Yesterday I posted all Dayflower 7″ pre-orders! Next week is the release date, on the 10th, but if you order now, I’ll send your record on Monday! Also I was just told Baby Lemonade CDs should be shipping to Cloudberry HQ next week, so it will be busy, very busy! I am very excited about all these releases!

But of course other bands and labels are releasing new music. Here are some of that!

Salt Lake Alley: Celebrate! Our Stockholm friends Mikael and Gustav have released a sensational new song “But You Do, You Do”! Continuing what they showed all of us in the 7″ we released together they have made a new pop gem. I really really hope it gets released. It deserves so, it is VERY VERY good. And if you are in Stockholm I hope you go later tonight, October 4th, to Bar Brooklyn to catch them live. Is the least you can do. I would if I was there. Speaking of which, I miss Stockholm. I wanna go soon.

Foxes in Fiction: this New York band sounds pretty good. I live in the same city but never have heard about them. Thanks to my friend David, all the way in Spain, I have discovered them. The band will be releasing a new album called “Trillium Killer” on vinyl on October 18th and it contains many fine dreamy pop songs with boy/girl vocals. You can preview 3 out of 10 songs on the band’s Bandcamp.

Failed Flowers: I really like this band and I am happy they are back with a new 2 song 7″! The songs on it are “Faces” and “Broken Down” and they are terrific pop songs, heavily influenced by C86 classic bands. I only noticed though that everyone is selling 7″s much more expensive than me. And I don’t know what to do about it! At least $1 more than what it costs a Cloudberry release, for a U.S. buyer. Does this matter? I certainly would appreciate that extra dollar myself. Something to think about?

Lake Ruth: Another NYC band! This time the great Lake Ruth are releasing a 7″ on Slumberland Records with two tracks, “Extended Leave” and “Strange Interiors”. This one is also at the same price. I don’t want to raise prices myself, but seeing that $7.5 for a 7″ is the new norm…. maybe next year the next 7″ will have to be this price sadly. In any case, buy this record, the opening track, the only one we can preview, sounds ace!

Seventeen Years: from Kansas City comes this lo-fi project with a four-song EP called “Ivory Tower”. It sounds pretty neat if I may say so. Especially the song “Silly Mess” with its galloping jangle and blurry vocals. Good stuff.

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Not the Napolitans, but The Newpolitans. That’s the band I’ve decided to do some detective work on. Why don’t you join me in this investigation?!

Sometime in the 80s (the date is not clear) the band released one double A sided 7″. It was released by Edible Records (ED001) which most probably was their own label. There are no other releases by this label. The songs on it were “Holding On My Hand” on the A side and “Duck Town” on the B side. And they do sound superb!

The artwork also catches my attention. What style is that? These illustrations? They look cool. Kind of cubist? The back of the sleeve tells us that the label was based in Hull, England. Maybe the band too? It also mentions “The Alpine Horns”, as a supporting band for The Newpolitans. Could it be? Or am I misunderstanding?

Both songs are credited to Brian Lilley who also played guitar and sang. Dave Hemingway played drums while David Ricardo played bass. The record comes with an insert with a photo of each member as well as some text about Duck Town.

There are no compilation appearances for the band nor other releases. So I start looking for any information regarding the band members. Strangely enough I find an article about The Beautiful South in a Norwegian website. Of coure we know the Hull band The Beautiful South as was born out of the ashes of The Housemartins, having Paul Heaton fronting it. So yeah, Dave Rotheray (David Ricardo) and Dave Hemingway had been in both bands, in The Newpolitans before being in The Beautiful South! So that’s the connection!

This same website mentions that Dave Rotheray had been bassist in Mammoth alongside Brian Lilley and Hugh Whitaker. It seems that at some point Mammoth changed names to The Newpolitans and Hugh left the band making room for Dave Hemingway. Later Dave Rotheray and Brian Lilley would be in yet another band, The Velvetones. On this band Dave switched from bass to guitar. Whitaker on the other hand went to join The Housemartins.

Okay you get the drill… lots of info about The Beautiful South, but way too little about The Newpolitans. But now I have a place to start. I wonder if there are more recordings by The Newpolitans? And if so, why there hasn’t been a compilation or some other release knowing the connection with a much more known band? Did they play live lots? What years were they active? I definitely would love to know more about them! Who remembers them?

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