We start another week and it is almost April.

I’ve been having these great conversations with a friend about copyrights in the UK. A good question was raised, about how long does label own a recording. Is it 30 years and then the ownership goes back to the band? I don’t honestly know. I would need to do some research. I thought maybe some of you know and could explain. Or point me in the right direction. As I mentioned earlier my time is limited, and for example right now I think it might be much more important to find 5 bands with new music to recommend to you….

No Monster Club: I should check the Emotional Response bandcamp and find their latest releases. There’s always quality there. For example the album “Deadbeat Effervescent”, their 8th album! I am not familiar with them to be honest, but this sounds cool. 12 songs. Fun, ironic, smart. The Irish band’s record is out now on vinyl LP and there’s a version with a bonus 7″!

Lande Hekt: I recommended this band some time ago. I really enjoyed the mood, the vocals, that they make with superb craftmanship. Emotional Response is releasing a 7″ on May 6. It will have two songs, “Romantic” and “Octopussy”. We can preview the opening song, which is really good!

Mick Trouble: seems most versions of this record are sold out. The classic black vinyl is still available, I will have to get this version. The album is their second and it is titled “It’s Mick Trouble’s Second LP”. The bad part of getting this release is that it doesn’t come with the bonus flexi. Well, what can you do when you’ve been out of the loop for so long. Two out of 12 songs are available to preview and they sound superb!

Orange Dots: now to check “Deflated”. That’s the name of the cassette album by Shony, an ex-member of the San Francisco band The Magic Bullets. Do you remember them? The album is out now and few copies remain. It has 13 mellow pop songs.

Hipflasks: I tried to get in touch a couple of times so far with the Newcastle band after writing about them many years ago. Sadly they have never gotten back to me. Would have been nice to interview them. Especially as late last year they put together a compilation of demos called “A Lovely Scar” that is great! 14 songs from the vault that any indiepop lover would love.

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Another good Soundcloud find and also from Carlisle, UK, is the band Send it to Harriet!

There are many songs uploaded, all of them recorded between 1988 and 1992. There is no information about each track, but having listened to all of them, I can say you’ll find some great jangly poppy tracks and also some rockier ones.

The songs uploaded are “Manic Caesar”, “You Drown”, “Dischord”, “Moon (Demo)”, “Stay”, “Little Secret”, “Electric”, “Reasons”, “Petrol Man” and “Falcon”.

There is a black and white photo. It shows two guys, one playing guitar the other bass. I can sort of see at the back a drummer. Or maybe I’m imagining him. Maybe it was a three-piece?

But I google for more info. First find is of the band playing live at the Carlisle Art College in 1990. It looks like a four piece. From this gig we find the following songs, “Problem“, “Playpen“, “She Loves You“, “All Seeing Eye“, “The Chair“, “No More” and “Reversal“. None of these songs are on Soundcloud! There are also some nice collections of artwork, clippings, memorabilia, of the band that they’ve put together as slideshows. This is the band’s Youtube channel.

Through these slideshows I see that the band had played at The Grosvenor a few times with support of Bubblehouse and also of Goose. They played at the The Coach House alongside the Pop City Maniacs, at Dallington Brook in Northampto, at the Cumbria College of Art Student Union with Hung Like a Tadpole, at the Carnegie with Without Warning, at The Front Page with Ten Gladioli, at No. 10, at The Falcon in Camden, at the famous Rock Garden, at Monroe’s Bar in Workington, at the Amphitheatre in Barrow, St. Martin’s College in Lancaster, Shaw’s Nightclub in Carlisle, Opera on the Green in Shepherd’s Bush in London, The Aultnamain Inn in Scotland, and more.

They also had supported The Wonder Stuff and The Buzzcocks.

That they had a four track demo at least. Other song names I haven’t mentioned include “Good Times”, “Little Time“, “It’s Sunny“, “You Drown“, “No-one’s Home“, “The Chair / Jack Horner” and “Know My Name“.

I think I found the name of one of the band members, could it be Patrick Brett Young? Anyone could confirm?

And that’s all I could find. Again I need to rely on our Carlisle readers if any!

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Listen
Send it to Harriet – Little Secret

A few quiet days. I hadn’t heard much from you all about the many questions I had asked through my previous posts. I guess we all are very busy.

I keep trying to find time to do these posts, while baby takes his siestas. They are short. Some babies seem to sleep a lot in their naps. Mine doesn’t. Just about 30min. Complicated for me, to find time like that… but so far I’ve been managing. Also I have to say many of these posts about old bands had been prepared back in October, before I traveled. So that helps. But when I run out of these posts and I have to investigate and write new ones?!!!

Crystal Meadows: four very nice tracks by this jangle pop band from Greenfield, Massachusetts. Very little info, other than they formed in 2021. I suppose they say, let the music speak. The EP is titled “Fall to Pieces” and as mentioned it is jangly, sweet, and also lo-fi. Has the charm of a good bedroom pop band.

Chocolate Chainsaw: another band that has no info! We know they hail from Peterborough, UK, and that’s it! There are just two songs on their Bandcamp, “Jeannie Wakes Up” and “Emily’s Fine”. They are fuzzy and a bit ramshackle. A bit like songs you’d expect in early 90s indiepop compilation tapes.

The Jack Rubies: I should get in touch with this classic band. “Foolish Boy” is a true favourite since forever. Lately they put together an EP titled “Doppelganger Songs” where they share 5 rare and remastered alternative versions of their songs “Be With You (Alternative Version)”, “Vegas Throat Stomp (Original Strut)”, “Wrecker of Engines (Buskers Version)”, “Fascinatin’ Vacation (Live on the Radio)” and “Dallas Blues (Live on the Radio)”. Jack Rubies if you read this, drop me a line.

Under the Bridge: Here’s a wonderful compilation put together by Skep Wax Records, the label from Rob and Amelia from Heavenly. On this compilation, available on CD and vinyl we find 14 songs of bands that were in Sarah Records or Sarah Records alumni, meaning bands with people that had been in Sarah Records bands! Very cool! There are plenty of superb songs and this seems essential to me. Chris Jigsaw has promised me he will get copies in the US. So there’s no excuse.

Marinita Precaria: Out now on 10″ on Elefant. It is a 9 song album called “No Me Miréis” and it includes the wonderful songs “Celosa” and “Al Campo” that I had recommended in the past. I’d like to get this in my collection.

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The horse latitudes are the latitudes about 30 degrees north and south of the Equator. They are characterized by sunny skies, calm winds, and very little precipitation. They are also known as subtropical ridges, or highs. It is a high-pressure area at the divergence of trade winds and the westerlies.

I saw on Facebook a flyer from The Vertigo Club at the Camden Falcon from 1991 I believe. On it I see a gig listed for July 31 with the Horse Latitudes and Penny Arcade and thought… I should write about Horse Latitudes!

This short-lived band featured members from superb bands like The Raw Herbs, Summerhill and The Passmore Sisters. As you’ve seen I’ve interviewed two of these bands, and yes, I should try to talk with The Passmore Sisters. The band was formed by Chris Clarke on bass, Derek Parker on acoustic guitar and vocals, Robert Grace on drums and Wilson N. Scott on electric guitar and piano. And so, speaking of the other bands, let’s say that Derek Parker (also known as Del Parker) was in The Del Parker Band and The Raw Herbs. Robert Grace had been in The Rob Wilson Band and The Passmore Sisters. Chris Clarke was in Danny & The Champions of the World and The Rockingbirds. Wilson N. Scott was on Summerhill and also played with Peter Astor.

The band was signed to Cherry Red and released two records with them. Both came out in 1990. Which one came first? Not sure. Let’s start with the album…

“September Songs” (MBRED90) came out on CD and LP vinyl and there were promo cassettes as well. It had 9 songs, “O Caroline” (a cover of Robert Wyatt and David Sinclair), “What is More than Life”, “Baby Don’t Go”, “Harvest Days”, “Thrown Away”, “Building Mansions (That Will Fall)”, “Northern Country Line”, “I Can’t Stop Loving You” and “Untitled”.

The songs were recorded at Bark Studio in Walthamstow, London, in July 1990. The producer and engineer was Brian O’Shaughnessey with John William as assistant engineer. John Hymas from Hoover the Dog and who had worked on some of McCarthy’s recordings arranged the strings. David Robinson played the cello and Geraint Tellem and Philip Aird played violin.

The album would be released in Japan by Toy’s Factory (TFCK-88819) in 1991. It would include 3 more songs, “Younger One”, “Some One”, “There I Go Again”.

The “What is More than Life” single would come out in 1990 on Cherry Red (CHERRY 111). This one was released on CD and 12″ vinyl. The songs included were “What is More than Life”, “Younger Generation” (a cover of The Lovin Spoonful), “Someone”, “There I Go Again (demo 3/90)” and “Untitled”. The untitled track is not listed on the sleeve, it contains a few drum sounds.

When it comes to compilations the song “Oh Caroline” was included in Toy Factory’s CD compilation “Pastel Beans” (PR-882) in 1991. And lately, as their songs are part of Cherry Red catalogue they found the way to the many boxsets the label has been putting out. “What is More than Life” was included in “C90” (CDTRED802) in 2020 and “Northern Country Lie” on “C91” (CRCDBOX119) that came this year, 2022.

Then I find something great! A song that wasn’t released on the records. It is called “Word” and it is on Derek Parker’s Soundcloud! Wow! And then another called “Sorry“.

And that’s what I could find out about them. I wonder how long the band lasted. I read short-lived, maybe a year? And why so little then? Are there more recordings by them? Any info would be appreciated!

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Listen
Horse Latitudes – What is More than Life

End of the week. Not much news today other that Disk Union is now accepting orders for Alfie in Japan. That’s good news. I hope Japanese indiepop fans like this release!

Hope you all have a good weekend!

Fanta Panda: I wasn’t aware of this fantastic project by the duo of Frauke from Tripping the Light Fantastic and Mawe N. Klavee from Mikrofisch and The Voltarenes. Their songs are a bit old but so good! Check out “Enya”, what a fun poppy song. Wonder if the Hamburg duo are still making music?

Fleeting Joys: a very nice digital single by this Californian duo. That’s what I found on their Bandcamp. Titled “Everything You’re Running To”, the song has beautiful swirling guitars. On top of this all proceeds will go to the World Central Kitchen, so that’s great. The band is formed by John Loring and Rorika Loring and based in LA as far as I know.

Stephen’s Shore: our favourite friends from Stockholm are releasing a new 12″ on Meritorio Records. It is called “Green” and will include four songs. We can preview two of them, “Ocean’s Calling” and “Carefree Time”, as usual they sound fantastic! A must have! Will be out on April 15.

Ruth Po!: a brand new song, a demo, from Ruth from the mighty Po! It is called “Something Your Wife Doesn’t Know”. Great lyrics, great melodies… and sure it is a bit lo-fi, but that has a lot of charm to me! How talented is Ruth, love all her projects!!

Melk: and last band for this week is Melk from DC. The band formed by Melissa Kain on vocals and guitar, Alex Scheuer on drums and AJ DiGregorio on bass, have a new EP titled “Somebody, Nobody, Anybody”. The first thing that came to mind when listening their songs was Velocity Girl, another band from their area, from back in the day. Tell me if I am wrong? Sounds good!

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Tracing them back to Soundcloud. That’s where I found four songs by Flourish after discovering them on stoneeyedkiller’s Youtube. It seems he has been doing the job I love on Soundcloud, track down 80s obscure indiepop in this fine platform. I guess I need to up my game now, as I shouldn’t just rely on his/her work!

There is some information about the band which is great. We see that they were around 1986 to 1989. They were formerly called Flour and at some point they changed their name to Flourish. Was it in 1986? Or are they counting their time as Four during those 4 or so years?

They were formed by Rob Bulman on vocals, Sean Campbell on guitar, Joel Wirth on bass and Justyn Palmer on drums. They were based in a city I’d love to visit someday, Carlisle.

The songs uploaded are four demos. There is info about each of them, so let’s see…

The first one we encounter is called “Example”. This one was engineered by Alex Warnes at Omega, Cumbria on October 28, 1987. Was it recorded at the same studio? Doesn’t say. It does say that the song belongs to the Carlton Company and Kentmere Publishing though… very professional?

Then we find “Chainsmoker”. There is the same info for this song, so I am assuming they were part of the same demo tape. There is some more details saying that the band considered this song as their “anti-imperialist song” and they introduced it like that at their biggest gig which happened to be at Sands Centre in August 1988.

“When Will I See You Again?” might be my favourite. This one was recorded at Naworth Castle in Cubria in 1988 with Alex Warnes as their engineer. Here they mention that the band used to play often at a venue called Front Page mostly between 1987 and 1988.

“Endlessly Falling Snow” is the last song and was recorded at the same place and time as “When Will I See You Again?”. Most probably part of the same demo.

There is a comment by someone called G A Williams too that mentions that there are more songs by Flourish! I wonder if we will ever hear them! Were they from other demo tapes? Would be good to find out.

Not much more info online.  There is this tweet by Jim Wirth, maybe brother of Joel Wirth? He says that there was sort of a competition going on between Flour and Keltic Storm in Carlisle.

And that’s all. Who remembers them?!

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Listen
Flourish – When Will I See You Again?

++ On this record there’s Simon Pure playing guitar. What happened to him?

Don’t know what happened to Simon…probably in a pub somewhere getting rowdy.

++ Then you signed to Harriet Records from Boston. How did this happen? And how was your relationship with the label? Did you ever play in Boston?

We never played Boston. Our relationship with Harriet started when we sent a copy of Poor Flowers to Tim’s Incite Fanzine for review and he expressed interest in releasing a single on Harriet. Our relationship with Harriet has always been great. Tim’s a cool guy to work with.

++ The artwork of your singles was created by the artist Jean Smith. It is very distinct and cool. Did you art direct? Or you let her do what she thought best?

Jean Smith (Mecca Normal) is a friend of Tim and he suggested we use her to create the cover art for the singles and we thought that was cool . She’s an awesome Canadian artist.

++ Both Harriet 7″s were recorded at Gadomski Studios. Was this your favourite place to record? Or did you have better experiences at other studios?

Glen Russell who operated Gadomski in his basement was a friend of ours so we liked to record there as it was a relaxed environment plus Glen always knew what he was doing.

++ On the compilation I notice that two tracks were recorded in London, in 1986. Was the band living there? Playing there? What’s the story of the band in England?

We lived in the outer London borough of Bromley (Downham Estate) played a little and recorded a few tunes. London was a culture shock for us coming from small city Ottawa.

++ Speaking of England you had a tape released on Acid Tapes called “Moose Power A-Go-Go”. Was the connection with Acid Tapes from the mid-80s? Or how did you end up working and releasing this tape with them?

We read an article about Acid Tapes and sent them a copy of Moose Power A Go Go. They liked it and released it. Simple as that.

++ Why was this tape album not released as a CD or a vinyl LP?

No money. We were poor and Deb and I had two kids to support so we basically couldn’t afford it. A lot of other local bands were in the same boat. Cassettes were a lot cheaper to mass produce etc.

++ Was there interest from any other labels at the time?

Moose Power A Go Go got a great review in CMJ and we received letters of interest from Epic Records, Capitol Records and a few other labels requesting copies which we sent out but I guess they thought Scarlet Drops had no commercial potential as they responded with rejection letters… which we taped to the wall in the rehearsal garage.

++ You appeared on a bunch of compilations too. On one of them, “The Keeping Secret”, you made a song for “Jimmy Swaggart, the televangelist! Was he famous in Canada?!

Ol’ Jimmy was broadcast on TV in Canada on Sunday mornings. The conman was always asking for money. Sometimes we’d watch his pathetic show after smoking up but we could only bear 10 minutes or so. Ernest Angley was a lot more entertaining in a sleazy kind of way.

++ The other compilations I was curious about were the ones released by What Wave Records. It seems they were promoting Canadian up and coming bands? Who were they? And were you friends or familiar with these bands

What Wave was a fantastic Canadian fanzine and I’m still in contact with Whatwave Dave and listen to his show https://radiowestern.ca/program/radio-what-wave-0. I was familiar with some of the bands Dave would feature in his zine like UIC , Purple Toads, The Nils and The Gruesomes. Scarlet Drops had played on the same bills with all 4 bands when they played in Ottawa.( UIC at Olivers Pub – Carleton University, The Purple Toads – Roosters Coffeehouse – Carleton University, The Nils – Barrymores and The Gruesomes at Zaphods on Rideau St. )

How are things? After all the time I was gone I find it a bit harder to run the blog and the label. Maybe we’ve lost a bit of the attention we used to have? I wonder. Will need to recover our supporters.

Those that keep supporting the label by ordering records and people that leave me comments still on the blog and get in touch through any other social media, I appreciate that. Many have told me nice things, about how they missed the blog for example, and the music recommendations. But things are quieter for sure. Maybe this is good for me, as I need time, but at the same time I miss the attention. I guess it is part of it.

I do have a question for all. I have started planning Cloudberry 1050. I think I may do a 10″. But I wonder about the pricing. Would people be ok to pay $15 plus postage? So, within the US it would be something like $22, and for orders abroad something like $35? I find it expensive but at the same time I understand these are the prices that are normal now. The band and the songs would be more than worth it. What do you think?

Letting Up Despite Great Faults: as I continue going back in time, the months I was away, I keep finding out releases that I missed out that are really good. For example “IV” by the great Austin combo. The album is still available on CD and vinyl, with 10 songs of their trademark upbeat dreampop. I should order this one soon!

Comet Gain: the classic London band released back in December a winter EP titled “Winter Fingers”. It is an interesting release where some forgotten songs are rescued, others are changed, and some others remained unreleased until now. Only digital.

The Terrible Hildas: this superb global indie pop band is back! I don’t know who are the people behind this band. I think I know who Knut may be from Norway, but the rest? Not sure! Anyhow, this group that has members in the US and the UK, released another EP back in October that is ace. Titled “Get Surfing!” it has three songs of catchy pop tunes!

The Caroline’s: this Indonesian band sounds great! Their cassette “On My Way To U” is out now on Paska Records from Surabaya. It is a short one, 4 songs of female fronted jangle pop! The band hails from Bandung and is formed by Eureka, Baiq, Indra and Rizal and that’s all the info I have about them.

Cœur-Joie: “Allumettes au bout des îles” is the name of this French band’s mini-album that is out now on Melotron Recordings. This label is one you can always trust. They know to pick up terribly great jangly bands. This time is no exception. The 7 songs on this record that is available on limited quantities on CD are great.

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There are tons of great discoveries on the stoneeyedkiller Youtube channel. It’s been a while since I listen to any of the songs uploaded there. Hard to pick one, but let’s start with the US band Nag Nag Nag.

The song uploaded is called “Winona Westcott” and it is a superb jangly track. So of course I wonder, are there more songs? And the answer is yes. They are on Soundcloud. Someone called Clarke Moore has uploaded 17 songs by Nag Nag Nag.

The songs vary in their style. Some are rockier and others are jangly. They are part of an album called “7 Too Many”. Not sure if it was released like that or was put together for digital with this name. The album dates from 1992 but was released in 1993 and includes these songs: “Intro”, “Voodoo Doll”, “You’re On”, “Winona Westcott”, “Sophia’s Song”, “Chara”, “Mr. Lee”, “Get Well Party”, “Autumn Leaves”, “Sex with my TV”, “Bad Mood”, “Interference”, “Mr. Happy”, “Cheerleader”, “Trouble in Mind”, “Pus” and “Mosquitoes”.

Some info is available too. All of the songs were recorded during the summer of 1992 at the Slaughterhouse in Hadley, Massachusetts and also at the OSB Underground in Springfield.  There is a photo of the band where we find the names of the band members, Anthony Westcott, Paul Pelis, Ari Vais and Brian Osley.

Thanks to these names I find out that Anthony lives now in Atlanta. He has a Soundcloud were there’s a song called “I Want” by Bespectacalia. The interesting bit here is that this band was formed by Anthony, Paul and Brian. The sound is a bit harder than Nag Nag Nag, so not my cup of tea, but still, pretty interesting to see how they evolved.

I keep looking for more connections. I find that Ari Vais and Paul Pelis were in a band called Humbert that was based in Northampton, MA. They have a Bandcamp.

So that’s that. All I could find. Would be nice to know if the band released anything on physical format…

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Listen
Nag Nag Nag – Winona Westcott

This weekend I noticed I don’t have any more copies of the Parcel Post 7″. This is good and bad news of course. Good that all the records found a good home and bad because many people probably would miss this great 7″.

I have started working on new projects, new releases. It is still early days but I’ve been emailing here and there to get the ball rolling. I hope I will have news in the coming months. As you know, now with a baby, things are a bit slower for me. But I want to continue putting records out. At least a few more.

Also take advantage of the mixed bag offer we have. Those who are not familiar with the label, give it a try. I need space at home and I am selling all these great records for a very small price.

Anyhow, here are my weekend finds.

Un Día Soleado: here’s a fine compilation by the Argentinean one-man band of Enzo Raffler. It is titled “Y Todo Sigue Igual…” and you can find on it 13 songs of lovely and jangly pop songs. 6 of them are original tracks by the band, the rest are covers, including an “Anorak City” cover! and live tracks. This is a good way to discover this band.

Jim Shepherd: Spinout Nuggets will release on March 25 the album “The Circle” by Jim Shephard, the lead singer of the legendary band The Jasmine Minks! The album will be available on vinyl and CD and includes 12 songs. We can preview one of them, “Coming Alive”, which is great! The record has contributions from many great indie people like Beth from Aberdeen, Arash from The Distractions, Frank Sweeney of The June Brides, Dave Morgan from The Loft, and so on!

Salt Lake Alley: “It Takes Two” is the name of the album the duo formed by Gustav and Mikael will be reeleasing on June 20 with Shelflife Records. I remember the days when we released a 7″ (copies still available) and seeing them now releasing a 2nd album, is quite amazing. Time goes fast!! The album has 11 songs, including a coveer of Twig’s “Now I’ve Realized”. This is truly good. The band’s orthodox indie pop shines bright here. This is one of the records I look forward the most this year!

Astragal: the Houston band, a favourite of the blog, is releasing their album “Cashmere” on April 1st. It will be a 9 song vinyl LP and two of their songs are available to preview right now, “Mirrored Writing” and “Ponte Vedra”. The songs are superb as usual. I can’t wait to listen the rest of the album. Great job by Jimmy Bent, David Sosa and Sam Enkelmann.

David Christian: “Your Pinecone Companion” is a homemade companion to the album “For Those Wee Met on the Way” that the Comet Gain leader released last year. On this digital only release we find demos of the songs that were properly released. Demos with different words, chords and moods as David mentions. As always essential listening.

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Not sure why I left a draft, two years ago, saying that I should write about the Japanese band Jenny on the Planet. I should have written about them immediately. Or at least some weeks later…

I guess I forgot, but now that I am going through all my drafts, and checking bands that never answered my interviews and writing about them, I also find drafts like this where I have collected a bunch of links, where I have saved my research.

Jenny on the Planet started releasing music in 1997 and their last release dates of 2008. Let’s see what we find about them.

Let’s do this chronologically. So in 1997, as Momoiro Jenny the band released two songs on a tape called “Space Tape Vol.8” that came with a fanzine of the same name. At this point we see the band using this other name, Momoiro Jenny, but we are sure it is the same band. The songs were on the B side and they were “Short Story” and “Surf Cycle”. The other band on this tape were The Cartoon Characters. I have never heard them!

In 1998 the band releases a self-titled tape on the Onion label (ONICT-006). This tape had 6 songs, 3 on each side. The A side had “Space Ship”, “Sleeping Cherry Tree” and “Go Away”. The B side included “Little Orange”, “Pastel Summer” and “I’ll Be Your Mirror”.

That same year the band signs to the fine K.O.G.A. Records and releases a self-titled debut album (K.O.G.A. 054). This album comes out on CD and includes 10 songs, “Talk Away, Baby”, “Short Story”, “Sail Seven Seas”, “Cowcadden”, “Canned Air”, “Lost Satellite”, “Surf Cycle”, “Sleeping Cherry Tree”, “White as Snow” and “Andy”. This album was produced by Keizo Suhara, Nobuhiko Kurose, Noriyuki Morimoto and the band at Studio Puzzle in Osaka in the spring of that year. The engineer was Noriyuki Morimoto. The mastering was done by Hikari Mitsufuji at AST Mastering Studio. All the photos on the CD were taken by the band while the illustration is credited to Michael from Glasgow. Sadly the credits don’t tell us the band members’ names.

Lastly, in 1998, the band contributed a song to the CD compilation that came along the Indies Magazine number 18. The song the band gave away was “Short Story”.

In 1999 the band continues to release music. A split 7″ with Chain Letter (interviewed with them!) where Jenny on the Planet appear on the B side with the song “Overground”. This 7″ appeared on Chain Letter’s own label Tulip House with catalog number TULIP 007. I’d like to get a copy of this record! The credits do tell us that the artwork was created by Masafumi Hiramatsu who had played drums for Chain Letter. We also get first names for the band members of Jenny on the Planet but no last names, Hiroyoshi, Miori and Sachiko. We know too now that the band hailed from Osaka.

A cassette and CD compilation titled “Tribute to Nippon” or “トリビュート・トゥ・ニッポン” on Ummo Records (UOCA-1007) includes their track Comlate. This came out in 2000. In 2001, the band contributes “Still Water Run Deepp”, “Sylla Bub” and “Cul-Ce-Suc” to the compilation “Chaan! Ban! Thank You Ben.” released by Monarch Records (MNRC-001). This limited CD compilation of 500 copies included other indiepop bands like Soda-Pop, Maple Drive, Soft Parade, Cry Baby, The Beauties and The Cartoon Characters.

In 2003 the band have their song “Sleeping Cherry Tree”, which is perhaps my favourite of theirs, on “Good Girls Don’t! (K.O.G.A. Records 10th Anniversary Compilation Album Vol.1) released of course by K.O.G.A. (KOGA-159). This same year the band releases their second album “Jenny on the Planet”. Yes, yet again another self-titled release though it seems this CD album is also known as “II”. This one was released by two labels, Gyuune Cassette (CSCD-15) and Childish Soup (CSCD-15). The Gyuune label was based in Osaka and was owned by Keizo Suhara who had produced the band’s first album. I believe Childish Soup was also his label! Anyhow, 10 songs were on this album, “Let Me Know Where I Belong”, “Harmony”, “Cloud”, “I Feel Out of Place”, “Closed Door Are Like Bad Secrets”, “Pause”, “Promenade”, “Dive into the Sea”, “Live in the Past” and “El Gato”. And here we finally find the band members names!

Hiroyoshi Yamato was on guitar and vocals, Miori Matsuzawa was on bass and vocals and Sachiko One was on drums and vocals. This album was produced again by Keizo Suhara. He also engineered and mixed it at Studio Puzzle. The master was done at Studio You by Katsunori Owa. The assistant engineeer was Koji Atsuzawa. The art direction and design for the album is credited to Shota Matsuo, the cover art photo to Fumitaka Amada and the band member’s photo to Ken Tanaka.

It will be 5 more years, 2008, for the band to release their third album, “For”. This one was released on CD by Gyuune Cassette (CD95-39) and includeed 12 songs: “Summer Rain”, “まどあかり”, “The Moment”, “葡萄”, “Weekend Boots”, “Moralistic Telephone”, “Still”, “Monochrome”, “キリンと月”, “日々の陽, “遠路航海士, and “袋の底”. This album was again recorded, engineered and mixed by Keizo Suhara at Studio Puzzle. The master again done by Katsunori Owa at Studio You in Osaka.

For the art credits, Miori from the band took the cover photo and did the drawings. The live photo was by Yukako Inooka. The design and band member’s photo was taken by Shota Matsuo.

On Youtube there is some stuff by them. There is live footage of the band playing “Summer Rain” on October 2nd, 2008. There is a 2009 video of the band playing at a small place it seems. Cozy and cute. Then there is a full gig from February 28, 2013 at the Bears venue. 50 plus minutes of the band playing. Cool!

And that is all I could find on the web. No info about if the band members ended up in any other bands. No clue when exactly did they stop making music. I wonder what are they up to these days. Would be great to know more about this ace Japanese indiepop band!

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Listen
Jenny on the Planet – Sleeping Cherry Tree

Field School: Olympia, Washington. A great college town for music. “It’s Only Everything EP” was released back in January on cassette. This was the first release ever as far as I know by this pop band. The EP had 5 songs and it quickly sold out. Not sure how many copies were made. I have just discovered them. I came late, but as I am only catching up with releases of the past 5 months, I think it is worth for me telling you about them. They say they make jangly guitar pop. I thought it was a bit fuzzier than jangly, but hey, it doesn’t matter. It has a good sound.

No Suits on Miami: You know I love this band and would have loved to release a record by them. Now they are on Shelflife Records who know who to bring to their label. With them they will release “Nothing Ever Happens” a superb 10 song album! Can’t wait for this record to be out, a true favourite band of mine for the last few years.

Flying Fish Cove: the Seattle indiepop duo last release was a digital single. It came out about a month ago and again, just listening this for the first time! Sorry if this is old for you. It is brand brand new for me! “Tinsel Tavern” is a great song. As always a band to follow!

The Kensingtons: great to hear new songs by the pop craftsmen that are The Kensingtons! Their newest single is called “How Was I to Know?” and was released as digital-only about a month ago too.

The Happy Somethings: and I end up this roundup with this English combo that I have reviewed many times in the past. They also have a digital single called “Stand Together Song” and previously an EP ccalled “Tall Stories Long Grass” which are worth listening! Fun pop songs!

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Another good find on Soundcloud. It seems this is the place for 80s bands to upload their old demos.

The account is owned by Dave Hindle who was part of a band called Wolf Cries Boy in the UK. Probably based in Rotherham, that’s the city that appears on the account, but of course, Dave could have moved afterwards.

Here we find many songs by different projects of Dave. The one I am interested in is Wolf Cries Boy and he has four songs for this band: “Give Me Somewhere”, “The Last Time”, “Silver Hand” and “Eyes of a Child”.

From the photo that has been uploaded we see that the band was formed by four guys. Which one is Dave? What are the names of the other members?

We also know that the songs were recorded at The Darnall Music Factory between 1987 and 1988. We don’t have more info about these early demos sadly.

One important piece of information I find is that the band would later change names to Skyfire. Probably around in 1990.

Sadly that’s all I could find online. Anyone that has any more details, please let us know. Would be great to find out what happened to them!

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Listen
Wolf Cries Boy – The Last Time

Not much to add today. The mixed bag boxes offers are up on the web since the weekend. Take advantage of it. The price is very low for what you get.

No other news now. Very quiet for me now. How are you all doing?

English Summer: “Holding Against Our Own” is the name of the new EP by Caleb Carr’s solo project! Based in Clare, Australia, his music has been a favourite of the blog for a long time! Jangly, chiming, guitars abound on the 5 songs included in this digital-only release. Great stuff!

Sugar World: I am not familiar with this band. But I do trust Sunday Records. If they are going to release on CD the album “Lost and Found” I need to check it out. 3 songs are up to preview out of 11. I listen to them with curiosity and I am sold. Fuzzy pop with great melodies. Okay, this is up my alley! Will need a copy myself!

Sapphire & Steel: I remember when I was not updating the blog seeing a lot of posts on Facebook about this project by Jørn Åleskjær from Norway and Estella from the Netherlands. Of course, Estella has been busy lately with Nah and with The Hepburns, so was great to see her involved in a new project. Here we find two songs, “Snø (Vill Falle Over Snø Som Har Falt)” and “Snowstorms”, and what can I say other that these are pretty pretty!

Juárez: the Pamplona, Spain, band is back with a new album titled “Luna Menguante”. 11 songs that are available now on vinyl and CD. Upbeat, poppy, a straight jab to your face, the songs are catchy and thoroughly enjoyable. A superb release. What’s with Pamplona? A small city that produces so many good bands!

Rayventuras: first time I listen to this Berlin band. And I have to say that their album “Sandpaper Honey” is not that new, it came out in 2020! But copies are available still on vinyl and CD. Their latest though is the January 2022 single “Things” that is terrific. Jangly guitars, mellow female vocals, can’t ask for more.

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I am still exploring the compilation “Everything but the Boys and the Girl”. I’ve written about it extensively, because of some of the bands that appeared on it like The Boy’s Short Hair, Somerset Club Boy and Forest Stroll. So check those out if you are interested of course.

Today I want to write about Frederick, a Japanese band who contributes the song “つかれたそら” to this compilation released in 2019 by Happy Extreme! (SFC 003). The song is great and catchy, and I was very surprised that unlike the other bands I have written about Frederick had releases!

I start with the meaning of Frederick. Of course we know it is a name, but it means: Frederick is a masculine given name meaning “peaceful ruler”. It is the English form of the German name Friedrich. Its meaning is derived from the Germanic word elements frid, or peace, and ric, meaning “ruler” or “power”. I wonder why they called themselves like this.

This band formed by Atsushi Iwashima on bass, Kenichi Kataoka on vocals, Hiroyuki Tomizawa on drums and Tadashi Yanagawa on guitars and piano released 5 albums according to Discogs between 1990 and 1993. Quite prolific! All of them would be released on the label Life Size, a label that belonged to Epic/Sony Records.

The band’s first release looks more like a mini-album as it has 7 songs. It was the self-titled “Frederick” (ESCB 1073). The songs were: “口笛を吹きながら”, ” 今日から始めよう”, “つかれた空”, “ついて行けないこの世界”, “Love”, “ゴミ” and 身近な出来事”.

Another mini-album came out that same year. This CD came out in 1990 and was called “ゴミ箱” (ESCB 1088). It included the following tracks, “ゴミ箱”, ” 宇宙の中の小さな地球”, “おいしい空気”, ” この木の下で”, “Flower”, “Fancy Music” and “自然に生きたい”. I haven’t listened yet to any of these songs, so I wonder if some were really in English or all of them were in Japanese.This CD came out in 1990 and was called “ゴミ箱” (ESCB 1088). It included the following tracks, “ゴミ箱”, ” 宇宙の中の小さな地球”, “おいしい空気”, ” この木の下で”, “Flower”, “Fancy Music” and “自然に生きたい”. I haven’t listened yet to any of these songs, so I wonder if some were really in English or all of them were in Japanese.

In 1991 the band released a proper album titled “Pudding” (EESCB 1137). This one had 12 songs: “My Favorite Hour”, “エレクトリックギター“, “How Does it Feel (Purple Hearts)”, “何処へ行く“, “B”, “カッコーの巣の上で“, “僕は嘘つき“, “かけらを探しに“, “明日になれば“, “人間らしい踊り“, “にがい砂糖” and “汚れなき少年の頃“.

In 1992 the band released their second full-length. Titled “Sheep & Children” (KSC2 14) and with a strange art on the cover it had 10 songs: “どうして歌を唄うの”, “Jesus”, “Illusion”, ” 虹を追いかけて (Mountain Tracks)”, “New York”, “Girls Be Ambitious”, ” ランランラン”, ” 安息の鐘を鳴らせ”, “心に太陽を” and “Here Comes the Country Sky”.

The year after, 1993, the band releases their last record, “Hima Korogashi” (KSC2 61). This one has all the song titles in English. Thirteen tracks are on this CD album, “Tender Drummer Boy”, “Time for Action”, “Travelling”, “Love or Desire”, “September’s Children”, “Only a Letter Can Do”, “A Tiny Little Hand of Yours”, “Shimmering Wheels”, “Drive in the Rain”, “Teachers Will Never Know”, “Full Moon and Curiosity”, “Hey Daddies (Didn’t You Ever Feel Like This)” and “Living in a Spiritless Age”.

I look into the band member’s too. If they had been in other bands. I notice that Atsushi had been in two bands I want to write about, The London Times and Tiroleantape Chapter 4.  He was also in Head Mad Dolls, Yaung Skins, Dexied the Emons, Thames Beat, Iwashima 49 Colors and Fresh! Hiroyuki was also on The London Times and in TimeSlip-Rendezvous and MI:LAGRO. Tadashi was in The Brooks. Kenichi was also on The London Times, Action Painting, Thames Beat and Head Mad Dolls. I wonder then, which came first? The London Times? Indeeed. The band was around in the 80s though they reunited in 2019. I will write about them soon I hope.

The band also was well known in different compilations. On the classic flexi “Whistlin’ and Smilin'” (SFC 002) released by Happy Extreme! in 1989 they contributed the song “つかれたそら = Tsukareta Sora”.

In 1990 on the CD comp ” ライブスタジオ新宿Jam 10周年記念CD 曲者 [Kyoku-Mono]” released by Studio Jam (WJ2C-1) they had the song “無気力な時代”. Later on in 1990 they had the song “ゴミ ” on “Beat Express Rocks” double CD comp released by Epic (ESCB 1080-1).

On “Beat Express Rocks II” (ESCCB-1128-9) from 1991, another double CD on Epic, the band had the song “何処へ行く”. That same year their song “Purple Hearts (How Does it Feel?)” appeared on “Les Frederick Presents Innocence & Peppermints” released by Life Size (ESCB 1219). This CD would be reissued in 1998 by Epic/Life Size.

This is what I could find about them. There exists some video of them it seems. A VHS titled “Rock File on Video 1989 Vol. 4” lists one of the videos to be by Frederick. It doesn’t say what song or what sort of footage it is. It seems hard to look for it on Youtube… if it is there…

Anyhow, any help from my Japanese friends will be appreciated. I can’t seem to find any other details nor songs by them!

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Listen
Frederick – つかれたそら

Okay, I am back to checking out new bands, especially with the hope to find a band that fits on Cloudberry, for a 7″ release. This has started to prove a bit difficult with Bandcamp as most bands as soon as they have a new song they post it immediately. As you can imagine I’d like to have the song unveiled with the release, not 6, 8 months before. So what do I look for? I guess for the vibe, for the style, for the influences, that I can imagine that they would record a brilliant single…

The Hannah Barberas: a favourite band from before I went into my vacation. The superb London combo has a bunch of new songs on the “When You Were My Boyfriend EP”. 4 new songs, one of them, the title song, that will be included in the band’s second album that is to be released in the summer on Spinout Nuggets and Subjangle. Highly recommended.

Rémi Parson: another EP that I have to highly recommend is the “Pour un Empire” album by the ex Sunny Street. The album is out on vinyl now and sounds superb. Rémi is definitely one of the most talented people I know and have been honoured to work with him in the past (and I hope in the future too, who wouldn’t want a Sunny Street comeback!?). This record continues what he has been showing us in his previous releases, top-class wave pop. It came out last November, but I am only catching up with these great 12 tracks.

Crabber: the band formed by members of Dr. König Arthus (who I interviewed) and Kristallin (which I’ve tried twice to interview them!) is releasing a 7″ on the Athens label Old Bad Habits. It will include three songs and we can preview the opening one, “Greek Wine”, which is great!! The record is limited to 150 copies and will be out on May 2.

The No-Yeahs: “Romper Room” is a wonderful song! If you remember The Tidy Ups or Funday Mornings this will be up your street! Bedroom-pop at its finest. Ramshackle beauty. The song even has a video which you can check here.

Coming Up Roses: a favourite of the blog too, as all the previous bands. It is refreshing to know bands that we like continue putting music out. The Singapore trio has a new single called “Slingshots” that is good. But I have to say their previous effort called “Glass Stained Eyes” is fantastic. So here are two links in one. Enjoy.

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Back in 2011 or 2012 (I can’t be sure) I was in love with one song, “Easily Led” by the London band Fountains. I thought it was a fantastic single, that it should have been big, a classic in indiepop… but I guess the song flew under the radar for everyone.

I djed it a few times and always people would ask me what song this was. So there was that, people acknowledged that it was good. I just don’t understand how some bands make it and others don’t.

When I approached them to release a 2nd single with me, the band had split out and the member I talked with had a new project that sounded different. Not exactly what I was looking.

Today I was remembering them and wondering what happened to them. I lost track. And to be honest I know very little about them. They weren’t a household name for indiepop lovers. They didn’t play any of the festivals we used to go.

The band was formed by Bex Dean on bass and vocals, Chris Haslam on guitar, Darren Osborne on guitar, Jonathan Head on guitar and vocals and Neil Bourke on drums.

The band released a 7″ and also a tape, both in 2012. Let’s start with the tape which was called “No Sleep EP”. This tape, limited to 50 copies, had three songs, “Sleep”, “Insecure” and “You Are Not Welcome”. The three songs appear on both sides. They were recorded at Lightship95, a studio on a 550-tonne ship moored at Trinity Buoy Wharf in East London. The producer was Rory Attwell from Die! Die! Die! and Test Icicles.

These songs are on the band’s Soundcloud if you want to have a listen of course. There is a Bandcamp with this EP as well.

The 7″ came out on the label Beautiful Strange (BS004). This record was limited to 250 copies, perhaps that’s why it never caught on? Anyhow, the wonderful “Easily Led” appears on the A side and “Repetition” is on the B side. The good thing too is that the band made a promo video for the A side, which is on Youtube.

And just one compilation appearance. It was a digital one called “Something Something Compilation #1” that featured bands from South East London. Fountains appear with “Don’t Cry”. It came out in 2012.

The next stop to find more info is a Facebook page that hasn’t been updated since 2014.

Here we find of a lot of gigs. They played Power Lunches in London on March 6th, 2012 alongside Evans the Death and Playlounge. In Canterbury they played on March 30th, 2012 at Casey’s. Friday April 13, 2012 at the Amersham Arms in New Cross, London.. May 8, 2012, with Delta/Alaska and Dark Bells at The Old Queen’s Head in Islington. On May 12, 2012, they played along Trophys, Es Muss Sein, Magnets and Take a Stand at Rafa Club in Chatham. June 9, 2012, with The Hysterical Injury, Vienna Ditto, Hella Better Dancer, Breathe Out, The Tuts and more at the Kiss the Music Weekender at the Sebright Arms in Bethnal Green. The Buffalo Bar also saw them on May 22, 2012 for Club Fandango. On June 5, 2012, they played the Teen Creeps Luvverly Jubilee Party at Old Blue Last. Then the next day, June 6, at Sub Rosa at Club Surya in Kings Cross. June 21, 2012, at Bands & Books in London.

Their single release party was on July 24, 2012, at The Waiting Room in Stoke Newington. Other bands on the lineup were Fever Dream (are they still going?), Lostleft and Es Muss Sein. On August 14 at Camden Barfly with The Penelopes.

They also played that year, 2012, Lounge on the Farm Festival in Canterbury.

They tried to be part of Indietracks in 2012, wonder why it didn’t happen.

They were interviewed by Matt Barnes for the Indie Show on Roundhouse Radio on March 15, 2012, but the link is not working.

And then we know that Jonathan Charles started a new project called Kid Gloves. I don’t know what happened to the rest of the band members. Did they continue making music? I think this was about 2013-2014. When then did the Fountains called it quits?

And were these all the songs they recorded? Just 5? There must be more, right? Would be great to find out any details about them. Who remembers them?

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Listen
Fountains – Easily Led

I managed to post three times a week with no issues. That’s good. I think I may be able to start reviewing new music. At least I think I can this Monday. So hopefully I’ll find some good discoveries. I don’t have any plans for new 7″s right now, The band I wanted to release a 7″ and who I talked and exchanged a few demos, well, they seem to have signed to a bigger indiepop label to Cloudberry. So I suppose that’s it. I should be on the lookout for the next 7″ release…. as well as for the next Cloudberry Cake Kitchen. No plans for anything yet! Seems strange!

I should be adding new offers on the website this weekend. Have a look if anything interests you. I need space at home so any help in finding a new home for some ace records would be appreciated.

Other than that, I sent interview questions to a band I love, and I am in touch with yet another band for another interview. And I want to thank again everyone that got the Alfie compilation. I saw Jigsaw Records has it on their page right now and describes them this way:
lovingly-assembled reissue from an ultra-obscure late ’80s/early ’90s band from a small island off the Swedish coast who mostly played jangly pop in a style similar to Hurrah, Friends Again and the Jazz Butcher

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Many years ago I wrote about Hopkirk & Lee. The band stills remains a mystery to me. I only know of the persons who was behind the label that released the record, but other than that, no information about the band. One of the mysteries that shroud the band is who were the members, who played the music.

While I was doing that research then I stumbled upon someone saying that the same vocalist that was in Hopkirk & Lee was in Bitter Herb. He pointed to a myspace link that of course doesn’t work anymore. The Finest Kiss blog was very certain that this connection was 100% true.

That same blog, on a 2008 post says that there was a rumour of them signing to a label and then the label going under. Also that they signed a deal with Ralph Macchio and Steve Vai to make a single EP and then go to hell. But that was it really. The Myspace page for this band doesn’t exist anymore.

We know of the existence of four songs of them, “Dancing Eyes”, “The British American Dream”, “The Legions of Romulus” and “Turning Like a Leaf”.

Sadly I don’t know anything by the band and there’s nothing online about them. So even if they want to keep Hopkirk & Lee a mystery, can we get some info about Bitter Herb? Also, if anyone has the other three songs they recorded, I’d love to hear them. Thanks!

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Listen
Bitter Herb – The Legions of Romulus