Tag: shoegaze

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Swooning and Heartbreaking Visuals of From Indian Lake’s “Blank Tapes”

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.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

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.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: A Place to Bury Strangers in St. Petersburg Russia and Santiago Chile

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.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Stark and Beautiful Post-Apocalyptic Visuals for Magnetic Ghost’s “Landfill”

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.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Initially begun as the solo recording project of Salt Lake City, UT-based founding member and frontman Jordon Strang and now currently a quartet, No Sun has quietly developed a regional reputation for a harder, more modern take on shoegaze that draws from past masters of the genre such as Swervedriver, RIDE and Failure and contemporaries including Pity Sex, Silversun Pickups and others as you’ll hear on the anthemic and forceful “It’s Happening Again,” off the Salt Lake City-based band’s soon-to-be released debut effort It’s Only, slated for release next month through The Native Sound Records.

While reportedly having a title that draws from a famous scene from Twin Peaks, No Sun’s latest single as Strang explained to the folks at CLRVYNT the song is “about coping. It’s about delving within yourself during times of inner turmoil, and being further isolated by doing so. To me, depression is like an ebb and flow that is constantly coming and going, taking me away from my peers or loved ones and drawing my attention inward. This song focuses on how — despite how collected people can seem on the surface — they may be fighting their own inner battle.” Interestingly, the song possesses and evokes a similar tension in which uncertainty and turmoil gently bubble up from a seemingly tranquil surface.

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Brooklyn based singer/songwriter BETS came to attention earlier this year with the release of her critically applauded debut effort Days Hours Night. Interestingly, building upon the buzz of her debut, the Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter and her producer were set to write and record new 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.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Team Picture is a Leeds, UK-based indie rock quintet, who have started to receive attention from the likes of major blogs such as DIY Mag and The Line of Best Fit. And adding to a growing national profile, the band has opened for Kagoule and The Orielles and others.  The band’s third and latest single “Potpourri Headache” will further cement the Leeds-based quintet’s reputation for crafting lush and shimmering, shoegaze-leaning indie rock in which the band pairs ethereal vocals with propulsive drumming, shimmering guitar chords played through effects pedals, and equally ethereal synthesizers. In some way, the band’s sound manages to channel both the classic 4AD Records sound and A Storm in Heaven-era The Verve.

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays The Veldt Return with Sensual and Moody Visuals for “In A Quiet Room”

Now, earlier this year the newly reformed The Veldt released the first batch of new material in almost 20 years with the release of The Shocking Fuzz of Your Electric Fur: The Drake Equation Mixtape an effort which revealed a subtle meshing of the original The Veldt sound with that of Apollo Heights — and the result is a sound that pairs towering and shimmering guitar chords, tweeter and woofer rocking beats and Danny Chavis’ soulful yet ethereal crooning as you would have heard on the swooning “Sanctified” and their sultry yet moody latest single “In A Quiet Room.” And as those two singles and the tour supporting their EP revealed, the band’s sound manages to make a vital and important connection between The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Cocteau Twins, The Verve, Fishbone, Marvin Gaye, Prince and TV on the Radio among others.

Directed by Toshi Kaneiwa, the recently released music video possesses a painterly quality as the gorgeously shot black and white video features a nude woman brooding and posing in a room. And with each shot, you can almost picture an unseen photographer or painter creating a moody portrait.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of long-time friends and Melbourne, Australia-based music scene veterans  Adam Madrid, Wya Knowles and Alex Lashlie, all of whom have spent stints in a number of locally renowned bands including Bad Family and Closet Straights before the formation of their current band, Pure Moods.  And with “Elisa Lam,” the latest single off the band’s recently released self-titled full-length, the Australian trio further establish themselves for specializing in a shimmering, moody and jangling guitar pop that sounds heavily indebted to 4AD Records and shoegaze.

 

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Gorgeously Mournful Yet Hopeful Sound and Visuals of Daniel Land’s “New York Boogie-Woogie”

Written and recorded in a number of locations including London, Manchester, Devon, California and New York City and featuring over 20 musicians including members of Daniel Land and The Modern Painters, the backing bands of Andrew Saks (a.k.a. ASAKS) and Gerald Hopes (a.k.a Little Nova Sound), members of Land’s current band and ambient composer Bing Satellites, who co-wrote some material, co-produced and played several instruments on the record, Land’s forthcoming sophomore full-length solo album In Love With a Ghost may arguably be one of the more complex and textured efforts he has released.

Interestingly enough, the album’s material was written right after his longest running project Daniel Land and The Modern Painters had broken up, and in a period in which he had been forced to consider giving up music about halfway during the recording of the album, when he had suffered a number of health issues including a painful and chronic inner-ear infection that left him prone to bouts of extreme dizziness and partially deaf for over a year. And as a result, among several things Land had been thinking of during tat period influenced the tone and feel of his forthcoming album’s material. As Land explains in press notes: “This is an album about cities. It is an album about reinvention, and starting your life over. It is an album about growing up, finding love, and settling down. And to a lesser degree, it is about the damage that can be done to a person, or a family, by falling in love with the wrong person. With ‘In Love With A Ghost’, I came full circle for a while by incorporating a whole bunch of influences that pre-date my love of dream-pop and shoegaze. I really wanted to make a colourful, widescreen, detailed record. When I started the album, I didn’t have a live band, and most of the tracks were written on the piano, for my own amusement, rather than for a group with three guitarists.

“Unable to make music, and living in a new city made me feel, at times, powerfully depressed. This became a crisis of confidence that went very deep and it did seem, for a while, that I would never find my way back to making music again, ” Land continues. “Finishing the album was a process that involved re-evaluating my life and overhauling my relationship to music, and coming out of the other side more healthy, more humble, and more grateful. It’s good to be back again.”

And while possessing a mournful air about what was and what can never, be the album’s first single “New York Boogie-Woogie” manages to also simultaneously possess a hopefulness towards the future — with the recognition that things constantly change, and that you better respect and cherish that. Sonically speaking, Land’s plaintive falsetto vocals are paired with dramatic piano chords, propulsive drumming, shimmering guitar chords and a gorgeous sax solo to craft a song that possesses a cinematic yet moody sweep.

The recently released music video for the song features black and white footage in and around New York that captures a sense of endless wonder and possibility and profound loneliness.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Led by its founding member, British artist Jaike Stambach, and currently featuring bandmembers Markus Mocydlarz and Janek Sprachta, the Berlin, Germany-based indie rock trio The History of Colour TV was initially conceived as a solo, experimental multimedia project. With the release of two full-length albums and several EPs released through Bruit Blanc Records and renowned shoegazer label Saint Marie Records, the members of the Berlin-based have developed a reputation for restless expansion and experimentation with their sound as their recorded output has consisted of noise rock, sound collages, shimmering deram pop and recently more straightforward rock — and for extensive touring and live shows across both Berlin and Continental Europe.

As the story goes, earlier this year the trio of Stambach, Mocydlarz and Sprachta set off to Black Box Recording Studio to write and record the material which would eventually comprise their forthcoming third, full-length effort Something Like Eternity with Peter Deimel, who’s best known for this work with The Wedding Present, Shellac and The Ex. And as you’ll hear on the album’s latest single “Wreck,” the members of the Berlin, German-based trio wanted to focus on a raw, live-like sound; in fact, the band recorded the song with minimal overdubs and as a result, it feels like an accurate representation of their live sound while evoking 90s alt rock — in particular, the song reminds me of Pablo Honey and The Bends-era Radiohead as the band pairs shimmering yet slightly ragged arpeggio guitar chord-led melody, propulsive and stormy drumming, Stambach’s plaintive vocals signing lyrics that recount the story of a group friendship/group dynamic tarnished by disaffection and apathy.

As the members of the band explain press notes as a member of the group, the narrator describes feelings of confusion, helplessness and hurt over the members of the group’s inability to figure out a way to positively change the situation. After a series of surreal descriptions, the song implies that the friends wind up in a car crash — with the narrator left to contemplate both the aftermath and randomness of an event that nullified any possibility of reconciliation. And as a result the song possesses a bitter and unresolved sense of confusion, ache and resignation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Jason Greenberg and Sandy Johnston, the Canadian post-rock/shoegaze duo In Light Of can trace their origins to when Johnston had applied to a job opening that Greenberg posted, and although the duo lived some distance away and don’t share mutual connections, they quickly bonded over a shared passion for post-rock. And as the band’s Greenberg explains in press notes, the duo have an interesting creative process in which, Johnson frequently comes up with rough sketches and song ideas, records them on his iPhone and then sends it to Greenberg, who then fleshes out the original ideas while keeping elements of the original lo-fi recordings; in fact, the five songs on the duo’s debut EP Little Treasures were pieced together in a similar fashion.

The duo’s debut single “Bless Your Heart” is a slow-burning instrumental comprised of shimmering guitar chords played through gentle amounts of reverb paired propulsive song that’s reminiscent of The Verve‘s debut EP — in particular, I’m reminded of “A Man Called Sun” off that EP — while possessing a painterly quality in which successive chord and drumbeat adds a bit of color and texture to the gorgeous yet moody whole.

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Halifax, Nova Scotia’s Kestrels Return with Another 90s Alt Rock-Channeling Single Paired with Slick Visuals

Interestingly, the Canadian trio’s self-titled effort’s third and latest single “Descent of Their Last End” continues on a similar vein as “No Alternative,” as it’s an anthemic bit of buzzing shoegaze that sounds as though it could have been released in 1993. We’re talking about buzzing power chords, thundering drumming and a propulsive groove that you can mosh to in a sweaty club — but with a hint of what sounds like synths that act like bookends to the song.

The recently released video is comprised of a TV siting in a middle of an urban street, and a suburban back yard with projections of weird psychedelic-like footage in empty rooms, suburban yards and slick split screens.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Certainly, if you’ve been frequenting this site throughout its six-year history and especially over the past couple of months, you’ve come across posts featuring the Brooklyn-based shoegazer rock and art collective Dead Leaf Echo. And over that period of time the members of the collective have seen a growing national and international profile as they’ve played sets at several of the country’s largest and best known festivals, have opened for a list of renowned and well-regarded bands including The Wedding Present, A Place to Bury Strangers, . . . And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, The Psychedelic Furs, Chapterhouse, Ulrich Schnauss, Weekend, Lorelei, The Ocean Blue, The Warlocks, Beach Fossils, and The Telescopes and have made appearances on KEXP‘s John in the Morning and on Nic Harcourt’s KCSN show.

Since the 2013 release of the band’s 4AD Records-inspired full-length debut effort Thought and Language and its follow up true.deep.sleeper EP, the members of the band have been working on their much-anticipated sophomore, full-length effort but in the meantime, they’re releasing a cassette tape edition of the “Lemonheart” 7 inch through Wiener Records on November 4, 2016, as the two original vinyl pressings are completely sold out. Now, you may recall that as I wrote about “Lemonheart,” the single would further cement their reputation for crafting lush, shimmering shoegaze and dream pop in the vein of RIDE, Swervedriver and Slowdive. The 7 inch’s B-side “sparks.fly.from.a.kiss” reveals a thorough change in direction as layers of swirling and buzzing guitar chords and skittering, four-on-the-floor-like drum programming and boom bap beats to create a swaggering and strutting song that sounds indebted to Primal Scream, The Jesus and Mary Chain and others, as it may arguably be the most abrasive and scorching song they’ve released to date. But just underneath the abrasiveness is a swooning and passionate declaration of love.

Dead Leaf Echo have embarked on a Fall/Winter tour to support the release of the “Lemonhead” 7 inch cassette tape edition and it includes a two Brooklyn dates. Check out the tour dates below.

Fall/Winter 2016 Dates:
11.06 – New York, NY @ Berlin (Release Party w/ Midnight Hollow, Big Band)
11.09 – Ft Wayne, IN @ The Brass Rail (w/ March On, Comrade)
11.10 – Chicago, IL @ The Empty Bottle (w/ Lightfoils, Ganser)
11.11 – Detroit, MI @ Echo Fest
11.12 – Kalamazoo, MI @ Louis Trophy Room (Kalamashoegazer Festival)
11.19 – Brooklyn, NY @ Pete’s Candy Store (w/ Solilians, Landing)
11.25 – Nashville. TN @ TBD
12.03 – Philadelphia, PA @ Ortleib’s