So in the end I didn’t find time to post while I was away in Mexico. I’m now organizing myself starting with the many emails that are not answered. I did mail yesterday every order from last week and that is quite some progress I think. But, I have already got a lot of assets for the fanzine so that’s what I plan to do on the weekend. I also need to see the status of the new releases. Many things then.
There’s always time for new music though, right?
Deserta: the LA dreampop band has just released their album “Black Aura My Sun” on Felte Records just a few weeks ago. The record is available on vinyl LP (in black only now, the mint green/sea foam colored vinyl is now sold out) and CD. We can preview three out of seven tracks on Bandcamp at the moment and that is enough to know this is a very promising record.
Seablite: Meritorio Records from Spain and Emotional Response from the US are releasing a 10″ vinyl EP by the terrific California based band on February 21st. The EP will come with 4 songs and is going to be titled “High-Rise Mannequins”. At the moment we can preview the third track. It is called “Skeleton Crunch” and what a song it is! This release is one not to miss!
Flowerbed: the Denton, Texas, shoegaze/dreampop combo has released a new song a few days ago. It is titled “Blame” and it is a terrific track. It seems it is only available as a digital single but as it is very good I hope it makes it to a record sometime!
Elsa Lester: “Back from Vacation” is the name of the new EP by Lisa Van Kampen. It has 5 poppy tracks of fine bedroom pop all made by herself. It looks like the release is only available digitally at the moment, but that doesn’t mean one shouldn’t enjoy tracks like “Sweet Ghost Inc.” or “Cactus”. Good stuff.
My Violainé Morning: I remember them from many years ago, but I haven’t been following the Bandung, Indonesia, band for the last few years I must admit. Their latest track is called “Memories” and it is a digital single that sounds ace! Let’s keep an eye on them, see what’s coming up in the future!
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Wilde Clube Records have released many of my favourite records of the early 90s. At the same time many of the bands they released are still unknown to me. Especially the ones among the last releases of their catalogue. One of them were The Badgers, who I know very little about.
They released a 12″, 4-track EP, in 1992. It had the catalogue number Wilde 12. The EP was titled “Picnic” and included two songs on each side. The A side had the title song “Picnic” and “Cycleface” whereas the B side had “Ragged Jack” and “Rejuve”.
I should order a copy of the record for myself. In the meantime I am using Discogs to get some information. It seems that the four songs were recorded at Purple Rain Studios in Yarmouth and were produced by Richard Hammerton and the band.
The band was formed by Emma Hewitt on vocals, Robin Jeynes on guitar, Mike Jeynes on drums and Darren Long. An obvious question, were Robin and Mike related?
Interestingly enough the blog Wilfully Obscure dedicated a post to the band back in April 2013. Why did I miss this post? The author complains about the band’s name, that it is quite hard to search for them in Google. I agree about this. But then, in the early 90s, who would have thought that! Something interesting I learn from the comments from a reader called David Dent is that the band recorded an album but split before it could be released. Another reader says that the album was supposed to be called “Giants at Sea”.
Then there is a comment from someone that was in the band but sadly doesn’t has the real name, instead it appears as “White Boots”. Thanks to that we know that the band started as a two piece that were going under the name of The Railway Badgers. This two piece was formed by Rob Jeynes on four string guitar and Luke Barrett on bass. Then people joined the band and the 12″ was recorded. Also at some point a Scot called Tony Aldridge joined the band. He mentions too a band called The Volunteers who were also from the local North Norfolk area (as many of the Wilde Club bands) who they played many gigs together.
Indeed the band hailed from the village of Guist, in Norfolk. Guist is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It covers an area of 6.80 km2 and had a population of 242 in 102 households at the 2001 census, including Twyford and increasing slightly to a population of 250 in 110 households at the 2011 Census. Twyford House is a Grade II listed manor house on the edge of the village. The local pub is called The Ordnance Arms, where they have an adjacent Thai restaurant. As well as this business, the village also has a number of prospering farms in and around the local area.
And that’s all I could find on the web really. I would have loved to attend any of these Wilde Club gigs, with the bands that were in the label. The Badger sounds great. At the same time they sound quite different to other bands in the label, with the female vocals. I would love to listen to their long lost album. If it sounds as good as the songs on the 12″, then it is a true treasure waiting to be rediscovered.
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Listen
The Badgers – Cycleface
