I've been here before. Less than 48 hours before New Tracks Weekend, looking for just one more stunner sound to pack out twelve hours worth of programming. Scouring all my favorite sources for new sounds. Then, almost by accident, I always end up backing into something amazing I'd never heard of. Right now, Holden Girls EP by Holden Girls is it. Cavernous, downtempo, dreamy, if you had to best describe […]
One of the brightest, most focused sounds of the summer comes from Copenhagen, Denmark. Polished, self-assured and ready to rock, Velvet Mornings has dropped an EP full of earnest shoegaze-tinged tracks that sound like echoes of the past, but perfectly new. Harmony, jangle, reverb, angst all mixed together in a blender, structured in accessible songs that sound good enough for a major label release. Four tracks added to our New […]
Who's making the freshest sounds in the shoegaze and dream pop genres? Well, you'll get a debate about that. But a case can be made that the return of Brad Laner, vocalist Beth Thompson and drummer John Goodall can be easily considered in that discussion. While not always beloved of their era (competing, as they were, with British stalwarts My Bloody Valentine, Pale Saints and Ride), Medicine earned respect for […]
We've been spinning Vidulgi OoyoO's "Elephant" at the station since... well, seems like forever. This song, like most of their tracks, mash up dream pop, shoegaze and post rock into a incredible stew of sound and melody. Formed in 2003, South Korea's Vidulgi OoyoO (translates to "Pigeon Milk") has generated positive international buzz as a natural emissary of the classic 90's sound, without falling victim to cliche. News hit this […]
Part shoegaze, part dream pop, part "Soft Bulletin"-era Flaming Lips, the new Candy Claws album came out last week, and it's full of both hooks and nuance. "Ceres & Calypso in the Deep Time" is a triumph of songwriting and execution. The shoegazey foundation supports melt-in-your-ears vocal lines and choruses, and the whole LP provides a bit of soft sandpaper for the soul, scraping away the barnacles to reveal an […]
Suā teases their upcoming EP this weekend, and it's a beauty. We were early adopters of this band, and it's impressive to see them really coming into their own. Call "Welcome" a dreamy summerscape, a shimmery curtain, I don't give a damn what you call it. Lush, hazy, layered and textured dream pop, this is your summer soundtrack. Likely available "in a matter of weeks" via Bandcamp, take a listen […]
Radio friendly? Not on your life. The wall of distortion, the dissonance, the sheer caterwaul that threatens to break the world apart doesn't make for party music, unless your party is a particularly nihilistic one. This is the niche that The Julia Sound carved out, and pretty well mastered. The clever neo-disco rhythm that opens "Bash Her Head" only politely drags you into the maelstrom, as the distortion slips in […]
It certainly ain't punk. Can't rightly call it shoegaze. It's more like a fever dream of haze and rhythm, laying catchy choruses on complex, fuzzy chords. Formed from the wreckage of two bands we've never heard of (okay, Night Manager and Ganglians, but we've already digressed), this ...sound ...made us stop everything and pay attention. It's nothing you're used to, but it demands your attention. I have no doubt the […]
Best band you've never heard of? If you live Stateside, or in Asia, quite likely. Denmark's Waldo & Marsha have released two stellar EPs to this point, and we've been looking forward to the new LP release via A:larm Music / Universal Music. But the original two EPs they released, both critically acclaimed in the European Union, are still unavailable anywhere else. When we first heard the full sound of […]
