Here are a few discoveries to kick off this week!

The Suncharms: “Red Dust” is the new song and new video for Sheffield’s The Suncharms. The band who were around in the early 90s and who released with us a great retrospective compilation reformed a few years ago. They worked on new material, new songs, and so the band has recorded a few new songs and two of them will be released as a 7″ on Slumberland Records as part of the 7″ singles club that the label is putting together as part of their 30th anniversary. Check it out!

Esperando el Otoño: this Chilean band has a few members from My Light Shines For You so that can only mean that the band should be great, right? The band recorded a few video sessions for the studio Sesiones 8874 and I’m linking here to the song “Abrázame”. There is also a second one for the songs “Eres Para Mi” and “¿Qué va a pasar?”.

Gizpel: two new songs by this Indonesian band, “Your Loss” and “False 9”, are available now on Bandcamp. These two songs should be released by Kolibri Records in some way (?). The band is formed by Fadillah Ananto on vocals and bass, Dika Raka Prayuga on synth, Joshua Emmanuel on guitar and Alit Wedhantara on drums.

Leave the Planet: the project of Nathalie Bruno and Jack Milwaukee from London, UK, released the “Nowhere EP”on March 2016. I missed it as I miss many things.  I’m only discovering it now. There are 6 dreamy shoegazy songs on it, “Forever”, “Sirius B”, “White Astra”, “Surrender”, “Seashore” and “Desert Son”. This was their last release as far as I know. Their first releases date from 2014 on Bandcamp. Maybe they are no more? Who knows, but this is good.

Deafcult: “if Slowdive was Australian” that’s what I read and that’s how I stumbled upon this Brisbane band. Their 2nd vinyl pressing of their album “Auras” is still available on the band’s Bandcamp. It is also available on CD. This is their debut album and it includes  12 songs of sweet dreampop. The band is formed by Kelly, Matt, Allan, Innez, Nate and Stevie. Will keep an eye on this band!

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If someone knows where their name comes from, please let me know. I’ve always been very curious about it.

I must say that I had seen their name, Bibi Hanuk, on many obscure indiepop collectors list for years until somehow, I happily found a copy of their 7″ at a Berlin record store that Uwe Firestation took me for me to check out many years ago. I think if Uwe hadn’t come with me I would probably wouldn’t find this record as the clerks got a box from the back for us. Maybe if I just went by myself they wouldn’t have showed me this treasure box where I found a few good records. Among them of course the “Camping EP” by this Finnish late 80s band.

As it happens with many of these obscure releases we don’t know much about the bands. So after many years I make the decision that I need to do a proper, a serious, investigation. So why don’t you join me, see what we can dig out.

Discogs actually has a small bio that I wonder who wrote it. It says that the band hailed from Helsinki, Finland, and they were influenced by Bowie, The Smiths and The Talking Heads. I start longing for Helsinki, which I visited last year around this time of the year. I loved it there. I had a very good time in Finland in general, wouldn’t mind visiting again or even moving there. Of course, the language is not easy at all! Perhaps that’s why they choose to sing in English.

The band formed in 1984 and it revolved around Marko von Konow (guitars and vocals) and his sister Milla von Konow (bass and vocals) and their architecture student friends Timo Vikkula (lead guitar) and Jarmo “Elukka” Eskelinen (drums and percussion). I believe that “Elukka” means animal in English. The band lasted until 1990.

Before Bibi Hanuk existed they were in a band called The Walking Deads, a project that covered The Talking Heads. But that was not all, they were also involved in Pete & the Shelleyettes, another covers band, this time covering the Buzzcocks.

As mentioned Bibi Hanuk only released one record while they were around, the “Camping EP”,  a 7″ that was released in 1988 by Sonic Records (Sonic 2). This was a Finnish label that released a bunch of 7″s and LPs in the late 80s and early 90s.

The record included 4 songs, 2 on each side. The A side had the superb “Take a Walk” (written by Marko and Timo) and “A Tuesday Evening” (composed by Marko and lyrics by Jarmo). The B side had “Missed the Point (composed by Marko and lyrics again by Jarmo) and “Hamster Waltz” (composed by Milla). So everyone added their talents to the songs, everyone contributed. All songs were recorded at Soundtrack Studios in Helsinki between the 14th and 16th of May, 1988, and they were also mixed there. It seems these studios still exist these days but they were renamed to E-Studio in 2010.

The art for the jacket was a collaboration between the band and Marjut Vikkula (may it be Timo’s sister?), while the photography of the inner sleeve was done by Riitta Sourander. The engineer and producer for the record was Kari Kalén who seems to have been involved in many bands especially during the 80s. None that I know sadly. There is also another producer listed, Gabi Hakanen, who also played some percussion in the record. And aside from their usual instruments Milla played piano on “Hamster Waltz” while Timo Vikkula played piano on “A Tuesday Evening”. It is important to mention that the inner sleeve came with the lyrics printed so anyone could sing along!

There are two compilation appearances for them. The first dating from 1990, a tape released by Twang! Records from Berlin, Germany, called “Under the Midnight Sun – A Compilation of Finnish Rock Vol. 3”. This tape was actually compiled by Mikael Karvajalka and it included “mainly the “hits””. He had compiled a few of these tapes in 1990, I believe there were 4 volumes of this compilation. On this 3rd volume, the band contributes “Take a Walk”. Another great song, a favourite of mine is included here too like Poverty Stinks’ “I Wanna Be With You”.

The other compilation is a most recent one, from 2000. The compilation “Sivulliset – Valikoima Suomalaista Vaihtoehtorockia Vuosilta 1985-2000” released by Poko Records (VALOSA1) was a 4 CD set doing a retrospective of the best of garage, power pop, punk, guitar pop and other “indie” genres. I have mentioned this boxset before, when I wrote about The Kidneys some time ago. Well, Bibi Hanuk is also on it, on the first CD with “Take a Walk”. I would love to explore these compilations, maybe I should try to find a copy for myself. I’m sure there will be many surprises in it.

And that’s about all you can find about the band. But what about the band members? Well in 2017 I see a long review of a record from Von Konow called “Lieder” on a website called Brutal Resonance. Here it mentions that Marko had not just been in Bibi Hanuk but afterwards joined a power pop band called Tweed during the 90s. Van Konow  had released a few digital singles on Youtube, the latest being “On a Hill“, released 4 months ago. The music is pretty good too. A bit more new wavey for sure, but it keeps the pop sensibilities that make us love Bibi Hanuk.

I look for other projects the band members had been involved with and see that Marko had done some backing vocals for Taikatuu, led a band called Moonage Daydream who did a tribute album for Bowie and was involved with a band called J. Huimapää & Tanssiorkesteri who released a few records in the late 80s.

Timo had also been in many bands, especially on one called Shadowplay that also released records on Sonic Records. He also contributed to Taikatuu, Maritta Kuula & Karvanopat, Kauko Röyhkä, Moonage Daydream and Them Bird Things.

The scene seems a bit small as the bands they seem to have been involved with repeat themselves. Jarmo played with J. Huimapää & Tanssiorkesteri and Milla played bass on Taikatuu.

But what about Tweed? I can’t seem to find them on Discogs, but I do find a shop that sells a CD single for the song “Alone” that was recorded in 1988.

Something cool that I found was a Yelp age for Marko. He is an Art Director these days. The cool thing being that his office is on the street Uudenmaankatu. That is the same street where I stayed in Helsinki! And then I spot a Facebook page, and I see that Von Konow is not a solo project but a band where Timo Vikkula still works with him playing guitars and keyboards. And that the band is based both in Helsinki and Lisbon. And there is quite a lot of information about it, but not about Bibi Hanuk.

What about Milla? I believe she is now a photographer based in Lohja, Finland. Timo Vikkula continues his architecture career working at the Museum of Finish Architecture. And Jarmo seems to be now in London, as a director of Future Cities Catapult.

So we do know Marko and Timo continue making music, but what about Jarmo and Milla? And of course my most important question is if there are more Bibi Hanuk songs other than the 4 on the 7″? There must be! I mean they were around since 1984 and lasted till 1990, they can’t just have 4 songs. And how come there are no mentions of gigs on the web? I did find that they were played on Swedish radio. And it is interesting that they had a song on a German label. But how come they didn’t release more records? And especially how complicated was to be a guitar pop bands in Finland when we all know it as a metal music country.

I wonder, if any of my Finnish friends remember them? Would be great to find out more about this terrific Helsinki band!

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Listen
Bibi Hanuk – Take a Walk