new releases, special editions, festivals, cancellations, deliberate mistakes, apologies - whenever we have something vaguely interesting to share, we'll probably post it here (and we'll just make something up when we don't)
I CAN SEE A BRIGHT FUTURE....
Just thought I'd mention that 2026 is looking pretty good for FdM - at least from where I'm sitting...a new European distributor that should give non-UK customers some choices on where to shop, several multi-disc vinyl and CD projects in the pipeline, a few wild and slightly whacky lathe-cut releases that will hopefully appeal to club members, a couple of reissues that ooze class, two BIG members club-only giveaways to reward everyone who continues to support the label on a regular basis (god bless you!), a rather nice tie-in with a major music publication...
As usual, watch this space
THERE'S RARE AND THEN THERE'S...
The five Schizo Fun Addict one-sided 7" lathe-cuts that can be won in a competition in the new issue of Record Collector are even rarer than we planned!
They are the ONLY one-sided lathe-cuts anywhere in the world - the 41 copies that are being produced to promote the band's forthcoming LP will be two-sided - more news on those soon - meanwhile, buy a copy of RC and enter.
STILL NOT OF THIS WORLD
Last year I released 'Not Of This World', a little collection of 'spacey' music from 1962, I got some really good feedback from people who heard the first selection, so I've come back with more.
There are four 'songs' on this new 7" lathe-cut EP - from The Space Walkers, The Tarantulas, Comrade X and Johnny 'Guitar' Watson, along with a little intro from Spike Jones. The recording by Johnny Watson (known as Young John Watson at the time, sets a new FdM record by being the oldest recording I've released, dating from 1954! It'll escape from FdM Towers in mid-April - more news soon.
"A WILD RIDE"
Record Collector mag has reviewed FdM's new 4CD set by Astralasia - and it gets a big thumbs-up. You can check the whole thing out HERE About 5 hours of music for £17 - a wild ride, but one worth going for (sorry, I'm quoting the RC review)
WIN THE SFA PASTELINE LATHE-CUT
A busy issue of Record Collector for us, as the new one (Squeeze are on the front cover) also includes a competition to win one of five copies of the new Schizo Fun Addict lathe-cut (only 41 in existence, not available for sale anywhere...). You'll have to buy a copy for details!
LA NOUVELLE MUSIQUE GIG
Joanna and Ian will be playing in Hackney on March 27th.
PINHDAR - RED
A stunning first track for 2026 from Cecilia and Max...with much more to come
GET READY TO ROCK - THE SUNDAY PSYCHLE
Every Sunday at 7pm - 60 minutes of Fruits de Mer releases - on Get Ready To Rock Radio, including forthcoming releases.
More details website HERE
2026 STARTS HERE...
...or it will do very soon - head over to our SHOP page for details on how you can pre-order new FdM releases by Soft Hearted Scientists, Astralasia and Peel, Palmer, Tausig & Gould - all three are due to be released in mid-March
PSYCHEDELIC SCENE
For an excellent review of The Chemistry Set's latest single, and a look back at Dave and Paul's career to-date, pay a visit to the Psychedelic Scene website HERE
STILL SPINNING
The incredibly supportive Phil Aston from Now Spinning magazine opens up a parcel of goodies from Swordfish linked to his very kind words following the Himmelaya release last year... HERE
SHARE THE LOVE or SMELL THE GLOVE?
Press On Vinyl in Middlesborough produced our December singles and here are short video from them showing The Chemistry Set and Behind The Sun Collective 7"s being packaged ready for shipping out to FdM Towers...
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AN EARLY LOOK AT SPRING 2026
Lots more news on all of these - and more - soon, but I thought I'd give you a quick, sneak preview (OK, so the Behind The Sun single isn't new, but there was room in the ad for one more cover!)
18 YEARS OLD
Yep, we've been 'at it' for about 18 years now and 2025 was a typically manic one - although I have to admit it's getting a bit harder each year to peddle away at roughly the same speed!
Lots of highs over the last 12 months - some excellent new artists joined the label, including Fifth Daughter, La Nouvelle Musique, Behind The Sun Collective and The Owl Service, together with old friends Sendelica, Us and Them, Schizo Fun Addict and The Chemistry Set as well as some very, very old ones (on the 'Not Of This World' 7"). The Jake Stephenson retrospective finally made it onto vinyl and CDs (a project that meant a lot to me - Jake was an old mate and got me back into music at the start of the 90s, after the musically-crap 80s, so he has a lot to answer for, or would do if he was still alive). Beau's live recording from FdM's first gig back in 2012 was a lovely and completely unexpected find, and Swordfish and co's Himmelaya special edition gave me scope to include some pretty silly additions to an excellent double LP/double CD set that really didn't need anything to distract from the music; oh, and a first Bolan cover helped end the year in style.
The low point had to be Clear Spot Distribution going into receivership, leaving a big gap in FdM's international distribution - and finances (including money that was owed to epilepsy research as part of the sales of Jake's release - I tried to explain this to the receiver, who couldn't even be bothered to reply). Fortunately, Phil Leigh and Norman Records stepped in at very short notice and are providing a great service to international customers, despite the ludicrous costs of posting anything outisde the UK. We also now have about a dozen shops in the UK that regularly stock new FdM releases and I'm working to fill in that international gap for 2026.
In total, I reckon we managed to release at least 20 hours of music during the year that was new to FdM, if not the world at large, and 20+ artists made their first appearances on an FdM label, which can't be bad.
As always, Fruits de Mer would be a pretty fruitless exercise if it wasn't for the artists and the music fans who have supported the label for some inexplicable reason for another 12 months - thank you all, and here's to n-n-n-n-nineteen....
A LATE ARRIVAL IN SHANGRILAYA
Whitedove (aka Steve Chard) provided a remix of the 'Shangrilaya' track for the double CD set that formed part of the Himmelaya 'Lost Horizon' set.
Now Steve has come up with a stunning video to go with the track...
