Wildhoney | the finest kiss

Big Brain Rock

Posted on May 28, 2020 by Toby

When Baltimore shoegazers Wildhoney decided to up and relocate to the west coast, I guess that slightly upset the applecart. Sometimes a change of scenery can change your perspective on many things. In this case, for a few of the Wildhoney folks after mixing with some new blood they set their sites on extending their comfort zone and trading in some dreaminess for droniness. This new group go by the name Dummy and their social media bi-line states that “making music should not be fun.”

Could have fooled me. This five song EP certainly leaves the impression that they’re having fun. Wading into similar waters as the new Peel Dream Magazine LP, both Slacker Mask and Angel Gear deftly combine elements of My Bloody Valentine and Stereolab generating amazing results. Things take an interesting turn with Folk Song which does a really cool Nico/Electrelane thing and then for their final trick, Touch The Chimes takes an eight minute ambient exit into the beyond. Lots to like here. Can’t wait to see where Dummy go next.

Best of Something

Posted on January 3, 2016 by Toby

I hope you looking for a few more records to buy before the wave of 2016 releases hits I didn’t count them and they’re in no particular order but each album won in its own unique category. I don’t have any small statuettes to hand out, but I gave each of my favorite albums an award.

Places To Hide – Strange Lyfe (Irrelevant)
Best Posthumous Album: This Atlanta band broke up before releasing their second album. Great punk and post punk anthems in the vein of X, Versus and Seam.

The Intelligence – Vintage Future (In the Red)
Best Album by an Ex-Seattle Band: I say this about every Intelligence album, but it was their best record yet.

King Cyst – King of New York (Underwater Peoples)
Best Canterbury Scene Influenced Album: The Brooklyn group’s second album had me checking the release date on this whimsical beauty.

Protomartyr – The Agent Intellect (Hardly Art)
Best Post-Punk Rust Belt Album: The third LP by this Detroit band continues the upward trajectory initialized by last year’s Under Color of Official Right.

Wildhoney – Sleep Through It (Topshelf)
Best Shoegaze Album: Shoegaze has officially become a genre of music, but so few bands in the genre understand that you still need to write great songs to accompany the tremelo bar and effects pedals. That’s not a problem for Wildhoney.

The Chills – Silver Bullets (Fire)
Best Comeback Album: After years of personal struggles, Martin Phillips finally reinitialized the Chills and created masterpiece that sounds like he hadn’t been out of the game over 20 years.

Helen – The Original Faces (Kranky)
Best Album That Sounds Like It Was Mastered from a Cassette: Liz Harris aka Grouper goes down the Black Tambourine / Vivian Girls rabbit hole and emerges from a mountain top.

Shopping – Why Choose (FatCat)
Best ESG-Gang of Four Inspired Album: The London band’s second album is not vastly different from their debut except that the songs are bigger, better more tightly wound.

Mammoth Penguins – Hide and Seek (Fortuna Pop!)
Best Album by Large Flightless Birds: Standard Fare’s Emma Kupa switched from bass to guitar in her new band and comes up with a more rawkus but no less poignant record.

Cold Beat – Into the Air (Crime On the Moon)
Best Polar Ice Cap Melting Album: Former Grass Widow bassist Hannah Lew immerses her band into an 1980’s inspired synth pop sound that on the surface sounds cold, but has a warmth and playfullness on its underbelly that could be blamed for contributing to global warming.

Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit (Mom + Pop)
Best Stream of Conscious Album: I was surprised at how polarizing this record was, it seemed like you either loved it or hated it. I was a fan of how Courtney Barnett innately was able to make her stream of conscious lyrics make sense over some incredible hooks.

Die Verboten – Die Verboten 2007 (Deewee)
Best Album from 2007: Recorded eight years ago, the Belgian Krautrock influenced collective finally got around to releasing their debut this year. As you might have guessed it sounds timeless.

Downtown Boys – Full Communism (Don Giovanni)
Best Timely Punk Album: It seemed like this Providence, Rhode Island band hit on all the top issues in America (Police Killings, Black Lives, and the 1% to name a few) on Full Communism. Add in a twin saxophone bed of chaos and you have the best pure punk record I’ve heard in a long time.

Finnmark! – Things Always Change (Beko)
Best Indiepop Album by English People Masquerading as Scandinavians: Part Cats on Fire and part Lucksmiths this erudite record caught my indiepop fancy.

Girls Names – Arms Around a Vision (Tough Love)
Best Album by a Former Slumberland and Captured Tracks Band: Girls Names slightly reinvent themselves on their third LP. It’s darker, colder bleaker and better than anything they’ve ever done.

Hooton Tennis Club – Highest Point In Cliff Town (Heavenly)
Best Album of Shambolic Anthems: Hooton Tennis Club sound like they’ve got a Pavement attitude and the pop licks of Teenage Fanclub. Formidable attributes that they employ to precise effect.

Eternal Summers – Gold and Stone (Kanine)
Best Comeback Album by a Band the Never Went Away: Roanoke, Virginia’s Eternal Summers never went away, in fact they’ve been consistently putting out records. Gold and Stone sees them taking a great leap in consistency and quality to make their best album since their debut.

Grubs – It Must Be Grubs (Tuff Enuff)
Best Album by a Joanna Gruesome Spin-off: Grubs also get an award for the shortest album of the year. These 11 songs fly by in about 20 minutes but leave a lasting impression thanks to singer Roxy Brennan sweet voice.

Hierophants – Parallax Error (Goner)
Best Devo Inspired Album: Australia’s Hierophants debut channels Chuck Berry, Beach Boys but mostly Devo to jarring effect. Disconcerting, discombobulated and disgreat.

Robert Forster – Songs to Play (Tapete)
Best Album that References Twitter: When artists incorporate references to the internet I usually cringe, but Robert Forster does it in smile inducing way on Let Me Imagine You. It was good to have one of the masters back.

Nick Hessler – Soft Connections (Captured Tracks)
Best Album by a Yay! Records Alumni: Formerly playing under the Catwalk moniker Nick Hessler decided to ‘solo’ on his debut LP. Soft Connections is a brilliant slice of Aztec Camera inspired pop.

Best Friends – Hot. Reckless. Totally Insane. (FatCat)
Best Garage Rock Inspired by Orange Juice: Best Friends’ debut isn’t groundbreaking, earth shattering or revolutionary. It’s just plain fun.

Nicole Willis & the Soul Investigators – Happiness In Every Style (Timmion)
Best Helsinki Soul Album: Brooklyn born Willis and her Finish Soul Investigators made one of my favorite soul revival records of the year.

Day Ravies – Liminal Zones (Sonic Masala)
Best Album by a Fake Kinks Revival Band: On their second LP, Sydny’s Day Ravies shed any hint of shoegaze and go for a raw psychedelic sound and prove that they’re good at that too.

Expert Alterations – You Can’t Always Be Right (Kanine)
Best Jangle Pop Album: You can’t always be right, but at least you can sound good even if you favor sonically dissonant pop. If this is album is wrong, I don’t want to be right

Outfit – Slowness (Memphis Industries)
Best Mark Hollis Revival Album: The sophomore album from Liverpool’s Outfit was entrancing. It contained no obvious hits, but it was a record that easily commanded my interest listen after listen.

Knife Pleats – Hat Bark Beach (Lost Sound)
Best West Coast 90’s Indiepop Album: Rose Melberg finally decides to revisit her Tiger Trap and Go Sailor roots with her new band and proceeds to satisfy the soul.

The Fireworks – Switch Me On (Shelflife)
Best Buzzy Noise Pop Album: An intensely energetic debut based on a Jesus & Mary Chain, Shop Assistants and the Razorcuts. This one was right in my wheelhouse!

Sauna Youth – Distractions (Upset the Rhythm)
Best Album by a band With an Alter Ego: No their not Sonic Youth’s alter ego, Sauna Youth moonlight as Monotony. Distractions was tour de force of frantic noisy anthems influenced by the Fall and Wire.

Primitive Parts – Primitive Parts (Trouble In Mind)
Best Blur Album This Year: Male Bounding and Sauna Youth members team up for a straightforward maelstrom of sharp guitar focused punkish pop.

Valet – Nature (Kranky)
Best Cocteau Twins Impersonation: This Portland group start anew on Nature and thanks to Honey Owens ethereal voice aim for the stars.

Traams – Modern Dancing (FatCat)
Best Krauty-Shouty Album: I really liked Traams’ debut album, but Traams fine tuned their sound into controlled chaos to take Modern Dancing to the next level.

Kitchen’s Floor – Battle of Brisbane (Bruit Direct)
Best Dissonant Brutalist Album: Battle of Brisbane has topical similarities with Woolen Men’s Temporary Monument, but Matt Kennedy’s Kitchen’s Floor sounds angrier and ready for a fight.

Terrible Truths – Terrible Truths (Bedroom Suck)
Best Intensely Laid-back Album: This album had some similarities with the Shopping LP, but Terrible Truths somehow accomplish the trick of sounding tightly wound and laid back at once.

Woolen Men – Temporary Monument (Woodsist)
Best Monument to the Have Nots: Portland’s Woolen Men combine elements of Wire, the Wipers and REM to create a passionate document berating the new rich and lingering recession.

Saun & Starr – Look Closer (Daptone)
Best Surprise Album by Back-up Singers: Starr Duncan Lowe and Saundra Williams were backup singers for Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings. I think they will have their own permanent gig after this stellar debut.

Jessica Pratt – On Your Own Love Again (Drag City)
Best Album to Listen to Under a Pink Moon: If you didn’t know better, you would assume that this album is 50 years old and was produced by Joe Boyd. Out of time and otherworldly.

Twerps – Range Anxiety (Merge)
Best Australian Album to Sound like It’s from New Zealand: No sophomore slump problems from this Melbourne band, in fact they appear to be a bottomless well of pop goodness.

Viet Cong – Viet Cong (JagJaguwar)
Best Ballsy album by a band with no Balls: This Canadian band take their sound from many brave sounding bans like Gang of Four, the Comsat Angels and the Chameleons. Too bad they’re waffling under pressure to change their name.

Frankie & the Witch Fingers – Frankie & the Witch Fingers (Permanent)
Best Garage Rock Album: This album made me appreciate the saturated garage rock genre again.

Thee Oh Sees – Mutilator Defeated At Last (Castle Face)
Best John Dwyer Album of the Year: The most varied and consistent album yet from this perennial favorite.

Sheer Agony – Masterpiece (Couple Skate)
Smartest Canadian Rock Album With an Old Guy on the Cover: How smart? How about combining mod era Lilys with the skewed pop of the Shins to come up with an endlessly interesting and engaging LP. This Montreal group seem to already have mastered everything on their debut.

Willie Weird – The Scuzzy Inputs Of Willie Weird (Stroll On)
Best Album to Go Off the Deep End: Kelley Stolz’s alter ego comes up with a fractured pop gem

Joanna Gruesome – Peanut Butter (Slumberland)
Best Album to Supply a Vegetarian Source of Protein: The second album of jarring pop from this Cardiff group really sticks to your ribs.

Tam Vantage – Life in High Definition (Lost and Lonesome)
Best Album by a Pop Single: The debut solo album from former Pop Singles front man is a complex and accomplished record.

The Shifters – The Shifters (Comfort 35)
Best Hex Enduction Album: This was the first time I can ever remember not buying the new Fall album. I smartly spent my money on the Shifters’ cassette instead.

Some Good EPs from 2015

Posted on December 12, 2015 by Toby

The extended play record never seems to get enough credit. Few do a year end list of EP’s, and if they do it gets ignored. So what better reason to do one, right? Does it get ignored? Check. Does nobody do one? Check. Does anyone even listen to EP’s? There must be a couple of you out there, right? So here’s a grouping of my favorite ones from the past 12 months. If it came out on 10″, 12″, cassette, or was a download only of 8 songs or less then it qualified for this list.

Cruising – Cruising (Tough Love)
Buy | Listen

Cruising come from Ireland and are made up of members of Girls Names, September Girls, Sea Pinks and Logikparty. Singer Benni Johnston has a piercingly cool voice that reminds me of Siouxsie and it fits perfectly with these dark, grimy punk songs. This EP left me in the dust.

Wildhoney – Your Face Sideways (Top Shelf)
Buy | Listen

As if releasing one really good album this year wasn’t enough, Baltimore’s Wildhoney follow it up with an EP that goes for the shoegaze – noise pop jugular. This EP reminds me of the 90’s UK indie scene when bands like the Boo Radleys, Ride and the Pale Saints with a seemingly endless supplies of great songs would knock off amazing EP after EP.

Clap! Clap! – Simple (Black Acre)
Buy | Listen

Italy’s Cristiano Crisci is back with the follow up to last year’s epic Taya Bebba LP. Simple is more of the same if not a better mix of jazz, tribal beats and experimental techno dots and loops.

Tuff Love – Dross (Lost Map)
Buy | Listen

Tuff Love duo Julie Eisenstein and Suse Bear seem to effortlessly make crunchingly good guitar rock. With a nod to 90’s greats like the Breeders, Elastica and Sebadoh their Dross EP is a head bopping delight.

Tahitian Sons – Manchester Based Band (Self-released)
Buy | Listen

Confusingly Tahitian Sons are from Manchester. To clear things up they called their second EP Manchester Based Band. The singer kind of sounds like someone’s granddad, but in a cool way. Their low-fi pop recalls Felt and the Fall on Quaaludes. Lullabies for old punks and indie kids who thought the world passed them by.

Colorworks – Joyla Red (Self-released)
Buy | Listen

This is the first release for Seattle’s Colorworks, but their form of 60’s psychedelic pop is so accomplished that you might think it’s some long lost Elephant 6 band. Joyla Red evokes the sounds of Elephant 6 influences like the Zombies, Byrds, and the Kinks in its sound, but it’s not just a hollow homage. They’ve got the songs to match the sound.

Red Spencer – Red Spencer (Deaf Ambitions)
Buy | Listen

Red Spencer’s self-titled debut is one jangle filled mellow vibe. I could probably throw out the Flying Nun descriptor and not be too far off, but they have an element of the Brewis Brothers’ Field Music to them as well. Melbourne brothers Dave and Aiden McMillian deal in timeless pop no matter what you hear as their influences.

Frida & Ale – I Don’t Like to See Others Having Fun (WNBB)
Buy | Listen

It was so good to hear Frida from Rough Bunnies back making a record. On this EP she teamed up with Ale of Italy’s Le Man Avec Les Lunette. Together they made a wonderful understated acoustic record about self-destructive girl friends and Bryan Adams songs.

Flyying Colours – ROYGBIV (Shelflife)
Buy | Listen

Even in the internet age releasing EP’s doesn’t merit the same attention a full length album does. Case in point is Australia’s Flyying Colours who have two masterful EP’s beautiful shoegaze noise under their belts, but seemingly few accolades. Well, here’s one. Go get this amazing record, or better yet they’ve released a CD version containing both EP’s which ends up equaling one super amazing record.

Diet Cig – Over Easy (Father/Daughter)
Buy | Listen

New Paltz, New York boy girl duo Alex Luciano and Noah Bowman make a cute little ruckus that has it’s roots in 90’s US indiepop bands like Courtney Love, Small Factory and Tiger Trap. They’re like a breath of fresh air in this present day overwraught indie world.

Day Ravies – Under the Lamp (Strange Pursuits)
Buy | Listen

Sydney, Australia’s Day Ravies continue their streak with this four song EP. They seemed to shed some of the shoegaze leanings of their debut for a more straightforward approach to their songs. It was no less affecting, with songs like Sleepwalk and Perennial that kept the flames alight until LP number two which followed later in the year.

Alpaca Sports – When You Need Me Most (Elefant)
Buy | Listen

Swedish indiepop duo follow up last year’s debut LP with more catchy light sounding pop with nary a dark or ill thought. This is innocent, virgin, pristine pop.

Bitchin Bajas – Transporteur (Hands in the Dark)
Buy | Listen

Chicago instrumental outfit Bitchin Bajas deliver a great set of music that veers from motorik zone-outs to Eno inspired ambiance to ethereal Oldfield-seque ditties.

Mommy Long Legs – Assholes (Self-released)
Buy | Listen

Seattle punks on the same team as Childbirth, Tacocat and Wimps put out two EP’s this year. I picked this one because I think it contains two of their best songs. Assholes decry’s the establishment as well as anything has in the last 20 years and Weird Girl celebrates shoplifting at JC Penny and watching TV. Mommy Long Legs are the right combination of weird and pissed and funny.

Wildhoney Make the Hardcore Kids Swoon

Posted on December 2, 2015 by Toby

Wildhoney at the Neptune Theatre, Seattle | 17 November 2015

I always wonder if a band that makes great records can deliver them live, especially today in today’s world full of bands making albums in their bedroom on their laptop. Wildhoney proved that they are the real deal opening for a couple hard core bands La Dispute and Envy at the Neptune Theatre in Seattle’s University District. The audience was predominately young hardcore fans, but the Baltimore band seemed to win them over with their infectious blend of ethereal noisepop and shoegaze.

Singer Lauren Shusterich’s voice easily danced over the tremolo laden wall of guitars. Mid-set a girl behind me yelled out to the band “You’re sooo cute!” I think they may have momentarily blushed, but then they tore into another one of their seemingly endless supply of killer songs. The night before OG shoegazers Ride had played the same stage. I didn’t go and after seeing Wildhoney I don’t think I missed anything.

Don’t miss their latest EP Your Face Sideways (recorded by Gary Olson of the Ladybug Transistor) which evokes some serious Velocity Girl vibes.

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.

Best Ones of the Year So Far

Posted on August 7, 2015 by Toby

This was supposed to be a mid-year list. Actually it still is, but it’s month late. What does that make it? I’m still calling it a mid year list since I saw mid year lists in May. It’s also not as diverse as I was hoping it would be as you will likely notice that the letter F is over-represented here. Hopefully some of the other letters will get a little more attention in the year end list. Hope you find something you might have missed and it’s in reverse alphabetical order for your convenience!

Zebra Hunt – City Sighs (Tenorio Cotobade)

It just so happens that doing this list in reverse alphabetical order puts my favorite album of the year so far at the top of the list. How’s that for coincidence? Hopefully you already know and own this record. If not, you need it in your life because who doesn’t need a little kiwi flavored jangle served up by this Seattle trio?