Tag: shoegaze

Pitchfork Music Festival artist spotlight: Ride

Influential British shoegaze band Ride broke up in 1996 after just six years and a couple albums, but they got back together in 2015 and have a new album, Weather Diaries, out this year.  Ride’s performance at the Pitchfork Music Festival on July 16th will be one of the highlights of the weekend, as not many expected a Ride reunion, let alone a new album or tour.  They sound like they haven’t lost anything after 20 years, so don’t miss their set if you’ll be in Chicago that weekend.

Keep your mind open.

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Slowdive’s first album in 22 years due out May 5th.

SLOWDIVE ANNOUNCE SLOWDIVE, FIRST NEW ALBUM IN 22 YEARS,
OUT MAY 5TH VIA DEAD OCEANS

WATCH VIDEO FOR NEW SINGLE, “SUGAR FOR THE PILL”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxwAPBxc0lU

LIVE STREAM SURPRISE LONDON SHOW TOMORROW AT 4:10PM EASTERN

UK shoegaze pioneers Slowdive are pleased to announce their self-titled fourth album, out May 5th via Dead Oceans, and the beautifully understated new single, “Sugar For The Pill,” which follows the release of “Star Roving.” Additionally, Slowdive announce a live stream of a surprise show tomorrow, March 29th, at London’s The Garage, the venue in which the band played their final London show in their original incarnation in December 1993. The stream will go live at 4:10pm Eastern here: facebook.com/slowdive.

Slowdive’s stargazing alchemy is set to further entrance the faithful while beguiling a legion of fresh ears. These eight new tracks, simultaneously expansive and the band’s most direct material to date, deftly swerve away from any “trip down memory lane.” They were birthed at the band’s talismanic Oxfordshire haunt, The Courtyard, and mixed at Los Angeles’ famed Sunset Sound by Chris Coady (Beach House). Throughout, the group dynamic was all-important. “When you’re in a band and you do three records, there’s a continuous flow and a development. For us, that flow re-started with us playing live again and that has continued into the record,” notes principal songwriter Neil Halstead.

The video for “Sugar For The Pill,” produced by in/out, takes its inspiration from the Slowdive album artwork which is itself a still from Harry Smith’s cult classic animation Heaven and Earth Magic – the vast spiritual narrative that has influenced so many artists since it was originally released back in 1957.

Slowdive is Neil Halstead (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Christian Savill (guitar), Nick Chaplin (bass), Rachel Goswell (vocals) and Simon Scott (drums, electronics). Their debut album, Just For A Day, was released in 1991 by Creation Records and was followed by the band’s now revered 1993 album Souvlaki and 1995’s Pygmalion before they disbanded. In the 22 years of their virtual disappearance, compilation albums have been released and the core members of the group have gone on to join other musical endeavours. In 2014, the band announced that they’d reunited and more new music would follow.
Watch Slowdive’s “Sugar For The Pill” Video –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxwAPBxc0lU

Listen to Slowdive’s “Star Roving” –
https://youtu.be/ogCih4OavoY

Pre-order Slowdive –
slowdive.lnk.to/slowdive

Slowdive Tracklisting:
1. Slomo
2. Star Roving
3. Don’t Know Why
4. Sugar For The Pill
5. Everyone Knows
6. No Longer Making Time
7. Go Get It
8. Falling Ashes

Slowdive Tour Dates:
Mon. March 27 – Glasgow, UK @ Art School – SOLD OUT
Tue. March 28 – Liverpool, UK @ Liverpool Arts Club – SOLD OUT
Wed. March 29 – London, UK @ The Garage
Thu. March 30 – Bristol, UK @ The Fleece – SOLD OUT
Fri. March 31 – The Hague, NL @ Rewire Festival
Sun. April 2 – Paris, FR @ Trabendo – SOLD OUT
Mon. April 3 – Berlin, DE @ Festsaal — SOLD OUT
Sun. April 30 – Fort Worth, TX @ Fortress Festival
Tue. May 2 – St. Paul, MN @ Palace Theatre
Wed. May 3 – Chicago, IL @ Vic Theater # — SOLD OUT
Fri. May 5 – Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall # — SOLD OUT
Sat. May 6 – Montreal, QC @ L’Olympia
Sun. May 7 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club # — SOLD OUT
Mon. May 8 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel # — SOLD OUT
Tue. May 9 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
Wed. May 10 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
Thu. May 11 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
Sat. May 13 – Santiago, CL @ Fauna Otono
Sun. May 14 – São Paulo, BR @ Balaclava Fest
Fri. June 2 – Oxford, UK @ O2 Academy
Sat. June 3 – London, UK @ Field Day
Fri. June 16 – Sun. June 18 – Mannheim, DE @ Maifeld Derby
Fri. July 7 – Madrid, ES @ Mad Cool Festival
Fri. July 21 – Sun. July 23 – Los Angeles, CA @ FYF Fest
Thu. Aug. 31 – Salisbury, UK @ End of the Road Festival

Ancient River – O.D.D.S. II

Psych-rock duo Ancient River (James Barreto – guitar and vocals, Alex Cordova – drums and synths) moved to Austin, Texas last year to fully embrace the psychedelic music scene there and the weird creative vibe of the place has led them to explore multiple music genres and play whatever they feel like playing. That freedom gives us O.D.D.S. II, a new album that collects tracks that don’t fit into one category.

The opener, “Welcome to the Underground,” is psychedelic guitars mixed with tribal drums and ghost-voice synths. “As I Am” is a wall-flattening rocker with Barreto and Cordova going for broke on their respective instruments, and Barreto not really giving a damn if you understand the lyrics.

“You Are They Light” is a groovy mix of hippie-psych and swirling shoegaze. It sounds like something the Beatles might’ve done on Rubber Soul if they’d eaten peyote before recording the album. They cut loose again on the appropriately named “Playground.” The guitars are as soaring as a kid on a swing and the drums are as bonkers as another kid on a merry-go-round.

“Let’s Open the Sky” is the track that is probably the closest to “classic” Ancient River (if you’ve heard all their material). It’s Barreto’s space-rock guitars and heavily reverbed vocals and Cordova’s Joy Division-influenced drumming assaulting you with walls of sound that come at you in all directions. I can’t wait to hear this one live. “Eleven” is a near chill-out instrumental, whereas “Russian Surf Party” is an instrumental for a movie score featuring hot Russian femme fatale vampires who spend their nights at the beach.

“Time for Giving” soars around your speakers like a comet and reminds me of some of Matthew Sweet’s early 1990’s work. “My Sonic Temple” refers to, I’m guessing, Barreto’s mind. It’s a wild ride of rolling cymbals and desert wind guitars and is probably the soundtrack to Ancient River’s recording sessions, let alone their walk down to the coffee shop.

Despite its name, “Last Song” isn’t the last song on the record. That is saved for “Star Boy.” “Last Song” is a slowly building mind trip that reminds me of sitting atop mountains in Tucson while a dust devil twirls miles away in the distance. “Star Boy” builds in a similar manner and sounds like something that was playing on Frank’s headset as he was floating away from the Discovery 1 in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

O.D.D.S. II is a good collection of psych-rock, space rock, and shoegaze that lets Ancient River stretch their muscles and cut loose. Get odd. You need to cut loose now and then.

Keep your mind open.

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Slowdive announces North American tour for May 2017.

(above image by Ingrid Pop)

“Listening to Slowdive is like watching the sunrise and sunset at once — an awe-inspiring chorus of the galaxy.” — NPR Music on “Star Roving”

“The mix is even denser and more diffuse than Slowdive’s albums from the 1990s, reveling in the analog blur and sounding glad to be back.” – The New York Times on “Star Roving”
Slowdive recently made their return with new single, “Star Roving,” their first new material in 22 years. It was released to a flurry of excitement, even taking the band to No. 1 on the Billboard + Twitter Trending 140. Comprised of Neil Halstead (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Christian Savill (guitar), Nick Chaplin (bass), Rachel Goswell (vocals) and Simon Scott (drums, electronics), Slowdive is now announcing a North American tour, their first since fall 2014. They’ll play select cities throughout the Midwest and East Coast. Japanese Breakfast will support on all dates. Tickets will be on sale on Jan. 27th.

Slowdive Tour Dates:
Tue. May 2 – St. Paul, MN @ Palace Theatre # [TIX]
Wed. May 3 – Chicago, IL @ Vic Theater # [TIX]
Fri. May 5 – Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall # [TIX]
Sun. May 7 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club # [TIX]
Mon. May 8 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel # [TIX]

# = with Japanese Breakfast

Listen to Slowdive’s “Star Roving” –
https://youtu.be/ogCih4OavoY

Purchase “Star Roving” –
https://slowdive.lnk.to/star-roving

True Widow – Avvolgere

I had to research what the title of True Widow’s album Avvolgere means. It’s an Italian term that means to wrap up or wind around something. It’s appropriate, because this album wraps around your mind with a lot of good, dark shoegaze that changes the feel of the air around you.

“Back Shredder” starts the album, and I wonder if the song is about self-flagellation or being under the whip of a demanding boss, Dom / Domme, or both. The guitar is as heavy as the steps of a high-heeled boot into a dungeon, and the vocals sound like they were recorded in such a place. It’s a solid start. “Theurgist” refers to someone who practices theurgy (ritualistic magic with the intent of invoking gods to improve oneself). The bass is something that would make Peter Hook proud, and the vocals seem to indicate that the singer is trying to bring back an ex-lover more than invoke a god (or are they one and the same?).

Next is the cryptically titled “F.W.T.S.: L.T.M.” It’s pure shoegaze, with slow cymbal-driven beats and distorted riffs that carry the vocals like a leaf on a river that might turn into raging rapids at any moment. I’ve read that True Widow refers to their music as “stonergaze,” and that description is apt for “The Trapper and the Trapped.” Male and female vocals bounce off each other as the bass hits like a blunt axe and the drums pound out a funeral dirge.

“O.O.T.P.V.” is another cryptic title, but don’t worry about it because good heavens is this song fantastic. The way the guitars chug along and then break open the chorus (“I try to run away, but I can’t seem to run. There’s something in the way, and I’m too scared to look.” – An anthem for all of us trying to escape reality at one time or another.) will make you stop and pay attention. “Entheogen” is a term for any plant-based chemical substance you ingest to induce an altered state of consciousness for religious purposes. The title explains the sweat lodge-like sound of the guitar (which isn’t much different from some spaghetti western scores) and the mysterious lyrics. The sweat lodge drums come out in “To All That He Elong,” which is nothing but drums, acoustic guitar, and sad vocals. “Sante” (French for “health”) is has more heavy guitar and bass that reminds me of Hum tracks if Hum had a female lead singer. “Grey Erasure” reminds me of early Jesus and Mary Chain, and the closer, “What Finds Me,” is six minutes of heavy shoegaze mixed with a bit of doom rock sludge.

“Stonergaze” might be my new favorite musical genre, and I have True Widow to thank for introducing me to it. If you’re in the right mood, this is the album for you. If you’re not in the right mood, this album might put you there.

Keep your mind open.

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Dayluta Means Kindness – When You’re Young You’re Invincible

Texas psych / prog-rockers Dayluta Means Kindness have returned with another album of mind-altering instrumental cosmic rock – When You’re Young You’re Invincible.

After a brief, feedback-looped “Intro,” the band bursts forward with “Warzawa.” It’s loud, bright, and shimmering with layers upon layers of guitars before it drifts into a bass solo that reminds me of light rain before the whole thing launches like an eagle launching itself off a mountain peak.

The title track starts off with dreamy guitars that are the sounds your brain thinks it’s hearing when you see the sun reflected off a rippling lake.  It blooms at about the 4:00 mark into a song that evokes the bravery of a kid jumping off a tire swing into that rippling lake for the first time.

After a brief “Segue,” DMK treats us to over ten minutes of dreamscape music on “Fort Lebanon.” It grows into something like a rolling thunderstorm across a meadow on a summer day. “Young Savagery and General Debauchery” could be, thematically, a companion piece to the title track. It doesn’t have a savage or debauched opening. It’s almost idyllic. Perhaps DMK is trying to tell the generation coming up behind them that cockiness, base pleasures, and ego are all fleeting things that hold us back from tranquility. The song transforms into a stunning piece of heavy prog-rock that never loses its shoegaze influences.

There’s an “Outro” that leaves us with a bit of a somber note, like we’re waking up from a cryptic dream. The whole record brings dreams to mind – dreams of the future and the past, mainly. It’s a dream worth having and worth exploring.

Keep your mind open.

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Slowdive release first single in more than two decades.

SLOWDIVE RETURN WITH FIRST NEW SONG IN 22 YEARS

LISTEN TO “STAR ROVING” HERE
https://youtu.be/ogCih4OavoY

(above image by Ingrid Pop)

After 22 years, Slowdive return with “Star Roving,” their first new material since 1995’s Pygmalion. Featuring Neil Halstead (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Christian Savill (guitar), Nick Chaplin (bass), Rachel Goswell (vocals) and Simon Scott (drums, electronics), “Star Roving” embodies the effortlessness for which Slowdive is known — as the song progresses, it expands and contracts in ways that feel infinite.
Slowdive released their debut album, Just For A Day, in 1991 via Creation Records. The highly revered Souvlaki followed in 1993 and Pygmalion in 1995, and then the band disbanded. In the 22 years of their virtual disappearance, compilation albums have been released and the core members of the group have gone on to join other musical endeavors. In 2014, Slowdive announced that they had reunited and more new music would follow. Upon today’s release of new single, “Star Roving,” the band has also announced signing to Dead Oceans.

Halstead says, “When the band decided to get back together in 2014, we really wanted to make new music. It’s taken us a whole load of shows and a few false starts to get to that point, but it’s with pride and a certain trepidation we unleash ‘Star Roving.’ It’s part of a bunch of new tracks we’ve been working on and it feels as fun, and as relevant playing together now as it did when we first started. We hope folks enjoy it.”

Dead Oceans’s Phil Waldorf comments on the signing, “We are elated to work with Slowdive on their new album. I saw Slowdive for the first time, as a teenager, in 1991 at the 9:30 Club in Washington DC. I remember it being a revelation – the way the band used texture and tone was something I’d never heard before, and it stuck with me for a long time. It was one of those gigs that was a gateway drug of sorts — not only was it amazing to see Slowdive, but it was the first taste of a whole sound that made me go exploring into all kinds of music. More than two decades later, their music sounds just as relevant and vital, and we cannot wait for old fans and new listeners to hear the band’s new recordings.”
Listen to Slowdive’s “Star Roving” –
https://youtu.be/ogCih4OavoY

Purchase “Star Roving” –
https://slowdive.lnk.to/star-roving

My top 25 albums of 2016 – #’s 15-11

We’re halfway to #1 on the countdown!

#15 

The Kills released a great album for their 15th anniversary.  Ash & Ice oozes with their sweaty, smoky, whiskey-tinged rock and is one of the best albums about love and sex from 2016.

#14 

I didn’t expect a full record of shoegaze from the Duke Spirit, but Kin is the best shoegaze record I’ve heard all year (and probably of the last two or three years).

#13

All Them Witches released a live album last year (which I still need to get), teased a new album for this year, and started 2016 with Dying Surfer Meets His Maker – a great blend of stoner metal and blues voodoo rock.

#12 

Comacozer contacted me through this website and asked if I’d like to hear their record.  I’m glad I said yes, because this stoner metal album, Astra Planeta, is amazing.

#11 

The KVB make excellent dark wave and shoegaze.  It’s a bit difficult to believe at first that just two people produce that much sound.  Of Desire was recorded on vintage synthesizers and sequencers, and the rich sound produced is excellent.

Who’s made it into my top 10 for 2016?  Come back tomorrow to find out!

Keep your mind open.

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My top 25 albums of 2016 – #’s 20-16

The countdown continues!

#20 

This is the best funk / Afrobeat record I’ve heard in a long time.  Golden Dawn Arkestra will get you moving and possibly transport you to another dimension.

#19 I happened to catch Ron Gallo at a show in Fort Wayne and was glad I did because his RG3 EP is one of the best EP’s I’ve snagged all year.  I need to get his full album pronto.  He plays a neat style of garage blues-influenced rock.

#18 

Morphine is one of my favorite bands of all time, so it’s no surprise that I was going to love Vapors of Morphine, which includes two of the band’s original members and a new singer and bass player performing glorious low rock and blues.

#17 

There’s no way an album by Goat wasn’t going to be at least in the top 50% of albums I’d like, and Requiem is full of their usual weird voodoo rock.  It’s mellower than previous releases, but still trippy.

#16 

I discovered the new Cosmonauts record late in the year, and I’m glad I did because I think they’re going to be one of my new obsessions.  A-OK! is full of neat psych-rock and shoegaze.  I’m all in if you can combine those two genres.

Who cracks the top 15?  Come back tomorrow to see!

Keep your mind open.

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Cosmonauts – A-OK!

Cosmonauts make groovy California-vibe psychedelic rock with a bit of a dark edge. Imagine a California sunset while a storm is rolling in from the Pacific Ocean and you’ll get the idea. Their new album, A-OK!, stresses that everything will be okay, however. We can brave the storm. It’s a good thing to remember after the brutal year that was 2016.

The title track is about someone who seems to slip away from bad luck and tragedy like an all-star running back (and the guitar work on it is definitely all-star quality). I love the way the crisp bass on “Doom Generation” interacts with the cheese shredder-fuzz guitar and tripped-out vocals. It’s one of the best psych-rock tracks of the year. “Party at Sunday” is luscious dream-psych that floats like a lotus blossom on a pond. The guitar buzzes like a dragonfly past your ear as they sing about the dangers of falling in love.

“Be-Bop-A-Loser” could’ve been a goofy song with a title like that but is instead an excellent shoegaze track with more killer bass, Nick Cave-like vocals, and slick percussion and guitar work. A fast drum groove pushes “Short Wave Communication” along as echoing guitars nearly overwhelm the nice male-female duo vocals. The synthesizers that come in near the 2:00 mark will make you grin because they’re perfectly placed.

If the heavenly host of angels choir sounds anything like “Heavenspeak,” then I’ll be extra happy if I make it through the pearly gates. It’s another outstanding psych-rock track with some of the rhythm section’s best work on the album. The band’s Cure influence can’t be denied on “Good Lucky Blessing” (again, listen to that bass and guitar work). “Cruisin’” is perfect for such an activity. The fast beat, lyrics about “tearin’ up the 101,” and sunny guitars are ideal for a summer drive. “Discophilia” starts with sludge drums, but then bursts like a flare gun with bright, reverbed guitar. “Graffiti” is a sweet psych-cake iced with distortion and sprinkled with sweat lodge visions. It overlooks Drone Rock Valley, but never enters it. It’s a song about regret, but the music isn’t without optimism.

The album is titled A-OK! after all. Despite the many lyrics about rough relationships, overinflated egos of lovers past and present, and unfulfilled desires, the album’s ethereal dreamscapes show us that we’ll be all right if we ride the wave long enough to make it to shore. The album is more than A-OK. It’s A-Outstanding.

Keep your mind open.

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