July arrived and the horoscope tells me Jupiter is in my Cancer house. Whatever that means, sounds good. Because if this planet is going to bring me lots of gifts then it chose the right month. Why is that? Because we are only weeks away from Indietracks. The Disneyland of indiepop, the Shangri-La of C86, our own McDonald’s ball pit of DIY guitar fun. So yesterday I went through the announced schedule and aside from two clashes that I might manage, it feels like a very straightforward time for me. Not many difficult decisions to make.

So here is what I posted yesterday on facebook to share with my friends (who have first dibs in my calendar making, obviously).

Friday

As always this is the most straightforward day. Last year I missed Friday so I look forward to it a lot this time around. I think Friday’s are the perfect day to catch up with friends I haven’t seen in many months (many since LAST Indietracks!). From the bands playing I’m only curious about Big Wave as I did like the 7″ they put out. And yes, dancing with the French DJs at the marquee who are the only DJs I think I’m going to enjoy this year!

Saturday

12:30 – Northern Spies. Just because I like the name (?). This is on one train. Though it all depends if I wake up early.

13:00-13:40 – Finnmark! Really not my cup of tea yet. But I like what they are striving for, what they represent.

14:00-14:40 – Choo Choo Trains or lunch. There’s no curry this year, right? What am I having? Last year I had vegetarian fish and chips. WTF.

15:00-15:40 – Pale Spectres! First band I really look forward seeing. Though I would have seen them the previous day at Jennifer’s gig, it doesn’t matter. One of my new favourite bands.

16:00-16:40 – Fever Dream (?) or Woog Riots (?). I DON’T KNOW. Probably just have beers around.

** – EDIT. I missed this:
15:40-16:20 – The Understudies. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen them. So yeah. This is the one for this time. Sorry Matthew. Will have to miss Fever Dream! (Miguel from the Felt Tips will be joining them on guitars – and I hear he is joining another band this festival too!)
— **

16:40-17:00 – Milky Wimpshake. Catching just a bit of them.

17:00-17:40 – When Nalda Became Punk. Supporting Elena of course.

17:40-18:20 – The Secret History. Latest Cloudberry release. Amazing live. If you miss them, you die.

18:20-18:40 – McTells. This is the tough one. I don’t want to miss their previous 20 minutes when Secret History are playing. How do I deal with this? First clash of the festival.

19:40-20:20 – The Pastels. Just because they are The Pastels. To be honest, their latest album is so-so. People rave about it and say Club 8’s is bad. But it’s the other way around. Club 8 is the amazing album of the year.

20:20-21:10 – Brilliant Corners. The ONE gig that convince me that I had to go to Indietracks this year.

21:15-22:15 – Camera Obscura. Because they canceled their show in NYC in March. And now they are playing in the park here and I don’t want to be around all the shirtless hipsters. And that song “Break it to You Gently” is AMAZING.

I dont know any of the DJs. Any recommendations?

Sunday

13:20-14:00 – The French Defence. They don’t have much of a name. But the songs i remember listening on Myspace aeons ago were fab. I wanted to put a 3″! Hope it is as good as then.

15:00-15:40 – Alpaca Sports. So, there’s an hour gap here. Probably good for lunch. Then of course seeing my Swedish friends (and their international supporting band). Very much looking forward to this. They were immense in NYC.

15:40-16:20 – Flowers. Wasn’t this two obvious? I think everyone will be at both gigs. They were also fabulous in NYC. Looking forward to getting their new 7″.

16:20-17:00 – Soulboy Collective. Things are getting very obvious here. A beautifully crafted album on Firestation and a rare performance! Yeah yeah, you say that Another Sunny Day is playing on a train at the same time. No thanks. Guy with a guitar is not Another Sunny Day. Hate me if you like.

17:00-17:40 – Making Marks. I like them since they were My Little Pony. Nice singles, nice people. Easy choice.

18:20-19:00 – Fireworks. Of course. How could I miss Matthew, Emma and Isabel? And their 7″ single is really good too!

19:40-20:00 – The Wake. For a bit. Looking forward to seeing The Orchids’ guys!

20:15-21:10 – Helen Love. Ok. This is the OTHER gig that convinced me it was time to spend a lot of money to travel to UK. Being a fan since I started listening indiepop. I LOVE Helen LOVE. Happy days.

21:15-22:15 – Still Corners. I feel it might be anti-climatic to end with them. A bit too dreamy? But they are GOOD. So I should enjoy it and then go to bed (?).

DJs? Again, no clue!

After posting this, important knowledge came immediately from my friends.

First of all I learned that there will still be curry. But it will continue to be strictly vegetarian. The second thing that I learned is that the people DJing on Friday are not the French gang that every year bring their excitement to the festival and that also organize amazing gigs in Paris, but a team from Brighton. I was told they are good though, so I will check them out.

So, what are YOUR thoughts about the schedule and tell me if you are coming to Indietracks! If so, let’s grab one of those warm beers and meet up!

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So because I’m feeling all international, with all these bands I’m going to see and all these friends I will see again, many since last Indietracks, it’s time to rediscover one of the bands I was most excited about in 2006. Thing was, they only put out this one demo CD and then disappeared into oblivion.

This was quite an international band. With members hailing from Spain, England and Sweden. Somehow they all ended up meeting in Madrid. And that’s how Las Pulpas came about.

Las Pulpas mean the octopuses, but female octopuses. Why did they name the band that way? I don’t know. I want to think they loved eating octopus. Because it’s really tasty, isn’t it?

I got in touch with them back in 2006. It was MySpace times. They were very kind to send me a demo CD all the way from Madrid to Miami. The CD contained three songs “Me Estoy Cansando” (I’m getting tired), “Vaya Momento” (What a moment), and “Angels on TV”. The first two being my favourites! Top songs. Naive, smart and with quite some nerve. Intelligent lyrics too. I thought good things were going to happen to the girls. I would have signed them if I had Cloudberry then. But I was surprised by the myopic Spanish labels. How did they didn’t sign them?! It’s a shame now, 7 years later, to see they didn’t put out anything out. Question remains though if they had any more songs recorded. I hope so.

The demo CD called “Some Pulpas are Bigger than Others” (is that a Smiths nod?) was reviewed by a couple of Spanish fanzines and blogs. From Rafa’s El Planeta Amarillo (and you know, Rafa never misses Indietracks!) we learn some things. Rafa compares them to Los Fresones Rebeldes, early Nosotrash, Sybil Vane, Hello Cuca, The Pipettes and even Alaska y los Pegamoides. I think he is on the right track. Especially with the early Nosotrash claim. He tells us that that Las Pulpas were a sextet and that there’s people hailing from Murcia, Rafa’s hometown. Ros from Electralane is part of the band. Ochi from a band called Ochiqueochenta is also part. Emma and Ochi sing. Sonia plays keyboards; Ana bass; Ros guitars; Aurora drums; Marina goes to every practice. Alexis misses many; and Dani doesn’t show up. He also explains us that the song “Angels on TV” is dedicated to Àngels Barceló, a tv presenter from Barcelona.

I remember now. It was Sonia who I was in touch with and who sent me the CD. Wonder if she still makes music!

There’s another interesting blog post on a blog called Katovizate! from 2006. There they mention that Las Pulpas have a song called “Felices Fiestas del Mañana” (Happy holidays of the future). Also that they have a big legion of fans. Was that song available somewhere else? Was it even recorded? And what happened to that legion of fans? Why is there so little written about online. Come on, 2006 wasn’t 1986. We had internet.

I don’t know what the girls do these days. Perhaps they all moved to their respective home countries and home cities. That could be it. They didn’t come to Madrid Popfest that’s for sure.

If anyone remembers anything about them, if anyone has any other songs. Please get in touch. I would love to know what happened to the charming Las Pulpas and their fun pop songs!

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Listen
Las Pulpas – Me Estoy Cansando