Day 288. I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!! And a Happy New Year!! This is the last post of the year. I will be on a short holiday break (much much needed) and will get back to the blog on January 4th. So expect a little bit of quiet here. Maybe it is a good time to read all the posts you might have missed? 😀

Sunny Summer Day: the new song by Sunny Summer Day is amazing!! It is called “夕暮れと月 (Dusk and Moon)” and features Japanese singer Nana Furuya from Charlotte is Mine. It is a superb song indeed, and we keep missing our friend Dicki of course. It is a complex thing for me to listen to this song. There’s a nostalgia for Dicki’s vocals, but at the same time I am sure Dicki would have loved his band to continue making music.

A Polaroid for Christmas 2020: the Polaroid radio show and blog from Bologna, Italy, have put together a nice 15-song compilation of Christmas songs, and there are many great ones, including Stars on Fire, All Ashore! o Garage Katamaran. Very nice.

Kinoue64: this Japanese band have been featured many times on the blog. Why? Because they make swirly fuzzy shoegaze/indiepop. Their latest is a 4 song EP titled “亡霊 ” that is really good. We don’t know much about the band, they are not featured much on English speaking blogs I think, but it doesn’t matter, when something is good, it’s good.

Films on Song: there’s a new self-titled EP by this Charlottesville, Virginia, project, that I am enjoying a lot. It has 4 songs, “Blissed”, “Sushi”, “I’m Starting to See You in a New Light” and “Gomenghast”. It is jangly, it is catchy and fun.

Crystal Canyon: and last we head to Portland, Maine, to listen “Yours With Affection and Sorrow”, the album this combo is releasing on January 29. Ok! We can’t listen to the whole album on Bandcamp, but at least two songs are available and they are terrific. Check out “Every Little Star” and “Turn Blue”, ace guitars, superb female vocals, yeah, this is very promising. The album will be released on vinyl (black and light blue) and I feel one should try to get a copy for sure!

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35 Summers, yet another band I discovered back in the day thanks to The Sound of Leamington Spa compilation series. Yes, I say it often, the best compilation series ever. And always looking forward to the next volume!

35 Summers appeared on the 2003 “The Sound of Leamington Spa Vol. 4” released by Firestation Records, Billberry Records and Clarendon Records. All German labels of course. The catalog number was FST060, BILB08, W66CD. On this compilation the band contributed a classic, “Really Down”.

As usual the booklet that came with the compilation came with information about the bands on it. About 35 Summers we learn quite a bit. This is what it says:
35 Summers were conceived in 1990 when songwriters Duncan Lomax and David Pichilingi left their current band Wake Up Africa. Although WUA had been well received, they had failed to get a record deal and Duncan and David were determined to be pop stars! They set about writing a new set of songs, honing and recording them without the influence of anyone else, then recruited band members around them, hand-picked to produce the sound that the lads had already recorded as demos. Right from the start, 35 Summers did it right – organising secret gigs where tickets were like gold dust, and signing to indie label Planet Records who released the band’s version of ‘Come Together’. 35 Summers were also busy producing a range of t-shirts that were to become more famous than the band. One, featuring Bill Shankly, legendary manager of Liverpool FC sold thousands and was soon being sported by fans of the band, LFC fans and celebrity admirers – Peter Hooton of The Farm wore one on the Farm’s “Groovy Train” video, and John Peel proudly wore his to the Reading Festival. John also booked the band for two BBC Radio 1 sessions, and these, along with TV appearances on regional and satellite TV helped to secure the band a major record deal with RCA. 35 Summers embarked on a series of UK tours, initially supporting EMF and Northside, but also as a headline act in their own right promoting their first RCA single “I Didn’t Try”. The single got into the lower reaches of UK charts and was soon followed by “Really Down” a piece of pure pop accompanied by a video shot in Spain which showed the band doing their best to drink the record company advance. Before the band’s album “Sketch” could be released, however, RCA had a change of management and decided that the future of the music was not in their impressive stable of indie bands, but newly-formed boy band “Take That”, and 35 Summers along with The Wedding Present and Pop Will Eat Itself headed for the door. 35 Summer’s album was never released by RCA but a version is now available from Japan’s Excellent Records. “Really Down” is taken from the album “Sketch” available from Excellent Records.

Quite interesting, right? One thing that does miss to point out is that in the year 2000, they were featured on a compilation called “Guitar Pop Jamboree – When it Started to Being” released by BMG (BVCM-31040) in Japan. Could it be that this compilation brought back the interest in the band? It was only after that they appeared on The Leamington Spa and on Excellent Record?

But let’s go back in time, we know they were in Wake Up Africa. I wrote about them some time ago. And when they became 35 Summers, as it was said the band signed to Planet Records to release their first single. It was The Beatles’ cover of  “Come Together” 12″ that included the “Come Together (Summer Mix)” on the A side and “Come Together 7″ Version (Shankly Mix)” and “Discotheque on the B side. On the cover of the sleeve we do see Bill Shankly. Was this the design that was used in their t-shirts? There was a video for this song of course. The video was recorded in Green Park, London, and on board of HMS President. The band also performed live “Come Together” on Granada Reports on November 3rd 1990. This version was recorded at Amazon Studios in Liverpool, while the single had been recorded in The Pink Museum also in Liverpool.

Then they signed to RCA. The “Really Down” single was released in a few different formats! The 7″ had “Really Down” on the A side and “To  Be the One” on the flipside. The catalog was RCA PB 44871. The CD single included three different versions of “Really Down”, the 7″ version, the club version and the extended version. The catalog number for the CD single was PD 44872. And lastly the 12″ included the same three different versions of the song, but in a different order, the extended version was first and then the club and 7″ versions. The catalog number for the maxi single was PT 44872. The producers for the songs were Duncan Lomax of the band and Keith Andrews. Andrews was the house engineer at Par Street Studios. The promo video of the song is on Youtube, recorded in Southern Spain and fueled by sangria. On Youtube too there is some footage of the band playing “Really Down” at the Granada TV’s “Celebration” arts programme at the Albert Dock in Liverpool.

The last single they put out while on RCA was “I Didn’t Try”. Again three different versions for the single. The 7″ had “I Didn’t Try” on the A side and “Jimmy Fear” on the B side. The CD single included four tracks, “I Didn’t Try (7″)”, “Jimmy Fear”, “I Didn’t Try (Extended)” and “I Didn’t Try (Club)”. The 12″ single had the same tracks but in a different order. The extended version was first while the 7″ version was last. Catalog number for both CD and maxi single was PT 44700. The 7″ had the catalog number PB 44699. The producers were again the same as in the previous single. The sleeve was created by Stew Leather. There was a promo video for this song as well. It was filmed in a studio in Manchester as well as various locations in Liverpool by Roger Appleton. There is also live footage of the band playing this song at the “Celebration” programme.

There is another video worth sharing. The band appeared on the TV show “The Power Station”. There they played the song “Discotheque“.

As mentioned they band released their unreleased album “Sketch” in 2003 on Excellent. Records from Japan (EXCD 008). This album, which I am looking for a copy these days, included 12 songs, “Really Down”, “I Didn’t Try”, “Candy”, “Let the Truth Be Known”, “Good Morning & Goodbye”, “Come Together”, “Victoria”, “Crocodile Tears”, “To Be the One”, “Jimmy Fear”, “Sheep” and “Discotheque”.

When it comes to compilations we know they had the song “Let the Truth Be Known” on the “Radio Cookie Scene 0011 April/May 2003” CD compilation that came together with the 30th number of the magazine Cookie Scene. Then the year after, in 2004, the song “Let the Truth Be Known (BBC Radio 5 Session Version)” was included in the Excellent. Records CD compilation “Pop Renaissance” (EXCD 014).

We haven’t mentioned the other band members. Of course there was Duncan Lomax (guitar) and David Pichilingi (vocals), but also there were Alan Currie (drums), Ian Greenwood (guitar) and Robbie Fay (bass). Lomax as mentioned in previous posts was on Wake Up Africa, Perfect and Hal. Pichilingi was on Wake Up Africa and Fiasco. Alan Currie had been on Fishmonkeyman, Kill Laura and playing with Paul Den Heyer. Ian Greenwood also played in Fishmonkeyman. Robbie Fay played in Fiasco.

Okay what about the Peel Sessions?

The first one dates from December 20, 1990, with Dale Griffin as producer. The songs that were recorded in this session were “Come Together”, “Good Morning and Goodbye” and “Discotheque”. We notice other band members here, Andy Hignett on drums and Jamie Southern on keyboards.

The 2nd Peel Session happened the next year. On August 22nd 1991 the band recorded again with Dale Griffing, “Loyalty”, “Really Down”, “Candy” and “Sheep”. This session is on Youtube thanks to the great Dave Driscoll.

When it comes go gigs, I found that they played with Dust and Jennifer Fever at the Hardman House on Friday 20th, September 1991. 3 pounds to get in.

I start to wonder how these sessions, and all their songs, haven’t been put together as a retrospective compilation?

These days we know Duncan Lomax is a successful photographer while David Pichilingi had been doing the festival Liverpool Sound City and previously ran the label Robot Records. In 2014 the band 35 Summers actually reformed to play at the Sound City festival and the Anfield Wrap’s Christmas Party.

And that’s it for today. Interestingly you can still buy their famous t-shirts at many different online stores! Who remembers 35 Summers?

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Listen
35 Summers – Really Down

Day 286

Breakfast Clouds: oh!! what a nice discovery this band from Manila, Philippines! Their latest was the “Treehouse” EP that was released last August and it is really a beauty. How did it go under my radar. The three songs that make up the EP are just dreamy and perfectly crafted. This is truly good, deserves a physical release!

A Zu La: the latest release on the very good Shiny Happy Records is a digital single by this new project by Guntur. The song is titled “Go Out” and it is a fine slice of bedroom pop (actually recorded at Guntur’s room). There’s not much more info about it, but hopefully there are more songs soon.

Oeil: after a long silence these Japanese shoegazers are back with a fuzzy and warm song called “Perfect”. It is catchy, very MBV, too. There are also t-shirts on sale if that’s your thing!

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: and of course, there had to be some Christmas songs by the most prolific indiepop artist around. The two new songs are titled “We Won’t Come Home at Christmas Time” and “Holiday Cheer (In Spite of it All”, and of course they are jingle jangly!

EggS: the French fuzzy band is back with a song called “Old Fashion Virtue” that seems to be released in a cassette. Is it just the one song in the cassette called “An Unexpected Christmas Gift”? It is not 100% clear to me. Seems a bit bad to just include one song on a tape, right? But then it is a very nice song.

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There are still a bunch of superb obscure bands that were on The Sound of Leamington Spa series released by Firestation Records that need to be featured on the blog. I don’t know how many, but I do feel most of them deserve a mention here as they were important to me in discovering indiepop!

So for example from the first ever CD of the series, “The Sound of Leamington Spa Vol. 1” (FST 008) we need to cover so many bands! So far on the blog I’ve had features/interviews with Episode 4, Where Gardens Fall, The Anyways, The Hepburns, The Siddeleys, The Desert Wolves, The Clamheads, Sister Rain, The Wishing Stones and The Aurbisons. That’s about half of the bands! So we are missing still a bunch, but today I want to revisit one that was a nice surprise when I first heard this CD as it was a band I had never heard before, not even their name, Asia Fields from Manchester.

By now they must be familiar with everyone. The compilation came out in the year 2000. And even in 2017 Firestation Records released a compilation album called “Goodbye Frank” (FST 146) on both LP and CD that is a must have for any serious indiepop fan.

I must say they were quite mysterious to me too because on the Leamington Spa booklet, every band had some info about them, but for Asia Fields there was nothing. Just a short discography! I was able though to find a copy of their first release, the “Burst” 12″ on eBay I think. For a good price probably. I don’t like paying crazy prices.

The “Burst” 12″ is really good, it includes the song that was on the Leamington Spa compilation, “Dazed”, on the B side. The other two songs were “Save Me” on the A side and “Ain’t That Just What Love Is” as the 2nd song on the B side. This record came out on Frank Records (12 FRANK 001) and I believe this label was the band’s own. The A side was engineered at Spirit Studios (Manchester) while the B side at Square One Studios (Bury). Graham Massey (from 808state) was the engineer. The credits are a bit extensive on this one, so we know that Graham Maley played guitar and sang as well as wrote the songs, Mark Finch played guitar, David Jones the bass, Paul Hewitt played bongos, percussion, backing vocals, David Keane played congas and percussion, Eamonn Sheehe played drums and percussion and Andy Preston played keyboards. The record came out in 1990 and the artwork is credited to Rob Taylor with help by Pete Rogers on the typography.

The band would release two more records during their time. Frank 02 was a 12″ white label for “Friction” on the A side and “Jackknifed” on the B side. It seems this record came with a band photo and a press sheet where it mentions that the band hailed from Oldham and was formed in 1989. The songs in this single were produced by Chris Nagle and it says that these songs were taken from the band’s forthcoming album that was to be released on vinyl and CD. This album never happened sadly.

One thing to notice too is that the records had some runout etchings. They are quite strange. For example in the “Friction” 12″ it says on the A side “BAKAWITHAFRAKATHATAMAKEYAHANDACLAPPAANOTHERAPORKAPRIMACUTA” while on the B side “ITTUKALIDDLEWYLABUD WE BAK TO MAKE YA SMILA YERRANUTHAPRIMACUTA”. The “Burst” 12″ is less mysterious, “MIKE’S-THE EXCHANGE MPO” on the A side and “MPO” on the B side.

Lastly in 1998 the band released a CD single with two songs, “Crazy Caroline” and “Stabilize” on Long Jump Records (AFCD 001). There’s really no info for this CD.

What else do we know about the band members? We know that Graham Maley was in a band afterwards called The Homelys. Eamonn Sheehe has played with Steve Diggle (Buzzcocks) and supported some big names. He has been a drum teacher for some time. David Keane guested in the song “Caravan” by the Inspiral Carpets.

But as I said, luckily Firestation Records released “Goodbye Frank”, a compilation that included the songs from their first 2 records and more. I wonder why not the CD single? In any case this was the tracklist “Dazed”, “Save Me”, “Ain’t That Just What Love Is”, “There is No-One to Save You”, “God Only Knows”, “Friction”, “Jackknifed”, “Know Who You Are”, “Chances”, “Waking Up”, “Sneakin”, “That Feeling”, “Hummingbird”, “Bluke”, “You’re Not Even Born (Live)”.

Another question, so there is that live song last. Where was this one played? Somewhere in Manchester? Would be nice to know where. The good thing is that Graham Maley wrote for the accompanying booklet.

Here it changes the timeline. It says now that the band was formed in 1985 by Graham Maley and Tony Welsh. The city is still the same, Oldham. They got a room to practice at the Guide Bridge Mill. Clint Boon owned this room. One day liking what he heard he asked to record a demo of the band. Here we see that the band grows, but we see some different names. This first lineup included Chris Goodwin on drums, David and Alan Keane on bongos, congas and percussion, David Jones on bass and two backing singers, Viv Hughes and Louise Butterworth. So, what songs were recorded with this lineup? What songs were on that first demo recorded by Boon?

The lineup I mentioned earlier was actually the 1987/1988 lineup. That lineup is the one that did most of the band’s recorded output. Aside from the two studios and engineers I mentioned earlier they also used Noise Box where Steve Lloyd engineered. On their later recordings Dave Wells is on drums and Christian Butterworth (family of Louise?) on bongos.

The band would support the Inspiral Carpets in 1989 at The International. After that the band gained a following. They mention that they turned down offers from big labels, interviews from the music papers and magazines. They wanted to remain indie. That’s quite interesting.

Then Graham tells a bit about his creative process, how the band was ahead of the wave, mixing dance grooves before Madchester exploded.

We can also mention that the song “Dazed” was included in the Cherry Red boxset “Manchester North of England – A Story of Independent Music Greater Manchester 1977-1993” that came out in 2017.

But there’s more. There is a Facebook page for the band. The band is actually selling t-shirts of their original iconic design of the “Burst” 12″. Very cool. But let’s see what else we can learn.

One thing I find almost immediately is that while in Oldham College Graham and Tony Welsh had a few bands. The first one was called Jazmedia and lasted until 1982. Afterwards they had a project called Aldo in Arcadia which it says that there were some recordings made. Would be good to listen to these! Then after Asia Fields, they reunited to form the band Go Cosmic around 2002.

Then I find that in 2017 the band put together a digital album. It was released by Cherry Red.  It turns out that this record is actually the unreleased album of the band from 1999. The story tells the band went into the Noise Box Studio to record the album, and when the album was ready the call from the label person never came. The album was then stored in a garage, then in a loft, and then after many years rediscovered. The songs on it were “Switch”, “Crackpot”, “I Will Not Follow”, “Bluff”, “Jackknifed”, “Drive Us Away”, “Stabilise”, “You’re Not Even Born” and “The Good Goodbye”.

Another great thing about the page is that there are lots of photos of the band Among the photos there is a photo of a demo tape dating from 1997 with three songs at least, “Know Who You Are”, “Chances” and “Waking Up”. It seems the band doesn’t remember much about this one! Though it does look they were planning to release these songs as a CD single at some point, they even made posters for it!

Other photos tell us that the band played alongside The Ambitious Beggars on May 11, 1990. Another gig we know they played was at The Ritz on July 17 that same year (or 1989?). Or what about them playing in the Hop & Grape with The Mock Turtles on December 9th on again 89 or 1990?

And if you care, there’s a promo video for the song “Friction” on Youtube!

I wasn’t expecting much on the web but there actually is quite some good amount of info. I find an interview by Louder than War with Graham Maley. Here they ask many questions I would ask!

A blog called Even the Stars reviews the “Goodbye Frank” compilation and adds one detail I wasnt aware, Graham Maley latest band was actually called Aluna Pop Ups. He is also the author of two books, “The Difference We Make” and “We are Waking Up”.

And that’s it for today. Quite a good amount of information. I feel I know even more about the band now. How cool. Who remembers them?

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Listen
Asia Fields – Dazed

Day 283

Cats Never Die: a new discovery, a very good pop band from Perm, Russia, that has just released and EP titled “Нити”. It has 6 songs of fine jangly indiepop. Don’t know much about the band but I am really enjoying this record. Wish it was released in physical format.

Did You Die: now we head to Vancouver for this band’s latest EP, “Diamond Heights”. The band formed by Richie Felix Alexander, Luke Bodi, Madison Penland and Amanda Doucette have made here 4 great shoegaze songs. They have been going for a while, so I definitely have to check their previous releases.

Magazines: now let’s travel to Dublin to check out this 4-piuece formed by Cath, Shayne, Tom and Dan. Their latest song is called “Pink and Blue” and it is really really good. A very fine slice of pop. This year without traveling has been rough for me, and one of the trips I remember a lot is the one I went to Dublin a few years back. It was so short. And didn’t catch any bands playing live. I hope to return. And hopefully I see Magazines live.

All Ashore!: the Sheffield band have a brand new song, one not included in their album “Perfect Pop Song”! It is called “In Front of the Gas Fire”. It is a bit different to their previous output, much of a lo-fi bedroom pop song, but enjoyable nonetheless!

The Aislers Set: “Cold Christmas” was recorded 10 years ago, in 2010, by two of The Aislers Set members, Linton and Cusick. Now this song is available to all the public on Bandcamp. This is a real treasure!

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Dorian Gray is a fictional character and the protagonist of Oscar Wilde’s 1890 novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. He is an aristocratic Victorian man.

After the post I did about the band Yachines from France a friend from Japan wrote me pointing me out to the music of Dorian Gray.

I had written this line on my post (Les Inrockuptibles) also mention that Olivier Brion used to be in a band called Dorian Gray. Would be nice to find recordings by this band!

That same day I published my post about the Yachines I got a message on Twitter, just pointing me to a Youtube link and also to Discogs. It felt suddenly a mission. Find out more information about Dorian Gray. Will I be able to find it?

Okay, the one detail I know is that Olivier Brion was in the band. So far, that’s it. We know Olivier was in Discover after the Yachines and also released music solo. One thing I don’t remember finding out is if they hailed from Paris or another city. I think they were from Paris but I can’t say.

But there are some details that are easily available on the web. Let’s see.

The band released just one 7″, in 1990, on the Dexon label. The catalog number was S1001. It seems this label hailed from Belgium according to Discogs. There are many bands listed as part of the catalogue there but they seem off, like if they were of a different Dexon label. Who would know?

In any case the release had two songs, “A Lonely Night” on the A side and “Lolita” on the B side. The songs were produced by Pierre Delfosse, a Belgian producer who was in SX 96 and Why Not James?, and were recorded by Jean-Paul Lebens at Pyramid Studio in November 1989.

I am quite curious why they ended up in a Belgian label instead of a French one. Did they had more of a following there?

Luckily I found a Facebook page for the band. I wasn’t expecting this. Here it mentions the band was signed to Dexon but actually distributed by New Rose. They played many of the most important Parisian venues, Golf Druout, Locomotive, Espace Ornano and eventually released an album on CD called “Rain” in 1991! Okay! I didn’t know this. I need to track this album!

In the meantime I explore what’s on the page. We see that the band played in Reims in 1990 at L’Usine. Even cooler there is a live performance of the band playing “Girl in My Room“. It dates from 1990 in the Rock en France festival in Reims! On this same website they have a video of them promoting their single playing live “A Lonely Night“, amazing!

We find too that the band hailed from Charleville-Mézières. And that’s close to Belgium! Okay now things start to make some sense.

I am trying to find more info of the “Rain” album. So far I’ve found that there was a superb song called “In the Garden”. As you can imagine with the band’s name it is very very hard to find any information.

I try and try to find a tracklist for the album, at least which label released it. But I can’t seem to find anything through Google. I think this time I will need someone that owns the record to help me.

Also I don’t know the names of the band members. It seems it was 4 guys and 1 girl. We know Olivier Brion was one. But no clue about the rest!

So who remembers them?!

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Listen
Dorian Gray – A Lonely Night

Day 281.

The Blue Herons: what a great new song by the Lucerne, Switzerland, project formed by Andy Jossi and Gretchen DeVault. It is called “Go On” and it is a bright jangly track, reminding me of the fantastic Language of Flowers. What else can you ask! Top tune.

The Gabriels: a new indiepop band from the Midlands formed by Gudg, Fran, Leon and Stuart! The band have just uploaded their first song on Bandcamp called “Loose Canyon” and it is really lovely. The band says they are working on their debut album now. So we have that to look forward. But we need more than one song while we wait. Please release more tracks!

Gladie: this Philadelphia duo has been recommended in the past and why not do it again? Their new EP called “Raw Nerve” has three fun popsongs, “Got Nothing For Ya”, “No Call List” and a cover of “Song for the Man” by the Beastie Boys.

Slow Decades: now we jump back to the UK, to Newcastle. There this fine pop band called Slow Decades have released a new single called “Ambient Violence” which was recorded at the band’s own practice space. This is very well crafted lo-fi chamber pop. Sweet.

Monster Blomster: what a nice discovery, never heard this 1990s Trondheim, Norway band! My introduction is this self-titled 1993 demo tape. Their later releases are a bit rockier it seems but this tape has some solid songs!

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Maylove! For my seasons challenge, I choose the Japanese band who wrote the song “Spring Fever”!

I really like Japanese indiepop of the 90s. There are so many terrific songs and I have covered quite a few on the blog. Today I’ll feature one of the most important bands even though they never put out an album, just singles!

According to Discogs the earliest release of the band is a self-titled tape from 1992!! Most possibly this is a band’s demo. There is no catalog number and looks like a self-release. The songs on this cassette were “The Lionhead Fountain”, “Russian Hands and Roman Fingers” and “My Own Fellowship”.

The next year, 1993, the band releases their first 7″. It wouldn’t come out on a Japanese label but on the US based Sunday Records (Sunday 027). This 7″ had three songs, “Sing Little Clam Sing” on the A side and “Russian Hands and Roman Fingers” and “My Own Fellowship” on the B side. A very similar release to the first tape, right? Maybe Sunday Records heard this demo and picked the band?

The vocals of Maylove are credited to Mami Otomo and all instruments to Keisuke Hatsuda. Both of them involved in well known Japanese indiepop bands. Mami being in Bridge, Case of Cytherea and Chicago Bass. Keisuke had been in the great Budgie Jacket.

That same year, 1993, they had the song “Don’t Turn Me Back” on the tape comp “A Love Like Lead!” released in Japan by Lionhead Fountain (was this their own label? I ask because they had a song with the same name?). “My Own Fellowship” was also included in a compilation that same year, it was on the “Smash Tinkle – International Pop Underground” released by Pico Records from Germany.

1994 would be quite prolific. There were two 7″s on Motorway Records including the first reference on the label. “Come into My Cheeks” 7″ (MOTOR 001) had the title song and “The Boy Next Door” on the A side and “Hey Day” on the B side. “Blue Walking Shore” 7″ (MOTOR 004) had the title song also on the A side, and two on the B side, “Objector” and “That Scent”.

On the Contrast label compilation 7″, “Split Single Club” (CT 002), they had the song “Rosy”. Then the song “Drake Upward” appears on the Swedish compilation tape “Second Half” released by Records from the Cookie Nose Tower (003) and “Big Business Monkey” is on “A Tribute to Daniel Johnston Vol. 3″ compilation 7″ released by Little Teddy Recordings (LiTe 178).

1995 sees the light of a 4-song EP 7” on Elefant Records called “Girl of a Girl Dreaming” (ER 130). The A side had “All I Need is For Your Faith” and “In a Tinderbox Love Song” and the B had “Lionhead Fountain” and “Girl of a Girl Dreaming”. And now the spring song, “Spring Fever”, appears on the SpinART Records (SPART 39) compilation “LemonLive Volume One… A Pop Compilation”.

Their last 7″ came out in 1996. It was “That Word Big But” released in the US label Fuzzy Box (FUZ 004). The songs on it were “Wild Carnation” on the A side and “Drake Upward” and “Motorway Lights and Cars Beneath Us” on the flipside. The song “My Own Fellowship” also appears on the Elefant Records (ER 1029) compilation “Elefant Radio 68.2 FM Stereo”. Amazing really that the band released in so many countries!

The next appearances on compilations date from the year 2000 and both were on Sunday Records. “Russian Fingers, Roman Hand” appears on “Rolling Meadows Songs About Our Past Vol. 2” (SUNDAY 850) and “Don’t Turn Me Back” and “The Boy Next Door” on the “Sunny Sunday Smile Volume 2” (SUNDAY 880) CD compilations.

There is also another tape compilations called “Anorak Demos” that was put together by Anorak Records in France sometime in the early 90s. I don’t know what year it was released, but the band had the three early songs from their first tape on it, “The Lionhead Fountain”, “Russian Hands and Roman Fingers” and “My Own Fellowship”.

One interesting fact that I see on my friend’s Alex blog 7iete Pulgadas is that he says that Keisuke Hatsuda was the person behind Motorway Records! That makes sense!

But is there more information about this great band on the web? I don’t seem to have much luck looking for details about the band. When did they start? How did they meet? When did they split? Were there more releases? Did they play many gigs? Who would know?

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Listen
Maylove – Spring Fever

Thanks so much to Nana, Milk and Fumi, The Harriets!! The Harriets are a newish band from Japan that make catchy bubbly pop a la All Girl Summer Fun Band, Heavenly, Betty and the Werewolves, etc. You get the gist! The band released a zine not too long ago which you can find here. Oh and they also have a Soundcloud! The band is one of my favourite discoveries as of late and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Japanese readers, the interview is also available in Japanese here.

++ Hi Nana, Milk and Fumi! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Still making music?

Nana: Hello! Nice to meet you! Thank you for giving us such a great opportunity  this time!

Milk: Hello! We are very excited to be interviewed !

Fumi: Hello! Yes, we are so glad to be interviewed!

++ 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 to at home while growing up?

Fumi: Well, I was playing the piano when I was a little.

Milk: Ah, I was playing YAMAHA Electone. itʼs quite popular in Japan, but Iʼm not sure  in the U.S. though…

Nana: I see, I was playing the piano and the guitar. But I was not good at the piano. Fumi : What sort of music we listened to when we were little…

Milk: When we were little, maybe Japanese pops at the time?

Nana: Yeah, watching music TV program and listening to the radio… I tried to record  my favorite songs in my cassette tape. Haha.

++ Had you been in other bands before The Harriets? If so, how did all of these bands sound? I know Milk was in Kung-Fu Girl, a great band whose album I have (thanks again)! Any other bands? Any recordings by these other bands?

Nana: Yes, I used to play another band called ʻʼTwinkleTwinkles” before. It was a three  piece girls band too. We released two mini albums and one 7 inch. I played this  band quite long time, so members changed many times. Fumi also  played together temporary.

Fumi: Yeah , before ”Twinkle Twinkles”, I was playing another band called “ice cream  shout”. We released an album at the time.

Nana: I really liked the band! We used to play at the same event a few times at the  time.

++ Where were you from originally?

Milk: We are from Kansai area such as Osaka, Hyogo and Wakayama.

++ How is Osaka for you? 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?

Nana: For me, I was born here, so I have a lot of memories. Osaka is quite a big city so there are many good places and cool bands too!

Fumi: Yeah! Ah, we should definitely recommend “Glasgow Shokudo” !

Milk: Yes, definitely! Haha!

Itʼs a restaurant inspired from Glasgowʼs anorak music.

Nana: Not only they have a good atmosphere but also serve excellent cuisine. Milk: Club wonder is also recommendable place, isnʼt it?

Fumi: Yeah, absolutely! Ah, “NOON+CAFE” is also good place! We often go there.

Nana: Yeah, some great music events often take place there like “Anorak days”.  At this event, All DJs play only analog LP and they know tons of good music.  So we can enjoy anytime we go there.   And speaking of analog LP, very good record bar, “Mile high club” is also very recommendable place! Itʼs like a museum for indie music lover.

Fumi: Yeah, thatʼs true!  The owner of “Mile high club”, Shoji-sanʼs band “DEBONAIRE” is of course  the legend of neo acoustic band in Japan.

So whenever we go there, we can learn good bands and music.

Milk: Yeah, and about band in Kansai, there are very cool band here too! I like bands called “Manchester school㲇” and “Kutsushita”.

Nana: I like them too! I also like “Lady flash” and “death by dumplings”

++ Speaking of favourite bands, who would you say are your favourite contemporary Japanese bands? Maybe a top 5? Would love to discover more great Japanese indiepop!

Nana: A top five…Thatʼs very difficult question! Haha. Ah I really like a band called “toddle”. they are major band though. Milk: Iʼm big fan of Spitz since I was little!

Fumi: Yeah, I also like them !

Nana: Ah absolutely! I love Spitz too! Ah if we say indie bands we like are…

Milk: I like “THE PATS PATS” and “cattle”.

Nana: I think my friend Mikiʼs solo project “h-shallows” is also very cool!

Fumi: Yeah, they are very groovy!  I like “Caraway” too.

Nana: Yeah, I really like them too!

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

Nana: First, I met Fumi at a live event. At the time we were playing in different bands,  but music taste was very similar so we got along with soon.

Fumi: Yeah, it was already about 10 years ago…

Nana: I see, I canʼt believe it… then about 2 years ago, I went to a live event in Kobe  as an assistant and saw Kung-Fu girlʼs gig. I was so surprised because I didnʼt know there was such a good band in  Osaka! Then I tried to talk to Milk soon.

Milk: Yeah! I was also surprised that our favorite bands were almost the same!

Nana: Yeah, also we were living very close! Then I asked her phone number and a  few months later, I asked her to play together. After that, I thought it might be good to ask Fumi as well.

++ How is the creative process for you? Where do you usually practice?

Milk : Nana and I write songs normally. We usually bring demos to the studio and arrange together.

Nana: Nowadays, Fumi also made good one!

Fumi: Haha thanks!

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

Milk: When we have to decide the band name because of our first gig,  we asked our good friend, DJ Harada about it and he suggested his favorite  record labelʼs name ( Harriet records).  He said he wanted to name it if he made his own band someday.

Nana: Then, We liked it immediately! it sounds very pretty and the record label was  also very good!

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

Milk: We are influenced 80ʼs 90ʼs indie pop bands ,such as Tiger trap, Heavenly… Nana : Yeah, Talulah gosh, All girl summer fan band…

Fumi: Jesus and Mary chain… and so on.

++ I was reading a Japanese interview of yours, and one thing that caught my attention was that you all tell your Zodiac sign. I don’t know much about the Zodiac, but what does your sign mean to each of you? Are your signs complementary to each other perhaps?

Fumi: Wow! Thank you for checking our interview! we are very glad to hear that!  Ah about zodiac sign, mine is Aquarius and it is said that full of curiosity and  thinking logically. Well, I donʼt think so…

Milk: Mine is Virgo and it is said that person who has kindness and hospitality… Fumi : I think thatʼs so you!

Nana: Yeah! it is! Mine is Leo and it is said that creative and free-spirited person… Fumi : Wow itʼs so you too!

Milk: Haha, yes!

++ Your first release is a zine pack that includes a CDR with “Under the Moonlight (under the Sea Party Ver.)” and “Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Moe”. I would love tom know more about this release. What’s included in the fanzine for example? And how come only two songs are included?

Milk: Ah about zine pack which we released nowadays, Itʼs actually zine is the main  thing.

Fumi: Yeah, First, we were just making zine with our friend, Kinoko Nishida who is an illustrator and CDR was supposed to be an extras.

Nana: Then we recorded our original 2 songʼs party special version!  This Zine is included CDR and mini sticker.

++ I know, aside from the two songs on the zine pack, two more songs, “I Don’t Care” and “Last Night”. Were these songs released in any way? Or only online?

Nana: Oh! Thank you for checking our other songs too!!  We are so happy to hear that. We released those 2 songs by cassette tapes included download code.

++ Are there plans for future releases now? Are there labels interested in your music?

Milk: Yes, we are planning to record our full album now.

Nana: We wish we could release it from a good label !

++ So, as I was saying, I know 4 songs. But are there more recordings by The Harriets?

Fumi: So far , we have just that 4 songs. We have more than 10 songs so we are  planning to record them in our album.

++ And speaking of recordings, where do you usually record them? DO you have a producer?

Milk: We usually record in a studio in Osaka by ourselves.

Fumi: We donʼt have any producer.

++ The song “Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Moe” has a video which is so much fun. I have a few questions about this video. First where was this recorded? Where is this beach? Did you get to swim after the video recording ended?

Fumi: Thank you for watching the Music video! We recorded it in a small beach which is called “ Tokimeki beach”  (Tokimeki means “my heart beats fast” in Japanese. ) in the south of Osaka.

Nana: It was a very hot day. we didnʼt swim because it was too hot to swim…

++ Second, what is for picnic? I notice while you are shopping at the supermarket you have face masks, was this recorded during the Covid-19 pandemic?

Nana: Yeah, we went picnic and shot it this summer so it was during the Covid-19  pandemic. We thought that we should definitely go to a quiet outside place in this  situation. Then we decided to go on a picnic in this quiet beach. We had face mask all the time and went there by our car.

++ And third, at one point in the video you are in a recording studio with a two guy, who are they? The producers?

Milk: Ah, they are not our producers, they are our good friends, DJ MOKUO and DJ  RYU.

Fumi: They helped our recording and made playlists for our ZINE.

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

Milk: Thank you very much! We like “All girl summer fun band” and their song called “Theme song “. I was  inspired from that. I wanted to make the song like fun party.

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

Nana: I like every song, I cannot choose one.

Milk and Fumi: We canʼt either .Haha.

++ What about gigs? Have you played many? 

Milk: Nowadays, we havenʼt been able to play like before because of the Covid-19  pandemic.

Nana: Before that, we did our gigs in Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo.

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

Milk: The best gigs… thatʼs difficult. The very first gig was quite impressive for me  though.

Fumi: Yeah, every gig is good memories for me.

Nana: Yes, I think so. but I was so happy when we performed in Nagoya.  Because right after we finished playing, many people gather and  complimented us.

++ And has there been any bad ones?

Nana: Well, we always enjoy gigs ! always get nervous though…

++ Has there been interest from the radio? TV?

Milk: Well, there has been a local radio program once played our songs .  We were very surprised but it was so glad!

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

Fumi: Well, I donʼt think so.

Nana: We are very DIY band, so we announce our works by using our official twitter  and instagram.

++ What about from fanzines?

Nana: No, sadly we havenʼt had any message yet.

++ So far, for The Harriets, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?

Nana: I think it might be our organized Christmas live event in last year.

Fumi: Yeah, the venue was a normal hamburger shop. So we had to prepare a lot of  things, but it was very fun!

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

Milk: I like cooking and watching movies.

Fumi: Me too! I like watching movies and sewing.

++ Never been to Japan, nor Osaka, so would love to know your recommendations, what are the sights one shouldn’t miss in your town? What about the foods and drinks one should try?

Nana: Oh! Please come to Japan when everything settles down. If you like, we are happy to show you good places here!

Milk: In Osaka, Maybe you should go to “Umeda Sky Building Garden” .

Nana: Yeah, Tsutenkaku area is also very OSAKA-ish place.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Nana: Again, Thank you for offering us this time!

Milk: Yeah, it was really fun!

Fumi: Yes, One day we would love to play in the U.S.!

Nana and Milk: Yeah, yeah! We want to go there!

Nana: Also we wish we could release 12 inch record too!

Milk and Fumi: yes, it is!

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Listen
The Harriets – Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Moe

Day 279.

Comfort and Joy – A Shiny Happy Christmas Compilation: what an amazing compilation for this Christmas season! The Indonesian label Shiny Happy Records have put together a 23 song compilation with tons of great indiepop tunes by lots of bands we love including Nixon, Apple Orchard, Starry Eyed Cadet, The Suncharms, Den Baron and more. This album is a must!

Gas Station Coffee: here’s a nice song by this solo project by a guy from Cincinnati, Ohio, called Jude. Recorded on his own cellphone the song is called “I Am My Own Virtual Pet :: Cats Dig Don Cherry”, is a nice slice of lo-fi bedroom pop.

Full Power Happy Hour: a new discovery for me. A jangly band from Brisbane formed by Alex, Grace, Caroline, Joe and Finn, that is releasing a self-titled album on vinyl and CD on February 19th. Right now we can preview two of the songs, the opening and the closing ones of the album, “Old Mind of Mine” and “Steely Fences”.

The Bv’s: our friends are back with a new song! And it is a Christmas season song of course! It is called “I Hope There’s No Snow” and sounds amazing (as usual). The Bv’s is definitely one of the best bands of the last few years and I am eagerly waiting for their next release!

Flowers: more friends that released records recently! Flowers put out a 7″ pm Slumberland Records a few weeks ago. It has two songs, “Erik” and “Candour” and they were classic Flowers songs, with Rachel’s unique vocals and their fuzzy guitars! Good stuff! As soon as I return to NY I have to order this!

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Here we are again for yet another post, another great indiepop band from Germany!

This time, for my seasons challenge, I chose Knabenkraut from Hamburg, Germany, who wrote the great song “Hot Winter Rain” on their 2014 album “Someone Still Loves You”!

This band is quite rare for many that I feature on the blog, they have a website! And it works. They also have a Facebook page though not updated much.

The band actually seems to have been born from the ashes of Red Letter Day. Three out of their four band members would end up in Knabenkraut. That is Oliver Goetzl on vocals and drums, Gerrit Herlyn (Oliver and Gerrit had been in the Jesterbells earlier on) on guitar and bass and Thomas Overdick (who wrote the fanzine Pearl) on guitar and bass. The only “new” member was Björn Steffens (from the band Connery) on keyboards, guitar and bass. The band was born in 1995.

There were some more lineup additions, for the band to end as a 7-piece, Carsten Schreiber (from Ms. Wallace and Alaska) became the band’s drummer in 1998 and Melanie Hamdorff joined sa a vocalist in 2003 (previously she had been a guest singer for the band). Johnny J. Müske joined as bassist in 2004.

All of the band’s releases would appear on Marsh-Marigold records. That makes a lot of sense, see Oliver is the person behind the label! It all makes sense.

Ok, what does Knabenkraut means? A quick translation on the web tells me it is a type of orchid, a purple one, very pretty!

What else should we know? Well their releases of course! The band only have two proper releases, two albums, and they took a while to be released if you consider the band formed in 1995 and released their first album in 2002 and the 2nd in 2014!

The first album is called “True Love Can Wait” (MARI 22) and sports an orchid illustration by Max Schulze on the sleeve. The album included 14 songs, “Heaven”, “Swing”, “Riverbeds”, “Promising”, “Pink Fool”, “You Can’t Have the Cake and Eat it”, “Past”, “Stay”, “Rescue”, “Explain”, “Bluebottle”, “Same for Kisses”, “Instead” and “Certain Fall”. The album was recorded by Rainer Heesh, Fredrik Martol and Tord Nikolaisen in Liverpool at the LIPA Studio 4 and 3 and also in Hamburg at Off Ya’ Tree between autumn 2000 and spring 2002. It was mixed at the Liverpool Studio and mastered by Helge Halvé.

The second album, “Someone Still Loves You” (MARI 27), had 12 songs, “Suspense”, “Broken Vow”, “Hibernation II”, “Is there A Place?”, “Beautiful Faces”, “Sunday Rest”, “Shinkansen”, “Johnny & Mary” (a cover of Robert Palmer’s original), “Hot Winter Rain”, “Bessie’s Song to Her Doll”, “White Winter Clouds” and “Heaven (reprise)”.

This CD has amazing artwork by Jeff Cain. Illustrations of different animals abound Tiger, hyena, lynx, bear, vulture and more. On this album we know that Frank Grischek helped with trumpets on a few songs. That “Bessie’s Song to Her Doll” is based on a Lewis Carroll poem and “Is There a Place?” is based on thoughts by Rüdiger Hamman.

Aside from the two albums the band participated on a few compilations. Starting in 1997 with the song “Hot Winter Rain” on the Noiseworks Records (NW 153) CD comp “Voices of the Suburban Youth (A Fieberkurve – Compilation Vol. 3)” and continuing with many more.

So, in 1998 the band appears with “Same for Kisses” on Big Noise Records’ “Your Favourite Waste of Time (Fieberkurve – Compilation Vol. 5)” (BN 538) and also with “Hot Winter Rain (Demo version)” on the “Seven Fantastic Cats (Marsh-Marigold Compilation)” 7″ comp that got released in Japan by Clover Records (707).

In 1999 they contribute “Hot Winter Rain (demo)” to “Clover Club: A Clover Compilation 1” (CLDCD 406) again on Clover. The same song, to the same label.

In 2003 their song “Promising” appears on “SPEX CD #27”. Spex being a music magazine in Germany of course. Then in 2004 they have “Heaven” on the terrific compilation “Pop Renaissance” by Excellent Records (EXCD 014) from Japan and lastly in 2008 the song “Riverbeds” appear on “Series Two Compilation Vol. 8” in the US.

We also know about gigs thanks to their website. We know that they toured Japan in 2003 playing Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Fukuoka, Nagoya, Shizuoka and Sendai. Wow! All gigs had the great Miniskirt supporting them. But other Japanese bands also joined like Sloppy Joe, Snowflakes, Red Go-Kart, Film 400, Pervenche, Swining Popsicle, Mushroom Cloud, Pepe & Prima and Kotolis.

Something to check out is Peter Twee.net’s diary from Japan. He accompanied the band during the tour and has written about it.

In Germany they played mostly in Hamburg (with Coem, Sodastream and Love Dance) as well as in Kassel (Sodastream again) and Berlin (With Spearmint). I see that in Hamburg they played at the Astrastube. That bring so many good memories to me. How I wish to go back there!

Something that many would find interesting is that Oliver is actually a zoologist and animal filmmaker. He studied at the University of Hamburg and graduated as a biologist. He has made documentaries like “Wolverines – Hyenas of the North” as well as working with the BBC making episodes for the film series of Wild Russia or Wild Scandinavia. Very cool! You can check his filmography here.

What do the other members of Knabenkraut when not making music? That’s a good question I hope to get answers soon.

Another good question will be if the band is still going? Are there more songs coming up? Marsh-Marigold seems very quiet these days.

But this was a nice way to remember the label and one of their bands. I really like all the bands Oliver has been in. I’ve worked with The Seashells and have interviewed The Legendary Bang. I wrote a little piece about My Guru Says. I think I should do more about this terrific label. But to start, let me know who remembers Knabenkraut?!

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Listen
Knabenkraut – Hot Winter Rain

Day 276.

Sugar World: the San Diego band is back with four songs, four covers. They are “Just Like Christmas” by Low, “Anorak Christmas” by Nixon, “Blue Christmas” by Elvis and “Merry Christmas Darling” by The Carpenters. They are all packed in an EP called “A Sugar Christmas”.

Cour De Récré: this new French group formed by Stan, Quentin and Chloe are releasing a new song called “Vice et Werther” on Elefant Records. There is a video for the fun synth-driven song as well. At this time the band is preparing their first mini-LP for the the Spanish label.

Perrogato: one of our favourite Chilean bands has just came out with an album titled “Me Gusta Más La Diversion” that has 12 songs of fun indiepop. They are being released by the also Chilean label Gemelo Parásito Records. Sadly the album seems to be available only on digital format. How we’d like a CD version at least. In any case, great effort Cheché, Danko, Ricardo, Sofia and Cristobal!

Send No Flowers: wow! I love this Linköping band from the 90s! And now they are on Bandcamp. Maybe I could interview them? Their latest upload to this site is “The First Lachen Session” which includes an alternative mix of their classic song “Learning French”. Wow. So cool!

Youth Valley: and the lates in this review is the EP by Youth Valley that Make Me Happy Records has on Bandcamp. It seems it will be out only digitally, which is a shame of course, the three songs are terrific. But maybe as they are a brand new band it makes sense to see how the fans respond? I wonder. In any case, play them a lot, they are very good. Maybe we can convince the label to put out a 7″! Wouldn’t that be great?

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The turn is now for “autumn” in the seasons challenge. So what about “Autumn” by the superb late 90s band The Castaway Stones? A band that featured important DC indiepop legends like Dan Searing (drums) from Glo-Worm, The Saturday People, Whorl or Lu, Greg Pavlovcak (guitar/bass) from The Saturday People, The Ropers or The Still, and Pam Berry  (vocals/guitar) from Black Tambourine, Bright Coloured Lights, Glo-Worm, The Pines, The Relict, The Shapiros, Veronica Lake or Bel Étage.

I think I own almost all of the records the band released. I think I am missing one split 7″ and their compilation appearances. But that’s not bad. One can only own a limited amount of indiepop records, right?

I believe the band’s first appearance is the 1998 split 7″ on Brittle Stars Records also from Washington, DC. This split 7″ had the band contributing the song “Daydream of You at Night” on the A side, and the great band Dearly (who I have written about) contributing “No Respect” on the flipside. The catalog number for this 7″ is BSR 003 and we that The Castaway Stones song was recorded at The Pre New Studios by Archie Moore. The 7″ sleeve was designed by Ocean Design.

In 1999 the band would join the ranks of Ed’s Shelflife Records. There they would release a 7″ titled “Leave No Stone Unturned” (LIFE 008) with three songs, “Sunday Came and Went” on the A side and “Eight Days” and “To Tell The Truth” on the B side. The band is credited as producers as well as Foot Foot. Soon after the band released an album called “Make Love to You” (LIFE 011) with the same label. This record had 10 beautiful songs, “Up all Day”, “Lost and Found”, “Night Time is the City’s Only Star”, “Rose in the Devil’s Garden”, “The Revolution Creaks on a Bed”, “Under London Skies”, “Pinball, 1973”, “Brazil”, “Autumn II” and “Everybodys” Having a Good Time”. I believe that for this album the band added Ara Hacopian to their ranks. At least on the credits they add an Ara. And the only Ara I know that was in DC and was in indiepop bands is Ara Hacopian who ran Foxyboy Records and was in The Family Way, The Saturday People, The Youth Untold and even Boyracer. Again the songs were produced by the band and Foot Foot, in the summer of 1998. The sleeve was designed by John Dugan, photos by Mary Solak. In the thank you notes we see many familiar names, from Chity and Miguel in Spain to Stephen in Scotland and Amelia in the UK, and more. A very well connected band indeed!

In 1999 the band also released the “In the Devil’s Garden” 7″ on Boa Records (HISS 15). The A side is of course “Rose in The Devil’s Garden” while the B side is “Autumn”. These songs were recorded by Gayle Brogan who ran Boa Records and who had been in Adventures in Stereo, Burd Ellen, Electroscope and Pefkin and John Cavanagh also from Electroscope and Silence Ensemble. This label, based in Glasgow, would also release the band’s last release, a split 7″ also on Boa Records. The split 7″ is titled “Just like Geoff” (HISS 18) and would have Electroscope with Mount Vernon Arts Lab on the A side contributing the song “Sky Men” while The Castaway Stones appear on the B side with “My Friend Bobby”.

When it comes to compilations we know the band contributed the song “Sunday Came and Went” to the “You Make Me Smile (A Shelflife Records Collection)” CD comp from the year 2000 and the song “Up All Day” to the “Indie Aid Abroad: A Little Help for East Timor” released by Library Records (SHHH 10) and Drive-In Records (DRIVE 042) that same year. There’s also a compilation appearance on the “Millefeuille” comp that came with the Japanese magazine Beikoku Ongaku issue #14 from 1999 with the song “Autumn”.

We do know of course all the many bands the people were involved with , we have followed them, so you’d think there are not many questions to ask. But would be great to know if they played live much. I haven’t found any details about that. Maybe they were more of a studio, recording, project. If that is the case would be fantastic to find out if there are more recordings by the band. Also when and how did the band start. When and why did they call it a day. Any details, would be great to find!

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Listen
The Castaway Stones – Autumn II

++ From what I understand you only released two demo tapes? Is that right? Or where there more? Any chance you could do a demography, what songs were on each? when were they released?

Andrew: There were a few demos released.  The ones I still have copies of are –

Released in late Summer 1988 – Wayne, Barf and Large.

Released around April 1989 – Bounce; Big, Bad Dirty Goodbye and Goodbye Dolly

Released January 1990 – Thoroughly Modern Willy; Post; Shirley, Shirley, Shirley and Done Did.

There was at least one other, which included an earlier version of Post and Swede.  There were a few other tracks recorded which I’m fairly certain would have been sent out on demo cassettes.

++ Where were they recorded? Who produced them?

Andrew: The first two were recorded at 911 Studios in Cowfold, West Sussex and we recorded a couple of sessions at Advision in London.  I suppose you could say they were self produced, but they were pretty much straight recordings of how the band sounded live.  The exception being the last three songs we recorded at Advision in London (Shirley, Willy and Done Did) which were recorded with engineer Barry Sage and our friend Kate on cello and sound like a bit more of a production.

++ How come there were no proper releases by the band? Was there any interest by labels to release your songs?

Andrew: No, there no released songs and I don’t recall any record company interest at the time.

Day 274.

Sodastream: have always been a fan of the Melbourne duo formed by Karl Smith and Pete Cohen. They have been terribly quiet as of late, but suddenly there’s a new song by them called “Letter from Melbourne”. It is classic Sodastream if you know what I mean. It is a song the band have recorded during the lockdown. I hope this means they are working on a new album too!

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: two new songs by the San Francisco band. I’ve written so much about them that don’t think they need an introduction. The two new songs are “Dahlias and Rain” and “Bed of Roses”, this second one a cover of Screaming Trees.

Kissamatic Lovebubbles: the Greek label Old Bad Habits has put together a digital compilation of all the songs by the classic Athens band. Included are the songs from their 7″ on This Happy Feeling as well as many live recordings. This is really good and essential!

Sissy Space Echo & the Invisible Collaborators: another new release coming out on the Greek label Old Bad Habits is a 7″ by this superb English band whose previous release was a favourite of mine. This new 7″ will include two songs, “The Day the Earth Caught Fire” and “They’ll Fix You (They Fix Everything)”.

The Bachelor Pad: a 10″ vinyl with the songs “Meet the Lovely Jenny Brown”, “Eeek!”, “Albert Hoffman”, “Do It for Fun (12inch version)” and “Meet the Lovely Jenny Brown (vocal mix)” is going to be released by Emotional Response Records! How cool! It is the perfect accompaniment to the recent Best Of compilation the band and label put out. Great news!

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Let me start a new challenge. This one will be much shorter, but may help anyone doing their mix tapes or CDs. What about a challenge of the four seasons? Let me write a post about bands who wrote songs about summer, fall, winter and spring. Sounds good? I’ll start with summer today!

I believe I only have two records by the French project River, two albums one from 2002 and 2003. These seem to be their last releases. Dear dear. I need go go back and check all the previous releases. And they are quite a few!

But first why did I pick this band? Well, they wrote a lovely song “Happy Summer Nights”. So that gives summer a check mark in my challenge.

According to a bio on AllMusic the band was actually the solo project of Fabrice Hervé from Nantes, France. The project started in 1997 and that year it says the band released a CD called “Happiness & Smiles”. I haven’t been able to find any info about this CD sadly. Was it an album? A single?

The year after, 1998, the band would release “The Hairdresser” (Plastic Pancake 004) 7″ single on the fine French label Plastic Pancake. This 7″ included three songs, “The Hairdresser” and “Happy Summer Nights” on the A side and “Parisian Girl” on the B side. The female vocals on “Happy Summer Nights” are by Sophie.

That same year a single sided tape called “Venus” was released by the US based label In a Lighthouse Cassettes. This tape included 8 songs, “Imaginary Friend”, “Country Man”, “Bright Nights”, “Fishes in a Berlin Garden”, “A Night with Tres Hansen”, “Madoka”, “The Forbidden Wall” and “Juliette”.

In 1999 the band would release another tape, this time on the Italian label Best Kept Secret. The tape was titled “Once Upon a Time” (LIE 027) and included 22 songs! Quite a lot! The A side had “Stories of Love”, “Beach Song”, “Family (Techno Mix)”, “Suicide”, “Inside Your Arms”, “Bye Bye 2”, “From You to Me”, “Mary’s Street”, “Tu As Beau”, “Sometimes” and “Rainbow”. The B side had “Family (Noisy Mix)”, “Suddenly”, “Down”, “Love”, “Waiting”, “25-10-95”, “Little Girl”, “Eric’s Trip”, “Ici Ce Soir”, “A Night with Naomi” and “A Night with Inès”.

That same year, 1999, the band would release a second 7″ on Plastic Pancake (009). Three songs again, “Spiderman” on the A side and “It’s Me!” and “Kitty Cat” on the B side. But that wouldn’t be all. The band would start a relationship with the US based Shelflife Records, releasing first a 7″ EP called “Poseidon’s Girlfriend” (LIFE 022). This 7″ had “Queen” on the A side and “Gentle Land” and “Mister Jocker” on the B side.

The year 2000 would continue being prolific for the band. 2 songs were to be released as a 7″ on the French label Safari (Safari 0002), “Strawberry Lipstick” on the A side and “Madoka” on the B side. And then came another album, “…Is the Postman” released on the US label Blackbean and Placenta Tape Club (BBPTC 194). And yes it was released on CD not on tape. This album had 11 songs, “Boys and Girls”, “Let me Stay”, “The Four Princesses”, “Juliette”, “River’s Song”, “A Night With You”, “Am I So Silly to Believe?”, “Art Students”, “Brasilia”, “Tea for Cats” and “Go in a Tree”.

In 2002 we’d see a the “Street of Desire” 7″ on Plastic Pancake (015) with the title song on the A side and “Strange Friends” on the B side and the self-titled album on Shelflife Records (LIFE 023) with another whopping 20 songs: “Better than You”, “At Home”, “Happy Summer Nights”, “Harold the Wonder Boy”, “Writing”, “Le Top Model”, Les Volets Verts”, “Street of Desire”, “Will You Marry Me?”, “The Recital of My Life”, “The Hairdresser”, “Let’s Climb to the Moon”, “Switch On”, “Miss Dolly”, “The Bridge”, “Pet’s Field”, “Un Diner Sur l’Herbe”, “Me and Naomi”, “Dream On” and “Thank You’.

Aside from this, even though Discogs doesn’t list it, I know, because I also have it, a CD album called “Music for Top Models” released by the German label Meller Welle Produkte (MEL 33) in 2003. This album had 14 songs, “Heavenly Voices (intro)”, “She Lives Under a Rainbow”, “Living in a City”, “American’s Bedroom”, “English Party”, “The Green Hoan”, “The Little Pink Town”, “Like a Dream”, “German Girl”, “Emma’s Song”, “Merry Go Round”, “Mum Had a Lover”, “Diamond Girl” and “I See Nothing in Your Eyes”. One thing I have to say about this record is that the design is not very pretty, not sure why. The other releases have very sober and interesting art, this one not really. It is a fine album though.

Aside from the releases the band did appear on many compilations. The first one actually dates from 1995, so ok, the band was around much earlier than the bio we found. In 1995 the band contributed the song “Bye Bye” to “Palazzo” a compilation tape released in France by Pâte a Modeler (PAM 005). The year after, on the same label they had three songs on the compilation “Imbroglio” (PAM 008), “The Hairdresser”, “Will You Marry Me?” and “Notre Rencontre”.

Then there’s a gap of 4 years. In the year 2000 they have the song “End of a Story” on the Japanese comp “Voyage Romanesque” on Bambini Records (BAM 5). That same year we find “Queen” on “You Make me Smile” a CD comp on Shelflife (LIFE 10) and “Art Students” on the “Blackbean and Placenta CD Compilation #4, Autumn 2000” released by Blackbean and Placenta (BBPTC 144).

In 2002 the song “German Girl” is on “We Are Not Alone (Songs for the Lo-fi Generation) Volume 6” tape comp released by Best Kept Secret (LIE 043). Then in 2003, they cover The Arrogants’ song “Lovesick” on the “You’re Still Young at Heart” CD compilation on Shelflife (LIFE 050) and the song “Two for a Night” appears on the compilation CDR “Dashboard Teddy Version 1.0” on Dorothy Records from the Philippines.

And that seems to be it when it comes to releases.

But I can google right? And I find he was doing a project called Moon & River about 4 years ago. 11 songs are on Bandcamp. This is a collaboration between Fabrice and Jean-Charles Queffélect from the band To the Moon and Back.

One thing that I do find on the web is that River played San Francisco on July 25 of 2002 with support of Laura Watling! Wow! That must have been a cool gig, and all just for $5!

I don’t seem to find much more information on River, especially curious to know if Fabrice was involved with any other bands. But hey, we’ve shared a lot of info here, some that is not on Discogs even. I have many questions still but hopefully they’ll get answered in the near future!

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Listen
River – Happy Summer Nights

Day 272.

Stephen’s Shore: a few days ago we were very excited to listen to “Brisbane Radio” by our Stockholm friends! Now the band has finally unveiled a second song from their upcoming 7″. It is called “Skogen” and again it is really good. Jangly, elegant, just what I needed to listen today. This 7″ will be out on January 22nd and they are already taking pre-orders.

The Hannah Barberas: wow! A new EP by the Hannah Barberas! And it is one that is perfect for this season. The “Winter EP” is out now digitally with three perfect Christmas songs, “Happy Winter”, “Can You Hear the Snowfall?” and “Holiday Hymn”. Add them to your Christmas mixtape!

The Catherines: another band that has a Christmas song is the Hamburg duo The Catherines. The song is called “I’ve Heard They Called Off Christmas” and is being released as a digital single with “I Doubt He’s in a Good Mood” as a sort of B side. Both tracks are nice, as one person commented in their Bandcamp, perfect indiepop tunes!

The Fisherman and his Soul: “The Last Wasp of the Year” is another X-mas single, this time from Münster, Germany! It is a great video as we see a lot of familiar faces in it! The song is fun too, and it is also available on Bandcamp here. Don’t miss it! It is being released as a CD single and it is verly limited. Only 9 copies are available at the time of writing this!

The Lousy Pop Group: the latest release on the Thessaloniki, Greece, label Melotron Recordings is a CD by this great Indonesian band, a Cloudberry favourite for a long time. The CD seems to be sold out already, and it will include 4 songs. We can preview one of them, “Days”. On top of it, the record has art by our friend Casio van Doesburg. Top release.

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So a Swedish band that took their name from the song “Punky’s Dilemma” by the American duo Simon & Garfunkel (from their 4th studio album, “Bookends” from 1968). A Swedish band that was around in the 2000s and, released a few CDs and then went silent until 2013 when Jigsaw Records put out a posthumous album. So join me and see what we can find out about them!

For many the introduction to Punky’s Dilemma was through Shelflife Records and their CDR series. The 11th CDR on the series was the “‘neath The Staring Skies” by Punky’s Dilemma and a lot of us fell in love with the swedes. This EP had 6 songs, “Airliner”, “Not if I Lose”, “Dream MTV”, “For Sale”, “Century of Time” and “Grace”. There were only 100 copies of this CD made, and I still don’t have a copy myself! But thanks to Discogs we know some of the credits.

So the main songwriter was Mikael Calner. Then listed as choir are Björn Stegmann, Hanna Calner, Camilla Sjeren, Carl-Otto, Lena, Lisa, Markus and Martin. It also says that the CD featured The Beautiful Aircraft Choir.

This CD was released in 2003 and you wonder how did Shelflife find out about them. Perhaps there was a demo CD before it? It would be good to find out. In any case there next release was a self-released album called “Scandinavia” in 2005.

This seems even rarer. The cover art shows a building and its windows. Maybe somewhere in Sweden? We know the CDR album had 10 songs, “Radiosonic”, “Century of Time”, “A Side Effect of Violence”, “City People”, “Airliner”, “Dream MTV”, “For Sale”, “Scandinavia”, “Not if I Lose” and “Grace”.

Then in 2006 the band would sign to Junk Musik, a label that had released the terrific Brainpool, and put out the “Echelon EP” (JNKS 0518). This one had 5 songs, “Shooting Stars”, “A Side Effect of Violence”, “Echelon”, “Century of Time” and “Scandinavia”. The photos for this EP are credited to both Mikael and Hanna, and the design to Markus Slivka. Christoffer Lundquist mastered, mixed and produced.

Something that may answer how Shelflife heard about the band is that the band appeared on the compilation “The Sound of Young Sweden – Volume 3”  from 2002. This compilation was put out by Labrador Records (LAB034) and they had two songs on it, “Century of Time” and “Dream MTV”

Another compilation appearance would be on the “Puzzle Pieces” double CD comp released by Jigsaw (PZL05). There the band would contribute “City People”.

So now let’s get back to the 2013 album that Jigsaw released. It is called “Remote Sensing” (PZL029) and that one is still available. I recommend everyone to get a copy. It has 11 songs, “Shooting Stars”, “Dream MTV”, “Echelon”, “Radiosonic”, “A Side Effect of Violence”, “Scandinavia”, “For Sale”, “Century of Time”, “Grace”, “Halfway” and “Airliner”. According to Jigsaw this release revisits older songs, older songs that were re-recorded the way it it should have been. So what does this mean? That they recorded them again when? 2013? Would be a good thing to find out.

The CD gives a little bit more information. It says all music and lyrics are credited to Mikael Calner but “Shooting Stars” and “Grace” which were written by Mikael and Hanna Calner. Were they husband and wife? Maybe brother and sister? In any case most of the songs were recorded, mixed, and mastered by Christoffer Lundquist in the Aerosol Grey Machine Studio in Vallarum. Vallarum seems a very small town sort of in the middle of nowhere in Skåne. The songs “Radiosonic”, “Grace” and “Halfway” were produced, recorded and mixed by Björn Stegmann in a few places, the same studio as before, in an apartment on Sturegatan street in Malmö and at Tongeneration Studio also in Malmö. I wonder then if the band hailed from Malmö? It could be.

Other info worth mentioning is that the photography on this CD is credited to Michael Martin from Germany, the sleeve design to the band and the strings on tracks “Shooting Stars” and “Scandinavia” were played by Christoffer Lundquist. You can listen to the album here too.

I find then that Björn Stegmann who produced the band was in the band Thirdimension who had a few records on Telegram Records.

Then a blog called Le Journal des Mouches has a 2006 post about the band. Here they mention the band started in 2001 a s a trio with Mikael Calner on vocals and guitar, Hanna Calner on backing vocals and percussion and Camilla Sjeren on keyboards and piano. They also mentuin the band has played around in Malmö in venues like Inkonst, KB and Glassfabriken. Dear… I feel old reading these names that at one point I dreamed of visiting and attending. It’s been a while since I visited Malmö. When will I go again?!

And then one amazing thing I didn’t remember. Punky’s Dilemma played in Malmö alongside my friends of The Sunny Street on November 30, 2007, at Blekingska, in Lund. Really wow. That must have been a beautiful gig.

I keep digging and finally find what I was looking for. The early demo! So, in 2002 the band released a demo CD produced by Björn Stegmann. This CD had 6 songs, “Airliner”, “Not if I Lose”, “Dream MTV”, “For Sale”, “Century of Time and Grace”. I knew there was a release I was missing!

Okay, so that was good detective work. Still it’d be great to know more about the band. What happened to the band members? Are they still making musi

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Listen
Punky’s Dilemma – Shooting Stars

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