Well here are the few more Indietracks announcements that needed a review!

Navina: I grin when I see some musician called singer-songwriter. I kind of know what to expect. The folksy, smartsy lyrics, and sometimes cutesy, sort of music. Will Navina change my stereotype? No. Sadly, no. The Cambridge based artist is not for me. It is not bad music by any means, but not the kind I’m interested in at all. Doesn’t say anything to me about my life.

Rafa Skam: not sure what to link for Rafa. I decided linking him to The Yellow Melodies BandCamp as he leads the Murcia band. Rafa has been around in the indiepop scene for many years, and we all remember his band Vacaciones with lots of nostalgia. This time around for Indietracks he will be playing solo. He has in the past done impromptu gigs at the merch stall of Indietracks, but can’t remember if I was around when that happened. I suppose though that he will be playing songs from his bands, or does he have his own songs for when he plays solo? I don’t know. Not sure really what to expect!

All Ashore!: definitely one of the few bands playing Indietracks that I’m interesting in checking out. First because they have some very fine and fun songs. Second because members of the band had been in top bands, favourite bands of mine, like The Parallelograms, Bouquet or Velodrome 2000. Do I need to say more? I’m happy that they are playing. And if it was me, I would put them in bigger letters on the bill, make them headline instead of British Sea Power or Dream Wife for example?

Now the DJs.

Asking for a Friend DJs: these are Tim Hall from Belfast and Trev from Oddbox Records. Both regulars at Indietracks for years. I’m happy Tim gets a chance to DJ, in general I like what he likes and that would probably make him my favourite DJ for this year.

Bum Notes Karaoke with Ruby Waters: no clue what this is. But from what I’m reading Ruby Waters hosts this Bum Notes at the Flying Duck in Glasgow. I was at that venue once. It was a great night I must say and loved hanging with a few of The Orchids that time. Those were the days. From the Indietracks bio it says there will be karaoke but no prizes, that it is not a drag show but there will be queens. It seems a bit all over the place, but I do like the idea of karaoke at Indietracks. Not sure though if this looks like an indiepop karaoke at all?

Des Was a Bowie Fan DJs: doesn’t say much about this DJ other than it is a London clubnight that plays indiepop, post-punk, new wave, northern soul and rock’n’roll. Meaning? they play the same as many other clubs in London. Hoping then, they do it better?

Passionate Necking: another club from London that happened for three years at The Montague Arms. It looks a bit mainstream from the bio as they mention they play Cher or Grimes. Well, doesn’t sound like the disco I want to dance to.

Recordsville Social DJs: this is Kev and Linda who I’ve met many times at Indietracks. Lovely couple. I remember them DJing before mostly girl groups but now they are going to be playing Pop, Punk, PostPunk, etc, etc. I do trust them to play good music. They always have photos with the good bands, like Saint Etienne, or The Primitives. So I believe this is a good option for dancing. Don’t you agree?

Time Machine Disco DJs: Katy from The Just Joans. No more information. I’m no fan of Just Joans, but I do believe the people behind the band had good taste in music. Could be good?

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Here’s a band that had enough songs for an album on different compilations throughout the nineties. Why they never released an album is a mystery to me.

I never knew much about them. The first time I heard Nothing Else’s music was on a compilation called “25 – A Silver Jubilee” (MEL 25) released by Meller Welle Produkte in 1999. Only now, after seeing that my friend Heinz has uploaded a couple of their tracks on Youtube that I decided to pay closer attention to their music, see what I can find about them. Maybe there’s some luck in my investigation.

I do own that CD compilation I mentioned, “25 – A Silver Jubilee”, after I traded some records with the German label. Thanks to that trade I discovered lots of music I must say. I really enjoy trading records. On this simply designed CD compilation Nothing Else appears with two songs, “Beast Inside” and “On The Way”. Here I find the first details about the band. There is an address. It happens the band hailed from France, from a town called Les Mureaux.

Les Mureaux is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the north-western suburbs of Paris, 35.9 km (22.3 mi) from the centre of Paris.

A suburb of Paris then. That’s a bit strange, isn’t it?

That wasn’t their first compilation appearance. Actually the first one listed on Discogs dates from 1993. On the tape “Cerulean Sky!” that was released by Grapefruit (GRAPEFRUIT 7) and Bliss Aquamarine (BLISS 005) the band has one song, “Kiss Me After the Rain”. I must say I’m not familiar with this compilation, but I do see many familiar names in it like The Pristines, Die Busfahrer or Doloras Haze among others. I want to add that I really like the art for this tape.

The second compilation where they are listed on is the one called “Cherries and Sunny Days” released by the Italian label Shiny Sunset (Sunset 11). I was briefly in touch with the person who ran this label on Facebook and sent him questions for an interview. Sadly never heard back. Would have been nice to know more about it. But well, at least we have some tracklists and I can come up with some facts. In this case, Nothing Else contributes “To Play it Fair”, and other superb bands that appear are The Shining Hour, Pencil Tin or Watoo Watoo.

On the 1997 German compilation “Hopping Hobgoblin”, also a cassette, the band appears with two songs, “Beast Inside” and “Norma Jean Died Tonight”. This tape was released in 1997 by the Refuse Collection label (hobo 2). I have no clue about this tape. most of the bands on it, aside The Celestial Daffodils, Blochin 81 and They Go Boom!!, are unknown to me!

Two more songs were to be included on yet another tape in 1999: “On The Way” and “Flat Days”. This time on a French tape called “Love Song” that was released by the A Secret Song (019) label. It is the first time I hear of this label and of this tape. Again many bands on it are unknown to me. There is a scan of the insert on Discogs but it is very hard to read, but it does seem like some band members are listed for each of the bands. Maybe someone who owns this tape could help find out who were behind Nothing Else!

2001 would see them appear on yet another tape, “Suspend Your Disbelief”, released by the underrated Best Kept Secret (LIE 030) label from Italy. Just one song by them was included in this comp, “Beautiful and Lost”.

There are two more tape compilations were they appear though they are undated on Discogs. The first is on the Nessie label from France. This a very very fine label that released the amazing Evergreen 7″. The tape “Superqualifragilistic” (NESS587) included their song “The Darkside of the World”. Again, many obscure bands were included though I’m familiar with a few like Caramel, Poissons Solubles or Newell.

Lastly, again on Meller Welle Produkte, on a tape called “Fairy Tales” (MEL 23), they had 2 songs, “Lightness” and “Blackberry and Apple”.

Then I find that on Shiny Sunset they were involved in a split tape with the Japanese band Sunshower. I did write about Sunshower before. That’s interesting. This tape called “Pop Hits – Sunshower & Nothing Else” (Sunset 12) had 8 songs on the A side by the Japanese band and 7 songs by Nothing Else on the B side. The songs by Nothing else were “Flat Days”, “To Play it Fair”, “Passerby”, “House of Madness”, “The Dark Side of the World”, “Kiss Me After the Rain” and “Tuesday Afternoon”. This was the closest to a proper release by the band.

So making a count, there were in total how many original songs? “Kiss Me After the Rain”, “To Play it Fair”, “Norma Jean Died Tonight”, “Beast Inside”, “On the Way”, “Flat Days”, “Beautiful and Lost”, “The Darkside of the World”, “Passerby”, “House of Madness”, “Tuesday Afternoon” “Lightness” and “Blackberry Apple”. That’s 13 songs. And there are no proper releases by the band. Just these compilations. Why?

Anyone have a clue who Nothing Else were? What other bands were they involved with? And if there were any other songs by them? It just looks like a big mystery to me! Their jangly indiepop is a treat to me, so I would love to know more!

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Listen
Nothing Else – To Play It Fair