Monday again. Time goes fast indeed. Not much news this weekend, just waiting and waiting, maybe two more months of waiting, for the Dayflower 7″s to arrive. But we do have our latest, Den Baron’s 7″s, that if you haven’t checked it out you should as it is a timeless record I think!

Kammahav: the latest from Kammahav, the project of Sweden’s Christian Gustafsson and England’s Tony Jenkins is back with a wonderful EP called “Scrapbook” that has 4 songs in total! It not only available on digital formats but also on CD which is great news. If you like classic indiepop, with jangly guitars and elegant melodies, as well as classy vocals, this is definitely a must have!

“Lo-fi es Mentira vol.4: ¿Y dónde están las cucarachas?”: that is indeed a long name for a compilation album. This one comes all the way from Chile, from the Gemelo Parásito Records, and I am recommending this comp on the strength of the two tracks the band Mitimitis have contributed, “Caracoquesos” and “Yorokobi Hachi Gatsu Wa Owatta”, which are great and are the best on it!

Surf Friends: now a band all the way south from Auckland, New Zealand. I know little about them but this album they just released called “Doing Your Thing” sounds great! Catchy, fun, and guitar-driven, as record should be. It looks though that is only available in digital format which is a shame. But at least we can stream it over and over.

Low Key Crush: and then to the neighboring country, Australia. Low Key Crush are “pop monsters” from Melbourne according to their Bandcamp. Well, their latest song is terrific. It is called “Shelter” and is a fine slice of indiepop. The band is formed by Taycian Lord on drums, Ella Irene on bass and vocals and Tim Haines on guitar, synth and vocals. Good stuff.

Dreams of Empire: I have featured them in the past and as I like them, I’ll do it one more time. Their latest is finally their debut album called “Nothing’s ever Finished”. The duo will include ten songs on it and two are available to stream now, “Swarm” and “Skinny Dipping”. Top stuff from the Brighton couple!

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I only discovered Headtime a few days ago. They must have made some noise in the early 90s as they signed to Cherry Red but at the same time it seems they didn’t get too much recognition and are kind of a lost band these days. Cherry Red doesn’t even add them to the many compilations they have released the past few years showcasing indiepop and shoegaze. Who knows why?

The band released two EPs, both of them in 12″ and CD formats. The first one, from 1990, was titled “Have You Heard EP” and had the catalog number CHERRY 118. It included 4 songs, “I Visualise” and “Need to Be” on the A side while “Have You Heard” and “Float” appear on the B side. The songs were recorded at Woodhouse Studios in Leeds and were produced by Mike Stout and Richard Formby. It is important to mention of course that Mike Stout had been in the superb The Bachelor Pad as well as an stint in The Wedding Present. Formby on the other hand had been in In Embrace and The Jazz Butcher among others. So pretty cool people to produce you. The photography on the sleeve is credited to Anthony Thompson.

It is also interesting to mention that this was a Porky cut. As usual with his cuts there are matrix/runouts on each side. The A side says “I SENSE A CERTAIN DANGER” while the B side has etched “SURF’S UP(OUTRAGEOUS)”. Both CD and vinyl have the same running order for the songs.

The year after, 1991, the band released their second EP, “Graham”. This time the songs were recorded by Brian O’Shaughnessy at Bark Studio. Again there were four songs, “Born in a Day” and “Being There” on the A side while  “Graham” and “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” on the B side. This last track being a cover of the John Barry original written for the James Bond movie of the same name. Here again there are etchings on the vinyl, the A side says “THERE’S LIFE BRIAN, BUT NOT AS WE KNOW IT” while the B side says “HELLO PAUL AND DAVE”. Who are Paul and Dave? Maybe the band members?

I said that because Paul Lewis played bass and vocals and David Kennedy drums. Also on the band was Edward Mason on guitar and Matthew Dring on guitar and vocals. Something interesting too about the band members is that Discogs doesn’t list any other involvement with other bands.

There are some compilation appearances though. In 1990 they had their song “Contagious” on a 7″ compilation called “You’re Going Home” released by Hometown Atrocities (STORM 2). This 7″ was largely given away for free in the Exeter area. I suppose then the band hailed from this area. The 7″ came with free inserts with information about the bands. What did it say about Headtime?

Then in 1992 Cherry Red released a CD compilation called “My Favourite Flavour” that featured Headtime and also bands like Mexico 70, The Charlottes, Blind Mr Jones and Stan. On this CD compilation the band contributed the songs “I Visualise” and “Being There”. The booklet says about Headtime that the band was signed to Cherry Red because of a very promising demo, that the label hadn’t even seen them live before signing them.

This same compilation was re-released in Japan by Toy’s Factory but adding a 2nd CD, the “Amen” compilation from Cherry Red. It includes then the same two songs by Headtime.

Sadly that’s all I could find on the web. The great blog The Finest Kiss also has a mention of the band but doesn’t have any interesting details about them. I wonder then who would know what happened to the band? Why did they didn’t release an album? If they were from Exeter? What about their demo that got them signed? What songs were on it? Did they play all over the UK? Many questions… hardly any answer!

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Listen
Headtime – I Visualise