One final list to close out the year… Our personal favorite discoveries of 2025. We don’t often share our faces here at In Sheep’s Clothing. Whether it’s due […]
A Band Called Joanna: Lost Tapes from the Madchester Underground (1990)
“A time-capsule of youthful abandon, freed from the silence it was once consigned to, and finally able to be heard on its own terms.”
From the world of Factory Records and the ’90s Madchester indie dance movement, freshly launched imprint New Feelings presents the long lost demos of Joanna, who was once described by NME as “the most popular band without a record out.” A true what-if story, Joanna had all the makings to be the next big act to break through from the Manchester underground: sold out shows including a headline slot at The Boardwalk, which later became the rehearsal space for Oasis; offered to be managed by Liverpool industry legend Dave Pichilingi; courted by major labels Rough Trade, Factory Records and Polydor. Somehow, the band’s debut album would never see the light of day… until now!
Highly recommended for fans of The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays and Charlatans, Joanna’s Hello Flower is an exuberant clash of Hacienda acid, sixties psychedelia, funk bass grooves, floating saxophones, and teenage angst. Recovered from ¼-inch reel tapes discovered in the loft of a mutual friend, the album arrives now over three decades later — in the same year Oasis made their triumphant return — and sounds something like the missing link between the late ’80s Madchester scene and the Brit-Pop movement that would take over the world soon after…
“In 1989, Joanna were on the cusp of something bigger, their sound alive with the same electricity sparking through the North West of England.”
Limited vinyl copies of Hello Flower are available now in our webshop!
New Feelings tells the story below:
“Along the East Lancs Road, throughout industrial heartlands between Manchester and Liverpool, punctuated by woollyback accents, four young musicians meet and form the next contender for the scene’s attention, Joanna. Neil Holliday (vocals) and Terry Lloyd (bass), work colleagues from Runcorn and Widnes, join forces with Leigh Music College students Tyrone Holt (guitar) and Carl Alty (drums). They hail from thoroughly working-class backgrounds, raised by hard working dads and harder working mothers. Rejected by other local bands because of their perceived youthful naïveté, the four lads create a world of their own inside Pentagon Studios in Widnes. This world includes a stolen smoke machine and strobe lights, a wooden shack to prevent feedback on the vocals, and the occasional friend who would dance around wildly.”
Bridging the lost sounds of Joanna with the modern day, New Feelings has just released a pair of dance remixes from Andras, an Australian musician who’s earned acclaim for his unpredictable take on electronica and ddwy, a duo who’s intimate soundscapes take the listener to Ibiza via Sri Lanka and Wales.
Andras strips back “If You Don’t Want Me To” to its essential elements and delivers a perfect DJ-friendly indie-dance groove version, while ddwy’s version turns up the acid and psychedelia up to 11 with breakbeats, heavy sub-bass, swirling space echo, and euphoric female vocals.
