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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