Finds from last weekend!

Blanco: I like this Japanese band a lot. I have featured them in the past too. Well, today I found a promo video they have made for the song “Lazy” that will be included in their new EP “Slice of Life” that is going to be released on June 16th!

Drims: first time I’m listening to this Nuevo León, Mexico, band and it is through the video for their song “Casa”. It turns out it is not exactly a new song, it is actually part of their “Demos” from 2016 and 2017. The video is new though.

Ampersand: quite surprised to see the Ampersand EP titled “<<<<<<<<” on Bandcamp. I like this record that was released on 7″ back in the year 2000 on the lovely Fantastic Pop records. I have a copy of it myself. So I thought, if you are not aware of it, here is a chance to have a listen to this jangly record from the San Francisco band.

My Darling You!: really? the band is joining Matinée Recordings? That is quite a surprise! I never thought the sound of the band would be something that would fit in the label! But that is great news in any case. I love this band! It was many many years ago when I was in touch with them, even releasing a collection of their recordings. I didn’t even know they were around still. The two new songs that Matinée is releasing are “Thanks for Letting Me Stay” and “Spring”. Digitally for now. I am hoping a physical release!

Llojd: I found about this band through my friend David from Barcelona. He had shared the song “Drömmare och Visionär” which sounded great! I don’t know much about the band but the Soundcloud has many tracks by the Stockholm based outfit. Worth checking them out for sure.

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A 7″ I don’t own. An incomplete discography. No surprise here. That’s the case with many of the records and bands I feature, as these are bands I want to know their story, their background.

Wall of Orchids was Lane Steinberg. He wrote and performed all the songs the band released. The first two which were released in 1993’s 7″ with “Life Must Go On” on the A side and “Come Back to Me” in the B side. The label that put it out was Pop Look & Listen (POP-1) which seems to have been a self-release as there are no other releases listed on this label.

There is some more information on the sleeve. We know that the photo on the front was taken by Jamie Gordon and the one in the back by Adene Mechanic. Both songs were recorded by James MacMillan, John Siket and John Rosenber at Water Music Recorders in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Interestingly enough this record was reissued 10 years later, in 2003, by EM Records (EM7015EP) from Japan. Aside from the two songs that were included in the original release, it was expanded, with “I Could Have Told You” on the A side and “Great Blue” on the B side. We know that “Great Blue” was recorded at Wild Feed Studios in 1996 while “I Could Have Told You” was recorded at the same studio but in 1999. This song also had the help of Steven Katz. The record was mastered by Koichi HAra at Free People Studios in Osaka, Japan, while the art was designed by Yasuhiro Morimoto for Cloudy, Later Fine. Something interesting in this release is that it mentions that the songs are taken from the album “Late Steinberg Collection 1984-2000”.

The band did release another record under the name Wall of Orchids. It was a CD EP that the legendary label Bus Stop put out in 2001 (BUS058). This EP included 5 tracks, “Great Blue”, “If Not Now, When?”, “No One is Looking at the Rain”, “Come Back to Me” and “Life Must Go On”. All songs were written and performed by Lane. It is said that these songs were recorded wile Lane was managing a recording studio in New York, and when he wasn’t working he would take advantage of the studio’s equipment to record his songs.

There are also three compilation appearances. The first dates from 1996 on the Japanese CD compilation “New One” that was put out by Escalator Records (ESCD001). The band appears with the song “How High is Up?” and is accompanied in this compilation by great bands such as Charlots, Super or Lester Noel.

The other compilation mentioned is the one I was talking about before, the “Lane Steinberg Collection 1984-2000” that EM Records put out (EM1015CD). On this record we see some of his solo work, tracks by the bands Noel Coward’s Ghost, Tan Sleeve and The Wind. Wall of Orchids appears here too with the songs “Life Must Go On”, “I Could Have Told You” (written by VanHeusen and Cahn), “Come Back to Me”, “Give the Devil Has Due”, “Great Blue” and “If Not Now, When?”. It would be interesting too find a copy of this record as it is said it comes with a booklet with information about these recordings.

Lastly, two years ago, in 2017, the label Sugarbush Records put out the vinyl compilation “A Spoonful of Sugarbush” (SB027) where Wall of Orchids was included with the track “Come Back to Me”.

Aside from all this we know too that Lane has been involved with other bands like 8×8 and Cracked Latin.

Aside from that we don’t know much more about Wall of Orchids. Was it just a recording project? Did he ever play live these songs? Why weren’t there more releases especially in the 90s? Are there any more songs? I wonder. Who knows? Who remembers them?

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Listen
Wall of Orchids – Life Must Go On

Friday! That’s all I have to say today!

If you want some new music for the weekend, here you go:

Tennis Club: I’ve recommended the Joplin, Missouri, band many times now. Well, this might not be the last time, but this time I have to say that there are 9 songs to listen and a 10″ to buy from the band’s Bandcamp. “Pink” is the name of this mini-album that boasts a bunch of great songs, most of them very short, leaving you hoping for more.

Pictured Resort: the Japanese band is back on Sailyard Records preparing to release their second album on July 3rd. The album is self-titled and will include 12 songs and will be available digitally and on vinyl. You can preview one of the tracks, “Someday”, on Soundcloud. Sounds very good!

Real Numbers: the latest by the Minneapolis band is a 7 song compilation of live performances and radio sessions, including tracks from WFMU, a cover of The Golden Dawn and a live gig at the venue Secret Service. There are some nice jangly songs here.

The Silent Boys: I’ve always being a fan of the band formed by Wallace Dietz in Virginia. They have been making quality indiepop for three decades now. Their latest release is a 9 song album titled “By the Light of the Moon”. I would totally recommend it if you like classic indiepop, jangly guitars and fine melodies!

Espíritusanto: there are two digital singles available to preview while we wait for the new album “Exfuturo” that will be released on June 14th on Jabalina Discos from Spain. The Madrid based band is back with “La Clausura” and “El Rayo que no Cesa”, two terrific and catchy popsongs!

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The blue tit, Cyanistes caeruleus, is a passerine songbird in the family Paridae. It is 10.5 to 12 cm (4.2 to 4.8 inches) long. The blue tit is a widespread and common resident breeder. It lives throughout temperate and subarctic Europe and western Asia in deciduous or mixed woodlands. It is a resident bird; most do not migrate.

Dawn Chorus and the Blue Tits. You know who was behind this band? Liz Kershaw. Who? Elizabeth Marguerita Mary Kershaw from Littleborough, Lancashire, England. She, who goes by Liz, a pretty well known English radio broadcaster. Actually the third longest serving female radio DJ after Annie Nightingale and Janice Long. She celebrated 25 years as a DJ on BBC radio in 2012.

But she hasn’t only been a DJ. She has made music. And there are some great tracks she has been involved with of course.

The first Dawn Chorus & the Blue Tits release was a 7″ on Stiff Records (DAWN 1) in 1985. It had two songs, a cover of The Undertones’ classic “Teenage Kicks” on the A side and “Dream Lover” on the B side which I know as a song by Bobby Darin. The record came with a fold-out poster.

Something I do wonder about this project of hers was if all songs were covers. It may as well be. Let’s continue checking out her releases.

“I’m Going Down”, a cover of Bruce Springsteen, was her second A side. This 7″ was also released by Stiff Records (DAWN 2) in 1985. It included a B side, one that was actually written by Dawn Chorus, “What’s Wrong With Me”. Both songs were produced by Neil Ferguson who has been part of Chumbawamba, Sportchestral and The Donkeys.

The last release was came in two different formats, 7″ and 12″. Both had “When You Walk in the Room” as the A side and “Lonely Lips” on the B side. the first song being a cover of Jackie De Shannon while the 2nd I know from The Chordettes. Both songs were once again produced by Neil Ferguson.

The band appeared also in three compilations, but much much later than when they were around in the 80s. In 2006 the band contributed “I’m Going Down” to a tribute of Bruce Springsteen CD called “If I Were the Boss – The Songs of Bruce Springsteen” that Castle Music released. Then in 2016 the band contributed “Teenage Kicks” to the all-female vocalist CD boxset “Sharon Signs to Cherry Red” that RPM Records put out on CD and later, in 2017, School Daze on vinyl.

What else we know about the band? We know for example that Liz Kershaw is not the only DJ in the family, her brother Andy is also a DJ for BBC. The other two members in the band were Lindsay Forrest and Carol Vonderman who was already a TV presenter on the show Countdown until 2008. We know too that the band did a Peel Session in 1985 but only Liz Kershaw was present and not the other two girls. Why? I don’t know. Her brother Andy and backing musicians were part of the recording. For the session that was first broadcast on March 4th 1985 the band had recorded on February 24th of the same year the songs “Teenage Kicks”, “Photographs”, “Lovely Lips” and “That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine”.

Sadly I can’t find if the band played live at all. Or if there are any other recordings by the band. Of course there are many hits when it comes to Liz and Carol on the web, but not about her involvement with the band but with their more famous careers, DJ and TV presenter.

I do find something worth reading though, an article written by Liz on the Daily Mail from September 2010. Here she talks a bit how the band formed and her friendship with Carol. On it we learn that Liz stage name was Dawn Chorus, Carol’s was May Bank Holiday and Lindsay was April Showers.

Anyone remembers them?

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Listen
Dawn Chorus and the Blue Tits – What’s Wrong With Me?

I wonder if this was a good challenge, going through all the alphabet. I like these sort of things as it makes me dig deeper. I wonder what other sort of “challenges” one can don. I know at the Janglepophub they do themes for songs. Maybe that is an idea. Would love some suggestions so I can find out more music that way.

It feels too like sometime this summer I may revive the Cloudberry podcast. There is the possibility that I will get help with the “production” part. When my friend Toni couldn’t help anymore with that a few years ago, the podcast was over. But there’s some interest now though I’ve been told interviews have to be much shorter!!

New finds? Bien sur!

Friedrich Sunlight: Tapete Records will be releasing the new album “Sagt es Erst Morgen” on June 28th. To promote the album the label and the band have put together a video for the title song and what can I tell you other than it sounds great!! It was so cool by the way to see Ronny from Kleine Schallplatten and Fred from The BV’s in the video!

Tennis Club: another video, this time from the US band that has just released a 10″ on Elefant Records. The name of the song is “Vodkas” and it is a catchy one.

Lisasinson: went to check other new sounds on the Madrid based label Elefant Records. This band is totally new to me. None of my friends have mentioned or linked to them. From what I know it is a trio from Valencia formed by Miriam, Mar and María. The band has a new video for the track “Barakaldo” which is being released as a mini-LP though not sure in what format it will be released. Sounds fun!

Girl from Mars: I feel transported back to the early/mid 2000s where lots of lo-fi bedroom pop bands appeared. Everyone was recording at home. That’s the effect the Los Angeles based Girl from Mars made on me. She has a new 4 song EP called “Mousy” which is worth the listen. Fragile, cute, and very personal.

Blue-Very Pavilion: the Japanese label run by our friend Kei is turning 20 years! For this occasion the label has put together a tape compilation that features lots of great Japanese bands like Sloppy Joe, Thee Windless Gates, 101 Dalmatians, Johnny Dee, Alvysinger and more! Great release!

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The last letter of the challenge, letter Z. I made it! The turn now for letter Z is for the German band Zirf Gum Gum Baddel!

I can say I do own their “Poppin’ Pies in Flowerland” 7″ that was released in 1991 by the Love Lane label. I bought it many years ago, can’t remember where. Might have been on eBay. If my memory serves me right I saw their name in the Twee.net website and without knowing how they sounded like I just bought their record. A good idea, right?

This 7″ had not 2, not 3, but 5 songs on it. A good deal you might say. The A side included 2 songs, “Dentalmania” and “Potato Pie” while the B side had “Let Me Go”, “Simplicity” and “Fisherman”. All songs were recorded and mixed at Soundgarden Tonstudio in Hamburg between August 27 and 28 in 1991. Does this mean the band was Hamburg based? The answer is yes.

I love Hamburg. What can I say. It has been many years since I visited though. I hope I can remedy that next year. See all my good friends that live there. And had some good German food. Labskaus anyone?

The record was recorded by Vijay Sapre who had been in a band called The Gift which I’m curious about now as Discogs lists their album as an indiepop record.

Now, the band members. We know Zirf Gum Gum Baddel was formed by:
Jörn Tietgen – drums, tambourine, bass and vocals
Martin Dobkowitz – guitar, bass and vocals
Gregor Hartz – guitar, bass, vocals, drums and keyboards

Interestingly no compilation appearances are listed on Discogs. But there is a tape that the band release in 1993 that I was totally unaware it existed. This tape titled “The Abstract Happiness!” was probably sort of a promo tape with their latest songs. I don’t know how many copies were made but there are a few details that we do know. For example that it was recorded over a weekend in autumn 1993 on an 8-track recorder. There were four songs, two on each side, “Dirty” and “Scared” on the A side while “Come Inside” and “Like Spiders” on the B side. Now I notice that the band had lost Gregor Hartz at this point. Frank Andersohn was playing bass while Mathias Geisler played guitar and vocals on “Scared”. Also at this point the band was calling themselves just Zirf!

I see if any other bands are listed for the band members. Gregor Hartz actually went to be in Liedertafel Margot Honecker, Tulip and Die Singende Tulpe. He is the only one on Discogs that appears to have been involved in other groups.

I do find though that Jörn might be a book writer. I found three related Hamburg books that he might have published, “Das große Hamburg-Erklär-Buch” (2016), “St. Pauli & Schanzenbuch” (2014) and “Altona & Ottensenbuch” (2002).

I keep googling and it seems to be that Martin Dobkowitz is a media planner in Hamburg.

Not sure about the rest. But that sounds like worthy information I found. I do wonder though if this was their first band ever? Did they have more recordings? If they appeared on any compilation? Why no more releases? When did they split? I hope my Hamburg friends remember them and can point me in the right direction!

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Listen
Zirf Gum Gum Baddel – Let Me Go

About to wrap this “challenge” of bands with names starting with each letter of the alphabet. After this one, just one more to go.

The weekend was busy with friends visiting town and the Champions League final, but one always has to find some time to write about indiepop, isn’t that right?

Kinoue64: who is Kinoue64? It looks like it is a single person’s project from Japan. But other than that I can’t figure out any other details. The band have 3 superb jangly songs on their Bandcamp though they are instrumental. I wish they had vocals though! Maybe they will be added later?

Kidsmoke: the Wrexham, UK, band is back with a new brand song called “She Takes You Under” which shimmers! This song is the third single to promote the upcoming debut album the band will release this summer. So let’s wait for that!

The Slow Summits: this new band from Linkoping in Sweden has just uploaded 4 great indiepop songs on their Bandcamp. It says it is released by Hundred and Thousand Records, the question is, is there a physical version? Something pretty cool too is that our heroine Amelia Fletcher sings backing vocals on the opening track “The Spirit of the Lyrics” and also on “Regrets”. This is so good! Can’t wait to hear more! And please if someone knows if there is a CD or vinyl version of this let me know.

Horsebeach: a true blog favourite. I have featured the Manchester band so many times. The band is working on a new album these days which will be called “The Unforgiving Current” and the band has already started promoting it with the song “Dreaming”. They even have a video for it!

Seaside Stars: remember this band from Wieden, Germany? They released their album “The Magic of Stereo” in 2001, on Firestation Records. If you do that’s great, if you don’t that is great too. This is a great opportunity to check it out, the band formed by Hans Forster and Andi Schuwirth has made the album available digitally on Bandcamp now.

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This probably will be a short post. The letter Y is for The Yesterday Sky. Our challenge is almost over.

Only one song was released by them. It was a special occasion. But first we need to understand who were behind the band. It was illustrious people. Important names in the indiepop world. Two nice people from London: Annemari Davies and Robert Wratten who used to be in a band called The Field Mice. Yes, I assume you know who The Field Mice is, right? One of the best indiepop bands ever. They were around from 1988 to 1991 and released a bunch of records on Sarah. All classic records.

Now I remember I met once Bobby Wratten at a London Popfest. That was really awesome. I got a fan photo with him at The Lexington. Annemari I haven’t met but I love the way she sings. Together they would release records as Northern Picture Library and also later in Trembling Blue Stars. The thing is, between The Field Mice and Northern Picture Library they were called The Yesterday Sky.

They only released one song, “A Winter’s Dawn”, on the legendary compilation 7″ “International Pop” that was released by Mind The Gap (SEAGAP ONE) and Season Records (SEAGAP ONE). Mind The Gap being the label of Peter Hahndorf from Twee.net. Peter gave me a copy of this record many years ago when I visited him in Bremen. A record I cherish because it has songs by Red Sleeping Beauty, The Sugargliders, The Legendary Bang and The Yesterday Sky. All top tracks. Season Records was based in Australia of course. There was the intention of releasing more compilation 7″s by both labels afterwards but it seems they never happened.

According to the insert that came with the 7″ The Yesterday Sky only existed for this one song. I assume then that no other songs were recorded for this project? Or who knows? Maybe there were a few more in the same recording session? I would love to think that happened. Maybe in a parallel universe. The insert also mentions that the label was to release the Northern Picture Library albums on the French label Danceteria. As far as I know that didn’t happen. The label went bust and the band signed to Vinyl Japan. But that’s another story.

I find a blog called A Goldfish Called Regret that dedicated a post to The Yesterday Sky and other Bobby Wratten projects. Here the author describes with detail the song, how much it made an impression to him. Even though it doesn’t add any details or information about the Yesterday Sky, reading it inspired me. I love posts like this, where the love of music is number 1.

There is not much more written about this band or this song. Perhaps it was just a demo song. I don’t know. I just feel I would love to hear more. It probably won’t happen. But I do wonder why this project only lasted the one song?

EDIT: Peter from Twee.net just gave me an interesting tidbit on Twitter: there is a different, original version of Winter’s Dawn, but I never heard of any other songs, they moved on to NPL quickly.

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Listen
The Yesterday Sky – A Winter’s Dawn

So yeah, Mexico City. I was there for just 4 days and it was great. The food was delicious (as always). Went to a couple of archaeological sites (Tlatelolco and Malinalco) and visited the Secretariat of Education (which was amazing, lots and lots of Diego Rivera’s murals). When it comes to indiepop I was lucky to see Okama Flannel Boy last Saturday playing a gig at a venue called Terminal Juárez which was great as it had food available as well as drinks, and not just one option but many different cuisines. The gig was lovely as well. It is the 2nd time I see the chilango band and their set is even longer than last year. They have some new songs that are among their best and which I hope end up on a record sometime. Then I met some indiepop friends after the gig and talked about music quite a bit! That was fun! This doesn’t happen much at NYC events, every gig has a very different crowd here and I don’t see any friends here anymore at gigs! This made me think we really need NYC Popfest back!  Anyways, a great weekend and I hope to go back to that great city soon. Next year probably!

Some finds for the coming weekend? Of course!

White Spaces: from Toronto, Canada, comes this four piece formed by Colleen, Jackson, Jon and Jeff. They have a six song EP called “Vacation Days” now available on their Bandcamp. I got hooked after my friend David shared the song “Island” which is pretty great!

Moon Racer: my friend Autumn has a lovely new song of lo-fi bedroom pop called “You Can Feel Bad”. If you are not familiar with the Durham, North Carolina, solo project there are a couple of other releases and even better Moon Racer is touring the East Coast in June!

Top Sound: “YSL” is the newest track of the Stockholm based band formed by Katarina, Johan, Tobias and Einar and what a beauty it is! I need this on vinyl! I hope there are plans for that, if not get in touch with this humble servant. It has been quite some time since I listen a song that sounds like this.

Dream, Ivory: the Lake Elsinore, California, band is back with the 2nd single from their upcoming album “Lost Dog”. The new single is called “Wedding Crasher”, but it does make me wonder when will the album be released? No information for that. Maybe later this year? We should keep an eye on them then!

Hatchie: the ex-Go Violets is releasing “Keepsake” the debut album by Hatchie on June 21st on Double Double Whammy, Heavenly Recordings and Ivy League. Yup! Three labels to put it out. To promote the album there is a new video for the song “Obsessed” which is a terrific song and including tons of footage of Hatchie’s US tour from last year I believe. Can’t wait for the album!

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I must say it has become the hardest to find an indiepop band with a name that starts with an X to complete this challenge. It has definitely been the most challenging. Though in due honesty I was very well aware of X-ing School as I have two friends that were part of the band. And also they are not that old you know. Short-lived yes, but not too old that it would be lost to obscurity. They even have a Bandcamp and Facebook. I could probably ask them to do an interview too.

But I’ll write this post as I want to complete this challenge of featuring 26 bands, each starting with a different letter of the alphabet. So as a completist, here is the wonderful X-ing School from Malmö.

Of course we know that their name come from the ubiquitous signs that we see in the roads here in the US. Sure, the way to read them would be School X-ing (crossing), but if you are literal about them, you see X-ing on top and school below.  So a smart way to name their band, don’t you think?

The band was formed by three girls and a boy. Anna Harysson was on bass and vocals, Antonia Pehrson on guitar and vocals, Kajsa Tretow on guitar and vocals and Henrik on drums. I know Antonia and Kajsa. Antonia as she was part of Komon, Anthronica, Taggarna Ut and also A Smile and a Ribbon.  Kajsa was also in Smile and a Ribbon but has also been in the wonderful band The Budgies, Cosines and had her solo project The Plutification Table that deserved a proper release.

The band as I said was short-lived and I was lucky to see them live at the Windmill in Brixton as part of the 2011 London Popfest. What days were those! Such nostalgia. I remember the huge dog that was on the roof of the venue and the creepy lady that was in charge of the venue. Good times!

They only self-released a CD EP that was titled “89 Attending” that was released in 2011. I believe it was mostly a digital release but copies were made to be sold at Popfest and at their gigs. I always hoped to see a proper release you know. I think they were looking for a label at some point. I remember asking what was their intention with the very fine four songs they had in their EP, “Deep Ortography”, “89 Attending”, “Modern Lovers” and “Lazy Babies”. I am pretty sure I was interested in working together. Oh well, it’s been a long time now!

That was all they put out. Not sure if they recorded any other songs (I think they had a song called “Devil’s Mountain” but not sure if it was recorded?) but I do know they didn’t even appear on any compilations. We do know that the band played quite a few gigs. From what I understand their first gig was on August 23rd, 2010 at the Don’t Die on My Doorstep club that Krister used to run in På Besök in Malmö. The band supported the NYC band The Depreciation Guild.

Another gig was at Debaser Malmö on the 10th of September of the same year. Then on September 17th they played at Smålands Nation in Lund. And I believe that was their last ever gig?

Not much more info about the band online. But I suppose we’ll find soon about any interesting facts about them. I hope so. I remember with nostalgia that night at London Popfest when I saw them as they were great, a bit shambolic and all, just how I like my indiepop bands. I wonder these days that I have lost touch if they are still making music…

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Listen
X-ing School – Lazy Babies

I am exhausted! I just got back from Mexico City and I am looking for 5 new finds right away so I can prepare today, Tuesday, this post for tomorrow Wednesday, to get back on schedule! I promise to tell you more about my trip on Friday’s post.

Hurry: this three-piece from Philadelphia have released a digital single with two tracks last April: “Frustrate You” and “An Element of Surprise”. They sound pretty good to me, jangly and dreamy. The band seems to have been around since at least 2012… shame I am only discovering them now.

Noah: Haruki Sato, Ryota Tsuji, Yota Takatsu, Naoya Kamojima and Sachi Nagame are Noah, from Japan. Their latest release is an 8 song album called “Fluctuate”. You can listen to all the tracks on their Bandcamp and enjoy their shoegaze sounds!

Soft Blue Shimmer: the Boston based label Disposable America is releasing a limited run of 50 cassettes of “Nothing Happens Here”, the 5 track EP by this Boston band! “Fruitcake” and “Chamoy” are the two tracks available to preview and I’m really liking them!

Elna Rae: now let’s head to San Francisco, that’s where the label Blind Love Tapes is based. They have a new release on 12″ lathe cut by Elna Rae, the “Dexter” EP! 4 songs of lo-fi guitar both catchy and fun!

Wake in June: is Enrico Pastore, from Padua, Italy. He has just released on the Slovakian label Z Tapes a 10 song album called “Lavender Pink” which will be available digitally and on tape. For me to find jangly Italian pop is always a surprise, it is not a common thing. A little treasure awaits everyone here.

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Turn for the letter W. And here I am with another band that I discovered through the wonderful The Sound of Leamington Spa compilation series, Wake Up Afrika.

Wake Up Afrika came together beneath the toxic clouds of the industrial north west town of Widnes in the early 80s. Despite their grim surroundings, they soon built up a reputation for serving up bouncy, melodic and memorable pop. Always at their best playing live, their infectious tunes, filled with three-part harmonies, and swirling flute and sax went against the trend of the current music scene, and Wake Up Afrika became known as the band that got people up dancing wherever they went. Support slots to bands like The Farm and Hothouse Flowers, together with a commitment to a punishing schedule of gigs exposed them to an enthusiastic and ever-growing following and several major labels took an interest but it was eventually local indie label, Red River Records, who released the band’s one and only single “Simple Words”. “Walking Blind” was a live favourite and came from the pens of the band’s principal songwriters. Duncan Lomax and David Pichilingi. In the face of growing apathy from the major labels, the pair eventually disbanded Wake Up Afrika to form 35 Summers where they eventually found the major record deal that had eluded them with Wake Up Afrika.

That’s how the booklet of the 4th volume of The Leamington Spa introduces us to the band. This compilation of course was released in 2003 by the German label Firestation Records (FST060). This was how I discovered the band and perhaps how many other people did too. The year after, 2004, the band also contributed a song called “The Breadvan” to the Japanese label Excellent. Records compilation “Pop Renaissance” (excd014), a 3 CD comp that showcased superb tracks that were contemporary then but also classic sounds from the 80s. I’d love to have a copy of this record.

But let’s go back in time, when the band was active, the mid 80s. The first time we hear from them is on a compilation called “Elegance, Charm and Deadly Danger” that was released by Push Records (PUSH001) in 1985. On this compilation that included The La’s, the band appears with the song “Love Died in the Road”. From what I gather this compilation featured bands hailed from in and around St. Helens, Merseyside, UK. Also it is worth noting that Push was actually an acronym for Promotional Umbrella for St Helens.

In 1989 the band released their one and only record, “Simple Words”. It was released by Red River Records (MRC96) on 12″ vinyl. Three songs were included, the title song on the A side and “God Only Knows” and “Animal” on the B side. The engineer for the track was Adrian Sleigh for “Simple Words” and “Animal” while Phil Ault engineered the remaining one. The band produced the songs but one, D. Lewis produced “God Only Knows”.

Discogs lists a reissue of this 12″ with a different artwork. The tracklist is the same. From what I understand this re-release was put out in Japan in 1996.

But even more interesting is that the band also put together a CDR with the art of the reissue at some point. This CDR included 5 tracks! “Walking Blind” which is the song that appears on the Leamington Spa comp, “Animal”, “She Said”, “Shine” and “Sunday Afternoon”. Was this sold somewhere?

Of course that’s not all, there was a video for “Simple Words” that was filmed in Players night club and amongst the big bridges and smelly factories of downtown Widnes.

Widnes is an industrial town in Halton, Cheshire, Northwest England. In 2011, it had a population of 61,464. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the northern bank of the River Mersey where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. Directly to the south across the Mersey is the town of Runcorn. Upstream and 13 km to the east is the town of Warrington, and downstream to the west is Speke, part of the city of Liverpool.

Of course we know Duncan Lomax was also in 35 Summers who were on RCA as well as David Fenlon (later Pichilingi). But was it just them two in Wake up Afrika? Were there any other members? The photo on the booklet of the Leamington Spa comp shows more band members!

Well I start digging following these clues. I stumble upon a band called Perfect, an early 80s band where Duncan Lomax was involved playing guitar and vocals. On this band we also find Andy Frizell who would later be in Wake Up Afrika, Vernons, Absent Black Cat, Royal Family and Wizards of Twiddly. But that’s not all. I find that Dave Pichilingi was also on a band called Utopia Dream. And that Lomax had been in Hal.

Then I find the other members. Ian Donohue played guitar, Ste Holian bass and Andy Hignett drums. At some point Andy was replaced on sax by John Lyons.

The band mostly played around Liverpool, for example at the Uni and Poly, Mardi Gras, supporting China Crisis and The Farm. At some point in  November 1987 the band changed their name to Giant Smiles. Then they went back to Wake Up Afrika.

That’s really all I could find about them. Of course there is much more written and more information about their later incarnation, 35 Summers. I like them too of course. But right now I’m curious about Wake up Afrika. Why the name? What about that CDR? Are there more recordings by them? Any information will be appreciated!

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Listen
Wake Up Afrika – Simple Words

Okay! Tomorrow I head to Mexico City and won’t be back to blogging until Wednesday. It is a short trip. I’ll be attending an Okama Flannel Boy gig tomorrow as I mentioned on my previous post, so hopefully see you there! Until we see each other again here are 5 new pop finds from around the web!

Slow Pulp: I feel I’ve been finding more and more Wisconsin bands in the last few months. Maybe there is an exciting scene there now? Slow Pulp hails from Wisconsin and their latest work is a 4 song EP titled “Big Day” which sounds great! The band is also touring soon and will even cross the border to Canada. And I hope to catch them at the Bowery Ballroom in June though I must say I don’t like much the other bands playing that gig…. argh! Oh well, check them out!

Pin Ups: “Spinning” is the latest track by the Brazilian band formed by Ale Briganti, Ze Antonio Algodoal, Adriano Cintra and Flavio Cavicholi. It is out now as a digital single on the one and only Midsummer Madness label. I hear a lot of Velocity Girl on this track and of course that is a good, very good thing!

Torrey: now we head to San Francisco where Ryann, Kelly, Eric and Chase have jut put up on Bandcamp their first 6 songs. “Sister” is the name of this sweet jangly EP. I see them tagging themselves as Swedish Pop, not sure if anyone of them is a swede, but the music itself could pass by a late 90s girl fronted Swedish indiepop band, easy!

Manic Sheep: all the way from Taiwan, this cool sounding shoegaze band! Their latest work are two songs, “Deep Dusk” and “Sedona” which sound terrific! The band has been going on for a while, but this is the first time I stumble upon their music. They do seem to have quite a following in China as I notice they are touring it extensively!

Ogikubo Station: who are these people? Who is behind this band? The one track I can listen on the Asian Man Records Bandcamp sounds amazing! It is called “Would I Break My Heart Enough For You” and I don’t know what sort of release this will be. It is slated for June 14th but doesn’t say if it will be in physical or just digital formats. It does sound very promising!

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Almost at the end of this challenge. Today is the turn for the letter V. It is the turn of Viola Crayfish!

This is a great band that I discovered through the 1989 compilation “Diamonds and Porcupines” that was released by the superb German label Beat All the Tambourines (TAMBEAT 3) who had released Most Wanted Men and The Bachelor Pad 7″s as well as the great “Beat All the Tambourines” comp that I have mentioned on the blog in the past as it included the amazing band Love Set. On that comp the band had contributed the song “Love is More than Weather”.

This compilation featured lots of top bands from the time like The Wedding Present, The McTells, Pale Saints, St. Christopher among others. This 12″ comp was originally compiled by two German fanzines, “Run! Mr. Diamond” from the city of Lüdenscheid and “Hedgehogs & Porcupines” from Emden.

It would take many years for me to listen another song of theirs. It was thanks to the best German label of our time, Firestation Records. This year they released the compilation “The Sound of Leamington Spa – German Edition” (FST 165) and in there they included the track “Besser Scheitern”. And that’s not all, the booklet included some important information about the band.

For starters we know the band had two lineups. The 1988 one featured Stefan Klauner, Folker Eckebrecht, Bernd Vogel and Lars Vogel. The 1992 one had Frank Klimek instead of Stefan Klauner who sadly passed away that same year.

The small bio tells us a few interesting bits too:
“The band was formed in 1987 by Stefan Klauner, Folker Eckebrectht, Bernd Vogel and Lars Vogel in the hinterland south of Bremen in the north-west of Germany. The main influence might have been The Velvet Underground, the Postcard “Sound of Young Scotland” – and of course all kinds of other music. But always in order to write another – and hopefully better – popsong as the one before. Which sometimes went quite well and other times not as good. All was done under the DIY concept with great amounts of not knowing too much but getting better all the time. There were local performances, some home-recorded tapes, some releases on samplers, a studio recording which we never considered to release, a play by John Peel  on Bremen 4, the idea of singing German, some new band members and all finally stopped in 1993, but not really.”

The band appeared not only on those two compilations. They first appeared on the 1988 tape compilation “Bremen-Tape ’88” released by Strange Ways Records (Tape Nr. 2) with the track “June Field”. I must say I don’t know any of the other bands on this tape, so if there are any other indiepop tracks on it, please let me know so I can investigate!

Then in 1990 they appeared on 3 compilations. The first was “Let’s Have a Picnic and Barbecue Some Corrupt Not Self-Programming Dee-Jays” double LP comp released by Noet Lachten Records (NOET 10). The band would contribute the song “Sweet Soul Decay” and appear alongside bands from Holland, Belgium, Germany and England. The second was the first ever release by Blam-A-Bit Records, the cassette compilation “Instants of Pleasure” (BLAM 001). The band would contribute the track “June Field”. The third was on the “Hat Das Schaf Die Blume Gefressen Oder Nicht?” a tape comp released by Blam-A-Bit (BLAM 003) too. On this one the band contributed the song “Sweet Soul Decay”. This is a superb tape by the way, would love to listen to it completely someday.

But there is something that is nagging me. There is listed on Discogs a 2011 CD called “Far Out”. This 8-track CD included the songs “Reset/Recicyle2”, “Far Out Café”, “Life Hack”, “Love is More than Weather”, “June Field”, “Best Before”, “Schaum (L’Ècume de Jours)” and “Sommer Endlos”. I am guessing this was a posthumous release of old songs, but can’t say. Maybe they were re-recordings?  It is not a retrospective either as many of their songs are not included. Well the fact is you can stream the whole thing on Bandcamp.

Then I find a website for the band. Here I see that the band has been playing on and off. After the 1992 lineup I see that between 1993 and 2000 the band was just Folker Eckebrecht and Lars Vogel. In 2013 they added Marco Ahrens on drums.

Then I stumble upon a Soundcloud for Lars Vogel. Here there are some more Viola Crayfish songs like “Meteor”, “Magic Roundabout”, “Ein Tag Für 10 EURO” which I believe remain unreleased.

I also look on Youtube. I see a song called “Revelation” from 1988 and it looks that it was part of a demo tape called “Viola Crayfish”. What other songs were on it?

Then two videos of live footage! Here we see the band playing at the Polyester in Oldenburg on April 12 of 2008. There are videos for the songs “June Field / Love is More than Weather” and “Schaum (L’Ecume de Jours)“.

And finally I found more about that 1988 tape on a blog called Tape Attack. Here I see that the tape was called “Nordsee” and included “June Field”, “The Outside-Inn” and “Wear that Tupper” on the A side and “Postcard”, “Revelation” and “Velocity Days” on the B side.

Fantastic finds! Now, was that the only demo tape the band put together or were there more? Will Firestation release a retrospective compilation? Were the band members involved in any other bands? Would be great to know more about this Oldenburg band. Who remembers them?

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Listen
Viola Crayfish – Love is More than Weather

Thanks again to Zisimos for the interview!! Just a few weeks ago we were talking about his band One Night Suzan that just got a retrospective compilation on Make Me Happy. As he has been in many great indiepop bands I asked if he’d be up to do another interview, this time about The Crooner. And he was up for it! Very very happy about this. Now I am hoping for the next one, Impossible Tymes? the Make Me Happy label? We’ll see! Now it is time to learn more about the superb The Crooner!

++ Hi again Zisimos! Thanks again for doing a second interview! How are you doing? When was the last time you picked up your guitar?

Hello Roque! Just returned home after a great trip to South Korea and Japan…plus the One Night Suzan retrospective compilation LP has just been released by Make Me Happy, so I’m really happy about it…And as a matter of fact I’ve been playing some guitar now and then, but mostly improvising on chords that I love…

++ Last time we were talking about One Night Suzan and today I want to talk about another project you were involved with, The Crooner. You were telling me that the main difference between them was that The Crooner is was mostly you coming up with the ideas and then sharing them with Makis P. How did that relationship work? And how did you two meet in the first place?

Actually, Makis and I met back in the early ‘90s, when he and some other friends formed Next Time Passions, one of the best Greek indie bands! We played in some gigs together, and discovered many common musical ideas and influences. So we formed Impossible Tymes, a psych-pop trio, together with Elias, another good friend and member of Next Time Passions…Very soon the need to release our bands’ music led Makis and me , together with graphic designer Christos L., to the creation of This Happy Feeling records. Makis also helped with the recording and production of the Crooner 7’’ EP “Sounds from the Valley of Love”…It was at this point that we realized we make a great team, so we started working on the Crooner project as a duo, Makis being the keyboard & programming whiz, bass player, sound engineer, co-writer and co-producer… the rest is history, as they say… 

++ Then The Crooner was also a more “open-minded” electronic version of pop as you said. I was wondering what different influences were part of the band, what made you go in that direction? 

One reason was that we started expanding our musical horizons, listening to stuff like jazz, bossa, lounge, ambient, drum’n’bass, house, and more…Also, we needed a rhythm section, so we started relying on programming and computers…and finally, we were excited by the “new” technology of sampling, which allowed us to incorporate some samples  from obscure but favourite tracks into our own songs, either as our basic beat, or  in order to create a warmer and more exciting sound…

++ There were also female vocals on the songs, by Eirini and Natasha. How did they end up being an important part of The Crooner? Had they been in other bands? 

Some of the main influences on our sound were 60s/70s lounge music, Italian soundtracks and bossanova…In all these kinds of music, we can hear amazing  female backing vocals and “pa pa pa” melodies…So, naturally, we wanted to achieve a similar effect in our own songs…The girls were very good friends with beautiful voices! Eirini was my girlfriend then, and we’ve been together ever since ! Natasha actually formed Berlin Brides some years later, a really good and popular electro band!

++ Oh, and I was wondering about the name Eirini used to use Miss Honeybeetle, do you know the story behind that?

Well, she was, and still is, a very sweet girl (honey) and  a fan of psychedelic pop (beatles) , so she came up with this clever pseudonym…

++ So what sparked The Crooner to start? When was it? Was it originally some sort of bedroom project, or was it always going to be a collaboration with Makis P.? 

Originally it was a bedroom project, just me -and my guitar- playing more acoustic and jazzy stuff (in the tradition of Everything but the Girl, or Felt) that I couldn’t play with One Night Suzan. This was in 1992, I think…

 ++ What’s the story behind the name The Crooner?

‘’Crooner” is a term used for some 50s-60s singers (like Frank Sinatra, for example) who would sing ballads and love songs. I used it as a form of tribute, as a way to explain that my music was NOT rock music, but also as a form of irony…plus I liked the sound of it!

++ For The Crooner, where did you usually practice? 

Makis had created a home studio in the basement of his home. It was the legendary Sunnyside Studio, where all the Next Time Passions and Impossible Tymes songs had been recorded! This also became the Crooner rehearsal and recording studio!

++ Your first release was a 7″ on This Happy Feeling titled “Sounds From the Valley of Love”. It came out in 1994 and included 4 songs. I was wondering if these were the first ever recorded songs by the band and where were they recorded? Was it much different to record them compared to One Night Suzan?

Apart  from some solo acoustic stuff I’d recorded on cassettes, yes, these were our first “official” recordings. They were recorded in another studio where Makis used to work as a sound engineer, and not Sunnyside. The difference was that we recorded every instrument separately, while in most of the Suzan recordings the whole band played together, and then added some extra elements.

++ And is that you on the sleeve photo?

Yes.

++ It would take 4 years for your next release, the “Heaven Airlines” album. Why did it take so long? And do you think there was an evolution of the band’s sound between the 7″ and the album?

As you know, during this period Makis and I were also rehearsing, performing and recording with One Night Suzan, Next Time Passions and Impossible Tymes. We were also running our record label, plus we were both working in other jobs, to make a living. So, the Heaven Airlines project took off in 1995, when our other bands had started to become inactive. Of course there was an evolution : the sound became much more electronic, as everything was now recorded on Cubase and Logic. !!  

++ This album was released by Shelflife Records in the US. How did this happen? How was your relationship with the label?

This Happy Feeling and Shelflife had been in contact, because Shelflife were preparing their first release ( the ‘WHIRL-WHEELS” international pop compilation) and they were interested in our bands. So we sent Ed two songs by ONS and NTP, and we decided to record a new one for the Crooner, ‘Alberto Caeiro’. So we sent it to Shelflife, they loved it, and we started recording more songs for them…We were originally planning a single, but we ended up with 7 songs, so…we decided to release all of them as a mini-album.

++ Something interesting about the album was that it was licensed in Japan and the Philippines. Were you aware at the time of the interest of pop fans from there in your music? Or was this a surprise? Did you ever go to these countries?

We knew that we had  fans in those countries, because we used to receive some fan letters from Japan and the Philippines, but we didn’t know they were so many that there could be an official release in those countries ! it’s also interesting that they wanted their releases to be unique, so each of these releases features some extra songs, which weren’t  featured in the Shelflife mini album!! I was lucky enough to visit Japan a few weeks ago, and I was amazed !!

++ Afterwards you would release a second album, this time around on the Greek label “Pop Art Records”. Was there any reason to go local for this release? And how did you know Pop Art?

Pop Art Records belonged to a really good friend, Nektarios Pappas. We had helped him with his label’s debut compilation cd “Try a little sunshine” by giving tracks, bringing him into contact with some bands, and so on…When we had enough material for a second album, we were interested in becoming more popular in Greece, and Pop Art was in the same wavelength as we were…so it seemed like the natural thing to do.

++ You released two albums and just one single, I was wondering if you think the music of The Crooner was better suited for albums or it was just how things happened?

No, it just happened like that. I guess it was a period when everyone was into cds, but we also liked the idea of creating a musical environment for the listeners…Still, I think that many of our album songs, and also a lot of songs which were released on cd compilations, could have been singles…

++ You also appeared on so many compilations in the 90s and all the way to 2005 or so. I will ask you out of curiosity if there is one of these compilations that you really love, that you like all the bands and songs that appeared alongside your music?

Obviously, it’s difficult to choose…But surely we were very pleased when Bungalow Records chose one of our favourite songs, “Over the Rainbow”, for their Atomium 3003 compilation…

++ I have many favourite songs by The Crooner but I’ll pick one, “Alberto Caeiro”, I was wondering if you could tell me the story behind this song? Is it about Fernando Pessoa?

You are right, it’s a song about the alter-ego of my favourite poet, Fernando Pessoa. It’s a celebration of life, seen from Alberto Caeiro’s point of view…BTW, this was the first song The Crooner  recorded on computer software, and there’s a different female singer -Paulina- who used to sing for another greek electro pop band, our good friends Sound Devise.

 ++ Speaking of Pessoa, what are some of your favourite writers? Have they inspired your lyrics in any way?

Some of my lyrics, especially during the One Night Suzan period, were influenced by British romantic poets we used to study at university, like William Wordsworth, for example. But in general I prefer novelists, like Thomas Pynchon, David Wallace Foster, Philip Roth, J.G. Ballard, Martin Amis and many more..

++ If you were to choose your favourite The Crooner song, which one would that be and why?

Sorry, I can’t choose only one…maybe a top-10 would be easier…

 ++ What about gigs? Did you play many as The Crooner?

We didn’s play many gigs, as we were mostly a “studio” group, but we played some great gigs in Athens, Madrid and Mallorca, where we took part in an amazing music festival!

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

After and during the Crooner period Makis and I recorded some stuff for Siesta records under another name, and also recorded more electronic stuff as Hyplar (we released an album, a 12’’ single for the French label Aquatic, and appeared in many electronic & lounge compilations…). I guess at some point we were beginning to get tired with the pop sound and wanted to explore other music directions…And as I told you, Natasha formed Berlin Brides… 

++ Has there ever been a reunion? Or maybe plans to reissue all or some of The Crooner songs?

You’ll have to wait and see !!

 ++ Did you get much attention from the radio? What about TV?

Some radio airplay from specific radio stations, in Greece and Spain, and a couple of  TV channels played our video clip for “Concorde baby”, but that’s all…

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

There was no free press in Greece at the time, so there were few articles or reviews about us on ‘mainstream” music press. But there were pop fanzines that liked and supported us. 

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Pop is a way of life!

Thank you !

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Listen
The Crooner – Alberto Caeiro

Tomorrow is The Undertones gig here in New York! Pretty excited about that. And then on Saturday I get to see Okama Flannel Boy in Mexico City. It does sound like a good week, right?

Now here are some finds of course!

Kung-Fu Girl:I can’t wait to get a copy of the Japanese band’s brand new album. My excitement grows and grows. Especially now that the band have released a video for their song “Anorak” which is lots of fun! The album is out now on Testcard Records. Don’t miss it!

Hideki Kaji: the Japanese master is back with a new album called “Goth Romance” which will be released by Space Shower Music on CD and digital formats. There is also a version that includes a fanzine. So that’s the way to go. To hear a preview do check the superb song “Spray and Fanfare” which even has its own video!

The Trees: I look at more releases by the Space Shower Music and I stumble upon The Trees. They have a superb song and video for their track “Breakfast Club”. Don’t know much about them, but it does sound great!

Trillion: we leave Japan and head to Sydney, Australia, because that’s where these shoegazers are from. The band has just released a 6-track EP called “When I Wake” which is available on CD. First time listening to them and first impression is that I really enjoy the vocals, especially on the title track! Good stuff!

акульи слёзы: from the city of Uta, Russia, comes this dreamy pop band. Yes, I’ve featured Shark’s Tears before on the blog (I think their name translates to that? At least that’s what shows in the url!) and I’m happy to do so again as they have released their 7 song mini-album “Experience of the Charm” a week ago. I hope access to the Russian pop bands becomes easier to everyone, especially if there are physical records as lots of great stuff is coming from there!

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Time for the letter U. This was definitely one of the hardest. There aren’t that many bands that start with the letter U. But I thought of this Japanese band that sadly didn’t release any records but did appear on a few compilations. I know very little about Unknown Readymade but this will be a good time to find any interesting details about them.

It seems that under the name Unknown Readymade was a guy called Kumiko Ishikawa. And as far as I know, thanks to Discogs, there were two times when the band appeared on compilations. All of them in Japan.

The first compilation I was aware of the band was the 2002 “Pop Comes Up! Bluebadge Compilation Vol. 2” which has been mentioned before on the blog. On this CD released by the Bluebadge Label (BBCD-002) the band contributes the song “With My Favorite Camera”.

That same year, 2002, the band appears with the song “By Cycle” on the compilation “Good Compi (abcdefg*record)” that was released by abcdefg*record (a-g010). This compilation has also been mentioned on the blog when I wrote about the super Pitcher56 many months ago.

There is also a record where Kumiko is involved with. He sings on the third track, “粉雪”, on the album “崩壊アンプリファー” by the band Asian Kung-Fu Generation that was originally released by the great Under Flower Records (Flower-047) in 2002. There are actually three reissues of it too, a 2003 CD EP, just like the original, on Ki/oon, and later in 2017 another CD EP by the same label. The third reissue is a 12″vinyl released by Spectrum Management Co. Ltd. Seems this Asian Kung-Fu Generation was a much more famous band than Unknown Readymade.

I found too that Kumiko sang on Panic Pop’s “Baby P” song which seems to be an original by the great Japanese band Plus-Tech Squeeze Box.

And that seems to be it for Unknown Readymade. There is barely any information about the band on the web. It seems Kumiko was always up for working with other people from the Japanese pop scene. It also looks like Unknown Readymade was his band, his own band. Sadly we don’t know if he recorded more songs or why he never put anything out, just the two compilation appearances. I hope to find out more about him. Would be great!

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Listen
Unknown Readymade – With My Favorite Camera

Remember Mexican friends, next Saturday I’ll be in Mexico City and I can bring some records. I’ll be attending an event where our friends of Okama Flannel Boy will be playing. It is at Terminal Juárez and it is supposed to start 8pm. If you want to bring any records let me know and I’ll happily do so for you to save on postage.

The Royal Landscaping Society: Matinée Recordings has a lot of news in their Soundcloud and I will start with the band I am most excited about, The RLS from Seville, Spain! They have a song available to stream called “Goodbye” which is a gem. A piece of perfection. This song is taken from a 2-track single where “A To Fade In” would be its B side.

Azure Blue: then the Santa Barbara label is releasing an 11-track album by the Swedish band led by Tobias Isaksson called “Images of You”. We can preview two tracks from the album, “Millions of Stars” and “Shine On” and both are gorgeous dreamy pop. Definitely one not to miss!

The Perfect English Weather: Then there is a new 4 song EP by the band that sprung out of C86 legends The Popguns. I believe it is only available digitally, so you know I don’t buy these sort of releases, but I can enjoy the free two tracks that are available to stream on Soundcloud, “Call Me When the Rain Comes” and “She Isn’t Counting on a Miracle”. The other two songs included in this digital EP are “How Could I Ever?” and “Carry Me”. Come on, release it as a CDEP!

Bubblegum Lemonade: a few months ago I was talking about a digital EP by the Glasgow band called “Our Mother’s House”. Now the band has announced an album called “Desperately Seeking Sunshine” (is it a nod to The Haywains’ “Desperately Seeking Something”?) that will include 11 tracks! The album is out now on CD and as you know, when it comes to songs made by the master Laz McCluskey, we have lots of hooks and top melodies!

Coming Up Roses: this Singapore shoegaze band has become a favourite of the blog so even if it is just the one new song they have, I have the need to recommend it! This time though there are 5 tracks! Yes, there is a new EP called “Waters” which sounds terrific. The only bummer is that it is only available digitally… hoping someone puts it out on vinyl or CD!

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Now it is the turn for the letter T. We are getting closer to complete this challenge. Today I wanted to bring back to a song and a band that I was thrilled to discover through the compilation The Sound of Leamington Spa vol. 3: Thin Gypsy Thieves’ “Perfection”.

That was indeed my introduction to the band. On a 2003 compilation released by Firestation Records (FST050),  eleven years after the band had released their one and only record, the “Perfection EP”.

On that Firestation compilation, as it is usual, a bio was included in the booklet. This is by far the most complete piece of information I’ve ever found about them:

Thin Gipsy Thieves have had 4 different incarnations, the only thing to remain was me Nick Hubbard and Leo Carlile. We were the song writing and creative engine in all 4 line-ups. The 1st incarnation was in the early 80s we were a 4 piece outfit, gigged, never recorded anything unfortunately. The 2nd line-up was down to a 3 piece combo we made a home demo tape gigged around again but not much else. The 3rd creation had us back up to a 4 member state and finally we got to make a half decent demo tape, in fact I think 2 of our best songs “Lost Souls” and “Satisfy My Energy” were featured on it.
The 4th and final was now 5 geezers trying to live the dream. This was arguably our most successful period thanks largely to Richard Murrill [god bless him] as he put up the money for the Perfection 12″. I suppose this record led to our biggest acclaim to fame in as much as it got played on prime time BBC Radio 1. “Steve Wright in the afternoon” had a slot on his show  when he would play unsigned bands and choose to play Perfection which was a bit of a buzz for us. Even better was the fact that they then talked about the song and seemed to like it [I wasn’t too happy to have my vocal compared to Billy Bragg though]. Anyway this piece of exposure still did not get the major record companies kicking our door down to sign us up [obviously didn’t know where we lived] and eventually Thin Gypsy Thieves came to a natural end.
But that might not be the end of the story as me and Leo are still creating musically, and who knows the phoenix might still have time to rise from the ashes of pop obscurity, to once more be launched into the musical stratosphere.

Interesting. What do we know then of their one and only release? It came out in 1992 on the Yellow Moon Records label (YME 3003). I guess this label was created by Richard Murrill just for releasing this one record.  That if I understood the bio correctly. Or maybe he just paid for the recordings?

The 12″ included 4 songs, 2 on each side. The A side had “Perfection” and “Maps” while the B side had “Every Movement” and “Garden of Eden”. I can’t say when were they recorded or where. Though I do know the band hailed from Folkestone in Kent.

Folkestone is a port town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour and shipping port for most of the 19th and 20th centuries.

On these recordings we know that Nick Hubbard was on vocals and lead guitar, Leo Carlile on bass, Tim Denman on drums and vocals, Richard Calille on keyboards and vocals and Nicky Sievers on rhythm guitar.

The record doesn’t have much more information but it does come with a strange insert where they tell a very strange “story” of how the band started and became what it was then with some strange illustrations.

On Discogs the only band member to be listed on another record is Tim Denman who did backing vocals on the Jim Leverton & Geoffrey Richardson album “Poor Man’s Rich Man”.

Sadly I can’t seem to find any of the music Nick Hubbard and Leo Carlile were working on afterwards. Nor any mentions to the older incarnations of Thin Gypsy Thieves. I would love to hear those demos. There is nothing about the band on the web. But I really love the 12″, so I would really would like to find out any information in regards to them!

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Listen
Thin Gypsy Thieves – Perfection