Here we go again. A new week of p!o!p!

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: I don’t know if Glenn Donaldson who is behind this band is tricking me to post every single song he makes on the blog. I say that because he adds one song at a time to his Bandcamp. One by one. The latest is the pretty “Human Life (demo)”. I really hope to see a full album soon!

Fanclub: the latest from this Austin, Texas, 3 piece, is the lovely song “Reflection”. Previously they had uploaded the song “Leaves” which is as nice! That’s it. I look forward to more by them. They do have some gigs lined up, even a SXSW appearance next year.

Lovejoy, 1973: “песни о сиянии” is the name of this 7 song album by this terrific Russian band. I know very little about them aside that the tape is being released by Pow! Pop Kids Records from their home country. It is all in Russian, so perhaps you (like me) don’t understand a word. But it doesn’t matter. This is great as it is!

Luby Sparks: there is a new video by the fantastic Japanese band. It is a video for their song “Perfect”. This song was released in physical format on the “(I’m) Lost in Sadness EP” by the Space Shower Music label a couple of days ago. Sounding superb as always!

The Perfect English Weather: the band formed by ex-Popguns have a new album out on Matinée! It is called “Don’t You Wanna Feel the Rain?” and it includes 10 brand new songs. If you follow the link you can preview three of them, “Only Shadows”, “Rocking’ to the Beat” and “Still”. What lovely pop music this is. Classic sounding. Timeless.

—————————————————————–

Decoy Avenue went through a few changes from 1981 before settling with their most successful line up in 1982. Playing only their own songs, they were regulars at the London clubs of the day; including The Embassy, The Rock Garden, The Ad Lib, 101 Club and The Moonlight. Their energy needed to be put on disc, so in May 1983 an independent single was recorded “Turn and Face” b/w “Stay”. Interest came from EMI Publishing but was never fulfilled due to internal disputes. The band carried on with different musicians coming and going till 1984, but never reached the heights of the original five boys of Decoy Avenue.

Pete Lancaster: Trumpet/Vocals
Martin Holleyoake: Bass/Vocals
John Varnarva: Guitar
Martin Papier: Keyboard/Vocals
Tony Kutner: Drums/Vocals

That’s the information the compilation The Sound of Leamington Spa Vol. 4 shares with us in its booklet. Decoy Avenue had appeared on this 2003 compilation released by the great Firestation Records. On that compilation they had contributed their song “Gone Native”, which doesn’t appear in the one and only single the band had released. That’s interesting. But even more interesting is that around this time it seems the band was selling a CDR, self-released and all, with 8 songs they had recorded between November 1981 and September 1983. I didn’t know about it then. And actually I only found out now. I always liked the song on the Leamington Spa comp, but never went looking for their records. I mean, I knew my changes of getting a copy of their single was pretty hard. But if I had known there was a CDR maybe I could have tracked it. Today, many years after, it looks like a difficult task.

This CDR which seems self-titled included as I said before 8 tracks. They were: “Gone Native”, “Lord Mountbatten”, “Parallel World”, “In Negative”, “Funk You”, “After Dark”, “Beanpole Blues” and “Reasons”. Discogs doesn’t offer any more details about it.

Previously, of course, they had released their 7″. Just the one. As mentioned it had “Turn and Face” on the A side and “Stay (You’re the One)” on the B side. None of these songs appear on the CDR. The year for its release was 1983 and was put out by themselves with the catalog number COY 1.  There is not much information on the sleeve. There wasn’t one really. But thanks to the labels we know that both songs were produced by David Kenny.

Aside from these two releases and the appearance on The Leamington Spa, there is another compilation appearance listed. They contributed the B side of their single, “Stay (You’re The One)” ,  to the “Pop Renaissance” (EX 014) triple CD comp that Excellent Records from Japan put out in 2004. A superb compilation this one, with incredible bands like La Casa Azul, Mocca, Love Parade or Pale Sunday. A mix of old and new for the time.

Googling for Decoy Avenue I end up noticing that there is actually a Decoy Avenue in London. A proper avenue. Well, it is kind of a small avenue. It is in the Golders Green area, though kind of a very long walk from the tube station.

But even a better find is “Reasons” on Youtube. This song, which is included in the CDR, has been uploaded to the web with a bunch of cool photos and live footage of the band. But that is not all, Tony Kutner has uploaded more stuff to his Youtube. There is “Funk You” with lots of video footage of the band and “Stay (You’re the One)” with a bunch of rare photos of Decoy Avenue. These were uploaded like 9 years ago. Only today I have stumbled upon them. Not good!

I suddenly find a Facebook page for Shaz Lancaster, it seems that’s the name Peter Lancaster uses now. He is an actor/entertainer based in London. He also has a website.

Online I also stumbled upon some photos of the band at the Bedfordshire zoo. It seems like it was a fun day for the band. It also looks like Tony Kutner had been in a band called Equinox before being in Decoy Avenue.

Lastly I find out that both Martin Papier and John Varnava were playing in a band called Ramirez. There is an article on the Brent & Kilburn Times, dating from 2011, were it mentions they were going to play Cricklewood Castle and that they had played Gladstonbury just before.

That’s about it really on the web about Decoy Avenue. I would love to know many more things of course. They sure played a lot in London, but what about outside of London? Why didn’t they get to release more records? Is there a way to get the CDR still? Are there more songs other than the ones in the single and CDR? Were they involved in other bands? Would be fantastic too to get in touch. Maybe do an interview. Why not!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
Decoy Avenue – Gone Native

Weekend is again with us. That’s great indeed. So let’s take it easy with some nice new music, right?

Boys: there is a brand new video for the song “What if You Would Die?” that was in the debut album “Rest in Peace” and it is of course a great new opportunity to listen to this song. The video was shot by Nora Karlsson, the driving force of the band. Good stuff!

Girl President: the latest from the Japanese label Galaxy Train is this limited tape by the new band of Hiroko Kawakami, ex-Caucus and Smilelove. So this is great stuff, here at Cloudberry we love Caucus, we released a 7″ (do you have it? There aren’t that many copies left) and here she is back alongside Miki Hirose from the Smokebees! Four new songs, one of them a cover of a The Notes original!

Renge: another new release on Galaxy Train is a tape by yeat another band I have featured on the blog before, Renge. It is a 7 song album that sounds very fragile and sweet. The tape edition looks very good, with lots of goodies too!

Life Model: another band that has appeared on the blog in the past has a new song out called “Long Way Round” which will be included in a split 7″ that they will share with Home Economics. It will be released on November 23rd!

The Last Detail: a combo made by Erin Moran from A Girl Called Eddy and Mehdi Zannad from Fugu? Yes, that is happening on this 13 song album that Elefant is released on vinyl and CD a few days ago. You can check all of the songs on Bandcamp and a press released written by Harvey Williams (!).

—————————————————————–

I have this vague memory that C de Constancia was recommended once upon a time on my old blog, Mira el Péndulo. I think it wasn’t me who wrote about this enigmatic band, I am pretty sure it was Jotacé. The same one who published a music book, about the death of rock and roll, in Chile last year. If my memory serves me right he was mesmerized and in love with the few songs that were released by this band. At that point, and today too, there are not many details available about them. A true mystery.

I think many of the bands that appear on Siesta Records compilations are a mystery. The label doesn’t really include any credits for them even less a biography. There are many lovely bands that released on these compilations amazing songs but we never get to know who were the people behind them. C de Constancia is one of them.

We know the people behind this band were Spanish. Their accent gives that away. Their name roughly translates as C of Constance. Well, I think that’s a literal translation to be honest. And they had three songs under their belt on two different Siesta compilations.

Two of them appear on the “Educación y Descanso” compilation that was released in the year 2000 (SIESTA 120). This comp was released in both CD and LP versions. C de Constancia appears with a cover of Kiki D’Aki’s “El Futuro” and the song “Agony”.

“Agony” would appear again on a compilation called “Blanco y Negro Music for Siesta”, a compilation of Siesta music on the Japanese label Rambling Records (RBCS-2024) from 2002. I wonder if by any chance in this Japanese release there were any credits included. Anyone knows?

Lastly, and perhaps my favourite song of theirs, “Con los Ojos en Paz”, appears on “Don Quixote. A Quixotic Musical Fantasy with the Touch of Siesta”. A superb compilation released in 2002 (SIESTA 150). Actually there are few tracks from this comp that I hope one day feature on the blog.

I start to suspect though that all of C de Constancia’s songs were covers. I know about the Kiki D’Aki cover. Now I solve another mystery. The song “Con los Ojos en Paz” is actually an original by Cecilia, an Spanish songstress from the early 70s. You can actually listen to the original track here. Now, I haven’t heard “Agony” by C de Constancia. Whose cover would that be then? Anyone can tell me?

It does look like that C de Constancia wasn’t a band at all. Perhaps just a gimmick for the Siesta compilations. I don’t know. It is hard to be sure about it. Still would love to know who were behind these songs, beautifully recorded and arranged. Anyone would know?

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
C de Constancia – Con los Ojos en Paz

Wednesday. All pre-orders have been posted and we are only a few days away of our official release date. I do want to tell our Japanese friends that Stone Records will be getting a batch of The BV’s 7″s in the next few days too.

Our next release will be a retrospective compilation by a Scottish band. Who will that be? Keep tuned on our blog as sooner than later I will be announcing it.

Now, here are some good finds for you to enjoy!

Day & Dream: Abby and Peter form this Asheville, North Carolina, band. They have a Bandcamp where they upload their demos. Their latest ones are four, “First in Flight”, “We’re Gonna Need Some More Coffee”, “Outside” and “Chrysalis”. Plus there is another one called “Nocturnal Creatures”.

Various Artists – Some Sort of Secret Sign: a tribute to Sarah Records by an Italian label? If you’d told me I wouldn’t have believed it. Now that I’m seeing it I am pretty curious. Italy does have indiepop fans, but it is not a country that has produced many indiepop bands. On this compilation, 8 bands cover classic Sarah Records songs. At the time only one of them is available to stream, True Sleeper covering Gentle Despite’s “Bittersweet Kiss”. It will be released on CD.

The Catherines: a new track by them always deserves to appear on the blog. Heiko’s new song for his bedroom project based in Hamburg is called “The More We Kept Moving the Farther Away We Got From Us” and it is lovely. As usual with the band we get a long and verbose title for the song and catchy melodies to sing along.

Art Sick: some 90s American indiepop sounding songs are available to stream thanks to Christina (aka) Riley who used to be in the band Burnt Palms. “Going Down” and “No Clue” reminds me of Cub, Tiger Trap, and especially Bunnygrunt. Joining her are two well known musicians from the Bay area, Mario from Kids on a Crime Spree and Donna from Lunchbox.

Boyracer: here we find the classic band covering The Style Council’s “Walls Come Tumbling Down” as we are in difficult times indeed in the US and the whole world. Lyrics are posted to sing along, and there’s a video too.

—————————————————————–

When I feel I’m running out of ideas of Australian bands that need to be featured on the blog, I end up discovering new ones. That makes me happy of course. New songs to listen to, new stories to read.

Don’t confuse this Grooveyard with The Grooveyard from the mid/late 80s UK band that I featured and interviewed many years ago. These are the Australian Grooveyard, a mod revival band who as far as I know released two records in the 80s. At least that’s what Discogs tells me upfront.

Their first single dates from 1984 and it was a two song 7″ released by Geren Records (BTS 1246). This label was based in Sydney and was active in the 80s. I must say I don’t know many of the bands on their catalog but I will try to explore them in the coming weeks. Anyways, the 7″ had two songs. On the A side there was “Avalanche of Love” and “I Told You So” appears on the B side. The tracks were produced by Chris Masuak and engineered at Emerald City Studios on September 1983 by Brett Copeland and Nick Mainsbridge. The art for the single was created by Peter Simpson with photography by Outer Limit Photography.

We do get to know the band members here too. Robert Hood played bass and vocals, Ian Little guitar and vocals, Jonn Schofield guitar and vocals, Sean Maguire drums. Other credits included are that of Richard Lawson for bookings, Christopher M. Dunn as management and Geoff Rhoe as dedicated to the band.

Something interesting that I see on this record is that it was distributed by EMI (and Big Time Records). So they got some big label support. That’s not that common, right? Also it is important to mention that the A side is credited to Jonn while the B side to Robert.

That same year they would appear on a tape compilation called “Drown or Swim” that was released by 48 Crash (Tape No. 3). On this tape they contribute the song “I Don’t Remember”. This song was recorded at The Creative space and was written by Jonn Schofield.

Two years later, in 1986, they contributed the song “Avalanche of Love” to “Countdownunder – Party at Hanging Rock” a UK compilation released by Countdown (DREW 2). This label, whose parent label was Stiff, released a bunch of classic mod revival records like those of Makin’ Time or The Prisoners. This compilation was to be re-released later on, in 1988, by Re-Elect the President label that was run by Eddie Piller.

Their last proper release, their 12″, was released in 1989 by the classic Sydney label Waterfront Records (DAMP 110). It included 5 songs. Three on the A side: “Tenku Town”, “Days of the Week”, “Mean to You”, and three on the B side: “Sea of Hate” and “Mess in Distress”.

Peter Simpson is again credited for the art of the record, but I couldn’t find how the art looked for it. Only the classic Waterfront labels are scanned in Discogs. The songs were recorded at Central Recorders and EMI Studios between October and November 1985. It was mixed at EMI Studios in April 1988 by Steve Clark. The record was engineered by Tony Espie.

The photography for this record is credited to Larry McGrath, David Stead, Louise Sykes and Shemp Murphy.

I do see a new name on the credits. “Rev” Ian Paisley played guitar and vocals in this record too.

Lastly, in 1995, possibly after the band had already split, their song “Avalanche of Love” appeared on a CD comp called “The Bam Balam Explosion Vol. II-Australian Power Pop Compilation” that was released by the Spanish label Bam Balam (B.B.R. 001).

Looking at other bands the Grooveyard may have been involved with I see that Sean Maguire played in Minuteman and Coup de Ville. That Robert Hood played in Razar, Buddies and Screaming Tribesmen, Ian Kelly in the Bam Balams, Richard Lawson in the Lime Spiders and Jonn Schofield in Chinless Elite and Paul Kelly & The Coloured Girls. A cool detail I found too was that Schofield produced the wonderful “Lupe Velez” record by The Mexican Spitfires that one upon a time, in the early stages of this blog, I featured.

In the end I found a great resource, Whammo.com.au. Here there is an “encyclopedia” entry for the Grooveyard. I find that they formed in 1982. That Ian Little was actually “Rev” Ian Paisley. That Robert Hood used the name Bob Wackley as well. And that Geoff Rhoe had also been in the Minuteman.

As expected they were formed in Sydney. Rhoe left early the band to pursue an acting career, appearing for example in Bruce Beresford’s 1981 film “Puberty Blues”. There were some more lineup changes, Maguire being replaced by Lawson on drums. Then in 1984, around September, the band split.

In 1985 they band would reconvene for a bunch of gigs in Sydney. They recorded a mini-album. It is that mini-album on Waterfront. It would take 4 years for it to be released. In 1994, three of the members of the Grooveyard, Schofield, Little and Maguire, formed Deep End and released an album.

Quite some information. I wonder if the other bands they had sounded jangly as well. I wonder what are they doing now? Why did it take so long for their mini-album to be released? If they have had any reunions again? Who remembers them? I know David Nichols, who wrote the Go-Betweens book and the “Dig:Australian Rock and Pop Music 1960-1985″ book said that the Grooveyard 7″ is about as perfect as a 7” can be.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
Grooveyard – Avalanche of Love

I continue mailing BV’s records. And in the meantime I must say that among these orders I found out that the Je Suis Animal 7″ is sold out. I can’t seem to find any more copies of the vinyl among all the boxes. So, lucky those that got a copy as it is a fantastic record.

The BV’s 7″s have traveled to a few stores these past days for the people that have been asking for this. Jigsaw Records and Rough Trade should have their copies soon. Rough Trade will also be getting a batch of Okama Flannel Boy 7″s.

Again, because of shipping costs get in touch with your mailorder or favourite shops and ask to carry the record. I try to reach out many but I suppose if fans show their interest, the shops will also show theirs. This is the situation with records these days with crazy shipping prices.

Anyways, weekend finds, right?

Various Artists – Stars: this is a new Christmas compilation that will be released as a vinyl LP by WIAIWYA on November 30th and it includes a bunch of great bands. At this point we can only listen to one of the songs though, “Christmas Tree (Burn Burn Burn)” by The Catenary Wires which sounds pretty good to me. Looking forward to the rest!

Various Artists – This Concerns Everyone: another compilation by WIAWYA (and Gare du Nord). This one is released on CD and includes 14 tracks. On Bandcamp you can stream half of them by the likes of Famous Problems, Red Red Eyes or The Leaf Library. This one is out now!

The Sappers: this just showed up on Bandcamp even though it dates from 2016. Never heard this guitar pop band, armed with Rickenbackers, from Sheffield. This short album consisting of 8 songs chimes and chimes, with heartfelt vocals. Are they still going? Playing gigs? Who were behind this band?

Neurotic Fiction: so many records to buy, so little money. Here is a new pre-order, for a vinyl LP that is coming out on November 16. “Pulp! Music” is the debut album by this Bristol band formed by Jess, Livi, Rory and Sean. 10 indiepop with post-punk vibes. Two songs are available to stream right now, “Collateral” and “Loose End”. Check them out!

Rose Ette: one of my favourite bands from the US at the moment is Rose Ette from Houston. They just released their album “Ignore the Feeling” as a limited vinyl LP. 9 tracks of pure indiepop with female vocals and lovely melodies. You can check it out on Bandcamp, stream it and enjoy it. I guess I need to place an order soon.

—————————————————————–

Always been a fan of whatever Graham Fellows has put out. Of course his album Love at The Hacienda is a true favourite for me. But there are many other records he had been involved with which are not as well known. One of them is a 1983 7″ by a band called The Pop Guns, that I must say, I have only discovered a few months ago. And of course it has proven impossible to find a copy of it!

Of course we all know of The Popguns who had amazing songs like “Waiting for the Winter” or “Landslide” who are back now releasing records on Matinée. But this is a different sort of Pop Guns. One that sounds closer to The Chefs or Sarah Goes Shopping. A lovely female fronted early 80s indiepop band. One that deserves to be rediscovered!

Graham Fellows, best known for creating the characters of John Shuttleworth and Jilted John made a splash when he was a drama student at Manchester Polytechnic. There with the “Jilted John” record, with it’s classic “Gordon is a moron” line he made himself a well known name. Since that moment in 1978 on he has released many records and even this year he released a new album which is available at his Bandcamp. I wonder what spot does The Pop Guns have in his heart. How important were they.

The Pop Guns only released one 7″. It came out on Toadstool Records (Toadstool 2) which had previously released the “Through the Line” 7″ by Graham Fellows. The Pop Guns record included just two songs, all written and produced by Graham Fellows, “My Mother’s Been Reading My Diary Again” on the A side and “Don’t Finish With Me” on the B side.

The band was a duo of course. It was Graham Fellows playing the instruments and Gemma Wilson the vocals. The viola on the record was played by Beverly aintree and the sleeve, that illustration of the cover, was created by Carol Pendlebury.

There are no compilation appearances listed for the band.

What else there is about them on the web. Nothing really. I know it is very little information but that’s all there is. Perhaps one day I could interview Graham and ask him about this band. That’d be fantastic. I would love to have a copy of this record, these are the sort of songs I love. But I know that is going to be complicated too.

In any case I wanted to share this wonderful song. Let you know that this record exists. And maybe, just maybe, you can share any details about The Pop Guns that you might remember. For example, did they ever play live?

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
The Pop Guns – Don’t Finish With Me

Another week goes by. This week has been busy for me. I’ve visited the post office every single day and I still haven’t finished posting all packages I have. I hope by next Tuesday I should be done unless there are more orders over the weekend. And that, actually, would be great!

As usual there are a few finds I have stumbled upon the past few days!

Fashion Brigade: Elia Einhorn, who used to be in the excellent Scotland Yard Gospel Choir, has a new cassette out under the name Fashion Brigade. There are four songs on it, “Fvck the Heartache”, “Kissyface”, “Kissyface x Tyler Pope” and “Kissyface x Thor Harris”. The songs were recorded in Olympia at Dub Narcotic Studios. And well, the two songs available to stream sound pretty good.

Lazy Eye: “Monday” is the only song on this Palembang, Indonesia, band’s Bandcamp. But I still thought it was worth recommending it as it is a lovely slice of jangle pop with female vocals. I hope to hear more music by them soon!

Ciggie Witch: this Aussie band have released a tape album called “Mad Music” just a few weeks ago on Lost and Lonesome Records. It is actually the third album the band releases, but it is the first I’m listening! The band is formed by Ashley Bundang, Mitch Clemens, Lachlan Denton, Zach Denton, Liam Halliwell, Lauren Huynh and Joe Foley. Good jangly stuff!

Melbourne Cans: another album on Lost and Lonesome is “Heat of the Night” by this Melbourne ensemble that loves Orange Juice as well as 50s pop. There are 11 songs of catchy pop available on vinyl since June 8th. The band is formed by Rob Andrews, Ash Buscombe, Nina Renee and Ian Wallace.

Très Oui: from the ashes of the band Literature comes this new Austin band who have already put out a superb album called “Poised to Flourish”  earlier this year. There are 10 top tracks in total and it is hard to choose a favourite track. Now, I just need to get myself a copy…

—————————————————————–

When I heard for the first time Blue Light’s “Take Me Away” I thought they sounded a lot like The Chills. But reading through some comments on Youtube, not sure if they are reliable and all, I read that Blue Light played their first gig in 1984 (at Pegasus), two years before the release of the first Chills album. At this gig the band had played most of their songs from their self-titled album and of course “Take Me Away”. Is this really true?

I stumbled upon the Greek band Blue Light last year when I was doing my sort of “around the world” series on the blog. In the end I wrote a post about The Jaywalkers as it made quite a lot of sense to do that, them being one of the most legendary indiepop bands from that country. But today I thought I’d revisit that project of a post I had, see what I could find about Blue Light whose song “Take Me Away” impressed me.

The band only has one record under their belt. An album with 10 songs. It was released locally in Greece by Di Di Music (Di Di 117) in 1988. This was an independent label founded in Greece by Nikos Loris in Athens that not only released local bands but licensed bigger names like Dead Kennedys, A Witness, Membranes and more.

As mentioned the record had 10 songs, 5 on each side. The A side had “Teens”, “Take Me Away”, “Lighthouse”, “Let Her Pass” and “About Lunch Time”. The B side had “You Pretended, I Surrendered”, “Havensmile”, “I Saw You Laughing”, “Menuet I” and “No Play”. All songs were recorded at Sierra Studio in Athens. The sound engineer was Kostas Kalimeris and was produced by the band.

The band being:
Dimitris Karystinos (guitar)
Aris Avgerinos (bass)
Vagelis Vekios (drums)
Socratis Papahatzis aka. Oannes (vocals and keyboards)

Also we know that

Aside of this album, which you can find it entirely on Youtube, the band appeared on two compilations. The first dates from 1985 and it was a tape called “Λύκος Μαύρος Και Ισχνός” (which translates as Black Wolf and Loneliness) were the band contributed the song “I Saw You Laughing”. This tape came alongside a fanzine called “Λύκος Άσπρος Και Ισχνός” (Lizard White and Lack) which was very limited. Just 23 copies and of those 23, only the first 5 came with this tape. The Blue Light song was recorded live on March 14th 1985. Where at? I am not sure.

“Cicadas (An Electric Guide To The Greek Underground)” was an LP compilation released in 1987 by Pegasus Records (PEG 003). This of course was another independent label from Athens. On this record Blue Light appears first with the song “About Lunch Time”.

I look at other bands the Blue Light members were involved with. Socratis Papahatzis has been involved in Thirty Ντέρτι and lately on the MK-O band, a duo with his wife Marina Kavanaki. Aris Avegerinos had played in 667, Σταμάτης Μάζαρης and Δημήτρης Κοργιαλάς. Vagelis Vekios has played in many bands, too many too list really like Vavoura Band, Μουσικές Ταξιαρχίες, Γιώργος Σταυριανός and Ελελεύ. He is also a radio producer. Lastly Dimitris has played in Sunny Μπαλτζή & Santa Fila. Discogs also lists three other members which I’m not sure at what point they were in Blue Light, Yannis Maniatis, Akis Perdikis and Spyros Soukis.

I look on Youtube for some Blue Light footage. And I find it immediately. There’s a complete gig from 1989 at the Rodon in Athens filmed by ET2 (Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation) where the band plays the songs “You Pretended, I Surrendered”, “About Lunch Time”, “Puppets”, “Magical Moment”, “Dressed in White Lady” and “I Saw You Laughing”.

I keep looking for answers to my questions. I find an article written on April 30th 2008 on RadioBubble. Here I will learn that Oannes first instrument was a mandolin and he begins to write music at the age of 12. Then he is self-taught guitar and attend 28 or so piano lessons at the Athens Conservatory. Around that time he starts Blue Light with friends Alexis Kalofolias and Giorgios Karanikolas form Last Drive and Yannis Maniatis from Metro Decay. There would be many lineup changes afterwards it says. So I find out when Yannis Maniatis was part of the band. At the start.

Following that trail I stop at Rateyourmusic where I notice there are dates for each of the band members listed. At last. So:
Aris Avegerinos (bass)
Vagelios Vekios (drums 1987-1989)
Dimitris Karystinos (guitar 1987-1989)
Socratis Papachatzis (keyboards, vocals)
Spiros Soukis (guitar 1985-1987)
Akis Perdikis (drums 1985-19879)
Dimitros Kavakapoulos (saxophone 1986)

Also this site has a bunch of related artists listed: 4 Εποχές [4 Epohes], Annabouboula, MK-O (Marina Kanavaki – Oannes), That’s Why, Vavoura Band, Μουσικές Ταξιαρχίες [Mousikes Taxiarhies], Ελελεύ [Elelef], Σπυριδούλα [Spyridoula], Σελάνα.

It is kind of hard for me to find more information about Blue Light especially when most of the websites are written in Greek. I would love to know why only one release by this band. And why so many years after the band had formed. Why so many lineup changes. Are there more compilation appearances? Was there any interest by any big label? What about this comparison with The Chills? Were they aware of the Dunedin sound? How popular were they in Greece? Did they have any contact at any point with the indiepop bands that came after in Athens? Who remembers them?

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
Blue Light – Take Me Away

A bunch of pre-orders for the BV’s 7″s have been posted, as well as copies to some stores and mailorders. You can also always ask your local mailorder or store to order from Cloudberry, if you want to save some bucks from shipping. Or as many people do, get organized with friends within your country or town and order many copies to save on shipping. I know how annoying are the shipping costs from the US for international buyers. So I’m happy to help of course.

What are the new finds for today?

The Passmore Sisters: one of my favourite 80s indiepop bands has just put together a retrospective compilation CD which you can get from their Bandcamp. You can also stream there all 12 songs! It includes all singles and B sides between the years 1985 and 1987. No one should miss this. I ordered mine of course. Essential!

Toy Tambourine: this fantastic Bandung, Indonesia, band have been appearing on our blog a lot. They have great songs, that’s why. Their latest is called “She Never” and it will be included in their upcoming “Vaguely Maybe” EP to be released sometime soon. Will keep an eye!

The Perfect English Weather: the song “Rockin’ to That Beat” was part of a two track single that Matinée released digitally a month ago. As it happens with many digital-only releases I missed it. I wasn’t paying attention. That’s bad. Because even though I refuse and will refuse forever to pay for digital releases I can stream this beauty of a song. And I urge everyone to do that. And hoping the band releases a new record soon too!

Bootchy Temple: I was recommended this band a few days ago by Fuzztone Tom who runs Howlin’ Banana Records telling me he was releasing an album by this French band from Paris that was heavily influenced by Sarah, C86 and Flying Nun Records. So as it is normal in me that picked up my curiosity. The album has 13 songs and it happens to be the 3rd album by the band.  It is available now on vinyl LP.

Cariño: this November 9th this lovely Spanish band will be releasing a new 10″ with 8 songs! Three of them are available to stream now from the Elefant Records Bandcamp: “Canción de Pop de Amor”, “Bisexual” and “Momento Inadecuado”. It is true that two of these songs we have heard before on their 7″, but at least “Bisexual” is new to listen and it is great. The 10″ is called “Movidas”.

—————————————————————–

One Hundred and One Dalmatians, often abbreviated as 101 Dalmatians, is a 1961 American animated adventure film produced by Walt Disney and based on the 1956 novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith. The 17th Disney animated feature film, the film tells the story of a litter of Dalmatian puppies who are kidnapped by the villainous Cruella de Vil, who wants to use their fur to make into coats. Their parents, Pongo and Perdita, set out to save their children from Cruella, all the while rescuing 84 additional puppies that were bought in pet shops, bringing the total of Dalmatians to 101.

I did watch that move when I was a kid. But having named themselves after this novel and movie, it is going to prove very hard to find information about this brilliant mid and late 90s Japanese band.

As I was checking out Bobbie’s Rockin’ Chair I thought about the label that released them, Left Bank. I have to say I’m not very familiar with it. There’s a lot there to investigate and discover. The first release of this record label happened to be a 7″ EP by 101 Dalmatians. So I should start from there.

The “Love Goes Down the Drain EP” (LBRD-01) was released in 1995. It included 4 songs, two on each side. The A side had “Love Goes Down the Drain” and “MG MAN” while the B side was “Old Fashioned Lovers Song (Paddy Just Drags Me Down)” and “Fly My Boy Fly”. At first I thought that “Love Goes Down the Drain” would be a cover of The Monochrome Set classic song of the same name, but no, it is a wonderful pop song by the Japanese band.

The band at this point was formed by Tsuyoshi Shimoda on vocals and guitar, Sho Tajiri on bass, Kei Tajiri on bass, Yuki Takezai on vocals and cornet, Youichiro Nakayama on drums. The songs were all written by Tsuyoshi Shimoda and were recorded at Suizenji Strawberry Studio and Studio Brown House. Masaki Yamaguchi was the producer for the record. The design for the record is credited to Atsushi Itoh. Now, if I can find a copy of this record…

Two years later, in 1998, and on the same label, the band released their debut album “Permanent Waves” (LBCD-01). Again the artwork for the record is credited to Atsushi Itoh who I believe run the record label. Tsuyoshi Shimoda is once again credited for writing the songs with the help of Siji Fukuda in a few of them.

The album included 11 tracks: “Opening (Permanent Waves)”, “Love Goes Down the Drain”, “Half a Turtle”, “Old Fashioned Lover’s Song”, “My Idiotic Love”, “MG Man”, “Fly, My Boy, Fly!”, “Everything Will be Cool”, “Bell”, “Holly Sign” and “Ending (We’re Delicate Dogs)”.

Discogs doesn’t list any other records by the band nor compilation appearances. I do know though that the band appeared on a compilation called “Cherrios!’98” released by Bananafish Records in Japan. On this CD comp released in 1998 the band appears with the song “But I’m Trying A.K.I.”. There was also a tape called “Left Bank Presents Top of the World” (LBCT-01) that was released in 1998. I can’t tell which song the band contributed to this cassette.

What else do we know? Well of course Tsuyoshi Shimoda had been in the legendary band Johnny Dee and Thee Windless Gates. But was he also involved in any other bands?

I can’t find bands related to the other band members though. There is so little written about them. Even in Japanese there’s absolutely nothing.

I just ordered a copy of the CD album. But I doubt it will give me any important details. So I need to get in touch with the band members to interview them and learn their story. Maybe some of the Japanese readers of the blog remember them? I would love to find out so many things about them. Are the band members still making music for example? Did they play many gigs? Are there any unreleased tracks? Anyone knows?

Edit 1/11/2018 – On Twitter I was told that Sho Tajiri was involved in a CD called “Volume Contras One” that was released in 2006. Don’t know much details about this, but here is a blog post about the CD (in Japanese).

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
101 Dalmatians – Love Goes Down the Drain

Happy news for everyone, today after writing this post I’m heading to the post office to mail the first batch of BV’s singles to everyone that pre-ordered this beautiful record! The official release date is November 10th but the 7″s are here and ready and they will start arriving at popkids homes pretty soon. I’m very happy with this release, the last 7″ for the year. There might be another release this year though, so keep an eye on the blog and the website (and the Facebook page too!).

Some cool finds from over the weekend? A weekend that I spent inserting inserts in the 7″ sleeves, and then the 7″s in plastic sleeves. 🙂

VA – You Can Never Replace Polaroid: on my last post I was celebrating the band The Sweetest Touch and today I stumbled upon a tape compilation they were on called “You Can Never Replace Polaroid!” that was released by Don’t Fade Away Records from Indonesia. It is a fine comp, which you can stream on Bandcamp and it includes other Indonesian bands like Elenin, Selat Malaka and Substars.

The Belafontes: first time I’m listening this Melbourne band and they already amde a great impression on me! Their third single is called “Gemini” and it such a fun song! The duo formed by Jess and Paul have a few other songs like “Where the City Meets the Sea” and “Cruel” which are as good!

Store Front: wasn’t aware that Peggy Wang was still making music! That’s cool. Haven’t seen her in a long time, but listening to the latest song, “Go For Broke”, from the band she is in now, Store Front, makes me terribly happy. The sound kind of reminds me of the great Help Stamp Out Loneliness. Or maybe is the vocals? The band is formed by Amy Rose Spiegel, Peggy Wang, Bradon Louro and Chalky Edwards. Would be great to catch them live!

Earache: another Australian band? Why not! Earache has released a tape with two songs on the Lacklustre label from Canberra. The songs are “Voices” and “Parasite” and they sound pretty good to me. The band is formed by Gemma Nourse and David Fenderson. Sadly the tape is sold out now even though they have October 2019(!) as their release date.

BMX Bandits: lastly a cool video of the legendary band played live at the Quay Sessions, BBC Scotland. How great they sound!!!

—————————————————————–

Was watching the promo video of “Your Place” by Fear of Falling on Youtube the other day. I immediately thought why not dedicate the Brisbane early 90s band a post on the blog. So here I am, knowing nothing about them really but hoping that by the end of the post I understand them a bit better.

I still want to do that Australian obscure pop gems compilation. Maybe when Cloudberry is no more? Then it would be a very nice project for me to work on I think. That if no one has done it before. We’ll see. In any case I would include this track because I think is great. I’m sure the band and their label, Phantom, knew that too. That’s why they made a video. On Super-8 film as it had to be done at the Brisbane Powerhouse before it became the arts center that it is today.

“Your Place” was their first single. It was on Phantom Records (PH-40) and came out in 1990. The 7″ single included two B sides, “Slave” and “Fear…”. Discogs doesn’t have much to go on. There are barely no details. We know it was recoded at Broken Toy Studios with Leroy bath as an engineer. The sleeve gives us a bit more information. Kerry Lee on vocals, Neil Coombe on guitar, Caroline Grubb on bass and Mark Elliot on drums. Some musicians helped on the song “Fear…” like Carol Rohde played tom tom velocities and synths, David Smith a sample boffin and backing vocals.

“Butler to your Masquerade” was their second single, also released in 1990 by Phantom Records (PH 43). The B side for this single was “Hand in Hand”. There was a promo video for the A side, “Butler to your Masquerade“.

That same year they also released “For the Tourist” (PH-44) with “South of Nowhere” on the B Side. It was released by Phantom Records, the only label they worked with. This Sydney label is probably one of the most important for indie music in that country. A label that put out Even As We Speak or The Hummingbirds for example.

These two songs of this single were also recorded at Broken Toys Studio in Brisbane with Leroy Bath as the engineer. The band at this point was formed by Cas Simpson on bass, Mark McElligott on drums, Neil Coombe on guitar and Kerry Lee on vocals. Two boys, two girls. Perfect combo. The art for the single is credited to Minna and Neil Coombe too. So comparing to the first single, did Caroline Grubb leave for Cas Simpson? And what about Mark Elliot and Mark McElligott, their names are similar, but probably not the same person?

Lastly in 1990 the band appeared on the very good compilation “Young Blood II” released by RooArt. This compilation which featured up and coming Australian bands had Fear of Falling appear with the song “Your Place”.

The band would be also very active in 1991. That year they would release another single and their one and only album. The 7″ was a single with the songs “Crossroads of Reality” on the A side and “Acid Rain” on the B side. It was released by Phantom Records (PH 48). There was also a promo video for the A side, “Crossroads of Reality“. I start to wonder how come the band is not that known if they got three videos! That is not that common.

Something worth mentioning about their singles is that the first or so 300 copies of them all came in coloured vinyl, the rest in black of course. It does look like the label trusted in them quite a lot and supported them in different ways, coloured vinyl, promo videos and more.

“Welcome to Wonderland” was to be released in 1991. This was the only album the band released. It came out on Phantom Records (PHLP-11) and included 12 songs, 6 on each side. All singles were included in it too. So we have on the A side: “Watching the World Go By”, “Crossroads of Reality”, “For the Tourist”, “Candy”, “Steamtrain of Youth” and “Your Place”. The B side had “Black and White”, “Butler to Your Masquerade”, “Manic”, “Answering” and “South of Nowhere”.

The song “Hand in Hand” had cello played by Rebecca Windsor and violin played by Andrew Cawse, Wendy Cawse and William Deer. Again the band recorded at Broken Toys Studio with Leroy Bath. Some curiosities about the album are the matrix/runout. Hand-etched on the A side it says “No Matter Where You Go, There You Are!” and on the B side “Just a Bit More to the Right…Ahh!”

Lastly that same year, 1991, the band appears covering The Plimsouls song “A Million Miles Away” on the compilation “This Ain’t The Plimsouls: It’s Just a Matter of Time!” that was released by Zero Hour Records (ZEROCD 1001).

I check out the band members on Discogs.

Neil Coombe runs The White Room, a recording studio in Mount Nebo, near Brisbane. He had been in other bands too like Bad Habit, Slant, The Stress of Leisure or Wishing Chair. And has worked in production of many bands like Flamingo Crush, St Andrews Fall and even he has worked with The Go-Betweens and Robert Forster! Cool!

Mark McElligott is a producer/recording engineer and mixed. He has been in the bands Drag and The Daisycutters too. As a producer he has worked with Battered Fish, Beanbag and Powderfinger among others.

I find a blog called Striped Sunlight where they share Australian obscure music. Here they have a scan of a May 1990 issue of the Brisbane Underground Music Scene magazine. There is an article about Fear of Falling and gives us many more details about them.

It says that the band is formed by an ex 42nd Street (the band that had the Atkinson brothers of the Ups and Downs) guitarist, a poet, a bass player from the Lemon Fabs and a drummer from The Louvers. Now, I’ve never heard of any of these bands before. The Ups and Downs yes of course, I have a couple of their singles. But not the other ones. Would love to find out how they sound!

It mentions that before them signing to Phantom or appearing on the RooArt comp the band recorded at single at Sun Studios in Sydney. That is how they got these labels interested in them. So, what single was that? Was it properly released?

They seem to have hoped to be international, get a deal abroad, tour Europe and the States, sell records there. I guess that didn’t happen?

Another blog, one by Greg Dodge, mentions the band too. He mentions a newsletter he wrote back in 1990, talking about new acts at the time. He mentions that Neil Coombe had also been in a band called Mr Meaner. That the band had won the 1990 Country Music Star maker award.

There is a Sydney Morning Herald article from February 1st 1991 where the band is featured. Sadly I need a paid account to be able to read it. I wonder what it says.

And that’s about all I could find on the web. I liked what I heard on the videos. I should track down the album and have it in my collection. Would love to know if the girls were involved in other bands? And how did they sound? When and why did they split? Did they tour all over Australia? Were they close to become “international” as they wanted? Do you remember them?

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
Fear of Falling – Your Place

Short post today. But as always it is loaded with goodies, old and new.

Tallies: this was a superb recommendation from my friend Vernon. This Toronto outfit are releasing an album on January 11th, 2019, which sounds absolutely brilliant. It will be released on vinyl, CD and cassette. There are two songs right now to stream from the self-titled album and they are called “Mother” and “Beat the Heart”. It will be the debut of the band and I look forward to get a copy as I’m eager to hear the rest of songs!!

The Sweetest Touch: our Chinese friends Boring Productions have a bunch of new releases coming up. First up is a 7″ by this Indonesian band I’ve raved many times in the past. There are three songs by this lovely pop group, “Runaway”, “Too Many Dust, Too Many Haze” and “Last Wishes”. Definitely a must have!

Odd Gesture: another Indonesian band that will be releasing a 7″ on Boring Production is Odd Gesture. Their “Odd Fucking Gesture” EP was released yesterday, October 25th. There are five top songs that remind me a bit of 14 Iced Bears, “Sick of You”, “My Holding Hands”, “Saccharine”, “I H8 Sharesprings” and “You and I (Die Together)”.

Strange Creatures: and that’s not all, there is an album LP plus 7″ by another band I’ve raved in the past, the filipinos Strange Creatures! The 10 song album sounds gorgeous really. Pop perfection. Gosh! Jovi, I need these records!! And I think everyone needs them too. Great stuff, Boring Productions might be one of my favourite indiepop labels of the moment for sure!

Pting: there is just one song to stream from a 4-song EP by the Melbourne band Pting. It is a shame as I’d love to listen to the rest. But, well, “Bus Driver”, is a great song, very catchy! The band is formed by Elsie on vocals and guitar, Yura on vocals and bass, Rhys on vocals and guitar and Ben on drums. Lots of female vocals, that’s always a good thing!

—————————————————————–

Crocodile tears: tears or expressions of sorrow that are insincere

I have very little to say about this band, I wish it was the other way around, that I had lots of information about them. I discovered them through The Fanning Sessions blog were three songs are posted: “Goodbye Susie-Ann”, “Tuesday Morning” and “Susie Sweetness”.

These three songs were part of a RTE Fanning Session recorded on November 9th 1987. As far as I know there were no releases by the band and these might be the only songs recorded by them, unless anyone know of any demo tapes put together by them? It would be great to find out!

Also it seems there are no photos online by the band. Even the Fanning Session blog and the superb IrishRock website don’t have one. So I have ended using a crocodile to illustrate this post. Hope the band forgives me.

And what about Susie? It seems they must have liked a Susie a lot, unless they are two different Susies, right? Susie-Ann and Susie Sweetness?

The band was formed by Brendan Tallon (guitar/vocals), Brendan Berry (guitar/vocals), Barry Woodley (bass) and Shane Rafferty (drums). They hailed from Ballinteer in Dublin.

Ballinteer (Irish: Baile an tSaoir, meaning “Town of the Stonemason”) is a small southside suburb of Dublin, located in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Ireland, extensively developed from the late 1960s onwards.

I’m quite excited lately about Dublin I must say. I will be visiting Dublin for a few days late in November. So I’m interested in any second hand record shops people can recommend me. I’m hoping to score a few guitar pop records from the 80s and the early 90s if possible.

Anyways. Crocodile Tears. IrishRock.org has a few more details about them. They were around between 1986 and 1988. We also know that in 1988 when Ian O’Donoghue replaced Barry Woodley on bass they changed names to The Coletranes. The Coletranes did release a 7″ record and appeared on compilations. But that’s not all. Other bands related to Crocodile tears were Saturday Captains (Brendan Tallon), Revelino (Brendan Tallon, Brendan Berry & Shane Rafferty) and Beat Club (Brendan Tallon & Shane Rafferty).

An interesting detail also from IrishRock is that Brendan Tallon was a midfielder for the Bohemian FC football club during the 1984/85 season making several fist team appearances that season. Sadly his career was cut short due to a knee injury. I could find an article on the Herald were they mention him playing for The Bohs.

As I said there is not much written about them, though for other bands they were involved there is much more on the web. I haven’t really checked out the the other bands they were in. I need to do so. Maybe they deserve a post on the blog as well. You know I’m particular about that. They have to have a particular sound.

For now I’d love to know more about Crocodile Tears. Especially if they record any songs properly. I know there were no releases, but maybe there were demos. The three songs from the Fanning Session sound very nice. So any details any of my Irish readers remember would be great! Would love to find out more about them. If they were around for at least two years, 1986 to 1988, they must have played gigs and appeared on fanzines or magazines at least!

Anyone remember them?

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
Crocodile Tears – Tuesday Morning

Not many news, not much happening in indiepopworld this week aside that the superb documentary Teenage Superstars is now available on DVD. If you haven’t seen it or got a copy, do that now. It is available through different sellers on the web. I got it from Wall of Noise.

Finds? Yes there are more than a few:

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: have been following and enjoying every new song Glenn Donaldson has been uploading to his Bandcamp. And no, I’m not friends with him, never met him, never talked to him. I just like these simple jangly songs. His latest is called “Monday is Fine (demo)” and it really is pretty. I also enjoy these photos he uses to illustrate his songs. Where are tehse houses from? This last one looks like a Latin American house.

Foliage / Sound and Fury: it is really cool what the Mexican netlabel Stupid Decisions is putting together in their Bandcamp, most of the stuff is top notch in it. The latest from this label are two songs each by Foliage from the USA (“Don’t Come Back Anymore” and “Dare”) and Sound and Fury from China (“Innocent” and “It’s All Ok”). Two bands I have raved on the blog in the past!

VA – Goodbye Idiots II: the same label, Stupid Decisions, is putting together yet another online compilation. I was recommending a few days ago their “Para Siempre” comp and now there’s this one that includes bands like Andrew Younker, Marble Gods, Perrogato and more. Some of these songs are available to stream, some aren’t. I urge you to have a listen, it’s good!

Unicorns at Heart: the great tape label Hidden Bay Records from Toulouse have a new release coming out on October 29th. It is an album by Unicorn Heart. Only one of the songs is available to stream and it is called “No One Nothing Pt. 1”. Nice lo-fi jangle here. The band hails from Monrovia, California.

The Model School: this Sydney, Australia, band is actually just Brendan Wixted. He has just released an album called “Suburban Cinema” which has 10 poppy guitar pop songs. You can stream the whole album on Bandcamp and no, doesn’t look that there is a physical release for it. Lovely.

—————————————————————–

Here’s a band whose record I’ve been tracking down for a long time. Maybe there will be some luck in the future though I don’t hold my hope up.

The double A sided 7″ single released in 1983 by Victorian Picture Show is a mystery to me. I know little about it though I’ve seen it mentioned on some blogs in the past. There were two songs on the record, “Travels of One” and “Love With No Words”, and so far I’ve only have listened the first song.

It was released by No Choice Records. On Discogs only another single is listed under this label, The One Takes’ “Extended Play” 7″ released in 1980. That was the first one in the label’s catalog. Victorian Picture Show’s 7″ was the fourth one (NC 004).

Happily someone has scanned the sleeve of the record so I can find more information about them. We know then that the band was formed by:
Brian Gibson (guitar)
Donna McDougall (vocals)
Geordie Taylor (lead guitar)
Billy Wilson (drums)

For this record they also had the help of Arnie Burgoyne who played keyboards. George Cowan produced and arranged the songs. I believe in the inner side of the sleeve the lyrics for both songs were printed and also a photo of the band is included. Everything on the sleeve was printed in red ink. A duotone. Just like I do in the blog with blue, they did it with red.

Something interesting is that the first song, “Travels of One”, is credited to Brian Gibson and someone with the last name White. Who was this White? “Love With No Words” on the other hand is credited to all band members.

No compilation appearances are listed.

I keep digging on the web. Trying to find any information about the band. I don’t know whereabouts in the UK they came from. That makes it harder to pinpoint their names to a location. I think I’m stumbling upon a wall so fast.

I look for them as if they continued making music, on the regular channels, like Soundcloud or older ones like ReverbNation, but can’t find them anywhere. It is strange. They must have continued making songs under another name.

I can’t figure out much about them. Just this superb single. And then they disappeared? They must have played gigs. Someone must remember them!

I wonder, if anyone has any details about the Victorian Picture Show that can be shared with me!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
Victorian Picture Show – Travels of One

A new week and I have a bunch of cool Bandcamp finds from the weekend. Hope you enjoy them.

Pealds: the label It Takes Time Records from St. Louis, Missouri, will be releasing a tape album by the band Pealds on November 9th. Titled “Melted” the album sounds really promising. The band, who also hails from the same city, have made two songs available to stream from the album, “Melted” and “Secrets”, and I can only say that they sound great!

VA-Para Siempre: this digital only compilation released by the Mexican netlabel Stupid Decisions sounds pretty good. Well, the 4 songs that you can stream sound pretty good. It is a strange setup though. It seems that the compilation will have 16 songs but only 9 are listed and other two have the band names. It seems they are completing the compilation as the days go by. You can now check tracks by La Última Isla, Yr Glow, Noizu and Diana Hutch.

The Seams: the new release on our friends Meritorio Records from Madrid, Spain, is a new album by The Seams. If you like jangle pop, this is definitely for you. There are 9 songs total and it will be available starting October 26 on vinyl LP. At the moment you can preview two songs, “Lemonade” and “on the Shelf”. The band is formed by Kyle Edward Connolly, Jonathan Kennedy Rogers, Jesse Mirsky and Omri Gondor.

The Phospenes: another Melbourne jangly band. It seems every week we discover a new band from there. And they are all usually pretty good! This quartet released earlier this year their album “Finally a Friendly Shore” on CD. There are 13 songs on it, and you can preview all of them on Bandcamp too.

Ghost Thoughts: after leaving the Vancouver band Thee Ahs and moving to Amsterdam, Davina Shell, has been recording songs under the name Ghost Thoughts. A 13 song album is now available on Jigsaw Records. It is a very personal album, packed with bittersweet popsongs. Definitely worth a listen.

—————————————————————–

Japanese indiepop has a huge output and at the same time it is not documented enough. And I’m not talking only in English, even in Japanese is not easy to find information about the bands from the past.

With that situation in mind I should try to be more proactive, try to have a Japanese band now and then on the blog. The problem is too that I don’t own many of their records. It is not easy for me to find them. And it is also not that easy to get in touch with their members.

Bobbie’s Rockin’ Chair was a band that was active during the late 90s. Releasing two 7″s on the Left Bank label. A very fine label that for some reason I haven’t heard much about. It is not as popular or well known. But with releases of Photo Jenny, Chain Letter or 101 Dalmatians, it is a proper good label I think. Maybe their records didn’t get much distribution in the west? That might be it.

The second ever release on this label was Bobbie’s Rockin’ Chair first 7″. The “Love Can Make Your Mind” EP (LBRD-02) came out in 1998 and included four songs, two on each side. The A side had “Love Can Make Your Mind” and “It’s Starting Again”. The B side had “Summer in Love” and “Follow the Rainbow”.

At this point we already can tell the love of the band for 60s design, one that reminds me a lot of Siesta Records designs. Vintage photos, heavy fonts and lots of color. That would be the style for every release of the band. I really like when bands are faithful to their aesthetics.

The back of the sleeve gives us some names. The art direction for the record is credited to Atsushi Itoh. The record was produced by Masaki Yamaguchi. And then the band members: Tetsuya Ishiyama, Kazuki Morimoto, Takashi Yoshi, Yumiko Sone, Junya Miyake and Toshihiko Miyawaki.

“Young Friends” was their 2nd EP on Left Bank (LBRD-05). It was released in 1998 too. The A side had “Young Friends” and “What a Happy Day”. The B side had “Morning After Time” and “I Wish You Could Be There”.

The art for this record is credited to Shie Kutsuna. Then there are credits for many musicians that helped in this record. For example Toshihiko Miyawaki played drums on the A side while Yoshihisa Kawaguchi played drums on the B side. Kazumi Mimasu played piano. Naoyuji Tokota played trumpet and flugelhorn. Tetuji Kuriyama played trumpet and flugelhorn too. Nobunori Tsurukawa and Junichi Satour played trumpet. Junji Kawaguchi played trombone and Mayumi Hozaki played flute. Quite a bunch of instruments, it is clear that they loved to have some fancy arrangements in their songs!

Some years after, in 2004, the South Korean label Beatball Records put together a compilation called “… like Nothing Else You Ever Tasted” where all 8 songs of the 7″s plus the song “Here Comes the Sunshine”. So 9 songs in total.

Discogs lists one compilation appearance of the band. On the “Rabid Chords Compilation Vol.1 – Standby for “Action”” released by Victor Entertainment as part of their Rabid Chords series the band contributed the song “Young Friends”. This compilation came out on CD in 1999 and included a bunch of superb Japanese bands like Citrobal, Corniche Camomile, Penelopes and more.

Now, with their name misspelled as “Bobby’s” Rocking Chair they appear on two other compilations for Siesta Records. See? It is no surprise that their style fit nicely in the Spanish label. On the “Sombrero” (Siesta 80) compilation that came out on both CD and LP in 1999, the band appears with the song “Finders Keepers”.  With that same song they appear on “Blanco y Negro Music For Siesta”(RBCS-2024) from 2002, a Rambling Records compilation of Siesta tracks for the Japanese market.

An interesting fact about this song, “Finders Keepers”, is actually an original by Rod McBrien from The Salt Water Taffy and the Goggles.

I keep looking for more information. It seems the band was actually based in Kansai. Thanks to Google Translate I find that their song “Young Friends” was used in a Japanese TV series.

Other interesting fact is that Yumiko, after leaving Bobbie’s Rockin’ Chair has played solo gigs, for example in 2013 in Osaka. Before that I find that the band played a gig on May 9th 1999 with Three Berry Icecream, Trans Alphabet  and Uround Table. Other gig dates from January 8th, 2001, where the band played with Instant Cytron and Potbelly. And that Kazuki Morimoto also used to do DJ sets at pop gigs.

Speaking of Yummy (Yumiko) again, there is a compilation called “Boys (& Girls) Wonder” where she guests on a song by Lollipop Song (and Other Candy Pops) called “Speedy Wonder” where she is featured.

I believe the band was featured on the fanzine Beady on its edition of January 27 of 2000. It was the 3rd volume of this Japanese zine.

Kazuki Morimoto has remixed the Smiles song “Love So Fine” that appeared on their album “Strawberry TV Show”.

Nothing else I could find about them. Are they still involved with music? Were they involved in any other bands? I suppose they only recorded those 9 songs as they are the only ones that appear on the Korean CD. But maybe there are more? I would love to think that. Also where in Kansai where they from? Osaka? Most possibly. I would love to get in touch with them, interview them in possible. And of course find copies of their 7″s or at least their CD compilation!

My Japanese friends, do you remember them?

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
Bobbie’s Rockin’ Chair – Young Friends