Here’s another band I’ve discovered thanks to Satomi’s mix CDs and it’s one that seems to be impossible to google thanks to, of course, Belle & Sebastian. But I’ve managed to collect some information, sadly it seems that it is quite impossible to find a physical copy of the album “Blue” which seems to have been there only release! What is most exciting about this discovery is that the band was from the Czech Republic of all places!

Sebastians were formed according to the CD inserts by Ian Von Czechticky on bass, Stephen Young on guitar, DL Beauty on guitar, Paul Penal on drums and David Wrdisty on vocals. According to last.fm Sebastians were formed by Dusan Lipert (today Colorfactory, Ohm Square), David Volenc (vocals, Colorfactory) Jan Čechtický (bass, Ohm Square), John Lukes (guitar) and Dan Mrlík (drums). Lukes was later replaced Stephen Tuma (Liquid Harmony), and Pelan Mrlík Paul. Wonder which is the right lineup!

Their first release was a demo tape called Romanian Songs and their first proper release was the “Blue” album that was released in 1993 by the Bonton Music label out of their home country and it was produced by Colin Stuart  who had produced some singles for Kirsty MacColl. In this album there’s also a collaboration by some of the members of the Ecstasy of St Theresa, arguably the Czech Republic’s most well-known indie band, like Jan Gregar doing some “bass space” & “feedback vibrations” or Jan Muchow doing some “ambient vibrations”. Overall the album is a beautiful sun-bleached shoegazy 10-tracker, with the high point, for me, their indiepoppy “Am I the One” that reminds me to the more recent Long Beach band Silver Screen. Another fantastic track you don’t want to miss is “Our New Kind of Love” that may as well be a lost Venus Peter song!

“Silversurfer” the first song on the album, which is perhaps the most experimental of the bunch, appeared on two compilations in the past decade. In 2000 it appeared on the “Czech that Sound!” and in 2003 on “Hurá, Kytary!”. Both of these compilations were samplers of Czech indie music. Wonder if any of the other bands in it were as good as Sebastians!

So as I love going through tangents, I looked up where the name Sebastian comes from to learn:

Sebastian is a masculine given name. It comes from the Latin name Sebastianus meaning ‘from Sebaste’. Sebaste is the name of a town in Asia Minor (present-day Sivas), derived from the Greek word σεβαστός (sebastos), “venerable”, which comes from σέβας (sebas), “awe, reverence, dread”,[ in turn from the verb σέβομαι (sebomai), “feel awe, scruple, be ashamed”. Sebastos was the Greek translation of the title Augustus, which was used for Roman emperors. Sebastian became a widely used name because it was the name of Saint Sebastian, a third century Christian martyr.Saint Sebastian in Ilpendam North-Holland.

Interesting, right? Anyways, aside from what I’ve written above, there seems to be no other information about the band. The CD seems very had to find but who knows, maybe it’s easy to grab one at a record store in Prague still? I haven’t had any lucky finding any of the band members. And even less luck finding any sort of other releases by the band. Listening to this soothing record I start questioning again how the music crowd works, what if Sebastians had been British? I’m sure I’d find their album on ebay or amazon, Im sure they’d be remembered and would have played a reunion gig already. That’s how it is. The way of the world.

If anyone has any more information about the band, or how I can get a copy of their Blue album, please let me know!

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Listen
Sebastians – Am I The One

Some days ago I got a couple of mix CDs from Satomi, one of the members of the Twee Grrrls gang from Japan, and before part of the Remember This club (whose setlists should make them the best indiepop club in the world ever). Actually these two CDs were given away at the Remember This club. One on the 9th edition of the club and the other on the 10th anniversary of it. I believe both nights happened in 2008. Anyhow, I’m thrilled and very thankful to receive new music, especially obscure tracks from the 80s that I have never before heard of!

I’m quite busy these days to write new interviews but will try to keep updating the blog with short posts – short for my standards – about “lost bands” ready to be (re)discovered. So, as I will do some research on the bands on these mix CDs, I thought sharing whatever I find here on the blog. Sounds good?

First track on the #9 CD is a track called “Wishing” by the band New English. It’s a lovely upbeat track, full of trumpets and pa-pa-pas, not much in the style of classic C86 but more in the vein of bands like A Craze, Friday Bridge or Big Outdoor Type. How do you call that style? I like to call that kind of music neo-aco, though I know for the Japanese that is a much broader term!! So what could New English mean? Let’s check on our dear Wikipedia:

The Old English (Irish: Seanghaill, meaning “old foreigners”) were the descendants of the settlers who came to Ireland from Wales, Normandy, and England after the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169–71. Many of the Old English became assimilated into Irish society over the centuries. Some were dispossessed in the political and religious conflicts during and after the Tudor conquest of Ireland in the 16th and 17th centuries, largely due to their continued adherence to the Roman Catholic religion. The so-called New English otherwise known as the settlers of the Protestant Ascendancy had largely replaced them by 1700. (…) the New English, that wave of settlers who came to Ireland from England during the Elizabethan era onwards as a result of the Tudor conquest of Ireland, kept their English identity, as well as their English religious, social, and cultural traditions, and, unlike the Normans and the Old English, remained distinct from the native Irish and Old English, at least for the first few generations. The new settlers were more self-consciously English, and were largely (though not entirely) Protestant, and most looked on Ireland as a conquered country that needed to be “civilised” and converted to Anglicanism.

I wonder if they had any Irish connection?

This song, “Wishing”, was actually released in a compilation LP called “Expose It!” which is terribly hard to find! The last time it was up for bids on Ebay in 2008(!) it went for 120 dollars. That because this compilation included also a song by a band called “No Man is an Island” (they later changed the band name to No-Man) which is a pre-Porcupine Tree band that featured Steven Wilson and Tim Bowness. That song was called “Screaming Head Eternal” and was recorded on the first day of these two guys working together. Ok. This doesn’t sound important to me, as far as I know Porcupine Tree is not something I enjoy listening, but I guess there are many crazy fans willing to pay this price for their first ever recording! I guess it makes sense, I know some people paying crazy money for Sea Urchins and the like.

Well, back to the compilation. It was released by a label called GI Records (catalog number GILP002) and it states that it features material from bands that were local to the Oxford area. So yeah, probably no Irish connection. The other bands in this compilation were: Passion of Ice, Bordello, Gadgets, Pows, Revolution, Kick Ass, Cybernauts, Tall Americans, Sinister Family and The Keatons. The only one I know is of course the last one, The Keatons. Wonder if any of the rest of  the bands played guitar pop! The LP was released in 1988 and was priced 4.99 pounds!

So here comes the surprise, on the black and white sleeve it does say that the band was from a place called Oxshott, in Surrey. South from Oxford, even further south than London! An interesting fact of this place is that it is situated in London’s stockbroker belt and the area consequently has some of the highest property prices in the UK – it was voted as the most expensive suburb to live in, by the Daily Telegraph on 26 December 2007 and, in 2010, they called it “the village with most footballers” in England. A very strange place for underground music to flourish!!

As always, if anyone know anything else about New English please share, I’d love to hear any other facts or even more songs if possible!

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Listen
New English – Wishing

It’s been the busiest week so far this year. I’m kind of glad it’s over, though I still have a couple of projects to work on. Freelance work. The bright side is that things are shaping up and I may be able to go to Indietracks after all. The lineup is 30% or so up to my taste but I’m sure the next announcements will win me over. Anyways, Indietracks is more than just bands, it’s the community, it’s the atmosphere and of course the warm beer. It’s what indiepop is all about. So who cares what bands play. It’s going to be phenomenal either way.

The good news this week is the release of The Sunny Street’s sophomore effort “Hidden by Decades”. We’ve released it under the Plastilina imprint. We are very proud of this album and hopefully you’ll get a copy in your hands soon. You know how much I love them, they are among my best friends, so it’s just very heartwarming to be able to finally put this out. On top of that, Americans will get the rare treat to see them play live at the NYC Popfest next month. Oh! And I think Rémi is playing some acoustic songs at the train at Indietracks. Not to be missed!

Staying with Plastilina Records, I can confirm too that The Sound of Starke Adolf Vol. 1 compilation will be out May 1st. This is probably my most ambitious project up to date on the label. I try to document the great Swedish underground scene of the early 2000s. I plan 2 more volumes, which I can’t wait to start working on them. This first volume includes Action Biker, Dorotea, Strawberry Fair, Nixon, and more. Pre-order now as I think this one will go fast!

On the Cloudberry side, I’ve been working a bit on the fanzine and on the CD that will come with it. The “pink” fanzine will include interviews to The Garlands (who grace the cover), Very Truly Yours, Gold-Bears, Persian Rugs, Strega and My Laundry Life. The CD is titled “There is Peace in the Surging Prow” and the cover star is Rita Tushingham. One of the songs included will be “Fishing for Moonlight” from a new band from Canada called Sleuth. I recommend heading to their bandcamp and listen to some more songs by them. They are really ace. You can order their songs on tape too. Other confirmed bands on the CD are Very Truly Yours and Persian Rugs. Also, if you haven’t noticed yet, you can check the tracklist and the artwork  for the upcoming 7″ by Very Truly Yours. I’m hoping it will be out in July or August as the latest. And coming after is the long awaited debut and goodbye 7″ by Alingsås’ Youngfuck with the tracks “Black Tulips” and “204,7”. On the merch side, I have plans to print new t-shirts and finally some tote bags this summer. So keep your eyes peeled.

But now let’s get into indiepop mystery solving mode. Anyone know anything about The Jerks? I got in touch once with them through their myspace and asked them to do an interview with me. I sent them questions but never heard from them again. A shame really. Would have loved to learn more from them.

I have been a fan, for some years now, of a song of theirs called “Waterskin”. This track appeared on the Kite tape that was released in 1989. Jangly perfection! I hear this track appeared on their 3rd demo tape. It’s just a great track: chiming guitars, heartfelt vocals, and great lyrics! That was the first clue for the indiepop detective in me. Next stop was their Myspace page. First things I notice is that they sometimes dropped the “The” from their name, they took lots of photos of themselves, and they made some Jerks t-shirts. I’d love to own one!

There are some great tracks on their player, all I assume unreleased: “Beyond the Pale”, “Across the Sun”, “Clean”, “Happy Comedown”, “King of the Wild Banjos (Live)”, Life Slips By (live)”, “Manmade” and “The Lens (live)”. I listen to them time after time today and I get that dream (that comes back to me all the time) of releasing compilations of long lost bands on beautiful digipacks with lots of photos and memorabilia. Though of course, reality comes back immediately, and I wonder if there are more than 100 people interested in such a thing.

So they were from Oldham, north of Manchester. It seems Oldham rose to prominence during the 19th century as an international centre of textile manufacture. It was a boomtown of the Industrial Revolution, and among the first ever industrialised towns, rapidly becoming “one of the most important centres of cotton and textile industries in England”. At its zenith, it was the most productive cotton spinning mill town in the world, spinning more cotton than France and Germany combined. Oldham’s textile industry began to fall into decline during the mid-20th century, and its last mill closed in 1998.The demise of textile processing in Oldham depressed the local economy. Today Oldham is a predominantly residential town, and a centre for further education and the performing arts. It is, however, still distinguished architecturally by the surviving cotton mills and other buildings associated with that industry. The town’s population is of 103,544. Do you think they still live there?

I just saw a flyer online where it says they played along Spacemen 3 and Inspiral Carpets on the 4th of September 1987 at The Hurricane Club in Oldham. Does this place ring a bell to anyone?  Or what about Butterflies? It seems they played there as well.

Next clue. On Last.fm there’s a small bio saying: Oldham-based indie band active in the late 80s and early 90s, no releases of their own except self-released cassettes, tracks included on compilations include “Didn’t Quite Make It” and “Waterskin.” Changed singer and became Rubber Orange. Then I find the Manchester District Archives website were there’s another bio: Oldham band. Line-up: John Reed – Vocals, Guitar, Lee ‘Drany’ Dransfield – Guitar, Warren Wrigley – Bass, David ‘Dids’ Gill – Keyboards, Andy Price – Drums. Before Andy Price joined the ubiquitous Chris Goodwin played drums for them for some time. Several demo tapes recorded at The Mill by Clint Boon. ‘Waterskin’ released on the compilation tape ‘Kite’ and ‘Didn’t Quite Make It’ released on the Bop/Joe Bloggs compilation Hit The North. After John Reed left Lee Severin from Too Much Texas replaced him and they replaced their set, soon afterwards changing their name to Rubber Orange.

A quick search for Rubber Orange and I stumble upon their myspace. A nice discovery! I’m enjoying their songs. But  then again it’s been a while since anyone logged in. But wait, there’s a myspace for “Dranny” who was part of The Jerks.And he seems to have logged in not so long ago. Wonder if he’ll solve this indiepop mystery! Would be so great to learn more about the band and finally interview them. And why not, listen to more songs by The Jerks! The ones available to stream are fantastic!

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Listen
The Jerks – Waterskin

It’s hard to think of today. Even more difficult to think about it ten times.  My copy of The Andersen Tapes’ “As I Write ‘Today’ Ten Times” has the word written ‘today’ written and numbered 10 times by Amanda. It feels more like yesterday than today. The memory of a perfect gig fumbles in my head, but happily the album lives up to day.

My review is as biased as it can be. I adore Amanda and I believe everything she has made so far, from the Free Loan Investments, to the Busy Band and now The Andersen Tapes is just gold. Solid gold. Back in the day, when Roger Gunnarsson pointed me to the Andersen Tapes myspace, where two songs greeted me with shyness, I knew there was something special here. With skepticism I wrote Amanda as it seemed as no one was logging in to her myspace. Happily she answered and we ended up releasing a small 3″ CD with three tracks: “Smartypants”, “The Problem is the Solution” and “Turn to Speak”. The little CD sold out fast.

We teamed once again including the song “Cross Country” on compilation CD called “Ever Get the Feeling You’ve Been Cheated?”. This CD was released along the Bottle Rocket zine. What is funny and quite a coincidence is that on the cover of this CD you can spot Jörgen Svensson, head of Fraction Discs, who would release The Andersen Tapes album a year or so after.

I consider myself very fortunate. If my memory doesn’t play any games, The Andersen Tapes have played a grand total of 3 gigs. From those 3, I’ve attended to 2. First one in Stockholm, back in October 2009. Where a cold Swedish night became warm and bright when Amanda played perhaps 8 songs accompanied by her bluegrass and fellow medicine student friends The Mississippi Preachers. An intimate gig were she dazzled the small crowd that made the right decision to be at Debaser Slussen that night. She was even able to make everyone so happy after just mere hours ago Sweden had lost against Denmark in the World Cup qualifiers. Not many can pull that off! Quite a charmer!

I’m just re-reading a short and sweet interview we did just after that gig. I grin with happiness. I ask her if she knew she was the best dancer in Stockholm. She said that it was perhaps she was the only one dancing to what I was djing. There’s also the question about doing a 7″ of The Andersen Tapes some day. She agrees. I hope it happens. I could make 10 7″s out of each song of the album though, and would make a lot of sense. The interview was published on the last fanzine, the black fanzine. We also talk about the then upcoming album, she tells me:

“I think it might be 10-12 songs. We’ll see what songs go together and do some selecting. I’m so excited! I love Fraction Discs. The album has a working name on my computer: “A house in new ordeals” – but I don’t think it will be the name on the record because I don’t think what it means! People can expect me singing and playing instruments badly, (I love DIY). Some fast popsongs, and some ballads. A mix of old songs that’s been collecting dust and some very new ones. So it shows a history and my songwriting of five-six years.”

So she settled with 10 songs, mostly ballads, and a different name for the album. And believe me, it’s not badly played at all. It sounds great as it is. It is in any case something to champion, that she recorded all these songs by herself in Hallandsgatan.

I’ve been listening to the album quite a lot after coming back from London Popfest. The Andersen Tapes played their last gig there, on a Friday, in Brixton’s Windmill. This time it was an all-star band. The sound of the band was fuller and richer. The two guitars gave the songs another dimension with Isak giving some fantastic jangle. On top of that, they got Jesper, of the best drummers in indiepop history. The vocals harmonies between Amanda and Christin were heaven sent. And Renée picking up the bass for the first time and proving she could handle it with no problems. Amazing! I had already a taster, I didn’t miss the sound testing, but as soon as the first words came out from “Clap, Clap, Clap”, and the gentle guitar playing of Ms. Aldervall, the time stopped for me. On the course of the 9 songs they played it was hard to even feel my heartbeat. Was I alive? It was the best gig by far during the festival. The best band. They took the stage, the venue, they made it theirs.  It was just perfect. Magical even. You know, I still get flashbacks in dreams of that gig. It was hauntingly good!

The last song of that gig was a true footstomper. On my setlist it says just “Baby”. It’s not on the album, but I hear it’s from a secret new project. We’ll have to wait and see. But it already promises so much knowing who is involved in it. But I can’t say more!

Writing this today, suddenly it feels like today when it was a cold night in Stockholm back in 2009 when I felt a bit lost taking the tunnelbana for the first time and when arriving to Slussen station getting directions from Amanda to the venue under the bridge. A huge buffet in there were everything seemed vegetarian. When she tells me the best of Stockholm is just walking around and crossing it’s bridges. Getting my Free Loan Investments 7″ signed. It feels like today when I saw Amanda across the street in Tottenham Road Court and looking for that elusive vegetarian Chinese buffet that Christin loves. Laughing about that we thought each other were vegetarians, when of course we aren’t. It all feels like today. Today like today ten times. And on the background “All You Need to Know” is playing here at home, far away from Sweden, from England. And I capture the words from the songs, bit by bit, and I wish on a shooting star all these things were happening again. Wishing for it all to repeat.

Tenderly the songs flow, one after the other. I’m reminded not of Talulah Gosh or Heavenly as some people would, but of the mighty PO! An underrated band that penned some of the most beautiful and haunting albums during the heyday of indiepop. Ruth Miller was ahead of her time maybe, and maybe Amanda is too. Or maybe it’s not about time. It’s about sensibilities. Or brains. It would be a crime to dismiss and underrate this work of love. I find silly to make year-end lists but I could do an exemption just to champion this record one more time.

The wrapper of the mint filled Aero lies on the floor and the bottle of Stella is half full. Everything is closed and it’s pitch black. Today for the tenth time. And “Riksgränsen” spins on the deck. It’s hard to imagine a popkid doing crazy winter sports in this ski-resort. For some reason it feels very natural to imagine Amanda doing that. Same as going “Cross-Country”. If there’s anyone full of life, that’ her. And the album gallops like that, like if there’s no time to lose. Perhaps that’s why she acknowledges that maybe later in life “You’re so Lonely When You’re Old”, that this is the time to make things happen. I can’t agree with that more. This is the time. It’s all about today. Opportunities come and go. Even music comes and goes. Though I can say that this record is timeless without the risk of being wrong. There’s always an exception to the rule.

I’ve been obsessed with the past and have been fixated with patience for the past years for different reasons. Perhaps the best advice is that of the “Problem is the solution”. I’m sure that when this unfinished business I have is done, finished and kaput, things will start to shape up. Listening to this record is like having a friend speak me, it’s a good company in these humid and sunny Miami evenings. Just open your heart and give it to the honest words of The Andersen Tapes. It’s a modern indiepop classic. Warm, moody and heartfelt. Thanks for the inspiration.

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Listen
The Andersen Tapes – Visual Explanations

Back in 2007, while I was still going to university, I started Cloudberry Records.  Those were busy days as I was attending classes and doing homework, I was an intern at The Miami Herald and ran a Spanish blog called Mira el Péndulo that was updated almost daily. I was running Plastilina Records but I wasn’t feeling that involved at the same time. And suddenly I decided that I wanted to be even busier. It was time for a singles-only label. And I wanted to release a single every 1st, 15th and 21st of the month until I had 100 releases. And that’s how it went.

I remember people asking how did I manage to do so many things at the same time. How did I find time. Actually, I was asked this same question a couple of days ago, while e-mailing with my good friend Cristóbal, and I guess that’s why I’m writing this post. To be honest, I never questioned that myself. I always felt that there was time. I’ve never felt running out of time. I would cut and paste sleeves as soon as my boss at the internship left. I would burn CDs every Saturday morning while watching European football. And I’d go to the post office every day on my way to school.

2007 was intense, even life-defining I’d say. That year I graduated. That year I also spawned a monster. I learned about love and betrayal. It was the year I attended my first indiepop festival, NYC Popfest. Also, with some friends, we started a weekly indiepop night in Miami Beach. I wrote my first fanzine too. But none of that was better than running Cloudberry. There’s nothing I love more than doing this. Even up to these days I think 24/7 Cloudberry. Even at work while working on a graphic about something related to Cuba, I’m dreaming of indiepop.

To meet the release deadlines every month I still remember my maths. I had to have 6 bands working on a single at the same time. That was the right number so I didn’t fall behind. That because sometimes bands wouldn’t meet the deadline or, in the worst case, they would split before releasing or recording the songs. I think the latter was what happened to Helie and Sunshine. We emailed a couple of times. We agreed on doing a 3″ single but one day they left nothing behind. They deleted their Myspace and they disappeared from the face of the Earth.

I wasn’t  too keen on releasing US indiepop bands back then. I don’t think in 2007 there was much quality here as the past two or three years. The exception to the rule was the irruption of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, in May, that same year. So when I discovered Helie and Sunshine that December, I was so thrilled and very excited. They sounded just up my street and they were American. From Portland, Oregon, as far as I know. At least their label “Lilydale Records” was based there. I assume they ran that record label. As far as I know their 4-song EP was the only release on Lilydale.

When I found about them, they had already released their “It’s All I Can Be EP”. They promised recording two new songs and include one of the songs of the EP on the slated Cloudberry single. I wonder which song they had in mind to be included. The tracks on the EP were: “It’s All I Can Be (Myself)”, “I’ve Got a Plan”, “Waiting for You” and “Surprise”. The first songs two were supposed to be released later on a CD and LP album called “Here We Go”. But that never came out. I wonder if they had already started recording the songs for Cloudberry or for their album. I also wonder how many people got the chance to listen to these songs. The EP was limited to 300 copies. I have number 16. The presentation was very nice too,  the CD-R looked like  a vinyl record. I wonder if they got to sell all the stock.. I wish they did.

I want to guess that Helie and Sunshine were a couple because of their last names. The credits are for Michael Walsh, guitars, on vocals and drums, and Ann Strieby Walsh, on bass, vocals and drums. But that’s all the information there is about the band.  have searched online and the only results come from  Skatterbrain and Indie-MP3. They did blog about them and recommended them.  No other traces in the WWW. It’s a shame, I feel they were into something, they could have been playing the next indietracks.

I ask myself what Michael and Ann are doing these days. I wonder if they did record more songs. And what about their stock? Will the copies that were sold become indiepop artifacts 20 years from now? Anyone know what happened to them?

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Listen
Helie and Sunshine – It’s All I Can Be (Myself)

Another week has gone by and things look really good. First of I would love to invite all Brazilian fans, especially those in Sao Paulo, to go and have a look to the new record store in town: Locomotiva Discos. It’s run by the always enthusiastic Gilberto Custodio and they are stocking all the best indiepop records around. These days, in the iTunes and downloadable music, where people don’t value physical records as they deserve, imagine how passionate one must be to open a physical record store. And that’s how Gilberto is: passionate. And, to push a button, if he let’s me quote him from an email exchange we had: “I don’t think physical records stores will be extinct, at least not until I am still alive”. A Cloudberry package is already in it’s way there, too which makes me very happy as I love Sao Paulo, a place where I spent so much time during my teenage years.

Yesterday I managed to find a cheap flight to NYC in May. Just $179 round-trip. It should be a great NYC Popfest, the lineup is ace! Sure, there will be those who don’t like seeing bands playing back to back Popfests, but these bands, that are repeating, are among the bands that have grown the most the past year. And even then, they put up a great show. I think Gold-Bears, Dream Diary and Sea Lions, were my three favorite bands at Popfest 2010. So let’s see if they can live up to that and make it even better this year! So yes, good decision of the organizers to give them another chance to dazzle the crowd. On top of that, there is Go Sailor headlining one of the nights. That is such a treat that I cannot wait! Also this Popfest will showcase Persian Rugs and Caucus. If you haven’t noticed these two bands have a 7″ coming out soon on Cloudberry! If nothing goes wrong at the pressing plant, both 7″s should be sold during the festival. And of course to see in America for the first time two of my dearest bands, and friends, The Sunny Street and The Felt Tips, is probably what makes this Popfest worth for me. Should be a blast!

There’s been good news here and there. Had a nice birthday time as well. Got some more rare records for cheap. And there are new freelance possibilities coming up. It’s still a long shot to make it to Indietracks though, but if these jobs happen soon, there is a slight chance I can make it! Only problem will be that the Premier Inn is already fully booked and the Travelodge is almost full. And it is true too that as of late I feel more compelled to save the money and go to Stockholm in October instead. I’ll have to see, still Indietracks haven’t announced any bands, and can’t think of that many bands that I’d love to see live that I haven’t seen. Maybe Very Truly Yours?

Anyways, new band to recover this week: Second View. Still no luck at finding their one and only 12″, which is as rare as they come. Maybe even impossible. It seems lots of copies found their way to Philippines. Mind you, the record and the band were German. There was a re-release of this 12″ too, under the name of Moscopeboys, but that one is as hard to find. Well, maybe someone can give me a hand with that? The two songs included, “Machinery” and “Everything is Gone”, are true guitar pop gems. Two fantastic slices of 80s pop, with classic new-wavy keyboards, that reminds a bit to This Final Frame, The Wild Swans or Care, but with a German flavor!

The 12″ was released by the band’s own label, “View Records”,  in 1986. Catalog number was F 669.602. No idea how many copies were made. Shouldn’t be more than a 100o as it is extremely rare. The internet doesn’t have much information about the band aside from a couple of blog posts from some Pinoy fans. We do know that the band’s lineup consisted of: Andreas Knirsch (bass, vocals), Oliver Sassin (guitars), Ingo Kreutzer (keyboards), Martin Buberti (drums) and Jens Rohracker (percussion).  The address on the back cover says that they were based in small Eschershausen in Lower Saxony, between Bielefeld and Braunschweig. If you check this location on Google Maps, you’ll see it’s so small, and you get to wonder how come these guys created such great music being so far away from proper civilization! Where did they get their ideas? their inspiration?

Then this same record was released by Fun Factory Records on that same year 1986. Though the artwork was totally changed and the band had started to call themselves Moscopeboys. Not sure what a moscope is. Any ideas? The only word that comes to mind is ophtalmoscope, but that can’t be it, right? In any case, could it be that when Fun Factory released the record they asked the band to stop distributing the View Records version? If so, where is the rest of the stock?

Some further research, trying to locate the guys behind the bands, make me end up on the worst site in the world: Myspace. I find that both Oliver Sassin and Ingo Kreutzer have been making music for the past years under the name Ultramarin. It sounds much different to Second View but it’s really nice as well, very soothing! And they sing in German now! Sadly they haven’t logged in since 2010. Can’t blame them, no one wants to login to Myspace these days. In any case, I left them a message there, hoping to hear from them. If not, I’m hoping they get in touch here! It would be great to learn more from them, maybe do an interview! And of course, if anyone has any more information about the band please share!

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Listen
Second View – Machinery

The past days I’ve been laying out around 250 pages worth of indiepop news and interviews, compiled mainly from this blog. The idea is a book of course. It feels some of my posts or interviews are really long and a screen is not the best medium for them to be read. The idea started during a conversation with Olaf from Firestation during a very cold afternoon in London a couple of weeks ago. We’ve been record hunting earlier, finding some great stuff actually (like the Hope flexi!), and it was already time for lunch. The warmth of a kebab shop and shwarma and falafel sandwiches, perhaps triggered the idea of looking for on-demand printing and compiling all these interviews that one day will probably get deleted by a hacker or some sort of wordpress bug. Who knows, but digital can’t be trusted.

Olaf tells me that in Germany it’s very common to use this kind of service, no wonder why they are the number one country in printing books. So as soon as I came back to the US I started doing some research, and it’s not that bad. A 300 page paperback with color covers can be priced around 20 dollars.  It’s not that cheap, but it’s fine I believe for something that maybe not more than 50 people will be interested. We’ll see. But it’s clear to me that I have material for a second and third volume already.

While bringing over the texts to inDesign for the book, I noticed that some blog entries didn’t get transferred from the previous version of the blog to this second version. I’ll try to fix that in the next couple of days.

Also since today the fifth Cloudberry fanzine is sold out, which reminds me it’s already time for a sixth one. I’ve been thinking of doing it an orange fanzine, would you like that color? There’s been blue, red, green, purple and black so far. Will start planning this in the next couple of weeks. On behalf of the fanzine price, which I read somewhere that it was overpriced, I want to say that it includes a CD and postage, bear that in mind. And it’s not a photocopied fanzine, it’s professionally printed, cut and stapled. There are no white margins around the pages, there’s bleeds. And it’s printed on heavy paper, not your usual white A4 printer paper. If that’s not enough, the zine comes on a protective polybag. Bear that in mind, especially if you’ve never seen one and just love to complain.

And I know many are waiting for me to give some sort of feedback about the last post, but I won’t feed this nonsensical circus. People seem to have a lack of reading skills and don’t see the points I raised. In any case, it showed how loving and accepting this community is. Let’s leave it like that, and let’s pretend everything is fine. It seems that’s what these British kids are obsessed with, pretending we all love each other. That’s what makes us indiepop fans, right?

But enough of news, now is time to one of my favourite things on this blog, discovering and sharing long lost bands!  So, have you ever heard about The Bicycle Thieves?

It’s an easy guess that their name comes from the famous movie The Bicycle Thieves, an 1948 Italian neorealist film directed by Vittorio De Sica. But what else do we know about this band that seem to have disappeared in oblivion even though there’s a myspace page that has not been updated in a long time?

I had totally forgotten about them, but while in Glasgow, at Love Music, next to the train station, I found a 12″ copy of “Waterfront” for a pound. This is their second single, released in 1989,  and the easiest to find, there’s even a 7″ version of it. Both, the 7″ and 12″ includes as a B-side the song “Tearing At Each Other’s Hearts”. It was released on the Sun Zoom Spark label being this their first release on their catalog. Label name taken from a Captain Beefheart song. Both songs were written and produced by C. Lewington and The Bicycle Thieves and the records were distributed by Pinnacle Records. That’s all there is to gather from the sleeve.

But why not let’s go back to their first single, which is very hard to find and includes my favourite song of theirs: “Ghostdance”. I still haven’t had the chance to find this fine slice of C86 guitar-styled pop. A true gem! This first single was released Clear Spot Records, which I’m guessing was their own label. Catalog number again is number 1. And of course, the great sound doesn’t surprise as this was recorded in the heyday of guitar pop, 1986! The B-side is “Louise” which is a very good song too and I’ve noticed someone has already blogged about this B side. But I have to disagree! The A side is the winner here! But he is very right when he says: “and just the right amount of chiming Rickenbacker verve and swagger”.

Though this name Ghostdance makes me utterly curious, what does it mean? A quick look on wikipedia tells me:

The Ghost Dance (also called the Ghost Dance of 1890) was a religious movement which was incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems. The traditional ritual used in the Ghost Dance, the circle dance, has been used by many Native Americans since prehistoric times. In accordance with the prophet Jack Wilson (Wovoka)’s teachings, it was first practiced for the Ghost Dance among the Nevada Paiute in 1889. The practice swept throughout much of the American West, quickly reaching areas of California and Oklahoma. As the Ghost Dance spread from its original source, Native American tribes synthesized selective aspects of the ritual with their own beliefs. This process often created change in both the society that integrated it and the ritual.

The chief figure in the movement was the prophet of peace, Jack Wilson, known as Wovoka among the Paiute. He prophesied a peaceful end to white American expansion while preaching goals of clean living, an honest life, and cross-cultural cooperation by Native Americans. Practice of the Ghost Dance movement was believed to have contributed to Lakota resistance. In the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890, US Army forces killed at least 153 Lakota Sioux. The Sioux variation on the Ghost Dance tended towards millenarianism, an innovation that distinguished the Sioux interpretation from Jack Wilson’s original teachings. The Caddo Nation still practices the Ghost Dance today.

Interesting, huh?

It seems these two were their only two releases before disappearing. But it makes you wonder as there was such a long time in between releases, 3 years. There must have been many more songs recorded. And there was as you I found out on last.fm of all places! Here you’ll find free downloads to “Waterfront” and “Louise” and lots of songs more to stream. How I wish these were compiled on a proper CD! Also a nice find on last.fm is a small biography of the band written by a user “clewingt”, could this be C. Lewington? Must be. Sadly he hasn’t logged in to last.fm in years, so no chance of contacting him for an interview to learn more about his previous band. Anyhow, the bio reads:

The Bicycle Thieves hailed from South East London, forming in the mid 1980’s and finally dispanding in the early 90’s. A guitar rock band with a sound reminisant of REM or Lloyd Cole as well as reaching further back to the sounds of the Byrds, Love and Bob Dylan. Singles “Ghostdance”/”Louise” and especially “Waterfront” received good airplay on national radio one, London and local stations. The band played London venues such as the Marquee and Brixton Academy as well as up and down the country and France.

And that’s all there is online. So here’s hoping our friend C. Lewington gets in touch, or maybe anyone else can share any more info about this band! It would be appreciated! For now enjoy the fantastic “Ghostdance”!

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Listen
The Bicycle Thieves – Ghostdance

Sometimes you get asked those silly questions, what’s your favourite colour? your favourite number? or your favourite animal? For the last one I usually answer the giraffe. No particular reason. Something on the subconscious probably. Also in the early days of the label I loved drawing giraffes on the thank you notes for the customers. So there must be something about them, perhaps those strange geometric brown spots on their body, or their long long neck, or those little antennae they have?

Whatever it was, it made me grin the first time I heard there was a guitar pop called The Giraffes. I found out about them on the Jangle Pop Boutique blog many moons ago. This one was a nice blog, recommending mostly obscure bands. I believe the writer was from Romania but he disappeared also. And he hasn’t updated his blog in ages. I wonder if Blogger will close it someday. Anyways, he did a very small post about The Giraffes saying:

UK band “The Giraffes” released their debut single – “Pass Me By” in 1988 on the “Love Madness” label. There is no additional info about this band on the internet. “Pass Me By” is a lovely jangle anthem.

That and a link to this great track that is “Pass Me By”. That was it. So the indiepop researcher in me decided to dig a bit more today.

The name giraffe has its earliest known origins in the Arabic word الزرافة ziraafa or zurapha, perhaps from an African name. It appears in English from the 16th century on, often in the Italianate form giraffa. The species name camelopardalis (camelopard) is derived from its early Roman name, where it was described as having characteristics of both a camel and a leopard. The English word camelopard first appeared in the 14th century and survived in common usage well into the 19th century. The Afrikaans language retained it.

Now let’s move to the 20th century. To 1988. Let’s go to the West Midlands in the UK. This is when and where The Giraffes emerged. After the experience of being in bands like Ens, Reluctant Stereotypes, Pink Umbrellas and Squad, founding members Steve Edgson and Sam McNulty were joined by Nigel Williams (from Wedge Cafe), Larry Lupin (ex-God Toys), Robin Hill and bassist Richard Priest (who later managed Pulp) to form The Giraffes.

There is not much stuff online about them, it’s true. And their records seem to be over the 15 dollar mark I allow myself to buy these days. One day of course I’ll be rich and my mark will be over 100 quid. So as I write this lines, my only experience with them is that great “Pass Me By” song that I actually played in Malmö some months ago when DJing there. My friend Graham was really surprised by it, he wondered how such a good song was so obscure. I ask myself the same. It could have been a true indiepop classic! So yes, this song was the A side of their debut 7″released on the “Love and Madness” label. The B side was called Rooftops. This single was released on October 1988 and was produced by Paul Sampson.

The second release is probably the most obscure one, I’m not sure if it’s a 7″ or a 12″. It was the “One Step” single, also released in the same label in May 89. This one was produced by Roger Lomas though. Third and last release is perhaps the one that is easier to find by the Coventry band. It is the “Lazy Hazel Heart” 12″ that has that lovely jacket cover of a black and purple giraffe. Again, same label and same producer.  This one was released on January 1990. The other two songs on this record are “Think of You” and “Lose My Soul”. There is also a 7″ version of this single sans “Lose My Soul” and the lovely sleeve. But the story doesn’t end there. It seems they kept going and they finished their album in July 1992. It was called “Giraffitti” and was never released. It was produced by Sampson and Lomas. Quite a clever name for the album, no?

Many years later, the two founding members, Edgson and McNulty would start a project by themselves properly called “Two Giraffes”. There is a website that is not updated since Feb. 2009 and also you can stream many songs from their myspace. They are rather good!! Unfortunately they haven’t signed in since 2007 so getting in touch was impossible. Oh! And there’s a video on Youtube for their song “Silvery Trees”. A bit more ska that we are used to, but enjoyable! And what about the video “Pure Poetry”, the Two Giraffes’ World Cup song? Wonder if as The Giraffes they got to record any videos too!

Sadly surfing through google I found out that Steve Edgson died in July 2009. So perhaps some of the many questions about the band will be unanswered forever. I do hope that the album gets to see the light of day. If the rest of the songs on it are as half as good as “Pass Me By” we’d have a corker of an album. I’m crossing fingers here that we’ll hear from Sam McNulty someday. I just wrote through his Youtube account. We NEED to listen to Giraffitti and the rest of The Giraffes songs. “Pass Me By” is way too good to not to want more!

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Listen
The Giraffes – Pass Me By

Happy 2011!

I’m very sure that this coming year is going to be a great one for indiepop. To start off we have the London Popfest around the corner! I’ll definitely be there. So I have to start saving for the pints of beers that will have to flow like an ocean. Waves and waves of beer. Also some great lineup announcements have been made already like The Andersen Tapes, Evans the Death, Youngfuck and The Understudies for example. And Ian promised to have some table football. Now I just look forward to probably the most slot of Popfest, the Friday night dance. Who’ll DJ then?!

But how can I save if I keep finding new music? Some months ago I reduced my budget from 40 dollars to 20 dollars for weekly CDs. But I still haven’t managed to reduce the budget of records. Thing is that some weeks I don’t find anything great to buy but some other I could spend 50 or 60 dollars. It’s hard to keep track of ebay. In any case, I try to avoid paying more than 10 dollars for a 7″ or 15 for an LP.

I just saw a record, that I have never heard, for 10.99 + 3.99 postage on eBay. It’s by The Honey Buzzards and it’s their 12″ single “Sympathy’. Actually I don’t own any of their records, yet. I have heard their second single “Star Happy” though as a friend sent me mp3s some months ago. The opening track is a fab slice of guitar pop. A bit heavier than your usual indiepop fare perhaps, but still very good! I wonder if I’m going to like this other single as much. Let’s give it a chance. The eBay listing has the “Make Offer” option, so I submit my option. 6.01 + 3.99 postage. That would be a perfect 10. Crossing fingers they are up for it.

The Honey Buzzards don’t seem to be that unknown. They do have a whole wikipidia entry saying:

The Honey Buzzards were a Norwich, England based band who achieved significant Independent Music success in the early 1990s.

They were formed by Ian Thompson (born 1971, vocals/guitar), Simon Shaw (born 1972, bass) and Matthew Wayne (born 1971,drums) at Norwich School in 1988, and shortly recruited Nathan Moore (born 1970) and John Evans (born 1972) as guitarists. They took their name from a 17th Century British painting and their sound was influenced by an Art School sensibility, The Velvet Underground, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions and latterly The Stone Roses.

They released three singles on Manchester Based Sheer Joy Records; Sympathy (for two girls) (1990), Starhappy (1990) and Pale Horse (1991) all of which made the Top 20 of the Indie Chart, and issued a promo single with remixes by The Orb. Their strongest sales however were in Scandinavia, particularly Sweden.

The first single was produced by Michael Johnson, who was responsible for most of New Order’s back catalogue including the “Brotherhood”, “Low-life” and “Technique” albums. In 1991, the band recorded two BBC Sessions, one for the Mark Goodier Evening Session (Radio 1) and one for Hit the North (Radio 5), while John Peel championed the band’s singles extensively.

They also appeared on the soundtrack to the Diane Ladd and Max Parrish film “Hold me, thrill me, kiss me, kill me” (1993). The band split in 1994. They achieved critical acclaim in The NME and Melody Maker, and shared a BBC Session studio with David Bowie. John Evans has gone onto to achieve mainstream national success with the band The Divine Comedy and continues to tour as their guitarist.

They also have a myspace which they haven’t logged in for years. Wish they had, so I could try and contact them for an interview, but well, it’s understandable, Myspace SUCKS. In any case, there are some songs up there for streaming, not as good as Star Happy, but worth a listen of course.

I’ve been googling around trying to figure out which painting they took their name from. I will need to find out before going to sleep later today. If not, I probably will stay up until I figure out. So give me a hand with that. In any case I looked up “honey buzzard” as I didn’t have a clue.

The Honey Buzzard (Pernis apivorus), is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as kites, eagles and harriers. It is a summer migrant to most of Europe and western Asia, wintering in tropical Africa. It is a specialist feeder, living mainly on the larvae and nests of wasps and hornets, although it will take small mammals, reptiles and birds. It is the only known predator of the Asian giant hornet. It is thought that Honey Buzzards have a chemical deterrent in their feathers that protects them from wasp attack. The specific name apivorus means “bee-eater”, although bees are much less important than wasps in its diet.

Alright. This gets more confusing. I’ve never heard of the “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me” movie, but it seems it’s not very good. I asked my Swedish friends if they’ve heard about them, as it says they had strong sales there, and they have no clue. I wonder if I could get a hold of the Indie Charts of 1990 and 1991. I’d like to double check the facts are right.

Doing some research online I could find some info about their releases on discogs.

“Sympathy (for two girls)” was released in 1991 instead of 1990 as stated by Wikipedia. It is catalog number SHEER 006 and included the songs “Sympathy (for two girls)”, “Always Today” and “Easy”. Then “Star Happy” was catalog number SHEER 012 and was released in 1992 (Wikipedia says 1990). This second single included the tracks “Star Happy”, “Sleepwalker” and “Balancing Act”. No information whatsoever on their third single, “Pale Horse”.

Also they contributed two songs to a 12″ LP compilation called “Presentation” released on their label Sheer Joy. The songs were “Sympathy (for two girls) (5AM Mix)” and “Easy (Electro Premix)”. THis compilation was intended to be a collection of alternate mixes from the forthcoming singles on the label. 4 postcards were included with it. The other bands to participate on this record were Lovekittens and The 3rd Bardo. Never heard of them. Any good?

And that’s it. That’s all information I could gather on the net. If anyone knows anything else please share! Or if there’s a way to contact the ex-members of the band for some sort of interview that will be fantastic. And now, let’s all be Star Happy because tomorrow is New Year’s eve and we are partying hard! Oh! and cross your fingers for me on the eBay offer!

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Listen
The Honey Buzzards – Star Happy

I’ve never been a big fan of Christmas but this year I would like to ask Santa for some records. I would want some rare and obscure vinyl records from Australia. Specifically from The Tripps. Any of their releases will do. Don’t worry, I don’t have any of them, so they won’t be repeated. I’ve seen their “Sometime Today” 7″ on ebay for 20+ dollars plus postage. At the moment that’s out of my budget. Well, 20 dollars for a 7″ is always out of my budget. But for you Santa, that’s just pocket money, right? Why not? Make a popkid happy this winter. And I’ll keep behaving well, doing my job as an indiepop researcher 24/7, and uncovering beautiful guitar pop songs that the rest of the world should be aware of. What do you say? Can you make it happen? I wait for your answer sometime today.

The Tripps were a three-piece from Australia. I would guess from Sydney, as they recorded their songs there.  Geoffrey Forrester was bass and vocals, David Smith was on drums, and Jonathon Pritchard guitar and vocals. Their first release dates of late 1986, a two song 7″ record on the well known Waterfront Records, home of Club Hoy or the Widdershins among others. Catalog number was DAMP 42. The A side is the only song I have ever heard from them, “Sometime Today”, as a friend had ripped me an old tape with Australian goodies a while back. It is a fantastic song, of great romantic guitar pop, very much in the vein of bands like The Windmills or The Chalk Giants. Just scroll down and you can have a listen! The B-side was a song called “It’s Like a Zoo”. Both songs were penned by the bassist Forrester and were recorded at Reel Time Studios in August of that year. Produced by Chris Logan and engineered by Louise Pollack.

What about the name The Tripps? Surely Tripp is a last name. But I can’t think of any famous person with that last name worth of naming your band. Also it seems that Tripp is a nickname (also spelled Trip) for a man or boy who is the third in his male line of ancestors to bear the same name, and carries a “III” or “3rd” after his name. Another possibility is that it seems that Tripp is also the name of a clothing line popular amongst people involved with the gothic subculture, and rave subculture. Or, if you want to be a wayfarer, you want to be geographical, you can find a couple of cities called Tripp, one in South Dakota and the other in Wisconsin. Don’t think the name comes from any of these.

I’m guessing record sales weren’t too good, and that’s why they moved on to a smaller label. They went to release on Strand Records a 12″ called “Never the Twain” on 1987. Four songs this time: “Factory of Fame (Let’s Get Processed)”, “Ship’s Cat (No-one’s coming Back), “Prayer to the Rainmaker” and “Wayfarers All”. “Ship’s Cat (No-one’s coming back)” was written by someone called Afiouni. And I was really surprised to see there is an entry for ship’s cats on wikipedia:

The ship’s cat has been a common sight on many trading, exploration, and naval ships, and is a phenomenon that goes back to ancient times. Cats have been carried on ships for a number of reasons, the most important being to catch mice and rats. These rodents, when aboard, could cause considerable damage to ropes and woodwork. More serious was the threat rodents posed to the stores the ship carried. Not only could they devour the foodstuff carried to feed the crew, they could cause economic damage if the ship was carrying grain or similar substances as part of its cargo. Rats and mice were also sources of disease, an important consideration for ships which could be at sea for long periods of time. Cats naturally attack and kill these rodents. The prevalence of cats on ships has led to them being reported on by a number of famous seafarers. The outbreak of the Second World War, with the spread of mass communication and the active nature of the world’s navies, also led to a number of ship’s cats becoming celebrities in their own right.

And then there is a list of “famous” ship cats like Nansen, Peebles, Kiddo, Tarawa, and more. None known to me. I wasn’t aware that a cat could achieve celebrity status. Anyways, moving on. I do notice that there is a bit of a mariner, sailor, theme on both A2 and B2 of this 12″, right? Wonder why. Anyhow, this record was recorded in Sydney in 1987 and was produced and engineered by David Price with assistance of Geoff Gordon. There seems to be a 7″ too released this same year for “Ship’s Cat (No-One’s Coming Back)” on Strand Records, catalog Strand 002. The B side being “Green Bottle”. It has a really cute artwork on white and blue, with a female cat wishing farewell to it’s male counterpart, already sailing off.

Now let’s go back to 1986 as this B side, “Green Bottle”, had been released this year on a compilation called “On the Waterfront”. Actually two Tripps songs appear on this really good compilation that includes two other favourite of mine as Love Minus Zero and The Skolars. The other Tripps song on this compilation is called “Crystal Palace”. For those who don’t know about it, The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and glass building originally erected in Hyde Park, London, England, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. After the exhibition, the building was moved to a new park in a high, healthy and affluent area of London called Sydenham Hill, an area not much changed today from the well-heeled suburb full of large villas that it was in its Victorian heyday. The Crystal Palace was enlarged and stood in the area from 1854 to 1936, when it was destroyed by fire. Wonder if the song is about it.

So you see Santa, even this compilation would be a fine gift for the holidays. Or what about this DVD called “More Tales from Underground Australia”? What is it? It seems to be a music video DVD including The Tripps’ “Ship’s Cat”, and The Marigolds’ “Waiting in Line”. I didn’t know there were videos for this! Why aren’t they on youtube? Really Santa, any will do, even getting in touch with the band to learn more about them! Wonder if they recorded more songs, perhaps an unreleased album! Wouldn’t that be great! So any of you out there feel like being Santa, please go ahead! I’d love to know more and listen more about The Tripps!

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I’d love to send regards to the few people that enjoy and read the blog in this holiday season and have helped me find and learn more from many great and obscure bands from indiepop’s past. This may not be Pitchfork or some hype-induced blog, but we care for the songs and the artists. That’s what matters right? It’s about making them popular, not the blog. Anyways, I’ll be back after Christmas to continue with the Indietracks diary! Merry Christmas to all the readers of this little blog!

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Listen
The Tripps – Sometime Today