Tag: Lightfoils

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

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.

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

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.

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

As I’ve frequently mentioned on this site in the past, I’m often multitasking while going through tracks and videos and as a result, I’ve serendipitously stumbled onto things I should have known — if I had the time. Now, I recently stumbled upon “Around and Away” off Berlin, Germany-based shoegaze/post-punk/noise rock trio Life As Art 1927‘s 2015 release, Around and Away EP. And from this single, the trio comprised of Almar David, Marc Bijl and Ariana Zustra specialize in a contemporary take on shoegaze as the band pair layers of shimmering guitars fed through delay and reverb pedals, ethereal vocals, a propulsive motorik-like groove with a subtle amount of electronic bleeps and bloops; in some way the song naturally sound as though it draws from 4AD Records‘ heyday while also placing them firmly within the contemporary shoegaze wave that includes bands like BLACKSTONE RNGERS, Lightfoils and the rest of the Saint Marie Records roster.

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Formed back in 2007, Pinkshinyultratablet is a St. Petersburg, Russia-based shoegaze quintet that takes their name from an Astrobrite album, as the project led by Scott Cortez has been a major influence on their songwriting approach and their sound. The St. Petersburg-based quintet’s debut effort Everything Else Matters was released to critical acclaim internationally — and as a result, the band toured across the European Union, received airplay across several radio stations and has seen a growing international profile.

Slated for release on February 26, Pinkshinyultratablet’s sophomore effort Grandfeathered is not only a highly-anticipated album among shoegazer fans, the album is also reportedly a much more experimental effort, as the material reveals a band blurring the lines between visceral noise and restrained subtlety, while adding electronic elements. Grandfeathered’s second single “The Cherry Pit” has the band pairing layers of guitars played through various effect pedals, gently swirling electronics and a driving rhythm section with ethereal vocals bubbling and floating over a shimmering and breezy mix that sonically resembles RIDE and Chicago‘s Lightfoils.

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Michael Ellis, Ryan Ellis, Lewis McGuinness, Lloyd Shearer, and Benjamin Robinson, the Liverpool-based quintet The Vryll Society were discovered by the visionary and late founder of Deltasonic Records, Alan Willis. who noticed potential in the band and guided the quintet through their development as a band and as songwriters. Over the course of a year, the band locked themselves away in their rehearsal space jamming and writing material that inspired by Funkadelic, Aphrodite’s Child, krautrock and shoegaze. 

“Coshh,” the second single off the band’s soon-to-be released debut EP, Pangea consists of a tight, motorik groove consisting of wobbling bas lines  and propulsive four-on-the-floor-like drumming, gorgeously shimmering guitar chords played through layers of reverb and delay pedals, trembling and atmospheric electronics and anthemic hooks paired with ethereally falsetto vocals, and the end result is a gauzy shoegazer sound that possesses a mesmerizing cosmic sheen.

Over the past few years, there has been a movement within shoegaze as a number of contemporary bands including Presents for Sally, Blackstone Rngrs, Lightfoils, MAFF and others have pushed the boundaries of what shoegaze is supposed to sound like while remaining true to its psychedelic roots — and the members of The Vryll Society have boldly placed themselves on that a growing list of bands participating in what may arguably be one of the most interesting periods in the genre.

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

Austin, TX-based psych rock quartet, The Bright Light Social Hour can trace their formation to when the members were students at the University of Texas. And they quickly developed a reputation for an oft-described incendiary […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Neil Yodnane and Zeeshan Abbasi on guitars, Jane Zabeth on vocals, Cory Osborne on bass and John Rungger on drums, the Chicago-based quintet of Lightfoils formed in 2010 and and in a short […]