So for the past month Monday, Wednesday and Friday have become the busiest days of the week for me. I’m publishing a blog post on these days, five or so new bands or indiepop news featured plus a whole archaeology work on a band from the past. But also before doing that, early in the morning I’ve been swimming. I’ve taken again swimming after almost 20 years. And I feel knackered!

Now, here a few new finds on the web and continuing the reviews from Wales Goes Pop!

Ta Toy Boy: there’s a very fine album called “This Town” by this Thessaloniki, Greece, band available from the Make Me Happy label. I was shared more than a month ago the tracks and thought it sounded great, but the band didn’t have an online presence so couldn’t really share with all of you! Anyhow, now they have a Bandcamp and you can stream the 9 songs from the CD. The band is formed by George Begas and Elias Smilios. Now, I need to get a copy of this lovely record that takes the best influences from the 80s guitar pop. And you should too!

Golden Teardrops: some very good news by the Mexican label Emma’s House. They will be releasing a new album by the California band Golden Teardrops that is actually Ryan and Leo Marquez! Remember Ryan from Apple Orchard? Yes, yes, the same one! This new album is titled “Promises & Smiles” and it sounds lovely, reminding me a lot of The Charade or The Shermans. It is going to be released on May 23rd and will include 12 songs. At the moment you can only stream two of the songs to be included, “For a Rainy Day” and “You’re Keeping Me Waiting”. I urge you to do so.

Jaggy Nettles: Actually was playing The Felt Tips first album the other day and was wondering what the band members were up to now and suddenly I get a Facebook invite from Andrew to the fanpage of Jaggy Nettles. So it seems this is his new alter ego, his new solo project. And it seems he is planning to record seven fairy tale songs for an upcoming album. The first one is “The Gingerbread Man”, which you can listen if you click on the link!

Soft Science: found a bunch of great sounding recordings by this band on the SoundCloud of their own label, Test Pattern Records. I especially fell under the spell of their cover of Northern Picture Library’s “Paris”. It is gorgeous! It seems this song is part of a single, where “Sooner” is the A side. It is important to notice that this band has members of classic Californian bands like California Oranges or the underrated Holiday Flyer. Really good stuff! I want a copy of it!

—-  Discovering Wales Goes Pop 2018 bands reviews —–

Bad Parents: one from the Wales Goes Pop. Still going through all the bands, and I know there are many many left. Most of them I must say are unknown to me, and so far, sadly, I haven’t found any pop. I’ll do two bands today, maybe there’s some luck with my poppy cravings! Bad Parents are a duo formed by Misty Miller and Tom Shelton. From London. They have recorded a 4-song EP and they have self-titled it. The sons on it are “Room To Grow”, “Sailing”, “You Can’t Date a Model” and “Peckham”. The first one being the poppiest, and my favourite. The EP was released a year ago. Not sure where you can buy it now.

Think Pretty: this Cardiff band terrorized me. Honestly. Screaming, and way too much distortion. So far, 5 bands. And not seeing yet where Wales went pop! Will the next bands I listen change my idea of the festival? Sure, there were Colour Me Wednesday and Shonen Knife in that same lineup for the Sunday gig, but two out 9 seems too little for me! Or maybe the Saturday gig was the poppiest one? Maybe those who attended can tell me which were your favourite bands?

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I finally finished my collection of 7″s by The Imaginary Friend a week ago. I was missing their first ever 7″, the 1996 “Leaves” 7″ that was released by Bad Jazz (BEBOP 6) and thought, these were very fine songs, how come not many remember them today? Also, how come I know nothing really about the people involved in this band? It was time to do some detective work. See what I can find about them on the web.

As mentioned, “Leaves” was their first 7″. I notice that the band 7″ single titles aren’t the same as the songs included in them. For example, in this 7″, the A side was “On Satsuma Road (A Song For Dan)” and on the B side there is a beautiful cover of Rodney Allen’s “Glastonbury”. Speaking of Rodney Allen, how come there hasn’t been a compilation of all of his recorded output yet? That is truly a mystery to me!

This record on the back sleeve has “nineteen ninety-nine” written. Now I start to be confused. Discogs lists the 7″ as a 1996 release. But it would make more sense if this was released in 1999. Which is correct? It makes more sense to me as this is an English label, and the band was American. The other two releases by the band were in an American label. Logically it would have been first an American label and then an English one. Right?

All the songs on this 7″ were recorded on a four-track at their home. There is not much more information on this record sadly.

The band was mostly associated with the Grand Rapids, Michigan, label Drive-In Records. On Mike Babb’s label they put out two 7″s in the 90s. The first one was the 1997 “Letters Home” (Drive 17) that had a very nice blue, white and yellow artwork. There were two songs on this record, on the A side the beautiful “Brighton Beach Postcard” and a cover version of Lucinda Williams’ “Side of the Road”. These songs were also recorded and mixed at their home on a four track.

Lastly their 7″ “Whimsy” (Drive 06) was also released in 1997 and had two songs, on the A side we find “Marigold” and on the B side a superb cover of The Magick Heads’ “Hear From You”. Gosh, how underrated are The Magick Heads! Robert Scott, why not a reunion tour for that band?

Here on the credits it is mentioned that the songs were recorded during the spring of 1996 at The Institute Benjamentos which I feel might as well be their home and named after the “Institute Benjamenta” 1996 movie by the Brothers Quay which was based on the novel “Jakob Von Gunten” by Robert Walser. The artwork textures are credited to John Conley while the photography to Pat Phipps.

I feel I went through the records in reverse order. My bad. The two compilation appearances listed won’t have any problems as both are from 1998.

On the Cowly Owl compilation “Pop Machine” which was featured on the blog some months ago thanks that it was uploaded to Bandcamp. On this tape comp released by this Paris/Sacramento label the band contributed “Brighton Beach Postcard”. And then their song “Don’t Shout at Me” appears on another compilation I was talking about just some days ago, “The Family Twee”, which was a double CD comp that was made by participating members of the indiepop-list.

I don’t know much more. Yet.

I am going to be terribly lucky when I hit on Buddha on the Moon’s Bandcamp the upload of “Letters Home (Plus)”. Here there are the two songs from the “Letters Home” 7″ plus two more: “Brighton Beach Postcard (Sonar Ping Mix)” and “I Was Born on Christmas Day”. The first was actually the mix that was released on the “Pop Machine” compilation. The second is a cover of the Saint Etienne original which the band sent to their friends as part of a Seasons Greetings card. It had a cheery intro and outro included in that Greetings cassette where their friend Pat impersonated an MTV VJ. Thanks to this Bandcamp link I find out that the band was formed by Nan & HK. Who were Nan and HK? Well, HK seems to be an obvious answer, it was HK Kahng from the band Buddha on the Moon. What about Nan? Could it be Nancy Novotny who used to appear on Buddha on the Moon recordings doing additional vocals?

On this same Bandcamp I find a “Plus” version too for the “Leaves” 7″. Aside from the two songs from the 7″, there is “Glastonbury (Alternate Mix)” and “Theme from Boxville”. The first song of the 7″, “On Satsuma Road (A Song for Dan)”, is said to have been through multiple mixes. The Dan the song is about is said to be the fellow who brought HK and Nan together and who also runs a record store. The alternate mix of “Glastonbury” is one with much more guitar, ping pong delay and reverb. Then the “Theme from Boxville” is a cover of The Sugargliders.

Sadly there is no “Whimsy (Plus)” version.

Something interesting here is that I see that these releases on Bandcamp are tagged as if the band hailed from Portland. As far as I know the band used to be from Houston even though I’ve seen them listed on blogs as Australian or even British.

Then another interesting find is that of the band Spectral Lines. Here we see HK and Nan together making music, and there is just one song called “Tempus Venit Placide” available to stream.

It seems they were more of a bedroom project. I wonder if the band played live at all. What about other compilation appearances? It seems they had more recordings other than the ones that appear on 7″s. Why weren’t there more releases? And what happened in between The Imaginary Friend and Spectral Lines? Would be good to know more about them!

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Listen
The Imaginary Friend – Brighton Beach Postcard