CLASSIC ROCK MAGAZINE AND GEOFF BARTON LOVE 'DO NOT ADJUST YOUR SET'...

Geoff's review in the latest issue of Classic Rock... "We keep extolling the virtues of the Fruits de Mer label, and it doesn't look we're going to stop any time soon. This genius ep has re-recordings of classic 60s and 70s TV themes, among them Fireball XL5, White Horses and Ace of Wands. The highlight? A pulsing, robotic, Kraftwerk-style rendition of Robinson Crusoe by the delightfully named Frobisher Neck....8 out of 10"
Cheers Geoff!

STUART MACONIE'S FREAK ZONE LOVES 'DO NOT ADJUST YOUR SET'...

Stuart Maconie will be playing the ITV side of 'Do Not Adjust Your Set' on this Sunday's show (Nov 13 - BBC Radio 6 - 6pm, UK time). give it a listen, then reserve your copy (on sale December) by emailing andy@fruitsdemerrecords.com - you know it makes sense for more info, go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0176zbj

THE PRETTY THINGS AND THE STRAWBS SHOW THEY'VE STILL GOT IT LIVE...

two gigs in a week (three actually, Alison Krauss last night, but she's a bit outside the FdM remit) and two great 60s/70s bands proved they can still deliver live. First The Strawbs at the 100 Club with an electric set in every sense, with Dave Lambert in fine form as ever - a great venue and a band that are always woth seeing live.....and then The Pretty Things playing the rather odd Cranleigh Arts Centre (some of the audience looked like they were expecting a Gilbert & Sullivan recital) - their manager Mark St John said in a recent issue of Ugly Things that The Pretties never "just turn up" at a gig and he's so right - R&B/psychedelia/acoustic blues played at 100% by every member of the band, including Phil May, who had bronchitis but sounded as good as ever (and that means BLOODY good!). If you've given up going to gigs, make the next Pretty Things gig an exception AND BE THERE! Incidentally, we might have a bit of FdM/Pretties related news soon, so keep watching this space

THE TEST PRESSINGS COMETH...

You can't beat the nervous excitiement and expectation associated with opening up a virgin batch of test pressings (not when you're 55 and knackered, anyway) and that's what I've been doing - listening to all four sides of 'Keep Off The Grass' and the FdM half of our Annual - i hope you like them as much as i do.

(one day i'll sort this type-face out)

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL INDEPENDENT RECORD SHOP

...it's stating the obvious to say that if we don't all support them, they'll gradually disappear. So call in, spend a few quid, and make it a habit rather than a one-off! Andy and his missus have been staying with us for the last couple of weeks, and we've given a few shops the benefit of our heard-earned dosh - including Grey'n'Pink, hidden away in Chester, The Collectors Record Centre in Guildford, Langley's Records in West Molesey and JBS Records in Hanway St in London - all deserve a visit!

FdM GOES ALL KOSMISCHE & KRAUTROCK-LIKE

...next year is the wonderful Brain label's 40th anniversary, so we've started work on a couple of 2012 releases that celebrate the great music that was being produced in Germany in the early 70s in Germany. Brain, Ohr and Sky are our start-points but, just like Mae West, we're likely to drift.

YOUTUBE BLITZ

...we have over 30 new tracks lined up for you between now and year-end - and we're having a go at loading an excerpt of each one up on youtube, as well as scattering a few round this here site of ours. Not all of them are done yet - but you can see how far we've got by checking out www.youtube.com/fruitsdemer2

PROMO CDrs OR NO PROMO CDrs?

...it's a constant debate here at FdM Towers. We want to spread the word for our releases AND for the bands we work with, we want to get reviews/feedback (good and bad), but it all takes time and costs money and it's pretty frustrating when we see the CDrs listed on ebay or appearing in the racks at Music & Tape Exchange in London. We try to make our promo packs stand out for the masses of promos that go out every week - proper sleeves, off-the-wall write-ups, but it just seems to feed the ebay machine. What to do?
Well for now, we'll carry on with them - not so many of them, and not so elaborate - but we're going to do our best to cut out those that get sold on without even a review - all a bit boring, i know, but there you go - the highs and lows of being a multinational music conglomerate

'SUMMERISLE' IS FdM's BIGGEST-SELLER EVER!

...well, it will be soon anyway. We pressed up 500 and they sold out on reserves alone - so we've ordered another 200 and when they've gone - well, that'll be it. By our calculations, we'll have pressed up:
300 white vinyl, with white sleeves
100 yellow vinyl, with white sleeves
100 yellow vinyl, with yellow sleeves
...and the repress will be....
200 orange or red vinyl (we think), with white sleeves.
As usual Andy Bracken's yer man if you want to reserve a copy - just drop him an email

PROG MAGAZINE LOVES FdM!

...slight exagerration maybe, but they've written a nice feature on us in the latest issue and given a handy plug to our latest releases. Cracking page feature on Cranium Pie in there too - we knew them before they were famous, you know.

A big thanks to Paul Rigby and RECORD COLLECTOR for mentioning 'Summerisle' on their 'Most Wanted' spread - pretty good company to be in, as almost everything else featured is worth 800 quid or more!

JERRY LUCKY REVIEWS CRANIUM PIE! US prog guru Jerry Lucky has cast an ear or two over the Pie's new album - check out what he makes of it at www.jerrylucky.com

CRANIUM PIE SELL-out...we sold out of our stock of vinyl within a week of getting our supplies, the band are down to no more than a handful, and their interview in classic Rock Presents PROG is yet to appear! But don't despair - we know of one record shop that still has a few copies in stock - Those Old Records in Rugeley in Staffordshire - they have a great website - www.thoseoldrecords.co.uk - have a look and tell Chris the owner that we sent you
Meanwhile, the band are putting together a limited number of home-grown CDs of the album - i'm guessing they won't be around for long either, so head over to www.craniumpie.co.uk - and stop pushing people in the queue, we're at the front!

CRANIUM PIE IN MUSIC MAG OVEREXPOSURE DEBACLE...first 'Classic Rock Presents PROG' lines the band up for a feature to tie-in with their new album, MECHANISMS, then Geoff Barton gives the album a great review in the new issue of CLASSIC ROCK itself (8 out of 10 - "a masterclass in hyper-eclectic prog"!).

BRIDPORT RECORD FAIR - not your average record fair. Made my first visit to Bridport on Saturday - well worth a trip - stalls in two venues (one inside a decent pub!), and a bunch of market stalls on top of that. A higher proportion of Jazz and Blues than your usual fair, i reckon, which is a good or bad thing, depending on your predilictions; good, friendly atmosphere - worth a visit!

THE BEST FdM DISCOGRAPHY ON THE WEB (AND IT'S NOT OURS!) 45cat.com has an FdM discography that puts our own to shame! Click here to check it out...

WHAT'S YOUR FRUITS de MER COLLECTION WORTH? ...Sean Gibbins, esteemed curator of the FdM forum, has started to keep a record of prices on ebay for FdM releases - vinyl and promo CDrs - click here to take a look, it should be interesting to keep track over the coming months!

RECORD FAIRS and FRUITS DE MER - ARE WE MEANT FOR EACH OTHER?...i've been wondering whether we should take a stand at one of the big UK fairs around the time of a new release or two - obviously try to sell some copies, but also spreading the FdM word (ok, the FdM initials) - what do you think? We COULD produce a special edition of one of our singles for people attending, maybe start a bit of a trend for record labels attending record fairs and giving them a new angle to help them encourage people to go along...

THE CHEMISTRY SET - LIVE IN LONDON...I saw Dave McLean and the band play The Garage in Highbury on Saturday night. disappointing turn-out for their first UK gig in decades, but great to see the band playing live, including cracking versions of both sides of their new single. Dave says they've be playing a big Barcelona Festival this autumn - i think that'll be something worth planning a long weekend around!


Made a trip to the Westminster Record Fair at the start of July - organised by VIP - it was just like the old days - lots of dealers, lots of records, lots of visitors - good to see it's still possible to have an event like this - i will definitely go again, and I'm encouraged to seek out more of the same and I'm already looking forward to MUSICMANIA in November

Is it my imagination, or is UNCUT getting thinner by the month?

NEW ISSUE OF EXPOSE MAGAZINE OUT SOON - featurng a long interview with Andy (is there such a thing as a short one), includes 'I suffered for my art, now it's your turn' photo of Andy trying to play the guitar, plus a 'you're never along with a record collection' photo of yours truly. The article's a bit out-of-date, but then again, so are we

MORE EBAY ACTION...just heard that a copy of Vibravoid's 'What Colour Is Pink?' sold for $41, their 'Krautrock Sensation' ep for $82 and our Eddie Cochran Instrumentals ep for $36 - not that we're selling our copies, but nice to know someone out there likes what we're up sufficiently to pay over the odds. Email Andy (andy@fruitsdemerrecords.com) and join our members club - you'll never miss another release, and you might just be building up an inheritance for your kids (OK, so i got a bit carried away there).

COMING SOON TO AN FdM RECORD NEAR YOU..........CARDIOLOGY........our answer to 'Top Trumps' (if you've never heard of Top Trumps, give up and this point and move onto something else, this will get very tedious very quickly). Cardiology is our and, therefore, your collect-and-keep (or possibly discard-and-destroy, if you're still trying to fathom what we're going on about) guide to some of our vinyl releases over the last three years. Free postcards with our new singles, depicting a few of our earliest efforts along with some odd colour pressings which escaped rather than being officiallyreleased. We've produced 15 different cards and we'll fairly randomly insert them into our latest and future releases. My 'O' level in Maths leads me to believe that it will probably take you 14 years to compile a complete set, so we'll have to rethink that bit - anyway, bear with us

OK, think of a cult 70s UK film, with a soundtrack to match. Think what would happen if a Fruits de Mer band turned its mind to reinterpreting some of its finest moments...i've siad too much already...just watch this space...

Thought you'd be absolutely fascinated to know I've got Olympics tickets for either the semi-finals of the boxing or the women's beach volleyball, which shows you how my mind works - watch two men beating the crap out of each other or four women...anyway, it's a bit bizarre to know it's one or the other but not know which (the price of the tickets was/is identical). I'm not knocking the ticketing process, it must be murder to put a site like that together and make it work, never mind satisfying us wonderfully-grumpy Brits who take great joy in finding misery in everything.

Called in on Brighton Record Fair on Sunday - crikey, it's not as big as it was, is it? (pause for Charles Hawtrey moment). At least the stalls were packed with stuff - just not enough of them (give me a minute and i'll come up with the answer to all record fairs' ills..............easy, we need to support the bloody things - take a stall (they're dirt cheap), promote local events through our web sites, turn up and buy something. Easy to say, but even turning up is a start
Anyway, i picked up a nice re-press of 'Heldon's 3rd' for £8, so i was happy. Also visited the excellent Borderline record shop and bought a pricey but essential re-press of Q65's 'Afghanistan' - nice.
The previous weekend, we headed down to Worthing to see The Small Fakers play 'Ogden's Nut Gone Flake' at the Jook House. Nice venue, deserves a bigger audience - as did the Fakers - try to get along to see the show somewhere - well worth it. Also found a local vinyl emporium called Music Mania just off the seafront - picked up an old US 12-string compilation LP for a fiver, featuring Glen Campbell and Billy Strange amongst others - support your local vinyl store - or someone else's local vinyl store!

We're currently counting the days down to our next two singles - by The Chemistry Set and Earthling Society respectively. They should both be on sale on May 31st, although we're waiting on the all-important test pressings before we give the final go-ahead. Press coverage so far has been overwhelmingly positive - which is nice - but as ever, it's down to you to decide whether they are worth the investment (of course they are).

ANOTHER of our promo CDrs sold recently on ebay for nearly £140 - it REALLY isn't us selling them (you must be confusing us with a commercially-astute record label), but someone is doing rather well out of them - hope whoever buys them thinks they're getting value-for-money!

Keep it to yourself, but we're starting work on a follow-up to our 'A Phase We're Going Through' LP from 2010 - with a following wind, we should be able to pull it together by the end of the year (although we're not saying which year).

I'm married! Tied the knot with the beautiful and wonderful Liz on Saturday (she likes that kind of thing). Andy and his lovely missus Cathy flew in and witnessed the whole thing, along with family and friends from nearer shores. Very, very happy - thanks for asking. Liz is very understanding of my musical obsessions, having one brother who had a No.1 in the early 70s and another who was Keith Moon's minder! Liz won't thank me for mentioning that she even had a passing shot at stardom with an all-girl band called 'St Trinians' (you'd love the publicity photos). She also has 4 smashing kids, to add to Chris and Nick from my first marriage - we're now ready to take on The Osmonds )but we won't).

Classic Rock magazine's next issue (on sale late-March) will include two Fruits de Mer tracks:
Sendelica's version of 'Venus in Furs'
The Luck of Eden Hall's version of 'Lucifer Sam'
...many thanks to Welsh Jon for sorting this - looking forward to rubbing shoulders with - we're not quite sure, but good to be able to get the word and sounds out

You may have spotted by now that we've lost all sense and direction by producing the uber-trendy Fruits de Mer scarf. "What?!?", we hear you say/think. Well, if you're a football fan (which Andy and i are), and you're used to standing on exposed terraces on winter afternoons, watching your team lose (again, which we are), a scarf is an essential fashion accesssory - wave it, wrap your head in it, get it knicked by the big kids (maybe that was just me). Anyway, we decided in our usual non-commercial way that record collectors and football fans have lots in common, so every FdM fan is guaranteed to want to wear an FdM scarf. Perfect for a Christmas gift and a snowy winter (ok, it's March and the sun's out).
Embarass your kids, confuse your enemies - buy one now!!!

Big pressure on me (Keith) as, for the first time, i get the job of signing off the test pressings. Normally, Andy does this as:
1. he knows what he's doing
2. we've been pressing the vinyl in the US and that's where he lives

This time, for the 'Roqueting Through Space' LP+7", we're using the highly-rated Record Industry Ltd in the Netherlands and ewven i know that's nearer to Surrey than Washington.
To cut a not-very-intersting story short, the test pressings turn up, look great, sound even better, so i give them the pressing plant a big thumbs-up. Andy turns up at my gaff a few days later and - thank god - tells me i was right. Just a few weeks to the final copies arriving.

Check out the latest Strangebrew podcast - a Lewis Carroll/Alice special, featuring Mark Fry's unfragmented version of 'Dreaming vWith Alice', released exclusively on FdM - head to www.thestrangebrew.co.uk

OK, so now I've forgotten the typeface I've been using for the 'month' headings - if you recognize any of them, please email me (keith@fruitsdemerrecords.com) - pathetic, isn't it?

Look out for our ads in Shindig and Record Collector this month - anyone would think we knew what we were doing....maybe not.

Nick Leese at Heyday Mailorder has included two of our releases in his Top 10 releases of 2010 - 'A Phase We're Going Through' and 'Eddie Cochran Instrumentals' - good on you, Nick! If you're looking for a trustworthy mail order record store, do take a look at www.heyday-mo.com - Nick has been running the service for years, he really knows his stuff, he has the best range of psych, prog rock and folk that I've seen listed anywhere, he's as honest as you 'll ever get

Pretty Things at the 100 Club - brilliant! They played the whole of their 1st album as their first set - a real surprise and played with all their usual power and commitment to R&B. 2nd set included tracks from SF Sorrow - always brings a tear to my eye.

Caravan's reunion gig at Chiswick : good on Richard Coughlan for making it along - great gig and in my humble opinion all the better for Pye and Geoff sharing lead guitar duties. Not so sure about the new tracks, but then again i just love the extended instrumental pieces, and 'Hello, Hello' was superb

Good news...we're not just snowed under with snow here at FdM Towers, we've also got piles...of vinyl. Or at least we did have - we've already sold out of FdM 13 and 15 (Sendelica and Eddie Cochran Instrumental) on reserves alone, and FdM 14 and 16 are selling fast - fortunately we pressed up a few extra of each of these releases, so you're not too late to get hold of copies - but don't take too long over it!
If you've placed an order via PayPal, don't worry - we'll get your orders out asap - bear with us, and with the Royal Mail. If you reserved copies with Andy and he hasn't been in touch, don't worry, just drop him an emailand he'll sort things out for you......andy@fruitsdemerrecords.com

Thank God it's November (I lost the 'October' banner)...and what better way to start than to reprint in full the latest blog from our favourite mail-order vinyl/CD store - Heyday Mail Order, and the man himself - Nick Leese...

The most interesting indie label to appear in the last couple of years has to be Fruits De Mer, and their releases are something I continue to look forward to here at Heyday. Their fresh approach to ‘ye olde music business’ has helped to keep my faith in it too during these recent crazy times.
The idea is simple – release cover versions of 60s & 70s classics by new bands/artists on coloured vinyl 7” (although they’ve released one stunning LP record too), and present them in attractive eye-catching sleeves.
November is going to be a busy month for the label with four new releases! I’ve covered the Sendelica issue in a previous blog, but I’ve just received CDR copies of the other three.
I really appreciate the label’s kindness in sending me promos. Bless you FdM!
Let’s begin with their best release so far and possibly the most unusual too - The Eddie Cochran Intrumentals EP.
The label contacted a few of the ever-growing FdM ‘family and friends’ with an idea to re-interpret three obscure Eddie Cochran instrumentals. I know the Cochran hits, but I had no idea that he recorded so many cool instrumentals.
It’s all in the promotional material sent with the CDR - the whole story written by Andy at FdM with comments by the featured artists. This should be printed in its entirety on the sleeve - it’s fascinating! Andy mentions a CD entitled ‘String Fever’ by Eddie Cochran containing the original versions featured on this EP. I’ve ordered a copy for myself and will definitely list it on the Heyday site shortly. I’m really quite intrigued to hear these recordings.
So, the mystical sounding Head South By Weaving begin proceedings with ‘Rain’. I first heard HSBW on the Christmas 2009 FdM promo cassette and was overwhelmed by the beauty of their sound. Oh, but you’ve gotta hear this track…It takes a short while to build up, but then….man, it’s beautiful! Three or four passages of music joined seamlessly together to creating an eerie atmosphere. The haunting female vocal backing helps too. This one could go on and on…but sadly it has to end, and suddenly too!
Next up are FdM faves Vibravoid, the German neo-psych outfit. They tackle ‘Shotgun Wedding Theme’ with, get this - sitar, mellotron AND Theremin along with the usual drums, bass and guitar. Obviously the kitchen sink was required in another studio at the time! The pace of the EP suddenly picks up, and the atmosphere becomes very lysergic. Turn on, tune in…It's a hit!
Finally, the track that really ‘moves the furniture around' in my head is by the oddly named Baking Research Station (actually two members of the Cranium Pie) who cover ‘Jam Sand-Witch’ and make it sound like a groovy 70s Pink Floyd.
There are some ‘jarring’ guitar chords in here that really bounce the sounds around between my ears! Really, very good this one!
And that’s it, but not for me - I have the CD player on ‘repeat all’ and hear the tracks over and over!!!
Honestly, this EP is THAT good!
Wonder what Eddie would have made of it all? By all accounts he was always heading in an experimental direction anyway, so he may have beat these guys to it!
Get drowned in these sounds!

The ‘FdM Annual’ is a double 7” set featuring Stay performing ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ (giving it a psychedelic/dance grooviness only Spanish bands manage to do well!), Permanent Clear Light from Finland who tackle the wistful ‘Wherewithal’ (by Clifford T. Ward), Welsh outfit Zeuk with a version of Peter Hammill’s ‘Visions’, and finally, The Third Ear Band’s ‘Fleance’ covered by Hi-Fiction Science.
So, the first disc is a groovy/dreamy/melancholic psych-pop offering, while the second disc is more reflective and folk-y. I prefer the first one currently, Stay I have a soft spot for, and PCL are a really interesting band initially heard on the ‘A Phase We’re Going Through’ LP.
In keeping with that old festive tradition, a few interesting gifts are promised with this release! Better pre-order your copies fast! Releases on this label aren’t hanging around these days!

Finally, U.S. band Sidewalk Society present four tracks of vintage 60s UK pop/psych - ‘Lazy Old Sun’ (Kinks), ‘Dandelion’ (Stones), ‘Have You Ever Seen Me’ (Small Faces) and ‘In The First Place’ (Remo Four).
‘Lazy Old Sun’ in the hands of Sidewalk Society becomes a really hazy affair with the use of phasing. I really like it! They also give ‘Dandelion’ a slight kick, so it loses a little of its English whimsy and lands nicely with an American West Coast feel. ‘Tell Me’ rocks along quite well, but the winner for these ears is the version of ‘In The First Place’ taken from the film ‘Wonderwall’. The original Remo Four version was helped along by George Harrison and has always been a favourite song of mine. It really is an overlooked 60s UK psych treat! Moody, dreamy...you know the score! Good choice guys!
Going by what I’ve heard here, I’m really interested in hearing more by Sidewalk Society - they have good taste. Well, enough waffle from me for the time being. I’ll be in touch again soon.

THanks Nick!

Adopting the London Bus theory, Fruits de Mer goes four months without a single and then we schedule four of 'em for simultaneous release at the end of November. Everything from Eddie Cochran covers to a very 2010 take on the Third Ear Band, with lots of brilliant sixties psych in between. Check out our discography for more details - and then contact Andy Bracken to reserve your copies - every one of them a winner!

drop Andy a line to find out more...andy@fruitsdemerrecords.com

Our spacerock LP, currently scheduled for early 2011, features two tracks origiinally recorded by Hawkwind (we just COULDN'T imagine a spacerock release without something by the Hawklords). We're not going to give too much away at this stage - too many excellent releases to come in 2010 to witter on about - but one of the bands covering 'Urban Guerilla' had the bright idea of contacting Michael Moorcock to get his view on said recording. "Bloody good version of UG: "Deserves to sell millions. Really enjoyed it. Congratulations to everyone!", came the master of science fantasy's reply; good on yer, Michael, I can now admit to being an avid reader since the age of about 13, I've even got signed drawings of Elric on the living room wall (sad, but true).

Vote now for Permanent Clear Light's cover of The Who's 'In the City' to be Record of the Year 2010 at Radio Six International!! as featured on Fruits de Mer's 'A Phase We're Going Through' LP, 'In the City' is currently at number 7. See instructions for voting at:

www.radiosix.com/programs.html

- and please spread the word!

...the Cranium Pie 7" on Bracken Records will be avalable any day now - head over to www.brackenrecords.com to find out more or simply hit the 'Add to Cart' buitton on our home page - $8, a bargain! It's the last release on Andy's own label (he's going to focus solely on FdM from now on) - and what a way to go - brilliant tracks from a brilliant band - 70's prog ethos, 2010 sounds

What's this members club thing then, Andy...?

"The FdM Members Club exists to make the lives of our valued regular customers easier, as well as our own. It negates the need to reserve every record, and ensures every new release is received as expediently as possible without ever missing any.
Benefits include all of our releases on periodic CD-rs, as well as other stuff we may cobble together at Christmas etc. Who knows? We may even have competitions and stuff, where members have the chance to win things.
, An added bonus is having first chance to buy any of our releases that turn up on non-standard coloured vinyl, if we happen to get some from the pressing plant.
The advantage for us is that we can easily produce shipping labels rather than having to repeat the process each time, and we can more readily see where we need to set pressing quantities and prices. We hope that this will help us to keep prices as low as possible by virtue of ‘guaranteed’ sales.
Longer term, we’d like to set up a community of like-minded FdM collectors, whereby members have a say in tracks they’d like to see covered, and even recommend bands to do the covers, if they know of any
Essentially, though, it exists to protect the people who have been with us for a long time, and guarantee they never miss a beat"

drop Andy a line to find out more...andy@fruitsdemerrecords.com

 

---

Hard-to-believe, but there are people out there who want to talk to Andy Bracken, FdM's co-founder. Actually, they don't, but it's the only way they can find out whose stupid idea this record label was....

The Headfullofsnow interviews:
http://headfullofsnow.com/psychedelic-spotlight-interview-fruits-de-mer-records-part-1/
http://headfullofsnow.com/psychedelic-spotlight-interview-fruits-de-mer-records-part-2/

Fuzzine:
http://fuzzine.over-blog.com/article-label-fruit-de-mer-records-entretien-english-version-54810143.html

Psychotropic Zone:
http://www.unimeri.com/PsychotropicZone/interview_017.en.php

Monobrow:
http://monobrow73.blogspot.com/2010/02/legendary-labels-fruits-de-mer.html

Radio WPKN interview:
http://archives.wpkn.org/bookmarks/listen/7840

Radio WPKN home page
http://www.wpkn.org

Radio WPKN on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bridgeport-CT/Radio-Base-Camp/91497903235

At last, we have our first LP, 'A Phase', available for you to buy rather than read about - it looks as good as it sounds - 12" of grey and sometimes mauve vinyl - a bit of a lucky dip but we told the pressing plant to give the tracks a listen and then use their judgement. 300 orders in already and we've only pressed up 500, so don't take too long placing your order!

..."like The Beach Boys playing Silver Machine" - Classic Rock's Geoff Barton on 'A Phase'

As the title implies, 'A Phase We're Going Through' is dedicated to the long-lost art of 'phasing'. Also known as 'phase shifting' or 'flanging', this trick was the darling of drug-fulled bands and their similarly-stoned studio engineers in the 60s. A prime example would be The Small Faces' 'Itchycoo Park' with its sweeping fx which sound like a plane coming in to land. Here we have 11 bands from the UK, USA and Finland interpreting songs by the likes of Jefferson Airplane (Plastic Fantastic Lover) and Jimi Hendrix (Little Wing) and lavishing them with all manner of sonic freakishness. Pick of the bunch is Permanent Clear Light's rendition of The Who's 'In The City', which sounds like The Beach Boys playing 'Silver Machine'. Of the more bizarre covers, Sidewalk Society's version of The Bee Gees' 'Red Chair. Fade Away' apes prime-time Barrett-era Floyd, while The Luck of Eden Hall do The Monkees' 'Love Is Only Sleeping' in the manner of The Banana Splits. If you like the sound of this, you better hurry: 'A Phase' is limited to 500 copies, each on multicoloured vinyl in a suitably psyched-out sleeve.
8 out of 10

Geoff Barton
Classic Rock magazine

..."makes you feel that you're living inside the bong" - Shindig reviews 'A Phase'

Fruits de Mer, the self-described “world’s smallest colour vinyl psychedelia, acid-folk, progressive rock and krautrock” record label is finally releasing its first long-player, after a series of ear- and eye-pleasing seven-inchers. Their speciality is contemporary acts doing covers of late ‘60s/early ‘70s songs of the lysergic variety, and ‘A Phase’ offers a bounty of such delights.
The advance is a teaser that only contains snippets of all but one of the 11 tracks, but it’s enough to let you know what’s coming. Think The Idle Race’s ‘Hurry Up John’ , Can’s ‘Sing Swan Song’, Tomorrow’s ‘Revolution’ and you’ll get the idea. Songs and sounds that make you feel not so much that you just smoked out of a bong, but that you’re living inside the bong.
The artists covered range from those your parents know about (Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, The Bee Gees) to those only serious psych crate diggers are hip to (July, Clouds, Billy Nicholls). The Campbell Stokes Sunshine Recorder’s reading of Caleb’s acid classic ‘Baby, Your Phrasing is Bad’ trades the original’s sludgy feel for an amped-up vibe, like the band asked for Mandrax to help them come down from their LSD trip, and instead were given black beauties.

Shindig magazine
www.shindig-magazine.com

After 'A Phase' comes Hausfrauen Experiment - a double 7" extravaganza due sometime around the end of July - drop us an email at info@fruitsdemerrecords.com if you'd like us to reserve a copy for you. .

 

 

What can I tell you? Vibravoid's new release - 'What Colour Is Pink?' - is out and about - and about sold out.

500 copies pressed up, 500 copies on their way out of Fruits de Mer Towers (however, if you email us at info@fruitsdemerrecords.com, we MIGHT just be able to rustle up a copy, otherwise you're going to have to resort to ebay and pay over-the-odds). Never fear, Vibravoid will hopefully be back with more on FdM before the end of the year.

Coming soon...'A Phase We're Going Through' - our first LP - will be on sale in June (multicolour vinyl, all yours for $25, postage and our gratitude included); if you don't already know all about it and have a copy on pre-order, where have you been?!? Email us now at info@fruitsdemerrecords.com and we'll forgive you.

After that? FdM volume 12 will be a double single from 'Hausfrauen Experiment' (check them out on myspace). Eno, Hawkwind, Silver Apples and even Cockney Rebel get uniquely interpreted by the girls and their own personal Svengali, Alan Tench. If it sounds a bit, well, modern for us, so did 'Metropolis' when Fritz Lang came up with some storyboards for the film studio. Email us,etc....you know the score, but we're only pressing up 300 of these luxury items and they'll hopefully surface before the end of June, so don't hang around too long, because they won't.

After that - FdM's other-half, Andy Bracken, has a single from Cranium Pie coming out on Bracken Records (genius bit of naming, that). It's already been played on BBC Radio Wiltshire - make of that what you will - get over to www.brackenrecords.com to find out more.

After that - we'll take a few weeks rest over the summer, then we'll be back with a spacerock compilation of a yet-to-be-decided diameter and at least one more single from...I'll tell you more next time, meanwhile spread the word and the word is fruitsdemer.

WE CAME BEARING GIFTS…

so now it can be revealed - Fruits de Mer Volume 9 has come and gone like a thief in the night, or one more X-Factor winner called Brian, William or Kevin.

FdM volume 9 was 'We Come Bearing Gifts', an incredibly-limited and suitably-retro cassette, produced exclusively for bands, friends and fans of Fruits de Mer and Bracken Records.

Just 100 of the little blighters, mailed free, gratis and for nothing to the artists we've worked with, a few like-minded souls running magazines, websites, radio shows and shops who've taken an interest in what we're doing, but most of them posted with our eternal gratitude to the merry band of Fruits de Mer and Bracken fans who have supported us from our first FdM single back in 2008 and bought everything we've released direct from us and so helped keep the wolf from the door (along with Tracey, our bank manager).

Our thanks go out to the artists who kindly contributed tracks to the compilation and enabled us to produce something that we'd rate alongside 'Bumpers', ‘Elpea’ and 'You Can All Join In', only much, much cheaper.

We'll get round to posting the track-listing in due course, just so you know what you've missed if, indeed, you didn't get a copy…..and we might just have a handful of CDrs of the compilation to spare if you email us sharpish and give us a bloody good reason why you need and deserve a copy – having bought FdM 1-8 direct from us and we, or the postal system, having failed you being a pretty obvious one; owning one copy of each of FdM 1-8 and correctly answering the question, "Who is featured on the insert to FdM Volume 1", being another).

Will we repeat this act of random kindness at some point in the future? Possibly, but the only way you'll ever know is if you join our our mailing-list pronto and buy our 2010 releases direct from us. Bribery? Nah, it was a cassette for goodness sake and next time it might be a beermat, but we really do want to build up our mailing-list so that we can give FdM fans and friends a heads-up on what we have in-store - so it can't do any harm to send your email address to info@fruitsdemerrecords.com and sign up to the most pointless label invented since 'please do not bend'.

Go on, you know you want to.

ALSO, new 60s psych compilation - coming soon from Fruits de Mer

Hours after Apple unveiled their new i-pad, we tell you about our plans for a new Fruits de Mer compilation - to be released sometime in spring 2010. And guess who gets all the publicity?

'A Phase We're Going Through' will feature some of the best new bands on the planet breathing new life into sixties classics that either featured judicious mounts of phasing and studio trickery at the time, or drip in the stuff in our new versions, or at least would have done if only we'd been paying proper attention and explained to the bands in advance what we were aiming for.

Anyway, it's going to be brilliant - and we should know (actually, we know b*gger-all, but we didn't get where we are today by knowing what we're doing - see, you knew there was an explanation for this shambles). It's either going to be a 10" or 12" vinyl extravaganza - we're not sure which, but it'll definitely be bigger than a 7", and you can't say fairer than that.

We'll give you more details just as soon as we get our collective act together, but we can guarantee:

1. if you like what we've released to-date, you'll love it

2. it'll look as good as it sounds

3. there is no point 3

4. we'll press up a stupidly small amount and they'll disappear faster than the latest X-Factor winner

If you want to be first in the queue for more details, or get us to set a copy to one side for you, either send us a message via myspace or drop us a line to info@fruitsdemerrecords.com ....... NOW!