Posted on November 2, 2008 - by Mark Zonda

Last Cloud Standing

As you probably have understood, I have a sweet tooth for indie music. You have to know that there are some icons in this strange little universe (aren’t fictional universes more real than anything under the sun?) that a fan just’ can’t ignore. That’s the case of Cloudberry Records, a very peculiar indie label that managed to conquer the heart of so many listeners thanks its brilliant talent in discovering fresh talent from the scene promoting them via a serie of 3 inch CD-R.

I had the chance to interview Roque, the man behind the curtains of this sweet indie label, because of a radio show special (hosted by Geeks Radio) entitled “Cloudberry Vs Trattoria”.

Here’s the interview.

Mark Zonda: Cloudberry Records is probably the most popoular indie label in the actuall indie scene. Worldwide. Still it’s hard to find news or material defining his history and other details on the internet. I’m feeling myself quite like interviewing Santa Clause, actually. Can you please swear us that you’re real and introduce yourself and the label to your fan?

Roque: Haha, that’s funny. I think what you say is true. Not about popularity (I don’t know about that!), but about information on the web. I don’t know why is that. Most of the information about the label and bands has happened on printed fanzines and magazines for some reason, and I admit I do like it that way more. Yes, my name is Roque and Im real, actually our friend Paolo from My Honey Recs can corroborate what Im saying. :)

Mark Zonda: How does it happen that you knew MyHoney? What do you think about Italian pop music?

Roque: I know My Honey for a while! I’ve been involved in some other projects aside from Cloudberry, as my Peruvian label Plastilina and a long lost blog called Mira el Pendulo where I reviewed some stuff from My Honey. This year I was lucky to meet Paolo at New York Popfest and exchange some of our releases! Italian pop music? to be honest I’ve never heard a band that has captivated me. Maybe I don’t know enough of bands? At least on the surface it’s safe to say there’s no indiepop scene in Italy. Am I wrong?

Mark Zonda: I guess you wuould easily make up your mind! There’s defenitly a scene going on in here, and MyHoney is quite representastive of that.  But are Labels still important nowadays? I mean: when someone can decide to invest money in his own label, and what’s making the difference between you and the web?

Roque: Labels are important only if they have act as a scene catalyst, as a role model, as a political flag. It’s about creating a community, is filtering good music from bad music . It’s the whole that fits together all these people that are spread out. Without labels there is no indiepop. It would just be a genre and not the thriving community we have. Of course, some labels are useless and don’t add anything to whole… so it depends.

Mark Zonda: You own me that. It’s the name Cloudberry even incidentally connected with the sweden band Cloudberry Jam? What do you think of the 90s’ scene in Sweden anyway?

Roque:Yes, that did influence the choice of the name. I do like some stuff from the 90s Swedish scene. One of my favourite bands from that time is Red Sleeping Beauty! I still listen to them quite often. The Seashells and Popundret were great as well!

Mark Zonda: I Knew it! I totally knew it that it was named after that! Happy to be right! (still I didn’t get any prize, I suppose). Do you also like and artist called Hideki Kaji?

Roque: Yeah, you’ll get a prize! It was named after the Cloudberry. But also the berry thing! That’s why the logo is one of those. Of course the band influenced… but not the only reason! Cloudberry seemed like the perfect fruit for me! It’s wild, it’s “cloudy” and dreamy, and it’sweet! I liked the idea of a fruit because some old labels used to use them, like Sarah used cherries!

Mark Zonda:  Do you know Trattoria Records? Is there any particoular japanese artist you’re enjoying right now?

Roque: I do know Trattoria! Venus Peter released records there… and I like Venus Peter so much! I also own an EP by A Craze on Trattoria. A particular Japanese artist right now? I like Flannel and Spaghetti Vabune!… and Sloppy Joe!

Mark Zonda: I own a lot of original stuff from Trattoria, and quite te all collection in mp3 (can we say it safe on an web interview?). Venus Peter and Louise Philipe are also some favourite of mine. They did became quite popoular in time. Which artist from Cloudberry do yoo think will go major in the future?

Roque: Haha, an mp3 collection! Louise Phillipe is good indeed! Mmm, I think there’s lots of bands that could get bigger and popular that I’ve released. But that all depends of luck/promotion/and the crowd taste. At this moment The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are quite popular. And their imminent album is going to be one of the best of 2009. The Manhattan Love Suicides are very well known. It’s hard to know which bands will become popular, but if I can risk saying, I could go for Blind Terry, Je Suis Animal and Twig (best album of 2008? maybe!)

Mark Zonda:Trattoria Records has his Cornelius. He defined the sound of a decade, dragging Trattoria from AcidJazz to C86 oriented acoustic and spaced pop. Who’s the most active artist in your label?

Roque: Well, actually on Cloudberry there’s no “house artist”. Cloudberry is a series of different releases by always a different artist. So it’s hard to say that one band is more active than another.

Mark Zonda: Do Cloudberry produce artistically some of their stuff all the whole material comes to you already finished after the astist recording
process?

Roque: Most of the time the songs come finished, just a couple of times I’ve had to take care of mastering. On the other hand artwork is usually taken care by me.

Mark Zonda: Recently there’s an artist I’m in love with, and it’s definetly Astrolab. That’s also the importance of Cloudberry: making new interesting stugg popoular. Have you listen to “The Blue Thread Saga”- In my opinion it’s one of the most genious and nice albums I ever listened in times. Still I haven’t already found a way to buy it! How did you get to knew Astrolab and what’s your impression on the album?

Roque: Astrolab is amazing but I don’t think theyll become popular. It will be the best kept secret of indiepop fans. Indonesian bands will always live in disdain from the Western crowd. It’s sad, but that’s how it is. If it’s not English/American or maybe Swedish, it’s pretty tough. AStrolab are one of the best bands in the world right now and we are working on a 7″ together. Oh! In the next Sound of Java Compilation, there’s a new Astrolab song as well!

Here’s some songs from Cloudberry Records:

Twig – “Ciao Ciao Bomb”

Summer Cats (and dogs?) - "Lonely Planet"

Bridal Shop – Violation
Summer Cats – Lonely Planet
The Felt Tips – Lifeskills
Je Suis Animal – Painted in My Face

And here’s some links:

Cloudberry Records
My Honey Rercords
Geeks Radio
Cloudberry Jam

Popundret
Plastilina Records
Mira el Pendulo
Hideki Kaji
Spaghetti Vabune
Sloppy Joe
Cornelius
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
The Manhattan Love Suicides
Blind Terry
Je Suis Animal

Let it ring on...

• Only Niko Knows (0)
• Cloudberry-Stream (2)
• Funny Little Bunny (6)
• Up on the Hillfields (0)
• The Andersen Tapes (0)