Sendelica will be the subject of a major PROG magazine feature by Kris Needs in the issue on sale in early Feb 2018 - congratulations to Pete and co, very well deserved.
THE FdM SHOP'S NOW OPEN
...for pre-orders for our Jan 2018 releases by The Pretty Things and Sendelica - get stuck in
RECORD COLLECTOR SPONSOR 16th DREAM FESTIVAL
I'm delighted to announce that Record Collector are confirmed as sponsors for next year's Fruits de Mer summer three-dayer in Wales.
Many thanks to Ian McCann and all the RC team for their support - for the third year running.
It's going to be our most 'international' festival yet, with Vibravoid, Fuchsia, Stay, The Fertliity Cult and The Alain Pire Experience all jetting in to play, while Sendelica will be catching the bus from just down the road.
One final band added to the line-up, Pete Bingham's Fellowship Of Hallucinatory Voyagers - a rare outing for the Sendelica leader's side project.
LOCK UP YOUR SHEEP...
Vibravoid are coming back to Cardigan - they'll be headlining the last night of the 16th Dream of Dr. Sardonicus festival, completing a terrific line-up of bands from across Europe.
CRYSTAL JACQUELINE, BLUE LILY COMMISSION, CLAUDIO CATALDI - LIVE
The Sunday night line-up at the King Arthur in Glastonbury after our May 12 10th birthday bash has a new recruit! As well as the Crystal Jacqueline Band and Blue Lily Commission, there'll be a solo set by Claudio Cataldi, who recorded the lovely 'Here She Comes Now 7" for us - got to see that!
I promise Liz and I WON'T have an FdM stall, we'll just be there for the music - tickets will be on sale on the door on the night - hope you can stay around for it
STRANGE THINGS ARE HAPPENING...
Just starting work with FdM bands old and new on a 2018 compilation of new recordings of classic and occasionally wilfully obscure 60s psych tracks - how about The Doors, The Monkees, Jimi Hendrix, Tintern Abbey, The Purple Gang and Alice Cooper for starters?
WE'RE ON OUR WAY TO CARDIGAN
Over half the tickets have already been sold for the 16th Dream of Dr. Sardonicus festival - better get over to the Sendelica bandcamp page and book!
HOW MANY ARTISTS CAN YOU SQUEEZE ONTO AN FdM 3CD SET?
How about The Honey Pot plus....Anton Barbeau, Beau, Gregory Curvey (The Luck Of Eden Hall),
Tony Durant (Fuchsia), Judy Dyble (Fairport Convention), Peter Jones and Tom Newman (July),
James Lowe (The Electric Prunes), Jim Milne (Tractor), Leo O’Kelly and Sonny Condell (Tir na nOg),
Nick Saloman and Ade Shaw (The Bevis Frond), Marc Swordfish (Astralasia), Dick Taylor (The Pretty Things)
Bruce Woolley (Buggles), plus Steve Palmer, Glenda Pescado, Ted Selke, Us and Them, Ilona V and Jay Tausig? You can read all about The Honey Pot's 'Ascending Scales' 3CD set
HERE
TEA BREAK OVER...
Now I've completely sold out of The Chemistry Set's 'Lovely Cuppa...' 7"; the last of the Kopf Musik 3CD sets have gone too - I still have a handful of the Kris Gietkowski 3CD set and I've just taken delivery of a final small batch of the Arcade Messiah 3CD sets - if you'd like either, please email (fruitsdemer7@hotmail.com) as I have too few copies to set up a proper PayPal link on the SHOP page
NOT ALWAYS HERE
The last copies of Stay's new 7" at FdM Towers will be heading for the Royal Mail in the morning - very sorry if you missed it, but you should still be able to pick up a copy from Heyday, Rough Trade, Norman or Shiny Beast. In any case, the band have produced a video to the title track that makes all FdM videos look very amateurish (mainly because they ARE very amateurish)
MORE WINKLEPICKERS
Goldmine Journalist Dave Thompson, DJ Martin Wright and FdM club members Steve Hallam and Till Wolff have added their vinyl obsessions to the Winklepickers section on the FdM website - if you'd like to bare your soul (or, preferably psych and prog), please email me
COLOR ME POP
The Chemistry Set and Stay singles have each been pressed in two colours of vinyl - the Chemistry Set smoky/clear copies have pretty much all gone, but you can buy a blue one, while you can still order either or both versions of Stay's EP from the FdM SHOP page (that's if you're in the UK, if you're not, please try Heyday Mail Order or Shiny Beast)
THE PIE RISES AGAIN
We'll have a stupidly-limited run of a solo LP from Cranium Pie's Rob Appleton for sale at our 10th birthday gig in Glastonbury - just 100 copies for sale - whatever I have left will accompany me to Cardigan for the 16th Dream festival. It is, as you might expect from the Cranium Pie contingent, suitably off-the-wall - and you can get a sneak preview, even buy a download, direct from Rob nowHERE
CROMLECH II BOX-SETS
You may have noticed that Sendelica have listed a limited-edition box-set version of 'Cromlech II' on their bandcamp page - they will have 55 copies and I'll have 55; with my copies, it'll have to be luck-of-the-draw for FdM club members who also buy the 'normal' edition, so no problem at all if you decide to try to order a set direct from Sendelica instead of from me - good luck!
'LOVELY CUPPA TEA' UPDATE
I'm running short of The Chemistry Set's new single already - but I'll have some copies at the Dionysus festival in Derby on October 7th - get 'em while you can!
3CD SETS UPDATE
I still have some sets of The Honey Pot's 'Ascending Scales' box-set available via the FdM SHOP but I'm now sold out of the Kopf Musik, Kris Gietkowski and Arcade Messiah sets. I've got short reprints of the Kopf Musik and Kris Gietkowski sets on-order and I'm hoping to get a few more of the Arcade Messiah 'Trilogy' sets, so if you'd like to join the waiting-list for any of them please drop me an email
ALL UK SEPTEMBER PRE-ORDERS WILL BE DISPATCHED BY MONDAY
All the direct orders I've received for The Chemistry Set and Stay singles will be in the post by Monday morning (Oct 2) - sorry for the slight delay on these releases
MORE WINKLEPICKERS
Radio DJ Lord Litter and FdM club member Dave Lovatt are among the new recruits to FdM's 'Winklepickers' section, where vinyl obsessives admit to their addictions. Do check it out, and if you'd also like to reveal all to the world, drop me an email
MOTHS - HALFDAN'S DAUGHTER
Just 50 copies of this Friends of the Fish 7" lathe-cut will be available for sale at our final gig of the year, from Moths - a band that you might have discovered on the 'Dust On The Nettles' acid-folk retrospective (I did, and the track from that compilation is included on the lathe-cut) and who've reformed after 40 years apart; they will be playing Dionysus on October 7th (lathe-cuts will be first-come-first-served on the day)
POSTCARDS FROM THE TEA-CUP
While I've been waiting for the September vinyl to arrive (latest news is that it's all due to reach FdM Towers on Sept 28 - my apologies for the delay), I've been running off a few Chemistry Set 'Cuppa Tea' postcards, with Paul Lake's lyrics on the reverse (it was that or watch Bargain Hunt or learn to play golf). If you ordered your copy of the single early enough from me, or from Nick at Heyday, you just might find one or two of them in your parcel, when it finally arrives
RODNEY BINGENHEIMER LOVES A CUPPA
The legendary Rodney Bingenheimer (The Mayor of Sunset Strip) played 'Lovely Cuppa Tea' on his radio show lrecently. He knew Elvis and The Beatles and broke The Sex Pistols, Ramones, Blondie and Sonic Youth in the States, so Dave McLean and Paul Lake are in good company
THE BOOK OF THE FILM
Facebook followers may have spotted some comments regarding an FdM book being in the offing...well it's true, Goldmine magazine's Dave Thompson has started work on a paperback looking back over 10 years of FdM. We're hoping Dave will be able to publish it around May 2018, which just so happens to be the label's 10th birthday.
In Dave's recent book, 'Goldmine's Essential Guide to Record Collecting', he asked whether FdM is the most collectible label of the 21st century - maybe he'll come up with the answer in his new book?
KOPF MUSIK + THREE OF A KIND 3CD SETS
Both sold out on pre-orders, but I am trying to get very limited re-pressings of both - if you're desperate for a copy of one of them, please email me (fruitsdemer7@hotmail.com)
16th DREAM UPDATE
Latest additions to this year's bill are Schnauser and Ash Magna! Still, hopefully, a couple more names to be added - looks like we're going to have to start earlier on the Saturday and Sunday to fit everyone in
Over one-third of the tickets have already been sold, you can book your three-day pass HERE
GLASTONBURY - SOLD OUT
All tickets have now been sold for our May 12, 2018 10th birthday bash at the King Arthur in Glastonbury (150 capacity); it should be a great day - hope to see you there
WINKLEPICKERS
A new section on the FdM website where various friends of the fish reveal their vinyl obsessions - shop owners, reviewers, club members and the like; plenty more to come in the months ahead - if you'd like to contribute, please get in touch
3CD SETS
'Kopf Musik', Kris Gietkowski's 'Three Of A Kind' and Arcade Messiah's 'Trilogy' are all sold out here at FdM Towers - although I am trying to get a very short re-run of 'Kopf Musik' and 'Three Of A Kind' for people who just missed out; if i have any copies of 'Trilogy' left after I've posted out all September orders, I'll bring them along to the Dionysus gig in Derby
MARC BRIERLEY
You may well remember the name from the classic late-60s albums 'Hello' and 'Welcome To The Citadel'...well,
Marc is back singing and playing live and he very kindly gave Fruits de Mer the first interview I've seen by him in a long, long time. Marc's a really nice guy, quietly feeling his way back into the music business - I think we'll be hearing more from him in 2018, meanwhile you can read some of his recollections HERE
16th DREAM UPDATE
I know it's nearly a year away but Pete Bingham already has most of the 2018 festival line-up sorted, with two rather intriguing new addditions:
- Opel (a one-off reunion by a duo who split up in the 90s but kindly donated a CD of their recordings to the 15th Dream goodie-bag)
- I Am Voyager 1 (another duo, one of whom is Phil Macy, FdM's lathe-cutter extraordinaire - i'll be trying to persuade Phil to bring a few samples along!)
You can book your three-day ticket HERE
...oh and our good friends at VOD Music in Mold will be bringing some of their shop stock along to sell on their own stall on the Sunday, so there'll be even more opportunities to give your bank balance a battering!
GLASTONBURY UPDATE
Well, we sailed past the 120 ticket sales target within a matter of days - fortunately, the venue owner has now agreed we can go up to 150, so it's not too late to book - there are 13 tickets left as I correct the typos from last night's posting - and you can buy one...
HERE ...and I'm delighted to say we've been able to add Jack Ellister to the bill to complete a pretty bloody wonderful line-up for our first trip to Glastonbury - not a bad way to celebrate our 10th birthday - hope you can make it
GET YOUR 2018 DIARIES OUT
...and grab a pen:
May 12 : Fruits de Mer goes to Glastonbury
August 3-5 : The 16th Dream of Dr. Sardonicus festival
- in Glastonbury, we'll be celebrating our 10th anniversary at a one-dayer in the King Arthur pub, and in Cardigan Pete Bingham is already planning our most international festival ever!
...and we've just added Stay to the 16th Dream festival and Magic Bus to the Glastonbury line-up
THE PRETTIES ARE BACK!
In a year full of amazing stuff, perhaps this tops everything for me - The mighty Pretty Things will be back on Fruits de Mer at the end of the year with a new 7" single! More news soon
CROMLECH CHRONICLES II
What better way to follow Sendelica's sold-out 'Cromlech Chronicles' than with 'Cromlech II'? So that's what we're doing - on sale in December. More news soon
ON OUR WAY TO PUTNEY
FdM's evening of world psych is tonight (August 10th) at the famous Half Moon pub in Putney Doors open at 7pm, with our usual mix of vinyl giveaways (a Sendelica 7") and vinyl exclusives (Fuchsia II on red vinyl, plus a 3DTanx/7shades lathe-cut 7") followed by some great live music:
7.30 Gregory Curvey
8.15 Fuchsia
9.30 Sendelica
- tickets are £12 on the door
SEPTEMBER RELEASES
We'll have a very select brace of 7"s pressed for your pleasure at the end of September - from Stay and The Chemistry Set respectively
...not to mention a 3CD set extended version of The Honey Pot's 'Ascending Scales' and the Kopf Musik 3CD set of krautrock covers collected from FdM's back-catalogue more news soon
15th DREAM FESTIVAL TIMINGS
Here are the timings for the three nights in Cardigan...
FRIDAY DOORS OPEN AT 6.45 PM
FRUITS DE MER QUIZ 7.30 - 7.45
THE TELEPHONES ACOUSTIC 8.00 - 8.30
FUCHSIA 9.00 - 10.00
EARTHLING SOCIETY 10.30-12.00
SATURDAY DOORS OPEN AT 3.00PM
CHARIOTS 5.00 - 5.40
RED SUN 6.00 - 7.00
ANTON BARBEAU 7.30 - 8.30
SENDELICA 8.45 - 10.00
THE BEVIS FROND 10.30 - 12.00
SUNDAY DOORS OPEN AT 1PM
MARK MCDOWELL & FRIENDS 2.30 - 3.00
THE SPOOKERS 3.30 - 4.30
DEVIANT AMPS 5.00 - 6.00
CARY GRACE BAND 6.30 - 7.30
BABAL 8.00 - 9.30
SEPTEMBER GURLS
I had to share this track from Anton Barbeau's new EP, 'Heaven Is In Your Mind'; i know i overuse the word 'classic' but this song - originally by Big Star - surely qualifies?
FUCHSIA ON CD AT CARDIGAN
I received an oversupply of Fuchsia 'Song' gatefold sleeves from the pressing plant and too many '71 programme concert reprints; i couldn't bring myself to throw them away, so they'll be on sale at Cardigan - with two CDs replacing the two vinyl singles - 80 sets for the princely sum of £5 a time
LATE BLOOMING PLANKTON
While searching round their cellar looking for prizes for the 15th Dream of Dr. Sardonicus quiz night, those nice people at Record Collector magazine found 25 copies of the PLANKTON LP+7" that had somehow escaped their attention; a quick bit of friendly negotiation and they'll now be for sale at the festival at £15 each; just to add a bit extra, I've also included a promo CD of the album and an A3 poster showing the cover designs that we had to choose from when putting the original album together
FdM ON RADIO 3
Thanks to Nick Luscombe for playing 'Look At The Sun' by Louise on his 'Late Junction' show (it's first track on the Fuchsia 'Song' double 7" - the first time Tony Durant got as far as demo stage with a band, back in 1967)
I'LL DRINK TO THAT
Cardigan's Mantle Brewery have taken delivery of their special edition '15th Dream of Dr. Sardonicus' best bitter. On sale at the festival, of course, but also in advance by mail order from the brewery's shop
HERE
FESTIVAL/HALF MOON POSTERS
One of the almost-too-many-to-mention £5 specials at the 15th Dream festival and Half Moon August 10 gig will be a set of FIVE FdM 2017 A2 festival posters, featuring the Lucid Dreams festival, Cardigan festival and the Putney gig - how do we do it, etc....
FESTIVAL /HALF MOON T-SHIRTS
Another of the almost-too-many-to-mention £5 specials at the 15th Dream festival and Half Moon August 10 gig will be various new FdM t-shirts - why do we do it, etc....
FUCHSIA II ON VINYL
for the first time, Fuchsia II will be available on vinyl - and only on Fruits de Mer Records. We'll have 100 copies on green/white vinyl at the 15th Dream festival and 100 on red/maroon vinyl at the Half Moon gig on August 10th...and that's it! All copies include an insert signed by Tony Durent, who'll be playing live at both events (it's almost as if we planned these things)
RECORD COLLECTOR DELIVERS...
...and how - our festival sponsors have come up with a pack of 10 LPs from their back-catalogue as first prize for the Friday night FdM quiz at the 15th Dream festival; it's an instant record collection - all praise RC!
THE COLLECTED ARCADE MESSIAH
A late addition to our autumn release schedule - all three of Arcade Messiah's superb instrumental prog albums collected together on a bargain-priced 3CD set; if you liked John Bassett's version of Aphrodite's Child's 'Four Horsemen' on the Side Effects box-set (for John IS Arcade Messiah), you'll want this - should be on sale late-September - more news soon
OCEANIA'S SEVEN
A couple of clips from the bonus 7" that comes with Astralasia's special edition of their double LP. You can find out more at
HERE I was going to bring a few along to our summer festival, but they've all gone
WE'VE LOST OUR BOTTLE
...but we'll find it in time for the 15th Dream festival - this is the label for the Mantle Brewery's 2017 special edition of its best bitter, produced specially for the Dr. Sardonicus three-dayer in Cardigan
LATHE-CUT UPDATE
We're spreading the pain just a little for anyone coming along to our summer gigs and hoping to buy the various lathe-cuts...there'll be a Bevis Frond 7" and a soon-to-be-announced one-sided 12" for sale at the 15th Dream festival, and then a split 7" featuring 7Shades & Three Dimensional Tanx at our evening of psych at the Half Moon in London a few days later
SEPTEMBER RELEASES ON VINYL
We'll have a very select brace of 7"s pressed for your pleasure at the end of September - from Stay and The Chemistry Set respectively (not to mention that 3CD set extended version of The Honey Pot's 'Ascending Scales' - but that's not vinyl, so I won't mention it) more news soon
THE BEVIS FROND AT WURZBURG
a storming two-hours from The Bevis Frond to end the second day of the festival, after sets by Julie's Haircut, Magic Bus and Vibravoid
DAMO AT THE LUCID DREAMS FESTIVAL!
Great sets last night from Ziguri, Sendelica and Damo Suzuki - doors open at 12.30 today for another 8 hours of live music - from Julie's Haircut, Magic Bus, Vibravoid and The Bevis Frond!
LUCID DREAM FESTIVAL - JULIE'S HAIRCUT MAKE THE CUT
With Electric Orange unable to play on Saturday, I'm really pleased that festival organiser Horst Sunhair from Sunhair Records has been able to bring in Julie's Haircut from Italy to complete the Saturday bill; I hope you'll remember the band from their terrific contributions to the FdM 'Strange Fish' box-set - wonderful stuff - and they have a new album out; I'm well made-up!
LUCID DREAMS - DON'T BE LATE!
If you're coming to Wurzburg, do check timings for this weekend's Lucid Dream festival (doors open at 3.30pm on Friday)
HERE
Just to remind you, everyone on Friday will get two CDs - the FdM festival compilation and nick nicely's two-track exclusive
Everyone on Saturday will get a free back-catalogue 7" from Fruits de Mer (in a new festival sleeve!)
There'll be an FdM stall on Saturday, selling the new 'Kopf Musik' 3CD set, Kris Gietkowski 3CD set and a selection of vinyl from the label (whatever Liz and I can get on the plane!)
JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT THE 15th DREAM SUMMER FESTIVAL GOODIE-BAG COULDN'T GET ANY BIGGER...ALONG COME THE STRIPED BANANAS
Suddenly a NINTH CD has appeared! The Striped Bananas are a neo-psych band currently based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Their fourth album is being released in July and will feature their classic atmospheric harmonies and driving psychedelia. Their exclusive 'Forbidden Fruit' sampler CD is a brief flavoring of all four albums, which will hopefully invite you to check out the motherships!
GETTING SHIRTY
we have a few Astralasia 'Oceania' t-shirts and some new FdM shirts in-stock - sizes from Medium through to XXXL - check out our 'SHOP' page
UNDONE CD - A LATE ARRIVAL AT THE 15th DREAM BALL
The eighth CD for the FdM festival goodie-bag has just been confirmed - and it features a band that first appeared on an FdM compilation disc at last year's festival; Undone are a neo-psychedelic collective based in Macedonia. Their exclusive CD compilation 'Harbor' compiles songs from their four albums 'If We Are Here' (2011), 'Indeed' (2012), 'Family' (2016) and 'kNOWing Eva' (2017); we scour the world to find you new music!
You can find out more about the band
here
OUR BEST BATCH OF RELEASES YET?
So how the hell do you follow a new double LP by Astralasia, a Zappa single by Superfjord & Sendelica and a one-man remodelling of Egg's first album? Well, how about a new four-track EP by Anton Barbeau, The Action's classic 'Rolled Gold' recreated by Sidewalk Society and a double 7" spanning 50 years of Fuchsia's Tony Durant? I've heard the July releases, so you'll have to trust me when I say they are bloody good!
VINYLY HERE AT FdM TOWERS
...the Zappa singles, Astralasia's 'Oceania' double LP and Kris Gietkowski 'Egg' LP. All looking rather fine (the Astralasia sleeve even has some pretty creative spot varnish added to the waves, which works even better than I expected, and much better than I feared - that's why I didn't mention it in advance!). I'm already completely sold out of both colour version of Kris' album and the 'normal' edition of 'Oceania' - which just leaves me with limited supplies of the Zappa 7"
PALERMO FAITH
This might be a bit of a long-shot, but if you happen to be in Palermo for RSD 2017, do check out DJ Sergio Cataldi's stall (he's Claudio's brother) for a few bits of FdM vinyl, plus posters and the like - thank you Sergio for spreading the word!
find out more here
COMING SOON...
a few club members will find out more at Christmas...meanwhile we're keeping you in the dark
STRANGE, BUT TRUE
Here's the cover design, courtesy of Dan Lawrence, to Sidewalk Society's 'Strange Roads' album - due out at the end of July; a wonderful remake of The Action's hugely underrated songs on 'Rolled Gold' (and yes, we'll be investing in a bit of gold ink on the cover, because...well, you have to, don't you?)
APRIL ESCAPEES
Our April releases are due to reach FdM Towers and the Heyday Hotel on April 18th/19th - one or two days late, but I hadn't realised the 17th was a Bank Holiday when I set the on sale date. Liz and I will be packing and posting as fast as possible with the aim of getting everything to the Royal Mail no later than Friday
SURELY THERE CAN'T BE MORE BOWIE AND FLOYD TO COVER?
Hard to believe, but there are...a Bowie classic that took far too long to come together to make one of the members club compilations but is too good not to be heard, and a post-Syd Floyd track that could easily have been on 'Side Effects' if it had been recorded a few years ago...two different releases, more news soon
TWO BECOMES THREE
The Honey Pot's sell-out double LP 'Ascending Scales' has received such great feedback that Icarus Peel has been back in the studio, working on a bunch of new tracks and new mixes with The Honey Pot and some more special guests, including Leo and Sonny from Tir na nOg, Beau and Tractor's Jim Milne(!) - all with the aim of producing a limited-run 3CD set this summer with almost an hour of newly-recorded tracks added to the original selection
NEW DESERT ISLAND FISH
Check out the Desert Island Fish list (on the menu bar) for interviews with Superfjord's Jussi Ristikaarto, Beau and Rob Gould and find out about their musical beginnings/obsessions and plans for the future, including the Edward Woodward album, Jac Holzman fall-out and a Jack Russell terrier
NICK'S DOING NOT-SO-NICELY
Unfortunately nick nicely is not going to be able to play at the Lucid Dreams festival due to a health issue; but Nick has kindly agreed to give us two exclusive tracks that he was planning to play at the festival on a promo CD that everyone attending will receive with Nick and Fruits de Mer Records' compliments - details of a rather special late replacement below...(get well soon, Nick)
GUNTER SCHICKERT STEPS IN!
as nick nicely is unable to play the Lucid Dreams festival due to illness, Günter Schickert's band Ziguri (an "echo power guitar trio"!) will be playing instead - a real treat if you own Günter's LP on Sky, or his GAM album, recently re-released by Ultima Thule me, I've got the original GAM cassette!); so that's Damo Suzuki, Ax Genrich AND Günter Schickert playing the festival!
WEBSITE PROBLEMS?
OK, so it's probably a bit late for me to post news that the FdM website has had server problems and has been slow to respond - but assuming you've got this far, I'm very sorry, I've been trying to resolve with the hosting company and fingers crossed it seems to be OK at the moment (please email me if it isn't!)
FRONDS OF THE FISH
Just in case you needed one more reason to make it to Cardigan this year, how about 80 copies of a Bevis Frond exclusive lathe-cut, featuring two previously-unreleased Nick Saloman demos?
THE ANT MAN COMETH
Not only is the irrepressible Anton Barbeau playing the 15th Dream festival, he'll also be making a very welcome return to FdM on vinyl this summer with a 7" EP that goes by the name of 'Heaven Is In Your Mind' - which just might be title of one of the songs
MARK McDOWELL TO PLAY CARDIGAN
Last live act to be confirmed for this year's festival is Mark McDowell and friends, who'll be playing the opening set on Sunday. If you remember Mark's gorgeous track, 'Girls Of Belvoir', from the Regal Crabomophone 2014 Annual, you'll be looking forward to seeing Mark live as much as I am
EGG's OVER
My apologies to anyone who's been searching the site looking for a way to buy Kris Gietkowski's album, I only had 350 pressed for sale as i thought it was a pretty 'esoteric' release, even for Fruits de Mer, but club members clearly disagreed as I've sold out of all my supplies a month before they actually reach me! Heyday, Clear Spot and Rough Trade will get their own deliveries, so it's well-worth checking their sites - and I have arranged with the pressing plant to get a re-press of 100 copies - fingers crossed it looks like I might even get a few more than that - please email me if you'd like to join the waiting list
BABAL ARE COMING...
Babal will be closing the 15th Dream of Dr. Sardonicus festival on the Sunday night at the Cellar Bar in Cardigan - get ready for a big finish on the Cellar Bar's small stage! (and if you're wondering about the FdM link, their lead singer Karen guests on Sendelica's version of Zappa's 'Don't Eat The Yellow Snow')
IF IT'S JULY...
...(it isn't yet - but it will be and when it is...) it must be time for more releases from FdM and, as well as The Honey Pot CD set, that will mean the return of Anton Barbeau with a four-tracker, Sidewalk Society's gold-standard labour of love LP and 50 years of Fuchsia's Tony Durant condensed into the space of two 7" EPs! Lots to tell you about all of these in due course - but the April vinyl is the priority right now, so I'll leave it there for now
GIDEON COE DOES IT AGAIN
Many thanks to Gideon for previewing Superfjord's 'Peaches En Regalia' cover on his BBC 6Music show - more news on our April releases very soon
FdM 7" BACK-CATALOGUE ALERT
I've just heard from Chris McGranaghan, who runs the excellent Those Old Records shop (www.thoseoldrecords.co.uk) that he has in-stock FdM singles by:
Schizo Fun Addict Tir Na Nog Stay White Sails
Schnauser Anton Barbeau Crystal Jacqueline
Luck Of Eden Hall Cranium Pie Beautify Junkyards
Us and Them Vibravoid Sideway Society
Me and My Kites The Chemistry Set Proud Peasant
Claudio Cataldi Bronco Bullfrog Magic Bus
nick nicely Jack Ellister
- some of these sold out at FdM Towers a long time ago, so it could be a great chance to fill in some gaps in your collection - at sensible prices!!!
A SHIRT FOR EUROPE?
Probably not - they're too bulky to take along to the Wurzburg festival - so in a couple of weeks time, I'll offer a few of our surprisingly-subtle 2017 FdM t-shirts for sale via the SHOP page
DAMO SUZUKI and FRUITS de MER - TOGETHER AGAIN!
I've just received the track by Damo that he's agreed can appear on the Fruits de Mer free compilation CD at the Wurzburg festival - it's taken from his album, 'Metaphysical Transfer'. This is the second link we've had with Damo - Ray Canham persuaded him to be photographed with the cover of our, 'A Phase We're Going Through' album many years ago!
BACK TO FUCHSIA II
If you're planning to be at our summer festival in Cardigan, or at the Half Moon on August 10th, I have some very good news, especially if you're also a fan of Fuchsia AND a vinyl nut - we'll have the first-ever pressing of Tony Durant's Fuchsia II album available on vinyl - there will be just 200 copies for sale - 100 at each event (and they'll be different coloured vinyl at each gig!); all copies will be autographed by Tony
AMAZING LUCID DREAMS POSTER
Horst Sunhair commissioned Ulrich Mönig to create this wonderful poster for our Wurzburg festival - just stunning!
WORK-IN-PROGRESS
I'm in the process of putting together two FdM comps for the goodie-bag - one featuring artists that are playing the festival, and one featuring artists that aren't! Lots more work to do on these, but this is what I've been promised at the moment.
NOMEN
joining the goodie-bag at the 15th Dream festival will be 'Straight to Dave', an exclusive compilation by the slightly-deranged NoMen; 'Straight to Dave' (great title!) comprises waifs and strays from their back-catalogue, and new recordings. Nice.
SUSPIRIUM
another addition to the 15th Dream festival FdM goodie-bag...an exclusive compilation by Suspirium, taken from their back-catalogue of over 40 albums! Suspirium is or are the duo of Brian Vogt and Tony Osborne and their music ranges from electronic to cosmic sounds - really looking forward to this one!
THREE DIMENSIONAL TANX/7SHADES LATHE-CUT
one of the 15th Dream of Dr. Sardonicus festival Fruits de Mer Records specials will be a lathe-cut 7" featuring tracks by two bands that are new to the label:
- there'll only be 50 copies available for sale - first-come-first-served - probably on the last day of the festival. If you haven't bought your tickets yet, what are you waiting for? Tickets available
here
MOTHS!
One of the bands I'm especially looking forward to seeing at this year's Dionysus festival in Derby in October is The Moths. They recorded an album on the much sought after Deroy label back in 1970; a mere 39 years later they got together again and this will be one of their rare live appearances. Their song, 'Halfdan's Daughter' was included on the recent (and excellent) 'Dust On The Nettles' 3CD compilation and I'm delighted to say it will also appear alongside a newly-recorded song, 'Constant Fascination', on a a rare-as-hell Fruits de Mer 7" lathe-cut that will be on sale exclusively at the festival (first-come-first-served!)
COD HISTORIES
There's a new section on the FdM website, or there will be once we sort all the coding and links out - 'Cod Histories', which reveals little-known and wholly ficticious facts about some of music's best-known and entirely-unconnected-with-FdM stars
ROB GOULD CD
I'm pleased to say Rob Gould is producing an exclusive run of his album, 'The Sad Robot Declared Peace With Himself', on CD - for the Cardigan summer festival goodie-bag; Rob has contributed to a number of FdM compilations, not to mention his own releases, and gave us a CD for last year's festival too - what a bloke! More details soon
MOLOKO PLUS?
News reaches me that Moloko+ are planning to get together again in the summer to resume recording after a mere 25 year break - I'd like to think the Record Collector indie compilation and FdM lathe-cut had small parts to play in their reunion - but probably not! Anyway, it'll be very interesting to see and hear what they come up with
OPEL FRUITS
The first CD for the Cardigan festival goodie-bag has been finalised - it will feature tracks from a band called Opel, who played a mix of indie/folk/electric in the mid-90s, but didn't quite make it onto vinyl or CDs - until now
DIONYSUS 2017
Liz and I will be back in Derby on October 7th for the Dionysus festival, organised by The Telephones. We're hoping to have a surprise or two on the FdM stall and if you're one of the first 60 people to book your ticket, there'll be an FdM back-catalogue 7" waiting for you on arrival at the gig, thinly disguised in a Dionysus 2017 'intro to FdM' sleeve (one for the 2016 freebies recently sold on eBay for over £100!)
LUCID DREAM FESTIVAL GIVEAWAYS
everyone attending our first festival in Germany will get a free CD compilation on the Friday night (although the line-up on is still to be finalised), and on Saturday there'll be a free back-catalogue FdM 7" - generous to a fault, eh?
WURZBURG FESTIVAL - SOLD OUT
We're now officially sold out for our first live event of 2017 - you were warned!
FdM's EVENING OF WORLD PSYCHEDELIA
If you're not able to make it to Wurzburg or Cardigan, we've organised a little something to compensate - or to be more precise, Sendelica's Pete Bingham has organised it. We'll be returning to Putney's Half Moon on August 10th for a night of great live music featuring Sendelica from Wales, Fuchsia from Australia (their only London gig) and a special solo spot from The Luck Of Eden Hall's Gregory Curvey - all the way from the USofA! You can find out more
here; as usual, there'll be giveaways that are exclusive to the evening, and advance tickets are only £10 - a bargain, or what?
JACK ELLISTER 'ROOTS CONFERENCE'
Jack's new 'Friends of the Fish' album of great covers is available now. Jack has already sold out of black vinyl copies but still has a few available on purple vinyl - you can order direct from Jack via his website
here
WIN MOLOKO+ LATHE-CUTS
If you missed out on the Moloko+ 7" lathe-cuts in December (and if you're not an FdM club member, you definitely missed out), there's a chance to win a copy of both designs in the new issue of every vinyl junkie's favourite magazine, Record Collector
