Another weekend is over! It went so fast. At least I got some new music finds to share!

Langue Pendue: there is a very cool new fanzine called Côte Ouest that is written by Frenchman Renaud Sachet. His latest edition is about French indiepop 1990-1995 and features Les Sales Gosses, 1000 Spirales, Les Autres, San July, Caramel, Les Poissons Solubles, Meek and Daisy Age. Looks like he has been luckier and better at tracking these bands than me! It also comes with a tape!

Earache: this Canberra/Melbourne band sounds great. It is no surprise that I’m writing about them again on the blog. That time I wrote about a song called “Voices”, now I know it has a lovely video. But that’s not all, last January the band released the album “Last” on vinyl with the two labels, Black Wire Records and Lacklustre Records. All 8 songs are available to preview on the label’s Bandcamp and it is indeed a treat. I should get a copy of this myself soon!

Dreams of Empire: “Northern Lights” is the last track of this Brighton duo and it is gorgeous! The band formed by Andrew and Jane (who met in the 90s indie band Luminous) is actually working on their debut album. I do hope they include this song! Looking forward to it.

Fanclub: another band that have been showcased in my little reviews of new music is this Austin based trio. They have a new song called “Imprint” that sounds lovely, I don’t have a clue if it will be released in any other format than digital, but I do hope it does. Sweet.

The Jasmine Minks: remember that not too long ago the wonderful and legendary Scottish band released a new 7″ with “Step by Step”? Now it is worth checking out the B side “Gravity” which actually has a video with lots of footage of the band! Check it out!

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Turn for the letter K.

Some weeks ago I interviewed The Moss Poles. On that interview the band mentioned that Paul Breuer played bass on the yet unreleased album by the band. The interesting fact was that Paul Breuer had been part of a band I am very curious about, the Kill Devil Hills. So today that I want to feature a band whose name starts with K I didn’t doubt to find out more information about them.

The band only released one record, a 12″ single on the Roustabout label in 1987. This label was also the house of the fantastic The Caretaker Race. This 12″, with its jacket with the band’s name in orange and a black and white photograph taken by Martyn Strickland of two boots over long grass, had three songs in it. The A side had the superb “What Comes After” while the B side had “Rolling” and “Poison”. All songs were produced by the band and Mark Frith who was also the engineer.

Something interesting about the record is that it had runout etchings on each side. The A side says “Money talks bullshit walks” while the B side says “The Exchange”.

Discogs also lists a white label 7″ which I assume was a promo release that came on plain sleeve and hand written white label. This 7″ included all the songs but “Poison”.

The band members are listed on the promo sheet. We know that Alex Breuer was on vocals and guitar, Paul Breuer on guitar and vocals, Jon Carricker on bass and Phil Savidge on drums and vocals. The press sheet also mentions that all members have been in at least one previous band and that they took their name from an area of North Carolina where the Wright Brothers took off on their epic flight.

Kill Devil Hills is a town in Dare County, North Carolina. The population was 6,683 at the 2010 census, up from 5,897 in 2000. It is the most populous settlement in both Dare County and on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The Kill Devil Hills Micropolitan Statistical Area is part of the larger Virginia Beach-Norfolk, VA-NC Combined Statistical Area.The town is home to the site of the Wright brothers’ first controlled, powered airplane flights on December 17, 1903, chosen for its good winds. The town was commemorated by the Wright Brothers National Memorial, which was dedicated in 1932. At the time of the flight, the town of Kill Devil Hills did not exist, and it did not receive its municipal charter until 1953. Kitty Hawk, popularly noted as the site of the famous flights, is approximately four miles (6 km) to the north, and was the nearest settlement at the time of the famous flight.

According to a Youtube post the band hailed from Lancaster. Is that so?

On Discogs I find that Jon Carricker and Paul Breuer were in a band called (ju.nior cottonmouth) (also known as Cottonmouth) who released records on Fire Records and also on Atlantic Records in the 90s.

Sadly that’s when I lose their track. what did the two other band members do after Kill Devil Hills? Are there other bands that they were involved with? And how come they only released on record? They must have recorded more than three songs,  right? There must be some unreleased ones, right?

I am thankful for any information available about the great Kill Devil Hills. Who remembers them?

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Listen
Kill Devil Hills – What Comes After

Lately I’ve been finding lots of music by following indiepop friends on different social media. So many of the bands and songs I share here I found through them so I want to thank them and give them so credit. Especially to David from Madrid and Heinz from Hamburg. They discover lots of new music all the time. It is really incredible.

So what can I share that’s new this week?

Asilomar: Heather, Ray, Chris and Sarah form this new band from Pacific Grove in California. They only have one song on Bandcamp called “Shimmer and Faded” and it is brilliant. Really surprising that such a good song is their first ever track. I look forward to more!

Soft Blue Shimmer: another shoegazy California band, this time from Los Angeles. The band is formed by Charlie, Kenzo, Martin and Meredith and will be releasing a tape called “Nothing Happens Here’ on June 28th. This EP will have 5 tracks, and we can already preview one of them, “Chamoy”, which is terrific.

The Reds, Pinks & The Purples: more from California, and more by this San Francisco band that is way too prolific! The latest are two tracks, “I’m Worried About the New Wave” and “Boys in the Gang” a cover of 999. Ive written many times about them, so they don’t need introduction. Just check out their jangly music.

Cristina Quesada: “Bailar Conmigo” is the latest song unveiled from the upcoming album “I Think I Heard a Rumour” which will be out on LP and CD in a few days (April 26th!). This lovely song was written by Teresa and Ibon from Le Mans and of course performed by Cristina. Get the volume up and prepare to dance with the super catchy chorus.

Life on Venus: the latest on Shelflife Records is this 4-track EP by the Moscow based band. If you like your shoegaze, the four songs recorded at Powerhouse Studio are great. You get three originals, “What Lies Beneath”, “Silver Screen” and “For the Kill” and, one of them, “Girls”, is a cover of Fawns of Love. I believe it is only available digitally at the moment. Not sure of physical plans!

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Time for the letter J. And it is also time for an American band. One that released 1 album and 2 singles in the 90s. Sounds good?

Let’s start with their first record, a single, a single sided 12″ (WISH004) that was released in Slumberland’s sub-label I Wish I Was a Slumberland Records in 1994. This label that was set up as a promo/mailorder label has released a bunch of great bands through the years, from Go Sailor to The Aislers Set. Jupiter Sun put in this record 5 songs, “Blow Up”, “Violet Intertwine”, “Accelerate”, “Tomorrow” and “Headling Beam Reaction”. The record was hand-numbered and was limited to 500 copies. There were copies on black vinyl and also on grey vinyl. It came with an insert where we could find the credits. And thus I learn about the band members.

Steve Chang was the bassist, Ollie Moore the drummer, Matthew Murdock (also later in Mover) played guitar and sang. Jeff Saltzman played tambourine and glockenspiel. We know too that the songs were recorded at Astral Sounds and Mysterious Cave in 1993.

They didn’t continue on Slumberland. Instead they were to release an album on Parasol Records in 1995 titled “Atmosphere”. The album had 12 songs: “Thoughts”, “Zookeeper”, “Sometimes I Feel Fine”, “Inside This Room”, “Coming Down”, “Seven Years”, “Blow Up”, “Violet Intertwine”, “Accelerate, “Tomorrow”, “Headlight Beam Reaction” and “Supernova”. They had the help of  guitarist Paul Tyler from the band Mover on four of these songs. We also know that The first half of the record was recorded in Yoshie’s Living Room in December 1994 and mixed at the Mysterious Cover in January 1995. The rest of the songs we know them from the previous release.

Then in 1997 the band released in their own Phase 45 Records a CD EP called “Looking Up” (001) that included the title song and “Honey Thief”, “Out of the Blue” and “Vox”. Something interesting here is that Matt wasn’t the main vocalist anymore but Nate Rockwood. And even a bigger surprise, which I didn’t know nor expect, Ollie the drummer was replaced by Rob Uytingco who I know of course because he played in the superb Bay Area band Starry Eyed Cadet! Small world indeed! The songs were produced by Jeff Saltzman.

There is another “release” listed on Discogs, a tape with the same two songs on each side, “Looking Up” and “Out of the Blue”. It was a tape called “Sampler” and it is clear that it was made for promotional purposes.

And only one compilation appearance is listed. Two of their songs, “Headlight Beam Reaction” and “Violet Intertwine”, were included in the classic Slumberland comp “Why Popstars Can’t Dance” (Slumberland 31) from 1994.

Now, you’d be surprised to know but there is a website for the band that looks from the late 90s! This website has a cool gigography of the band and we know because of this that the band was around 1992 and was still playing up to 2001. They mostly played in San Francisco area (San Jose, Palo Alto, etc) but also in San Diego and Mesa, Arizona. They played with great bands like The Legendary Jim Ruiz Group, The Earthmen, Henry’s Dress and more.

Something interesting that I find on the website is that before the band was Jupiter Sun, the members were in a band called Silver who were around 1992-1993. But also at some point they were called Snowball with whom they put out a 7″ on Silver Girl Records.

Then I find some facts about the band. For example the principal songwriters were Matt Murdock and Steve Chang. Their song “Honey Thief” reached Top Charts in Garageband.

I keep looking and I find a Soundcloud! Wow, with many tracks in it! Some rare tracks I believe. Worth checking out “I’m Over You”, “Circus”, “Violet Intertwine (demo)”, “Washed Away”, “Pacific”, “We Can Take This Boat” and “Pebbles in my Mind (Rough Mix 06/07/2018)”.

That’s about it on the web for Jupiter Sun. I can’t seem to find any more information. I am sure many Bay Area popkids remember them, right?
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Listen
Jupiter Sun – Zookeeper

The Den Baron 7″ is already in the process of being pressed. Hopefully in a few days Baby Lemonade CD will be in the same spot. Pre-order buttons for both new upcoming releases are available on the website. Very very excited about them. At the same time I’m working on new releases!! I believe this will end up being a good year for Cloudberry!

So the week started and I started to look for new music as always… what did I find?

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: why not? once again I’m recommending a new set of songs by the San Francisco pop project. “Shop Windows” is a digital EP that has four jangly tracks, “Anxiety Art (demo)”, “Living on Sunday (electric)”, “Shop Windows (demo)” and “Not Quite Sentimental (demo)”. Really good stuff!

Purplespace: is a lovely dreampop electronic band that hails from Jacksonville, Florida. I stumbled upon their Soundcloud and heard the first song “Heavy on My Chest” and was impressed. Lovely vocals, and top melodies. And I start to wonder, how come I’ve never heard them before. It seems the band has released 6 albums already! The question is then, are they available in physical formats too?

Processions: this San Antonio, Texas, band is formed by Phil Alfonso, Michael Bankston, Orion Abernathy and Justin Mora. Their latest is a superb track called “Dalliance” and it sounds great. I believe this is the first time I feature a San Antonio band… and I wonder, I lived there back back in the day for 8 months and I thought it was a wasteland when it came to indiepop… maybe things are changing!

Texpack: out on Hujan! Records from Bogor in Indonesia was the cassette EP “Courageous” by this band. 6 songs of guitar based music. Fuzzy alternative songs where the song “Kids Out” is the standout (must be because it is the poppiest?).

Turquoise: I started with the song my friend David shared on his Facebook, “Parabole”, a superb dreampop track… so so good. Never heard this band before. They hail from Brussels and it seems the band is compared to bands like Slowdive, Broadcast or even The Chameleons but with French lyrics. The band just has the one self-titled EP available on Bandcamp. The 4 songs on it are pretty pretty.

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Today the letter I. The I of Incredible Force of Junior from the US.

The band started in the mid 1990s when Chris Mumford (guitar, vocals) and Susan Robb (bass, vocals) moved from upstate New York to Seattle. There Steve Lodefink (drums) joined them and thus Incredible Force of Junior was born.

Their first release was a 7″ (SWING 001) on Swingset Records in 1994. Two songs were included in this record, “Jet Propulsion” and “Greatest Thing”, both of them engineered by Dave Dubh Black.This was a self-release.

The next year the band would release a second 7″ this time in the beloved Cher Doll Records (CHER 06). Again the band put out two songs, “Stronger” and “Walter Johnson”. There are two versions of this 7″, one with a color xerox sleeve that was limited, and another with a white, black and blue race car illustration on it. The insert mentions that the songs were recorded mostly live on August 27th in 1994 for the KCMU “live room” at Jack Straw Studios. The lyrics for “Walter Johnson” were written by Jonathan Richman while the song “Stronger” was inspired by a trip to Bellingham, Wa.

That same year the band released yet another 7″. “Blue Cheer”/”Driving in Your Car” came out in Up Records (UP 019) in 1995. Up Records being a local label that started in 1994 by Chris Takino and Rich Jensen. This label would release big names before they were big like Built to Spill or Modest Mouse.

Up was to release the debut album of the band in 1996. Titled “Let the World Fall Apart” (UP 026), the record came out on CD and vinyl LP. Ten songs were recorded at Avast! in spring 1996 by Phil Ek, “Blue Cheer”, “Five-Eight”, “Trailer Home”, “Walrus”, “Sweet and Sour”, “Stronger”, “Kid Champion”, “Playa”, “Spanish Tiger” and “Roswell”.

There were many compilation appearances by the band, from 1994 to the year 2000. Let’s go in chronological order.

Their song “Greatest Thing” was included in the CD comp “Shreds Volume 2 – American Underground” (SH-27) that Shredder Records put out in 1994. This is a cool compilation that included bands like Coloring Book, Cub or Red Number Nine.

In 1995 the band contributed the song “Freaks” to the compilation 7″ “The Airplane” (PCT 002) that Papercut Records put out. On this record they appear next to Belmondo, The Nonpareils and Wimp Factor 14. The song was engineered by Rich Hinklin and mastered by Greg Vaughn. It is said that this was one of the very first songs the band wrote together, dating from 1992.

“Hold Me Now”, a cover of the Thompson Twins original, was included in the 1996 Double Agent Records compilation “Double Agent 1980, A Tribute to the 1980’s” (DA 1980). This song was recorded together by Tullycraft and Incredible Force of Junior.

Up Records would include their song “Trailer Home” in the CD compilation “Up in Orbit!” (UP045) in 1997. That same year “Decay ’em” appears in Cher Doll’s CD comp “Something Cool” (CHER 09).

Then in 1999 the band contributes the track “Generation” to the “We Can Still Be Friends” (MMR 001) CD comp that the fellow Pacific Northwest label Magic Marker put out to start their label.

Lastly their song “Blue Cheer” appears on “Experience Music Project Presents Wild and Wooly – The Northwest Rock Collection” a double CD compilation released by Experience Music Project (EMPCD 001) in 2000. It is a strange compilation this one, as you see the band appear next to Nirvana, Pearl Jam or Mudhoney…. odd at least to me.

Then the band toured and played shows at The Frying Pan and CMJ. It seems after this touring the band split. Chris Mumford decided to focus only on the other band he was part of, the great Tullycraft who have just released a new album by the way. Susan Robb went to play on her own as Milksnake and today she is an artist works in different media like sculpture, photography, video, performance and more.

It also seems that Susan Robb started a project after the split called Goatmax1. Chris Munford recorded a bunch of the songs of Goatmax1 but they were never released.

I look for more information on the web of course. I’m curious about their name. I find that it is actually a mishearing of a NYC double dutch team called Incredible Foursome Junior. Interesting. I also found that they opened for Supechunk at Rock Candy.

The band actually started in Syracuse, NY when Susan was 18 years old and attending Syracuse University as well as Chris. They were originally called Sweet Like a Boy. Before that Susan had been DJing at WCNI, a radio station at Connecticut College.

The band was a staple in the 90s in Seattle, playing gigs with many breakthrough bands of the period like Modest Mouse or Apples in Stereo. I would love to know how much of a following they had. And if there are more songs from those early days when they were called Sweet Like a Boy. Who remembers them?
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Listen
Incredible Force of Junior – Driving in Your Car

A new week. This year is passing very fast. I don’t have much news. I guess the most exciting news last week was that Robert Forster was going to play in New York in September. At 10am, Friday, I was waiting for the tickets to be released. So yes, I am attending that and I look forward to it as I haven’t had the luck yet to see him play. He is touring all over Europe too, so I wonder if you are also planning to see him?

Then of course I’ve looked for new music to share. It has been a bit harder this weekend as I’ve been busy, but 5 finds I can do.

The Five Year Plan: on Bandcamp it says that this album, “Live at the Thekla – 4th October 1985”, a live album, was released in 2015. Maybe it was released digitally then? I can’t recall. The thing is that there is a CD version of the album that I got some weeks ago and I think, as there are still a few copies left of it, that I urge you to get one before there are no more copies. If not, 9 songs from this gig are available to stream on Bandcamp.

Zebra Hunt: the Spanish label Tenorio Cotobade has just released an 8-track album by the Seattle pop group called “Trade Desire”. The jangly guitars are very present, with nods to the Flying Nun stable. If you need to preview this lovely new record you can on Bandcamp, but I think we all would like a copy of this terrific effort.

The Bats: there is a digital EP on the NZ band’s Bandcamp called “Afternoon in Bed”. The title song was actually featured on the “Couchmaster” album but here on this EP there is an edited shorter version of the song alongside 3 outtakes from the recording session of the “Couchmaster” album. So this is very important indeed!

Body Type: this 6 song EP called “Body Type EP” was released last October, so it is not exactly a new find, but it is a new find to me. This four piece from Sydney is an all-girl band. The songs are poppy with cool shimmering guitars. They do have a more recent song available called “Stingray” on what will be their second EP to be released this May, but I think I like these older songs better.

Dreamlake: this Swedish band sounds gorgeous. How come I have never heard about them before? They are formed by Isabella Svärdstam and Niklas Lock. This song, “Someday” is their latest single and it is great! There are a  ton of songs on their Soundcloud so I will spend the rest of the day listening to them.

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Time for letter H. So Hope. Yeah we need hope. Lots of it. But better talk about the band Hope? I think that’s a good idea.

Stuart Troop is listed as a band member on Discogs. Himself a singer-songwriter and musician based in Somerset who had been in bands like the amazing The Visitors (who had a retrospective on Matinée many years ago) and Telstarr (who released a bunch of albums for Dishy). Was Hope just himself?

According to the flexi “Good Old Friends” that came out on Bewildered Records (Wild 1) he was the performer, engineer and even co-producer. On this single sided flexi the band had the title song and also the track “Suffocate”. That flexi came out in 1989.

Three years after, in 1992, the brilliant German label A Turntable Friend put out the band’s last release: a 3-song 7″ (TURN 11). This record, with it’s cool cartoon cover art had “Funny” as the A side and “There’s a Place” and “Singing Vest” on the B side. Again Stuart Troop is the sole performer credited, but a new name appears here, David Arnold as a producer. David Arnold being the guitar player for The Claim, another top band in my book.

During their time the band appeared on two compilations. They contributed the song “There’s A Place (demo version)” to the Anorak Records compilation tape “Teeny Poppers” (Shoubidouwa 01) in 1992 and the song “Feeling Fine” to the tape comp “Charmed by the Sea” that the label Little Charmer put out in 1993. I’m quite familiar with the first tape as it has been mentioned in the blog in the past but not much with the second one. It seems Little Charmer was a fanzine from Greece and this tape that included tracks by The Field Mice, Pale Saints, They Go Boom!! and more, came with the third issue of the zine.

Then two years ago (2017), when A Turntable Friend made a comeback by releasing the compilation “The Test of Time” (TURN50) on double CD and triple LP, Hope was included in it with three songs: “Funny”, “Whining and Whining” and “There’s a Place”.

Looking for more info I stumble upon an article the great Alistair Fitchett wrote for his blog Unpopular back in 2008.  He mentions he noticed Stuart Troop because he produced some Shrag records. And then he talks a bit about Stuart as a vocalist for The Visitors and then that Guy Sirman was the person behind Bewildered and then behind Dishy (that explains one connection).

Sadly that is the only mention for the band I could find. Seems the band got forgotten or something. It is odd of course as all of the songs recorded by Hope are pretty good.

Now, who remembers them? Any other details that I’m missing out? For example, did Hope perform live at all?
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Listen
Hope – Good Old Friends

After so many news on the label’s end I’ll take it easy on this post. It is the turn for the letter G, now that I’m doing an obscure band in alphabetical order. So that’s that. Of course there are new finds to share too.

Candy: “Feel”, the latest by the Melbourne based band sounds great. I can’t say I know much about them, their Facebook page doesn’t seem to be working, but previously they had released a 10 song album which is sold out.

Blushing: the Austin based band has a new digital single called “Dream Merchants”. What to expect? The band continues with their fuzzy dreampop. Worth mentioning too that this song has a video!

Gentle Ivanhoe Death Skulls: just some days ago (or was it weeks?) I was featuring the Stockholm band because they had just released a tape album. Now they have a brand new song “Cedric” which is terrific.

Foliage: one of my favourite bedroom pop bands is the San Bernardino, California, based project Foliage. Behind it is just one man, Manuel Joseph Walker, and he has penned so many lovely songs. His latest “Pattern” is no exception.

Pálidos y Débiles EP: an interesting compilation CD and book released by Discos de Kirlián where many Spanish bands play covers of The Smiths in their own style. The bands included are Vacaciones, Silent James, Selvática, Gente Joven and Lavandera. The book on the other hand is written by Julio César Álvarez and of course it is about The Smiths.

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Girl of My best Friend got their name from an Elvis song. They came from Northampton. I discovered them on Chris and Neil’s Corrupt Postman tape. Their song stood out above all the others because of the haunting quality of the singer’s voice contrasted against the jangly guitars. It was different. It was exciting. I went down to La Cave in Bristol to see them. They performed a really spooky set. I think they were supporting The Bachelor Pad. I offered to cut a record with them. They asked me if I was kidding. They came to Southampton to do a gig with Jane Pow. They performed a really spooky set. Not long after that I lost touch with them. I think they split up. I like to think they were a ghost who came to haunt me for a few months before disappearing.
Paul, The Mayfields bassist, created the cover for the Girl of My Best Friend single.

That’s what Mark Pearson, who ran Ambition Records, told me about Girl of My best Friend when I interviewed him.

The only two releases by the band were on Ambition Records.

The first release happened in 1989. It was a proper 7″ (AMB 003) with two songs, “Warm Around You” on the A side and “Seasons” on the B side.

The second one being a split flexi with Jane Pow that same year, 1989 (AMB 04). This flexi was given for free for any mail order from Ambition Records. The “sleeve” was actually a hand stamped envelope and Girl of My Best Friend appeared second on the single sided flexi with the song “Amelia”. Jane Pow on the other hand contributed “Why I Am Here?”

Their song “Merry Go Round” appears on the “You Can’t Be Loved Forever 2” tape.

Two other songs appear on compilations. “Throwaway Girl” shows up on the classic tape released by Subtle “Throwaway Girl” (Subtle 001). and “Military Days” appears on “Turquoise Days” that was released by Red Roses for Me, both in 1989. So it must have been from one of these tapes that Mark from Ambition heard their music. The band doesn’t appear on the “Corrupt Postman” tape.

I noticed a couple of mentions that the band hailed from Wellingborough in Northampton.

Wellingborough is a large market town in the Wellingborough district in the county of Northamptonshire, England, situated about 18 km from the county town of Northampton. The town is situated on the north side of the River Nene, most of the older town is sited on the flanks of the hills above the river’s current flood plain. Due to frequent flooding by the River Nene, the town was mostly built above the current level of the floodplain. Originally named “Wendelingburgh” (the stronghold of Wændel’s people), the settlement was established in the Saxon period and is mentioned in the Domesday Book under the name of “Wendelburie”. The town was granted a royal market charter in 1201, by King John of England.

The blog Did Not Chart has dedicated a post to them. Here Ben mentions that he wrote to the band in 1988 and the vocalist of the band, Jo, sent him a tape of demos and a live recording back to him. The first demo was called “Girl of My Best Friend” while a second one was called “My Best Friend”. I wonder if these songs were shared in the blog back in 2012 when this was posted. I would love to listen to these songs.

In this same post I notice that Ivan, the bassist, commented. So I have two names, Jo and Ivan. No last names. What were the other band members names?

Not much more information on the web sadly. I really hope I can find out more about them and hopefully listen to their demos and any other songs they must have recorded. What I have heard so far is fantastic! Anyone remember them?

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Listen
Girl of My Best Friend – Warm Around You

So as promised it is time to announce the next 7″ on Cloudberry!

Check out “Bonving“, the A side from the upcoming 7″ by the German band Den Baron! Formed by Swen Keller in the late 90s, Den Baron released many singles on Apricot Records and Shelflife Records at the turn of the century. This is his comeback! The songs on the 7″ builds on the band’s legacy and their catchy 90s elegant and sophisticated indiepop.
The 7” includes this track on the A side and “Done and Gone” and “Ghost Town” on the B side. To be released in the spring of 2019. Artwork by Brazilian illustrator André Ducci.

Exciting!! Right? We are now taking pre-orders on our website.

New finds? I got that too of course.

Miedo: lovely new bedroom pop band from Madrid and “Miedo” is also their first song. I don’t know much about it but I believe one of my friends from Alborotador Gomasio is behind it. Also is it true that they will be playing in New York on August 22nd as Bandcamp mentions? That’d be amazing!

The Blue Dress: a new song by Jesús Sandoval’s jangly project. “The Perfect Morning” is the second digital single the band releases and it is as charming as the first one from a year or so back. We continue to find good indiepop coming from Mexico!

Jeanines: “Either Way” is the song that we can preview of the self-titled album the New York band will be releasing on Slumberland on June 14th. This is one of the albums I look forward the most this year even though I haven’t caught the band live yet here in New York!

Los Largos: this Alicante band was formed last year and have two songs up on Bandcamp! These are “Nosotros y las Sombras” and “Bla, Bla, Bla”. I must say the first track is terrific! Will this be released on physical format?

Kythiria: Sydney/Copenhagen/NYC based Kythira is releasing an album on tape on May 30th. Kythira is actually Alyssa Gengos, and this is the first time I’m listening to her music. Only one of her songs. “Change My Mind” is the song chosen to preview her upcoming album. And I can only say that it sounds lovely.

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Today it is the turn for the letter F. So, I thought why not The Field Trip? I know little about them but I do own some of their 7″s. A good idea I think.

Their first release was a flexi single with the songs “Sunblind” and “Think About Me” that came out along the My Mum’s fanzine and the Whaaat Fanzine. But I can’t find much more information about this release.

The label Watercolour Records was the first label to champion the band by releasing a 7″ in 1991 with the songs “Falling Down Again” on the A side and “Heaven…” and “Can You See What You Speak” on the B side. This was also the first ever release by this label (Watercolour 001) that was to release great bands like The Sweetest Ache and the Snowbirds among others. This 7″ came with 2 photos by the way. One of the band and another of an older guy and his dog (?).

In 1992 the band contributes two songs to a split 7″ that the American label Sympathy for the Record Industry (SFTRI 209) put out. The songs were “Happy” and “Christmas Song”. The other band on this record was Spectrum. “Happy” was recorded at Far Heath Studio in Northampton on the summer of 1992, while “Christmas Song” was recorded at Y.P. Studio in Rugby on the 13th of November 1992.

That same year the band released their second 7″ on Watercolour Records (Watercolour four). This EP had four songs, “One Way Ticket” and “Save All Your Lovin'” on the A side and “Can’t Wait Too Long” and “Come Together” on the B side. Pete Kember, aka. Sonic Boom and a well-known musician and producer from Rugby, contributed organ and guitar while also producing and mixing the songs.

Lastly, in 1993, the band released their last record, “Take to the Streets”. This one was available on CD single and 12″ vinyl and it was released by Watercolour Records (Watercolour six). It is important to mention that the cover art for the record differ in each version. Also the CD single includes three songs while the 12″ just two. The CD single had “Take to the Streets”, “Lebby: Be Someone – Everything – We Are Together – Let This Song (Carry Your Blues Away)” and “Take to the Streets (Radio Edit)”.  The 12″ version didn’t include the last one, the radio edit. It is worthj mentioning that “Take to the Streets” was mixed by Sonic Boom while “Lebby” was mixed by the band and Angus Wallace.  Something cool about this record is that The Jazz Butcher played saxophone and brass on the record.

The only compilation appearance listed dates also from 1993. It was again on Watercolour Records and was a CD comp called “Self Portrait: A Watercolour Compilation” (Watercolour nine). The band contributed the songs “Save All Your Lovin'” and “Take to the Streets”.

It is important to mention who was in the band, right? Well, John Regan played bass, Tony Lambert the drums, tambourine and vocals, Adam Yarnold guitar, piano and tambourine, Bruce Jones guitar and piano and John Dillon vocals and percussion.

Then I have a quick look at other bands the members might have been in. John Regan seems to have been also in The Guthrie Brothers. Tony Lambert has played with The Saw Doctors and Sonic Boom. Bruce Jones played also on Da*, while John Dillon played in many bands like Locust, Olympic Smiles, Pete Davenport and his Crazy Quavers and The Armada Orchestra.

I look all over the place for more information about them and the band. But sadly I don’t seem to find much more about The Field Trip. Were they from Rugby or Northampton? Who remembers them?

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Listen
The Field Trip – Falling Down Again

Okay my friends! Pre-orders are now available on the Cloudberry website for the upcoming Baby Lemonade retrospective that should be out this spring, so in a few months max! I am very excited about this release as I’ve been working on it for a long time! But this is not all, tomorrow on Facebook and Twitter (and Wednesday on the blog) I’ll be announcing the next 7″ to be released by the label! So please keep and eye and support by getting a copy if you can!

Now, here are some finds from the weekend!

The Blue Herons: I really like this project but it feels they don’t release as often as they should! Their previous release on Bandcamp dates from a year ago almost! “Another Chance” is their new song and features Thierry Haliniak from My Raining Stars on vocals…. and it is gorgeous! What a song! I really would like to hear more by them as it is very very good!

Cristina Quesada: our friend from Canarias is releasing an album later this month on the 26th! So it is no surprise that she has made a lovely video for the song “Estar a Tu Lado”! The song I believe was written by another hero of us, La Bien Querida. So everything is great here! Can’t wait to get the album!

Ta To Boy: the Greek band from Thessaloniki has been featured in the past when they released their terrific album “This Town”. Now I need to showcase them again as they have a wonderful new song on their Bandcamp titled “Goodbye”. Go check that out! I hope it appears on a proper release soon!

The Raft: I have also featured this band many times and I have to do it again because finally they are releasing their music in physical format. Out now is “Abloom” the CD album by The Raft on Shore Dive Records from Brighton. Terrific shoegazey indiepop on 10 songs!

Corasandel: from Lincoln in England comes this ambient-shoegaze band who has a few previous releases. This is the first time I’m listening to them, through their 5-track EP “All the Hours are One”. Only the first song of the EP is available to preview on Bandcamp, “Unison Mix”, but if the rest is as good, then this is a very fine record. It is available on CD too.

COCO: time for a Mexican band, from Culiacán! Their latest song, “Anemoia” is a lovely shoegaze/dreampop track which makes me wonder why they call themselves post-rock (I never liked post-rock). I will keep an eye on these “cuates”.

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In 1999 the fine San Francisco label Radio Khartoum released a mini CD by Essiar. “Summer in Minsk”, an evocative name, was the title of this EP with catalog number khz199.

The name Essiar actually comes from the last name of Cyrille Essiar, the main person behind this project. He wrote the songs. And he performed in all of them. 6 songs appear in this EP that mentions Belarus’ capital, “Le Pied Des Arbres”, “Aller Voter”, “Un Cottage Ecossais”, “Romance”, “Madrigal” and “N’en Parlons Plus”.

Something that surprised me from the credits is that Alicia Vanden Heuvel from The Aislers Set (and other bands like Magic Trick, Poundsign, Still Flyin’ and Uni) played on this record. Did she travel to France to record her parts? Also Eugéne Adelle is listed as a performer on this record.

There is not much more information on the sleeve sadly. Not sure what instruments or what each of them played. I do know that the band appeared in a few comps. On the Radio Khartoum mini CD comp “The Flight of Everson K (18fps Vol.1)” (khz198) the band contributed the song “Tempo” as Cyrille Essiar.Then in 1999 on the French label Dif Pif’s tape compilation “Pif Parade” (Dif001) the band contributed “L’amour Est Amer S’il N’est Mûr”, “My Love For You” and “L’Amour”. I believe this last song was a cover of Serge Gainsbourg. Other known bands on this comp are Watoo Watoo and Gypsophile.

Lastly, in 2006, the band contributes the song “Cellui” to the “Not’ CD2″compilation. Sadly Discogs doesn’t have much information about this comp, not even the label that put it out.

According to the Radio Khartoum website the mini CD was quite popular in Sweden as the label received quite a lot of fan mail from that Scandinavian country. Sadly it seems that even for the label Essiar is a big mystery.

It does look as if Cyrille Essiar vanished after this release. I can’t seem to find any other music he might have been involved with afterwards (or before!). But I’m curious. The mini CD is great, suave and haunting. But many questions are unanswered. Did he even play live?

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Listen
Essiar – Romance

This weekend I’ll be adding ordering info on the website for Baby Lemonade’s upcoming retrospective. I’m very excited about this release and can’t wait to announce more new releases in the coming days! I believe next week I’ll be able to announce the next 7″!! These are exciting times for Cloudberry indeed! So please read the blog, check our Facebook page or follow me on Twitter!

I do know you came for some indiepop treats from the web. So here you are:

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: when will Glenn Donaldson release an album?! He has many many songs by now, all of them in demo format. And he just unveiled 5 new songs that form a nice digital EP on Bandcamp. The songs are “Citybuses (demo)”, “Bike Race (demo)”, “Ahead of their Time (demo)”, “New Car” and “Uncommon Weather (mix2)”. Superb stuff.

The Sweetest Touch/The Wellington: two of my favourite indiepop bands from Indonesia have joined forces and have released a digital split EP with Guerrilla Records from Jakarta. Each band contributes 2 songs, The Sweetest Touch has “Answer” and “Bitter” while my friends of The Wellington, who once graced a track of theirs on a Cloudberry compilation, includes that one classic track “Lost in Cairo” and “Floating Flowers”.

Joy Cleaner: this 90s sounding band’s three song record “Easter Tuesday” came out last October but you can still find some copies of this record on their Bandcamp in both 7″ lathe cut and tape formats. It is available through Dromedary Records from New Jersey.

Peter Hall: our friend who used to be in the wonderful Play People has a new album out on his Bandcamp called “The Match Factory”. The 10 songs included are a nice mix of indie folk and indiepop which are thoroughly enjoyable. Happy to hear back from Peter!

The Room in the Wood: this is the latest project by Paul Cavanagh and Dave Jackson who used to be in the classic Liverpool band The Room. The band released a self-titled album that is now available on vinyl and CD through A Turntable Friend Records. All 12 songs are available to preview on Bandcamp!

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Now it is the turn for the letter D and the wonderful Manchester band The Danny Boys.

I know little by them I must say. I have been looking for their record but still haven’t had the luck. I know one day it will be in my collection. What I do know is that there was a connection with the Raintree County a band who I have tried to interview twice now, in 2013 and 2016, sending questions and all but never getting a reply sadly. I guess I would have known more details about The Danny Boys if these had happened.

What I do know is what Twee.net have as a bio:

The Danny Boys were Karen Hall, Craig Ferguson, Mick Burton, John Ray and Vinny Carroll . Formed in the mid 80’s they played a distinct melodic pop reminiscent of the sounds of The Byrds and Postcard acts like Orange Juice and Aztec Camera. Based in Manchester they were a staple part of the pre baggy Manchester guitar scene. Toured with The Railway Children and released a single on Ugly Man Records – Days of the Week.

In 1988 they disbanded with Mick Burton becoming a restaurateur of Greens in Didsbury, Karen Hall becoming a big shot in Manchester advertising, Craig and Vinny went on to form Raintree County a similarly melodic and charming group. John Ray went into broadcast journalism where he currently works as the ITV News at Ten’s man in Beijing

Their record. Yes, that’s what’s important here. It was a 12″ released on the wonderful Ugly Man Records (UGLY 2T) in 1987. Three songs appear on this fine indiepop slice of vinyl: “Days of the Week” on the A side and “Roger Whittaker” and “Typical!” on the B side. Craig Ferguson wrote the first and last track while the middle one was penned by Michael Burton.

Right. More details. What did each of them play? We know John Ray was the bassist, Vincent Carroll the drummer, Michael Burton the lead guitarist, Craig Ferguson sang and played guitar and Karen Hall also sang.

The songs were produced by Ged Yeates who also worked with a few other good bands from the time like The Waltones or The Railway Children.

Only one compilation is listed and that one is a recent one, dating from 2017. The song “Days of the Week” appears on the Cherry Red box set “Manchester North of England”.

I keep looking for information. I find that in the book “The Stone Roses and the Resurrection of British Pop” they are mentioned as they supported the Stone Roses at the Mardi Gras in Liverpool at the tail end of August 1989.

I believe too that the first ever gig of The Danny Boys was at the Cyprus Tavern in Manchester as I find a mention to it on Twitter.

Another gig was the one at The Boardwalk on August 3rd 1986 supporting the band Brigade. Or the one they supported The Three Johns at the same venue also in 1986.

Can’t find out much more about them. I am mostly curious if there were more songs other than the three on the record. I really liked what I hear and I want more! From comments on the Manchester Digital Music Archive it looks as if people barely remember them, even being doubtful if they were locals. I do hope though to find out more information about them, more details.

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Listen
The Danny Boys – Days of the Week

I want to start this blog post sharing a track from the next retrospective on the Cloudberry Cake Kitchen! Yesterday on social media I announced a Baby Lemonade compilation to be released this spring and as you can expect I am very very excited! And yeah, I said this spring, so it should be very soon! So follow this link on Soundcloud to check out “All Down to You”! The album will come in the usual lovely custom digipak of the series and will include 16 songs by the Glasgow band! Pre-order and more info coming to the website soon! I’ll let you know when that’s available!

Now the turn for letter C! But before that some good finds from the world wide web!

The Pesos: Lolipop Records hails from Los Angeles. This label has just released a digital album on Bandcamp by the band called The Pesos. The album is titled “Laissez Faire” and has 10 songs in total. There is not much more information about it so let the music speak.

Gentle Ivanhoe Death Skulls: the Swedish band is back with a 10 song tape album for the Toulouse based label Hidden Bay Records! The album is titled “Beaches” and it is straight up wonderful indiepop. Some of these songs had been previously released online but a bunch of them are just exclusive to this release.

Doble Pletina: the wonderful Barcelona quintet is back with a 7″ EP titled “Algo Estacional EP” on Jabalina! Great news! There are 3 new songs, “Volver a Caer”, “Pesca Salada” and “El Silencio en la Música”, that all pop lovers will enjoy.

The Catenary Wires: it seems the band led by Amelia Fletcher will be now on the German Tapete Records. The label has announced the release of their album “‘Til the Morning” for June 14th. It even includes quite a big tour! To promote the album the band has just unveiled a video for the song “Dream Town”!

The Hit Parade: and one of my favourite bands will be releasing a 7″ for Record Store Day this Saturday. You can hear one of the songs that will be in it that is called “Joey’s Girl”. I wonder, if I’ll be able to get myself a copy…. you know I’m no fan of this Record Store Day thing!

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Candlestick Park was an outdoor sports and entertainment stadium on the West Coast of the United States, located in San Francisco, in the Bayview Heights area. The stadium was originally the home of Major League Baseball’s San Francisco Giants, who played there from 1960 until moving into Pacific Bell Park (since renamed Oracle Park) in 2000. It was also the home field of the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League from 1971 through 2013. The 49ers moved to Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara for the 2014 season. The last event held at Candlestick was a concert by Paul McCartney in August 2014, and the demolition of the stadium was completed in September 2015. The Beatles gave their final full concert at Candlestick Park on August 29, 1966. Songs performed at the show were “Rock and Roll Music”, “She’s a Woman”, “If I Needed Someone”, “Day Tripper”, “Baby’s in Black”, “I Feel Fine”, “Yesterday”, “I Wanna Be Your Man”, “Nowhere Man”, “Paperback Writer”, and “Long Tall Sally”. A rough recording of most of the concert was left unreleased, although the audio has leaked on to the internet. The recording cuts off during the last minute of the concert, interrupting “Long Tall Sally”. The Beatles had not announced that this was to be their last concert, and if the foursome themselves knew, it was a closely guarded secret.

That’s quite a long way to introduce what Candlestick Park was. That’s where the band, formed by ex-Waltones, got their inspiration to name themselves. Guy Lovelady, from the magnificent Ugly Man label, actually wrote a small bio about the band for Twee.net. I won’t copy/paste that, but I will try to pick the important details from it to paint a picture who were Candlestick Park, the Manchester early 90s band.

Three of the Candlestick Park members had been in The Waltones, the great Medium Cool band (that I think deserve an interview in the blog too, right?): Manny Lee, Mark Collins and James Knox. Alex Fyans, the drummer from The Waltones was replaced for a drummer called Adrian Donahue in Candlestick Park. According to Guy the band recorded an LP for Midnight Music, for some reason this LP remains unreleased. The only thing the band actually put out was a single which I will talk about of course. After the band broke up Manny became a teacher, James went to work in the UK industrial relations field and Mark joined The Charlatans.

The single was released in both 7″ and 12″ versions. The 7″ had just a regular and simple Midnight Music sleeve while the 12″ did get a proper sleeve and artwork. As expected the 12″ included more songs. The “All the Time in the World” (DONG 67) 12″ included the title song on the A side while it had “Promised Land” and “Safe (Instrumental)” on the B side. The A side was going to be included in the LP that the label and the band were working on before the label went bankrupt. The album was to be called “Re-Invent the Wheel”.

The 7″ on the other hand only had an A side and it was “All the Time in the World”.

The Manchester Music Archive website mentions the story of the album in a different way. Here it says that the album “Re-Invent the Wheel” was actually recorded by The Waltones and that it was co-produced by Kevin Harris. It is when the album was finished that Fyans leaves the group and Adrian joins. They rebrand themselvess as Candlestick Park. Which version of the story is right? And why hasn’t this album being released as of today? I would release it if no one wants it!

Sadly not much more information is available on the web about them. It is a true mystery. Did they even play live? I actually remember writing about the band and their long-lost album on my previous blog. It has been years since I’ve wanted to know more about them. Hopefully this time I’ll get some answers. Who remembers them?

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Listen
Candlestick Park – All the Time in the World

Well so continuing with the “alphabet” of obscure indiepop bands, today is the turn for B!

But first let’s check out 5 new finds from the web from over the weekend!

Nah…: the wonderful band formed by Sebastian Voss and Estella Rosa have a new single out! It has two songs, “Apple Blossoms” and “Primavera” and they do sound just like the perfect music for spring with the lovely boy/girl vocals! The single is available now on CD! So run and get a copy before it sells out!

Ignacio Aguiló: it has been a long time since I checked the new songs my friend Joel has shared in his facebook page Latin American Twee. The first song I stumble upon is called “Días”, a digital single by Ignacio who used to be in the Argentinean band Hacia Dos Veranos. The song is released by the Spanish label Discos de la Bahía.

Bubblegum Lemonade: the great Glasgow band fronted by Laz has a new release out, a 3 song EP that I think is unmissable! “Our Mother’s House” EP was released on March 15th and includes the title track, “Barely Regal” and “When Life Gives You Lemons”. Top stuff!

Terry vs. Tori: the Seville, Spain, band are working on an album called “Heathers”. This album will include the song “Braille” which is the one I’m sharing now. It is dreamy and elegant, so one wonders when will this debut album will be released!

Johan Hedberg: the Swede is back with a new single called “Tobias och jag”! And it sounds grrrrreat! I don’t think it is available in a physical format as far as I know, but just on streaming services. In any case the title-song is available on Soundcloud and as I said, it is a good one! —————————————————————–

I really like both Barry Gemso Experience CDs. I must say I got them in the first place just because they were on the Siesta label out of Madrid. I liked this label’s aesthetics and the music they put out. I didn’t have a clue who were in this band. Or even if it was a band. I listened to them and then I stored them. I did upload to Youtube a song, this one I’m sharing here to introduce them to you if you’ve never heard them before. But in the end I don’t know absolutely nothing about them. Now that I’m going through the alphabet, I thought the letter B, the second entry in this new challenge I have, would be perfect to explore and find out more about them.

So two CDs on Siesta. Well, more like two albums. There were LP versions too. The first one dates from 1999 and was called “Ski Lodge Serenade” (SIESTA 102). It is interesting that this was an albums band, no singles or EPs were released. This album was available on CD and LP. The songs on them were “Girl on a Snowmobile”, “Hangliding”, “The Box”, “St. Tropez”, “I’ll Never Need Another Friend”, “Groovin’ Happening”, “Me & Penelope”, “Venus & Mars”, “Buttercup Business”, “Cinema Daze”, “Nous Verrons Bien” and “Theme from Mandrake S.I. (Skis of Fury, Skis of Fire)”.  Two names pop up on this album, Orson Presence and Toby Robinson. The tracks were written and produced by both and recorded by Toby Robinson. Who were they? I’ll try to get back to that later.

First I want to check out their 2nd album which was called “La Vie Vie”. This one came out again on Siesta (SIESTA 172) in 2003. No vinyl version this time. There were 11 songs: “Dial S for Siren”,  “Sandman”, “Mr. Wonderful”, “Every Single Day”, “Wood and Magic”, “Hitching a Ride”, “The Tyranny of Dreams”, “Future Imperfect”, “Fuzz”, “Chiffon Samba” and “The Mysteries of Life”. Now on the credits we only see one name, Toby Hrycek-Robinson. He added one last name?

The band also appeared on a few compilations. In 1999 they contributed “Groovin’ Happenin'” to “Sombrero” a superb compilation on Siesta (SIESTA 80) that was available on vinyl and CD. Then in the year 2000 they had “Dial S for Siren” on the Italian label S.H.A.D.O.’s compilation “Harpsichord 2000″ (SUBO11) that was available on CD and double 10” vinyl.

On the Japanese label Rambling Records they had “St Tropez” in their “Blanco y Negro Music for Siesta” (RBCS-2024) in 2002 and later on, in 2005 they had 3 songs on the compilation”El Cielo Azul” (RBCS-2116) on the same label, “Girl on a Snowmobile”, “Hangliding” and “I’ll Never Need Another Friend”.

Lastly in 2004, on “Derby. Once Temporadas de Siesta” (SIESTA 180) they had the song “Every Single Day”.

Orson Presence then. Also known as Dippie or Pres-Ence, among other names. He has been part of The Monochrome Set and Scarlet’s Well. But I don’t know his real name.

Toby Hrycek-Robinson in the other hand has a bio on Discogs. He is a producer, composer and recording engineer. He is based in London but he is originally from Cape Town, South Africa. He owns Moat Studio since 1990. He has been in many krautrock bands during the 70s and has composed music for several TV channels in the UK. He has been part too of Fuerrote and Scarlet’s Well. Oh! and he goes under the names of F.B. Nosnibor, Genius P.Orridge and The Mad Twiddler as well.

I am very curious though about the name Barry Gemso. Where did that name come from? What’s the story? Siesta Records doesn’t have much more information on him.

Well, at least we have one name. It is much more than from where we started. But still there are many questions I have. One of them is not if the band played live. I’m pretty sure they never did. Anyone knows any other details about The Barry Gemso Experience?

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Listen
The Barry Gemso Experience – Groovin’ Happennin’