Let’s end the week with a 3rd post and on a high-mark!

Probably the biggest news this week after the C86 book was that of the “Revolutionary Spirit” boxset. Yes Cherry Red knows how to milk the cow, and will release another boxset this time featuring bands from the Liverpool scene from 1976 to 1988. Just like the Manchester box set that was released not too long ago (which I still haven’t ordered yet). I’m no fan of Cherry Red as you all know, but it is always hard to resist to these sort of releases. I wonder though if there will be any rare tracks on it. So far only the artists have been announced on their Facebook page:

DISC ONE – 1976-1980:
Deaf School
Big In Japan
Yachts
Echo And The Bunnymen
Ded Byrds
0-51
The Dance Party
The Teardrop Explodes
Faction
Lori And The Chameleons
Nightmares In Wax
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
Jaqui & Jeanette
Clive Langer And The Boxes
Glass Torpedoes
The Original Mirrors
The Moondogs
The Planets
The Chuddy Nuddies
Spitfire Boys
Geisha Girls

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Finally I figured out which band I should showcase when it comes to Hong Kong (and the 31st in this recap), JoyTrendySound! It was not an easy choice, especially because I’m not that familiar with their music. I knew the one song, “Vegetables”, but didn’t know the rest of their output. So I decided it was time to explore. At the same time other options weren’t easy to find. I couldn’t find any songs by the previous bands Dejay from The Pancakes was involved like Tricycle Riders, The Postcard or Ginger Biscuits. I also read about Kitmatic on old emails by the indiepop-list but aside from one song I had on a Japanese compilation I couldn’t find much more. Happily there were a few more songs by JoyTrendySound on Youtube and that made me curious about them.

The first thing I notice is that the band were a duo formed by Mable and Ming. I also notice that on Discogs there is barely any information about them. There is barely anything about them on Discogs. The only things I could find there were a compilation contribution of Mabel, the song “Disco Disco” to the “The Buzz Chart #5” CD comp released in the UK in 2005 and an appearance on the song “Shade Shades” by the band Alok that was included in the album “29 Minutes from the End”. But no releases listed for JoyTrendySound at all.

I do find a Facebook page for the band. And from now on I notice that it is going to be extremely hard to get any information about them. I know nada in Mandarin. I will have to trust Google Translate. So first things first, let’s see what says in their bio. It says they released an EP in 2002 that was titled “微笑”.  Then in 2010 they released their second album, “未命名”. It also mentions a collaboration with a Taiwanese label as well as working with different musicians like My Little Airport, Fruitpunch, Stealstealground, Porpor Channel, The Evening Primrose, Audrey Lily, The Pancakes and more.

On the website Douban I could find the tracklist for the first EP that was released by POCH Records: “微笑“, “初夏之味“, “光阴的奥妙”, “告别黄昏“, and “夏蚀“. As there is not much information in general about the band I am linking to whatever Youtube songs I could find. I do notice that on these songs the sound of the band is much more influenced by bossa compared to the distorted guitars of the song “Vegetables” that was my introduction to them.

I then find an article on Douban about the band which I translate. I notice that their Chinese name 在草地上 doesn’t really translate to JoyTrendySound but to “In the Grass”. On this article the band is compared to Everything but the Girl and it says that the real names behind the band are Li Shumin and Chen Mingze. It also mentions that both of them were previously on another band called Laughitoff which recorded five songs between 1999 and 2000 and were released as the “Off” EP.

I look for the tracklist for their second album. I finally do find it on the Zoo Records website. Sadly here the album is already sold out. It was released by POCH Records (POCH04) in April 2010. The tracklist for this record was: “未 / M1“, “目的地 / No End”, “別站著 / Don’t Keep Standing“, “回 . 來 / Come Back”, “命 /M2“, “加加減減 / + + – –“, “樂音艷霞 / Music Continuous Breeding”,  “多吃蔬果 / Vegetables“, “名 / M3“, “小心輕放 / Fragile“, “We Are Reality / We Are Reality” and “保重（後會有期版）/ Take Care (See You Version)”. Do check “Fragile” and “Vegetables” as they are really cool videos!

I then find a small article on TimeOut Hong Kong where they are disappointed the band is not Rage Against the Machine (wtf?). There I find out the christian names for their releases. The EP would be titled “Mazzy” and the album would be “MMM” or “Untitled”.

I found a couple more songs on Youtube on the POCH Records account. There is one dating from 2014 called “分鐘像永沒完” which is quite nice and a 2012 one named “驟雨一場” . Lastly there is a 2011 called “When I Was…“. Not sure if these songs were released at all. Maybe some Hong Kong friend could help us!

Randomly, on the Japanese-German band Miniskirt website I find the tracklist for a Taiwanese compilation called “Lobo One” that was released in 2003 by White Wabbit Records. On it obviously Miniskirt appears but also JoyTrendySound with the song “Dang Wo Chong Cou Le”.

I’m not sure where to find the records. I don’t have neither one. Would love the 2nd, as “Vegetables” is such a good song. Maybe someone of my Hong Kong friends or readers could help. Would also love to know what happened to the band members? What are they doing now? If there are any unreleased songs? Where did the play? I couldn’t find any information about gigs at all! There’s so little I could find, especially there is very very little in English, but maybe there is more in Mandarin. I hope I get your help and we can find more about them!

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Listen
JoyTrendySound – Vegetables