Living Hour is a Winnipeg, MB-based indie rock quartet that can trace their origins to when they formed during basement jam sessions in which they would write dreamy and cinematic songs inspired by the enormous prairie skies that surround their hometown. And unsurprisingly, the sound that the Canadian quartet developed manages to draw from shoegazer rock, dream pop and chillwave among other genres. Now, if you had been frequenting this site back in 2015, you may recall that I wrote about “Seagull,” a single that reminded me quite a bit of Mazzy Star‘s “Fade Into You.”
The Canadian quartet is currently in the middle of a Stateside tour, including a lengthy stop in Austin for SXSW — in fact, I think at this moment they’re playing at the Force Field PR Showcase; and interestingly enough, just before the band embarked on their tour, they recorded a live version of an ethereal and gorgeous new single “Inside.” And much like “Seagull,” the new will further cement the quartet’s reputation for a sound that draws from shoegaze and dream pop paired with ethereal and haunting vocals, that possesses a cinematic quality; but unlike its predecessor, the band pairs a gorgeous and mournful horn arrangement at the song’s cathartic coda.
The live footage of the song was shot by Jelly Fish Jam during a recent performance at the West End Cultural Center in Winnipeg Manitoba, and as you can see, the band expands to a septet to evoke an even larger, more lush and enveloping sound.
Comprised of its founding duo Thomas Barrett (vocals, guitar) and Lysa Opfer (vocals bass) along with Nick D’Amore (drums), who joined the band in 2015, the Jersey City, NJ-based shoegazer trio Overlake officially formed in 2012 and can trace its origins to when its founding duo were bandmates in a local hard rock band. Opfer and Barrett began to bond over their mutual love of shoegaze and 80s and 90s alt rock and after practices and rehearsals, the duo would spend time jamming together — and after about a year of jamming and songwriting, the duo recorded their 2014 full-length debut Sighs, which was praised for a sound that drew from My Bloody Valentine, Pavement and Sonic Youth among others.
Now, in terms of the JOVM universe, it’s been some time since I’ve written about the trio but as it turns out the New Jersey-based shoegazers have been pretty busy as they’ve spent the past couple of years extensively touring the US in support of Sighs and the “Travelogue”/”Winter is Why” 7 inch and writing and recording their sophomore Fall, which is slated for a May 12, 2017 release through Bar/None Records. Reportedly, the new album will build upon the massive and enveloping sound of their debut while adding some subtle flourishes as Claudia Chopek, who has worked with Norah Jones, TV on the Radio, The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger and others, contributes piano and violin on a couple of songs. And from the album’s first single “Winter Is Why” the band has continued to subtly expand upon their sound — while retaining a dreamy and enveloping quality to the moody proceedings, the song posses a m a rousing, arena rock-friendly, anthemic hook and Opfer and Barrett harmonized choruses paired with some gorgeous guitar work that conveys a muscular and forceful insistence that reminds me a bit of A Northern Soul and Urban Hymns-era The Verve.
Comprised of two husband and wife couples, Christina Carmona (vocals, bass) and Noe Carmona (guitar, keys) and Michelle Soto (guitar, vocals) and Jake Soto (drums), the Austin, TX-based dream pop/shoegaze quartet Blushing can trace its origins to the summer of 2015 when its founding member Michelle Soto recruited her classically trained friend Christina Carmona to join her new project, after several years of writing material on guitar. Soto and Carmona then recruited their spouses to complete the band’s lineup and after about a year of writing and revising their material, the newly formed quartet went into Bad Wolf Recordings to record their debut EP Tether, which was mixed and mastered by Philip Odom and released earlier this year.
“Tether,” the EP’s title track and immersive first single finds the band pairing Carmona and Soto’s ethereal harmonizing with shimmering guitar chords, a propulsive rhythm section, a soaring hook and some guitar pyrotechnics during an immense solo in a way that brings to mind Cocteau Twins, The Sundays, Belly, Beach House, Real Estate and A Storm in Heaven-era The Verve and Lightfoils, complete with a subtly cosmic glow.
Comprised of Dave Woody (guitar, vocals), Dave Bowman (bass) and Andrew Platts (drums), Wilding is a Los Angeles, CA-based indie rock trio and although the trio cite influences including Hum, Fugazi,Mew, M83, Autolux and Interpol among others — although interestingly enough, as you’ll hear on “Hot Prowl,” the latest single off the trio’s forthcoming EP Secular Music, the band specializes in an anthemic and moody shoegaze that’s sonically reminiscent to the likes of Jersey City, NJ’s Overlake, Chicago’s Lightfoils and others, complete with some explosive guitar pyrotechnics paired with thundering and insistent drumming.
Now if you had been frequenting this site over the last few months of 2016, you’d recall that with the release of “Help Yourself” and several other singles the Welsh-born, London-based singer/songwriter and guitarist Sarah Howells, best known as Bryde quickly exploded into both the British and international scene as she received praise from Nylon, The Line of Best Fit and Earmilk and airplay from BBC Radio 6, BBC Radio Wales, Radio X and Huw Stephens’ BBC Radio 1 show for a sound that’s been compared to the likes of Jeff Buckley, Sharon Van Etten, Ben Howard and London Grammar while thematically focusing on complex, ambivalent and hopelessly entangled relationships.
Howells’ previous single and her JOVM debut, “Wouldn’t That Make You Feel Good” was a boozy and woozy dirge in which the Welsh-born, London-based singer/songwriter and guitarist’s aching vocals are paired with bluesy yet shoegazer-leaning power chords reminiscent of PJ Harvey, in a song that built up into a cathartic and explosive bridge before gently fading out. Howells’ latest single “Less” continues her successful collaboration with producer Bill Ryder-Jones and it’s a viscerally forceful 90s alt rock-leaning track featuring an alternating quiet, loud, quiet song structure with an anthemic and cathartic hook. And while still channeling PJ Harvey, the song also manages to nod at Liz Phair, Hole and others, complete with an unflinching honesty and vulnerability.
With the release of their self-titled full-length debut, the Welsh quintet Chain of Flowers have quickly established a growing national and international reputation for a dense, noisy and punishing shoegazer-like sound that’s been compared favorably to The Smiths, Joy Division, Eagulls, Iceage, Ceremony and The Cure — and as a result, the band has received extensive airplay on BBC Radio 6 and KEXP and have toured across the UK with The Fall, The Chameleons, Ceremony, JOVM mainstays A Place to Bury Strangers, Nothing, Eagulls and others. Building upon 2016’s massive buzz, the members of the band will be releasing a 7″ through Blackest Ever Black Records sometime this month and next month, will be in Austin, TX playing a number of SXSW showcases celebrating and promoting both British and Welsh artists. In the meantime, “Crisis,” off their self-titled debut is a murky and pummeling shoegazer track in which thunderous and propulsive drumming is paired with towering layers of shimmering and swirling guitars fed through delay and reverb pedal and submerged, distorted vocals. Indeed, much like The Jesus and Mary Chain, the aforementioned A Place to Bury Strangers, Slowdive and even Grave Babies, the Welsh band’s sound is muscular yet enveloping, murky yet stunningly beautiful — and evokes a contemporary anxiousness and powerlessness.
Initially begun as the solo recording project of Salt Lake City, UT-based founding member and frontman Jordon Strang and now currently a quartet, indie rock/shoegazer rock band No Sun has seen regional and national attention for a harder and more modern take on shoegaze that draws from the genre’s masters, Swervedriver, RIDE and Failure and contemporaries including Pity Sex, Silversun Pickups and others. The Salt Lake City, UT-based band’s full-length debut It’s Only was released through The Native Sound Records and hot on its heels, the members of No Sun released a brooding, sludgy grunge rock-leaning cover of Dead Kennedys “Nazi Punks Fuck Off,” a song that’s become much more urgent, in light of increasing anti-Semitic and racist-based attacks and bullying across the country.
“America has shown its very disgusting underbelly over the past few months, and I’m sure it will only get worse. Going to shows, and the DIY community in general shoudl be a place where everyone feels safe, except for those that live to make others feel unsafe for something as simple as the color of their skin, their gender identity or their sexual orientation. We covered this song to let everyone know that we think Nazism and bigotry is not welcome, and will not be tolerated within our fanbase or at any of our shows,” the band’s founder and frontman Jordon Stang says of why they decided to cover the song.
Lyrics
Punk ain’t no religious cult
Punk means thinkin’ for yourself
You ain’t hardcore ’cause you spike your hair
When a jock still lives inside your head
Nazi punks
Nazi punks
Nazi punks fuck off
Nazi punks
Nazi punks
Nazi punks fuck off
If you’ve come to fight, get outta here
You ain’t no better than the bouncers
We ain’t tryin’ to be police
When you ape the cops it ain’t anarchy
Nazi punks
Nazi punks
Nazi punks fuck off
Nazi punks
Nazi punks
Nazi punks fuck off
Ten guys jump one, what a man
You fight each other, the police state wins
Stab your backs when you trash our halls
Trash a bank if you’ve got real balls
You still think Swastikas look cool
The real Nazis run your schools
They’re coaches, businessmen and cops
In a real fourth Reich you’ll be the first to go
Nazi punks
Nazi punks
Nazi punks fuck off
Nazi punks
Nazi punks
Nazi punks fuck off
You’ll be the first to go
You’ll be the first to go
You’ll be the first to go
Unless you think
No Sun will be embarking on a lengthy tour to support their debut album throughout March and April — and it’ll include an NYC area stop at Saint Vitus on March 25, 2017. Check out tour dates below.
Tour Dates:
3/9 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
3/10 Denver, CO @ Mutiny Information Cafe
3/11 Kansas City, MO @ The Couch
3/12 St. Louis, MO @ Foam
3/13 Milwaukee, MN @ Ground Zero
3/14 Minneapolis, MN @ Safe Haus
3/15 Chicago, IL @ Quenchers
3/16 Fort Wayne, IN @ The Tiger Room
3/17 Elyria, OH @ Blank State Elyria
3/18 Toronto, ON @ The Smiling Buddha
3/19 Montreal, QC @ Brasserie Beaubien
3/20 Syracuse, NY @ The Reformed Church of Syracuse
3/21 Florence, MA – 13th Floor Music Lounge
3/22 Boston, MA @ The Middle East
3/24 Montclair, NJ @ Meatlocker
3/25 Brooklyn, NY @ St. Vitus
3/26 Wilkes Barre, PA @ The Other Side
3/27 Baltimore, MD @ The Windup Space
3/28 Philadelphia, Pa @ Kung Fu Necktie
3/29 Richmond, VA – @ The Castle
3/30 Charlotte, NC @ The Station On Central
04/1 Houston, TX @ Satellite Bar
04/2 Austin, TX @ Beerland
04/4 El Paso, TX @ The Sandbox
04/5 Tempe, AZ @ 51 West
If you’ve been frequenting this site over the last two months or so, you’d recall that the Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter BETS came to attention last year with the release of her critical applauded debut, Days Hours Night. Building upon the buzz of her debut, the Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter and her producer were set to write and record new, original material when the duo discovered that they shared a mutual love of Violent Femmes 1983 self-titled breakout debut effort. Reportedly, within a few minutes, BETS and her producer decided to put the sophomore effort of original material on hold to work on a Violent Femmes cover album in which she reimagines the familiar and beloved material.
In fact, as you’ll hear on BETS’ slow-burning, shoegazer rework of “Blister in the Sun” guitars are fed through layers of distortion, fuzz and feedback paired with gentle drumming and BETS’ dreamily distracted vocals, while pulling apart the song’s melody and chorus to the point of it being dimly recognizable and giving her version an ethereal moodiness.
Directed by Valerie Sute, the recently released video for BETS’ gauzy and dreamy rendition of “Blister in the Sun” begins with some glorious footage of New York City before following a young woman wandering through the desert brush — both by car and by foot with a brooding moodiness.
Currently comprised of founding members and primary songwriters Slowdive‘s Christian Savil (guitar, bass, keys, and vocals), Sean Hewson (guitar, bass, keys, and vocals), along with Air Formation’s James Harrison (drums) and Slowdive’s Nick Chaplin (bass), shoegazer act Monster Movie can trace their origins to Savil and Hewson playing in number of bands together going back to the late 80s — including a band called Eternal, which released the “Breathe” single on Sarah Records that featured dreamy, fuzzy guitars and soaring pop melodies that Savil gradually began to become known for. Shortly after the release of “Breathe,”Savil left Eternal to join renowned and influential shoegazer act Slowdive. About a decade later, Savil and Hewson started Monster Movie initially as an attempt to write and record something more Krautrock-leaning; however, their first EP only managed to possessed a few seconds of Krautrock while being primarily shoegazer rock.
During the period of 2002-2010, Savil and Hewson released four full-length albums, a mini album and a few EPs mostly through Graveface Records. Unsurprisingly, the band had been on a bit of a hiatus as Savil and Hewson had been involved with Slowdive’s highly-anticipated reunion and subsequent touring; however Savil and Hewson’s involvement in Slowdive was instrumental in helping the band’s primary songwriters and founding members realize that they needed to move from being a purely studio project, to become a proper band.
Produced by Graveface Records’ founder and head Ryan Graveface and recorded with Martin Nichols at Weston-super-Mare, the band’s fifth album Keep The Voices Distant is slated for a March 31, 2017 release through Graveface Records — and while marking the first release in over 5 years; however, as you’ll hear on Keep The Voices Distant‘s first single “Shouldn’t Stay From The Shadows,” the single will further cement the band’s reputation for crafting material with soaring and anthemic hooks paired with fuzzy shoegazer and Brit Pop power chords, thundering drumming and a subtly pop power leaning sensibility.
Joey Vannucchi is an Indian Lakes, CA-bssed singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose solo recording project From Indian Lakes derives its name from the small community near Yosemite National Park where he grew up on 40 acres of land with virtually no electricity, aside from a sparely used generator. His latest effort Everything Feels Better Now can trace its origins to when Vannucchi recorded the skeletons of tracks for the album in the cheaply rented basement of a coffeeshop. He then traveled to Fairfax Studios in Los Angeles, where producer Kevin Augunus, who has worked with Delta Spirit and Cold War Kids and and engineer Gavin Paddock assisted Vannucchi in slowly stripping way tracks that needed to be replaced from the basement and home studio recordings and fleshing out material where necessary.
As for the completed album, it was released earlier this year to critical praise from the likes of Consequence of Sound and NPR Music for the “rawness of its emotions” and its “moody indie rock songs that look to the terse internal monologues of Now, Now and the atmospheric pop of Mew.” Vannucchi’s latest single “Blank Tapes” consists of lushly chiming and shimmering guitar chords, propulsive and rolling drumming and anthemic hook paired with Vannucchi’s plaintive falsetto vocals — and while the comparisons to Now, Now and Mew seem sensible to me, it doesn’t quite capture the swooning Romanticism at the core of the song or the fact that sonically speaking that this particular single manages to nod at both Silversun Pickups and classic shoegaze.
Directed by Joshua Hailing, the recently released video for “Blank Tapes” follows two young lovers and captures the ecstatic joy and heartbreaking agony of a relationship, and in some way the video is meant to be an allegory for more than the typical ups and downs of young love — hell, of any love, really. “I wanted to create an isolated world,” Hailing explains in press notes. “Everyone has their own ‘Sarah,” he continues. “They find themselves in this euphoric site with the idea of either someone, something or themselves. We become intoxicated with this image of how we wish things could be, and use it as a scapegoat to hide away from our own confusion, frustrations and denial.” And the video subtly reminds the viewer that love can often be a heartbreaking and confusing business, resulting in the endlessly lingering ghosts of our lives.
Comprised of Michael Ellis, Ryan Ellis, Lewis McGuinness, Lloyd Shearer, and Benjamin Robinson, the members of Liverpool-based shoegaze quintet The Vryll Society have received attention both here and elsewhere across the blogosphere for a sound that draws from a diverse array of influences including Funkadelic, Aphrodite’s Child, krautrock and classic shoegaze.
The Liverpool shoegazers’ latest single “Sacred Flight” will further cement their growing reputation for crafting shoegaze with rousingly anthemic hooks, an enveloping sound and slick yet subtly modern production techniques as the song possesses a shimmering, cosmic glow, some trippy pedal effected guitar work , a propulsive, motorik groove and a soaring, rousingly anthemic hook. And while being a bit of an expansion of the sound that first captured the attention of this site and elsewhere across the blogosphere, the song evokes the sense of freedom, possibility and discovery that can only come from traveling someplace new and far from home. Certainly, as I’ve listened to this song a number of times before writing, I couldn’t help but think of my own recent travels to The Netherlands — and how being more than 3,600 miles from home or from anyone who knows you is a both a liberating and profoundly strange feeling.
As you may know, I was in Dordrecht, The Netherlands for business related to my day job and am currently in Amsterdam, The Netherlands for a couple of days to just check things out, maybe catch some live music, and whatever else comes to mind. And from being here a few hours last Sunday morning and returning this afternoon, I can see how easy it could be to fall deeply in love with Amsterdam and this entire country. So far, the Dutch have proven to be a kind and friendly people. But there’s work to be done so let’s get to it right?
Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site for a while, you may recall that I wrote about the Toronto, ON-based DJ, violinist and singer/songwriter Maya Killtron. Killtron first came to attention across both her native Canada and across the States with the release of her 2012 debut EP Hipster/Gangsta — and as a result, Killtron wound up touring the festival circuit across North America with stops at Miami’s Winter Music Conference, Pride Toronto, The Halifax Jazz Festival and CMJ. Adding to a growing profile, Killtron’s collaboration with NYC-based production duo Love Taps “Back For More” received attention from the likes of Stereogum and Huffington Post for a sound that meshed moomba and R&B – and for a video that showcased a sadly bygone NYC. Additionally, Smalltown DJs,The Slow Waves, Eyes Everywhere, Brothers In Arms and City Kid Soul have all have remixed the song — with the City Kid Soul remix being named in the Top 5 at Toronto’s Bestival.
Killtron’s latest single “Bad Decisions” as she explained to me via email “is a review of some of my best romances and worst choices in the field of love. It’s honest but light, real but unapologetic, and always dancy.” But interestingly enough, the single is an expansion of the sound that first caught her attention — you’ll hear a sinuous bass line, Nile Rodgers-like funk guitar, squiggling synths and soaring strings paired with Killtron’s sultry vocals in a song that nods both at 80s synth funk, early 80s disco and EDM and the sound of blogosphere darlings Escort. And that shouldn’t be terribly surprising as Killtron explains in an email “With ‘Bad Decisions,’ as well as my first single ‘Never Dance Alone,’ I wanted to pay tribute to; but not copy my heroes — Teena Marie, Prince, and The Gap Band.”
Now if you had been frequenting this site towards the end of last year, you might remember that I wrote about the Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter BETS, who quickly came to attention with the release of her critically applauded debut effort Days Hours Night. In the blogosphere age, artists have to strike quickly and while the iron is hot — and building upon the buzz she had received, the Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter and producer initially planned to write and record new, original material when the two collaborators discovered that they shared a mutual fondness of Violent Femmes‘ 1983 self-titled, breakthrough debut. And reportedly, within a few minutes, BETS along with her producer decided that the album of original material should be put on hold for a bit, to allow them some time to write and record an her soon-to-be released Violent Femmes tribute album, in which she re-imagined and reworked the original material into haunting and dreamy shoegaze.
BETS’ Violent Femmes album’s first single was a slow-burning rework of “Blister in the Sun“in which guitars were fed through layers of distortion, fuzz and feedback paired with gently padded drumming and BETS’ dreamily distracted vocals to craft a version of the song that slowly pulls apart the song’s familiar melody and chorus in a way that’s both ethereal and moody. The album’s latest single is a radically different rendition of “Gone Daddy Gone”/”I Just Want to Make Love to You” that nods at David Lynch and 60s bubblegum pop as twinkling percussion, shuffling drumming and dramatic bursts of guitar are paired with BETS’ coquettish and bratty vocals. Whereas the original possessed a neurotic and urgent need, BETS’ rendition sounds how I would imagine someone like Nancy Sinatra doing it — swinging and sensual as hell.
Currently comprised of Oliver Ackermann (guitars and vocals), Dion Lunadon (bass) and Robi Gonzalez (drums), the Brooklyn-based trio of A Place to Bury Strangers have a long-held reputation for a moody, atmospheric Wall of Sound-influenced sound which effortlessly meshes elements of psych rock, shoegaze, space rock and noise rock in a way that owes a profound debt to The Jesus and Mary Chain and others — and for one of most explosive, feedback-filled, punishingly loud live shows around, while being shrouded in strobe light and smoke machine fog. Recently, a Twitter follower had retweeted a recent post — of which I’m eternally grateful — and I began telling him about several bands with a similar sound, including A Place to Bury Strangers.
Now, there’s quite bit of live footage of the Brooklyn-based trio shot by fans and professionals alike, as well as several live sessions for renowned Seattle-based indie station KEXP; but in my opinion the best live footage I’ve come across was a live show in St. Petersburg, Russia shot by Musicserf Magazine in 2013, which includes “Deadbeat,” “Don’t Go,” “Ego Death,” “I Know I’ll See You,” “Missing You,” “Mind Control,” “Drill It Up,” “I’m So Clean,” “You Are The One,” “Keep Slipping Away,” and set closer “I Lived My Life to Stand in the Shadow of Your Heart.” The second video was shot at Bar Loreto in Santiago, Chile last year (presumably) and features the band performing “Fear,” “Deeper,” “I Live My Life to Stand in the Shadow of Your Heart” and “Wild Animal.”
After you’ve viewed the footage, you’ll see why the Brooklyn-based trio is one of my favorite live bands to see and to shoot.
Earlier this year, I wrote about Minneapolis, MN-based multi-instrumetnlist and vocalist Andy Larson and his solo recording project Magnetic Ghost — and interestingly enough because the Magnetic Ghost project’s sound possesses elements of shoegaze, drone, krautrock, freak folk and post-punk, Larson’s work has been compared favorably Low, Sonic Youth, Popul Vuh, Talk Talk, Women, Flying Saucer Attack, and others, and as a result, Larson has opened for a diverse array of artists including Low’s Alan Sparhawk, Will Oldham, Bitchin Bajas, The Telescopes, Flavor Crystals and others. Further cementing a growing regional and national profile, Larson released his latest Magnetic Ghost album Loss Molecules last month, an effort that was recorded with renowned indie rock producer Neil Weir at Blue Bell Knoll and by Larson at Magnetic Manson.
The album’s first single “Vanish/Vanishing” featured Larson’s plaintive and ethereal vocals paired with layers of droning and shimmering guitars, a propulsive bass line and stuttering drumming in a moody bit of shoegaze that sounded as though it could have been released by Silber Records. Loss Molecules’ latest single “Landfill” manages to evoke a malevolent storm of privation, desperation, brutality and the end of things we were all familiar with and loved are on the horizon. And that shouldn’t be surprising as Larson explained to me via email, “Landfill” is “”a song truly about the lead up to this particular point in American politics we find ourselves in — the horrible mash up of celeb culture, consumerism, and politics amidst decay.”
Produced by Chase Butler, the recently released music video for “Landfill” captures both greed and decay with a stark and haunting beauty that suggests that the end result of our ambitions, of our constantly exploited and desperate need for stuff and of our dreams is decay.
