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!