So, my trip to Puerto Rico was good in the way of having some days off work. But I do feel that I wouldn’t recommend going there for more than 3 or 4 days. I was almost 6 days there. There were too many as there are not that many things to do unless you rent a car I suppose. But then the island is quite expensive so don’t know if you want to become poor there?

Definitely the best of it was the Old San Juan area, the historical area of the capital. It is colorful, picturesque and very pretty. The two old forts are also worth visiting. There are museums and nice areas to walk. The cathedral is not impressive though, it is a small church. All of  Old San Juan is a UNESCO world heritage site, so they take care of it. So that’s good, and good for a day or two walking experience.

Then the beaches are ok. Not impressive. I heard the best beaches are in the island of Culebra. Or in the main island but not on the North where San Juan is. We visited Isla Verde beach on Monday, and I think that was my favourite, but maybe because it was a Monday and there weren’t many people there.

The food wasn’t something to go crazy for sadly. I enjoyed some dishes of course, but they were more like pan-Caribbean dishes like picadillo, mofongo or ropa vieja. Their snacks, like the alcapurrias or sorullos, I thought were whatever. And again, the worst part was the prices of these meals. Much more expensive than New York!

And then, I really hated the hiking in the national park El Yunque. I got my shoes wet. Not for me. And then the bioluminescent bay kayaking? I barely saw those bioluminescent bacteria that are in the lagoon. Maybe there are not many because there are so many tourists going to that? And the tour price for these two? Steep, not worth for what you get. So, my suggestion again, go 3 days, enjoy Old San Juan and a beach there and you get a nice summer escape. That I would say is a good plan.

Of course, there was no indiepop there at all.

So that’s that. Now music time!

Nancy Sin: Joey Bautista and Nick Noble form this San Diego, California band. It seems these 3 new songs that form “Fall For You” EP are their first effort since the 2015 “Room for Rent/Again and Again” songs. Quite a break! On this new fun and upbeat EP we find three songs, all recorded at Earthling Studios and with the help of their friends Nicolas Lara and Clara Valenzuela: “Fall For You”, “Daydream” and “Two Words”. Great to see more latinos making indiepop!

Sharesprings: our favourite Indonesian indiepop band have just released 8 new songs! How can I not be happy about that? The band formed by Ardhi, Putriani, Rusli and Yehezkiel have penned in the past many favourite songs, even one of them included in a Cloudberry compilation. Now they show they are still in top form with these songs that form their first album “Paraparlor” which is available on CD from Dismantled Records. Oh! I need a copy!

Frankie Valet: out now on It Takes Time Records from St Louis, Missouri, is the tape album “Stop Apologizing”. Sadly I can’t say if it is all good as only 2 songs are available to stream out of 8. But they are fine songs, especially the first one called “Something To Do With a Mouth”. The other one is not as upbeat and is called “Why Blue”. The band also hails from St. Louis and is formed by Alison Setilli, Felix Nelson, Gram Tolish and Jack Elliott-Higgins.

Рыцарь Диких Яблок: a few Russian bands have been appearing in the last two years. This is the latest one, and I believe it translates as the Wild Apple Knights. They are based in St. Petersburg and have two collections of songs on their Bandcamp. I don’t know much as everything is written in Cyrillic, but I do know the songs sound good to me. In the end that is what matters, right?

Caramel Snow: lastly for this week these two new songs from Delmar, New York. The digital single “Who’s Afraid of Sasha Grey? / The Secret Diary” are the latest songs by this artist that has been on a few labels like Jigsaw Records and Shiny Happy Records.

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Oostkamp is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. On January 1, 2014, Oostkamp had a total population of 23.016. The name Oostkamp comes from the Medieval name “Orscamp”, meaning place of the horses. The old word ors is a cognate of the English word horse.

That’s where we are heading with today’s post. Definitely the first time I feature a band from there. It is also true that not many Belgian bands have appeared on the blog. But it is definitely worth it.

I discovered His Royal Fume this year. I stumbled upon their music on Youtube and I have been getting their records. So far I’ve got their first 2 7″s and I’m missing their last 7″ and their album. I hope to complete my collection sometime soon. Crossing fingers.

As I said, I only found out about this brilliant guitar pop band this year, about three months ago. So I know very little about them. Time to get to work then, find out who were His Royal Fume.

According to Discogs their first release dates from 1991. It was a 7″ released on Boom! Records (BOOM! 41) that included two songs, “Miles Away” on the A side and “Closing the Gap” on the B side. I may dare to say that my favourite of their songs is “Miles Away”, a brilliant jangly track.

Their label, Boom! Records, is new to me too. I learn that it was founded in 1987 by Jean-Pol Van Haesendonk in Halle, Belgium. But there are other details in this record, we know that the cover was designed by Carlo Wauters and JP Van (that is Jean-Pol from Boom! Records) with the photography of Olivier Matthys. Carlo it seems did a lot of the art for the label.

It is worth mentioning now the band members. The band was formed by:
Patrick Provoost – vocals
Filip Depreeuw – guitar
Geert Maertens – guitar
Johan Isselée – drums
Peter Vanlandschoot – bass

On this first 7″ they got Jan Hautekiet, a well known Belgian National Radio host, to play keyboards. The record was produced by Paul Despiegelaere and engineered by Peter Bulkens.

Their next 7″ was released that same year, 1991, again on Boom! Records (BOOM! 54). This 7″ also had two songs on it, “Cut To Heal” on the A side and “So Confused” on the B side. Now playing keyboards on the songs was Jeroen Ravelsoot. The producer and engineer were the same as in the first 7″ though this time Paul Despiegelaere helped playing percussion, walga and vocals too. The songs were recorded at Ace Studios on October 1991. The art this time was a painting created by Peter Jonckheere while the layout for the art is credited to Herman & Isabelle.

Then there is a small silence by the band. They return in 1993 with their last single, “I Can’t Follow”. This 7″ had on the B side the song “Words Don’t Come”. This 7″ was released to promote their self-titled album that was going to be released that same year. Both of the songs on the record were written by the drummer, Johan Isselée. But there is also another difference. The band had changed labels. Now they were on Play That Beat! (AMC 10.3.310). This was also a Belgian label that according to Discogs is a dance-related label. Odd, as His Royal Fume doesn’t sound dance at all!

The self-titled album came out in 1993 on Play That Beat! Records (AMC 59305). It was released on CD and all 10 songs were recorded at Ace Studio and Square Studio. The songs from previous 7″s were included, the tracklist being: “I Can’t Follow”, “Words Don’t Come”, “Cut To Heal”, “Falling From Grace”, “Beautiful Crime”, “Digging Holes”, “Little Hands”, “Miles Away”, “So Confused” and “Closing The Gap”. The art, the photography of a crown, was created by Jo Clauwaert.

The band have a few compilation appearances listed. The first on a 1992 tape called “No Songs to Waste / Vol 1” released in Belgium. It has no label nor catalog number but we do know it was compiled by Peter Slabbynck, who had been in bands like The Brilliant Drumheads, The Boy Wonders and more, trying to document a part of the local scene around the city of Bruges. On it the band appears with a song called “Do Or Die (Demo 1989)”.

In 1993 the contribute the album opener, “I Can’t Follow You”, to a Play That Beat! compilation called “Die Nieuwstraat Van Studio Brussel Vol. 1” (AMC 59310). It would take more than 10 years for their next contribution. In 2006, the same song, “I Can’t Follow You”, appears on the compilation “Bel 90 – Het Beste Uit De Belpop Van 1993”. I suppose a sort of greatest hits of Belgian pop of 1993?

Lastly, the same song, appears on “Bel 90 – Het Beste Uit De Belpop Van 1990-1999”, which is actually a box set that includes the 1993 CD compilation they were on.

Are the band members listed in other bands? Well Patrick Provoost, Geert Maertens and John Isselée were part of the postpunk band Red Zebra in the 80s. John was also part of a band called The Man With 2 Faces in the 2000s. Peter Vanlandschoot was involved in Birkenhead, Sooner, Gloin and Substance 69.

I look for more information on the web but it doesn’t seem to be my lucky day. Whenever the band is mentioned it is through Red Zebra. It seems Red Zebra was a pretty popular band in Belgium. Much more than His Royal Fume it seems. I do find a listing of a gig on May 3rd, 1993, at the Ancienne Belgique in Brussels.

So I will have to resort in the few Belgian readers of the blog. Help me out here. Do you remember them? Whatever happened to them? Are there any other recordings by them? They had very fine songs, and two songs that for me should be classic of Belgian pop like “Miles Away” and “So Confused” which are brilliant!

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Listen
His Royal Fume – Miles Away