Category: Shoegaze

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Dario Torre (vocals and guitar), Giacomo Salzano (bass), Raffaele Bocchetti (guitar), and Davide Fusco (drums), Italian psych rock quartet Stella Diana have gradually developed a national and international reputation for a sound that draws from Catherine Wheel, RIDE, Joy Division, Psychedelic Furs, The Chameleons, Pale Saints, Lush, The Stone Roses, Talk Talk and others; in other words, it’s a sound that possesses familiar elements of shoegaze, post-punk, dream pop and new wave — with lyrics sung primarily in their native Italian. And as a result, the quartet have been considered the forefront of a purely Italian version of shoegaze which the Italian press have considered an unprecedented achievement.

Adding to a growing international profile, their single “41 61 93” was not only released to critical acclaim, it was included on the Revolution — The Shoegaze Revival compilation, a compilation that was touted by Creation Records‘ Joe Foster as an unprecedented collection of the best contemporary crop of shoegazers across the world. They were also commissioned by Brazil’s TBTCI Records to cover RIDE’s “Leave Them All Behind” for a RIDE tribute album and recorded a track for Seashell Records‘ Slowdive tribute album Souvlaki Reheated.

Now if you’ve been frequenting this site for some time, you’d know that last year I wrote about “Shohet,” the densely layered, lush, shimmering and anthemic RIDE and  My Vitriol channeling first single off their 2015 Alhena EP, which was released through Vipchoyo Sound Factory Records. The band released their latest effort Nitrocris earlier this year and the album’s latest single “Sulphur” reveals a band that’s gone through a change in sonic direction and approach as the quartet employs the use of swirling and shimmering guitar chords paired with a gentle yet propulsive rhythm section and ethereal vocals gently floating over the mix to create a hauntingly dreamy song that possess a bracing chill just underneath its surface while remaining (subtly) anthemic.

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Woozy and Trippy Visuals and Sounds of Amber Arcades’ “Turning Light”

According to de Graaf, “Turning Light,” Fading Lines’ latest single is about time, continuity and the magic in that; about being the protagonist in your own story while simultaneously being a supporting player in the lives of everyone around you and about how those roles and lines intertwine.” And as the Dutch singer/songwriter and musician explains the recently released video “captures these sentiments in a continuing movement (a.k.a. the most basic dance I could think of – and probably the only one I am capable of” and it continues throughout the video uninterrupted while locations, perspectives and even boundaries between moments fade and seem to collide into each other.

Sonically speaking, de Graaf and her backing band pair rapid fire, four-on-the-floor drumming, swirling and shimmering strings, twinkling electronics, a driving bass line and de Graaf’s ethereal vocals singing lyrics that reflect the relativistic nature of time and as a result, the woozy single manages to sound as though it draws from shoegaze and Brit pop equally.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Psychedelic Sounds and Visuals of Teenage Ghost’s “Apocalypse Times”

Comprised of Brendan O’Connor (vocals, guitar) , Michael Theis (bass) and Chris Wahlfeldt (drums), shoegaze/drone rock act Teenage Ghosts’ latest effort, the 5 track EP Revelations can trace its origins to when during a chance visit to the States, O’Connor took the opportunity to record some new material with Thies. After the guitar parts were recorded, Wahlfeldt recorded drums parts in Champaign, IL — while vocals and synths were recorded in NYC. The EP’s slow-burning first single “Apocalypse Times” features ethereal synths and vocals bubble up and float over a thick and murky mix consisting of layers upon layers of guitars and a persistent rhythm section in a song that walks a careful tightrope between the gorgeous shoegaze of the likes of Ride, Slowdive and The Verve and the moody drone of Directions to See a Ghost-era The Black Angels and the Silber Media roster.

The recently released animated music video is appropriately psychedelic and consists of frequently moving and morphing geometric shapes that are meant to evoke interstellar travel and traveling at the subatomic level — and it does so in a mind-altering fashion.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Bert Cannaerts (vocals/guitar), Giel Torfs (guitar/backing vocals), Philippe Corthout (guitar), Robby Geybels (bass) and Stef Gouwkens (drums), Newmoon are an Antwerp and Ghent, Belgium-based indie rock quintet derive their name from an Elliot Smith album, and although they formed in 2013, they can trace their origins to the breakup of locally renowned hardcore punk band Midnight Souls. Certainly, for anyone who may have been familiar with their previous project, Newmoon may superficially appear to be sonic change in direction, a proverbial left turn — despite the fact that reportedly, the band’s influences have almost always been the same: The Jesus and Mary Chain, Slowdive, Ramones, Oasis, and Sunn o))).

Their debut EP was released Touché Amoré’s label Secret Voice/Deathwish Inc. and the reconvened and rebranded quintet quickly built up a profile across the European Union as they’ve toured with the likes of Touché Amoré, Basement, Nothing and Cloakroom, and others. Building upon the buzz they’ve received, the band will be releasing their anticipated full-length debut as Newmoon, Space in October through PIAS Records. And the album’s first single “Head of Stone,” which was written while the band was on a bullet train between Tokyo and Kyoto and is primarily about the feeling of being lost and alone when you confront an impenetrable language barrier — the sort in which you don’t speak or understand a word of that country’s language and the people around you don’t speak your language. As the band’s Bert Cannaerts explains in press notes, “I realised that there’s something very frightening about being in a place where you are unable to connect to people in any way. You cannot understand the language they are speaking; you can’t understand any visual cues. This can make you feel isolated and invisible. The same thing can happen with emotional relationships. They get to a point where people become unable to communicate, and emotions and nuances are lost. This leads to isolation and resentment and people go their separate ways.”

As for the song you’ll hear propulsive, four-on-the-floor drumming, layers upon layers of gently buzzing power chords and anthemic hooks with ethereal vocals bubbling over an enveloping and dreamy sound and to my ears, I’m reminded of My Vitriol‘s Finelines, A Storm in Heaven and A Northern Soul-era The Verve and others — but with a subtly expansive song structure as the song possesses an explosive introduction,  the previously mentioned anthemic hook and a towering bridge with a mind-altering guitar solo.

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Formed by its founding and primary member Christopher Crisi, the Lawrence, KS-based indie rock act The Appleseed Cast has over the course of 20 years and 7 full-length efforts developed a reputation for constantly changing lineups — while subtly refining and honing the sound that won the band major acclaim in the early 2000s and onward; in fact, the band’s seminal work Low Level Owl, Vol I and Vol II received a 9.0 from Pitchfork and it was followed by the critically applauded release of Two Conversations, Peregrine, Illumination Ritual and several others for a sound that at one point or another had been compared to the likes of Sunny Day Real Estate, Mineral and others as their material has meshed post-punk, emo rock, punk rock, shoegaze  with anthemic hooks, as the band’s current lineup featuring touring musicians Ben Kimball, Nick Fredrickson and several others.

Throughout October and November, the members of The Appleseed Cast will be on tour with the Beverly, MA-based sextet Caspian, who to only are making their last tour stops to support their 2015 release Dust and Disquiet; but the Beverly, MA-based band has also publicly cited Crisi and The Appleseed Cast as a major influence on their sound. And with the announcement of the tour, the Lawrence, KS-based project released their latest single “Great Lake Derelict,” a propulsive track that pairs shimmering guitar chords, played through gentle amounts of reverb, soaring synths, plaintive vocals and arena rock friendly anthemic hooks in a song that manages to possess intimate and earnest emotion while being cinematic.

As for the tour, check out the tour dates below. You’ll see that it’ll include a mid-November stop at Music Hall of Williamsburg.

Caspian + The Appleseed Cast 2016 tour dates
10.22 · Washington, DC – Rock and Roll Hotel (tickets)
10.23 · Raleigh, NC – Kings (tickets)
10.24 · Atlanta, GA – Masquerade (tickets)
10.25 · Nashville, TN – Exit/In (tickets)
10.27 · Houston, TX – Studio @ Warehouse Live (tickets)
10.28 · Austin, TX – Sidewinder (tickets)
10.30 · Phoenix, AZ – The Rebel Lounge (tickets)
11.01 · Los Angeles, CA – Teragram Ballroom (tickets)
11.02 · San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall (tickets)
11.04 · Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios (tickets)
11.05 · Seattle, WA – Neumo’s (tickets)
11.08 · Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge (tickets)
11.09 · Denver, CO – Marquis Theater (tickets)
11.11 · Omaha, NE – The Waiting Room (tickets)
11.12 · St. Louis, MO – Firebird (tickets)
11.13 · Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall (tickets)
11.14 · Grand Rapids, MI – Pyramid Scheme (tickets)
11.15 · Toronto, ON – Lee’s Palace (tickets)
11.16 · Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer (tickets)
11.17 · Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg (tickets)
11.18 · Boston, MA – Royale (tickets)
11.19 · Montreal, QC – Le Ritz (tickets)

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of their previous singles “Patterns” and “Kitsune,” South Devon, UK-based shoegaze/indie rock duo Matthew and Me, comprised of Matthew Board (vocals, guitar) and Lucy Fawcett (drums) hve developed a reputation across the UK for a sound that draws from the delicate soundscapes of Sigur Ros, Mogwai and others; in fact, received airplay on BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 6, XFM — and as a result, they’ve played some of Britain’s largest festivals including Field Day, Somersault, Port Eliot, and Glastonbury.

The duo’s latest single “Joy” is a slow-burning and expansive song that begins with a lengthy yet delicate and hazy introduction in which Board’s aching falsetto is paired with shimmering and swirling guitar chords and gently padded drumming in a hauntingly gorgeous arrangement that reveals a deliberate and deeply conscientious nature — with each individual note feeling as though it were a painter’s brushstroke adding color and texture to the entire soundscape before concluding with a thundering cacophony (that peters out into a slow fade out). While sonically bearing a resemblance to Sigur Ros and A Storm in Heaven-era The Verve, the song manages to posses an aching and woozy spiritual yearning for something much larger at its core.

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Initially formed in 2011 by its founding duo and childhood Brodie J Brummer and Gemma O’Connor, Melbourne, Australia-based indie rock act Flyying Colours first exploded into the national scene with the release of their debut single “Wavygravy” and two critically acclaimed EPs  for a sound that possesses elements of shoegaze, psych rock and grunge. With the recent recruitment of Melanie Barbaro and Andy Lloyd Russell to flesh out the band’s sound, the Australian quartet are set to expand their profile with the forthcoming release of their full-length debut Mindfulness which is slated for a September release through Club AC30.

Mindfulness‘ first single “It’s Tomorrow Now” is a noisy and towering squall of sound in which the band pairs buzzing power chords and incredible guitar pyrotechnics, a propulsive motorik groove and an anthemic hook with an uncanny sense of melody submerged into a song that sounds as though it channels The Jesus and Mary Chain — but with a dreamy sensibility at its core.

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Donkeys’ Shoegazer/Psych Rock-Channeling New Single “No Need For Oxygen”

In order to build up buzz for their upcoming cross country tour, which includes an early August stop at Baby’s All Right, The Donkeys released a live video performing their moody and stunningly gorgeous, shoegaze-leaning new single “No Need for Oxygen” which has the band pairing shimmering keyboard and guitar chords, propulsive drumming, a with plaintive and aching vocals in an expansive song structure that owes a debt to classic psych rock as it does to prog rock and held together with an impressive and gorgeous guitar solo.

Check out tour dates below.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Now, if you’ve been frequenting JOVM over the past month or so, you would have come across a couple of posts on Los Angeles, CA-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Stefan Weich. Weich specializes in a dreamy exploration of traditional music structures, alternate guitar tunings and analog synthesizers and has released music under a number of monikers, including Das Bowls, Chicle, Couch Baby and others; however, his latest effort, Granite Prism is Weich’s (true) solo debut and first album under his own name. Thematically, the album explores the Los Angeles-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist’s feelings of loneliness, aimlessness and his search for love and acceptance in a large, modern metropolis.

With Granite Prism‘s first single and video “Holy Nights,” Weich paired his plaintive falsetto croon with dreamily ambient synths, soft padded drumming and gently strummed guitar in a deliberate and carefully crafted song that sounded indebted to Brian Eno –but with a plaintive yearning at its core. The album’s second single “Louie,” continued on the same vein as Weich paired swirling and ambient electronics are paired with soft padded drumming, bursts of bluesy guitar chords and his plaintive falsetto crooning lyrics about a relationship in which both people are slowly drifting apart.  At the heart of the song is the unspoken and built up resentments that can cause people to slowly drift apart over time, and a lingering sense of regret of what happened — and how it happened.

Granite Prism‘s third and latest single “Toxic Landscape” is a subtly more muscular song and as a result it sounds as though it owes a sonic debt to shoegaze than ambient electronica as Weich pairs his plaintive falsetto with feedback-laden and buzzing power chords, strummed guitar chords played through layers of reverb, subtly forceful drumming and soaring synths in a song that to my ears reminds me quite a bit of A Storm in Heaven-era The Verve and Silversun Pickups. Much like the previously released singles, the song focuses on the slow dissolution of a relationship and its aftermath, complete with the feelings of bitterness, isolation, confusion, heartache and more — and in a way that’s reminiscent of 120 Minutes-era MTV indie rock.

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Creepy and Dread-Filled Visuals for Bloody Knives’ “Poison Halo”

  Initially comprised of Preston Maddox (bass, vocals, keyboards, samples and programming) Jake McCown (drums, noise, programming) with recent recruits Jack O’Hara Harris (guitar), Richard Napierkowski (synth) and Martin McCreadie (synth) joining to flesh out […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

If you’ve been frequenting this site over the past couple of months, you may recall coming across a post on Austin, TX-based shoegaze act Bloody Knives. Initially comprised of Preston Maddox (bass, vocals, keyboards, samples and programming) Jake McCown (drums, noise, programming) — and now feating the featuring the contributions of recent recruits Jack O’Hara Harris (guitar), Richard Napierkowski (synth) and Martin McCreadie (synth) as touring members of the band, the Austin-based act have developed a profile both locally and regionally for a sound that meshes elements of punk, industrial electronica and ambient electronica with 8 bit glitches, bloops and bleeps — and much like My Bloody Valentine, A Place to Bury Strangers, The Jesus and Mary Chain their sound and aesthetic frequently possesses a sublime and dreamy beauty underneath a bleak, punishing forcefulness.

I Will Cut Your Heart Out For This, Bloody Knives’ latest effort was released last week through renowned shoegaze label Saint Marie Records, and the album was reportedly inspired by the “forgotten places, the dark corners of empty cities, decaying buildings filled with vacant people” — the world of the lost and broken.” And although the album’s second and latest single “Static” beings with soaring synths and buzzing electronics, much like previous single “Poison Halo,” the latest single pairs scorching guitar chords played with towering layers of feedback, a throbbing bass line and thundering drumming. While both the album’s first two singles insistently push the boundaries of contemporary shoegaze towards darker and much more forceful territory, their overall sound reminds me a bit of My Vitriol as the material possesses an anthemic quality that belies its swooning and urgent nature.

 

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Haunting Visuals and Sounds of Miserable’s “Stay Cold”

Although she’s perhaps best known as the frontwoman in Bay Area-based band King Woman, Kristina Esfandiari‘s solo side project Miserable with the release of two EP’s Halloween Dream and Dog Days has developed a reputation for a evocative and wistful brand of moody shoegaze […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Earlier this year, I wrote about Orlando, FL-based trio Kinder Than Wolves and their wistful and moody shoegazer rock single “Hazel Days,” a single that sounded as though it could have been released back in 1983 — with the exception of a subtly modern studio sheen. That should be unsurprising as the trio, comprised of Paige Coley (vocals, guitar), Ryan Snow (guitar), and Grant Freeman (drums) are all audio engineers, who made the process of writing and recording their debut EP Mean Something an entirely DIY and collaborative effort, as the EP was produced, engineered and mixed by Coley in the band’s home studio. “Hover,” Mean Something‘s latest single will further cement the trio’s growing reputation for crafting a sound that’s indebted to 120 Minutes-era alternative rock and indie rock as shimmering guitar chords played through gentle amounts of reverb, thundering and propulsive drumming are paired with Coley’s ethereal cooing seemingly floating over the instrumentation — while lyrically, the song is arguably one of the more introspective songs the trio have released to date as the song focuses on the innermost thoughts of a narrator reflecting on an ambivalent and confusing relationship.