This past weekend another edition of Indietracks was celebrated in Ripley, Derbyshire. I didn’t attend. I think I’ve missed the last 3 or 4 years. I’m waiting for a lineup I would totally love to spend the amount of money to get me over to England. But it is true that this year lineup was much better than last years. So I wonder, those who went, how was it? What was your favourite gig? Was there any surprises? Any anecdotes? Would love to know your thoughts!

Let’s start the week with a few new finds.

Tape Waves: there’s a new lovely video of the band playing the song “Shimmer” at Ogimachi Park in Japan. I believe it comes from their Japan tour this year. The band has been released in that country by the label 2670 Records and I am guessing they organized this tour. I was lucky to see them once at NYC Popfest many years ago and meeting them briefly. So great that the Charleston, South Carolina, duo formed by Jarod and Kim are becoming “big in Japan”.

Blanco: speaking of Japan, one of the great bands that are part of the Tokyo scene is Blanco. They just shared with me their two latest songs which are available on CD through their Bandcamp. They are “Isolated City” and “Paradise”. My favourite of the two is “Paradise” which is a weird, hard do grasp and classify, jangly upbeat track.

Gold Muse: just found these two songs by this Boston band that says is formed by members of Swirlies, Soccer Mom and Elephants. I get a lot of ads of Soccer Mom on my Facebook and that has made me doubtful, if I want to listen or not. But listening to these two songs have made me curious. Both “Flower” and “Sterling” are two lovely dreamy pop songs, but if I had to choose one, I’d go with “Sterling”, with its fragility and classy instrumentation.

L I P S: not that excited to write a band’s name with spaces. Feels odd to me. I’m old school perhaps. In the end it just ends up being an anecdote. Watching the video for the Falmouth, UK, latest song called “Apartment”. The chiming guitars, and the terrific female vocals make me want to listen to more of their songs. Well, you can on their Bandcamp. I found a much more shoegazer song called “Walls” and”Never Makes Sense”. All from 2018. How come they don’t play Indietracks? A question with no answer.

Dream Suicides: from Riverside, California, a song that sounds very lo-fi but with a charm that brings to mind the tapes from the late 80s. This one-man band formed by Daniel has a bunch of songs on their Bandcamp and this is the first time I’m listening to them. The first one, the heavily Field Mice influenced song “Slowly Dying in Love With You”, caught my attention instantly.

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There Goes Algy! is a band that is as obscure as it gets. The band is not listed on Discogs. How much information will I be able to find? Let’s see!

I knew about their existence from some Japanese blog. The blog didn’t have any worthy information about them, other than the band had released a song called “Miracle”. It did sound to me as a pre-1986 guitar pop song. But is my hunch right?

Not at all. According to Rateyourmusic, which does list the band and its one and only 7″, the song was released as an A side in 1988. As far as I know it was the only record released by the band, and it had another song on the B side, “Great Life”. Was it a self-release? It may have been. It does have a catalog number, CIRTGA001.

“Miracle” is available on Youtube. That’s how I managed to listen to it. The interesting bit happens in the comment section. The son/daughter of one of the members gets in touch with the uploader and mentions that his dad wrote, sang and played guitar on the song. There are even details of what sort of guitar was played, a 1967 Rickenbacker 450-12 string. This person, under the name Tallulah BB, gives some details about the band. That they formed in the mid 1980s and that they played for around 10 years with various different lineups. 3 years ago, so, 2015 or so, the band reformed. Wow.

After that exchange of messages, the drummer of the band also gets in touch. He is called Kevin Higerty and he gives details about the recording of the single. It was recorded in an 8 track studio in Merton, near London. He also mentions that the band played extensively around South London in 1987 and that there are live recordings of the band.

I’ve been to London many times, but never to Merton, so went to learn a bit about this place:
The London Borough of Merton is a borough in south-west London, England. The main commercial centres in Merton are Mitcham, Morden and Wimbledon, of which Wimbledon is the largest. Other smaller centres include Raynes Park, Colliers Wood, South Wimbledon, Wimbledon Park and Pollards Hill. The borough is the host of the Wimbledon tournament, one of tennis’s Grand Slam competitions. The borough derives its name from the historic parish of Merton which was centred on the area now known as South Wimbledon. Merton was chosen as an acceptable compromise, following a dispute between Wimbledon and Mitcham over the new borough’s name. The local authority is Merton London Borough Council.

Okay, I’ve passed by Wimbledon on the car when we went to Rochester I think. Never walked the streets of Merton, but I’ve seen it, kind of. I really need to go back to the UK. I miss it! It’s been years!

I start to wonder about the band’s name. It turns out Algy is actually a given name. Never heard it before. It also seems to be the nickname for those called Algernon?

I found a blog where Kevin Higerty (drums) seems to have made a comment, assuming it is the same Kevin. He talks about the ULU (University of London Union) gig were Flux played on November 11th, 1986. I believe he was playing drums that night for the band. There were 3 drummers playing, he played the tom toms standing up.

I can’t find the names of the other band members. I can’t find anything else about them. The web is silent about this band. I have no clue how many copies of the record were made. Where exactly in London where they based. How many where they? Why the name? Were they involved in any other bands? Anyone remembers them?

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Listen
There Goes Algy! – Miracle