29
Sep

Day 567

Remi Parson: a new single has arrived! Our friend Rémi who used to be in the most amazing The Sunny Street has released “Les Sentiments”, a beautiful pop song that will be included in his forthcoming album “Pour un Empire”, his third album. This album is to be released by Isolaa Records on November 2021. And it feels, my sentiment is, that is a record any pop lover shouldn’t miss. This single works as a proof of that!

The Bernhardts: I wasn’t familiar with the label Smiling C from California. It seems they’ve been doing reissues in vinyl of classic bands. Not all indiepop of course. Maybe that’s why. But The Bernhards four song EP “Moonglow” is one I wasn’t going to miss. This is not out yet, it is coming out on November 20, and I have already pre-ordered. A few copies are remaining! The Manchester trio formed by Simon Milner, Steve Hopkins and Neil Fitzpatrick made some wonderful music in the early 80s and these four songs are a testament of it. Would be great to get in touch with them and interview them, right?

Everyday Sensations: My Secret Garden Recordings is doing a great job reissuing and doing retrospective releases of their artists from back in the mid 200s. The latest to get this treatment on CD is Everyday Sensations, the band of Markus Bergström Björn. On this new release titled “Forget Those Teardrops” we find 4 songs which are wonderful, and there’s even a video been made for “Call it What You Want“. The release is limited to 100 copies, so don’t miss it!

Flty Brger Grl: out now is the album “Love you Forever” by this Oslo band! It is out on vinyl and cassette and it is a nice surprise for me. They have been going for some years now, but it is the first time I’m listening to their sugary lo-fi pop! It is indeed very sweet, but most importantly, it is good!

Tiles: and today’s last recommendation comes from Adelaide, Australia. It is a new digital single by this dreamy duo and they have titled it “Sleep In”. This is a lovely slice of indiepop. Chiming guitars and a mellow melody that works perfectly. Australia never disappoints.

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Continuing with Soundcloud finds, I discovered The Carrellines and their wonderful song “Bridesmaids Never Brides”. This song was the A side of a 7″ that had “Credence” as its B-side.

The band formed by Aidan Breslin (guitar, keyboards), Billy Doherty (drums), Damien Duffy (bass, keyboards) and Paul McLoone (vocal, guitar), released this single in 1990. The band hailed from Derry, Northern Ireland and were able to put this single thanks to wining the Carling/Hotpress Band of 1990. I suppose they got money thanks to that and were able to self-release this record.

The sleeve, blue and yellow, and a black and white drawing of a man. Is it one of the band members? This illustration was made by Damien Duffy.

The back of the sleeve gives us a bit more details. The songs were recorded by David Slevin and Niall O’Sullivan at Landsdowne Studios in Dublin on July 21 and 22nd of 1990. Kendal Mooney is credited for additional vocals on “Credence”.

The band actually started in 1986 and their first live gig happened in June 1987. In November 1987 the band performed at the Irish Rock Week at London’s legendary venue The Mean Fiddler. I know the band caught the attention of Dave Fanning and they recorded a session for him! Oh! They must appeared on the Dave Fanning blog!

Checking the blog I find a post about them in that great blog. Dating from 2013, it mentions that the band recorded at 5 track session. But it doesn’t seem that the session is available. It says it is lost!

Then I notice something. I’ve seen Paul McLoone play! Yeah, he fronts The Undertones now. He has been filling Fergal Sharkey’s shoes for years, since 1999! Wow. And also Bill Doherty was part of The Undertones. Small world indeed.

I keep finding good info. The Carellines played Cork Rock weekend and appeared on TV, on RTE’s “Check It Out”. The band recorded a demo tape of 8 songs at Matrix Studios in Belfast which helped them get more radio airplay on RTE and BBC.

The band played at Belfast’s The Limelight and later at The Belfast Arts Festival in November 1988. This performance was actually broadcasted live on BBC radio.

On January 1989 the band played many showcase gigs. After returning to Derry the band recorded a three track demo at Beethoven St. Studios with Kevin Armstrong and Andrew Paresi. Another TV appearance would happen that year, at “Jo Maxi” on RTE TV. There they performed their superb “Bridesmaids Never Brides”.

The Irishrock.org website gives even more details. Here it says thee band recorded not one but two Dave Fanning Sessions. Again, we don’t know which tracks! That’s not great.

Sadly the Dave Fanning Sessions nor their TV appearances seem to be online. That’s a shame.

That’s all I’ve been able to find. I hope to get a record for myself, would be great to have their 7″ in my collection! Who remembers them?

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Listen
The Carrellines – Bridesmaids never Brides

27
Sep

Day 565

Subsonic Eye: we are fans of the Singaporean band Subsonic Eye. I interviewed them not that long ago, this year, actually. So you know their music is good. And since January’s album we haven’t heard from them. Well, don’t despair. Here is a new 7″ with two songs, “Dijangka” and “Matahari”. And it is really good!

Shoestrings: another band I interviewed, but this time many years ago, is releasing a record! “Expectations” is the new work from Mario and Rose Suau since… like forever! This album is coming out on LP and CD on November 4. This was quite a surprise when it was announced like a week ago. At least for me! “Gone” is the only song we can preview and it is really amazing. This one I need for sure. A record not to miss. Ed Shelflife, will you save me a copy?

Violentene: the latest from the Ottawa based duo is “September Falls”. This is the second single from the band’s forthcoming “Otherworld” EP that should be released this year I think. The Canadian band sounds at its best in this song. It is a fine pop song, with classic melodies.

Lunarette: the New Yorkers are back too with a new song. The ex-Gingerlys have just added the track “Low Sky” to their Bandcamp and I am enjoying it! Jackie’s vocals sound quite special on this one. The song has a nice feeling, a bit like The Sundays perhaps? It is lovely. I hope they release something properly soon!

English Summer: Clare, Australia, project English Summer is back sounding very much like Rumblefish and The Bodines! Wow. I like this! The latest song they have put out is “Tall Stories” and it sounds like a classic, lost, indiepop song from 1987. Wow!

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As you know I am going through old drafts of the blog, checking bands that I hoped to write about years ago and I didn’t.

Today I opened the draft link for Spit the Pips. And what did I find? Just a link for a Myspace. Oh dear. That’s all! How come I didn’t write about them then. Now that Myspace link doesn’t work. And I am quite surprised that I didn’t even do any more research!

I don’t know much about the band. I don’t own any of their records. So this will be my first time exploring their music. I vaguely remember their music, being fun catchy pop. Now that I listen to them again, especially their song “Love Town”, I understand why I wanted to recommend them! What a pop song that is!

Their records came out on the band’s own Pipsqueak Records. The first release was the “Up a Gum Tree” 12″ released in 1990 (PSQK 01). This mini-album is the one that includes the wonderful “Love Town”. That is the opening track on the A side. The other two songs on this side are “Flat Top for President” and “Rich in Years”. The B side has “Charmed Life”, “Birds, Bees & Housekeys” and “Stairway to Devon”.

In 1990 the band also appeared on a compilation tape called “Aliens Too!” released by SMAC-Media (SMACC 1). On this tape they have a duo with Billy Oblivion “Gun (Stairway to Devon)”. They also appear on “Aliens Too 2 (Black Woolly Tights & Dr. Martens)”. On this tape released by SMAC-Media (SMACC 4) too, the band contributed the songs “What’s Yours is Mine” and “Drop in the Ocean”. It is worth mentioning that SMAC is the Stockton Music & Arts Collective.

In 1991 the band releases “Never Crib a Boggy EP” 7″. This record has a strange cover. I wonder if the two guys on the front are the band members. They have some facial hair with masking tape. On this record we find five songs, “Bring me the Head of John the Bastard”, “Still Goes On” and “Learn the Lingo” on the A side and “Gravy Tree” and “Stay” on the B side. My favourite I think on this record is “Learn the Lingo”. Great song!

Something cool about this record is that there are etchings on each side. The A side says “Sent to Coventry” while the B side says “Toothpaste for dogs”.

In 1992 the band releases their sole album, “Kefuffle”. This record came out on Pipsqueak Records (PSQK 3) on vinyl. 16 songs appear here, “Infectious”, “Sanity Shelf”, “Needle & Fred”, “(Christmas Sisters) Wedded-Blisters”, “Thieves”, “The Linthorpe Rd. Man”, “Backseat to History”, “McLure!”, “Flatmate!”, “Cosmic It’s a Knock Out”, “Clifftastic”, “Hoover McGroover”, “Bloody Big Knife”, “…..Bit…..”, “Bogey Man” and “Kerfuffle”. On this record we see that the all songs were performed, written and recorded by Michael Baines.

In 1992 the band appears on yet another compilation, “Live Lust”. The tracks on this tape are not live. There is no label for the release. But we do know that Spit the Pips contributed the song “Infectious”.

The last time we hear from them is on the CD compilation “Exposed No. IV” that came with the Exposed Magazine in 1993. On this record the band appears with the song “Back Seat to History”.

I now search for Michael Baines. We see he has been in many bands including Emergency Stairs, Retardot, Snotnosed, The Prestidigitators,  Burnt Dennis & the Injunctions, Werbeniuk and Woolcraft. He used to work at Studio 64 in Middlesbrough.

I look back at the Myspace link. Some songs appear, of course you can’t play them, but we see three songs I don’t know about, “Mouth (Ring) Piece”, “Quentin Tarantino is Shit” and “Shrapnel (The Axe Men Cometh)”. This three songs seem to have appeared on a release called “Show-Biz-Tool-Shed”. Let’s see if we can find any info about it.

And yes! That release exists even though it is not on Discogs. It was a CD album from 1994! It was released by Pipsqueak Records (PSQK 04). I don’t know the order of the songs but these are the songs included: “Flattop for President”, “Headsashedsa”, “Shrapnel (the Axemen Cometh)”, “Mouth (Piece) Ring”,  “Ice Block Drip”, “Deadwood”, “Quentin Tarantino is Shit”, “Kiddy Krime”, “Return of the Shitkicker Six”, “Show-Biz-Tool-Shed”, “Your Days are Numbered”, “Shakin’ All Over”, “Hungover on Life” and “Isle of Dogs”.

I find some reviews of Michael’s later bands. I find a Soundcloud he set up but only uploaded the song “Infectious”.

And that’s all I could gather about Spit the Pips. Who remembers them?

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Listen
Spit the Pips – Love Town

24
Sep

Day 562. Happy release date for us!! Stars on Fire 7″ is out today!!! Exciting times! Order your copy at www.cloudberryrecords.com. Don’t miss it. Also it is here on Bandcamp!

Fort Revere: 6 demos from Providence, Rhode Island. There’s just one person behind this nice jingle jangly band and he is Jack Downey. These songs date from the summer of last year and he says they were influenced by Seapony, The Drums, The Shop Assistants and JAMC. Nice!

Jaggy Nettles: the second album by Jaggy Nettles is out now on CD. It is called “Troof Be Told”. For those who don’t know this nice project of Andrew from The Felt Tips, here he sings about classic children stories for his two boys Rory and Archie. This is lovely!

Miseryslims: now a fast-paced dreampop/shoegaze band from Manitoba, Canada. The band formed by Brady on vocals and rhythm guitar, Randy on lead guitar and bass and Simon on drums, released last month a four song EP titled “Hello”. All for songs shine. Hard to pick a favourite. Maybe “Big on U”?

Margot: the London band has a classic sound that I really like. Their latest single is “Watercolour” and it is quite perfect. Nicely arranged, elegant. From what I understand the band is working on an album that will be called “Margotzeko” that is to come out on February 7th. So there’s still some wait, but if they treat us to songs like these now and then, we can be happy!

Beach Towels: and to end this week here is another Canadian band I just discovered. Beach Towels hail from Edmonton, Alberta, and have a bunch of recordings on their Bandcamp. Their latest seems to be “Drip Dry” but that one is not available to listen. On the other hand “Washed Away” is. This is a nice psychedelic track with pop at heart.

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Right, so I wrote about The Carrol Singers, the band Gary Lincoln was on. I mentioned on that post that I wanted to write about the following band, the band that came after, The Saving Graces. So let’s do that today!

On his Soundcloud he has also put together a set of songs by The Saving Graces. This set consists of four songs, “Acceptable”, “Garston”, “Loosen Up” and “The Things You Said”. As I mentioned in my previous post, it seems that “Loosen Up” was actually a song by The Carrol Singers.

The band was around also for just one year, between 1989 and 1990. We also get some band members names, but no last names: Paul, Ulli, Viki, Mark and Gary Lincoln of course.

There seems to have been a band of the same name in the 2000s. That annoys me because Discogs has listed both band’s releases together. We know that The Saving Graces we care about appeared on a compilation called “Breeze 4” in Germany. This was released by Alphyen Viwit (004) in 1994. The band contributed the songs “Acceptable”, “Garston”, “The Things You Said” and “Loosen Up”. Some time later, there was sort of a version of this release called “Extract of Breeze 4” had thee songs “Loosen Up” and “Acceptable”. There was a CDR version of this “Extract of Breeze 4” probably

I will mention again that previous to the bands I have mentioned so far, Gary was in The Fact, a rockier post-punk band.

Sadly that’s all the information I can provide you! The songs are great. I don’t know where in the UK the band hailed from. But would be fantastic to know any other details people might have!

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Listen
The Saving Graces – Acceptable

23
Sep

Thanks so much to Anders Lindgren for the interview! I wrote about the Swedish band 99th Floor some time ago on the blog. Then through Facebook Anders got in touch with me a few weeks back and he was up to tell me the story of his band, a band that recorded some very fine pop songs and that I knew very little, that I had discovered not too long ago. So I am happy that now I do know a little more about them, some interesting details for sure and makes me wonder a lot about the Swedish pop scene. There’s always been good bands there!

++ Hi Anders! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Are you still involved with music?

Absolutely my pleasure. I’m fine, and it’s a nice day in Stockholm, so it’s great. Yes, I still do music at an acceptable level, which means that not much time is spent training in rehearsal rooms. I have a band called Safari Season,   which initially played surf-inspired music, but which has become more for English folk pop / psychedelia I think 

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

I started playing recorder at music school. It was the only instrument available at the time, and it was awful. My parents had a simple travel gramophone when I was little and the music I listened to was 78 records and commercial floppy disks from Readers Digest. I had received the 78 records from an old man and the music was Swedish jazz and songs from the early 20th century. When we bought a tape recorder, my mother played big band jazz and Swedish dance music all day. What made me really interested in music was that I started playing guitar after a lot of ups and downs. You were not allowed to start playing the guitar too early because your fingers were too small  thought the music school.

Some milestones that meant a lot to me then, and that are still close to my heart were.

– The film about the Woodstock festival. When I sat and watched the movie, someone whispered to me from the back just before Jimi hendrix was in the picture. “There he is”. POW. I was completely obsessed with Jimi Hendrix. I bought everything I found with him. Had a pretty decent collection of Jimi Hendrix records in the end.

– The double album – “The Guitar Album” – (Polydor). Jan Akkerman, Jimi Hendrix, Roy Buchanan, John McLaughlin and Freddie King. Absolutely amazing mix of guitar players.

– “Nuggets: Original Artifacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968” (Elektra) –

I became obsessed with vinyl records early on, and sometimes there were cut-out broadcasts to my small hometown. There I found “Nuggets” for 25 cents (3.95 SEK). It’s probably the record I’d played the most times in my life. I took the opportunity to buy another copy. It also became the most played album among my friends. I knew all the songs by heart, so it also became a bit like an English language course. The groups that were on the record could not be reached so it was very frustrating.

– Electric Prunes – “Mass In F-Minor” – (Reprise). When I heard the music in a movie, I threw myself at the speaker on the TV. It was something absolutely amazing what I heard, but what kind of music was it? Frustrating. When I was working in a record store, an old hippie came in and sold the record. I thought the cover looked exciting so I played it in the store and POW. There was that amazing music.

– Simon / Garfunkel- “Bridge Over Trouble Water” —The record that was the first LP I saw and heard. Thought the music was magical.

– Beach Boys- “Greatest hits” – Outstandidng. Saw commercials for it on English TV. When they froze the picture and the surfer stood there and they played “I Can Hear Music”. Wow

– Spirit – “Future Games” (Mercury Records) – I found the record as a Cut Out at the same store as were I found “Nuggets” and at the same price 3.95 SEK. I played it throughout my teenage years. I even wrote letters to Randy California. The records just floated and the songs blended together in an amazing way

– Later there were more bands of course e.g. Velvet Underground, Suicide. Echo and the Bunnymen, Ramones, New York Dolls, Blondie, Fairport Convention, Led Zeppelin but “Nuggets” were always the most important. Today I listen to everything. There is so much good and exciting music.

++ Had you been in other bands before 99th Floor? I believe your were on Ebe Johnsson’s Swing Quartet in Karlstad, right? If so, how did all of these bands sound? Are there any recordings?

Yes we had a band in my hometown Karlstad called Ebe Johnson’s Zwing Quintett. We took the name after a yarn shop (fabric store). We were very inspired by “Nuggets”, but we got the epithet punk. We played the first punk concert that was in Karlstad so that was probably why we were called punk. With Ebe Johansson’s Swing quintet, we played a lot locally and were often connected to larger acts both Swedish and international. We sounded a bit like the garage bands from “Nuggets” but maybe a bit more unpolished. There’s a track I have from a live concert. It is a Swedish adaptation of The Standell’s “Dirty Water“, but it is not about Boston but about Karlstad.

During that time, I also played in a synth duo called Maggots, an art band called Living Kebab, a duo called Tomorrows Act and a band called Zenit Nadir. There were several temporary constellations, but the memory fails.

++ What about the other members?

We were all friends from school and we became 99th Floor. The drummer Gunnar also played at the same time with another Karlstad band called All That Jazz

++ Where were you from originally?

Vi kom alla från Karlstad . We all came from Karlstad

++ How was Stockholm at the time of 99th Floor? Were there any bands that you liked? Were there any good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?

There were many bands that played, but there were not so many venues in Stockholm for unestablished bands, which was a shame, because there could probably have been exciting bands. When I played I do not remember how the others sounded, I only remember the after parties. There were good record stores, but I mostly hung out at used stores like the Record Exchange, The Beat Goes On and the 55’s record exchange. That was enough for all record reviewers in Stockholm to sell their records there, so there was everything. The venue that was easiest to get a gig at was a pub called Tre Backar. There were always two bands per night, one local and one from another place. The other place was a restaurant called Cityhallen and had bands every day. We often played in both places. Most of our gigs were in Uppsala, which is a lively student city with many venues. So Uppsala became our home arena, and there we also had our manager.

++ During your time there were many great Swedish bands, so I wonder if you have any recommendations for obscure bands that didn’t get a chance to make it?
We once played on an art college’s 30th anniversary with an art college band called The Cartoons, and they are the band I have the strongest memory of. It was a very good music scene Gothenburg which is still very exciting. But the only band I remember from Gothenburg was Union Carbide Production (pre Soundtrack of Our Life), for the singer and I quenched my thirst together one summer evening after a festival gig. There was a slight twist to the question, but The Cartoons is the answer to the question. Union Carbide Production is maybe a well known band.

++ How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?

We were the same guys from Karlstad who became 99th Floor. When I studied art history at university, I met Ylva who turned out to be able to sing so she became our singer

++ On my earlier post I was wondering if you and Ylva were siblings or related?

We are married.

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

We were very ambitious and trained in a basement room in a suburb of Stockholm called Norrviken. It was usually Ylva and I who made the songs and then we rehearsed how they would sound.

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

At that time there was no Internet, so we looked at album covers to find good names. For a while we were called “Seven and Seven is” after Love`s song. We finally arrived at the 99th floor was a good name. 

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

I think the bands that were around us as bands like e.g. All About Eve, The Hoodoo Gurus, Led Zeppelin, Ozzy Osbourne, The Sundays, Popul Vuh and many of the indie bands that were popular then. Difficult to find exactly the influences, you were affected by time and how it sounded directly or indirectly around us.

++ And of course I have to ask, why did you choose to do songs in English instead of Swedish?

We were used to listening to music with English lyrics, and it felt less boring to write in English. Ylva and I recorded more songs in Swedish, but they have not been released.

++ Your first release was the “Dreamland” 7″ promo in 1987. How come this was a promo release? How was it used to promote the band?

The album was called promo because then we simply did not have to pay extra money when we pressed it. I sent it to all possible and impossible places. Mainly venues and newspapers in Sweden, but also to a couple of newspapers in other countries. I thought it would be a little more exclusive to get a 7 ” than a cassette tape. We got good reviews and the best was the American magazine Option Magazine which thought it was 1987’s best 7 ”. I was told in some strange way that they wrote a review, but it was impossible to find the newspaper in Sweden, so I called them and there was chaos on the phone because they were so happy that I called. They then said that they thought it was the best 7” of the year, ”and everyone in the editorial staff loved it. When I got the magazine sent to me, I saw that we had better rewievs than Soundgarden´s first EP. This caused another magazine “Rockpool” to write to us and they wanted to distribute the record to all their college stations. We only had 171 of the 7” and they were all gone, so nothing happened. We would have pushed up more, but there was no money and no one wanted to spend it.

++ Then, in 1989, came the “I Walk Alone” 7″ that used the same artwork of the promo 7″. In general I’d say you had some cool art for your records. Who was in charge of that?

Fun you think so. We’ve always been in close contact with different artists, so that’s probably why. I have also done some layout on the records. A little anecdote. The cover of “Sad Songs on a Happy Day” is hand-printed so each cover is unique. Much as we did with releases was what we today call DIY.

++ This 7″ came out on Joker Records. Who were Joker Records and how did you end up working with them?

Joker Records was a small independent company that had received money to release a collection of CDs with interesting bands from Sweden. We were on that record with a demo recording of “I Walk Alone”. Since I worked with TV, I had met a photographer who wanted to make a video with us. It turned out so well that it would be shown on Swedish TV at Christmas time, and then we thought it would be good if there was a single to follow up with, but there was no record company that was interested, so me and the photographer went up to Joker and presented how we thought, and he thought it was OK, even though he was not a fan of the song, but it was a free production that he just needed to release without any financial outlay. The video went on Swedish television and MTV Europe and the single came out and we got to play at the most prestigious festivals in Sweden. Why there was nothing more on Joker was simply because he was not interested in us as a band.

++ One thing that caught my attention was that on some records your name appears as Lindhgren with an H. What is the correct spelling?

Anders Lindgren is a fairly common name in Sweden, and some are engaged in aesthetic activities, so I wanted to be a little unique and break myself, so I added an H but it often went wrong anyway so it should be Lindgren without h. At discogs I am Anders Lindgren 2 and at IMBD I am Anders Lindgren 7 (VII).

++ “(Take Me To) Wonderland” came out in 1991. Now a new label too, “Exercises in Style”. Care telling me a bit about them as I am not familiar with this record label?

Exercises in Style was a company from Uppsala that mainly had Uppsala bands, but since we played so often there, they probably saw us as an Uppsala band.

++ “Sad Songs on a Happy Day” from 1992 comes out on Gullö Gram. Again a new label I don’t know about! That’s the same case of Hawk Records who released your next release. Any info would be appreciated.

Gullö Gram was another small indie company that released their own records and ours. Since we did not have a record company that thought they wanted to release us, we had to do it ourselves. J-O who had the company, I had worked on several projects so it was an easy way to release our songs. If there was interest from other companies, it was no problem to license the songs if they were interested. By this time we had become quite refined when it came to record company contracts. So the album became like a CD demo. Hawk Records was a slightly larger company that thought Happy Revolution was great, but they wanted their own stamp on it. So they paid for the recording of the CD, but I was the one who produced the songs as usual. Hawk Records included the song on a record that presented hit songs from Sweden to present at the MIDEM fair in Cannes.

++ Having worked with so many labels, was there a favourite one that you liked working with best?

I see no major difference between the companies. They were all small indie companies and I ended up producing the songs most of the time.

++ “Sad Songs on a Happy Day” and the 1994 single “Happy Revolution” both came out on CD. It was the 90s of course. But I do wonder what’s your take, do you prefer vinyl over CDs? Or what’s your favourite format?

I like vinyl records  of course. This is how music should be listened to. Good length of music and just the right number of songs.

++ You worked a bit with Jan Olov Gullö, on his label, as well as producting your records. How important was he for the success of the band?

J-O meant a lot to us as a band because he did not care about internal conflicts, but made the best of what we had for song material. Furthermore, he helped us work in good studios. He came from a different background and was my total opposite. I’m confused with ideas. He is rational and educated at the Academy of Music. He steered up in a good way and helped us to highlight our sound and was careful with the design of the text. 

++ In 2016 there’s an mp3 album that I was curious about called “Different Colours of a Stone”. Were these new songs? Recordings from the band’s heyday? And how come there was no physical release?

“Different Colors of a Stone” were recordings that would be released on another company. Everything was finished recorded and mixed, when the record company’s owner became responsible for part of a big record company´s releases so he was not allowed to work with competing activities as it was called. I had the master mixes and thought I could give out the material. Nobody was interested in it today, so I released the material and added Dreamland to the digital edition. It was the first time Dreamland was released since the first 7 ”. Better late than never. 

++ When it comes to compilations you appeared on an Alex Chilton Tribute compilation called “Not the Singer but the Songs” released by Munster Records in Spain. How did this Spanish connection happen? Did you ever play any other countries other than Sweden?

Two nights in pubs in Madrid was the reason why we were on that record. We had had contact with Inigo at Munster rec. before, so he knew us and liked us. Yes, we played around a bit in the Nordics and would play in some other European countries, but things came in between. 

++ Are there still more unreleased songs by the band?

Yes, there are, but many of the recordings are gone.

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

Ylva and I studied art history at the university, so when we were in Paris we went to Chartres Cathedral to see the famous stained glass windows. The guide in the cathedral was a devoted man named Mr Miller who told about the mystique of the holy light and how it shone differently through the glass windows during the day. It was his Wonderland, so that’s what the song is about.

++ If you were to choose your favorite 99th Floor song, which one would that be and why?

I would probably choose two songs. 

– “I Walk Alone” – the fragility, the melody and what I think is a fantastic carillon. Very Velvet inspired. 

– “Annie c / o Loneliness” – My absolute best music production. Likes the lyrics and the harmonics construction. Depressingly positive. 

++ What about gigs? Did you play many?

We played a lot in the Stockholm / Uppsala area, but also at music festivals in Sweden such as the Hultsfred Festival and Dalarocken.

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

Hard to remember gigs. They are blended together and you remember some of the different reasons. It gets messy, because the memory is messy. When it comes to anecdotes, there is probably stories for an essay at the university. A lot of crazy things happen when you are out playing, many special situations and people seem to have an ability to be and happen around touring. Some gigs I remember so without thinking are when we had a showcase in Uppsala for American Virgin, who thought we were one of three bands in Sweden that they were interested in. So they flew here from the US to watch us and two other bands. When the rumor spread that American Virgin was in Sweden to scout bands, all record companies in Sweden also wanted to be there. Which they also were.

I remember another slightly odd gig because I felt we were out on slippery ice in the wrong context. We played at a closed national institution for serious criminals, and did not think about where we were when we played “Stealin” with Uriah Heep. Ylva sang like a sulfur-releasing preacher. “I was stealin´ when I should have been bying”. The show went well.

Another time we played at a festival in Uppsala where we would get one back beer per member, but they counted wrong, so we had a lodge that could not be entered because it was full of full beer slopes, and the lodge was great. No one went thirsty anyway.

A gig resulted in a knife fight and a police operation and afterwards we partied with what became the local Hells Angels. 

Another gig resulted in us being banned from coming back to a venue because the audience went too wild, and I understand them.

When we were going to do a prison gig, we were told that they were planning to escape at the same time, so we were housed in a gym that the guards closed and left. It was a successful gig. They were so happy that we wanted to play for them. When we were going to leave, an intern wanted to hide in our drum box to escape.

When we played at a place in Uppsala, the owner came and said that we were the second best band in a very long time to play on their stage. Which was best then? -Earth, Wind and Fire he replied.

Our manager went to EMI in Amsterdam because they wanted to world license our records, but we had only released a 7 ”. I exchanged our band T-shirt with Keith Richard who gave me his autograph. 

Our drummer stole Ginger Baker’s towel after a gig!  I don´t know if he used it.

After another gig, the same drummer woke up with a lectern from the venue and at least 300 beer mugs in his apartment that was shining in the morning sun. He lived in a small apartment, so I remember it was crowded. 

Yes, there is much more to be gained from that source.

++ And were there any bad ones?

A few.. Most of the time it was because the sound engineer that the concert venues had was not particularly interested so it did not sound good. But otherwise no direct bad concerts as I can remember.

++ When and why did 99th Floor stop making music? Were you involved in any other bands afterwards?

We stopped because everyone wanted to do something else. We were tired of each other. After a long time, I started playing in what became Safari Season.

++ What about the rest of the band, had they been in other bands afterwards?

Drummer Gunnar continued to play and he sometimes plays jembe at our live shows with Safari Sason. 

Lars who played drums after Micke and Gunnar became drummer in various hard rock bands and has well recorded and participated on at least 35 records.

++ Has there been any 99th Floor reunions?

No, there has been no reunion.

++ Was there any interest from the radio? TV? I read there were TV appearances but couldn’t find them anywhere online!

“Yes.” I Walk Alone ” the video were sent on Swedish Television and on MTV Europe. The video “Happy Revolution” aired on MTV Asia and on ZTV in Sweden. The radio in Sweden played both “I Walk Alone” and “Take Me to Wonderland”. We were interviewed and played on Finnish radio YLE, at college stations in the USA, on local radio channels and student radio channels in Sweden. Hard to know where and when it was played. That we were played was evident in the Copyright payouts. One person told me he was walking and looking in a store in New York, and heard “I Walk Alone” in the store’s speakers. Fun.

The video for “I Walk Alone” has been on Youtube before, I know because I have seen it. 

++ Some of your songs did end up on some movies which is really cool. How did that happen?

I have worked as a sound engineer in film / TV so I was in the industry so the step to play music for someone in the production was not so long.

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

We received a very good positive response to our records from the press and critics liked us both in Sweden and abroad. A lot was written about us, so there was little attention.

++ What about fanzines?

I know it was written in fanzines, but there I have poor control. I have a couple of fanzines  lying around somewhere, but there were more. 

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

Many positive experiences, meetings and fun incidents and that critics thought that Ylva was the best pop singer in Sweden. But above all that it was a fun time.

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

I write a lot, draw and paint. I am working with various digital tools such as VR and goes to football (Soccer). I´m a big football fan.

++ Been to Stockholm many times, and really liked it but I would ask a native about it, what are your recommendations. I want to know what would you suggest them doing here, like what are the sights one shouldn’t miss? Or the traditional food or drinks that you love that I should try?

The best thing about Stockholm is that it is not such a big city but you can stroll around and see and experience a lot. The city has many faces lying next to each other. There are lots of tourist attractions, but to go and enjoy the city, the air and the water is the best in my opinion.

When it comes to food, if you are looking for typical Swedish food, you should look for the country cuisine. Stockholm can offer food from all the countries of the world, but the typical Swedish is called home cooking and is based on the peasant society’s kitchen. The dishes I recommend to you are Pytt I panna, Kroppkakor, Gubbröra, Meatballs of course, Smörgåsbord, Janson’s temptation and herring in all forms.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Fun to think back and realize how much you have forgotten.

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Listen
99th Floor – Take Me to Wonderland

22
Sep

Day 560. This is the week of our new release, Stars on Fire 7″! I have already mailed all pre-orders to many people, many countries, around the world. The official release date is on Friday, FYI! So yeah, if you want to keep supporting the label, indiepop, and the bands, you know what to do 🙂

Meyverlin: Thierry from My Raining Stars and Philippe from Les Freluquets have joined forces and this song, “Archangel”, is their first effort. It is really good!! It is perfect pop music and they know it. So there’s a video made for it. Which is cool too!

Johnny Crimes: this band from Salt Lake City formed by Johnny, Gio and Will is a new discovery for me. Their latest release on Bandcamp includes two songs, “Darling, It’s Simple Now” and “Alternate Version for Class Assignment”. It is clearly influenced by The Smiths but with it’s own trademark sound. Really nice.

Still Corners: this well known London band is a favourite of many of us. So Yeah, even though they are famous I can recommend their new song, right? It is called “Heavy Days” and sounds ace. I still remember when I saw them in Berlin so many many years ago at the Indie Pop Days Berlin, not as known then as now! Good for them!

Sweet Nobody: now a Long Beach, California, band! “We’re Trying Our Best” is the band’s second album. It was recorded prior to the pandemic but it is only being released now. Sadly it seems to be only available digitally. But nonetheless it is a great listen. 10 songs of sweet jangle with female vocals and bright melodies.

Sloe Noon: the latest on Manchester’s Box Bedroom Rebels Records is a 7 track EP called “(Storeys of) Embassy Court” by Sloe Noon. This is nice dreampop record on 7″ vinyl and on ttop of that it comes with a 12 page booklet, stickers, postcard and more. A very nice pop package!

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I discovered the Jerusalem Taxis on Soundcloud. Then I noticed they were an Irish band and immediately found them on the Fanning Sessions blog. So I’ll start there.

A post from March 2012, shares a Fanning Session from 1991. Here the Kilkenny band formed by Malcolm Noonan (vocals), Kevin Conroy (guitar), Frankie Morgan (bass) and JJ Cantwell (drums) recorded three songs, “Chicken Man”, “Fall Into Nowhere” and “Long Blue Tube”.

For me their best song is called “Something in My Head“. This song was later covered by a band called Kerbdog. This cover would end up on a 1994 7” as. B side.

The only other song I am aware by them is called “What is It About Her“. Both of these songs I just mentioned and linked to Soundcloud were recorded in 1990.

From the image on the Fanning Sessions blog, we see that there was a tape release by the band. A 3 track EP. I wonder which songs were the ones included in it.

The comments on the blog also give us some more info. For example that Malcolm Noonan was/is the Kilkenny County Councillor for the Green Party. Maybe he still is? that was in 2012.

Malcolm Noonan also commented and mentioned that The Gun Club was a a big influence in their music. He also says that the band stopped making music in 1993.

An interview with Malcolm Noonan for Hot Press, he says that:
“I was in one serious band called the Jerusalem Taxis for about three years. It was good punky stuff – Minutemen, Hüsker Dü, that sort of thing. We played a lot of gigs with The Slowest Clock who had a similar approach and style to us. We were both culchie bands – their drummer was from Kikenny but they were based in Laois – and recorded in the same Dublin studio, Sonic, with Albert Cohen. We also supported Engine Alley quite a bit both in the Newpark Inn, which was the hopping Kilkenny venue at the time, and in venues like The Baggot Inn. There’s a 1991 Fanning Session of ours on the web. We went over to London to do a showcase for Setanta and 4AD, which is when it all fell apart.”

On Youtube someone has uploaded “Fall into Nowhere“. Here on the comments we learn that Noonan continues being involved with the Green Party. And it also says that all the members remain in Ireland but the drummer who lives in London these days.

And then a proper amazing discovery!! 16 songs by the Jerusalem Taxis! These 16 songs are all their RTE radio sessions. So this is indeed fantastic. The songs are: “What is it About Her”, “Jellybean Orgy”, “Something in My Head”, “Long Blue Tube”, “The Chicken Man”, “Fall into Nowhere”, “Newpark Inn (Intro)”, “Leave it all Behind”, “So You’re Back Again”, “Restless”, “Why Should I Fucking Care?”, “Don’t Turn Me Away”, “Newpark Inn (Outro)”, “Tremelo Kill”, “Cheap Imitation” and “Ballad of Mary-Jo”.

And that’s it. Sure, some songs are punkier and much more angular that what I usually enjoy, but there are some fine jangly songs here. “Something in My Mind” is a treasure!

Who remembers them? Why didn’t they release any records? Did they continue making music with other bands?

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Listen
Jerusalem Taxis – Something in My Head

21
Sep

Thanks so much to Mark McCole for the interview! Many years ago I interviewed Mark about his band The Sandalwoods, a superb jangly band from Manchester. That time he mentioned he had been in a band called Widehead but I hadn’t hear their music then. Many years after, 2021, I finally heard some of their tunes and really liked them. So I thought it made sense to interview him again and learn more about this project. If you haven’t heard about them, I suggest reading this and looking for their music!

+ Hi Mark! How are you? It’s been a long time since we last spoke! Have you been making music as of late?

Yes it has been some time. Yes Paul and I have been writing a lot and working on a number of projects simultaneously. Paul has written a number really great new tunes (notably one called ‘Darkest Days’ and another called ‘All the Hair Brained Schemes’) that we have partly demo’d combine some of our early influences (Indie/Jazz/Pop), I have been working on a separate project with J-Walk (AKA Martin Brew – famous DJ from Manchester and original member of The Sandalwoods which based around an electro funk / pop aesthetic and Paul and I have a series of songs partially recorded that we are deciding what and how we get them recorded. All in all a lot of work going on.

++ Last time we spoke I remember you mentioned that The Sandalwoods had new songs recorded and gigs were happening. How did that go?

We released an album in 2017 (Pascal’s Wager) https://www.facebook.com/The-Sandalwoods-263659990843294/ and released a single Guide to Drug Running https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=272617663280860. We got some radio play most notably from Clint Boon (ex The Inspiral Carpets) and Mike Joyce (ex The Smiths) on their respective radio shows. We played a couple of gigs, started working on a J-Walk project and then went into Lockdown. The gigs went well and we played at a new and exciting venue in Manchester called The Yard.

++ Today I want to talk about Widehead, which came after The Sandalwoods! What would you say were the main similarities and main differences between both bands?

Well the first similarity was that Paul and I were leading the band, it was predominantly guitar based, lyrically esoteric, and it was based around a indie / melodic pop sentiment. The differences were really relating to the influences we had taken on board which were based around very early English New Wave acts like (such as Manchester’s finest The Buzzcocks) and American bands like Dinosaur Junior, Ultra Vivid Scene and early Pixies. Paul and I were too young when Punk and New Wave came around so going back to early English acts of the late seventies, trying to write in a more sophisticated way whilst applying some of the aesthetics of the American acts that were emerging was an interesting project for us.

++ How was Manchester at this time? Has it changed much compared to the time when The Sandalwoods were active? Were there less or more places to gig? More or less support?

Whitehead formed in late 1991 when the Madchester scene was started to wane but ‘Britpop’ (which started around early 1994) had yet to emerge and whilst there was still a lively place to be it was not quite as gloriously chaotic as the late 80’s. There were plenty of places to play and we (Widehead) played some decent gigs most notably headlining at Manchester University in 1992.

++ And what about other like-minded bands that you liked then?

Looking back and listening to some of the tracks I think we were somewhat of outlier especially in Manchester. The end of the Madchester scene was followed by the rise of grunge and a huge explosion of Rave / Dance Music. We did not have a problem with either of those scenes but we certainly did not want to move into either of those genre’s as our influences were more indie, pop and a sort of work class Englishness (despite both of us being Irish!!) that underpinned our lyrics and melodies

++ So how did Widehead start? Was it the same members as The Sandalwoods? Were there any new musicians in the band?

This was very mush Paul and I. We did have some great musicians such as drummer Tony Thompson (ex 42 Street and Just Jack) and Jamie Fildes (ex local hero Craig Davies and Kill Laurie – now known as Jane Weaver) but we had learned lessons from Sandalwoods and the both of us wanted more control over what we were doing

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

Our Paul was the main songwriter during this period and always came into rehearsals with a fully or partially written song and then we ‘jammed’ it through and then went away and worked on the arrangement and instrumentation. Early Widehead was very serious and we rehearsed several times a week in a unit in under railway arches of Oxford Road train station in central Manchester

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

Paul an I went to very tough school in North Manchester with a poor reputation and ‘widehead’ was a semi affectionate working class slang to address a friend. Our Paul wrote a song ‘Widehead’ and we then adopted the name.

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

As mentioned earlier early UK New Wave and contemporary (at the time) American groups such as The Pixies, Ultra Vivid Scene and Dinosaur Junior

++ How come there were no proper releases by the band? Was there any interest from any labels?

Releasing something independently the way you can now was simply not an option and we had our sights set on a record deal. We did have some interest with London Records coming to see us a couple of times (which was difficult getting record companies to come up to Manchester) and Nude Records gave some positive feedback (they had just signed Suede in 1992)

++ And there were no compilation appearances either, right?

Early on we were very focused on getting our own stuff released so we didn’t consider a compilation

++ But you did some recordings, right? I know of the existence of at least four songs, “Widehead”, “Walk on Water”, “Perspiration” and “Appetite”. Were they released in any way? Perhaps as a demo tape and sold at gigs?

They were not released

++ Were there any other Widehead recordings? Other demo tapes?

We also recorded a song Yum Yum on Pascal’s Wager (https://music.apple.com/gb/album/yum-yum/1402452405?i=1402452412).

++ As Widehead, as with The Sandalwoods, you recorded with Simon Duffy at Amazon Studios. Why did you decide to keep working with him?

Simon was a advocate and supporter of what we were doing and believed in what we were trying to do. In fact he pushed us with London records after recording our second demo tape and we trusted him. He was a good producer and good man

++ If you’ve had the chance to release a 7″, what songs would you have put on each side?

Appetite is a good tune and Walk on Water could have been a good pop song (with a few changes)

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

I am not sure really as lyrically it was very abstract but I think it is about a sort caustic and obsessive relationship that ends up in self destruction. The chorus as the line ‘And when I sleep it only fuels and appetite that’s big enough to eat…….’. Our Paul’s melodies were quite upbeat but the lyrics were often very dark

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

Appetite is a good tune but ‘Yum Yum’ https://music.apple.com/gb/album/yum-yum/1402452405?i=1402452412) and a song called ‘If Looks could Kill’ were strong tunes

++ What about gigs? Did you play many?

Yes we played many gigs especially in and around the University set up in Manchester

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

We headlined the ‘Hop & Grape’ (Manchester University) as part of a showcase gig for London records. There was well over 300 people there. It was a really great gig.

++ And were there any bad ones?

Yes plenty of terrible tunes!

++ When and why did Widehead stop making music?

Ultimately we simply just ran out of steam and we were doing a type of music that could have got some traction under the Britpop explosion but 3 years too early.

++ Was there any interest from the radio?

For Widehead……..not so much.

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

We did get some good University press coverage with a really good review of our first demo and decent piece on us prior to the Hop & Grape gig

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

For me the recording sessions at Amazon.

++ You told me you were Manchester United fans last time, they had a good run in the Europa League, but that must have been a hard loss, or not? What do you expect for next season?

Whilst it is great Ronaldo is back and we always remain hopeful, it is a little frustrating being a United fan

++ And talking about footie, how do you see England in the Euro?

Paul and I are Irish so our interest in England is at best cursory!!

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Listen
Widehead – Appetite

20
Sep

Day 558

Semihelix: I start this week with “Will it Take” by Semihelix. This nice digital single from this band from Austin, Texas, seems to be available only in this format. The band formed by Geannie Friedman on guitar and vocals, Kevin Martin on bass and Valdemar Barrera on drums, has been releasing music on their Bandcamp since 2019. I think this is the first time I’m listening to them. And I’m liking this!

Night Shop: Another new band for me is this project by Justin Sullivan from Los Angeles. He is releasing an album titled “Forever Night” on December 1st on CD and vinyl and we can preview the opening track which is titled as the album, “Forever Night”. It is a fine pop song. I don’t know if the remaining 9 songs that we can’t listen are as good, but this one is nice. So have a listen, maybe it convinces you to get the record?

Astral Brain: “Behind Our House” is the second single from the upcoming album “The Bewildered Mind” that Shelflife is releasing on October 15. Here is a video the band has put together which sounds great. But it also looks great. This is an album I look forward a lot. I am very happy that Shelflife picked the band up. Their sound is quite unique and different to your usual indiepop fare I think! I am also very proud that I worked with them on the last fanzine where I included their previous single… definitely one of the best sounding new bands out there.

Grand Drifter: it is always a surprise to me when I hear a good pop song from Italy. A good indiepop song I mean. It is not very common. But when I do, I have to be fair and square and give it to them. Grand Drifter is the project of Andrea Calvo and his latest song, “Haunted Life”, is a fine slice of pop music. Check it out.

Pale Spectres: And I end today’s review with a favourite song of mine. Comes courtesy our friends from Paris the superb Pale Spectres!! Yes! Remember they put a 7″ on Cloudberry? (It is still available by the way!) It is an oldie but it is released for the first time today, the classic “Supermarket Love”. If you never heard it, on recording or live, well, you are in for a treat.

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Back in June I wrote about The Monk Bought Lunch. There I mentioned that the person behind The Monk Bought Lunch, Andy Hayes, was later in a band called Is She Weird? Today is time to discover this band!

There is a very good post about Is She Weird on the blog “Left and to the Back” dating from October 18, 2009. There’s lots of good info about the band here. You can read it there, but I’ll try to summarize.

  • The band was active between 1990 and 1995.
  • They were formed by Andy Hayes on guitar and vocals, Misha Ellis on drums, Rod Quinn on lead guitar and Peter Blanchard on bass. At some point a lot of lineup changes started to happen within the band, the only stable members were Andy and Misha.
  • The band split up when they were recording a self-financed album.
  • Is She Weird? used to cover live the song “Stageshow Days” by Bedazzled.
  • Andy Hayes would later work as a a producer, working with Mantaray among others

The band actually released two singles, two 7″ records. The first one was from 1993. It was self-released and had the song “Adorable” on the A side and “The Hardest Change” on the B side. The sleeve has a photo of the band. I was surprised to find a video for the song that was recorded at the Southend college music TV show.

In 1994 the band would release the “Let’s Play God” 7″ on the label Cornersun Records (CSUN 001). Is it safe to assume this was the band’s own label? This time around the sleeve just shows Andy and Misha and the two songs on the record were “Let’s Play God” on the A side and “Burden Me” on the B side.

Something that caught my attention on this record is that Guy DeCruz from the fantastic Men of Westenesse played lead guitar and bass guitar on the record. Wow! I interviewed Guy once. And I’ve been meaning to contact him about another band he was in to do an interview. Would be cool, right?

The record was produced by Charlie Francis at Stoneroom and the photo on the sleeve was taken by Alison Paveling. Oh! Rod Quinn did play lead guitar on “Let’s Play God”.

No compilation appearances are listed by there was a promo video for the song “Let’s Play God”.

I have to say that my favourite song by them is called “Mantelpiece”. That’s how I discovered them. This song was to be included in the 1994 album they were recording. Other songs I know that were to be part of this record were “Radiator Man”, “Deep”, “Old”, “Mood”, “Treasure This”, “Adorable”, “Joke Shop” and “Burden Me”. The album was to be titled “I’m Brian and So’s My Wife”. You can find all of these songs in Andy Hayes Youtube channel!

I know! What a discovery! Other bands uploaded to his channel, so I assume Andy was in these band include Trampoline Situation, Balance (who I wrote about and didn’t know who were behind this band!), The Miles Away Club, The Revolves, Elastic and The Hardys.

Good finds indeed. This was a successful investigation! Who remembers Is She Weird?

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Listen
Is She Weird? – Mantelpiece

17
Sep

Day 555

Cour de Récré: this is the latest on Elefant Records. It is a duo formed by Stan and Heloise and they have just released a self-titled 10-song album! The record is now out on vinyl and is part of the New Adventures in Pop series. Something interesting about this band that sounds like a cool mix of La Monja Enana and Freezepop is that one half of the band is in Avignon and the other in Santiago de Chile.

Hatchie: “This Enchanted” is the latest single by the Brisbane based Hatchie! As usual it is really good!! Lovely guitars, terrific melodies, hazy, reverb-infused, it is a great single! I really enjoy this new song by the ex-Go Violets. Maybe my favourite song this week!

Flu Flu: the latest on Shore Dive Records from Brighton is a CD mini-album by Flu Flu. The Seville based project by Fran Lora has released their “Shinefull” mini-album on a very limited edition of 20 CDs! The songs are great, it is quality dreampop. Check it out.

Космос на потолке: now we head to Moscow to discover this four piece, two girls, two boys, that have just released digitally a very nice album titled “Маленькая Луна”. The album has 8 songs of jangly guitars, sometimes poppier, sometimes rockier, but melodic nonetheless. Good stuff!

Varda’s Charm: now some great lo-fi crashpop from San Diego, California. We end this week with the self-titled cassette tape this band released a few days ago. The tape is limited to 50 copies and includes 6 songs of ramshackle goodness.

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In 1989 the band Charmed Life released the “One Million Dreams” 7″. It came out on One Off Records (CHARM1), possibly the band’s own label. So far, that’s all I know. Hopefully by the end of this post my knowledge about this British band will be a little bit bigger.

The 7″ had two songs, “One Million Dreams” on the A side and “I’ll be the One” on the B side. I’ve only heard the A side and it is a bonafide indiepop track. Nice guitars, great melodies. On the back of the sleeve we find the band members names: Stephen Whyte on vocals, James Henderson on guitar and keyboards and Philip McGee on bass. A trio.

Alex Horsburgh is credited for the backing vocals. There are no other credits, not producer, no studio where it was recorded. There are some interesting bits on the sleeve though. One thing is that those who bought the record were helping the Earl of Stockton Children’s Fund. It seems proceeds from the sales of this record were to raise money for children’s organizations in the Cleveland area.

It also looks like the band got help to put together the single from the Create Project, Fundability, DTW Advertising & Marketing, CYBC Middlesbrough, TFM Radio Al Rhodes and more. Indeed we can see an address on the sleeve and know the band hailed from Middlesbrough.

On the sleeve of the record we see the faces of the trio. On the back a drawing of a harlequin.

No compilation appearances or other releases for the band are listed.

I find a Soundcloud for James Henderson. He has uploaded many songs from different projects. It seems his latest project is called Last Anthem Unplugged where he plays alongside Andy Davidson. He has produced songs and worked with different musicians like Nicky Chapman, Paddy Kirk, Neil Reynolds and more.

One thing that caught my attention is that someone remembers a video fro the song “One Million Dreams”. Would be nice to track that down if possible.

Sadly this is all I have been able to find out about them. Maybe someone remembers them? have any more details about the band? Did they have more recordings for example? Would be great to know!

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Listen
Charmed Life – One Million Dreams

15
Sep

Day 553

The Hepburns: I recommended the single “The Other Side of Grey” last Friday. Now it is time to recommend the album! “Architecture of the Ages”, will be released on October 15. It is on Elefant and will be out on CD and vinyl. So far we can only listen to the single, but we know that this collaboration with Estella Rosa of Nah… will include 10 songs in total. I really can’t wait. It is a bit pricey for us in the US, so I am hoping my friend Chris at Jigsaw Records will get us copies!

The Lodger: a new single by The Lodger! This is great news. The Leeds band which was a true favourite in the past with songs like “The Good Old Days”, “Many Thanks for Your Honest Opinion”, or “Let Her Go”, is back with “Bewildered”. Not too long ago, in March, the band released a new album “Cul de Sac of Love” which I need to get. I’ve been slow on this one. But as I have their other records, sooner or later I’ll complete the collection.

Fern Murphy: now another digital single, “2009” by Fern Murphy. The band that hails from Indianapolis likes to make some breezy dreampop/shoegaze without losing a pop edge. The song that clocks over 6 minutes doesn’t feel long. It is a lovely trip over sweet melodies.

Finlay Hatton: one more. “Far Apart” is the last digital single by Finlay Hatton from Birmingham. This is shoegaze. This song will be included in “A Silver Lining” which will be the project’s second album.

Smol Fish: and we end this Wednesday review with this Melbourne four piece. “Sooky La La” is the name of the debut EP of Smol Fish. 6 songs of melodic pop. Some songs are really nice like “Shoes” or “Sad Girl Summer”.

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I’ve been going through lots of Soundcloud accounts, looking for indiepop gems from the late 80s and early 90s. Not easy of course, but now and then you can stumble upon some nice tracks.

Mary Jane” by The Calender Dream is one. Uploaded by Robyn Gibson, it seems this was his band in the early 90s. He played guitar and vocals in the band. His other band members were Howard Fairey on vocals, Ian Parr on guitar and vocals, Joe Bentley on organ, Dan English on bass and John Waddington on drums.

The song seems to have been part of a demo tape that included more songs. Sadly the rest of songs are not on Soundcloud. Would be great if they were. But I am not holding my hopes up. The upload of “Mary Jane” dates of two years ago as well as the rest of songs Robyn has added to his channel.

The song “Mary Jane” is labeled as a 1991 demo. Robyn had found a reel to reel tape in his attic and actually scanned the list of songs that were on it. They are: “Pale Blue Sun”, “Liquid”, “Organ Disciple”, “Long Long Road”, “Down Went My Life”, “With You”, “Mary Jane (We All Love)”, “The Beautiful End”, “Captain Blues”, “Take Hold of the Light” and “The End”. These songs had been engineered by Alan Jenkins of Cordelia Records.

Robyn seems to like playing covers of classic songs. You’ll find a bunch of them in his Soundcloud including a version of The Dentists’ “Strawberries are Growing in My Garden“.

Then I stumble upon a much more updated Bandcamp by his band The BOTP Band. Here there are many releases but nothing by The Calender Dream. One thing that I do notice is that he is based in Leicester.

Then a release on Discogs! “Captain Blues” which was released on CD and 12″ vinyl by the label Little Caesar (001). NO date for this release though. The four song EP had “Captain Blues” and “This Long Long Road” on the A side and “Across the Sun” and “I’ll Think of Something” on the B side. On this record Stewart Green was the bassist. Might this label be their own label? The label has no other releases listed but The Calender Dream one.

Thanks to Discogs I know some other bands they had been involved with. Joe Bentley played in Jason & the Angrynotes, The Creams, Emmanuel, Polar Bear, Elmore Judd, 4hero and Simon Bookish. Stewart Green has been in The Vandells. John Waddington played in The Ammonites, The Pop Group, U-BahnX, Maximum Joy, Playgroup and Perfume. Howard Fairey played in The Creams. And Robyn Gibson played in Ambrose Tompkins, Immediate, Ruth’s Refrigerator, The Ammonites, The BOTP Band, The Bowbridge Band, The Chrystanthemums, The Creams, The Junipers and Watch 44.

Wow The Ammonites! I interviewed them long time ago and at some point there was plans to release a compilation on Plastilina Records. My partner in that label was awful about it, and didn’t help get it released even though I had compiled and done the artwork for it. I had many similar moments in that label and that’s why I quit. It was proving difficult to work with him. Sadly this release never happened and it is something I feel bad about all the time. Maybe one day there will be a way to retry doing this, though probably the band wouldn’t be happy to try to do this again with me. Totally understandable. But I do hope it does get released someday, by whichever label. Some great songs they had.

That’s what I could find about The Calender Dream. I haven’t heard any other songs. I’ve read them described as a shoegaze band. Maybe in the record they release their sound was more shoegaze? I’d have to find out. The song on Soundcloud is a fine indiepop song. I hope we’ll get to listen to the rest of songs someday! In the meantime I’ll try to track their one and only release!

Who remembers them?

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Listen
The Calender Dream – Mary Jane

13
Sep

Day 551

The Catherines: we start this week with the wonder duo of Heiko and Sandra from Hamburg. They have a new album titled “Sink into Oblivion” which is out now on CD and cassette directly from them. The album is out now and available on Bandcamp. It has 13 songs and as usual they are lovely. They have their trademark cool song titles too. Good stuff!

Optloquat: what a strange name for a band. Optloquat hails from Japan and have released a mini-album called “From the Shallow” on Jigsaw Records. It is a 7 song CD that echoes bands like Flyying Colours or Pinkshinyultrablast. It is a nice record especially on tracks like the poppier “Lapes”!

Peter & the Lions: how cool! Blue-Very Label will be releasing a vinyl compilation of the Belgian band Peter & the Lions! The solo project of Pierre Leonard is an obscure band that I wrote about but had no luck in getting in touch. It seems Kei had better luck! He is releasing on vinyl “The Select Peter & the Lions” on November 27. It will include 11 songs and it is really good! Essential. I hope I can get a copy… Japanese shipping prices are crazy tho…

The Churchhill Garden: wow! a new song by the Lucerne, Switzerland, project. And as usual it is superb. Andy Jossi and Krissy Vanderewoude know how to make a pop song. “Grounded” is the name of this latest single and it is terrific!

Honeybourne: nice find! This could be an obscure band I could write about. From the 80s and 90s comes all these recordings from Rob Morgan from Newport, UK. There is a trove of perfect indiepop here, bedroom pop, lo-fi pop, all sorts of pop! His latest collection of songs is the “Honest and Worthless Volume 3”, 20 pop songs! No physical release though. Hopefully we can interview Rob and find out more about this project.

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As I go through some old drafts on the blog, bands I was to write about but for some reason or another I never did, I stumble upon a draft of the Falkirk, Scotland, band Two Helens.

I have saved some links as part of my research. One of them is actually a website for the band. An about page. But guess what, 8, or 10 years, after I collected these links, they don’t work anymore. That’s not convenient. The band’s website doesn’t exist anymore.

Another website called Falkirk Music Scene doesn’t exist either. I start to worry. All of my research back then is useless now. I even saved a Myspace account. Back then they still worked, you could probably listen a few songs. Well, now it doesn’t work either. This is quite terrible!

Discogs still exists of course. And that’s good help. The band’s releases are there. First is the 8-song album “Reflections in Red” that came out in 1986 on the label Sharko 2 (Tuft 4). This record that was actually recorded in the famed Cava Sttudios with the band producing with Kevin Key (Subs, The Jolt, The Primevals), had the following songs: “Heaven and Hell”, “Top of a Tall Tree”, “Reflections in Red” and “Cold and Blind” on the A side, while we find “The Curve”, “All the Money”, “Spiritual Thing” and “Write This Letter” on the B side.

Their music is proto-shoegaze, pop music with walls of guitar. It is quite cool as they were doing this music much earlier than their peers. The band was formed by Ian on guitar and lead vocals, Robert on guitar and vocals, Mark on drums and Alan on bass. No last names are listed.

The next year, 1987, the band released a 7″ single titled “Silver & Gold”. This one also was released by Sharko 2 (Tuft 57) and included “Silver & Gold” on the A side and “Xv Rhythm” and “Gun” on the B side.

I check the label, Sharko 2, and they only have releases by Two Helens and Dead Neighbours. Never heard of them to be honest.

The only other release they were on was a compilation cassette called “Plinky Plonky There’s a Donkey…” that Suicidal Flour (PLINK 001) released. I don’t know what year it was when this one came out but this tape includes a bunch of great bands including The McTells, St. Christopher, Emily, Mousefolk, This Poison! and more. Two Helens contributed the song “The Curve”.

Then I start googling and find that the Falkirk Music Scene website has changed address. Great! There’s some info here that is good to share:
Local new wave/indie act, formed initially in 1981 by frontman and songwriter Ian Murray (vocals/guitar) along with Eddie Menczyskwoski (drums) & Alan Shields (bass). That line-up was very short-lived, with Menczyskwoski later joining Spank! and Shields joining Dirty Duck. Murray then recruited Mark Dickson (drums), Robert Greenaway (guitar/vocals) & Alan Whyte (bass) in 1985, and set about becoming the biggest unsigned band in Falkirk at the time, and one of the few bands able to pull a crowd. Extensive gigging throughout Scotland led to B.B.C. Radio Scotland play, which in turn led to a deal with local label, Sharko 2. Their debut album, “Reflections In Red” was released in 1986, followed by a single “Silver & Gold” in 1987. The band’s final act was a great gig at Edinburgh’s venue in front of almost no people, before Murray pulled the plug on the band, choosing instead to start up The Alabama Trio, a rockabilly act. The others recruited Jim Laird, formely of Exposure, however no gigs were played and the band were unfortunatly forgotten about. In 2008 Murray, Dickson & Whyte rehearsed “old 60’s garage stuff” just for fun.

We got last names now! And thanks to that I find that Eddie was later in a band called Spank!

Then I find an even better find. A Soundcloud with Two Helens demos from 1985! The person who has uploaded them is Gordon Baker who says he was mates of the band at the time. He has uploaded 9 tracks that sound amazing! Give them a listen and wonder why these are not part of a proper release, “Write this Letter”, “Crying to You”, “Going all the Way”, “Love Sex Desire”, “I Won’t Make You Mine”, “Action Woman”, “In the Night”, “Night and Day” and “Spiritual Thing”. He added these songs a year ago, so in a way it is good that I wrote about Two Helens now and not when I collected links for a possible post!

Another interesting info about them comes from when I interviewed another Falkirk band, This Scarlet Train. When I asked about Night Shift Records, the local label run by Brian Guthrie, they told me that We knew the Two Helens,who had released their album on Sharko 2 records, a subsidiary company, however I didn’t make any connection.

Robert Polson also told me this about them, The Two Helens were quite big in the area, played Nuggets/garage rock, originals and a few covers,… Action women, Going All The Way, Silver Machine among others…. We also gigged with them in Falkirk and Edinburgh..They had released an album the year previous to us, which didn’t really capture the band at its best. There was also a 7″ single and then they split.Their singer/guitarist went on form a rockabilly band, who, IIRC supported us at least once. The Two Helen’s had released a follow up 7* and had split quite soon afterwards, leaving it un-promoted. I don’t know if or how they resolved the financial debts with Night Shift.

Another blog that wrote about the band is the fine Wilfully Obscure. In an October 2011 post they mention that the band was offered a Scandinavian Tour! But it seems that never happened. Another interesting details is that the band reformed in 2003 with Ian, Mark and Alan but as far as I know the band didn’t release anything then. Maybe they recorded some songs?

This is all the info I could find searching on the web. But this is something. Sadly there’s no more website by the band. But hey, I found a Soundcloud with lots of songs. Would love to hear more of course. Who remembers them?

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Listen
Two Helens – The Curve