Not much to add today. The mixed bag boxes offers are up on the web since the weekend. Take advantage of it. The price is very low for what you get.

No other news now. Very quiet for me now. How are you all doing?

English Summer: “Holding Against Our Own” is the name of the new EP by Caleb Carr’s solo project! Based in Clare, Australia, his music has been a favourite of the blog for a long time! Jangly, chiming, guitars abound on the 5 songs included in this digital-only release. Great stuff!

Sugar World: I am not familiar with this band. But I do trust Sunday Records. If they are going to release on CD the album “Lost and Found” I need to check it out. 3 songs are up to preview out of 11. I listen to them with curiosity and I am sold. Fuzzy pop with great melodies. Okay, this is up my alley! Will need a copy myself!

Sapphire & Steel: I remember when I was not updating the blog seeing a lot of posts on Facebook about this project by Jørn Åleskjær from Norway and Estella from the Netherlands. Of course, Estella has been busy lately with Nah and with The Hepburns, so was great to see her involved in a new project. Here we find two songs, “Snø (Vill Falle Over Snø Som Har Falt)” and “Snowstorms”, and what can I say other that these are pretty pretty!

Juárez: the Pamplona, Spain, band is back with a new album titled “Luna Menguante”. 11 songs that are available now on vinyl and CD. Upbeat, poppy, a straight jab to your face, the songs are catchy and thoroughly enjoyable. A superb release. What’s with Pamplona? A small city that produces so many good bands!

Rayventuras: first time I listen to this Berlin band. And I have to say that their album “Sandpaper Honey” is not that new, it came out in 2020! But copies are available still on vinyl and CD. Their latest though is the January 2022 single “Things” that is terrific. Jangly guitars, mellow female vocals, can’t ask for more.

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I am still exploring the compilation “Everything but the Boys and the Girl”. I’ve written about it extensively, because of some of the bands that appeared on it like The Boy’s Short Hair, Somerset Club Boy and Forest Stroll. So check those out if you are interested of course.

Today I want to write about Frederick, a Japanese band who contributes the song “つかれたそら” to this compilation released in 2019 by Happy Extreme! (SFC 003). The song is great and catchy, and I was very surprised that unlike the other bands I have written about Frederick had releases!

I start with the meaning of Frederick. Of course we know it is a name, but it means: Frederick is a masculine given name meaning “peaceful ruler”. It is the English form of the German name Friedrich. Its meaning is derived from the Germanic word elements frid, or peace, and ric, meaning “ruler” or “power”. I wonder why they called themselves like this.

This band formed by Atsushi Iwashima on bass, Kenichi Kataoka on vocals, Hiroyuki Tomizawa on drums and Tadashi Yanagawa on guitars and piano released 5 albums according to Discogs between 1990 and 1993. Quite prolific! All of them would be released on the label Life Size, a label that belonged to Epic/Sony Records.

The band’s first release looks more like a mini-album as it has 7 songs. It was the self-titled “Frederick” (ESCB 1073). The songs were: “口笛を吹きながら”, ” 今日から始めよう”, “つかれた空”, “ついて行けないこの世界”, “Love”, “ゴミ” and 身近な出来事”.

Another mini-album came out that same year. This CD came out in 1990 and was called “ゴミ箱” (ESCB 1088). It included the following tracks, “ゴミ箱”, ” 宇宙の中の小さな地球”, “おいしい空気”, ” この木の下で”, “Flower”, “Fancy Music” and “自然に生きたい”. I haven’t listened yet to any of these songs, so I wonder if some were really in English or all of them were in Japanese.This CD came out in 1990 and was called “ゴミ箱” (ESCB 1088). It included the following tracks, “ゴミ箱”, ” 宇宙の中の小さな地球”, “おいしい空気”, ” この木の下で”, “Flower”, “Fancy Music” and “自然に生きたい”. I haven’t listened yet to any of these songs, so I wonder if some were really in English or all of them were in Japanese.

In 1991 the band released a proper album titled “Pudding” (EESCB 1137). This one had 12 songs: “My Favorite Hour”, “エレクトリックギター“, “How Does it Feel (Purple Hearts)”, “何処へ行く“, “B”, “カッコーの巣の上で“, “僕は嘘つき“, “かけらを探しに“, “明日になれば“, “人間らしい踊り“, “にがい砂糖” and “汚れなき少年の頃“.

In 1992 the band released their second full-length. Titled “Sheep & Children” (KSC2 14) and with a strange art on the cover it had 10 songs: “どうして歌を唄うの”, “Jesus”, “Illusion”, ” 虹を追いかけて (Mountain Tracks)”, “New York”, “Girls Be Ambitious”, ” ランランラン”, ” 安息の鐘を鳴らせ”, “心に太陽を” and “Here Comes the Country Sky”.

The year after, 1993, the band releases their last record, “Hima Korogashi” (KSC2 61). This one has all the song titles in English. Thirteen tracks are on this CD album, “Tender Drummer Boy”, “Time for Action”, “Travelling”, “Love or Desire”, “September’s Children”, “Only a Letter Can Do”, “A Tiny Little Hand of Yours”, “Shimmering Wheels”, “Drive in the Rain”, “Teachers Will Never Know”, “Full Moon and Curiosity”, “Hey Daddies (Didn’t You Ever Feel Like This)” and “Living in a Spiritless Age”.

I look into the band member’s too. If they had been in other bands. I notice that Atsushi had been in two bands I want to write about, The London Times and Tiroleantape Chapter 4.  He was also in Head Mad Dolls, Yaung Skins, Dexied the Emons, Thames Beat, Iwashima 49 Colors and Fresh! Hiroyuki was also on The London Times and in TimeSlip-Rendezvous and MI:LAGRO. Tadashi was in The Brooks. Kenichi was also on The London Times, Action Painting, Thames Beat and Head Mad Dolls. I wonder then, which came first? The London Times? Indeeed. The band was around in the 80s though they reunited in 2019. I will write about them soon I hope.

The band also was well known in different compilations. On the classic flexi “Whistlin’ and Smilin'” (SFC 002) released by Happy Extreme! in 1989 they contributed the song “つかれたそら = Tsukareta Sora”.

In 1990 on the CD comp ” ライブスタジオ新宿Jam 10周年記念CD 曲者 [Kyoku-Mono]” released by Studio Jam (WJ2C-1) they had the song “無気力な時代”. Later on in 1990 they had the song “ゴミ ” on “Beat Express Rocks” double CD comp released by Epic (ESCB 1080-1).

On “Beat Express Rocks II” (ESCCB-1128-9) from 1991, another double CD on Epic, the band had the song “何処へ行く”. That same year their song “Purple Hearts (How Does it Feel?)” appeared on “Les Frederick Presents Innocence & Peppermints” released by Life Size (ESCB 1219). This CD would be reissued in 1998 by Epic/Life Size.

This is what I could find about them. There exists some video of them it seems. A VHS titled “Rock File on Video 1989 Vol. 4” lists one of the videos to be by Frederick. It doesn’t say what song or what sort of footage it is. It seems hard to look for it on Youtube… if it is there…

Anyhow, any help from my Japanese friends will be appreciated. I can’t seem to find any other details nor songs by them!

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Listen
Frederick – つかれたそら

Okay, I am back to checking out new bands, especially with the hope to find a band that fits on Cloudberry, for a 7″ release. This has started to prove a bit difficult with Bandcamp as most bands as soon as they have a new song they post it immediately. As you can imagine I’d like to have the song unveiled with the release, not 6, 8 months before. So what do I look for? I guess for the vibe, for the style, for the influences, that I can imagine that they would record a brilliant single…

The Hannah Barberas: a favourite band from before I went into my vacation. The superb London combo has a bunch of new songs on the “When You Were My Boyfriend EP”. 4 new songs, one of them, the title song, that will be included in the band’s second album that is to be released in the summer on Spinout Nuggets and Subjangle. Highly recommended.

Rémi Parson: another EP that I have to highly recommend is the “Pour un Empire” album by the ex Sunny Street. The album is out on vinyl now and sounds superb. Rémi is definitely one of the most talented people I know and have been honoured to work with him in the past (and I hope in the future too, who wouldn’t want a Sunny Street comeback!?). This record continues what he has been showing us in his previous releases, top-class wave pop. It came out last November, but I am only catching up with these great 12 tracks.

Crabber: the band formed by members of Dr. König Arthus (who I interviewed) and Kristallin (which I’ve tried twice to interview them!) is releasing a 7″ on the Athens label Old Bad Habits. It will include three songs and we can preview the opening one, “Greek Wine”, which is great!! The record is limited to 150 copies and will be out on May 2.

The No-Yeahs: “Romper Room” is a wonderful song! If you remember The Tidy Ups or Funday Mornings this will be up your street! Bedroom-pop at its finest. Ramshackle beauty. The song even has a video which you can check here.

Coming Up Roses: a favourite of the blog too, as all the previous bands. It is refreshing to know bands that we like continue putting music out. The Singapore trio has a new single called “Slingshots” that is good. But I have to say their previous effort called “Glass Stained Eyes” is fantastic. So here are two links in one. Enjoy.

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Back in 2011 or 2012 (I can’t be sure) I was in love with one song, “Easily Led” by the London band Fountains. I thought it was a fantastic single, that it should have been big, a classic in indiepop… but I guess the song flew under the radar for everyone.

I djed it a few times and always people would ask me what song this was. So there was that, people acknowledged that it was good. I just don’t understand how some bands make it and others don’t.

When I approached them to release a 2nd single with me, the band had split out and the member I talked with had a new project that sounded different. Not exactly what I was looking.

Today I was remembering them and wondering what happened to them. I lost track. And to be honest I know very little about them. They weren’t a household name for indiepop lovers. They didn’t play any of the festivals we used to go.

The band was formed by Bex Dean on bass and vocals, Chris Haslam on guitar, Darren Osborne on guitar, Jonathan Head on guitar and vocals and Neil Bourke on drums.

The band released a 7″ and also a tape, both in 2012. Let’s start with the tape which was called “No Sleep EP”. This tape, limited to 50 copies, had three songs, “Sleep”, “Insecure” and “You Are Not Welcome”. The three songs appear on both sides. They were recorded at Lightship95, a studio on a 550-tonne ship moored at Trinity Buoy Wharf in East London. The producer was Rory Attwell from Die! Die! Die! and Test Icicles.

These songs are on the band’s Soundcloud if you want to have a listen of course. There is a Bandcamp with this EP as well.

The 7″ came out on the label Beautiful Strange (BS004). This record was limited to 250 copies, perhaps that’s why it never caught on? Anyhow, the wonderful “Easily Led” appears on the A side and “Repetition” is on the B side. The good thing too is that the band made a promo video for the A side, which is on Youtube.

And just one compilation appearance. It was a digital one called “Something Something Compilation #1” that featured bands from South East London. Fountains appear with “Don’t Cry”. It came out in 2012.

The next stop to find more info is a Facebook page that hasn’t been updated since 2014.

Here we find of a lot of gigs. They played Power Lunches in London on March 6th, 2012 alongside Evans the Death and Playlounge. In Canterbury they played on March 30th, 2012 at Casey’s. Friday April 13, 2012 at the Amersham Arms in New Cross, London.. May 8, 2012, with Delta/Alaska and Dark Bells at The Old Queen’s Head in Islington. On May 12, 2012, they played along Trophys, Es Muss Sein, Magnets and Take a Stand at Rafa Club in Chatham. June 9, 2012, with The Hysterical Injury, Vienna Ditto, Hella Better Dancer, Breathe Out, The Tuts and more at the Kiss the Music Weekender at the Sebright Arms in Bethnal Green. The Buffalo Bar also saw them on May 22, 2012 for Club Fandango. On June 5, 2012, they played the Teen Creeps Luvverly Jubilee Party at Old Blue Last. Then the next day, June 6, at Sub Rosa at Club Surya in Kings Cross. June 21, 2012, at Bands & Books in London.

Their single release party was on July 24, 2012, at The Waiting Room in Stoke Newington. Other bands on the lineup were Fever Dream (are they still going?), Lostleft and Es Muss Sein. On August 14 at Camden Barfly with The Penelopes.

They also played that year, 2012, Lounge on the Farm Festival in Canterbury.

They tried to be part of Indietracks in 2012, wonder why it didn’t happen.

They were interviewed by Matt Barnes for the Indie Show on Roundhouse Radio on March 15, 2012, but the link is not working.

And then we know that Jonathan Charles started a new project called Kid Gloves. I don’t know what happened to the rest of the band members. Did they continue making music? I think this was about 2013-2014. When then did the Fountains called it quits?

And were these all the songs they recorded? Just 5? There must be more, right? Would be great to find out any details about them. Who remembers them?

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Listen
Fountains – Easily Led

I managed to post three times a week with no issues. That’s good. I think I may be able to start reviewing new music. At least I think I can this Monday. So hopefully I’ll find some good discoveries. I don’t have any plans for new 7″s right now, The band I wanted to release a 7″ and who I talked and exchanged a few demos, well, they seem to have signed to a bigger indiepop label to Cloudberry. So I suppose that’s it. I should be on the lookout for the next 7″ release…. as well as for the next Cloudberry Cake Kitchen. No plans for anything yet! Seems strange!

I should be adding new offers on the website this weekend. Have a look if anything interests you. I need space at home so any help in finding a new home for some ace records would be appreciated.

Other than that, I sent interview questions to a band I love, and I am in touch with yet another band for another interview. And I want to thank again everyone that got the Alfie compilation. I saw Jigsaw Records has it on their page right now and describes them this way:
lovingly-assembled reissue from an ultra-obscure late ’80s/early ’90s band from a small island off the Swedish coast who mostly played jangly pop in a style similar to Hurrah, Friends Again and the Jazz Butcher

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Many years ago I wrote about Hopkirk & Lee. The band stills remains a mystery to me. I only know of the persons who was behind the label that released the record, but other than that, no information about the band. One of the mysteries that shroud the band is who were the members, who played the music.

While I was doing that research then I stumbled upon someone saying that the same vocalist that was in Hopkirk & Lee was in Bitter Herb. He pointed to a myspace link that of course doesn’t work anymore. The Finest Kiss blog was very certain that this connection was 100% true.

That same blog, on a 2008 post says that there was a rumour of them signing to a label and then the label going under. Also that they signed a deal with Ralph Macchio and Steve Vai to make a single EP and then go to hell. But that was it really. The Myspace page for this band doesn’t exist anymore.

We know of the existence of four songs of them, “Dancing Eyes”, “The British American Dream”, “The Legions of Romulus” and “Turning Like a Leaf”.

Sadly I don’t know anything by the band and there’s nothing online about them. So even if they want to keep Hopkirk & Lee a mystery, can we get some info about Bitter Herb? Also, if anyone has the other three songs they recorded, I’d love to hear them. Thanks!

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Listen
Bitter Herb – The Legions of Romulus

Wednesday, so far so good.

Managed to have the two posts. Only Friday left. I have an interview to do, write the questions, but I haven’t had the time. It is a band I really love. So I want to do it asap. But it is hard. Let’s see if I have some extra time soon.

Other than that today I finished mailing all Alfie orders. I hope more come my way!

I should have some good offers on the website this weekend. We need some space at home you know, so there should be 10 7″s boxes for cheap. It will be random 7″s. I did a similar offer a few years ago and people enjoyed it. And I should do a similar one with random Cloudberry Cake Kitchen releases. Probably 5 CDs in a package. What do you think? Just need space now with the baby.

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One more time exploring the excellent “Everything But the Boys and the Girl” CDR compilation that Happy Extreme! put out in 2019. I’ve written so far two times about bands that appeared on it, The Boy’s Short Hair and Forest Stroll. This is the 3rd band and probably there will be more!

More because many of the band on this CDR, which is not for sale and came along a book titled “1986-1991”, are unknown to me. Just one song by these bands is not enough for me. I have a big pop appetite! Need to hear more about these great sounding bands!

Sadly there is no info about them. So I need all the help I can get. For Somerset Club Boy it is clear that the band is Japanese. The song they have, “素敵な日曜日 (Version)” is in Japanese. So I need my friends from the land of the rising sun to help me get more info about them.

From what I can gather the band named themselves after Somerset, a county in England.

Somerset is a rural county of rolling hills, the Blackdown Hills, Mendip Hills, Quantock Hills and Exmoor National Park, and large flat expanses of land including the Somerset Levels. There is evidence of human occupation from Paleolithic times, and of subsequent settlement by the Celts, Romans and Anglo-Saxons. The county played a significant part in Alfred the Great’s rise to power, and later the English Civil War and the Monmouth Rebellion. The city of Bath is famous for its Georgian architecture and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Also their British-love goes further. I believe the song is actually a version of a Jesus Couldn’t Drum original. Which song, I am not sure yet. I have a few records by the English band, but not all. And I am not very good at figuring these things out. But I think this is in the right path.

Anyhow, the song sounds great. So we wonder if the band recorded more songs, maybe songs of their own? Would be great to find out. Anyone that knows anything about them please leave a comment on the blog! And thanks again for reading and following this humble space!

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Listen
Somerset Club Boy – 素敵な日曜日

Okay. So I thought first to do the 3 posts a week before going into reviewing new bands. I think that’s a fair effort. I feel this is a good way to get myself back to it. It’s some progress. If this week and the next I can manage to do the story of 6 bands, I guess I can go back to reviewing new music. Time is priceless for me right now you know. I have emails I have to answer waiting and waiting. I have projects I want to do but are hard to follow up. So, bear with me.

In the meantime I want to share the good news that Shizuoka mailorder The Stone Records will be having Alfie copies for our Japanese friends. That’s a great thing indeed! Still no news from mailorders in Europe. I hope that changes soon.

About adding Alfie to Bandcamp, I decided not to as Bandcamp was sold to Epic Games. Also I don’t find a way to just share a few songs of the CD, it asks me to share all 18 songs. I don’t want to do that. These retrospectives should be a surprise to those buying them. I think there’s beauty to that.

Anyways, I have started looking for a new project for the Cloudberry Cake Kitchen. I have some ideas, but we’ll see if they work out.

Hope you all had a nice weekend.

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For many Flirt are Barcelona’s best kept secret. I only know their song “Arquitectura” which was such a hit for indiepop lovers at the time, the late 90s, early 2000s. Well, those of us who liked obscure Spanish indiepop… because the band didn’t have any releases you know. Most of us discovered Flirt through Soulseek or similar programs, where lots of demos used to be shared.

“Arquitectura” was part of one said-demos. It was actually put out on a eponymous CDR in 1999 and included 6 songs: “Arquitectura”, “Any of Those Crazy Things”, “Una Liga Menor”, “Caustique”, “Tu O Do, My Cultura” and “Why Do I Dance Alone?”.

We know the leader of the band was Lucas Arraut and that they appeared on two compilations, always with the song “Arquitectura”. First on the CD compilation (+ DVD) “100% Sinammon” released by Sinnamon Records (SINCD100) and later on a download MP3 compilation called “Planes de Futuro, Presente y Pasado” released by Discos de Kirlian.

It is through this last compilation that I learn that the band recorded another demo. I am looking for it now. See if I can find any info. But what also caught my attention is that Discos de Kirlian planned to release “Arquitectura” as an A side on a vinyl single. It seems they were working on it in 2011 with another label, Federación de Universos Pop. I guess that never happened? They even said what color the vinyl was going to be, red. Oh, what a shame! Would have loved this on record.

Discogs also lists the project Sideral as a related band to Flirt. Sideral was the moniker Aleix Vergés used as a dj and member of Peanut Pie. Was he in Flirt as well? The website Mondo Sonoro gives us some info about that…. he was the bassist! It seems though he has sadly passed away…

Then I find the blog Top 100 Vermouthsport Español that dedicates a post to them. Here we learn that “Arquitectura” is actually the 2nd demo.

I find an interview in Rafa Skam’s Yellow Melodies fanzine/e-zine. What info do we get from here? Well, that the band place the Ice Cream Pop Festival first of all and they also played the BAM festival… but then there’s so much more!

We find the band members names, Rodrigo on guitar, Joaquín on piano, Alberto on drums, N´éstor on bass and Lucas on vocals and acoustic guitar. It mentions that Joaquín was studying slavic philology and Alberto classic philology and was working in a computer-based job. Néstor had just graduated in law. We also know that Rodrigo was previously in a punk band called Los Nervios Rotos. Lucas had been in a band called Glamour. Alberto had played in Marea Baja, Sosas Cáusticas, Minema and Peanut Pie.

The songs were usually written by Lucas, a 90%. The other 10% were co-written with Rodrigo. They then go through the songs they played at BAM 1999, there we discover the names of two songs that weren’t on the demo I mentioned earlier, “Gloomy Words” and “Aro Emo Emotional”. And then I finally find information about their first demo, also on the Yellow Melodies!

So this first demo had four songs, “Gloomy Words”, “Where Do Stories End”, “She’s A Rebel” and “Putz Boy”. It was released on tape and from what I understand Rafa, from the Yellow Melodies, always had a dream of releasing these four songs on blue vinyl on his label Discos Imprescindibles. Sadly this hasn’t happened yet.

Then another article about them. Now on the well-known website Jenesaispop. This article was part of the website ‘archaeology’ series, where they cover obscure bands from the past. I haven’t read them yet but I see they wrote about El Viaje de las Flores, a superb band I interviewed ages ago!

Anyhow, here it mentions the band started in 1997. That their first demo dates from 1998 and the second from 1999. That they played in Madrid alongside Mishima. Suddenly, when everyone loves them, from fanzines to the music press, the band stops making noise. There’s silence. And the band splits. Lucas then becomes a journalist and works at Marie Claire, Vanidad and El País.

And that’s all I could find about them. One wonders if they played more cities other than Barcelona and Madrid. Why did they last so little and didn’t get to release anything? What labels were interested in them? Who knows, hopefully we’ll find out more about them soon!

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Listen
Flirt – Arquitectura

Still being very difficult to organize myself and find time to review new bands. Let’s see if by Monday I can do it.

Alfie news. Still no outlets for Europe. But in Brazil there will be copies at Locomotiva Discos in Sao Paulo. They are also getting copies of the Macguffins and Baby Lemonade compilations.

For US fans you can find the record at the best mailorder there is for indiepop, Jigsaw Records.

And that’s it. CDs are doing well. I will add the CDs to Bandcamp, see if those Bandcamp Fridays work for Cloudberry too.

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I return to the excellent “Everything But the Boys and the Girl” CDR compilation that Happy Extreme! put out in 2019. I wrote a bit about this compilation when I wrote about the band The Boy’s Short Hair on the blog.

The CDR is not for sale and came along a book titled “1986-1991” that is worth looking for even if you don’t understand Japanese. Right, forgot to say this was a Japanese release!

On this compilation there are many amazing bands I had never heard in my life and you wonder where they come from. There is no information!

So in the case of the band that I present you today, Forest Stroll, again I know absolutely nothing. That’s why I am writing about them, hoping to find out more details. Maybe some of you know something, even as little as where they where from. Anything will help.

The song I heard by them is the one included in the comp. It is called “Behind the Tree” and it is really amazing. It has this great female vocals, this classic 80s guitars, a bit like Marine Girls, and then some male vocals on the chorus. Thinking too of Grab Grab the Haddock. Anyhow, it is fantastic.

I wonder if the band hailed from Japan, though from the accents I’d like to thing they were British, but I have no idea. So yes, help me please!

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Listen
Forest Stroll – Behind the Tree

I think this week won’t be possible to review new bands. Let’s see if next week.

The good news is that Alfie CDs have started shipping! Very good news. The CDs look and sound great. The website is updated with the info and I will add the release to Bandcamp on the weekend. I will end up adding all Cloudberry Kitchen releases to Bandcamp but they will be a couple of dollars more expensive there as Bandcamp takes a cut you know.

For those in Japan the good news is that Disques Blue-very will be carrying some copies. I hope other mailorders, from other countries, also start carrying the CDs. I know the shipping is expensive but what can I do. Wish it was under my control.

If you have never heard of Alfie. I interviewed the band some years ago here. And you can listen to their superb single “Play On” on our Soundcloud!

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Yet another post that I left as a draft a few years back. I never ended up investigating and researching the Canadian band the Plasterscene Replicas!

I start on the safest place, on Discogs. There I see two releases. The first one from 1985. A 12″ vinyl EP. Self-titled. Released by a label called Voicespondence with catalog number VSP 015. I am not very familiar with Canadian independent pop or rock. So don’t know any of the band’s in the catalog. I do notice that Clive Robertson who engineered and produced this EP released solo records in this label.

Other credits on this record include of course the band members. This is helpful for sure. Wee know that Brenden Cavin was on bass and vocals, Rob Christie on drums, Stephen Stewart on guitar and vocals, Chas Salmon on guitar, keyboards and vocals and Rod Cohen on percussion.

The EP that had a photo of the band playing in the snow on the cover, and photos of the band (well, with the band members cut out, just leaving the instruments and background) playing live on the back cover, included four songs. The A side had “Turtle Song” and “New Warm” while the B side had “Somewhere in the Middle” and “Images are Clear”.

In 1988 the band releases their debut album “Glow”. It came out on vinyl and cassette and was released by Raining Records (RA101). 12 songs on this record, “We Can Walk”, “Things You Hold”, “Doldrums”, “What Could Be Incomplete”, “Trains” and “Pull Out” on the A side and “All I See”, “Hot Sands”, “Holler”, “Town Crier”, “Falling Down the Stairs” and “You’ve Got the Way” on the B side. The album was recorded and engineered at Umbrella Sound and Triton Sound, mixed at Umbrella Sound and also at Fifth Avenue Studio. These were studios in Toronto.

The art for this record is credited to Elaine Halpert with design by Annabelle Stanley. The photography was taken by Paul Orenstein. The producer and engineer was Michael Phillip-Wojewoda who also added piano, bells, scissors and tambourine to some tracks. He was part of the bands Disband, Pig Farm, Rheostatics and The Faceless Forces of Bigness.

We also know that Brenden Cavin was part of the band The Station Twang. Don’t know if the other band members were involved in any other bands. Then the only other info Discogs provides is for compilation appearances.

Both appearances date from 1987. On the LP compilation “For No Apparent Reason” released by X REcords (XR87001) the band contributed the song “Turtle Song”. And on the US cassette comp “Lake Toronto Compilation” released by Sound of Pig (SOP 117) the band had three songs, “New Warm”, “Something in the Middle” and “Images are Clear”.

I google a little bit more and find that the blog Wilfully Obscure wrote about the band in 2017. There I find some info as always. Most importantly a link the Now Toronto website. There an article dating from November 21, 2013, tells that sadly Charlie (Chas) Salmon passed away. On this article written by Joshua Kloke we find more details of course. We know that Salmon was born in 1960 and that he also was involved in many Toronto bands including FiIfth Column. Also that the Plasterscenee Replicas stopped playing in 1989 but did a reunion show at the Cameron House in August of 2007.

And there’s more. On Youtube I find that the band made a promo video for the song “We Can Walk” from their album. It is amazing the amount of comments praising and remembering this song. Wow! It seems they were very well known in Canada and were played in TV and radio a lot. Then there’s a another promo video, this time for the song “All I See“. On the comments I read that Dough Koch was the cinematographer of the video.

This same Youtube account has even more treasures. There is a whole live gig of the band playing at The Cameron in 1987. It is audio only, no footage and has 15 songs in total including “You’ve Got the Way”, “Doldrums”, “What Could Be Incomplete”, “Pull Out”, “Photographs”, “Infant Outfant”, “Today”, “Painful Upset”, “Don’t Go Back Again”, “Trains”, “Holler”, “We Can Walk”, “Marjorie”, “How to Be” and “Falling Down the Stairs”. There is another gig, same format, from November 3, 1989, at Lee’s Palace. This time the songs are 11, “Town Crier”, “Hot Sand”, “Last Sunday Night”, “Holler”, “Magic Carpet Ride”, “Darkness”, “Distributing”, “Unwind”, “We Can Walk”, “All I See” and “Painful Upset”. Lots of new songs here. Maybe they were working on a new release?

A proper gig, with video footage is available too, from the time they played a CFNY sponsored event at El Mocambo on  November 7, 1985.

One of the songs from the gigs, “Don’t Go Back Again“, is available recorded in a studio. Maybe it is from a demo tape? We know some demo sessions happened at MCA in 1989. Some lo-fi recordings were done prior to them at Mike Duggan’s basement. On Youtube we find “Distributing” and “New Rules” as 4-track demos at the aforementioned basement.

Lastly it is worth mentioning the band has a Facebook page. Not much info there, some photos of DAT tapes, but not much more.

Anyways, this was a nice discovery for me. Hope it was for you as well. Anyone that has any more info, please share!

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Listen
Plasterscene Replicas – Trains

Finally back at home in NYC. I can finally announce the Cloudberry Cake new release! It is by the superb 80s Swedish band Alfie!!!

There will be new info on the website no later than this weekend. Need to organize myself. But I have to say that the new CDs look amazing!!!

Check the blog for more info next week too!

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Another band I tried to interview last year, 2020, was the Scottish band The Boy Hairdressers.

I was in touch with Joe McAlinden who would be in the BMX Bandits, Nom, Superstar, The Groovy Little Numbers as well as having a solo career. From what I understand his first band was the Boy Hairdressers and I thought we had to start his story with this band, hopefully later on we’d learn more about the other bands.

It didn’t happen. Maybe I sent to many questions? Maybe life got in the way. Things happen. But I would still like to do a little more investigation and research about this band. I also know some people that are only discovering indiepop are reading the blog, so bands like The Boy Hairdressers, who might be known to many, are also unknown to many!

The band featured Francis MacDonald, Jim Lambie, Norman Blake, Joe McAlinden and Raymond McGinley. Royalty for Scottish pop.

MacDonald would be in so many fantastic bands afterwards, Astro Chimp, BMX Bandits, Cheeky Monkey, Nice Man & The Bad Boys, Speedboat, Speeder, Teenage Fanclub, The Radio Sweethearts, among others. A solo career too.

Lambie was in Playing Soldiers and also released records under his name. He is now of course a world-renowned visual artist.

Raymond McGinley was in Astro Chimp, Snowgoose and Teenage Fanclub.

Norman Blake was in Teenage Fanclub, The Famous Monsters, The New Mendicants, The Reindeer Section, The Pastels, BMX Bandits, and more. A solo career as well.

So yes, they become well known names. But probably back in 1987 when they were in The Boy Hairdressers they weren’t that famous?

In 1987 the band released their one and only record, the “Golden Shower” 12″ on Stephen Pastel’s label 53rd & 3rd (AGARR 12T). This record had the band photo on the cover, printed in black and white, while on the back we find the same photo with a posterize effect. Norman is credited for vocals and guitar. Francis MacDonald for drums. Raymond on guitar. Joe McAliden on bass guitar and violin. Jim Lambie on vibraphone.

Three songs were on this record. “Golden Shower” of course was the A side. The B side had “Tidalwave” and “The Assumption as an Elevator”.

Back then, in 1988, the band contributed “Assumption as an Elevator” to the compilation “Take 5” that was released by Backs Records on LP (Shelter 4). In 1992 the same song would be included in Avalanche Records’ compilation “53rd & 3rd Records – Fun While it Lasted: (ONLY 006). This one was released on LP, and then in 1998 in CD>

Avalanche Records would  release another compilation featuring releases on their label, “53rd & 3rd Records Present – Agarr Retro (Fun While it Lasted Part II)”. ON this record, released in 2000, the band had the song “Golden Shower”. It came out on CD and vinyl with catalog number ONLY 16.

2006. Castle Music and Sanctuary Records releases “CD86 – 48 Tracks from the Birth of Indie Pop” (CMEDD1420). On this double CD compilation the song included is “Golden Shower”.

Lastly the band would appear on a few of Cherry Red box sets. First in 2013’s “Scared to Get Happy (A Story of Indie-Pop 1980-1989)” with “Tidalwave” and then in 2016 on the triple CD boxset “C87” with the song “Golden Shower”.

What else there is about them? There is a nice version of Joe McAlinden solo of “Golden Shower“. I guess that’s what inspired me to interview him. You can find it in his Facebook.

The other good find comes from Youtube. There there is a song that wasn’t included in the single. It is called “Don’t Need a Drum” and from what I understand it came from a 4-track demo from 1987. You wonder if there are even more unreleased tracks!

I look on Last.fm if there has been any scrobbles of other rare tracks. A track called “The Flying Helmet” appears. Who knows. Anyone has any information about this song? Another song that I see is called “Heavy Metal”…

Another thing I find online is that it mentions that Paul Quinn (Bourgie Bourgie) was at some point part of the band. Is that right?

And that’s all I could find. Strange for a band that featured so many well-known names. You’d expect interviews about this period of their music career. Or at least many blog posts. But nothing really. So here I am trying to do the right thing. And maybe some of you can help fill in the blanks with your memories!

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Listen
The Boy Hairdressers – Golden Shower

Finally good news for me. I am returning to NYC tomorrow. By no later than the weekend I’ll have news from the label that I hope everyone will enjoy.

Other than that I am starting to feel that maybe I can return to the old pace of the blog, with more posts and reviewing new releases. Let’s see how next week goes with the current way of doing things on the blog, and maybe I can organize myself to have a much more on-top of things blog.

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Another band I tried to interview was Stephen Maughan’s Denver.

I had interviewed Stephen about Bulldozer Crash, the wonderful band he was in before. As you know he was also on Kosmonaut and more recently on The Memory Fades. On top of that he was the creator of the legendary fanzine This Almighty Pop!

Denver was his project in the late 80s, releasing a few records.

The first one he released was the “World of Pages” 7″ on Elefant Records (ER-167). That was the A side and the B side was “Elizabeth Brown’s Wedding Day”. That was actually one of my questions, who was Elizabeth Brown!

This 7″ came out in 1997 with the sleeve showing a sunflower. It is also worth noting that Jyoti Mishra from White Town played keyboards on “World of Pages”.

In 1998 the band released a split 7″ on the Blackbean And Placenta Tape Club (ACME 25). The 7″ split was shared with Orange Cake Mix. Each band contributed two songs. Denver appeared on the A side with “My Rising Sun” and “Amber”.

Denver would work again with Blackbean and Placenta Tape Club. They would release “This Ain’t Funky Music” (BBPTC 117), a single-sided mini L with 5 songs. The songs were “Have You Ever Felt Like This”, “All That Ever Mattered”, “Margery Vickery”, “Echoes of You” and “Jupiter”. I have never heard this record sadly!

The only other release was an appearance on the compilation “Hard on the Eyes, Easy on the Hears”. This CD comp came out on Blackbean and Placenta Tape Club (ACME10) and included their song “Echoes of You”.

I found another song that remains unreleased: “Autosequence Interference“. It is on Stephen’s Youtube account.

I wonder then if there are more songs? I hope we find the answers after writing this post. And maybe there will be a chance for the interview to get answers. That’d be cool. Who remembers them?

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Listen
Denver – World of Pages

Not much news today. I will return next Wednesday to NYC and that is good. Less stress. Though of course the first days will be a bit complicated, getting organized and setting up everything for us and the baby at home.

So I am hoping to catch up with delayed orders no later than Saturday 26. I will have the new release to come out on March 10 but I will update the website that last weekend of February with all the pertaining information about this great new retrospective.

Other than that, I feel I am very much out of the loop of new releases. So if anyone has any recommendations of good indiepop that came out in the last few months please leave me some comments!

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As I was saying on my post about Godfish and previously on the post about Yellow Bird, there is another band with Tim Groves in their ranks that I want to write about, Spinning Belinda!

I had mentioned some of the other bands he had been in before (The Ultra Parents, The Gemms, Big Humming Noise, The Direction, Scuz, Pencils, Godfish, Yellow Bird) but I’ve been a bit slow discovering all of the songs he has on his Soundcloud.

Most of the songs had been uploaded time ago. 8 years ago for Spinning Belinda tracks. There are a few here. There is “June“, “Cold Sudan“, “Run” and “Liverpool“.

On this band Tim was the drummer. We know some details about the band and the songs too. We know Ali was on vocals, Cos on lead guitar, Steve Jenkins on guitar and vocals, Paul on bass and vocals, and as I said Tim on drums. There are no last names for the band members other than Steve’s. It seems Tim has forgotten them. He says that Ali and Cos were teachers, that Paul was Irish.

Steve Jenkins was in the Chalk Farm. Cool! Maybe that’s a way to find out more. Because I interviewed Steve time ago! When I asked about his other projects he said:

I auditioned as a drummer for Spinning Belinda. I wanted to learn to play the drums mainly to make me a better drum programmer, but also because I thought it would be cool to have played guitar, bass and drums in different bands. At the audition I was blown away by the quality of the songs, suggested that they deserved a better drummer than me and asked if they would allow me to audition as a guitarist. I got the gig and roped Ken in to play drums and later persuaded Tim, the other old CG’s drummer to take over from Ken. At the time I thought the songs were great but the sound was a bit staid and boring and would struggle to get noticed. I started writing my own songs with Ali, the singer and formed Bel-Air Lip-Bombs out of that. Initially Paul, the song writer behind Spinning Belinda was persuaded to throw his lot in with us and we performed a mixture of my songs and his songs which I re-arranged and tried to make a bit more interesting musically. Nobody understood what I was trying to do, including me, but it worked well live in spite of this and we did a number of really successful gigs. Unfortunately we struggled to make things work in the studio and by 1993 Paul had decided to return to Ireland and Ali became disillusioned and quit.

Shame! The songs are great. And you do wonder why they never released anything! Another detail is the Ken Steve mentions would later bee in The Free French.

We know too that the song “Liverpool” wasn’t really called “Liverpool” but “Pretty Remains”. That all of the songs we know, these 4, were recorded in March 1992 at The White House Studio in Weston-Super-Mare.

“Run” was intended to be the A side of a single that never happened. “Cold Sudan” was also known as “Never Get Excited” and it is my favourite song I think!

Now I look at Steve’s Soundcloud. Here we find another Spinning Belinda song. This one from a live rehearsal! It is called “Really Something” and it sounds great! And we find here Paul’s last name… he was Paul Kelly!

And one more. The last one. It is called “Kiss Me” and this one was also written by Paul Kelly and was recorded at Steve Jenkins bedroom on a port-a-studio in 1991. How cool! Are there more songs by them?

What else can we say about them? That they took their name from the Prefab Sprout song? Sure.

Then I find that Ali’s last name was Griffin. So we are just missing Cos’ last name.

And that’s it. Sure. I think I should drop Steve a note, ask if he is up for another interview! We need to know more about them!

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Listen
Spinning Belinda – Cold Sudan