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Albums of 2017

Posted on January 3, 2018 by Toby

The year 2017 will go on record as the first year I bought more downloads of albums than CD’s. I guess I’ve finally succumbed to the idea that a digital download is just as good as the compact disc. All things being equal, I prefer a complimentary copy of the vinyl with my purchase of the download. So, without any further digressions, here are my top 40 albums of 2017 with streaming links if I could find one.

1. RVG – A Quality of Mercy (Our Golden Friend)
This Australian band’s debut album grew slowly on me. It’s initial pressing sold out before anyone outside their circle even heard about them. Rooted in some of the best Australian bands like the Triffids and the Go-Betweens. Soaring guitars and lyrics filled with the bleakness of real life fueled songs that got better and better with each listen.

2. Fazerdaze – Morningside (Flying Nun)
I was surprised not to see this album on more year end lists. Blissed out bedroom pop that is in the same realm as the better-known Jay Som. For my money though, Fazerdaze has a better hit ratio.

3. Bedouine – S/T (Spacebomb)
This record came out of nowhere and sounded like nothing else this year. Part Carpenters, Jim Sullivan and Leonard Cohen. Syrian-born Azniv Korkejian who goes by Bedouine posses a smooth and soothing voice and made the comfort record of the year.

4. Cable Ties – S/T (Poison City)
The debut LP from this Australian trio was full of piss and vinegar. The songs were based on great grooves the reminded me of Eddy Current Suppression Ring and the angst-ridden vocals of Jenny McKechnie flashed with hints of Sleater Kinney. A band to be reckoned with!

5. Malenas – S/T (El Nébula)
Melenas from Pamplona, Spain take their Flying Nun records and translate them into toe tapping Spanish jangle. Who new that Jangle pop was a lingua franca? If world peace ever happens, expect Melenas to be featured on the soundtrack.

6. Baxter Dury – Prince of Tears (Heavenly)
On his fourth album, Ian Dury’s kid delivers a brilliant set of songs. From the sleaze of the opener Miami to the filth laden vocals of guest Rose Elinor Dougall to the surprisingly clean cameo of Sleaford Mod’s Jason Williamson this record keeps you on your toes.

7. UV-TV – Glass (Deranged)
The debut record from this Florida trio had the sugar-coated blitzkrieg pop reminiscent of the Primitives combined with Spacemen 3 druggy drone. The louder you turned it up the better it gets on this brilliant record.

8. Girl Ray – Earl Grey (Moshi Moshi)
This trio of teens from Wales deliver bouncy, breathless pop that sounds like part bucolic beauty and part wild overgrown garden. Elements of Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci and Kevin Ayres lend excitement to Earl Grey and make them a band I’m excited to see what comes next for them.

9. Lars Finberg – Moonlight Over Bakersfield (In the Red)
Striking out on his own, or retreating back to his hometown of Bakersfield, California? A little bit of both as the Intelligence front man and founder teams up with Ty Segall to make a solo record that sounds like an Intelligence record. I love the circuitousness of it all and truth be told, Lars could make a record of him blowing into beer bottles and I’d probably love it.

10. Zebra Hunt – In Phrases (Tenorio Cotobade)
I chose not to make a separate list of Seattle albums this year due to the issue of the seemingly disappearing Seattle scene. Thankfully the city still has these fellows who make Feelies-Flying Nun styled jangly pop that is second to none. Album number two from Zebra Hunt sees the band maintaining the insanely high level of quality of their debut.

11. Group Doueh & Cheveu – Dakhla Sahara Session (Born Bad)
This seemed to be an odd team-up, but it worked. The two bands, one from the Sahara, the other from France met in the desert to meld their styles and come up with avant desert grooves that shake rattle and roll like rock and roll is supposed to do.

12. Feature – Banishing Ritual (Upset! the Rhythm
Make a record. Break up. Release the record. This trio of women seemed to have it somewhat backwards, but their Wire inspired pop that scratches, rubs and soothes sometimes all at once makes for a winning record.

13. Star Tropics – Lost World (Shelflife)
Chicago’s Star Tropics blend of indiepop jangle, Sarah records, For Against and New Order won’t win them any awards for originality, but the quality of their songs and the atmosphere they create is no rip-off either.

14. Kelly Lee Owens – S/T (Smalltown Supersound)
For fans of Kate Bush, Bjork and the Cocteau Twins Kelly Lee Owens is a godsend. You hear elements of all the aforementioned, but nothing obvious due to Owens skipping off down her own path of ethereal pop bliss.

15. Black Springs – When We Were Great (Oven Material)
Instead of calling this an album, Black Springs chose to call When We Were Great a compilation of songs from their past giving you the idea that the band are no longer together. Mystery aside, this record has elements of dreampop, shoegaze and jangle and a confidence that has me pulling for them to make another record.

16. Alvvays – Antisocialites (Polyvinyl)
I nearly wrote this Canadian band’s sophomore effort off, until Lollipop came up on shuffle one day. That song reminded me how effortlessly easy this band makes great pop songs. After Lollipop, Plimsoull Punks hit me, and after that Not My Baby and I was a believer again.

17. Destroyer – Ken (Merge)
With Ken, Dan Bejar has fully stepped into the Scottish rain soaked landscapes of the Blue Nile. The sound is majestic and the outlook is dreary and sad, but with Bejar you get laughs with your tears. It was unfortunate that he decided to forgo appearing on the latest New Pornographers LP this year, but that means this album is all top shelf stuff.

18. B Boys – Dada (Captured Tracks)
I loved how Dada seemed to be both punk and post-punk at once. Or maybe it was the goth sound made me think of Christian Death and the Chameleons. Who knows, but it was loud and fun. I also loved how there ain’t a clunker in the bunch.

19. Clap! Clap! – A Thousand Skies (Black Acre)
After teaming up with Paul Simon last year, Cristiano Crisci returns with album number two of dark world inspired rhythms. A Thousand Skies is cut from the same cloth of tribal rhythms and slithering melodies that veer towards drum and bass, but he adds some guest vocalists this time around.

20. Priests – Nothing Feels Natural (Sister Polygon)
Washington, DC’s Priests ably carry on the politically informed pop/punk that was championed by a litany of bands from the nation’s capital. Nothing Feels Natural Feels urgent and agitated and under attack. Priests kick back and write songs worth rallying around, which is much needed in this day and age of moral drift.

21. Flat Worms – S/T (Castle Face)
Flat Worms which features former members of Dream Boys, Sic Alps and Thee Oh Sees hit the ground running on this pummelingly great record. Lead off song Motorbike sets the scene of this menacing record. They’re sound like a biker gang that digs Suicide, but thinks synths are for poseurs. Big and bad!

22. Shabazz Palaces – Quazarz: Born On A Gangster Star &
Quazarz Vs. The Jealous Machines(Sub Pop)
I guess the two Shabazz Palaces LP’s from this year are considered a rap album, but it’s so out there in terms of mainstream rap that I don’t consider it as such. This is sci-fi fantasy that transcends musical boundaries. You like the Peter Thomas Orchestra? How about Can? That Clap! Clap! record? And a thousand other things. You can probably come at these two records from a hundred different directions and still dig them both.

23. Mo Troper – Exposure & Response (Good Cheer)
Mo Troper’s second album may not change the world, but it’s pristine orchestral pop will restore your faith in it. This is wide-eyed, wide-screen beautiful stuff likely influenced by albums by Jellyfish, Jeremy Egnik and Kay Kay and his Weathered Underground.

24. Holiday Ghosts – S/T (PNKSLM)
Manchester’s Holiday Ghosts self-titled debut is a bouillabaisse of low-key, unpolished pop. The group have a lot in common with bands like the Pastels, Comet Gain and the Envelopes. The vocals are shared between band members giving the album the feel of a vaudeville variety, but they keep the plot tight and the songs sweet.

25. Sleaford Mods – English Tapas (Rough Trade)
You would think that after high rate of release this duo keeps up that they’d run out of ideas, but English Tapas sees no let up and in fact may their best one since Austerity Dogs. Mop Top even sees them introduce a melody and chorus, and gasp, no swearing. Are they aiming for the charts?

26. The World – First World Record (Upset! The Rhythm)
Take a tiny bit of Banarama, and add in some Specials and Selector and you get a sort of idea of what the Bay Area’s the World are going after. Steeped in 80’s punk and ska and sporting pop an astute pop sensibility First World Record is a sax laden tour de fun.

27. Novella – Change of State (Sinderlyn)
Change of State sees Novella continuing on the same trajectory of their debut from 2015. Motorik beats, icy, layered vocals and clean sounding guitar riffs. This batch of songs is stronger and they approach the same quality that Broadcast reached on Tender Buttons.

28. Protomartyr – Relatives In Descent (Domino)
Protomartyr’s fourth album is a towering achievement. It simultaneously comments on the sorry state of society, shares its rage and does so with songs that make you want to raise your fist and shout the chorus. Up the Tower, Don’t Go To Anacita and Male Plague are among the band’s best. My only complaint about this album is that the best stuff is hidden on side two, but that is minor.

29. Slowdive – S/T (Dead Oceans)
It’s weird to think that Slowdive were scoffed at by the British press during their first incarnation in the 1990’s. That press is long gone, out of business. Slowdive are still with us and making brilliant music. Their self-titled comeback is packed full of dreampop featuring both Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell’s ethereal vocals. Slowdive can still conjure it.

30. Business of Dreams – S/T (Kocliko Records)
Corey Cunningham of the Terry Malts strikes out on his own into the world of 80’s inspired synth-pop. Inspired by the death of his father, Cunningham made a record that is personal in nature but its pop hooks combination of synthesizers and guitar riffs make it more than palatable to general populous.

31. Spinning Coin – Permo (Domino)
After a handful of singles, Glasgow’s Spinning Coin finally deliver the goods in their debut long player. As you might expect it’s a combination of ramshackle Pastels like pop and good natured Teenage Fanclub guitar pop.
https://spinningcoin.bandcamp.com/

32. Juana Molina – Halo (Crammed Discs)
Juana Molina has been making records for a while now. Halo is her seventh album. Her formula hasn’t changed too much over the years, creating loops and building them up into a bricolage. In the past it could get busy, but Halo sees her cleaning things up a bit and delivering more straightforward earworms.

33. Oh Sees – Orc (Castle Face)
At this point, a jaded listener might think Oh Sees records are delivered off a conveyor belt, one that changes its name after each new model. Dropping the Thee, John Dwyer’s group sees no creative letdown despite fewer letters. In fact, Orc delivers classic sounding rippers interspersed with Eno style ambience.

34. The Stevens – Good (Chapter Music)
Album number two from the center of the Melbourne indie scene, didn’t seem to get the attention of their debut. Too bad, because this batch of songs is high quality. At 18 tracks, Good has that uncanny quality that Guided by Voices had in that run in the Bee Thousand to Under the Bushes era.

35. Last Leaves – Other Towns Than Ours (Lost & Lonesome/Matinee)
Marty Donald, who was the chief songwriter in the Lucksmiths took a long break after that band called it quits. It’s great to hear him again, this time doing the singing as well as playing guitar. He’s got most of his former band along with him as well. Last Leaves of course will remind you of the Lucksmiths, but this band is something different in that they look more to classic rock than indiepop or at least infuse their pop with some sharper edges and more serious topics. They call it older and wiser.

36. Faith Healer – Try ;-) (Mint)
Jessica Jalbert was a member of the Edmonton punks Tee-Tahs .That is in the past and this is her second album as Faith Healer. Try ;-) lives on the same planet of the Brewis brother’s Field Music. Combine Jallbert’s croon and her ability to write a good pop hook you have something special.

37. Kelley Stoltz – Que Aura (Castle Face)
Kelley Stoltz may have peaked commercially on his Sub Pop debut Below the Branches when his song Birdies Singing was being used in commercials. I haven’t heard him in any commercials since, but honestly the guy keeps releasing great albums. Solid through and through and Que Aura is no different from the previous four in that regard.

38. Corridor – Supermercado (Requiem Pour Un Twister)
Supermercado is Spanish for grocery store. Corridor is French for angular pop. Supermercado is the second album from Montreal’s Corridor and it is a brilliant melange of pop and sharp jabs and lots of hooks.

39. Rays – S/T (Trouble In Mind)
Rays do great Modern Lovers style rock. The songs feel like they could fall apart at any moment, but they end up making it through each one without the doors flying off the speeding dilapidated vehicle.

40. Trementina – 810 (Burger)
On their second album, Chile’s Trementina forego the obvious shoegaze effects and travel down a far more interesting path of warped dream pop that only the Swirlies have dared to go before.

October Round Up

Posted on October 31, 2017 by Toby

October was a long month, but to the best of my ability I’ve recollected what happened in the last 31 days. Since this blog has been neglected for many more than the last 31 days, a few things may have slipped in that took place 61, 91, or even 121 days ago.

Display Homes
This single is a great example of a Pylon influenced groove combined with current climate change dilemma that the world is now in. Who says you can’t dance to the apocalypse?

Savak
Album number two from this New York band is no let down. The record is full of
urgent, politically astute, post-punk songs. My favorite is buried near the end. Keys to the City is an hallucination inducing slice of Byrdsian psychedelic haze.

RVG
This Australian band who likely count the Triffids and U2 and maybe even the Go-Betweens as influences, self-released their debut album earlier this year and it instantly sold out of the first vinyl pressing. The excitement has not died down, and it’s been repressed. Don’t say you haven’t been warned.

Neutrals
When I first heard Motorcycle Cop from this Bay Area band I thought it might have been a direct decedent of the Pastel’s Speeding Motorcycle. On second thought, it might just be an ode to Larry Baker and Frank Poncherello. Whatever it is, it’s brilliant!

Last Leaves
The Lucksmiths broke up some years back and chief songwriter Marty Donald went into semi-retirement. I’m glad it wasn’t permanent, and now he’s got the boys back together minus drummer and lead singer Tali White. Mr. Donald can still turn a phrase and his voice reminds me a little of Max Eider of the Jazz Butcher. The only song I remember Marty singing in the Lucksmiths was their cover of the Magnetic Fields Deep Sea Diving Suit. Maybe they could do a cover of Partytime or D.R.I.N.K.

Holiday Ghosts
Maybe I just have the Pastels on the brain (or the Clean, Coconut Coolouts or Modern Lovers for that matter), but Falmouth, England’s Holiday Ghosts have a similar ramshackle approach to pop music as that Scottish institution. Their debut album is lots of fun, with songs that make you want to wiggle your extremities.

A Certain Smile

Portland’s A Certain Smile played in Seattle last weekend opening for Zebra Hunt and Math & Physics Club. I won’t go into how Portland is beating Seattle right now in great new bands to get excited about, but I will say that this band’s debut is an understated janglepop beauty!

Deadbeat Beat
Detroit, Michigan band Deadbeat Beat released When I Talk To You on cassette way back in 2011. Six years later it get’s a vinyl treatment. Make no mistake this record is an early 10’s surfy-garage rock classic that is has elements of Buddy Holly, Beach Boys, and Agent Orange.

Protomartyr

Another Detroit band, this one with a new record on a new label. Formerly signed to Seattle’s Hardly Art, these Motor city post punks moved on to Domino for album number four and it’s nearly as good as their high point (in my opinion) Under Color of Official Right. Live, they’re like going 10 rounds in a heavy weight fight. They’re set a Chop Suey here in Seattle was an Olympia beer fueled pummeling. I left feeling battered and bruised, and woke up swollen and sore the next morning. It was great.

Landlines
Portland’s Landlines remind me of Sloan around their Twice Removed and One Chord to Another era. Their songs are catchy, classic sounding pop. This is their second album and it would seem that their well of great songs is very deep.

The World
This Bay Area band has a white hot sound that will get you on the floor skanking. Great saxophone bits juxtaposed with angular guitar bits. I feel like the World is what the Specials would have evolved into if they would have gotten King Tubby to produce a third album. Anxiously awaiting on the dub version of this record!

Dead Leaf Echo
The cover of New York shoegaze outfit Dead Leaf Echo new album looks like it came out on 4AD in the 80’s, and sounds like it was made in the shoegaze heyday of 90’s. Funny because Guy Fixen (Moose, My Bloody Valentine) helped record it and the cover was designed by 4AD alumna Timothy O’Donnell.

Slowdive

The last time I saw Slowdive play was at CMJ in 1991. I have vague recollections of that show where they were on a bill with Blur and Levitation. Last week in Seattle their show at the Neptune Theatre was mesmerizing and imprinted (hopefully) long-term memories in my cerebral cortex. The reformed band’s new LP is top notch, but it was Catch the Breeze, Avalyn and their cover of Syd Barrett’s Golden Hair that were massive sounding and downright otherworldly!

Tender Age Get High

Posted on September 21, 2015 by Toby

The first Tender Age single reminded me of Felt’s Ignite the Seven Cannons. it was methodically austere and moody. The Portland band are back with their second single that shows them tweaking things just a little to deliver a warmer and more ethereal sounding record. In other words they’ve turned up the shoegaze dials on the guitars. It’s still good, but different from their first single and veers into the same sonic territory as the Wildhoney album from earlier this year. It also begs the question, how many more records do I need to buy that sound like My Bloody Valentine, Chapterhouse and Slowdive? I guess one more wouldn’t hurt.

You get the vinyl or download from SINIS Recordings bandcamp page.

Wild for Wildhoney

Posted on March 19, 2015 by Toby

Shoegaze bands are a dime a dozen these days which is something I never would have predicted 20 years ago. So the genre lost the battle but apparently won the war, but sometimes the victors get a little cocky. Originally a derogitory term, bands now brandish that tag willy nilly without sometimes knowing what they’re talking about. One of the first and foremost things about the OG shoegaze was that at its heart there were always great songs. It wasn’t just noise. It was verses and big choruses. Bands actually wrote songs first and then bent their tremelo bars around them, instead of many of today’s poseurs who bend their guitars around nothing much.

There was a method of songs first reverb second. Baltimore’s Wildhoney adhere to that tried and true approach. Their debut album Sleep Through It is one of the best albums to come out in the shoegaze genre (or any other genre for that matter) in a while. This quintet of youngsters lean in direction of the more ethereal regions, looking to the Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine. The influences may be easy to spot, but they take them and make something slightly different, brighter and alluring. Fall In and Molly belong on any best of shoegaze mix. Their two previous singles (Seventeen and a re-recorded Super Stupid) make welcome curtain calls as well. They even throw in an instrumental tribute to Flying Saucer Attack. These kids know how to deliver quality noise drenched pop with a sense of history and an ear for melody. Do not miss!

The album Sleep Through It is out in the US on Forward Records and everywhere else via Deranged Records.

Wildhoney Ready Debut Album

Posted on November 11, 2014 by Toby

After two singles that are as good as anything that came out during the the first generation of shoegazing, Baltimore’s ecstasy inducers Wildhoney are not taking their feet off of the pedals. The band is readying their debut album for release in January on Forward/Deranged Records. Fall In is the first song the band have released from the forthcoming Sleep Through It and it may be their best yet. The way singer Lauren Shusterich’s voice floats over the haze of guitars is otherworldly – part Liz Fraser, part Rachel Goswell. Wildhoney are without a doubt the new shoegaze royalty!

stream: Wildhoney – Fall In

Wildhoney Keep the Good Stuff Coming

Posted on July 30, 2014 by Toby

With all of the excitement surrounding the Slowdive reunion, you would think folks would be tempted to delve into some great shoegaze happening right now instead of 20 years ago. I don’t know what the future holds for Baltimore shoegazers Wildhoney. Will they be revered on 10 or 20 years? Who knows and who cares, because right now they are the hottest bunch of pedal loving, hallucination inducing, blistering guitar benders going today. Their second single came out recently on Photobooth records and dare I say, it bests last year’s debut. Seventeen has a slight ‘Funky Drummer” beat, maelstrom of guitars and angelic vocals, it’s part MBV, part Slowdive, and some Lilys. Folks, singles don’t get much better than this.

The band are planning a full length for later this year, and plan to tour the East Coast as well. In the meantime you can buy the physical old school 7-inch single from Photobooth Records or the download from the band themselves.

Kaleidoscope of Flyying Colours

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Toby

One of the best EP’s to come out last year belonged to Australia’s Flyying Colours and now thanks to Shelflife Records here in the US (and Club ac30 in UK) we can hear this euphoria inducing record on vinyl. The EP contains five songs and not one of ’em could be considered filler. I remember back in the 90’s you would pick up the Melody Maker or NME and barely a week would go by when there was not some brand new blissed out guitar pop band that had just put out an amazing single. Later on they called it shoegaze (funny how we call it shoegaze today without a hint that it was originally coined as an insult.) but at the time it was My Bloody Valentine inspired hazy noise-pop.

Flyying Colours EP is destined to be grouped in with some of the classic EP’s of that golden shoegaze era. Like I said every song is killer, but WavyGravy is especially sure to please with its adrenalin shot of blistering guitars and Ride-like drony harmonizing vocals, but my favorite on the EP has to be Feathers. It jangles its way to my heart, and then bursts out of its downbeat cocoon near the end with a chorus that soars up to the tops of the trees. Along with Day Ravies, Flyying Colours are making Australia start to look like the new mecca for those in love with guitar drenched psychedelic pleasures.

Snap up this limited edition vinyl before it’s gone. You can order the Flyying Colours EP from Shelflife Records.

The Shoegaze Shangri-La of Day Ravies

Posted on October 22, 2013 by Toby

Why did Melbourne shoey-dreampoppers Day Ravies name themselves after the Kinks’ Ray Davies? Because Dave Davies wouldn’t have worked.Day Ravies as a name works, although every time I see the name the old man in me reverse the letters back to Ray Davies. What also works is the rayviedayvies debut album Tussle. Some songs are dreamy, some songs are shoey, some are jangley and some just plain ol’ pop.

As indicated by its kaleidoscopic cover, Tussle is a cornucopia of sound, a feast of aural pleasures. It overruns the cup with great songs that are influenced by Slowdive, Ringo Deathstarr, and the Boo Radleys to name a few. The band have three songwriters and singers, which provide a diversity to their sound, yet all three like loud guitars, space and Galaxy 500. Best shoegaze-dreampop record of the year honors goes to the Kinks, I mean Day Ravies!

Stream and buy Tussle at the Popfrenzy bandcamp page.
Read a short interview with the band over at Tonedeaf.

Extended Play Shoegaze

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Toby

A couple of recent shoegaze album lists from Sounds Better with Reverb and Surfing on Steam prompted me to recall those heady days of shoegaze between 1988 and 1994. My recollection wasn’t about the great albums, though there were some, but about the EP’s. Those of us there at the time know that it was all about the EP. Albums were slow to come and often disappointing but the EPs came quick and were often a band’s pinnacle. Often a band would do a brilliant EP and then never reach the same heights on the album, or never even make an album. Here is my list of favorite shoegaze EP’s from that time.

The Boo Radleys – Every Heaven EP (Rough Trade)

I believe this got single of the week in Melody Maker and for good reason. The killer bass line of The Finest Kiss draped over by shards of blistering guitar are a recipe for single of any week. This EP along with Boo Up! and Kaleidoscope make for an unsurpassed shoegaze EP trilogy.

Interesting Info: If you hadn’t noticed this blog is named after The Finest Kiss, the lead track on this EP.

Stream: The Finest Kiss

Sweet Jesus – Real Babe (Rough Trade)

No one ever mentions Sweet Jesus when they talk about shoegaze which is a minor crime. At the time they got tagged as the T-Rex’s of scene. These guys released four ep’s and each one of them is a shoegaze classic.

interesting Info: Many people thought singer Ben Bently was a girl based on his singing voice. He also had a beehive hairdo.

Stream: Real Babe

Chapterhouse – Mesmerize (Dedicated)

Mesmerize was kind of a psychedelic curve ball after the blissed out Whirlpool album with its piano riff and tuba blasts. This is the pinnacle of the Chapterhouse discography. Four songs pushing the boundaries of what people thought shoegaze was.

Interesting Info: My roommate in college played this EP so much he nearly made me hate it. He would not only play it to death, but sing Mesmerize a capella at top volume. Weird.

Stream: Mesmerize

Headtime – Have You Heard EP (Cherry Red)

Headtime probably got lumped into the shoegaze crowd because they favored a big guitar sound and had a slightly blurry fish cover for their first EP. The title track features some sitar which may be a first. In any event it’s a much better instrumental choice than the flute (hello Blind Mr. Jones).

Interesting Info: There is very little information to be be gleaned from the internet about this band. Richard Formby produced this EP. Headtime made one other EP called Graham before disbanding.

Stream: I Visualize

Moose – Jack (Hut)

Moose quickly eschewed the shoegaze tag on their first album XYZ, but their first two EP’s are firmly entrenched in the scene that celebrated itself. They would do an about face and get Mitch Easter to produce their first album and it would be brilliant. Not really a surprise since this is brilliant also.

Interesting Info: Moose toured the US opening for the Cocteau Twins in the mid 90’s.

Stream: Jack

Curve – Blindfold EP (Anxious)

Mining the industrial side of shoegaze, Curve’s first EP was pretty impressive. They had a rapper (JC-001) on Ten Little Girls, Wah Wah guitar on I Speak Your Every Word. The duo of Dean Garcia and Toni Halliday could do no wrong in the eyes of the British Press during the run of initial EPs. The Frozen EP and the Cherry EP soon followed, but didn’t reach the heights of this one.

Interesting Info: Toni Halliday put out a solo album called Hearts and Handshakes prior to forming Curve. Yes it’s as bad as the title suggests.

Stream: Ten Little Girls

My Bloody Valentine – Tremelo (Creation)

No shoegaze list is complete without the godfathers of shoegaze. The Tremelo EP upped the stakes for everyone. These were guitars!?!? They sounded like flutes and sound tubes. Kevin Shields could probably make his guitar sound like purring kitty cat if we wanted to

Interesting Info: I once interviewed Kevin Shields and asked him about his lyrics. That’s why I don’t get paid to do this.

Stream: Swallow

Revolver – Venice (Hut)

Revolver were a trio of teenagers that took a powerpop bent on shoegaze. Their first two EPs (45 and Crimson) were spotty, but the third one really seemed catch them finally living up to their potential. Red All Over is great and their cover of Strawberry Switchblade’s Since Yesterday was a pleasant surprise.

Interesting Info: Revolver released on one album called Cold Water Flat. Singer and guitarist Mat Flint currently plays in Deep Cut.

Stream: Red All Over

Pale Saints – Half-life Remembered (4AD)

A concept EP about life in the womb. This EP was produced by Chris Allison who had recently worked with the Wedding Present and he did make them sound a bit more rocking. This is probably the most straightforward the Pale Saints ever sounded. If you bought the vinyl version of this, it had a freaky hidden fifth track called The Colour of the Sky. To hear it you had the lift up the needle and place it down. Your reward was Ian Masters shrieking at the top of his lungs.

Interesting Info: Masters left the Pale Saints after their next album In Ribbons and Meriel Barham took over singing duties on the band’s final underwhelming album Slow Buildings.

Stream: Half-life Remembered

House of Love – Christine (Creation)

This may be a stretch, lumping the House of Love in with the shoegazers, but I would argue that Christine is early and influential in the scene. It’s droning vocal and buzzing guitars would be a blueprint many subsequent bands would use.

Interesting Info: This EP featured Andrea Heukam who provided vocals on the Hill. She left the band soon after.

Stream: Christine

The Bardots – Pretty O (Cheree)

Veering toward the dreampop side of shoegaze the Bardots featured the feminine sounding Simon Dunford on vocals. Similar to Sweet Jesus, many people thought he was a girl when they heard him sing. The Pretty-O EP featured big hooks and great guitars. The younger me didn’t appreciate them as much as the older me does now. Both of their albums Eye Baby and V-Neck are worth seeking out as is their first single Sad Anne.

Interesting Info: The Bardots featured Krzysztof Fijalkowski on guitar, the brother of Adorable singer Pete Fijalkowski.

Stream: Pretty O

Ride – Ride (Creation)

This came out in the US on the Smile compilation which combined this EP and the Play EP. For my money Chelsea Girl and Drive Blind are unbeatable. Drive Blind would become Ride’s You Made Me Realize.

Interesting Info: Andy Bell went on to play in the mostly awful Hurricane #1 and then play bass in Oasis.

Stream: Chelsea Girl

Swervedriver – Duel – (Creation)

Up until Duel I didn’t have much interest in Swervedriver’s take on Dinosaur Jr. With Duel they started to forge a new path. This three song EP had no filler, but it was easy to overlook Plane Over the Skyline and Year of the Girl due to the fact the Duel blistered like a star in very close proximity.

Interesting Info: Swervedriver have a history of bad luck with record labels. They were dropped from Creation a week after the release of their best album Ejector Seat Reservation and then after signing with Geffen in the US, they were dropped just before their fourth album was to be released. It would be years before that album 99th Dream would see the light of day.

Stream: Duel

Lush – Mad Love (4AD)

Lush never really lived up to the promise of their first three EPs. Scar was the second in that line and if featured Lush free of expectations. De-Luxe and Downer are blissed out and blistering and Thoughtforms is a great shoegaze lullaby.

Interesting Info: After Lush broke up Miki Berenyi retired from bands, though she has been coaxed to come out of retirement briefly by Eric Matthews and Hard Skin. Emma Anderson went on to form Sing-Sing with Lisa O’Neill.

Stream: Downer

Slowdive – Holding Our Breath (Creation)

Slowdive were the downers of shoegaze. The mellow youngsters who sounded like they had been doing this sort of thing for ages. This EP featured one of the best Slowdive songs Catch the Breeze which would show up later on their first album, but it also contained the equally mesmerizing Shine and a cover of Syd Barrett’s Golden Hair.

Interesting Info: Slowdive would later become a techno group on their final album Pygmalion and then leader Neil Halstead would junk all of his effects pedals and go alt-country in Mojave 3.

Stream: Shine

Telescopes – Celeste (Creation)

Telescopes were the shoegaze band that never seemed to get any respect. They were on the right label and they had good songs, but never seemed to catch on. Maybe it was because their albums never reached the heights of the songs on the Celeste EP and its precursor Everso.

Interesting Info: The Telescopes are still around and are playing the Comet here in Seattle April 15.

Stream: Celeste

February Fourteenth – Lilys (Slumberland)

The Lilys first incarnation was as a shoegaze band. Their first single may have been unfairly disparaged for sounding too much like My Bloody Valentine. Criticisms aside, it was uncanny how they took the MBV baton and ran with it on a shoe string budget.

Interesting Info: Lilys went on to morph into a mod pop band and scored a hit single and a Levis advertisement in the UK.

Stream: February Fourteenth

Ecstasy of St. Theresa – Fluidtrance Centauri (Free)
Shoegaze knows no borders. This Czech band were always on the perifery of the scene due mostly to geography and their tendency to change their sound every couple of releases. All three songs on this EP have classic quiet-loud moments that shoegaze fans cannot get enough of.

Interesting Info: Ecstasy of St. Theresa teamed up with British Sea Power in 2004 to release the single A Lovely Day Tomorrow sung in both English and Czech.

Stream: Fluidum

Velocity Girl – My Forgotten Favorite (Slumberland)

Not many American bands contributed anything new to shoegaze, but Velocity Girl with this single seemed to take what was going on in the UK and put their own mark on it. My Forgotten Favorite is a classic and the b-side Why Should I Be Nice To You is no slouch either.

Interesting Info: The original singer in the band was Bridget Cross. She left the band after the release of their first single I Don’t Care If You Go and went on to join Unrest.

Stream: Forgotten Favorite

Bleach – Snag EP (Way Cool)

Bleach were briefly shoegaze and then they became something else and then they broke up. The Snag EP was a perfect snapshot of that sweet spot. Bethesda still holds up after 22 years.

Interesting Info: I got nothing. They were from Ipswich?

Stream: Bethesda

Adorable – Sunshine Smile (Creation)

I always thought Adorable were more Bunnymen than shoegaze, but consensus says that they were shoegaze and who am I to argue? This three song EP is packed with two of the band’s best songs. Sunshine Smile crashes into the room and totally wrecks it and then A To Fade, which singer Pete Fijalkowski says was heavily based on the Go-Betweens Cattle and Cane, heals all the wounds.

Interesting Info: Fijalkowski went on to form Polak with his brother Krzysztof. He has most recently been working with House of Love guitarist Terry Bickers.

Stream: Sunshine Smile

Catherine Wheel – Black Metallic (Polydor)

One of the great things about these shoegaze EP’s was that the bands treated them it might be their last release, packing them with great songs. Catherine Wheel were no exception. Everyone knows Black Metallic, but buried on this EP is Let Me Down Again which I always thought was as good as the title track.

Interesting Info: Catherine Wheel were the most successful UK shoegaze band in the States, probably due to their heavier tendencies and willingness to tour. Singer Rob Dickenson is the cousin of Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickenson.

Stream: Let Me Down Again

Nyack – Savage Smile EP (Echo)

This EP was so good and then then the follow up album was kind of a let down. Nyack were from Nyack, New York (duh), but didn’t sound it. They sounded english and they had an English record label. The only give-away that they were from NY was Blondie cover. That aside This EP’s other three songs were all aces.

Interesting Info: Before they were called Nyack, they went by Aenone and released a similar sounding EP on Kramer’s Kokopop label.

Stream: Savage Smile

Atlas Sound at High Dive

Posted on March 8, 2008 by Toby

Atlas Sound at High Dive, Seattle | 6 March 2008

I was walking home from the bus last night right around dusk and the sky over the Olympic Mountains was dark, but it was cracked open with bright sky showing through. I was listening to the Atlas Sound album Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel and it was the perfect soundtrack for that ominous and majestic sky. Cut to the High Dive later that night and Bradford Cox saying ‘can you change the lighting, I feel like I’m in a sewer’. Cox comes across as a funny, amiable guy on stage. At one point he asked the audience what kind of music they were into, someone yelled out Slowdive, and then somebody yells Souvlaki Space Station. Cox, says, I don’t know them, and then the guy yells, “It’s a Slowdive Song”. Bradford deadpans, “I’m not really into shoegaze.”

Atlas Sound definitely has Slowdive like sound, but I thought it was the dub-like bass lines last night that kept reminding me of Slowdive. Don’t get me wrong the soaring effects laden guitars last night were very plentiful, but Atlas Sound were firmly grounded with an ace all girl rhythm section which made the songs really get into some hypnotic grooves. Between songs the band was all about goofing off, playing parts Collective Soul songs to hilarious affect and giving us a bit of a Chicago House Music send-up. They kicked off their set with post-rockish Cold as Ice and then stepped it up with an excellent version River Card, which was anchored by an excellent dub-bass line. Getting lost in the haze of guitar, I found the show coming to an end just as it seemed to be starting. I looked at my watch and realized that they’d played for a little more than an hour, essentially playing their entire album.

mp3: Atlas Sound – River Card

buy it: Atlas Sound – Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel

mp3: Slowdive – Souvlaki Space Station (from Souvlaki)

I caught opener White Rainbow, which is Adam Forkner. He also plays guitar in Atlas Sound. Watching White Rainbow was kind of like watching paint dry. Forkner sat cross- legged on the floor cradling his guitar and surrounded by effects pedals and a small keyboard. He stayed in that position the entire time. He started off with an ambient hum, gradually adding sampled effects from his guitar and keyboard, and finally looped beat. The entire set was one long piece of music, kind of cool to hear, but watching it wasn’t the most exciting thing.