Day 537

The Spanish Amanda: as you know I am a fan of The Spanish Amanda! Huw makes wonderful popsongs since forever now. I interviewed him once when I didn’t think he would make more Spanish Amanda songs. Today i discover four new songs on an EP called “Ça Suffit, Sophie, C’est Mauvais Pour Les Dents EP”. And this is great! According to him this EP will bring down Boris Johnson! Wow! Can he make it?!

The False Dawns: and as if it wasn’t enough, we know “members” of the Spanish Amanda are behind this project that should be filed between C87 and Casio keyboard demo tunes circa 1984! The False Dawns, based in Letchworth Garden City, have an EP called “You’re Drunk!” that has 5 songs that indeed sound like from a long time ago!

The Fisherman and his Soul: I’d love to get the new album “Nothing Ever Stays the Same” by Sebastian Voss’ pop project. The al bum is being released by the fine Subjangle Records on CD and also on cassette by Shiny Happy Records. The new album has 10 songs and as usual we find his smart German-pop tunes. Definitely a record I have to have! Limited to 100 copies.

The Would-Be-Goods: I can only be happy when I hear new songs by Jessica Griffin!! As you know The Would-Be-Goods is one of my favourite bands ever and Jessica’s vocals sound perfect to my ears. Always. Also as I always remember, the only one time I’ve been shy with a band, has been with The Would-Be-Goods. And I regret it! Now, who knows when I’ll see them again! “Saturn’s Child” is the name of the EP that has 5 wonderful songs. With the classic trademark lyrics of the band. I know these songs are not done with a full-band, but I can see them being re-recorded, or released as they are!

Rob Boyd: “Side Ways EP” is the latest by our friend Rob Boyd. Rob used to be in the London-based band The Hillfields who released a classic 3″ on Cloudberry. This EP has 5 songs of elegant and classy indiepop. What I don’t understand 100% is that it says that the songs were recorded by Ian Catt in 2006. Is that so? Then the EP has been waiting forever to see the light of day! In any case, this is very good, so don’t miss it!

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“The Sound of Leamington Spa Volume 8” (FST 155) released by Firestation Records in 2018 introduced me to the south London band The Believers.

The song that was included in this compilation was “Save the Planet”. But I was going to be surprised online as I was to find many more songs by them!

According to the liner notes on this comp:
“London band, The Believers were formed in 1987 when songwriting partnership Dean Whitbread and Kevin Goldsborough was joined by Richard Woods on guitar, who contributed his own songs as well as collaborations, Hollie Gibson on keyboards and Michele Drees on drums. The band played gigs all over the UK, supporting the Stone Roses at Middlesex Poly, playing Glastonbury town, and the Avalon Stage at Glastonbury Festival.

The 7″ vinyl single “Save the Planet” was released June 1989, proceeds donated to Greenpeace and the Women’s Environmental Network.

The Believers underwent several shifts of personnel. After Richard survived a bad road accident, guitarist Peredur Ap Gwynedd joined whilst still studying music at Goldsmiths college. Saxophonist Tree Peacock joined the band. The Believers recorded often at Beethoven Street studios in Kensal Rise, London, where guests included Seal, whose backing vocals can be heard on “How Can You Know” and his writing partner Guy Sigsworth who played on “Paperboy”.

The Believers didn’t ever really split up – the band simply morphed into a funkier ensemble called Fundamental in 1990, before DJ’s from Leeds stole their name but got away with it by adding hyphens. This latter incarnation played UK and Europe, particularly Italy, playing rock-dance material in nightclubs with choreographed acrobatics in the live show.

Kevin and Richard now record as Unio and Petitio.”

And there’s a link there to a Bandcamp. It is in this Bandcamp that we find the band’s eponymous album, “The Believers”, which was recorded between 1987 and 1990 in various London studios. The album is actually a compilation of 14 songs from The Believers’ archives. According to the info here the songs included were recorded in 24 track, 16 track, 8 track, 4 track and even live stereo recordings, all made using analogue (mostly Ampex) tape, and mastered onto DAT. Some of the live recordings have studio overdubs.

This album includes the “Save the Planet” 7″ and its B-side “Sheets”. Discogs doesn’t have this 7″ listed, but I found it on 45cat. So, it was a self-released single with catalogue number SAVE 1. It came out in 1989 and both songs are credited to Dean Whitbread. The sleeve was a poster sleeve, where on one side we see someone kicking a ball (which is the planet) to the goal and the goalkeeper not reaching it! On the other side of the sleeve there’s a photo of just three of The Believers. How come not the other members? The sleeve was designed by Sarah Habershon and illustrated by Simon Thorpe from Viz Comic.

The sleeve tells us that the record was engineered by Mike Campbell, assisted by Janice, at Cold Storage.  Backing vocals are credited to Sophie Moore, Hazel Noel and Cathy Tozer. There are credits for The Greenhorns appear courtesy of Antilles Records. The Greenhorns were John Ecott (trumpet) and Ashley Slater (trombone) who was in bands like Microgroove, Freakpower, Loose Tube and Kitteen and tthe Hip.

On this record the band was Dean Whitbread on vocals and guitar, Kevin Goldborough on bass, Hollie Gibson on keys, Richard Woods on electric guitar and Paul Cavaciuti on drums. There is a project coordinator too, Danny Brittain, through Allied Agency.

Now what are the songs that appear on this 14-song album? They are “You Can Have It”, “Pain and Pleasure”, “Save the Planet”, “Airport”, “All I Ever Wanted”, “Paperboy”, “The Impossible”, “Sheets”, “Top of the City”, “Mystery Man”, “How Can You Know?”, “When I Think About You”, “Truth Will Out” and “Use the Phone”.

According to the Bandcamp many more musicians that I haven’t mentioned so far appear on these recordings including Ray Swingler on saxophone and Dale Davis on bass.

On Discogs there is another bio. Here there are not many more details to add but that the band played with John Otway, The Long Pigs, Microgroove and Silver on the Tree. Other venues they played at include The Jazz Café, Club Orange and London Uni.

But then I find a Soundcloud which I believe belongs to Dean Whitbread. Here there are even more songs by The Believers. And you wonder why they weren’t included in Bandcamp? They are very good!

The songs on this Soundcloud by The Believers are “That Song About the Rain” from 1988 and  “History“.

Now, if you want to be a fan of theirs on Facebook, the band also has a Facebook page. Wow, I’ve been missing a lot of stuff! There is not much info here but it seems at some point there were plans to release the album on CD. Shame it didn’t happen, would have been great!

Dean is online and has his own website. There is info about his other projects as well as music and videos. Sadly my browser gives me a potential security risk warning when I try to open the landing page. Maybe it hasn’t been updated in a while?

And that’s it, quite good info. I now want to track a copy of their 7″. Would be great to have it.

And you Londoners, do you remember The Believers? Where in South London were they based? And yeah, it is clear the band had more songs too, I’d love to listen to them someday.

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Listen
The Believers – Save the Planet

Day 534

Starrgazy: just discovered this English band formed by Lucie Hill and Benjamin Wesley Morgan. They like to make dreamy, hazy, shoegaze with pop influences. Their latest song is titled “Octopus” and it sounds great! I recommend it!

Silent Coast: previously I’ve recommended the Doncaster, UK, band 93MillionMilesFromTheSun. As you know they are a fine shoegaze project. Well, there is now a solo project by Nick Noble from that band. It is called Silent Coast and has released on Bandcamp a 11 song album with the same name. It’s a good listen!

Snow Coats: the latest from the Doetinchem, Netherlands, band is a digital single titled “Right Fit”. I believe I had recommended the band last August, a year ago, when they released “Navy Blue”. Since then they released the “Pool Girl EP” and this new song. Fun pop!

Colatura: Digo Best, Jennica Best, Meredith Lampe and Alex Kirkpatrick are Colatura, a New York based band. They consider themselves a neo-surf indie band. I am not that familiar with that term. I do know though that their latest effort, the digital single “King Kalm” is a fine slice of guitar pop. And that’s good enough for me to recommend them!

Collision Theory: almost all digital singles this Friday! That’s ok! We can finish this week with Collision Theory from Oxford, UK. The song they have on Bandcamp, the only song actually, is titled “Shut Down”. It is a fun poppy, catchy track. It may be my favourite this Friday. So if you only hvae time to check one song, check out this poppy with punky attitude track.

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I continue exploring Soundcloud for rare indiepop sounds! And it is always a pleasure to hit the jackpot.

I have found 3 songs by The Carrol Singers. These are “Loosen Up”, “Made a Vow” and “Splitting Sides”.

I have listened to the three and decided I really really love “Made a Vow”, what a track! Perfect pop with boy/girl vocals. That’s just perfect! Somedays I think I want to start a flexi label and release songs like this. Would I recover the investment? Would people be interested in gems like this? I wonder… I would for sure!

There is very little information about the band. We have the names of the band members, Paul, Ian, Marie and Gary Lincoln. We know the last name of the last member as the Soundcloud is his! That’s why! The only other detail we have is that the band was around just for about a year, from 1988 to 1989.

The band seems to have started after the demise of the band The Fact. You can find many songs by the band on Soundcloud. The Fact wasn’t exactly indiepop, more of a post-punk/rock outfit.

Later on, after The Carrol Singers, Gary would be in a band I’ve been meaning to write about, The Saving Graces, who were around 1989 to 1990. The song “Loosen Up” would also be played and recorded by The Saving Graces. Yeah, I’ll write about them in my next post. Two songs by The Saving Graces would end up on a compilation called “Extract of Breeze A” on the German label Alphyen Viwit sometime in the early 90s (there is a CDR version of this one too, probably in the late 90s). And all four songs we know were on the “Breeze 4” double cassette compilation by the same label in 1994. But that’s another story…

Enjoy these songs by The Carrol Singers! Hopefully we’ll find more info soon! At least we need to know where were they from! Or if they had any release? Were these tapes released as a demo tape?! Any info will be appreciated!

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Listen
The Carrol Singers – Made a Vow

Day 532

Days of Television: a nice new discovery! This time all the way from Singapore! Aman Sidhu’s solo project has just a few songs on Bandcamp but they are really nice. Very well crafted dreamy indiepop. Their latest song is titled “Ghost Eyes” and I suggest giving it a listen.

Letting Up Despite Great Faults: so good to hear a new song by the Austin, Texas, shoegazers! The song is called “Gemini” and it will be part of the band’s forthcoming album which I believe will be titled “IV”. There’s no info when it will be released but this sounds great.

We Melt Chocolate: didn’t know there was an Italian shoegaze band that loved The Nightblooms. Well, they have released an EP with the Argentinean label No Me Escucho Records which is titled “EP 59#1”. Of course, they cover The Nightblooms song “59#1” and it is a fine rendition! The other two songs are live versions of their own.

Film School: another single that is a preview of a forthcoming album. “Said Your Name” by the dreamy Los Angeles band Film School is to be included in the album “We Weren’t Here” that is coming out on vinyl on September 24th. Lyrics available to sing along.

The Ashenden Papers: if Rose Melberg is involved in a project, you know it is going to be good. The Ashenden Papers is the solo project of Jason Dezember from Concord, California. His latest release is “Summer”, a two song digital single (“Left on Henderson” is the 2nd song) and it is really lovely and jangly. Rose participates doing backing vocals. And again, this is really good!

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Time ago I wrote about the band Bookemdanno. Remember? If you don’t I’ve made it easy to do so. I’ve linked to it.

John Done (guitar and vocals) has an extraordinary voice that almost defines the roomthirteen sound. John previous incarnations include front-man with Suburban Daze and Ink. John also joined local pop outfit Yootha Joyce where a long term fraternal relationship was cemented with Mitchell. John also shared lead vocal responsibilities in the band bookemdanno.

Yeah John Done. I am back to the Soundcloud page he put together and checking out other projects he was involved with. Suburban Daze is the band I wanted to discover today and share with you as their songs are indiepop of course!

Based in Manchester, I believe Suburban Daze was the first proper band John was in. Later on he would be in Ink and then in Bookemdanno.

On the Soundcloud page we find a nice list of songs by Suburban Daze. Are they all of the band’s recordings? We find the songs “Blue Skies”, “Friends”, “Northern Town”, “Suburban Daze”, “Save Me”, “In My Dreams”, “Ocean Blue”, “Slug” “All I Know is This”, “Safe Sex”, “Weekend”, “Franco”, “Salt”, “Don’t Bring Me Down”, “Looking for the Answer” and “Got To Know You Better”. Lots of songs. Enough for an album!

Only one of the songs haa a little more info. “Blue Skies” was written and recorded by John and Paul Walster at Shipwreck Studios in Glossop. The vocals were by John and the all instruments by Paul Walster. Was Suburban Daze a duo then? Paul Walster was also on Bookemdanno as far as I know…

I find then an interview with Mark Revell about his band The Trend, a mod band that was around in the late 70s and got back together in 2016. There he mentions a song called “September Daze” that was included in the band’s latest album. It mentions that Stephen Scott, the band bassist, was in The Trend and afterwards he was in Suburban Daze. “September Daze” was written as a tribute to John Done who sadly died a few years back. I didn’t know that…

And then something quite cool on Youtube, live footage of the band. The band is playing live in Manor Park in Glossop in 1994. The song they are playing is called “The Cosmic Kid (Magic Bus)”. The guitar is much rockier than in Soundcloud. So is it the same band? Geographically and the name it makes sense it is. Who could confirm? I think it is the same band… but with a different sound!

And lastly the Manchester Music Archive has a gig flyer where we see that Suburban Daze played on Sunday 22nd of 1991 at The Witchwood.

Sadly this was all I could find about Suburban Daze. They were played in a Mixcloud featuring Glossop bands. But no more info there. Did they release anything? Appear on compilations? Who were the other band members? Hopefully we’ll find more info about them soon.

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Listen
Suburban Daze – Got to Know You Better

Day 530

Something that gets on my nerve has been happening more and more lately. I write about bands I recommend band because I want to. I find them. I take my time to scout Bandcamp, my friend’s recommendations, Soundcloud, Youtube, etc. And then suddenly I see promo companies tagging me on Twitter or Facebook thanking me for reviewing the bands they represent. It sort of pisses me. They didn’t do any work at all, they didn’t reach me, didn’t offer me an opportunity to listen to the music, a record, a link, nothing. And suddenly they take credit for my small and probably insignificant recommendation. This just happened to me with Pia Fraus. But in the past it has happened to me with other bands.

Maybe this happens a lot. Maybe there are other blogs and pages that do the same. They just like the music and recommend it. The bands must be elated. They must think that the PR company is doing a great job. But that is crap. They didn’t move a finger.

I really have a thing against PR companies. I don’t trust them at all. What’s their job? Sending mass emails with silly praise for bands they don’t even probably care and a link or two? That doesn’t sound like people passionate for music.

Again this behavior of tagging me and thanking me for a recommendation, really pisses me. One thing is the band thanking me. But a PR company? I don’t do it for them. I would never do it. Also. I have never EVER accepted anything from a PR company. Whenever I receive an email from them, I ignore. I don’t have time nor the will to recommend bands that can afford a PR company. That’s not the indie way in my book.

So yeah, I will continue supporting the music of these bands by getting their records, because their music is ace, but I won’t be recommending the music in the blog.

The Caraway: what great news! The Japanese band, a favourite of the blog (check the interview), will be releasing an EP with the fine Blue-Very Label! The EP is holiday-themed. It is titled “Another Christmas Will Come Around this Year” and we can preview the title song right now. The EP consists of 3 more songs, including a cover of Johnny Dee!

A Great Big Pile of Leaves: very close by to me, just down south, Brooklyn. That’s where this trio comes from. They released an album  called “Pono” this month on vinyl, CD and tape. I am not familiar with the band I must say. This is their third album! So yeah, I am discovering the 10 songs that make up their album on Bandcamp, and they are a nice surprise.

Sunnbrella: now we head to London to discover the solo project of David Zbirka. His latest song is a very fine slice of bedroom dreampop. It is titled “Pauline” and as is quite normal, a song with a girl name for a title is usually good. This is no exception!

The Ghost Ease: another new discovery for me, never heard about Portland’s The Ghost Ease. Their latest single is a lovely pop song called “Angel”. I guess what I like the most are the vocal melodies… it is cool, catchy song!

Fantasy Postcards: and I have to end this review of new discoveries with “Caught in Our Shadow” the new song by Johan and Mathias! I am a fan of all the music they’ve been involved with, including Able and The Seashells, two terrific indiepop bands of course! Base in Uppsala the band knows how to make timeless pop music!

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I have wanted to write about Los Murciélagos for ages. The thing is I have hoped to find copies of their records for many years and I haven’t been able to do so. Their album, 7″ and split 12″ (especially this last one) have been on my wishlist for long. At this point I feel I won’t ever be able to find copies. So maybe, perhaps, just maybe, someone has spare copies and can help me. Anyways… who were Los Murciélagos?

They were from Spain, from the city of Oviedo in Asturias. That’s the north of Spain. That’s where my wife’s family comes from and a place I visited two summers ago and fell in love immediately. The vibe, the food, everything was perfect. I wouldn’t mind retiring there, if I ever retire!

Los Murciélagos translate in English as The Bats. Of course we know two very good bands called The Bats. The band is strictly not indiepop but considered a mod band. And actually the band’s original name was quite long, Los Murciélagos de Assisí Underground. Not sure why that name. Anyways, they started in 1987 and would release a 7″, an album and a split 12″ with the band Los Cautivos.

Most of what I am going to tell you about the band appeared on a post by the Spanish blog Nueva Ola 80. I hope they don’t mind as it this will be in English and hopefully a larger crowd can find out about their music.

The band was formed by Mercedes Covisa on vocals, Pablo Martínez Vaquero on guitar and keyboards, Flower Riesgo on guitar and Chús Gil on drums. All of them had previously been in the band Crónicas Húmedas. Flower had also been on the Langreo band La Tentación alongside Chús. This was their hometown.

In 1989 Chús passed away. But before that José Labra had replaced him as their drummer.

Their first demo tape had the songs “Amor a Mordiscos”, “Bat is Back (Voy a por ti)” and “Prefiero Ser Clark Kent”. Their second demo tape which was titled “4 Greatest Hits” had the a cover of Spencer Davies Group’s “Keep on Running”, “Los Tres Asientos de Atrás”, “Chico Duro” and “El Otro Infierno”. Both demos were released in 1987.

In 1988 Labra leaves the band for yet another drummer, José Moragón. This lineup gets signed to Misfit, a new indie label that Rico Roces, from Radio Asturias, put together. The idea was to put a single out. They recorded “Amor a Mordiscos” and “Prefiero Ser Clark Kent” but in the end the label went bust. The songs end up then in their third demo tape, “Misfit Times”.

The song “Los Tres del Asiento de Atrás” is included in a compilation called “Tapes 85-88″ released by Bluestone. There are good bands in this compilation like Kamenbert, Los Canguros or Los Flechazos. Maybe one day I should write about many of these great mod bands.

Javier ‘Gum’ Méndez becomes the new drummer in 1989. This lineup would play a good show in Luanco alongside Los Cautivos and Los Módicos. After this the band would start playing more and more gigs in their region and also at the KGB venue in Barcelona.

The first release the band puts out is the split 12” with Los Cautivos. Released by the label KM 444 from Oviedo, the record was titled “Pow! Oviedo”. Los Murciélagos appear on the A side with two songs, the magnificent “Verde de Guerra (Pow! Oviedo)” and “Los Tres del Asiento de Atrás”. On the B side Los Cautivos have two songs as well. Some other details on the record show that Pablo wrote both songs for Los Murciélagos, Jorge Méndez played guitar on “Verde de Guerra”, Tomás Fernández played sax on that song too. Fran Elías produced the songs which were recorded and mixed at KM444 Studios by Joaquín Lacalle and Carlos Pinto.

There is a video of the band playing “Verde de Guerra” and “Los Tres del Asiento de Atrás” and “Keep on Running” at the Cathedral Square of Oviedo in 1989. I read that “Verde de Guerra” was actually written by Pablo for a previous band he was involved with, Los Cómplices.

On this same label, in 1990, the band releases a 7″ with two songs, “El Color de tu Alma” on the A side and “Prefiero Ser Clark Kent” on the B side. The catalog number is KP 002. Tomás Fernández once again played sax. Rita Beluche sang backing vocals, Javi Monge played guitar and César (I’m missing the last name) played keyboards.

Now it was time for the band to release their álbum “Directo al Corazón”. Released on tape and vinyl, the album had 12 songs. The A side had “El Color de tu Alma”, “Sonrisa Ácida’, “Prefiero Ser Clark Kent”, “Canción Absurda sobre la Muerte de Jim Cook”, “Taxi Driver (You Talking to Me?)” and “Para Siempre”. The B side had “Amor a Mordiscos”, “Directo al Corazón”, “Elena Francis”, “Bat is Back (Voy a por ti)”, “Do You Believe it Now?” and “La Próxima Vez”.

The record was once again recorded at the KM444 Studios and mixed there as well. The same people worked on it, Joaquín Lacalle and Carlos Pinto. The artwork for the record was created by Ringo Julián while the photos are by Puri Méndez and Johnny K. Prat. The illustrations for the back cover are by Javi ‘Gum’ Méndez. The record is dedicated to Chus.

After the album Flower leaves the band to be in the band Los Canallas and is replaced by Ángel Parada from Los Cautivos. Fernando Malva also joins the band on keyboards and Jorge Méndez and Tomás Fernández become permanent in the band playing sax and guitar. This new lineup plays many gigs and start recording the band’s second album which was titled “Reza lo que Sepas”.

The band starts hurting when Ángel and Javi start a band called the Beat Fever’s. I guess they start having problems to dedicate time to both. Also Pablo is working on the radio and even joins for a short time Los Flechazos to play bass. All of this doesn’t help the band and they decide to split.

Later on, in 1992, we see Mercedes and Pablo in a band that lasted very little, Les Paris Match. Pablo would release a solo record in 1994 called “Tal Como Éramos”. Other band that Pablo was Ritmods.  Javi Méndez would participate in Eurovision with the band El Sueño de Morfeo.

The band appeared on a few compilations, but all in this century. In 2003, on Bon Vivant Records’ “Moderno… Pero Español (Vol. 1)” compilation CD the band contribuetd “Bat is Back” and “Amor a Mordiscos”. In 2007, on a compilation CD called “No Se Salva Nadie” (NS2044) that came with the eponymous book by Rafa Balbuena that covered rock and pop from Asturias, the band contributed “Sonrisa Ácida”.

Lastly in 2009, the song “El Color de tu Alma” appeared on “Mi Generación (Lo  Mejor de la Escena Mod de los Ochenta)” (BCD067) a compilation CD released by Bip Bip Records.

I don’t know why I have the idea the band reissued their LP. Maybe they didn’t. For some reason I remember they did, maybe called “Directo al Corazón Plus”. But I can’t find any info. Maybe I dreamed it. Or maybe it was just online? On blogs?

Anyhow, who remembers them? Anyone from Asturias saw them? Or maybe friends from Barcelona saw them when they toured? What other songs did the band record? Did they record some for the second album that didn’t get released? Hopefully we’ll find out soon!

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Listen
Los Murciélagos – Verde de Guerra (Pow Pow Oviedo!)

Day 527

Lunarette: a new song by the New York band that formed from the ashes from the fantastic Gingerlys! “Tangerine Spritz” sounds great. Makes me want to see them live. When will that be? I don’t know. But would be great to hang out with Jackie and Colin after many years!

Letters to Annika: the project of Asuza Suga from For Tracy Hyde and AprilBlue is lovely. I’ve been enjoying it since I discovered it. His latest song is called “Tether” and is its a fine slice of dreamy pop. On top of it all there’s a video for it!

Bleach Lab: there are more and more bands these days that seem to be influenced by the mighty The Sundays. That’s not a bad thing. It is actually a good thing. I love jangly pop with female vocals. And vocals that are different of course. That have a special quality. “Real Thing” is the latest digital single by this London band. It is good!

Librarians with Hickeys: out on Big Stir Records is a digital double A single with the songs “I Can’t Stop Thinking About You” and “Stumbling Down Memory Lane”. The band is formed by Mike Crooker, Ray Carmen, Andrew Wilco and Rob Crossley and it is clear that they like their pop. These are two fine songs!

Blondeking: and we finish this week’s recommendations with this Utah project. It is not common to hear bands from Utah that I like. Blondeking’s latest single won me over immediately. Titled “Higher than the Rain”  it has that lovely feeling of early 90s bands… for some reason makes me think of The Lightning Seeds? What about you?

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Another discovery from Soundcloud, thanks to the many raids I am doing through that platform.

Picture the Scene is obscure as it gets. 10 years ago two songs were uploaded to Soundcloud by Gregg Corbett. These were “Decisions” and “It’s Over Now”. 2 months ago he added a third song, “Question of Love”.

There are some details available for us. We know Gregg was part of the band. He played guitar and drums. He also was vocals. Kenny played guitar and vocals and Paul Bass. We don’t know the last names for them. The three songs we are able to listen are from a 3 track demo tape that was recorded on a Fostex 4-track. When? Sometime between 1987 or 1988. Those were the years when the band was active in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Now there are other bands in his Soundcloud. Other projects he was involved with. The one that catches my attention is Pastis 51. I wrote about this Falkirk band years ago, but I don’t remember reading that Gregg was part of the band.

Other projects that I do know he was part of include The Dream, Bed in the Sea, Fear of Sex  and New Germany (these last three hailed from Falkirk, maybe this was Gregg’s hometown?).

Sadly this is all I found about the band. It is something of course. No releases. Just this demo of 3 songs it seems. Maybe they played live? Maybe my Scottish friends remember them?

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Listen
Picture the Scene – Decisions

Day 525

Astral Brain: the best news in a while is that the project by Einar Ekström (Le Futur Pompiste, The Garlands) and Siri af Burén (Testbild!, Band in Box) will be releasing their album “The Bewildered Mind” on October 15! Wow!  10 songs of perfect pop is what I expect. The album is coming out on Shelflife Records, only on vinyl (oh… I wanted a CD!). You can preview one track now, “Five Thousand Miles”, which is the song I included in the latest Cloudberry fanzine. A killer song!

This is My Secret Garden: on October 8 this essential compilation by the Gothenburg based label My Secret Garden Recordings will be released. You can preview one of the tracks now, Strawberry Fair’s “Attack”, which is wonderful. Other bands included are favourites of mine like Everyday Sensations, Fibi Frap, Evergreen Days and more!

Sweet Season: Phoenix, Arizona, band Sweet Season sounds good to me. A trio formed by Mella Barnes, Dan Radel and Monte Ewert, they will be releasing on September 1st their “Ever” EP. It will have 6 songs and we are able to preview two of them, “For You My Friend” and “Really Really (Love Someone)”. They are nice slices of jangle pop, especially the second track, which I recommend!

The Age of Colored Lizards: the Oslo band is usually featured on the blog. They make some very good pop songs you know. It’s been a while though, I think last time we heard from them was back in January. Now they have just one new song, “The Other Side”, which is a bit different to previous recordings. This time we find a more introspective, acoustic, band.

Michelle & Sebastian: and we end today’s recommendations with this quirky band from Chile. Released as a digital single by the label Gemelo Parásito Records from the southern country, we find here two members of the band Paracaídistas, Joaquín and Mari. Together they have written “Libre al Fin”, a fun twee song!

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Today we head to Wellington, New Zealand.

I discovered a Soundcloud page for The Jonahs with a trove of songs by this 80s band and one wonders why it took so long to find this. The songs here have been uploaded 9 years ago!

It seems that they considered themselves an alt country band?

I don’t know anything about them, I just know they played some nice guitar pop tunes. But here are a bunch of songs and that helps me get an idea.

Four of their songs they tag them as demos that were recorded sometime around 1986. These songs are “Stranger in his Own Home Toungue”, “History of the Rock’nr’Roll Revival Club”, “Short Letter, Long Farewell” and “So Leisurely”.

Then there are 10 songs that were recorded live at the Clyde Quay Tavern in Wellington also in 1986. These were “Bills of Happiness”, “Tour Spiel”, “Short Letter, Long Farewell”, “Stranger in his Own Home Toungue”, “Gone Callin'”, “Halfway to Heaven”, “History of the Rock’nr’Roll Revival Club”, “Unknown”, “Vegas Kings” and “So Leisurely”.

Then I find that the band actually put out a record! Yeah! In 1987 the band released a 12″ mini-album. It was a co-release by Burnt Offerings Music (LIS001) and Lost in Space Records (LIS001). This EP had 5 songs. The A side had “Short Letter, Long Farewell”, “Bills of Happiness” and “Doctoring”. The B side had “So Leisurely” and “History of the Rock & Roll Revival”. The title of the record was “Bills of Happiness”.

On the back of the sleeve we find that Grant Guillosson played bass, Laurence Tyler guitar and vocals, Damien Wilkins guitar and vocals and Victor Foon drums. The songs were recorded in December 1986 and January 1987 at Frontier Recording Studio in Wellington. They were engineered by Nick Roughen (from the bands Dimmer, Go Cats and Skeptics) and Brent McLaughlin (who produced the wonderful “The Law of Things” by The Bats). They were mixed by Brent. The front cover photo is credited to James Gilberd while the band members photos on the back to Evelyn Baden. The design of the sleeve to Margie Mouat.

I read that the record came with a colored insert with song lyrics and more credits. But I haven’t seen this.

We also know that Laurence Tyler was in Cattlebirds, The Gardening Angels and Pit Pony. And we also know the band appeared on a 12″ vinyl compilation called “When the Wind Blows” released in 1987 by Skank Records (SKANK 001). On this compilation the band contributed the song “Stranger Speaks in his Own Tongue”. I have never heard of this comp, but I do see a familiar name in it, The Wild Poppies.

In 1989 the band appears on another comp, compiled by Trevor Reekie. This compilation was called “Positive Vibrations” and was released by Pagan Records (PAL 1052) on both cassette and vinyl. The band contributed the song “Throwaway”.

The website Wellington Music interviewed Damien Wilkins back in 2017. He was at the time in the band The Close Readers. It mentions that he is an award building novelist and Director of the International Institute of Modern Letters. In this interview he mentions the band started in the garage of the Guillosson family in Wainuiomata. Victor was working in Grant’s father’s milk truck! And he become the drummer! Wow.

Places the band played included The Cricketer Arms and Clyde Quay Tavern. They supported The Chills at Victoria University in January 1987. The band played for about a year and then Damien left to London. The band continued for another year  and then broke up. Bands he mentions as influences include R.E.M. and The Go-Betweens.

Then I stumble upon a blog by Damien where he tells a bit of the story of the band. Good find! Read it, it’s very interesting.

And that’s it. Damien mentions in his blog the band is a footnote of The Chills history and nothing more, as they supported them. I would like to disagree! Here there are some terrific songs. And I am going to try to find myself a copy of the record soon. So yeah, good stuff. Who remembers them? Any other detail that you’d like to add?

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Listen
The Jonahs – So Leisurely

Day 523

Astragal: the Houston band is releasing a split 12″ with another band from their town, Bug Bites. The two songs by Astragal are up on their Bandcamp as well as pre-order links. The record is out on October 13 and one of the songs the trio formed by Jimmy, Sam and David, is up for preview. That song is called “Felt the Pain”, while the other one is called “Pendulum”.

The Crystal Furs: another trio, now from Portland. We are familiar with the great music The Crystal Furs make. So always excited to know they have more songs. Two new ones this time, “Miss Hughes” and “Please Fade Away”. Both up for streaming, both catchy and fun. Good stuff.

Kidsmoke: a new song by the Wrexham quartet. “Speaker Avenue” is a very nice effort. I am not that familiar with them, but I am reading here that the band is formed by James, Sophie, Ash and Lance and they make shimmering dreamy pop. I think that description is on target!

Maty de Planeta Tierra & Martu en Marte: this weirdly named band from Avellaneda, Argentina, is a very nice discovery. Their latest song “Pet Society” is catchy as hell. It sounds fun and you want to sing along their quirky lyrics. We should keep an eye on them!

Lurve: I got confused by the label name, Library Group Records from Australia. Do not confuse them with Library Records also from Australia! After I understood this fact, I discovered Lurve and their song “Right Moment”, a nice breeze of dreamy pop!

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Checking what are some of the latest discoveries of our pal stoneeyedkiller and his Youtube channel to find out this US band called The Earl Rays who I have never heard before. So as usual I went to look for any info about them.

The song that was shared on Youtube was “Smile”. This song was included in a 1988 demo tape that had two other songs, “Animal Friends” and “Ya’ Know?”.

We know the band hailed from Cleveland, in the US, and was around between 1987 and 1992. The band was formed by Steve Henry on guitar, Mark Simpson on bass, Jeff Craig on drums and Bernie Jungle on guitar. All of them sung.

Some more info about the demo. We know the songs “Animal Friends” and “Ya’ Know?” were recorded at White Room Studios in Detroit, Michigan by Mike Nehra and Al Sutton. “Smile” on the other hand was recorded at Kopperhead Studios in Canton, Ohio.

They didn’t have any proper releases but they did appear on at least 5 compilations.

“Animal Friends” appeared on “Exhibit ‘B’ – A Special Music Sampler” that was put together by Play Records in 1987 (PLAYC104241). This one was released on tape and CD. The next year, 1988, their song “Ya Know” appears on “Exhibit C: Ohio’s Undercurrent”, also released by Play Records (104244-C) on tape and cassette.

Kopperhead Productions released a tape in 1988 called “Rockin ‘U – The Class of ’87 Rocks!” (K10188). This tape would include the song “Smile”.

1989 would see a song not on their demo being released. “World for Tomorrow” is included in the CD compilation “Certain Damage! Volume 24” that came out on the College Music Journal (CMG-CD 024). Lastly, in 1991, their song “Phil” appears on “Clearing the Air” a 2CD compilation put together by Jim Clevo Presentations (JCP004 A/B). I believe this compilation also had to do with CMJ.

Another name I see involved with the band is Tim Ratley. It seems he was in the recording for “World of Tomorrow”. He was previously part of a band called The Wombats.

I have a suspicion too that the band’s name was based on James Earl Ray. Could it be?

James Earl Ray (March 10, 1928 – April 23, 1998) was an American fugitive and felon convicted of assassinating Martin Luther King Jr. at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. Ray was convicted in 1969 after entering a guilty plea—thus forgoing a jury trial and the possibility of a death sentence—and was sentenced to 99 years of imprisonment.

Then I stumble upon a Youtube video with all of their songs. Or most of them. This video has their “Red Tape” demo that had “Smile”, “Pretend Friends” and “She Knows” and the “White Tape” that had “Brand New Day”, “World for Tomorrow” and “9 Outta 10”. The first tape dates from 1987 while the second from 1988. Listen them here.

Then I find more information about them, a proper post about the band on The Listen Project. There’s a trove here including photos. Here it mentions that the original drummer was called Doyle Rice. Don Owens was also part of the original lineup but he would leave the band to be in The Outcasts.

They played gigs supporting the Stray Cats and The Hoodoo Gurus and playing gigs alongside Max Crucial and the Krushers, Scruffy the Cat, The Holy Cows, King Missile (at the Babylon A Go Go) and The French Lenards. The band toured from Chicago to New York and played a gig at CBGB in February 1989. Another gig they played was at the Living Room Set in Cedars in Youngstown.

An interesting thing is that in 1992 the band recorded eight songs with Bill Korecky at Mars Studios. I don’t know anything about these songs. Sadly it seems they never got released. But are they anywhere online?

Steve Henry and Rex Knots (Tim Ratley) formed the band Hadji’s Fruitbasket. Rex went to play too in Balloon Knot.

It seems the band regrouped at some point. There is a video dating from October 6, 2013, of the band playing the songs “World for Tomorrow” and “9 Outta 10” at the Lava Lounge in Pittsburgh.

And that’s it. That was a good amount of important details about the life of this cool band. I think it is the first time I dedicate a post to an Ohio band. That’s super. Let’s see if we discover more soon!

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Listen
The Earl Rays – Smile

Day 520

The Orange Peels: this is great news! The classic band fronted by Allen Clapp is back with a double album called “Celebrate the Moments of Your Life”. Yes, 17 songs, of great pop music! There is even a combo you can get that includes the double album and a 7″ remix single for about $28 plus shipping. Not bad! Also the release is very limited, just 100 copies. Good stuff!

Boyracer: another classic band that keeps releasing good music is Boyracer. A new album will be out on August 29 and it is titled “Assuaged”. 14 short and punchy songs, as usual, of their perfect brand of crashpop and on their own label Emotional Response. The album will be out on vinyl, on a first pressing of pink plastic. Exciting.

Flowertown: the San Francisco duo formed by Karina Gill and Mike Ramos is releasing an album called “Time Trials” on August 20th on the fine label Paisley Shirt Records. The record, which is being released on vinyl, will have 10 songs. Two of the songs are available to preview on Bandcamp, “Time Trials” and “The Way Back”.

SugarCandy Mountain: not much info about this shoegaze/dreampop band. But their album “Embers” has been available on Bandcamp since August 6th. Ten fine songs that seem to be available as digital-only. Looking at their Bandcamp I notice the band actually hails from Edinburgh and was originally active between 1991 and 1995 and has just started playing again together!

Lunatics on Pogosticks: oh! I haven’t checked this Melbourne indiepop band for a while and now that I do I discover they have a new album called “Whatver Gets You Through”! It doesn’t look like there is a physical release. But at least we can play on repeat the 12 songs here. Fun!

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A few days ago I got a nice recommendations from the Fanning Sessions blog, that extraordinaire blog that has let me discover so many obscure Irish bands.

The recommendation was a band called Good Sons. There is a post that dates from August 5th, 2021. So yeah, a brand new discovery. I am posting about it, even if it is repetitive as maybe two blogs may have more luck than one blog finding any more details about them. Who knows! It is good to share this info I think!

Many years ago there was a lot of friendship between bloggers, sharing and researching together. These days blogs are dying, we all know that. Very few exists. So I am happy to still have a little of those days long gone.

Anyhow, what do we know? It seems we don’t even know the name of the song! The guess is that the song is called “Deep Blue Sea”. Another guess is that it dates from 1990.

We know it is a demo because on the sound file shared, Dave Fanning says so. There is a tape cover that is shared. I wonder who made that tape. Someone recording the radio programme? I don’t know. Many bands that are unknown to me appear there. I think all of them are unknown!

Sadly I can’t find any other details. I am assuming the band is Irish of course. I read that Nick Jackson from Mirrors over Kiev had a band called Good Sons. But he was based in Manchester. So probably not. Anyone has a hint or any idea where to look!?

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Listen
Good Sons – Deep Blue Sea (title of the song not confirmed!)

++ When it comes to compilations you appeared on many. The first one I know is the “Zcheisch” comp put together by the Wansbeck Music Collective. I know very little about them. Where you part of this collective? Care telling me a little bit about it?

They were a group of musicians based in Ashington who put on gigs etc. Our first few gigs were through them. Playing with lots of other local groups. They then did the Zcheisch LP. We had two tracks on it. Our first decent recordings.

++ Then you appeared on a few compilations from Germany like “Mind the Gap”, “Heaven Sent” and “Instants of Pleasure” on Blam-a-Bit. How did this good friendship with German labels and fanzine happened? Did you ever meet the German fans?

Don’t really know but they were well into the group. A few writers came over to see us. Uwe from Firestation Records was one of these. Hence the compilation stuff years later. All lovely people who loved English indie bands.

++ And there was “My Favourite Sunday Vol.1” tape released in Japan by the Boshi label. This tape included the song “It’s True”. How did your music ended so far away?! That must have been very cool!

It was and I’m not really sure how it came about. I think they wrote to us and asked us.

Day 518

Television Personalities: First I want to say I don’t support Record Store Day. I honestly don’t know how many of them are a year, and I don’t care. Only big record labels get a benefit out of it. In any case, because at least the double vinyl album “Another Kind of Trip: Live 1985-1993” is available to stream on Bandcamp. Also there is no CD version of this release, previous Fire Records’ TVPs special boxset releases had CD versions and I bought them. But not this time. Anyways. You can purchase the album now and even though it says it was released for Record Store Day it seems available. It includes 21 tracks of unreleased versions and a song that never made it to studio.

Roller Derby: let’s discover this cool Hamburg band! Formed by Philine Meyer, Manuel Romero Soria and Max Nielsen, the band has been putting out some fantastic songs on Bandcamp. Dreamy and poppy, superb indiepop. The latest track is called “Whatever Works” and it is honey to my ears. Brings so many memories of trips to Hamburg, to hang out with indiepop friends and check out gigs at the Astrastube. Maybe one day I can catch them there?

The Fisherman and his Soul: a new single by our friend Sebastian Voss from The Grindcore Poppies and Nah… This one is called “Dimmish Grey Sky” and it is a fine slice of pop. There are also included 4 remixes and this I let you decide what you think. I am not a fan of remixes in general. I don’t remember a remix I’ve liked better than the original!

The Arctic Flow: “Lost You Long Ago” is the name of the album that Sunday Records will be releasing on August 20th on CD and tape. Good news! 11 songs by this wonderful project that knows how to chime and jingle jangle his guitars. We can preview two songs right now, “Rehearsals” and “Alive”, both very very strong!

The Suncharms: Sunday Records is also releasing the debut album by 90s popsters from Sheffield! Yes, The Suncharms we all love and that we got the chance to release a retrospective compilation some years ago. The band got together and have been making some terrific songs. The two songs we can preview from the upcoming album “Distant Lights” are no exception. “Liquid Through My Hands” and “Seas of Titan” sound ace. The album is out on August 20th on CD  and later on, in December, there will be a vinyl version. The CD version seems a better deal, with 12 songs, while the vinyl has just 10 songs. Looking forward to this one!

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We continue digging treasures from Hull, thanks to Chris Warkup’s Soundcloud page!

Now a band with a curious name, Fog. A bad name for the internet days. How can we find more information about a band with a name like that. How can that be googled?! I think we are in a difficult situation here. But let’s try.

I discovered Fog thanks to the tape “Now That’s What We Call Hull” from 1992. I’ve written many posts about bands that appeared on this compilations by now. And probably there will be more! So many good bands that I had no clue about less than a month ago.

Fog appears on this tape with the song “Enough”, which is the 5th song on the A side. Previously, in 1991 they had contributed another song, “The Happy One”, to a compilation tape called “Tales from the Riverbank”. I have just listened to both songs and I am happily impressed.

They made proper indiepop. Catchy and poppy! Did they make other songs?

I have an answer. YES.

Their song “Closed” appears on a compilation tape called “Nice 1” also from 1992. and then in 1993 they had the song “R.I.M.A.” on “2 Nice for Words”, yet another compilation tape.

I am aware too of a self-titled tape called “Who Pilots the Flying Saucers?”. This tape must have been a demo tape. It dates from 1992 and had three songs, “Slack”, “Snap” and “G.T.F.”.

In total then, 7 songs they recorded. Were there more? Who would know?

The Hull Music Archive sheds some light! And adds some more releases. Yes, there was another tape with three songs, “Tabloid Snipers”, “Tactic” and “Closed”. So now we know 10 songs.

We also get to know that the band was around from 1989 to 1993 and were formed by:
Grant Davison on guitar and vocals
Steve Porter on accordion
Kevin Riches on guitar
Kev Coulman on bass and guitar
Chris Hoyle on drums

Other people that were involved in the band included Neil Tallentyre on whistle, Mark Gallon on drums, Karl Isaksen on bass, Sean Pidd on bass and Ali Bee on backing vocals.

It i said that the band was formed after the demise of The Boys from County Hell. Neil was the original drummer but Mark Gallon was the first to replace him. With this lineup the band played the Adelphi and got a  weekly residency at the Alexandra Hotel. Another place the band played at was the Hebden Bridge Trades Club and the Room 1795. They played in London, Birmingham and Scarborough.

Then I find that there exists live footage of the band playing at The Adelphi! Check out the songs “Enough“, “Closed“, “Waterhouse Blues“, “Quite a Year“, “Tabloid Snipers“, “Tactic” and “Happy One“. These date from sometime in 1991.

The recordings for the songs “The Happy One”, “Enough” and “Waterhouse Blues” were made at Animal Tracks but for some reason these songs weren’t released as a proper demo.

Other songs in the band repertoire included “Tomorrow”, “Trolleybound”, “Boxes”, “Sheriff Song”, The Wild Rover” and “The Farmer”.

And that’s what I could find about them. Maybe someone remembers them? Maybe someone has more songs to let us listen? That’d be fantastic!

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Listen
Fog – Enough