I’ve been looking at photos of friends that have been at Indietracks and it has made me feel way too nostalgic. I am very jealous, hope everyone had a good time. I won’t have any indiepop festivals this year, so I really hope next year will be different. Indietracks would be nice. Last time I was there was 2014!! So long ago! Anyways, just another friendly reminder of our new releases and offers, just because I am very excited with Den Baron and the Dayflower 7″ which is being pressed at the moment!

Palm Friends: first time I’m listening to this band from Minneapolis who are debuting with the “Nice Weather” 6 song EP. The band is formed by Jesse, Will, Shawnna and Jon and we can preview one of their tracks, “Governor”, which sounds nice.

James Clark Five: I got the London band’s newest album “ParlourSounds” a few days ago thanks to the Canadian label The Beautiful Music. I’ve played it around 5 times now and I’ve enjoyed it quite a bit. There are 11 songs of 60s influenced pop on it, and it also seems the band continues to produce new music as the album is not their latest on Bandcamp, but a digital single called “Annelise”.

Cheesemind: Qii Snacks Records from Guangzhou has released some very fine records in the past. It is no surprise then that their latest song, by the wonderful Cheesemind, is a winner. It is such a sweet song, with terrific jangly guitars. It is called “真空情书” and it is so far my favourite track this week even though I don’t understand a word! Good stuff.

Worries: another band with great guitars is Worries who have just released a cassingle with two tracks, “Age” and “Sometimes” on the New York label FMT Recordings. Is the band also based in New York? That’s a good question. Maybe I could catch them live sometime? Or maybe it is a one-man band? Only one name is listed for music and words, Alex Williams.

The King in Mirrors: you know I really like the Swindon band as I have featured more than once on the blog. Their latest track is called “Stop and Look” and it is, as always, a fine slice of classic indiepop. Check it out!

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Here is a very obscure band and track that I stumbled upon on Youtube twice. One of the times on my friend Heinz’s account, which as you may know is a trove of indiepop treasures.

The band is called Close to Carmel and the song is titled “Let the Light In”. Both times I saw the song on Youtube there were people asking who is it? who is behind this song? if there is any more info about it… but no one seems to know.

I wonder how or when this song was released. It seems it was part of a release called “It’s Close to Carmel” that had a pink photocopied sleeve. Was it a CDR? It looks like it. I tend to think it is instead of a cassette because of the format of the cover artwork, it is square.

I do believe the band took their name from a song of the same name by the 60s band The Fun and Games. They had a song called “Close to Carmel” in their 1968 album “Elephant Candy”. And for those who are geography buffs, most probably it refers to Carmel-by-the-Sea in California which is often simply called Carmel.

Carmel is known for its natural scenery and rich artistic history. In 1906, the San Francisco Call devoted a full page to the “artists, writers and poets at Carmel-by-the-Sea”, and in 1910 it reported that 60 percent of Carmel’s houses were built by citizens who were “devoting their lives to work connected to the aesthetic arts.” Early City Councils were dominated by artists, and the city has had several mayors who were poets or actors, including Herbert Heron, founder of the Forest Theater, bohemian writer and actor Perry Newberry, and actor-director Clint Eastwood.

I do find a Soundcloud page that has this song uploaded. This is perhaps the only important detail I found so far. It mentions that this song was written by the 2nd band the Soundcloud account owner was into back in 2003. It doesn’t say what was the first band he (I think it is a he as there is a guy on the photo) was in. It does mention though that he is based in Malmö, Sweden. This is important too

Sadly I couldn’t find any names or any other songs. No mention of the release either.

So I will ask for your help. Who remembers them?

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Listen
Close to Carmel – Let the Light In