CHARLOTTE'S BIONIC BLIMP "DEMO 97-98"

Charlotte's Bionic Blimp was a band created by Colette and Jason Savall in the late '90s. On a certain level the project also involved Jordan Tarlow, and it's worth mentioning that both Tarlow and Savall were ex-members of the mighty Garage-Rock band The Fuzztones.

Their first - and only - single was released in September 1998 by Sheep Records in Switzerland; this release has been the subject of a previous post here on Stereo Candies.

For some reason they shortened their name to Bionic Blimp and in 1999 they debuted on CD with "Exploring Automatic Rhythms", released on their own imprint TGTBT Music. This release seems to be quite rare and I wasn't able to find a single copy available for sale on the Internet.

It seems that the band lasted at least until 2001, and they often played live concerts in the Los Angeles area with an extended lineup that included a bassist and a drummer. During their short lifetime they were often compared to the B-52's, the Sparks, The Cars and Stereolab.

On offer in this post is a demotape recorded circa in 1997-98 which used to be available on ScrapeFlutter.com. Since the original files were deleted, I though about offering them here. Three of the four tracks included on the demo were later re-recorded and included on "Exploring Automatic Rhythms", I truly hope that someday I will be able to listen to them...

Charlotte's Bionic Blimp at the Jack's Sugar Shack in Los Angeles in Los Angeles (December 18, 1998), picture by Steve Adam

Here's the track list for this release:

demo 97-98

01. Twice (1:48)
02. Here We Go Again (2:43)
03. More To Life Than Meets the Eye (3:04)
04. See Passed the Mountain (3:32)

extra tracks

05. 1999 (3:01)
06. Here We Go Again (2:41)

All tracks were remastered in November 2013, they are available in FLAC lossless format along with printable artwork. Please have a look at the comments for the download link.

Charlotte's Bionic Blimp performing at the Jack's Sugar Shack in Los Angeles (December 18, 1998), picture by Steve Adam

More information about Charlotte's Bionic Blimp and The Fuzztones is available here:

http://www.allmusic.com/album/exploring-automatic-rhythms-mw0001143593

http://mrhollywood.0catch.com/baby/blimp.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fuzztones

http://www.fuzztones.net/

If you have any other useful information about Charlotte's Bionic Blimp - especially corrections and improvements to this post - or if you spot any dead links, please get in touch with me stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!

THE SHEEP RECORDS STORY #9: CHARLOTTE'S BIONIC BLIMP "1999 / HERE WE GO AGAIN" (1998)

Sheep Records was a Swiss underground label specialized in Garage-Rock, Surf, Lounge and other Rock'n'Roll oddities. Run by Christian Müller from Zürich, along with friends Andi Frick and Andreas Egi, it was active from 1996 to 2004 and published about 30 releases, mostly on 7" vinyl singles.



In october 2006, after about two years of hiatus, all the contents of the now defunct Sheep Records website were deleted from the Internet, and replaced with a blank page announcing that "Der Kebab ist gegessen" ("The kebab is eaten"), a last goodbye and a reference to the label's cataloguing system that included the prefix "kebab" for vinyl releases and "gigot" for CD releases.



The ninth Sheep Records release was the one and only official 7" by Charlotte's Bionic Blimp, a side-project created by Colette and Jason Savall and co-produced by Jordan Tarlow. Both Tarlow and Savall are ex-members of the mighty Garage-Rock band The Fuzztones.

The single was released in September 1998, it was limited to 300 copies on purple transparent vinyl and 700 copies on black vinyl, for a total of 1.000 copies. It came in a nice artwork designed by David Burns.

Here's the optimistic Sheep original short press-release:

"Potentially the 1st chart breaker for Sheep! Charlotte's Bionic Blimp (featuring Jason Savall of the Fuzztones) from L.A. perform a New Wave influenced version of the Prince classic '1999'. 'Here We Go Again' on the flip is a beautiful pop song with a lovely female chorus. This might be their only release before getting very big."

It seems that the band lasted at least until 2001, and they often played live concerts in the Los Angeles area with an extended lineup that included a bassist and a drummer. During their short lifetime they were often compared to the B-52's, the Sparks, The Cars and Stereolab.

They shortened their name to Bionic Blimp and in 1999 they debuted on CD with "Exploring Automatic Rhythms", released on their own imprint TGTBT Music. This release seems to be quite rare and I wasn't able to find a single copy available for sale on the Internet; rest assured that the search will go on and you'll be notified if I'm successful...





Here's the track list for this 7" single:

01. 1999 (3:01)
02. Here We Go Again (2:41)

Both tracks were remastered from vinyl in January 2013 and are available in FLAC lossless format or high-quality 320 Kbps MP3 files, both formats include scans of the original item in PDF format. Please have a look at the comments for the download links.

Charlotte's Bionic Blimp at the Jack's Sugar Shack in Los Angeles (December 18, 1998)

The following video offers a preview of the remastered single: "Here We Go Again"!

More information about Sheep Records, Charlotte's Bionic Blimp and The Fuzztones is available here:

http://www.surfnroll.de/interviews/sheep/sheep.html

http://www.allmusic.com/album/exploring-automatic-rhythms-mw0001143593

http://mrhollywood.0catch.com/baby/blimp.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fuzztones

http://www.fuzztones.net/

The Sheep Records story will continue in the next months. All your inputs are more than welcome, if you want to get in touch please write to stereocandies [at] hotmail [dot] com or leave a comment in the box below, thank you!