It’s getting a bit harder to find 5 new “releases” online to recommend. Struggling a bit lately. Maybe I will cut it to 3 recommendations? What do you think? or if anyone has any good tricks on how to look all over the internet for great new music…

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: “Instant Regrets (Live in Seattle)” is the latest upload from the prolific San Francisco band led by Glenn Donaldson. He has shared here a selection of 4 songs from their show at Vera Project in Seattle. Really lovely to get a glimpse of how the band sounds live.

MelodieGroup: I wasn’t aware that the MelodieGroup, who had released music on Matinée, released an album called “Being & Nothingness” in 2019. This album is still available on the band’s Bandcamp on both CD and vinyl formats. You can listen and preview the 10 songs, and order if you’d like!

Dayaway: now this Queens, NY, project that I have never heard before. The band seems to be a duo formed by Amber Renee and Graham Marsh. Their latest release is self-titled and it is an EP of 5 songs. They are available digitally only. They make some nice sweet dreamy pop, very summery and cinematic I’d say.

Slum Summer: the latest release on Jigsaw Records is a CD album by Hugh J Noble’s band Slum Summer! This new album called “Living in Milk” has 11 songs and is not limited to 100 copies or 300 as other labels do, Jigsaw keeps the copies coming for this excellent second album.

The King in Mirrors: originally released 10 years ago, the first self-titled mini-album by The King in Mirrors has been remastered! The 7 songs sound fantastic! and this is definitely a good way to rediscover this great band from Swindon, UK!

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Moses (Greek: Μωϋσῆς), Moishe (Yiddish: משה),Moshe (Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה), or Movses (Armenian: Մովսես)  is a male given name, after the biblical figure Moses.According to the Torah, the name “Moses” comes from the Hebrew verb, meaning “to pull out/draw out” [of water], and the infant Moses was given this name by Pharaoh’s daughter after she rescued him from the Nile.

Who knows of Moses? A Dundee, Scotland, 90s band?

On Soundcloud, 8 years ago, 3 of their demo tapes were uploaded. I don’t know which songs were on each of the tapes, but in total we find 9 tracks: “She’s Come”, “Spiral Bound”, “Heavens Clan”, “The Crying Crow”, “Rollercoaster”, “The Saviour”, “Hail, Hail”, “Fire Up” and “Sun Downer”.

Other than the songs I found I can’t seem to find any other information about them. 3 demos, 9 songs, but no mentions online of gigs they might have played. No mentions of band members. We know they hailed from Dundee. I wonder what other bands from Dundee might have shared stage with them.

Maybe some fans remember them? Someone must know something!

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Moses – Heavens Clean

Another week in indiepop. How’s everyone doing? Are there any upcoming festivals that are you looking forward to? Paris Popfest next month looks pretty good, no?

Zac Denton: do you remember the very good Aussie band The Ocean Party? Well, I just learned that one of their members, Zac Denton, is releasing an album titled “Love Lust Lost” on August 26 on Emotional Response. The album will be out on vinyl LP and include 15 songs. We can preview now the opening track, “Ciggie Whinge”, which is a mellow poppy one.

Dylan Mondegreen: the Norwegian popster is back with  a digital single! It is called “A Sound Rings True” and as his previous releases it is really good! Børg Sildnes continues to create quality pop and I hope this song signifies that a new record is in the horizon.

The Slow Summits: one of my favourite Swedish bands of the last few years is also back after 8 or so months. The Linköping combo comes back with a digital single titled “Time’s On Your Side” and as usual with them, it is a winner!

Candymouse: this is a superb release, very limited in its lathe cut 7″ version but there are CDs available too. Candymouse features members of The Candy Darlings and Mousefolk and on this record they have released two new songs, “King of the Pricks” and “Ready Salted”. In the past I’ve interviewed The Candy Darlings, and now I think it would be nice to talk with Mousefolk!

Pete Astor: the ex-Weather Prophets leader is back with a new album!! Coming out on September 9 on Tapete Records, “Time on Earth” promises a lot. The two songs one can preview, “English Weather” and “Time on Earth” sound terrific. Seems like another must-have to add to our collection!

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Who were Loveland?

Our friend stoneeyedkiller hints us with the song “Perfect Picture” that  there is a band we need to discover. Why? Because the song is a beautiful piece of jingle jangly pop!

He tells us just two details before we go into our detective work. That is that the song was recorded in 1992 and that the band hailed from West Yorkshire.

I am thinking, West Yorkshire is quite a big area. Where in West Yorkshire? Leeds? Bradford? Huddersfield? Wakefield? Halifax? Keighley? Dewsbury? Or somewhere else? It turns out the band was from Birkenshaw and Gomersal. Never heard of these places myself.

The band was formed by Richard Thomas on vocals and rhythm guitar, Rick Graves on lead guitars, Russ Waterhouse on bass and backing vocals and Jon Grey on drums.

Luckily I was to find three more songs on Youtube as Richard Thomas, the vocalist of the band, uploaded them here in 2017.

Aside from uploading “Perfect Picture” he has uploaded “Torch” and “Come Clean“.

He gives us some details. For “Torch” he tells us it was the band’s debut recording and that it was produced by Michael Price in 1991. “Come Clean” dates from 1992. This last song is less jangly, a bit much more early 90s sounding, Madchester influenced.

And then he also tells us that the band played in London, Leeds in Nottingham.

I can’t seem to find anything else by them. There’s a well known Russ Waterhouse in the US that has played for other bands and has his own label, but not sure if it is the same. I find also a US based drummer called Jon Grey, but again,  can’t say if it is the same one. Richard Thomas is a more common name and my detective skills maybe not the best to track him down and see if he was involved in other music projects.

And yeah, that’s all. I wonder if there are more recordings and also where did these three recordings come from? Demo tapes? Was there any release? Anyone remembers them?

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Loveland – Perfect Picture

Happy Friday!

The Chesterf!elds: great, great news! “New Modern Homes” is the new album by Yeovil’s finest! The album that will be released on September 23 will have 12 songs, including the singles “Mr. Wilson Goes to Norway” and “Our Songbird Haas Gone”. The album has been produced by John Parish and it sounds superb. The current lineup features Simon Barber, Rob Parry, Helen Strickland and Andy Strickland. A must-have!

Live, Do Nothing: this Cardiff shambolic pop band released the tape “Oso Jugoso” last March. This was a single, with the title song on the A side and “Too Late in the Day” on the B side. I’ve only heard the A side and sounds great. There are still few tapes available for those interested!

The Crystal Furs: just a few days ago I recommended the band’s single “Charlatan”. Well now it is time to hear “California Misses You”, the latest from this Portland trio. The song will be included in the forthcoming album “In Coastal Light” that will be released next month.

Teens in Trouble: another digital single, this one comes from Califorrnia and on Asian Man Records. The band formed by Lizzie Killian, Randy Moore and Henry Chadwick has made this great track “Decomposing”, which owes in equal bit to pop punk and indiepop. Really enjoyable.

Hero No Hero: the project of Ken Aki is a treat. “Missing Tooth” was released this month and it is a fantastic single. It does show the love from Ken for 80s and 90s indiepop. Really good stuff, I’ll keep an eye on Hero No Hero!

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Another glorious find by stoneeyedkiller. Definitely has to be the best when it comes to discovering obscure bands. I am only riding on his tail and finding more songs and more info about the bands he has been featuring on his Youtube channel.

The latest song I really enjoyed that he has discovered is The Kerouacs’ “Ann Marie”. Who was this Ann Marie? Maybe Anne Mari Davies of The Field Mice?

The band was formed by Warren Clarke on vocals and guitar, Steve Costello on bass and Darren Clarke on drums.

The song comes actually from a demo tape that the band recorded that year. Two songs were recorded, “Anne Marie” and “Hey Baby”. You can find both on Soundcloud. It mentions there that they had been recorded in 1990 at Twilight Studios in Salford and were produced by Frank Walsh.

The Soundcloud account is by someone that goes by the name Vince Le Tosser. He is based in Stockport. I wonder if he was one of the band members. He also has more songs by other bands of his including the 1988 band Lost Innocence where the only name that I see repeated from The Kerouacs is that of Steve. May this be Steve Costello?

Then there are other 1990 songs recorded also at Twilight Studios in Salford. Are these songs also by The Kerouacs? They sound good. Check out “3 Boats” and “Weather Girl“.

And that’s all I could find out about them. Hopefully someone remembers them and can let us know what happened to them.

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The Kerouacs – Ann Marie

Happy Wednesday. So far no guesses about the next release. Here’s another hint. The main vocals are female… maybe you already have an idea? In the meantime the tracks are being mastered… and yes, it will have more than 3 songs!

Karen: limited to 250 copies, the Greek label Old Bad Habits is releasing on vinyl the self-titled album by this indie supergroup including Davey Woodward of The Brilliant Corners, Hugo Owen Morgan of Loop and Tom Adams of Secret Shine. The album is being released on September 12 and will have 11 songs. Two of the songs, “Carrier Bag” and “Too Late” are available to preview on Bandcamp!

The Martial Arts: a 10″ lathe cut is going to be released on August 12. That’s just a few days from now! It will be released by London’s superb WIAIWYA label run by the great Jarv. Five songs will be on this record, and again two are up for preview, “Bethany” and “Nicechap”. These are really good, and I don’t know nothing about this band. Just loving the music.

Soot Sprite: “Lazy” is the name of the latest single by this Exeter shoegaze/dreampop band. The band is new to me so I am looking for info. I see they are formed by Elise Cook on guitar and vocals, Sean Mariner on bass and Tom Gilbert on drums. They were touring extensively the UK last month and also this month, ending with a gig at Leicester’s Handmade Festival.

Churrus: now we head to Minas Gerais in Brazil. I find the album “Besides” which is available on CD. The artwork shows the Clifton Suspension Bridge of Bristol, a landmark Sarah lovers love. The band is not straight indiepop but a shoegaze band. Their latest release is coming out this August though. It is titled “A Promenade Love” which is a fine fuzzy single.

Fuvk: lastly here is a flexi by the pretty pretty bedroom-pop project from Austin, Texas. It is out now on the Japanese label Galaxy Train. The flexi has two songs, “Postcard” and “Walnut Creek”. Both songs are winners. Do get this record if you can. The music of Shirley Zu is fantastic, the artwork by Jules Boucher for the sleeve is eye-candy.

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I am not sure where stoneyedkiller found the song “Rainbow” by The Poppyfield. I have found other songs online like “Empty Heart“, “These Are Your Final Days“, “Never Understand” and “Slip Away“, but not “Rainbow”.

From what I understand this band hailed from Darlington in the UK and was formed by Andrew on vocals and guitar, Mark on bass, Julian on keyboards and Stephen on drums.

I have not found many pages mentioning them. Just one interview with Hartlepool band Procession where they mention they were friends with The Poppyfield.

I believe the person that uploaded the songs I found wasn’t in the band. There is an exchange of messages between him and the drummer Stephen, whose last name I found out is Paling. The uploader says he was a big fan of the band and used to go to their gigs back in the day.

It is clear that he also collected memorabilia of the band. Thanks to that we can see that the band was part of a 1991 Battle of the Bands at the Northern Echo. There they participated along 091, Mr. Mojo, Ability to Swing, Autumn Divers and The Innocents. Did they win?

Another place the band played was called TNS. I think they played on April 4th, 1991. Also on Friday July 24th at Middlesbrough Arena, probably 1991 too.

And that’s it. We know the songs come from demo tapes. Not sure how many of them they released. Would be good to find out.

So yeah, if anyone has more details about them, please share with me. I’d love to know more about this forgotten early 90s band!

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Thee Poppyfield – Rainbow

Happy Monday! Very jealous of all who attended Glas-goes Pop! It seems like everyone had a wonderful time at that festival. I was looking at photos on Facebook, of many friends, and made me wonder when I’ll be back in a pop festival! Hopefully I won’t have to wait too long!

The Photocopies: Sean Turner’s project is back with 5 new songs on the “Departure” EP. It seems he is becoming quite a prolific indiepop songster. Originally from London, Sean, has been releasing a bunch of songs in the last couple of years, all of them packed with jangle power!

Rachel Love: Rachel is back with a new EP titled “Stories from Another Time EP”. I definitely need to order this one as it is available on CD and at a very affordable price of 5 pounds sterling. There’s no excuse to get the latest four songs from the ex-Dolly Mixture. On top of it all I’ve heard her gig at Glas-Goes Pop was one of the biggest highlights! How I wish I had been there!

Hazel: Jakarta band Hazel sounds really good. They are on the label Tarsius Records and they recently released a new single titled “Over My Head”. It is really ace! They also mention that they are working on an EP for later this year. Definitely let’s keep an eye open, they sound ace!

Jim Nothing: this coming September Jim Nothing from Christchurch, New Zealand, will be releasing  the album “In the Marigolds”. It will bee available on vinyl and will have 12 songs. Two of the songs are available to preview, “Yellow House” and “In the Marigolds”. They are great! They are lo-fi pop catchy songs with boy/girl vocals. It is a really great surprise this band, as I wasn’t aware of them before. Can’t wait to hear the full album.

Poster Paints: and lastly this is also great news. I’ve recommended many times the Glasgow du formed by Simon Lidell and Carla Easton due to their EPs and singles. Well, this October the band is releasing their first album! It will be self-titled and will include 10 songs. Three of them are up on Bandcamp for our/my listening pleasure. Essential I would say!

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Fremantle, Australia. I have interviewed a few Perth bands like The Honeys or The Mars Bastards. The Palisades too. There are quite a few fantastic bands that hailed from there. I am now surprised to discover a band I had never heard about before, The Childlike Primitives.

They have a Soundcloud account that is quite new, 3 months!

The songs here are “Vanity”, “The Coming of Winter”, “I the Assassin”, “Homesick Gypsies”, “Old Trees Black”, “Spring (instrumental)”, “Lucy”, “Heart of Darkness”, “Ice Rink Dancer”, “Girl in Chains”, “Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha”, “Boredom”, “Crazy Black Days”, “Show me to my Bed”, “Orchard of 100 Trees”, “The Human Voice”, “Empty the Chalice”, “Criminal Voice” and “Mystery Man”.

There is not much info about each of the songs but some do have a little info. “Spring (instrumental)” was recorded on a 2 track reel to reel by Ivan. “Ice Rink Dancer”‘s bass line is from the old Courageous Cat cartoon. “Orchard of 100 Trees”, “Empty the Chalice”, “Criminal Voice”, “Mystery Man” and “The Human Voice” were the last recordings the band did with singer/songwriter Ivan Bray.

The next place to look is the band’s Facebook page.

This actually takes me to yet another Soundcloud page!! With even more songs!!

The first collection of tracks date from the mid 80s. These include home recordings, jam sessions and practices. These songs are: “Fish Trumpet!”, “Another Man’s Dream”, “Casio and Ivan”, “I’m a Contortionist”, “Desolate Gestures”, “Did You Say Something?”, “Fly By Night”, “Charred and Blackened”, “Take Off Your Crown”, “Art is…”, “Summer Interlude”, “The Isolated Parade of a Chanting Funnel”, “Lucy Said, (She’s Coming on Strong)”, “The Heavenly Blue” and “Sleeping Sons”.

The second collection of songs are better recordings and taken from cassettes during practice sessions. These date from 1987 to 1989. The songs on this second collection are: “Melancholy Intro”, “The First Glorious Rush Around the Garden”, “I Once Saw Her Face”, “Everything but the Girl”, “Ice Ring Dancer”, “In the Room”, “Famous Last Words”, “The Secret Inside”, “My Babies So Nonchalant About Love”, “The Red Trees”, “Old”, “Ulysses”, “Love and Life” and “Nature’s Sweet Decay”.

The last collection has the studio recordings the band did at Initiation Studios with Mark One as engineer. Here also are mixed in as intros sound bits of Ivan Bray and the band riffing that were recorded on a tape deck. The songs are “When Reason Has Lied”, “The Plea”, “The Human Voice”, “The Chant of Empty Seas”, “The Criminal Voice”, “Sunflower”, “She Lay Outside my Door”, “Sad Lost Monkeys”, “Mystery Man”, “Laughs the Splendid Light”, “Hail Our Love”, “Empty the Chalice”, “Future’s Bed” and “The Orchard of One Hundred Trees”.

What else do we find about them? That they played at the Stoned Crow along The Caretakers every Thursday night. The band also plaayeed at The Cave Bar, at least on one occasion where Pink Fluffy Bunnies, Sad Music Billy’s, Elf & the Goon Gut Babies and Accelerated Man were on the bill.

From what I see the person behind the Facebook and Soundcloud pages is Martin Phillips. He mentions too that there was a 1988 album called “The Homesick Gypsies” that the band recorded with Rob Grant at Poon’s Head Studios. The songs from this album are on the first Soundcloud link I shared. The tracklist order for this album is: “Vanity”, “The Coming of Winter”, “Heart of Darkness”, “Homesick Gypsies”, “Old Trees Black”, “Spring”, “Lucy”, “I the Assassin”, “Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha” and “Girl in Chains”.

What else can I add? On the photos it looks like the band was a five-piece.

I then stumble upon a Party Fears from October-November 1991. There it mentions Martin and Ivan Bray were starting a band called ARC. There is also a mention of The Childlike Primitives who were to play their first show in about a year at the Carnivale Day inn Forrest Place on October 15. It mentions Mark One had replaced Dorian Day in the band.

And that’s what I could find. Any more info about the band will be appreciated. For example… did they release anything? Tapes?

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The Chidlike Primitives – Homesick Gypsies

Just wishing everyone a happy weekend!

Maimargaritas: Mai, from Las Margaritas and My Light Shines For You has uploaded to Bandcamp 6 rough demos she recorded between 2020 and 2021. This is really lovely, you get a different feeling compared to her more “polished” recordings. She has even titled this compilation “Maquetas: No Sé Grabar”, something like ‘Demos: I don’t know how to record”. But yeah, even within this lo-finess we find some superb quality to the songs.

Shoken Boys: hailing from Tel Aviv, the Shoken Boys have just released a 5-song EP titled “The Shoken Boys”. The band is formed by David, Yaniv, Amit and Amir and they make some punchy pop! This is the first time I listen to them but previously they have put out many more records.

Bear Cat: this is a band from back in the day but they have just showed up on Bandcamp. Bear Cat came from Auckland, NZ, and knew how to make some lovely folk-pop songs, kind of in the middle between Jonathan Richman and The Moldy Peaches. On Bandcamp you can find 5 of their releases, I am linking you the first self-titled single.

Peel Dream Magazine: LA based band is back with “Pad”. On this album to be released by Slumberland and Tough Love on October 7, Joseph Stevens continues his sonic exploration, getting a bit further away from indiepop. So we’ll have to see how that goes. The track available to preview, also called “Pad”, hasn’t won me over. But there are 14 more… and I am hoping I enjoy this as much as his previous efforts.

This Poison!: and finally the Peel Session from November 30, 1987, is available as a double CD from the great Precious Recordings of London! This is a must have for all indiepop fans. Four songs and the quality packaging of this label makes me terribly happy about this one. Legendary band, legendary songs!

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Before being in the wonderful Small Factory David Auchenbach had been in another fantastic but much more obscure band, What Now.

The band was around in the mid-80s I believe. I am basing that assumption on the dates of their releases listed on Discogs.

A self-titled demo tape was put together in 1984. That tape had 3 songs, “Very Near”, “Can’t Say No” and “Alright”. On this tape the band consisted of Dave on guitar and vocals, Mark Jones on drums and Pete McClanahan on bass. The first two songs had been recorded at Celebration Sounds while the last one at home. All the recordings date from May of 1984.

The band was an important one in Providence, Rhode Island. But they played in other towns as well. I’ve read about a gig they played in Springfield, Massachusetts supporting Eight Route Army.

The band’s only proper release came out in 1985 on Incas Records (WN 101). This label has one of the coolest logos I’ve ever seen. It is a cholita or a paisana, a typical Andean woman with her typical hat. Lovely really. The record was titled “Small Record with Four Songs” and as it is obvious had four songs: “Noisemaker” and “All My Life” on the A side and “The End” and “Anthem” on the B side. The songs had been recorded and mixed at White Dog Studio (in Newton, MA) by Lou Giordano as the producer and engineer. Also credited for engineering job is Kevin Galvin. The mastering was done at Sterling Sound by Ted Jensen.

On this record the bassist had changed. Now we find Dave McCaffrey. The design is credited to David A with assistance by D. Clay and Bella.

The band did appear on two compilations, so that’s worth pointing out. On “City History”, a 1987 double LP compilation on Big Bubble Records (BB 066) the band contributed the song “Can’t Say No”. I believe all the bands on this record hailed from Providence. The bands included had many musical styles, from new wave and power pop to hardcore.

Hyped 2 Death would release sometime in the 2000s a unofficial compilation called “Homework #5 U.S. DIY and Post-Punk 1978 -83: V-toZ”. This compilation would include What Now with the song “Anthem”.

As I mentioned earlier, Dave Auchenbach would later be in one of the most important indiepop bands the US has had, Small Factory. He was in a band before What Now too, one called The Parents. I haven’t listened to it yet though. Would be good to track some songs down. Another band I’ve heard he was in but I don’t know anything about is Flora Street.

Pete McGlanahan, the band’s first bassist would then be in a band called Warrior Soul.

David McCaffrey would be in a few bands including Frank Black and the Catholics, Miracle Legion, Polaris and the Halo Bit.

I look for more info and notice the excellent Wilfully Obscure dedicated a small post to them in 2013.

Sadly I couldn’t find more details about the band. But MAYBE someone will help us and find more info about them. That’d be fantastic. The songs are not exactly indiepop but they have a great sound, they are melodic. I especially enjoy “All My Life” and “Anthem”.

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What Now – The End

Not many news today. So I want to give you the second hint of my next release. They released a 3″ with Cloudberry many years ago with 3 songs. Can you guess now?

Northern Portrait: one of the most anticipated albums this year for me is “The Swiss Army” by the one and only Northern Portrait. The Danish band is back after years of silence with 10 songs that Matinée is releasing on vinyl and CD on August 3! So, yeah, it is out today! Wow! If you want to preview some songs, head to Soundcloud where you’ll find “At Attention” and “Once Upon a Bombshell”. This is jangle glory. Pure class. Oh! How I wish I could see the Copenhagenites live again!

Amor Butano: the newest release on Elefant Records series New Adventures in Pop is a 10″ by the Valencia three-piece Amor Butano. The trio is formed by Diego, Raquel and Sara. They make catchy and very 80s techno-pop. The record will have 8 songs, and you can preview 4 of the songs on Bandcamp. The “Ultravioleta” 10″ will be out on September 16.

The Silent Love: Jakarta-based The Silence Love has been around for a decade and so it is no surprise to see them release a new album called “Decade”. Influenced by The Field Mice, Brighter and Blueboy, this new album has 14 solid pop songs. The album is available now digitally thanks to Tarsius Records.

The Death of Pop: another great band that is back is the sout-coast of England brother duo The Death of Pop. They are returning this September with the “For a Minute EP”, a 4-song popstatic record. As far as I know it will be released as digital-only, and if you want to preview it, there’s the opening and title track available to listen!

Former Lives: and lastly let me introduce you to this Burlington, Vermont, solo project. The force behind it is Sean Joseph Klassen (and his dog Bruce Beagle). He released in May a 12″ EP titled “Ceremony of Leaving” that sounds ace. At the time of writing this post there were 6 copies left out of a 100. The EP has 5 songs, all of them ready to be listened!

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Once more following the queue of stoneeydkiller. He/she is way too quick in finding pop gems on the web. I think there is a new upload on Youtube every day. I feel it will be impossible to catch up, but I am trying here. Whenever I find a band I think sounds great, I try to track down any more info I can find. So that’s what I’ll do today with The Rhythm Method.

On Youtube the song that this enigmatic and mysterious account has uploaded is titled “Buildings”. And it sounds great, really. It dates from 1985 and tells us the band hailed from Derby. We also get a lineup for the band: Andy Smith on vocals, Mark Samson on guitar, Russell Woodward on guitar, Andy Sheppard on bass and backing vocals and Matt on drums. No last name for the drummer?

Then I start digging the web. Trying to find anything that relates to this band. And suddenly I find something. It is the Soundcloud account of the vocalist, Andy Smith, who looks like he relocated to London. The account was last updated 6 years ago, with the bulk of uploads 9 years back.

This account was put together when he was nostalgic and started looking back at the many bands he has been, he says. He recorded in studios, basements and radio stations. He started restoring his stuff that goes back to 1978 to the present.

The first song I find is by a band called The Silicon Chips. This one dates from 1979 and sounds great. Andy mentions that this band would evolve into The Rhythm Method.

He mentions that with The Rhythm Method they were never comfortable playing live. That the original spark had gone. This made Andy more studio bound after The Rhythm Method was no more.

Another interesting detail I find is one about the song “Buildings”. It mentions that the band’s new drummer played an electronic drumset on the song and they added an extra guitar player from his first band ever after school. Which band was that? And who was this guitarist?

Another band Andy was in, before The Rhythm Method, was called Room at The Top. It was an acoustic duo with Dave Lewin. This was in the mid-80s. He seems to have been in a band called The Dirty Stopouts as well, but not sure around which years he was on this one.

The earliest band he has uploaded seems to be The Party which dates from 1978.

And then I find another song by The Rhythm Method! It is called “Cold War“.  This song was recorded in 1985 at the time when Russia and America were at each others throats and there was tension in the air, according to Andy.

Another cool project he had was called Tender Loving Care who recorded the song “A Lover’s Disguise” in 1986. Seems this one didn’t last long, but do check the song, it’s really good.

And that’s it.

Not much more info, and no more songs. Just two by The Rhythm Method. I am sure there must be more of them. Also why no releases? I’ve googled all over, with different combinations of keywords but no luck. Hopefully someone remembers the band and can fill the blanks!

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The Rhythm Method – Buildings

Last Friday I had the chance to meet Jari from Tampere in NYC. He was in town for a few days, where he even played an open mic show at Otto’s Shrunken Head. Jari as you may know was/is in two superb Finnish bands, Cessna and Artisokka. He was telling me that there is a third Artisokka album coming up while we were having beers in the Lower East Side, at a strange beer hall called The Grand Delancey. It is within a food court/market, on a basement. They have a huge list of beers but what surprised me was that now and then, among all the terrible music that was being played, you’d hear a song by The Bats, or one by Orange Juice. Quite surprising.

It was a nice afternoon talking about music, the bands, the scenes… and about New York, Finland, Europe, and whatnot. It was fun!

Chorusgirl: here’s some fantastic news. Chorusgirl is back! The band is now Silvi’s solo project and there’s a new album in the horizon! It will be called “Colapso Calypso” and is coming out on October 14. Will be released by Reckless Yes on vinyl and CD and will include 10 songs! Right now we can preview one of the tracks, “Don’t Go Back to ’89”, which is ace. There is also a video for the song that I am also enjoying. Definitely an album not to miss!

The Age of Colored Lizards: the Oslo band is a common sight in this blog. Always following the Norwegian band formed by Christian and Cato. Their latest release is a digital single, the second single, from the band’s upcoming 4th album “Fake”. The album will be available digitally in August. So, very soon!

The Variable Stars: it seems there is a superb fantastic scene now in the Bay Area. Lots of great bands. You wonder why there’s not sort of a compilation introducing many of these bands. The Variable Stars are not new though. They were from the early 2000s. The good thing ois that all their songs have been compiled on a tape called “All Signs Point to Life”. I just wish it wasnt a tape as I have no patience for tapes! The one song I’ve had the chance to listen on Bandcamp is really really good. Titled “Junkfood Romance” it sounds like heaven to my ears. Like the perfect mix of influences. The tape is out on August 15.

Thee Smashing Times: amazing news here too. The Smashing Times from Baltimore, another band I enjoyed immediately at first listen have signed to Meritorio Records and will be releasing an album titled “Bloom” on October 21. 13 songs will be in this album, and we can preview the last of the songs on the record! It is called “Mother Nature is Son” and as expected is great. Definitely another album I need to get later this year.

The Happy Somethings: the English band has just put out a compilation CD with Subjangle! Called “Running Away with the Happy Somethings”, the comp collects many of their songs, from their two albums, EPs and singles, as well as new tracks recorded for the occasion. In total you can find 20 songs here and the album is quite limited. Just a few copies were available at the time I wrote these lines!

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A lot of my recent finds come thanks to that unknown indiepop soldier that is stoneeyedkiller on Youtube. If you haven’t seen his work finding indiepop gems, make sure to check it out and subscribe. Right now that I have not much time in my hands I am following his steps and trying to find more info of the bands I like the best from his posts.

Big Blue World is the latest surprise. He has uploaded a 1990 song titled “Factory Lights” that sounds ace. Also gives us the band lineup, Andrew Jardine on guitar and vocals, Mick Rivett on bass and Jon Corkill on drums.

I want to think that the band named themselves after the Paul Haig’s song “Big Blue World” that he released in 1984. Maybe?

The band did get to put out a record, a 12″ in 1989. It was released by White Mountain Records (BBW 01) and included three songs, “Deviation” on one side and “Deceiving Myself” and “Winter Skies” on the flipside. It was a double A sided single.

The songs had been recorded at The Music Room in Peterborough. Did they hail from there? I also look into their label and the only other artist listed with two releases in this label is Nick Rowe who is described as a new age musician.

What about the Music Room? I should be familiar with this studio, The Pleasure Heads recorded there, and I wrote a post about them. Also The Charlottes’ classic “Are You Happy Now” was recorded there.

The producers for this single were the band and Baz Voce. Baz also is listed as the engineer. Also  it is important to mention that another band member is listed here, Ian “Nobby” Clarke on guitar.

Then there’s a strange release: Craig Thomson and Big Blue World’s “I Want You to Want Me”. Did the band become the backing band for the Australian actor and singer that was on the Aussie soap opera “Home and Away”. The record was released on 7″, 12″ and CD, and it included a cover of Cheap Trick’s “I Want You to Want Me” on the A side and “Foolish Pride” on the B side. The producer for the A side was Duncan Bridgeman while the B side was produced by Ian and Dave Morgan. The 12″ release included a 12″ mix and a 7″ mix for “I Want You to Want Me”.

This release was put out by Telstar (TOMOCD1) and The Brothers Organisation.

Then we find a Soundcloud account by Mick Rivett. Here there’s a trove of songs! He last updated this account 3 years ago. The three songs from the 1989 release are there, but there’s more: “Factory Lights”, “The Love of May”, “Waterfall”, “Lost Town”, “Live Down the Life”, “Temple of Broken Dreams”, “Your Character”,  “Thee Home Road” and “It’s All Down to You”.

They don’t have any more info, no details when you click on the songs. Thanks to the photos we see that they played a place called Gaslight. But that’s it.

No more info, but a bunch of great songs. Maybe we will find more about them in the future. I really hope so!

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Listen
Big Blue World – Factory Lights

Weekend is here! Not much news today from me. So let’s jump straight to the indiepop recommendations!

Herr Wade: the project formed by Sebastian and Jørn is back with three songs! One song is about Sebastian’s hometown, “Altenberge” and the other two are “Askim” and “Ja, Nein, Vielleicht”. All of them are superb really! It is no surprise of course as we know Sebastian was in Nah and The Grindcore Poppies and Jørn in The Loch Ness Mouse!

Plastic Girl in a Closet: here is a new version of the album “Eye Cue Rew See” that the Japanese band released in 2014. This new version was produced by Yuji from the band. According to them, the sound on this version is clearer, tighter and louder. The album includes 11 songs that were also released in 2022 by an American indie label.

Moon in June: another superb sounding Japanese band! Hailing from Tokyo the band is back after a few years. “Evergreen” is the band’s first release since 2020. In this EP the band puts out 6 wonderful songs that have been compared to The Pains of Being Pure at Heart.

Puzzles y Dragones: always excited to hear a new song by the Madrid band! They know how to make perfect pop songs. Their latest single is “El Final de mi Felicidad”. This song will be included in the band’s upcoming second album that should be released this winter by El Genio Equivocado. Superb!

The Crystal Furs: the Portland, Oregon, band have been recommended a few times on the blog. So let’s do it again. Their newest single is “Charlatan” and sounds great. This song will be included in the band’s next album, “In Coastal Light”. This album will be released on CD and vinyl too!

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I stumbled now on a Soundcloud account that was last updated 10 years ago. It has a bunch of great songs. Some are indiepop and maybe some aren’t. I am only know listening one by one and discovering them.

The sad part is that there is no information about the band. Will I be able to find out any info about them?

The first song I listen is called “I Could Never Tell”. There’s a photo of a guitar player. An electric guitar on this photo. Black leather jacket. Looks like the 80s? Early 90s?

The next song is titled “I Don’t Understand What that Means Baby”. No info again. Photo of the same guy, acoustic guitar now. Then there’s “Dead to Rights” a lovely jangly song, and “Restore the Monarchy”, a rockier number.

“Kiss the Wall, Stroke the Floor” is possibly my favourite song here. It has great melodies, amazing jangly guitars. A superb track, reminiscent at times of Choo Choo Train.

Other songs you’ll find here are “Ringing Water”, “Legalise It”, “She’s a Natural”, “The Lesson”, “Stark Naked Truth”, “Are You Gonna Fuck Me Then?”, “Mantra”,”Captain Self”, “Drug, a Living Pyre”, “Nativity Greyhound”, “Rich Girlfriend Tree”, “Motif”, “Elixir (‘e licks ‘er)”, “Widescreen”, “Did It Ever Cross Your Mind?”, “Warm Black Hole”, “Glorious Unfinished 12th”, “Magic 8 Ball AKA I Was Born at Woodstock (dog version)”, “Waving and Drowning”, “Whole Lotta Nothing”, “Wild Horses”, “Esperanto”, “Legalise It (dub veersion)”, “Alison”, “You Are My Friend”, “VU What Goes On”, “Different Drum”, “Solar System of Lurrrve” and “Trigger Cut”.

Then there’s “Horse of Mud” which was played on John Peel’s on May 17, 1992). Peel mentions that it is a single sided single but he isn’t sure if it was available in the shops. He also mentions that the song was to appear on a compilation with Delicious Monster and other bands.

I think then that this is going to be the best piece of info to follow. I find the demo version on Youtube. This had been uploaded by Martin Smith, the leader of the band. Great. He mentions that the band played about 20 times, mostly supports in north London. The band’s first gig was supporting Suede at the Camden Falcon in August 1991. They also opened for Luna at their first London Show at the Camden Underworld in February 1992.

Someone called David Pascoe wrote about this song too on his blog “The Smell of the Greasepaint and the Sound of John Peel“. His posts dates from 2019. Martin has commented on the blog and has shared another Soundcloud account for another project of his, The Lyke of Wych. He also mentions that Andrew Mueller wrote a few nice reviews about Winterset.

On The Lyke of Wych it says that Martin is now living in Kent. There’s a bunch of great songs here too worth checking out.

So I find the 7″ on Discogs. It was released by Beechwood Music with catalog number 7EXPO2 in 1992. As mentioned, just a single sided record. On the label we see that the song is credited to Martin Smith and that it was produced by Chris Nagle. It was recorded at Blackwing Studios in London.

Two of their songs also appeared on another Beechwood Music release. It was a compilation titled “Expo 1” (EXPO1) that came out in 1992. The songs they contributed were “Restore the Monarchy” and “Horse of Mud”. Now I remember why Beechwood Music was familiar. In this compilation they had included Autumn Parade who I wrote about ages ago. The other bands on it were Curveball, Chimera and The Electric Groove Temple.

This compilation was released on CD, vinyl and cassette! It was compiled by Colin Simmons and Tim Millington.

Not much more info online, but this was quite a good find! I want to guess the band started more as a jangly indiepop band and went on a rockier path.

Would also be nice to know why only a single-sided 7″? Who were the members and what other bands had they been involved with?

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Listen
Winterset – Kiss the Wall, Stroke the Floor

I received the songs for Cloudberry’s next release and they are fantastic! This will be a very special release as it is sort of a comeback. More news soon, but I think everyone will be thrilled with this one. I can hint you the band hailed from Sweden. Is that enough to guess? Maybe I will give you more hints in the following posts…

The Chesterf!elds: Spinout Nuggets is going to be releasing a new 7″ by the legendary Yeovil band on August 26. The 7″ is almost sold out at the label’s page. So act quick. The record will include two songs, “Mr Wilson Goes to Norway” and “Year on the Turn”. Great stuff!

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: a mini-LP just for Bandcamp, just digital. “Still Clouds at Noon” has 8 songs and is coming out this Friday. Right now we can only preview three tracks, “All Night”, “Violent Pictures” and “Everything You Ever Loved (ver. 2)” and as usual with the San Fran band, it is really good!

Aggi: “Aggi Hates You (Completely)” is a collection of songs, 10 to be precise, by this wonderful Indonesian band. This is the whole output of the band and Jigsaw Records has put it together on a CD which is available now. I would say this is essential for any indiepop lover as the songs are thrilling, fun, and catchy!

Mañana el Espacio: and continuing with Jigsaw Records they also have put out a CD for this Venezuelan band that we love here in this blog.  “Casi Nada es Para Siempre” is a new album by this Caracas projects that wear their influences on their sleeve. It is a superb album and quite a surprise of course as it comes from a country that doesn’t normally produce indiepop bands!

Devoted Fans: and finally another San Francisco band. This one is the solo project of Ryan Lescure and is quite new I believe. It is a bedroom project and he has put out an EP a few days ago titled “July”. The EP has 4 songs and he says he will continue releasing EPs in the next months to eventually put them together on a tape.

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Let’s not confuse them with the more well known band The Gargoyles from Hull that were also active in the 80s. These Gargoyles hailed from Sydney, Australia.

It may be cool to write about the Hull band one day. Probably can find lots of good info. But what about this Sydney band that I have just discovered thanks to the unending work of stoneeyedkiller.

The band was a four-piece formed by Jeremy Scott on guitar and vocals, James Cruickshank on guitar, Michael Armiger on bass and Craig Speers on drums.

They have a Soundcloud account where 8 years ago they uploaded 6 songs, “Police Car”, “Railway”, “Sink or Swim”, “Shirley MacLaine”, “The Other Side of Love” and “Cosetta”.

There are some more details about some of the songs.

For example “The Other Side of Love” was recorded at Oxford St. Studios in 1986 and featured Juliet Ward (from the Widdershins) on backing vocals. James plays keyboard in this track too and he wrote the song.

“Shirley MacLaine” and “Railway” were recorded at the same time and same studio but was written by Jeremy. Whereas same info for “Sink of Swim” but this one is a James Cruickshank song.

“Cosetta” was also recorded in 1986 and was written by Jeremy and James.

Lastly “Police Car” is a live recording at Kings Head Tavern in Sydney, 1985. This song was written is a cover of Larry Wallis’ original. On this track bass is credited to Greggie on bass and Zoltan, Lord of Snare on drums.

Now what surprises me is that “Railway” is the same song I knew by the Widdershins. What was the connection here? I thought it was an original by the Widdershins but not? In the “Bottle Man’s Wife” record by the Widdershins Cruickshank and Scott are credited for the song. Wow. It does make sense that James revisited this song. He was part of this fantastic band, the Widdershins, but never knew this song was older than the band. I did try to interview Greg Appel about the Widdershins after the Lighthouse Keepers interview we did but sadly didn’t hear back from him.

Then some sad news. I see that James Cruickshank passed away in 2015. He has a Wikipedia entry with lots of info. His original name was James George Watson but he used his mum’s last name, Cruickshank. It seems James was well known in Australia thanks to being the guitarist and keyboardist of the band The Cruel Sea. He was also in the band Ladyboyz.

Then Michael Armiger. Well he was for a bit in the Go-Betweens when hee replaced John Willsteed. He was in many other bands including the Paul Kelly Band, Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls, John Kennedy’s Love Gone Wrong, The Johnnys and Sean Kelly and the Iron Dukes. Also hee was in Roadhead and Atlas Strings as well as collaborating inn Cleopatra Wong. Sadly he also passed away in 2012.

I couldn’t find info about Jeremy Scott or Craig Speers. If they continued making music. But this was indeed a great find, and great songs. I wonder if they had more songs, and how come they are not more known as some of their members had been in important and relevant groups.

Will love to learn any more details anyone can share!

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Listen
Gargoyles – Sink or Swim