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)

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

Mixtape #20 - How To Seek Love

Hello, my dear friends!

July, 23 was loverswhoareseekers first anniversary, and since then I've been preparing a special edition mixtape to celebrate it. I know, I know, there's been two weeks since then and I'm late in a Kevin Shields-style, but better late than never, as the old people usually say (the new MBV album is a great example of this). Ok, let's talk about the mixtape itself. It's a double-edition one, consisting of 30 songs instead of the traditional 13-16 compilation we usually do. However, we didn't escape the tradition of mixing classic stuff (represented by Slowdive, Swallow, Moose, Secret Shine) with forgotten but precious rarities (as the 4AD's Insides, the japanese "madchesters" of Flipper's Guitar, the grungy Nudeswirl, the psychedelic fuzzy stoners of Sun Dial and the woozy The Lassie Foundation), brazilian goods (as the classic Low Dream, who are reuniting to some live concerts, beside the amazing newcomers of The Sorry Shop). Talking about newcomers, they are exactly the focus here. Why? Just take a look around (figuretively, of course), and you'll notice tons of great artists appearing every day. Although the magic of the late '80-early '90 may never be recovered in its truest sense, they honour those times with great quality and some innovation that gives a fresh bright to its already incandescent sound. I selected Screen Vinyl Image, Wild Nothing, Airling, Fleeting Joys, No Joy, Yuck, Sounds Of Sputnik, among many others, to represent this front.

I know that, by now, you all must be drooling to give it a listen. The link for the collection can be found right below, as well as the full tracklist of the artists and songs featured in this cherished collection we prepared. That's it, folks. I hope you enjoy it, and never forget to seek love and gaze at your shoes! ;)

ps: A great thanks goes to Louise Trehy, for gently conceding me the song Heavenly, from the time she was still with Swallow. :)

get it! - full tracklist

get it! - mixtape

A.R. Kane

I'm sure many of you, who read this blog often or are just passing by it, have heard of A.R. Kane (ARK). If not, you really should, and that's why I'm writing about them right now. ARK consists of the duo Alex Ayuli and Rudy Tambala (which explains the A.R. in the project name) who started making music together at 1986, initially releasing a couple of 12" When You're Sad (by One Little Indian) and Lollita (by our beloved 4AD). It didn't take too long for them to sign up with Rough Trade and writing more and more material that would be published in a string of singles and two seminal full-lengths: 1988's 69 and the 1989's 'i', and then comes a story we all know: they didn't achieve mainstream attention or acclamation but their works received positive reviews and comments by the press. But tell me how they wouldn't, if these albums are two incandescent gems that whose lyrics were pure poetry (usually making use of ocean/water, oneiric and sexual imagery) and had great impact not only in the Shoegaze-Dream Pop axes but in the Trip Hop, Dub, Acid House as well? They even had an EP containing remixes from nobody else than the almighty Robin Guthrie (besides the band themselves). However, the luck have never smiled to them, as Rough Trade bankrupted in 1991 and they were labeless, staying on a hiatus during the early '90, just when many bands they inspired (Slowdive, Seefeel, The Veldt, to name just a few), besides the Shoegaze scene itself with whom they could be easily linked, were in their pinnacle. After this, they released their final work, New Clear Child, in 1994, but this one wasn't well received by press and public, as the band seems to have run out of creative ideas and people lost their interest in Shoegaze. After the ARK adventures, Mr. Tambala went to work on Ambient and Dub music whereas Mr. Ayuli moved to USA, where he still lives, working as a museum curator and making some music under the name Alex!.


ARK is the classic case of a seminal group that contributed a lot to many artists but never gained the deserved recognizement, being (re)discovered only many and many years after that, besides receiving a "cult" aura and status. That's why you should check the content of the links right below. I'm sure you will all agree with the quote from music critical Jason Ankeny, who once said "arguably the most criminally under-recognized band of their era" refering to ARK.

Single Collections (2012):

get it!

New Clear Child (1994):

 

get it!

 

'i' (1989):

 

  

get it!

69 (1988):

 

get it!

Mixtape #16 - Assorted Candies

Hello, fellas.

Here we go again with another mixtape. But we are featuring something different, this time. Instead of focusing on a single theme, we decided to focus on many. Therefore, you'll find a bigger-than-usual mixtape divided in 5 smaller parts, each one containing 8 songs dedicated to a single style of Shoegaze and related. 

The first of them consists of Classical First Generation Shoegazer bands, such as Ride, Lush, Swervedriver and Adorable (I never put Adorable in a mixtape before... shame on me!). The second is about delicate atmospheres to embrace you while (day)dream, such as Cocteau Twins (impossibiru not to cite them, isn't it?), Blonde Redhead, Cranes and the deeply obscure Insides (does someone know/remember them?), whereas the third is focused on the Z-side of Shoegaze,  e.g. Majesty Crush, Aenone, An April March (they were present in mixtape #2) and the brazucas of Brincando De Deus, original from the sunny lands of Salvador. All of them sadly forgotten masterpices who should be recognized properly by then and are acclaimed by just a few even now. The fourth segment is probably the most challenging of them, whose theme is Post Rock bands which flert with Shoegaze, for example God is an Astronaut, Sigur Rós, jesu, Hammock. To sum it up, beautiful songs for a voyage to stellar dimensions, don't you agree? Finally, the fifth and last part features some of the best fuzz that's been made in the last decade, e.g. the upcoming brazilian talent of Inverness, the aussie surprise of Airling, the shining Ucranian-Canadian Ummagma, all of them mixed with the "veterans" of Airiel and Astrobrite.

As a whole, we have a great compilation of 40 songs that can be broken into 5 different collections. A great package of assorted candies for your eardrums, isn't it? Since I'm a very nice guy as you all know it (right, Paloma Mondego?), I created 5 links for each segment, as well as a single link @ 4shared where you can get them in a bundle. As always, I hope you enjoy it! :)

Part 1 - Classical Gazers:


My Bloody Valentine - Nothing Much To Lose
Pale Saints - Sight Of You
Swervedriver - Harry & Maggie
The Telescopes - High On Fire
Ride - Unfamiliar
Lush - For Love
Chapterhouse - Mesmerise
Adorable - I'll Be Your Saint


enjoy! (part 1)



Part 2 - Dreamchasers:


Blonde Redhead - Here Sometimes
Cranes - Lillies
Dif Juz - Silver Passages
Wild Nothing - Shadows
Insides - Distractions
Tamaryn - I'm Gone
Cocteau Twins - Pandora
Drowner - Chime


enjoy! (part 2)



Part 3 - Obscure noise:


Blueshift Signals - Seven Natural Scenes
Moonshake - Gravity
Brincando De Deus - Spleen
Ultra Cindy - Eusebio
Aenone - Celestia
Submarine - Dinosaurs
Majesty Crush - Uma
An April March - My Reverie


enjoy! (part 3)



Part 4 - Post Rockers who likes to stare at their shoes:


God Is An Astronaut - Frozen Twilight
Belong - A Walk
Cecilia::eyes - For The Fallen
Sigur Rós - Njósnavélin (The Nothing Song) a.k.a. Untitled #4
jesu - Veiled
Below The Sea - Pigments
Exxasens - Spiders On The Moon
Hammock - Disappear Like The Morning...


enjoy! (part 4)



Part 5 - New fuzz:


Pink Playground - Sunny Skies
The Sunshine Factory - Twisted And Clover
Inverness - See You In The Morning
Ummagma - Kiev
Airiel - Stratosphere
Stagnant Pools - Maze Of Graves
Astrobrite - Cherryflavor Burst
Airling - For All The Lady's Hire

enjoy! (part 5)



Or, if you don't like downloading several parts separetedly and have a good internet connection... 


enjoy! (all parts put together)

Mixtape #15 - Stargazers never die

Hi, fellas!

Yeah, it didn't take so long for a new mixtape, did it? This time, we present a collection of 13 songs capturing the best oneiric and celestial Shoegaze out there. As usual, we made a amalgamation of classics, now represented by the forces of Slowdive, MBV, Robin Guthrie solo, with new guys looking for their place under the sun, such as Malory, Ummagma and the cosmic post-rockers of God is an Astronaut. Finally, there is also room for obscure gazers who were sadly forgotten amidst the stellar dust, as the likes of Once Dreamt and Swallow, both already featured in this page.

So, there you have a perfect description to escape the Earth's gravitational field and venture into the deep space domains, riding comets, sleeping in molecular clouds and gazing at the old light of untouchable stars. Just buckle up and enjoy the (eternal) trip! 

Tracklist:

Ulrich Schnauss - A Long Way To Fall
Malory - Xirius Polar Station
Robin Guthrie - Momument
Swallow - Peekaboo (Dub)
Ummagma - Risky
Destroyalldreamers - Her Brother Played The Riot (pt 1)
Slowdive - Missing You
Harold Budd, Robin Guthrie, Elizabeth Fraser and Simon Raymonde - Eyes Are Mosaics
Teen Daze - Surface
múm - The Balld Of Broken Birdie
My Bloody Valentine - Instrumental #2
God is an Astronaut - Point Pleasant
Once Dreamt - Birds




enjoy!

Mixtape #14 - Never Lose That Feeling

Hello, people!

This time, I took a bit longer to create a new mixtape, and I apologize for that. But, ok, let's go straight to the point. The 14th mixtape from loverswhoareseekers does not have a specific theme, only the love for noise, feedback and gazing at your shoes (or barefoot, if that's the case). Therefore, I compiled 15 songs, which totalizes about 65 minutes, ranging from absolute classic tunes from Cocteau Twins,  Slowdive, Medicine and Kitchens of Distinction (I never put them on our mixtapes, didn't I? Shame on me!) to new effervescent bands such as Yuck, The History Of Apple Pie and Ringo Deathstarr, as well as some bands "stuck in between" of both "categories", as the likes of Malory, Astrobrite, lovesliecrushing and the brazilian Sonic Disruptor.

That's it, guys. Never forget to worship the fuzz and to lose that feeling! 

Tracklist:

Kitchens of Distinction - Sand On Fire

Medicine - Never Click

Astrobrite - Overdriver

Yuck - Coconut Bible

MBV - In Another Way

Sonic Disruptor - Plastic Sunny Car
Ringo Deathstarr - Tambourine Girl

Slowdive - Slowdive

The History Of Apple Pie - Tug

Airiel - Liquid Paper

Malory - Tornado

The Boo Radleys - Smile Fades Fast
lovesliecrushing - sugaredglowing

93millionmilesfromthesun - DarkeStar

Cocteau Twins - In The Gold Dust Rush

enjoy!

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. 

ENJOY! 

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. 

Mixtape #7 - The Subway Songs

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

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

That's it, guys. Enjoy it well!


#Mixtape #7 tracklist:

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


enjoy!

Mixtape #6 - Dreams gone dark

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

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

Mixtape #6 Tracklist:


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



enjoy! (new link)

Throwing Muses

Hailing from Rhode Island circa 1981, headed by the stepsisters Tanya Donelly and Kristin Hersh, Throwing Muses is one of the most emblematic acts of the 4AD label, specially at their early days (early days of the band and the label itself, I should say). About their music? Well... they're very hard to categorize, since they've never got stuck in a single genre or any sonic label, however, it's very easy to see great influences from the 4AD mates (Cocteau Twins, Wolfgang Press) and, of course, some Shoegaze-ish acts in the likes of Cranes, Lush and The Breeders (Tanya Donelly, in fact, was a member of Breeders during its Last Splash era, besides being part of the band called Belly, whose song Dusted was featured in the mixtape #01 in this same blog) specially in the later years of Throwing Muses.

To sum it up, a  dark, hazy and oozy piece of unorthodox Rock, often bittersweet but still candid and uplifting at the core. They released a handful of awesome albuns from the late '80 to the mid '90, and a "single son" album at 2003. Despite their little to no activity in the recent years, they've never broken up, and rumours says they have a demo of a new album recorded at 2011, so, let's wait to see what may come... 

I'm dropping right below my favorite album of them, called University, released at 1995. Imho, their best effort so far, featuring their strongest songwiriting and a perfect balance between the foggy delirium of their early ears and the bittersweetness energy of the early '90 Alternative Rock. A great record for windy, partly cloudy Sunday afternoons. 

So... I guess there's nothing left to say in here. Just enjoy! :)


update: Re-upload of the University album, besides a link for '91 The Real Ramona. Enjoy! ;)

Get it! (new link from Mega)

Get it!

Mixtape #01

Hello, buddies!

I'm Carlos André, and together with Paloma Mondego, the two brazilian seekers, we're creating this virtual space here. ;)

I thought of what could be a good starting post, and I came to the conclusion that a classic album or a nice mixtape, just like oldschool people (or even ourselves) used to do several revolutions of the Earth around the Sun ago, would be nice. Well, I chose the second one. It stares bands and songs from cult people forgotten by the dusty action of time (Helium, The Telescopes), rising upcoming artists (The Vandelles, bliss.east.city) and classical fellows (Cocteau Twins, Pixies), some of the people that have been strolling around my mp3 player or my media player at these weeks. At the end, we got 16 mixed tracks running about an hour long.

Did it sound or taste good for you? So... enjoy it! ;)

Mixtape #01 tracklist:

The Vandelles - Fever of the Beat
YoungTeam - Black Lodge
bliss.east.city - Lady Luck
Singapore Sling - Demoniac
Pixies - Bone Machine
The Telescopes - Celeste
Autolux - Sugarless
múm - This Nothing On The Faraway
Lorelle Meets The Obsolete - Waiting For The Orange Sunshine
A Place to Bury Strangers - Revenge
Felt - The World Is As Soft Lace
Helium - Silver Angel
Belly - Dusted
Swallow - Follow Me Down
Cocteau Twins - Seekers Who Are Lovers

enjoy! (new link)