It’s been a couple of years since we announced the X-Cetra release Stardust our favourite reissue of the year. That post has consistently been the most googled entry on our site, and no wonder since there was so little info on the group before. All of that changed, and now there’s an in-depth story on Rolling Stone. Numero Group have even decided to give the mini-album a vinyl pressing along with some extra tracks from the same era.
So the story goes: members Ayden Mayeri, Jessica Hall, and Janet Washburn were 11 and about to start junior high in California. Janet’s younger sister Mary was two years their minor, but so important that she completed the four-piece, who were dreaming of becoming a girlgroup just like Spice Girls.
And the twist: Janet and Mary’s mom had been into the DIY tape scene since the 80s (dream mom) and they asked her to help them make their compositions into real tracks, all in her home studio. And it turned out the stepdad had some new tracks from a German guy called Achim Treu lying around. So this is what became the 8-track cdr Stardust. Apparently, the kids didn’t much like it in the end, and it became a ”let’s not talk about this again, ever” thing.
This year Magdalena Bay released a version of ”Speechless” – now called ”Messy Hair” – produced together with TV Girl. And the new lavish edition of Summer 2000 is out on Numero Group, adding three more demos to the original release. It’s the 25th anniversary and X-Cetra aslo were invited by Boomkat to contribute to their EOY-lists this year.
