It’s been a week since publishing the first podcast, the pilot episode, and it’s really surprising for me that there’s been almost 300 listens! I expected maybe 30, or 50 at the most to be honest, because I’ve been feeling indiepop was kind of quiet. That’s exactly why I decided to make the podcast, to create enthusiasm, to create some noise, and hoped that I’d get to 300 listens by the third or fourth podcast. I never expected it to be this soon! So THANK YOU all.

Also many thanks to everyone that has given me feedback in the past week. I know there’s a lot of room to improve, and I think many of you pointed to specific things that we’ll try to get right in the January podcast. It’s been really helpful.

I’m very happy about it, even though that early on I had some doubts on how to do this. Especially because it was a DIY adventure, without professional tools. And it’s true, the quality of the recordings are not ideal. I have now invested, or more like given me a Christmas gift, on a better microphone and a pop filter. I think this will definitely make better the listening experience. I know the pops and breathe noises were a bit annoying.

I think most of the suggestions and criticism had to do with technical issues. Content wise people have been very enthusiastic. For example I’ve heard good things about the section that covers every continent as well as with the interview with Andreas from Alpaca Sports.

The only bitter pill was to learn that SoundCloud takes down any file that includes a registered Cherry Red song. I had a small clip, around of 1 minute, of McCarthy’s Red Sleeping Beauty. After waiting forever to upload, the podcast was deleted because of copyright issues. This pissed me a lot because McCarthy’s legacy tells you that they wouldn’t care or mind about a 1 minute clip. I can’t picture Malcolm Eden writing to me saying, please take that 1 minute clip down. It wouldn’t happen. They were the anti-capitalists of indiepop. So seeing that Cherry Red has this sort of tactics with SoundCloud, killing a bit my favourite band’s ideals, well, it made me sad, terribly sad. I love the Cherry Red reissues, but I wish they behaved a bit more indie, less business-minded. It’s definitely not cool and after so many horror stories about them, I have started to dislike them 100%. I would not promote or support any of their artists from now on.

All of this has been a learning curve and I couldn’t have done it all by myself. I had the very special help of Toni Amaya who is the producer of the podcast. We both as we are speaking are already working on the 2nd episode. Just yesterday I conducted the interview and the tracks for it is already sorted out. So we hope that within 2 weeks as the most we’ll have it out.

But before that, no one has yet guessed the clip at the end of the podcast! I think it’s pretty easy! Just let me know, even here as a comment on the blog, what song it is. And if you got it right you can request a song for the next podcast!

So I’ll see you next month on the podcast, and next week on the blog. This is the last obscure band of the year. It may be or not the last post, as there are some interviews waiting to be published. In any case I hope you all have a happy new year’s party. I hope for everyone involved in our scene, a great 2015!! Hope it brings lots of new blood, new bands, great concerts, and fantastic festivals!

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Spun Sugar: a fluffy confection made from threads of hot boiled sugar.

When I was working on the second volume of the Starke Adolf series I got in touch with Sugar Spun Charge, a band that was around the years 2002, 2003 more or less. Sadly I never ended up getting a bio or a WAV file for one of their songs. One of the many reasons this 2nd volume stalled and hasn’t been out yet.

In the early days of planning for the first volume it was Victor from Second-Hand Furniture that tipped me with a bunch of Swedish bands from those early and mid-noughties. He was kind enough to make a compilation of mp3s with many known and unknown bands for me. One of those unknown bands for me was Sugar Spun Charge.

The song that he showed me was “State.” It was a fantastic splurge of guitars, noisy, shoegazy and dreamy. One could guess that they were fans of the Jesus and Mary Chain (and it’s funny that I found a blog online from that period that says they were the worst JAMC copyists. Damn. Some people just don’t get it. ). And just doing a fast recollection in my head, they may be possibly one of the few bands from that scene that was into these sort of sounds.

In 2009 I contacted one of the band members. Kristian Spång. I believe he was the drummer. He shared with me another song, one called “A Brand New Start.” This one was terrific too. It’s perhaps less immediate than “State”, but it makes you wonder instantly how come they didn’t release a proper record.

As far as I know there was a 4 song demo. On a dodgy website it lists the demo under a label called KATTRACKA. For sure I’ve never heard about it before. Could be a self-release.

The only other member that I know was part of the band was Joel Karlsson. He is much better known now as he was part, along Henrik Markstedt, of Air France. If memory doesn’t lie to me, I also emailed him asking for one of their songs. They always said yes, mind you, and seemed willing to be part of the compilation. But I guess life and time got in the way for them to deliver the WAV, bio, or hi-res photo needed for the booklet. And that’s okay, life happens you know.

About Air France I’m sure you can find a bunch of information online. Sadly about Sugar Spun Charge the information is almost none. There’s a blog that mentions Zenith Recordings along Sugar Spun Charge. Was their demo actually released by them? It says 20 copies. But I couldn’t be sure. There were some very nice records on that label in that period like Dorotea and The Javelins. So it could make sense!

The only other connection I find with Sugar Spun Charge is that I believe that they were part of the organization of another classic and legendary indiepop club in Göteborg, “Razorblades and Lemonades” (just like the TVPs song!).

Online on some Air France interviews it seems Joel wasn’t too interested in talking about Sugar Spun Charge. I guess it’s understandable. But then, it seems we won’t get to know much about them. Does anyone remember them? Perhaps someone could actually help me with a bio and a hi-res pic? And does anyone know or have the other two songs from their demo? And were there more recordings? I’d be curious to know more about them!

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Listen
Sugar Spun Charge – State

Exciting news. Our first Cloudberry Cake Radio episode is out now. You can listen to it at http://www.soundcloud.com/cloudberryradio.

I hope you like it. I know it’s definitely not perfect, but let’s say this is our pilot episode and would love to get as much feedback and suggestions as possible. Just be sure this is a bedroom project, we don’t have access to a studio. We are not radio or audio professionals, so I hope you understand that we are learning on the technical part. I know for one that I should invest in a better microphone. And hopefully find “my voice”. But do let me know if the sections, the songs, the ideas, and the content in general is of your liking or not.

The radio show will be closely linked to the blog, I know the blog is a bit of a difficult format for many that don’t have time to read. So I’ll feature there the songs and the bands I cover here. But also more. There will be new releases and new songs too. I’ll go over the Cloudberry archive. I’ll share many anecdotes. And there will be some interviews too with the friends I’ve made through indiepop, to talk about what else, indiepop.

I hope that this project has a long life. The first goal is to make 12 more episodes next year. One per month. Hopefully they will get better and better, technically and content-wise. I want to thank so much to the producer of the show, mr Toni Poni, the cardinal of pop, and also to Matthew Magelof who helped me with a bunch of ideas, advice and suggestions. Also very special thanks to Andreas Jonsson for giving me an hour of his time for an interview that lasted longer than we expected.

And last but not least, thanks to all the bands that appear on the show with their songs, they make the world a better place to live in.

So, as the Pooh Sticks said, indiepop ain’t no pollution. Hope you like it!

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The other day I was very nostalgic. I was remembering the days when I started getting involved for real with releasing records. As many know, my first adventure was a compilation CD that came out with a Peruvian magazine. It was an indiepop compilation with bands from all over, but mostly from Latin America. Then I remembered about this Brazilian band that I really liked then, that sounded like Velocity Girl, and thought, why did I never hear again from them?

I can’t remember who showed me their music. I’m sure it was on Soulseek sometime in 2004. Perhaps in the Twee Folks room. Possibly it had been Sineval from Pale Sunday who was my only Brazilian indiepop friend at that time. I remember I had a folder with perhaps 3 or 5 Mp3s of songs of theirs. That hard drive has been fried for a long time.

When I was to do the compilation someone helped me get in touch with the band. I remember I chetted with the vocalist on MSN Messenger and explained what was this project about. She was up for it. I think I asked for their hit, “Firefly”, but they gave me a song called “Desaparecer, which was also a hit. On this one they even mixed English with Portuguese. It sounded so fresh, and exotic even.

So it’s been 10 years since that release. I mean, what are the chances to find more about a band that didn’t get to release anything as far as I know. I don’t recall either the names of their other songs. Just those two. Happily Youtube has a promo video for “Firefly”. Could the uploader be part from the band? Perhaps. She was a girl definitely. You’d think I could check my email account and look for emails from that time. But the email account I had then was hacked and I lost all contacts. That’s how I learned to avoid cyber cafés.

The video is a mix of live footage, flyers, photos and more. Suddenly I see a setlist among all the memorabilia that appears. And I remember one of the songs, “Analista”. I remember that was in my  folders. Then I see on that setlist that they used to play Get Me Away I’m Dying from Belle and Sebastian, as well as Audrey’s Eyes from Velocity Girl. So definitely it wasn’t a coincidence their sound.

Other song names I notice are “Alfazema Fresh”, “Onibus”, “Sunshine”, “Qualquer Coisa”, “Enquanto Nao Tem…”.

The only other thing I could find was an old Fotolog that belonged to the band. From that I can tell that the band was formed by one girl and three guys.

But maybe someone out there can help me fill in the blanks? Does anyone remember them? Did they eventually release anything? What happened to the members? Are they still making music? Would love to know more about this Brazilian popkids!

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Listen
Hey, Miss! – Firefly

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.

So this month I’ll be unveiling Cloudberry Radio. It’s an idea that I’ve been thinking aloud for years now and I think suddenly I have the proper drive to put it together. So what is this about?

It’s definitely not a proper radio, or me having a show on the FM. It’s more like a podcast. I will record my beautiful voice and introduce you to a bunch of songs that you might or might have not heard before. Perhaps tell you some news, gossip a bit, tell  a story, who knows. But the idea is to try and promote indiepop in yet another way.

The original plan is to do this monthly. At the moment there isn’t a set day for when I will publish every month, but sometime during the month I’ll be putting it out. I wish I could promise it for a deadline, say every 15 or something like that, but because of time constraints I don’t want to promise a fixed deadline. How to know if it’s ready for listening? Well, I will definitely let you know through the blog and also through the Facebook page that I always update with the latest news.

On this enterprise I’ve received a lot of help in the brainstorming process from ToniPoni, so big thanks to him. I guess those long conversations have helped a lot in me finally giving it a chance and getting this drive. I mean, for a long time I hoped that one day I was going to have a radio show somewhere, I always have wanted to show and share some amazing indiepop songs to fans out there. But of course, which radio was going to have me doing this? Not even an online station would. I even applied to some years ago, to have an hourly show. No answers from them. Of course.

I hope this becomes a small success. 10 listeners would be good to start. Or something like that. Would be nice to know some people are interested, that definitely would give me the excitement to keep doing it. And as soon as the first episode is released I hope I hear from you too with suggestions, criticism, and ideas. I’m new at this so I assume I will be making a lot of mistakes. Oh! If you wonder where my lovely accent is from, it’s from Peru. So no need to email me and ask me that.

There will be many sections that I will repeat every episode, you’ll get to know them very soon. In any case, know that there will be new songs, there will be classics, there will be obscure bands, and some from the Cloudberry vaults. There will be a little bit for everyone. In the long run it would be great to have proper conversations with indiepop people on the radio and so on. But first let’s make this work smoothly, right?

So keep an eye on this page, or the Facebook page, because very soon we’ll have this out! 2015 should be an exciting year!

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Cypress, Mine!

Who were they? They are obscure but there’s a bunch of good information on the Irish Rock website. So that’s a very good start in my investigation.

From there we immediately get three important facts. Firstly they hailed from Cork. Secondly they were active between 1984 and 1989. Thirdly there were four members, Ciaran O’Tuama (vocals), Ian Olney (guitar), Dennis O’Mullane AKA Skoda (bass) and Mark Healy.

Out of curiosity, if you didn’t know, Skoda is an automobile manufacturer based in the Czech Republic. The car manufacturer was founded in 1895 as Laurin & Klement, it was acquired by Škoda Works in 1925, and became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group in 2000, positioned as the entry brand to the group. Its total global sales reached 931,696 cars in 2013.

Where does the name Cypress, Mine! comes from? I’ve seen their name written Cypress Mine too.

Originally the band had a different singer, Sean O’Riordan. Mark Healy before being in Cypress, Mine! had been in a band called Urban Blitz who were active from 83 to 84. Ciaran had been a photographer of the early punk scene in Cork and he replaced O’Riordan eventually.

The band was managed by Tony O’Donoghue of Hot Press. He is now a sports commentator and he has a Wikipedia entry:
Tony O’Donoghue is an Irish Sports commentator and Group Soccer Correspondent for RTÉ, Ireland’s national radio and television broadcaster. He reports on Republic of Ireland, League of Ireland, Champions League and English Premier League games and occasionally presents RTÉ’s Monday Night Soccer programme, MNS, as well as presenting and reporting on various live games for RTÉ Television.

On Irish Rock they mention a gig in 1985, at the Lark by the Lee (a free outdoor gig) where they played along The Stargazers, Porcelyn Tears and U2. They also appeared on TV (including “TV Ga Ga” in 1986). There must be videos of that. Why aren’t they on Youtube?!

They played London in 87 and 89. It’s said that one of those shows was videoed. But I haven’t found those videos either.

Their single “Sugar Beet God” was played by Larry Gogan during his show on RTE.

After Cypress, Mine! Ian, Mark and Dennis went onto Dancing Bastards from Hell where they were joined by Morty McCarthy of the Sultans of Ping on drums, Graham Finn (guitar), Niall Twomey and Jim O’Mahony (keyboards).

It’s said that Cypress, Mine! recorded a bunch of demos, many unreleased until this day.

Ian Olney later would join Power of Dreams in 1990. Mark Healy formed Lift and recorded an unreleased LP.

There discography starts with a 2-song demo tape in 1986. Included were “Swallow” and “Talk to the Wall”. This tape was mostly sold at gig. According to Irich Rock there was another demo at that time that had the songs “The Bible – Part 2” and “The Rifle Range”.

They appeared on the compilation “Comet EP One” on Comet Records (COME 1T). Comet Records was a small retail chain based in Dublin and Cork.  They contributed the song “Swallow”.  That was in 1986. The next year they appear on the second Comet compilation, “Comet LP Two” (COME 2 TP). This time they contribute the song “Sounds Like Rain”.

In November 1987 they release their first proper record on Solid Records (ROC 706). It’s the fabulous “Justine” 7″! I hope I get my hands on a copy one day. It’s such a great single! The other songs included are “Sounds Like Rain” and “Funny Street”.

That same year they release another 7″ on Solid Records (ROC 708). This time the songs are “In the Big House” and “Bee’s Knees”.

The next year, in 1988 they release their LP, “Exit Thrashtown” (Solid Records ROC 1). It was produced by Dennis Herlihy. The LP title, according to Irish Rock, refers to emigration and also to a place in County Cork called Trasherstown. The album included 10 songs, “Welcome”, “The Big House”, “Wedding Dress”, “On Hillside”, “Justine”, “Bee’s Knees (and Cat’s Pyjamas)”, “Letter from Abroad”, “Walk Out to Jesus”, “Helpless”, “Phone Call from Heaven”.

So far I can say I really love the artwork for all the records. It’s very 80s, of the time.

July 1988 sees the release of another 7″. Again on Solid Records (ROC 712). The songs are “Sugar Beet God” and “Beet Dat!” (this is a Sugar Beet God remix).

In that same year they played in Waterford, Tralee, Ballybunion, Limerick, Kilkenny, Dublin, Carlow, Galway and Cork during the promo tour of their album.

It seems there also was a video filmed in London by Roy Fairweather of Super Channel for the song “Sugar Beet God”. But this is also not on Youtube sadly.

The last time we hear from them it’s on a tape compilation on Solid Records called “Solid Citizens” (ROCC 1). The track included is “Sugar Beet God”.

Pretty comprehensive information right? But still their records are not easy to come by. I don’t own any sadly. Their videos are nowhere to be seen, even though they even played on telly. So, you wonder, how come a band that actually had following, many releases and you could say were more popular than your average indie, disappear into thin air? A band that made such precious and classic indiepop as you’ll see after listening “Justine”, doesn’t deserve this treatment! It’s startling really!

If you know, or have any other information about this great Irish band, let me know!

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Listen
Cypress, Mine! – Justine

It’s getting colder and damper in NYC. It darkens by 4:00pm.

I’m very busy lately. It’s hard to find some time to dedicate to one of my loves: indiepop.

But I want to recommend some music that’s been sent my way in the last couple of weeks. A bunch of exciting new bands have appeared and I’m pretty impressed by what I hear. Perhaps 2015 won’t be as bad as 2014? Listening to these songs I feel there’s a good chance that we’ll have a good year or record buying, record releasing and gig attending.

The first release I want to recommend is a split tape on Tigre Discs from Spain. I’m not much into cassettes. I have said this a million times. So the plan for now will be to get the tape and MP3s. I’m no fan of MP3s either. But what can you do. You have to understand the economy of indiepop too. The bands that are included in this split are Jessica & the Fletchers from Barcelona and The Prams from NYC.  Jessica & the Fletchers (Fletcher because of Amelia Fletcher obviously), are a young band from Spain that includes members from Pacifico, Univers and Papa Topo. Quite a super group. My favourite song is a classic of theirs, one that I listened in a lo-fi recording on their demo that they handed me at Madrid Popfest two years ago, the song is called “Amelia (te queremos igual)”. On top of that I’ve spotted Toni on a band photo with a Cloudberry shirt. What’s not to like? 😉
On the other hand The Prams is a duo formed by Matthew and Victoria. Victoria is known for being the vocalist of Franny & Zooey, the Dominican band, and Matthew has been recording under Secret Beach. Matthew is actually my neighbor. Lives three houses down across the street. He has a very nice collection of female indiepop 7″s, Dolly Mixture, The Avocados, Girls at Our Best, and more. They’ve recorded some great songs indeed, a bit different from their other projects, and I recommend especially the song “Mess”, a cracker.

Then this week I got an email from Pretty Sad who are releasing an album on Shelflife next year. They are promoting a digital only EP on soundcloud at the moment. Again, let’s understand the economy. These three songs would be super fabulous on a 7″ indeed, but here’s hoping that the 4 songs get included at least as bonus tracks on the CD version of the album. It should be done. They are beautiful songs, where “Wish You Knew”, is indeed lovely. Funny though the little info says that the band is scattered “all throughout Europe (Scotland, Denmark and the UK)” call me a geography nerd, but isn’t Scotland still part of the UK? In any case, I get that chilly Denmark vibe in the songs. Perhaps in the bass? Three very strong songs that remind me of Champagne Riot, My Favorite and The Bridal Shop.

Next songs I got on my mail were from the new EP by Tempura Nights. Australia’s Tempura Nights has in their ranks the lovely Alice who used to be in one of my favourite bands from the last couple of years, Go Violets (who I still dream of re-releasing their EP on vinyl). There are four songs on the new EP, “Brainroof”, “Child Model”, “Jonas the Sandman” and “RIP Chix”. This is a bit of a departure from the sugar coated Go Violets, but is still top quality pop! This has much more distortion! It’s noisier! Perhaps a bit like September Girls? I really like the poppier “RIP Chix”, that has even a promo video!, and the spooky “Brainroof”.

Then another of my favourite bands of the last year, Desperate Journalist, that I discovered back in April thanks to the great Arnar in GBG as he was sporting their white cat t-shirt, are releasing a new album. At this time it’s available only digitally at the moment. But if we wait until January there will be a vinyl and CD version. They are promoting the new album with a promo video for the song “Control”. Needless to say it’s fantastic. Another band I dream putting out even though the sound perhaps it’s not really Cloudberry-like. The album is out on a “bigger” label, Fierce Panda, and should be easily found in any store, even Amazon I think. Now I only hope they come and play NYC Popfest next year!

And lastly I got a download link from my good friend Giorgos of The Occasional Flickers with their new album. As a long long fan of his band I can say his new work is definitely one of his best. Such a great songwriter, always touching interesting topics, wish he was a bit more recognized out there (why didn’t he play Indietracks this year?). The album I believe will be called “Sleep and the Time in Between”. Perhaps the name has to do with his daughter Flora who is still very very young? Maybe lots of sleepless night? Seems like yesterday the first time we started talking. We got introduced through Dimitra. She knew I love Greek indiepop. Giorgos was still living in Greece. Now of course he is settled in Edinburgh. It makes sense, him being such a fan of Scottish pop. Or the time Miguel and me visited Ola and him on my first visit to Scotland. We had gyros at a tiny place called Palmyra. Of course later he would take me to have proper haggis and cullen skink. And then when we went all the way to Loch Ness and Inverness. Good times my friend.  This is definitely a lovely album, will be one of my contenders for 2015 when it gets released.

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Back in the day there was a fanzine in France called Tea Time.  I wasn’t around. The year was 1992. Does anyone remember it? It was the sixth number of the fanzine and it seems this was the first time they were releasing a flexi with it.

They “created” a label for this release. They called it Encore. Their first flexi, catalog ENCORE001, was single-sided and included two bands: Stereolab and Guitare Boy. No, our obscure band won’t be Stereolab.

I haven’t been able yet to buy the record. It’s a bit expensive because of the Stereolab connection, that’s obvious. $25+ for a flexi is always a bit too much in my book. Especially also because I only care for the song by Guitare Boy. It’s not that I don’t like Stereolab, I do, but I find more interesting the smaller bands, the underdogs, you know.

My friend Toni says they sound like Poprace, the “other” band of the Acid House Kings in the early 90s. I can see that definitely.

Stereolab contributes two songs, “XXX000” and “High Expectations (demo)”. Guitare Boy, paying it’s dues, only has one, the gorgeous “Golden Bike”.

It’s a beautiful song, with distorted guitars, heartfelt lyrics, that reminds me a of a lot of Summershine bands of the period.

The information about this flexi and this band is almost none on the web. We know that Tea Time was based in Arreadon, in France. That’s Brittany. The only person from Brittany that likes pop would be Thomas from Pale Spectres. It also seems a very isolated place to harbour any indiepop fans. Mysteries of the world.

There’s an insert that comes with the flexi as someone has kindly scanned it on Discogs. In it, Guitare Boy thanks Manu and Arny. I want to think Guitare Boy are French. It would make sense. Where from? Perhaps from Brittany too?

This insert includes the lyrics for their song that starts in very Another Sunny Day fashion, “Girl can you see, the handsome boy with golden bike”.

A lovely lovely song that leaves me wondering if they ever recorded any other songs. Would be fantastic to listen to them! And hey, if anyone has any spare copies that would like to trade or sell me for a reasonable price, let me know! Would love to have a proper spin at home!

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Listen
Guitare Boy – Golden Bike