Day 276.
Sugar World: the San Diego band is back with four songs, four covers. They are “Just Like Christmas” by Low, “Anorak Christmas” by Nixon, “Blue Christmas” by Elvis and “Merry Christmas Darling” by The Carpenters. They are all packed in an EP called “A Sugar Christmas”.
Cour De Récré: this new French group formed by Stan, Quentin and Chloe are releasing a new song called “Vice et Werther” on Elefant Records. There is a video for the fun synth-driven song as well. At this time the band is preparing their first mini-LP for the the Spanish label.
Perrogato: one of our favourite Chilean bands has just came out with an album titled “Me Gusta Más La Diversion” that has 12 songs of fun indiepop. They are being released by the also Chilean label Gemelo Parásito Records. Sadly the album seems to be available only on digital format. How we’d like a CD version at least. In any case, great effort Cheché, Danko, Ricardo, Sofia and Cristobal!
Send No Flowers: wow! I love this Linköping band from the 90s! And now they are on Bandcamp. Maybe I could interview them? Their latest upload to this site is “The First Lachen Session” which includes an alternative mix of their classic song “Learning French”. Wow. So cool!
Youth Valley: and the lates in this review is the EP by Youth Valley that Make Me Happy Records has on Bandcamp. It seems it will be out only digitally, which is a shame of course, the three songs are terrific. But maybe as they are a brand new band it makes sense to see how the fans respond? I wonder. In any case, play them a lot, they are very good. Maybe we can convince the label to put out a 7″! Wouldn’t that be great?
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The turn is now for “autumn” in the seasons challenge. So what about “Autumn” by the superb late 90s band The Castaway Stones? A band that featured important DC indiepop legends like Dan Searing (drums) from Glo-Worm, The Saturday People, Whorl or Lu, Greg Pavlovcak (guitar/bass) from The Saturday People, The Ropers or The Still, and Pam Berry (vocals/guitar) from Black Tambourine, Bright Coloured Lights, Glo-Worm, The Pines, The Relict, The Shapiros, Veronica Lake or Bel Étage.
I think I own almost all of the records the band released. I think I am missing one split 7″ and their compilation appearances. But that’s not bad. One can only own a limited amount of indiepop records, right?
I believe the band’s first appearance is the 1998 split 7″ on Brittle Stars Records also from Washington, DC. This split 7″ had the band contributing the song “Daydream of You at Night” on the A side, and the great band Dearly (who I have written about) contributing “No Respect” on the flipside. The catalog number for this 7″ is BSR 003 and we that The Castaway Stones song was recorded at The Pre New Studios by Archie Moore. The 7″ sleeve was designed by Ocean Design.
In 1999 the band would join the ranks of Ed’s Shelflife Records. There they would release a 7″ titled “Leave No Stone Unturned” (LIFE 008) with three songs, “Sunday Came and Went” on the A side and “Eight Days” and “To Tell The Truth” on the B side. The band is credited as producers as well as Foot Foot. Soon after the band released an album called “Make Love to You” (LIFE 011) with the same label. This record had 10 beautiful songs, “Up all Day”, “Lost and Found”, “Night Time is the City’s Only Star”, “Rose in the Devil’s Garden”, “The Revolution Creaks on a Bed”, “Under London Skies”, “Pinball, 1973”, “Brazil”, “Autumn II” and “Everybodys” Having a Good Time”. I believe that for this album the band added Ara Hacopian to their ranks. At least on the credits they add an Ara. And the only Ara I know that was in DC and was in indiepop bands is Ara Hacopian who ran Foxyboy Records and was in The Family Way, The Saturday People, The Youth Untold and even Boyracer. Again the songs were produced by the band and Foot Foot, in the summer of 1998. The sleeve was designed by John Dugan, photos by Mary Solak. In the thank you notes we see many familiar names, from Chity and Miguel in Spain to Stephen in Scotland and Amelia in the UK, and more. A very well connected band indeed!
In 1999 the band also released the “In the Devil’s Garden” 7″ on Boa Records (HISS 15). The A side is of course “Rose in The Devil’s Garden” while the B side is “Autumn”. These songs were recorded by Gayle Brogan who ran Boa Records and who had been in Adventures in Stereo, Burd Ellen, Electroscope and Pefkin and John Cavanagh also from Electroscope and Silence Ensemble. This label, based in Glasgow, would also release the band’s last release, a split 7″ also on Boa Records. The split 7″ is titled “Just like Geoff” (HISS 18) and would have Electroscope with Mount Vernon Arts Lab on the A side contributing the song “Sky Men” while The Castaway Stones appear on the B side with “My Friend Bobby”.
When it comes to compilations we know the band contributed the song “Sunday Came and Went” to the “You Make Me Smile (A Shelflife Records Collection)” CD comp from the year 2000 and the song “Up All Day” to the “Indie Aid Abroad: A Little Help for East Timor” released by Library Records (SHHH 10) and Drive-In Records (DRIVE 042) that same year. There’s also a compilation appearance on the “Millefeuille” comp that came with the Japanese magazine Beikoku Ongaku issue #14 from 1999 with the song “Autumn”.
We do know of course all the many bands the people were involved with , we have followed them, so you’d think there are not many questions to ask. But would be great to know if they played live much. I haven’t found any details about that. Maybe they were more of a studio, recording, project. If that is the case would be fantastic to find out if there are more recordings by the band. Also when and how did the band start. When and why did they call it a day. Any details, would be great to find!
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