Another sad news from 2022 was that Christine Wanless, vocalist in The Revolving Paint Dream (and also on many Biff Bang Pow! songs) passed away.

I also wanted to write about it when I learned the news last September. But again, I wasn’t in the right mindset, the right mood, to write about it. Especially as I didn’t know Christine. Not in person, not online. I hadn’t written before about her bands, I had not interviewed her bandmates either.

She was an important part of early Creation Records from what I’ve read. She was the label’s first female artist. She would also become press and then label manager.

Christine was also part of a mythical band, the Formica Tops. I have only known this band by name. I would love to know more about it. Were there any songs recorded? released? Who were the other members? I know Andrew Innes from The Revolving Paint Dream (and Primal Scream too) was one. I believe they were girlfriend and boyfriend at the time.

Were the Formica Tops predecessors of The Revolving Paint Dream? I have found just one mention on JC Brouchard’s website, where there’s a recording of “La Bulle Jaune” from 1987. This is a version of the song “Yellow Ball” by The Revolving Paint Dream”. Strangely on the band members for thisi recording Christine Wanless is not listed.

The band members listed on Discogs include Alan McGee, Andrew Innes, Frank Sweeney, Ken Popple and Luke Hayes. The only one I had been in touch with is Frank, who I interviewed many years ago about his superb band The Ringing.

The band’s legendary single “Flowers in the Sky” came out in 1984. It was the second release on Creation Records (CRE 002). The two songs on this record are indiepop classics, the title song on the A side and “In the Afternoon” on the B side. Well, not the B side. It was a double A single.

It featured top people on it like Ken Popple on drums, David Musker on keyboards and Joe Foster producing. This record is indeed a classic, so no surprise the German label Edition 59 reissued it as a 3″CDR in 2009 and Optic Nerve Recordings did the same as a 7″ in 2020. Worth mentioning too that on the 3″ version a longer version of “Flowers in the Sky” was included as a 3rd song.

In 1987 the band would release “Off to Heaven” (CRELP 018), their debut album. It is a short one of 8 songs, “Sun, Sea, Sand”, “Flowers in the Sky”, “Stop the World”, “My My, Hey Hey” on the A side and “7 Seconds”, “The Judges”, “Walter Valentine’s Dead” and “Yellow Ball (Take Me Away)” on the B side. The songs were recorded at The Acid Factory in London.

Yeah, the band was based in London. I forgot to mention.

In 1988 “Green Blue Sea” is released as a single. On the B side we find the album track “Sun, Sea, Sand”. On “Green Blue Sea” we see Robert Young of Primal Scream playing bass, Dave Morgan from Alternative TV, The Weather Prophets, and more, playing drums, K. Clinton and S. Pollock on saxophone and M. Wall on trumpet. On “Sun, Sea, Sand” J. Morris is credited for bass. The songs were produced by George & Phil (who are they?) at the Acid Factory and the Greenhouse studios. In 2011 this single was re-released by Edition 59, again limited to 59 copies as a 3″CDR.

In 1990 the band releases their second album, “Mother Watch Me Burn” (CRELP 039). 11 songs this time. “The Dune Buggy Attack Battalion”, “Green Blue Sea”, “Fever Mountain”, “(Burn this House) Down to the Ground” and “Mother Wash My Tears Away” on the A side while we find “Garbagebrain”, “Electra’s Crying Loaded in the Basement”, “Mandra Mandra”, “300 (Coda)” and “Reprise: Mandro Mandro” on the B side. The album also gets released in Japan by Victor Musical Industries (VDP-28069).

In 2006 there’s a Rev-Ola retrospective CD compilation titled “Flowers in the Sky: The Enigma of The Revolving Paint Dream”. Indeed, the band was always promoted and described as an enigma. There’s very few photos of the band. Also very little information.

I believe the compilation doesn’t include any unreleased tracks. Maybe “Untitled (Love Song)” is the only one? The 22 songs are in this order, “Flowers in the Sky (45 version)”, “In the Afternoon”, “Sun, Sea, Sand”, “Stop the World”, “My My, Hey Hey”, “7 Seconds”, “The Judges”, “Walter Valentine’s Dead”, “Yellow Ball (Take Me Away)”, “Green Blue Sea”, “Sun, Sea, Sand”, “Flowers in the Sky (Long Version)”, “The Dune Buggy Attack Battalion”, “Fever Mountain”, “(Burn this House) Down to the Ground”, “Mother Wash My Tears Away”, Garbagebrain”, “Electra’s Crying Loaded in the Basement”, “Mandra Mandra”, “Untitled (Love Song)”, “300 (Coda)” and “Reprise: Mandro Mandro”

The band appeared on many compilations. Discogs lists 25 of them. I don’t know if it is worth going one by one. But maybe better to pay attention on some. The one that I think is the one that picks my curiosity the most is the compilation “A Tribute to Tricky Ricky”. This cassette was released in 1985 by Rouska (RUSK 003) and included bands like The June Brides, The Shop Assistants or The Mixers. On this compilation THe Revolvint Paint Dream contributed two songs, “Sunny Days” and “Wheels on My Scooter”. You wonder why weren’t these included in the retrospective?

The other interesting compilation is Biff Bang Pow!’s “A Better Life – A Complete Creations 1984-1991” that came out last year as a 6CD box set from Cherry Red. On it there’s an early version of “In the Afternoon” with Alan McGee’s vocals.

“In the Afternoon” is indeed the song that appears in most compilations. Perhaps it is the most well known, the beloved, song by fans.

It appears on “Wild Summer, Wow!” released by Creation (CRELP002) in 1984 on LP (later reissued on CD in 1990), “All for Art… and Art for All!” an LP comp released by Dan Treacy’s Whaam Records (BIG 8) in 1984 (also reissued on CD in 2008 by Vinyl Japan), on “Valium Orgasms – A Creation Compilation” a joint LP compilation put together by Rough Trade and Creation in 1986, on “I Love the Smell of Napalm – A Creation Compilation” another 1986 joint release by Rough Trade and Creation, on “Creation: Flowers in the Sky 1984-1987” a CD comp put out by Creation (CRELP 028) in 1988 (reissued that same year in Japan by Victor), on Vinyl Japan’s “Whaam! Bam! Thank You Dan – A Whaam! Records Compilation 1981-1984” (ASKCD43) CD comp from 1994, on the boxset “Scared to Get Happy (A Story of Indie-Pop 1980-1989” put out by Cherry Red in 2013 and on one more Cherry Red boxset, on 2021’s “The Sun Shines Here (The Roots of Indie-Pop 1980-1994”.

“In the Afternoon” appears too alongside “Flowers in the Sky” on the boxset “Creation Artifact 45 – The First Ten Singles (1983-1984)” that Cherry Red put out in 1985. It also appears, on “Creation Soup Volume One” (CRELP101) from 1991 with the same accompanying song and on “Creation Soup: Volumes One to Five”, a box set release that was Creation 100 on their catalog that same year. In 2011 the same two songs appear on the double CD compilation “Upside Down: The Creation Records Story”.

“Flowers in the Sky”  appears on “The Patron Saints of Teenage” a Japanese compilation CD from 1994r released by TriStar. That same song also gets featured on “Children of Nuggets – Original Artyfacts from the Second Psychedelic Era 1976-1996) released by Rhino in 2005. Then also in “CD86 – 48 Tracks fromt he Birth of Indie Pop” released by Castle and Sanctuary. And lastly on 2019’s “Big Gold Dreams – A Story of Scottish Independent Music 1977-1989”. Curious why it was on the Scottish music compilation… sure some members were Scottish, but it was a London band no?

Lastly “Sun, Sea, Sand” is on “C88” CD from 2017, “Green Sea Blue” on “C89” from 2018, “Garbagebrain” on “Just a Bad Dream: Sixty British Garage and Trash Nuggets 1981-89” from 2018, “The Dune Buggy Attack Bttalion” on “Various – Losing Touch with My Mind – Psychedelia in Britain 1986-1990” from 2019. All Cherry Red boxsets. They fit Revolving Paint Dream in different music genres for their boxsets.

Another interesting bit of information is that at some point there was a live band called The Revolving Brides which was a mix of Revolving Paint Dream members and June Brides members. How cool! I read that on February 21, 1988, this super group was supported by The Sea Urchins. Are there any recordings by this group? Live recordings at least? Did they play original songs?

I find then a post by JC Brouchard on his blog Vivonzeureux! JC was involved in Biff Bang Pow! and he remembers recording with her the song “If I Die”. He also remembers her from recording “Bébé Tchernobyl”. I didn’t know of this version! The original, as far as I know, was “Chernobyl Baby” the song that the mystery band Baby Amphetamine released on Creation in 1987. Another cool bit of info he mentions is that Christine played a gig with Biff Bang Pow! in Reims, France, on October 25, 1986! That must have been a special gig indeed!

It doesn’t seem Christine continued making music. These were the projects she was involved with.

As I said I don’t have any connection other than loving her songs, her music. Some of her songs will be forever indiepop hits, legendary songs that will be included on compilations of the genre. They are genre-defining indeed.

It is a shame that legends like this have left us. I just hope 2023 is a bit nicer to all of us. Better, nicer news is what I want to hear.

Because I didn’t have the opportunity before, and because this is my only column to the outside world, I just want to thank Christine. For the good times listening to her songs. I would have loved to be born 15 years earlier or so, and in London, so I could have attended one of their gigs. Would have been incredible. I would have been thrilled.

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Listen
The Revolving Paint Dream – In the Afternoon

2022 was a difficult year in general.

A lot of important people left us. I lost someone very close at the tail-end of the year.

It was difficult to me to pay attention what was going on. I remember seeing news of indiepop legends passing. But it is still a blur. Even now that we have changed our calendars. Now that we are in 2023.

Going backwards I recall writing about some of the legends that passed by. But I missed some others that deserved a tribute from my part. I don’t have an answer why I didn’t write about them at the time of the news, or at least when I learned the news.

I will do it now. Maybe it is a strange way to start the year but at the same time, I feel it is good. It is good in the way that I won’t have to look back and feel I didn’t do something I should have.

Tommy Cherry passing away in the first half of 2022 was a surprise. And I meant to write some lines before 2022 was over. But my life has been a bit upside down, with lots of adjustments since I became a father, that days passed and didn’t manage to do what I wanted to do.

I interviewed Tommy many years ago. I am a big fan of his band The Bachelor Pad. That was back in 2008. The year I started the blog. His interview was fun, and I was happy to meet such a talented person.

I remember asking if his songs would be released at some point in a retrospective CD. He said if I was interested. I was. I remember then dropping him a line again asking if we should do it. But I didn’t happen.

We emailed a bit in early 2009. He sent me some flyer scans that could be part of the release. He liked the overall look of the Cloudberry Cake Kitchen and was keen for The Bachelor Pad to be released in the series.

He mentions to me that he has found the video for “Meet the Lovely Jenny Brown” and “Country Pancake“. At that point I hadn’t seen it. It wasn’t on Youtube. Only “Coroner’s Wife” video was on there.

He tells me that he went to see Magazine play the other night. He had seen him previously in 1978. He mentions they were fabulous.

Then he offers to send me loads of fanzines from the time. I say I couldn’t abuse. I say if he has two copies of the same fanzine I’d be happy to take one… he says he has found LOADSA stuff he hasn’t seen for donkey’s years and asks me if they use that expression in America. That he most prized possession among his fanzines is not a ’77 Sniffing Glue zine but The 10 Commandments zine with Orange Juice in the cover.

In 2010 I hear back from Tommy. He tells me he has tracked down the guys from Toadhall Studios and was heading to Manchester to get the master tapes.

And that was the last time I heard from him.

I would have loved to release this record. But this story is nothing special, lots of times you make this progress towards a release and then it never happens. It’s part of doing a label. Life get in between. Sometimes for the artist, and sometimes for the label. This is a hobby in the end and sometimes there are other priorities.

Many years later, in 2014, I hear from someone wanting me to help getting in touch with The Bachelor Pad legend. Lucy from the Sarah Records Doc asked me for his contact info. Not sure if she contacted him, not sure why she wanted his info. Maybe she wanted to interview him? That’d been super cool. I wonder what came out from that.

In 2020 at last there’s sort of a retrospective release. The label Emotional Response releases “All Hash and Cock”. This compilation includes many of The Bachelor Pad’s hits. But not all. On vinyl you can only fit as much. Maybe on CD it would have impossible to fit all the band’s songs on one CD. I don’t know. I never knew if there were unreleased songs. I didn’t ask about that. I don’t know why. It is odd. I usually ask about these things.

A 10″ vinyl titled “Meet the Lovely Jenny Brown” was also released by Emotional Response in 2020. It included a rare piano vocal mix of the title song.

We lost touch. We became Facebook friends eventually, but didn’t really retake the project.

On Facebook too The Bachelor Pad appeared with their own page where lots of great memorabilia was shared.

I never met Tommy in person, even though I visited Scotland a few times. Never coincided at a concert. I would have been giddy to meet him.

The last music project he was involved with was with The Whores (of Perception) I believe. That was around the year 2000. The played a few gigs at the 13th Note in Glasgow and released a record. Then they imploded.

For Tommy the highlights of The Bachelor Pad was playing with The Telescopes and also appearing on the plot of a John Constantine Hellblazer comic book that was written by fellow Scottish indiepop-legend Grant Morrison (ex-The Fauves) and published by DC comics.

I wonder if one day there will  be a proper acknowledgement of the quality of The Bachelor Pad and the talent of Tommy Cherry. I would love to have met. It seems he was lots of fun, original, and with a brain packed with a huge amount of cool ideas.

Rest in peace Tommy.

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Listen
The Bachelor Pad – Country Pancake

Cathal Coughlan passed away on May 18th. The Irish legend had been in many bands including Microdisney, The Fatima Mansions, Bubonique, The North Sea Scrolls and Telefís as well as releasing records as a solo artist. I am not that familiar with all his music but I do love Microdisney. I don’t have many stories to share here. I have a bunch of Microdisney releases but I never was in touch with him or the band. I never saw them live either.

On the other hand, one of my best friends, Jennifer Reiter, does have stories to tell. She posted on May 23rd a heartfelt tribute on Facebook. I loved her piece. And as it was going to stay private in Facebook I thought it deserved to be read by more people. So I asked for permission to publish it on the blog. Happily she agreed. Here is the full text. I’ve edited some names, just leaving the first name, but other than that these are her same words.

Thanks Jennifer.

And most importantly thanks Cathal for the wonderful music. You will be missed.

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Listen
Microdisney – Escalator in the Rain

I just heard the terrible news that Pat Fish has passed away this past Tuesday. His longtime friend Max Eider posted this message on Facebook:

Very sad to announce that my old friend Pat Fish died suddenly but peacefully on Tuesday evening. Pat rocked my world in every way and his death leaves a big hole in my life and in my memory, much of which was only stored in his outsized brain. Goodbye mate and thanks for everything. I’m going to miss you. Max x

It is hard to believe another indiepop legend leaves us. One that was even bigger than indiepop as you would see at the band’s gigs, social media, and mailing list. People that liked The Jazz Butcher were many. Many, many.

I don’t know if I told this story, but when I was working at the AP I had a colleague that was a big fan. He wasn’t a music fan like me. He didn’t even know what indiepop was. But growing up in the US he had heard and enjoyed The Jazz Butcher on college radio. So yeah, he was a fan. We even went to see Pat Fish play in Brooklyn once. That is the only time I actually saw him live, in a small bar/restaurant in Williamsburg. We talked a little with Pat, I think I have a photo of me and him somewhere.

But yeah, these connections, that possibility to make new friends who love music outside my indiepop peers… I think this was one of the few times it has happened! And it was thanks to The Jazz Butcher. That’s something special to me.

For me it is always strange when I meet a music hero here in NYC. I always feel I have less time to talk to them or even hang out. When I visit the UK and I am at gigs or festivals, the band members are part of the crowd and they go out to smoke in the street and so on. They seem more approachable. Whereas here in the US there is that back room for the bands and so they go in there and they just disappear! I guess I was lucky that the time Pat Fish he played in such a small place that everyone was approaching him!

I can’t remember what we talked about. He was promoting the last Jazz Butcher album “Last of Gentleman Adventurers” and I can’t recall if I bought the record that night or I had already had it. I have it signed though. My memory is blurry about that night. It was 2013 I think. Long time!

I have at home many of the records of The Jazz Butcher, original ones and reissues. They are fantastic. There are plenty of songs that have been important to me. I wrote a post ages ago when I shared the song “Girlfriend“, a true favourite of mine, one of the best pop songs if you ask me. Ever.

I am not great at writing these pieces. I know he will be missed. It is hard to believe. A few weeks ago he was playing at Preston Popfest. I wish I could have attended. The lineup was something any popkid would dream for. And sadly it was also the last Jazz Butcher gig. I know some of my Spanish friends traveled there. I wonder how it went. How did they like it. I was just very jealous. It’s been a long time since I’ve traveled in this world that feels upside down.

And it seems the band was to play Bristol on October 7th. This is heartbreaking.

This is just a small post, from a fan from far away Peru that was lucky to live in the US and work here and find the chance to see him live. Just the once. I traveled to the UK many times to see pop bands but who knows why but they weren’t ever booked at the many festivals I went. One of the first vinyl records I bought was by The Jazz Butcher, it was the “Roadrunner” 12″. Maybe not their finest, but a damn good record. Then I started getting their many records. I don’t have them all of course. There are so many.

Lately Fire Records have been putting out some fine boxsets with the band’s output. There is one coming out soon called “Dr Cholmondley Repents: A-sides, B-sides and Seasides“. Great title, With the classic humour of the band. This will be another must have. I honestly hope they continue putting out this material out. It is just fantastic to have. And now it will help remember the genius, the talent, the quality, the humour, the wittyness, the cleverness, of one of the best indie lyricist that came from the UK, the mighty Pat Fish.

Rest in peace legend. We’ll miss you The Jazz Butcher.

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Listen
The Jazz Butcher – Southern Mark Smith (Big Return)

On Monday we  awoke to the news that The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are no more. They call it quits. As a music fan it makes me look with nostalgia the gigs and the times I saw them. As an indiepop fan it may feel like an end of an era. As Cloudberry, I feel gratitude once again for having being able to work with them in the very beginning of the band (and the label). This is the message Kip Berman, the main driving force of the band shared on various social media:

Kip here.

My life has changed radically from the time I started Pains with Peggy, Alex and (soon after) Kurt in 2007, and I’ve decided to focus on a new project @the_natvral.

Pains was a distinct moment in my life. I started the group when I first moved to New York and completed our last record, “The Echo of Pleasure,” shortly before my daughter was born and I moved to Princeton, NJ. From that time forward, I never really felt the same – and the music I was creating didn’t feel the same either.

I could probably tell a few anecdotes from the early days, don’t know if they would add to the legend of the band as they are personal of course.

I think it was thanks to the Summer Cats 3″ that Cloudberry caught Kip’s attention. At that time the indiepop-list was much more active than today. And yeah, Scott from Summer Cats sent a message to it promoting his band’s upcoming 3″ as well as Horowitz’s one. A day or a few days later I heard from Kip on Myspace. They didn’t have any songs uploaded or anything. They were a brand new band.

I am by nature skeptical, so it was quite a surprise to hear such wonderful music. They shared with me the three songs that would appear on the 3″, 3 songs that are classic in their repertoire, “This Love is Fucking Right!”, “Orchard of My Eye” and “Doing All the Things That Wouldn’t Make Your Parents Proud”. They were the second U.S. band to release on the label after Apple Orchard.

They were the second band to design their own sleeve after the Summer Cats. Let me tell you, this is the hardest thing for me to give away, the artwork of the sleeve. It is hard for me to trust that to anyone! But it came out good and in the early days that sort of fuzzy aesthetics became a trademark of the band. A very similar sleeve would be used for their next release, the EP on their own Painbow Records.

At that time Kip said very nice things about the label on the poplist, things that reading them now, makes me really miss 2007, when indiepop was beginning to make some noise (and to be honest, a lot had to do with The Pains).

I feel The Cloudberry series is one of the most exciting things going on in indiepop right now. I’m consistently amazed by the quality (and volume) of bands Roque is releasing almost every week! It’s really a great thing, and it was an honor to be a part of the series. We really love Roque & Cloudberry a lot– he’s really doing it for all the right reasons. Please do check the bands he’s putting out– it’s all quality.

I don’t think the label gets that sort of praise anymore! At least not publicly. I am very thankful to the band, especially the earlier lineup as that was the one I knew best. Kip, Peggy and Alex. The first time I met them, I remember clearly, it was so cool. It was at NYC Popfest 2007. Then I would see them many times, even abroad like in the UK, or in Miami once, a place no band would visit. And that time I remember now they played a song called, “You’re Better by Far Than Everything Around Here”, and I wonder today, is there a proper recording of that track? I can’t seem to recall how that sounded!

I could write many stories as I said, but in retrospect, we must be thankful for the music as they left us many hits, songs that should be classics in the indiepop canon like “Young Adult Friction”, “Higher than the Stars” or “Everything With You”. But they also had a big part in the indiepop renaissance of 2007-2012. They managed to be in the spotlight of just not indiepop fans but also on more mainstream media and that helped indiepop gain more fans. And that is important.

I have a huge poster of a gig in Stoke-On-Trent were The Pains played alongside Horowitz, The Parallelograms and Slow Down Tallahasse… a Cloudberry Night. Dear dear. And it is signed by all band members. On top of that at a later Cloudberry gig, organized by LostMusic, we gave away a CD with a song each for the first 50 that attended. The bands playing were The Manhattan Love Suicides, Strawberry Story, The Hillfields and The Pains of Being pure at Heart. They contributed “A Teenager in Love”. The band was always up for doing these sort of things, gaining popularity didn’t mean forgetting their DIY beliefs. That speaks greatly of them.

It is true that in the last few years I lost a bit of touch. I wish I had attended more gigs of them while in NYC. I regret not doing that now. I didn’t think the band was going to end for some reason. All things end of course. I was naive. Sure I can still go and check out their new projects, and I should do so. I am especially curious about Store Front, Peggy’s band, as it sounds amazing, just up my street. I’ll make a note to go to their next gig. Especially as it was always lovely to see her, always happy and smiling!

But that didn’t mean I didn’t follow them. I bought all the records they put out. They are not signed by them like the earlier ones, but it’s all good.

I remember too working at the Miami newspaper and receiving a promo copy of “Heart in Your Heartbreak”, according to Kip, a very rare CD. How random was that.

As I write these lines I can think of more and more stories. And I am happy about that. Because they were a big part of the label, it happens that a lot of people knew the label thanks to them. And even today, 2019, I get emails asking if I still have a copy of the 3″ single. Can you imagine?

I don’t think this post has any sort of structure. I am just writing as thoughts come to me. I wanted to say thanks for all the years of great music, of waving the indiepop flag with pride. I guess that’s about it. But I can’t stop thinking of good moments, jokes, beers, and different cities we coincided.

I wish them the best in their next adventures and hope to have a beer with them soon. Or as how Kip said just before meeting for the first time, “a beer”? LET’S HAVE AT LEAST THREE!!!!!

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Listen
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – This Love is Fucking Right!

Back in 2012 I shared a cab ride with Colm and Bentley. That was the one and only time I talked with Bentley and I must say it was a fun ride. From the Travelodge to the Indietracks grounds. Joking and gossiping about the indiepop scene. Me sharing a cab with these two friends that have formed the wonderful Language of Flowers, a friendship which I believe started in the mid-90s when both of them shared a flat in Leicester. The story says that they would eventually record a 4 track demo, when Colm and the rest of the band (Marc, Ashton and Tara) were looking for a drummer in Belfast. It didn’t matter that Bentley was in Manchester at the time, Colm would get him into the band, it was the right choice, and then with the new completed lineup in 2003, they would record a demo that would get them to release the album “Songs About You” in 2004.

It was going to take 8 more years for me to see them at Indietracks.  Yes, Language of Flowers was playing! The band had already split by 2012, but they were doing a reunion gig just because, I am guessing here, it was Indietracks, the most important indiepop festival.

In the past I had seen him playing, in 2011, with Help Stamp Out Loneliness with him now as guitarist extraordinaire. An amazing gig at the outdoor stage. It was truly fantastic. Of course I had a softer spot for Language of Flowers, they were the older band and for many years I had played their CD on Shelflife Records time and time again. I knew the songs by heart and I always wondered if I was ever going to release some of their songs. That was a dream. I had bugged Colm many times about three songs that were never released, if they could be put in a 7″. As you might have noticed that never happened. But yeah, it was special.

Maybe now that I think of it, I may be mixing 2011 and 2012 Indietracks festival. Maybe the cab ride took in 2012 and not 2011. I can’t say. But that wasn’t the only time that I shared a moment with Bentley. As many Indietracks goers that stay at the Travelodge might know, after the festival closes its doors for the day, those staying at this hotel in Alfreton, hang around for some more drinks in the wooden picnic table that is just outside the front door. I remember a night that Bentley was there, among many of my indiepop friends. Sharing a drink and having a good time.

And last week I get to learn that Bentley is no longer with us. It came as a shock.

I really wish I had met and talked to him properly. As I said earlier, I was quite the fan of this two bands he was involved with and he seemed a genuinely interesting person. I only have this two snapshots of him, plus of course the gigs when I saw him play. Always at Indietracks. I know the bands played many other places but I wasn’t lucky enough to travel to Europe in those occasions. But I was terribly happy to at least be able to say that I saw them and that they were brilliant.

I am very sorry and hope things get better with time for his family, friends and bandmates. Condolences to them. In memory of him, a charity has been put together for The Smile Train, who empower medical professionals to provide free cleft treatment to children. At the time I am writing this post 89% of the goal money has been raised. I am sure any help will be appreciated.

Rest in peace.

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Listen
Language of Flowers – Songs About You

I have been shocked by the news that our friend Dicki Hermansah, who I got to know through the band Sunny Summer Day passed away a few days ago. To be honest I don’t know the details, I have learned about this event on Facebook, through several posts of friends mourning him. I can’t believe this has happened.

I didn’t get the change to meet in person. Online we talked quite a bit. The first time we were in touch must have been more than 10 years ago, in 2007, on Myspace. I was then working on the Cloudberry 3″CD series and I asked his band, based in Bandung, Indonesia, to contribute 3 songs to this project. They were keen on it and even sent me 5 songs. 2 extra ones. The songs on this 3″ were “You’re The One For Me”, “Happy in the Summer” and “Something in Your Eyes”. The limited CD was a success as the 100 copies sold pretty fast. I remember when looking for imagery for the artwork he asked me to use some flowers, make it look kind of Sarah-ish but in colour. That’s how it ended being that way.

The other two songs he offered me would end up in other compilations I put out, for example “Shining Light” appeared on the first volume of “The Sound of Young Java” and “Colours of Fantasy” on the “Nothing Matters When We’re Dancing EP” that was given away at many indiepop clubs around the world. Later on, in 2008, the band would contribute the most amazing song they wrote, “In Summertime” to the “Sound of Young Java Vol.3”. This song was a collaboration between the band and the talented Cris Miller of Silver Screen. Many years later, at a NYC Popfest, Cris would play this song, and we all wished Sunny Summer Day was there to play it together with him.

I do know that Sunny Summer Day was invited to NYC Popfest. They applied and were up to coming to play here in 2016. I would have loved that so much. I think they had all the intentions to be here but visa issues made it complicated for them to get to this country. Seeing them and meeting in person would have been great after many years of chatting about music.

Now I remember too when he asked me to share on Youtube some songs he recorded with the band. I ended up uploading a video of them playing the Field Mice’s “Emma’s House” and also of “We’re Going Fun“. The next year they would cover Ride’s “Vapour Trail” and they asked me to add it to my channel as well.

He was just 34 years old. And with so much talent and great taste. His band spearheaded an Indonesian indiepop scene that in 2007 was just starting to make waves. Now we all think of Indonesia as a country that produces great indiepop. Back then it was new. He was one of the few that believed in our music.

The band released a perfect record in 2016 called “Traveled Backwards” that was released by Lisdia Records on CD and tape. Dicki was so kind enough to send me two copies and a t-shirt. I’ve played this record yesterday night on repeat. It is so good. I wonder how his next album would have sounded. Even better I am sure.

I think of his friends, his band mates and his family. Me being so far, not even having met him in real life, and I’m really sad about this. I can’t even imagine how they feel. Or how the Indonesian scene must be feeling.

His legacy and his songs will live on. That album and the two EPs they released will be cherished by everyone that will discover their jangly sounds. It is very easy to fall in love with Sunny Summer Day’s music let me tell you. And we’ll remember Dicki as one of the most enthusiastic popkids from Bandung, Indonesia, and the whole world to boot.

Rest in peace my friend.

Definitely this has been a quiet year for indiepop. When I was answering the Twee.net poll about the best of indiepop of 2014, I barely had answers for any of the fields. There have been a bunch of good records, I won’t argue that. But I think they’ve been so few. So few. And most importantly I think there was a lack of new bands, new talent, new blood, in the scene, that have made it feel stagnant.

This 2014 is the total opposite of 2006, the year many things changed for me in indiepop. That was a year full of new bands, of new discoveries. I know many times I reminisce about that time, when Myspace reigned supreme for music. I still had my blog, Mira el Péndulo, it hasn’t been hacked yet. It was a year of new making new friends, break ups, and novel experiences. In the real world, parallel to mine, 2006 marked the 20th anniversary of C86. I had the brilliant idea then, as I’ve mentioned before in this blog, to put together a tape called C-06. That’s when the snowball Cloudberry started.

This cassette included a bunch of up and coming bands. One of them was Slow Down Tallahassee, a band that we won’t be lucky to see reunited no more.

I’ve been meaning to dedicate a piece to them since the news of some months ago, because even if I wasn’t close with them, it affected me a lot. Here was one of the first bands ever that trusted me, and one of the first bands that I knew I had to release. They were talented, fresh, sure about themselves, and cool as f•ck.

As many stories I have, I met them through Myspace. I used to spend hours searching for bands. I loved that there was this option where you could search by influence. I must have searched for the “Shop Assistants”, when a band with a strange name appeared. A band from Sheffield with a name that nodded to Florida. At that time I was living in Florida, so it came as a surprise. Why would any band call themselves anything with Tallahassee? It’s not like it’s a fun town I thought. There was a profile photo of three girls and three songs. I remember one of them was U R Grace U R. And it wasn’t the version you know. It was a very lo-fi recording, much noisier, less crisp. It sounded out of an 80s tape, like a long lost recording of the Sohfas or the Wilderness Children. I was in love. Immediately.

They hadn’t released anything by that time. These were their first recordings. I asked if they wanted to participate in this tape I was putting together. I think I had this prepared text where I explained what this C-06 was going to be about. I must have forwarded them that too. And they said yes. I was very happy. I asked for U R Grace U R. And I was going to have it.

I was looking at Discogs and it says that the Sheffield Phonographic Corporation released their first 7″ in 2006. I think that’s wrong. It was 2007. The tape was out in December 2006 and I’m pretty sure there was no release yet. In any case, yes, they put out this first 7″ but before that, and I’m very sure of this too (though my memory is playing tricks on me), I had release the 3″ on Cloudberry.

This was the 10th release in the 3″ series. Again, Slow Down Tallahassee were so easy to work with. So friendly. They gave me three songs, “So Much for Love”, “U R Grace U R” and “Candy”. This were newer recordings and sounded much crisper than their previous demos on Myspace. The A side, “So Much for Love”, was/is such a cracking indiepop song.

This wasn’t the last time we worked together. It was 2007. I kept in touch for a bit. The song “Down the Alleyway” was included in the Thrilled to Bits 3″ compilation. This was a very special EP as it was a Cloudberry gig in the UK, with Horowitz, The Parallelograms, and Slow Down Tallahassee on the bill. I remember I chose this song before their first album came out. They sent me a CDR with a handwritten tracklist of their album and told me, just pick any song, the one I like the most, and use it. Such friendly gestures, such trusting gestures, are so hard to come by.

They kept releasing some records on the Sheffield Corporation, who sadly didn’t behave very nicely with me, but that’s another story. What’s important is that Slow Down Tallahassee kept putting put amazing songs out. They recorded a handful of promo videos too. Sadly there’s not many live footage of them. And I say that because I never got to see them live. Never. Now I regret that. They didn’t play Indietracks or London Popfest after I started traveling to Europe, after I graduated and had a proper job.

I didn’t meet the band either. Just Claire, when she was playing drums for the Parallelograms that year that they were announced at last minute. That was just luck. Pure luck. It was my highlight for that year’s Indietracks (I’m sure that I’ve mentioned before in the blog too). It was such a beautiful gig. I remember clearly the atmosphere at the church, it was giddy, and boiling, and everything felt so right. It was were everyone there belonged to be at the moment. I’m so glad the band that canceled or couldn’t play or whatever wasn’t there.

I met the Parallelograms for the first time ever after the show. And I was introduced to Claire too. We spoke just a little, not too much. Maybe 5 minutes at the most. I thanked her for Slow Down Tallahassee. Asked her about what was coming next, any other recordings, and so on. It was a lovely meeting, and we even took that photo together with my friend Andrew from The Felt Tips.

We lost touch even though we were friends on Facebook. I didn’t know much of her musical adventures. Until a year ago when I was put in touch with The Nature Set thanks to a friend, Andrew (another Andrew). The band sent me their 7″ and some CDRs with unreleased songs. I sent them some records in exchange. I didn’t know Claire was in the band until I saw the photo on the 7″ cover. And it made me so glad that she was still making music after Slow Down Tallahassee. I had before listened to another project of hers, Bon Bon Club, and now this. You could tell she was very talented and had this energy to start all these different music projects. By the way, I don’t know how many instruments she played but, I saw her drumming for the Parallelograms, and I’m pretty sure she played guitars for Slow Down Tallahasse. And I can’t even play one instrument right.

The news shocked me a couple of months ago. It was definitely unexpected.  Slow Down Tallahassee was a band that helped me build this label. It was a band that made me believe in a scene, they were just so nice, so trustful and most importantly, passionate. On top of that you can add that they had good taste, good influences, and knew their stuff. And they were passionate. They were indeed a beautiful light.

I’m sure this has been a hard year, and I know I’m late, I was a bit shy as I wasn’t close to express my feelings. I’m very sorry. I wish the family strength.

I will miss your music. Because you made so many songs that were important to me. You made songs that were totally indiepop hits too. I wish I had seen you play live. I wish we could have talked a bit longer that Indietracks. I wish I had released more records by your bands too. They were all so excellent. I can only say thank you so many times.

Thank you.

rest in peace.

The last few days there’s been an interesting debate on the facebook group Indiepop Shop Talk about a post Xanthi wrote on her blog Songs for Girls to Sing. After seeing the results of a survey (that I will go over in a bit), she expressed this:
I’ve been meaning to put forth this theory for sometime now and this kinda confirmed it (check the ratio of people who have been fans of indie pop music for 20+ years). It’s a theory I came up with whilst following what is happening in this indiepop schtik all these years: that in fact, the indiepop scene, community, clique or whatever you want to call it is largely sustained and driven by people who are in their 40+ years.

I agree with this. Will even say that this is a theory but a fact. But let me go step by step so I can explain what’s going on.

A week or so ago on the indiepop-list a nice chap by the name of Brian asked the listees if they could participate in a survey he was doing for a research paper. He is studying for his Masters degree in Library Information Science. He said that he was trying to collect data so he could write about the indiepop community, with a focus on how people get exposed to new music these days.

I participated answering the questions. Other 99 people did too. I guess 100 is the limit for the free SurveyMonkey service? It doesn’t matter. It’s a small number, that is true, but it’s significant. How many people are really into indiepop? Arguably some 3000 in the world? So 100 is still not such a small number.

It’s from the results, which you can see here, that Xanthi proposes the theory. From the results we see that almost 40% that answered the interview say that they’ve been fans for 20+ years. This will mean that more or less the big group into indiepop goes from 35 years and older.

This would be no surprise to anyone that attends festivals or gigs. You can see this. I never minded this, but some people get annoyed by it.

90% of the respondents wrote that they support the scene by buying records and going to shows. The remaining percent is a big question mark. I think if tt 10% is not doing this then definitely they are not supporting the scene in any way possible.

Vinyl seems to be the number one format choice. Yes, people love vinyl more than anything, but still CDs sell better.

There are a bunch of interesting results there, though I find the more surprising one the one that says more people use Myspace to find bands. Seriously? Who uses Myspace these days?!

Anyways, on the Indiepop Shop Talk, there are people that have said that this is not true, that express:
“” are making the music as well, starting labels as well, and building scenes as well. The emphasis on “40 yr olds” as those who have expendable income is also a bit meh as I had much more expendable income as a student because I didn’t have a mortgage, or other mouths to feed than my own. I could drop money on records and just put off lunch, and I often did.”

When I read things like this I wonder if seriously whoever wrote this is actually knowledgeable of the indiepop scene. I wonder what kids this person talks about? Which kids are organizing labels? Or gigs? Or festivals? Perhaps in other scenes this might be true. Maybe there they are proactive and creative and all that. But in the indiepop scene? It’s not true. At least not yet.

I won’t go into his expendable income argument as it’s pretty obvious a 40 year old should, generally speaking, make and live more comfortably than a 20 year old. But let’s talk about indiepop. Right?

I agree in one point with this person. The youngsters are making music. But the older guys too. The Orchids are still penning beautiful songs, The Hit Parade too. Then you have The Spook School, young and full of life, or Flowers, making beautiful noise. I think when it comes to music there’s a 50/50 thing going on.

There was one post that I really liked and I think sums up what the “kids” are up to:
“I’m also not so sure kids want to be limited in one “scene” these days. Most of the people I know in between 15-20 are way more eclectic than I was at the same age. They’re gonna listen to Rihanna, French Films, Thee o sees, Kurt Vile and The Field Mice, but they don’t really care about who belongs where. I tend to think they just want to build their private own musical utopia.”

This is dead on. And you can also see it when you see gig lineups for many of these younger bands. They just don’t mind. They don’t want to be part of one scene.

In the end, I think the main idea behind Xanthi’s post is that of pointing out that we do need a new generation to step up. I’ve been writing about this for years now. A new generation that organizes gigs, release records, and bring new ideas to make the scene fresher and more exciting. I think age in the end doesn’t matter, but it would be great if this great scene keeps going strong for many years to come.

And yes, I’m under 40. And I don’t mind accepting that they are the ones who keep supporting the scene in a way or another. And I’m very thankful to them.

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Charlot may refer to:

+ Charlot, son of Charlemagne in the Matter of France
+ Charlot Byj (died 1983), American artist
+ Charlot Kaské (18th century), Shawnee war chief
+ Jean Charlot (1898–1979) French-Mexican painter and illustrator
+ Charlot, the French, Portuguese, Spanish and Italian name for Charlie Chaplin’s character The Tramp
+ Charlot, the name of a high spec Bicycle maker in Paris in the first half of the 20th century

I was looking into some old CDs on my Benno shelves. I have a section just for the slim cardboard CD singles (or albums) that is a bit of a mess. They don’t have a spine so it takes forever to find anything.

Among those CDs there’s one by the Charlots on Firestation Records. So I played it.

This make me look into their other releases. I was aware for a long time of their other single, a 7″, but I had no idea they had released an album! So now, I have to look into getting it! Anyways, let’s go discover this obscure band from the 90s!

Online I found on a Swedish blog a small biography of the band. So let’s start there:

Charlots was a Swedish pop band formed in Stockholm in 1994. The members were Per Lindén (Guitars), Love Eklund (Synthesizers), Sofie Sörman (Vocals), Mattias Carlsson (Drums) and Sven Granath (Bass). On their first single Lars Antonsson played drums, and Roger Kallin bass. Love and Sofie were schoolmates at the musician program at Södra Latin’s High school, and Sofie was at the same time singing in another band, Ridis, formed by some other schoolmates as a school project. Like many other Swedish pop bands in the 1990s, Charlots released records only in Japan and Germany. Nevertheless, they also climbed the charts in former Yugoslavia.

Today Sofie lives in Paris, where she is involved in various projects, performing and recording music. On her Myspace page she presents mostly jazz music. Love lives in London, and runs mrlove.org – a website about his impressive collection of Depeche Mode records.

A quick visit to Love’s page I notice he has been updating his Depeche Mode collection recently. Is he still making music in England? I wonder. Then another visit to Sofie’s Myspace. There are a bunch of songs taken from three albums “Hidden Space”, “Ripples” and “Defrost”. Definitely not indiepop but more into jazzy sounds. Quite nice still! Seems the last update on this Myspace account happened early in 2013.

Let’s get back to their records then. Almost 20 years ago. 1995. That’s when they released their first 7″ on the fabulous Japanese label Motorway Records (catalog MOTOR 009). There were three songs included, “Even If I Like You” (the sole A side), “Rocky Boy” and “Summertime Affairs”. The photo on the sleeve came thanks to Annette Samuelsson. The record was produced, recorded and mixed by J.A. Novak, who was part of Cinnamon (I love this band). And yes, you can see some similarities between both bands. Also it’s good to mention that Per participated in some of the Cinnamon releases too!

Their last  release was the one I was talking about, the one on Firestation Records. This one came in 1998 and was one of the first releases on the Berlin-based label (catalog FST 004). This CD included four songs, “Always Someone Else”, “Playboy”, “Night People” and “The Painter”.

In between these two releases, in 1997, their album came out. I had no clue until today that it existed. It was only released in Japan on the L’Appareil Photo label (catalog PHOTO 14). This label also had Japanese releases for Momus, Stereo Total, Saint Etienne and more. It seems you can find a used copy for a fair price on Amazon.

And that’s more or less when I lose their track. There’s not much more written about them online. And aside from Sofie, I don’t know if the rest of the band continued making music. Also would love to know and listen if they had any other musical projects before or during Charlots. Or if they have any unreleased songs? Does anyone know?

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Listen
Charlots – Even if I Like You

I have so many mixed feelings after coming back from Indietracks. I had a good time as I always do. There’s no better place for indiepop. That’s a given. I get to see all my friends and spend with them so much time in the beautiful Midland Railway Centre. We get to drink warm beers, sometimes with ice on it, and sit for hours in the stationary train next to the shed. We have greasy hamburgers from the immortal lady or badly wrapped burritos, or even curry from our friend Brian and Heather. And we eat dust to wake up with our noses full of black matter. All in all, it’s a good time, isn’t it?

The problem is the music, that’s the only problem. Everything else is just plain perfect. You know, as I said lines above, I can put up with having to drink warm cans of beer even though it doesn’t refresh you at all in a hot summer day. I can put up with kids playing football and creating a whole dust storm to everyone that is trying to enjoy The Popguns. Even dancing in the marquee among another dust storm I can take it. That the festival has to stop at midnight and can’t continue unless you have to pay 5 pounds to get into the beautiful campsite, well that’s ok too of course. But having 6 to 7 good bands out of 50 or something, is a bit too much. That’s why I’ve decided to take a break.

Yes, a lot of people at the festival were telling me that of course they’ll see me next year, that I’m just talking like this now but I’ll change my mind. And hey, believe me I wish they were right. I actually feel like going. But it’s way too expensive to fly in the summer to the UK and get to a festival were all my expenses don’t make it worth it. I remember years were I barely had any time to talk to friends, that I had to run from stage to stage not to miss a band. Years were I collected 10 or more setlists from bands compared to the meager 5 from this year. Of course it’s pretty nice to have extra time to spend walking around, catching up, being at the merch tables promoting the label, but I didn’t travel this far to not see some exciting new bands. Right?

As I said it’s a bit of a catch 22 this year’s Indietracks. I have a blast, I love being there, but I feel this is not the same festival I used to go. Even I took less photos this year. I bought less records too. I did enjoy a lot going back to the Alfreton Travelodge, definitely the hotel to be for me. Great conversations late at night, great friends to go out for breakfast in the morning too. And the Tesco being close by is perfect. Or Matloob procuring beers from the convenience store at the gas station from his Punjabi friend late at night. Those sort of things are what make me feel like I can’t miss my sixth Indietracks next year. But I think it all comes dome to priorities and seeing I was perhaps the only person from the US there this year (right?), I think I’m a bit nuts to keep going when only got to see 3 or 4 bands I’ve never seen before. That’s way too little. Especially when the UK still produces a lot of quality indiepop.

I’ve been previously critical of Indietracks about the bands they’ve been booking. I’m not blind and I did see less people in the crowd this year. Of course these sort of things go in cycles. Probably next year it will be packed, who knows. This year may have been a bit of a transition period, with some members of the organization leaving. Could be. I’m not going to judge that, they know best if that was the case. I did ask one of the organizers why was Gruff Rhys booked. The answer was “because I love him, he is great”. Yeah well, I was looking for another kind of answer. I guess that motto “an indiepop festival” is a bit forgotten.

I sent interview questions to team Indietracks before the festival. Sadly I didn’t get answers for them. I asked many questions that would have cleared up many of the doubts I had for this year organization.

All I’m saying is, and I don’t want to get deeper on this topic because there’s a lot of people that get very susceptible to any criticism is that Indietracks is the best festival for indiepop. The atmosphere is fantastic, the food options every year get better (though still no sign of the roast pork), and all the friends that come make up for a fabulous time. But the bands, come on. This was a festival that used to showcase small and up and coming bands back in the day. It celebrated a scene. It introduced me to so many new bands and also let me get to catch bands that would never cross the Atlantic. It was special what the organizers did, even bringing back classic bands like Friends or the McTells back to life. Where did all that energy, ideas, hope and good taste go? I don’t know.

Next week I’ll go over the festival, the anecdotes, and the bands I loved. I just wanted to explain why I’ve been saying why I won’t go next year. If it was a 100-200 dollar flight, as it it’s from many places in Europe, I would definitely repeat. But 1300 dollars flight, to get to see 6 or 7 indiepop bands, 3 or 4 I’ve never seen before, well, it doesn’t make any sense. I’ll be jealous of everyone going next year because it’s impossible not to have a good time, even if the quality keeps going down. Anyways, see you next week!

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This week’s obscure band comes from a tape called “A Prospect of the Sea”. I heard about this band from Heinz’s Youtube channel. It seems this happens often. Heinz has a fantastic collection and top taste. Heinz, you should organize Hamburg Popfest!

The band was called Kindergarten. The song I heard was Jellybelly. This song was the 8th on the B-side of this tape that was released in 1991. The label seems to be Cloud Production, the catalog number was “Smile 3”. Question for everyone out there reading. What was Smile 1 and 2? Was there a number 4?

There was also another song included by Kindergarten in this tape. On the A side, track number 14 is “Everything You Do”. I haven’t had the chance to listen to this one but if it’s anything like “Jellybelly”, well, I will like it!

The song is a classic slice of 80s indiepop, in the vein of The Fat Tulips or The Penny Candles, though the sound is much rougher, like of a very flimsy flexi single. Could be the quality of the tape too. It does sound like taken from a demo tape. Boy/Girl vocals, catchy choruses, and nice jangly guitars. It reminds me a lot of another band I’ve featured here. Heaven’s Above. It’s no surprise then that they also appear on this tape.

Yes, it’s a tape done with a lot of good taste. In it you can find bands like The Suncharms, The Lovelies, They Go Boom!!, Dreamscape, Saturn V, The Sweetest Ache, White Town and more. Even Heavenly is in it! Pretty classic lineup!

But there are a couple of obscure bands too like this one. For example I have no clue about Gyroscopes, Poem by Rachel, Howard, Cradleyard, Huckleberry Pie or Spectral Alice. Seems I should investigate!

But now, let’s try to find answers and more information about Kindergarten. Who can help?!

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Listen
Kindergarten – Jellybelly