Happy Wednesday. So far no guesses about the next release. Here’s another hint. The main vocals are female… maybe you already have an idea? In the meantime the tracks are being mastered… and yes, it will have more than 3 songs!

Karen: limited to 250 copies, the Greek label Old Bad Habits is releasing on vinyl the self-titled album by this indie supergroup including Davey Woodward of The Brilliant Corners, Hugo Owen Morgan of Loop and Tom Adams of Secret Shine. The album is being released on September 12 and will have 11 songs. Two of the songs, “Carrier Bag” and “Too Late” are available to preview on Bandcamp!

The Martial Arts: a 10″ lathe cut is going to be released on August 12. That’s just a few days from now! It will be released by London’s superb WIAIWYA label run by the great Jarv. Five songs will be on this record, and again two are up for preview, “Bethany” and “Nicechap”. These are really good, and I don’t know nothing about this band. Just loving the music.

Soot Sprite: “Lazy” is the name of the latest single by this Exeter shoegaze/dreampop band. The band is new to me so I am looking for info. I see they are formed by Elise Cook on guitar and vocals, Sean Mariner on bass and Tom Gilbert on drums. They were touring extensively the UK last month and also this month, ending with a gig at Leicester’s Handmade Festival.

Churrus: now we head to Minas Gerais in Brazil. I find the album “Besides” which is available on CD. The artwork shows the Clifton Suspension Bridge of Bristol, a landmark Sarah lovers love. The band is not straight indiepop but a shoegaze band. Their latest release is coming out this August though. It is titled “A Promenade Love” which is a fine fuzzy single.

Fuvk: lastly here is a flexi by the pretty pretty bedroom-pop project from Austin, Texas. It is out now on the Japanese label Galaxy Train. The flexi has two songs, “Postcard” and “Walnut Creek”. Both songs are winners. Do get this record if you can. The music of Shirley Zu is fantastic, the artwork by Jules Boucher for the sleeve is eye-candy.

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I am not sure where stoneyedkiller found the song “Rainbow” by The Poppyfield. I have found other songs online like “Empty Heart“, “These Are Your Final Days“, “Never Understand” and “Slip Away“, but not “Rainbow”.

From what I understand this band hailed from Darlington in the UK and was formed by Andrew on vocals and guitar, Mark on bass, Julian on keyboards and Stephen on drums.

I have not found many pages mentioning them. Just one interview with Hartlepool band Procession where they mention they were friends with The Poppyfield.

I believe the person that uploaded the songs I found wasn’t in the band. There is an exchange of messages between him and the drummer Stephen, whose last name I found out is Paling. The uploader says he was a big fan of the band and used to go to their gigs back in the day.

It is clear that he also collected memorabilia of the band. Thanks to that we can see that the band was part of a 1991 Battle of the Bands at the Northern Echo. There they participated along 091, Mr. Mojo, Ability to Swing, Autumn Divers and The Innocents. Did they win?

Another place the band played was called TNS. I think they played on April 4th, 1991. Also on Friday July 24th at Middlesbrough Arena, probably 1991 too.

And that’s it. We know the songs come from demo tapes. Not sure how many of them they released. Would be good to find out.

So yeah, if anyone has more details about them, please share with me. I’d love to know more about this forgotten early 90s band!

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Listen
Thee Poppyfield – Rainbow

Happy Monday! Very jealous of all who attended Glas-goes Pop! It seems like everyone had a wonderful time at that festival. I was looking at photos on Facebook, of many friends, and made me wonder when I’ll be back in a pop festival! Hopefully I won’t have to wait too long!

The Photocopies: Sean Turner’s project is back with 5 new songs on the “Departure” EP. It seems he is becoming quite a prolific indiepop songster. Originally from London, Sean, has been releasing a bunch of songs in the last couple of years, all of them packed with jangle power!

Rachel Love: Rachel is back with a new EP titled “Stories from Another Time EP”. I definitely need to order this one as it is available on CD and at a very affordable price of 5 pounds sterling. There’s no excuse to get the latest four songs from the ex-Dolly Mixture. On top of it all I’ve heard her gig at Glas-Goes Pop was one of the biggest highlights! How I wish I had been there!

Hazel: Jakarta band Hazel sounds really good. They are on the label Tarsius Records and they recently released a new single titled “Over My Head”. It is really ace! They also mention that they are working on an EP for later this year. Definitely let’s keep an eye open, they sound ace!

Jim Nothing: this coming September Jim Nothing from Christchurch, New Zealand, will be releasing  the album “In the Marigolds”. It will bee available on vinyl and will have 12 songs. Two of the songs are available to preview, “Yellow House” and “In the Marigolds”. They are great! They are lo-fi pop catchy songs with boy/girl vocals. It is a really great surprise this band, as I wasn’t aware of them before. Can’t wait to hear the full album.

Poster Paints: and lastly this is also great news. I’ve recommended many times the Glasgow du formed by Simon Lidell and Carla Easton due to their EPs and singles. Well, this October the band is releasing their first album! It will be self-titled and will include 10 songs. Three of them are up on Bandcamp for our/my listening pleasure. Essential I would say!

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Fremantle, Australia. I have interviewed a few Perth bands like The Honeys or The Mars Bastards. The Palisades too. There are quite a few fantastic bands that hailed from there. I am now surprised to discover a band I had never heard about before, The Childlike Primitives.

They have a Soundcloud account that is quite new, 3 months!

The songs here are “Vanity”, “The Coming of Winter”, “I the Assassin”, “Homesick Gypsies”, “Old Trees Black”, “Spring (instrumental)”, “Lucy”, “Heart of Darkness”, “Ice Rink Dancer”, “Girl in Chains”, “Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha”, “Boredom”, “Crazy Black Days”, “Show me to my Bed”, “Orchard of 100 Trees”, “The Human Voice”, “Empty the Chalice”, “Criminal Voice” and “Mystery Man”.

There is not much info about each of the songs but some do have a little info. “Spring (instrumental)” was recorded on a 2 track reel to reel by Ivan. “Ice Rink Dancer”‘s bass line is from the old Courageous Cat cartoon. “Orchard of 100 Trees”, “Empty the Chalice”, “Criminal Voice”, “Mystery Man” and “The Human Voice” were the last recordings the band did with singer/songwriter Ivan Bray.

The next place to look is the band’s Facebook page.

This actually takes me to yet another Soundcloud page!! With even more songs!!

The first collection of tracks date from the mid 80s. These include home recordings, jam sessions and practices. These songs are: “Fish Trumpet!”, “Another Man’s Dream”, “Casio and Ivan”, “I’m a Contortionist”, “Desolate Gestures”, “Did You Say Something?”, “Fly By Night”, “Charred and Blackened”, “Take Off Your Crown”, “Art is…”, “Summer Interlude”, “The Isolated Parade of a Chanting Funnel”, “Lucy Said, (She’s Coming on Strong)”, “The Heavenly Blue” and “Sleeping Sons”.

The second collection of songs are better recordings and taken from cassettes during practice sessions. These date from 1987 to 1989. The songs on this second collection are: “Melancholy Intro”, “The First Glorious Rush Around the Garden”, “I Once Saw Her Face”, “Everything but the Girl”, “Ice Ring Dancer”, “In the Room”, “Famous Last Words”, “The Secret Inside”, “My Babies So Nonchalant About Love”, “The Red Trees”, “Old”, “Ulysses”, “Love and Life” and “Nature’s Sweet Decay”.

The last collection has the studio recordings the band did at Initiation Studios with Mark One as engineer. Here also are mixed in as intros sound bits of Ivan Bray and the band riffing that were recorded on a tape deck. The songs are “When Reason Has Lied”, “The Plea”, “The Human Voice”, “The Chant of Empty Seas”, “The Criminal Voice”, “Sunflower”, “She Lay Outside my Door”, “Sad Lost Monkeys”, “Mystery Man”, “Laughs the Splendid Light”, “Hail Our Love”, “Empty the Chalice”, “Future’s Bed” and “The Orchard of One Hundred Trees”.

What else do we find about them? That they played at the Stoned Crow along The Caretakers every Thursday night. The band also plaayeed at The Cave Bar, at least on one occasion where Pink Fluffy Bunnies, Sad Music Billy’s, Elf & the Goon Gut Babies and Accelerated Man were on the bill.

From what I see the person behind the Facebook and Soundcloud pages is Martin Phillips. He mentions too that there was a 1988 album called “The Homesick Gypsies” that the band recorded with Rob Grant at Poon’s Head Studios. The songs from this album are on the first Soundcloud link I shared. The tracklist order for this album is: “Vanity”, “The Coming of Winter”, “Heart of Darkness”, “Homesick Gypsies”, “Old Trees Black”, “Spring”, “Lucy”, “I the Assassin”, “Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha” and “Girl in Chains”.

What else can I add? On the photos it looks like the band was a five-piece.

I then stumble upon a Party Fears from October-November 1991. There it mentions Martin and Ivan Bray were starting a band called ARC. There is also a mention of The Childlike Primitives who were to play their first show in about a year at the Carnivale Day inn Forrest Place on October 15. It mentions Mark One had replaced Dorian Day in the band.

And that’s what I could find. Any more info about the band will be appreciated. For example… did they release anything? Tapes?

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Listen
The Chidlike Primitives – Homesick Gypsies

Just wishing everyone a happy weekend!

Maimargaritas: Mai, from Las Margaritas and My Light Shines For You has uploaded to Bandcamp 6 rough demos she recorded between 2020 and 2021. This is really lovely, you get a different feeling compared to her more “polished” recordings. She has even titled this compilation “Maquetas: No Sé Grabar”, something like ‘Demos: I don’t know how to record”. But yeah, even within this lo-finess we find some superb quality to the songs.

Shoken Boys: hailing from Tel Aviv, the Shoken Boys have just released a 5-song EP titled “The Shoken Boys”. The band is formed by David, Yaniv, Amit and Amir and they make some punchy pop! This is the first time I listen to them but previously they have put out many more records.

Bear Cat: this is a band from back in the day but they have just showed up on Bandcamp. Bear Cat came from Auckland, NZ, and knew how to make some lovely folk-pop songs, kind of in the middle between Jonathan Richman and The Moldy Peaches. On Bandcamp you can find 5 of their releases, I am linking you the first self-titled single.

Peel Dream Magazine: LA based band is back with “Pad”. On this album to be released by Slumberland and Tough Love on October 7, Joseph Stevens continues his sonic exploration, getting a bit further away from indiepop. So we’ll have to see how that goes. The track available to preview, also called “Pad”, hasn’t won me over. But there are 14 more… and I am hoping I enjoy this as much as his previous efforts.

This Poison!: and finally the Peel Session from November 30, 1987, is available as a double CD from the great Precious Recordings of London! This is a must have for all indiepop fans. Four songs and the quality packaging of this label makes me terribly happy about this one. Legendary band, legendary songs!

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Before being in the wonderful Small Factory David Auchenbach had been in another fantastic but much more obscure band, What Now.

The band was around in the mid-80s I believe. I am basing that assumption on the dates of their releases listed on Discogs.

A self-titled demo tape was put together in 1984. That tape had 3 songs, “Very Near”, “Can’t Say No” and “Alright”. On this tape the band consisted of Dave on guitar and vocals, Mark Jones on drums and Pete McClanahan on bass. The first two songs had been recorded at Celebration Sounds while the last one at home. All the recordings date from May of 1984.

The band was an important one in Providence, Rhode Island. But they played in other towns as well. I’ve read about a gig they played in Springfield, Massachusetts supporting Eight Route Army.

The band’s only proper release came out in 1985 on Incas Records (WN 101). This label has one of the coolest logos I’ve ever seen. It is a cholita or a paisana, a typical Andean woman with her typical hat. Lovely really. The record was titled “Small Record with Four Songs” and as it is obvious had four songs: “Noisemaker” and “All My Life” on the A side and “The End” and “Anthem” on the B side. The songs had been recorded and mixed at White Dog Studio (in Newton, MA) by Lou Giordano as the producer and engineer. Also credited for engineering job is Kevin Galvin. The mastering was done at Sterling Sound by Ted Jensen.

On this record the bassist had changed. Now we find Dave McCaffrey. The design is credited to David A with assistance by D. Clay and Bella.

The band did appear on two compilations, so that’s worth pointing out. On “City History”, a 1987 double LP compilation on Big Bubble Records (BB 066) the band contributed the song “Can’t Say No”. I believe all the bands on this record hailed from Providence. The bands included had many musical styles, from new wave and power pop to hardcore.

Hyped 2 Death would release sometime in the 2000s a unofficial compilation called “Homework #5 U.S. DIY and Post-Punk 1978 -83: V-toZ”. This compilation would include What Now with the song “Anthem”.

As I mentioned earlier, Dave Auchenbach would later be in one of the most important indiepop bands the US has had, Small Factory. He was in a band before What Now too, one called The Parents. I haven’t listened to it yet though. Would be good to track some songs down. Another band I’ve heard he was in but I don’t know anything about is Flora Street.

Pete McGlanahan, the band’s first bassist would then be in a band called Warrior Soul.

David McCaffrey would be in a few bands including Frank Black and the Catholics, Miracle Legion, Polaris and the Halo Bit.

I look for more info and notice the excellent Wilfully Obscure dedicated a small post to them in 2013.

Sadly I couldn’t find more details about the band. But MAYBE someone will help us and find more info about them. That’d be fantastic. The songs are not exactly indiepop but they have a great sound, they are melodic. I especially enjoy “All My Life” and “Anthem”.

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Listen
What Now – The End

Not many news today. So I want to give you the second hint of my next release. They released a 3″ with Cloudberry many years ago with 3 songs. Can you guess now?

Northern Portrait: one of the most anticipated albums this year for me is “The Swiss Army” by the one and only Northern Portrait. The Danish band is back after years of silence with 10 songs that Matinée is releasing on vinyl and CD on August 3! So, yeah, it is out today! Wow! If you want to preview some songs, head to Soundcloud where you’ll find “At Attention” and “Once Upon a Bombshell”. This is jangle glory. Pure class. Oh! How I wish I could see the Copenhagenites live again!

Amor Butano: the newest release on Elefant Records series New Adventures in Pop is a 10″ by the Valencia three-piece Amor Butano. The trio is formed by Diego, Raquel and Sara. They make catchy and very 80s techno-pop. The record will have 8 songs, and you can preview 4 of the songs on Bandcamp. The “Ultravioleta” 10″ will be out on September 16.

The Silent Love: Jakarta-based The Silence Love has been around for a decade and so it is no surprise to see them release a new album called “Decade”. Influenced by The Field Mice, Brighter and Blueboy, this new album has 14 solid pop songs. The album is available now digitally thanks to Tarsius Records.

The Death of Pop: another great band that is back is the sout-coast of England brother duo The Death of Pop. They are returning this September with the “For a Minute EP”, a 4-song popstatic record. As far as I know it will be released as digital-only, and if you want to preview it, there’s the opening and title track available to listen!

Former Lives: and lastly let me introduce you to this Burlington, Vermont, solo project. The force behind it is Sean Joseph Klassen (and his dog Bruce Beagle). He released in May a 12″ EP titled “Ceremony of Leaving” that sounds ace. At the time of writing this post there were 6 copies left out of a 100. The EP has 5 songs, all of them ready to be listened!

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Once more following the queue of stoneeydkiller. He/she is way too quick in finding pop gems on the web. I think there is a new upload on Youtube every day. I feel it will be impossible to catch up, but I am trying here. Whenever I find a band I think sounds great, I try to track down any more info I can find. So that’s what I’ll do today with The Rhythm Method.

On Youtube the song that this enigmatic and mysterious account has uploaded is titled “Buildings”. And it sounds great, really. It dates from 1985 and tells us the band hailed from Derby. We also get a lineup for the band: Andy Smith on vocals, Mark Samson on guitar, Russell Woodward on guitar, Andy Sheppard on bass and backing vocals and Matt on drums. No last name for the drummer?

Then I start digging the web. Trying to find anything that relates to this band. And suddenly I find something. It is the Soundcloud account of the vocalist, Andy Smith, who looks like he relocated to London. The account was last updated 6 years ago, with the bulk of uploads 9 years back.

This account was put together when he was nostalgic and started looking back at the many bands he has been, he says. He recorded in studios, basements and radio stations. He started restoring his stuff that goes back to 1978 to the present.

The first song I find is by a band called The Silicon Chips. This one dates from 1979 and sounds great. Andy mentions that this band would evolve into The Rhythm Method.

He mentions that with The Rhythm Method they were never comfortable playing live. That the original spark had gone. This made Andy more studio bound after The Rhythm Method was no more.

Another interesting detail I find is one about the song “Buildings”. It mentions that the band’s new drummer played an electronic drumset on the song and they added an extra guitar player from his first band ever after school. Which band was that? And who was this guitarist?

Another band Andy was in, before The Rhythm Method, was called Room at The Top. It was an acoustic duo with Dave Lewin. This was in the mid-80s. He seems to have been in a band called The Dirty Stopouts as well, but not sure around which years he was on this one.

The earliest band he has uploaded seems to be The Party which dates from 1978.

And then I find another song by The Rhythm Method! It is called “Cold War“.  This song was recorded in 1985 at the time when Russia and America were at each others throats and there was tension in the air, according to Andy.

Another cool project he had was called Tender Loving Care who recorded the song “A Lover’s Disguise” in 1986. Seems this one didn’t last long, but do check the song, it’s really good.

And that’s it.

Not much more info, and no more songs. Just two by The Rhythm Method. I am sure there must be more of them. Also why no releases? I’ve googled all over, with different combinations of keywords but no luck. Hopefully someone remembers the band and can fill the blanks!

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Listen
The Rhythm Method – Buildings

Last Friday I had the chance to meet Jari from Tampere in NYC. He was in town for a few days, where he even played an open mic show at Otto’s Shrunken Head. Jari as you may know was/is in two superb Finnish bands, Cessna and Artisokka. He was telling me that there is a third Artisokka album coming up while we were having beers in the Lower East Side, at a strange beer hall called The Grand Delancey. It is within a food court/market, on a basement. They have a huge list of beers but what surprised me was that now and then, among all the terrible music that was being played, you’d hear a song by The Bats, or one by Orange Juice. Quite surprising.

It was a nice afternoon talking about music, the bands, the scenes… and about New York, Finland, Europe, and whatnot. It was fun!

Chorusgirl: here’s some fantastic news. Chorusgirl is back! The band is now Silvi’s solo project and there’s a new album in the horizon! It will be called “Colapso Calypso” and is coming out on October 14. Will be released by Reckless Yes on vinyl and CD and will include 10 songs! Right now we can preview one of the tracks, “Don’t Go Back to ’89”, which is ace. There is also a video for the song that I am also enjoying. Definitely an album not to miss!

The Age of Colored Lizards: the Oslo band is a common sight in this blog. Always following the Norwegian band formed by Christian and Cato. Their latest release is a digital single, the second single, from the band’s upcoming 4th album “Fake”. The album will be available digitally in August. So, very soon!

The Variable Stars: it seems there is a superb fantastic scene now in the Bay Area. Lots of great bands. You wonder why there’s not sort of a compilation introducing many of these bands. The Variable Stars are not new though. They were from the early 2000s. The good thing ois that all their songs have been compiled on a tape called “All Signs Point to Life”. I just wish it wasnt a tape as I have no patience for tapes! The one song I’ve had the chance to listen on Bandcamp is really really good. Titled “Junkfood Romance” it sounds like heaven to my ears. Like the perfect mix of influences. The tape is out on August 15.

Thee Smashing Times: amazing news here too. The Smashing Times from Baltimore, another band I enjoyed immediately at first listen have signed to Meritorio Records and will be releasing an album titled “Bloom” on October 21. 13 songs will be in this album, and we can preview the last of the songs on the record! It is called “Mother Nature is Son” and as expected is great. Definitely another album I need to get later this year.

The Happy Somethings: the English band has just put out a compilation CD with Subjangle! Called “Running Away with the Happy Somethings”, the comp collects many of their songs, from their two albums, EPs and singles, as well as new tracks recorded for the occasion. In total you can find 20 songs here and the album is quite limited. Just a few copies were available at the time I wrote these lines!

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A lot of my recent finds come thanks to that unknown indiepop soldier that is stoneeyedkiller on Youtube. If you haven’t seen his work finding indiepop gems, make sure to check it out and subscribe. Right now that I have not much time in my hands I am following his steps and trying to find more info of the bands I like the best from his posts.

Big Blue World is the latest surprise. He has uploaded a 1990 song titled “Factory Lights” that sounds ace. Also gives us the band lineup, Andrew Jardine on guitar and vocals, Mick Rivett on bass and Jon Corkill on drums.

I want to think that the band named themselves after the Paul Haig’s song “Big Blue World” that he released in 1984. Maybe?

The band did get to put out a record, a 12″ in 1989. It was released by White Mountain Records (BBW 01) and included three songs, “Deviation” on one side and “Deceiving Myself” and “Winter Skies” on the flipside. It was a double A sided single.

The songs had been recorded at The Music Room in Peterborough. Did they hail from there? I also look into their label and the only other artist listed with two releases in this label is Nick Rowe who is described as a new age musician.

What about the Music Room? I should be familiar with this studio, The Pleasure Heads recorded there, and I wrote a post about them. Also The Charlottes’ classic “Are You Happy Now” was recorded there.

The producers for this single were the band and Baz Voce. Baz also is listed as the engineer. Also  it is important to mention that another band member is listed here, Ian “Nobby” Clarke on guitar.

Then there’s a strange release: Craig Thomson and Big Blue World’s “I Want You to Want Me”. Did the band become the backing band for the Australian actor and singer that was on the Aussie soap opera “Home and Away”. The record was released on 7″, 12″ and CD, and it included a cover of Cheap Trick’s “I Want You to Want Me” on the A side and “Foolish Pride” on the B side. The producer for the A side was Duncan Bridgeman while the B side was produced by Ian and Dave Morgan. The 12″ release included a 12″ mix and a 7″ mix for “I Want You to Want Me”.

This release was put out by Telstar (TOMOCD1) and The Brothers Organisation.

Then we find a Soundcloud account by Mick Rivett. Here there’s a trove of songs! He last updated this account 3 years ago. The three songs from the 1989 release are there, but there’s more: “Factory Lights”, “The Love of May”, “Waterfall”, “Lost Town”, “Live Down the Life”, “Temple of Broken Dreams”, “Your Character”,  “Thee Home Road” and “It’s All Down to You”.

They don’t have any more info, no details when you click on the songs. Thanks to the photos we see that they played a place called Gaslight. But that’s it.

No more info, but a bunch of great songs. Maybe we will find more about them in the future. I really hope so!

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Listen
Big Blue World – Factory Lights