The Denzels are a four-piece indie rock band from Brooklyn, NY that plays a joyful, melodic rock that has a little bit of The Beach Boys and The Drums in it. Add to that some shoegaze influences a la Drop Nineteens and you'll get a pretty good idea what to expect from them. The Denzels offer a consistent, nicely done indie music that is reminiscent of the earlier American indie acts yet has the sound of the present. If you like what you hear grab the EP from their bandcamp page.
The Denzels са четиричленнa инди-рок банда от Бруклин, Ню Йорк, която свири жизнерадостен и мелодичен рок, в който има по малко от The Beach Boys и The Drums. Като добавим и леки shoegaze влияния а ла Drop Nineteens, става ясно какво можем да очакваме от тях. Групата предлага постоянна и качествена инди музика, която донякъде носи в себе си духа и традициите на по-ранните американски инди групи, но в същото време предлага един съвременен звук. Ако ти харесва чутото, може да изтеглиш напълно безплатно EP им от тяхната bandcamp страница.
You know how much I like Scandinavian music, right? Well once again I'm gonna please you with another one from Sweden. Here it is the new video for Swedish indie-pop/shoegaze duo I Break Horses for their song "Hearts" from their debut album which will be released later this summer. Upon first hearing I gotta admit that there's a clear shoegaze feel about it which kinda reminds me of My Bloody Valentine and the likes. Yet it's Swedish so expect it to be a little different.
Знаете колко много обичам скандинавска музика, нали? Ами ще ви зарадвам с поредната такава, идваща от Швеция. Става дума за шведското indie-pop/shoegaze дуо от Швеция I Break Horses и новото им видео към песента "Hearts". Първоначалното ми мнение, когато чух песента беше, че тя носи характерното shoegaze усещане в себе си подобно на My Bloody Valentine. Да ама бидейки шведско творение, все пак си има и някои различия. Но нали това му е хубавото на шведската музика и на скандинавската като цяло - никога не е точно както си я представяш.
Every once in a while we all stumble upon something so good that we momentarily fall in love with. I'm sure we all have at least one such band or artist. But many decide to keep this little treasure for themselves. Well I know that all too well. But there's bands and artists that I feel we all should talk about. Anyways here's one such band that some of you might be familiar with, others not. I've been listening to it for years but it seems that they were never popular like other acts from Japan. The band I'm referring to is Luminous Orange originally a four-piece all-girl indie-rock band, now a solo project of it's founder Rie Takeuchi. Despite the line-up changes the style remains the same, dreamy pop songs combined with shoegaze. Formed in 1992 Luminous Orange have five studio albums and couple of mini ones. Shared stage with the likes of Yo La Tengo and worked with renown local and foreign artists. Truly a wonderful band that if you ask me deserves far more recognition that it already have. I wish I could one day see this band performing live.
Here's this cute and relatively new shoegaze/dream-pop band Blouse I stumbled upon while looking for some new music. The band is signed to Subpop and has just two released singles to my knowledge but that doesn't stop them from being so awesome. It's interesting what they'll put out next.
British post-metal band Iroha's latest single from their self-titled debut album. they got one of Jesu's bandmates playing in this band. That explains why they sound that good.
Jesu's fourth studio album's been out for a month now. I've been listening to Ascension for some time now and I have to say that it's different from what I expected to hear. It still got this melange of electronica and shoegaze, the long and repeatable tone clusters and the lengthy epicness of a good ambient album, but it's somehow different. Jesu's distinctive electronic sound has taken a back seat and in the forefront is music that makes use of more guitars and drumming that of electronic elements. Other thing I noticed is that the overall tone of the album is rather gloomy for the exception of probably "Sedatives" which is kinda upbeat compared to the rest. Don't get me wrong. The album is good but it takes time to get used to it. Probably you won't fall for it from first listen. Still check it out.
Here's an interesting shoegaze/new wave band from Malmö, Sweden. They got just one EP which is their debut effort. As proven countless times Sweden is far more than just ABBA. As with this band Sweden once more proves that is a country of raw talent. This country just never seize to amaze me with it's great music.
Canadian artist Germany, Germany's latest single off the album Adventures released via Distorted Disco Records. The song itself is a nice combination of electro and shoegaze with some really beautiful vocals from Steph Thompson aka Steffaloo. You can download this song as well as it's alternate version for free from here.
Yuck is one of those rare gems that you either find by chance or someone recommends it to you because that's not the type of music you'll find easily. Well there's always the possibility to find it on your own if you dwell deep enough in the indie universe. What one will actually find is this relatively new London-based indie/shoegaze band that sound really diverse from most things you've probably heard so far for their sound is more like an amalgam of The Jesus And Mary Chain, Dinosaur Jr. and My Bloody Valentine. To be honest the shoegaze element is to my delight very strong and present in their music. It's been awhile since I've heard something that good. I have to admit that most new shoegaze bands I've heard lately comes from the UK but that's no surprise really as the genre I came to love so much originates from there and it's been ever popular with the local bands. Yuck borrows heavily from their UK shoegaze heritage and that's evident in songs such as "Rubber". In the same time it's obvious their attraction to american indie bands as heard in "Holing Out". For some reason it kinda reminds me of Dinosaur Jr. Throw there a pinch of Sonic Youth in songs like "The Wall" and you'll get an idea what to expect from this band. But "Georgia" is gotta be my favorite from what I've heard so far. A song truly crafted in the best traditions of the american indie bands. To some extend the work of the band is reminiscent of the early nineties with it's distorded guitars and psychadelic/noisy yet melodic sound all so very present in "Get Away". So far the band released it's debut self-titled album through Fat Possum Records. Of course Yuck are much more that just few songs and I would like to invite everyone to explore the enigmatic mystery that is Yuck. A surge of new and exciting feelings are sure to follow.
Oh Brad Laner, you are such a totally awesome guitar/noise/electronic music making dude! You're a member of Medicine, been associated with kid606's tigerbeat6 label, worked alongside Ken Andrews and all kinds of studio geniuses, and you're also known as Electric Company, a catch-all label for your impossible to sort experiments in sound. Unfortunately, there is also little information I can find about you in grand detail beyond this timeline. Luckily, there is TONS of your music available for consumption, although much of it is out of print. That said, today I'm posting two of your incredible releases as Electric Company for all who are as fascinated with your musical output as much as I am. In case you're not happy with that, my sincerest apologies but I figured it would be alright since these albums are no longer available for purchase. Nonetheless, if you would like these removed, please say so and I'll be happy to do so.
The first of these two albums is A Pert Cyclic Omen, your 1995 release of noise, feedback and loops that makes Kevin Shields' work sound like that of a folk guitarist. It came out on Onion Records in conjunction with Rick Rubin's American Recordings. Sadly, like so many releases on American, it disappeared for reasons unclear other than it not being a Johnny Cash album. That's not meant as disrespectful to Rubin or Cash, it's just a fact as most American releases have disappeared from the market after a few years, often after American's distribution once again changed hands.
The second album featured is 1998's Studio City which was issued on Island. This is more of an experimental attempt at drum n' bass or jungle beats, albeit in a very Laner fashion which is to say twisted, tortured and mutilated till it's absolutely fascinating! There are plenty of great moments throughout Studio City like the danceable Darken An' Slobbering, but my favorite track has to be the closer, Soundcard, where Laner lets the track start and stop until it falls apart upon itself. Gorgeous.
For the initiate, Brad Laner's output may seem daunting, and that assumption is understandably correct, but that doesn't mean it isn't fun to dig in. If these albums grab your interest, be prepared to check out his releases with Medicine, Amnesia, Lusk and so many others. A wonderful starting point would be Medicine'sSounds Of Medicine EP, although I might have to post that here as it is also out of print. For now though, enjoy these polar opposite releases from Laner as Electric Company. I'm not promising they're easy records, but they are truly rewarding!
01 pA. iNTERCOM cYCLE 02 pOLYMERIC aCCENT 03 eLM cRYPT oCEANIC 04 a pERT cYCLIC oMEN 05 eLECTRO aMP cYNIC 06 cOME cIRCA pLENTY 07 cYCLIC pEE mATRON 08 iN cOMPACT cELERY 09 cYCLOPEAN mETRIC 10 i cAN cOP mY tERCEL
Summer is winding down even though the weather is still pretty nice. All in all, there has been a lot of cool stuff so far this year and I'm finally getting back into the groove after keeping things a little slower than usual this August. With that said, I'll get back to a more regular habit of posting in September. August isn't done yet though, and I will do that small Fripp post Monday or Tuesday. Today though...
I went out to my boss's house to help with a tech thing only to return home two or three hours later and find that a DVD screener of a movie I wanted to see leaked in that time and another one the night before (of course my two favorite movies from this summer haven't leaked yet though. Why can't I get DVD screeners of Scott Pilgrim and Inception? C'mon! I promise not to share them! SERIOUSLY!!!), but the new No Age album, Everything In Between, also leaked! There are a few albums on my want list that I am eagerly awaiting but the No Age album has been at the top of that list since it was announced a few months ago. Now, if you've been reading my site for a while I'm sure you know that I don't share albums that have an impending release and I don't want to see money taken from folks who put their hearts into what they do, so while I downloaded the album I'm not gonna share it and I'm going to pick it up upon it's release. If you download it and like it I hope you do the same, but even though No Age are becoming quite the popular band in some circles, I realize that not everyone is familiar with them so I wanted to share a little info about them and give you an idea what they sound like.
No Age are the duo of Randy Randall and Dean Allen Spunt. They were initially part of the hardcore punk group Wives, but after that group dissolved they decided to continue on as a duo with in different direction. It's probably easiest to describe No Age's sound as dreamy, shoegazer punk with a joyous edge to it. They use noisy guitar loops for texture and trade off on instruments regularly making for a great live show. Lyrically they're more stream of consciousness than anything really deep, but those lyrics and vocals are like another instrument, further adding to the texture of the band's sound. I'm being lazy saying this, but the first thing I think of is a punk version of My Bloody Valentine'sLoveless. I feel like a hack saying that, but that doesn't make the description inaccurate.
For me, if I was 18 or 19, going to college and djing at a college radio station, I would be playing this all the time. No Age is not an overtly commercial band, no matter how catchy some of their songs may be, and I don't ever expect to hear them on popular radio, but that's popular radio's loss. Their new record and it's first single, Glitter, sound a little more polished, but that doesn't hurt anything and they don't sound like anyone else out right now.
I'm not going to continue rattling on endlessly about how great I think No Age are, rather I'm going to give you some evidence so you can make up your own mind. Below you'll find a stream from Sub Pop's SoundCloud page for Glitter, and here are links for Amazon and iTunes where you can purchase that single and hear samples of it's b-sides. On top of that, if you get yourself over to No Age'spage at RCRD LBL you can download Glitter and three other songs there for free! How about them apples?
If you're feeling No Age, their new album, Everything In Between, will be released on September 28th, but you can also get the excellent Nouns and Weirdo Rippers now at your favorite indie record shop or digitally online. The CD issue of Nouns is particularly nice with a booklet filled with photos and artwork of the band on tour, doing art things and such. If you like these guys, please support them by buying their album, going to one of their shows or grabbing a t-shirt. They're a true indie duo and I know they'd love your support. Hope you enjoy!
