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)

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

Bemônio

Bemônio consists of a Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, duo composed by Paulo Caetano, who's in charge with samples, synth, besides being the mind behind the project, along drummer Gustavo Matos. Differently from most of material posted in this space, Bemônio is all about Drone, Noise, Dark Ambient with a Sludge, free-style-ish improvisitional flavour. Its appearance to the world came not too long ago, at middle-2012, with the album Vulgatam Clementinam. Four months after, another full-length, Serenata, was born, and its latest record was released at May 5th, 2013, a single-track EP (divided in 9 "interludes") called Opscurum. 

Not only the production's pace of Bemônio is outstanding, but the art itself too. It's hard to figure out how they managed to achieve such high-level material in such little time! Bemônio's music is lugubrious, amorphous and deep, full of religious  and heretic provocations, and bold enough to incorporate elements of Sludge, Industrial and Doom Metal that would make masters of (really) heavy music like Neurosis, Godflesh, Melvins, Naked City proud of their vast influences. And proud is also me to see a great project emerging from the hot, sunny and chaotic vaults of my dear (cof cof). You can stream all Bemônio's work, besides free-downloading it, in the links right below. As I always say, I hope you enjoy! ;)











enjoy!

enjoy!









enjoy!

Starfire Connective Sound

Starfire Connective Sound (SCS) is a single-man project headed by Al Schenkel, who lives at southern Brazil. More specifically, in the city if Criciúma, state of Santa Catarina, and one of the most dedicated noise lovers of these tropical lands. The first apparition of SCS in our poor world happened at mid 2011, with the self-titled EP, featuring 7 self-recorded, self-produced songs based on sonic whirls of feedback driven by programmed drums patterns and, sometimes, electronic beats. The follow-up, named The Sound Also Rises, came not much longer after, featuring an even richer sound than the st. 

At early 2012, the single Where Go The Boats was released, featuring two products of a collaboration between Mr. Schenkel and This Lonely Crowd, in which SCS ventures into new horizons without forgetting to get even deeper on the older ones. However, the project was haulted after mid 2012 due to a serious motorcycle accident, where Schenkel stayed several weeks hospitalized and endured a long recuperation. But he's back on the field now, releasing a 3-track EP called That Melancholy, which consists on songs he started penning while still at the hospital, and will not be featured in the debut full-length that's going to be released soon. It's possible to notice the sonic horizons of SCS expanded and grew  even richer by now, as in the dense and dark-than-deepest sea Shoegaze of Self-induced Heaven, the post-modern Noise of That Melancholy, featuring spoken world poem as its lyrics, and the Drone-ish A Morte Fragmentada, the first SCS' title in portuguese. Those familiar with Sobre a Máquina and Bemônio, two headliners of current brazilian tortuous music, will be readily pleased when listening to this track, I assure you. 

Right below, you can have a taste of Schenkel amazing work. The brand new EP is featured at soundcloud and each song can be purchased freely, while the other releases can be streamed and purchased freely too from SCS' bandcamp. I hope you enjoy it! ;)

2013 - That Melancholy: 


























2012 - Where Go The Boats (single):

get it! (bandcamp)




2011 - The Sound Also Rises (EP): 

get it! (bandcamp)




2011 - Starfire Connective Sound (EP):

get it! (bandcamp)

The Sorry Shop

Born in the southern lands of Brazil, The Sorry Shop (TSP) is one of the nicest surprises that came out in the last few years in the tupiniquim scenario. Lead by Régis Garcia, TSP is dedicated to a sincere and tasteful lo-fi-esque Shoegaze, sometimes sounding sunny, cheerful and laid back, sometimes sounding introspective, oneiric and amorphous. The obvious influences are there, i.e., My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Pavement, the classic brazucas of Second Come and Low Dream, but it's possible to hear they pushed their sonic verve beyond them, as I'm able to notice Ambient, Drone and Dream Pop in their latest work too, called Mnemonic Syncretism.

It's extremly pleasant to see such quality music done here in these tropical lands, despite all the financial struggles, lack of press or public interest as a whole. Together with other greats acts such as Lê Almeida, John Candy, The Concept, Sobre a Máquina, Single Parents and many others, TSP can be added as another strong name in this already-turning-classical scene.

Right below, there's a link offered by Régis himself, as well as their bandcamp, where you can taste their previous works: Bloody, Fuzzy, Cozy (2012) and Thank You Come Again EP (2011). As usual, enjoy!

get it!

For previous works of TSP, just check their bandcamp!

Mixtape #17 - Noise stars collide

One and half a month after the last mixtape (yeah, sorry for taking soooo long), here we go with another compilation. The 17th edition of loverswhoareseekers compilation contains the best of sugar-red noisy stars crashing into the sky and bathing us in its cosmic lightrays of pure bliss and delirium. 

Enjoy it!

enjoy!

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 #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!

Bandcamp Mania! #01

Hello, everyone! That's the second post of today, and now we decided to do something new. Named "Bandcamp Mania!", we'll compile nice, newcoming (or not exactly new) stuff that we meet across bandcamp in a single post, described by a shorter review. Startig today. We'll try to do it occasionally, at least 2 or 3 times a month, in a similar fashion of our mixtape tradition. I hope you enjoy it!

Sad Souls - Form in the Fog Beside (2013)

Nice Ambient-ish Drone with hints of Shoegaze. Recommended for fans of Flying Saucer Attack, Stars of the Lid, Hammock, Slowdive:






bandcamp

How Come The Constellations Shine - Mémoire (2013)


Great portuguese Post-Rock with a thick Shoegaze vein.








bandcamp

The Cherry Wave - Blush (EP) (2013):

Delightful scottish newgaze with a My Bloody Valentine accent.










bandcamp









Tennis System - Teenagers (2011):


A sunny Noise Pop which may appeal to Vandelles, Skywave, Bloody Knives fans:

bandcamp







Infraaudio - Sonhos Estranhos Para Pessoas Que Não Dormem (2013):


An awesome, fuzzy-and-psychedelic brazilian band. 

bandcamp

Bela Infanta - Apenas Cinco (2013):

Lush Dream Pop-ish Post-punk made by southern brazilians.

bandcamp






Suffering Astrid - Gale Inlay (2012):

Stellar Shoegaze meets Ambient with tiny drops of Dream Pop








bandcamp




Loop Garou - EP#1 (2009):


Lo-fi-esque Shoegaze which tastes somewhat like Lush.









bandcamp





R.M. Hendrix - Pink Skin (EP) (2012):


Highly textured Shoegaze inspired by JAMC, Galaxie 500, BJM and many more. Pure awesomeness!

bandcamp

Between The Cities Are Stars - White Red Black (2011):

Incandescent, brain-melting fuzz hailing from California













bandcamp

Mixtape #12 - Best of 2012

Hello, everyone! 

Yeah, you aren't with any sight problem or stuff like that. That's the second post of today, the second about mixtapes. This time, we prepared something quite different. Instead of focusing on a theme, a musical genre or something in this vein, we compiled some of the 2012 songs we, Carlos and Paloma, enjoyed the most, on anything related to Shoegaze, Noise Pop, Dream Pop, Alternative Rock and etc. 

That wasn't an easy selection, since there were tons of good stuff going on in this interval of (almost) 366 days, but we condensed it to about 38 tracks, divided into two albums. The first one contains really fine music such as The Soft Moon, Teen, Tamaryn, Hypomanie and the brazucas from Sobre A Máquina and This Lonely Crowd (all of them featured in this blog, just to mention it...), featured along BJM, Wild Nothing and A Place To Bury Strangers, whereas the second part of this mxt has equally awesome music, e.g. Alcest, Diiv, The Bilinda Butchers, Les Discrets, Broken Water, Efterklang, and the list goes on... 

Therefore, a complete tracklist of these collections (besides the links for them, of course...) can be found right below. The loverswhoareseekers staff, Carlos and Paloma, wish you all a happy 2013 with myriads of awesome music, gigs, festivals, etc. to come! ;)

part 1 tracklist:

01 - Sonic Jesus - Underground
02 - The Soft Moon - Machines
03 - Tamaryn - Heavenly Bodies
04 - Everything Is Falling Apart - This Is Lies, We Are Liars
05 - Sobre A Máquina - Oito
06 - BJM - Viholliseeni Maala
07 - Wild Nothing - Nocturne
08 - Alligator Indian - Our Love Was A Crime
09 - Hypomanie - 19 Stars And The Sweet Scent Of Cinnamon
10 - A Place To Bury Strangers - Onwards To The Wall
11 - This Lonely Crowd - Oneironauts
12 - Spiritualized - Mary
13 - The KVB - Until I'm Cold
14 - Teen - Electric
15 - Ringo Deathstarr - Girls We Know
16 - The Sorry Shop - Walk Away (And Don't Come Back)
17 - Lotus Plaza - Monolith
18 - Teen Daze - Treten



enjoy! (CD 1)



part 2 tracklist:

01 - Alcest - Autre Temps
02 - DIIV - Human
03 - Bailter Space - Strabosphere
04 - Lower Dens - Nova Anthem
05 - The Bilinda Butchers - Teen Dream
06 - Astrobrite - The Void Inside
07 - The Raveonettes - Hit Me (When I'm Down)
08 - Sleep Party People - Chin
09 - Black Market Karma - Cocoon
10 - Beach House - New Year
11 - Les Discrets - La Traversée
12 - Twin Shadow - When The Movie's Over
13 - Stagnant Pools - Dead Sailor
14 - ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Up To Infinity
15 - Broken Water - Drown
16 - Young Prisms - Gone
17 - Ceremony - Bleed
18 - Efterklang - The Ghost


enjoy! (CD 2)

This Lonely Crowd

This Lonely Crowd, or simply TLC, started their activities in 2009, in the city of Curitiba, in southeastern;Brazil.  About them, just a small preview: the band members are referred as Tweedledum, Tweedledee, Humpty Dumpty, Jabberwock, and Red Queen, characters from Lewis Carroll books, and since their very beginning they craft songs based on the previously mentioned writer, Lovecraft, William Blake, lullabies, Mythology and many stuff like that. Idiossincracy is their last name, to say the least, stepping away from the everyday ordinary normal bands that everyone is labeling as "Alternative" nowadays. 

About the music itself, it ranges from the thick sonic textures that characterizes Post Rock and Shoegaze microcosmos to the furious madness of Death Metal! If I can be more specific, you can realize obvious inspirations, such as Smashing Pumpkins in their early (and golden) era, Mogwai, Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine, and, from the metallic side of the force, it's easy to idenfity strong echoes highly influenced by Death, Slayer and even Napalm Death swirling in their songs. After releasing an EP, one full length and one album of "B-sides" (kind of their Pisces Iscariot?), they come back to the scene once again with a new record, called Pervade. Besides all the elements I've just described, there is a lot of special participations from many talented people who are active in the blooming brazilian alternative sphere, like members of Bela Infanta, Sobre a Máquina, Hangin Freud and Copa do Ar.

I drop a link to download this brand new gem right below, directly from their label page. If you gave a listen at mixtape #5 and #9, you have already a good taste of what they are all about. 

enjoy!

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. 

Old Magic Pallas

Old Magic Pallas, or just OMP, is one of Brazil's brightest lost gems of the glorious '90. They started earlier in this decaded, as a group of five friends from São Paulo, SP, Brazil, bonded by the love of the rising Shoegaze Bands (Ride, Slowdive, Pale Saints and such) and '60 Psychedelic Rock. By 1994, they went to a studio and recorded a demo called Pull My Daisy (if you're wondering, yep, the cover and the 'enjoy!' link right below belong to them), which was greatly received by the public, media and the noise mates, such that one year after, they appeared on Brazilian MTV with a video of the opening song, Stargazer, and right after recorded a split album with Speed Whale and Moonrise, which featured two songs that weren't included at the demo. When they were in the process of recording and creating new music to a full length, they just hauled their activities at about 1998, staying a decade in silence until the announcement of new live appearances, which happened mostly from 2008 to 2010. By 2012, we don't know what to expect from them, since they're not playling live and don't seem to be recording anything, letting a great cult followers (including me) thirsty for news...

About their music itself, as I mentioned before, can be classified by a nostalgic Dream Pop painted with microphony blasts and peppered with oneiric psychedelia, creating swirling soundscapes which are perfect to be enjoyed in a windy autumn afternoon when you're walking on a park when you just want to taste the air in your face.

With so many bad music filling the spotlight and the public ears (specially here in Terra Brasilis), they come as a fresh sweet breeze, whose name and songs must be spreaded around the Cosmos. I hope you enjoy it!

get it!

Mixtape #5 - Brazilian Shoes

Nearly half a month after the mixtape #4, we decided to bring us a new one. This time I chose national (brazilian) bands, ranging from brand new, fresh upcoming people (Loomer, Flowed, This Lonely Crowd, Lê Almeida, Sobre a Máquina, just to name a few) to oldschool underground acts, for example Second Come, Killing Chainsaw and The Pin Ups.

That's my humble sample of the blooming scene of "Brasil", not only the current but the classical ones, at times when things were even harder and there was no such web resources like this one to help spreading good, obscure music around. I drop the link right below the tracklist, together with a nice picture of a typical brazilian shoe (actually a flip-flop...).

Tracklist:
Old Magic Pallas - Stargazer
Flowed - Everything's Blowing
Team.Radio - French Doll
Badhoneys - B Sad
The Sorry Shop - Gone Again
Loomer - Nightmare Daydream
The Pin Ups - Pure
Killing Chainsaw - Chicken Legs
Hanging Freud - Swamp
Inverness - Bats
Starfire Connective Sound - Acid Morning Drive
Lê Almeida - Micropontes
Firefriend - Airport Scene
Wry - Sisters
Second Come - 704
This Lonely Crowd - Love Blender
Pale Sunday - Mary
Lautmusik - Afraid to Fly
Top Surprise - Home
Sobre A Máquina - Língua Negra


enjoy! (new link)