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