Friday! This weekend I should be able to start working on the fanzine inner pages, I mean the interviews! Last weekend I worked on the front cover and the CD sleeve. So yes, little by little this cool new zine is shaping up. I really really hope I can publish this by late March or mid April as the latest. I’ll keep you updated.

Also I want to say that I will be in Lima, Peru, from March 27 to April 4th. Just as we did in Mexico, please let me know if you want to save some postage. I can bring you any records that are available from the Cloudberry catalog to Lima. Just let me know in advance and this way you can just pay for the price of the record and save on postage. Just drop me an email with the records you’d like me to bring and we’ll figure out a way to meet.

Now, here are some new music worth checking out!

The Drain on the Balcony: on February 28th the Greek label Old Bad Habits is releasing a 7″ by this band. It also seems that this song  that we can listen, that is the A side, “Truly Deeply Madly” will be part of an album called “Greetings from Solihull” that will be coming out on the label Local Underground. Sounds great!

Flower Tattoo: this Seattle band released an album called “You Can Never Have a Long Enough Head Start” last month. It has 12 songs and it seems is only available digitally at the moment. The record has some great tracks and others not so good, a bit of a mixed bag, but when they are good, the tracks are pretty good, like the song “She”!

Huevos II:  Western Massachussetts band on a Louisville, Kentucky label called Sophomore Lounge. That is quite a discovery. They have released a 12″EP  called “Huevos II ‘III'” that has 5 jangly tracks influenced by New Zealand pop. It is quite a very nice surprise by this band formed by Ma Turner, John McGuigan and Patrick Borezo. Do they ever come down south to NYC? And what about their band name?

“Sampler Vol.1”: is the name of a new compilation put together by the Buenos Aires label Café y Ruido. There are 10 songs here, all by Argentinean bands and there is one song that is simply superb, Bruxismo’s “Tengo Ganas de Verte”. Just because of that song I am telling you to check this out.

The Claim: the classic Rochester band is releasing a split 7″ with the band Jim Riley’s Blues Foundation on March 3rd. It is being released by the Spinout Nuggets label and each band will be contributing a track. The Claim ‘s song is titled “Spring Turns to Winter” and it is a terrific slice of pop magic!

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It is always a good idea to return to check the WokingSoundscene Soundcloud and explore the obscure bands they feature. Last time I discovered Summersalt, today my surprise came when I heard the band giant Arc and their song “Fire Up the Sun”, a fine guitar pop song.

According to this terrific group that celebrates the band from their area, from the 80s and 90s, the band was around between 1991 and 1993. It was formed by Dave on bass, Michael on guitar, Lee on drums, Geoff on vocals and guitar and Gary on vocals. No last names are available though. It is going to be hard to track them down.

The band released just a demo tape, that was all. It was released in late 1991 and the cassette tape was titled “Time Becomes a Monster” and it included 3 tracks: “Hunters”, “Burn” and “Care”. These were recorded at Von’s Studio in autumn of that same year with Ottie/Lee producing.

Before that, earlier in 1991 the band had appeared on the tape compilation “Farnborough Groove Vol. 1”. On my post about Summersalt I talked a bit about this series of compilations that showcased up and coming bands from the area. On this one, the first one of the series, the band contributed the song “Fire Up the Sun”. It was the very last track on the B side. Later on, one of the songs from the demo, “Hunters”, appeared on the 3rd tape of the series, “Return of Farnborough Groove Vol. 3”

It seems there was also a “Farnborough Groove Best” of all 10 volumes of the series that was released in 2015. On it the band appeared once more with “Fire Up the Sun”.

Something interesting on the tape is that all lyrics are credited to Hawkes. Could it be that it was Gary Hawkes? Or Geoff Hawkes? I am just guessing here.

Also the art is pretty curious, it is credited to HA! Design and Miclantecuhli and Mosaic Guitar. It looks like a pre-hispanic muummy on the cover. It looks familiar but I can’t remember where I’ve seen it before.

I can’t find any other information about the band. Hopefully someone remembers them and can share details about them! Or even let us listen the songs from their demo?!

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Listen
Giant Arc – Fire Up the Sun