Jessamine

Jessamine is probably one of the most interesting (and idyosincratic) act to come from the Pacific Northwest (later moving to Ohio) during the early '90. While the world was being dominated by the Grunge wave, Jessamine's musicanship was much more based on the british scene than its flanneled fellows, incorporating a wide range of elements such as Space Rock, Drone and even Krautrock in its sonic soup. After releasing its first demo material at 1993-94, they called attention from the legendary label Kranky, who released its self-titled debut at 1994. Although this album flew under the radar back then, it was surely one of the peak moments of the (really) noisy music of the mid-'90, when Shoegaze scene had already faded to a distant dream and many bands were already dissolving or disappearing from our line of sight. After the debut, they released two more records until its demise at 1999, both really stellar, although not on pair with the debut. That's why it's featured right below on .flac version, for your enjoyment and discovery in case you didn't have a chance to taste Jessamine's beautiful noise for whatever reasons (that I expect is not laziness or pure musical illiteracy...).


Well, as usual, just enjoy!

Lights That Change

Lights That Change (LTC) is a very nice british project consisting of the duo Mark Joy and Lisa VonH. Although it was born many years ago, according to the band self-biography here, it was not until this year of 2013 that their music saw the first beams of light. Their main influences include classic heads such as David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Morrisey, My Bloody Valentine, The Sundays, and, obviously, Cocteau Twins, Robin Guthrie and the 4AD bands, as it's easily noticed on songs such as Flying, from Rainbow On Your Shoulder EP, and Beautiful Soul, which is part of the homonymous single. Their music are centrally based on delicate oneiric sonic palettes peppered with bucolic, nostalgic feelings, typical from the Dream Pop Universe, however, they're able to gravitate from hazy underwater-like Ambient tones from simpler poppy singalong melodies and perform very well on both cases, which seems to be nothing but pure talent coming from these duo.

You can free-listen and purchase all their work at the bandcamp links right below, including their brand new EP, Rainbow On Your Shoulder, released at this very same day, October 28th. If you' have, at least, a thing for acts such as Cocteau Twins (Treasure phase), Swallow, Drowner, Cranes and related , you really can't go wrong with LTC and will surely enjoy their lush (sic), shimmering work. As I always say, I hope you all enjoy and support! ;)




2013.10 - Rainbow On Your Shoulder (EP)

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2013.08 - Beautiful Soul (single)

bandcamp

2013.07 - Lights That Change

bandcamp

Spökraket

Spökraket is a danish five-piece from the city of Aarhus, which assembled together in 2010, and since then has been dedicated to crafting some of the fuzziest Space Rock around the Earth. Using the DIY approach, as they mention on their self-description at their facebook page, they made some outstanding records in a very short range of time, starting by the 2011 All Art Is Propaganda, followed by the split with The Road To Suicide (a great band that has sadly decided to pull the plug in the last few weeks) on May 2013, and now the second full-length, Darling Adharma, which came to light on last September 7th. Although I just found out about them last week, I readily realized they're a highly distinguished act into the neo-psych boiling seas they're sailing, when '60 Garage Rock mixes with the brain-melting Krautrock sonic legacy, the bottomless darkness of Drone and the best moments of the '80-'90 Scene That Celebrates Itself dreamy, feedback-fueled sonic atmospheres. All their songs follow a mantra-like structure, based on the repetition of the rhytms and central melodies, or an extensive use of crescendos instead of focusing on chorus and apices as most musical structures follow, creating a sort-of ritualist atmosphere that very well fits their sound.

All their work released so far can be free-streamed right below, or purchased for US$5 or less, depending on the album. Spökraket is surely a band that all of you who are reading this right now should keep up in the next years, and to be talked about, having its name spread the farthest possible, as we all know the cosmos is not the limit.

Enjoy!

2013 - Darling Adharma

  

bandcamp

2013 - Spökraket/Road To Suicide split

bandcamp

2011 - All Art Is Propaganda

bandcamp

 

Hella Comet

Hella Comet (HC) is a very nice act hailing from Graz, Austria, dedicated to guitar exploring, dense walls of feedback and noise and sonic trips into the space-time continuum. They only released two albums so far, a 10'' EP on Abril 2011 and the EP Celebrate Your Loss, released on early 2010, in which they combine Sonic Youth-esque Noise Rock with Post Rock, Shoegaze, Space Rock and even Electronic experimentation. The fact they're still a deeply obscure name into everyone's subconsciousness remains a mystery for me, as they have all the necessary qualities to praise every fan of weird forms of Alt. Rock.

Well, underrated or not, here I provide a link for both works, all available at name-your-price method. I hope you enjoy it!


//Resurfacing this post to talk about new Hella Comet full-length, Wild Honey. As expected, they brought his already stellar mix of Noise Rock, Shoegaze, Space Rock and so forth to a whole new level, delivering us probably one of the best 2013 albums so far. As if it isn't good enough, this piece is availabie for download @ their bandcamp in the name-your-price method. Well, this time I won't even wish you to enjoy it as I'm sure you will. :P

bandcamp

get it!

get it!

Omega Vague

Omega Vague (OV) is the project whose mastermind is Craig Douglas. According to the FB profile of OV, its birth refers to 2001 and some of their influences are as diverse as Radiohead, Sigur Ros, Testament, Landing, Haack, Klaus Fucking Nomi. Interesting, huh? Well, OV's latest release, "Four", is nothing but a beautiful piece of Shoegaze bathed on Dream Pop's deepest and purest textures, bringing names like Robin Guthrie (its [mostly] instrumental natural has some influence on this, for sure), the master of Ambient music Brian Eno, or even the Slowdive debut directly to our minds. Electronics, loops and so forth are often present here on this work, giving a darker sonic textures to this although their use refers more to '80 4AD acts than something modern-ish.

All OV work is available at the name-your-price method, therefore, there's no excuse for any of you to not download (or purchase) it and give one more highly talented artist the value it's more than deserved.













bandcamp

Black Hearted Brother

Well, since early August, much has been said about this Black Hearted Brother (BHB - not to be confused with Backstreet Boys, kids! -) project. For those who were not on the solar system during the last couple of months, BHB consists of Neil Halstead, the mind behind the legendary Slowdive and Mojave 3, Mark Van Hoen, who was originally from Ambient-Electronica-Shoegaze act Seefeel, besides Nick Holton, who leads Holton' Opulant Oog and has taken duties on the production of last Halstead's solo work. A certain buzz was made over the announcement of this project with its single (I don't mean to) wonder, a brilliant track which channels the best moments of Slowdive through modern lenses, with some Electronica here and there to cover it with an even sweeter taste. Scheduled to be released on October 22th, Stars Are Our Home is a rich twelve-song compilation of really stellar-like Space Rock quality, and although obvious references to Slowdive and Seefeel can be noticed, this album sounds really fresh and modern, relating them with cosmonaut acts like God Is An Astronaut, M83, and the swedish Postiljonen without losing any bit of identity. 

This is, for sure, one of top-notch 2013 moments in music, and every living person on the Earth who claims him/herself a fuzz lover should deeply admire this shimmering piece of work. Well, hope you enjoy it!

Implodes

Implodes is a Chicago-based ensemble whose core is maintained by guitarists Matt Jencik and Ken Camden around the late '00. By 2011, the world saw the birth of Implodes' debut, Black Earth, and I'm sure many were mesmerized by the hypnotic soundscapes they crafted through the  ~45 minutes of its total length, as well as their '2013 Recurring Dream, released a few months ago. As they are signed to Kranky Records, the comparisions between some of the greatest names in modern noisy music were readily drawn, such as jesu, Mogwai, Flying Saucer Attack, as well as labelmates such as Belong, Windy & Carl, besides former Krankyheads such as Jessamine. However, I'd be lying if I didn't say Implodes' music has a strong identity and stands up for itself very easily with their mix of pitch-black Drones, endless waves of feedback and the traditional gloominess of Post Punk hidden deep beneath this thick layers of narcotic noise. 

For sure they are one of the most talented bands out there which weren't really discovered even by most of the gazers, droners, and fuzzheads in general, and I hope this scenario will be reverted very soon. That's why both albums are available here for downloading, hoping you enjoy it the way it's deserved!

2013 - Recurring Dream

get it






2011 - Black Earth

get it

Zeit

Zeit is a Gothenburg-based Shoegaze-meets-Dream Pop band formed around 2010, but its fiat lux refers to 2008, when they were born as a concept. Using the own band words, they can be described sonically as "pop music that makes you feel like you're traveling through a long-abandoned ghost town, with a body full of tranquilizers.", or "basically, it's just pop music drenched with fuzz", as they said in this blog .  They don't hide their love for late '80-early '90 independent music, namely My Bloody Valentine, Jesus and Mary Chain, Sonic Youth, The Smiths and so forth, which is, of course, reflected in their music crafting, however, they explore these noisy elements in an intelligent and creative way even though it has a strong lo-fi accent, sounding fresh and tasteful among hundreds of thousands of new assembles that have been rising every day around the web2.0.


It's possible to free-stream and purchase both works released by Zeit so far, the brand new Life Is Just A Blur, who came to light at September 20th, besides the self-titled debut from 2011. I'm sure this is only the beginning of a very succesful career, as they've already achieved high-level sonic quality in such little time and have potential to be a reference among many modern gazers, eg. Ringo Deathstarr, Airiel, Fleeting Joys and many others. As usual, I hope you enjoy it!

 

bandcamp

 

bandcamp

Bailter Space

Bailter space may be largley unknown here in the occidental world, but they are kind of underground heroes at their homeland, Christchurch, New Zealand. It's not hard to see why. They were formed in the already dusty 1987 and released a stream of gems until the mid-'90, being acclaimed by the press and gaining a cult following from those hungry for noisy and fuzzy sonicscapes, yet possessing a great sense of melody in all their work. Unfortunately, they disbanded and disappeared from the radar at '98 (like 98% of the first generation Shoegaze-and-related bands did), despite some solo concerts from one of the members (Alister Parker, more exactly) and a retrospective album released in 2004. They reformed at about 2008, played some gigs, had fun and, by 2012, released their first brand new material in almost one and a half decade. Named Strabosphere, it shows a mature band in a very good shape, making droning, abrasive yet hooky songs that will appeal a lot for those affictionated by the likes of Sonic Youth, Pixies (you can see echoes from Francis Black specially in the vocal lines), Jesus and Mary Chain and, obviously, their earlier work. 

It's always great to see many and many classical old school bands coming back and propagating their name (and increasing their legacy) for those who couldn't catch them at those sweet old times. Together with the new school incandescent bands that we're seeing lately, we can see a golden time about to come (if it's not here, already!).

//update: new album, Trinine, available for download right below. Enjoy!








get it!

get it! (new link from Mega)

Cochlear Kill

Hailing from Brisbane, Australia (it looks like the aussies have been really inspired lately, huh?), Cochlear Kill intends do craft what they call "hallucinogenic pop". Simply put, they mix feedback-fueled guitar lines with loops, vocoders and electronic/synthetic devices in order to create a magic and surrealistic atmospherics, something they succesfully accomplished. Many comparisions can be drawn, specially with modern Dream Pop/lo-fi ranging from Dråpe, Echo Lake, No Joy to Pure X, Neon Indian and such, although some MBV and Slowdive echoes can be noticed quite often here and there in some of their pieces.

They released only two album so far, the self-titled full length, from late 2011, and the 2010's Head To The Ether/Scarlet Sometimes single, both awesome works that really should be regarded for any fan of "unusual" (and delightful) Pop music out there. The debut album is available for free-streaming and download at the name-your-price scheme at their homepage, whose link can be found right below.

As usual, I hope you enjoy!

 

bandcamp

Mixtape #22

Hello, ladies and gentlemen! Here we are with the 22th edition of loverswhoareseekers mixtape, to make a good start of the last trimester (yeah, time's passing by way too fast, I know) of this turbulent year of 2013. 

This time, we collected 13 songs ranging from the usual Shoegaze and Noise Pop we all love so much to the lo-fi, Electronica, Neo-psychedelia and even Coldwave spheres, featuring classic oldschool artists such as Seefeel, which opens the mixtape with the track Plainsong (taken from the classic '93 Quique), Lush (with the song Downer, taken from the Gaia compilation), Kitchens of Distinction (Drive That Fast), Sweet Jesus (criminally underrated first-generation gazers, here featured by the song Honey Loving Honey), Smashing Orange (a perfect combination of Grunge and Gaze, with the song Cherry Rider), besides another sadly under-appreciated old times act, Revolver, whose chosen song is Molasses, taken from their great '92 compilation of early singles called Baby's Angry. Also usual, there's also space for brand new tunes and newsomcers, as Flying Low, one of the songs by the brand, shining latest Mazzy Star album, as well as lo-fi-esque noise poppers of Gauntlet Hair, the melting psychedelia of Lorelle Meets The Obsolete, the "tropical goth" gloominess of White Hex, the relaxing chillwave of Washed Out, and, finally, the Sonic Youth's apprentices' Grooms, here featured with Prom. 

That's probably the most diversified mixtape I've made so far. As usual, I hope you enjoy it and have a great October! ;)






 




tracklist  /  listen