Day 244. Back in New York City. 14 days of mandatory quarantine for anyone entering this state. The laws changed a few days before I was returning, where you could get a PCR test before traveling to NYC and then another when returning. I thought about getting it, just for the sake of it, but as my insurance wouldn’t cover it when being abroad decided not to. Now I think it would have been a good idea as I would have been able to resume my life much sooner. No symptoms, not feeling bad at all. It is a bit stressful and not as enjoyable going to the airport and flying, but it is totally manageable.

Love, Burns:  one of the records no one should miss this year is the two-song 7″ released by Love, Burns on Kleine Untergrund Schallplatten just a few weeks ago. For those in the US the band will have records to sell on their Bandcamp and they should start shipping pretty soon. I had recommended the band in the past, but now with a 7″ on their pockets it is a imperative to recommend them again. The songs “Gate and the Ghost” and “It’s a Shame” sound amazing. The solo project of the Pale Lights frontman Phil Sutton is a treat. On the record he gets his friends Kyle Forester, Gary Olson, Hewson Chen and Hampus Öhman-Frölund to help with the instruments. I am sure this will sell out pretty fast.

Typical Girls: Happiest Place Records from Gothenburg will be releasing a record that seems to be a must! The Typical Girls’ self-titled EP, formed by Hugo, Julia and Felix, comes with three pop songs, “Las Palmas”, “Tension” and “Girl like You”. At this time we can only preview the last one! The record is going to be released on December 11 on vinyl.

Astragal: the Houston band has been a favourite for a long time and here they are releasing a tape with Donna Hayward on Miss Champagne Records. The three songs the band is contributing, “Brightfellow”, “Miles” and “Crescent” are available to stream on the band’s Bandcamp. And they are really good!

Skittle Alley: There is a new compilation by this superb French band! It is called “Memories” and it includes a whopping 25 songs in it! The release seems to be only available on digital format and is being released by Barcelona’s Discos de Kirlian!

Cotton Range: this Chinese band is a favourite of mine. Their latest release is a cassette that comes with a cat lovers comic. The release is coming out on Small Animal Records from Changsha and includes 3 songs. There are t-shirts for sale too. Very nice!

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Back to the great Soundcloud page for the WokingSoundscene to discover more jewels. This time around I have discovered the band Twister, a duo that worked at Workhouse Studios in Aldershot.

The band released an eponymous cassette album released by Music & Elsewhere in 1993 (M&E 224). It included 12 songs in total. 8 were from the album and included were too 4 songs from their 1st demo. On the A side we find “Never Die”, “Bloodrush”, “Shining Star”, “Get Rid of the Fear”, “See Me Here” and “Die”. The B side has “Soar” and “Babylon’s Burning”. The 4 songs from the first demo appear on the B side too and these were “You Don’t Know”, “Sleeping in the Sun”, “Signal” and “You Never Notice”.

We know that the band was formed by Inga Leru and Neil Buckingham and they were based in Crangleigh in Surrey. The  songs were recorded at C.A.N. Recording Studio in Farnham. I also believe this tape included an extra song, “These Days” that was actually recorded by Three Times the Crow the band that Inga used to sing previously.

The band also featured two tracks on the first “Guilfin Benefit Tape” in the summer of 1992. This was also released by Music & Elsewhere (MMATT 36). I can’t seem to find which two songs were included though.

I do know that Twister’s “Bloodrush” was included in the “Farnborough Groove Strikes Back! (Volume 5)” compilation tape in 1995.

The Magic Net website actually has an interview with Inga Leru-Kelly. Here it mentions that she was later in a band called Kilter. There is not much information about Twister though.

But I do find Inga’s Soundcloud! And wow, there are 8 songs by Twister here! These are “Blood Rush”, “Get Rid of the Fear”, “See Me Here”, “Serenade”, “Roar”, “The Truth About Pixie”, “You Don’t Know”, “You WIll Never Die” and “All You Can Do”. Some I believe from the tape album and some other from demo tapes?

And then what do I find? A Twister Facebook page. Not much info here aside that all songs of the band are, digitally and on CD, available as an album called “The Ultimate Twister” and also there’s a single called “Sleeping in the Sun”. The album has 10 songs and they are “All You Can Do”, “Bloodrush”, “Get Rid of the Fear”, “Friend”, “You Will Never Die”, “The Truth  About Pixie”, “Roar”, “See Me Here”, “Serenade” and “You Don’t Know”. Then I find that Neil has a website with his music.

And that’s quite something! I honestly thought I was going to find way less about this band. So yeah, there you go, lots of music to listen! Now who remembers them? How many demo tapes they put out? Why didn’t they release more stuff while they were going on? Did they play many gigs? What other bands have they been involved with?

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Listen
Twister – Never Die