It seems the 50th vinyl release of Cloudberry is going forward. Just heard from the band and they are on the project. So this is super super exciting. I’ll share more details as soon as we have artwork and a song to show. I am sure everyone will like this one!

I Found that Essence Rare – The Sounds of Beauty: here’s a free sampler, 20 songs!, from the great Canadian label The Beautiful Music. It is a free download, so there’s no excuse not getting it. There are amazing tracks by great bands including The Fish John West Reject (covering The Bluebells), Roy Moller, Crumb, The Dupont Circles and more.

Armstrong: and continuing with the label The Beautiful Music it is worth checking out the label’s latest release, the new album by Armstrong from Wales. “Happy Graffiti” is out now on CD and I have been able to listen it and I would recommend it of course. It has 14 songs of smartly crafted pop songs by Julian Pitt on his 12 track recorder.

Healees: a Breton/American/Swedish/Belgian four-piece? Wow. Never heard of them until today. Formed back in 2015 the band will be releasing on June 17 an 8 song mini-album on the always reliable Hidden Bay Records. The self-titled release is coming out on tape with art by Allegra Corbo.

Kevin Robertson: the Aberdeen native who is also part of the fine pop combo The Vapour Trails released the album “Teaspoon of Time” a few days ago. It was released on CD by Subjangle Records but the 13-song album seems sold out already! You can check all songs on the band’s Bandcamp.

The Shop Window: last recommendation today cocmes from Maidstone, UK. A new 7″, limited to 300 copies on Spinout Nuggets. Two songs will be included, one on each side of course. We can only preview the B side as of today which is titled “Low”. A pretty track indeed. Worth mentioning too that both songs feature guest backing vocals by Beth from Jetstream Pony.

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I was once again remembering the days of Soulseek. Of the many Swedish friends I made there. Friends that had their bands and would share their songs, their bedroom recordings… those were the CDR days. Photocopied sleeves. Lo-fi music. And a charm like no other.

As many as you know I tried to champion this scene years after with the Starke Adolf compilation, named after the legendary club. Volume 2 never happened as I wasn’t able to get the bands I wanted for the CD to contribute a song, a photo or a bio. It was a bit like pulling teeth.

Who knows if these days it would work. I don’t have that label anymore. And I don’t know about releasing it in Cloudberry. Would be odd as the first volume was somewhere else.

Also, who buys compilations these days?

Anyways, I should stop rambling. The thing is I remembered a band I was in touch back then. Around 2004? 2005? I was in touch with the guy. It was one boy, one girl, sort of band. Were they a couple? I can’t recall. I don’t recall their names even. I only remember their sweet songs.

In 2005 they would finally release a CDR with the legendary label Popkonst Recordings. It was an 8-song album titled “Adam & Steve, Religion is Fiction” (POPK14). The songs were short and catchy. Hard to pick a favourite. They were “The Girl with the Mountain Fox Bag”, “Glenn Miller’s Airplane”, “Paris 68”, “Burn Down the University of Berkeley”, “Sasha’s Summer in the Suburb”, “You Can Be My Wingman Anytime”, “Lo-fi Loneliness” and “Mike from Glasgow”.

On the sleeve they thank The French Resistant Movement. Also Jonas F who seems did the artwork. But nothing else.

I was aware of this release, but didn’t know that in 2008 they made a tape with Best Kept Secret (catalog LIE 113), the fine Italian cassette label. On this tape they included the “Adam and Steve, Religion is Fiction” album and another EP titled “Slow-Fi”. Each of them had one side of the tape. The tracklist for the album is the same as the Popkonst CDR.

On “Slow-Fi” we find 5 brand new songs, “Pat a Cat”, “Countryside”, “Tea”, “Intellectual Experiment” and “Golden Dust in Notes”. The sound by now had changed a bit. It’s a bit less acoustic. A bit muddier if that makes sense. It is less poppy. A bit darker. Not dark of course, but the mood had changed.

That’s all I could find about them. It seems they managed to add all of their songs to different digital platforms, which is interesting, but there is where the trail ends. No info, no bios.

Would be nice to know what happened to the band and where are they now. Still making music perhaps?

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Listen
Valentine Academy – Sasha’s Summer in the Suburb