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