While I wait for the inserts for the BV’s to arrive, and not many other news on my side lets’ get straight to the point, to what you were looking for. Some new music recommendations!
The Catherines: if we liked the previous offering by The Catherines, I think I’m ready to like the newest song by the Hambug-based bedroom indiepop band. Their latest song is available now on their Bandcamp and it has a quirky name as always, “If you don’t have a clue please get out of the line “. The lyrics are available for singing along too if you’d like to start a karaoke party at home!
Girl in Red: 19 years old from Norway. I haven’t listened to the rest of her songs but her latest one, “Forget Her”, that dates from last August, is a lovely slice of dreamy, sweet and melancholic popmusic.
Go Get Mum: just discovered this Melbourne, Australia, band that has a 6 song mini-album called “Cripers” that sounds great! It is now available on CD and includes the songs “Big Mind”, “Little Heart”, “Caroline” (my favourite), “Phone, Keys, Wallet”, “Don’t Start a Riot” and “No Control”. The band is formed by Garry, Izzy, Woody and Sam and I definitely would recommend getting a copy (I should do the same), and keep an eye on them!
Subsonic Eye: the second album by this Singapore band is out and already sold out. Well, the cassette release. Though it does look as if it was the only format the band released it sadly. It is available to stream though, and that is ok I suppose. I would love to have a CD at least. In any case there are 9 songs of hazy and brilliant dream-pop with female vocals.
The Beths: I have recommended the Auckland, New Zealand, band in the past. But I think I forgot to mention that they released their album “Future Me Hates Me” on LP and CD a couple of months ago. It came out on Carpark Records and at the moment they are re-pressing the vinyl for the third time! 10 top indiepop songs that one can’t miss!
—————————————————————–
I can’t recall much of the time when I was in touch with Abeja back in 2004. I was compiling a CD for a Peruvian magazine called Revista 69 with indiepop bands from all around the world. That compilation was going to be released the year after in 2005 and was titled “¡Es Pop, Mamá!”. It was the 3rd promo CD that the magazine put out. I can’t recall which number of the magazine it came with. I also wrote an introductory article of what was indiepop on it. On this CD I ended up including a few bands from Mexico. Not too long ago I featured one of them on the blog, Robotril. Today is the turn of Abeja as I go down memory lane.
I’m honest when I say I can’t remember how I got in touch. Maybe it was through friends. Maybe it was through Soulseek. These were the ways I used to contact people involved in music. I don’t remember if Myspace was big then. I think Myspace was going to get huge the year after, 2005. The truth is I asked Abeja to contribute a song and they gave me “La Bufanda”. And I really thought it was great.
These days when talking to Mexican friends I know that Abeja became well known in the indie scene of that country. It seems they got played a lot on the radio. Everyone seems to remember them. It is quite surprising, these things don’t normally happen in other countries. I do notice on Discogs that the only record the band managed to put out came out on a big label, on EMI. That is also very odd to me. A band with this sort of sound releasing on a big label. Unusual to say the least. Their self-titled “Abeja” EP came out in 2006. After I had asked them for a song. So for sure the band had recordings before this release.
The EP they released included the song they gave me. And 5 more songs, 6 in total. They included “La Bufanda”, “Si te Vas”, “El Desayuno”, “De Mañanitas”, “Dios” and “Música en el Bar”. It is important to mention that the band put together a promo video for the song “El Desayuno“, which I believe is their most popular song. I read some comments saying that every morning they used to play it on radio Reactor as a “breakfast” kind of song.
The band hailed from the city of Monterrey in the Nuevo León state. The north of Mexico. Many bands come from that city. And I think during those mid 2000s there was a healthy pop scene there. They were formed by Leila Ibarra on vocals and bass, Beto Ibarra on guitars and vocals, Ricardo Ramírez on guitars, Juan Serna on violin and Beto Rodríguez on bass. I read that Ricardo was Leila’s boyfriend. And also that Beto Ibarra was Leila’s dad. That is quite unique. You don’t see that often.
Then I find out that the band had put together two demos before the release of the EP. That’s where the recording of “La Bufanda” that they gave me must have come from. These releases were called “Hendersonville Vol. 1” and “Hendersonville Vol. II”. Why Hendersonville? I read that they used to go on vacations to Hendersonville in Nashville, Tennessee. Interesting. But what songs were included in these demos? I do find the tracklists after a bit of searching.
“Hendersonville Vol. I” included the songs “El Bufanda”, “El Desayuno”, “El Cobrador”, “Quizás”, “Sabías” and “Música en el Bar”.
“Hendersonville Vol. II” had “Algunas Veces”, “De Mañanitas”, “Si Te Vas”, “Caí”, “Talismán” and”Dios”.
It is also said that the band was recording a second EP when they split. Two songs of that EP were available on the web somewhere. Maybe Myspace, maybe the long lost website that the band used to have. The songs were called “Caí” and “Si Te Vas”.
The same year they released their EMI EP the band appeared on a promo compilation CD released by this same label with the song “Si Te Vas”. The compilation was called “¿Cuál Es Tu Rock?” and included some up and coming indie bands from Mexico.
I continue their trail. I find that Leila moved to Mexico City around 2011. Then she formed a band called Nada. There are a few releases on their Bandcamp. Their sound has changed. A bit harder, and bassier. It also looks as she is involved in many other creative projects like Nona Limon (where she creates hand-knitted accessories), Transnacional (an online radio) and Comuniday (a sort of blog where she and three other friends share stuff they like).
But no more mentions about the band. I find it odd. Their video has so manny comments. But there are no online interviews with them. Only a few blog entries. Nothing in-depth.
I would like to find myself a copy of their EP. I have loose MP3s of some of their songs. Only a few. I don’t know much more about them. And as I said I forgot about the one time I was in touch. If I was. Maybe a friend was in touch for me and asked them to contribute the song. I wasn’t as good as networking back then. I hadn’t released any records yet. I was only learning how it was the process to put together a record. And Abeja was part of that first project. My Mexican friends, I’m sure you remember them. Do you know where are they now? If they had been involved in any other bands? Are there more recordings by them?
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Listen
Abeja – La Bufanda
