Day 401
Vocal Age: this is a bit old, dating from 2015, but I am really liking the 4 songs that this Sotckholm band recorded. Their “What If” EP seems that it was only released digitally, if the band had been around 10 years earlier we’d probably found a CDR for this. Don’t know what happened to the band or the band members afterwards, but would be nice to find out. Oh! And thanks to my friend David in Barcelona for this find.
En Mi Mente: now we head to Chihuahua, Mexico, to listen Alan Aviles’ band. He has just released a digital EP titled “A Punto de Vivir” with 7 songs. The EP is a nice collection of lo-fi dreampop worth checking out.
The Lost Days: The Lost Days release 5 songs. These are called “Lost Demos”. Lots of losing here. The band hails from California, from Oakland. These songs date from 2019 during the course of 3 lost days. These 5 songs are available not only digitally but also on cassette.
Thala: there is no information about this band, their song “Weep”, or the release. This song is just on the Born Losers Records’ Bandcamp. This is a label from Philadelphia. Safe to assume the band hails from there as well? I don’t know. The song sounds good though.
The Catenary Wires: and to end this week’s new releases review we have to do it with “Birling Gap” the new album Amelia and Rob are releasing on June 18. Great stuff. The album will be released on vinyl and EP and there will be different releases depending on your geographic location. For example for the US Shelflife Records will be their label. On Bandcamp pre-orders are up and two songs are available to check, “Mirrorball” and “The Overview Effect”.
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Today a US band called Lovers Under Pressure. I think on Youtube you’ll probably be able to find two songs, the very Smith-sy “Epitaph” and “Naked Fields”. They are good guitar pop songs.
They were actually released back in 1988 on a 12″ 8-song album called “The Elvis Years”. This record was released by two labels, Stand Up Records (SUR-881677) and Pendulum Records (PP1014). Both labels were based in Minneapolis. That gives me of course the idea that the band must have hailed from Minneapolis or St. Paul. It has to be.
The information is scarce. It was actually back in 2016 that the blog Wilfully Obscure wrote about this band. You know I am against sharing full albums, that’s one thing I’m not a fan of this blog. But they do have a talent for finding great jangly US pop (among other styles of course).
Usually the blog doesn’t have much more information though it does have good descriptions of what sort of music we can expect from these discoveries.
We do know a few things thanks to Discogs. First the tracklist, “No Train”, “Leather Glove”, “The Collision” and “Epitaph” on the A side and “The Plans Went Wrong”, “Naked Fields”, “Dear Saturday” and “Something Stayed” on the B side. We know that all songs were recorded at Blackberry Way Studios in Minneapolis and that they were produced and engineered by Kevin Glynn and Mike Owens (both from the bands Fingerprints and Idle Strand). Natalie Ready is credited for the art.
The band was formed by Larry Ward on bass and vocals, Chris Bolla on drums, Jeff Becker on guitar and vocals. A trio. Jeff Becker was the one who wrote the songs.
The one detail from Wilfully Obscure that is interesting is that it seems there was a second album called “Laws of Song and Nature”. It dates from 2001. Many years after. This record is not on Discogs. It was released on CD and included 10 songs, “Almost Blue”, “Ready for the War”, “Sheila’s Halo”, “Dandelion”, “Intro”, “Frightened Girl”, “December”, “I’m Rain”, “A Day in the Tenderloin” and “Corrie”. This record seems to be available in digital format too.
A few little things that we know thanks to Discogs is that Larry Ward had been in a band called Monster X and Jeff Becker in Four Eyes.
I found a song called “Back Door” on Soundcloud that is not part of any of the two albums. It’s a bit rockier than jangly but still enjoyable.
No compilation appearances are known.
Not much more is known.
So yeah, I would like to know more about the Lovers Under Pressure. Who remembers them?
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