Loomer (BR)

Loomer is a four-piece hailing from southern Brazil who came to light at mid-2008 and, since then, have been dedicated to make some of the nicest noise of the most recent history of this country. As the name indicates, their main influences are the feedback-fueled legacy left by Mr. Shields and its gang, as well as highly beloved names such as Ride, Swervedriver, Dinosaur Jr., Pixies, Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Teenage Fanclub and many others that made the late '80 and early '90 the holy graal for the Alternative Rock. Despite their well-stabilished influences, their sonic world is very rich and original enough to have their own face and stand up for itself, unlike many copycats we see popping up at every corner of the Earth, therefore, it's not a surprise they became a reference when it comes to brazilian underground, sounding fresh and evolvent even among the high level bands that are blooming bright and healthy in the last four-five years or so. They've only released two eps across their careet, the '09 Mind Drops and '10 Coward Soul, both really astonishing, and their debut full-length is schedules for the last weeks of 2013. However, they released a single taken from this album about three days ago, You Wouldn't Anyway, a really good teaser for this forthcoming work that I (and probably many of us) are really eager to put our ears on.

You can stream and get this brand new single at the name-your-price method from their label, midsummer madness, right below, as well as a free download link from sinewave page for the Coward Soul EP, or free-stream their earlier EPs at the midsummer madness homepage. Either way, I hope you enjoy it all  the way it's deserved!

update:  You Wouldn't Anyway full-length is available for free download at sinewave page. One of greatest albums of 2013, just get it and stream it through your ears without thinking twice. ;)

sinewave (full length)

bandcamp (single)

download (sinewave)

Kigo

Kigo is an one-man project hailing from the aussie lands, more specifically, the city of Brisbane. Its sole member refers to himself as D.P. Pearce, whose pictures or further information is nowhere to be found. However, he's quite explicit when it comes to his artistic inspiration: My Bloody Valentine. Every song could very well fit in the Loveless album, or even in the M B V. That means you'll hear a lot of sweetened swirly fuzz conducted by whistable melodies and, deep down, you can listen to lo-fi vocals singing incomplete phrases and verses if you pay attention heavily.

Some might say they're not contributing to anything new into the Shoegaze scene but who cares? Kigo makes some of the most awesome ear candies that came out this year, and has a great potential of climbing even higher levels of sonic quality, and that's more than most of band has been bringing to us lately. So, just put the headphones on and enjoy the trip!

edit 1: New EP, Some Other Thing, was released last monday, May 27th. Yeah, the aussie gazer seems to be quite productive lately! This EP contains four deliciously blurry songs which display a slightly different approach than the previous works. The self-titled song is a amorphous slow-paced piece of melted noise which brings lovesliescrushing directly to our busted minds. The final song, Washed, has a strong J&MC's Psychocandy accent, while the remaining ones still orbit in the "MBV meets Astrobrite with drops of cosmicdust" fields. Noise Pop freaks like most of us can't go wrong with it! That's why I drop the bandcamp link for this EP right below, where it can be free-streamed and purchased at the name-your-price method. Enjoy! ;)

edit 2: It seems he's more creative and active than ever, as Kigo released another shining EP at 19th July. Titled Chance, this one has a blue blurry cover in the same fashion of the previous ones and explore some Electronics and Synth Pop layers that weren't present in them. It's great to see such motivated guy refining their work better and better in a way that I'm really eager to see what Kigo may be able to accomplish in the near future. If there's a brand new band out there you should keep up, that's surely one of them. Enjoy! ;)

edit 3: After a stream of fuzzy-drenched EPs, Kigo returns with a full-length under the arms. It's a 10-track collection titled So Lost Now. For those who enjoyed the previous EPs, there's no way you can go wrong with that. As I said, it's very nice to see so many people dedicated to make some noise and make our ears bleed, and of course, Kigo is included in this group. As always, I hope you enjoy! ;)

bandcamp

bandcamp

enjoy! (bandcamp)




















enjoy! (bandcamp)

enjoy! (bandcamp)

Soviet Soviet

Soviet Soviet started its activities at 2008, based in Pesaro, Italy (btw, there's a nice stream of obscure italian bands coming up, don't you think?). They have an EP, from 2010 and a full-length Nice, released one year after, which is nothing but the previous EP with a handful of unreleased songs. Since the first notes, you notice the great influence of Post-Punk they draw, with a strong 1980's vibe and such, but they aren't exactly a Joy Division re-interpretation as you must be wondering. The vocals aren't exaclty gloomy and monotonous  and the songs aren't exactly what you'd call melancholic and gritty, as it's usual for the genre. Of course, they must have spun many hours of Unknown Pleasures and Closer at their players of headphones, but it's the Killing Joke and Wire vein that really stands up as main references. Of couse, currently rising-up (and awesome) Post-Punk bands such as Motorama, Human Tetris anda little bit of the also italian Be Forest also come to our minds when popping up this album.

A very nice surprise that arrived in my ears at the last couple of months, for sure. They use a lot of retro cultural elements (just look at their names!) and references, but they're not simply satisfied to get stuck at the past, but use it as a reference to craft a corrosive, acid, fresh (and kinda badass-ish) sound that is capable to please not only hungry Post-Punk fans, but also those into the coler-than-ice tides of Coldwave and the darker side of the Shoegaze Universe, where the likes The KVB, The Soft Moon, Ceremony, etc. belong. more than deserveful of attention in this space. 

Update: Soviet Soviet debut album, titled Fate, is out! One of the brightest 2013 albums for sure. Enjoy! 

bandcamp









enjoy!

TheDunes

TheDunes was conceived in late 2010 as a duo consisting, originally, of Matt from Adelaide, Australia, beside USA-born singer Stacie. Since then, the duo released its maiden EP, a two-song minimalistic work called Going Under, then became a four-piece and started drawing attention at the local scene, playing some concerts and refining their lush, Dream Pop-ish soundsphere, which resulted in the Between Night And Dawn EP, from late 2012, and La Musique Noveau, which came to light a few weeks ago.  As I mentioned before, their sonic world blends the best moments of the 4AD and Projekt microcosmos, with Cocteau Twins - of course! - being the main reference,  even though it's possible to notice deep inspiration from surreal, hypnotic acts such as Love Spirals Downwards, Autumns's Grey Solace, Tearwave and many more. They're pretty much resonant with another great act I posted here not long ago, Lights That Change, although TheDunes sounds even more ethereal and hazily laid-back comparing to the british group. 

Despite being only 3-year old, the band shows a lot of maturity and huge potential to reach even higher standards in the very near future. It's really really nice to see so many bands dedicating themselves to recreate, or even revive, this kind of oneiric music, which is always so underrated and underappreaciated. All their material released so far is available for free-streaming at their soundcloud page, as you can see by just scrolling down this post. So, let us drown in the celestial bliss and enjoy their work the way it's deserved! 

2013 - La Musique Noveau:












2012 - Between Night And Dawn:

2011 - Going Under:

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)

bandcamp









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!