Thanks so much to Gustavo Gusmão for the interview! I wrote about his band Multisofá about two weeks ago and happily he got in touch and it was all so fast and now there’s an interview! I love when things happen this way. Now I know a little more about them of course and that’s great. Pretty interesting as they are the first Brazilian band I’ve interviewed. If you’ve never heard about them, I suggest checking this interview out!

++ Hi Gustavo! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Still making music?

Hi Roque, glad to connect with you. I am doing just fine – hoping that this COVID 19 situation gets addressed properly in the upcoming weeks. I am still making music by myself sometimes – actually it is one thing helping through this Corona Virus lockdown. I am trying to recover some of the songs I wrote since the band split up and register them on home recordings.

++ Let’s go back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what was your first instrument? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen at home while growing up?

My memories go back as far as when I was around 6 years old watching music videos from TV shows in the early 80’s. I also remember my uncle playing non-stop “Roxanne” by The Police on vinyl. My first real instrument was a nylon acoustic guitar but I probably had piano and guitar toys earlier on. I started playing when I was around 10 taking guitar lessons in my neighborhood but that didn’t take too long. When I was 14 I decided to put more effort in learning to play – self taught this time. Growing up I listened a lot of music from mainstream radio stations, which actually played local rock bands and UK pop/rock/indie from the 80s, such as The Smiths, The Cure, New Order, Simple Minds. Gradually, I started buying or copying cassette tapes from this type of bands.

++ Had you been in other bands before Multisofá? What about the rest of the members? If so, how did all of these bands sound like? Are there any recordings?

Before Multisofá I used to play bass in a band called Vellocet, which released 2 albums – the last one is available on Spotify. Early Vellocet reminds of shoegazer sounds from the early 90s and the second album is a bit more psychedelic. Some of the guys in Multisofá (Gustavo Afonseca and Juliano Rosa) used to play in a band called Soap Blisters which reminded of 90’s post/math rock sound. I am sure they have some recordings but I guess they’re not on any streaming service. Alexandre, who sings in Multisofa’s second album used to play drums for Vellocet and another band named Valv, which released a few albums in the early 00s – also available on Spotify.    

++ Where were you from originally?

We all used to live in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, during the 90’s and up until 2007 when I moved to Rio. Now, I am living in Sao Paulo

++ How was Belo Horizonte at the time of Multisofá? Were there any bands that you liked? Were there any good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?

Belo Horizonte had some weird bands and many punk/hardcore bands. In the mid 90s, I got to see a few gigs from this band named Chemako, which really called my attention. They used to be a kind of metal influenced band in the early 90’s but had developed a more complex and darker sound by 1996. I guess they never got those songs recorded properly, although there were some demo tapes from these songs being passed around. I don’t know what exactly happened but one of the band members passed away and that was it. In the late 90s, Vellocet came up and it really sounded like the stuff I was into at the time. Their first gig was opening for Superchunk. A few months later they invited me to play bass in the band (not Superchunk!). During the 90s and early 00’s, the legendary record stores in town were Urban Cave and Motor Music. Actually Motor Music was more than a record store. They began distributing many US indie labels releases, such as Merge Records, at very convenient prices and they were also promoting festivals and gigs with many influential indie-rock bands of that era. In Belo Horizonte, there were always venues you could arrange to play or to host an international gig. Perhaps the most emblematic venue was “A Obra”, which hosted many festivals and gigs, mainly supporting acts from Brazil. They are still open for business, which is a rare thing nowadays.

++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?

Multisofá started in 2000, which consisted originally of myself and Mauricio, who used do play drums in a few bands we tried to have together. We met during college through and ad I posted looking for drummers. Our previous bands never got too much done in terms of writing and recording songs, which was kind of frustrating. The idea behind Multisofá was to finally have a music outlet focused on recording acoustic songs on a 4 track and releasing it somehow. After writing a few songs we decided to recruit other people to play and rehearse the songs as a full band in order to make things more interesting. We then decided to record our EP with a full band. Many people played in Multisofá throughout the years but Juliano (guitar) has been the only one with the band since we first decided to have a full band.

++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?

I would usually come up with the song structure at home and bring to rehearsals so that everyone would figure out their parts. Otherwise, every once in a while, somebody else would bring an idea for a song and we would try to make it into a complete song. Practices would usually take place in pay as you go rehearsal spaces, which were widely available in Belo Horizonte.

++ What’s the story behind the band’s name? 

Very simple actually. Multisofá was a furniture store just across the street from one of the venues we used to hang out. A friend of ours suggested it as the band name and we decided to give it a shot.

++ And who would you say were influences in the sound of the band?

I guess it changed over the years but I remember some of the bands we would be really into when the band started playing: Pernice Brothers, Built to Spill, Guided by Voices, Silver Jews, Ladybug Transistor, East River Pipe, Slowdive, Teenage Fanclub, Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci and Elephant 6 bands.

++ You only put out a self-title album. First it came out on tape on the Italian label Best Kept Secret in 2001. And how did this release came together? How did you end up on that label?

We actually have 2 albums released now. The self titled album was released by 3 different labels. It was first released by our self sponsored label, Bay King Music. Then it was released on tape by Best Kept Secret in 2001, after sending the album around to a few indie labels. Right after that, the japanese label Little Pad Records also released the album with a different cover and a few bonus tracks. We were supposed to release our second album in 2007, also under Little Pad Records. But we only got halfway through the recording process. I ended up moving to Rio and we had to put the band aside. Other band members also moved away from Belo Horizonte. I resumed the recording in 2015 and finish the second album, which was released in 2017 by Fleeting (www.fleeting.com), a San Francisco based label owned by our friend from Belo Horizonte, Bruno Orsini. The label released the video for the song “Change of Pace”. The second album is called “MTSF” and is available on most streaming services.

++  How was the experience of recording at 1501 studios these songs? Was this your first time at a recording studio?

This was actually my apartment number. I recorded the album in my room while trying to figure how to use recording software and audio gear. Previously I had just experienced recording on a 4 track tape. I was very unskilled, but I just took my time to learn a few basic things and tried not to rush into recording in a sloppy manner. I remember using a very cheap microphone and trying to capture vocal tracks in the bathroom for better reverb quality. I also remember not having a proper gear to record distorted guitars and the solution would be having more guitar parts and reverb.

++ At this time more members joined the band, right, like Juliano Rosa and Diego Carlos. How did you know them and what did they bring to the band?

Juliano joined as soon as we started rehearsing. I knew him from his previous bands. We used to meet at gigs and rehearsals of our bands at the time. I always thought he was a very skilled guitar player with very interesting guitar parts to counterbalance the linear songs’ structure. Diego came a little bid later just before we start recording. We were looking for someone to focus on strong vocals and stage presence. Someone mentioned Diego and we went to see him playing. We then invited him to join us. I guess we liked his musical influences, which included bands we liked form the 80s and 90s but also 70s stuff such as Stooges and T. Rex.

++ The recordings also included guest musicians like Dennis Martins, Marina Gomes, Emerson Galvao, Livia Segurado and Maya Mitre. Where they in other bands?

Not actually. Emerson used to play guitar with Juliano in Soap Blisters but I think they were not playing anymore at the time of the recordings.

++ One thing that I thought was interesting is that all your songs were in English, none in Portuguese. Why was that? Did you ever make any songs in Portuguese?

I never wrote a song in Portuguese, never seem to match with the song melodies. Actually, it weakened the song somehow and did not make sense to force it, especially since we did not have much commercial ambitions, which could be a good reason to eventually start writing in Portuguese. English words would naturally fit in the melodies.

++ Then this album was released afterwards, in 2002, on Little Pad Records in Japan. Now on CD. How did they approach you? Were they familiar with your cassette release? I know very little about this label, if there’s any chance you can tell me a bit more about them?

I might be wrong but as I recall it we started sharing some of our songs to some indie labels around the world. Little Pad Records showed interest in releasing our album and it made sense since we were looking to release pressed CDs. They did release a few albums and 7”s from their cast. I especially liked the song “Temptation Temporary” from Mirah, featured on Secret Home Party 7” compilation. Other bands released by LPR were Dennis Driscoll, The Oliver Brown Trio and Dear Nora. I would describe the bands on LPR as lo-fi. I don’t think they were familiar with the cassette release from Best Kept Secret. I believe LPR is no longer active.

++ Did you had the chance to go play in Italy or Japan? Did you ever meet the people behind the labels?

We did not get to play in any of these places. We did very few gigs outside Belo Horizonte. Never met the people from these labels, unfortunately. Mauricio got to meet Katsuya Shibata (Little Pad Records) a few years ago in Japan.

++ You also appeared on a compilation that came with the great Cookie Scene magazine in Japan as well as on a compilation called “Pop Renaissance” released by Excellent Records in Japan. Would you say Little Pad had a lot to do in promoting you there? Were you more known in Japan than in Brazil perhaps?

I suppose Little Pad had an influence but I don’t remember exactly how we ended up in these compilations. Anyway, I guess the label had a relevant role indeed. Japan and Brazil are very distant and different places. I could not tell where Multisofá was better known. I never asked how many albums we sold in Japan. Would be interesting to know that.

++ Then there are songs from 2011 and others from 2017 online. There’s even an album called “MTSF”. Did these songs get a proper release or only digital?

The song posted in 2011 called “Into the Ocean” was actually an early version of the song “Change of Pace” from our 2^nd album. I don’t know why Mauricio ended up posting that on soundcloud. The 2^nd album “MTSF” was released only in digital format so far. I would like to have it released on vinyl eventually since it’s a more consistent record in terms of writing and recording. We mixed the album with George Shilling, who worked with Teenage Fanclub in the 90s.

++ There is also a video for the song “Change of Pace”. Where was it filmed? And who did it?

The video was filmed in San Francisco/CA, Fleeting hometown. The video was produced by the label, with direction and editon by Bruno Orsini and Cris Meira. They really dedicated themselves in preparing and making the video and we were very happy with the result.

++ I read that you set up your own label Bay King Music. What does that mean? Did you put out any records?

That’s right. We decided to create the label to release our Multisofá album and a few other bands from Belo Horizonte. We brought some friends to help out and we ended up also making videos, merchandising, festivals and even a podcast (before it was called that). It became kind of a collective. Bruno Orsini (from Fleeting) and Alisson Santos (Vellocet) were also members of Bay King Music.

The other bands we released were Vellocet (first album – previously release on tape only), Tênis (Juliano’s side project) and Grenade. Many of the releases included a video from the band.

++ I also read online on Alto Falante that you were having a release in Canada. What happened to it? Did it come out?

I am not sure if that is accurate. I remember there was some kind of distribution in Canada but it was not an actual release from the band. We never released anything in Canada.

++ And are there more recordings by the band? Unreleased tracks?

Not as a band. I have a few home recordings with songs from that period that we never tried to play as a band. Or perhaps we used to play but never got it recorded properly.

++ I think my favourite song of yours might as well be “Suffering and Smiling”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?

This was the first song we wrote for Multisofá. I used to try to make something out of it in our previous band rehearsals with Mauricio but we had no lyrics or melodies for it. When we were trying to get it recorded on the 4 track, Mauricio and I came up with some melodies and lyrics for it. I think most of the lyrics was written by Mauricio. Not really sure what the inspiration was. I used to think it had some kind of a Yo La Tengo feel. 

++ If you were to choose your favorite Multisofá song, which one would that be and why?

Probably “Change of Pace”. I like the different dynamics of the song, the fact that it contains backing vocals through the whole song and it sounded good after recorded and mixed.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many? 

Not many gigs. I guess we played 10 or 15 shows during the time we were together. We played one gig in 2018, which was kind of a reunion tour to celebrate our 2^nd release after more than 10 years we split up.

++ And what were the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?

I remember one gig in the Bananada Festival, which was hosted in the city of Goiania. Very nice venues and the vibe was pretty good. No anecdotes I could share but our bass player seemed to spend a lot of time reading the news in the local paper – the good ones and the bad ones. At the beginning, I would say that in most gigs we would get frustrated trying to play the songs with accurate and clean arrangements. We even tried to have a piano player in the line-up. Eventually we decided to simplify the arrangements and to have a more relaxed and direct approach to the songs played live – which made it more enjoyable and fun. A fews gigs at A Obra had this fun vibe.

++ And were there any bad ones?

Sure. A few of them but nothing that would get us thrown out of the stage. I guess if it wasn’t played as tight as in the rehearsals we wouldn’t be too happy with the gig. So perhaps it would be “bad” for us but not as “bad” for the audience. Our first gig was in a college party. It was a very interesting experience but I would not consider it a bad gig.

++ You split in 2005 when you moved to Rio de Janeiro, right? But then you’ve made music again with Multisofá. Did you return to Belo Horizonte, or how has this worked for you?

I moved to Rio in 2007. I resumed the Multisofá recordings many years later mostly by myself while living in Rio. Juliano went to Rio to record the remaining guitar tracks and I went to Belo Horizonte to record Alexandre’s vocals. It was all pretty much finished in Rio by 2015.

++ Have you or the rest of the band been in other bands afterwards?

Not really. I believe Juliano and Alexandre kept playing occasionally in other bands.

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

Definitely not on traditional radio. I think we came up around the time people were losing the habit to listen to the radio and started shifting to digital platforms and social media. In terms of TV, we were featured a couple of times in local music shows but nothing beyond that. Back in those days people interested in this kind of music were still buying CDs but were already deeply connected digitally.

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

I think so. When we released our first album there were many media outlets featuring this type of music in Brazil: websites, magazines and newspapers. The indie music festivals also got a lot of attention. So we got a good amount of coverage.

++ What about from fanzines?

That as well. We got album reviews and interviews in many printed fanzines. They were still around when we came up but gradually they became blogs or websites.

++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?

rsonally, it was accomplishing to resume and release our 2^nd album after almost a 10 years gap. It would be a shame no to release something we put some much effort, but I was glad it got finally released in 2017. Reuniting the band to play in 2018 was also a highlight. The venue we played is unbelievable – Sonasterio (https://sonasterio.com/). It is a studio up in the mountains near Belo Horizonte.

++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?

Travelling, usually trying to catch a gig whenever I can fit into the travel itinerary.

++ Never been to Belo Horizonte so I’ll take the opportunity to ask a local for any recommendations you’d have? Like sights one shouldn’t miss? Food and drinks one should try?

I will be honest with you. Belo Horizonte is not a place you will get impressed by sightseeing. I am not up to date with bars and restaurants in Belo Horizonte but the city is famous for having a wide range of bars and local beers. Drinking and chatting is a tradition in the city. The local food is also worth trying but beware if you are vegan or vegetarian. The traditional meal is usually based on meat, specially pork. I would also recommend going to the legendary A Obra. Nearby Belo Horizonte, a major attraction is Inhotim, a Contemporary Art Center and Botanical Garden.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Thanks for reaching out and congratulations on the blog / Cherry Records. I wish we had more labels releasing 7”s.

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Listen
Multisofá – Suffering and Smiling

Day 18. What day is for you? I am sure some people have been self-isolating for longer.

On Cloudberry news, the Macguffins signed off the CD art. So it is ready to send to press. I don’t know if now is the best time. I want to see how it works with the fanzine. I’m afraid no one will be ordering it if I am honest. Or maybe people need some exciting new releases to keep sane. I want to see. Need to see the best timing for it. It sounds great and looks great. We’ll see. The zines should be arriving this week.

This past weekend I heard new music as always. And as always I got most if not all of my recommendations from the great David Cano who has the best skills ever to find new music on the web. And good music on top of it all!

Melenas: “No Puedo Pensar” is the band’s latest single and video from the band’s upcoming LP that will be released by Trouble in Mind, Elsa Records and Snap! Clap! Club. This is definitely the album I am most looking forward to have in my hands. The band is amazing and as you know I’ve been raving about them for a few years now. Have been lucky to see them live once and meeting them! Even taking a photo with 3 of them! That was something. I love them and I really hope they go for greater things with this record. This new song is amazing. The video is amazing. And I can repeat that word one more time. Amazing.

Ssleeping Desiress: strange name of this Oakland, California, band, with two S at the start and end of their name. They released an album called “Exile House” on March 27 with the label Onderstroom Records. It will be available on vinyl and will include 8 songs of jangly bright and sometimes dark post-punk songs. Pretty interesting!

Candace: their newest song “DM-100” is a terrific song. The Portland trio sounds all dreamy in this new digital single they’ve put out. The band formed by Sarah Rose, Sarah Nienaber and Mara Appel des Lauriers craft very nice melodies, so I have to wonder when will they release their next record?

Adults/Bitch Hunt: the London based label has put out a split tape with these two bands. Each band contributes a song and I must say I am hooked by Adults’ “Armadillo”. What a great pop punk song! Catchy and fun. Their other song is called “Filling Up the Feelings”. Bitch Hunt on the other hand contribute “Spaceman” and “23”.

Well Whale: what a sweet song is “Diana”. That is the latest track by the Jatinangor, Indonesia, band. Really wow. One wonders why is this song not properly released? I hope it does. The band is formed by Faizal Agusdin on bass and vocals, Kelana Ashii on drums and backing vocals, Puteri Ayesha on guitar and vocals and Raja Mahardika on guitar and backing vocals.

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So I will start a new challenge. Why not? It makes me explore more bands this way, forcing me to do extra investigation. The idea for this new challenge has to do with weekdays. I want to feature seven bands, a band that wrote a song with the particular weekday on the song title. I’ll start with Monday, then Tuesday, and all the way through Sunday. I won’t share an mp3 of the particular song necessarily, as it might actually not be their best. But the band that I feature must have had a song wit the weekday in their name. Like today, I want to feature Clark Springs as they had the song “Alternative Monday Afternoons”. Sounds fair?

The interesting thing about Clark Springs was that they were originally called The Rain in the mid and early 90s. Yes, that band called The Rain, the one that wrote “Watercress Girl” and “Tom Paine”, one of my favourite indiepop bands. I still wonder why there hasn’t been a retrospective or something like that so far. From what I understand is that at some point in the early 90s the band had to change names because they were forced to. Forced by another band called The Rain. Which one? That I don’t know. But they changed it to Clark Springs.

Not sure what it means. I found a Fort Clark Springs place in Texas. I doubt that was their inspiration? Who knows? From I could find it seems they clashed with Liam Gallagher’s first band. Not good. It seems the interest in the band went into decline after this name change.

I do know they hailed from Basingstoke in England… where is Basingstoke? Relatively close to London…

Basingstoke is the largest town in the modern county of Hampshire (Southampton and Portsmouth being cities). It is situated in south central England, and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon. It is located 48 km northeast of Southampton, 77 km southwest of London, and 31 km northeast of the county town and former capital Winchester. According to the 2016 population estimate the town had a population of 113,776. Basingstoke is often nicknamed “Doughnut City” or “Roundabout City” because of the number of large roundabouts. Basingstoke is an old market town expanded in the mid 1960s as a result of an agreement between London County Council and Hampshire County Council. It was developed rapidly after World War II, along with various other towns in the United Kingdom, in order to accommodate part of the London ‘overspill’ as perceived under the Greater London Plan in 1944. Basingstoke has become an important economic centre during the second half of the 20th century, and houses the locations of the UK headquarters of many important companies.

In 1992 Clark Springs released a 7″ on the Australian label Summershine (SHINE 017). The band credited both songs on the label to The Rain, their former name. I don’t think the A side, “Talking Kent State”, was released by The Rain but a different version of the B side, “Martha (The Watercress Girl)” was released by The Rain as a 12″ in 1990. Clark Springs at this time was formed by Clive Stubbings on guitar and vocals (as well as writing both songs), Chris Morrell on drums and Tony Duckworth on bass and vocals. Essentially the same lineup as The Rain. From a Twee.net bio written by Chris Morrell in 2010 it seems “Talking Kent State” refers to Neil Young’s “Ohio”. The art was created by Maikka.

As Clark Springs the band would release another 7″. It would be on Orangewood Records (Citrus 003) which I believe was their own label. I believe that because this label only released records by The Rain and Clark Springs as far as I know. This second 7″ came out in 1994 and had on the A side the track “My World Revolves Around Her” and on the B side the song that meets my challenge, “Alternative Monday Afternoons”. I own the Summershine 7″ but I don’t own this second one, so not sure what other details were available on the sleeve.

Aside from this 7″s the band contributed to at least two compilations. On the Summershine Records 1994 compilation “Tomorrow’s Hits Today” (SHINE-US03/ShineCD02) the band appears with “Watercress Girl”. The next year, 1995, the band appears on the Elefant Records tribute album “A Tribute to Felt” (ER-1001) covering the song “She Lives by the Castle”.

As there is little more on the web about Clark Springs, I start to think I should dedicate some lines, a proper post to The Rain. An interview would be better of course. I hope I get in touch with them some day. Now I wonder though what happened with Clark Springs. If they recorded more songs. If they toured extensively or not. What did they do afterwards? I mean these were great musicians, hard to believe they stopped making music. Who remembers them?

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Listen
Clark Springs – Talking Kent State

Day 15.

Nothing new since Wednesday. Waiting for the fanzines to arrive and start burning CDRs so I can have them ready for everyone. DIY spirit again. It’s been a while since I do a DIY release on the label. Full DIY. So this is exciting, kind of going back to the roots.

I have uploaded one of the songs to be on the compilation, “Mould” by The BV’s to Soundcloud. So be sure to check it out. Pre-order button coming soon. So when that’s up, I hope you can support the fanzine, and the label. Especially now, it is difficult times, but I think the zine might be fun to read.

New music. Of course.

The Francine Odysseys: this band sounds really amazing! They are based in Los Angeles and even though the profile photo shows two people, in their latest EP “What If We Were Wrong”, the credits go to four people, Gretchen DeVault, Ian Patrick, John Miller and Michael Butkovic. This EP has four songs and they are packed with jangly guitars and bright melodies. It is good stuff!

Peach Gardens: now some fine shoegaze from Moscow. This seems to be the first release by this four-piece and it seems that soon it will be available in cassette as well. There are three songs on their “Peach Gardens EP”. They are called “Through the Rain”, “Wintry” and “June in Reverse”. They are fuzzy, warm, and mysterious. Interesting debut by Peach Gardens!

Pretty Olivia Records: the Spanish label has shared four songs and I am especially happy to hear once again the two by Violet Hours. Violet Hours shared band members with Desperate Journalist but they were poppier and janglier. They were supposed to release a single with Javi’s label. For some reason or another it didn’t. I don’t know why, and don’t understand why they are published online and not on vinyl. Even this late they could deserve a vinyl release I think. But who knows. Go there and play them repeat! They are called “Alone with Everyone” (the A side) and “Petrol Station Flowers” (B side). Also included in this Bandcamp ‘release’ are songs by Star Trip and collaboration by Star Trip and Hunky Dory.

Whimsical: there’s a brand new song by the Griffith, Indiana, band on their Bandcamp. It is a digital single called “Sleep with a Smile” and it is great. It swirls and has a great vibe. Very early UK 1990 or something. It has that dancey feeling! Like later period Darling Buds. Thumbs up!

The Drain on the Balcony: I believe I shared a video of this release some time ago. Well now there’s a Bandcamp page on the Old Habits Label camp. Now you can pre-order the 7″ that will come with the songs “Truly Deeply Madly” and “The Woman Who Walks Through Walls”. This band was formed in 1977 and reformed in 2009. In total the band has recorded three albums and are working on a fourth one!

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Some nice soul added the whole compilation “Whats the I*d*e*a” to Youtube. All songs on it. And so I went and listen. Discover some new music. The song I liked the best was the one by More Perfect Watchers. So let me see if I can find any info about them. Join me.

Do not confuse this label, Idea Records, with the one that released the Moss Poles, The Wallflowers, The Wolfhounds and more. This Idea Records hailed from the Widnes, and was funded by Merseyside Arts, Northwest Arts, Lancaster City Council and St. Helen’s Council. A lot of institutions inndeed! And so it supported bands from St Helen’s, Wigan, Bolton, Halton and Lancaster.

According to Discogs this compilation was the only release by them. It has the catalog Idea 001 and came out in 1990. More Perfect Watchers contribute the song “The Clever Ones”, a nice jangly track. But who were they?

I don’t own this record so I need to try to read the blurry scans that are available on Discogs. So I may make mistakes here. The record came with info about each of the bands on the record. But I think for More Perfect Watchers there is really not much info, it just says that they have pop sensibilities and are the equivalent to Dr. Doolittle’s “Push me – pull you”. Hmmm. At least there’s a photo of them.

On Last.fm I see a bio for a band called Heifervescent. Here it mentions that the person behind it, Andy Doran, was once in the Wigan band Monkeyland. He says that this band used to play gigs alongside More Perfect Watchers. Interestingly enough it also says that More Perfect Watchers would later become the band Witness. Was More Perfect Watchers from Wigan too? I believe so. I found a mention that they hailed from Wigan and Bolton.

Well, Witness has a Wikipedia entry and it says that the band formed in Wigan. So it may be the case. Witness was formed by Gerard Starkie, Ray Chan, Dylan Keeton and John Langley. The question is if all of them were in More Perfect Watchers? Some of them? One of them?  Truth is the band released two albums on Island Records and had success. I can’t seem to find any article or piece of news that mentions that Witness was born from the ashes of More Perfect Watchers. But it seems true. The timeline, Witness being formed in 1997, many years after More Perfect Watchers make some sense.

Now, there’s no more information about the band. So this is the moment where I ask for your help. Any info will be welcome!

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Listen
More Perfect Watchers – The Clever Ones

Day 13 of self-isolation.

How is everyone holding?

Music keeps me sane as well as the many projects related to Cloudberry. The fanzine is looking good and I am having it printed this week. Should be arriving next week I think. I will add pre-order button for it soon. It is very exciting.

New music news, here:

The BV’s: our friends have just released a new video for their song “Be Lonely Together Pt. II”. This video was shot when they toured the UK in July 2019, including their gig at Indietracks! This song was included in their album “Cartography”. It is great!

Diners: another cool video release is the one for the song “Cup of Coffee”. This single is included in the band’s album “Leisure World” that will be released on April 24th on Lauren Records.

Graeme Elston: four new songs make up the “Miracles” EP from the ex-Slipslide and Love Parade. This is exactly the kind of music I like! On his solo recordings recorded in between Slipslide and his new project Auto-Vélo, he is as jangly as ever. Good stuff!

The Bell Streets: so Nick Batterham from the Earthmen and Blindside (who I have interviewed in the blog!) and Josh Meadows from Sugargliders have a new project together and are releasing an album on Popboomerang Records on April 3rd! We can preview 3 of the tracks that will be in the album “Disappointment Town”, “Fragile” and “Crying Inside” and as expected they are very nice!

The Forbin Project: this new song called “Isolation” sounds fantastic. I know nothing about this Milpitas, California, but from what I understand its been going since 2012 and recording 4 EPs, many singles and an album! I should go and discover the rest of their songs!

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I am not sure where the name The Castavetes comes from. I am quite curious about it. I was playing the other day at home a compilation I haven’t played in years called “Peachy Little Secrets…” and the song “The Phone Never Rings” came up. And suddenly I wanted to find more about them.

In 2006 I was into indiepop as I had never been. I was running Plastilina Records plus my Mira el Péndulo blog and I was already planning what would Cloudberry be. It was a great time. People were buying records, postal prices were decent, and streaming platforms weren’t a thing. It was fun. Fanzines were making a comeback and from all corners new labels and bands were appearing. One of the labels that surprised everyone was Fruit Records because they came from far away Singapore and were releasing terrific music. Just remember that last year I dedicated a post to Serenade, the lovely Singapore band that had their album released by this label.

Fruit Records was run by Isman and Elisa, a super nice couple. We used to trade records. Nowadays I don’t get to trade that much. Not as back then. One of the records that they sent me was the “Peachy Little Secrets…” compilation (FRUIT003) that they released on CD in 2006. This superb record included lots of top bands, from Annemarie to My Favorite. It was through this compilation that I got introduced to The Castavetes with their song “The Phone Never Rings”.

There is a small bio on Last.fm that kind of slaps me on the face. Left me cold. It seems that one day, after band practice, their keyboard player tragically died in a car crash. After that the band split.

Did they continue making music with other bands later on? What happened? Or did they stop and never picked up their instruments again? I feel so sad now.

The band hailed from Sweden, it seems that they came from the city of Gothenburg. I do know too that at least two other songs were recorded as I found them on a Myspace playlist. These were “Eighties Ideals” and “After the Holiday”. There’s also a different mix for the latter called “After the Holiday Winfield mix”.

Then I find an old playlist from a German radio called Radio Blau. That radio played the song “After the Holiday” and they mention that it came from a “Demo” CDEP released by Outafocus Records. Interesting. What other songs were in this CD?

The last post I found was of a blog called “We Wanna Lazerdance into the Night” which seems was written by a girl from Lund. She has a post where she tells about a visit she did to Gothenburg. During that trip, on a Thursday of February 2006 she saw The Castavetes at a venue called Rio Rio.

And that’s it. For some reason I remembered them as making a bigger splash back then, I had this idea that more blogs had written about them. But it seems very little info is available about them. Would love to know more for sure.

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Listen
The Castavetes – The Phone Never Rings

Day 11. Fanzine is being printed. This weekend I had to print the CD sleeves.  So the fanzine is sort of ready. Just the situation is not great of course. But I will be adding in the next few days pre-order button. And again, going to the post office won’t be as often. But I of course will appreciate any support there is to the label!

Happy music finds? There are some!

Yellow Dudes: interesting find thanks to my friend Casio from Spain. This band hails from Tepic, Mexico. Is it the first band I hear from there? Could be. Must be. They released an EP called “Parking Spot” last October that has 6 songs that shine under the vocals of Isabella Bru, especially in the closing song “84”.

Marcos y Molduras: the latest from the Spanish label Discos de Kirlian is the song “Un Nuevo Año” by this band. It is a nice sweet song that lasts a little more than 4 minutes. I am not very familiar with this band but this song has made me very curious. I’ll keep an eye on them.

The Radio Dept.: I was very much looking forward to seeing the Swedish band next month in NYC. Well, that is now canceled. But there are news on their Bandcamp, two versions of their song “You Fear the Wrong Thing Baby” are available to stream, the video and radio edit versions. Good timing.

Dayflower: our friends from Leicester have just released on their Bandcamp the “Popping Candy EP”. This new digital release includes 5 songs, “Popping Candy”, “Twirlpro”, “Lips so Dry”, “Alive” and “Dance Dizzy (Saxx Laws Version)”. It is also worth mentioning that the song “Popping Candy” will appear in the CD that will accompany the new Cloudberry fanzine!

Popinjays: and this is quite cool! the classic band that released on One Little Indian in the early 90s have put on Bandcamp a compilation of “Rarities & Demos”. There are 10 songs including a demo version of their hit “Too Jung”. I hope there is a proper release of this, even the artwork they’ve made is really cool. Happy times and happy listening!

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Back in 2004 the Japanese band Cleandistortion released their sole record, a 6 song mini-album called “Teenage Archives”. I am still looking for a copy myself.

It came out on one of my favourite Japanese labels ever, the Bluebadge label. It was a CD and had the catalog number BBCD-006. For the front artwork it had an illustration of a girl with headphones, listening to music. In orange tints.

The songs on it were “Endpaper”, “Caroline”, “Carnival Ride”, “Apology Drops”, “Sweep” and “Sailor”.  They are all credited to Jun Inoue. That’s the only name I have so far. But it wasn’t a one-man band, was it?

Aside from this release the band appeared on three compilations in the first half of the noughties. In the year 2000 they appeared on the very fine compilation “Pop Jingu Volume 2” that was released by Clover Records (CLCD-408). They contributed two songs here “Wendy’s Blues” and “Teenage Green Cracker”. Something interesting is that the band’s name here was broken into two words, Clean Distortion.

Two years after they appear on the Bluebadge Label’s compilation “Pop Comes Up! Bluebadge Compilation Vol.2” (BBCD-002) with the song “Girl Friend”.  Then in 2005 again on a Bluebadge compilation, “Guitar Pop Crazy! (Bluebadge Compilation Vol. 3)” (BBCD-009) with the song “Sweep”.

Okay. That would be all. But there are actually some live footage on Youtube. That’s why I think it wasn’t a one-man band. I see 4 people playing. For example on this video of a whole gig at HOME in Shibuya in June 22, 2010. Sadly there is no tracklist for it.

Another gig on Youtube is the one of them playing also in Shibuya at the venue ChelseaHotel. This one dates from March 21, 2007. They would play again at the same venue on January 19, 2008 and there’s proof of that here.

This account seems to have many live videos for the band. For example playing the song “After Hours” at the Edge End in Shibuya on July 18 2009. Then a full gig at Koenji High dating from January 11, 2009 and at Daisybar in Shimokitazawa dating from April 12 2009.

To my surprise, not too long ago the band has put together a Youtube channel and uploaded more videos of them playing live! We find “Harmony“, “One Four Harmony“, “Apology Drops“, “XTC-Radio“, “ユレルオモイ” and “Carnival Ride“.

So the band is still playing? Maybe. In 2015 they were still playing as I notice on this videos of them playing at the Bar EdgeEnd on January 31 of that year. We find the songs “Carnival Ride” (was this their most popular one?), “I Wanna Be Your…“, “Endpaper” and “Sway“.

I keep googling. I find another release by the band that I didn’t see on Discogs. A CD single it seems, “Sailor/Teen Wave”. It was released by the Bluebadge label with the catalog number BBCD-005. On the front cover we see a photo illustration of the four members. What were their names now?!

Then a Soundcloud page with many goodies! Ok, maybe this band is not so obscure. But it was for me before looking for information about them. Here there are some songs I’ve never heard like the unreleased songs “Micro Cosmic O’Clock”, “Platanus-hi” and “Nightrider” or “Hung Up!” which seems to have appeared on a compilation CD called “Sunshine Pop Show! Vol. 3” on the Sunshinepoplabel in 1999! It also looks like the band released in 2010 an EP called “One Four Harmony”. Okay! Where was this one released? It included three songs, “Guitar Pop”, “Country Tiger” and “One Four Harmony”. Discogs is really not up to date!

And that’s quite a trove of music I’ve found. But really no story of the band. Like who were the band members? Had they been in other bands (I have a hunch one or some were in Sloppy Joe)? What years were they active? How did they start? Are there more releases other than the ones I mentioned? Tons of questions that I hope to get answers!

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Listen
Cleandistortion – Teenage Green Cracker

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Today, let’s go back 29 years! 1991!

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

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

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

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

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Listen
Want – Criticise

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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The Mitzets – A Fool Like Me

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Listen
Multisofá – Suffering and Smiling

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Listen
Bad at Bowling – 二人はボウラー!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Let’s go back 34 years! 1985!

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

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

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

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

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

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Feedback – Twice to Go