As I’ve been terribly busy with the birth of my song I haven’t had time to digest what happened to my friend Toshiko Matsumoto. Just a few weeks ago she passed away. This was such sad news that I had a hard time understanding how this could happen. Why such a passionate person would leave us so young.

I never met Toshiko in real life. And that is definitely something I regret. Of course she told me many times to visit Tokyo. I would have loved to. It is a place I want to go, but still it is in my bucket list.

Toshiko used to run a store there called Apple Crumble. It carried indiepop records from all around the world. Small labels had the same opportunities there as bigger labels. She was the first one to open the doors to the two labels I had, Plastilina and Cloudberry, when no other store cared for my releases. She even made special sections for the labels thus promoting better my records in Japan. That was truly amazing. And I am very thankful for that. She helped Cloudberry a lot to become a known label within the Japanese fans.

And that wasn’t all she did. She wrote a column on the Cookie Magazine. This cool music magazine featured so many great bands and labels. And again, Toshiko championed Cloudberry dedicating a whole article to the label back in the day when I was putting out 3″ CDs. It was the first time the label was on a magazine and it was thanks to Toshiko.

Another time she translated a text about my time in Berlin and Europe, when I DJed in 2009 with Uwe from Firestation Records. I just found this text. I totally forgot about it. Maybe I will share the English version which I think has never been published before.

Years went by, Toshiko ordering and carrying Cloudberry in her store until the store closed many years ago. The Shibuya-located store is sorely missed today. It was a cultural center you could say.

I interviewed Toshiko too. Hearing from someone so involved in indiepop and to be able to share her passion was what pushed me to ask her to do this for the blog. You can read it here. There you can see she wasn’t just running a store and writing articles, but she also organized indiepop parties as well as running a fine label called Rosemary Records! On that label she released the likes of Sloppy Joe, Labrador, Bananaskin, Mocca and Seaside Stars (who I am sharing one of the songs she released from the album “The Stranded Whale”). She was definitely a true activist for the music we like.

She continued until the last days of her life promoting indiepop, doing a blog with her beloved Fabien which she called of course Apple Crumble. The blog was last updated on May 13. But you can visit and check out the good taste Toshiko had with all her wonderful recommendations. There’s even a small interview she did with me a few months back.

It was fun to chat with her. We didn’t do often lately,  after her store and online mailorder closed, but she was supportive of Cloudberry, always. I would always get nice emoticons from her whenever I shared posts on Facebook. Made me so happy.

Perhaps the biggest collaboration we did was the Apple Crumble EP. This was a 3″ CD I put together in 2007. This EP that featured Zipper, The Atom Miksa Reservation, Princess Niko, The Medalist and Robert Church and the Holy Community was only sold at Toshiko’s store. It was a different time and shipping from Japan was affordable. I wanted to support her store and wanted Cloudberry fans to be aware of what Toshiko was doing. So I wanted to direct people to Apple Crumble and get this CD which was wonderful of course. It sold out needless to say.

But that was not all. I dedicated a 7″ insert text to Toshiko. For those who own the Caucus 7″ they will know what I am talking about. On that insert I celebrated my friend Toshiko and her unending support.

I am sad to know she won’t be around anymore. I considered here a like-minded spirit. She knew how to enjoy music. She knew how to project that passion in so many different activities that brought joy to friends and fans. She will be missed. But what she inspired me and many more will continue alive, we wave the indiepop flag high, the same way she always did!

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Listen
Seaside Stars – Guiding Star