Have you ever had pop dreams?

I barely remember my dreams. I would have to jump out of bed after waking up, run, find a pen, find a sheet of paper, and write whatever I remember down, that if I don’t trip with my clumsy self. I wish it was easier. Easier as it is for anyone else. After a minute or so after I’m awake I can’t remember anything. I try and try to remember while having my glass of diet coke for breakfast and going through emails, but no luck. Not that I believe they have a meaning but they are always great stories to tell. On the bright side I never have nightmares, so I shouldn’t complain much, right?

Have you ever had pop dreams?

The Sparklers once wrote a song called Pop Dreams, which is the B-side of their Secret Snow 7″ on Fantastic Records. A beautiful song, a cross between The Softies and The Magnetic Fields. Sadly there’s not much information about this band, but as a good private eye that I am, I did some research today to find out:

– The band was formed by Risa Buburniak (keyboards, vocals), Brooke Rossi (vocals, farfisa organ), Ian (violin), and Jonathan (keyboards, beats). Oddly enough, on the record insert the band photo only shows three people, 2 girls, 1 boy. Who was left out? Ian or Jonathan?

– Risa and Rossi helped with vocals on the first eponymous album by Saturday Looks Good to Me. That’s in 2000.

– There was a song called “Paintings” included on the compilation CD that came together with the Japanese magazine Beikoku Ongaku.

– There are at least 2 more songs recorded: “Little Prince” and “Cyclical”. Both are demos and were once played at the University of Michigan radio.

Any more information about this fantastic band would be greatly appreciated! And I would die to listen to those demo songs or to Paintings! Please dream of me this time and give me a hand

Have you ever had pop dreams?

Close your eyes say goodnight
When you sleep… do you dream?
When you dream… do you think of me?

Be the Peter to my Wendy
Grab my hand we’ll fly away
Think good thoughts… it will be so easy

Take my hand, we’ll kiss this place goodbye
You said I won’t even follow
I’ll chase you through to the clouds
I said I won’t even follow

Close your eyes say goodnight
Do you dream in colors bright?
Do you dream in black and white?

Be the Truman to my Andy
Go on now, go to the city
Write a book, we’ll make a movie

Come on now, let’s go, we’ll glamourize
go go glamourize
(I will wait for you my love
Say you’ll say for me sweetheart)

Have you ever had pop dreams?

Why don’t we do this, tell me about a pop dream you’ve had? Maybe you once dreamed about having a huge banquet with the likes of Amelia or Dugly? Or maybe you dreamed about throwing Aggi from the bridge? Or giving back a Pastels’ badge to Cornelius? Don’t be shy! Should be fun!

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Listen
The Sparklers – Pop Dreams

Like a rat up a drainpipe a month has gone fast! It’s been a month already from my last day in Europe and the hangover is almost gone. Now it’s mostly memories that have been through the blow-drier and have stripped out the intensity of those days. Which I think is not a bad thing, now I’ll be able to write about them and treasure them forever. They were just too lively for the past month, that even thinking about them, comparing them to everyday life, was putting me down. But I made a decision in the meantime to keep me sane. I bought tickets to London. For February. You know why? Because of London Popfest! Of course! I know it’s still like 3 months away, but time flies. When you least expect it: it’s already February 25th and some fantastic band is playing in front of you! And hopefully you are singing along!

The bands haven’t been announced yet, though it seems there are like 3 Swedish bands and 1 American band playing. Plus the UK contingent, that will be the biggest one, but that’s pretty obvious. Only one band has been announced though: Shrag. But, I also secretly know a couple more; believe me, it will be worthy to go! So worthy that I won’t mind the headache of applying for a visa to get into the UK. Oh yes, here we go again, dealing with bureaucrats and the stupid border control of “first world countries”.

Something that I never understood was why first world countries don’t have to pay to get into another fellow country, being rich and well off, but third world countries do need to pay for some damn visa. Aren’t third world countries poor? Why get our money? In any case, makes more sense to get it from the well off? Right? Isn’t this a bit ridiculous? It doesn’t make sense at all! Where’s the common sense here?

But all of these procedures won’t beat me. I’m so looking forward to see familiar faces again. My dearest gossip girl Kajsa, Jennifer who colours me pop, Emmita raring, Remi and Delphine (hope you are playing), Matthew and his Big Pink Cake!, Christos the gossip boy, Ian the playboy, Pete-B from the mighty Horowitz (hint!, hint!), the terrible Anastasia, and master organizer of it all: Marianthi. And Joe too! We are making those lamb hamburgers right? With some Peroni?

Probably more people will travel from Europe all the way for the Popfest (please Nana, Kat, Luise, Sandra, Laura, get the Germans all over to the British isles!), and if that happens this list will get really short! On top of that, there’s all these people I’m dying to meet in UK! People I’ve emailed, or chatted, for years or months. People whose blogs I’ve read, people whose bands I loved. I can’t wait to grab some beers with you. Are these any indicators and proofs that pop keeps me alive?

I don’t know how ‘confirmed’ it is, but I’ve been asked to DJ there. I answered with a big huge YES! So hopefully I’ll play Second-Hand Furniture’s “There’s Nothing to Celebrate” or Airport Girl’s “The Foolishness That We Create”, or any other footstomper that makes me go nuts behind the decks while the crowd gets possessed!! And yes, I’ll throw in some classics for the sake of it too. I know some people are lazy to dance to not-so-popular stuff! Shame on them! Just dance!

And dance! That’s what I do today in my room while writing these lines. Best therapy ever. I feel better as I can look to something exciting in the near future. It’s been a while since I am on my own, away from the great friends I have an ocean apart. It’s been long enough since I saw them that now I finally enjoy myself with other friends here in Florida. But I still feel a bit lonely, it’s just not the same. And this fantastic Hepburns song, which I’ve been listening on repeat today, sums up what I feel right now. Yes, It’s been a while, a month seems like ages, but now I’m coming home. And home is Popfest. See you there.

The Hepburns – Devil Up a Drainpipe

It’s been a while since you left me on my own,
Long enough for new love to have grown.
Haven’t you seen? They tore the old house down,
You may need some assistance finding your way around.

A garland marks the spot where I checked out,
It was a memorable exit, of that there is no doubt.
Now I’m so sorry to be messing up your head
But it’s so lonely oh so lonely being dead.

I would have waited for you to come back
You were my devil up a drainpipe, my fiery jack
But times have changed and the bitter truth be told
I need somebody, yeah, somebody to hold

They tried to stop me but I broke through
All the angels in heaven could not keep me from you
It’s been a while since I left you on your own
It’s been a while but now I’m coming home

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Listen
The Hepburns – Devil Up a Drainpipe

A “complain” from a friend persuaded me to book a flight to Stockholm. I really didn’t need much convincing to visit Stockholm though as I’ve been meaning to visit indiepopland for years now. I was going to be quite close, in Germany, and I first thought about taking a bus and visiting the south of Sweden, Lund and Malmö. I had time to do some little tourism around, I was going to be two weeks in Europe, it made sense. As soon as my plans to visit Malmö were unveiled, I was demanded to go to Stockholm instead. And I think it was the right decision: immediately I got offered to play some records at Debaser, Slussen. So thanks K for drilling it in my head that Stockholm was where I had to go! And on top of that, the Ryanair 10 euro flights sweetened the deal. The only bad thing, having to travel Saturday morning after a big party in Berlin. But for 10 euros I shouldn’t complain! Well, I still have to figure out how much will they charge for my luggage!

So that’s the plan, arriving on October 10th at Skavsta airport, then a bus all the way to Stockholm. Then lunch – I hope! I will be starving by then. Would be nice to see what’s typical Swedish food. I heard about a steak cooked over some wood? Sounds delicious to me. Later, this same day, I’ll head to the Fritz’s Corner club that takes place in the Debaser, Slussen, venue. There will be two bands playing, one that I really don’t know and seems to be the BIG act that night. Their name is Kap Bambino. I think this band will have the big stage while the Cloudberry people, humble indiepop people, will enjoy the cosiness of the Franska Bukten, which is, as far as I know, a small section of the huge venue. And. if things go as planned, I will share the DJ deck with a star: Tommy Gunnarsson. Do you remember that fantastic label called Heavenly Pop Hits that put releases out by Hormones in Abundance or Nixon and many more? Well, he was the guy behind it! He was also behind a band called The Gentle Smiles, which is as brilliant, but that will deserve a post later next year because there’s plans for something that is still a secret!

But the highlight of the night will be the other band playing that night: The Andersen Tapes. This will be their first gig ever! I’m so thankful and thrilled to attend this! Amanda Aldervall, who once was part of that marvelous, cult band, Free Loan Investments, and is one of the nicest and coolest celebrity in the pop-world, started The Andersen Tapes as a solo project. Last year, we put out a 3″ CD single that included three fantastic tracks that were well received by the indiepop community, getting glowing reviews and selling out quickly! As of today, I do know she is working on an album, but I’m not sure I can reveal more information about it! But be on the lookout, it’s supposed to come out on one of my favourite Swedish labels. And hopefully, I’ll be able to put a 7″ with The Andersen Tapes in the future too. That I’d love! And back to the gig. I think Amanda is getting together a full band for it! Isn’t that sweet? I wonder who she is recruiting! I bet there must be a big list (and a line) of people wanting and waiting to be part of the band. If I just knew how to play an instrument…

I already shipped some records to Stockholm and, even though I don’t know if there will be a merch table, I’ll be sure to bring them with me if you’d like to buy some and save on postage. And last, but not least, I want to thank a lot to Anders Thorell for booking this gig, for being enthusiastic about it and for making it happen. This will be a night to remember! See you all there!!

PS. There’s a piece written on the Debaser page, but I won’t hold responsible for what it says Also there’s more information there, but my Swedish skills are worst than what I think they are.

Cloudberry Records presents The Andersen Tapes
Escaping from the drowsiness of the warm Miami Beach breeze, the hollowness of neon lights streets and a broken-heart, Cloudberry started in 2007 determined to unite all bed-sitters around the world. Taste and aesthetics, hand-to-hand, a careful design, and lots of love are the foundation. On top of it, the main goal, purvey the sound of jangly guitars. Though, some distortion was going to be welcome. Carrying the indiepop flag on a hyperactive 100 singles series released in less than two years including legends St. Christopher and media darlings The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Sold-out releases, sold-out gigs, four fierce fanzines, a DIY attitude fighting those who are boycotting our dreams, and bringing together those scattered lurkers from every corner of the world. No surprise that Cloudberry is a lively splinter cell of the international pop underground supporting bands from far away Hong Kong, all the way to the American West Coast and then to the Scottish moors. Sweden has had a deep impact in the label as many bands have participated with passion, with love. Among those bands there is today’s The Andersen Tapes, Twig, The Garlands, The Faintest Ideas, Blind Terry, Japan Air, Hari and Aino, The Bridal Shop, The Mare and more. And the tradition will continue with slated 7″ records by up-and-coming bands. With no doubts there’s an inherent link between Cloudberry and Sweden, and it goes further than cloudberry jam and pancakes. Popkids of the world unite!

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The Andersen Tapes – Turn to Speak

Love the sight and love the sound / I wish that I could stick around / Berlin

A night to remember, that’s what I hope this one will be. I don’t plan sleeping after this one. I’m taking a plane to Stockholm after. At 8am. I don’t know if I’m too old for this, but I’ll give it a try! I feel great and I’m so looking forward to party every night. So far the schedule looks crammed with beer, dancing and good music. Arriving the 8th, getting to see Camera Obscura with Berlin hipsters (I wonder how they dress), then attending the after-party at King Kong club organized by the Pop Assistants where the Wayward Girl will DJ for the second time (good luck at it!), the 9th is this DJ gig at the Schwalbe (see the flyer?), the 10th DJing in Stockhom, and Sunday the 11 probably I’ll suffer a surmenage and faint. Fair enough, as we say in Peru, “sarna con gusto no pica” (let me try a loose translation: scabies you like, don’t rash).

The Schwalbe is where the Ship Shape Club has been happening. That’s Uwe Firestation club! So you can expect only quality songs from him. The other day I was very happy when on an email he told me: “… the Boy Least Likely whose singles sounds like an horror to me. Brrrr !”. That totally reaffirmed my trust on his music taste! Not that I ever had any doubts about them. So, of course, I’m very honored that he organized this gig, and on top of that, that we’ll share the DJ deck! That’s thrilling. Even though he wouldn’t like me to say, he is one of the most prominent figures of German indiepop ever, from his SMUF fanzines and tapes to what Firestation has achieved with such a large catalogue. The Schwalbe is mostly a football bar I believe, and that makes a lot of sense to me. I love football and Uwe loves football. We both cheer for HSV Hamburg. Uwe must have his reasons, as he is from Berlin (yup, he doesn’t like Hertha). A bit odd maybe. But that’s ok as I cheer for the same team. But for the past two games it’s not looking that good for us, as we are missing our striker Paolo Guerrero. He got injured while defending the Peruvian national team against Venezuela. He’ll miss the rest of the season! I really like how this kid plays, but it sucks that he is so prone to injuries! If he just played a whole season, I bet he’d be transfered immediately to the Premier League. Class player.

The gig will happen at the second floor of the bar, where more or less 100 people can fit. So all of you Berliners come please! We’ll get some beers and we’ll dance to some fantastic indiepop tunes, both classic and new. And before you ask me why on the flyer it says Twee. Well, why not. Most people that read me ( and me included) don’t like this term. But I won’t mind if some twee-lover arrives at the club to listen to good music. It’s not worth to fight over a word I think. Unless it comes from those dumbasses talking nonsense on that Youtube documentary.

Also djing with us will be our good friend Andi Jenner from the Pop Assistants, who has been booking some fantastic bands in Berlin. Just a week ago he had one of my favourite bands, and future Cloudberry 7″, Bonne Idée playing. So, if you don’t really trust my music taste, and you already know Andi in Berlin, you can just come to the Schwalbe for him. He won’t disappoint!

I’ll have some 7″s for sale this day if you are wondering about that because you hate paying postage. But I won’t bring that many. I still need to grow some biceps for carrying heavier weighs on my luggage.

This will be a fun evening! I’ll see you there, right? And it’s Oktober, in Germany, you know what that means: beer!

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Kirsty MacColl – Berlin

I feel happy inside! Happy! gravity just fade away!

I’ll be back in Hamburg in less than a month! I’m very excited, thrilled, and giggling while posting this flyer here. There will be some more flyers on the blog soon because I’ll be DJing in Berlin and Stockholm as well. But more details on those nights soon. In the case you want to mark them on your calendar, because you are in town and you want to listen to some good music, I’ll be in Berlin on the 9th and in Stockholm on the 10th (with the live debut of The Andersen Tapes!). But let’s get back to Hamburg!

I believe the flyer says more than any words could say. Of course, DJette did a lovely work designing it. And she did use some obscure imagery for it. Can you point out where the photo comes from?

It’s quite exciting that this evening I’ll be meeting at last The Sunny Street! I love their music so much, and had the chance to put out the “Insull Memorial” 3″ CD last year. I’m still fascinated how they achieved making a cheesy song sound classy and elegant when covering Haddaway’s “What Is Love?”. Now I just hope a 7″ by The Sunny Street happens in the future. Wouldn’t that be sweet? But sweeter is meeting for the first time Rémi and Delphine. They are coming with two other friends, so it’s not more a duo but a proper band! Christos and Ian are joining. Ian is quite famous because he plays in Pocketbooks and was organizing with Marianthi the Spiral Scratch nights. And Christos? Well, Christos is Christos! Nicest Greek guy in the whole galaxy. Christos if you are reading this, you know how thankful I am for that One Night Suzan record? I met Christos in New York last year. That was a good evening, wasn’t it? I clearly remember dancing with Marianthi, Christos and Pete B. to The Field Mice just before Cats on Fire fired up their arsenal at Don Hills.

In a nutshell: First show of The Sunny Street in Hamburg, you can’t miss it.

Also DJing at this special night is Matthew from Big Pink Cake! We did a little thing together when the “Where are the Supremes Tonight” 3″ CD was given away for free at his club in Bristol. So now we’ll be sharing DJ duties! That’s kind of a scary thought though. Imagine this situation: I’m just an amateur, and he seems such a professional at it! And we’ll be drinking beer German style. I can’t do any ridiculous mistakes at the deck! I’ll be booed! Can’t allow that to happen! But if that’s not making it difficult for me to play records, with such high standards to beat, I’ll have to deal with the fantastic taste of DJ Selfish, Herr Winzer from the defunct but historic Mind the Gap mailorder. I bet he is going to spin the best indiepop hits. Can’t wait to see him dancing again though. I insist, there’s no one that could dance better than Jörg Winzer.

And last, but not least: Djette. That’s Nana, one of my dearest friends, my German road-movie friend, the cheerful Astra drinker, the best photographer I know. I can’t wait to see you Nana! And we’ll blow the candles together on the 16th!

In a nutshell: I promise you’ll get some great music to dance.

What a weekend that will be. If you are in town, please come by! It will be jede Menge Spaß! Now it’s time for Hamburg’s finest: The Legendary Bang! Yes! It makes me so HAPPY to be back in Hamburg!

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The Legendary Bang – Happy

One of the worst moments in running the Plastilina label was the failed release for the California Snow Story album. We had already promoted in our website, approved the artwork, received the master, saw it leek on soulseek, but at the last minute we had to drop it. Why? Well, I guess it’s not worth it to go into details, let’s just say it was a ‘misunderstanding’. A month later the album was released on the, now sadly-defunct, Letterbox Records label in UK. “‘Close To The Ocean” was a gorgeous album, a step further for the band David Skirving (an ex-Camera Obscura) founded years before. The biggest improvement was that of the band becoming a duo with the addition of Sandra Belda. Her name was unknown for many (if not all) popkids but happily I was already familiar with her previous band: Superété. I knew, since day one, that this combo, these Batman and Robin of pop, were going to be able to craft a lush album.

I always found quite curious that the press release for the California Snow Story album mentions Sandra’s past: “Sandra was previously the vocalist in the highly rated Valencia-based duo Superété. Superété recorded music in Spain in 2001/2002 and played frequently in Valencia and Barcelona in 2003 and 2004.” I’m not being sarcastic or arrogant if I say that the band was and still is unknown to most of Spanish popkids. Of course, shame on them, but the band didn’t really do any proper release. I do know that in their hometown, Valencia, they were quite popular though. I remember many years ago, probably around 2004, while working on a compilation for a Peru-only release called “Es Pop Mamá!”, I was in touch with a band called Bisiesta, from Valencia as well. The guy from the band got me in touch with Sandra as he was so excited that someone so far away knew about this band he also enjoyed a lot. Those were the days when no one was on facebook or myspace, so it was straight to MSN, on a three-way conversation. Sadly Sandra was a wee busy working at the hospital and couldn’t talk much. I joked saying she was the “Enfermera de Noche” (the night-shift nurse) which is a classic Spanish pop song by La Mode, we talked a bit about music, and then she had to go to do her duties. I never heard again from her till the day we got in touch about California Snow Story.

Back then there was a Superété website (which was www.superete.tk). I think at some point there was a Myspace. Today there aren’t any remains of them, it’s like Scipio Africanus’ troops punished them. But if memory serves, Superété were a duo, a boy and girl duo, just like California Snow Story. It was formed by Sandra and Julio in Valencia. I’m guessing the press release is wrong when it says they recorded songs between 2001 and 2002. Their first EP dates from 2003. The second was released a year after and it’s a bit different, you can tell the band grew up. Also, worth searching is a EP released by Julio under the name Julipop. How does it sound? Not so far from Superété, just that it had male vocals.

These are the two self-released EPs by Superété:

Cuando Amanece EP
01. Te Vas a Enterar
02. Septiembre
03. Cuando Anochece
04. Mi Robot
05. Cuando Anochece (Bot mix)

Superété EP
01. Tu Silencio
02. Martina Feliz
03. La Groupie Asesina
04. Te Vas a Enterar (Bot mix)
05. Cuando Anochece (Sleepdancing bot mix)

I’m giggling while listening the wonderful “Martina Feliz” (Happy Martina) who seems was a big fan of Le Mans! Or “La Groupie Asesina” (The Assassin Groupie) with those brasses and devilish lyrics! Or the playful “Mi Robot” (My Robot) which reminds me the happiest moments of the genius Antonio Galvañ from Parade.

They played many gigs in Valencia, even opening for Cola Jet Set, now a known name for UK people after their gig at Indietracks. Also the duo played along other favourites of mine, Nobel, who surely deserve some lines in this blog. On top of that, Sandra was also involved in writing stuff for the Jamacuco fanzine, which still is around. I guess I can still ask Sandra about the band, but I haven’t been in touch in such a long time. I wonder what’s she is up to. Maybe there’s another California Snow Story album cooking? Maybe this time, I can be part of it? Or maybe I should just wait again a couple of years for news.

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Superété – Martina Feliz

Cabbages. Did you know there’s a variety of cabbage called “Danish Ballhead”? Me neither. Yesterday I was going through the online encyclopaedia as my knowledge about this green leaf kugel was limited to the sauerkraut, to the red cabbage they serve you with the wiener schnitzel -which i love to mix with mashed potatoes- and, of course, cole slaw salad. And if I go a bit further away, do you remember the Cabbage Patch Kids and their arch-nemesis the Garbage Pail Kids? I remember at school trading cards of the latter were banned. The privileges of British education.

My first experience at ‘cooking’ was atrocious. I ended up with a breaded fish in flames! The fire alarm went crazy. Water started to sparkle from the ceiling. After that my cooking courage was reduced to only making pasta. Boil some water, throw the pasta in there, and after, vodka sauce -usually- from a jar. Suddenly, a pleasure of trying different pastas grew up on me, from the ordinary fettucini to the playful bucatinis, I had to try them all. Still it puzzles me how I didn’t grow up fat with that much starch!

Soon after, as I started working, my Italian cuisine days were over. Now it was all about eating out. Restaurants became my second home. Day after day, typical fast food joints to exclusive gourmet ethnic kitchens, trying to find something new and exciting to eat, a DIY epicure. I wonder why I haven’t been offered a food review column in the newspaper by now.

At my apartments, I never bothered to connect the gas supply to the kitchen, even though the service is quite cheap. But there has been some periods of time were food was cooked at my place. That’s when I was living with these impetuous cooking masters as flatmates: Rafael and Felix. Sadly we didn’t all live together at the same time because I could imagine fantastic banquets happening. It was at two different points of life where I shared apartments with them. But both Rafael and Felix would come after a long day at work, smelling to ‘kitchen’ mixed with Miami’s humidity, to keep on cooking. They wouldn’t stop. I remember Rafael calling me before getting out of work asking me, what do you want to eat later? Then he would show up at home with his pockets full of smuggled food -in a plastic bag- from the restaurant to prepare the best homemade food in Miami.

But I’ve had Chefs dreams even though I seem not suitable for any kitchen. One of my “dream releases” was to do a full retrospective of The Chefs one day. We were quite close to make it happen until I stopped hearing from Helen McCookerybook. She was excited, we were excited, I was giggling. She even sent me a couple of unreleased songs that are fantastic! We were going to also include the recordings by Skat. Don’t know what went wrong. Back in 2006 and 2007, she even wrote a couple of times on her blog about it:

– A Peruvian record company called Plastilina contacted me a while ago asking to bring out a Chefs compilation. I’m now back in touch with Carl and James (guitarists). Russ, the drummer, died a few years ago.

– Well, Plastilina have been in touch: the surviving Chefs will have to meet up and talk, I think. I’ve always wanted to go to South America- first, Venezuela (there was a girl at school from there) then my friend Marek Kohn went to Peru and I wanted to go there, then Argentina after I read about Hank Wangford going there,then Chile out of curiosity.

– Meanwhile, Plastilina have been in touch again, and I hope that somehow we can sort ot a Chefs release some time soon. But I think that’s a bit of a don’t-hold-your-breath situation.

Reading her lines again, she doesn’t sound that positive, right? But then, she did send me some ’secret tracks’. Hard to figure out. In any case, I believe this compilation has to be released someday! Perhaps Cherry Red wants to do it? That would be sweet because I love The Chefs but also maybe that’s what will give me a kick start to try to cook. Perhaps one day I’ll be at least half of a chef, or a fifth. I’d be happy being a fifth of a chef. At least be able to make some tasty cabbage rolls. I’m up for the challenge, I’ll bring an apron.

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The Chefs – 24 Hours

It’s been a week now since I saw the “(500) Days of Summer” movie. I don’t know if it was a good idea, and if it influenced at all the way I enjoyed it, to have a bottle of vodka and a bottle of diet coke at the last row of the kino. Bottles were empty after 10 or 15 minutes of the opening credits.

The movie has started. Zooey Deschanel is an easy crush. I can fall in love immediately. She is pretty. She is more than pretty. She sings The Smiths. I think that’s enough explanation to know this is going to hurt. Pretty girls make graves.

This is a story of boy meets girl. The boy, Tom Hansen of Margate, New Jersey, grew up believing that he’d never truly be happy until the day he met the one. This belief stemmed from early exposure to sad British pop music and a total mis-reading of the movie ‘The Graduate’. The girl, Summer Finn of Shinnecock, Michigan, did not share this belief. Since the disintegration of her parent’s marriage she’d only love two things. The first was her long dark hair. The second was how easily she could cut it off and not feel a thing. Tom meets Summer on January 8th. He knows almost immediately she is who he has been searching for. This is a story of boy meets girl, but you should know upfront, this is not a love story.

What the narrator says reminds me to Nick Hornby’s lines on High-Fidelity:

“What came first – the music or the misery? Did I listen to music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to music? Do all those records turn you into a melancholy person? People worry about kids playing with guns, and teenager watching violent videos; we are scared that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands – literally thousands – of songs about broken hearts and rejection and pain and misery and loss. The unhappiest people I know, romantically speaking, are the ones who like pop music the most; and I don’t know whether pop music has caused this unhappiness, but I do know that they’ve been listening to the sad songs longer than they’ve been living the unhappy lives.”

I feel I’m the main character now. And I’m at IKEA with the Zooey. My little sister comes and tells me: “Just because she’s likes the same bizarro crap you do doesn’t mean she’s your soul mate.” Crap. Thanks for the wake up call. I drop the cheap plastic smirnoff bottle. I imagine the whole movie theatre turning around and looking at me as if my cellphone was ringing. Now my little sister in the movie says: “You know, all my friends love you and think you’re great. It’s like they say, there’s plenty of fish in the sea. “ I look to the group of twelve year old girls that are my lil’ sister’s friends, I think of Dugly Stewart’s masterpiece “Your Class” and answer her: “Those aren’t fish. They’re guppies”.

Time to go the restroom. I hate these interruptions! I run fast, and I’m back to my seat. I’m at a park, sitting on a bench with Zooey/Summer. She is so pretty, did I say this before? She has the best dresses. Do you think Zooey thrifts? Maybe at “Beyond Retro”? or on the many stores at Brick Lane? She has found another guy, she will marry another guy. The movie is crap. I tell the girl next to me, “you know, this guy portraying me in the movie, he is not good enough. I would have never let Zooey go”. She says, “you have a distorted sense of reality”. The screen goes pitch black.

But summer never leaves Miami. This is the “Sound of Summer”.

The Candidates – The Sound of Summer

You saw the sunshine, you never felt the rain
You heard the laughter, you never even thought about the pain
I saw your crying, I heard you call my name
I only wanted to be with you again
Did you never realise that there was something close to magic in your eyes
DId it come as some surprise when you told me you were leaving
But now you’re gone where will I get the strength to carry on

You saw the sun, but you thought you saw the moon
You thought your time had come but it was way too soon
You had the world at your feet and it was oh so sweet
You heard the music, but that was just the sound of summer

One year older I’m sitting here alone
Those days of summer seem to cut me to the bone
Those sunshine kisses and promises we swore
Just tales of lies and stories of the ring you never wore
As you were rushing for your plane
You said we wouldn’t meet again

You saw the sun, but you thought you saw the moon
You thought your time had come but it was way too soon
You had the world at your feet and it was oh so sweet
You heard the music, but that was just the sound of summer

I’m looking for some space
I don’t think I could take seeing someone else in my place
Week after week, day after day
I’m still hearing you say

You saw the sun, but you thought you saw the moon
You thought your time had come but it was way too soon
You had the world at your feet and it was oh so sweet
You heard the music, but that was just the sound of summer

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Listen
The Candidates – The Sound of Summer

1. So I got these lovely CD from Jon Clay, from Barny, including their only 3 recorded songs (”Undisputed Beauty Queen”, “Free Your Mind” and “Liquid Satisfaction”) and a live gig at the Water Rats (1998). All of it great stuff! I wonder why weren’t these songs properly released why I listen to them at work. I’m equipped with huge Behringer headphones, I’m concentrated designing the artwork for The Sound of Starke Adolf Vol.1 CD cover, I’m feeling that it has been so far a good evening. I even had a great hamburger. As usual, every now and then I check this obsessive website that is Last.fm. But what does Last.fm do to me? It ’scrobbles’ the Barny songs as Barney. Yes, just as Barney, the purple annoying dinosaur that my little cousins enjoy. On top of it all, a smiling Barney picture shows up, happily adorning my music chart, sandwiched between Hookline and Silverfish and The Close Lobsters.

2. On Saturday I’m around the art galleries in the Wynwood area in Miami. I’m more interested in complimentary drinks than art itself, shame on me. We’ve found this gallery that are giving away some pomegranate liqueur. I guess it could be considered a “chick drink”, but I really like it. It’s terribly sweet and tastes so good just as those pomegranates I used to pick up in the Peruvian Andes, taking all those seeds out for eating or for “seed wars” with my brother. Mind you, in Spanish pomegranate is “granada“, literally a grenade.

Drinking and drinking, refreshing the torrid tropical night. The Pama bottle continues to pour plastic cup after plastic cup while I round the four walls of the gallery. My friend Felix is still flirting with the bartender. Don’t know if it’s because she is cute or because he doesn’t want to tip her. Suddenly this lady approaches to me, I’d say late thirties, early forties. “Why does it say that on your t-shirt” she asks me with a puzzled and wrinkly face. I double-check what it says on my t-shirt. “Cats on Fire”, written in italics, below it a little owl -which later that night was the reason another lady would say “how cute, I love owls”- nothing weird on my t-shirt then.

“Well, it’s a band” I answered. “Do you find weird the name?” I ask her as she kept staring at me. She replied “Just that my cat died last week”. A small silence, I try to quickly think what I’m supposed to say, I feel for you? I’m sorry? My condolences? She doesn’t give me time to answer, “and I cremated him yesterday”.

Tough luck. Cat on Fire indeed.

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Listen
Cats on Fire – Crooked Paper Clip (demo)

News. Bits and bobs. Releases. Songs. Stuff. May offerings.

• The Cloudberry blog was on a little vacation, but now I’m back! While you are enjoying Indietracks I will be grounded for being bad. But good bad, not evil. I’m terribly jealous of you all enjoying the festival. I thought this year I was going to make it there, but it didn’t happen. London Popfest will be my next stop then. Well, a small visit to Germany is due this October, I’m really looking forward to that! I think I’ll be DJing in both Hamburg and Berlin. I’ll update about these events later. Hopefully meet you there? Would be nice to have some beers!

• Let’s get on the news though! A new 7″ in the horizon? Yup! That’s right. The mighty Parallelograms last offering will be out just a month from now. The release date is August 25th. What do you need to know about it? It’s the first 7″ Cloudberry release that includes 3 songs! The A side is reserved for the terribly catchy “Dream on Daisy” while the B side includes two future indiepop hymns “Papageno” and “Making Faces”. I’m very happy to get to work again with them, for the third time, especially as I’m such a sucker for their previous band, Velodrome 2000. If you haven’t listened them yet, check them here. Oh! and there will be badges for the first 100 orders!

• Also, there’s tons of news at my other beloved label, Plastilina. Jalito and me have been working quite silently during the last months after The Bridal Shop release. So what is coming up in our little Peruvian imprint? First Stop: check the video for The Bridal Shop’s “Ideal State” here.

• Second Stop: August 1st. And that’s just around the corner. This day marks one of the happiest and proudest moment for our label. It’s the release date of a new album by the legendary Pearly Gatecrashers! Oh dear, I’m such a fan of Lenore and Tim’s band. I’m pretty sure that “Age of Innocence” is the 7″ I’ve played the most of my whole collection. So, getting the opportunity to work with them is truly one of the biggest personal highlights this year! The album is called “But Wait, There’s More” and it includes 13 wonderful tracks that live up to the expectations of any Pearly Gatecrashers fan! A must for 2009!

• Third Stop: The Dubious Brothers’ “Antiques”. We will release in September this wonderful retrospective album the songs by this fantastic 80s band whose releases fetch for hundreds of pounds on ebay. So keep an eye on this one as I’m pretty sure it will get sold out as fast as the Bluetrain album.

• Fourth Stop: Also during the first days of September we’ll be releasing a compilation album including many of our bands hit songs and rare tracks. This will be a great introduction for anyone new to the label’s roster! For more info please visit our site here.

• Another release you shouldn’t miss at all is the Summer Cats debut album “Songs for Tuesdays”! I still need to get it on vinyl, but I’ve had listened the CD version and it is indeed one of the best this year. Slumberland has done a great job the past months releasing some of the best indiepop bands around like The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Liechtenstein, and now after more than a decade, one Earthmen gets a release again on the bay area label. I really recommend this album, and it includes two Cloudberry favourites: “Lonely Planet” and “Wild Rice”. Check the new video for the song “Super” here!

• Cherry Red continue to release some fine indiepop retrospectives! This time they bring us for the first time on CD the debut album by The Farmer Boys: “Get Out & Walk”. This is a must have for everyone! The label says:
  First time on CD for the debut album from The Farmers Boys. Now fully expanded with ten bonus tracks alongside the original album – a full 1 hour 20 minutes of music. Includes the singles ‘More Than A Dream’, ‘For You’ and ‘Muck It Out’ (the latter did not feature on the original vinyl release!). 20 page booklet with an introduction from Stan, plus an archive interview with the whole band, along with promo photos, clippings and pictures from the bands personal collections. Produced by the band, Pete Hammond and Peter Collins, along with additional production from Pete Waterman and Julian Mendelsohn.

• Another fantastic release on Cherry Red is the retrospective album by Blow-Up. I already ordered but haven’t had the chance to listen to this one. I hope it arrives home soon… but it looks promising! The album is called “The Kerbstones Turns to Moss”. More info here.

• On more Cherry Red news… it seems they will re-release Another Sunny Days’ “London Weekend”! Hopefully there will be more news about this CD soon on the Cherry Red website.

• Back to the Farmers Boys, I only found out about the 2003 release “Once Upon A Time In The East”. It’s a retrospective of their earlier recordings, all in 8-track, way before the first album. You can grab a copy writing to Stan, the guitar player, here. I think there are not many copies left but give it a chance! And hey, if you can, convince them to do an interview for this blog!

• Although I’ve become less of a fan of Elefant during the last years, especially after dropping so many Spanish bands, they’ve kind of come back this year with very fine releases. Their latest is “The Rise & Fall of BMX Bandits” and this one I will order next week for sure. It’s not really a greatest hits but more of a Dugly’s favourite songs compilation. There’s even some unreleased tracks and very hard to find versions of album tracks. As a big BMX Bandits fan, this is superb news! You can read more about this release here.

• Probably I’m missing some more fantastic releases, so do recommend me some on the comments section… and yes, I remind you again that the Harrison double-CD is out and it’s one of the BEST releases this year. It’s two CDs worth of songs, no fillers! Order it here.

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Listen

The Pearly Gatecrashers – Penny Drops