Day 251.

Attention Cloudberry friends We will be out of town starting next Saturday until the first week of January. If you want to place an order for the holidays, please do so before Friday November 20, as that day will be the last time we will be posting records until 2021. We need a little break from this strange year, but fear not, we will still be active in the blog and we will be back in 2021 with a new 7″ release that has already been pressed!

Strawberry Whiplash: “Press 4 For Love” is the new song by the great Scottish duo formed by Laz and Sandra. This song is part of a digital single that also includes the song “A Rainy Day in Glasgow” which is a song that was recorded some time ago. The good news about this new song is that it has been announced a new Strawberry Whiplash on Matinée Recordings next year. Can’t wait for it!

My Darling YOU!: the other news that come from Matinée Recordings is that  this December they are releasing a compilation called “A Dream Come True” by this Swedish duo who I worked with many many years ago on another compilation. This is very cool. The song they are sharing this time around is “We Break Up on Friday” !

Lost Tapes: a new 7″ coming out soon by our Spanish friends is great news always. This time around the “Quoting Salter” EP is going to be released by other friends of ours, Kocliko Records from Bera Spain. This label has quickly become a true favourite of all indiepop fans. They have the best of tastes and this new release doesn’t seem like the exception. We can preview one of four songs right now “The Attraction of the Opposites (Radio Edit)”.

Adults: 6 new demos by this fun band! The idea behind these demos is to raise money so they can record their new album, and that is definitely a good idea. We don’t know much about this band, we know it is a four-piece, I think from the UK and that’s it. Good, punchy songs.

Traveling with Monika: Bangkok’s Traveling with Monika is one of the best indiepop bands from Southeast Asia. Their new song “Faded” is brilliant, with great female vocals. I hope they get to release a record, and I can get it here in the US. Would be good. I don’t own any Thai records!

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I have been curious about the compilation “The Huge Corporation Presents” since I wrote about This Yabis. I’ve been enchanted by this band, for the few songs I know from Soundcloud. So I went to look for more information about it and found that the blog From a Northern Place had shared one of the songs that appear on this 10″.

The song is “Sun in Splendour” by the band Sister Crow. It is a bit different to what I have heard from This Yabis, a bit darker and less pop perhaps, but it is a fine post-punk song, with good melodies. Catchy even in it’s own way.

I wonder if the bands that appear on this compilation were friends. There was Sister Crow and This Yabis, but also The Days that Shock the World and Land of the Giants. How did they sound like? I need to get a copy of this record released by the Huge Corporation (HCP1) in 1986.

Out of the 4 bands in this comp it was only Sister Crow that appeared on another compilation. None of them had proper releases, so not great. But yes, Sister Crow contributed the song “Purple Bread” to the “Let’s Cut a Rug” compilation released in 1984 by Printhead Records (DWELLS 001). On this compilation I see two familiar names to me, Yeah Yeah Noh and Deep Freeze Mice.

I don’t own this record but it seems that it came with an insert with information about the bands. Maybe someone would know then the names of the band members or where did they hail from?

From the vinyl labels, the A side where the band appears with track 7, it seems that the song is credited to Sharman. Did I get that right?

Now I start finding the right information… in my own blog! So it seems the band Hugebigmassive originally started as Sister Crow! I had written about it, about Hugebigmassive and from the Sound of Leamington Spa #7 I find this information: Formed in 1986 originally as a three piece with surviving members from previous band Sister Crow – Andrew Sharman (guitar/vocals), Stuart Simpson (guitar/keys/backing vocals) and Karl Traae (bass).

Okay, so yes to Sharman. But the year seems off, right? If they had contributed that song in 1984? Or maybe Discogs is wrong?

So we know three names of the band members. The photo from the back cover of the 10″ shows a 4-piece. So we are missing the one name. And we know too that they were from Leicester.

One more thing, on Youtube, the Abbey Park Festival Archive has uploaded a 1984 gig by Sister Crow! We don’t know the song titles, but here are 25 minutes worth of footage.

In the book “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now” by Andrew Collins the band is mentioned to have played at the Black Lion with Seven League Red from Market Harborough supporting.

Not much more information… so yeah, hoping someone can help with more details here!

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Listen
Sister Crow – Sun in Splendour