Having a small break now from the Indietracks announcements. Last week I saw a bunch of interesting indiepop news from all over the world and have been saving them for this and future posts. Without further ado, let me get you the first batch of new music to check out this week:
Los Waldners: the Costa Rican band has been a favourite of mine even though I still haven’t found a way of getting their albums. Sometimes life can be hard for record collecting. But this time there’s a new song on Bandcamp that is really nice that is called “No Me Visto Para Vos”. From what I read on the band’s Facebook this song is not exactly new but the band decided to share it because of the situation of women’s violence in their country and around the world.
Olivia’s World: this is a new Vancouver band I discovered thanks to their connection to Alice who used to be in Go Violets back in Brisbane, Australia. Now Alice is in Vancouver and shared a link to their first ever song, “Blotter”, and I thought it is really promising! It is said that the band is recording at the moment their debut EP and just last week were playing with the great band Sleuth in their hometown. Looking forward to hearing more by them!
Palm Ghosts: I open their Bandcamp to encounter a brilliant song titled “Love in Winter”. Upbeat, moody, boy/girl vocals, a love for 80s music that is so obvious that makes me giggle. I read the bio for this band and I find that the band has been going for years now, like from 2014 at least. They are based in Nashville, Tennessee, definitely not the place you expect to hear these sort of sounds. I will have to explore more, see if the rest of their output sounds as great as this.The band is formed by Joseph Lekkas, Jason Springman, Rene Lambert, Erica Whintey Wilkes and Benjamin Douglas.
Foster Studio: I heard from Chiwai from the lovely, fab, unique, Fantastic Day. Remember them? We put a 3″ CD back in the day, and later the band released a couple of superb jangly albums? Well, Chiwai has a new project called Foster Studio and it sounds as good! Great guitars, top melodies, that invite everyone to dance really. Well, at least on the one song I’ve heard, “Moonlight”. It is available on Youtube and it has a cool video and even lyrics for everyone to sing along. I can’t wait to hear more, and hope this gets released! Great stuff coming from Hong Kong!
Die Time Twisters: I love this German band. I have some of their releases from back in the day. Now Tapete Records is releasing a retrospective compilation called “Guten Morgen Sommer” on both LP and CD format and I want it! I think it is a compilation not to be missed. My only concern is that the LP and the CD are about the same price? It doesn’t make sense. So if you buy a CD it costs 19 euros plus shipping. If you buy the LP it costs 24 euros plus shipping. The thing is the LP also includes the CD! So really, the LP costs 5 more euros? It is odd. I feel a bit weird about these prices. I don’t understand them. I am happy with just the CD. But 19 euros for a CD? What kind of CD is this? Made of gold? I wonder. Hopefully at some point I’ll find it for a cheaper price, or maybe, just maybe, I will never find it and I’ll miss this fantastic band, one of the best pop bands from Germany for sure.
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Nonpareil: having no match or equal; unrivaled or a flat round candy made of chocolate covered with white sugar sprinkles.
At the same time I ordered the Daisy Age 7″ I ordered The Nonpareils 7″ on Papercut Records from 1996. I had some releases by this American label based in Florida and, in general, I’d say they were good. So of course, I needed to add something else to my order, to save some on shipping costs and decided to give The Nonpareils a chance.
I had heard one of their songs, “Inside”, on a compilation 7″ that was released by this same label the previous year called “The Airplane” (PCT 002). I had bought this 7″ many years ago, probably on eBay and possibly it was cheap. I can’t remember exactly. I mostly bought this record because of the appearance of Belmondo, where the legendary Pam Berry does vocals. The other two bands that appear on this comp are Incredible Force of Junior and Wimp Factor 14. The Nonpareils appear on the A side, alongside Belmondo. All were American bands. The song that the band contributes was recoded and mixed by Dave Auchenbach who was in the fantastic Small Factory.
That wasn’t their first compilation appearance. Back in 1994 the band appeared with the same song on a CD sampler titled “A Bitter Pill to Swallow: A Providence Music Sampler” that was released by Over the Counter Records (OTC 6). The odd thing about this release is that this label was a hardcore punk label, and indeed it was based in Providence, Rhode Island. The band also hailed from this city.
Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. It was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He named the area in honor of “God’s merciful Providence” which he believed was responsible for revealing such a haven for him and his followers to settle. The city is situated at the mouth of the Providence River at the head of Narragansett Bay.
Contrast Records from Belgium asked them for a song on their 3rd 500-limited 7″ compilation of their “Split Single Club” (CT 003) series. Here the band opens the B side with the song “Tree”. The two other bands on this record are Lambchop and Bartlebees.
Lastly the band appears with the song “Fear of Dating” on the 1996 CD “Little Darla Has a Treat For You Volume 4, Summer 1996″ (DRL 023). Obviously this was released by Darla Records and was part of their very popular 1990s series of Little Darla compilations.
The first kind of proper release by the band happened in 1995. It was through the hardcore punk label, Over the Counter Records and it was a split 7” (OTC 8) that they shared with the band Difference Engine. This time around the band contributed the song “Exit”, and that was it. There is no information on the sleeve sadly.
The last release by the band that is listed on Discogs is the one 7″ I bought. The “Engine EP”, released on July 1996, by Papercut Records (PCT 003). The record included 4 songs, two on each side. On the A side we find “And She Does” and “Hazel”, while on the B side we find “See-Saw” and “Engine”. All songs were recorded to four track in Providence, the first two by Frank and the last two by Alex Kemp from Small Factory.
On the back of the sleeve we find the first names of the band members. That’s something! So:
Lisa – vocals, guitar, percussion
Ted – vocals, guitar
Frank – bass
Sean – drums
As usual after Discogs I head to Google to find information. And almost immediately I hit the jackpot, a The Nonpareils Bandcamp page with 14 songs! The self-proclaimed minimalist pop combo’s available songs for streaming are: “And She Does”, “Armchair”, “Hazel”, “Exit”, “P.O. Box”, “Lillian”, “Pain Free (*Delayed Start)”, “Fear of Dating”, “Inside”, “One by One”, “Tree Song”, “X-Ray”, “Amuse Me” and “Oblivious (Galaxy 500 cover)”. These all being a collection of assorted recordings from the summer of 93 thru the fall of 94.
Thanks to this page I get to put some last names to the band members. So it is Ted Peffer, Lisa Underhill, Frank Mullin and Sean Thompson. On the credits I see that they worked mostly with Alex Kemp when it came to record the songs, though a new name that appears is that of Toby Fitch who mixed and mastered the first 5 songs that we see on Bandcamp, which had appeared on a self released tape. Which tape is this? A demo? a proper release? There is no information about it. We also see that Mark Cummins played drums at the end of the band.
And then I find a Facebook page!! Wow. It doesn’t seem to have been updated lately, but still, quite a find. It seems it was setup for a comeback gig on January 19th of 2014 where they played along other indiepop bands like Honeybunch or Purple Ivy Shadows. I keep checking any other posts and find that in October of the same year they also played a gig at The Met in Pawtucket alongside the band Polaris. In 2015 they had a show at The Parlour on May 9th alongside Fred Thomas, Working and Pixels. And the last gig I see dates from June 13th, 2015, at the Providence’s Rock n’ Roll Yard Sale.
I keep looking on the web but I mostly see recipes. How to make the most delicious nonpareils. Semisweet and patriotic chocolate nonpareils, whatever that means. I find a mention of Ted Peffer on the band page of The ‘Mericans. Here I see that Lisa has a different name, she appears as Lisa Dermanouelian. Interesting. It also mentions that Ted has been behind the local printing company IO Labs. Sadly there are some news in this paragraph, it mentions Sean passed away when he was 43 because of leukemia. If you want to hear the cover of “X-Ray” by The ‘Mericans, check it here. I also find that Frank Mullin was also in the Godrays and Purple Ivy Shadows and played at New England Popfest 97 with the band Flora Street as their bassist just for that occasion. I try to find out what he is doing today, and notice there is a photographer based in Providence with the same name, might it be him?
And that’s about it. Why weren’t most of the songs on Bandcamp not properly released? What about that tape mentioned there? And were there any other compilation appearances? What other bands were they involved with? What are they up to now? When and why did they call it a day? How were these reunion shows? Are they preparing any new gigs? Would be interesting to find out more about this underrated American pop band!
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