#TheCatherines

[bandcampsnoop]

3/27/24.

Another day, yet another band that I somehow missed. You'd think a band with releases on Slumberland and Jigsaw would have garnered notice prior to now. Nope.

Lunchbox (formed in Berkeley, currently in Oakland) have been playing music for 3 decades, but after a hiatus have been steadily releasing music since 2014. Their music definitely has a 60s vibe to it - a lot of reviews immediately mention The Archies and The Jam. There are times where they sound like a faster/punkier version of Dukes of Stratosphear. But they also hearken back to Beulah and The Apples in Stereo in the early 2000s or theCatherines now. In other words, their music really crosses eras.

"Dinner For Two" is the only song currently available from upcoming release "Pop and Circumstance", due for release in May on Slumberland.

[christmasunderground]

Plati​-​Holy​!​-​Ruma​!​!​! A Christmas Hit EP (2023)

Platiruma!!!Buy: Bandcamp (NYOP) There are a few places that I look to every year, reliable sources of interesting Christmas music that you can count on to make this humble Christmas blogger’s life just a bit easier. Germany’s Platiruma!!! Records are most certainly one of those sources. After a few singles, largely by the label’s founder and spiritual leader, Sebastian Voss (aka The Fisherman…

[bandcampsnooper]

4/14/20.

theCatherines (Hamburg, Germany) just keep getting better and better.  This album has more of a Beach Boys vibe in spots, but I still think the influences of Teenage Fanclub, Belle & Sebastian and late-Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci still stand out.  But the musicianship seems a bit stronger, and the hooks maybe even more memorable.

Heiko Schneider (writes all the songs and plays all the instruments) and Sandra provides beautiful vocals (some lead, some backing).

Maybe even more remarkable is the speed with which theCatherines produce music.  They have produced four winners since December 2018.

This is self released under the Teeny Tiny label (looks to be the name Heiko has given to his home studio).

[thisisnorthwest]

We're very happy to announce that FAR OUT, a project we've been secrectly working on for the past year, is out today! We were invited by the amazing Fadeawayradiate Records to contribute with a new and orginal song to a comp of super talented independent artists. You can pre-order yours here: https://fadeawayradiate.bandcamp.com/album/f-a-r-out 🌹

[wub-fur-radio]

☮️🇺🇸 VOTE! 🇺🇸☮️

Woke up screaming, Someone changed sides Everyone was dying, One too many votes... Satan won

– D. Boon, “Political Nightmare”

An Indie Pop/Rock mix disguised as a Democratic Party Get Out The Vote message (or is it the other way round?). Nineteen groovy new tunes to listen to while voting, driving people to polling stations, calling people to remind them to vote, and/or nervously, but hopefully, watching the election results on the internet (or, televison, if you swing that way). Including songs by Kurt Vile, Ty Segall, Sun Kil Moon, Sonnyskyes, The Bevis Frond, PAINT, Calvin Johnson, and a dozen more bands who really know how to excercise the franchise.

Don’t let D. Boon’s nightmare come true! VOTE!

Apologies to Ed Sanders and his late co-authors Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman, whose 1972 “the Yippies get clean for George McGovern” paperback polemic “VOTE!” inspired our title and cover art; and Sonic Youth, lyrics from whose song “Youth Against Facsism (Hate Song)” appear on the cover. Apologies also to FDR, Harry S Truman, & Henry Wallace, MLK, RFK, & LBJ, John & Yoko, the Congressional Black Caucus, the MC5, Michelle & Barry O & Oprah, Bernie Sanders & Elizabeth Warren, and the Minutemen.

Play on 8tracks | Play on Mixcloud (or scroll down to use one of the embedded players below)

Running Time: 1 hour, 48 seconds

Tracklist

Intro (HDAHA) (0:24) — Ben Selvin and His Orchestra | New York City

Dream Cleaner (2:49) — Lavender Flu | Portland

Light Speed (4:49) — Magic Potion | Stockholm

Skatin (3:41) — Ace Elementary | Edinburgh

Bubbles, Clouds and Rainbows (3:48) — Calvin Johnson | Olympia, WA

Moon in the Daytime (4:01) — The Moles | Sydney / Boston

Feelies (3:39) — The Glands | Athens, GA

We're Your Friends, Man (3:23) — The Bevis Frond | Walthamstow. UK

Rollin with the Flow (2:57) — Kurt Vile | Philadelphia

Class War (2:53) — Ty Segall | Los Angeles

Jane Roe (2:40) — Terry | Melbourne

Take Shelter (4:08) — Ultimate Painting | UK

Land Man (3:25) — PAINT | Los Angeles

Touched by Your Presence Deerhunter (3:33) — Sonnyskyes | Long Beach, CA

Time's Passing By (2:28) — Lia Pamina & Dario Persi | Madrid

How Come You Think Everybody Likes You? (2:33) — theCatherines | Hamburg

Bubblegum (2:12) — Zombie Girlfriend | Budapest

Wrong About It (3:46) — Faux Furrs | Chicago

Never Give Up (1:04) — Fantastic Negrito | Oakland

Come On Get Happy (1:06) — Sun Kil Moon | San Francisco

Outro (VOTE!) (0:49) — Barry O | Born in the USA

All tracks from 2018 except the Intro, which is from 1930.

Embedded Mixcloud Player

Embedded 8tracks Player

[uwengl635]

*SPOILER* Hemingway's Female Characters

Hey guys,

Here is the dissertation I was referring to in class on Tuesday. There are some spoilers to the ending of the Garden of Eden, so beware! Very interesting article though.

http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/468/

Enjoy! :)

[bandcampsnoop]

3/3/24.

theCatherines are a Hamburg-based "band" that basically is Heiko Schneider and a revolving cast of supporters. Heiko has been steadily releasing music for nearly the past decade from his Teeny Tiny Studios.

His work has been evolving into more synth based pop (check out the last track "Love Is The Monster"), but there is still plenty of pop in the vein of The Lookyloos, BMX Bandits, Gruff Rhys and R.E.M. (listen to "Ned Rorem Said").

theCatherines have brought me a lot of pop joy over the past 8 years, and "If I Had Known Then" only continues their consistent string of releases.

[bandcampsnoop]

1/7/24.

My Laundry Life is a one-man band (André Dan) from Essen, Germany who has been making music for decades. The Bandcamp page mentions indiepop in the tradition of The Go-Betweens and The Smiths. This sounds like something that would be released by either Jigsaw Records or Subjangle.

But, when originally released, "How To Wallow in Shame" was released on CDr by Vollwert-Records Berlin. Cloudberry Records also issued a split CDr mini with Kevin McGrother. So, check out Discogs to see what's available physically.

To me, some of the melodies and arrangements recall 10,000 Maniacs and Mojave 3. And the fact that this is great German indiepop means I must mention theCatherines (it's in my contract).

[bandcampsnoop]

9/3/23.

I had other plans for today's post, but some late session snooping brought me to Tossing Seed (a clear reference to Superchunk) - a band Szenzhen, China (or maybe not...the label, Small Animal Records is based in Szenzhen).

The Bandcamp page states that the band has an affinity for the C86 sound. The page also name drops influences like The Soup Dragons, Black Tambourine, The Hazmats and The Primitives.

This is pretty fuzzy and poppy. The vocals are sweet. Think of Say Sue Me crossed with early theCatherines.

[bandcampsnoop]

9/2/23.

theCatherines have long been a favorite. As much as I love great pop, I would have been a fool not to fall for Heiko Schneider's Hamburg, Germany based band.

Earlier releases tended to be pop in the vein of Teenage Fanclub or Gorky's Zygotic Mynci. This is a bit groovier , smoother and more loungy. Think Maxwell Farrington and Le SuperHomard or Louis Philippe.

I'm guessing this is being released on Schneider's own Teeny Tiny Tapes.

[bandcampsnoop]

6/2/23.

I have been thoroughly enjoying the two releases from The Happy Somethings. The effortlessly combine Flying Nun with C86 styled pop. I usually listen to music on shuffle, and I find that anytime The Happy Somethings come up I just smile and sing along.

So, when Darrin from Subjangle announced a release by Happy Feliz (Happy As You Like It) who contain 1 member from The Happy Somethings I immediately listened. Indeed! This is right in line with the sound championed by The Happy Somethings.

Happy Feliz (UK) remind me of The Bats, or theCatherines - and I mean that as the highest of compliments.

[bandcampsnoop]

12/9/23.

If your album is named "I Was Named After Daniel Treacy" then I'm guessing your main influence is Television Personalities. Zenxith (Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK) definitely shows this influence on this cassette release.

However, I would also add The Chills - listen to those vocals and tell me they don't remind you of Martin Phillipps (start with "She's Lying").

Zenxith is the work of Daniel McGee who at age 21 is as prolific as theCatherines, Laurie Shaw (doesn't really sound like this) or The Photocopies.

This cassette release is being handled by both Part Time Kolektor & Tromagnon Records.

[bandcampsnoop]

11/13/22.

Herr Wade has been showing up on my music feed, but I didn't know why. Today, I received a CD in the mail from Norway. I actually was assuming it The Fisherman and His Soul CD I'd been waiting for. Instead it was another Sebastian Voss (Germany) project. Herr Wade is Voss with Jørn O. Åleskjæ (Norway).

Herr Wade really doesn't sound like The Fisherman and His Soul. While I would describe this CD as pop, it's more firmly planted in the 1980s sound - think A-ha or any number of bands on the Frischluft! Tonträger label.

This CD is released on Platiruma!!! (Altenberge, Germany). I'm assuming this is associated with Voss. This album was recorded at TeenyTinyStudios and mastered by Heiko Schneider (theCatherines).

[bandcampsnoop]

5/29/21.

Hanemoon appears to be the work of Hans Forster (Berlin, Germany).  I actually learned about this from a Snooping The Bandcamp follower.  I don’t get many suggestions and most don’t fit the “physical rule” category.  However, not only did this referral satisfy my posting rule, but it found my musical sweet spot - Teenage Fanclub.

German pop a la Teenage Fanclub isn’t new to me - TheCatherines have been a regular post for several years.  But, German power-pop is a bit unusual - I can’t think of another band besides TheCatherines and now Hanemoon.

This is being released on CD by the ever reliable and present Jigsaw label (based in Portland).  By the way, Jigsaw is releasing a new album by The Rightovers (now based in Del Mar, CA) - a band from this blog’s first year.  The band has changed, but it’s a great release.

[bandcampsnoop]

9/16/20.

Nah are an Amsterdam, Netherlands / Münster, Germany band that recalls the joyous pop of C86, current Aussie pop and Flying Nun at its most furious.

Bands like later period Wedding Present (or Cinerama), The June Brides and McCarthy come to mind.  But so do Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever or the strummy pop of Sneaky Feelings.

As I was perusing the credits, I noticed Heiko Schneider helped mix this.  Heiko is the prolific singer/songwriter of Germany’s theCatherines.

So many great hooks and guitar pop.  Just what the world needed.  And I love that the duo said, “We wear our influences on our sleeves! Above all, we have fun and don't take it all too seriously anymore… “.

[bandcampsnoop]

4/14/20.

theCatherines (Hamburg, Germany) just keep getting better and better.  This album has more of a Beach Boys vibe in spots, but I still think the influences of Teenage Fanclub, Belle & Sebastian and late-Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci still stand out.  But the musicianship seems a bit stronger, and the hooks maybe even more memorable.

Heiko Schneider (writes all the songs and plays all the instruments) and Sandra provides beautiful vocals (some lead, some backing).

Maybe even more remarkable is the speed with which theCatherines produce music.  They have produced four winners since December 2018.

This is self released under the Teeny Tiny label (looks to be the name Heiko has given to his home studio).