If you see on our website, we have a few copies of two 7″s released by the German label Kleine Untergrund Schallplatten. We have 7″s of the split single by Lake Ruth and Pale Lights and also the latest 7″ by Botschaft. We only got 4 copies of each, so if you are in the US and you want to save some postage this is a good opportunity.
Finds from over the weekend? Of course!
Remington Super 60: the classic Norwegian band is back with a new Christmas song. It is called “A Winter Song” and it does sound gorgeous! As it says on their Soundcloud, Remington Super 60 never disappoints around Christmastime. I do hope though to hear new songs by them at other times of the year!
Seeing Hands: there’s a new 10″ on Discos de Kirlian by this Newcastle based band formed by Kev Curran, Nick Hodgson, Jon Varty and Liam Guillan. There are 7 songs and they sound superb. Dreamy jangly pop! The record is limited to just 150 copies.
Young Agings: not sure who this band is. I know they are Japanese and that the main driving force is Shota Kaneko. I’m listening to the last song on their tape “Before I Go” that is called “Stars” and I think it is brilliant. This tape is out now on Sauna Cool Records from Kobe. This tape is also very limited, just 100 copies.
Figure: so as I’m curious I went to check the other release available on this Japanese label, Sauna Cool Records. It is another tape, this time the sound is more shoegazy. The band is called Figure and this 6 song tape is titled “Parakalein”. And even though I’m not loving this as much as Young Agings, there are some terrific tracks like “True Bosom” or “Daylight”.
Perfect Body/Zac White: some nice songs on this digital split EP by two Cardiff bands. There are 3 songs by Perfect Body and 4 by Zac White and I must say I’m more partial to the first band. This is out now on Bubblewrap Collective, from Cardiff also.
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I continue checking out the list on Janglepophub. There is a Canadian band that is unknown to me. Well, there are a few of them to be honest. But I decided to start with the one called The 21 Hundredz. Why? Not sure. I guess the name caught my attention. Also that there were no sound bites shared. I wanted to listen to them. And also the year they released their single, 1988, it had to sound good if it was released that year, right?
According to Discogs the band released one 7″ on Accent Records (which I suppose it was their own). It had no catalog number and included just two songs. The A side had “Modern Romance”, while the B side was “A New Rhythm, A New Name”. But according to 45cat this first single was released in 1987 and there was actually a second single, also on their own Accent Records.
That comes as a surprise. I didn’t expect them to have a 2nd single. This second 7″ had also two songs, one on each side: “Life is Eternal” and “Today”.
Thanks to 45cat I get to know that “Modern Romance” was composed by Lori Kennedy and Jed Dyals, “A New Rhythm, A New Name” by Jed Dyals and “Life is Eternal” and “Today” by Jed Dyals and David Saturne.
The website Calgary Cassette Preservation Society has a 2012 post about the first 7″. There is not much information about the band but there is a scan of the back sleeve of the “Modern Romance” 7″. Thanks to this I find out the proper lineup of the band.
Bruce Callow – vocals, rhythm guitar, emax
Jed Dyals – guitar, vocals, piano
Karl Harter – bass, guitar
Lori Kennedy – drums
Dough Callow is credited for the photo and design of the record. The songs were remixed by Doug Faires.
Then I dig on this website and find a post about their 2nd 7″. There is not much information but it tells us an interesting detail, that both records were manufactured through Doug Wong Music (that’s why they carry a DWM catalog) despite being on Accent Records. Who was Doug Wong?
Thanks to these names I find that Bruce Callow and Karl Harter had been in a band called New Internationalists. I should check them out. But there is even a more interesting post here, a 21 Hundredz demo!
Make sure to check out these links as they have dropbox links for downloading the music. So what about these demos? It says that two of the 3 songs on the demo tape were included in some compilation LPs called Tones and Calgary. I’m not sure if these are the real names of these comps, but that’s how this website mentions them.
It also gives some little details like that the band produced 4 videos, one of which was in Much Music’s rotation in 1984. They performed at the Montreal New Music Festival in 1987, and won Calgary radio station KIK FM’s band contest in 1989.
Other information I could gather from this website is that Lori Kennedy was also involved in bands like Maud, Same Difference and Anne Loree. More bands to check out. Maybe there’s some good jangle there?
So, if this website covering this band is named Calgary Cassettes, then it is safe to assume the band was based in Calgary, right? I feel confident about that.
As it is common with these obscure bands there’s really not much more on the web about them. So I’m hoping some of you will help me fill in the blanks. Anyone remembers them?
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2 Responses to “:: The 21 Hundredz”
Bubblewrap Collective (which mostly releases folk stuff) from Cardiff is ran by Rich Chitty who played drums for The School and Little My for many years. Thought you might appreciate these little indiepop connections!
The 21 Hundredz were based in Calgary. The story I was told by one of the band members was that their name came from the order code number for a “personal massage device” that was offered through a popular catalogue distribution outlet at the time – but the band member that told me this was a bit of a joker, so this may or may not be true!
The two compilations were both produced in Calgary, they were called “Tones” and “Calgary Compelation”. Information on discogs about the second disk here: https://www.discogs.com/Various-Calgary-Compelation/release/5525695
I saw this band perform at a couple of gigs in Edmonton in the late 1980s, and partied with them at our house after one of their shows. The bass player was a friend of my brother at the time. They were great to see perform live, lots of energy and stage presence, and were fun-loving, interesting and really great folks off-stage.
I hope this helps. Thank you for your post.