My friend Andreas has disappeared in oblivion. I wonder what happened to him. Great guy the swede. For a while I contributed with some band recommendations on his blog Dance to the Sun. He had an exquisite taste and championed the same bands as me. Of course he liked eBay and getting rare records, like that Pristine Christine in mint condition, was the sport he most liked. To all of those rare findings he would call them his Holy Grails. And yes, today I stumbled with one of his Holy Grails: Pastel Collision. I remember the day he nudged me on MSN saying he got “Trouble with Capital T”.
Strangely enough, today by googling I found this website. A blog run by Duncan from the band! I’m also a big fan of this band mind you. I have a couple (or maybe three? I’m terrible recalling how many records I have) of their 7″s. I also have the album by Kaleida (the band they evolved to) which is GREAT! You could throw a party just by playing that record. I wonder if he is up for an interview for the blog. I’ve just sent him a message on his Youtube account. He has uploaded the video for Wherever You Go, Take Me With You if you mind.
It would be cool that all Pastel Collision was released on a CD. I would like to do it, but I bet Siesta would make such complications as they like to do. They pay recordings and they keep the copyrights. I guess it would be a matter of negotiations… but nowadays paying to get a license of songs is silly. It’s just not worth it. Okay, it is but if it’s Camera Obscura or something bigger than that.
I sent the questions to Darrel for the Home and Abroad interview. Maybe that will be up soon! Also I wrote Uwe to see what he thinks about these compilation ideas. Maybe both labels can join forces and make a compilation every year? It’s a possibility! We’ll see what he says!
Today I listened the Napoleon Sweetheart EP from Northern Portrait. Ok, it’s good. But for me it doesn’t live the hype. I think their labelmates Bubblegum Lemonade have more of an edge. Still I recommend it, 4 fine jangly songs. Also got today in the mail La La Love You debut album. This is a Spanish band, so I bet you haven’t heard from them. It’s punk pop, lovely stuff, fun, boy-girl chorus, handclaps, you know… the classic sugus and chupa chups bands from the early 2000s on Elefant: Juniper Moon, Vacaciones, even some Los Fresones Rebeldes (though they only had one 7″ on Elefant, everything else on Subterfuge). This is a strong debut. I may continue listening to it tomorrow!
On the Cloudberry street… got all the songs for the Christmas EP and boy it does sound great! Twig counts again with Kalle from Elenette to bring that marvelous sax to Antoinette’s Christmas Wedding! Strega bring the #Poundsign# pedigree, girl boy vocals, and chimes! The Soft City, now with female vocals… for a moment I thought it was Kicker! and closing the EP, Champagne Riot with pure elegance.
I just finished watching Le Cercle Rouge. What a good movie. The robbery scene, wow, Melville knows how to keep you in suspense! Tension is perfectly executed. Would Hitchock be proud?
Okay enough gossip, that should do it for today.
