I can start this post with good news! And I’m very happy about it. I sent to press, earlier this week, our 44th 7″ vinyl record! Isn’t that exciting?

Also I’m very excited as it will be the first time the label is releasing a band from Mexico City. Since the label started in 2007 it was very clear our approach in supporting a worldwide scene, that it didn’t matter where a band came from. So please let me introduce you to Okama Flannel Boy!
Okama Flannel Boy is the moniker for the Mexican musician and composer Fernando Torres. Based in Tlalpan, in the south of Mexico City, he’s been writing and recording jangly guitar driven songs inspired in 60’s bubblegum pop, soul and “the sound of young Scotland” since the beginning of 2017. This will be his debut single and the record includes 4 songs: “Carolina St.”, “Low Life”, “Motivational by Default” and “Wanted Man”. It should be released later this summer (if the pressing plant doesn’t take all the time in the world) and the sleeve has original art by British illustrator Louise Logsdon.

As a taster, I’ve uploaded the opening track to the label’s Soundcloud, so check “Carolina St.” here. And also we are taking pre-orders on our website www.cloudberryrecords.com

Thanks again for your support, and hope you like it!

Now, some new finds!

The Goon Sax: I was recommending the song “She Knows” not so long ago after it was unveiled on Youtube. Now there is a video for the song also on Youtube. It makes me wonder why don’t release just the video? There must be some case study in what works well for selling songs or records that this might be the way to do it. Anyways, the song is a cracking one, and the video too. Next week I should be seeing the band for the first time her in NYC. And I’m really looking forward to it.

Charlie Big Time: these very good Cloudberry friends have just released a new song called “This is the final song” and it comes alongside a video. See, some people do it this way too. This is the first song the band has put out since 4 years ago! So it is a treat. We don’t get that many of these classy and elegant  songs by them, so every time there’s a new one we all become terribly happy. Now will the song be released in any way? I hope so. And I also wish them to record more songs!

Oddshore: this is a new Singapore band that my friend Vernon recommended me last week. I don’t know much about them but this video and song “Do You Remember” is quite a lovely pop slice. It sounds a bit Swedish, right? perhaps that is just me. There is not much info on their Facebook or on the video on who is in the band or if they have any releases available, but at least they define themselves as indiepop. That is always good in my book! Check them out!

The Golden Rail: don’t really know how “Electric Trails From Nowhere” wasn’t recommended here. I had recommended some of their previous digital singles but not this hell of an album. The Perth, Australia, band that is kind of a super band, one that includes members Jeff Baker, Dave Chadwick, Ian Freeman and Saki Garth of classic and legendary bands like The Rainyard, Summer Suns and The Palisades among others released earlier this year this album and you can even stream it on their Bandcamp. For all of us that are a bit old-school, the 10 songs are also available on CD. And if you are even more old-school, our friend Javi at Pretty Olivia Records has a vinyl LP version of it. If you like classic pop songs, jangly guitars, hooks and smart arrangements, this is a winner. If you don’t, then it is a winner too. Just have a listen!

Gentle Brontosaurus: I recommended their album “Bees of the Invisible” a couple of weeks ago and this is more of an update really. Thing is I could recommend the album by this Madison, Wisconsin, band again, because it sounds fantastic. And sure I’ll do that. But this update has to do with the album being available now in physical formats. You can order it now as CD and also as a tape! So do that now. That’s what I will do right now!

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Every time there’s little time and I’m on a computer I try to look for new music. And “new” doesn’t mean music from 2018. It means just music I’ve never heard before. Even if I had just a few minutes in my hands.

I stumbled upon the Swedish band Dream on Youtube while looking for other bands. I love how these connections happen! I was actually looking at the flexis that were given away by the legendary Swedish magazine Sound Affects. The 10th flexi (SAF 010) caught my attention.

In 1991 the split flexi with Dream and Whipped Cream was released. It came accompanying the Sound Affects Music Magazine #11 and I believe the flexi, which was limited to 100 copies, was only given to the subscribers. It wasn’t on sale. Dream opened the flexi with the song “She Bangs the Door” while Whipped Cream appears after with “Mr Green”.

The name “She Bangs the Door” of course reminds one of “She Bangs the Drums” by The Stone Roses. I wonder if that was their intention.

Dream’s only proper release happened the same year of the flexi, 1991. It was a 7″ that was released by the classic label Ceilidh Productions (CEI 021) It had two songs, on the A side there was “Love’s a Drug” and on the B side we find “Nothing’s To Say”. The first song was recorded at Music-A-Matic during June 1991 while the second song was recorded at Studio Gig in February 1991. The engineer and co-producer for “Nothing To Say” was Stefan Arningsmark (who had been in bands like Love and Noblesse Oblige) while “Love’s A Drug” was produced by the band, Jörgen Cremonese and Ulf Ekerot. Cremonese had been in many bands like Blue For Two & Co., It’s My Head and Whipped Cream who Dream had shared the flexi with.

The artwork for the single was done by Eddie Andersson with drawings by Jörgen Lundquist. The photography on the back cover is credited to Johannes Fosséus.

But we also learn the names of the band members on this record. Per Eriksson was the vocalist and guitar player, Per Liljesson played bass and vocals and Teresa Fritzson drummed and also sang.

On Discogs I find that Per Liljesson sldo played in a band called Yoni, who released a CD single in 1996. Later I would find that Teresa was also part of this band.

There are two compilation appearances. The first dates from 1992 on a double CD compilation called “Café Kristina The CD”. It seems this compilation came with a 90 page booklet. That’s huge! I wonder what this was about? Dream appears with the song “My World” and I’m curious to know if perhaps Café Kristina was a venue. I found that there was a venue with that name in the city of Växjö. Perhaps the band hailed from that town?

The other compilation they were on was the “Ceilidh 039 Singles & Vinyls” that was released in 1997,  which was a sort of a comp with songs from the past, from the back catalogue of the Ceilidh label. You see classic bands on this one like The Cardigans, Cod Lovers, Happydeadmen, Saturday Kids and more. Dream appears with their single “Love’s A Drug”.

I start digging deeper and find a review on Sound Affects, no. 11, from June/July 1991. Sadly there is not much details about the band here. Just the reviewer, Terry Ericsson, mentioning that he likes the 7″ and he emphasizes that the band has a sense of humor.

I could find more information on the Musikon website. Here I find even more bands Per Eriksson had been involved. But first here they suspect that Dream hailed from Norrköping though the website is not sure, they have a ? next to the city name. Other bands that Per was involved were Lolita Pop, The Line, Vantage, Razorblade and Paradise. The strange thing is that these bands, all of them, hail from different cities. I start to suspect that it may be that the name Per Eriksson is a bit common in Sweden, and that there might be many Per Erikssons involved in bands. Or not?

I couldn’t find much more about them. It is true that it is hard to google a band with the name Dream. It is impossible. But there must be more music by them or their members. Just one 7″ feels like too little!

Do my Swedish friends remember them? Where were they based? Why no more releases? Did they gig a lot? What are they up to today? Would be interesting to find out!

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Listen
Dream – She Bangs the Door