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!

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

Das Ding

About Das Ding (DD) it's an Electronic project headed by dutch Danny Bosten. There is a very interesting text telling DD's background, which is: 

‘I started recording in 1981, with a lot of borrowed equipment. It was fun to do, and everyone was doing music, so me and my friend Johan started a cassette label. We made some tapes, did some gigs, but things moved on. In 2007, 433rpm, of the exhaustive music blog ‘No Longer Forgotten Music’, posted some of my old Das Ding tapes, and Veronica Vasicka- who runs the New York based ‘Minimal Wave’ label and specializes in reissues of 80s synth-wave- contacted me, now living in Rotterdam, to propose the release of a Das Ding album. Old tapes were uncovered, and Minimal Wave released a remastered version of ‘HSTA’ and other tracks, in 2010. A wave of renewed interest followed the record’s release and soon people were in touch to propose live shows. Twenty years later, and after some deliberation, Das Ding was reincarnated under its old moniker but now with a revised line-up and a working set-up that reflected inevitable technological change. Suddenly, Das Ding was a ‘Dutch electro-pioneer’ and the apparent pinnacle of ‘Minimal Wave’.

These two songs are ressurected demos, I guess. My attempt at doing television show themesongs, inspired by ‘The Six Million Dollar Man’, (We Can Rebuild Him) and ‘The Day of the Triffids’ (Triffid Farm). I am very much a film buff, as they say, and secretly imagine all my tracks to be soundtracks to some movie I haven’t seen yet.' - text from Sonic Playground


So, whaddayouthink about it? Besides this most recent work from DD, whose artwork made by Nikos Dervisis and the two-song collection released by Sonic Playground, there are several songs on DD's soundcloud, most of them exploring deeply into the Minimal Wave, Ambient and the dark side of Electronic music. Some of them could very well fit on a oldschool sci-fi OST, and some could vey well fit on the alternative club closest to you, but all of them are of top-level quality such that any fan of Xeno & Oaklander, Automelodi, Oppenheimer Analysis, etc.) will surely enjoy DD's pieces of art.

You can download those two songs on .FLAC or .mp3 format on the Sonic Playground link above, as well as free-stream it and some other nice pieces, including a great cover of Joy Divisions' Means To An End adapted to DD's cosmos on the soundcloud widgets right below. As always, I hope you enjoy! ;)

Adicionar legenda

soundcloud / tumblr

Stress Waves

Hailing from Brisbane, Australia, Stress Waves is a very interesting trio (Nick, Josh and Errol) assembled to craft very nice, gloomy and icy pieces of Post punk-meeting-Coldwave (there's a tag called cyber-romantic @ their bandcamp, I think it fits their sound very well, if you may ask). I'm not aware of how long they're making music together, but they seem a quite young band which has only a couple of releases so far, the EPs Lost Lutre (released on October 11th, 2012) and Lurid Abyss (released on August 12th, 2013). Although they have only a total of 5 songs at their bandcamp, it is possible to notice their great potential which already allows them to achieve a very nice musicanship level and (hopefully) will eventually allow them to achieve higher and higher levels very soon. As I mentioned before, they orbit into the dark realms of the sonic spectrum, however, even though they display gratitude for the oldschool masters (e.g. Asylum Party, early The Cure, Norma Loy), theiy're not exclusively nostalgic, as they seem in tune with more modern incarnations of Post Punk such as Motorama, Human Tetris, Be Forest, etc.


Well, at the end of the day, you can download all their work at the name your price method right at their bandcamp, all of them featured right below these words. I hope you enjoy and support it the way it deserves!

bandcamp

bandcamp

Food Pyramid

Food Pyramid (FR) is a trio from Minnesota, USA, namely C. Hontona, C. Farstak and M. Weather, plus friends and special guests who highly (literally or not) contribute to enrich their sonic tapestry. Some folks classified FR's music on a forum as Krautrock v3.0, and isn't it true that it describes them very well? However, it would be too "generalist" to put them in a single weird label, as these guys push the boundaries of the constellations drawn by Neu!, Can, Tangerine Dream and such towards the Electronica, Glitch, Neo-psychedelia, Shoegaze and whatever-you-can-imagine, creating a multi-textured, ecclectic mixture of sound mushrooms melting in pure oneiric fire. Names like Spacemen 3, Silver Apples and Beak> (which, imo, is a perfect modern reference for them) are summoned easily when listening to their beautiful work.


You can find a link for their amazing latest album, Ecstasy and Refreshments (released last july) right below. As usual, I hope you enjoy!

get it!












get it!

Tropic Of Cancer

"Drenched in romanticism and soaked in themes of solitude, mortality and love, Tropic of Cancer’s music forms a strangely hypnotic connection with its listener. Camella Lobo’s majestic vocals, warmly cradled by waves of ascending synths, plangent guitar, and foreboding beats, summon the listener into a world of dark decadence and delicate beauty. 

For a start, their devotees really are a disparate bunch: card-carrying Tropic of Cancer fans include techno refugees, dedicated shoegazers, dapper goths, paisley psych revivalists, minimal synth nerds and pop pickers; what links them all is that they care deeply about music, and have a weakness for morbid romanticism. The sound Tropic of Cancer make is ethereal and elusive but also exacting – their lyrics are barely discernible, and yet this is music that really connects, really communicates." - edit from last.fm


That's a very interesting description, isn't it? Tropic of Cancer (ToC) released its debut material in 2009 and delivered us a handful of EPs, besides a 2012 compilation of this early material called The End Of All Things. As described above, they are dedicated to crafting ultra-gloomy soundscapes directly inspired from the dark old masters of Post Punk and Coldwave (early The Cure, early Sisters of Mercy, Joy Division, Asylum Party, Lowlife, etc.) peppered with the hazy, magic colours of the Shoegaze and Dream Pop spheres. Comparisions between ToC and modern dark acts such as The KVB, Lebanon Hanover, Soft Kill and Soft Moon can be drawn, although ToC is usually "quieter" and flerts more with Drone than Noise Pop as the mentioned artists.

Restless Idylls is the name of their debut full-length, to be released later this month but, as you're noticing, it's already available on the web. Those aware of their amazing work won't be surprised (and neither disappointed) with this album, as it's drowned in the state-of-art helpless, lush darkness they're dedicate since its very birth. A great work, for sure, that I'm sure all of you related to the dark side of the world will enjoy! ;) 

Flying Cape Experience

Flying Cape Experience (FCP) is one of the most pleasant surprises I've came across lately. It consists of a duo, Johanna and Akira Kosminen, from the beautiful (and sometimes beyond cold-ish) Finland, who started making music some years ago and recording, producing and mixing their own pieces of art since then. Their debut, Let's Sing More About The Eyes, was released on May 6th of 2013 by the netlabel El Vals de Conejo (whose owner is João Bispo, the mastermind behind the great Joaquim Barato, which was alredy featured on this same page some time ago ;) ), whose music consists of ethereal, swirling voyages into stellar realms. Classical references from 4AD acts (mainly Cocteau Twins and Swallow) and Projekt ensembles such as Love Spirals Downwards, Autumn's Grey Solace, etc. can be noticed, although they're not exclusively bound to the canonical definitions of the Dream Pop sphere in any sense, free-orbiting into Ambient and Folk very often as well as Psychedelia, thus providing new, multi-textured colours and shades to their already rich sonic tapestry.

By no doubts it's a very impressive debut and will crack a smile in any explorer of the deepest shadows of Dream Pop, Shoegaze, Ethereal, Darkwave and such. You can download it by the name-your-price method, as well as free-stream it (and freely download it) at their soundcloud page, all of them featured right below. I hope you enjoy! ;)

 

bandcamp

Herod

Herod (formerly Herod Layne) is a Post Rock 4-piece ensemble formed in the huge city of São Paulo, Brasil, at the already distant year of 2006.  Differently from most Post Rock-ish groups, Herod does not make use of orchestrations, complicated arrangements or any pompous resource to craft their art, but simply creating (mostly) instrumental music with the traditional elements that made rock n' roll famous but without making rock n' roll itself. I've been keeping up with their work since their debut, In Between Dust Conditions, from 2008, when they were just a trio, and since then they were already delivering us some of the best quality music that has been done in the brazilian underground sphere. Roughly five years later, their latest album Umbra comes to light (sic), showing the great sonic evolution they went through along these years. Instead of keeping in the well-stabilished boundaries of Post Rock, these guys explored dark than deepest sea atomspheres, as the album name suggests, incorporating Shoegaze, Post Metal and even Drone in the already effervescent cosmos of their music such that you don't even feel the time flows by when listening to Umbra, even though it contains three songs (out of 8) with over 8-minute long. Besides, Umbra has some great participations along the album, as the likes of Cadu Tenório (Sobre a Máquina, Victim!, Ceticências), Jair Naves (ex-Ludovic, solo career now), Filipe Alburquerque (Duelectrum) and Joaquim Prado, the album producer who also colaborated with guitars or synthetizers in 7 songs. 

Although it may sound "natonalist" from my part, I'm not afraid to say Herod is one of the most creative and impressing Post Rock groups in the world by now. That's really great to see a "local" band crafting such high quality material as they are, even without the money and press they deserve to achieve such level. Alongside Labirinto, the aforementioned Sobre A Máquina, Loomer, The Sorry Shop and many others, there we have a blooming local scene, to put it in this way, which is delivering us some of the greatest music this country has ever produced. Therefore, I drop  a free download link for Umbra in the sinewave page, as well as the Herod's bandcamp, where you can get all their material released up to now by name-your-price method.


As usual, I hope you enjoy it!

sinewave / bandcamp

One Unique Signal

One Unique Signal, or simply put, OUS, is a London assemble dedicated to make delirant noisewaves since 2002. They have released a handful of albums and EPs so far (most of them can be downloaded for free, as you can find at the bottom of this post), the latest being the EP Luna Attractions, which came to light on September 1st. This work is pretty much on the same line they're following since their very beginning, i.e., what some people call Krautgaze. Yeah, the "kraut" comes from Krautrock scene of the late '60-early '70, whereas the "gaze" is taken from Shoegaze, as obvious as that. OUS pieces are usually repetitive and follow a mantra-like structure, mostly instrumental and always highly lysergic and brain-melting. Therefore, it's no surprising that they record and play live alongside Stephen Lawrie, the mastermind behind the unforgettable The Telescopes, under this very name since 2010. Mr. Telescopes couldn't make a better choice of support band, as they are one of the most impressive and accomplished "offspring" of their legacy.


You can find the bandcamp link for Luna Attraction right below, where you can download it at the name-your-price method, which is a "preview" of their forthcoming LP Aether, to be released on November 11th. Some of the band older material can be downloaded by the same method and, if you wish more info about them and even older stuff, you can find them in the OUS blogspot. I hope you enjoy it!















bandcamp

Mixtape #21

Hello, ladies, gentlemen and aliens! The mixtape #21 of our cherished blog has "EP-exclusive songs" as its theme. Yeah, that means it features only songs released exclusively on EPs. For the newbies or those who were in coma in the last 20 ~25 years or so, most Shoegaze/Dream Pop bands (specially the oldschool ones) used to release most of their material on countless strings of EPs, where some of their brightest material can be found. In this mixtape, we've picked one song from some of the finest mini-albums of this blissful soundsphere, ranging from eternal classics such as Love's Easy Tears, the 1986 EP from Cocteau Twins, Curve stellar first EP, the 1991's Blindfold, as well as the laid-back psychedelica of Mesmerise EP (Chapterhouse) and the oneiric electronica of 5 EP from Slowdive. Besides, there are also new material as tracks collected from the majestic Airiel's 2012 EP called Kid Games, Whirr's 2013 EP Around and Blush, the latest EP from the scottish fuzzy assemble called The Cherry Wave. Some deeply obscure material were included as usual, e.g. Have You Heard EP by Headtime (an extremly -and criminally- unknown act from the same label of Chapterhouse, Cherry Red), Playtime EP from Sunshot, besides the phillipino Moscow Olympics, featured by the beautiful piece of Dream Pop-meeting-Post Rock song called Still.

As usual, the full tracklist and the download link can be found right below. Let's raise our gazes and ride the noisewaves into the spirals of inifity! ;)

tracklist 




get it!

GIAA

God is an Astronaut, or GIAA, is probably a well-known name for your ears. This irish ensemble is lead by twin brothers Niels and Torsten Kinsella who are dedicated to craft stellar soundscapes by combining the highest level Post Rock tapestries with Space Rock, Electronica and some layers of Shoegaze here and there. It's music not only for space tripping, but for the big cities' lights, our headphones  and the deepest realms of our broken souls. So, it's not hard to figure out they accomplished some of the most seminal albums of the Post Rock spheres, such as All Is Violent, All Is Bright (2005) and Far From Refuge (2007), and now they're coming back after 3 years of silence with the Origins album, scheduled to be released officially next month. For those who kept track with GIAA works along the last decade, there aren't big surprises on this one, however, it's possible to notice some guitar works which weren't previously explored in the former albums, as well as stronger electronic elements (which bring references to the GIAA debut, The End Of the Beginning) and "fuzzier" tracks. The often dream-like taste of their music is still present, however, gave more room to the post-futuristic elements this time.

It may not be a transcendental work as the aforementioned works, or the best album of 2013, but it's easily one of the top-10 Post Rock material of the year, besides being an ear candy four our delirant ears. Well, since I think I've got nothing left to say... I just hope you enjoy it! ;)

get it!


ps: yeah, it's a 192 kbps rip, very poor quality. As soon as I get a better version of this, it'll be posted here.  ;)

Purple Heart Parade

Purple Heart Parade, or simply PHP (not to be confused with the programming language, guys) is a very young five-piece act to hail from Manchester, UK. Yes, very young, since the group's birth was October 18th 2012, according to the facebook profile of theirs. Since then, they've been making some gigs, appeared as a headline of Glasgow Psych Fest, an gaining great attention from those who has a thing for psychedelia and fuzz, media or public. It's not hard to understand why, as they're highly dedicated to the combination of '60 multi-coloured sonic palette with the brain-melting fuzz of the late '80-early '90 Shoegaze, invoking the best moments of names such as the classic Spacemen 3, BJM, early Pink Floyd, early Verve, as well as many lysergic newcomers, e.g. The Underground Youth, The Black Angels, The KVB and many more. So far, they've only released a couple of songs, The Room and Lies and Kites, both very exciting pieces capable of showing the explosive power of PHP and capable of making us eager for more material from them as soon as possible. You can free-stream these songs right below, through their soundcloud page, as well as free-download The Room. As well as my previoust post (Trementina), that's a band to keep an eye on, because I'm sure they'll deliver mesmerizing material in the very near future.

As I always say, enjoy!

Trementina

Trementina is a chilean ensemble composed Lucas Martinic, Vanessa Cea y Cristobal Ortiz, and whose activities started earlier this year. Although they are just a newborn, they already have written some material and put it available in their soundcloud page (all these songs can be found at the bottom of this post and be downloaded for free). It's easy to see they draw much inspiration from My Bloody Valentine (specially the Isn't Anything era), Ringo Deathstarr, Fleeting Joys, the upcoming Kigo and such. To put it in other worlds, a faster-paced,  fuzz-fueled Shoegaze that has a hot affair with Noise Pop. How can anyone not enjoy this? As they're a quite young band, they still have a huge learning curve to climb and a lot of potential to explore, but it's easy to see they're in the right path and won't take long to launch themselves into stellar dimensions, therefore, a band to be paid attention to. 

Thanks to latinoamericashoegaze blogspot for presenting me this great piece of work. Just enjoy it!

The History Of Colour TV

"Berlin’s the History of Colour TV sounds more like you’re living inside the white static that happens when that TV fails. These are unabashedly dramatic, sweeping rock songs, full of swelling, squalling keyboards and crunching guitars. The vocals are hissy and distant, buried in all these sonic textures. It can be an effective mix." - an except from popmatters.


This summarizes very well the sonic sphere of The History Of Colour TV (THOCT). They're composed of USA and UK homo sapiens whose basis are currently in Berlin, Germany and dedicate themselves into crafting an explosive, multi-textured amalgamation of sugarcoated melodies muddied in overblown delirant highly inspired by names as Astrobrite, Bloody Knives and The Stargaze Lilies besides all the classic references (MBV being in the top list, of course). While this is not exactly news, their capacities of combining the Noise Pop, Shoegaze and Industrial realms are very impressive for a somewhat beginner band, being not only suited to melt yer brains but as a positive portrait of post-modern world we're all hopelessly drowned. So, just let yourselves sink deeper and deeper into these sheets of swirling noisewaves and enjoy the trip!

get it 

Lycia

Lycia, for those who were in coma in the last couple of decades, is one of the most influential Darkwave/Ethereal bands, if not the one. It was funded at the burning lands of Arizona, USA, in 1988 as a solo project of Mike VanPortfleet. Back then, Lycia followed a somewhat different sonic style, a lo-fi-esque Dream Pop-meets-Post Punk reminescent of the early days of Cocteau Twins and 4AD bands of the early-mid '80. But was not until the first full-length, the 1991's Ionia, that the band signed with the legendary label Projekt, the main reference when it comes to Ethereal, Dream Pop, Darkwave and related. After that, Lycia joined forces with David Galas (who left the band circa 1995) and vocalist Tara Vanflower, developing their "classical" sound which made them a cult reference among the dark siders of this planet thanks to amazing works like the double-album The Burning Circle And Then Dust (1995), Cold (1996) and Estrella (1998). As of 2003, the band entered in a hiatus that wasn't broken until 2010, with the release of Fifth Sun. Not too long after this album, Lycia re-surfaced again announcing a new full-length, Quiet Moments, to be released later in August. Those who enjoy their classical stuff will surely be pleased with this one, as every element that made Lycia so famous and beloved are there: hazy, pagan,  deep dark atmospheres, swirling dream-like melodies, the ethereally bittersweet vocals of Mrs. Vanflower... a perfect album to be appreciated in a mountain house, or somewhere in the woods, where you can communicate with the nature and vice-versa.

For those who are still unaware of Lycia's work, that's the ideal chance to dive in their blurry microcosmos. If you're into Cocteau Twins, Love Spirals Downwards, lovesliescrushing, Dead Can Dance, or Post Punk, Gothic Rock and Folk as a whole, there's no way you can go wrong with this album that I really hope you all enjoy the way it deserves. ;)

get it

Heavïness

Heavïness is a quite mysterious act hailing from Stockolm, Sweden, whose discography consists of a single full-length, self-titled, released at 2006. If you're used to read this blog, you should know, by now, that we really enjoy posting and writing about very obscure and underrated/underappreciated Shoegaze-related acts, so that's a surprise that I still haven't written about this band before, or even featured one of their songs in a mixtape until now, early August 2013. Heavïness music's is somewhat like My Bloody Valentine thrown in a  lo-fi blender together with The Ecstasy Of Saint Theresa, Pale Saints and Fleeting Joys. This lo-fi filter, by the way, gives this album a charming and fresh quality that is rare to be found in most shoegazer assembles around the Earth.

To put it simple, it's a highly pleasant album to enjoy in lazy and blurry afternoons. Such a shame it's been passing right under the radar for so many years. However, I read at the band's facebook they're recording new material. That's news from 2012, but who knows? If MBV broke the silence after over 21 years, everything is possible now. Let's wait to see what happens... for now, let's enjoy the great self-titled!

get it!