Day 446

Kevin Robertson: Aberdeen’s The Vapur Trails are a band that have been featured here in the past. Well, one of their members, Kevin Robertson, has gone solo this time around to release “Sundowns End”! It is out now on the fine Subjangle Records on limited edition CD. It includes 11 jangle popsongs, all of which are available to preview. It is definitely a good way to start this week, such a bright and shiny record.

Foreign Correspondent: another band that we like a lot here are the Australians Foreign Correspondent. On even better news they are now working with a label we love, Kocliko Records, from Spain. One of our favourite labels! So it is quite obvious what the result was going to be, right? A wonderful album titled “A Quizzical Look”! it is very limited, to 100 copies and it is expected to start shipping on June 23. You can preview two songs, “The First One” and “Crying In your Sports Car” and understand why I praise the.

Hanemoon: Jigsaw Records is now releasing the second album by the German band! Great news! The first album was really nice, and Hans’ last band, The Seaside Stars, was pretty good as well. If you like jangle pop this is for you. “Last Thing I Heard” is the name of this 12 song album that jangles like any Scottish pop bands that come to mind!

Neilson Family: Jigsaw Records have more new releases. “Be Normal” is the 2nd album by the Neilson family. I don’t know much about them, first time i am listening to them. Jigsaw compares them to Kincaid or the Mendoza Line. The record has 12 songs like my fave, the straight up poppy track “Golden Handcuffs”, and other quieter or midtempo jangle songs. Enjoyable!

The Rightovers: and last band for today is yet another on on Jigsaw Records. This one is a mini-album titled “Kruise Kontrol” and has 7 tracks. The songs are punchy, they have loud guitars and synths, they are poppy and exciting. So definitely a recommended listen. All of these Jigsaw releases are available now.

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Time for obscure pop… okay that’s a bad opening for a post in this blog. Every single band is obscure here. So ok, one more obscure band to keep in mind. One more that I hope to find more information about them!

In the 80s there was a UK label called Wag Records who released three bands, Roxette (not the Swedish band), The River Boys and Chapter One. I am not familiar with any of them, but today I want to check Chapter One as I’ve heard their song “When the Summer Comes” and I really enjoyed it.

The person behind this label was Paul Waghorn. He was also the person behind Chapter One.

There are two releases by the band. The first dates from 1984 and was a sleeveless 7″ single with “I Know That She Knows” on the A side and “Take My Advice” on the B side. On the labels we see that “I Know that She Knows” is credited to Waghorn but also to Creasey. The B side only to Waghorn. Both songs were produced by Mr. Angry. Okay, who is Mr. Angry and who is Creasey? Can we find that out? This was the fourth release on the Wag catalog (WAG4)

Two years later, in June of 1986, the band released the “When the Summer Comes…” 7″. This record came out on Wag Records (WAG5) and had three songs. “When Summer Comes” is on the A side and “Stephanie Powers” and “Girl on the Phone” appear on the B side. Again all songs written by Paul Waghorn. It is good to see that this time the band was able to have a sleeve for the record.

The sleeve has a pencil illustration of a strangely dressed person. We don’t see his face, he is not facing us. We see his back. It looks like he carries an umbrella. He has a hat. Not sure what he is looking at on the floor. Looks like a pail and a bucket in the sand? I can’t tell. The good thing is that the sleeve does give us some more information.

For example that the art was created by Stringell and Casbourne. But there’s more.

The three songs were produced by Ashley Norton at the I.C.C. Studios in Eastbourne (was the band based here or nearby?). And even better we get the band members names:

Paul Waghorn on vocals, guitar and synths, Titch Stringell on drums and backing vocals, John Hall on lead guitar and Darren Rodoham on bass,

The question about Eastbourne may be answered by the compilation “Dodgy Demos for Arty Parties! – An Eastbourne Area Compilation” released by Wag Records (BIG1) in 1985. Here the band appears on the B side with the song “Miss You Miss You” which was recorded at ICC Studios in 1984. So it all looks like the band was from Eastbourne then!

Eastbourne is a town and seaside resort in the non-metropolitan county of East Sussex on the south coast of England, 19 miles (31 km) east of Brighton. Eastbourne is immediately to the east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the larger Eastbourne Downland Estate.

I’d like to visit, especially because Penvensey Castley is close and I like visiting castles.

So back to the other bands on Wag Records. We know that Paul Waghorn was also in Roxette. But couldn’t find any info of any bands he was in after Chapter One. And about the other band members there was no info either.

Also searching for Chapter One doesn’t really help. It is quite difficult.

So yes, looking for help now, anyone remembers this Eastbourne band!?

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Listen
Chapter One – When the Summer Comes

Day 443

Acid House Kings: this is great news for all indiepop fans around the world. Is there an indiepop fan that doesn’t like the Stockholm based trio? I would say no, everyone likes them. So after such a long time, a more than a decade, of silence, they are back with a wonderful single, “A Little Dancing”! Essential!

The Goon Sax: another good this is that the Brisbane trio will be releasing an album on July 9th titled “Mirror II”. You can already pre-order it. It is available on vinyl and CD and will include 10 songs. One of them is available to preview, the opening track, “In the Stone”, which is a great pop songs with male/female vocals. Still hoping for them to come back to NYC!

Ta Toy Boy: finally! I thought it wasn’t going to be released physically. Or maybe it was a trick for me to write about them many times. First recommending the new album on Youtube, then on Bandcamp and now a third time when you can order a vinyl record of “Endless Life”, their second album. It is out now on Make Me Happy Records.

The Tubs: here’s a cool 7″ released by The Tubs (ex-Joanna Gruesome) on Prefect Records and Trouble in Mind. This 7″ will have four songs, “Illusion”, “Names”, “Two Person Love” and “Crystal Ball”. I don’t know how they all sound, but “Two Person Love” sounds great. Looks like something worth getting.

Lentillas de Colores: our friends from León, Spain, are back with a new split EP with the band Microfilme. There is a physical release of “Cuentos de las Cuatro Estaciones” limited to 100 CDs. The record was released last week and there are still copies available, so don’t miss this one out.

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This post will terribly short. I am sure of it.

You have to consider a band called Welcome, in the internet days, is impossible to track down. Now consider that they probably didn’t release any records. On top of that, I only know one song. It is called “Swim”. And it sounds great indeed. But that doesn’t matter.

My friend David from Barcelona, a great archaeologist when it comers to Swedish indiepop, put up on Youtube this song. “Swim”. A lo-fi, poppy song. From what I understand it came from a demo tape titled “Jukebox Classics”. Okay, that is also a terrible name to Google. How will I find any information.

Oh, yes, the band is Swedish if it wasn’t obvious. The tape dates from 1994. A good time for Swedish indiepop. The first wave of indiepop bands. They were making a splash. And some would become big.

The sleeve of the tape shows a man. Probably not a band member. I am pretty sure the band members were younger than the guy on the photo. Maybe it is someone famous. But I can’t tell who is it.

I search on Discogs. No luck. On Popfakta. No luck. Musikon. No luck.

Where else could we find any information? Who were the members? Or at least where in Sweden where they from. There’s nothing, no clues. I am hoping some reader remembers them and can shed some light. I hope so.

EDIT: Found out that this was Roger Gunnarsson’s first band which he formed with his childhood friend Carl-Magnus. The photo of the sleeve was taken by his brother Tommy.

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Listen
Welcome – Swim

++ And what about NYC bands? Which are your favourite bands from your city? And if there are any that you would recommend me as obscure bands that deserve my attention?

Will: I think we were closest to a band called Urban Blight. Some of their members did the horns on “Where’s the Fire” and keyboards on “Grown Up.”

++ You released just one 12″, back in 1986. One thing that caught my attentions is that it had no label. So it was self-released, right? How did you raise the money for the record? Was it hard?

Will: Yeah it was self released and as I remember it cost about 3k from recording to mastering which was a hefty sum back then. It wasn’t hard to raise the money. I asked my mom to co-sign a loan and after a bit of convincing she agreed. After that it was just a matter of everyone getting their payments to me so I could get to the bank on time to repay it.

++ Also wondering why you did a 12″, wondering as perhaps a 7″ may have been cheaper?

Will: I can’t remember why we made that decision but I don’t think 7” was very popular at the time.

++ Who came up with the illustration on the front of the sleeve, what does it mean?

Will: That would be Clay and believe it or not I think he “borrowed” it from a Boy Scout Manual or some such. What it meant to us was 4 band members (the vertical lines) bonded by the music (the horizontal line.) Besides it was pretty simple and recognizable so we thought that helped as well.

J.D.: My memory is different from Will’s: Marianne Geist (I think that’s her name) was the wife of the photographer, and I thought she came up with both the concept and the finished design.

++ What about the band photo on the back, where was it taken?

Will: It was somewhere in Manhattan a school or office setting as I remember although I might be wrong. I remember we all partook of some, uh what we liked to call the “creative edge” in the bathroom before the shoot. Probably why we’re laughing so hard.

++ The four songs on the record were recorded at New Breed Studios by Robin Danar. What do you remember of those sessions? How was working with Robin? How long did it get to finish the songs?

Will: Well I always loved being in the studio and as I remember it we were well rehearsed and ready to go. I believe that Robin came to our practice space before hand and we ran through our stuff and he picked the songs that he thought we should record. There might have been a bit of a debate about that but in the end we normally listened to his advise. We were pretty efficient in the studio. We didn’t screw around and were focused. I think it took about a month with us being in the studio a couple of times a week. Robin was easy to work with and very professional. I remember one major disagreement we had with him about how tame Grown Up was turning out to be. Specifically the keyboard riff. We didn’t like it. He did. As you can tell by the track he won that argument. We also did some cool stuff like mic-ing my amp in the bathroom for the lead on My Romance. From what I hear Robin is very successful now.

++ Was this your first time in a recording studio by the way? Or did you have previous experience?

Will: We had been in the Studio at least twice before this. We had done two other Ep’s with 4 songs each that we mainly used to get gigs in the city. They were never put on vinyl though. I can’t remember the name of the studios. We had also done recording sessions in our rehearsal space with the Teac 4 track. We rented drum mics and did a couple of compilation tapes with 20-30 songs on it. I might be wrong but I think we did another 4 song EP after this as well with a different drummer…actually yeah we did. In ’91 I think.

++ Was there any interest from any labels to put out your music?

Will: No. We did send our stuff to them but they politely declined. I still have the rejection letters lol.

J.D.: No, but a couple of young advertising execs saw us at CBGBs and for the blink of an eye we were considered for a media campaign. We even wrote and recorded a jingle for Miller Beer that I still think would have sold a lot of beer.

++ And how come there were no more releases?

Will: In 87 we were doing pretty well. We were finalists in a battle of the bands that was sponsored by WPLJ which was a major rock station back then and we had been played on the radio in the days leading up to that which was cool. Nothing like hearing your songs on the radio. We lost the final to Urban Blight I think. It was held at “My Father’s Place” In Roslyn, LI. We were giging regularly and I think we were as tight as we’d every be. We used to rehearse 4 nights a week for 4 or 5 hours a night. And then Clay dropped the bombshell that he was moving to Sweden. After that we auditioned drummers and hooked up with a few but it was never really the same so we broke up and just used to get together and record stuff for most of ’88 and ’89. By that time I had acquired a Tascam 8 track Reel to Reel. We got the bug again around 1990 and auditioned drummers and Jim Harris became our drummer. We gigged some more for a year or 2 and made the last EP in the studio. We broke up for good after that. Although we were the band did an off Broadway play that JD had written called “Famine Street.”

++ There are no compilation appearances either, right?

Will: Well in 1999 before the Sweden thing we did have a reunion at The Bitter End I believe and did like three sets. That was fun. In fact I remember that being what started the ball rolling on the going to Sweden.

++ Aside from the four songs on the 12″, are there still many unreleased songs?

Will: Yeah there’s a ton of them.

Day 441

No Suits in Miami: one of our favourite Swedish bands is back with a terrific new single, “Buffy”! And no, the song is not about vampire killing! As usual, lovely vocals, jangling guitars, and top melodies. It is always a pleasure to listen to the Lund based band!

The Edible Eyes: another favourite band, formed by ex members of The Blanche Hudson Weekend and The Manhattan Love Suicides is back with a new song too, “Until the Morning Comes Around”. This one is a bit more post punk than indiepop if I could categorize it. It is being released on a split 7″ with the band Sissy Space Echo & the Invisible Collaborators. Preorders are up on Bandcamp.

Answers: now let’s head to Melbourne. There, in Australia, we find this guitar-driven project and their second album, “Fools in Despair”. It is available digitally only it seems and has 7 songs. The guitars chime and the melodies are great. They consider themselves post punk, and that might be right, but they are on the melodic side of the post punk spectrum!

Señor Kino: now we go to Hermosillo, Mexico. There we find the dreampop band Señor Kino and their newest song, “Aurora Boreal”. The song is quite nice and even has a video worth checking out!

Not Even Close: and we round up today’s bands with Sweden’s Not Even Close. Their latest single is “Dödsgest” and is a fine slice of punky pop in Swedish! I don’t know much about the band but previously, earlier this year, they released another single called “Lemons”.

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One single released in 1991 in their own Satyrday Records was all this British band left us. Two songs and one remix. Can we find any othere details about them?

The single came out on 7″ and 12″. The catalog number was SATYR T001. The 7″ didn’t have a sleeve. The 12″ did. The producer was Charlie Francis who had played bass with Toyah. The engineer was Ian Caple. The songs were recorded at Stone Room Studios, in Shepherds Bush, in London. I went once to that area. Many many years ago. It has been such a long time since I’ve been to London. I need to return soon. But, would it be safe to assume the band hailed from London?

The 7″ had “Shooting Air” on the A side and “Oh Yeah!!” on the B side. The 12″ had both of the songs on the A side and we find the “Shooting Air (The Blitz Mix)” on the B side.

Discogs lists a name, a band member, Chris Hill. He is a bassist it says and had been in the band The Buzz in the early 80s in Shrewsbury? Is it the same Chris Hill?

There are two compilation appearances. Both of them have the band contributing the song “Belief”. The first dates from 1991, a compilation CD called “Exposed – New Noise for the Nineties” that came as a freebie with the Exposed magazine. Then in 1992 the band appeared on “Tape Horn”, another compilation from a magazine. This time it was a tape comp given away by Deadline Magazine.

I found the drummer, Ian Davies. He lives in Marseille now. He has a Soundcloud and there he has shared music he has worked on, The Satyrs’ “Shooting Air” and “Believe” included. Other projects of his are Sister Jo Jo, The Gilberts, Texas Martha and the House of Twang and Ochre.

Another member was Stuart Evans. On a website called Famous Welsh it mentions that The Satyrs are progenitors of Britpop. It also says that he was born in 1962 at Llandovery, Wales.

I have three names. I haven’t found any other details. But I hope I get some help eventually. The three songs I’ve heard are very good. Who remembers them?

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Listen
The Satyrs – Shooting Air

Thanks so much to Wahidah, Daniel, Jared, Spencer and Lucas for the interview. Also thanks to Raphael Ong from Middle Class Cigars Records (their label) for making this interview happen. I discovered the band last year and enjoyed their latest release, “Nature of Things“, quite a bit. Then I started to check out their previous releases and found quite a nice variety of pop sounds in them. Also enjoying their latest forays in the digital world, as their appearance on Audiotree. As I am not that familiar with the current Singaporean scene and didn’t know much about the band, I thought it was a great opportunity to hear from them!

++ Hi guys! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? You just released a wonderful album called “Nature of Things” which was quite a surprise to me. But I want to go in order, from the band’s early days to today. So 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?

Wahidah (vocals): My mom used to play cassette tapes of 80s-00s contemporary hits in the kitchen while she cooks, so I grew up listening to that. Eventually, I became angsty and listened to Avril Lavigne and Green Day when I entered elementary school. I first learned to play classical guitar through the internet.

Daniel (guitar): When I was a kid, I was given a cheap mp3 player that already had some songs, and that was the first time I ever heard Blink182. Blew my mind, and started my whole interest in music. I just listened to a lot of pop-punk growing up. It made me want to learn electric guitar, so I just learned from Youtube.

Jared (guitar): My dad used to play the acoustic guitar and sing BeeGees songs to us. I first learned drums through Rock Band 2 on PS3, which I got one Christmas, and I got really good at it. Growing up, I listened to whatever my dad played and unfortunately a lot of mid 2000s Weezer.

Spencer (bass): I come from a musical family; my mom loves to sing and my dad loves to play guitar, so a lot of family memories around music. I first learned drums through music school and unfortunately from church. Unfortunately, I also listened to a lot Christian rock and hymns growing up…

Lucas (drums): My first musical memory is seeing a band play at church when my parents took us there. I first learned violin through classes in elementary school.  Growing up, I just listened to whatever was on the radio and then eventually I got angsty in my teens and listened to a lot of post-hardcore and emo stuff.

++ Had you been in other bands before Subsonic Eye? If so, how did all of these bands sound? Are there any recordings? 

Right before Subsonic Eye, Daniel, Wahidah and Spencer had a band with a couple of their classmates for a short while, and released one song.
https://soundcloud.com/officialnjce/unlisted-teens-demo

++ I guess with Covid-19 this is a strange question, but prior to it, how was the Singapore scene? Are there any bands that you like? Any good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands? 

The Singapore scene is pretty vibrant. There’s a wide variety of bands that can suit every taste. There’s many we love but just to name a few; Forests, Sobs, Saints Amongst Sinners, Cosmic Child, and Coming Up Roses,

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

It started in 2016. Daniel, Wahidah and Spencer were classmates, and we met Jared and Lucas through mutual friends. It started when Daniel shared demos with Wahidah, where she sang over them, and eventually they had a bunch of songs that needed a full band. Recruiting process was just whoever could play the instrument and that we could get along.

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

Daniel: I’ll just play around with my guitar until I get a nice string of riffs or chord progressions, then I’ll record that and put some MIDI drums over it. I’ll send it to Wahidah and she’ll record vocals over it. We go back and forth until we’re happy with the demos, then we show them to the band and work on them together. There’s no fixed place we practice at, we just go to whichever jamming studio has available slots.

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

Wahidah and Daniel were looking through the Wikipedia page of ‘outer space’ and came across the word ‘Subsonic’. They thought it was cool, but was already taken by another band. So we just added in the word ‘eye’ because illuminati.

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

Daniel: Starting out, we were really influenced by bands like Beach Fossils, DIIV, Makthaverskan. But with our new record and sound, a lot of influence from Sonic Youth, Pavement, and Life Without Buildings.

++ I am not that familiar with Singapore indiepop, I know a few bands and that’s it. I was wondering if you would recommend a few bands or songs that you really like.

For indiepop specifically, you can check out our friends Sobs, Saints Amongst Sinners, and this really new young band called Moon Pool.

++ Your first release was the album “Strawberry Feels” which came out on CD and cassette thanks to the label Middle Class Cigars. Who are Middle Class Cigars? How did you end up working with them? How do you like the relationship with the label?

Daniel: There’s a collective called Symmetry Entertainment that brings in bands we love like Slowdive, The Drums, Beach Fossils. I messaged them on Facebook asking if we could open up for the bands they bring in. One of the guys, named Nigel Lopez, got back to me saying he’s actually planning on starting a label called ‘Middle Class Cigars’ and it just took off from there.

++ This first release has a kid on the front cover, a photo. I was wondering who he is? Is it any of you?

It’s a childhood pic of our vocalist Wahidah’s ex-boyfriend.

++ Your second release was another album, and this time only available on tape. It came out in 2018, just a year after the first release. How did you record and write so many songs this quick?

The whole process of writing a demo and then working on it with a full band is very addictive, so we just kept writing and jamming. Not to mention, we were students so we had a lot of free time. Daniel, Wahidah and Spencer were in college for ‘Audio Technology’ so they had free access to a recording studio. So we also rushed to quickly make use of the school’s facilities to record drums before we graduated. But for guitars, bass and vocals, we prefer to record it ourselves at home.

++ The art for this release was created by Karen Claire Yu. How did you end up working with her?

Daniel: I knew Karen from high school but I never knew she painted. When I found out and saw some of her work, I immediately knew I wanted to work with her. Really cool stuff.

++ This tape was very limited, just 50 copies, I expect it impossible to find a copy these days. Are there any plans of re-releasing your sold out records?

Unfortunately not at the moment. We always make very few copies because we’re afraid no one buys them.

++ Your latest release is “Nature of Things”. This sounds a bit more varied than your previous releases. What’s the story of this album? From conception to final product, how did the idea of this album evolve?

Daniel: I was getting tired of having to set-up my effects every time I wanted to write a song, so I just started playing my acoustic guitar more. The raw guitar sound became really attractive to me, along with alternative tunings, so I just decided it would be cool to venture into that new sound. Wahidah’s lyrics and vocals naturally became a lot more raw as well, writing and singing in the most honest way she could rather than worrying about whether it was ‘poppy’ or not. The rest of the band resonated with the new sound immediately, and everyone got to express themselves way more compared to our older sound.

++ What differences or similarities do you see to your previous releases?

A big difference would be the lack of a ‘leading’ instrument in most of the songs. It’s like we’re all playing the same part just in different forms. Similarities would be that we still wanted to retain the sense of form and structure to the song (verse-chorus-verse)

++ And why the name “Nature of Things”?

I got into Buddhism some time in 2020 and I read that the nature of all things is impermanence, which is an underlying subconscious theme in most of the songs. And we started to spend a lot of time in nature rather than more urban areas as well, so it all just made sense to go with ‘Nature of Things’

++ Aside from these albums there are some more songs on Bandcamp called the “Bedroom Sessions”. These were recorded during Covid-19 lockdown, right? How has this pandemic affected the band?

Bedroom Sessions was actually recorded in 2016 and released only on tape. We decided to release it in 2020 to raise funds for an organisation, but we also added more instruments to the recordings. The pandemic luckily didn’t affect us that much (other than not being able to play shows) because we finished working on the songs by the time Singapore’s lockdown kicked in. When the lockdown kicked in, we were just left with mixing, and all the album cover design stuff, which we could work on online.

++ And having released records now on CD, tape and vinyl, what would you say is your favourite format and why?

It’s actually just our label Middle Class Cigars that’s really into those formats. Unfortunately us in the band are all victims of the digital age, and we just listen digitally. It’s mostly for  economic reasons… we’re broke fresh graduates.

++  Are there compilation appearances by the band?

“HDT”, off our second full-length was released on Middle Class Cigars’ Christmas compilation “A City Without Snow” in 2016, in the form of “Holiday Depression Triggers”, along with a live video of us performing the song. “Cosmic Realignment” was also included in A Lonely Ghost Burning’s “Alternative Melodies Vol. 6”.

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

It’s the frustration over trying to fix something that could not be fixed. Just young and dumb 19 year old relationship problems.

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

Right now it would probably be Fruitcake. It’s a blast to play for us, and we get pretty tired because it’s pretty fast.

++ What about gigs? Have you played many?

We’ve played a lot of gigs!

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

Some of the best gigs we remember are the ones organised by our friends. The anecdotes are the same for all of the best shows.. It’s when the crowd is just in sync with us and they’re vibing and having a really good time. As a band that feeds off the energy of the crowd, those are the best times.

Definitely. Technical errors and just sometimes a bad show just happens.

++ Was there any interest from radio?
There was a local radio station that played a lot of local music that made us their band of the month a few years ago but unfortunately they’re not around any more. We do get a lot of airplay in the US and the rest of the world though – I know that we’re on rotation on KEXP pretty often.

++ Looking back in retrospective, so far, what would you say has been the biggest highlight for the band?

Biggest highlight is getting to tour all these different countries with our friends’ bands. Surreal experience.

++ And now, in the near future, what are the plans for the band? Are there new songs? New releases?

Definitely another album. The process is very addictive, even if the album doesn’t do well.

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

Riding bicycles, fishing, knitting, and watching professional DOTA 2 matches.

++ Never been to Singapore, I do have many friends there and would love to go. But I’d  love to hear from a local. What are the sights one shouldn’t miss? Are there any food or drinks one should also try?

Check out our local trails to experience our tropical jungle like Chestnut Nature Park, Macritchie Nature Trail, and the rustic island of Pulau Ubin. For food you definitely have to try ‘Salted Egg Chicken’, and for drinks if you’re a coffee person ‘Kopi’, and if you’re a tea person ‘Teh’.

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Listen
Subsonic Eye – Come Around

Day 439

Beach Vacation: let’s start this week in Brest, France. That’s where the label Too Good to Be True is based. They are releasing a limited CD album by Beach Vacation on June 4th. This 11 song album is titled “I Fell Apart” and sounds pretty good! We can preview three tracks from the album now and as I said, really enjoyable.

April June: now we cross the southwest border and we are in Spain. Not sure exactly where in Spain. But there’s a band there called April June that makes beautiful pop songs! Wow. What a nice surprise. Their latest song “Have a Hell of a Nice Life” sounds like a slice of Swedish indiepop circa 2006. This is very good!

Gus: “It’s Gus!” is a demo tape from the early days from Chapter Music from Australia. It was formed in the 90s by Guy and Richard from that well known label and the Salty & Delicious fanzine in Perth. As a band they existed for a few days in Brisbane in 1994 and recorded these 5 songs. As an indiepop archaeologist I love this. Would love to know more about this project. An interview could be cool?

Valentina Way: is this the new project by Charlie Darling? It looks like it! Just one song is on their Soundcloud, “Say it Say it Say it” which is superb! Fun and catchy, with a “back story” that could well be true! We should keep an eye for any new songs they put out!

The Laundromat Chicks: and because last week we featured the Austrian band’s Bandcamp and new songs, well, it makes sense to now check out their new video for the song “Catch It”! This is a superb song, very The Bats! So don’t miss this one!

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We head to Finland today. It has been a while since I featured a band from that country. A country I really enjoyed visiting and I hope to be back again in the near future, when all of this nightmare of the pandemic is over. Have a nice salmon soup and a karelian pie. Why not.

The Autobiographical Dancers hail from Finland. I don’t know much more right now. Not sure where from Finland they were from. But I hope while I write this post I’ll find out. I got to them a long time ago, thanks to the blog From a Northern Place. The person behind that blog, who I have never met or exchanged emails which surprises me!, shared a song called “Night Falls” from the band’s album “Fey”. And I immediately loved the soft and elegant sounds of it. It sounded timeless. And I wondered how come this band is so obscure!

According to Discogs the band hailed from Helsinki. Okay, that’s a good piece of information. Easy detective work. Lovely city too. I remember now getting a moose kebab at the old market. Interesting things one does when traveling. Yeah, I miss it. I will guess then that the recording studios where they made the album, Viidakkorumpu Studios, was in this same city, the capital. The songs were recorded and mixed there in July 1988.

That same year the album was released. It came out on Gaga Goodies (GOOD-6), a label founded in 1987 by Kimmo Miettinen. The idea behind this label was to release Finnish bands who sang in English and didn’t use keyboards. In their catalog I see Poverty Stinks which I know, but in general most of their releases are unknown to me. I should try to discover any treasures there.

The album is kind of short, 7 songs. The A side has “Heaven”, “Ghost of You”, “Night Falls” and “April” while the B side has “The Glass Bead Game”, “The Twerp” and “Before Leaving”.  All songs are credited to the band but “The Twerp” which is credited to the band and to Sakari Kukkonen (I found info about a Veli-Sakari Kukkonen, is he the same? If so he was in bands like Zero Nine, Ramblers, Nights of Iguana and U-Bayou). He also is credited for additional percussion.

The band was a four piece. It was formed by Pola on vocals and guitar, Zu on drums, Tape Riihmäki on bass, and Jay on guitar.

Other credits on the record are for Annika Ursin on backing vocals and Petri Eskola (From Monday and Standing Ovation) on piano. The cover photography is credited to Tape and the band’s photo by Ursula.

Aside from the record the band contributed the song “Heaven” to two compilations.

The first is from 2005 and I’ve mentioned it before on the blog, “Sivulliset – Valikoima Suomalaista Vaihtoehtorockia Vuosilta 1985-2000”, a 4CD boxset that sort of compiles the most important indie bands of Finland. This record was released by Poko Rekords (VALOSA1). Then in 2011 we see them again on another 4CD boxset, “Miettinen – Pieni Rockhistorikki 1979-2000”. This one was released by their own label, Gaga Goodies (MBOX-1).

I also find some other bands they were involved with. Tape was in a band called Variance in the early nineties. And Jay, whose real name is Jukka Hannukainen, was in many bands like Emmenthal Socapex, Palms on Hips and Variance. He also works as a composer, sound designer, producer and DJ. He has a soundcloud here.

And that’s it. No more info about the band. I am curious about the rest of the songs. I haven’t heard them. Are they as good as “Night Falls”? I hope so. And what happened about the other members? On Discogs I saw comments saying that the drummer Zu is quite a mystery. How come? What are they now? Did they continue making music? Had they made music before The Autobiographical Dancers? Did they gig much? Did they have a big following? Hopefully we’ll find out some day…

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Listen
The Autobiographical Dancers – Night Falls

Day 436

The Laundromat Chicks: we return to Austria, to Vienna to be precise. Months ago I discovered this nice pop combo and now that I was revisiting their Bandcamp I notice they have an album out. It is called “Often in the World” and includes 9 songs. The songs sound great, clearly influenced by Flying Nun Records’ bands.

Poster Paints: this new Glasgow band formed by Simon Liddell and Carla J Easton. Their debut single is called “Number 1” and is now available to check out on Bandcamp. I am enjoying it, the cool mix of indiepop sounds and dreampop guitars.

The Sensitive: it is always a good idea to check what is happening with Shiny Happy Records from Indonesia. Today I found a new song by The Sensitive called “No One Top Felix Delta Alpha Sierra Sierra” which I believe will be part of a tape called “Do Everything or Else”. I am very curious about the other songs on the tape as this one sounds really good and even has Edwyn Collins on the sleeve!

Glixen: now we move to more dreamy, shoegazy, sounds. We travel to Phoenix, Arizona, and theere we discover Glixen and their debut digital single, “Sugarcube”. There’s no other info in the page, but we have the lyrics. Let’s keep an eye for more songs as “Sugarcube” does have a punchy sound!

Hazte Lapón: and we end this week’s recommendations with “El Baile de la Medusa”. This fun song was actually recorded in 2011 and included in a self-released single in 2012. Now, 2021, the band have remixed and remastered it to re-release it again. And it sounds great! Perfect for dancing, perfect for any indiepop party!

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I wrote about a UK band called The Counting House many years ago. I never found anything about them. Today I discovered another British band called The Countinghouse. I honestly don’t know if it is the same band. Who would know?

About The Countinghouse (one word) there are more details on the web. There was a 7″ released in 1988 on Clear Cut Records (EASCCR 1) which probably was their own label. This double A sided record had “Pack Your Bags” and “Closer”.

A demo tape is also listed on Discogs with four songs, “(Within These) Four Walls”, “Makings of You”, “Song Three” and “Broken Toy”.

The only other detail we know about the band is that they hailed from Leicester.

I dig a little bit more and find 5 songs on Youtube. Sadly there is no more details in here either. These songs are “Streets Where You Live“, “Wish I Was There“, “Within These Four Walls“, “Makings of You” (which appears on the demo, but here on Youtube the song seems to be faulty and unlistenable) and “Closer” (from the 7″).

I search for The Countinghouse and look for any relation with Leicester. Well, there is a venue called The Counting House in that city. So that makes my search futile.

And that’s it. Like The Counting House, information for The Countinghouse is almost non-existent. The songs on Youtube are a rarity. Anyone remembers them? Would be nice to find more info about them!

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Listen
The Countinghouse – Streets Where You Live

++ As far as I know you only released one 7″ back in 1992. Previous to it, had you made any recordings? Or was the 7″ your first experience at a recording studio?

We released one double A sided single with a theme of insanity – Mad Dave and Living With A Schizophrenic. That was our first and only release. We did record a few more tracks during that session that are available on Soundcloud.

++ How was the experience of working at Burbank Studios? Who produced the record?

It was interesting. My first time in a studio. It was recorded live or almost live. I think the engineer’s name was Steve? I learned heaps about vocal tracking and that the process can take longer than expected. And it’s not cheap!

++ This 7″ has some interesting artwork, was wondering who made it?

Shane Kneipp (Tony’s brother) was a very talented local artist who kindly offered to do our artwork. Shane also did some gerat poster artwork for local bands in the 80’s.

++ And who were Sundown Records? Was it your own label?

I’m not 100% sure on this one sorry. I know Tony’s label was A records.

++ On Soundcloud I found some more songs from the band, so I wonder if you used to do demo tapes? And if so if we could do a quick demography?

There was a live recording done at the QUT Campus Club one night. It has a great version of Schizophrenic on it with heaps of delay on my vocals. Other than that the only other tracks I know of were done at Burbank Studios.

++ There’s a song called “Alice (from the Brady Bunch)” and I wonder if you were big fans of this TV show? Or why dedicate this character a song?

Yes, huge fans of this show. But the song was inspired by some artwork in the ill-fated share house which also inspired Schizophrenic. My flatmate had a banner in the kitchen which said ‘Alice won’t cook’ and a tea towel which said “It starts when you sink into his arms and ends with your arms in his sink” which formed the opening lines of the song. So I combined the Brady Bunch Alice with these ideas and hey presto!

++ Did you appear on any compilations?

I don’t believe so

++ Are there still many unreleased songs?

Yes – Alice, Blackest Heart, Fuck Fashion, Six O’Clock News

Day 434

Ocean Blender: Indonesian Shoegazer Compilation Vol. 2: here’s a new cassette released by Anoa Records from Jakarta. It features 16 shoegaze songs by 16 different bands including some classic bands like Sharesprings or Astrolab. This is the 2nd tape in this series after “Holy Noise” that came out on 2016. Lots of great songs, lots of bands to discover.

Themilo: one of the bands I just discovered on that compilation, Themilo, actually has a new release on Anoa Records. It is a 3″ mini CD with two versions of the same song “Lazy”. We find on the 3″ an extended version that lasts almost 8 minutes an d the “Let Me Begin” version which is shorter so you can pick your favourite.

Bubble Tea and Cigarettes: Elefant Records has signed a New York band I have never heard before. I wonder if when the pandemic is over I’ll catch them live here. They seem to be a duo and they have released a new song with a video called “Santa Monica”. I suppose a phyical release will be announced soon.

Big Thing: I wasn’t aware of the label The Popty Ping Recording Company but will start looking into their catalogue. Their latest release is a fine indiepop 7″ single by Big Thing. The songs included are “Say When” and “Eye to Eye” and we can preview the opening truck. It is a fun pop song, clearly influenced by 90s sound, catchy and punchy!

The Smashing Times: the Baltimore band is back with a new album! It is titled “Summer Inside” and it includes 11 lo-fi pop songs. The band is formed by Thee Jasmine Monk, Zelda Anais and Ole “Juice Johnson” Johnson. The album is out now on tape and is limited to 100 copies. Good stuff!

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Time for more Reading-based bands! This time around I want to find out more info about this combo that I discovered through the “Small Town Scenery” (RCLP  018) compilation that Record Collector Magazine put together to accompany one of their issues back in January 26, 2016.

I’ve mentioned before that I don’t have this 10″ yet. I will get it soon I hope. So far I’ve written about a few bands that appear on it like Triple Blind, Blue Velvet or Pretty Green. I’ve written about Final Hour too, but not sure if it is the same Final Hour. I need to go back to that and check. But what’s interesting about Blindmans Rainbow is that they appear with four songs on this comp, “She’s the Sea”, “Love Surrenders”, “Calibration” and “Banks”. It is worth noting that the last three songs appeared by themselves as a separate 12″ in this compilation.

On the sleeve of this record we see the band members:
Brendan Carr (vocals), Damian Jones (guitar), Nick Carter (drums) and Adam Blay (bass). There is some info about the band too. Former lead singer Brendan Carr said: “We were all just 18 when the song “She’s the Sea” emerged during our morning rehearsals at the Cell Studios in Reading. You can hear the backwards guitars picked up from the Stone Roses, a band we were lined up to support at the Majestic nightbclub but couldn’t because Adam (bass player) had his Math’s A level the next morning. Back then all that really mattered was to get the music into vinyl. It just never happened to us”.

They did appear on two compilation tapes during their time. Their song “Bus Journey” was on thee “You Can’t Bee Loved Forever No.2” that our friend Phil Ball put together. Two years later, in 1991, they had their song “All Gone” in the “Farnborough Groove Volume 1” tape compilation that Pete Cole put together and whose series of compilations are now in volume number 12!

The only other thing we know they put out was a demo tape from 1990 titled “The Sand and the Sky”. This tape had four songs, “She’s the Sea”, “All Gone”, “Rudi” and “Brighter Day”. I believe there are more demo tapes by them. At least one more. But who knows… this is just me guessing as the songs “Bus Journey”, “Love Surrenders”, “Calibration” and “Banks” are not part of this tape.

What else have I found…

I know the band played at the After Dark Club on April 21st of some year supporting Neds Atomic Dusbin.

But there’s more. It seems the band reunited in 2016 to play on the launch of the Record Collector compilation. At Corsica Studios in London they played “Blue Skies” and there’s video for that. On Soundcloud there is a recording of “Ship of Fools” at the same gig.

Not much more on the web. But some good details about the band. Would be nice to know if the band members were involved with other bands for example. Or if there are more recordings. Or how come they didn’t get to release their music back then… Who remembers them?

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Listen
Blindmans Rainbow – She’s the Sea

++ You only released the “Summer’s Coming Down EP” back in 1989. I was wondering prior to this release, had the band already made other recordings? Demo tapes perhaps?

Yes, quite a lot of recordings, of variable quality. If you give me an address I’ll send a CD of early stuff and outtakes.

++ This 12″ EP came out on Jericho Records. I don’t know anything about this label. Care telling me a bit about them, like who were they? How did you end up working with them? How was your relationship?

I remember almost nothing about Jericho Records, except they were based in Oxford, something to do with Dave Newton who managed Ride. I think we paid for everything and just used their label because it looked good.

++ On the “Jericho Collection” compilation you contributed the song “Suddenly”. This compilation has some fine bands like The Anyways or The Wild Poppies. I am not familiar wit the rest though! Was wondering if you would recommend me any obscure bands, from this comp or not, to check out and try to find any information?

The one group who became well-known were Shake Appeal, who turned into Swervedriver and are still making great records. The only other group I knew were the Anyways who were excellent, they morphed into The Relationships who are also good but they’re my friends so I’m probably biased: https://www.therelationships.co.uk

++ And was there interest from any other labels?

Yes but nothing serious.

++ Going back to the EP, it was recorded at Scruttocks Studios and Stargoat Studios. Why two different studios? Which one did you like better?

Stargoat was on a farm near Banbury in Oxfordshire, it was nice but they were still learning; the guys at Scruttocks were more serious about it.

++ What about the photo on the cover? Who are they?

Len Fairclough and Bet Lynch from Coronation Street.

++ One thing that is funny on the sleeve is that you thank Simon for giving you money. What’s the story there?!

A guy called Simon gave us some money to make the record, I think he saw it as a solid investment. Big mistake! Sorry Simon.

++ How come there were no more releases by The Clamheads?

It became difficult, I had moved from London to Oxford and had two children, no money, no time. After a couple of years I wanted to do it again, but by that time there was another group in London called Clamhead, so we changed the name.

++ Are there more unreleased songs by the band?

There is an LP, None The Wiser, which came out in 1998. I’ll send you a copy. It’s really good, unfortunately we stopped playing soon after it came out, we had lost our rehearsal space, Matt had a baby daughter, my kids were older but I was working and studying part-time at university, it was hard to coordinate anything. As I said, we never split up, we just stopped. I wish we had been able to plug the album a bit more, but it can’t be helped.