Before I leave to the UK for, what I think, are some deserved vacations and also to avoid Thanksgiving and Black Friday, I want to ask for some help. Not that I don’t ask for it often here in the blog when it comes to tracking down bands. I do. Often. Once a week at least. But as I won’t be writing anything next week, I thought maybe it’s a good time to pick your brains.

I’ve been trying to track Nine Steps to Ugly for the last couple of months. Phil from Feverfew/The Rileys, was kind enough to ask around his contacts around Reading, but there was no luck. There was the odd comment by Cameron (guitar) on Javi’s old, very old, blog “Lost and Found”. But there was no email. I looked all over Google, which I’m training on search skills thru their “Google a Day”, but no luck. Same on Facebook.

The first time that I heard about Nine Steps to Ugly was thanks to The Sound of Leamington Spa Vol.5 that Firestation Records released in 2005. “Eddie Lopez lives in Slough” opened the CD. It was fresh, it was catchy, it was the kind of pop that I’m a sucker for. On the booklet, they took the center spread, a long list of gigs and a bit of band details were included:

Popstatic Facts and Gigathon

Band formed in January 1987 for Windsor College Rag Stomp held at the Old Trout Windsor on 24th March 1987.

Original line-up 13th January-14th January 1987. Jenny Miell singing, Cameron Smillie guitar, Stuart Scott drums, Nick Elson bass, Jim Turner guitar, Andrew ‘Flan’ Flannery guitar, Johnny ‘Mad Dog’ Malibar saxophone (part time).

We write one song ‘I’m in Love with the Girl from Tallulah Gosh’. I no longer am and the song was crap. Jenny and Johnny leave.

Jenny as she couldn’t sing and Johnny as the sax was on hire and had to go back to the shop.

Tracey is found and off we go. Lots of awful noise created in an effort to get a set together for the Rag Stomp.

Line-up for 24 March 1987. Tracey Owen singing, Paul ‘Beany’ Bateman singing, Cameron Smillie guitar, Nick Elson bass, Andrew Flannery guitar, Jim Turner guitar, Stuart Scott drums.

24 March 1987 Infamous Rag Stomp. Play ‘Purple Haze’ and several forgotten covers and are not lynched. Start to have fun and write our own songs.

A few weeks later we inflict them on the public…

Old Pals Club Taplow 22nd May 1987 + Urgh Leave it Out.
The Greyhound Colnbrook.  4th June 1987 + Stir Fried Pop Stars.
Windor Art Centre. July 1987 + The Wallflowers.
The Rose Maidenhead 22nd August 1987 + Stir Fried Pop Stars.

Stuart leaves to continue his studies; Flan leaves to drink more beer. Beany leaves to join the Stir Fried Pop Stars and wear dark glasses on stage.

Line-up 20th September 1987. Tracey vocals, Cameron guitar, Jim guitar, Nick bass, Dave Best drums.

Herschel Park Slough 19th September 1987 (whilst playing we are attacked by madman wielding a scaffolding pole – we run away, did he not like the music?)
Windsor Art Centre 13th October 1987 + The Shrubs
Old Trout Windsor 4th November 1987 + Stir Friend Pop Stars.
Wexham Parish Hall 15th November 1987 + The Wallflowers.

The George Farnham Road 19th November 1987 + Million Dollar Bash
Upton Grammar School 17th December 1987
Windsor Art Centre 9th January 1988 + Magic Mushroom Band.
Baldwin Institute Eton 16th January 1988 + Hello Revolving Horse.
Pontons High Wycombe 19th January 1988 + December.
The George Farnham Road 3rd March 1988 + The Company
Windsor college Rag Stomp 17th Martch 1988
Maidenhead Town Hall 26th March 1988 Battle of the bands competition, we came 2nd (Robbed!!).
ontons High Wycombe 16th April 1988
Windsor Art Centre 29th April 1988 + Bob
Forbury Park Reading 29th May 1988
Reading Town Hall 1st June 1988 + The Darling Buds
The George Farnham Road 9th June 1988 + The Company
Ninos Wine Bar Reading 15th June 1988 + The Jeremiahs
Ninos Wine Bar Reading 26th June 1988 + Feverfew
Windsor Art Centre 16th June 1988 + The Company
Cool Trout London 27th July 1988 + Bob
Paradise Club Reading 5th August 1988 + House of Love
Windsor Art Centre 2nd September 1988 + The Wallflowers
Old Trout Windsor 3rd September 1988 + Johnny Panic
Skindles Maidenhead 4th September 1988
St. Davids Hall Reading 15th October 1988
Mean Fiddler London 1st November 1988 + Metro Trinity
Paradise Club Reading 2nd November 1988 + Spacemen 3
St. Davids Hall reading 9th November 1988 + Falling Trees
Old Trout Windsor 30th November 1988 + Morbific Seeds

Line-up 30th November 1988. Tracey vocals, Cameron guitar, Jim guitar, Nick bass, Bevis Bevis drums.

The Centre Farnham Road 10th December 1988
Old Trout Windsor 21st December 1989 + The Premonitions
Windsor Art Centre 2nd January 1989 + Morbific Seeds
Blast Club Bracknell Art Centre 9th February 1989 + Thrilled Skinny
Garden of Eden Old Trout Windsor 8th March 1989 + The Bachelor Pad
Garden of Eden Old Trout Windsor 29th March 1989 + Bob
Blast Club Bracknell Art Centre 30th March 1989 + Bob
Garden of Eden Old Trout Windsor 26th April 1989 + Savage Opera

Final gig at Windsor Art Centre 23rd June 1989 supported y Thousand Yard Stare.

And that was that.

Bevis and Cameron joined The Morbific Seeds. Nick went to university in Brighton and writes. Tracey sang with Montefury, The Wallflowers, Foam etc and still is in bands in Brighton. Jim became an archaeologist Cameron works in St Pauls Cathedral and s an actor. Bevis became a troubadour.

I probably have missed a few gigs out, I remember one in Slough High Street for a bizarre parade and I ended up in the back of a van converted to look like the Batmobile driven by a member of the Morbific Seeds. Perhas these things are best forgotten.

You can still find this CD. Get it straight from the label for 3 euros. That’s much much less than what I paid for it when it came out. It’s a bargain, and it’s essential.

Since them I’ve been trying to also track down their flexi single. That one that includes “Eddie Lopez lives in Slough” and “Bobby Charlton’s Haircut”. The sleeve has a kid playing the triangle, while some other schoolmates (?) are watching him. Wonder if that little boy is one of the band members.

So who was Eddie Lopez? He was the Labour candidate for Slough in the 1987 and 1992 elections, finishing runner up on both occasions to the Conservatives.

About Eddie Lopez and the song I found this comment online:

Eddie Lopez actually came very close to winning Slough in 1992. He lost by 514 votes, but a rogue candidate called Alford who also termed himself The Labour Candidate stood (election law has changed now to prevent this sort of thing) and, because he was top of the ballot paper, took 699 votes. He celebrated on election night with the winning Tories.

“Eddie Lopez Lives in Slough” wasn’t taking the piss. Eddie Lopez had been instrumental in the establishment of a recording studio under the Slough Labour Rooms. The song was a Thank You.

You can read more about him here.

While Slough is a borough and unitary authority within the ceremonial county of Royal Berkshire, England. The town straddles the A4 Bath Road (it becomes the Great West Road closer to London) and the Great Western Main Line, 22 miles (35 km) west of central London. At the 2001 census, the population of Slough was 119,070 (est. 122,000 in 2006) and the borough area was the most ethnically diverse local authority area outside London in the United Kingdom.

The first recorded uses of the name occur as Slo in 1196, Sloo in 1336, and Le Slowe, Slowe or Slow in 1437.

Though I guess most of the people have heard about Slough thanks to the tv series The Office.

About Bobby Charlton. Well, I don’t think he had much of a haircut. Anyways, I assume many of you don’t know anything about footie, but come on. Bobby Charlton is pretty famous. You can read more about him here.

The band also contributed to a couple of compilations. On the  classic “Corrupt Postman” tape compilation they included the song “Vaudeville”. This same song will appear some time later on the tape compilation “Hacia la Luz” released by Elefant Records (ER-005) in 1990. But if we go back in time a little, to 1987, “Eddie Lopez Lives in Slough” appears on an obscure compilation called “The Final Teaze” which was released by Final Records (Final 042).

But those three songs I’ve mentioned weren’t the only that they recorded. Fast forward to 2008. I visit Nana and Andreas in Hamburg. Nana is throwing a big birthday party for herself. Many friends have come from different places, and even The Sunny Street are playing a gig. Then there will be a dance party (these days have been already documented on the blog). They day I arrive Andreas burns me two CDs. One that has everything by Grab Grab the Haddock. And a second one by Nine Steps to Ugly. This CD contains:

From the “Eddie Lopez Lives in Slough” flexi
01. Eddie Lopez Lives in Slough
02. Bobby Charlton’s Haircut

From demos 1987-1989
03. Apart
04. Vaudville
05. Tobogganing
06. Drink Up, Let’s Go!
07. Kevin Loves Sharon
08. Small Pieces of Everything
09. Spencer Says
10. Eddie Lopez lives in Slough (demo)
11. Lemon Badger

From live 29.03.1989 (must be from this gig: Garden of Eden Old Trout Windsor 29th March 1989 + Bob)
12. Glad
13. February Wednesday
14. Vaudville
15. The Friendship
16. Spencer Says
17. Bobby Charlton’s Haircut
18. Apart
19. Meadfield
20. Ever Again

See? Quite a bunch of songs recorded as demos. And I’m not sure if they were all that they recorded. Probably they were. But can’t say. I also find mind boggling that they never released anything else other than the flexi. It’s very odd. And what about that “Im’ in Love with the Girl from Talulah Gosh” song? Was that ever recorded? I have so many questions. I wonder if I should just step in to St. Paul’s Cathedral and ask if Cameron is still around…

So yes, if anyone knows anything else, has something more to add. Please do! Probably won’t answer until I’m back from the UK, but I’ll check my email daily. If you have a spare copy of the flexi, that’ll be nice too.

And by the way, before I forget the new fanzines are ready. I made some silly mistake while doing the pre-press and there are two pages, the second two pages of the Youngfuck interview, that are in the wrong place. It’s not a big deal I think, as they are back to back to the ones that start the Youngfuck interview, and perhaps adds to the DIY spirit of it, but thought it was worth mentioning. So there are no surprises. Also forgot to change the snail mail address of Cloudberry. I’ve been a bit fluffy-headed as of late it seems. In any case, the fanzine looks great, and I’m very proud with it. I hope you all like it!

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Listen
Nine Steps to Ugly – Eddie Lopez Lives in Slough

Peppermint is a hybrid mint, a cross between watermint and spearmint. The plant, indigenous to Europe, is now widespread in cultivation throughout all regions of the world. It is found wild occasionally with its parent species.

Just a couple of days until I travel once again to the UK. Second time this year. My sixth time overall.

A couple of things.

– I bought a Lonely Planet guide to London and been reading it before going to bed. Why now? I don’t know. On top of it all, I will barely have any time in London this time to do any sort of sightseeing. So what’s the point of me getting this book? I don’t know.

– Also after coming back from London last July, I bought a book about the names of the tube stations of the Undeground. I had seen one of these books for sale at the British Library and caught my curiosity. I stopped myself from buying it there as I assumed (correctly) that it was overpriced. Upon returning to NY, I ordered it online. Quite interesting. Now I could probably tell a story or two to those tourists that ask me, another tourist, for directions.

– I’m going to my second Chickfactor gigs this year. First was here in New York and was during weekdays. Now in London during a weekend. I’ll see for the first time The Pastels and Would-Be-Goods. Would-Be-Goods being one of my favourite bands ever. I admit the only time I’ve chickened out of asking to take a photo with a band member, was with Jessica Griffin who happened to be next to me and my friends outside the 100 Club. To be a success, this time I must get their setlist. At least.

– I’ll see Amor de Dias for the third time. I’ll see Pipas for the third time as well. Can’t have enough of Lupe’s bands.

– Second time for the Aislers Set and the Legendary Jim Ruiz Group. Two favourite bands. And fifth time seeing Tender Trap. I clearly go to many gigs, or what?

– Talking of the Aislers Set the other day I saw Linton walking down Bleecker St. with a brown paper bag. Thought saying hi, but then I noticed I was wearing my green t-shirt that has her name printed on it and thought, that was much of a fanboy already.

– I have grand plans of record shopping during this trip. The question is, how will I carry all my records back to the US if I’m planning to just take a carry on. Mind you, I already bought some records and they are waiting for me at my dear friend’s place.

– I will visit a Peruvian restaurant in London. Been terribly curious about them after they opened this year. I’ve been meaning to invite friends while I was there years ago, introduce them to our rich cuisine, but the restaurants were non-existant. Now there are two by Tottenham Court Rd. Are we the new thai as some Peruvian officials love saying? Not yet, not quite. Someday perhaps.

– Then will take a train to Edinburgh. Spend some hours record shopping, hopefully have haggis for lunch. I have haggis craving. Hearty haggis.

– Next stop Glasgow. For third time lucky Aislers Set. At Mono. Will see Stephen Pastel there for the second time. This time he’ll be DJing, won’t be selling me records. And Camera Obscura will DJ as well. I saw them once playing though. Just once. It seems I only see big bands once, and the smaller bands I see millions of times.

– Taking a bus to Inverness. What to do there? The word Inverness sounds to me like “invierno”, winter in Spanish. I feel just by the name that I will freeze. It’s up north. From there we’ll take a bus to Loch Ness. Fulfill a childhood dream. Visit Nessy’s den. See castle Urquhart. Send some postcards from there.

– A trip for me with no castles is not a trip. So we’ll be heading to Arundel castle. It looks glorious. Everyone has told me it’s beautiful. I hope it is! I just really hope it doesn’t rain, like that time  I went to Tintern Abbey and the weather was miserable. The most “romantic ruins” in Wales had become the most dreary ruins in Wales all of a sudden. So better behave you famous English rain.

– Note to self. My grandma doesn’t want chocolate like last time. Suddenly she figured out that it wasn’t Cadbury powder Hot Chocolate what she wanted but Cadbury Cocoa! She also insists that I have to buy me a sweater at some famous “sweater town” close to London that she visited two decades ago. “It will do you good in the NY winter”.

– There’s also the gig at the Buffalo Bar where Flowers are playing on Thursday. Will go to that. Definitely. Time to see one of my new favourite bands play live after touring with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Hopefully we can sort out the 7″ soon!

– And speaking of my carry-on bag, I feel half of it’s weight is going to be gifts, from mac n’ cheese to records, to friends. I so look forward to see my transatlantic friends. I miss them. Can’t wait to catch up!

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Parlour (or parlor) is a name used for a variety of different reception rooms and public spaces in different historical periods. Parlour derives from the Old French word parloir or parler (“to speak”), and entered English around the turn of the 13th century In its original usage it denoted a place set aside for speaking with someone, an “audience chamber”.

A band from Wales. That Wales I really liked and had a great time in July. That Wales I won’t be visiting this time, but that I do have strong plans to revisit next time I go to Indietracks. The band was Peppermint Parlour and they had one 7″ single but many more songs recorded.

Uncommon to most obscure bands, I could actually find an extensive bio about the band online:

Peppermint Parlour was the brain child of founder Alan Thompson along with his school friend, Clive Widdison. The two met at Llanederyn High School in Cardiff at the beginning of the 1980s. Alan Thompson is an extremely talented songwriter and was soon penning many songs. His musical influences coming through in an intelligent mix of The Beatles, Squeeze, 10cc, The Jam and The Beach Boys.
Peppermint Parlour came together in the autumn of 1984 with the line-up of Alan Thompson, vocals and rhythm guitar, Clive Widdison, bass guitar and backing vocals, Mark Haggart, lead guitar and backing vocals backed up by the newest addition of Simon Davies on drums. St. Martin’s Church Hall on Crwys Road, Cardiff became their rehearsal venue every Monday night. Alan’s friend from childhood, Rhys John used to help out with rehearsals, adding keyboards and some excellent guitar pieces in between him finishing off his degree at the University of East Anglia.
Months of practice, practice and more practice, Peppermint Parlour finally got their first gig at the Joint Students Union, Cardiff University on the 25th May 1985. The group added Rhys John to the line up and by the end of 1985, Mark Haggart left The Peps and Rhys took over the duties of lead guitar. The band were finally on their way. The band developed their extremely tight sound from hundreds of gigs across Cardiff and in London. Several record companies were alerted to them with particular attention being paid by MCA Records, who even came to see them in rehearsals at Simon’s fathers factory in Cardiff and EMI Records.
Being a Cardiff based band and with the capital’s rather stereotyped view of Wales made it hard for The Peps to get to see the right people. It is generally considered that they paved the way for less talented Welsh bands to come into prominence, like the Manic Street Preachers, Sterophonics and Catatonia. Peppermint Parlour made the “hard yards” and the others felt the benefit. The band eventually were pestered to release a best of CD in 2002, called Pet Sounds. Within that CD are 19 musical gems.

Is it really “Pet Sounds” the name of the CD? I have never seen it, and somewhere I’ve seen it mentioned it as “Pep Sounds”. But still no luck. I would definitely LOVE to hear these 19 songs. At least since 2009 when I first heard about this band, I’ve often revisited and listened to a bunch of their songs thanks to Last.fm.. If you head there you can find 7 songs to listen fully: “Gary Sobers Up”, “Playhouse”, ” It’s Wonderful”,  “Evermore”, “Whole Damn World”, “You Are The Drug” and “You’re Gonna Crash”.

What can I say about these songs? They are fantastic! If you like catchy pop, jangly guitars, and smart lyrics, you’ll like this lot. This is a band that I would have loved to release definitely. They remind me a bit to Feverfew and The Chesterf!elds on their more upbeat songs, while in their more “classic” c86 songs you can think of Bob or Reserve. So yes. Pretty good. Pretty amazing stuff.

By the way, did you know that Alan Thompson from Peppermint Parlour is a UK radio broadcaster, presenting on BBC Radio Wales? I just found out.

Here is a little interview I found where he is asked about Peppermint Parlour:

As the popular presenter of the Radio Wales evening show, Alan Thompson has acquired a reputation as a man who enjoys revisiting the ’80s classics.

Haircut 100, Simple Minds, Wham! and Duran Duran have all cropped up on his playlists.

But there’s one nugget from the decade that taste forgot that he won’t play – his own.

In the mid-’80s, Alan was the frontman of Peppermint Parlour, a Cardiff powerpop four-piece which, over their seven-year lifespan, managed to garner a hardcore of devoted fans thanks to tireless gigging around South Wales and one fondly remembered single, Whatever Happened to Pop Songs.

He’s too modest to admit it, and far too modest to actually play it on his show, but there are many who would herald it as a little indie pop classic.

And in Japan – where they’ll always find a place in their hearts for such things – it’s something of a collector’s item.

Alan, 49, remembers his days in the band with nothing but fondness. “We’d first got into a band at school in Llanedeyrn,” he said, “a mod outfit called The Standards – terrible name – with Clive Widdison, who played bass.”

After school, he and Clive formed Peppermint Parlour in 1984 , gigging mainly in Chapter and other venues in South Wales but also as far afield as London.

“The Pepps were a good band,” said Alan. “We were compared to the Housemartins but I thought we were more like Squeeze, melodic pop with a bit of edge.”

Like countless other bands, when real success proved elusive, the Pepps petered out. By 1991 Alan had started work at the BBC and with A&R men loathe to head over the Severn Bridge (this was long before Cool Cymru) they called it a day.

Happily, Alan retains his enthusiasm for music, as his listeners will readily attest, and he continues to write and record in the little studio he has set up at home.

But if his reluctance to play Whatever… is any guide, we can’t expect to hear his songs any time soon.

1984. They were ahead of their time. I can’t believe. Maybe that’s why they are so obscure. Because their songs should have been HITS. It’s always so unfair to read or hear stories like this.

But let’s go back to their one and only 7″. One that I’m still tracking down and I suppose will be impossible for me to ever get my hands on because the Japanese will always have a bigger wallet than mine!

The 7″ included two songs. On the A side “Whatever Happened to Pop Songs” and on the B side “Awkward Girls”. It was released on Apex Records and was the first reference on their catalog. Both songs are credited to Alan Thompson and were produced by Peppermint Parlour and Len Davies. Len Davies seems to have been involved in many releases of the Apex Label. Maybe it was his own label?

The songs were recorded at Apex Recording Studio in Cardiff. The engineers were Davies again and Matthew Butler.

Peppermint Parlour were:
Alan Thompson – lead vocals/guitar
Rhys John –  lead guitar / keyboards / vocals
Clive Widdison – bass guitar / vocals
Simon Davies – drums

On the back cover it’s also written:
Special thanks to Gary Price of “Red Dragon Radio” for his belief and support. He truly is the Hippy King of Mintsville!
The record is dedicated to Johnny L. and to Julie B. And also to all you Pep Cats everywhere.

As a curious cat I went to look for Red Dragon Radio and found out that it changed it name years ago to Capital South Wales and that is a radio station broadcasting from Cardiff Bay. I get flashes of walking down the promenade, next to the sea, in Cardiff Bay. Walking towards that Turkish restaurant on the pier which we didn’t like the prices.

And that’s about all I could find about Peppermint Parlour. It’s more than the usual I find though. So that makes me happy. But I would really love to listen to the rest of their songs. Track that “Pep Sounds” CD is possible. And if anyone has a box full of spare copies that is willing to give a new home, a lovely home, please let me know! And yes, if you happen to have any memories, anecdotes, or know the whereabouts of any of the band members let me know! Their songs deserve to be much more known than they are already!

Edit: I just noticed they have a Facebook page!

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Listen
Peppermint Parlour – Whatever Happened to Pop Songs

I got out of bed at 10:30 am. Unwrapped myself from the sheets and as usual, first thing in the morning, I went to check my email. It was election day. Mentally I had prepared for it during the weekend. The long haul. Staying up late in the newsroom. Updating things every couple of minutes. Stressing out at giving the right call, not messing up the numbers, being correct at all times. And on top of it all, being fast. You want to beat the other news agencies.

This was my second time working and covering the elections. Both times we had the same winner. This time the responsibility was bigger, working for a much larger organization. Large enough that I was thrilled to see some of the graphics I worked with my colleagues embedded in pages like El Mundo, Aftonbladet, Televisa and so on. All over the world. On top of it, those Spanish-language newspapers that embedded our main graphic, were using a version that I had translated to Spanish. I was worried all night that someone was going to spot some typo or a grammatical error on it.

I woke up the computer, as I only turn it off when I travel. I always only put it to sleep. I received a couple of miserable emails. The day seemed bleak outside from my window and it felt cold in the room. I turned on the heater. A friend started chatting me, telling me that today was the launch of Halo 4. I had already pre-ordered it I tell him, but I won’t receive it until Thursday. He sends me a bunch of codes that I need to plug on some Doritos page to get some bonus in the game as soon as I start playing. I asked him, how the hell he got 20 codes, did he had a Doritos fest or something? My friend, as a good resourceful Peruvian, spent the best 5 minutes of his day at the supermarket taking photos of Doritos bags and their Halo 4 codes.

As the morning rolled the emails were getting nicer. Friends reconnecting, and also making plans for my London trip next week. I also had finally purchased tickets to visit Arundel, a castle that has been on my top list for some years now. I ordered a pizza as I wasn’t heading to work until 4pm. I turned on the Xbox to distract myself, to not overthink, and went on a very good winning streak on PES2013. Suddenly it struck me that I was being really dumb to order pizza as probably they would feed us pizza as well at the newsroom.

Stopped at the post office and dropped some Cloudberry orders. There were lots of people outside. I could see many proudly wearing their “I Voted” stickers on their coats. The coffee shops around my subway station were packed. Not that I care, I don’t drink coffee, but I have the bad habit of walking watching the store fronts, their windows, their displays, instead of just looking ahead. Suddenly the smell of the halal cart always gives me the heads up that the stairs to the subway station are just a couple of steps away.

I live at the end of a subway line so I don’t need any luck to find a place to sit down. There’s always one. Thanks to that I’ve been able to devour so many books this year. Something unthinkable in Miami. This is one of the things I’m most thankful to NYC, the reading time it has offered me in it’s subways. The ride feels shorter and accomplished at the same time.

From Herald Square to the office is another 10 minute walk. I walk it fast. Sometimes I stop by my bank’s atm. Today is not one of those days. It’s almost 4pm when I enter our building. The lobby is packed. There are huge lines waiting to check in at the front desk. It’s election day I’m reminded. I’m excited all of a sudden. This is why I like working for the news industry. When the newsroom comes alive and we are all running around with the sole goal of providing the rest of the world with the most accurate information.

This day I’m changing desks. I’m moving closer to let’s say the main hub, outside of our department. I’m working directly with our mobile app and those who update it. I’m in charge of some balance of power map, updating it every couple of minutes, as soon as a state is called, as soon as new House representatives are called, or the Senate as well. I live in the future, I know who has been elected and which state has been called before the rest. Until I push the update and then it’s public knowledge.

Of course by 6:30 pm we are treated to pizza. One that is kind of greasy and not very tasty. And warm soda cans. I grab three slices of meat lovers and head to my desk. The margherita pizza seems to be the least favourite from what I observe. I’m sitting close to the big table where they’ve set up or dinner. Everyone, from every corner of our floor, is driven here, not for the smell or the taste of greasy pizza, but for the free-ness of it. And then, it’s going to be a long night, better have your belly full.

The night goes smoothly aside from some incorrect tweets we make. We notice other websites calling some states before the results are ready. They take risks. We can’t though, we need to be 100%. That’s why people trust us. I get a bit frustrated when the soda machines have run out of soda. I return to my desk and keep updating. By 1am I have made 65 png files for our mobile app. I’m exhausted.

The president calls his victory before anyone else does on Twitter. A couple of minutes later it’s official. We will go home early, and Florida won’t matter at all. Ohio decided it. We congratulate each other. The newsroom is cheerful because we all agree we’ve done a really good job and things went really well. There was no major mistakes or bugs, everything worked accordingly. I want to say it was a successful night. I love the newsroom. I love covering events like this. I like feeling history so close to me.

By 1 pm, in a surprising good mood, one that I haven’t had in months, I walk alone the streets of midtown, under the shadow of the Empire Estate building, watching flashy store displays, Macy’s big Christmas tree, and the last open halal carts on the way. The night is cold, but it feels warm to live in the US today. I put on my gloves, I push play and the Sugargliders glide me gently into the N line. In less than an hour I’ll be home. And things are going to be bright again from now on.

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Here’s another band that I’ve been trying to get their one and only 7″ without luck. Not because it’s terribly expensive, but because I always end up losing at the last minute on eBay. One day hopefully I’ll be the lucky winner. Their name was Life Studies, and they were Gloucester.

A cathedral city, capital of its county which was built on a flat spot of land, Gloucester is situated on the River Severn and the Bristol and Birmingham Railway.  Gloucester was founded in AD 97 by the Romans under Emperor Nerva as Colonia Glevum Nervensis, and was granted its first charter in 1155 by King Henry II.

Cathedral city, Roman city. Sounds like my kind of town. I haven’t been there yet though, but I was really surprised the day I was taught that you pronounce the name of this town “Gloster”. I used to say something much longer.

There’s a tiny bio around the internet that says:

The Life Studies were formed in 1982 in Gloucester by Graham Nicoloson, Phillip Thomas and Martin Bennett. This is their only single release, and was featured by John Peel on several occasions on his radio show. The band performed several extremely successful gigs in and around Gloucestershire, before dis-banding. Nicholson and Thomas went on to form ‘The Trout Faced Few’ whilst they were considered one of the most influential and popular in Gloucestershire, they did not release any records. 

Only one 7″ as far as I know was released. The 7″ went by the name “Homeward” and included three great pre-C86 songs as this was released in 1983! The songs are: “Girl on Fire”, “Inside Out” and “Citizen of Love”.  The single was released on Occasion Records. Catalog number OCC-001. My guess being that it was a self-release.

On this record they also counted with the help of Richard Thomes, Helen Davey and Dean Gifford. Not so sure what instruments each of them played. The songs were produced and engineered by John Eeles. And the whole thing was recorded at Spadger Studio in Rudford, Gloucestershire.

The sleeve has on both sides a black and white photo. Both of a girl. As I’m a bit knowledgeable when it comes to movies I recognize these photos from the Spanish movie “The Spirit of the Beehive”.

The Spirit of the Beehive (Spanish: El espíritu de la colmena) is a 1973 Spanish drama film directed by Víctor Erice. The film was Erice’s debut and is considered a masterpiece of Spanish cinema. Made during the last few years of Francisco Franco’s dictatorship, and set in 1940, the film subtly criticises post-civil war Spain.  The film focuses on the young girl Ana and her fascination with the 1931 American horror film Frankenstein, as well as exploring her family life and schooling. The film has been called a “bewitching portrait of a child’s haunted inner life”.

Back to that band they formed after, “Trout Faced Few”. I found a little text about them from a band that supported them back in the day, The Living End:
The Citizen’s were a Gloucester group with practically all their members coming from Brockworth and most had been in a band called The Trout Faced Few. The Citizens and The Trout Faced Few leant heavily on Manchester post-punk outfit The Fall for their inspiration!

I’ve only heard so far “Girl on Fire” and “Inside Out”. Still missing “Citizen of Love”. But how much I enjoy the trumpets on “Inside Out”. And the jangly guitars. It’s really thrilling that they were doing this kind of pop ahead of the C86 days, before the rest caught up. And I can only wonder if there are any more songs by them. Perhaps a demo tape stored in some box, on the cupboard, somewhere.

And that’s all I’ve found about this band. But of course, if you know anything else about them, have a spare 7″ of “Homeward”, or more songs by them, use that little comment box just below this post.

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Listen
Life Studies – Inside Out

Sandy. Ugly storm. I’ve spent the last couple of days away from home, away from my records, my books, my computer. Due to work I’ve been staying in a fancy hotel in Manhattan, 5 blocks away from our offices. We have to cover the storm, that’s our duty. I would love to go home right now, but the subway system has been shut down and the bridges won’t open until later today. Yesterday I worked 12 hours.

The hotel lobby is packed with people. Are they feeling cabin fever? There’s families sitting down in couches, on the floor. Everyone with laptops and ipads. They barely talk to each other. There are sirens wailing and it rains intermittently. The streets were empty and peaceful. The distant sound of things cracking. The tourists queue at the couple of bodegas still open. All of them have better jackets than the New Yorkers. They were better prepared.

At the hotel a black plush gorilla welcomes me at the room. There’s a kitchenette. There’s a bunch of white towels. We had wi-fi one day, but we have no more. There is no room service. The beds are unmade. The heating is way too high but I don’t have control over that. So I turn on the a/c, see if they cancel each other. Cars are honking.

At work there’s only one elevator working. And the newsroom is empty. We are just a handful cracking some news. But at the same time we are clueless about what’s happening. Always waiting for the major to come with some press release, updating us the state of the city. We see photos of destruction and flooding. We watch a video of an explosion on 14th street. It doesn’t feel that bad around here, but some areas seem to have been battered considerably.

I end up at St. Luke’s hospital. I have an issue on my right eye. My cornea has been scratched. The ER is empty. I don’t know if that’s a dream or a nightmare. ERs are never empty. The wind is blowing hard and you can hear it from the bunker like facilities of the hospital. They test my vision. I get a bunch of different drops on my eye. They numb it. With some tweezers they pull. I get prescribed some ointment that I have to apply directly in the eye. It’s odd. Meanwhile everyone is at home and are silently going through a blackout.

We get free food at work. Tasteless tuna and chicken wraps. Warm cans of diet Coke. Some fruit. That’s for lunch. For dinner some pasta. They arrive in big aluminum trays. I haven’t seen who delivers them. We eat quietly assuming this is not going to get better. At night we drink, but we run out rapidly of beer. The hotel bar closes at midnight.

The days are bleak. There’s not much to do other than finish reading some novels I’ve brought. The pillows are awful and the mattress feels strange. Maybe the bed is too high. The shower is terrible, there’s little pressure of water. And on top of that, it’s so low, it barely reaches my neck. I have to crouch to shampoo my hair. It’s only making me miserable.

I wonder how much longer this will last. On average they say it may take 4 more days to pump out the water from the subway tunnels. From my Miami experience I know these things take time. And perhaps it takes longer here as people are not used to this inclemency of the weather. I want to return home. This has been already ugly.

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The first time I even read the name of Twelve Angry Men was on the “Future” section of The Leamington Spa website. I think after that some other guitar pop friends have asked me about them on several emails. They knowing barely nothing about them, and me knowing absolutely nothing. I didn’t have a clue how many records they had released but I think we were all certain that they were British.

A couple of weeks ago I found this blog called “From a Northern Place”. I don’t know who runs it, but it seems this fan owns a nice bunch of obscure and rare records. Sadly there is no write up of the records he posts, but he seems like a reasonable person and only links to one song from the release. The only issue being that he links to a WAV file instead of an MP3, being considerable bigger in size, usually around 40 megs and counting.

In any case, I feel a visit around this blog is really recommended as I’m finally listening to many bands that I only knew by them. So I’m thankful for that, for the work he is putting by scanning in hi-res fashion not only the cover and back cover but also the labels of the record.

Among these posts there is one of Twelve Angry Men. At last I could confirm they had one release, a 7″. And maybe now you call can help me start filling in the blanks. The sleeve artwork in black and white. Some band photos on the cover. On the back more band photos. The A side is “Magdalene”, but the 7″ is titled “… the Heart of Magdalene”. The B side is “Clyde”.  Sleeve design by Steve Godfrey. Photography by Neil Stockwell and Ian Firth.

The back cover has some more information. There is a quote on the top that says: “… he left the land of freedom for the promise of religion”. I wonder what they mean by that. All songs by Paul Flinton. Recorded by Stewart Field at Meadow Farm. If it’s the Meadow Farm studio that I found online, then it’s closed to Ripley, in Derbyshire. Very close to where Indietracks takes place every year.

The release is number 009 on Everbimes Records. They seem to be a record label fro Nottingham. So yes, close to Ripley. It starts making some sense. I can’t find more info on the label, especially as according to Discogs there are 2 labels with the same name. Should I pick one? Probably not.

The band lineup at least at the time of the release was: Nick Smith (v0cals), Paul Lillie (bass), Paul Flinton (guitars & vocals), Chris Zani (mandolin) and Steve Godfrey (drums and percussion). On the B-side, “Clyde”, the cello was played by Vicky Evetts.

So far I’ve only had the chance to hear the B side, and it’s a nice slow jangly song. But I’m very curious about the A side, I would love to have a chance to listen to it. If anyone knows anything else about them, has spare copies, or even an MP3 of “Magdalene” that can share, please share!

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Listen
Twelve Angry Men – Clyde

This Monday I finally booked train tickets to travel from London to Edinburgh on another Monday. The 19th of November.  Just a day after the Chickfactor shows. The idea being to hang out with my friend Giorgos, head to Glasgow that same day when I arrive, see The Aislers Set, and Tuesday go to Loch Ness to fulfill my childhood dream. Stand outside castle Urquhart and watch the loch and perhaps become hopeful of seeing Nessie.

I would have loved to stay longer in Scotland, but time is of the essence when I travel. American companies are not known for being generous when it comes to vacations. Perhaps I should have skipped the Chickfactor shows. There have been some signals telling me that I may not spend a fantastic time. First it was Alex that wasn’t going to come anymore. That was a hard blow to swallow. And then this week, after getting excited at last, after getting to know some dear friends are coming, some that I haven’t seen in years, I get an email from the organizer telling me that I need permission from the bands if I want to film them with my ridiculous Sony Bloggie camera for my own private archive. Well, after buying 4 tickets, and even going to the shows in NY, paying quite a bunch of money, to support the shows, the bands, and why not Chickfactor, I feel unwelcome. Treated badly. Today when everyone has iphones and similar devices, getting a message like that, just because, is quite infuriating. Especially to me, one that militantly supports and celebrates indiepop and DIY. I guess some people have a different agenda.

On top of that, a couple of days after, Chickfactor puts up a poll, where some people involved with the scene answer if it’s ok about having their stuff uploaded on Spotify or Youtube. Of course it is biased and everyone tends to say it’s not. That bands don’t keep their rights and such. This is quite dumb. Because Spotify and Youtube are two very different services, and if someone has ever used them would know. One involves money whereas the other doesn’t. It’s like talking about pears and apples here. I won’t go in detail on this as it’s pretty obvious.

I can agree with some of the statements only if people film bands and then use it for commercial gain. But if you film as a souvenir of a gig you went, to keep it to yourself, maybe to show some friends, and so, I don’t see any harm. I even see love to the bands, respect and caring. It’s not like one of this little cameras have so much memory to store a whole festival, so one chooses their favourite band, or even your favourite songs to record. It’s a matter of love. Nothing else.

I stressed on emails that I was filming for private use. That it was for me. But the organizer insisted that I asked permission to the band beforehand. That kind of attitude, honestly, makes me very unwelcome. There are ways and there are manners, especially when we are all pushing the car on the same direction, a better indiepop scene. Though maybe I’m naive, and everyone has a personal agenda. I don’t know. I can only feel disappointed.

If I’m not allowed to film. I won’t. I just spend over a 100 dollars for this little camera. It’s not much. But it’s kind of sad as I bought it for this special occasion. I’m sure other people will, with their iphones. The quality won’t be that great, but it’s something. And they will upload it to Youtube. A place where band comments, if any, are very thankful and appreciative to the fan who uploaded.

I don’t want to discredit anyone though, mind you. I believe that these shows are one of a kind, and I’m grateful they are happening. I’m utterly happy to see at last my beloved Would-Be-Goods, to see again Lupe playing with Pipas (3rd time?), and my friend Yoshi and The Aislers Set. I’m glad! It’s something very special to see The Legendary Jim Ruiz Group too. I’m very thankful for that and I think we need more of these. I think there’s been a fantastic work in organizing these, but I hope it’s not forgotten that it’s the fans too that make this possible, that they are the ones paying for the tickets, so a little bit of courtesy wouldn’t hurt.

The moment I arrive that Saturday to Heathrow, when I meet my friends Jennifer and Miguel perhaps for lunch that day, and then go check-in at my hotel in Argyle Street, close to King’s Cross, to be reminded of the mornings and the breakfasts with Alex in that same neighborhood, holding hands and getting lost in one way streets and fenced parks, will be a pleasure. I will feel full of life, even if it’s bleak and damp in London. Because I’m happy there and nothing, absolutely nothing, will change that.

Right now my Oyster card is ready, and I can only look forward to a good weekend of indiepop, filming bands or not. I cheekily wonder if I am allowed to take photos too.

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Time for our obscure indiepop band of the week! This time let’s travel north of London, south of Edinburgh. Manchester.

The information about this band is scarce. I think it was Stephan who asked me about this band and so I looked around online. First finding some tracks on Youtube and then some entries on Discogs. I got hooked instantly to the song “Plenty” on Youtube. I immediately bought a copy of the “Plenty” mini-album. And now I’m recommending it to you. Still I need to manage to get all their other releases, especially their 7″. You know I’m a sucker for them.

First release was the “Cherish” single. With “Ordinary” on the B side. This is their only 7″ single as far as I know. The artwork is very simple. Mostly text over white background. On the back cover, a rose and the tracklist. It makes it clear there that they hailed from Wythenshawe.

Historically within Cheshire, in 1931 Wythenshawe was transferred to the City of Manchester, which had begun building a massive housing estate there in the 1920s to resolve the problem of its inner city slums. With an area of approximately 11 square miles (28 km2), Wythenshawe has often been referred to as one of the largest council housing estates in Europe, although a significant proportion of the estate is now privately owned housing.

This record was released on 1986 and put out by Lo-Type Records. Catalog number LYT001.

After this release there are two more listed on Discogs though there are no dates for them. One is the “Plenty” mini-album, and the other one is “Soundtrack of The Film”. Both being 12″s. The mini album was also released on Lo-Type Records (catalog LYT005) and included the songs  “Plenty”, “Finchley Bitch”, “Yellow Flame”, “Going Home”, “The Last American Socialist” and “Wilderness”. The record was distributed by Probe Plus.

The other release, “Soundtrack of the Film” was released by Big Terry Records (catalog FB001) and had the songs “Plenty”, “Emily Street”, “Rachel” and “Plenty (remix)”.

It seems there were more releases though according to the Phoenix Hairpins blog. They list a 12″ called “Weird Scenes Inside The Cyprus” and the “Wrecked” LP.  They also mention that Chris Yets (trumpets & vocals) is now a painter and part of the Stuckist movement.

From what I’ve heard on Youtube mostly, I can tell that they started as a post-punk band, it’s pretty clear on their first 7″. But as they evolved, they got janglier as you can see on “Plenty” or “Wilderness” for example. And you’d be surprised how nice these songs are. And it seems they evolved later a bit into Madchester in the early 1990s. I do wonder how I have never heard about them until recently. And these songs have been up there in Youtube since 2010! So, yeah, always living under a rock.

Then on Amazon.com I found this bit: The “POORS OF REIGN” were an indie band of the late 80’s early 90’s and consisted of: Eamonn Marrinan (Bass), Carl Mansell (Drums), Brainy (Vocals/Guitar), Darren Bullows (Vocals/Guitar, Chris Yates(Vocals/Trumpets) and Kevin Marrinan (Allsorts).

It also lists “Wrecked” as a 27 song CD. 27 songs! Really?

Also found this flyer on the Manchester District Music Archive. What a great lineup, Frankie Sidebottom, Man from Delmonte, Poors of Reign and The Woodentops. Gone to Earth too. But I don’t know them. They were playing at the International 2 on the 1st of December of 1987. A Tuesday.

It doesn’t seem that hard to track down their releases and for a very affordable price. Though I should save so I can have extra money in the UK. But we’ll see. I’d listen to the mini-album when it arrives and see how much I love it. The songs I heard on it already are really good. But, if you have spare copies, if you know anything else about this obscure Manchester band, their whereabouts or some anecdotes from back in the day, just scroll down a bit longer, and share with us on the comments section!

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Listen
Poors of Reign – Plenty

Outpatient: a patient who is not hospitalized overnight but who visits a hospital, clinic, or associated facility for diagnosis or treatment.

It’s Cloudberry news week at the blog. Next week I’ll tell another indiepop-related story, those that I know at least my friends Jennifer and Cristóbal like. I do enjoy them a lot too, and it feels good to make my memory work putting some of those experiences in writing. Though to tell the truth, I would love to write a novel, add some little fiction here and there. An indiepop novel. Though I must admit I have doubts about my English, if it’s cut to impress any publishing imprint out there. But anyways, let’s stop elucidating and move on because even though there are not many surprises, I have dates, facts and plenty of exciting facts for the upcoming weeks and months for Cloudberry.

As most of you know The Spook School 7″ is out since October 10th, but maybe many of you don’t know that the band put together a fun video for the A side, “Here We Go”, pasting together lots of small clips Naomi filmed on her phone during their travels to France and London, as well as images from their time in their homeland Scotland. If you haven’t seen it yet, please do so here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eEVPHnHW7g

The other news has to do with the release date of the Strange Idols retrospective CD. That’s coming out on the 25th of October. So yes, next week! I hope you have already read the interview just below this post. I know, it’s long, but it’s great. One of the best interviews published in this blog for sure. And all members answered. So you get a point of view from all of them. Anyhow, the CDs are already at Cloudberry HQ since yesterday and today I started posting pre-orders.
I’ve been carrying the CD today on my pre-historic, cambric, cd-player, and it sounds fab. And it looks great as well. I feel I want to build just a shelf for the Cloudberry Cake releases. They look so nice altogether.

Then this week I’m sending to press the Nixon 7″ at last. And it seems the next Cake Kitchen release will be somehow related to Nixon too. But I can’t say anymore until it’s a bit more concrete. But you can make your own conjectures.

The fanzine is almost done. At last I got all the interviews and they’ve been nicely placed and styled. It will include interviews with Nixon, Caucus, Alpaca Sports, Bonne Idée, Youngfuck and The Spook School. The only thing I’m missing at the moment is my brainy editorial and a quick check throughout the whole zine if I find any typos. The CD tracklist is ready too and it looks like this:

a1. Go Violets – Runner
a2. The Spook School – Are You Who You Think You Are?
a3. Caucus – Party
b1. Pale Spectres – Better than Love
b2. Youngfuck – Högt

A very international lineup, right? We have Australia, Scotland, Japan, France and Sweden.

And last but not least, you can also preview a new track from an upcoming release! It’s a new 7″ by Germany’s Tripping the Light Fantastic with artwork by the lovely Karin Soderquist. You can download and enjoy “Heavy Heart” here too.

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And now let’s try to recover a band from the past. An obscure one like we always like: The Outpatients.

The first time I heard them was through that great blog The Jangle Pop Boutique. Whatever happened to it. I don’t know. But plenty of great gems were posted there as Youtube video (sans the video, just sound). It was great as it featured obscure bands, a little description, and no download links. True to my ideals.

The song that was posted on the blog was “Dog Eared Love”, a pretty pretty jangle pop gem, that one wonders how the hell you haven’t heard it before. And why it wasn’t ever properly released?! If the world was just a fair place…

Some time later I found “Pearl” on Youtube. And I was smitten. Another perfect jangly song. Instead of making things easier, it only made me more curious, the mystery of who were The Outpatients grew on me. I noticed that the guitar player had commented on one of the videos and immediately sent a message.  He was nice to reply the first time.  He said:
“Hi and thank you for your message.  Jinkers, 1980’s, such a long time ago.  However, yes, I would be delighted to help. I may have toooo much information for you.  I had a habit of recording things like the fella from the Rolling Stones, I belive he had the order they made at the chipper after their first rehearsal! Let me know what kind of stuff you need. “

Sadly after sending my overwhelming amount of questions he never got back to me.

Finglas/Glasnevin, Dublin. Never been there. Never been to Ireland period. But that’s where The Outpatients were from. It strikes me a bit as there are not that many Irish indiepop bands. I can think of Hey Paulette from the top of my head.

According to the Irish Rock Discography site, the band was active from 1987 to 1990 and was formed by Ronan, Pat, Greg O’Beirne (who was the one I got in touch with), and Noel.

There’s also a small bio there:
Finglas area quartet who recorded some demo tapes in 1987-88 described as “infectious tunes” by Hot Press. They appeared on Danceline’s Swimming Out of the Pool compilation in 1988 , had a single on Danceline in 1989 and split in 1990.

Greg O’Beirne later in Film (1991-93), Saltmine (1993-94) and The Ferromones (1994-97). Roadie Paul O’Brien later fromed Groov’in Statues.

They also list a discography:

– First demo tape (1988): there were four songs included: “Pearl”, “The Wildest Woman in Glasnevin” and “Rock Steady Freddy”.
– Second demo tape (1989): three songs on this one: “Pearl”, “Corner Shop” and “Dog Eared Love”
– Two tracks on the “Swimming Out of the Pool” compilation (1988). This was released by Danceline Records (catalog DLP 1001). The songs included were “Pearl” and “The Wildest Woman in Glasnevin”
– And an elusive 7″, that supposedly has “Pearl” on the A side, but no one knows what’s on the B side. It might have been released or might have not. If it was, it was on Danceline Records as well, catalog number CLS005 and would have been out on 1989. No idea if there was a picture sleeve for it.

And that’s more or less about it. There are some more MP3s to listen and also some comments from the band members on this blog post by the Dublin Opinion. But aside from that, there is no more information about The Outpatients, more importantly, we have no clue if they ever actually released that 7″!

If you know anything else about them, please, leave a comment! And if anyone has a spare copy of the “Swimming out of the Pool” comp, let me know too!

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Listen
The Outpatients – Pearl

I remember the fist time I arrived to London. I passed hastily through all the passport controls and customs. The officers didn’t ask many questions and they seemed not to care much. At the arrivals terminal I found a bench, and sitting down next to a loud Indian lady talking on her cellphone, facing a Money Exchange store, I waited patiently for Jennifer.

She had just moved to the UK. And I was going to attend my first pop festival outside the US. February of 2010. My motive to go to the UK wasn’t exclusively to see an amazing lineup of pop bands, but to see K as well. After my Stockholm visit the whole situation wasn’t clear anymore. I was sure there was something, but nothing had happened. Perhaps I was idealizing the time I had spent with her. I was probably clinging to a letter she wrote me the day I was leaving, promising to read it only upon arriving to US. A letter written in Swedish, which I halfway understood, and shyly had to ask a friend to complete the translation. A letter that gave me hope. A letter that made me decide that I wanted to see her again as soon as possible.

Jennifer showed up. She was holding a big piece of paper, “Welcome Roque”. It was heart-warming. She was a bit late, but how could I ever complain with such greeting. Always after leaving the baggage claim area, and heading to exit the airport, I see all these people waiting for someone, with signs, Mr. This, Mrs. That. Some are really nice. I secretly wish my name was there, somewhere. I check them all rapidly with the corner or my eye, but no one is every picking me up. This was the exception. The only time I’ve ever been received with such warmth.

I got for the first time an Oyster card. She made me buy an expensive 35 pound sort of pass. On my second visit I learned that this was a bad deal. But anyhow, for this one time, it worked. While waiting for the train, I got a crash course on the zone system. I couldn’t believe there wasn’t a single price for the rides. It seemed a little bit too chaotic to be doing maths with different prices every time you wanted to go somewhere. Eventually the Piccadilly line train arrived, and for the first time I was riding the tube. That tube whose map I had studied in a Graphic Design History class back in university, that tube that was bound to Cockfosters and I couldn’t stop grinning.

The ride was pleasing. I can only compare it to the ride Alex and me took from Barajas Airport to Sol in Madrid. There was new sort of excitement. It was like life was a box of chocolates just waiting to be opened and devoured. I immediately felt at home. I always feel at home in London. I understood why Jennifer moved to London, why she loved it this much. Since that time, I dream of following her footsteps, as the one American friend that actually made it happen. I nag and nag my bosses here in New York to at some point, whenever there’s an opening, to transfer me to our bureau there. Crossing fingers, as I do think they will consider it.

We rode the train to Green Park. Of course, outside there was a park. We walked around looking for a place to have lunch. All the restaurants seemed kind of classy, juxtaposed on the ground floors of magnificent buildings. Nothing like the cheap looking buildings of Miami. These seemed made of proper concrete, grayish and stone like cold, brick-built and not that flimsy way that we have here in America for constructing houses with wood and plaster. They all looked expensive.

I had a sandwich at a café. And a beer. No one asked me for ID or being over 18. Probably because I haven’t shaved since leaving my house the day before. It was a nice lunch with Jennifer, talking about expectations, dreams, and the whole indiepop gossip that keeps the world going. She then explained me how to get to Walthamstow where I was staying for the first couple of days with Mr. STSC and K. It didn’t sound too difficult. She recommended me buying an A-Z guide for London streets just in case. I didn’t. I did invest in an umbrella though on my way there.

As usual the poor British people have issues when trying to charge a “swipe” card. It seems it doesn’t fit in their brains that cards have a magnetic stripe. So used they are to their chip little thing and inserting it to some sort of machine reader. Took around 10 minutes for the waitress to charge me. Despite that, as expected I was nice and left her a tip.

When I finally got to Blackhorse Station it was pouring. First day in London and I get to see English rain. The fantastic weather of the British isles. Wet, damp, and a bit cold. I was wearing winter clothes for the first time since I moved back to Miami from Texas in 2005. The walk down the road, crossing a couple of pubs and grocery store was a bit painful. My heart was speeding. As soon as I arrived and was welcomed to the apartment, I learned that K had been waiting for me but had left already. My pulse slowed down. It will all wait until the Betsey Trotwood gig that night. A night were I was told to shut up a thousand times. A night where The Pines dedicated me “Please Don’t Get Married Without Asking Me”. A night were my romance with London had just started.

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A pilgrim (from the Latin peregrinus) is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) who is on a journey to a holy place. Typically, this is a physical journeying (often on foot) to some place of special significance to the adherent of a particular religious belief system. In the spiritual literature of Christianity, the concept of pilgrim and pilgrimage may refer to the experience of life in the world (considered as a period of exile) or to the inner path of the spiritual aspirant from a state of wretchedness to a state of beatitude.

This was a band that I discovered in the Myspace days. I actually wrote them to do an interview and they agreed. Sadly I never got the answers. I wonder if I could check those emails we exchanged, but with Myspace mail system it would take hours in the best of cases, I think it would be impossible. Myspace is a piece of crap. It’s a shame as I exchanged so many great emails with friends and bands there, emails that I would have liked to store, like those ones when I asked bands to release a record with Cloudberry.

Some months later on Ebay I would win some Woosh fanzines and there was a little piece written about this band:

“And  from Hartlepool, of all places, came a wonderful demo tape from The Pilgrims, two days too late to appear on the flexis with this issue. But hopefully in the near future you’ll be able to hear the delightful “Chemically Yours” on one of our floppy discs.
Four tracks ‘Waiting (For Yesterday)’,  ‘Girl from the Outerzone’, ‘Eloquent Silence’ and ‘Chemically Yours’, the latter being the track that clearly stands out for me. A Crazy mixture of mixed up vocals and guitars, ‘Chemically Yours’ brings back memories of the superb Fire Engines.
It’s likely coming from Hartlepool, The Pilgrims will disintegrate into nothing, but not if Woosh has its way.
Contact: Patrick Han”

I’ve already heard two of those songs on Myspace, “Chemically Yours” and “Waiting for Yesterday”. Also on the same social network I had the chance to listen to two other songs that I assume are from a later period: “Don’t Do Today” and “359 Miles”.

“Chemically Yours” as far as I know was their only song that had some sort of release. It appeared on the tape compilation “Something’s Burning in Paradise”. It was the opening track of this tape released by Subtle Records that included classic bands like Another Sunny Day, The Mayfields or James Dean Driving Experience to name a few.

Remember how Woosh used to say that they would release a flexi by The Pilgrims. Well they did, kind of. On issue number 4 of the fanzine, Woosh included a split flexi by Eye Pilgrims and Choo Choo Train. You guessed it. The Pilgrims were now called Eye Pilgrims. And in this release they included a song called “Wall of Sand”.

Many years later, some of the members of the band formed The Factory Owners that released a 3″ CDR on Unpopular Records. I couldn’t find any information about this release sadly. I guess I came in too late to the party.

And that’s about all I could find about The Pilgrims. If I remember correctly, I used to be in touch with Patrick from the band, but I could be wrong. That was back in the day. Those days were many 80s band were excited to join Myspace and share their songs. Oh how many great bands I’ve found there. I should revisit my friend list and try to feature some of those great bands in the upcoming weeks!

If anyone knows anything else about The Pilgrims, or has some more songs that could be shared, please get in touch. There’s a lovely comment box just below the MP3 link!

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Listen
The Pilgrims – Chemically Yours

Not a bad week in Cloudberry-land. Boxes of every size and envelopes of all kind of colours have been arriving at home. Records, books, and especially Cloudberry release parts have been showing up.  Today I even met the UPS deliveryman at last. He joked about all these boxes he has always been leaving at my door, he wondered what kind of hoarder I was. Today he brought a box full of inserts for The Spook School. Three inserts for your price. The usual Cloudberry catalog insert, a lyrics sheet and a story written by our Scottish friends.

The fanzine is shaping up nicely. I received the song that Caucus will contribute for the CD compilation and it is great! Now just missing one song and we are done. For the printed zine, I’m still missing the editorial piece, which I’ve been struggling a bit as I really want to write something positive and not some tearjerker about what I’ve been through in the recent months. I’ll come along I know. And also missing some interview answers from a couple of bands. The rest is done, and it feels great. After a little more than a year I’ll have a new fanzine.

While I find myself listening to The Stone Roses, which is a bit odd, I get an email from Nixon. The mixes are ready and the 7″ is moving forward. I should receive them shortly, and well, send it to press at last! These coming months are going to be the busiest for Cloudberry! So many releases coming out! I feel quite refreshed about the indiepop scene these days I must say, like back in 2007! I’ve started socializing again, making new friends, expanding this network of indiepop fans, and meeting new people all over. I have noticed that there is actually many young people that like indiepop, new people, new blood. This used to worry me a bit, thinking there wasn’t a new generation coming up, that will step up, but I think there will be.

On the Starke Adolf front, I’ve made some progress. Not as much I would have liked to, but I’ve got a couple of replies from bands, and some have already provided me songs. I’ll have to keep pestering the rest. The Meta Band, The Happy Birthdays and Aerospace are in. There are some other bands that have confirmed that they’ll be in, but until I haven’t received their songs I won’t announce it. But now I should start working on the artwork for this release!!

This past weekend my mum left New York too, and that means, that I’ll miss her a bit sure, but it mostly means I’ll have more time too to work on things.

Shamelessly though, I did buy the new Pro Evolution Soccer for the XBOX and that’s keeping me away from working on indiepop stuff for the past few days. It’s quite addictive. When I was a kid I wasn’t supposed to play much videogames, but that was ok, I enjoyed playing footie or basketball. I wasn’t supposed to stay late either. Though I did on Sundays watching the football highlights show. I do both things nowadays.

And after the Jesus and Mary Chain gig, I haven’t really been out aside from getting some beers at the bar with friends. This Friday I’m considering going to the Raveonettes, just because I had a very nice experience when I saw them in Fort Lauderdale back in 2003 or 2004. I don’t own any of their records or know their songs, but that time they put such a good show, and their fuzzy guitars sounded really good to me. And then Saturday perhaps Mondo? It’s been months since I’ve been there. Should try to get early, that’s when Maz plays the good songs. And then Monday Jens Lekman? Same with Raveonettes, I don’t know his songs, or own his records, but everyone says he is really good live. So why not. Taken by Trees will be opening, and I don’t really know them either, just know that Victoria from The Concretes fronts them, and she is always a nice sight. To be honest, Im just waiting for the Saint Etienne gig on the 26. But in the meantime, why not go out and enjoy what New York has to offer.

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before on the blog, but also taking advantage of New York, me and some friends have a sort of food club on Saturday lunch hour. The idea is to try different foods from different countries all the time. Stuff we’ve never had before you know. We’ve visited so many restaurants, most of them real hole in the wall in all kind of neighborhoods here. This weekend we’ll head out to Flushing for some Taiwanese cuisine. If any New Yorkers are reading this and want to join, please be my guest. Just get in touch!

Lastly, and I don’t know if you agree, I feel one of those indiepop chronicles I like to write have been missing on the blog. I’ll try to get one of those next week. Now let’s move to the obscure band of the week!

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hoverchair: A chair that levitates.

Why did they name the band The Hoverchairs? Who knows, maybe only them. I do like the name even if the meaning is kind of dumb. But it’s catchy. I believe I discovered them through Twee.net many years ago, and eventually found them on Myspace. I remember writing them if they’d be up for an interview but I believe I never heard back from them.  It’s a shame, if you head to their Myspace you can listen to 10 songs!! 10 fantastic jangly pop tunes, classic and timeless. The songs being:

– Shut Your Dirty Mouth (their anthem song, repeating “hey hey we are The Hoverchairs”)
– Saturday
– Hide and Seek
– Heaven She Said
– Blue Sunshine
– Another Angel
– Dangerman
– Atlanta
– Yellow Yellow
– Get Up Get Down

From these 10 songs only “Hide and Seek” was properly released. It was the A side of their one and only 7″ single released 1989 by Tempest Records (catalog TROY 7). The B side for this single was  “Two Pints And It Rains “.

About the sleeve, there’s a little note on 45cat. Someone writes:
“The cover was deliberately ‘Smithsian’, as the band were fans. The ‘cover star’ wasn’t a band member, but a friend named Shaun Niland – buy him a pint if you see him!”

The band has a little note too on their old Myspace, I assume written around the time they joined this dead social network in 2007. It reads:
“OK so it’s not exactly current but Steve Lamacq having played ‘Two Pints And It Rains’ as his lost 45 on Radio 6 recently prompted me to re-evaluate my teenage / early 20s and you know what, it ain’t all bad……. ”

The only other valuable information to be found there is this:
Members: Stinky – Vocals and Guitar; Shaun – Guitar; Zico – Bass; Jaz – Drums, B.Vox
Influences: Wedding Present, Jethro Tull, Motown, INXS!!!!!

The question remains, where did the other songs came from. From demo tapes? I tracked one down, “Blue Sunshine”. This one appeared on a tape compilation called “Just Another… Compilation” on  Flippin Ace Recording Co. On this compilation many great indiepop bands appear like The Ammonites, The Sainsburys, The Cudgels, The Sedgwicks, Strawberry Story and more!

On the Myspace pictures section, they have many tape covers, and even some designs that look like vinyl labels. On one of these, it shows a supposed single (or maybe it does exist?) where “Saturday” is the A side and there are two more songs on the flipside, “Why Don’t You Like Me?” and “I Can’t Sleep at Night”.  These songs penned by C.P. Henry. Will that be Stinky?

The band remains mysterious to me. But their songs resonate. They are great I think, the kind of indiepop I like, jangly, earnest, and chiming. Whatever happened to them after the demise of The Hoverchairs? where were they from (Scunthorpe I think??!)? if they had more songs? if they had more releases? if they contributed to more tape compilations? what they are doing now? etc, and etc, so many questions I’d like to ask. If you know anything about them, if you want to help me fill in the blanks, please do!

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Listen
The Hoverchairs – Blue Sunshine

Yesterday evening was quite nice, as they always are when Ed Shelflife is in town. Started with some beers at The Pony Bar in Hell’s Kitchen, I had a filling pumpkin stout, followed by Indonesian food for dinner (beef rendang as usual for me) and ended walking through Times Square to reach Rockefeller center. Also, as usual, we talked indiepop for the entire time. This is a feat for me, you won’t believe me, but I don’t usually like talking about music much. But with Ed it’s easy. We share our label dreams, our future plans, and then the inevitable gossip about the people involved in the scene.

Of course I can’t tell you what he is putting out next, that’s not my business, but there are some really exciting releases in the horizon that are still unannounced. It’s impressive though that by the end of the year he would have released 13 records just in 2012. That’s quite something. Especially now that it’s harder and harder to put out records as people, well I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining, don’t buy music anymore. I believe by the end of the year, Cloudberry will have released, 2 Cloudberry Cake Kitchen releases, the 3″ CD by Tiny Fireflies, the new fanzine, and hopefully 4 7″ singles. That’s 8 releases. 5 releases short. Tough. I joked with him about the end of year Twee.net polls, we already know who is going to win, that one label whose releases are sold out within weeks. Who knows how they do it. Must be a Copperfield trick.

But I can tell you about some of the upcoming Cloudberry releases though. These weeks I’ve been working hard on the label, and even on the blog, with a renewed excitement, and with plenty of ideas, and a revamped love for indiepop. Most of you do know that the next 7″ is the Spook School one that has “Here We Go” on the A side and “Cameraman” on the flipside. That’s coming out on October 10th. The Spook School also are showcased on the upcoming zine with an interview and a song on the CD compilation. Talking about this zine, it also contains interviews with Youngfuck, Earth First, Caucus, Nixon and  Alpaca Sports. Yes, you read that right, Alpaca Sports are joining the label and will release a 7″ pretty soon. I’m very excited about that. As I write these lines they are finishing the songs that will appear on the A side. The B side will include that fabulous soon-to-be-classic “She’ll Come Back for Indian Summer”.

I’m calling this one the Emerald fanzine. As usual the color ink of the fanzine changes. I think the next one will be orange. This zine will come with a CD like always, it’s aptly titled “Exposed on the Cliffs of the Heart “. The heart being my favourite topic, and not from a biochemical, physiological, point of view. The cover is graced by the beautiful and one of the few movie-crushes I’ve ever had, Irene Jacob as Veronique, from Kieslowski’s masterpiece The Double Life of Veronique. The CD will include songs by Youngfuck, The Spook School, Caucus and two new exciting bands that are yet to make a splash in the scene, but I’m sure they will in the not so distant future! Hopefully by the end of the week there will be more information online about the zine, and perhaps a pre-order button.

Also by mid October the Strange Idols compilation will be out. It includes all the songs ever released plus many unreleased tracks, among them the 4th single that sadly never came out. There are in total 13 songs, and they are all brilliant. I’m very happy with this release and I hope that those people that missed them when they were around get the chance to enjoy one of the best contemporary jangle pop bands. And those who did know them and were lucky enough to see them live, well, to rediscover them, and enjoy all these new tracks that you haven’t heard before. This CD is pure indiepop bliss. It will definitely charm any indiepop fan out there. I feel so happy because I really wanted to release that 4th single back in the day, and now at last I can do it. I was a big fan of theirs since I discovered them late in 2005 I think.

And there are some news too on the 7” end. There are two new bands that will join the Cloudberry family soon like Alpaca Sports. From London, UK, the band Flowers, who will start touring with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart shortly, all over Europe. And from Hamburg, Germany, Tripping The Light Fantastic, a quite popular band in their country but sadly not yet abroad. The quality of both singles is amazing. So please support the label so I can release these records as soon as possible.

There, that was a breakdown of what’s in the pipeline for Cloudberry. It’s going to be busy, it’s going to be exciting, it’s going to be fun and rewarding. I can’t wait for all of them to be out. And now I have to start working on a new Cloudberry Cake Kitchen collection. I have a couple of ideas, a couple of bands that I would like to do a deluxe collection of their songs. We’ll see, I’ve also gotten some nice suggestions by friends and readers alike.

But this is not the only stuff that’s keeping me busy. I’ve retaken the amazing project that is The Sound of Starke Adolf compilations. I’m working now hard on volume 2, seeking down these swedes, that are so difficult to get in touch with. I persevere, I’ll keep bugging them until I got their songs, and everything else I need to make a quality release as volume 1 was.

There is one thing that I need to stop doing though. I have to stop buying so many records. As of late I’m winning so much on eBay and it’s just dumb. I shouldn’t be spending this much, but I’m not sure what has happened but eBay sellers are listing every single item I have saved in my four different usernames’ saved searches! That’s 400 saved search items. I’m nuts. But I tell you, it makes this heart happy and forgetful.

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Let’s go all the way to Australia for the band of the week: Dreaming Genies. I’ve been looking for so long, after a tip of a friend (or was it because it was listed on Twee.net?), for their 1994 CD “Joan”. Still I haven’t had luck. I think because this was released in Japan, and it’s not very common for Japanese indiepop fans to be selling their collections. Or even to list items on eBay. Not common. Luckily some weeks ago, Heinz (again!), uploaded one of the tracks from the CD, and well, I fell in love with it.

The song is called “Sheperd song” and it’s just a wonderful blast of indiepop-punk, a la Eggplant, a la Juniper Moon, that I got hooked to it immediately. The band that I get reminded me the most is The Sorayas from Sweden though, do you remember them? I actually been looking to contact them so I can include them in one of The Starke Adolf comps. But ok, that’s another story. Let’s get back to the Dreaming Genies, let’s wake them up.

The band seems to have been formed in 1992 in Canberra, Australia’s capital. I try to recollect all my indiepop knowledge, and I can’t think of other bands coming from there. I can think of plenty from Melbourne, Perth or Sydney, but not Canberra.

The site of Canberra was selected for the location of the nation’s capital in 1908 as a compromise between rivals Sydney and Melbourne, Australia’s two largest cities. The word “Canberra” is popularly claimed to derive from the word Kambera or Canberry and mean “meeting place” in the old Ngunnawal language of the local Ngabri people

The band was formed by  Mark Broomhead on guitars, Alex Castro on drums, Jeff Smith on bass, Heath Stephens on bass, and Tania Zadoroznyj on guitars and vocals. And aside from this Joan CD they had also released two other CDs: “Wistaria” and “Pretty Hell”.

The little I know about “Wistaria” is that it was an EP and was released in 1993. The name of the album probably comes from Wisteria (also spelled Wistaria or Wysteria) is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae, that includes ten species of woody climbing vines native to the Eastern United States and to China, Korea, and Japan. Some species are popular ornamental plants, especially in China and Japan. An aquatic flowering plant with the common name wisteria or ‘water wisteria’ is in fact Hygrophila difformis, in the family Acanthaceae.

From “Pretty Hell” I could find one song on Youtube. It’s called “Breathe” and it’s said to be the 2nd song from this EP. The vocals are really nice, sounding like The Popguns, and the music it’s a bit rockier than the “Sheperd Song”. A sound that reminds me of The Heart Throbs. Not as engaging as the other one but still pretty enjoyable.

Let me figure out first where the word genie comes from:

The jinn (Arabic: جن‎ ǧinn, singular جني ǧinnī; also spelled djinn), or genies, are supernatural spirits mentioned in the Quran and Islamic mythology who inhabit an unseen world in dimensions beyond the visible universe of humans. Together, the jinn, humans and angels make up the three sentient creations of God. The Quran mentions that the jinn are made of a smokeless and “scorching fire”, and they have the physical property of weight. Like human beings, the jinn can also be good, evil, or neutrally benevolent.

The word genie in English is derived from Latin genius, meant a sort of tutelary or guardian spirit thought to be assigned to each person at their birth. English borrowed the French descendant of this word, génie; its earliest written attestation in English, in 1655, is a plural spelled “genyes.” The French translators of The Book of One Thousand and One Nights used génie as a translation of jinnī because it was similar to the Arabic word in sound and in meaning. This use was also adopted in English and has since become dominant.

So the Dreaming Genies. I found the names of other songs, but sadly I haven’t been able to listen to them, maybe some of you could help me: “Joan”, “Mina’s Story”, “Man with Backpack”, “Skeleton Man”, “Flowers”, “Thursday Night” and “Cyren”.

Going back to the “Joan” CD. It was released in Japan by a label called Behavior Saviour, and it was catalog BS009. This label seems to have been closely linked with a band called Tricycle Popstar, which I barely know and I guess could be reviewed on the blog sometime soon. Most of the releases on the label are by this band and in different formats from tapes to flexis. There were two CD compilations two, on both of them They Go Boom were included. On one of them Bulldozer Crash was included. We start seeing familiar faces.

And that’s all there is. All I could find about them. I wonder, are the rest of their songs as catchy and fun as this one? Some Japanese fan that I read (well, thru google translate), was saying the rest of the songs are more power pop style, and this “Sheperd Song” was anorak-sound. Was he right? Also whatever happened to them, the band? Were they involved with other bands before or after Dreaming Genies? Where are they now? And has anyone have a spare copy of this CD? So many questions, hope someone can help!

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Listen
Dreaming Genies – Sheperd Song

After a couple more of those bright silver Sapporo tall cans Elisabeth showed up with some friends. The Echo didn’t feel as lonely and immediately headed with her to the bar. I was surprised how good her English was now, she had picked a new accent in Oxnard and talked smack like a true American. The Dane that found her place in California. I gave her one of the free drink tickets I got and ordered some liquor. I continued with my Japanese spree.

We ran to the dancefloor as soon as we heard the first seconds of”Bigmouth Strikes Again”. Without any struggle we found ourselves in the middle of the crowd, in the middle of Guadalajara,  in the middle of the fiesta. Liz had joined us already and also another friend of Eli whose name I forgot! She was dancing and dancing waving her long hair all over the place. Some ‘naco’ kid, with his shirt half open, started dancing close to this nameless girl and doing his Latin moves all over the place. Hugging her, holding her hands, dancing way too close. He reminded me the Magneto kids. I’d love an early 90s Latin retro party.

“Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now” struck me. Got reminded of some things that I was trying to bury. Break-ups are never easy, even if you go through them many times, and they are a very common experience for the common folk. I grabbed the nameless girl, took her from the gold chained Chicano, and made her dance with me. Cheer up. Let’s have fun. It was close to 2 am and the DJ announced that this was going to be the last song. “There’s a Light That Never Goes Out”. He thanked everyone for coming and started dancing again with perfectly practiced Moz moves. I was told that this DJ actually plays in a Smiths tribute band, and of course, he plays to be Morrissey.

The song was quite a surprise, the DJ would mix the original Smiths song with Mikel Erentxun’s Spanish version. It was quite a treat. I was dancing happily, singing along, both in English and Spanish. Until the song was over. Until the night was over. I hugged the girl, and namelessly kissed her bye. I headed towards the bar, find Liz and Elisabeth, find a ride back to my host’s place. It was my last night in LA and I was told not to walk from the Echo to Silver Lake, that it was a very rough neighborhood.

The whole bunch of Eli’s friends and me walked towards a parking lot, a couple of blocks away of the venue. We hanged out there a bit. There was a big plush bear tied to one of the light posts. It had black tape on it’s eyes and mouth. Bear bondage. I rescued it, as I was the tallest I was asked to take him down. It was all wet though, maybe from the rain from the night before. We left it on top of someone’s car. I wonder what the reaction of the car owner had been. Goodbye to everyone and the night was over.

I woke up terribly late on Monday. There was no time for breakfast. Chris from Silver Screen was coming around to pick me up around noon to go get some nice lunch not too far from where I was staying. He showed up on time on a big black pickup. I met his wife, the sweet vocalist of Indonesian band Mocca. Do you remember them? They had some very nice releases a couple of years back. They rapidly filled me in how they met, how they fell in love. Long distance didn’t matter. That felt reassuring after what I’ve been through.

We talked and talked over beer and bloody marys. I devoured a fantastic salmon burger and a mountain of fries. We went through the early days of Silver Screen, the labels that Chris approached, the bands he loved, his new album that is waiting forever to be released, the 3″CD we did, the 7″ I have offered him and more. Talked about his Indonesian experience, his wedding, the great Indonesian cuisine, how people are so friendly there. It was fantastic to meet one of the most talented indiepop one-man band around at last. And I hope to see you again my friend.

After lunch I met with Marion for some more Los Angeles sightseeing, the last hours of my stay in California’s biggest city. We drove to Rodeo Drive, walked around that posh area; Beverly Hills, where I took photographs for a Russian couple; Bel Air, where I didn’t see the Fresh Prince; and eventually ended up driving next to the beach. We saw Malibu first and then we stopped at Venice Beach were we walked along pot doctors, crazy weightlifters, and tennis enthusiasts. Then headed for some happy hour cheap seafood, shrimp, fish and squid. My favourite.

The drive to the airport was short and mostly quiet. I was missing traveling with a partner, and pondering how much more rewarding it is. The sunset was happening and the orange sun was bleaching the houses and shops on the way. I found excitement again in music, in collecting, in talking about it, in sharing that with friends and fans alike. I enjoyed being alone in the mornings in a foreign place, walking on empty streets, holding no one’s hand. I would always miss her smile when I turn around, poking her nose, and waiting for her to pick her candies. I won’t deny that. There’s a special place for her in my heart. And when the sun was disappearing behind the last buildings I could see on the horizon, I decided to move on.

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I have news for the few Cloudberry fans out there. On October 10th The Spook School’s 7″ will be out! You can’t miss it. It’s one of the finest indiepop debuts in years, sounding so fresh, they’ve already become a favourite at all indiepop festivals! Also you can pre-order the Strange Idols’ Idolatry retrospective CD. That’s coming out very soon, hopefully by the end of October. So yes. Plenty of news. Also I’m working again on the fanzine and have some interviews lined up for the blog. So not all is bad, now I have much more time to work on the music I love.

Also, I’ve putting a lot of time, a lot of effort, to getting the second volume of The Sound of Starke Adolf compilations. Only today I emailed like 15 people! So, hopefully the 20 song CD that I have planned will be ready by the end of the year. Fingers-crossed.

I do want to ask for some tips and suggestions for the next Cloudberry Cake Kitchen release. I’ve been thinking of some bands but there’s nothing concrete yet. Who would you like to see as part of the Kitchen family?!

Oh, and last but not least there was this interesting academic paper written about the blog and the label: http://www.wordsinspace.net/lib-arch-data/2012-fall/?p=232

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The song for today is a recent discovery thanks to a Youtube upload from Heinz! I don’t know exactly, but the song makes me happysad, giddy at some points, and longing for days that won’t come back at some other moments. There’s something about the melancholic lyrics over the happy and bouncy, shambolic beat. It creates that beautiful contradiction that indiepop has.

The band name is Madison and the song is “She’s June”.

Well, there’s plenty of Madison places in the US alone. The Wisconsin capital being the one that most people know about. But the actual origin is that it was a surname, a variant of Mathieson meaning son of Matthew.

And about June, there are two theories of where the name comes from: The first is that the month is named after the Roman goddess Juno, wife of Jupiter and equivalent to the Greek goddess Hera; the second is that the name comes from the Latin word iuniores, meaning “younger ones,” as opposed to maiores (“elders”) for which the preceding month May may be named.

Also June’s birthstones are the Alexandrite, the Moonstone, and the pearl. The meaning is health and longevity. Of course the Alexandrite part makes me cringe.

But about the band, nothing, zip, zero, nada. The only thing I could figure out from the image posted on Youtube is that the song appeared on a tape called Garage-Flowers. On the green sleeve I could recognize The Pearly Gatecrashers on the tracklist. The Honeyloops. Eliminator Jr. And Silvania. My fellow Peruvians! Seeing Silvania and Eliminator Jr. it makes me guess that the tape compilation has some sort of Spanish and Elefant records connection.

I would guess they are English and they sound great!, with those na-na-nas, on the back. Great lyrics, ramshackle guitars, a bit like How Many Beans Make Five, or The Lovelies, but dreamier than them! Me and Dean Martin too? Possibly. A lot like Mary-Go-Round from Sweden without the girl/boy vocals. But that kind of pop! I can’t even imagine what happened to them. As far as I know they never released anything, but if they recorded one song, they must have recorded more. So if anyone knows anything about them, let me know!

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Listen
Madison – She’s June