No World Cup today. It feels weird. But can’t wait for the matches tomorrow. Aside from that not much more to tell you all. There is my trip to Mexico in two weeks and I already have received a few orders for me to bring and save shipping costs. Oh! And that I have no more copies of the My Favorite LP as the last copies are going to Mexico where the band seem to be popular as most people were requesting this record to me.
By Monday I hope to have some more exciting news! There is one new Cloudberry Cake Kitchen compilation confirmed too which I hope to announce very soon. Now what have I found the last few days?
Fragile Flowers: where from this beautiful music came from? Sure, it does say Japan on their Bandcamp, but how come I’m only coming across it? This is a 4 piece formed back in 2016 with members Tamaki, Riko, Atsumi, Tigo and Blue from our friends Boyish. I don’t think they have released any physical records yet, but there are a few digital ones to check out. Their latest is a 6 song EP called “Sheltering Sky/4rd Love”. It sounds great, dreamy and upbeat. Definitely a band to keep an eye.
La Naissance: an Italian shoegaze/indiepop band… that is a novelty. There are only a few good Italian indiepop bands that I can think of, very very few. Well, this Roman band does sound good at first listen. Their self-titled EP includes 5 songs, and to be honest I don’t know much about them. I’m checking their Facebook page but it doesn’t mention the names of the band members or if this is their first release. I suppose they are very new and they do like some mystery.
Sightlines: “Love Ethic” EP is the latest from this guitar pop band from Vancouver, Canada. It is available digitally and also on a blue green vinyl 7″. There are 4 songs, “Love Ethic”, “Colours”, “(We Don’t Have to Be) Friends Forever” and “Bedfellows” and it was released last May. This is their newest work since 2016’s album “North”. The band is formed by C.A. Chux, Graeme McDonald and Eric Axen. This choppy guitar pop record is being c0-released by Double Lunch and Alarum Records.
Shrouded Amps: from the last band’s Bandcamp I followed the recommendations and stumbled upon another guitar pop band from Vancouver. Their latest release is not as new, it dates from last November, but as they are new to me, I am having a listen and recommending to you all to have a listen. The band formed by Tracey Vath, Matthew Budden and Eirinn M have 2 other releases on Bandcamp that I will check afterwards, but now I listen one by one these songs. The first song doesn’t gets my whole attention, but things pick up with the 2nd, “She Spun Out”, but perhaps it is “Mannequins”, the 3rd one, with its quirkyness that I decide this is a band I want to follow!
Rush Week: . I’m not sure about this record at first listen. It is released by the most important indiepop label from Spain, Elefant Records, that’s why I want to know what you think. Do you like it? Is it worth ordering? It sounds like it doesn’t fit within the label, right? I mean it is not bad, but it sounds kind of mainstream to my ears. I saw some comparisons to Club 8, but I don’t see it. It sounds It makes me cringe seeing an indiepop label tagging their records with names like Daft Punk or the XX, I don’t know if that is a big disappointment for you too, it just doesn’t feel like this is an indiepop record, not even an indie record. Thoughts please?
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I was thinking about Plutonita the other day. A trip down memory lane. To the early 2000s when I was obsessed with Spanish indiepop. A time where I was looking for more and more songs, especially from very little known bands, bands that had only released demos on CDR. One of the bands I remember the most was Plutonita, from Murcia.
I wonder why. I loved their two releases, “En la Casa de las Locas” and “El Efecto Minipimer”. I had them on MP3. I didn’t get physical copies of the demos from that period. Maybe only a few. So I was trying to find in old hard drives for their songs, thinking that I must have saved them somewhere. But I couldn’t find them. And that is a shame.
Their two releases don’t appear on Discogs. But I do remember a few details about them.
“En la Casa de las Locas” was released in 2000 and included the songs “Fiesta Despedida Glam”, “Supergirl”, “30º”, “Planeta de Cristal”, “Cybercita”, “Silvia Fantasía”, “Si Algún Día” and “Quiero Sentirme Flotar”.
Their next release happened in 2002, “El Efecto Minipimer”. This demo had four songs, “Claudio”, “Freetanga”, “Top Modern” and “****”.
On the Murcia Rock website, on an article from January 2003, it mentions that the band was formed by Esther Ganga on vocals, Paco Ganga on guitars and vocals, Juan Alfonso Moreno on guitars, Roberto Puffins on keyboards, Nando Robles on bass and Pedro Marco on drums. It also mentions that they won a prize called Villa de San Adrián and came on second on a Lérida based awards Directe 02 where they got 1,800 euros as prize money.
There are also some other interesting details here, first that the band was formed in 1999 around two members, Paco Ganga and José Ángel Frutos. They released a first demo with three songs “Ácido acetilisalicílico”, “Planeta de Cristal” and “Quiero Sentirme Flotar”. I haven’t heard any of these songs sadly, so can’t say how they sound like. After this demo José Ángel left the band to focus on his main project that was called Second.
Afterwards, now with Esther on vocals, there was another demo called “Mi Barrio Pop”. I don’t know what songs were on it. I only know that thanks to this demo they won a local award called Creajoven 2000.
I also noticed that the band represented at the Youth Biennale in Sarajevo in 2001. But I can’t seem to find much more information about it. Did they go and play there?
On the Yellow Melodies fanzine website there is a review of a 2000 demo CDR called “Silvia Fantasía” that had 5 songs: “Silvia Fantasía”, “Supergirl”, “Cibercita”, “Fiesta Despedida al Clan”, “30º” and “Planeta de Cristal”. Another entry that mentions the band in this Murcia fanzine by Rafa Skam from Vacaciones, mentions a gig at the venue called Garage de la Tía María where they shared the bill with Popiflor, Zipi Zape and Vacaciones.
There is also another article on this website dating from March 2001. Here they mention that the band played at the Villa de Bilbao contest where they qualified to the semi finals and playing at a venue called BilboRock. It seems they had beat Gasca, a band that were on the Elefant label. There is also a mention of a gig on April 5th that year at a venue called La Puerta Falsa in their hometown of Murcia.
On another article, one that is an interview to the band Noisebox, I learn that the practice space they used was named “La Casa de las Locas” and it was also the place were Plutonita, Second and another bands practiced.
Another thing I notice, on many articles on the newspaper La Verdad, is that the band gets compared to The Sundays, Ivy and The Cardigans. And I believe they might be right. Also something curious was that I found that the band played together a gig with Galáctica who I had featured not too long ago on the blog.
I believe also that after the release of the “El Efecto Minipimer” EP, Nando Robles and Pedro Marco decided it was time to only focus on the band Second who was gaining success in Spain. Plutonita was left behind.
I start to wonder about the name of the band. I notice there is a chewing gum, a sour one, with that name that is manufactured in Brazil by the brand Arcor.
Then what are the band members doing these days? It seems Esther is still involved with music as a DJ. I notice that just a month ago she was performing with Mamen Garcia as the Women Beat DJs at the La Verdad festival on the Rendibú night in Murcia. Actually most of the hits I get on Google are about Esther as a DJ as she now uses the name Plutonita for all her DJing.
Not much more on the web about this shortly lived Murcia band who surprisingly didn’t end up on a label other than their own. For me it is strange, they had quality songs and they seem confident in their music until of course, their other band started to do much better in terms of exposure. Then Plutonita was no more. But I do wonder what happened in between with Esther for example, between Plutonita and she being a DJ Plutonita. Or with Paco Ganga? I suppose Roberto Puffins was in a band called Puffins, but what about José Ángel Moreno. What did he do afterwards?
I’m sure my Spanish friends remember them as they have with Galáctica when I decided to feature them. Would be great to find out more about Plutonita!
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Listen
Plutonita – Claudio
