Michael O. - Face The Facts

Up next for Fruits & Flowers is a 7" single by Australia's DICK DIVER… yes it's an odd name for a pop band (an F. Scott Fitzgerald Tender is the Night reference if you were curious), but this is top notch pop music. Their CALENDAR DAYS LP from last year is for us one of the best records in a long long time. If you crave a dusky melancholy twang in your ears, that striped sunlight sound, you have to get on board here…Let's casually throw out some names: CANNANES, GO-BETWEENS, APARTMENTS or maybe some PAVEMENT or MODERN LOVERS… in any case DICK DIVER has blessed Fruits & Flowers with some lovely tunes; side A is low key pop that careens into a dream zone, & side B is a countrified cover of Lonely Life by 1980's Aboriginal band COLOURED STONE. 

Dick Diver - New Name Blues

Dick Diver - Lonely Life (Coloured Stone cover)

MICHAEL O. (Olivares) of beloved Bay Area psych-pop band THE MANTLES (Slumberland, Siltbreeze etc) has been secretly building songs in his basement in Oakland with the help of HORRID RED's Edmund Xavier for the past few years. The result is this affecting collection of cracked pop hits & tragic ballads. The Mantles are known to lay down a thick electric jangle, but with Michael's solo songs the focus rests on rough-hewn vocal melodies & lyrics, laced with synths, acoustics, noises & clarinet. Michael tumbles headfirst into MODERN LOVERS, JACOBITES, TRONICS, TALL DWARFS territory...home recorded & highly personal but not lo-fi, please. 

Michael O. - Falling Stars

FRUITS & FLOWERS digs into the home recording vaults of three cracked pop songwriters for a split cassette: A FRUITS & FLOWERS THREE-WAY.  Fans of 80’s UK D.I.Y. and/or 90’s Shrimper will appreciate these tracks by MICHAEL O. (of THE MANTLES), PIANO MOVERS (ex-NODZZZ) and THE REDS, PINKS & PURPLES (Glenn Donaldson of ART MUSEUMS/SKYGREEN LEOPARDS).

12 TRACKS TOTAL…4 from each artist...

Piano Movers - Combat Boots



FRUITS & FLOWERS digs into the home recording vaults of three cracked pop songwriters for a split cassette: A FRUITS & FLOWERS THREE-WAY. Fans of 80’s UK D.I.Y. and/or 90’s Shrimper will appreciate these tracks by MICHAEL O. (of THE MANTLES), PIANO MOVERS (ex-NODZZZ) and THE REDS, PINKS & PURPLES (Glenn Donaldson of ART MUSEUMS/SKYGREEN LEOPARDS).

12 TRACKS TOTAL…4 from each artist...

The Reds, Pinks & Purples - Best Sides

Michael O. - Dying 2 C U

You’ve never heard of ODD HOPE or Tim Tinderholt, but you’ll dig the cheap pop thrills of his debut single for the unrelenting FRUITS & FLOWERS label. Tim has experimented with various jangle/punk bands for years. Literally holed-up in his Oakland garage with worn copies of Alien Lanes & Chairs Missing, he kills time recording on the classic Bay Area archaic recording device the Tascam 388 (look it up). Brave and Olde is an epic folk-rock ballad via 80's Glass Records, while the jaunty flipside could have been ripped from Creation Soup Vol. ????…

Odd Hope - Brave & Olde

Odd Hope - I'll Follow You Soon

Odd Hope

Odd Hope - Reasons I Will Not Say

In the Bay Area, SWIFTUMZ is a songwriter’s songwriter, beloved by small pockets of loyal fans. Hard to pin down what makes SWIFTUMZ so special, it takes elements from Jesus & Mary Chain & classic Bay Area punk pop craft but delivers them in a completely personal way. After 2 LP’s & an handful of singles, the GAME SIX 7” is a peak of sorts, with the A side alone being one of the most affecting tunes we’ve yet unleashed.

Game Six

Swiftumz - Game 6

The songs of Michael “O” Olivares (of THE MANTLES) get deeper and more beautiful as tears go by. With this new single he is teamed up again with producer Edmund Xavier, & with players from The Mantles and The Oilies, pulling off winding & jangling folk-rock ballads tinged with flecks of art rock and psychedelia. All songs land somewhere between Jacobites, The Pastels and Kevin Ayers for another klassic Fruits & Flowers unpopular pop hit single.

Power's Out

Michael O. - Haunted

The Oilies is sometimes a band and sometimes just Carly Putnam’s home fried pop music. Carly has done time in the Art Museums, The Mantles, Horrid Red and The Reds, Pinks & Purples but really shines when she pulls out her own poetic pop gems. Combine the subtle creepiness of Rose McDowall with the wistfulness of the Marine Girls and you have a record tailor made for the Fruits & Flowers universe of unpopular pop. Her debut EP was recorded mostly by Carly in her RV parked somewhere in the existential desert and then filtered through Edmund Xavier’s SF lab.

Psychic Dog

The Oilies - Psychic Dog

f & f releases simple homemade pop music, no summer festivals, no fashion lifestyle statements, no budget, few fans.

fruits & flowers

Popular tracks