Lunarways: Paska Records from Surabaya, Indonesia, has released “Sun/Daze” a two-song single by Lunarways. The two songs are “Be the One” and “Flowering Hearts”. There is no information about the band or the release, just that it came out last May. But it’s ok, the songs are really lovely and that’s what matters in the end, right?

The Guild: now a jingle jangly band formed in Claire, Australia. Yes, you guessed right, if it is from Claire it will feature Caleb Carr from the superb English Summer. It also includes Susan Anne Messner of The House of Silence and Kris McAleese from Hi, Kate. Their latest single is “Murder at Dawn”, which is ace.

The Summer Triangle: last May our friends Dale and Connie put out two new songs on their Bandcamp. Somehow I missed them. This is their first release after the fine Melotron Recordings self-titled record they put out a year ago. These two new songs are “Cassiopeia” and “Nimbus Clouds”.

Smile: Torino, Italy. Michele, Hamilton, Mariano and Francesco are Smile, a four-piece from Italy’s motor town. Their latest single is quite a nice surprise. “What a Heart Is” sounds really good! It is not common to find some great sounding Italian indiepop bands and this is definitely one!

Snow Coats: Doetinchem, Netherlands. We will end this week’s reviews with this four-piece that know how to make some upbeat top tunes. “Chevy” is the latest track by this group fronted by Anouk van der Kamp. It is a fun song indeed. And I just noticed our UK friends will be lucky that they are touring their country with upcoming gigs in Manchester, Leeds and Cardiff.

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After my post about the band Double Vision, where I could find very little info, I have to write about another band that I found on the same Soundcloud account. It was called Those Guilty Minutes and it also featured John Henrywood.

Hailing from Coventry in the UK, we find 6 tracks for this band. They are all demos.

They all date from 1988 and they are credited to Gavin Yates. The songs are: “Games You Play”, “Hurrying Man”, “Dark Yesterdays”, “Those Guilty Minutes”, “So Hip it Hurts” and “Social Worker”

I find their name listed on the A2Z of 1990s Coventry Music Scene. But that’s it. There is no info whatsoever about them.

But then I hit something. Something interesting! Nicola from The Applicants has a great Instagram account. There she has posted a photo of Those Guilty Minutes playing live at The Dog.

The interesting detail here is that it mentions that Robert Dillam from Adorable was the band’s drummer. Wow!

On the photo we see the band being a four-piece. We have the names of three of them. Maybe I am missing the tambourine man’s name? The setup is an acoustic guitar, an electric guitar, tambourine and drums. No bass?

I mentioned too on the post about Double Vision a few details about John. He works as a test analyst and he was in a band called Spill in the late 80s, early 90s.

And that’s what I could find. More than I expected to be honest. Hopefully we can find out more about this cool sounding band!

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Listen
Those Guilty Minutes – Games You Play

I’m still bummed by the no-qualification of Peru to the World Cup. The game against Australia was probably the worst we’ve played in so long. Australia did well, and they deserved to tie the game, take it to penalties and win it there. They did much better than anyone expected. But still, I am unable to digest this blow and my head and heart are not working properly. Anyhow, that’s football. And will have to watch the World Cup as a neutral, as it used to be before Gareca took over the team. We all had so much hope on this team for them to choke at the last game…

The Wendy Darlings: I wasn’t aware that the Clermont Ferrand faantastic pop band had released a digital record last March. Titled “The Insufferable Fatigues of Idleness” has 14 songs of upbeat popsongs! Fun and catchy, Suzy Bo’s vocals, this is a great record and you wonder why no a physical version of it. Lovely as always.

Poppurabu: Temuco, Chile. That’s where we go now to find a demo tape bby this obscure band. The tape has been uploaded as is, there are no tracks, just the one long track. The music is lo-fi pop punk, but can I call it twee punk?

The Sensitive: one of the best Indonesian bands is back with a digital single! That’s great news of course. “Mono Donkey” is the name of this new track that sounds great. It’s being released by the Let’s Kiss a Secret label from Jakarta.

Stella Star: now to Poland, to Cracow to be exact. Stella Star first release is a self-titled EP of 5 songs. Their music? We can described it as shoegaze and dreampop. It has a lot of punch. The songs are strong and well-produced. They sing in their native Polish so that gives it an extra I think. Nice discovery!

Jetzt!: There’s a new album coming out on Tapete Records by Jetzt!. It is titled “Können Lieder Freunde Sein?”. It came out just a few days ago and it is available on CD and vinyl. On Bandcamp you can preview 3 tracks out of 12, one of them being the superb “Hilf Dem Widerstand”.

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7 years ago John Henrywood from Coventry, UK, uploaded songs by his 1980s band Double Vision to Soundcloud.

The first track we find is “Like You Do” which was recorded in 1986 on a Tascam 388 (Studio 8). This song had been written by John and Steve Hawkins.

Then we find “It’s Always the Same“. It was recorded by Gary Watson at Perky Benson Studio. Again written by John and Steve.

The last song is called “Shadows“. Same details for the recording, but this one is credited just to Steve Hawkins.

So, by now it is safe to assume both John and Steve were in the band. Were there more members?

The only other Double Vision thing I found on this Soundcloud account is that in 2010 John and Steve reunited and revised the song “Shadows“. Recorded at John’s own JBHStudios, it is an interesting take on the original.

Then we find recordings by another band called Those Guilty Minutes. John was in this band and I feel that my next post should be about them! They sound good too!

What else could I find about this band?

I found that John  works as a test analyst. Also he was in a band called Spill in the late 80s, early 90s.

And that’s it. Not much to go on. But some nice tracks to share with you all.

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Listen
Double Vision – Like You Do

I was to publish this post yesterday but wasn’t feeling well. It was a bit of a rough day in general, but well… at least I am feeling much better today.

Still expect a post tomorrow and Friday.

Love, Burns: 3 out of 5 songs that were recorded for the Tom Gallo podcast, are available on the Love, Burns’ Bandcamp. These songs are “To Say Goodbye”, “Wired Eyes” and “Something Good”. You can also check the full session plus interview if you follow this link.

Midlife Poetry: here’s a fun pop punk indiepop band from Berlin. Their latest release were two songs they put out last April. These are “Miss” and “Tomorrow”. The band is formed by Flowzee on drums, Lucy on bass and vocals and Ber Von Largue on guitar. Do check their previous release that includes a song called “Entre Rios” that is ace.

The Age of Colored Lizards: the Norwegians have been featured many many times on the blog. So yes, you know I like them. Their latest song is a mellow one. It is called “Sirens” and it is a pretty one.

Calamity Jane & Wild Bill: the synth-pop duo from Berlin/Malmö is back with “Midnight Praises”, a 4 song EP. Always fun and with smart lyrics, they know how to craft catchy poppy songs. I highly recommend this EP. Hopefully gets released on physical format.

The Orchids: and lastly the legendary Glasgow band, one of the best bands ever, is releasing a new album on September 2. “Dreaming Kind” will be available on vinyl and CD and you can pre-order now. And that’s not all, one of the songs, “This Boy is a Mess”, is up on Bandcamp for everyone to listen on repeat. The album will include this song and 12 more. This track is gorgeous… the album seems promising. I can’t wait for September!

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Back in 1994 the Australian label Phantom Records released “The Corridor” (PHCD-34). This CD was a compilation of 4 EPs recorded by four prominent Newcastle (NSW Australia) bands of the early to mid 90s.

The bands on this CD were Burning Winter, Golden Section, Me Me Me and Bugbears. The band I want to investigate today is Burning Winter.

The four songs they included were “Sandcastles”, “Cecile”, “Denial” and “Wrong”. The only other song I know they properly released was called “Killing Me” which appeared on another Phantom Records compilation, “My Beautiful Pigeonhole” (PHCD-26). This was also a compilation of Newcastle bands but this time only one song each.

I don’t own any of these releases, not sure what information is available about the band in them, in the liner notes.

The thing is that on Youtube there are more than a few songs by them, including official music videos.

“Sandcastles” that appeared on “The Corridor” comp has one video. I learn from the details included that the band was formed by Darren Rowe (lead vocals/guitar), Rachel Rose (guitar/vocals), Craig Beck (bass) and Mark Hetherington (drums). This song was produced by the band and engineered by Rob Taylor.

“Killing Me” That was on the “My Beautiful Pigeonhole” also has a video. Heree the band is a bit different. Instead of Rachel Rose we find Phillippa Rees on keyboards and vocals.

I believe this was the original lineup of the band.

This same lineup is credited for the video of the song “Mesmerised“. This track had been recorded by Dave Henderson.

Then we find a song I really enjoy a lot, “Painful Memory“. On the details it says that this was a live favourite. The footage was filmed by Simon Kokins in the band’s rehearsal studio in Hunter Street. It says that the 12-string Rickenbacker was the signature sound of the band’s early days. No wonder I really enjoy their sound!

Then there’s “Typical Life” but no information is available for this song.

Also good to mention a song called “Fireglow“. This one doesn’t have a video but it was recorded in 1990 by the band’s original lineup.

The only other upload in this Youtube account is a song by a band called Moonscope. It seems this band was the predecessor of Burning Winter. It features Darren and Phillippa. It sounds great too! Would be a good idea to write about them next!

Then I find that the band released in 1991 an EP titled “Lap of the Land”. It is not listed on Discogs. I know the songs were recorded and mixed by Dave Henderson.

They were four songs, “Lap of the Land”, “Mesmerised”, “Let Her Out” and “Relic”.

Then probably the best find. A soundcloud account that has 11 more songs by the band! The songs are compiled under the title “The 90’s Vault” and include the tracks “A Crystal, A Clover”, “No Surprise”, “What I Need”, “Take it Away”, “Sunday”, “Stranger (So it Goes)”, “Sheryleisha”, “Her Aura”, “Enchanting” and “What Goes On”. The account is by Purpelelf Records from London, UK. Who were behind this label? Someone from the band moved to London?

Another piece of the puzzle that I found was that Craig Beck, the bassist, was later in the band Skybaby Siren.

And I think that’s it. A lot of great stuff. Hopefully someone reading this remembers them and can shed some light about their releases. Did they put more stuff out? Tapes? Where do all of these songs come from?

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Listen
Burning Winter – Lap of the Land

The Leaking Machine: two new songs by this group that features ex-Mighty Mighty members. The Birmingham combo has been making superb indiepop songs for years and after a few years in silence they are back with “The Love Lawn” and “Chocolate & Cars”. Great stuff!

Overly: here’s a lovely song from this Portland, Oregon, project. It is called “Effortless” and we have very little info about who is behind Overly. I guess we just enjoy the music.

R.E. Seraphin: now to Vallejo, California. A 7-song EP titled “Swingshift EP” is out now on 12″ vinyl. 7 songs is more of a mini-album than an EP for me. But what do you think about this? I have never had it that clear! The album is quite nice. Seraphin says he was influenced by the Television Personalities. That’s always good.

My Raining Stars: a new single from the upcoming album “89 Memories” is now available to listen! And as always our friend Thierry delivers. “Behind Her Lovely Smile” is a sensational song that will bee included in this record that will be released on June 18 by Shelflife in the US and Discos de Kirlian in Europe.

Gabriel’s Dawn: and lastly the English band, from the Midlands, is releasing a self-titled album in October! Available on CD and vinyl, on very limited quantities, the 10 songs sound superb and jangly. There’s actually a song titled “Gentle Chimes” and I think that describes the album, it chimes and chimes. Katie’s vocals sound great too.

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Here’s another good find on Soundcloud, Dancing with the Bride from Guildford, UK.

There are three songs: “Wheels Within Wheels”, “Man of Sorrows” and “Another Time Another Place”. The three of them were part of a demo tape the band recorded in 1984. They were on the tape in the order I mentioned them.

The songs were recorded at University Studios in June of 1984.

The band was formed by Paul Carey, Jonathon Snowball, Paul Beckwith and Andy Cragg.

That’s all the info we find for them on Soundcloud. The songs had been uploaded 8 years ago and there are no images either.

I keep digging. And finally found something.

There’s a band called Hemantic. On this project we find Paul and Jonathon (Jonny), two of the members of Dancing with the Bride. Something interesting we find is that they make Christian music. Also that Jonny continues to be in Guildford while Paul has moved to Porirua in New Zealand. The Soundcloud was updated last 4 years ago.

So what happened in between these two bands? Were any of them involved with other bands? Did they record more songs? Were they for sure based in Guildford? Many questions that I hope we can solve soon!

Any details you might have, please share with me!

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Dancing with the Bride – Wheels Within Wheels

Regional Creeps: lo-fi indiepop from Barnsley, UK. The band’s latest release was a digital single back in March. It was titled “Streak Must Go On” and it is really nice. For some reason I thought of London Popfest, of Indietracks, how a band like this would fit perfectly. Will we ever get those festivals back? I will keep an eye on the Regional Creeps.

TV Sets: now to Toronto to discover this project formed by Joshua Parrett, Angela Hughes, Josh Chamberland and Rob Butcher. The band’s latest is a digital album titled “An Embarrassment of Riches” that was released just a few days. 10 songs of melodic folk-tinted indiepop. Pretty.

Say Sue Me: “The Last Thing Left”, the new album by Busan, South Korea, band Say Sue Me will finally hit the shelves on July 1st. Available on CD and vinyl LP, the 10 song album continues with the trend of the band. Everyone loves them, everyone raves about them, and that’s totally ok. Their songs are great. Now I hope to see them live later this year in NYC.

Slut: here’s a nice EP by this München band. Not sure about the band’s name. Not the best. But the 4 songs on the “Are We Bored My Dear EP” sounds good to me. The record is available now on vinyl directly from the band.

Sunshine Boys: two new songs by this Chicago combo formed by Jackie Schimmel on bass and vocals, Freda Love Smith on drums and Dag Juhlin on guitar, keyboards and vocals. “Underwater” and “The Beginning” are two fine pop songs, with great melodies and quite a surprise to me as I had never heard them before!

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I keep checking out the discoveries by the Youtube account stoneeyedkiller. The songs are great and so I need to find out more information about these bands. I have to thank that lately he has been tagging the videos with the country of origin. That is nice.

Dream is perhaps not a great band name in this day and age. How could you google it? And probably there must be thousands of bands with that name. I wonder what Peter Duggal thought of it when he named his band like that.

He continues being involved with music with his project Moonraider for which he has presence in Bandcamp, Twitter, Facebook and more. But he also put together a Soundcloud with older projects of his. They are different styles of music and so the one I was interested in was the indiepop band he had in the late 80s called Dream.

He has uploaded two songs for this project, “New Kind of Love” and “My Favourite Place”. Both from 1989, probably from the same demo tape? There is no more info about these two tracks, or who was involved in this band other than himself.

On Soundcloud it says he is based now in Hebden Bridge. Hebden Bridge is a market town in the Upper Calder Valley in West Yorkshire, England. It is 8 miles (13 km) west of Halifax and 14 miles (21 km) north-east of Rochdale, at the confluence of the River Calder and the Hebden Water. The town is the largest settlement in the civil parish of Hebden Royd. The town itself has a population of approximately 4,500. It is known for being an LGBT-friendly town, and has been called “the lesbian capital of the UK”.

But I think he originally hailed from Handsworth in Birmingham. I wonder then if Dream was based there.

On his different bios he never mentions Dream. His music career starts in 1990 with an acid house project called Doggy.

During his career he has made music for Nintendo, recorded under the name Demonik, The Hollow, and lately he is a music partner with Wolfgang Flür from Kraftwerk.

Again nothing about Dream. I wonder of course, most importantly for my interests, if there are more songs. I really like the two I’ve heard. Where were they based? Who were the other band members? Had they been in other indiepop bands? Would be great to know. Anyone remembers them?

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Dream – My Favourite Place

Good morning all. Summer is almost here. Remember I’ll be heading to France and Belgium next month. Let me know if you’d like me to bring any records so you can save on shipping. Just drop me an email!

The Photocopies: three new songs by the Michigan project from Sean Turner. The Londoner that now lives up north in the US presents us here “Holiday Romance”, “(Wishing I Had) Tickets for Saint Etienne” and “Surrender”. It does make you wonder when is Saint Etienne going to play in Michigan? When was the last time?

David Christian: a new 10 song collection by the Comet Gain leader! “Electricity from Other Planets” work as a proper album. Here we find lo-fi songs, acoustic and electric. I always find them interesting, thinking of theme as a part of the creative process of Comet Gain.

Marine Research: finally we can pre-order the John Peel Session, double 7″, on Precious Recordings from London! The four songs Marine Research recorded on May 18 of 1999 were “I Confess”, “Angel in the Snow”, “Bad Dreams” and “Capital L”. This is really cool! For example “Bad Dreams” features David Gedge, and it says that “Capital L” would have been a single if the band hadn’t split up. A must have for sure!

Herr Wade: this is a nice surprise. 6 new songs by the project of Jørn Åleskjær (The Loch Ness Mouse, Monobird, Sapphire & Steel) asked his like minded fellow Sebastian Voss (Nah…, The Fisherman and his Soul, Cinema Engines). Sung in German, and sounding ace, like 90s German pop, think Elegant, Busch, and you know you want one of the very limited edition CD.

David Westlake: the legendary David Westlake from The Servannts is releasing a new album called “My Beautiful England”. 14 songs, 7 of them available to preview, and you know this is also a must-have. An essential record! The album will be available on August 24 on both vinyl and CD.

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Another band that could have been in my so-far failed compilation of Australian 80s and early 90s indiepop would definitely be Adelaide’s Rhymes with Fish. They have a Soundcloud with many of their recordings.

The band seems to be active again or were active recently. They released a digital EP in 2018 called “Fitzroyalty”. On this EP they re-recorded and re-interpreted songs from back in the day. Songs that had been forgotten in lo-fi tapes made during rehearsals. Three songs got this treatment, “Verisimilitude”, “Kitchen Window” and “Can We Make Money Out of It”.

Rhymes with Fish actually had formed in 1986. They were active for 3 years where they gigged the inner city pubs of Adelaide.

The band wrote about 40 songs. I guess only a few got properly recorded. Some of these recordings did get the chance to be played at radio station MMM.

The songs that I am aware that exists that are properly recorded were part of a tape release called “Six Songs for Six Dollars” that came out in 1987. These were “Media Man”, “Talk Talk”, “The Getaway”, “There’s a Hitch”, “My Shirts too Thin”, “Success”, “Have a Holiday” and “Nobody Told Me”. These were recorded by Tony Elliot in the Bartel St. Studios. It was mostly recorded live to tape!

The only other interesting bit about this tape is that Craig Tidswell played the sax on the song “There’s a Hitch”.

We also know the band member names during that first period:
Quentin Gore on guitars, Trevor King on vocals, Ivan Motley on drums and Richard Upton on bass.

The band set up an Instagram back in 2018. There I read that 3 out of the 5 members decided to get the band together after the passing of Trevor King. The remaining 3 members are the ones playing the “Fitzroyalty” EP.

In 2019 the reformed band released more songs. “Arthouse” was released digitally and included 3 tracks, “Festival Day”, “Country Psalm” and “Eugene”. Not sure if these are reworkings of old songs or brand new ones.

This is all the info I could collect. The songs are great, and you wonder how come they didn’t have any proper releases back in the day. Hopefully some of you aussie fans remember them and can fill in the blanks!

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Rhymes with Fish – Talk Talk

The Umbrellas: the San Francisco band released a wonderful album not too long ago. Now there’s news that they are releasing a 7″ with two songs, “Write in the Sky” and “I’ll Never Understand”. The A side is now available to preview and it is very nice. The 7″ is being released by so many labels, and depending whereabouts in the world you are you could probably save on shipping ordering from the closest label. I am always curious how labels do this. Having other label tell me how the artwork should look like would give me a heart attack… for example…

Pet Shimmers: now we cross the Atlantic for Pet Shimmers. They hail from Bristol and will be releasing on July 15 a 7″ with two songs as well. They are “Sonder” and “Edgelord”. Again the first song is available to listen. It is a fine lo-fi song, with some fun arrangements reminding me of Bearsuit.

Pulse Park: the Brighton label Shore Dive Records know how to find great shoegaze bands. The one problem is that their records sell out so quick. True they are in limited quantities and this is not bad news for the label at all. “Phonac Music” is the name of the album by this German band. 10 songs that you can check out online.

Films on Song: I have recommended this Charlottesville, Virginia, band in the past. Their latest is a digital single titled “Still I Try”. This song will be included on a split cassette release with the band Work Wear.

La Bien Querida: always a fan of Ana Fernández-Villaverde’s music. Her latest song “La Perra del Hortelano” is no exception. I like her vocals, her lyrics, and melodies. And there’s also a video for this song, so that’s even better.

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Following my post on Head for Texas, I will follow with the band Paul Sands, their bassist, was involved afterwards: Presidents Men.

It was through his Soundcloud that I found out about both bands. Most of the recordings here are actually of him reading his poetry. If you check the post about Head for Texas there is a bit more of background info, that I won’t go into in this post.

Why? Well, try not repeating myself, and also because I am hoping there’s more to write about The President’s Men. They actually released something, a 7″ single!

With the Statue of Liberty on the sleeve, the vinyl record was released by Be Bop Records in 1984. Catalog number was TPM 1. TPM clearly means The President’s Men. The songs on it were “Candidate” on the A side and “The Day Before” and “One in a Million” on the B side.

I’ve linked to all three songs. They are all on his Soundcloud. One interesting detail is that Discogs has it as a 1984 release while Paul says it is from 1983.

We also know the band members thanks to the sleeve. Jeremy Cotterill was on vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, Lee Watt on drums, Jon Harris on electric guitars and keyboards and Paul Sands on bass. The saxophone was played by Scott Povey.

All songs were recorded at Q Studios and were produced by the band and Paul Branston. The photos of the band members on the back of the sleeve are credited to Andrew Bentley.

We also find an address for the band in Gedling, Nottingham. I’ve looked at it on Google Maps. It is a two-floor house. Probably one of the members lived there. It is on the northern part of Nottingham, close to Mapperley Golf Club and Gedling Country Park.

Googling around I believe Lee Watt was involved later on in a band called The Marcel Marceau Sound. Also as a drummer.

Other than that no more info. Again I hit a wall. I couldn’t find if any of the other members were in other bands. I saw Lisa Keenan from Head for Texas listed as part of The President’s Men in Rateyourmusic. Is that true? The one she was replacing was Jon Harris who does appear on the sleeve.

Anyhow, I am hoping we find more info about this band and what happened to their members afterwards!

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The President’s Men – Candidate

Having a busy week at work so far. So let me jump straight to some good recommendations!

Grave Pool: Devan Kochersperger from Portland, Oregon, is behind this cool project. His latest release is a 4-song digital EP titled “Replications” where he performs 4 covers. Of special interest is his rendition of Another Sunny Day’s “You Should All Be Murdered”. A very nice cover version!

Why Bonnie: bedroom pop from Austin. And they are playing Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn in August. Maybe I’ll be able to check them out? Their latest release is called “90 in November”. It is not out yet though, it is going to be released on August 19th, but you can preview two tracks on Bandcamp.The album will be available on vinyl, cd and tape.

Rokki-Mari: I didn’t know about this band until I saw my friend David Chalé share the track “Ajeluta Vielä”. It is a nice simple song, a girl strumming a guitar, or someone strumming it and she is singing. The band hails from Helsinki and it looks like that a few years ago they released a tape though sound-wise it is not very indiepop.

Gula Gången: and now a band I really like and that have recommended in the past, Sweden’s Gula Gången! About two weeks ago they added a new track to their Soundcloud called “Ensam”. I have some inside intel and know the band has a new album coming out soon, and this is definitely a great taster.

Phantom Handshakes: and now a New York band formed by Federica Tassano and Matt Sklar. The band’s latest release is the digital single “Come Undone”. They have also shared an acoustic version of this track. What is nice too is that all proceeds will be donated to Emergency.

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I start reading the biography on Paul Sands’ Soundcloud. It mentions he was born in 1962 and raised closed to the river Trent in Nottingham. But it is clear that music-wise he was close to Glasgow.

The bio mostly talks about the last few decades. It does mention though that he attended school in Selston and worked since the age of 16 in the IT industry. He would eventually move to Lincolnshire in 2006.

In 2012 he publishes his first collection of poetry. His second one in 2013. But we are here for his music. For a band called Head for Texas.

Most of the tracks on his Soundcloud is for his poetry. Have a listen. I came here because of three songs, “So Lucky”, “Falling Down” and “Old Before Your Time”. These were part of the second demo of the band.

“Old Before Your Time” was the opening track. Then came “Falling Down” and “So Lucky” was the last track. The songs were recorded at the front and back rooms of Paul’s house in Long Eaton. That’s the suburbs of Nottingham, right? Just looking at the map. The recordings were done using the PST mobile recording service that was based in Toton.

It seems there was a fourth track in this demo tape but Paul hasn’t been able to recover it. What was the name of this song?

What else do we know? The band was active in the 80s. Paul was the bassist. Who were the other band members? We know the lead guitarist was the late Lisa Keenan. But there doesn’t seem to be more info about them.

We know that Paul was also bassist on the band Presidents Men who released a 7″ in 1983. Maybe this should be by next post? Could be!

Sadly no more info about these songs or Head for Texas. You wonder about the 4th song on that demo tape. And what about the first demo tape? Was there a third one? I wonder if anyone remembers them. They clearly liked the Postcard Records sound, Orange Juice… and it is quite cool to hear something with this sound.

Anyone remembers them?

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Head for Texas – Falling Down

Today’s a holiday here in the US but I will be working. I still had my long three day weekend from Friday to Sunday. It was good.

In the coming days and weeks I should have many interviews in the blog. I have been in touch with many bands as of late so I am hoping to get their answers soon. That’s always great. It is interesting to learn more details about these bands. And most importantly, rediscover them, not let them be forgotten.

Dead Famous People: copies of “Lost Person’s Area” are available on Bandcamp. This was the band’s first release back in the day, but the copies available are from this year’s reissue for Record Store Day.  5 songs on vinyl, all of them classic songs by the Auckland, New Zealand, band. Price is not very nice, 24 pounds plus shipping. I guess I may need to figure something out to afford this. Have you noticed that just a few years ago a 12″ vinyl was $15. How did it suddenly become more than $25? Inflation? Gas prices?

Helpful People: “Broken Blossom Threats” is the name of the 5-song EP that the bay area project has just released digitally on Burundi Cloud Music. Behind this project we find Carly Putnam and Glenn Donaldson, two well-known musicians in this blog. The songs are lovely. You hope they get properly released sometime.

Cosmicdust: now some cool Japanese shoegaze from this two-piecec formed by SIS K and YAF. Who are behind these nicknames? I don’t know. The latest song they have released is called “Ramblingly” and is now available on a tape that includes an extra song, “Reframe”.

High Sunn: and back again to San Francisco. The latest release by this one man project is called “Flawless Recollections”. On the Bandcamp bio it says that this was a project, past tense. Does this mean it doesn’t exist anymore? That’d be a shame. Justin Cheromiah, who was the person behind this anime-loving project, did know how to make some good popsongs.

Mint Julep: and we end the short reviews with a blog favourite, Mint Julep. The duo formed by Keith and Hollie Kenniff released last month a digital single titled “If I Say Tomorrow” that is beautiful. Do check it out.

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Banbury is a historic market town on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, England. It had a population of 46,853 at the 2011 census.

Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding area of north Oxfordshire and southern parts of Warwickshire and Northamptonshire which are predominantly rural. Banbury’s main industries are motorsport, car components, electrical goods, plastics, food processing, and printing. Banbury is home to the world’s largest coffee-processing facility (Jacobs Douwe Egberts), built in 1964. The town is famed for Banbury cakes, a spiced sweet pastry dish.

Banbury is 64 miles (103 km) northwest of London, 37 miles (60 km) southeast of Birmingham, 27 miles (43 km) southeast of Coventry and 22 miles (35 km) northwest of Oxford.

Don’t think I’ve ever written about a band from Banbury. Also about one with such a long name. I think. At least I can’t remember doing that in the past.

On a Soundcloud account by David Cooper (the keyboardist of the band) we find four songs from a demo tape. The A side having “Forget Tonight” and “Ocean of Blue” while the B side “Problem Girl” and “Blue Mood”.

All of the songs are credited to Richard White but “Forget Tonight” which is credited to Sean D’Oyley and Richard White. They were all arranged by the band.

The band was formed by Sean D’Oyley on leaad guitar, Richard White on vocals and rhythm guitar, David Cooper on keyboards, Sean Joyner on bass and Steve Joyner on bass. Are the last two related? Possibly!

We also know that the demo tape was released in 1986.

But we don’t find any other info on this page. Sadly. The songs are really great! It’s a great surprise, a great find.

I find later that Desert Island Dick was actually a comic strip character that was stranded on a desert island with only Olly the octopus for company.

I keep searching. I find that as of late Sean D’Oyley has been playing in a band called The Duckworths. This is a band that plays covers from the likes of Blondie, The Clash or The Specials. I also believe that Sean is a joiner and cabinet maker.

About Richard White, I find one that might be him. I don’t know as the name is a bit more common of course. But this Richard White loves music and has a website called Chalkys. It sells music, film, books and more. The store was established back in 1987.

Sean Joyner? There’s a cricketer from Banbury with that name. I wonder if he is the same Sean? That’d be amazing!

And lastly I do find David Cooper. He owns a shop called ePianos in Banbury that opened in 1995.  There he sells not just pianos but also other instruments including guitars and saxophones. So cool!

It is superb to see the band members become successful.

Now I am wondering if they recorded any other demos. If they had been in other bands. Would be good to know. I am glad to have find out many details about them!

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Listen
Desert Island Dick and the Palm Trees – Ocean of Blue

Not many news today. I have updated the interview with The Applicants. As I mentioned the interview was done a long time ago. The updated version has revised answers by Robert, with more interesting details about the band. So have another read if you have read it already!

Hope everyone is good. Now we get a long weekend in the US. I’ll see you again on Monday!

Roller Derby: “Single Collection” is of course a compilation of the band’s previous 7 singles. It is out now on black vinyl from the Hamburg’s Bandcamp page. Also for those in Germany be aware that the band is playing a few dates this summer in Lüneburg and Hamburg.

Poster Paints: I’ve been recommending this duo from Glasgow for some time now. If you haven’t heard them you’ll understand why. They know how to make wonderful pop songs! The band  formed by Simon Liddell aand Carla J Easton have just released the “Blood Orange” EP. 4 songs of terrific Scottish Pop. Timeless. How come there is not a physical record of this though?!

La Sala del Silencio: the quality of the recording is not the best. It is from a 1984 practice room. But what’s interesting about this release is that the 4 songs on the 7″ are the only 4 songs by this band formed by Lars and Per Mertanen after the breakup of the legendary band Décima Víctima. Joining them in this short-lived band is  Áurea Cuní.

The Blue Herons: it seems I missed “From Here” when it was released in April. A shame indeed. I always want to be first when listening to The Blue Herons. The band fromed by Andy Jossi and Gretchen DeVault know how to craft popstatic songs! And this one is no exception at all. Top tune.

Boyracer: and lastly here is the digital single “Fleetwood Mac are Shite”! Stewart released this song last month but that’s not all, there’s a cool t-shirt with the song title. And indeed, like it says on Bandcamp, you want to get this t-shirt to be the envy of your punker friends! Sadly the song is not available on physical format… I reckon a flexi would be the perfect format.

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Here’s a band that is not on Discogs as far as I know…

Many many years ago, in the times of Myspace, I discovered there a Swedish duo that made wonderful pop music. I messaged them and asked them if I could get their music on CD-R, if they had some demos as many bands had then…

Those days bands used to put together CDRs with their music. On photocopied sleeves we would find a tracklist and any contact information. If the band was caring we’d get a plastic sleeve on top of that.

I am looking now at two CD-Rs the band put together. Each of them had 3 songs. I see there’s an email and a website. The website doesn’t take you anywhere.

I don’t know which CD-R came first. One is titled “I Got a Plan” and has three songs, “He Never Changed”, “Red Lights” and “I Got a Plan”. I think this one came first. The other one I have doesn’t have a title but I think it was called “Mental Dynamite”, it does have three songs as well, “New Shoes”, “Cold Breath” and “Mental Dynamite”. I believe this last one was the first one they released.

The only other important bit of information I have is that the duo was formed by Joakim and Jacob. Sadly I don’t have last names.

An old Myspace page shows two more songs the band had written “Me and You” and “Coffee is Ecstasy”.

And lastly perhaps my best find. It comes from a Turkish blog I believe. It is called Popsongs Ltd. and the post dates from October 6, 2007.

Here we learn that the band had yet another EP. It was self-titled and included the aforementioned “Me and You”, “Cold Breath #2”, “Sun Sun Sun”, “See Me”, “Chewing Stones” and “This Town”. Wow. Would like to hear these songs.

As the band used to have a website I use the Wayback Machine and see if there’s anything I can find. Luckily this works.

Here I find that some friends used to help them, Markus would sing backing vocals and play tambourine, Aesa the synths and vocals and Fred the bass. Again no last names.

There is a gigography too. On October 10, 2005, the band played at Dieselverskaden, on January 5 of 2006 at Ung08: Vinter at Lava, February 6th 2006 at Fight Club in Stampen, February 21, 2006 at Osaka vs Toky at Street, April 6th 2006 at Kreafe, April 7 2006 at Velocity in Uppsala, April 8 2006 at hos Sara, April 16, 2006 at Beyond Retro, June 17 2006 at Don på Trädgården, June 24, 2006 at Midsommarmattsdröm and October 19 2006 at Abba on the Jukebox. Did anyone of you went to any of these gigs?

Also by now I am pretty sure the band hailed from Stockholm.

Sadly this is all I remember and can find about them. They didn’t release any records and sadly disappeared. What did they do after?

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Listen
Trouble and Strife – I Got a Plan