Incredibly sunny today in New York City. It’s warm. So warm it feels like it is summer. Last week’s weather made you think that spring was never coming around, that winter was going to stay forever, and now this. It’s like we are just skipping a whole season. I may have to buy the a/c units before what I expected. Especially for my illustrious guests in May for NYC Popfest.

Speaking of NYC Popfest I’ve been invited to DJ between bands on the opening night at the Cake Shop. I’ve DJed twice between bands, at Littlefield here in NY and in Brixton at How Does it Feel. I will always prefer making people dance, playing the obvious hits and the not so obvious, but DJing between bands can be rewarding too. You ask how? Well, I tend to play obscure songs in these cases. I feel rewarded if someone ends up recognizing the song and comes up for a little chat. It’s like finding a soul-mate.  Well, not quite. But you get my point.

Also yesterday the Chickfactor shows were announced for June. I will attend this again even though I’ve seen most of the bands before. It surprises me though that most of the bands too did play Chickfactor festival last year. I guess I’m not so keen in seeing the same bands over and over. Though seeing the Jim Ruiz group ten thousand times is fine with me. My only big complain about it: it’s pricey. You see, NYC Popfest, with many more international bands, on a weekend, for four days, is cheaper than Chickfactor’s three nights during weekdays.

Also T-shirts for Cloudberry are being made at the moment. Most of them are in black and truffle colour. But there will be some in navy and lieutenant gray. The run is very limited. 30 t-shirts. And of course, those 30 will be divided in small, medium, large and x-large sizes. So if you want to secure one you can email me and we’ll figure something up. I still need to figure out the postage price with this year’s increase but as soon as I have, I’ll post a pre-order button on the label website.

Talking about repeating bands. I saw the Sea Lions and Golden Grrrls once more yesterday at the Cake Shop. It was quite fun, especially the Sea Lions who I really think have come to be one of the best American indie pop bands. So good. I believe they are playing again tonight in Bushwick, but even though I’d love to go I don’t think it’s such a great idea to go all the way there as I do have to work tomorrow. And tomorrow I actually do need to prepare a class I’m teaching at CUNY this Thursday evening, so the week is going to be over before I know it. Pretty busy. I look forward to a more relaxed next week though the Tripping the Light Fantastic is coming out next week too. So, yeah, I’m probably never resting again in my life.

Yesterday after a nice chit-chat at the Cake Shop I was reminded of MaxBurger. I had read about this company before and I didn’t remember seeing it in Stockholm the last time I was there. But this time around I saw a couple around and I was lucky that there was one around the place I was staying. I’m curious always about the local flavour and when Gustav, Emelie and me, were wondering what to have for dinner I quickly suggested the burgers.

Less than a week before this important event in my life I had tried Hesburger in Tallinn. Not an Estonian chain, but a Finnish one. As I was hanging out with my friend Riina who happened to be Finnish, we had to get take out. The hamburger was alright. Not bad for a chain store, but nothing special, it wouldn’t beat Wendy’s but McDonald’s for sure. The terrible thing about this place was that they charged you for sauces. Even for ketchup! How can that be legal?

MaxBurger was on a league of it’s own. It was quite tasty. Especially thanks to that orange-pink sauce they have. Looking at it’s ingredients I noticed that it contained some cauliflower. I totally dislike cauliflower. But that sauce was heavenly. Heavenly between the hamburger buns, heavenly with the fries. I believe they charge you other different dips, but they seemed fancier than ketchup. But no need, Gustav bought a whole pot of MaxBurger sauce. You don’t need anything else but that. If they only sell it here at the supermarket like the ever-present in my everyday life HP Brown sauce.

A funny anecdote while at the line ordering my burger was that there was a couple behind me with their kids. Older couple. And I could totally recognize the accent of the woman behind me. Totally. She was from Lima. And her phrases, the words she chose, it brought back a part of Peru all the way to Stockholm to me. I swear. I can never run away from it. I have a Peruvian magnet! It’s like that one time on a random train in Denmark, overhearing another Peruvian woman telling a guy her stories as a prostitute. Oh dear! When I was growing up I always heard on TV and places that there was a Peruvian even in the most remote places. I truly believe in this. It is just a big and precise fact.

Anyways, yes, MaxBurger, the one in Hammarby. Good times. Maybe next year I’ll have another bite.

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Today’s obscure band: Scarlet Downs.

The thing about this very obscure band is that it included Simon Barber from the ubiquitous The Chesterf¡elds. Sadly even though I tried contacting Simon through Facebook I never heard back from him. Bit of a shame as online there’s little to nothing about them.

There’s one mention on the Golden Pathway’s label page. Golden Pathway being the label that Andy from Number 4 Joystreet runs since the 80s. There’s a mention about Simon leaving the band called The Act in 1983 to start Scarlet Downs. The Act had been going since 1980.

As far as I know there was only one 7″ released. One that included the song “Windows” on the A-side and “Turning Around” on the B-side. The record was released by Rum Records as a 7″ and having catalog number RUM059.

Sadly even the back cover of the sleeve of this 7″ has no information about the band either. The only interesting fact I guess would be that Rum Records was based in Dorset. I have no clue what other releases were put out by this label.

The song I know, “Windows”, to Chesterf!elds fans, would sound unfamiliar. It clearly has a more early 80s feel. The electric guitars are not going in a frenzy here. The song is a different kind of fun. It would fit fine even in one of those Messthetics compilations if you know what I mean. It would go well along the likes of The Cinematics, The Avocados, even along some of Dolly Mixture or The Mo-Dettes. It has that kind of feeling I think. It’s what I would call proto-indiepop if we can call it something. It’s POP. But not indiepop, not yet at least. But still, very enjoyable, and perfect to understand the history of our beloved indiepop.

The artwork is great too. No surprise as Simon is one of the coolest designers in the UK.

If anyone has any more information about them, like who were the other members, or if they had more songs, if they played many gigs, or even if anyone has a spare copy that I could buy, that’d be great. Would love to know more about them!

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Listen
Scarlet Downs – Windows

April already. The year is moving fast and I’m already looking way ahead through 2013. It seems in the end I’ll be attending Indietracks once again, supporting the many Cloudberry bands that are playing as well as the whole festival. It will be my fourth one! Clearly, I must like going there a lot even though I complain about a thing or another. But it’s true, it’s as close to perfection when it comes to indie festivals. Now, if they can please book The Brilliant Corners?!

Then later in November I’m going to be visiting Peru. Not so sure what’s the plan there. Perhaps I end up doing some tourism too. I’ll be there for the Thanksgiving week. Probably it’s too late to go to Cuzco at that time, it’s the rainy season I believe. But perhaps I can go to the Amazon? I wouldn’t mind looking at monkeys in the wild and eating exotic dishes!

Also I’m hoping to go at the end of the month to Boston. Just because. I’ve never been. It’s close. And I want to see their record shops. Just for a weekend. Any recommendations are welcome, especially for local seafood. I would love some lobster!

Yesterday night I had a good time at Glasslands watching Sea Lions and Golden Grrrls. I missed the first band of the four band line-up, and the second was quite terrible. The highlight of the night were Sea Lions. Even though they made many mistakes and forgot some of their songs, what they played was really fantastic. I reckon this size of venue is perfect for them, much better than the other times I’ve seen them. They sounded powerful and Adrian’s guitar was frantic, almost Wedding Present like. Their crashing-jangle songs sounded huge. I liked it a lot. And will definitely attend their second show in NYC in this tour on Monday at the Cake Shop.

Golden Grrrls are good, and I bought a bunch of their records. Still my favourite song of theirs is their cover of Look Blue Go Purple. They are fun band to see though this time they didn’t have that energy I’ve seen in them before at Madrid Popfest where they were such a happy surprise for me as I’ve never heard about them before that day . I also noticed that this time the vocals of the drummer were a bit low and hard to listen at some points. Maybe they were a bit jetlagged. I don’t blame them. Monday I’ll see them again.

Let me tell you some news today too. We have a release date for the Tripping the Light Fantastic 7″. It is April 15. Okay, now that you marked your calendar and pre-ordered the record, I can confirm too that a new stock of t-shirts is on the way, the fanzine is finished, and there is a new series of CD albums coming out very soon. This time new albums, not retrospectives. More news on this probably next week. Just be patient!

This week is a short post, been a bit busy working on so many different things for the label. I’m also putting together a Bandcamp were I want to have at least the 100 3″CD singles of the original series for streaming. That’s a project for the next couple of months. It will be very time-consuming I can tell.

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Dorotheanthus bellidiformis (Livingstone daisy) is a species of flowering plant in the family Aizoaceae, native to the Cape Peninsula in South Africa, where it is known as Bokbaaivygie. It is a low-growing succulent annual growing to 25 cm (10 in), and much cultivated for its iridescent, many-petalled, daisy-like blooms in shades of white, yellow, orange, cream, pink and crimson. In temperate areas it must be grown as a half-hardy annual, and lends itself to mass plantings or as edging plants in summer bedding schemes in parks and gardens. It is still widely referenced under its former name, Mesembryanthemum criniflorum. It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit.

Some days ago I got the first album by Livingstone Daisy, “33 Minutes Before the Light”. You probably haven’t heard about this band. It’s ok. It’s a Japan only release, but I’m going to recommend getting it.

Sure you don’t understand Japanese. But does that matter? Can’t you enjoy a beautiful record anyways?

Livingstone Daisy is the new project by Hideshi Hachino who used to front the wonderful 90s indiepop band B-flower. Maybe you are familiar with them. If not I suggest checking the interview we did in the blog some time ago. Though be ready that this record is quite a bit different to his previous band.

There are similar things of course, the fragile vocals are still there, that hasn’t changed a bit. Heartfelt sounds. The music made by Sakana Hosomi, who has released many records as Maju, blends perfectly with the lyrics and vocals of Hideshi. It’s all about the aesthetics here. Everything carefully put together, like a tiny puzzle, where every piece falls in the right place.

Could the name, the poetic name of the band, mean something. I like to think so. If livingstone daisies, as flowers, are what represent fragility, this record is a good example of that. It feels fragile, something you could only touch softly, and thus, listening to it at high volume could be a terrible idea. Because the music is soothing I find it very brave to even make this kind of music today. It’s clear that Hideshi is not re-inventing the wheel here, but he is just making a very honest record that even for me, that I don’t understand Japanese, I can tell this is a passionate and sincere record. Just by having a listen to it’s 33 minutes and 48 seconds. To it’s 10 songs.

For this record Hideshi also counted with his old partner at B-Flower, Wataru Okabe, to play drums and doing some backing vocals. While Sakana contributed by playing all other instruments, doing vocals, and even engineering the record.

It’s a very welcome comeback for one of Japan’s most beloved indiepop artists. It was in 2000 when he stopped B-flower after 8 albums only to return in November 2010 to release the debut single of their new project Livingstone Daisy, “This World of Sorrow”. Since that moment the album started to take shape, little by little, and they finally decided to put this record out on their own Seed Records. Being this their seventh reference (the first one, was the first single by B-flower back in 1990!).

The record is available in Amazon Japan, HMV Japan and also on the Sugarfrost mailorder record store. For those of us English speakers the Sugarfrost site might be the best option. Akiko is in charge of it and she’ll take care of you in the best way possible.

Like the press sheet of the record says, “Like how William Eggleston captured the scenes from dull everyday life of 1970s America, Livingstone Daisy recreate in their music the anticlimactic moments of unglamorous Japanese life in 2010s.”, this record is for those who like a bit of melancholy in their music, for those passionate enough that don’t need to blow up their speakers, it’s for those who can appreciate elegance.

It’s another beautiful effort by Hideshi Hachino, if you are looking for something that is not throwaway, that has some worth, feeling and value, “33 Minutes Before the Light” is your record.

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Listen
Livingstone Daisy – Tokyo, Snowscape

This week I’ve been catching up. I can say Cloudberry is in good form after my little vacations. Despite this, there’s still plenty to do. The fanzine has to be finished, the inserts for the Tripping the Light Fantastic need to go to print and The Rileys artwork has to be done. On top of that there is some Plastilina stuff that I need to finish. Perhaps this Sunday I should stay in.

One of the best news of the week for me was the arrival of the Eva & John flexi singles to Lima. I believe the foldover sleeves will be printed this week. I don’t know much as when the release date will be as it’s all in the band’s and Jalito’s hands right now. But the photo of the actual single that they sent me was, just wow! It looks really good on yellow plastic. Deliciously good. I can’t wait. It might be one of my favourite releases this year. Sadly, I know, it will fly under the radar. A Peruvian band? Who cares, right? Thing is that there are less than 300 copies of it, and I’m sure it’s going to sell out fast.

Among other important news is that the Boyish 7″ artwork is finally done. It was made by David at A Little Island and it’s striking. Iwasawa really wanted to include some sort of classic indiepop imagery and it, so it’s kind of a mix of Orange Juice and Field Mice artwork, if you know what I mean. Right now Cris is doing the mastering for the tracks and soon I’ll update the website with a downloadable track for everyone to have a taste of this wonderful Japanese band.

About other Cloudberry releases I promise to have pre-order buttons for The Occasional Flickers and the upcoming fanzine no later than this weekend.

And finally I bought my NYC Popfest 4 day pass tickets. So that’s set. Good to go.

Speaking of Popfests, the Madrid one is still so fresh to me. I can’t believe March is still not over. It was just weeks since I was there celebrating with so many good friends. It was just weeks since I got to see many bands I’ve been a fan of for the first time.

One of the bands I’ve been wanting and meaning to see for many years now were Northern Portrait. I’ve never had luck. They never play the festivals I go to. They haven’t played the US yet either. The thing is, I see Stefan quite often at these festivals. But he is like me, he goes for having fun, to enjoy himself, not to play. But I wondered always, why and why and why is his band not playing if he is here? Maybe a bit selfish of me, but you have to understand that I’m scared about band’s life spans. I know band’s don’t last forever, so I have to catch them before they are gone. For example, I never got to see Summer Cats or The Bridal Shop. I doubt I’ll ever get a chance to see them ever again.

Funny thing is that I once “attended” an acoustic set of Northern Portrait, over whiskey and Tuborg beers, in Copenhagen. It was just Stefan on his acoustic guitar. It was wonderful and so beautiful. It only made me wish to hear all these songs with an electric guitar, because me, as a Chesterf¡elds fan, I have an electric guitar in my heart. Danielle joined on some songs with Stefan too. These songs, that should be filed under The Maritime Club, were truly beautiful as well, a bit of a departure from Northern Portrait, but still, having all that passion and heart that Mr. Larsen’s songs always have. That was 2010. That’s when I visited Malmö and I saw them both at So Tough So Cute. When I abandoned Jennifer at the DJ booth while I just socialized with everyone else. The next day we crossed Oresund and visited Copenhagen. We stayed in Valby and Danielle showed us the Carlsberg beer plant. And then Tivoli where I ran out of battery of my camera. Then Stefan met us at Nyhavn for some wonderful fish. Those were the days. Jennifer surprised that taxi cabs had special racks to place your bicycle. Me impressed by the Peruvian pan flute players at the main square. Represent!

After many Indietracks were I got to see Stefan and Danielle. And after learning some Japanese with our mutual friends Sloppy Joe, finally I was attending a Popfest with Northern Portrait playing. I can only thank enough the Madrid Popfest organizers for having such fantastic taste to book them. I won’t thank them for buying all the 10″s Northern Portrait brought with them! Sure, they didn’t bring many, but the organizers, with first dibs, got the most of them. Oh! I was so disappointed! I wanted to get one and get it signed by the band in person. But fair enough, I can’t complain or blame anyone. Who wouldn’t want that precious release? Now, I do need to get it straight from Jimmy at Matinée. And wait until I see them in NYC so they can sign it.

They headlined the Friday night show. Everyone went crazy when they played “Crazy”. Pardon the pun. It was a magical night. They sounded so good. So much class, so much elegance. Jingle jangle guitars, chiming and chiming. Just how I like them. They should release ten records in Cloudberry I thought.

I hadn’t seen them on Thursday. I looked all over the place. Some told me they had been at the Clamores venue, but I wonder where. Maybe way in the back. I was usually around the stage. I got to see them earlier that Friday. I met Caspar for the first time too. We had emailed a bit before when the song “December Slopes” was included in our “Last Train to Christmas” 3″ CD compilation. Such a nice guy. We talked quite a bit about Champagne Riot, his previous band. He told me there is a new project he is involved with. It does sound promising. I really liked both his releases in Shelflife and Matinée.

I got their setlist after the gig. I’ve never seen such a minimalist setlist. Everything was written in initials. Even Northern Portrait was just NP. Must be a Danish thing. Saving energy and all that. They played 15 songs. All of their hits. But not my favourite song! Again, I can’t complain, I’m already spoiled by seeing them live. But, you know, how much I’d love to hear “A Quiet Night in Copenhagen”. That song is genius. Next time I hope!

And as my life is just full of coincidences, they guys were taking the same flight to leave Madrid as me. My next stop was Stockholm and theirs Copenhagen of course. But we both were having connecting flights in Amsterdam. So yes, we were on the same KLM flight from Madrid to the Dutch capital. The logistics seemed a bit more complicated when we talked over beers, how to meet, where and when to take a cab and all. Thing is that it was so easy despite our flight being at 6:00am on Sunday morning, just immediately after Madrid’s Popfest last night of party!

So I grabbed all my bags from my hostel which was a stone throw away from the venue. Took one of those white cabs and headed to Gran Vía where they were staying. It was a lot of fun to take the same flight with them even though we were seated on the plane very far from each other. But going through check-in, where some Spaniards were asking me who where they, where they played and more, impressed by the amount of instruments they were carrying, and then through security, was quite something. Even better, while waiting for the airplane, at 5am, they managed to find some wine bottles to keep the party going. Popstar life you’d say? You just have to enjoy yourself when traveling I think. Upon arriving to Amsterdam we met again. We had some sandwiches for breakfast. Stefan told me about an amazing orange soda that you can only find in Copenhagen. I promised to try it next time.

And then they left. I stayed for 30 more minutes in Schiphol airport charging my phone in the meantime. It was time to go to Stockholm. But what a great time I had with my Danish friends. And how impressive and powerful they were on stage. No disappointment whatsoever. Hope I get to see them again. They are truly one of the best bands of the last ten years or so. For sure.

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So, an obscure band for the week? I’ve got one. Again this one comes thanks to Rupert’s fantastic CD that I got from him last July at Indietracks. And speaking of Indietracks, I really want to go, but the plane tickets are really expensive at the moment. I’ll have to see if prices go down at some point, or maybe look into using my miles.

keen
adj. keen·er, keen·est
1. Having a fine, sharp cutting edge or point.
2. Having or marked by intellectual quickness and acuity. See Synonyms at sharp.
3. Acutely sensitive: a keen ear.
4. Sharp; vivid; strong: “His entire body hungered for keen sensation, something exciting” (Richard Wright).
5. Intense; piercing: a keen wind.
6. Pungent; acrid: A keen smell of skunk was left behind.
7.
    a. Ardent; enthusiastic: a keen chess player.
    b. Eagerly desirous: keen on going to Europe in the spring.
8. Slang Great; splendid; fine: What a keen day!

This is one of those very obscure bands that I usually can’t find anything about them on the internet.

The song here, “Missed the Point”, appeared on the 12″ EP called “Feline Groovy”. A very good title for all the Swedish indiepop girls. Because they all love cats. The tracks on this record were “Missed the Point” (of course), “Darker Glasses”, “Down” and “Spinster”. The label was Scaredy Cat (there was a Swedish band years later with that same name), and the catalog number was PURR 003. Which were number 1 and 2 in the catalog? That’s a question that I’d love to be answered by you, my five readers. The record was released in 1990.

It seems that the band came from Morden and that they played some gigs along Heavenly.

On a blog I found a little bit of info, written by someone nicknamed “severin”

1980s indie band, beloved of Everett True (and me). This from their much sought after EP “Feline Groovy” features Gillian on lead vocal. Their other singer, Pauline, is on the chorus and wrote the lyric. They only recorded two EPs and then retired never to be heard of again. Until now.

The other release by Keen was the “Sad EP”. The songs in it were “Made Up”, “On Your Knees”, “Waiting” and “Tears Into Me”. This record was produced by Maurice Ruiz & Keen. It had a painting on Nicci Hastings on the cover.

Whatever happened to them? When and why did they split? Did they have more songs? And so many other questions I would love to ask. If anyone out there knows any other tidbits, anecdotes, or even the whole story of the band please share! And if anyone has spare copies of the records let me know. I’d love to hear their other songs!

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Listen
Keen – Missing the Point

Hello! It’s been almost two weeks since the last update and I will be honest, I didn’t miss much blogging. I guess it must be because I was abroad on vacation and my mind was somewhere else. Now that I’m back in New York I started to miss this blog. I started to have nostalgia for endless afternoons looking for information about some obscure band and just writing some of my adventures and dreams.

There are a couple of news on Cloudberry side. If you head to the website you can check the Occasional Flickers A side for the next single they are putting out with us. The song is “Capitalism Begins at Home”, and it’s really beautiful. I always loved Giorgos vocals and had worked with his band before on Cloudberry with a 3″ and, even before that, on an album on Plastilina. Pre-order button will soon be up. So keep an eye.

About Tripping the Light Fantastic, as many of you have been asking me, it is being pressed at the moment. I will send to print the jackets during the weekend and will also sit down and write the inserts before it’s too late. I have this nostalgia for their hometown, for Hamburg, so probably I’ll be writing an ode to that fantastic city. So, if everything goes as I think it will go, the release date should be April 10th. Sorry for the delays, but all these price changes at the post office kind of pushed the release a bit.

The fanzine. Waiting for a song. That’s all. As soon as we have it. We’ll send it to print.

How can you help to speed up the process? Well, buying some records always helps! We did lose A LOT of money with the postage increase as we had pre-orders with the old postage prices. Of course it wasn’t the customers fault, so we sent the records, at an almost 100%, to everyone who pre-ordered. I think we did the right thing. Though it did hurt us proper.

While abroad I got to see Alpaca Sports live. Also got the chance to spend some time with them, so nice lunch, and then a bit of chit-chatting. They are fantastic people and I can’t wait until they come to NYC for Popfest in two months. Their live show was perfect. It felt like they’ve been playing for like forever. They know how to be tight and put a fun show. I believe they sold out all their records at the Madrid show by the way, and they brought lots. They were so successful there. The crowd was dancing and singing along the songs. A friend next to me told me he felt he was having a time warp to the early 90s, that Alpaca Sports would fit so nicely on one of those 3″ CDs that Marsh-Marigold used to release. I agreed. How couldn’t they fit along The Seashells or my beloved 50,000 Elvis Fans Can’t Be Wrong? Top stuff!

Andreas and Amanda are naturals on stage. I know Andreas favourite band might be The Brilliant Corners, but when I see him strumming the guitar I think of Julian Henry of The Hit Parade. Not that I’ve ever seen The Hit Parade live, but it’s how I always imagined them. Amanda compliments the songs perfectly, hiding behind her goldilocks hair and appearing again, with whimsical charm and shy vocals. Pa Pa Pa. And start again. She told us about her Spanish jacket. Her amazing story. She wanted to go to some stores in Spain, but they have strange hours in this country. Closed on Sunday, closed in the afternoons. Strange. And Carl, is at the back, doing all the secret things that make Alpaca Sports sound great live. All those little sound effects are being taking at his little station at the back. It feels like he is some sort of mastermind in the shadows, enchanting all of us with the Alpaca Sports potion.

Another great “Cloudberry” moment was seeing The Garlands again. They headlined my party in Stockholm and they made me, and the crowd, swoon. It was quite interesting to see them in Sweden, the chatty Patrik and cute Christin not talking in English to the public, but in Swedish. It was a more natural feel to it that I enjoyed. They played all their hits. They made me so happy. Me standing at the front, watching how Maria’s fingers crawl over the bass fret. And Robert banging the drums, full power! Einar is dissecting his guitar, playing those wonderful chords that make The Garlands special. Christin, well, I want to hug her, she is just great with her soaring vocals. And Patrik, he is the FUN. He makes The Garlands feel like the indiepoppiest band on Earth.

Other “Cloudberry” band I got to see in this trip was Los Lagos de Hinault. It was the only band that Oscar from Zipper liked. And I find it easy to see why. The lyrics. They do write fabulous lyrics. You’d might think it’s a shame that they are written in Spanish and because of that not that many people can appreciate them. But the thing is, perhaps these lyrics wouldn’t be that great if they were sung in another language. Think about that. Quirky, smart, and bookish, Los Lagos de Hinault are in a class of their own in the Spanish Pop scene. They deserve much attention I think. Perhaps they won’t be huge ever, but they do deserve a cult-following. And judging by their live set, potent, direct, and with a lot of presence, I wouldn’t be surprised. My only regret, not having being able to secure a photo of myself with the whole band!

And the only other band I’m going to mention in this small review is Zipper. They played early on Saturday’s Popfest night. They were the special guests for this occasion as they had written the Madrid Popfest official song for this year. A blast of a minute and a half of pure POP! And how was their set? It was short, around 12 minutes or so, but it was a ricochet of fantastic melodies, fast guitars, catchy chorus, and an indiepop attitude that is so contagious. As always I’m so happy to see them, have some beers, some calamaris, some chorizo. They are the true indiepop band from Madrid. And because I’m so spoiled and lucky, they will be coming to NYC this year for Popfest. Can I actually ask for more? I wonder how many times I’ve seen them already. Thing is, every time they play they are so good that it’s never enough.

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Now let me talk about an obscure band. An Irish band! There are not that many more bands left to cover from the (by now) legendary mix CD Rupert gave me last year at Indietracks. Today let’s try to uncover the mystery of Cuba Dares.

The Irish Rock web site has a small bio about them:

Ronan Stoke’s band formed early 1982. Initially a duo of Stokes & Clancy plus a drum machine, this expanded Dennis Rusk (guitar), Tony Kennedy (bass) and real live drummer Barry O’Rielly. This lineup split when Ronan and Blathain moved the band to London circa 1984, where Rory Stokes, Paul Mooney and John McGrath all joined as The Sussed had split. Cuba Dares released one fine EP in 1986 (by which time Paul Mooney had moved on) which won single of the week in NME (among others) and is difficult to locate these days. The lineup that recorded the EP is listed above. They split sometime after.

There are reputedly many unreleased recordings.

The lineup mentioned in that bio is:
Blathain Clancy – vocals
Ronan Stokes – guitar
Rory Stokes – guitar/keyboards
Chris McKenna – bass
John McGrath – drums

They were based in Dublin and later in London.

Their discography only included that fantastic 12″ EP. IT was called “One Nine Eight Six EP”. It included on the A side the song “Yellow and Red” and on the B side the songs “Sweet Ephemeral” and “Lost Without a Trace”.

The engineer for this record was Simon Osbourne. And the record was released by Mastervolume Records. Catalog was MV12S1.

When I listen to “Yellow and Red” I do think of girl fronted bands of the late 80s like Suntime Glorious, Girl Of My Best Friend, The Honeymooners, Po! and The Sundays. to name a few. It’s a terribly catchy song with a great melody. It’s not super upbeat or anything, but it feels like it. I can picture it in a good indie disco, all the kids dancing even. “Bye Bye to all the dreams I had” Blathain sings. And I could feel that. Who hasn’t had their dreams shattered? Totally. You can identify with this beautiful song, can’t you?

The other 2 songs, the B sides, if you want to listen them, you can always head to their old and abandoned Myspace. “Lost Without a Trace” being my favourite of the two.

And this is all the information I could find online about Cuba Dares. I wonder what their name means. If it has anything to do with Cuba (most presumably, right?), perhaps they even lived there! I also wonder about those many unreleased songs that are said to exist. I’d love to listen to those one day! I’m sure they are fantastic. And also about their one and only release, how many copies were made, if there exist in some place a box with copies of this fantastic record. I’d love to own one one day, play it on my turntable. It’d be so great, songs like these deserve to be played on record, not as MP3, even less stream then! Anyhow if anyone of you out there know anything else about them, any anecdotes or anything really, please share! Would love to know more about their band story!

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Listen
Cuba Dares – Yellow and Red

NYC Popfest just announced the lineup for this year’s edition. What can I say aside that it’s a fantastic one. Getting to see for the first time The Bats and The Wolfhounds is something I’ve been wanting for a long time. Seeing The Close Lobsters again, after their Madrid Popfest show, the best gig I saw last year, is making me giggle of excitement. Maz told me last Saturday that this was the Popfest that he is the proudest of organizing so far. And I can see why he says that. I can only hope for May to come fast. It’s just two months and change away!

The Monochrome Set, the mighty Monochrome Set, are headlining too. I saw them two years ago at the 100 Club in London. Next to friends who were making out, pints pouring, me and a girl, the red curtains which I hear are no more at the club, and that big 100 sign on the stage. Bathrooms always all the way to the left. That was the day of the infamous DJ party. I hear this year was a bit like that, with Rihanna and Beyoncé being played for the indiepop crowd. Who knows what happens in London sometimes. Still my favourite city and would have loved to attend London Popfest last weekend. But anyhow, yes, The Monochrome Set. And they’ll play “Jet Set Junta” and “He’s Frank”. Can’t ask for more.

For the label it’s also a great time. Our two latest 7″ releases will be here represented by the bands. Alpaca Sports and Flowers are coming! On top of that other Cloudberry graduates like Zipper, Cassolette, The Hobbes Fanclub and The Proctors will also be here. I’ll be very busy filming many of their songs it seems!

Now what else can I hope for this fantastic festival? I do know many international friends will be coming, and lunches and dinners will happen. I’ll be hosting friends too, so maybe I’ll get to play them my favourite records. and gossip about indiepop. And there will be a Mondo dance party on Saturday which should be the bomb. Partying there every month is fine, but can’t compare it with a crowd full of indiepop people that do know by heart “Sensitive” by The Field Mice, instead of silly girls looking at you like you are outworldly for knowing songs that they have never heard in their life, and shouting your lungs out!

But before all this I have a date with Madrid Popfest this weekend. And then my birthday party the next weekend with Alpaca Sports and The Garlands. It is already shaping up as a great year. So don’t miss me too much, I’ll come back with indiepop stories from Europe in two weeks time. No gossip though. I’m so not into that 😉

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This week obscure band is Rawhide Chomp, a band I discovered years ago on Myspace. So straight from there a little bio:

Formed during the mid 80’s in St.Helens, Rawhide Chomp were born when ex Riotous Hues Phil Smith and Gaz Capper bumped into pie king Paul Cross and his mate Jamie Flannery. Many an happy hour was spent practicing at the Fringe offices before the Chomp played their first gig. This was supporting the Tractors upstairs in McDonalds. Many gigs, real and imaginary, followed before this Chomp played it’s final show supporting the La’s at the Monro in Liverpool. After a brief spell of laziness, Rawhide Chomp reformed without Gaz and Jamie. Ex -Dixie Cartoon Mike McCauley joined as singer and Simon Pratt (Kingston and the Hunters) became drummer for a brief spell. Now 21 years later, the Chomp are reborn. Polish your shoes so you can gaze into them again. Expect new material soon!

So they were back together it says. They joined MySpace in 2008, so that might be the time when they were making new songs together or perhaps only rehearsing the old ones. If they ever played again live or recorded new songs I don’t know. It seems their story ends there. But let’s dissect that bio.

St Helens is a large town in Merseyside, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens with a population of just over 100,000, while the larger metropolitan borough had a population of 176,843 at the time of the 2001 Census. Today, St Helens is very much a commercial town. The main industries have since left, become outdated, or have been outsourced leaving the float and patterned rolled glass producer Pilkington’s, a world leader in their industry, as the town’s one remaining large industrial employer.

Never been to Merseyside myself. It’s one of the places that’s on my list for this year if I don’t end up going to North Wales.

The band Riotous Hues. They probably deserve another blog post on the blog, so wait for the next episode in this same channel. For the time being you can listen to “She’s Left” in Youtube.

I see the Monro as a fancy Gastropub in Liverpool. I find it a bit odd that it was there that they played with The La’s their final show. Maybe it was another Monro? Or perhaps during the years it evolved into a more of a upscale place? It doesn’t look like a place for electric guitars!

About the band The Tractors I couldn’t really find anything. Perhaps too much of a common name to Google. Maybe somebody there knows anything about them? Were they guitar pop?

And so what is a Rawhide Chomp? It seems they are according to some stores:
Great value for money and super tasty, these Rawhide Chomp Stix are a great treat that can be used for rewarding positive behavior, training and snacking between meals.
Helping to improve the health of both their teeth and gums, the treats can also freshen their breath. Dogs love rawhide as it satisfies their natural instincts to chew.

There is also some other tidbits I could gather from the photos they have on their Myspace.
– Their first gig was at the McDonalds restaurant supporting The Tractors on Tuesday 17th June 1986
– On Saturday August 16th of that same year they supported Half Man Half Biscuit
– It’s amazing to see gigs back then cost 75p to attend!

And that’s all there is online about this band who seems to have put a couple of demo tapes out but no releases. But perhaps, I ask, they had songs on some compilation albums? Their previous band, Riotous Hues, appeared in a couple, so I wouldn’t be surprised. Maybe someone out there can recall.

So yes, if anyone knows anything else and wants to fill in the blanks about this obscure but very chiming-guitar band, just how I like them, please leave a comment! Would love to hear more about them.

See you in two weeks!

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Listen
Rawhide Chomp – Louise

A short and sweet post this week. Because I’m terribly busy. A good kind of busy. I’m not complaining. Have been having guests and international friends around. There’s been gigs and parties. And to my surprise I’m not tired. Lots of energy on me. Though I admit that I’m stressing a bit as I only have one day off, Sunday, before my trip to Europe. I hope I prepare and plan accordingly for this trip in the amount of time I have left. I haven’t figured out so many things yet, so I really need to get on the top of my game asap!

The BIG thing, the THING I want to tell everyone, but most especially those in Stockholm, is that I will be celebrating my birthday there and I have all the details now. So, I hope to see some of you there. It’d be great. I haven’t really celebrated my birthday in such a way ever, so I kind of have some expectations this time. This is the Facebook event link. https://www.facebook.com/events/431360733609198/?ref=ts&fref=ts

For those of you without Facebook, this event will be happening on March 16th (actually a day after my birthday), at Southside Pub. The address is: Hornsg. 104, 117 26 Stockholm. It will cost 70 KR to get in and things will start at 8pm. It’s an over 21 event and it’s hosted by the So Unbelievable girls. That’s Emelie and Christin, two of my dearest Swedish friends. Emelie actually designed a cute flyer too that you can see here.

As you can see, there will be two fantastic bands playing that night. Two that I have been lucky to work with in some releases: The Garlands and Alpaca Sports. I believe it’s Alpaca Sports first show in Stockholm too! If you like indiepop,  you can’t miss this gig. And there will be some DJing too. And hopefully some dancing. Oh! I can’t wait!

Do say hi if you come!

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The Garden of Eden (Hebrew גַּן עֵדֶן, Gan ʿEdhen) is the biblical “garden of God”, described most notably in the Book of Genesis (Genesis 2-3), but also mentioned, directly or indirectly, in Ezekiel, Isaiah and elsewhere in the Old Testament. In the past, the favoured derivation of the name “Eden” was from the Akkadian edinnu, itself derived from a Sumerian word meaning “plain” or “steppe”, but it is now believed to be more closely related to an Aramaic root meaning “fruitful, well-watered.”  The Eden of Genesis has been variously located at the headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates in northern Iraq, in Africa, and in the Persian Gulf. The Eden in Ezekiel, however, is unequivocally located in Lebanon. For many medieval writers, the image of the Garden of Eden also creates a location for human love and sexuality, often associated with the classic and medieval trope of the locus amoenus.

And if my party in Stockholm, a city I love and brings great memories, might be my Garden of Eden (oh dear, that was terribly cheesy), then I want to present you a very obscure band called Eden!

I can’t seem to stop associating the name with a character of this anime I’ve been watching every weekend, Saint Seiya Omega. There’s a character called Eden of course. That’s why. Thing is, I grew up watching the original Saint Seiya back in the 90s, I can’t stop watching this new series even though many people say it’s not as good. Well, I don’t care. For nostalgia purposes it’s fantastic.

Anyhow, enough of rambling. Who were these so obscure Eden that don’t have anything written about on the internet. I even see Rupert at Turntable Revolution wondering the same thing. For me they are kind of new on my radar. I have no clue about their existence until some six or so months ago. Again it was the fabulous CD-R Rupert shared with me that would open my eyes to this gem of a band. The song “Confusion” would convert me into an Eden fan, even if I only had listening to this one song and nothing more.

After you listen to it, you’ll understand what I’m saying. This is proper indiepop. Great indiepop. Some crunchy guitars, then some fantastic jangle and is that a trumpet? Great vocals. Catchy melodies. Just all the ingredients to make us all fall for it. This song appeared as a B side on one of their “Form Follows Function” 7″ EP. On the A side the song was “Taxi Cab” and on the B side “Joni” and “Confusion” were included.

This record was released in 1987, catalog being Den 3. The label for all their releases was Den Records. Pretty obvious that it was their own label. They just dropped the E from Eden, simple arithmetic. It seems they might have been from Norfolk, but I cant be 100% sure.

There was another 7″ release. This time it was “Glisten” on the A side and “Glorious” on the reverse. The catalog is Den 4.

The other known release by them was their album “Celeste”. It was released in 1988 and it included the songs “Glorious”, “Sugar”, “Blue News”, “Die Lonely”, “Flowers”, “Glisten”, “It’s  for Good”, “The Twist” and “Ophelia”.

Some curious thing about their releases is what seems to be their logo: an Apple. It makes sense though? Eve, the snake, the apple, the Garden of Eden…

And here is the interesting and mysterious thing about them. The back cover of Eden’s “Glisten” single lists many band members: Christ Wyatt, Jeff Powell, Nick Hardy, Sara Dimmer and Jeff Arbuckle. The thing is that four of these members, Wyatt, Dimmer, Hardy and Powell, were part of Lawrence and the Comfortable Society who I wrote about some time ago!

But that’s about all I could figure out about this mysterious band. I sadly don’t have their releases, and these are not listed on Discogs I’m afraid. So I don’t have a clue about band member names, or any of the recording details. But, now I rely on you. Do you know anything about this fantastic band? Did they have any other releases? Did they play gigs often? If anyone has spare copies of their records? Or perhaps MP3s of their other songs? I’d love to listen to them!

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Listen
Eden – Confusion

Stickleback: The Gasterosteidae are a family of fish including the sticklebacks. FishBase currently recognises sixteen species in the family, grouped in five genera.  An unusual feature of sticklebacks is that they have no scales, although some species have bony armour plates. They are related to pipefish and seahorses.  Stickleback are most commonly found in the ocean, but can be found in some freshwater lakes. The freshwater species were trapped in freshwater lakes in Europe, Asia and North America after the ice age, and have evolved different features from the ocean variety. They feed on small crustaceans and fish larvae.

What do I know about fishing? Not much. When I was a kid my mum used to take me and my brother to a fishing town, south of Lima, in the desert next to the Pacific ocean. There we’d spend some hours at sea, on a wooden boat, with a fisherman guide, and us throwing our bait, trying to lure big fish. I don’t recalling fishing any fancy fish, no flounders or seabass. I remember fishing a lot of catfish. They were ok to have them fried, but not really for an appetizing ceviche, my favourite dish in the world.

The last weekend I was in Charlotte, North Carolina. There was no special reason, but to explore a new place. A cheap flight ticket and a cheap hotel room lured me. Upon arriving on Saturday afternoon a sudden and unannounced snowstorm hit the town, leaving me stranded at a BBQ place for hours. I thought it was going to be a bad omen. Happily it wasn’t and the rest of the long weekend (it was President’s day yesterday, Monday) was a bit cold, but sunny.

The thing that shocked em the most was how everything was so inexpensive there. I couldn’t believe I was having $2.99 pints at a restaurant and $4.75 at a bar. There was no minimum for paying with card either. While talking to the townfolk I was impressed that they would pay just $650 for a three bedroom house. Compared to New York, even to Miami, it’s really ridiculously cheap.

I feel they don’t receive many tourists, though the town is known for hosting plenty of conferences. Perhaps they are used to business kind of tourists. People immediately asked me where I was from. I didn’t fit in the city clearly. At first I thought because it was a mostly Anglo and African-american town, but in the end I ended up seeing Latin restaurants all over the place. Especially Honduran and Mexican.

I bought a bunch of records at Lunchbox Records. The clerk was Venezuelan and was really helpful. It was a bit odd that he thought I was from Spain. The best find was without doubt #Poundsign#’s “Wavelength” album which I’ve been looking for a while. I found it for dirt cheap. $7 for the LP.

There were random encounters. At a BBQ there was a German waiter who talked to me in German as he thought my accent was German. I understood what he said, he was telling me he was from Frankfurt, but I was so cold that I couldn’t even say that I sprechen knleine deutsche or that I visit quite often, or something. It was a bit too random. That same night, walking on the big expansive sidewalks along Woodlawn Road, looking for a CVS or a Walgreens, my friend asked for directions to the only other couple walking around. Turns out, this older couple were Swedish, on a road trip, starting in Florida and that had already passed by Atlanta. It was terribly funny when I started talking to them in Swedish. They were quite impressed and perhaps a bit inebriated (as good swedes?) as they recommended us a steakhouse instead that served great wine. “So everyone in New York speaks Swedish?” the lady asked. She was great, so comical saying oka-iiiiiiii, with her thick nordic accent.

On the way back to the hotel, after hanging out in downtown area (which was called Uptown here), we met a Canadian couple, from Montreal. Time to talk in my rusty French. Funny enough it came natural to me, must have been all the cheap pints of the day. They were on a conference for some telecommunications business. They were looking for their hotel. I hope they found it. They were tipsy to say the least.

Next day, after having Arby’s (because I don’t know where’s an Arby’s in NY and it’s the only thing I do miss from my time in Texas), walking around Charlotte’s downtown, looking for a museum, I stumble again with the swede couple! They tell us they had been thinking about us because they saw a Walgreens! For them I was the svenska pojke already and we talked a bit. It seems they were having the time of their life.

During the rest of the trip I visited all museums but the Nascar Hall of Fame. Who cares about cars. Ate BBQ a couple more times. The sweet North Carolina style BBQ. Went to a mall and went to some more bars. I probably will never visit Charlotte, the Queen City, again, I’ve seen everything it had to offer. But I had a great time, and enjoyed that I didn’t have to spend too much to enjoy it there.

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Back to fishing then. To The Sticklebacks. That’s right, there are no Cloudberry related news this week. I’m terribly busy posting records all over the world. It’s quite busy when you have two new releases to come out around the same time and only having two hands! But bear with me, after the small “Cloudberry” tour in March, there will be many more news! Promise! And later this week I will let you know about the special event happening in Stockholm on the 16th. If you are in town, please come say hello!

So, The Sticklebacks. Very obscure band. I’ve seen them show up on eBay a couple of times in the last years. I never bought the records though. I didnt know how they sounded. Happily the fantastic blog “From a Northern Place”, that I recommend checking often, has shared the A side, “All You Get”. And what a song that is. It has that fabulous jangle from Jesse Garon and the Desperadoes and Yeah Jazz, and you end up startled, wondering, what the hell happened? Why weren’t they more famous? More known at least!

Dub is a genre of music which grew out of reggae music in the 1960s, and is commonly considered a subgenre, though it has developed to extend beyond the scope of reggae. Music in this genre consists predominantly of instrumental remixes of existing recordings and is achieved by significantly manipulating and reshaping the recordings, usually by removing the vocals from an existing music piece, emphasizing the drum and bass parts (this stripped down track is sometimes referred to as a ‘riddim’)

Dub House was the label that trusted in their music. Or perhaps it was their own label? I don’t own the record yet. But I’m on that now that I’ve heard how good this song is! And don’t you worry, the song don’t sound reggae (or dub) influences at all. It sounds like perfect and classic jangle pop!

The B-side of the record is a cover, “It’s For You”, by The Beatles. And the record was released in 1987.

On the cover we see one of the band members in a close-up. On the back cover we see all the band members having a good laugh. I guess the cover star was the vocalist and the writer of “All You Get”, Keith Gilles. He is sporting a very good haircut, very 80s! The rest of the band was comprised by Kevin Plummer on guitars, Alan Neal on bass and Owen Seymour on drums. The record was produced by Neil Scott.

I’ve googled and googled for more information about them to no avail. Many questions are up in the air. Who were Dub House records? Did they have more recordings? Even, releases? Whatever happened to them? Where were they based? Why didn’t this release become an indiepop classic? Who came up with that cool guitar intro? And so on. Questions that will be unanswered for not too long I hope!

Anyone out there remembers them? Anyone knows anything else about them?

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Listen
The Sticklebacks – All You Get

All ready. All set. I got my stupid tourist visa. Ready to spend vacation time next month in Europe. The lineup of Madrid Popfest has been confirmed and all I can say it is that I’m looking forward to it a lot, especially to see bands I’ve never seen before like The Haywains, Northern Portrait and Alpaca Sports. This time though, I’m traveling by myself so I’m much more open to meeting up with friends and exploring the city, something I didn’t do much last time. Last time I dedicated my days to day travels to different cities around Madrid like Segovia, Toledo, Avila among others. It was fantastic, though being by myself, I don’t see much of a point, who will take photos of me posing as a good tourist for example? Record shopping will be a must, and so, if anyone wants to join, let’s do that. I’m also very excited for the Madrid restaurants with their 10 euro menus, which was something I really enjoyed the first time around.

But the best news of this week has to do with the release of the Flowers 7″. The official release date is the 15th. One day after Valentines Day. Do you celebrate that? I wonder. I’ve never read or heard any indiepop kid celebrating it. But then, it’s perhaps something very private or probably indiepopkids hate capitalist inventions like that. What do I know. Anyhow, the record is ready and it’s shipping to all over the world. It’s perhaps the records with most pre-orders that Cloudberry has released. Very anticipated debut by the London trio!

I’ve only seen them once. Last November, when I decided to travel to England even though I wasn’t going to meet the girl anymore. It was a difficult decision because it was going to bring memories and perhaps I wasn’t going to like my holidays as much as I would want to. But at the same time, life goes on, and because of something circumstantial like that, I couldn’t just trash my plans I thought. I had already told many of my British friends during Indietracks that I was returning to London later that year, that we’d find a place for her to leave her cat safe and sound and all, and that we’d enjoy at least a weekend together there. In the end, it was just me. I expanded the weekend to a whole week. Went all the way to Scotland and back, back even to the southern tip of Great Britain, to Portsmouth and all. And as always I saw castles.

It was that day that I went to Arundel with Paloma, who happily joined me at last minute, who was strangely and randomly enough staying just a tube station away from where I was staying at Chez Navarro’s. After sightseeing around Arundel and having still a couple of hours to burn, we looked at a map and decided to keep exploring. For 10 more pounds we could go to Portsmouth and back. I didn’t know much about Portsmouth, aside from the football team, but sounded like a good plan. We had already circled Arundel and there was not much more to see. Which doesn’t mean it wasn’t fantastic. I truly recommend people visiting it. The castle is beautiful.

We both wanted to go to the Flowers gig that night. Happily Rachel had been nice enough to put me plus guests on the guestlist. So that wasn’t something to worry. But just the timing. We had to take all these trains back to London and we had to do transfers. A mistake in trains could make us miss the gig. We were thorough and asking the officers and such we finally succeeded and returned to London just in time. We had some so-so food at a Weatherspoons around Buffalo Bar and got just in time for the first band.

Two folk bands and two indiepop bands was the premise for that night. Don’t hate me if I don’t remember the name of the folk bands. But the indiepop class was represented by Cosines and Flowers. Flowers were headlining. Cosines had among their ranks many people I know like Alice, Dan and Johnny. Also my dear Kajsa was playing with them. It was a pleasure to see her playing keyboards again, smiling, dressed in a cute pink dress. She has one of my favourite smiles. A smile that I first met in Stockholm so many years ago and that I seem to see at least once a year since then. Can’t really complain, with the distance and all, must be one of my international friends I see the most. But anyways, I had been to the Buffalo Bar to see Flowers. And so after buying and buying San Miguel beers, because Rory wouldn’t give me a free one (!), it was about time for Flowers to get on the stage.

You’ll think I’m biased, but the thing is, that Flowers were amazing. They were a new band, but they sounded like soldiers of many battles, tight, and very confident. They knew what they were doing. Rachel with her one-string bass, Jordan with his noisy guitar and Sam banging the drums with a true C86 beat. I knew they were fantastic, I knew that since I found them on bandcamp ages ago and bought their 2 demo CDRs. But seeing them live, and making all the crow to be awe-struck, confirmed it to me. They were special. Wait, they ARE special.

The 7″ took a bit of time to be made. Issues with computers, with artwork, and stuff. But it was all worth it. It sounds great, it looks great, and it feels great. Four short songs of noisy pop, with vocals that remind you of a bygone era, like when people listened to The Parachute Men or The Nightblooms. But updated. Updated to sound like a band from today. Not surprisingly another Cloudberry graduates, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart invited them to tour around Europe with them. And it’s also not surprising that they have already signed a deal with Fortuna Pop to release an album later this year (also The Spook School joined them at this, could it be that Fortuna Pop trusts Cloudberry’s taste?).

If you haven’t already, please do check “When You Lie” on the Cloudberry website. It’s just a teaser, but it’s a fantastic song. If you like it, do order it. Or if you are in London pick up a copy at the next London Popfest where they will probably amaze everyone!

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But let’s move to the obscure band of the week: Boxing Clever.

I remember looking for them many years ago, with no success. I remember finding one of the members on Myspace, I think he was involved with some sort of punk band. Sadly I never heard back from him. I wanted to interview him about the band for the blog of course.

The only piece of information comes from the Falkirk Music Scene page. It says:

BIOGRAPHY:
Falkirk / Edinburgh pop / rock act formed in 1988 by ex-Breakfast Boyz member Justin Skelton (vocals / guitar). He added local drummer Ian Wallace (ex-Nirvana, no not that one!) and Edinburgh musicians Gus Carmichael (keyboards), George Christie (guitar) & Eddie McGlone (bass). The band released one single in 1989, “Toy Soldiers”, on the BMG label before splitting. Skelton later ran a rehearsal room, whilst Wallace joined The Cotton Train.

RELEASES:
“Toy Soldiers” (12 inch single, BMG, 1989)

None of those bands named in that little biography had any releases sadly. So it’s hard to track them through them.

The Urban Dictionary says that Boxing Clever means: to use inventive thinking above all other attributes in order to achieve an end goal.

Is that why they named the band like that? One can only wonder. The truth is that the only other bit of information I could gather was from the back cover of their 12″ release. A 12″ I haven’t had any luck in having or finding.

We know that all songs were written by Justin Skelton and then arranged by the rest of the band. The songs that were included in this release were “Toy Soldiers”, “I Just Do”, “Nobody Else I Know” and “William”. There’s a little information about each one of them:

Toy Soldiers – Recorded at Palladium Studios. Produced by Boxing Clever and Chris Harley. Engineered by Keith Mitchell.

I Just Do – Recorded at H.M. Studios. Produced by Boxing Clever. Engineered by Alan Cuthberson.

Nobody Else I Know – Recorded at H.M. Studios. Produced by Boxing Clever. Engineered by Alan Cuthberson.

William – Recorded at The Howf. Produced and engineered by Justin Skelton.

Keyboards and accordian were provided by Gus Carmichael and John Sweeney respectively.

All tracks published BMG (a major! horror!) Music Publishing LTD. But it was released by Beaver Records.

The sleeve design was thanks to Rose O’ Connor. And the record came out in 1989.

And that’s all there is. I could tell you  a bit about Falkirk as it has some interesting history, if you like though? Well, so…

An Eaglais Bhreac is a derivative formed from the Scottish Gaelic cognate of the first recorded name Ecclesbrith from the Brittonic for “speckled church”, presumably referring to a church building built of many-coloured stones. The Scottish Gaelic name was translated into Scots as Fawkirk then later amended to the modern English name of Falkirk. The Latin name Varia Capella also has the same meaning. Falkirk Old Parish Church stands on the site of the medieval church, which may have been founded as early as the 7th century.

 The Antonine Wall, which stretches across the centre of Scotland, passed through the town and remnants of it can be seen at Callendar Park. Similar to Hadrian’s Wall but built of turf rather than stone so less of it has survived, it marked the northern frontier of the Roman Empire between the Firth of Forth and Firth of Clyde during the AD 140s. Much of the best evidence of Roman occupation in Scotland has been found in Falkirk, including a large hoard of Roman coins and a cloth of tartan, thought to be the oldest ever recorded.

And that’s all I can tell you about Boxing Clever and Falkirk, and Scotland this week. Though probably after listening to the song, you’d wonder why there’s no more information about them. I ask myself the same. Wish I knew if they had more recordings. If they appeared on compilations. Whatever happened to them? Where are they now? So many mysteries. Maybe some of you remember them? Maybe some can fill in the blanks!

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Listen
Boxing Clever – Nobody Else I Know

So that petition I urged everyone to sign at the White House page has expired because it failed to reach the amount of signers required. It’s probably how things will be then for at least a year, high postage to send records abroad. I don’t want to cause panic, but it’s pretty obvious we won’t thrive though some geniuses at Darla are boasting that they are having amazing sales and all other record labels are whiners. Good for them. It shows how “indie” they are, giving a f@ck about the rest.

Doing some research around, looking for reasons for this collapse of our beloved USPS, explanations on what had happened I found two very interesting posts on the eBay Forums:

Globally, Some countries have been in the middle of an economic downturn. Since the USPS International rates are standardized across most countries- changes for the majority effect even the minority. Plus it makes things less complicated. Many countries want MORE money, and by definition share of the money spent on postage, to process international mail that comes into their country. Very Cheap International Postage made the amount of money, when split between both the USPS and the receiving country kinda small. So they have corrected it so that both the USPS is happy with the money they make and that the receiving country is happy too.Since the UPU the body that help sets the rates only formally meets every four years we get sticker shock.

As far as UK buyers are concerned, there will be huge ramifications of this USPS price hike. This is because there is a paltry £15 limit (which was REDUCED from £18 recently) on the value of any incoming parcels, and this INCLUDES the postage cost. Anything over that gets slapped with a 20% customs charge and – wait for it –  a flat £8 “administration” fee. So even a small hike in postage will mean that buyers, even of small light and inexpensive items (like myself), will be deterred from continuing to buy, since the new prices will most likely push the value over the UK tax threshold. Ironically, it will really only be worth buying expensive items on eBay, as the taxes and charges won’t dwarf the cost of the actual item!

We haven’t really thought about these ramifications that these new prices will have. But there will be a domino effect, no doubt. It wouldn’t surprise me that other countries start raising their prices. The only ones that might be celebrating with this situation is the Canadian post. You ask why? It is very common in that Canadians living next to the border, would just cross it to post their things, even when they wanted to send their envelopes and parcels within Canada as it was always cheaper. Will they cross the border now? Perhaps not, as the prices will be around the same.

So for now, we can only sit and wait, see what all this USPS mess will bring us all. I had to raise all Cloudberry prices at the moment, and I’m happy to say that there is still support from fans. I hope it continues this way. It all depends on you all who support bands and labels that we continue our indiepop dream.

Yes. There are Cloudberry news. So let’s move to that. Happier topic.

Three days to go for the release of the Alpaca Sports 7″! As you all know, as you all have heard, it’s a cracker. And they’ve worked hard on it, recording videos for each of the three songs of the vinyl. Head to the website and listen/watch and order. They will be promoting the record very soon too in Madrid Popfest. And in Stockholm too, at the So Unbelievable club, where I will be celebrating my birthday. Oh good times ahead. Two days ago, Andreas gave a solo Alpaca Sports show in Lima, Peru, too. From what I hear it was an amazing success. I still haven’t seen them live. And I can wait for next month. No surprise they were voted best new band of 2012. And I hear they will be in the US this year too!

Then in less than two weeks the Flowers 7″ will be out. Will write more about this release next week. You don’t want to miss this one. Pre-orders have been pouring. And I’ve read some reviews saying they might be the next big thing? I wouldn’t be surprised. They are special.

But I wanted to tell you about the new fanzine I’ve been working on, and this time I’ll be super thorough not to make pagination mistakes. Promise! The CD is almost ready, and I will be announcing the tracklist soon. Right now you can preview one of the tracks on our soundcloud. It’s called “If It’s True” and it’s the fab Tiny Fireflies behind it. And about the paper zine, I’m just missing a couple of pieces. Hopefully I can finish writing it this week if I have enough time.

Also there are new bands that will be working with us on new 7″ releases. Can’t say the names yet, but, I’m already very excited. One is from Japan, the other based in Scotland. That’s enough hints I can give you all!

And now, let’s finish this week’s post with a very obscure band, The Fontaines.

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Fontaine is a French word meaning fountain or natural spring. 

Fountain – is the title of a famous sculpture by Marcel Duchamp.

So where do you think the band got their name from?

The Fontaines only left us one 7″ record. Two songs that were recorded in 1987. Upon listening to them, you’d understand why they are not enough. They are too good, especially the fabulous B side, that one can only crave for more.

The label was 51st Parallel. Probably their own label. A self-release. The catalog number is FONT1.

There are two 51st parallels:

51st Parallel North: At this latitude the sun is visible for 16 hours, 33 minutes during the summer solstice and 7 hours, 55 minutes during the winter solstice.  The catchment area of London can be broadly defined by the 51st and 52nd parallels.

51st Parallel South: The 51st parallel south is a circle of latitude that is 51 degrees south of the Earth’s equatorial plane. It crosses the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean and South America.

Most probably named because of the northern parallel.

The A side was “I Want Everything”. The B side was the amazing “Bernadette”.

I first heard about this band thanks to the list on Twee.net of future bands to be showcased on the Leamington Spa series. Then later I remember “Bernadette” being uploaded to Youtube though it’s not there anymore. And lastly on the amazing compilation CD Rupert from Turntable revolution shared with me. Actually, Rupert, on his blog, had found some interesting facts back in 2009 (!) and I hope it’s ok to refresh them here in my blog:

Recorded in three days in August 1987 this superior independent release vaulted into the pop world to a clamour of indifference. Unfair treatment indeed. With lyrics redolent of Morrissey after an all night kitchen sink drama video session they may well have been ready to perch on the throne of misery the Smiths were about to vacate. Nothing more was forthcoming though and this slice of pulchritudinous pop was consigned to the carrier bag of discarded dreams.

The band consisted of Brian Green on vocals, Duane Fontaine on guitar, Louis Jones on guitar, Andy Reynolds on bass and Ed Grimshaw on drums. I had an email from Dr. Andy Reynolds who tells me that Louis Jones and Ed Grimshaw went on to form the Warm Jets and Brian Green went on to record an LP with Hugh Cornwell, then went to Nashville and now teaches song-writing MA in Bath. Apparently there exist videos of the band performing other songs which may one day appear on Youtube. Dr.Reynolds is now a reader in medieval archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology in London. Perhaps five hundred years from now someone will dig up an old Fontaines record and marvel at this gleaming example of mid eighties pop.

I haven’t had the chance yet to find myself a copy of the record, but some kind person has uploaded the back sleeve of the 7″ and there are some more clues about this amazing release. For example there are credits for Matthew Reynolds who played harmonica and trumpet. That it was recorded at Sam Studios on the 28, 29 and 30th of August 1987. There are thanks to Bryan & Alex Deacon, the Locks, Nick Adams, Terry Medford, the JimBeamGang, Derek Batey, Julian & Florien for their help + advice. Farewell to Eamonn.

There are a couple of cryptic images and words. “Hines for President!”. “Love in Batch”. A map showing Finchely Road. And write to them at a PO Box in Chippenham, Wiltshire.

Let’s keep on digging. So Andy (Andrew) Reynolds actually has a Wikipedia page as he has become a successful archaeologist publishing several books.

And the band Warm Jets, that had Louis Jones and Ed Grimshaw, also has one. Grimshaw had been part of another band, even prior to The Fontaines. They were called Ophiuchus and you can read their whole story here as well.

That’s all there was left from The Fontaines. One fantastic 7″. One very hard to find too. Perhaps not many copies were pressed. But as always I do end up wondering if they left any other recordings. Perhaps some demo tapes. If only those videos Rupert talks about would show up on Youtube one day. To unveil a mystery. To know more about this fantastic band that history decided to keep them in obscurity. Unfair. Songs like “Bernadette” should have been a huge hit.

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Listen
The Fontaines – Bernadette

Paul Hopkins, who played with Life Studies (read about them here) just before they broke up, has kindly shared with me some songs from a practice session.

I joined the band for one gig after they’d released the single. Martyn the bass player had gone to Israel and Phil and Graham needed a bass player. I bumped into Phil on a Gloucester -bound coach at Heathrow airport and he asked me if I wanted to play – hence the practice session recording at Spadger – just myself, Phil and Graham. They formed the Trout Faced Few not long after  with some people from the Erratic Strides.

The songs were recorded on a cassette recorder as part of a practice session in preparation for a gig at the Flying Machine, Brockworth between the release of the 45  ‘Girl on Fire’ and the demise of the band.

This is Leave Me Alone, a New Order cover.

This is Inside Out.

This is 1000 Closing Doors.