool sounding pop music with new wave influences and it is shoegazy as well. Their latest track is called “The Room” and it is very good. The band is formed by Robert Vogel, Georg Lange and Christopher Engel.

Aiko el Grupo: this four-piece from Madrid has just released a two song digital single with Elefant. Both songs are cool punkpop songs that are catchy and fun to singalong. They are “A Mi Ya Me Iba Mal de Antes” and “Si Me Conoces Tanto (¿por qué me haces sufrir?)”. I wonder why the digital single, these songs could have been cool on a proper record!

Vasas Flora och Fauna: the Vasa, Finland, band will be back on April 20th with a new album called “Möte med skogsgardisterna”. It will be available on vinyl (black and white versions) as well as on CD. The record will have 10 songs and at this point in time we can preview the opening track, “Kajanaland” which sounds really really good. I love this band, very underrated, maybe because they sing in Swedish, I don’t know. But all of their previous releases have been very strong!

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Today, let’s go back 29 years! 1991!

It is not always about the 80s. The 90s, especially the early ones, had amazing music. Today I wanted to go back to a compilation I had investigated in the past, “Twice Wi’ Scraps For Me Mam An’ Our Lass ….Please”. This LP compilation was released back then by Confidential Records and Launch Pad (FILE 015). Last time I wrote about it was when I was trying to find out more information about the wonderful band Brick Supply.

Confidential Records would later release records by The Boy Tate, which featured members of Brick Supply. I wonder if they also released records by members that were in the band Want. That’s the band I want to know better, that I want details of. You see, I’ve listened one of the two songs they contributed to this comp, the one called “Criticise”, and it is wonderful. I’ll share it with you. And I hope I can listen to the other track they have, “Shoot Me Down”. Maybe someone can help me with that?

This compilation came with a booklet with information and photos of the bands included. I don’t have a copy. Not yet at least. It also says that it came with a newsletter by Launch Pad Promotions. I am looking at the answers Tony Wade from Brick Supply gave me when I interviewed him. He mentions that Confidential Records was based in Wakefield. Brick Supply was based there too. Was Want also from Wakefield? Or some area close by in Yorkshire?

With a name like Want, well you can imagine that searching for them is just impossible. For this one I really hope you can help me! Any information will be appreciated!

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Listen
Want – Criticise

Day 6 staying at home. How long will this last? I have sent to print the fanzines but if things continue like this I won’t be able to go to the post office and mail them often. Maybe they’ll need to wait for things to normalize. I don’t know at this moment.

How are you all going through these times? I suppose some new music won’t hurt.

Oxy: this duo formed by Blandu Correia and Sara Candido from Brazil have just released a new digital single called “PRWG”. It is a very fine effort. Good melodies, shoegazy guitars and bright upbeat vocals. Let’s keep an eye on them from now on!

Origan: Melotron Recordings from Greece always release good stuff and it’s been a while since I’ve checked their stuff. Their latest is sold out by now. Well the limited edition version. The regular 3″ CD will be available on April 6. This new EP is called “T’es Pas Un Amour” and comes with 6 songs. The song we can preview now is called “Amour de Zoulette” and it is great!

Hypersensible: the other release the Greek label put out just not too long ago which is sold out was an album by Hypersensible from France. 11 songs which are still available to stream on Bandcamp at least. The album is called “D’où l’on Vient (on va sans Espoir)” and was released last March.

Fog: this Seoul band makes some very pretty and dreamy music. You can tell immediately after listening to their latest track, “Nocturne”. Not sure if this song will be part of a future record but at the moment it is only available digitally. The band is formed by Oh, Sin, Bang9suk and Ryu.

Juliper Sky: “Visions of a New Age” is the name of the latest EP by this Manchester combo! A mix of shoegaze, dreampop, and psychedelia, as they define their band, can be found in 5 songs included shine. I especially like “Waves” a terrific uplifting track!

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Another band I discovered through the wonderful Youtube channel Heinz has is The Mitzets. There is just the one song he has uploaded, called “A Fool Like Me” and it is truly wonderful!

I believe the band hailed from Germany. As far as I know the band was formed by Hanz on vocals, guitar, bass and organ and Haffi on drums. It seems that only two of their songs were released.

According to Discogs two of their songs appeared on the “Servil * Lost & Found Vol. 1 / Vol. 2” double cassette compilation released by Servil sometime in the 90s. I’d say early 90s but that is just a guess.

The songs appear both on the A side. They were “A Fool Like Me” and “I Wanna Go Back”. Would be great to listen to the 2nd one. The only other band that I know that appears on these tapes is the superb Throw That Beat in the Garbagecan!

Then something exciting! Some more songs. It seems Hanz was still playing acoustic versions of their songs on Youtube with his friend Micha playing cajon. I see them playing “Little Flashes” and “Sulla Terrazza“. That was in 2017.

What about in between all those years? Did The Mitzets kept making music? Are there any other songs properly recorded? And where in Germany where they from? Many questions that I’d love to get answers!

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The Mitzets – A Fool Like Me

Now we are all working from home. I wonder if we’ll see more music showing up with people staying in, staying put. It is a strange situation indeed. But let’s be positive that it will be over soon.

In the meantime, some new music I found this past weekend!

Phosphene: here’s a good band from Portland that I just discovered. They play some fine shoegazy indiepop on their latest track “Spiral”. They seem to be a duo, boy/girl, and from what I understand, this song is their 2nd single from their upcoming album “Lotus Eaters”!

Bdrmm: the Hull band is back with a new single called “Happy”. Again their trademark indiepop with shades of postpunk and shoegaze is present. The band is sounding great and it looks they have a few gigs coming up. That scares me a bit these days seeing many friends getting their gigs canceled and losing money. Hope it is not bad for them!

Fantastic June: what a lovely album the one-man bedroom project of Ridwan Yuniardhika from Jakarta has just put up on Bandcamp! The album called “Dancing with the Flowers” comes with lovely artwork and 10 songs of sweet indiepop tunes. I really hope this gets a proper release because it is terrific!

Uniforms: the Spanish band formed by Pan on drums, Will on bass and vocals, Spingel on guitars and vocals and Annie on synths and lead vocals, has just shared their first single from their forthcoming second album. This single is called “Casi Famosas” and it does sound very good! The album will be released by the label Oso Polita soon I hope!

Sustains: our friends from Toulouse, Hidden Bay Records, have found another pop gem to release them on a cassette. The band is called Sustains from California and they are putting out an EP called “Sick Ones” on March 20th. It will have 4 songs and we can already preview one of them, “Game”.

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Multisofá. From Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Summer of 2002, two friends decide to for a band. Gustavo Gusmão and Mauricio Palhano love Belle and Sebastian, The Mendoza Line, Slowdive, The Field Mice. Why not. Let’s make pop music.

Not sure if the band found a Brazilian home to release them. That is a good question. It is strange that they wouldn’t. As far as I know their music was released in Italy and Japan. Maybe there was more interest there?

They only put out a self-titled album with 7 tracks. First on tape on the Italian label Best Kept Secret (LIE 055). At this point the band had grown. Juliano Rosa had joined to play guitar, keyboards and piano. Diego Carlos also joined to sing. Gustavo Gusmão would play acoustic guitar, electric guitar, keyboards and backing vocals. Mauricio Palhano the drums, harmonica and backing vocals.

The record would have some guest musicians like Dennis Martins who played bass, Marina Gomes (from the band Valv) who played piano, Emerson Galvao played slide guitar, Livia Segurado the violin and Maya Mitre who sang. All 7 songs were to be recorded at The 1501 studios in their hometown between April and October of 2001. They were mixed there as well.

The songs were “Suffering and Smiling”, “Vanishing”, “Special Indoor Offer”, “Rachel”, “Odd Chord”, “Car Noises and Sleeping Pills” and “Blame it on Home”. All in English. No songs in Portuguese.

The Japanese version was released on CD by Little Pad Records (LPAD004) on September 2002. The record would include the same 7 songs plus 3 songs put together as a single track with the name “A Single Japanese”. These were “Place in Space”, “Suffering and Smiling” and “Untitled”. Tulio H. Panzera would play acoustic guitar on “Place in the Space” and “Untitled”.

Discogs has no info for the band members. But it does tell us that they appeared on two compilations, both in Japan. The first was in 2002 on the CD comp “This is Radio Cookie Scene 10/2002” (RCS-0008) that came for free with the Cookie Scene magazine number 27. They contributed the song “Rachel”. Then in 2004 they appeared on the 3CD compilation “Pop Renaissance” released by Excellent Records (EXCD 014). I remember this compilation when I wrote about Wake Up Africa. Right? Now revisiting it I ntoice that Multisofá contributed the track “Car Noises and Sleeping Pills”.

Not sure how long the band lasted. Or if there were lineup changes. I do find a song called “Into the Ocean” on Soundcloud that dates from 2011. Does that mean the band continued playing at least until that year?

Another interesting thing I find on Soundcloud is that some of the band members played in the band Deedees around 2014. Though looking into the lineup I only see Emerson Galvao and Juliano Rosa.

And then quite the trove! A Bandcamp! Here are 10 songs by the band, an album called “MTSF”. These were released in 2017! Cool! It seems it was only released digitally but still, here we find the following tracks: “Change of Pace”, “For a While”, “Still in Town”, “Misleading Achievements”, “Forefront’s Reaction”, “Exit Lines”, “Major Damage Control”, “Limited Access”, “Recovery Routine” and “Transition Ahead”. We also notice some lineup changes. Gustavo Afonseca plays bass and Alexandro Augusto plays lead vocals. These songs were recorded by Gustavo Gusmão, were mixed by George Shilling and mastered by TW Walsh. “Change of Pace” actually got a video made.

Thanks to this album I find a podcast by Fleeting Media about the band and their “MTSF” album. And then an article on the newspaper O Tempo. Here I find that the band split in 2005 because Gustavo Gusmão had moved to Rio de Janeiro. It mentions too that the band set up their own label Bay King Music. Does this mean they self-released themselves in Brazil? Who’d know? And for those who understand Portuguese there is an interview on the Alto Falante channel with the band dating from May of 2018, talking about their comeback. They also mention a release in Canada. I can’t seem to find who released them there. Any help would be great!

And that’s it. Really. Would be interesting to find more about them, definitely one of the finest indiepop bands that came from Brazil, and perhaps the best from the state of Minas Gerais!

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Listen
Multisofá – Suffering and Smiling

The MacGuffins compilation is shaping up nicely and should be able to take pre-orders soon. The fanzine is almost done as well. Just waiting for the last 2 songs.

Now in 2 weeks I travel to Peru. And that should be fun. So let me know if you are interested in me bringing some records. I will make a post on Facebook too as I feel most Peruvian indiepop fans follow Facebook and Instragram much more than the blog.

Of course I can’t say 100% that I will be able to fly with all the Coronavirus situation that is going on. At the moment there are no issues flying there and back to NYC, but I suppose things can change. It is making me very anxious to say the least.

Anyways, I suppose we can get happy by listening to new music, right?

Tvärtom: one of my favourite bands as of late is this Helsinki combo. It feels they can’t make a bad song! Sure, I don’t understand a thing they sing about. But it doesn’t matter. It is catchy, it is quality. I wonder when will they be releasing a proper record. I’d buy it immediately. This is their latest, a song called “Järkytys”. It is GREAT!

Winona Dryver: this Yogyakarta band is terrific! Some fuzzy indiepop that hits you in the face. They have a new EP called “First Echo Solution”. It has 5 songs and it will be available this month on cassette on the label Winona Tapes, also from Indonesia!

Sleepy: it feels every post I do has an Australian band on it! It is quite incredible the amount of good music coming from down under. This Sydney band is the latest discovery for me. They have a new album out called “New Shanghai Night” that is available on CD right now through their Bandcamp. Worth checking it out!

Mañana el Espacio: this is for sure the first ever Venezuelan indiepop band I have heard in my life. A true surprise! This band has just released their first EP called “Señal”! The Caracas band presents us here with 6 bedroom-pop songs. It is catchy, innocent and sweet!

Even as We Speak: the other day I shared the song “Forgiving” on Bandcamp but I wasn’t aware that there was a video for it! SO for sure I have to share it! The video shows a lot of footage of the band’s different gigs in the UK last summer with Boyracer and Secret Shine!

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I think it has been a while since I had a Japanese band on the blog, right? So let’s find out more about a very obscure one, Bad at Bowling.

I believe this band was a duo formed by Shinsaku Moriyama (more known through his band Petset) and Tomonori Hayashibe (more known through Plus-Tech Squeeze Box). They only released, I think, two songs. They each appeared on a compilation. And that seems to be it. Maybe it was a fun project for both of them to do on the side. Who would know?

The sounds of Shibuya-kei are so present in the one song I know, “二人はボウラー!!“. I believe that translates as “The Two are Bowlers!!”.  This track, is not in Japanese, it is actually sung in English. It appeared on the very fine Bluebadge Label, on a CD compilation called “Pop Comes Up! Bluebadge Compilation Vol. 2” (bbcd-002) from 2002. I’ve talked about this compilation in the past I believe as I have featured Margarets Hope*, Unknown Readymade and Cyclon86.

The other track they contributed dates from 2002 as well. That’s why I thought it was a short project by them, trying to do something new. This other song is called “Hutari Wa Bowler!!”. Hmmm. Wait a moment. That seems to be the same song, right? I don’t know Japanese but it does look to be the same song. In any case it appears like that, in Latin alphabet, on the CD compilation “Future Standard Adventure Wave 2002” that was released by Vroom Sound Records (VRCD-3323). On this record the members’ other bands appear too. We see both Petset and Plus-Tech Squeeze Box.

So ok. It does feel it is the same song. This would even confirm more that this was a one off project. Though I still would love to find out if the band recorded any other tracks. Or just this one? Did they ever play any live gigs? Who’d know?

Probably we can find out much more information about the other bands, but today I am curious about them. Any of my Japanese friends are able to help?

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Bad at Bowling – 二人はボウラー!!

Hope everyone is doing good. A bit busy this week but here are some good finds worth checking out!

Nectar: formed by Kamila Glowacki, Aaron Shults, Isabel Skidmore and Jake Mott, this band has surprised me with this track called “Fishy”. It is a terrific song with punk pop vocals, it is catchy and very 90s! It seems this song was originally released some time ago on a split 7″ with the band Jupiter Styles, thought this version is actually a re-recording.

Emmett Kai: this Brooklyn based band is quite a surprise. A surprise for me as I am based in New York too. I don’t usually expect pop bands to appear in this city out of the blue. And it does look like this band has been around for a bit. Their latest track is called “Tiger Balm” and it is a jangly guitar-driven track. There is also a promo video for it!

Slow Glows: now a band from Cincinnati, Ohio, that makes some dreamy shoegaze. Their latest track is called “Sigh” and it is a top notch track. The band is formed by Kelli Redding on guitar and vocals, Ian Gorby on bass and Rachel Thode on drums.

Axolotes Mexicanos: “Te Quiero (…)” is the latest from one of our favourite Spanish bands. They have been very quiet as of late, probably working on their other projects. But I am terribly happy that they are back even if it is not a new record, but a video and digital single. Sounding great as usual!

VIM: another fantastic Melbourne band. It seems you turn a stone in Australia these days and you find a great band. This quartet has just released their “Waiting EP” on tape. It comes with 6 songs that shine bright! The band is formed by Nat Chippy, Matthew Corcoran, Roland Smirk and Ashley Stirling! Definitely a band to keep an eye!

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Let’s go back 34 years! 1985!

That year the label Who Cares who might or might not have been a label released a compilation LP called “Who Cares Wins: An Album for Oxfam” (WC1) where it included a bunch of up and coming bands from the UK. Among them one caught my attention, Feedback!

The band appeared twice on the record as all of the bands on it. They had the last song on the A side, “Time to Go”, and the opening track on the B side, “Feeding the Fire”.  Two tracks of bouncy guitar-driven melodies. If I had to choose one of the two as a favourite, I’d probably pick “Time to Go”. It really is very nice!

I look for information about this compilation, I must say I am not familiar with the bands on it like Broken English, Union Pacific, Cross to Bare, Magnificent Seven, Pleasuremen or Cry of Aura. Happily there is a good scan of the art of the record on Discogs. I don’t own a copy sadly. So I need to find information through different ways. And there is some good info here. The back of the sleeve had like vignettes, one for each band. The first one is actually for Feedback. There’s a photo of them. They are a three-piece. And we get their names too. Jon Coupe on guitar and vocals, Jimmy Crank on bass and vocals and Andrew McDonald on drums.

It looks like all profits of this compilation went to Oxfam. That was the plan. The address of the label is in Manchester. Does this mean that the bands also hailed from the Manchester area? That’d be good to know.

Of course there is no more information about them. At least not easy to find. The name Feedback makes things way too difficult. The band members names don’t get me anywhere either. So yeah, found some interesting details about them, but nothing more. What was their story?

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Feedback – Twice to Go

A good weekend working on the fanzine and the MacGuffins compilation! Exciting times indeed! And that’s not all, there’s some great music discoveries and news too!

The Church Grims: what a song is “Plaster Saint”. The Church Grims were fantastic. And Firestation Records will be releasing on CD and vinyl “Yankee Mags” a new compilation of all their tracks. This is great news as the Egg Records release is quite hard to find these days! I’ve tried to interview them in the past, and I really hope it happens soon!

Rorschach: and this band I have interviewed in the past! Firestation will be releasing on CD the compilation album “Beautiful Ignorance”. On Soundcloud they are sharing one of the tracks that will be included, “Gabriel”, which you’ll see is terrific. This one can’t be missed. It will be out on March 27!

The Orchids: Firestation seems to be on a roll! The Berlin label will be re-releasing the album “The Lost Star” by the amazing Glasgow band The Orchids. What a band! This album came some years ago on Pebble Records. Actually 10 years ago! Time flies. I remember this as if it was yesterday. Firestation’s release will be on vinyl only.

Even as We Speak: Shelflife is another label that is back with great stuff. The news this time is that they will be releasing the legendary Australian’s this June. It will be an album and it will be called “Adelphi”. It will be a co-release with the Spanish label Discos de Kirlian. If you want to have a taster they have shared the song “Forgiving”.

Lake Ruth: this New York band sounds amazing. For a reason or another I still haven’t seen them live. You can only blame me. But there is good news, the Augsburg label Kleine Untergrund Schallplatten, who as you know has great taste, released a few days ago a 10″ vinyl EP called “Crying Everyone Else’s Tears”. It is one not to be missed!

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When you think of records produced by John Rivers, you probably think of The Pastels, Close Lobsters, The Brilliant Corners, and more. Great C86 bands. I was checking other records John produced and found one by a band called Tell Tale Hearts that came out in 1986. I had no clue about it. But the year and the producer was indicating me that I should investigate. So, I did.

Then I find out that the three songs on the 12″ record were recorded at Woodbine Studios in Leamington Spa. That must be a good thing, right? Mighty Mighty recorded there, the Jazz Butcher too. And Leamington Spa, well, we all know these compilations called “The Sound of Leamington Spa”. I must be in the right track. I am going to like their music.

The three songs on the 12″ single were “The Eight Till Late” on the A side and “Falling Down” and “Jingly Jangly Sperm” on the B side. So far I’ve only found the last track, “Jingly Jangly Sperm”, which does sound very good! I need to order a copy of the record. Are the other two songs as good?

The record was released by Edens Doorbell (EDD1), which seems to have been the band’s own label. There are no other releases listed.

Discogs lists them on a tape compilation called “The Perfect Squash Vol.2” that Evermore Music (EMC 004), from Northampton, put out. It doesn’t say the year though. The band appears on the B side, the last song, which is “All Men Are B#####s”. The only other band I recognize from this compilation is the Deep Freeze Mice. I believe the band Tall Tale Hearts also hailed from Northampton as there is a contact address on this tape’s sleeve.

I believe too that the band appeared on another tape compilation called “The Holy Bible” that Heartache Records from Rugby released back in the day. On this 1986 tape the band appeared with the song “Jingly Jangly Sperm”. Other bands in it include The Wedding Present, The Jazz Butcher and Spacemen 3.

I mention Spacemen 3 for a reason. You see Tall Tale Hearts was formed by Ade Rhodes on bass and vocals, Mark Refoy and Tim Sansom on guitar and vocals. The connection is of course that Mark Refoy was in Spacemen 3. He was also on Freelovebabies, Slipstream, Spiritualized, Syndromes, The Tempest and This Parade. First he supported many gigs of Spacemen 3 with his own Tell Tale Hearts throughout 1985-1986. Then he would join Spacemen 3 and played his first gig with them on July 20th, 1989 at the Imperial Pub in Rugby. Actually I suggest anyone reading this piece to check out an article about the Rugby scene written by Graham Holliday for Medium. Lots of interesting details of that time in there!

The photo I’m using for the post comes from the fanzine Cradle to the Grave. I wonder if anyone has this zine. If it has any more information about the band.

Something that is pretty obvious too is that they took their name from the famous short story by Edgar Allan Poe, “The Tell-Tale Heart”.

“The Tell-Tale Heart” is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1843. It is relayed by an unnamed narrator who endeavors to convince the reader of the narrator’s sanity while simultaneously describing a murder they committed. The victim was an old man with a filmy “vulture-eye”, as the narrator calls it. The narrator emphasizes the careful calculation of the murder, attempting the perfect crime, complete with dismembering and hiding the body under the floorboards. Ultimately, the narrator’s feelings of guilt, or a mental disturbance, result in hearing a thumping sound, which the narrator interprets as the dead man’s beating heart.

I believe they had other songs, at least ones called “Avalanche” and “Home and Dry”. There was also at least two demo tapes by the band.

The only other interesting bit I found was that the band disbanded in 1987.

Lots of course written about Spacemen 3. But about Tell Tale Hearts next to nothing. But at least I have some sort of idea now. Now it is just a matter of finding a copy of the record, and hopefully someone can fill in the blanks. I’m sure someone remembers them? Were there more songs? Why just the one record?!

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Tell Tale Hearts – Jingly Jangly Sperm

A short post for Friday. Weekend is ahead and will be able to work on thee art for MacGuffins retrospective (exciting!) and finishing the fanzine too. I think the fanzine should be out by mid-April. I’ll keep you updated with any news!

In the meantime find some good new music here!

Lawnchair: this Long Beach, California, band already surprised me with their music just a few weeks ago. Now they have released a new song called “Recess” which is really good. Lo-fi indiepoptasticness!

Bez: this must be the first time that I feature a band from Poznan, Poland! This dreampop psychedelic band released a CD album last July and it was called “Bańki mydlane”. It has 8 songs of swirling guitars with the great vocals by Siasia Wylzynska. The band is also formed by Sebastian Olko on guitar and synths, Mateusz Gawinecki on guitar, Mikolaj Meller on bass and Filip Skitek on drums.

Frio: “Idem” is a two song single released by the German label Entes Anomico. Frio is the name of the Argentinean band that have written these songs. There is very little information about this release. But I must say that the song “Drama” is really good. Will it get released in a 7″? a tape? Again, no info. All very cryptic here!

яблоня: this Russian band from Moscow has already graced the blog in the past. Now they are back with a new song called “еврокафе ” which is a strange mix of synthwave and indiepop!

The Empty Shell: do not confuse them with the great Irish 80s band Empty Shell. This Indonesian band from Bandung adds “The” to their name and their style is very different. The 3 tracks from their debut EP “Faint Light” are proper dreampop/shoegaze. The songs are being released by Ocean Records I suppose just in digital platforms for now but soon there will be a 3″CD.

Hazy Sour Cherry: the London label Damnably will be releasing the album “Tour de Tokyo” on vinyl sometime this year. The band formed by Tsuzumi, Jun, Karin and Poppo Professor hail from Shimokitazawa in Tokyo. They are a fun effervescent pop combo. The 11 songs on the album are worth playing!

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Moon Boot is a snow boot brand first created as après-ski wear in the early 1970s by manufacturer Tecnica Group of Giavera del Montello in Italy. They became a popular fad in the years following the Apollo 11 moon landing, and resurfaced as a retrofuturistic fashion trend in the early 2000s. They received additional exposure through the nerdy protagonist of the 2004 film Napoleon Dynamite.[

A rush of ringing and chiming guitars and French vocals is what I got when I stumbled upon the track “J’aurais Préferé” by Les Moonboots. But who were they?

The song is a bit odd. It clocks 1:43 minutes, and around the minute mark, that beautiful rush of jangly guitars stop and comes a different guitar style. Mysterious indeed.

This song I found on Youtube, on my friend Heinz’s account. I would find that this song was included in a tape called “Quatre-quarts”, a compilation released by Le Tatou Colérique (C94) in 1994. I had previously talked a bit about this comp, as the band Les Fleurs were also showcased on it. But I couldn’t say much as there really is not much information about it, nor about the label. We do know though that Les Moonboots contributed 3 other songs to it, “Un Mauvais Moment”, “Je Suis Combié” and “Le Piongeoir”. 4 in total then. And aside from them, as I said Les Fleurs were on it but also Caramba Encore Raté and The Village.

According to Discogs this is the only compilation the band appeared on. Sadly there seems to be no other information about them. It’d be great to find who were behind this band, but that seems to be impossible. I guess I will need my French friends to help me with that! So yeah, any details please share them with me!

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Les Moonboots – J’aurais préféré

Quite busy days but managed some new indiepop finds from around the world!

Laveda: from Albany, the capital of the state of New York, comes this shoegaze girl/boy duo. The band will be releasing their debut album “What Happens After” on April 24. It will be available on vinyl and at this moment we can preview four tracks out of the 10 that will be in the album. These are “Ghost”, “Better Now”, “Dream. Sleep” and “if Only (You Said No)”.

Away Forward: now a dreampop band from Toronto. They also have an album and it is out now digitally. This album is called “Catching the Sun” and consists of 9 songs. And all are very nice! The fuzzy and sweet vocals come courtesy of Lisa Nighswander, Greg Chambers plays bass, Andrew McAllister guitar and Paul Boddum drums. Good stuff!

Smith Gardens: “Hugh’s Muse EP” is the latest release from this indiepop combo from Washington D.C. The band formed by Hunter on bass & keys, Niko on drums and Blake on vocals and guitar have been going since 2016 and I believe this is the first time I am listening to them! This new EP has four tracks of classic indiepop, 90s flavoured, and it is very enjoyable!

Girlatones: Meritorio Records from Madrid are picking up many great Australian bands. It is no surprise then that they’ve got Girlatones now in their roster. They will  be releasing a new album called “Horn if You’re Honky” on March 20th. it will have 10 poppy songs. How do I know that? Well, there are 3 songs we can preview on Bandcamp, “Respond to Love”, “Get to the End” and “Pop Stars”!

Go Get Mum: as I was saying, many Aussie bands are finding a home in Madrid’s Meritorio Records. Alvaro’s label is releasing a 12″ mini-album (or EP if you want), of 6 songs for this Adelaide band. We can preview 2 songs out of six, “Moving Day” and “Freeman”, both terrific!

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The term “billycart” originates from the Australian billygoat-pulled cart of the 1880s. Originally, a simple platform with four wheels and a moveable front steering column, the billycart was adapted to become a self-powered vehicle which children would race; the challenge being, to travel as fast and/or far as possible with the least initial momentum.

Two songs on the Candle Records compilation “Clippings” (CAN2501) from 1998 were the introduction to the lovely-sounding band Billycart. And I want to listen to more by them of course.

“Cherish” and “Mrs Kelly” appear on this CD alongside bands that are not that well known like Bowl-A-Rama, The Foots or Falcon 500. True, The Lucksmiths appear in it too, but they might be the only “household” name on this record. Both songs are credited to Patrick Woodward. Though he wasn’t alone in the band. The band was formed by Patrick and Kellie Sutherland. They were both recorded by Angus Kinston who had worked in other Candle Records compilations.

We also know that on “Cherish” Patrick Woodward got the help from Darren Hanlon and Ryan James. Darren Hanlon of course had been in The Simpletons who also appear on this compilation. He is more famous through his solo work I believe, releasing many records in this century. Ryan James in the other hand was also on The Simpletons but also in The Mabels, another band that appears on this record. It seems it was a small scene where everyone was playing in each other band.

Kellie Sutherland. She would later be much more known through the band Architecture in Helsinki. According to an article on the website The Age, Billycart was based in Sydney, and one weekend in 1997, the band went to play to Melbourne. She loved the city. Then she started going back all the time, and eventually, thanks to knowing clarinet, an instrument she taught herself by duplicating the parts on a record by the indiepop band Kissing Book from Portland, she ended up joining Architecture in Helsinki. I suppose Billycart was over then.

I couldn’t find out what happened to Patrick Woodward. Did he continue making music in other bands? Would be great to know. In any case I’d love to find out more about Billycart. If they by any chance recorded more songs. What I’ve heard, I really liked!

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Listen
Billycart – Cherish

This weekend I put the final touches to the fanzine. I should be printing it the next week!

Music finds too of course. Sharing them with you now!

Cold Beat: we know them as one of the best bands in the US and so it is great to see them back again with a new album. It is called “Mother” and it will be released on CD and vinyl on February 28th! It sounds as you can expect from them, great melodies, pop sensibilities mixed with post punk attitude. 10 songs which you can preview already on Bandcamp!

Fragile Animals: this shoegaze band from Brisbane has just released a new digital single called “Only Until It’s Over”. It is a very nice dreamy song with girl vocals. The lyrics are posted on the Bandcamp for singing along!

Pop at Summer: I love this Bandung, Indonesia, band. They make shiny sunny pop! I once worked with them in the past, including them in a compilation. Many years ago. I can’t help to be happy to see that they have just released a new song called “Sunny Day Parade”. Play it on repeat!

Zoo Gazer: the Xuzhou, China, band has just released a new 5 song EP titled “Hiding in your Room”. I have heard this cool band that loves classy and elegant pop before. The five-piece have crafted here a very good record, but sadly is only available digitally. Maybe some of the very good indiepop labels in China will pick them up?!

Un Día Soleado: this is a very interesting cover of Another Sunny Day’s (the band is actually named after the classic Sarah band) “I’m in Love With a Girl Who Doesn’t Know I Exist”. It comes all the way from Argentina and is a true mystery. The band is based in Viedma, Río Negro, and they are on the Hikikomori Discos label!

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You know that lately I’ve been checking out a bunch of Japanese indiepop bands. I love them. It is also true that I don’t own many of their records, which is a shame. I should try to catch up. For example, the album and 7″ Dizzy Joghurt released would be great. I’d love them to be part of my collection. Not only that. I’d love to find more information about them. Possibly interview them. Their music was fantastic and I belive they deserve to get some attention. Not that I think my blog is read by millions of people, but still some do!

Oddly enough the first release by this Japanese indiepop combo was their album. It was titled “Inside Out Upside Down” and was released by the fine K.O.G.A. Records (K.O.G.A. 042). It was released on both vinyl LP and CD and included 14 top tracks: “Nonsense is Good”, “Maria”, “All the Way”, “Not All Are Need”, “Sunday Girl”, “Get Back to Smile”, “Weekend”, “Do As You Like”, “Wake Up”, “Plastic Drop”, “He Versus My Mind”, “Here Come all the Shine”, “Terminal” and “Anorak Co-La Mix-Version”.

The next year, 1999, they would release the “Dizzy Joghurt Theme” EP. It came out on 7″ vinyl and also as a CDEP. It was released by K.O.G.A. as well (K.O.G.A. 070). For those that have the 7″, you’d know that it came with three songs “Dizzy Joghurt Theme”, “Over Again” and “Rainy Sunday is Over”. The first was on the A side while the other two were on the B side.

The CDEP version had a different tracklist. So, yes, “Dizzy Joghurt Theme” was first, but then we find “How Do You Do It?” and “In My Eyelid”, and then in reverse order there’s “Rainy Sunday Is Over” and “Over Again”.

There’s a scan on Discogs of the 7″. It is very low-res but I think I can figure out the band members. They were
Hitomi & Kanako – vocals guitar, tambourine and keyboard
Makoto Otsuru – bass, backing vocals
Hirokazu Ohashi – drums, percussion
Mikoto Akutsu – guitar

“Dizzy Joghurt Theme” and “Over Again” are credited to Hitomi & Kanako while “Rainy Sunday is Over” to Hirokazu Ohashi. We know the band produced these three songs. Then I find a scan on Amazon (of all places!) of the CDEP back sleeve. Thanks to this I know that “In My Eyelid” was penned by Hitomi & Kanako, but most importantly that “How Do You Do it?” is actually a cover of The Impossible’s original! Wow! I wrote about The Impossibles on the blog a year or so ago I believe!

All songs on the EP were recorded and mixed at Rinky Dink Studio in February 1999. They were produced by the band and they were engineered and mixed by Tsutomu Oikawa. They were mastered at AST studio by Hikari Mitsufuji. The art for the sleeve is credited to Akiko Ito and the design to Kanako Matsuzawa.

Happily the band recorded more songs and they lie scattered among various compilations.

The first one dates from 1996 and it was a 7″ compilation called “Anorak Must! 2”, what a great title! This record was released by 15 MINS P.F. (FIFII-005). The band contributed the song “You’ll See, Take Your Time”. That same year the band contributed one of their best songs, “Anorak Co-la” to the “Anorak Must! 3” flexi compilation! This was also released by 15 MINS P.F. (FIFII-006).

In 1997 they had their song “You’ll See, Take Your Time” on the compilation “Dave Parasite Presents… Japan Punk Kills You!” which was released on CD by the American Pop Project (AmPop 201CD). Then again on the 4th of the Anorak Must series, “Anorak Must! 4”, which was now released on tape by 15 MINS P.F. (FIF2-008). They had the song “Not All Are Need” on this one.

Then in 1998 the band had their song “Here Comes All the Shine” on a CD comp that accompanied the well-known Indies Magazine on it’s 16th issue. The CD was just named like that, “Indies Magazine Vol. 16”. This was released by Rittor Music (ICB-016). That same year their song “Nonsense is Good” appears on the American compilation “Pure Spun Sugar” released by Candy Floss (CF-017) and the American Pop Project (AmPop 201).

Lastly in 2003 the band contributed two songs to a very good compilation called “Good Girls Don’t! (K.O.G.A. Records 10th Anniversary Compilation Album Vol. 1)”. (KOGA 159). To this CD comp the band contributed two songs, “Nonsense is Good” and “Dizzy Joghurt Theme”. There are many great bands on this record, I hope to cover many of them in the future.

Interestingly it seems Hitomi & Kanako did solo recordings later on, appearing on compilations like “Ring Her Bell!!!”, “Indies Magazine Vol. 44” and “Flowers Are Go! Vol.4 – Under Flower Records Sampler”. Not sure about the other members. Were they involved in other bands?

Not much more information about them. I wonder why they spelled Joghurt that way. Why they didn’t release more records. What are the band members doing now. From where in Japan were they from. And many more questions I’d love to ask them. So I ask you all, help me! Would be great to know more about them!

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Listen
Dizzy Joghurt – Anorak Co-La

Last post for the week! Here are some great new finds!

Pale Lights: “You and I” is the newest song by the Brooklyn band and it sounds amazing! This song will be included in a 7″ that is part of the Slumberland 30 anniversary Singles Series. The other song that will be included is called “Say You’ll be the One”. This is sounding great. I wonder why there hasn’t been a Pale Lights 7″ on Cloudberry!

Odd Hope: another new song Slumberland has unveiled is “All the Things” by this Oakland, California, one-man band. This one will also be part of the singles series and on the flipside we’ll find “What’s Your Part of It?”. As with Pale Lights we can only listen to the A side for now.

The Leave Me Alones: another Oakland band to have in our radar! The band has a new EP out called “Race to the Bottom” which has 5 songs. It seems to be digital only for now though there looks to be art for a cassette. Who’d know! The songs are short and punchy, punky pop with girl vocals. Terrific!

The King in Mirrors: the great Swindon band, the best Swindon band, is back with a 10 song album called “Wasting Precious Time”, The album is available now digitally and if you like jangly indiepop songs, this is definitely for you. Now I hope there is a physical version of this album! Great to see them back!

Turks & Caicos: the Indonesian dreampop band are getting a CD release of their EP “Bad Situation” on Jigsaw Records and that’s good news. Bedroom electronic pop, moody. Chris from Jigsaw describes them as a Nixon covering The Radio Dept. That sounds about right!

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Back in 1995 a tape called “The Taming of the Stew” was released by Does This Work? (DTW 16). It wasn’t the first nor the last tape they put out. They had been putting indiepop compilations for not long though. According to Discogds “Death of an Anorak”, the 2nd tape the label released, also came out in 1995. The 20th one, “Nine Month Summer”, came out in 1995 too. They were on a roll!

Of course I haven’t listened to these tapes. It would be great to do so. I think there are many superb bands in there to discover. Maybe little by little that’ll happen. People will be sharing some of these songs. Thanks to my friend Heinz, I ended up discovering That Man There, who appeared on “The Taming of the Stew” tape. And the one song I heard, “Gorgeous You”, have made me want to listen to more of their songs.

That is not the only song they contributed to this cassette, they had “Smile My Way Again” on the A side. “Gorgeous You” appeared on the B side. And it was not the only Does This Work? compilation they graced with their songs.

On “The DTW? Summer Showcase!” (DTW 05) they had 5 songs on the B side! They were “I Don’t Care”, “Dreaming”, “How Would You Feel?”, “Outside” and “Purity”. On this tape they appear alongside top names like The Rileys, The Haywains or Velodrome 2000. Then, that same year, 1995, they had the song “The Bubble” on the Does This Work? compilation “Go Go Flower Arrangers” (DTW09).

Lastly, their song “The Velvet Room” was included in the Italian compilation tape “A Glittering Christmas” that was released by Shiny Sunset (Shiny Sunset 10). This label was run by Marco Pagano in Creazzo, Italy.

And that’s really all the info available about them. No information about the band members or proper releases. The band name, “That Man There” doesn’t help either. So hopefully someone remembers them and can put me in the right direction, it’d be great to find out (and listen) more!

EDIT 18/8/2024

Kev from the DTW label shared with me a CD titled “The Great Disco Unknown” by That Man There that included the songs “Swinger”, “I Don’t Care” and “(Not So) Cosmic Alison)”. These three tracks were recorded on March 1998 at Angel Studio in Hull.  What is interesting is that there is an address for the band in Bradford and more importantly we get to know the band member names, Adam Cockburn on guitars, Anne Crawford on keyboards, Sarah Crawford on vocals, Rich Boldon on bass and Gareth Pugh on drums and additional guitars.

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Listen
That Man There – Gorgeous You