quarta-feira, 26 de dezembro de 2012

Mixtape #12 - Best of 2012


Hello, everyone! 

Yeah, you aren't with any sight problem or stuff like that. That's the second post of today, the second about mixtapes. This time, we prepared something quite different. Instead of focusing on a theme, a musical genre or something in this vein, we compiled some of the 2012 songs we, Carlos and Paloma, enjoyed the most, on anything related to Shoegaze, Noise Pop, Dream Pop, Alternative Rock and etc. 


That wasn't an easy selection, since there were tons of good stuff going on in this interval of (almost) 366 days, but we condensed it to about 38 tracks, divided into two albums. The first one contains really fine music such as The Soft Moon, Teen, Tamaryn, Hypomanie and the brazucas from Sobre A Máquina and This Lonely Crowd (all of them featured in this blog, just to mention it...), featured along BJM, Wild Nothing and A Place To Bury Strangers, whereas the second part of this mxt has equally awesome music, e.g. Alcest, Diiv, The Bilinda Butchers, Les Discrets, Broken Water, Efterklang, and the list goes on... 

Therefore, a complete tracklist of these collections (besides the links for them, of course...) can be found right below. The loverswhoareseekers staff, Carlos and Paloma, wish you all a happy 2013 with myriads of awesome music, gigs, festivals, etc. to come! ;)


part 1 tracklist:

01 - Sonic Jesus - Underground
02 - The Soft Moon - Machines
03 - Tamaryn - Heavenly Bodies
04 - Everything Is Falling Apart - This Is Lies, We Are Liars
05 - Sobre A Máquina - Oito
06 - BJM - Viholliseeni Maala
07 - Wild Nothing - Nocturne
08 - Alligator Indian - Our Love Was A Crime
09 - Hypomanie - 19 Stars And The Sweet Scent Of Cinnamon
10 - A Place To Bury Strangers - Onwards To The Wall
11 - This Lonely Crowd - Oneironauts
12 - Spiritualized - Mary
13 - The KVB - Until I'm Cold
14 - Teen - Electric
15 - Ringo Deathstarr - Girls We Know
16 - The Sorry Shop - Walk Away (And Don't Come Back)
17 - Lotus Plaza - Monolith
18 - Teen Daze - Treten



enjoy! (CD 1)



part 2 tracklist:

01 - Alcest - Autre Temps
02 - DIIV - Human
03 - Bailter Space - Strabosphere
04 - Lower Dens - Nova Anthem
05 - The Bilinda Butchers - Teen Dream
06 - Astrobrite - The Void Inside
07 - The Raveonettes - Hit Me (When I'm Down)
08 - Sleep Party People - Chin
09 - Black Market Karma - Cocoon
10 - Beach House - New Year
11 - Les Discrets - La Traversée
12 - Twin Shadow - When The Movie's Over
13 - Stagnant Pools - Dead Sailor
14 - ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Up To Infinity
15 - Broken Water - Drown
16 - Young Prisms - Gone
17 - Ceremony - Bleed
18 - Efterklang - The Ghost


enjoy! (CD 2)

Mixtape #11 - Blackgaze

Yellow!

This is our mixtape #11, and it is all about Blackgaze, kinda modern idea, which I presume you already know... Basically, it consists on a blend between the grim world of Black Metal in its best shape with the dreamy and etherial atmospheres of Shoegaze and Post-Rock. 

We have compiled the main bands which some of them are widely known for this mix of sounds - heavy and shrieked vocals, blast beat drumming plus that marvellous shoegazer guitars we are familiar with. The themes are the same old yadda yadda whining about depression, desolation, suicide, nostalgy, exaltation of nature, etc. However, we have focused on the most shoegazing songs, after all, that's what we like, huh. 

So, our tracklist ranges from the already-classics of the genre, namely Les Discrets, Alcest and Amesoeurs, to newcoming talented people like the latvian Sun Devoured Earth, the dutch Hypomanie (already featured in this blog here), the yankee Airs and the aussie Lunaire. At the end, we have 12 songs which totalize 70 minutes of pure musical bliss. Finally, I drop the link to download it right below, hoping you enjoy it!

Cheers,
Paloma and Carlos


enjoy!


terça-feira, 18 de dezembro de 2012

Mixtape #10 - Girls and Synths

Sup, mates!

Our mixtape #10 is a bit different from what we've been bringing so far. It's much more electronic, but we're not trying to make you shake your booty on the dancefloor,mind you,it's a chilling kind of electronic which I cannot discern or label accurately (I suck big time at that). The songs I selected fit well whatever the occasion is, nice huh? There you go, first track you got Au Palais, and their track Because The Night, and this one is really exciting, it might make you even dance, if you allow yourself. But the following tracks are smoother, like Changelings, by Gazelle Twin, that is something like Fever Ray with Liz Fraser on vocals. We also have Fever Ray, with Coconut, Alligator Indian, a kinda new and DOPE lo-fi post-whatever duet,but you guys might already know cause we've put them in some previous mixtape. Then it's time to some Grimes, a more psychedelic and experimental electronic artist, her track Devon is so dreamy, a sort of electronic Cocteau Twins. I also put Lower Dens and their track Lamb, they came with a more electronic approach in their last album, and as captivating as usual, just like everything they do! The last two tracks are Lick The Palm Of The Burning Handshake, by Zola Jesus, I bet you already know her cause she's quite popular among the hipstas :P and The Heavens Turn By Themselves by Sleep ∞ Over, a very etherial track that make a perfect closure for this mixtape. And that's it, by the time you finish listening to it, you'll be relaxed, asking to marilize legajuana. Sorry for that, the heat of Rio is melting my brains already. 

 Cheers!
 Paloma.

quinta-feira, 13 de dezembro de 2012

Sonic Jesus


""It's Velvet Underground, raped by Spacemen 3, dressed in neo-psychedelia, folk imprinted and shoegaze nuances. Their powerful wall of sound created by hypnotic melody and wild saturation of dark pulsating noise will take you on an unforgetable musical journey. "

That's a piece taken directly from the Sonic Jesus bandcamp, describing the band's sound. It couldn't be more accurate, to say the least, and I really mean it. It's a hard mission to find some (if any) information about the italian five-piece background, but why should one care? They made some of the most hypnotic and trance-like fuzz-embedded songs I listened at this year of 2012! If you are hungry or just thinking I went definitely crazy, just check their song "Underground" at youtube and you'll see what I'm talking about. Although there are many highly-talented bands carving the same path that SJ, from the very first notes you can notice they're making something special and has a still-unexplored potential that will be able to elevate them to celestial dimensions easily, and very soon. Their art is majestic, acid, ritualist, a delirium-fueled mantra that a few could accomplish specially if you consider it is just their debut material. 


For the psychedelic new generation dementia, like Dead Rabbit, The Cosmic Dead, Black Market Karma, The Warlocks, and eternal classics such as BJM and the aforementioned bands, you just can't live without plugging their self-titled EP into your rotten ears, whose bandcamp link can be found right below. 





























enjoy!

quarta-feira, 5 de dezembro de 2012

Sobre a Máquina

Hailing under the blazing sun of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sobre a Máquina was initially born as a three-piece Cadu Tenório (the head of the project), Emygdio and Ricardo Gameiro at around 2009, and since late 2011 has the presence of a tenor saxophonist Alex Z. However, one will not find any trace of the warm tropical music and landscapes that characterizes so strongly this city and made it famous worldwidely. In the early SAM phase, their music was basically focused in the Dark Ambient, Drone and Industrial spheres, whose major influenced included Nine Inch Nails, Einstürzende Neubauten, Throbbing Gistle, Swans and the list goes on. To put in another words, a perfect soundtrack for the urban bleak landscapes, rusty machines, smoke, concrete, carbon dioxide, subways, etc

That was already highly innovactive in terms of Brazil, but they wanted to go further. The following records featured a wider range of textures, colors and tastes in their musical universe, exploring New Jazz while still deepening in the Early Electronic realms. But that was not the limit for them. At their brand new work, self-titled, SAM reaches a whole new horizon in their state-of-art. Each one of the eight tracks that compose this album was carefully crafted in order to create an even deeper immersion into the grey-ish cosmos of solitude and tacit nihilism we all drown in the day-after-day urban life, using every resource possible in order to accomplish it: tapes collage, tape loops, field recordings, overdub, special microphones, and even more "unusual" instruments such as records of pieces of TV programs, fans, or even bicycle's wheels, bottles, sounds coming from the floor, etc. 

If that's not the best brazilian record of 2012, at least it's one of the most creative, I'm very sure of it. I'll leave a free download link, directly from the label (Sinewave) page. There you can find the former SAM works too. Besides, if you wanna refresh your damaged memory, you can get a taste of their work in mixtape #5, which is closed by the song "Língua Negra"  from the same artist.



































enjoy!

quinta-feira, 29 de novembro de 2012

Killing Chainsaw

During the late years of the '80 and the early '90, there were a myriad of cool bands appearing everywhere  in the world, which some people refer as the golden era of the Alternative Rock. Shoegaze, Dream Pop, Lo-fi, Grunge, Slowcore, Sadcore, that might be one of the best moments for an "outsider rocker" to enjoy, and makes me feel a bit sad, since I was born just in 1987 and couldn't see many of them. Simoutanealy, Brazil was struggling with one of the worst economic and political moments, and music, as any form of art, was just merely marginalized and no support could be found for those who . Fortunately, there were still talented people who created great stuff back then, even if they have never reached a good degree of recognition and died at the deep underground. Maybe the band that came closer to the spotlight was Killing Chainsaw

KC started its activities in the late '80 at a small city about 100 miles from São Paulo. Since their first efforts, compiled in an album called Early Demos from 1989. Even with the poor quality recording, you can notice there is something special about them. Strong influences from Sonic Youth, Pixies and what would be later characterized as "Seattle sound" were already present, bathed in dirt and madness. Since then, they got famous for their concerts whose fuzziness and energy of their music were amplified to a new order of magnitude, according for those lucky guys who went there in flesh n' bones. A new full-length came to life at 1992, the self-titled one, and it was followed by Slim Fast Formula, from 1994, their biggest hit. This one recorded with a great production and released by the "big" Roadrunner. Despite of the astonishing work and a unanimity even in american and european lands, the band had never launched. While the early demos and the self-titled displayed a Sonic Youth-esque sound crafted with a strong Grunge vein and some Shoegaze sprinkled here and there, SFF was mainly Grunge focused, incorporating Nirvana and Mudhoney best moments to their earlier verve and creating a seminal album. Sadly, by 1995, the vocalist/guitarist moved to another city and the band reduced their activities until the announciement of their official demise at 1998. 


After 20 years, they are getting the recognition they deserved since then, but got buried in the difficulties of communication and structured we suffered at those harsh times. Even if it's not directly connected to the Shoegaze and Dream Pop world, I think it's gonna appeal to most of you who's highly hooked in anything fuzzy and chaotic. ;)




















get it! (new link from Mega)


















get it! (new link from Mega)



















get it! (new link from Mega)

terça-feira, 27 de novembro de 2012

Stellarium

If you take a look at Stellarium self-description at their bandcamp, you will see "Fuzz, Rock N' Roll, Shoegaze, Psyche, Rage and a whole lotta love...". That is a very very rare occasion where a band's self-description corresponds to what you REALLY listen (yeah, in red bold italic letters, screaming like hell), and all the expectations you feed while reading it. Hailing from the distant Singapore, Stellarium consists of a three-piece (four at the live concerts, as it looks like) who dedicates themselves to build fuzzy-fueled dark-than-the-deeperst-sea songs in a stellar level of quality. Of course, the first thing that comes to our minds is the legacy of the turbulent early years of Jesus And Mary Chain, but they do not use the Reid brothers as a holy role model, but as a framework which indicates where they are heading and not cause any black nite crash (sic). Comparisions between the early Telescopes and current fuzzy fellows such as A Place to Bury Strangers, The KVB, Ringo Deathstarr, Screen Vinyl Image and Ceremony are also valid but, once again, keep in mind it is only for the sake of an analogy, since Stellarium has its own face, flesh and bones.  

Therefore, you can find their bandcamp right below, where you can download their albums at the beloved name-your-price system. I deeply recommend to you their self-titled work, from 2009, whose a couple of songs were featured in mixtape #4 and mixtape #9. I consider them as one of the most talented and ear-ripping bands of the new generation, which means that if you have any taste for microphony, Stellarium must become one of your favorite cup of tea.





















enjoy! (bandcamp)

domingo, 25 de novembro de 2012

Destroyalldreamers

Destroyalldreamers was founded at the summer of 2002 in the city of Montreal, Canada. Since their earliest releases, they were dedicated to a mix between the intrincate soundcrafts of the Post Rock world and the oneiric tapestries of Shoegaze-meets-Dream Pop, which resulted in astonishing tracks  with an explosion impact worth of the biggest Supernovae we can find in the Cosmos. Besides a few EPs and a participation in the collection of Shoegaze covers titled Never Lose That Feeling, released in the mid-'00, they made two full lengths, À Couer Léger Sommeil Sanglant (2004) and Wish I Was All Flames (2007), both oneiric, surrealistical and owners of stellar beauty which I seldom found across the Post-Rock, Ambient and Shoegaze spheres, only comparable to some majestic acts like Cocteau Twins, Slowdive, Epic45 and Belong.


I must say these guys were responsible to nurture my love for these kind of music back in the late 2006, early 2007, the time I found about these oozy sonic worlds, from the very first time I listened to The Sky Was Glorious For a Moment at their myspace, a song from their debut. After then, I digged deeper and deeper into these genres, finding out about Ride, Slowdive, Chapterhouse and so forth. Sadly, a bit after their sophomore effort was out, they split up and I've never heard any word about them. Currently, one of the band's previous members keeps a project with Aidan Baker, from the Drone Juggernaut called Nadja, while the others seem less active apart from some participation in the Montreal Orchestre and irrelevant stuff... (you should notice I'm being ironic, ok fellows?).

Well, no more talk. Just take a visit in the links below, in case you haven't heard anything from them yet. and enjoy it well!










get it! (new link from Mega)







get it! (new link from Mega)

sexta-feira, 23 de novembro de 2012

This Lonely Crowd


This Lonely Crowd, or simply TLC, started their activities in 2009, in the city of Curitiba, in southeastern;Brazil.  About them, just a small preview: the band members are referred as Tweedledum, Tweedledee, Humpty Dumpty, Jabberwock, and Red Queen, characters from Lewis Carroll books, and since their very beginning they craft songs based on the previously mentioned writer, Lovecraft, William Blake, lullabies, Mythology and many stuff like that. Idiossincracy is their last name, to say the least, stepping away from the everyday ordinary normal bands that everyone is labeling as "Alternative" nowadays. 

About the music itself, it ranges from the thick sonic textures that characterizes Post Rock and Shoegaze microcosmos to the furious madness of Death Metal! If I can be more specific, you can realize obvious inspirations, such as Smashing Pumpkins in their early (and golden) era, Mogwai, Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine, and, from the metallic side of the force, it's easy to idenfity strong echoes highly influenced by Death, Slayer and even Napalm Death swirling in their songs. After releasing an EP, one full length and one album of "B-sides" (kind of their Pisces Iscariot?), they come back to the scene once again with a new record, called Pervade. Besides all the elements I've just described, there is a lot of special participations from many talented people who are active in the blooming brazilian alternative sphere, like members of Bela Infanta, Sobre a Máquina, Hangin Freud and Copa do Ar.


I drop a link to download this brand new gem right below, directly from their label page. If you gave a listen at mixtape #5 and #9, you have already a good taste of what they are all about. 




enjoy!

quarta-feira, 21 de novembro de 2012

Mixtape #9 - SUPERBLAST!

After some delay (there was a stream of holidays here in terra brasilis and I decided to take a trip to see my blog partner for a few days, you know...) ,  and over a month after Mixtape #8, we come back with a new one. This time, we did something different. I think we dropped our head and decided not to make a selection of 10 to 15 songs with a specific theme, but one hundred songs. YES, 100 SONGS, it's not a misprint!

About this superblast compilation, we reunited 100 songs with no specific theme besides the noise worshipping we all do and love, ranging from absolute classics such as My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Swervedriver, Lush, The Telescopes, highly influential acts like The Breeders and Sonic Youth, underrated and underappreciated people like A.R. Kane, Blind Mr. Jones, Medicine, Bailter Space (some of them were featured here in previous mixtapes or a complete thread), brazilian talents in the likes of Second Come, Wry, This Lonely Crowd, and of course, talented newcoming like Sleep Party People, Teen Daze, Ringo Deathstarr, 93MillionMilesFromTheSun, Stellarium, and so forth.

So, right below you have a 4shared link for this compilation. As you imagine, it is a very huge file, almost 900 MB, which will scare many of you. But I assure you it is more than worthy the waste of your bandwidth connection. 












Correction 1: The song #008 is from Skywave. I forgot to write the band's name.

Correction 2: The song #043 is from Skylight, not Skywave. Bad bad typo. 


quarta-feira, 14 de novembro de 2012

Swallow

Another integrant of the series "acts from the '90 that were criminally forgotten by the tides of time", Swallow was a british duo consisting of Mike Mason and Louise Trehy. They released their debut and cult-classic Blow at mid-1992 by 4AD. Yes, I said 4AD, and that gives you an idea of what Swallow is all about: Rock at its most refined state-of-art. Therefore, anyone who's into Cocteau Twins, Throwing Muses, A.R. Kane or associate acts like Slowdive, Ride, Chapterhouse and such will immediately fall in love with Blow, since every element of that Dream Pop-fueled Shoegaze (or would it be the opposite? can't tell) we all love can be found here in its excellence: sweetened distant vocals, almost whispered, as if it's coming from an ethereal dimension composed of hallucynogic mirages and broken dreams. Besides all these otherwordly feelings they evoke majestically, the duo is bold enough to paint some songs with a kinda of cosmic, pagan tone, specially at the second half of the album, such that you can hear a bit of their 4AD mates Dead Can Dance being summoned, a bit in the vein of what Lycia was doing by the early '90.

As you have already figured out, Swallow have never gotten the recognition and acclaim they deserved, and just faded into deep oblivion. They released an EP circa 1994 (which is nowhere to be found), and ended activities right after that. Again, I try to fix the past by spreading their name as far as I can, as such amazing band should never disappear from our line of sight.

Right below, you can find a link for the Blow records and its respective remix, Blowback, which contains alternative versions of Blow's songs, some of them better than the original ones. I hope you all appreaciate it!





get it! (new link from Mega)







get it! (new link for Mega)


ps: I am not responsable for the great amount of porn pics that appear when you google for the key words "Swallow" and "Blow" together, ok fellows?

sexta-feira, 9 de novembro de 2012

Swoon 23

Swoon 23 is probably one of the brightest forgotten gems of the old school Shoegaze, and remains largely unknown until these days, sadly. They were born at some point between the early and mid-90 in Portland, Oregon, which means they came to life just after the Grunge effervescence was cooling and fading. Despite of their geographical origin, they do not own anything related, sonically speaking, of their flanneled fellows. They looked to other directions, more specifically across the Atlantic ocean, and embraced a Shoegazer sound characterized by psychedelic guitars and ethereal vocals blended with occasional fuzz attacks, relating them very tightly with Slowdive, Cocteau Twins, Lush and the likes. 

During their career, they accomplished two full-lengths: Famous Swan Song (1995) - which I have never listened yet, sadly - and Legendery Pony Ether (1997), the latter featured right below. It contains everything a Dream Pop/Shoegaze lover worships: buried and incomprehensible vocals (well, not that buried, but still incomprehensible in most of the moments), blurred guitars, lush  melodies, i.e. sweetened soundscapes which are just perfect soundtrack to listen when working until late night or staying in the sofa, half-asleep, in a cloudy sunday doing absolutely nothing, just watching time passing by.

After the end of their activities at 1999, the vocalist Megan Pickerel joined another Dream Pop band, Hazelwood Motel, Matt Hollywood joined BJM for a while and Michael Keating is a live guitarist of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. That means they did not fall out of the orbit lately, however, Swoon 23 remains an obscure act, something I just can't accept due to their immense potential. Bad timing, maybe, sealed their lack of success. The mid to late '90 were cruel for the gazers and alternative rockers as a whole, almost everyone disappeared or disbanded. Only in the last 4-5 years or so this scenario changed and developed new life. Therefore, it's a crime that, with this newcoming people and bands, they are still hidden underneath the dust, and that's why I'm spreading its name here, in this humble space. I hope you enjoy it as deserved!






get it! (new link from Mega)

Teen

Hailing from Brooklyn, Teen delivers us one of the most pleasant surprises I had in the last half of the year, together with The Bilinda Butchers and Alligator Indian. Composed of four girls, they made the debut at April 2011 with an Little Doods EP, digital-released only, and then came out their first full-length, titled In Limbo, released at August of this year. If you've ever wondered how a psychedelic pop group sounds like, you'll get the answer in this album, 'cause they're the closest of this definition: Neo-psychedelic tunes driven by pop and easy melodies, such that it's not afraid of exploring Dream Pop, Surf Rock, Lo-fi Chillwave, whateverwave, synths, tremolos, tribal percussions and many other exotic landscapes in a natural way. Not surprisingly, this album was produces and mixed by Sonic Boom (Spacemen 3), so you can get an idea of the incandescent talent of these girls.


Therefore, it's a highly recommended album for anyone who's into the newcomings sorta-psychedelic acts like Diiv, Young Prisms, Teen Daze, Echo Lake and even the Bilinda Butchers and Alligator Indian I quoted right above. But I must warn you: DO NOT get fooled by the name! I turned my nose when I first saw someone talking about them, but after reading some extremly positive comments, I couldn't resist and gave it a listen. I regret a lot for taking them for granted almost immediatly, that's why I tell you to not commit the same mistake, huh?

















get it! (new link from Mega)

terça-feira, 6 de novembro de 2012

The Soft Moon

Created by the hands of Luiz Vasquez at the year of 2009, at San Francisco, CA, The Soft Moon (TSM) is regarded by me as one of the brightest gems that has risen at the last few years or so in the "deeply-alternative" musical scenario. He drowns Post punk and Coldwave tones into a sea of hallucynogic madness, creating post apocalyptic soundscapes which summon all that cyberpunk tapestry of rusty metal, dystopy, high-efficience machinery, subways, radiation and burning red skies, something like The Blade Runner meets Tetsuo, The Iron Man and both dress as Akira (yeah, this blog can also make references to sci-fi/cyberpunk cinema, see?). While the first record, the self-titled album from 2010 was recorded solely by Vasquez, the brand new record, Zeros, was recorded with the band he recruted since then. As a result, we have a more organic but still eerie album, able to take the listener into a black hole of delirium and hypnotize him/her until the last drop of second turns off.

Since both records are incredibly astonishing, both deserve to be featured here, right below. Just pass on by them, and let us drown! ;)







enjoy!












enjoy!

domingo, 28 de outubro de 2012

Glifted

After the demise of the band Hum, which caused some buzz at 1995 with the song Stars (if you're about 30 years old now, you've probably heard of these verses: "She thinks she missed the the train to Mars/She's out there counting stars", the guitarist Tim Lash joined forces with T.J. Harrison and gives birth to Glifted circa 2000-2001, stepping away from the psychedelic-and-slightly-grungey Alternative Rock powerhouse of his previous band and diving into the noise madness that was mostly forgotten at the first years of the new millenium. Fortunately, not for Tim. Under and In, their first (and only) effort so far, is a insane sea of swirling guitars, segmented tape loops and experimentalisms of everything noise-related. Not surprisingly, this work was and still is very related with the My Bloody Valentine, Swirlies, Swervedriver, lovesliescrushing, Astrobrite and those masters of microphony we all learned to love and worship. For the last 5 or 6 years, this kind of sound has been "rescued" and revived for many bands around the Earth, however, only a few know anything about this project or even mention Glifted's existence. Even I did not have a clue about it untill a few weeks ago, until I listened to one of their song (The Scare, I think) on the whenthesunhits weekly broadcast transmission and looked for them immediatly, enjoying this work since the very first song and first listening. A true shame, to say the very least.

Therefore, I just have the urge to spread their name around, as the moment is more than favorable to anything related to the microphony worshipping. Enjoy! ;)


















get it! (new link from Mega)

quarta-feira, 24 de outubro de 2012

Old Magic Pallas

Old Magic Pallas, or just OMP, is one of Brazil's brightest lost gems of the glorious '90. They started earlier in this decaded, as a group of five friends from São Paulo, SP, Brazil, bonded by the love of the rising Shoegaze Bands (Ride, Slowdive, Pale Saints and such) and '60 Psychedelic Rock. By 1994, they went to a studio and recorded a demo called Pull My Daisy (if you're wondering, yep, the cover and the 'enjoy!' link right below belong to them), which was greatly received by the public, media and the noise mates, such that one year after, they appeared on Brazilian MTV with a video of the opening song, Stargazer, and right after recorded a split album with Speed Whale and Moonrise, which featured two songs that weren't included at the demo. When they were in the process of recording and creating new music to a full length, they just hauled their activities at about 1998, staying a decade in silence until the announcement of new live appearances, which happened mostly from 2008 to 2010. By 2012, we don't know what to expect from them, since they're not playling live and don't seem to be recording anything, letting a great cult followers (including me) thirsty for news...

About their music itself, as I mentioned before, can be classified by a nostalgic Dream Pop painted with microphony blasts and peppered with oneiric psychedelia, creating swirling soundscapes which are perfect to be enjoyed in a windy autumn afternoon when you're walking on a park when you just want to taste the air in your face.

With so many bad music filling the spotlight and the public ears (specially here in Terra Brasilis), they come as a fresh sweet breeze, whose name and songs must be spreaded around the Cosmos. I hope you enjoy it!






get it!

domingo, 21 de outubro de 2012

Tamaryn


Tamaryn is a San Francisco duo consisting of Tamaryn herself (who's originally from the kiwi land, New Zealand)and Rex John Shelverton, who joined forces about the early 00's and since then dedicates themselves to a refined amalgamation between a bittwersweet Dream Pop and nostalgic Psychedelia. Which means you'll hear a lot of flaming walls of noise painted with the vulnerability and tenderness that made Cocteau Twins, Cranes and Slowdive cult around the Earth. In their case, both their maiden record, The Waves and the brand new Tender New Signs are very much alike, with he latter being a bit stronger and more diverse due to the maturity and self-confidence they probably earned at the road and the  support from the public and media they're having since then. Deserved, I must say. Both albums have a fluid quality, in the sense the songs stream very smoothly as they pass by your ears, evolving the listener in some kind of swirling celestial trance such that s/he won't feel like to going down to Earth so soon.

Even if they aren't contributing with something new and groundbreaking at the music world, they're mastering the art of crafting lush tapestries of sound. They surely deserve your attention and your love, in case you never have heard of them or just haven't listened enoughly.


update: New link for Tender New Signs besides links for Tamaryn's other records: '10 The Waves and '09 Led Ashtray Washed Ashore EP.



















get it! (new link from Mega)

















get it! 










get it!

sábado, 20 de outubro de 2012

Mixtape #8 - Noisy songs for us rejects


Hello, guys!

This brand new mixtape is somewhat different from anything we did before when it comes to compiling songs. I was just scrolling down my music folder and saw a lot of stuff I didn't know or wasn't able to remember how it sounds like, so I just put them in my media player and gave them a listen. I realized immediatly that I have some long-forgotten gems in my playlist, so I quickly thought, "why not creating a mixtape with them?", and here it is, 14 songs composed of deeply obscure acts dedicated to Shoegaze, Noise Pop, Dream Pop and all its variations, as the Grunge-fueled Shoegaze of Smashing Orange, the sweeetness of Velocity Girl (for anyone into Lush, they're pure cream) and Swoon 23 (criminally underrated act that is mandatory for anyone into Slowdive and Cocteau Twins), Blind Mr. Jones with a flute-based (yes, flute!) Dream Pop-esque sound, the orientals gazers Astreal (Singapore) and Hartfield (Japan), the newcomers The Sunshine Factory and The Cherry Wave, just to give you a "small" sample.


All this underappreacited stuff makes me wonder why such bands are just sadly forgotten by almost everyone and shitty bands receive all kinds of praise and acclamation. Life is not fair, as everyone older than 5-6 years old know, and quantifying the reasons why didn't any of them become big or at least drew some cult following is a impossible mission, but, well, why not giving them space here and do my part of spreading their names as far as I can? 

So, here they are. Just drown into the fuzz madness and have some fun!






Velocity Girl - Copacetic
The Sunshine Factory - Head Becomes The Tomb
LSD And The Search For God - Starshine
A Sunny Day In Glasgow - Shy
Blind Mr. Jones - One Watt Before Darkness
Lilys - Black Carpet Magic
Astreal - Blush Response
Starflyer 59 - Hazel Wound
Glifted - Last In Line
Swoon 23 - Lunatic
Smashing Orange - Remember Kendra
The Cherry Wave - Godzillabloom
Hartfield - True Color
The Ecstasy Of Saint Theresa - Swoony



enjoy! 

Be Forest

Be Forest is an italian trio assembled around 2010, which means they're still very young (orly?!). However, only a few would expect them to release a full album when they were just one year old with an astonishing quality as they did with Cold! So, let's talk about it: Cold consists of a 9-piece collection of songs in a Post punk-meets-Coldwave (this redundance is unavoidable, guys) quality who's not afraid to drown in Shoegaze bliss or even putting some electronics here and there when they feel like to. That means you'll listen many lost melodies coming from Echo And The Bunnyman, early Cocteau Twins and, surely, Joy Division. Despite all the old school vibe, they're very skilled in absorbing this influences and turning them into 21st century-faced soundscapes, which means they're way more than just a pastiche and relate them tightly with modern gloomny acts like Motorama and I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness, just to give you an example.


Well, the message is here, and there's a link right below. I hope you enjoy it as much as I and Paloma did! ;)





enjoy!


quarta-feira, 17 de outubro de 2012

Mixtape #7 - The Subway Songs

Hello, travelers and gazers. It's been over a month since the last two mixtapes, way too long, to say the least, but here we are. This time, me and Paloma created a mixtape together, whose theme is about the songs and bands that capture the grey-ish, concrete-painted landscapes of the subways that many of us ride everyday to go to our work, college, school, friend's home or whenever. I know many people really dislike this, after all, we all relate subways to those crowded, sweat-soaked places, rush hour, and all those unpleasant problems big cities around the world face, with the remark that we can't even have a nice landscape outside to look at, only those never-ending walls and tunnels. However, I think there's a sort of bleak poetics concealed between the railways, which can be enjoyed in an appropriated mood.

At the end, we compiled fifteen songs we think that fit this atmosphere pretty well, and that are also capable to relieve those stressful days at crowded wagons. There's a larger amount of late gems of the Shoegaze-and-peripheries realms, for example: Lower Dens, Deerhunter, Exitmusic, Motorama, Blouse, but, of course, there are still room for those classic people we always love and enjoy, like the good ol' Joy Division and the already-became-classic Fever Ray. At the end, we have approximately an hour of pure cosmopolitan bliss.

That's it, guys. Enjoy it well!


#Mixtape #7 tracklist:

Deerhunter - Desire Lines
KVB - Dreams
Be Forest - NTR
Belong - Perfect Life
Lower Dens - Brains
Motorama - Ghosts
Fever Ray - Mercy Street
Alligator Indian - Dark Fruit
Exitmusic - The Sea
Twin Shadow - When The Movie's Over
Blouse - Ghost Dream
Skywave - Don't Say Slow
Joy Division - A Means To An End
Kammerflimmer Kollektief - Neumond Inselhin
Screen Vinyl Image - Night Trip


enjoy!

Communicate - The Mediafire issues

Well, guys, I imagine some of you must have noticed the bad news that our mediafire acocunt was blocked yesterday due to violating the terms of service. I talked about it on the facebook's page of this blog. I really apologize for this inconvenience, but we will not stop. We will upload our files in other servers from now on.

Stay tuned!

quinta-feira, 11 de outubro de 2012

Candyaudionline

Candyaudionline was born at the distant lands of Philippines at the also (and already!) distant year of 1997, dedicating themselves to crafting sweetened songs washed in fuzzy-fueled paranoia, relating them closely to the more "primal" side of Shoegaze and Noise Pop universe such that Isn't Anything-era My Bloody Valentine, Going Blank Again-era Ride, Swirlies, and you know the rest of the list are easily summoned as the tracks run, sparkle and fade. Although they have been over 15 years on the road, they've never released a full-length, only a compilation of unreleased tracks at 2004, Saved It For Torture Reference, and a demo called Away We Go, which was released last year containing some demos. Their songwriting is very much of the same in both records, probably the later work being a bit noisier and a bit more refined in its construction.

A delicious obscurity, to say the least. One of the better surprises I had in the last several weeks, and I still wonder why I took so long to drop here. For anyone who has (good) issues with microphony, that's an ear-candy! (sic). Enjoy! ;)


















get it! (new link from Mega)




















get it! (new link from Mega)

sábado, 6 de outubro de 2012

Alligator Indian



I'm still trying to remember how I came across Alligator Indian at last.fm. I was just drifting through the artists page, when they suddenly appear. I found the band's name interesting, noticed they have free tracks on there, and gave it a try. When the song "Dark Fruit", probably their most succesful so far, streamed through my ears, I had, immediataly, that silly smile we draw when making a great discovery. Later on, I tried to find their full albums and saw they dropped their latest work, Spring, I'm in, at the name-your-price scheme at their bandcamp, and got it right away, and greatly happy to do that. 

At this point, you might ask me: "Why making such buzz about them?" "What do they have that makes them so special?" Well, they might not fit in the definition of genious or breakthrough-ers artitsts, but they were able to create something quite different from what we usually listen in a natural, easy-listening way. Matter of talent from them, plain and simple. Their musicanship is hard to label, and, sincerely, it's not needed. But if you want some references, imagine an Garlands-era Cocteau Twins stuck an vault of some kind of lysergic substance peppered with A Capella bursts of vocals and cooked in electronic beats. Despite of this, they're not some kind of frozen gloomy vamps. They're still able to open the vault sometimes and venture at the outdoor realms healthly, get some sunlight and put some Lo-fi/Surf Rock/Noise Pop/Post-whatever paranoid much in the vein of Vivian Girls or Teen Daze at their microcosmos. 

So, could you picture them out, by this description? Me neither. But I don't mind about that and so should you. Just check the link right below and have some fun! ;)







enjoy! (bandcamp)

Love Culture


About Love Culture, that's an excepert taken from their bandcamp page:

"Built on the aesthetic detachment of early shoegaze and Britpop and raised through the live visceral lens of modern indie rock, Love Culture creates an aural experience that rests more upon your fallen angel than your constant demon".

Many of bands description we see around can be quite obnoxious or even misleading, but that is not the case; it surely portrays what's Love Culture is all about, which means you will hear a lot of fuzzy screaming guitars driven by sweetened, delicated melodies, creating a strong link between what UK made in those golden years of the late-80/early-90 and what U.S. made at that same epoch, as if My Bloody Valentine and Smashing Pumpkins (at the early days) joined hands and walked at a park on partly cloudy day. 


Sounds exciting, huh? And that gets even better the more you listen. If you want to get their real flavour, there's their bandcamp link right below with name-your-price records (Aquamarine and Drag) at your orders. ;)






enjoy! (bandcamp)



enjoy! (bandcamp)

quinta-feira, 4 de outubro de 2012

Sundaze

Hailing from Portland, USA, Sundaze has come to life by the hands of June, John and Thuy-Duong at the fall 2011. Yeah, that means Sundaze one year old, only, and they already have a release under the sleeve, called Snowfall. It's a 7-track EP full of all those elements we know and love: reverberation, haziness, daydreaming and deliriums. But we can realize a strong groove driving their songs, which peppered with sexy atmospheres and guitar lines gives them a warmer, more colourful feeling than most  Shoegaze acts usually possess. Of course, comparisions with old school acts like Jesus and Mary Chain are unavoidable, as well as comparisions with more recent bands such as Raveonettes, Black Ryder or a slowed-down version of Ringo Deathstarr, howerver, in their case they are more than healthy and welcomed, since they do not just borrow their sound, just implement them into new unexplored horizons. 

At overall, that's a deliciously pleasant EP to listen, taste and enjoy at sunny saturday evenings (or warm weekend nights...) and will surely draw a smile on your lips while putting your ears into it. ;)






enjoy! (bandcamp)



update: Sundaze changed their name to Soft Shadows.



domingo, 16 de setembro de 2012

Le Corbeau

Le Corbeau was born at 2006, by the hands of Øysten (I had to search for the key combination of this character Ø) Sandsdalen, who is also in charg of the guitars in the Serena Maneesh ensemble. Although it's easy to identify many similarities with them and their norwich mates, Maribel, it's also easy to idenfity that his crow follows other directions. Of course you'll hear a lot of screaming distorted guitars and taste a hazy atmosphere, but Mr. Sandsdalen includes many elements you won't find in these bands, if ever in any Shoegaze band. Sax, piano, jazzy percussion and a film-noir soundtrack's inspiration bring his works to a whole new dimension, feeling somewhat like a My Bloody Valentine or a Sonic Youth work trapped into a '50-fashioned Jazz pub and trying to play like this.  

Although it may not appeal to the most purist ones, he did a hell of a great work in his two albums, the self-titled from 2008 and Evening Chill/Montreal of the Mind, 2009, that's why both are featured in this little space and deserveful of have its name spread out. ;)





















enjoy! (new link)





enjoy! (new link)

sexta-feira, 14 de setembro de 2012

Asalto Al Parque Zoológico

Asalto Al Parque Zoológico, or simply AAPZOO, as it's more convenient, comes from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and dedicates themselves to a mix of Shoegaze and Noise Pop with a strong My Bloody Valentine-Isn't Anything era flavour, which means you'll find swerving guitars, sexy vocals and sweet-whisperable melodies buried in hallucynogic sonic sheets. Of course, MBV is probably not their only influence, as it's quite easy to recognize twisted echoes from Lush (Spooky era), early Ride and I'm pretty sure these guys must enjoy Swirlies a lot. If you're in doubt, just listen to the song "Le Dernier Jour", its main riff reminds me a lot of the song "Sunn" from the same Swirlies, and it makes me smile when it made me realize (sic). 

They accomplish to craft such catchy and enjoyable songs in a way I still wonder how didn't they become big and aren't touring around the world yet. So, I thought to myself, why not start to spread their name worldwidely? That's why you have their EPs, the self-titled from 2009 and the 2010 split Noise Sweet Noise, a two-songs effort with their noisemates Sugar Candy Noise right below. ;)

























enjoy!







enjoy!


segunda-feira, 10 de setembro de 2012

Lightfoils



Lightfoils is a 4-piece ensamble from the city of Chicago, USA, making music since 2010 or around it. Signed with the nice Saint Marie Records, a label dedicated to Shoegaze, Dream Pop, Lo-fi and all that stuff we all know and love, they released their first effort at about 6 months ago, a self-titled 4-song EP. What you can listen and taste in its 17 minutes of duration is a 1st class mix of Shoegaze, Dream Pop and Alternative Rock, making the names of Lush, The Cure, Smashing Pumpkins, My Bloody Valentine with some hints of Ride/Slowdive come to our mind. As a more modern reference, think about Soren Well. They share a similar vibe, although they don't sound exactly the same (and that's what matters, huh?). Their songs are gentle and soft but effervescent and cathartic at the core. 

At overall, a delicious EP that will make you thirsty for at least four more songs. Lightfoils are a newborn talent that gives a fresh flavour to an already scintillating (and growing) scenario of good Shoegazer bands. So, I give you the bandcamp link, where you can free-stream all the four songs and get it from a really friendly price. 







Enjoy! (bandcamp)

quinta-feira, 6 de setembro de 2012

Mixtape #6 - Dreams gone dark


Yep, there's a new mixtape here, the sixth of ours the second today! This time, I decided to put more Post-punk, Gothic Rock and Darkwave in the blender. But, of course, there is still place for Dream Pop and our beloved shoes! (at least the darkest of them). As usual, new bands are featured (Blouse,  A Place to Bury Strangers, Fever Ray) along with classical acts (Cocteau Twins, JAMC, and the french coldwavers Asylum Party). At the end, we have about an hour (a bit more, to be more precise) full of dark treasures that will make yer dreams go hazy and lush.

Well... nothing left to say, guys, just hope you'll enjoy it as much as the previous ones! :)






Mixtape #6 Tracklist:


(((S))) - Mesmerized
The Jesus and Mary Chain - In A Hole
My Bloody Valentine - Lovelee Sweet Darlene
I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness - According To Plan
Skywave - Knife
Cocteau Twins - Cico Buff
Blouse - Into Black
Singapore Sling - Last Man On Earth
The KVB - Hands
Fever Ray - Keep The Streets Empty For Me
Asylum Party - Sabbath
The Soft Moon - Total Decay
Cranes - Starblood
A Place To Bury Strangers - Keep Slipping Away
Zola Jesus - Lick The Palm Of The Burning Handshake
Lycia - Cold



enjoy! (new link)

Mixtape #5 - Brazilian Shoes

Nearly half a month after the mixtape #4, we decided to bring us a new one. This time I chose national (brazilian) bands, ranging from brand new, fresh upcoming people (Loomer, Flowed, This Lonely Crowd, Lê Almeida, Sobre a Máquina, just to name a few) to oldschool underground acts, for example Second Come, Killing Chainsaw and The Pin Ups.


That's my humble sample of the blooming scene of "Brasil", not only the current but the classical ones, at times when things were even harder and there was no such web resources like this one to help spreading good, obscure music around. I drop the link right below the tracklist, together with a nice picture of a typical brazilian shoe (actually a flip-flop...).






Tracklist:
Old Magic Pallas - Stargazer
Flowed - Everything's Blowing
Team.Radio - French Doll
Badhoneys - B Sad
The Sorry Shop - Gone Again
Loomer - Nightmare Daydream
The Pin Ups - Pure
Killing Chainsaw - Chicken Legs
Hanging Freud - Swamp
Inverness - Bats
Starfire Connective Sound - Acid Morning Drive
Lê Almeida - Micropontes
Firefriend - Airport Scene
Wry - Sisters
Second Come - 704
This Lonely Crowd - Love Blender
Pale Sunday - Mary
Lautmusik - Afraid to Fly
Top Surprise - Home
Sobre A Máquina - Língua Negra


enjoy! (new link)

terça-feira, 4 de setembro de 2012

Vinyl Williams

Vinyl Williams, whose mastermind is named Lionel Williams (grandson of John Williams, author of extremly obscure movies such as Star Wars and Clouse Encounters Of The Third Kind), is one of the most interesting bands coming up at the last couple of years or a bit more. Ok, everyone says that in every post they make, but if you just give a simple listen to VW, you will see what I'm talking about. All his songs are bathed in shimmering tones of aural transcendence, not very focused on the standard musical structure we usually see, broken in bridge, chorus and versus. The music is allowed to flow for itself, crafting its own path through the listener's mind and, therefore, creating its own shape and face. The results: a handful of songs which connect the best from the cosmic psychedelia directly drawn from early Kraut acts, Neu!, Can and the likes, to give you a simple example, with the best from the Shoegaze universe, mainly Cocteau Twins @ Victorialand era or Slowdive @ Pygmalion. Still, his music isn't anything totally ear-ripping or amorphous. It's very sticky and easy-listening, making it simple to any listener to drown into his bottomless sea of bliss and sonic radiance.

Ah, Lionel Williams also works as an artist and a philospher. The guy has a great mind, huh? And was born in 1990, so he's still very young and a has much more to accomplish yet. I'll drop below his first two works, Naked Sanctuary and Leminscate, plus some previously unreleased songs in each album. I hope you take good care of 'em!

















enjoy! (new link from Mega)
















get it! (new link from Mega)

domingo, 2 de setembro de 2012

Maribel



Maribel (whose song Deflower is featured in this mixtape), hailing from the icy Norway, is one of the various surprises of the so-called Nugaze, or the second generation Shoegaze bands, or whatever-you-wanna-name-it. Like their like-minded Serena Maneesh (which also comes from Norway and one of its member procuded the Maribel album I'm gonna post, Aesthetics), their work is evolving, incandescent, and very diversified. Unlike their fellows of SM, the first band that comes to our minds when listening to them is the so-beloved Loveless (sic) album, although there are many echoes and patterns directly drawn from The Telescopes, Swervedriver and Spacemen 3 here and there. Besides, we can still find some Curve-ish tons at their electronic passages, or even their contemporary A Place to Bury Strangers at their moment of noisy rage, but that's the point, they have their influences and inspiration but work very hard to craft their own identity and accomplish it very nicely and naturally. Flaws? Well, the songs run too short, 3 minutes at average. But who cares, huh?!

Sumary: Maribel is a fresh and pleasant ensemble that I'm eager we can have more and more from them. Perfect for chilling out from a hard day or listening at a (good) night club, and I really think you'll all love it to the bones! 








enjoy! (new link)




enjoy!

The Vandelles


Hailing from Brooklyn, NYC, The Vandelles is around for about 5 years or a bit more dedicating themselves to an awesome mix of early Shoegaze, with emphasis on the fuzzy tornado of Jesus And Mary Chain @ Psychocandy's era with Surf Rock and Velvet Underground-esque tones, flavors and patterns. The final product is a bursting star of noisy and groovy melodies very much in the vein of the new flaming generation bands such as Raveonettes, Gliss and their Brooklyn mates Vivian Girls (although the Vivian's sounds more "beachy" and "clearer", if you know what I mean...). 

With a great full-lengths under their sleeve, called Del Black Aloha, and an EP (Summer Sling), they've just come back with Strange Girls Don't Cry, released a few days ago. This time they made a more diverse work, washing away their noise anger a little bit and focusing more on the groove and laid back/sunset-esque atmospheres. Therefore, that's a great album for a walk on the park or on a beach's sidewalk at late afternoon. After all, The Vandelles are one of many remarkable examples of all the power this new generation of gazers have, and there you have a link for their brand new work right below, which is free-streamable at their bandcamp and can be purchased at a low price. ;) 





enjoy! (bandcamp)

sábado, 1 de setembro de 2012

Once Dreamt

It's very hard to find information about this band, Once Dreamt, except for the part two of the members are (or better, were) Windy Weber and Carl Hultgren from the Windy & Carl ensemble, dedicated to Drone and Ambient soundscapes. Another member, Randall Nieman, is part of Füxa. Brenda Markovich, the remaining member, didn't create or become part of any band or musical project as far as the google says.

About Once Dreamt, they were the starting point for the Ambient Michigan's scene, and released only this work, titled Drifting, at 1995. As they had little to no impact at all at the already deceased Shoegaze-and-so-forth scene (and due to the fact this album was released only in vinyl format), they remain largley unknown even with the facilities of the www. Their sound isn't anything (sic) that wasn't made before, but there are only a few CDs in the world that brings such peace of mind as this album. I came across it at about 2009 but only at these days I "found" it rotting on my HD and decided to give a listen, and was mesmerized. How could I forget them for SO long?! that's what I kept repeating to myself with an angry voice and stuff.

About the music itself, it's a transcendental and foggy mix of Shoegaze and Ambient, multi-textured, soothing and stellar. It's easy to recall Slowdive seminal Soulvaki Space Station when listening to this, or even some works by Harold Budd (mainly that work he made with the Cocteau people), however Once Dreamt has a more experimental approach, as they seem to jams instead of making songs in its, say, orthodox sense.

At overall, a magnific album (or an EP, hard to classify it, but I stick with the definition of album as it's 40-minute length) that will appeal a lot for anyone into hazy sheets of white noise or interestellar travels.








get it! (new link)

Bethany Curve

Born by the hands of Richard Millang, Ray Lake and Chris Preston and David Mac Wha in California at about 1994, Bethany Curve raised when most of the first-generation Shoegaze-and-related bands started to fade out in the cosmic dust. They released a great stream of albums from 1996 to 2003, being Skies a Crossed Sky, the one right below, the first of them (and the best of them, imo). You will find here a first-class Shoegaze with a heavy Ambient-Drone accent, which relates them almost immediatly with acts such as Flying Saucer Attack at the most spacey and stellar moments, Slowdive at their most dreamy and foggy apex and, somewhat surprisingly, with Joy Division or Jesus And Mary Chain when they start to make gloomy-drenched melodies (and they do it very very well, kids!). Their later work steps away a bit from the Ambient noisy paranoia and gets more psychedelic, not seldom invoking memories from early Pink Floyd, Spacemen 3, Loop and the likes (actually, you can hear their inspirations already in the SACS work, but still shy and not fully developed).  

Unfortunately they disappeared from the middle of the '00 but rumors (those bitches!), say they're recording and preparing a new album to be released soon. They're true only 10% of the time, and I really hope that's the case. Bethany Curve is a sadly overlooked band that deserved (and still do!) much much attention and recognition, for the bravery of making such albums at a moment when most of their noisemates were disappearing from the event horizon  and for the sake of the lush, cosmic beauty of their albums itself. It may be a bit too late to give good credits to them, but better late than never, huh?



Enjoy! (new link)

quarta-feira, 29 de agosto de 2012

Alison's Halo


Alison's Halo was a (sadly) short-lived band from the burnings lands of Arizona, USA. It's not easy to find information about them, I've only found they were a four-piece, the singer name is Catherine, they released a compilation of their work thoughout the four years of their existence (Eyedazzler, 1992-1996), some songs were recorded at the garage of a band's member and they are preparing themselves to some reunion shows at 2013. At their bandcamp, there are three new songs (not exactly new, they are from 1996, but remained unreleased till now). Well, about the music itself, it's easy to find many parallels with the more ethereal-side of Shoegaze, much in the vein of Slowdive, and it's mainly characterized by lush and reverberating melodies conducted by sweet airy vocal lines.

Maybe because of the wrong place, wrong time syndrome (they were formed during the Grunge hype, remember), they were completely overlooked, even for the gazers. Fortunately it's being repaired (two decades late, but better than nothing, huh?) and they're receiving some attention and being acclaimed. Slowly and timidly, but it's happening, and that's what matters. And my intention is just giving some fuel to it! ;) 






get it! (new link from Mega)

segunda-feira, 20 de agosto de 2012

Hypomanie

Hypomanie is a blackgaze (black metal originally) band from the Netherlands. Their first EP after their change of style, She Couldn't Find Flowers, But There Was Snow, brings us a lovely Swerverdriver cover, Rave Down - which imo is a perfect soundtrack to listen when you're going back home after a hard day of work.
And then they released their album A City In Mono, which I came to know while browsing 4chan's /mu/ (please don't judge me,lol)and it was love at first listen as soon I heard the first seconds of A City In Stereo - It's like a dark fusion between Filosofem by Burzum (great album btw, isn't it?) and those nice post rock bands such as Explosions In The Sky.
Now they've just released their new album Calm Down, You Weren't Set On Fire and it is great! They sound more mature, as if they are now sure they had made the right choice regarding to styles. It is certainly one of my favorite albums this year,and the Filosofem atmosphere continues! The following track Alissa Loves Perfume has a nice Dunkelheit vibe.

Here!



Here!


Here!


Cheers,

Paloma.