There’s this one release I’m looking forward to this 2014. Perhaps you are looking forward to it too. I know a bunch of Italians are. It’s an album. It has ten tracks. No fillers. Just hit after hit. It’s more of a three piece but people assume it’s a duo. They come from Gothenburg. They love making videos for almost every song they record. Do you need more hints? I think that’s enough clues to know who I am talking about.

Alpaca Sports are releasing their first full-length this year and is aptly titled “Sealed With a Kiss”, named perhaps after a movie. This is not the first time they appear on CD (remember the Mini-LP from 2013 on Fastcut), but it is the first time they appear on 12″ LP format. The record should be out sometime around February 24 and those who pre-order it through their bandcamp will be able to also get a bonus CD that contains remixes/covers by Red Sleeping Beauty, The Royal Landscaping Society, Tiny Fireflies, Cristina Quesada, When Nalda became punk, Invisible Twin, Pale Spectres, Boyish, Band à Part, Zipper, one day diary and The Very Most. Those who don’t pre-order, obviously won’t get this CD. By the way, this bonus CD will be named after Andreas Alpaca’s dog, “Bella’s Mixtape”. Just a detail.

It is from that CD that I’m happy to share a song. It’s by a band that we released not so long ago in Cloudberry, Boyish. Here they cover Alpaca Sports first hit “Just For Fun”. Many of the other songs from this bonus CD have been previewed already online through different blogs, soundcloud or facebook. You can possibly track all of them down if you head to Alpaca Sports Facebook page.

The album, released by Luxury Records, includes 10 songs. I read someone on the Facebook complaining that most of the songs have already been released. That means that people really crave for more Alpaca Sports! I would take that complain as a compliment of course. The tracklist looks like this:
01. Just for fun
02. Will you ever come back home?
03. She’ll come back for Indian summer
04. Just like Johnny Marr
05. As long as I have you
06. Telephone
07. He doesn’t even like you
08. The old oak tree
09. You and me
10. I was running

Perhaps you really want to complain, and think that this is a rip off. That there’s only 4 new songs (2 ,4, 8 and 9) and you better download them or some other ‘wise’ idea you may have. I guess you have the right to think that way, but you are being totally stupid. It is clear you’ve been living in an MP3 age where an album concept doesn’t mean anything. You just want throwaway songs that you listen a bunch of time and then they can just sit in some folder in your computer without being clicked again for ages. You just don’t get it. These songs are the work of 3 or so years of the band and so it makes all sense to include them. They are their hits. How can’t you include them? They were released as singles and they have actually left the B sides out of the album, just like every other band did back in the day, when albums meant something. Because albums are for rediscovering these kind of hits. I could play these songs forever, I always find a little something, a detail, every time I listen to them. Perhaps this has to do with me known Andreas, but I always end up understanding each piece of lyrics better and better. They are as honest as they can be. Very autobiographical even. So why wouldn’t I want them to be in the album for me to listen time and time again, with the comfort of them being one after the other? I don’t know. Only if you listen to them as Mp3s then it doesn’t make any sense. Then I tell you, you are DUMB, because you are missing out.

The album counts again with Ray Kimura doing the artwork. I have to say this is my favourite illustration she’s made for Alpaca Sports. And she has done every single release. It’s by far the most colorful too. And the first one that doesn’t have any white background. I remember when doing the Alpaca Sports single for Cloudberry I wanted something like this with the jungle/Indiana Jones, kind of feeling. We did try. But it didn’t work out. It was looking too green. This time it has worked out wonders.

So we all know that 6 of the songs in the album are perfect pop songs. They’ve been released as singles and they have sold out or are about to being sold out. These songs have catapulted the band to play at Indietracks, Madrid Popfest, Berlin Popfest, New York Popfest, and soon Birmingham Popfest. They have also played their home city Gothenburg, Stockholm and Malmö. They also will go south, across of Malmö soon but I think that’s top secret yet. They also toured Japan for a week last November. It’s been a hurricane couple of years for them. But I’m not surprised. I wasn’t in love the first time I heard them, I admit, and I feel embarrassed, I could have released “Just For Fun” perhaps. It was only after listening to “She’ll Come Back for Indian Summer” that I knew that this band was special. That they were something else. But it was a bit too late, though I was still lucky to have worked with them on the one 7″. I would have loved to work with them in every single release. Why wasn’t I in love? I simply don’t understand. These days I play that song and I can’t help myself from singing it.

I’ll tell you a secret then. I have listened to the other 4 songs. They are all proper singles in their own way. They could have saved them for 7″s in the future. But they haven’t. “Will You Ever Come Back Home” and it’s hand-claps. That must be Carl hand-clapping. That’s the first thing that comes to my mind. Haven’t you seen Carl Miyagi hand-clapping like a madman at every Alpaca Sports gig? That’s his thing. But you’d think this is a happy song, it’s not. It might be as well the most melancholic song in the album albeit it’s upbeatness. Amanda as always is brilliant accompanying Andreas in the song with her shy almost subterranean vocals. I melt. “Why do you call me up every time you look for a fight”. That’s the line that opens the song and still I’m sure in this situation you and me would ask every single ex-girlfriend we’ve had if they’ll ever come back home.

Andreas must have a couple of heroes, definitely Davey from Brilliant Corners and Julian from The Hit Parade. Johnny Marr is another of those heroes. Here is his tribute to him. Nostalgic, melancholic, this song is so light, it could break, reaching it’s subtle climax with a sincere line, promising the girl that “I’ll bring my guitar and play just like Johnny Marr.” You wonder which girl would turn that offer down, right? “Don’t make my heart break” asks Andreas wearing his feelings on his sleeve. Only a terrible girl could do that!

Even less upbeat, a song that seems to be sealed with longing and memories, is track number 8, “The Old Oak Tree”. I wonder how common are oak trees in Gothenburg. The song has a cinematic quality to it. “I remember when you kissed me for the first time in the pouring rain”.  The acoustic guitar in the background. I can picture the rain. I can imagine this huge old oak tree where the adolescent couple would get inside and dream of a future filled with lovesongs that never happened. Remembering that teenage love that hurts. The “Old Oak Tree” seems like a pause in the album, making you feel vulnerable and ready for the two last songs.

The last song being the dancefloor hit “I Was Running”. But just before it is “You and Me”. If you’d thought it would be more hopeful than “The Old Oak Tree” you are mistaken. By now you probably have noticed that Alpaca Sports songs are heartfelt and full of details that hide behind the veil of their upbeat melodies. “The sun will never shine on me the way it shines on you”. Post-breakup sadness. Secluded in the house, in the room. Don’t want to go out. Wise words, isn’t it true that when there’s a breakup only one, not the two, gets a broken heart? That’s how it is. That “You and Me” that we dream to happen again, but it’s lost forever. “Every tear falling down let’s me know that I care”. How hard it is to forget. How hard it is to let go. Sometimes you never let go.

It’s surprising how simple it seems for Alpaca Sports to, in simple words, craft lyrics that express so much sentiment. And they call them twee. The f*ck they are twee. This is serious. They don’t sing about kittens or nonsense. There are a few bands out there that have no shame to pour their feelings in their songs like they do.

So I could tell you and sell you do the idea that the album is worth for these four new songs. And that is totally right too. Even for the one song the album is worth getting. I don’t know how many copies are being pressed. I want to think that the album will sell pretty well and hopefully it will be sold out within a year. I want to dream that they will keep writing perfect songs, that I will see time and time again Andreas, Amanda and Carl, with their guests musicians on stage. At every single festival I attend. I don’t have that many contemporary bands that I follow with this determination, that I try to dissect every song, that I want to learn the lyrics as I’ve done in the past with bands like TCR, Throw That Beat in the Garbagecan!! or McCarthy, top bands for me. Alpaca Sports is one of the few (from the top of my head I do the same with contemporary bands Liechtenstein, The Felt Tips and Northern Portrait). They are writing modern indiepop classics. And it’s possible that you won’t even notice until 20 more years have passed when Andreas is still supporting his Örgryte football team in 3rd division for yet another year, Amanda is a successful designer and Carl is making videos for high-profile 2035 Beyoncés or Taylor Swifts of that age.. You don’t want to wait that late, right? Better catch the “Sealed with a Kiss” bus then.

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Listen
Boyish – Just For Fun

One more week into 2014 and I feel a bit more positive about the outcome for this year. I’ve been looking into pressing records in other pressing plants, in smaller quantities, and I think it will work out. At this time, selling 500 copies seem unrealistic, only a dreamer like me could have been doing this for so long. It’s time to get practical.

A little bump on the way though, the Lost Tapes 7″ seems to be delayed in the pressing plant. Today was the release date but the records haven’t arrived home yet. I have the sleeves and inserts ready but not the vinyl. This pushes back my plans! Hopefully they will be arriving next week. They were promised to me for this week, but they say they have been very busy with records for Record Store Day. That stupid day.

Indiepop news? Little. I did finish answering an interview for a Japanese fanzine that is being made by Atsushi from Mile’s Apart Records. It’s always an honour to be asked questions about the history of Cloudberry and the bands I love. I’ll let you know when it is available especially if you know Japanese, as I doubt it will be published in English!

This week I’ve had family visiting so I haven’t done much research or not even listening to much indiepop. I have no idea what is going on right now. The only “news” I’ve seen around is the announcement of Copenhagen Popfest that will take place in May this year. Sadly for me they announce the dates now when I had already booked my flight to Europe in April. A bit of a short notice. This time the return of Popfest to the Danish capital has a new crowd behind it. In the blog I interviewed in the past my good friend Danielle who with friends organized the first edition. After many years there’s this comeback and it starts to shape up nicely with the sole announcement (as of yet!) of the mighty Felt Tips. Looking forward to their next choices.

Speaking about Popfests, both Madrid and Birmingham have ace lineups. Many Cloudberry bands will be joining these festivals. Only yesterday Lost Tapes was announced for Madrid! How I wish I could attend. But that’s what happens when you live in the wrong continent.

But I’ll stop complaining. We do have NYC Popfest and it’s in a league of it’s own. I’ve heard around rumours of bands coming to play but of course, I have to keep quiet! You should just trust the words from Maz, the organizer, when he says that this will be the best Popfest ever. Which is a lot to say considering the amazing Popfest 2013!

Well enough of chit-chatting, next week I’ll come back with a proper indiepop story, it’s been some time since I tell one of them. But now, let’s move to what you came here for, to discover a new obscure band, right?

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Splitting aces and eights is part of blackjack basic strategy. Rules vary across gambling establishments regarding resplitting, doubling, multiple card draws, and the payout for blackjack, and there are conditional strategic responses that depend upon the number of decks used, the frequency of shuffling and dealer’s cards. However, regardless of the various situations, the common strategic wisdom in the blackjack community is to “Always split aces and eights” when dealt either pair as initial cards. This is generally the first rule of any splitting strategy.

I had no clue. Clearly I’m not a gambler. Though I admit I’ve been meaning to visit Las Vegas for so long now, checking now and then the price for flights from NYC to Vegas. It’s never cheap though, so I keep looking.

I do know how to play blackjack I guess. I know the goals of it. Though I don’t know the strategies or even less counting cards. Will it be safe to say this English band from the 80s did?

This band is as obscure as it gets. One 7″ released and that’s it. Discogs though includes in their discography some stuff from the 2000s, but that’s definitely another band. You should ignore that. The only release we care for is the one that has “Hard Luck Stories” on the A side, and “Love is a Duel” on the B side. Do you like horns? Well, then you might like their songs.

I’ve seen “Hard Luck Stories” listed many times on Rupert’s Turntable Revolution blog. But I have to say for me, my favourite of the two, is “Love is a Duel”. The music reminds me of one of my favourite bands ever, Friends. Sure, the vocals are a bit different, but the music does reminisce as it has those glorious horns, and upbeat hooks.

Sadly I only own Mp3s for these songs. I’ve been looking for their record for some time now, but it’s been a hard luck story (pardon the terrible pun). Happily online, on cat45 there are some scans of the record and so we can learn a bit about this mysterious three-piece outfit.

The record was released by Other Records in 1987 (catalog OTH8). It seems it was their last release. Before that, this Oxfordshire label founded in 1985, had released singles by bands I’ve never heard like 5:30! and Virtue, as well as a bunch of compilations that include even more strange names for me like The Black Riders, Teacher’s Pet, Criminal Sex and Electric Dog Sex. Not sure I want to hear these bands. For me it’s no surprise that the label changed their name in 1987 to Metalother Records, to release, just guess, metal bands.

Aces and Eights wasn’t metal at all. They seemed closer to The Lotus Eaters or The Pale Fountains from the photo on the back sleeve. The band was Simon Li on guitars and keyboards, Robin Stuart on guitar and Gary Moss on bass. For the recording of the single they had guest appearances by Phil Cesar on trumpet and flugel horn and Andy Taylor on harmonica. The record was produced by Ian Show and the fun illustration on the sleeve was credited to Nicky Hunt.

How many copies were pressed. No clue. Did they play much live? No idea. Where exactly in UK were they from? My guess is from London, but that is a mystery for me as well. But perhaps someone out there reading this knows something, maybe can solve fill in the blanks. Whatever happened to them after Aces and Eights? Did they continue making music?

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Listen
Aces and Eights – Love is a Duel
 

Happy 2014!

First proper post of the year! It’s true I’ve posted three interviews so far but to be honest I wrote the questions the previous year. So this is really the first time I sit with the idea of writing something worthy. Well, hopefully it’s worthy.

I want to start with some label news because it’s been pretty quiet here lately, hasn’t it? So many of you might know that there’s a new release around the corner. Next week we will be releasing a new 7″!! This time we are releasing our second Spanish band in our 7″ series. First one was Zipper if you remember! Now we will be putting out the new 4-song EP by Lost Tapes. Who are they? Maybe you haven’t heard about them, and that’s totally ok, though I believe this year they are going to make a splash. They have been confirmed to play SXSW and I believe they will be playing a couple of indiepop festivals. So keep your eyes peeled. Their music is a bit of a surprise. The duo of RJ and Pau have been making music for a long time, not together, but in separate bands. Bands that are big and popular in Spain like Tokyo Sex Destruction and La Habitación Roja. But they love indiepop, they love the gentle sounds of The Field Mice, Brian, Brighter, so they decided to give it a go together in a new project, in Lost Tapes. So far they have only “released” a digital release on the Eardrums digital label. It ended up in many year end lists. It was lush. It was beautiful. I was terribly happy that they wanted to release their debut on Cloudberry. The songs included are four, “War in the Netherlands”, “Skylines”, “Poetry Dates” and “Chances”. There’s even an awesome video we’ve been promoting for the opening track. You can already order it from the site or you can wait until your favourite mailorder has it. Hopefully you’ll have it in your hands soon! You’ll love it! On top of it all the sleeve has been gleefully illustrated by Barcelona’s Marta Llumbart!

A lot of people have been asking about The Rileys release. And yes, it’s taking some time. It will be released though, come on, don’t despair. I’m positive it will be out next month. I wish it had been sooner, but as you are my friends I’ll be honest, sales have been quite bad on November and December so, there hasn’t been much cash to pay for new releases. It works like that you know. Sales become releases. So sometimes things have to wait until we can afford to put the new record out. So here’s an idea, if anyone out there know any ways we could raise our sales, make some interesting merchandise, or exclusive deals, I don’t know, something that could work, please on the comment section leave some ideas. I would really appreciate that. I really don’t want to end using a kickstarter or having to close the label. I’m going to fight! Anyways, let’s hope for February for The Rileys. I’ll keep you all updated when I have a release date.

The other project I want to work on this new year has to do with the blog. I want to finally publish in book form some of these interviews I’ve been doing for 5 years. I’ve been meaning to do so for some time. Many friends have asked me to do it, and I said I would. And then I never did! It requires a lot of time. It’s not just copy/pasting. I need to design the book with Cloudberry standards. It has to look good. I need photos to illustrate it as well. I can’t just publish a music book with just text, can I? But yeah, I’m hoping that by Indietracks time the first volume of these books will be published. I don’t have a name yet for it yet. So any ideas are welcome!

So that’s that.

What else is important this year so far. Well it seems there will be a Chickfactor festival in March here in New York? Will have to keep an eye on that. I hope it’s not like last year that The Pastels were confirmed and didn’t end up coming. I hope it works out well this time! Also of course to look forward for me is NYC Popfest and Indietracks. I have yet another trip to Europe in April that I’m looking forward. Will be in Spain, Norway and Sweden. Yes, always Spain, always Sweden. But I managed to squeeze a new country to visit. And I’m pretty excited to go to Oslo for the first time. But also I will be visiting new places in Spain, like Seville, Granada, Cordoba, Cadiz and Málaga, and in Sweden I’ll visit Göteborg for the first time. I will end up in Stockholm my last days of the trip. It’s like I always need to visit that city that I love (and hate).

Shaping like a fine year so far, right? What else would I like? I definitely want to DJ at Indietracks. But who knows if someone will invite me. That’s something I’ve been wanting to do since the first time I went. Crossing fingers, though I doubt it, as I don’t have a club, right? Speaking of Indietracks, I’m pretty scared as the plane tickets already are very expensive. I can’t find anything under 900 dollars. Wonder if it will work out the way I wanted. For that price I feel like a terrible idea just to go for four or five days. For that price I need to at least spend two weekends there. If that happens, maybe I end up doing that trip that I always wanted to the north of Wales, to those towns and castles that I’ve been daydreaming of, Beaumaris, Caernarfon, Conwy, Harlech…. but we’ll see. I kind of want to save vacation days for a later trip to China.

And that’s more or less in a nutshell what I’m expecting for this 2014. There are of course another releases in the works, but as soon as they are 100% confirmed and I have a song to share or something, I’ll keep it secret. But follow me here on the blog, I’ll be updating it every week as usual.

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Now into one of the most obscure mysteries of indiepop: That Corporate Feeling.

As you can imagine there’s NOTHING about them online. I’ve looked all over the place and I can’t find anything. The only thing I know is that their sole 7″ is really sought after by indiepop collectors. I’ve known that for years. I’ve heard their classic song “The Rain Has Gone” for years. But you know, I’ve never known anything else about them.

The few bits of important information are that it was released in 1984 on a label called Platform Soul. This was the first release of the label so it’s kind of safe to assume that this was a self-release. On Discogs it says that this 7″ was a promo 7″. That could explain the scarcity of it.

The A side was naturally “The Rain Has Gone” a proto-indiepop gem, packed with horns and a pounding bass. If sped up this could have been a major discoparty footstomper I reckon. Still it’s a beautifully crafted popsong. It’s no wonder everyone wants a copy of it! Me included of course!

The B side is “Industrial Backlash”. I wonder if there’s a relation between the name of the band and this song. Seems there’s a thread, no? Perhaps there was some sort of political background to the band. A socialist view? I wonder.

The only other thing I’ve ever seen is the sleeve. The front sleeve is quite nice. It has a die cut in the center, like old jukebox 45s. You can see the vinyl label having a bright red heart. The sleeve meanwhile has an illustration of a guy with a mullet. Perhaps it was the style? Perhaps is an illustration of the vocalist? Who knows. The back sleeve is even a bigger mystery. There’s just a photo, black and white, of two persons and what it seems like a dog.

There’s not much else online. I have no clue who the band members are. It all remains a mystery. Do any of you know anything else about them?!

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Listen
That Corporate Feeling – The Rain has Gone

Because people keep asking for a list, and I won’t do a ranking because I feel it’s terribly wrong, here are a many releases I’ve enjoyed this year. Obviously all Cloudberry releases are here because I would be an hypocrite to release them and not enjoy them, right? And also keep in mind I may update this list any day between today and December 31st. That’s because I’m very forgetful and I’m sure I’ll remember about some release sometime later and because I still haven’t heard all albums for this year like Spook School, Bubblegum Lemonade or Northern Portrait, that I know if listened they would appear in this list. Anyhow, if you are one of those curious people here it is in no particular order:

Electrophonvintage – Play Harp in Your Hair (album)
Go Violets – Heart Slice (CD-EP)
Major Leagues – Weird Season (EP)
The Sheets – The Sheets (lost album)
Club 8 – Above the City (album)
Homecomings – Homecoming with Me? (CD-EP)
Reserve – Beneath the London Sky (retrospective)
Alpaca Sports – Alpaca Sports (mini-album)
April’s Fools Day – Well, it’s true (album)
Silver Screen – When You and I Were Very Young (album)
The Felt Tips – Symbolic Violence (album)
Various Artists – Envoys from Alexandria (CD-EP)
The Secret History – Americans Singing in the Dark (album)
Veronica Falls – Waiting for Something to Happen (album)
Camera Obscura – Desire Lines (album)
The Proctors – Everlasting Light (album)
Various Artists – The Sound of Leamington Spa 7 (compilation album)
Everyday Mistakes – Obscure Lanes (album)
Honigritter – Kellergeister in Unserem Haus (album)
Los Canguros – Un Salto Adelante (retrospective album)
Rose Elinor Dougall – Future Vanishes (single)
Fireworks – Runaround (single)
The French Pop Dream – The French Pop Dream (single)
Helen Love – Day-Glo Dreams (album)
Flowers – When You Lie (single)
The Spook School – I’ll Be Honest (single)
Zipper – La Casa Rural (single)
Joanna Gruesome – Supercrush (single)
Boyish – The Hidden Secrets (single)
The Occasional Flickers – Capitalism Begins at Home (single)
Los Urogallos / Las Chinchetas – Brindis Picnics y Bongos Beatniks (split single)
Alpaca Sports – He Doesn’t Even Like You (single)
Karatekas – Nubes Negras (single)
Eva & John – César Gutiérrez (single)
Tripping the Light Fantastic – Heavy Heart (single)
Axolotes Mexicanos – Infectados (single)
The Understudies – Everyone Deserves at Least One Summer of Love (single)

I don’t want to sound bitter or demanding but, those 2013 year end lists do need some better releases. And I’m not just saying this because I’m biased. How can you exclude The Secret History album from your year end lists? Sure you want to include The Pastels and Veronica Falls, two fine albums, but come on, there was not much meat in them compared to the Sunnyside, Queens, band’s album.  I leave it to your conscience. Another album that I have loved this year is The Proctors one. Sure it’s a bit long. But who cares? There are no fillers in it. All songs are beautiful. Classic indiepop, the jangly kind, that many times reminds me of Marine Time Keepers, Brigher, or Bouquet. But yeah, you can ignore that and have Beach Fossils, or whatever other band that has zero ideas or talent. You’ll probably get a freebie album from their label next year.

I don’t think many people read year end lists, see the top 10 and say, “oh! I missed these ten records, I’m going to buy them.” That doesn’t happen. Does it?

There are also a bunch of releases that I haven’t listened yet as they have appeared at the tail end of the year like Bubblegum Lemonade, Northern Portrait or The Spook School. I assume they are pretty good, because their work is usually strong. So it suprises me that they are not in year end lists. Are they bad or what? I hope I catch up with these releases soon.

Another album that I’ve been listening a lot this week is that of New York’s own Pale Lights. Though this is a bit of cheating. The album won’t be out until next year, so it wouldn’t count as 2013. But what an album this is. It’s only 30 minutes long and opens with a cracker of a song called “Another Broken Heart”. You already know what to expect in the other 9 songs. Just heartfelt jangly indiepop crafted in perfection. Highlights are “Port of Shadows” that reminds me of The Bats, their previous single “Boy of Your Dreams” that has that Felt-ish guitar, or The Chills inspired “Only an Ocean”. I don’t know what will happen in 2014, but this might be a serious contender for your next year list! But let’s return to 2013!

What about Silver Screen’s album? I was happy to see it in the new 80s Guitar Pop guide published in Japan. It was released in 2013, and it’s already considered a classic by the Japanese indiepop fans. I can’t wait to visit the land of the rising sun. I have to see with my own eyes how good is their taste. I need to believe it.

Maybe I’m being exigent. I should be happy to see indiepop blogs celebrating the rewarding work of bands like Vampire Weekend. I should stop talking about these things because then I might be called the indiepop police. The leader of the very serious indiepop militia. But who cares? I love ‘wasting’ a Wednesday afternoon rambling about it. I just think people are always easy on themselves, and even though they love going to Indietracks every year, showing how DIY and indiepop they are, at the end of the day, they are just normal, another gray sheep in the field, with nothing to add to the conversation.

As you know, I’m not a fan of putting together a year end list. I’ve said it many times. It has to do with me being very forgetful. Even if you ask me what are the song names of that Proctors album that has had heavy rotation in the last month, I may be able to name you one or two. My favourite song I think is number 4 (or 5?). I remember them by numbers. I know that when eventually I get invited to DJ, I’ll rip it and burn it and learn the song’s name. I will play it too for people to dance. Or maybe I get to blog about it. That’s how it works for me.

But there are those that need to make sense of the year. That need lists to explain what happened through the whole twelve months. What were the breakthrough artist? What were the important and exciting comebacks.? And that’s really great. I’m curious to read them. There’s always a different point of view between them and me (though lately there’s a trend where there are no point of views, just a long list of Youtube videos).

Anyways, what I’m trying to say is, that even though it hasn’t been the best indiepop year, there have been some pretty solid releases that either because people are lazy and only reading Pitchfork, or these exciting songs got lost in a sea of MP3s, they are not being recorded as best of 2013. People are MISSING OUT. And that’s pretty scary. I feel that we are not that far away from the day when every blog has the same year end list.

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It’s definitely no news that I love Sweden. Not news that I hate it too. Aren’t those relationships the best? I’ve been the happiest there, but I’ve been the saddest as well. I managed to learn quite a bit of Swedish in the meantime and can understand a lot of what I read, and have a basic conversation. Probably useless as every day that passes I really doubt that I’ll move there as I could have thought I might 5 or 10 years ago. Especially since they started charging money for international students. I think that was the debacle of that dream.

Next year I’m going to be visiting again. At last I’ll visit Gothenburg too. Göteborg. Yeah! It’s been a long time since I’ve been meaning to visit, especially as I have this idealized idea of what it used to be during those days of the Starke Adolf tweepunkdisco club. I’ll end up in Stockholm again eventually too. That’s how I roll. Stockholm makes me feel happy, uncomfortable, sad, energized.D I don’t know how to explain it. Let’s say it just gets me dizzy. But the story of today is not about any of these towns, not even Uppsala or Malmö, the other towns I’ve visited in my lifetime. But Varberg. And you ask, where is Varberg?

Varberg and all of Halland are well known for their “typical west coast” sandy beaches. In Varberg the coast changes from wide sandy beaches to rocky terrain that continues north into the Bohuslän archipelago and as far as the North Cape. Varberg is a charming and popular summer resort and many people from inland cities such as Borås are either moving to Varberg or holidaying there.

A fortress called Varberg (at that time written Wardbergh, “watch hill”) was erected in the 1280s as part of a chain of military establishments along the coast, in what was then Danish territory. In the middle of the 14th century, the old settlement “Getakärr” 1 kilometre (0.6 miles) north of the fortress took its new name from the fortress.

Matilda Mus came from Varberg, from a small-ish town of 27 thousand people. Perhaps less. It was the 80s, those numbers are from these days. Matilda Mus of course means Mouse Matilda, and it seems it was a popular children book series. An author that I find associated to it is Susi Adams. But that’s not a Swedish name. Perhaps she lived there. I couldn’t find any information in English about these books. Some titles from the series are “Mouse Matilda cooks pancakes”, “Mouse Matilda is sick”, “Mouse Matilda plays the circus” or “Mouse Matilda has a summer love”. The band must have grabbed their name from these series.

How did I ever found about this band. Aside from a few Swedish bands from the 80s that are not Roxette and are alright known (you could name Watermelon Men and Ubangi perhaps? Happydeadmen for sure), we don’t find out much about the rest. Because there was a rest. A bunch of bands. But it was thanks to stumbling to a blog post by Roger Gunnarsson, of Nixon’s fame, that I was pointed to listen to whatever I could find from Matilda Mus. Two songs, thanks to Youtube. One was the one I’ll be posting here, “Nu E De Jul” (Now is Christmas), because it makes sense being so close to that holiday, and “På Sommaren” (On Summer). Both songs are deliciously fun to listen! Punky, raw, and very pop!

On his blog post Roger praises Matilda Mus because of the DIY approach. Their first two singles were hand-made, photocopied sleeves, and gigged a lot around Halland to build a cult fanbase. He mentions that they were so fun because Halland is pretty well known for their good humour. Among the “fun” things, were a choir dressed as mice on stage and silly nicknames for the band members.

There is not much written online, not even in Swedish. We know that in 1985 they won a local rock band contest and I assume with the winning prize recorded their first single, “På Sommaren” (catalog MM 001). This was recorded during three nights in Abeef Studios in April 1985. The sleeve came in different colours, you could find them in green, pink, yellow and more. The tracklist for this single was:
1. På Sommaren
2. Matilda Mus
3. Du Får Aldrig Gå
4. Intill Min Död

On this first release the band was made up by:
Anna Wiktorsson – synth
Pär Pellepånken Mantéus – guitars
Ulf Lille Bulf Cronheim Bas – sång
Anna-Maja Zadie Mc Zymbal Persson – drums

For their second release there would be some lineup changes. We see that now on guitars we have Thomas Svarta Faran Klint and we find three girls joining the band. This was 1986. Marina Rydellingum on sax, Mada Ultra singing and Jackie Lady Lagom Sofronenkoff singing too. This is the 7″ that has “Nu E De Jul” on the A side, while on the B side, another Christmas-y song “Juleljus I Matildas Hus”. Wish I could listen to that one! This record was catalog number MM 003 and it was recorded in Halmstad (land of Nixon) in the studio Out of Control.

In 1986 they released their debut album, “Pussar Mjölk å Pop’n Roll”. This was catalog MM 002 and was recorded as well in the same studio in Halmstad in march 1985. On this record Paula Vig sang (she was a guest in the På Sommaren single it seems). Also joined Ewa-Marie Wag Nordin in singing duties. The band loved vocalists. This LP had 10 songs (1. Sagan Om Matilda Mus,  2. Lilla Söta Flicka,  3. Sommaren Är Här-lig,  4. Söt Å Snäll, 5. En Banan Till,  6. Pussar Mjölk Å Pop’n Roll,  7. När Du Är Här,  8. Jag Vill Ha En Harley,  9. Kär I Dej  and 10. Krigstid) and had a band photo on the cover sleeve.

Their last release came out in 1987. It was another sing, again self-released (catalog MM 004). The record was titled “Sodapopkid”, and included two songs “Sodapopkid” and “Snaskmadam”. The band appears in very summery outfits on the sleeve cover. Again this was recorded in Halmstad and the curious thing about this release is that “Snaskmadam” (Madame Candy) is actually a cover of The Archies “Sugar, Sugar”.

The only other release I’m aware that had a Matilda Mus appearance is a 1985 compilation called “Rock-DM – Scendrag 85 i Halland”. A sampler of bands from Halland that also included the bands Rock’s, Sabotage and Dead Line. On this record Matilda Mus contributes a song called “Fotomodellen”.

I believe Ulf Cronheim then moved to Halmstad. The band must have split by then. He formed a band called De Nissan Badpojkar and in 1988 released the single “Sommardag” (catalog 1988). Seems the melody from this song comes from Matilda Mus’ Sommaren Är Här-lig”, that’s what the Swedish site Musikon says.

The only other hint comes from Roger’s 2006 blog post. It says that Ulf later owned a café in Varberg called Majas Strandcafé. Upon a little digging on Google I found about this café and tells a bit of the history of how the café started:
It all started when Ulf Cronheim woke in the middle of the night and could not sleep. In the diary, were all written down guidelines for what would become Majas Strandcafé. The next morning Ulf called Anna Maja Persson and after some persuasion, she said yes to the idea of ​​opening a café. A few years earlier Annamaja after much persuasion agreed to become Ulf’s girlfriend, but they broke up after six months. Café ownership lasted just as long, but she completed her duties as drummer in Matilda Mus, the band that Ulf was in, until the band dissolved in atoms.

The café still goes on. Matilda Mus doesn’t. But the two songs I’ve heard from them are just up my street. I love this kind of pop. It reminds me a bit of Throw That Beat in The Garbagecan! I saw some auctions on Tradera that had ended not so long ago. The records were sold cheap. Either they are not that difficult to find or people don’t know much about them. I hope in the near future I get to find them. I would really love to listen to all their songs.

I leave you with this great Christmas song, and I’ll see you after that. Merry Christmas to everyone!

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Listen
Matilda Mus – Nu E De Jul

It’s snowing already in New York. Not much indiepop for me these days aside from listening to Shine! songs a lot. Trying to find the right order of the songs for the upcoming compilation. Also on heavy rotation some old albums by The Times, Throw That Beat, The Earthmen. The only exception being The Proctors album that I recently got from Ed when he was visiting New York. Lovely album. Should be in those year end lists people love doing and that I can’t get around my mind to make one. Still the album I’ve listened to the most this year is Silver Screen’s. But that might be me being biased.

I went to Mondo this past weekend too, after devouring some delicious Korean dumplings in K-Town, and a stop in Bushwick to see Grand Resort play along other hipster bands. Highlights of the dance party were Alpaca Sports “I Was Running” and Go Violets’ “Josie”. I must have been a bit drunk as it seems I recorded some clips of the songs and mailed them to the bands. Geeky fan. At least the bands seemed happy and not annoyed!

On Friday I was supposed to go check a new band that Ed tipped me called Gingerlys. On bandcamp they sound pretty good so I wanted to check them live. Unfortunately it was raining way too much to do that inter-continental trip to Bushwick that night. Hopefully I’ll catch them soon. I haven’t discovered that many exciting new bands as of late, especially in the city. So this could be something!

Also the Twee.net Poll is now open. I should cast my votes pretty soon. And you all should too! Would be interesting to see who wins. I might be wrong, but I feel this has been a year of little surprises. More like a quiet indiepop year aside from some amazing comebacks like The Brilliant Corners or The Haywains. When it comes to new bands, I will look east. I think the best new bands come from Japan and Australia this year (again the exception being Don’t Cry Shopgirl from Sweden). Don’t you agree?

But in general, it has been a good year for me. Plenty of traveling. Many new friends. Three pop festivals. Can’t complain. The idea is to keep it up next year. NYC Popfest for sure. Indietracks 90% that will happen. I have a Travelodge room already reserved so…

Not much more this week, winter seems a bit uneventful, especially December. You’d think people buy indiepop records as presents but that’s never the case. There’s the Big Pink Cake Christmas special, but that’s in London. I can only wish to be there. Anyways, I’ll see you next week, hopefully with some exciting news. Maybe by then I have already book my new vacations.

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Don’t know about you, but these days, I have a hard time to get out of bed. Not because of any sort of sadness or depression. It’s just cozy. It’s warm. And it’s terribly cold not being under the sheets and blankets. I don’t mind the cold weather, I actually enjoy it, it’s just that moment of the day that is difficult for me. So until we are halfway through March I guess this will be the routine. Or maybe I’m just getting older, my thirtieth birthday looming. Scary.

My computer at work broke down. When I arrived from vacations it wasn’t working. Seems that the hard drive was fried. Through some recovery stuff, I manage to salvage a bunch of songs. Most of these are obscure songs that I’ve been sent by friends through email. Songs by bands that I’ve been looking for their records without luck. Hard to find.

The computer was formatted. And now I’m listening to all these songs again. Just for fun. Then suddenly some songs catch my attention. They are by a band called “And So To Bed”. A friend from Portugal, Joel, had shared these with me. I do a google search. As you can imagine a phrase like this gave me thousands of results. So I dug and dug.

Rupert at Turntable Revolution wrote on May 12 2012:
“And So To Bed released one 7″ in the mid eighties which has been on my wants list for a few years and turns up on ebay. Happy days until the listing is ended early by the greedy seller. So has anyone got a copy of this elusive single for sale?”

Then I found the listing on eBay. It was a seller in California. On the item description I find the first hints about this elusive record.
“Great C86 jangly indie-pop from this north London combo active around 1986/1987. Features 4 songs: And So To Bed (She Said) / Just Desserts / Plaindom / Spit It Out. Promo stamped with “Timebox Records: for promotional use only”. “

Indeed, it’s great jangly indie-pop! And we get to know the four songs on the 7″. We also get to know the label, Timebox Records. There’s just one more stop, one last hit google gave me. And that’s the Firestation Records blog that Uwe ran for a short time recommending and tipping some amazing stuff. There he writes: Amazing London-based band which was around the late 80’s. One 7“ single, released on Timebox Records, simply named “The EP“. Four tracks, four hits, full of jangly guitars somewhere between the first two singles by Laugh and The Close Lobsters.

So much praise for this band. So much excitement. And the songs do live up to them. The problem is, why the hell nobody knows anything else about them? Who were they? It’s a safe bet that Timebox Records was their own label they set up to put out the record. So that makes it even more difficult to track them down. There is a blog were it says Sperm Wails played with them. That’s the only other mention I could find online. It seems that aside this 7″ their legacy is non-existent. The band members names? What were they? Anyone knows anything else? They were from London. Someone has to remember!

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Listen
And So To Bed – And So To Bed

Alright. So where are the top ten lists for this year. I’m waiting. It’s already December and to my surprise I still haven’t seen any of these lists, not even on Facebook. Could it possibly be that there hasn’t been that many great releases in 2013? Or to be more sincere, the great releases of this year haven’t been released by the well known labels so they have been under the radar of most people? Could be. I like to think this has been the case. But let’s wait and see, it’s still early December and not even the Twee.net poll is open. So let’s wait and see, I’m quite curious.

Last week there wasn’t a blog post. And can’t say I missed writing. I didn’t even think about it. I had a very intense week traveling in Peru, partying, visiting friends, drinking, eating, etc, etc. I think I napped one day. I don’t think I had much time to relax and take it easy. That’s why I look forward to this Monday as I have requested a day of ‘staycation’. Really need it. I’m not complaining though, I saw the impressive Machu Picchu. I was in awe. I was also very tired to go up all the little rock stairs to the summit to take that classic photograph with the citadel behind you. I ate for the first time alpaca and also went to a restaurant that serves food from the Amazonian region. That was quite exciting.

I got to see Eva & John play live for the first time. I saw them also at a band practice. Both times I liked them a lot. They are unique for the scene in Peru, and it shows. They have followers that know their songs by heart. Now just need to push them to record 4 more songs. The 2-song flexi that they released earlier this year is not enough for a band that has so many catchy songs. I really hope that a 7″ will happen in 2014.

After many years I visited a disco in Lima. The music is still quite terrible, but what can you ask for. It’s not like we get good indiepop discos in New York City either way. I remember I danced to Pulp. And then I mostly just drank. It was cheap. 3 dollars for a huge bottle of beer. Half liter I believe? Those things are very convenient. But beware, not everything is cheap. Food wasn’t. I feel it’s around the same prices as in New York!

I got to see many friends, many that I haven’t seen for years. Some that were part of my gang while I lived in Miami. It made me happy to see that they are doing well. Earning good money. Living alone. Being successful. It also made me proud that Plastilina Records has a name these days in Peru. People recognize the label I started with three other friends and that these days Jalito is the driving-force. Funny though that indiepop is associated to hipsters in Lima. It might be the only place in the world that this sort of music is associated to them (ok, it used to be like that in Sweden for some time). I guess hipsters are the outsiders in Peru? Or viceversa? I don’t know how it ended up being like that. But it’s a bit scary! As long as they don’t ruin it all…

Anyways, I’m back and I have a couple of more posts to write this year. There are also some interviews that I hope I’ll publish as well. There will be Cloudberry news soon too. Lost Tapes 7″ will be out in around a month time. And then there will be new releases announcements! So keep an eye on the blog.

Also, if you are not aware, it seems there will be a new Popfest next year. It will be based in Birmingham and will happen in April. No clue who is organizing it, but the lineup already looks great. I wish I could go, so, if you can, you should definitely head there!

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Now let’s move onto some obscure band, one that I keep losing on eBay everytime it shows up: Boston Crabs.

As obscure as it gets. As mysterious as it gets. Because obviously they weren’t from Boston. They hailed from Hull.

If you google for Boston Crabs, you’ll see some Lacrosse team with that name. But perhaps the name may come from this “Boston crab”:
The Boston crab is a professional wrestling hold that typically starts with one wrestler lying in a supine position on the mat, with the other wrestler standing and facing him. It is a type of spinal lock where the wrestler hooks each of the opponent’s legs in one of his arms, and then turns the opponent face-down, stepping over him in the process. The final position has the wrestler in a semi-sitting position and facing away from his opponent, with the opponent’s back and legs bent back toward his head. The original name for the maneuver was the Backbreaker, before that term became known for its current usage. In modern wrestling, the Boston crab is not treated as a lethal submission maneuver, even though it was considered a match-ending hold in the past. In Japan, it is commonly used as a hold to defeat young and inexperienced wrestlers; the ability to overcome the hold is considered a sign of growth.  In submission grappling, the Boston crab (generally the half Boston crab) can be used to set up a straight ankle lock.

Not much into wrestling myself. When I was much younger, perhaps 13 or so, I did watch a bit of the American wrestling on TV. And once in Miami I met Hulk Hogan. That was odd.

Perhaps they just liked to have an American flavor to their name. When listening to the B-side of their one and only single, the song called “Icebox”, you can feel a bit of Americana in it, thanks to it’s Midwest guitars. But who knows, it’s anyone’s guess.

The A side is my favourite though, it’s proper jangle pop, indiepop, c86. However you want to call it. This classic slice of pop with trumpets is called “Burn”. No surprise that this record was released in 1986 by the D~I~Y label (catalog 1,000,000).

The information about the band is scarce. Thanks to scans on 45cat, we know that the B side is titled on the label as “Your Love is Really Icebox, Baby”, and not just “Icebox” as in the sleeve, that the record was engineered by Peter Kennedy and recorded at Farmhouse Studios in Goxhill. There’s not much to read about Goxhill.

But let’s turn to the sleeve. There’s a cryptic message “A £108.34 including petrol’ recording. Then there are some important clues for solving the case of this band: band members.

Wayne Jordan – vocals, guitar
Luke Luke LD-50 – noisy guitars
Paul Mackay – drums, percussion
Rick Newman – bass guitar

Special Guest Star
Dave Blackmore – saxophone

I try to find them. No luck. Can’t be that they just disappeared into thin air. There’s something else though on the sleeve. A text written by someone called General Zak:

Still in their early 20’s, the Boston Crabs prove themselves the most versatile young singer-entertainers of the day. For here are two exciting numbers delivered in two distinctive styles.
One change of pace after another, that’s the way it goes through this whole dynamic single. Yet never changing is the powerful unique sound of the Crabs as they dominate and control every song. And for the first time instrumental backing by the fabulous Dave Blackmore adds a fiery vigour to the latest Crabs single.

This text leaves me wondering. First because it says “latest Crabs single”. Was there a prior one? Was there anything else released by them? Also, it says they were in their early 20s! They were young. They must have made music afterwards in one way or another. At least one of them, right?!

Dave Blackmore though seems easier to find. Under his name he released a 1996 album called “Fields of Fire” and has worked with bands like Chalktown. There’s even a biography here. But what about the rest, the ones that were actually the Boston Crabs? It seems for now, they will still remain a mystery.

If you know anything else about them, you saw them live, or even have more recordings, let me know. Would love to know more about them!

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Listen
Boston Crabs – Burn

2014 around the corner! This is the last post of November as next week I’ll be out of town. In the very remote chance that you’ll happen to be in Lima, Peru, next week, there’s an event that I want you to attend. I will be DJing on the 28th at a club in downtown Lima after the bands Eva & John and Submarino play. It’s a very happy chance for me as I’m a big fan of Eva & John, who put out one of the freshest debuts this year. The link for the Facebook event is here. If you happen to be around, please say hello!

On some random Cloudberry news, I hope you are all aware that you can pre-order both The Rileys and Lost Tapes 7″. They should be ready by the end of December or early January. I’ll keep you updated as there will be posts in the blog next month of course. 4 at least. So keep an eye on that. And of course there’s a bunch of interviews I’ve been working on, trying to shed some light on some obscure bands that deserve to be known!

I’ve written a bit already about this trip to Peru, perhaps not that much as I use to when I go abroad, but I will definitely go through it when I return. But my arrival doesn’t look that great, I’ve already been told that this coming weekend no alcohol is served as there are elections for some positions in the Lima municipality. Weird laws. Just have to go along I guess.

Let’s travel to Wales today. Though not to my memories of my Welsh holiday a year and a half ago. I have very happy memories of it of course, Cardiff, Swansea, Chepstow, Tintern. One of the best weeks of my life definitely. So many castles visited. I want to go back, to Pembroke, to Caernarfon, to Anglesey, places that I have only read about in all these books about medieval Great Britain that I own. So many places I want to visit, the list goes on. I fell in love with that magical country, full of myths and mystery. True, after that trip I had one of the hardest breakups so far in my young life. And that makes Wales a difficult place for me. But still, I’m hard-headed and want to visit Wales again. And while figuring out and admiring those beautiful castles in the northwest, I also want to figure out one of indiepop’s biggest mysteries, Tynal Tywyll.

Not much of a mystery because of being obscure. I believe a lot of people know about them. But they know the name and little more. A week or two ago Andreas from Hamburg, a true indiepop visionnaire, wrote me about them. He was looking for more information about their releases.  Discogs doesn’t list all of them. So he sent me a list of information he had gathered and could be helpful for researching about them. And hopefully learn whatever happened to them.

I know of them from just some loose songs. I know mostly about them through Youtube I must admit. There’s the video for the jingly jangly “Telyn Wedi Torri” that gives us a little tour of a Welsh town (which town is it? can anyone tell me?), another video for a live performance for “Y Gwyliau“, that sounds a bit Morrissey-like, and also a pair of videos of a live gig that includes a bunch of their songs ( part 1 includes I believe “Emyr”, “Duw Rhyw”, “Cyfweliad” and “Jack Kerouac” while part 2 includes “Crocodeil” and “Showbiz”). To our luck, we also get a live performance of the song of the promo video, there is this beautiful live rendition of “Telyn Wedi Torri” that you all ought to listen and watch. The guitars don’t stop chiming!

After you’ve listened and you wonder why don’t you understand them, you’ll notice they sing in Welsh. I must admit that I didn’t hear much Welsh while I was in Wales. Only at the train stations. I expected to use some of the silly phrases I learned from the Lonely Planet guidebook we brought. But no. Welsh (Cymraeg or y Gymraeg) is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina). Historically it has also been known in English as “the British tongue”, “Cambrian”, “Cambric”[12] and “Cymric”. The 2011 UK Census counted almost 3 million residents of Wales. Of these, 73% (2.2 million) reported having no Welsh language skills. Of the residents of Wales aged three and over, 19% (562,000) reported being able to speak Welsh, and 77% (431,000) of these (that is, 15% of the total population) were able to speak, read, and write the language. This can be compared with the 2001 Census, in which 20.8% of the population (582,000) reported being able to speak Welsh. In surveys carried out between 2004 and 2006, 57% (315,000) of Welsh speakers described themselves as fluent in the written language.

Also pretty interesting is their counting system, which is very similar to French The traditional counting system used by the Welsh language is vigesimal, which is to say it is based on twenties, as in standard French numbers 70 (soixante-dix, literally “sixty-ten”) to 99 (quatre-vingt-dix-neuf, literally “four twenties nineteen”). Welsh numbers from 11 to 14 are “x on ten”, 16 to 19 are “x on fifteen” (though 18 is deunaw “two nines”); numbers from 21 to 39 are “1–19 on twenty”, 40 is “two twenties”, 60 is “three twenties”, etc. This form continues to be used, especially by older people, and it is obligatory in certain circumstances (such as telling the time).

Anyways, enough of linguistics, though I find it immensely interesting. I found a very informative biography on last.fm for Tynal Tywyll. This might start solving the mystery.

Tynal Tywyll formed in 1984 in the very confusing landscape of mid 80’s Welsh music. Heavy metal to the left of them. Reggae to the right of them. What could they do? Taking their cue from The Byrds and REM they played a chime-y, rickenbacker infused form of “pop” music and released 3 singles, 3 EPs and 2 albums. On their first TV appearance on HTV Wales they dared to wear turtle neck jumpers, paisley shirts and necklaces, which was enough to elicit, if not death threats, threats of a good kicking from some quarters. They once recorded a TV session on the same day as Heavy Metal legends Wenfflam, who wore skin tight tiger print pants in a sort of NWOBHM Saxon style, and who have gone down in history as the Welsh language Anvil. All Hail Wenfflam. (Indeed all hail Anvil too. But we draw the line at Manowar.) TT were vehemently Metal-phobic at this time, and were naively worried that being in the same studio as a metal band would infect them with the airborne virus know as “Spirit of metal” and make them buy Donington Rock tickets. It did not. As time has gone by the TT members have grown up a bit and actually consider sharing a stage with Wenfflam a privilege. Anyhoo, continuing, the band played many concerts in some very strange places such as Dolgellau village hall, which was actually rafter swinging, riotously good fun. They did get their van headbutted without provocation by a cloven hoofed man beast in Bala but that is another story. At one Eisteddfod, in a starlit field, after midnight, they were accosted by a weeping man mountain know only as “Maharan”. He could have killed the whole band with one thumb thrust but the band quickly offered the tearful behemoth words of solace like Androcles to the lion, and he was grateful and spared them. At one concert a drunken ape of a young farmer manhandled one of their guitars and surveyed it as if it had beamed down from mars, uttering quizzical grunts as he turned it every which way. They did not correct him for they were fey musicians, not ringmasters of feral turnip gatherers. Many and absurd were their adventures. They were “active” (in the musical sense) from 1984 to 1995. A compilation CD of all their records is possible within the next few months. There are no plans to dust off the turtle neck jumpers for a live reunion, as they would rather be remembered as young and relatively pretty, but their spirit lives on in the recordings.

A compilation CD of all their records? I don’t think this ever happened did it? This text was written in 2011.

Let’s head to Discogs then and see what’s listed there as any pop researcher would do as a first step.

There’s one album listed, ” Lle Dwi Isho Bod +… “. It has Scooby Doo and Shaggy on the cover. They too were used to solve mysteries. Scooby Doo was one of my favorite cartoons when little. It was aired in channel 7, a government owned channel, back in Lima. I believe it aired at around 4:30pm. I could be wrong, it was a long time ago. It was before the Cartoon Network and that sort of things. This album was released in 1992, on the Crai label (catalog CD 032) and included 20 songs! Andreas tells me that songs 1 to 14 were originally released on MC (one of the albums, probably the final one) and tracks 15 to 20 are culled from various singles.

The Ankst label  lists an album “Slow Dance Hefo’r Iesu” (Ankst 002), but can’t find any more information.

There are two singles listed. The first from 1986, “’73 Heb Flares / Rhwyma Fi“, included those two songs and was released by Recordiau Anhrefn (catalog Anhrefn 007). The second single was the one from the video, “Mae’r Telyn Wedi Torri” and was released by the Bobby Riggs label in 1987. The catalog number was SRT-7KS-1383 and the B side for this single was “Y Gwyliau”.

The Anhrefn label also released some guitar bands like Y Cyrff or the punkier Fflaps, worth checking on Youtube.

There is of course another 7″ not listed that I did know about, that’s the one that has “Jack Kerouac” on the A side. I used to think this was the most well known record by them, but if it’s not listed on Discogs, well, I guess it’s not.  This one was released in 1990 and R072F. The B side was “Boomerang”.

Then there’s a 7″ on the Ankst label, “Syrthio Mewn Cariad”, catalog Ankst 004. Not sure what the other songs on this are. It is an EP, so perhaps more than 2 songs are included in the record.

But Andreas sends me a link for yet another single, not listed on Discogs. This one from 1988, with catalog number SRT 9KS 1858. I wasn’t aware of this one. With a very 60s artwork, this record includes the songs “Duw Rhyw” and “Gorfennaf Eto” on the A side and “Showbiz” and “Gerddi” on the B side. A veil of mystery covers this one.

They also appeared on the compilation “Cam O’r Tywyllwch” released by the Recordiau Anhrefn label. Catalog was 002. In this comp they contributed the songs “Paid A Synnu” and “Yr Effaith”.

By now I feel terrible. I don’t own any of these records! I should start getting my hands dirty and try to find them!

I keep searching and I stumble on a WordPress blog by the same uploader of many of the videos of the band. It’s called Fanzine Ynfytyn ( I believe this means Fanzine Idiot). There’s a blog post and souncloud links about Tynal Tywyll! It seems these recordings come from a completely unofficial tape! have a look! It sounds amazing. It seems these recordings are from 1985!

Okay so you have questions, what does Tynal Tywyll means? It means Dark Tunnel. This I learn from a book called Blerwytirhwng?’ The Place of Welsh Pop Music  that seems very pricey, but there’s a Google scan of it. Here it confirms that they hailed from North Wales, and they seem to be grouped into a scene called the Bethesda scene. Sadly this is the only mention of the band here.

Gladly Andreas helps me with the band members:
Ian Morris – singer
Nathan Hall – lead guitar
Gareth Williams – bass
Gruffy Davies – rhythm guitar
Dafydd Richards – keyboards
Gareth Hughes – drums

It is still very mysterious but we’ve been putting many pieces together. We have at least a better discography than Discogs by now, and we have some names. Let’s keep digging.

There’s a mention of a Gareth Williams singing in an alt-country band called Colobos in Wrexham. That’s North Wales. Could be him? What about a Gareth Hughes, playing drums in a punk metal band called Act of Supremacy? though it seems that by 2007 he had left the band already.

But I think I hit the jackpot. I found a band called Soft Hearted Scientists based in Cardiff. Nathan Hall seems to be playing there. If he is the same Nathan Hall who I think it is. Will try my luck emailing them.

Though there’s still a piece of the story that I haven’t mentioned. Tynal Tywyll singing in English. They were called The Collectors and perhaps that should be another blog post. But at least let’s mention that they released two CDs  the 1993/4  “Astronaut Girl”  and the “Desolation Angels”, both on Citizen Records.

I haven’t heard these CDs either, but some of the songs posted on Youtube, though Andreas tells me that “The Collectors are also very good and the interesting part is that they re-wrote and re-recorded (at least two) TT songs with English lyrics, e.g. “Jack Kerouac” (with Welsh lyrics) became “World Away” (with English lyrics) etc.”

The first CD, “Astronaut Girl”, is catalog 002, whereas the second was 003. I wonder, was there a Citizen Records 001? I assume this was their own label.  “Desolation Angels” includes 14 songs. 6 of them appear on “Astronaut Girl”. The only song that remains exclusive to the 7-track “Astronaut Girl” is  “What Have We Got To Lose?”. The fact that the address on the back for Citizen Records is what creates a bit of confusion. It states the label is based in Cardiff. Either they moved from the north to Cardiff, which is I think a more English speaking place and started singing in English, or the label was just based there and it wasn’t ran by the band.

And here the research reaches a wall. There are no more places to look on the web at least. But I’m sure people out there must have heard about them, maybe saw them, or own their records! Would be great to hear if you have any more information about this fantastic Welsh indiepop band! A one of a kind band, that deserves more recognition in the indiepop-world!

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Listen
Tynal Tywyll – Jack Kerouac

A week ago I received the second and possibly last album by Electrophönvintage. After listening to it a couple of times on my cd player, the one I carry around in my backpack all the time, I realized two things. First this can’t be the last album by the London band. Second, this album is brilliant.

I’ve been a fan of the band for many years now. I even have asked them many times for songs for a possible 7″ release. This never happened. What did happen was that I managed to see them live once, joined them at a band practice, and bought their first 7″ from Stephen Pastel. But I guess I should start from the beginning, as it’s not a short story.

It’s 1999, and Remi Parson starts this band as a solo project in France. Indiepop child prodigy. He is very very young. The next year, in 2000, he releases his first ever record, a 7″ with Plastic Pancake Records. Four songs, “I Don’t Want to Stay”, “Etap Hotel”, “The Passage” and “Shops” color the twelfth release of this French label. A label that eventually would move to London, the same way that years later Electrophönvintage would follow.

Plastic Pancake was an important influence, and player, for the early days of the band. Since 1997 this label released many classic indiepop acts like Marine Time Keepers, Picture Center or Les Poisson Solubles. It was definitely no surprise Remi found a good home here, and also a very good friend in Pierre, who ran the label. As the label grew in releases, Electrophönvintage stagnated. Remi had joined a post rock band, The Bright Period, where he plays guitar, and eventually releases an album “A Place for Parks” on Unique Records (catalog UR 02).

There’s a break. A couple of years. Until 2003. Then Electrophönvintage comes back, I guess because there’s an indiepop heart in Remi, and even though he does love Migala and some post-rock, he needed to let loose his pop sensibility. By now Delphine Bost has joined the band to what will become a fantastic partnership. Also Sebastien Linares, who Remi worked with in A Place for Parks, joins them on bass. With this new lineup they will release their first album “We Sang A Yéyé Song” with the Unique Records label (UR 03). It’s told that this record only took 1 day to be recorded. It was recorded that year at studio ATL by Pat, and it also counted with the help of Anicet Rohée (from A Place for Parks) on drums. Electrophönvintage is no more a solo project, but a full band. This album is a beautiful collection of smart songwriting, of songs written during a long time period, the newer ones written while being a student in Grenoble, and the older ones rediscovered from old tapes sitting in a cupboard. It’s a beautiful debut album, it’s classic indiepop, and as the Facebook page of the band nicely puts it, “short wooden pop songs”. For a taster, definitely head to Youtube and check the video for “Where You’re Not“. Delphine stars, and Remi’s trademark drawn-self appears too.

Upon re-listening the album it’s impressive the change between that first album and the second. But before we fast forward lets stop in 2006. This year the band contributes three songs, “Rescue”, “The Former President”  and “Where You’re Not”, to the Unique Records compilation “Just Close To You (A Five-Year Compilation Of Unique Records)” (catalog UR 13 from this French label). This is not their only compilation appearance though. In 2009 they will appear on a WeePop compilation called “Starting Anew” with the song “Don’t Wake Me Up”.

I believe it was in 2006 that Remi and Delphine relocated to London. Perhaps earlier. It was in 2006 when I first heard of the band. It was through their other project, at that time, just a side project, The Sunny Street. With The Sunny Street I have so many stories, that I hold very dear, but that’s for another time (though I’m pretty sure there’s a writeup of the first gig I ever saw by them in Hamburg 2010). With The Sunny Street I ended up working on a 3″, and an ill-fated album on Plastilina Records (thanks to the terrible work ethic of my partner in the label during that time). Ill-fated because it took more 6 months than the announced release date to appear in people’s mailboxes. It was a shame. I felt cheated. And I’m sure a lot of people out there did too. Those who ordered the album. Gladly this taught him a lesson and the Plastilina label seems to be much more reliable these days. Shame though it happened with one of the bands I loved the most, to a group of friends that I cared for. Shit happens they say. Things weren’t the same since then. Anyhow, back to Electrophönvintage.

As a side project, Electrophönvintage, didn’t live up to The Sunny Street fame. Musically they were two different creatures. Influence-wise you could say the same. The funny thing was that it was the same people playing. Remi had recruited Ian Cowen on bass (from Pocketbooks and now in The Understudies), and Christos Kalyvas on second guitar. A band with Christos let me tell you is a winner. No one sports better indiepop t-shirts than him, all made by himself mind you! This was The Sunny Street lineup. But when it was Electrophönvintage, Johnny from Pocketbooks would join on drums.

With this lineup they played a bunch of gigs, mostly in London. They did play one Indietracks gig in 2012. At the chapel. Those were happy days for me. 2012 was a good year just before Indietracks, then things went a bit downhill for me. But during Indietracks, sitting next to Alex, on the coldest summer I’ve experienced, rainy, visiting cows and donkeys, a week in Wales, a happy heart and dreams of a future by the coast of Skåne or in a wooden cabin in Unalaska, we enjoyed one of the most beautiful indiepop gigs of the year. I have the setlist still, dedicated to me, an illustration of a man open mouthed, all colored, and in that open mouth the songs to be played: “Siq”, “Where You’re Not”, “You Met a Girl”, “Football Teams”, “Shops”, “The Former President”, “Orphée”, “That Loving April”, “Michel”, and my favourite “Burgundy”. I’ve never seen so much effort put on making a such a neat setlist. You can tell aesthetics were important for them, and they cared very much for their band. Details like this speak for themselves.

Let’s rewind a bit, the previous year, 2011, I went to Indietracks too. Before that I went as sort of a roadie with Very Truly Yours to a couple of cities in the UK. One of those cities was Glasgow. Upon arriving our friend Krister was there waiting for us to give us a bit of a tour. Before that we had some food of course. I had haggis and beer. Krister tried the Arbroath Smokies. So adventurous we were. We headed then to Mono, the store Stephen Pastel runs. We were lucky that that day he was around. Krister introduced me to Stephen, and I as thrilled that he knew about Cloudberry. We took a photo, though not as cool as the one Daniel So Tough has. Anyhow, I went through the store and found Electrophönvintage’s debut 7″. Didn’t think twice to buy it, even though I already had it. You can call me nuts. But it had to be done.

If I rewind a bit more, to 2010, but earlier. February 2010. London Popfest. By now it’s over. But I’m still hanging around. I’m invited by Remi to join Electrophönvintage for their band practice. I had never seen them live, so I said yes. I would love to. I carried some instruments around. I think the practice space was around Oxford Street, but I might be wrong. We took the bus. We sat on the second floor. Ah! The double decker buses. I miss them, sitting on the front of the second floor just like Jennifer taught me. Until next July probably huh? Anyways, Johnny didn’t come to practice. So there was no Electrophönvintange practice anymore. Resourceful Remi decided then that it would be a Sunny Street practice instead. My luck then was that I would never see them playing live. I would have never imagined that two years later I would end up seeing them. Funny fact: I recorded the ‘video’ for “Insull” of The Sunny Street during this would-be Electrophönvintage practice.

Fast forward again. 2013. “Play Harp in Your Hair” is released. This is their second album. From what it says on bandcamp, these recording are not new. They are from 2006. These are the credits stated there:
released 23 June 2013
Recorded by Pat at Atl Studios. France. Summer 2006.
Personnel: Delphine Bost, Rémi Parson and Sébastien Llinares.
All songs by Electrophönvintage.
Big thanks to Pierre-Antoine, Alexis, Anicet, Bart, Bruno, Camila, Christos, Gérald, Ian, Jean-Louis, Jonny, Martin, Pat… + Everyone we forgot (thousands).

I ordered the album and arrived promptly. 5 pounds plus postage for a nicely packaged CDR. Hand-made. Handwritten. Assembled with scissors and glue. Released by  Remi’s classic imprint “Phonic Kidnapping Records” (home of Remi’s solo CDR, Cocoanut Groove first 7″ and more), and only limited to 50 copies (run for your copy). 8 songs. Short and sweet. If it’s fair enough, to say for a 2006 album, this is one of the best albums of 2013 for me. I keep playing it again and again. Songs like “Burgundy” and “Football Teams” are classics in my book. I love how Delphine sings in “Putefix” too. My favourite in the album is “Carrots Code”. The melodies are smart. There is a warmth that you don’t find often in songs anymore. It’s all simply done. There’s no tricks, no cheating. It’s what it is. It’s heartfelt music. It’s like opening up Electrophönvintage’s members souls and pouring it into a blender, and getting these 8 songs. Without artifices. Honest. Sincere. Transparent. You feel this is a band you want to be friends with. Spend a night with them listening to their favourite songs, and hearing their anecdotes about growing up, while drinking beer around a bonfire. You can tell these songs are made by people like me or you, people that love pop, that breathe pop, that dream pop.

Within the envelope there’s a note with Remi’s handwriting, a nice cursive, one you don’t see much anymore. He hopes I’ll like the album, he asks me to let him know what I think. I hope this post answers the question. To the other question on the message, how is NYC treating me? Well, it treats me pretty well Remi. Today is pretty cold, 2 degrees Celsius. Your record accompanied me once more on the subway ride from home to work. There’s something very autumnal about your album, but I can’t pinpoint what it is. It’s an orange and sepia album, leaves falling, and nostalgia. Why? I can’t say. They are wooden pop songs. But most importantly, they are eternally hopeful songs. That’s something I like about your music in general, it feels that whatever happens, the outcome will be good.

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Listen
Electrophönvintage – Football Teams

Wow! It’s November already. The year went fast but it’s not over yet. There’s always news in indiepop, like for example I hear tomorrow there will be more band announcements for Madrid Popfest or the Shelflife Records sale were almost everything seems to be just $1.

Indiepop is alive and kicking even if i was announced that The Leamington Spa series is over (Uwe don’t do this to us!!!). NYC Popfest also announced the dates for next year festival, May 29 to June 1st, and of course there’s people already requesting a lot of terrible stuff. I look at the thread on Facebook and it scares me how people want the SAME bands that have played previous Popfests. Even the ones that played last year. Also of course there’s the people who has no shame and ask for bands that have no indiepop in their blood like Crystal Stilts or The Beets. I understand they love these bands and want to see them, but I strongly believe Popfests should showcase the new and the best of indiepop. If not what’s the point. Let’s just do a whatever festival like CMJ and that’s it. We know that Popfests are a big support to keeping alive the scene, so I wonder when will fans stop being so silly and stop thinking just for their sake instead of the scene sake. In any case I trust Maz and his taste for next NYC Popfest. He always delivers.

But not all is bad. There’s people that come with great ideas like Trixie’s Big Red Motorbike, The Woodentops, Northern Portrait or The Brilliant Corners. It’s half and half, the people that recognize the importance of Popfest and embrace it, and the people that think that any band could do.

Those who read me know my position of course. I’m with the half that supports indiepop bands.

Another good news is the launch of a new book in Japan called 80s Guitar Pop. It’s written in Japanese sadly but I think that, if similar to the Neo-Acoustic Guide, it will be a must-have for every indiepop lover out there. I’m doing everything possible now to secure a copy.

Last but not least came to my attention a post on the Twee Lovers Club group on Facebook where I was tagged. There was a nice comment recommending the blog. It said something along these lines “Plenty of obscure bands getting mentioned over there. Mostly really hard to find stuff.” Can’t complain. But the previous comment on this same thread reminded me of bad times: “one of my faves used to be run by this German guy who used to upload rare stuff, but he got harassed a lot by people who used to run labels and artists who made those songs and collectors who didn’t want their collection to lose their value. i can’t recall the name of the blog anymore.”

That blog was There and Back Again. Of course it was the favorite blog of many people, it was a full download blog. People love being lazy and getting everything after one click. People also loved the person behind the blog, they could relate to him. A martyr, the Robin Hood of indiepop, fighting against all the labels and collectors, giving all the wealth to the poor, etc. The underdog. Indiepoppers love that. What they don’t see is that ANYONE could do a blog like that. And worst of it all, it doesn’t add anything to the scene. It just makes it more throwaway, less meaningful, it misses all the points. The idea of an indiepop blog should be to step in where the 80s fanzine writers left. Sharing the excitement for the music. Not making it a worthless piece to collect as MP3s. Please. Stop being part of that half that only cares for themselves. Stop being selfish. Stop the greed.

And so, into another topic: The Hill Bandits

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Strange that in the last day or two I’ve been emailing with someone from Leeds. And yes, Leeds is the place where I want to transport you all. To 1986. That’s when the story started.

First stop, their website: http://www.thehillbandits.co.uk/ . As an fan of guitar pop you are surprised to know that they have a website. I was too. It’s not common these days. At best you get a Soundcloud. But a proper website? Not common. Going through it you realize that they set it up for a reunion sort of gig that they played in March this year. It was at a club called The Chemic in their native Leeds. There are some videos of that gig in this Youtube account.

That Youtube account belongs to Kevin Lycett. Him and Fiona McMillan seem to have been the driving force behind the band. They were around for three or so years, from 86 to 89. In that time they toured the UK but also Germany. They released two records, two 12″ EPs, the first one which is listed in Discogs: “Hotrod Buckboard Boogie “.

This was release through Ediesta Records in 1987, catalog CALC 40, and it doesn’t seem to be that pricey (I still need to get it, but I already spent a bunch in music this week). The record included on the A side “Love Me Or Leave Me” and “Aragon Mill”, whilst on the flip side we had “You’re Gonna See” and “Out Among the Stars”. The curious part about this record is that on the credits we don’t see Lycett or McMillan. We see other names like Walter Donaldson, Si Khan, Adam Mitchell and S. Davidson. That doesn’t make any sense, does it? Maybe there’s an error there.

Their second record doesn’t show up on Discogs, and it seems to be the one indiepop collectors know more about, the “Nowhere Train” 12″. On this record they continue with their own brand of country-influenced guitar pop. Again released by Ediesta in 1988, catalog CALC 52, this slab of plastic included just “Nowhere Train” on the A side and “Pills and Trouble” with “Seventh Bar in Heaven” on the B side. There’s a very cool video of them performing “Nowhere Train” in the 80s that you shouldn’t miss.

This record was produced by Jon Langford, and recorded at Offbeat  (Leeds) and Berry Street (London) in March 1988. The engineers for it were Tony Bonner in Leeds and Ian Caple in London. Emma Bolland played fiddle, Rob Worby played strings and Jon Langford mandolin. The front cover photograph came thanks to John Ingledew.

The story says they even recorded a third record. But that one never saw the light. On their Soundcloud there are a bunch of unreleased songs that may or may not have been part of this third record like “Old King Cole”, “Cross My Broken Heart”, “Wild Women”and “Planning Tomorrow’s Sins”. They seem to be just teasers sadly, the songs are not complete.

Weird. The website doesn’t have a contact page. But it has a cool biography page with information about both Keving and Fiona. I will copy/paste it. Quite interesting!

Fiona

1986 -1989 Hill Bandits

1989 move to Berlin

From 1990- 97 and 200-05 The Barflies; a Berlin semi acoustic outfit doing covers of the great female vocalists from country, jazz, blues; Ella Fitzgerlad, Nina Simone, Patsy Cline, Sarah Vaughan. (I found a video of them here)

97-2000 ‘Bars’ a 3 chord rock band in Berlin

93- 03 Studio session singer with the Berlin music scene, everything from very heavy rock like St Vitus to Americana like the Jever Mountain Boys.

From 2010 current project is Itch, an acoustic duo with French guitarist Anthony Hildenbrand. Gigged extensively around France with several visits to UK. Album out in April 2013.

Kevin

1977 – 1989/2003 Mekons

1985(?) Sweet Valentines Cowboys a shortlived Cajun/country cross over outfit featuring among others Ms Emma Bolland on fiddle and Kevin lead vocals, not the wisest of steps.

1986-1989 Hill Bandits

1989 Retired from rock music and took up classical guitar, like you do.

1990-1994 promoting the cheesiest imaginable nights at many clubs in Leeds, catering to just about every genre, age and inclination. Seems like every person in Leeds between late teens and late 20s in the early 90s passed through the doors of one or more of his nights.

1989 – 2003 contributed to a lesser and lesser extent to most Mekons recordings but thought it best to finally let it lie after their 25th anniversary tour saw him on stage again with the Meeks in New York and Leeds.

So from what I understand, this gig in March of 2013 was just a one off as Fiona is living in France. But still pretty cool, isn’t it? Maybe they keep on doing it. I love when bands get together again and revisit their old songs.

Anyone out there remember them? Did you go to any of their gigs? Did you happen to have their records? Spare copies? I would love to hear more. Even these recordings on Soundcloud fully would be good. That “Cross My Broken Heart” sounds awesome!

If you know anything else about them, please share!