I think this weekend I’ll be finally able to work on the fanzine. This is exciting. At the same time I want to remind you all that next week I’ll be heading once again to Mexico City. Please let me know if you need any records and we can find a way for you to save on shipping costs!
New finds? You got them!
Sloome: this Modesto, California, band took two years to record and release their first album “Smorgasbord”. There are 12 songs of classic American indiepop, quirky and fun. There are some songs that I am not crazy about but there are some good ones like “Squeaky Bones” or “Whisper to Me”.
Corriendo por el Bajo: here is an Argentinean band, from Buenos Aires, making some cool music. Their latest track is called “Radiación Solar” which was recorded at the same time they did their “Sístema” EP that was released last September. If you like dreampop and postpunk, this is for you.
Fule: this Japanese band formed by Ryohei Enoki on vocals and guitar, Miyu Knno on bass and Anri He on drums has recorded a very nice shoegazy track called “Morning Glow” that will be part of a 3 song EP titled “藍、梔子”.
Closer Preys: the 19 year old Minjun Kim has recorded a lo-fi dreampop EP called “Betrayed” EP. It has three songs, “Distant Friends”, “Dark Room” and “I Tried to Swim Across the Ocean”. It is dreamy sure, but at the same time it is gloomy and the vocals are buried and mysterious.
Jimbo: some classic tweepop from Pensacola, Florida? Sure thing. A collection of seven songs form the mini-album “Epic” by the band Jimbo. This sounds very early 2000s US indiepop to me, with it’s lo-finess and fun vocals with catchy choruses. Worth a listen.
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Let’s head back to Sweden, to the year 2006. That was a great time in Sweden’s indiepop. Lots of bands, labels, festivals, and fans. I wish I had lived there then. At the time I wished so very much. I wanted to be there. It wouldn’t be until 2009 that I would finally visit that country I had dreamed of so many times and meet many popfriends.
Anyhow, 2006. As I was saying it was a good year for indiepop in general. It was kind of the year building up for the revival that would be 2007. 2007 was a worldwide revival. I even started Cloudberry in 2007. But of course, Sweden had been brewing great indiepop for many years now. The rest of the world was just catching up.
One of the labels that made a splash was Friendly Noise, releasing records by Friday Bridge, Action Biker and more. Lots of superb stuff. Today I wanted to look into a band that is quite obscure, that I know very little of, but left a song that is truly great, Dianas Tempel.
I assume there was a girl vocalist in the band. That is obvious. But was there a band? Or was it just her playing everything? In those days I would stumble upon so many talented people that would just create songs on their own. I wouldn’t be surprised. The song Dianas Tempel recorded and contributed to the Friendly Noise compilation “Are You Scared to Get Happy?” (FYN 30) was called “I’ll Be Different This Time”. It is gorgeous.
On this compilation that was released on CD and was compiled by two greats of Swedish indie, Mattias Holmberg and Stefan Zachrisson, we find top music by The Radio Dept., Kuryakin, Sarto and many more. The album was mastered by Andreas Tilliander.
Not much written about the compilation, aside from some very favourable reviews on blogs and webzines, and whenever Dianas Tempel is mentioned the reviewer is very supportive about the great track that “I’ll Be Different This Time” is. Now, if only I knew who is behind it, and if there are more recordings…. who’d know? The vocals remind me quite a bit of Sarah from Action Biker… but I don’t know if I’m in the right track there. Maybe the CD booklet has information, I should try to get myself a copy. But any help would be appreciated!
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