Day 179.

I have to tell you a story that happened to me last week.

Years ago I became a fan of the great UK band This Final Frame. That was during Myspace days. Even the band was kind enough to send me a self-released CD with all their songs. It was a masterpiece. I always wondered when it would be released properly.

Back in July I started seeing in Facebook some friends sharing that there was going to be a reissue on an unknown label to me, JB Records from California. When I saw it, I was interested immediately, an LP of the band’s songs, that sounded like something I wanted.

I looked for their website or Bandcamp but that didn’t exist. Only a Facebook page. There it said that the album was already sold out. I took my chances and wrote them a message asking that I wanted to get a copy. The person who runs the label told me there were 4 copies left (so how come was it sold out, I don’t know?). She asked me how many copies of these I wanted. I thought that was a strange question, why would I need more than one? Maybe I am innocent I thought, maybe people are buying to later sell these copies. I wanted to think people that like this kind of music care about these things, so yeah, I said the 1 copy. I asked if she needed my paypal information so I could preorder. She said no. That for now just wait until she receives the copies. Ok then. Strange but I was as usual trusting.

Last week I see photos of the records in fans houses or turntables. So I write the label, perhaps they forgot about me. She tells me that the people that have the record are people that live in the area. Again sort of odd, but hey, in times of the pandemic maybe that makes sense. I ask again about paying and paypal, or if they need my address. She says no, but ok, sure give me the address and I’ll let you know about paypal when the record is boxed and ready to ship. Ok.

Suddenly last Thursday I receive a message with a photo of my package, the LP in a regular cardboard mailer. It has my address on it. And I’m told it is $50. And I’m like? WHAT? How come one LP costs $50? A regular LP. That is unheard. I was expecting to pay maximum $30. And that’s quite a lot. See, within the US you can mail records as media mail and that is less than $5 for an LP for postage. So I tell her that, how come is this price, if postage can’t be more than $5, thinking that perhaps it was a mixup with international orders. But no, even more surprising she says that the LP is $50 and the shipping is free.

That sounded to me like a scam and I got very frustrated and sad. I asked friends on Facebook if they knew about what was going on. People were surprised of course but they weren’t aware of the label. Only one friend told me that a 12″ single with two songs that he was interested in was being sold by the same label also for $50. This got me thinking.

In the meantime the label person writes me saying she can sell the record to me for $40. That seemed very dodgy. All of a sudden I get a $10 discount. Still I feel that is not the right price. I feel I am being tricked.

So yeah, sadly I will have to let pass this release. I was excited, but I can’t support a label that is doing things wrong. That’s not the indie way. I have many ideas of what may be going on, but as I am not sure I can’t say. But in any case charging that price for a record is not right.

It is fishy. I was wondering if people that press CDs would do the same. I don’t think it would work. Somehow there is a vinyl hungry people that would be ok with these prices. Well, I am not, and I think it is wrong. And absurd. So yeah, beware.

We labels need to be fair.

And yes, here’s new music from the web!

The Hepburns: great finds over the weekend and I start with a favourite band of mine, one that I was lucky to interview year ago. The Welsh band from Llanelli have recorded a new song called “Hey, Mrs O’Shea” which will be included in the upcoming album “Electric Lliedi Land” that I hope gets released this year! This is wonderful, classic pop, that deserves all the recognition and listens one can have. Truly wonderful!

Stuck on the 90s: Sound As Ever Compilation #2: I just discovered this release which is the second part of a series of compilations released by Popboomerang Records. The first one came out in July and the 2nd volume is to be released on October. They are being really fast! These releases cover the period of 1990 to 1999 in Australia. I wish there was some 80s thrown in there, and I hope at some point that happens, I tried to do that sort of compilations, but with no real help from most of the bands (though I must say some were very helpful and from this effort the Macguffins compilations came through), so maybe a label based in Australia is our best bet! Great stuff!

Fever Hut: a remastered EP from the Leeds band with four songs, “Frida and Diego”, “Beckett Country”, “The Dying of Howard Hughes” and “The End of the Golden Mile”. Wow! Brings back memories, when I put out a Fever Hut 3″ CD with “Frida and Diego” and two more songs. Actually there are a few copies left of that 3″ if anyone is interested. In any case, this EP on Bandcamp is amazing. Classic.

All Ashore: this is terrific news as I love Velodrome 2000, Plouf! and the Parallelograms. This band features band members of those bands. And you can tell when you listen the two songs (“Radio Sunshine” and “17 Again”) to preview on Daytrip Records’ Bandcamp. What are we previewing? The debut album “Stayin’ Afloat”!! 9 songs on a 10″ (it will be available on CD thru Jigsaw Records in the US too). The album is said to come out on November 20, 2020. It sounds like the soundtrack for the summer, but it can be for winter too!

Star Tropics: a few months (or was it weeks? Ive lost the idea of time) I shared some Youtube videos from this terrific Chicago band. These videos were from a home session the band had put for DKFM radio. Two songs were recorded, “The Test of Time” and “Running Scared”, and now the songs are on Bandcamp. I thought why not listen to them again.

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I used to be in touch many years ago with the Singapore’s Bobsy. I remember chatting in gchat quite a few times. I wonder where is he now.

As I am doing this new challenge, writing about bands that titled one of their songs after a month, I couldn’t think of a better one for April than Bobsy. He released just one 7″, back in 1999, that had a song called “The End of April” as the A side.

The B side for this 7″ was “Letting Go”. The 7″ main piece of art was a green crochet texture. This, and the drawings on the labels are credited to Bobsy himself.

This 7″ was co-released by Drive-In Records (DRIVE 31) and Moonscreen Records (SCR 006) and these two songs weren’t the only ones they recorded. I know at least 2 more.

The first was “Find the Lost Years” that was featured on a compilation called “Falling and Laughing” released by Sofa Records (SOFA 1) in 2001. This compilation came along a 40 page fanzine, perhaps with info for each bands. It would be good to find out. This release came out of Hong Kong and included top bands like Gentle Tuesday, The Pristines, Johnny Dee and more.

Then in 2002, on the Italian tape label Best Kept Secret’s compilation “We Are Not Alone (Songs for the Lo-Fi Generation) Volume 6”, the band appeared covering Blueboy’s classic “Chelsea Guitar”.

Lastly in 2003 the band appeared on the CD compilation “Dashboard Teddy Version 1.0”, a compilation released in the Philippines by the label Dorothy Records. On this one the band appeared with “End of April (edit)”.

This same song was featured once again on a digital compilation called “Brilliant Sights of Sounds” by the blog SEA Indie giving Bobsy some new attention on a few blogs around.

I keep looking and found a Myspace. Here there is a small bio that says that Bobsy was a two-piece based in Australia. How come? Wasn’t Bobsy just Bob from Singapore? Maybe when the band started in 1998 he was based in Australia and it was a two-piece? This is quite confusing.

This Myspace also has two songs on the playlist that I’ve never heard of, “Strawberry Window” and “Smoky Town”. These don’t play of course. I wonder anyone has them? How did they sound?

Sadly that’s it really. I can’t seem to find any other info. No posts with details of any other releases or projects. No interviews. No videos on Youtube. There is quite nothing. At least there was that one 7″ that he recorded. But of course, I would love to find more. Was there really a connection with Australia? Anyone remembers Bobsy?

EDIT: My friend Vernon just pointed me to a Soundcloud with lots of songs: “Smoky Town”, “Chelsea Guitar”, “What We Had Hoped”, “Marine Parade”, “Find the Lost Years”, “The End of April”, “Letting Go” and “Strawberry Window”. Perhaps all the recorded output?

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Listen
Bobsy – The End of April