Weekly Shoegaze / Dreampop / Psychedelic / Indie Tips – MARCH #12-23
PICKS OF THE WEEK:
- Athenian, Greek C86 /60s /indie pop band (ex and current members of The Last Drive, Scopitone, The Hi Rollers, Raindogs, Xaxakes, Film, Maximum High, The Earthbound, etc.), The Vaxtones “Never Ending Stories” first single and title track of the upcoming debut album “Never Ending Story” on Old Bad Habits Label
Although released on the sly about a month ago, now we know that “Never Ending Story” will be the lead single and title track from the debut album of the experienced Greek band, which even includes a member of local legends The Last Drive, one of the few Greek groups to somehow hit the Italo record shops in the mid-80s in full Pebbles/The Highs in the Mid-Sixties psych-garage-punk revival. The song perfectly embodies the guitar indie pop aesthetic that ran in the blooming sparkling veins of The Subway Organization, Sarah Records and Creation labels’ sounds, sprinkled with sun-kissed 60s harmonies, revisited with creativity and freshness. Powerfully driven passion and daydreams light up angsty, obsessive energetic shimmery strumming guitars, echoing sparkling flourishes, underpinned by sprightly drum beats, and low tremoring bass lines, into a racing emotional flow around urgent heartfelt vocals, haloed by bracing choruses, to breeze whimsical wishes and doubts about a pending first date into the rushing currents of romantic desire.
- Dream Pop /Shoegaze collaboration of Seattle-based Argentina-native musician Analog Tears and L.A.‘s chanteuse Vienna Vox, Analog Tears “Last Kiss (feat. Vienna Vox)” single
Argentinian multi-instrumentalist Analog Tears teams up once again with L.A. singer Vienna Vox, ‘to be transported to another world with this hauntingly beautiful and melancholic shoegaze track’ igniting impassioned, sultry and emotional auras rising in bursts of squealing distorted guitar riffs, swelling rumbling bass lines, steady marching drum beats, and scorching high-pitched whining windfalls around a sweet and intoxicating vocal ethereality, to invoke doubt, longing, and tears from a painful shattering of love.
- Portland, OR country gaze /shoegaze /dream pop /folk duo BRIDE “Cowgirl” debut single
Surreal and absolutely captivating debut of an enigmatic Portland duo that immediately recalls the contemplative, quiet intensity and sun-blurred laconic folk dreaminess of Mazzy Star and Cowboy Junkies, endowed with its own strength, inspiration and charm, to immerse us in a reflective ambiance of romantic angst and indecision, carved by pain-filled twangy reverberated guitar melodies and wandering shimmery lunar glares, soft shuffling percussions, and sinuous warm bass line pulses, to wrap powerfully melancholic croons with slow melting sunsets along lonely, aching horizons.
- Blackpool, UK based ambient /drone /acid folk /psych /world music /krautrock /musician Fred Laird AKA Empty House “Florian” from the upcoming album “Secret Surburbia” [Wormhole World]
- London, UK space jazz /psychedelic /krautrock group led by former Union Wireless, Ben Morris, AKA Sudden Voices “Fixed orbit” from upcoming LP “Sudden Voices”
- Auckland, New Zealand ambient /downtempo /trio-hop /dream pop duo Hysterical Love Project – “Sever/Strike” from the album “Lashes” [Motion Ward]
- French kraut /indie /psych folk duo of musician Nicolas Laureau (aka Don Nino) and singer Françoiz Breut, aka Don & Françoiz “Kizmiaz”(The Cramps) from the upcoming “Cover Songs In Inferno” album on Prohibited Records
- Southampton, UK ambient /shoegaze /psychedelic /trip-hop band SUPERDRONE “Too Far – Empty Spaces Remix” from “Too Far” EP.
- London, UK dream pop/indie rock singer-songwriter Mark William Lewis feat. Sokora Violetov “Pressure” from the single “Pressure / Titanic”
- Kingston, New York indie folk project of Susannah Cutler AKA Yours Are The Only Ears “Dreamer” from the sophomore album “We Know The Sky” on Lame-O Records
- London, UK shoegaze /indie /dream pop singer-songwriter Joanna Wolfe, AKA Blue Lupin “Slep On It” from the EP “Satellite People”
- San Francisco‘s lo-fi /indie rock /dream pop trio April Magazine “Lost” from the cassette album “Wesley’s Convertible Tape For The South”
- Norway-based indie rock /power pop and Elephant 6 collective affiliated band, The High Water Marks – “Let’s Hang Out Forever” from the forthcoming album “Your Next Wolf” out June 9th, 2023 on Minty Fresh.
- Gothenburg, Sweden alternative /indie rock band Great Hare “Låt mig komma in / Let Me In” (Mufflon 5 cover, 1993) from forthcoming V/A compilation album “West Side Fabrication plays Covers vol 4” on A West Side Fabrication
- Columbus, OH lo-fi /indie rock band Connections “In Space” from the sixth LP “Cool Change” on Trouble In Mind Records
- London, UK noise pop / indie rock solo project of Adam John Miller (The Manhattan Love Suicides, T.O.Y.S, The Wednesday Club and Charm Wrestle), AKA The Medusa Snare “Grasper” from upcoming first LP “What’s the Matter”
- Salt Lake City, Utah new wave /synth-pop /indie rock 4-piece Body of Leaves “Commit” single
- French indietronica/shoegaze /synthpop trio from Lille, Tapeworms “IRL” single
- German jangle /indie rock /psych pop quartet from Hamburg, Deep Dyed “Memory Starts To Bloom” from upcoming debut LP “Unmade Beds” on la pochette surprise records
- Melbourne, Australia solo indie pop studio project of music producer Gareth Parton (Foals, The Go! Team, and The Breeders), Hot Coppers “Molecule” from the double-A-side 7″ vinyl single “Molecule / Soft World” on Lost and Lonesome
- Brooklyn, NY fuzzy dream pop trio Circling Skies “It’s Gotta Be This Way” from the single “Covers”
- Queens, NY dream pop /indie rock band Sea Shapes “Trust” from “A question of balance” EP
- Leon, Mexico shoegaze /dreampop duo Deimos Leva “Aura” from the debut album “Al Borde del Reflejo”
- L.A.-based lo-fi /bedroom /dream /psych pop solo project Coolhand Jax “On The TV” (single) on Spirit Goth Records
- Prague-based Czech “girl-power-sentimental-pop” 5-piece band Tamara “Vincentka” from the debut album “Anderson” on Korobushka Records
- Vancouver/Toronto indie rock /folk /punk /stalwart powerhouse band Tough Age – “Time & Again” from the upcoming album “Waiting Here” via We Are Time and Bobo Integral
- Oslo, Norway jangle /indie-pop /bedroom-pop solo artist Terje Torkellsen “Overpower” from the upcoming CD album “Loose Ends…” on Subjangle
- Melbourne indie jangle pop foursome (members of Chook Race, Dippers, Ill Globo, and Permits), The Sprouts “Doorbell” from the album “Eat Your Greens” on Tenth Court
- Copenhagen, Denmark indie /dream pop project Atomic Blue “Changes” single
- Cassadaga, FL shoegaze /dream pop band led by Matthew Messore, AKA Cathedral Bells “All Under The Sky” from upcoming LP “Everything At Once” on Born Losers Records
- Brighton, UK retro /60s /soul /indie rock /rock’n’roll duo The Heavy Heavy “Go Down River” (Father John Misty cover) from the EP “Life And Life Only” (Expanded Edition) 12″ vinyl on ATO
- Japanese ambient /dreampop /shoegaze trio Rural District “Sumiwatarusora” single
- UK Lo-Fi /Bedroom Pop /Shoegaze /Dream Pop solo project Geneva Drive “Soft Like Fire” new single
- Manchester UK indie rock /shoegaze /psychedelic rock solo artist LOLA “Elegy” fifth single from the upcoming debut EP
- Edmonton, Canada-based shoegaze /drone /psychedelic solo project of Arthur Bennell AKA Blume “All Out Of…” off the upcoming album “Inner Vision”
- San Francisco, CA bedroom drone pop /shoegaze /neo-psychedelic solo project, BLACK THUMB “Low” from upcoming cassette album “The Flying Propeller Group” via Dandy Boy Records
- Las Vegas, NV experimental /indie rock /shoegaze duo Flower Church “Trees” from 2-track single “Moss”
- Bangkok, Thailand alt /shoegaze /dream pop 4-piece Death Of Heather “Drained” single
- Edinburgh, Scotland ambient /dream pop /post-rock /shoegaze duo Sun Shines Cold “Tried so hard” from the upcoming debut album “Echoes of a former life”
- Australian dream pop /shoegaze five-piece band based in Melbourne, Oceans “Apart” from the debut LP “Dreamers in Dark Cities” on Shelflife Records
- Australian 5-piece shoegaze /dream pop band from Sydney, Futureheaven “Coldgaze” single
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania indie rock /dream pop /shoegaze 5-piece eyewash “Kaleidoscope” from debut S/T EP
- Seattle-based shoegaze /indie rock band Fell Off “Sober Days” from the cassette S/T album on Den Tapes
- Brooklyn, NY alternative rock /grunge /indie rock band Superbloom “Head First” from upcoming EP “Life’s a Blur” on Thirty Something Records
- Bay Area post-punk /synth pop /shoegaze outfit Forward Posture “Western daydream” from the debut EP “Western daydream”
- Los Angeles, CA noise pop /shoegaze band LUSTER “Dopamine Loop” title track from upcoming EP “Dopamine Loop” on Funeral Party
- Oklahoma City post-hardcore /grunge /shoegaze /indie rock band Money “Flacco” new 7″ clear flexi single on Sunday Drive Records
- Verona-based, Italian Experimental /Post-Rock /Shoegaze 4-piece band Zugabe “If you fall” from upcoming “Lowland” EP
- Seoul, South Korea indie rock /noise pop /post-rock /shoegaze solo project Parannoul ‘아날로그 센티멘탈리즘 (Analog Sentimentalism)’ from 2xLP album ‘After the Night’
- Czech noise rock band Fotbal “Does It?” from the LP “Why Is This Happening To You?”
- Post-gaze /dream metal from South Bend, Indiana. SPACESHIPS “Shared Graves” from the album “Ruins” on Friend Club Records
- UK bedroom blackgaze /noise pop solo project of Lydia N (formerly of Sleeping Peonies), Flora Lux Victoria “Palimpsest Spirit” from the 2-track single “Grief Prism”
- French avant-garde /black metal /blackgaze duo HURLENOIR & IIL “Camisolé” from the upcoming album “Un cachet de trop” [Les Revers de l’Âme Productions]
- Leipzig, Germany surf /garage punk band, Parking Lot “Coming Back” from the cassette album “My Life Is A Mess” [Phantom Records]
- Malmö, Sweden garage fuzz pop duo Mary Anne’s Polar Rig “Beautiful Mess” off the second LP “Makes You Wonder” via Rama Lama Records
- Bradford, UK krautrock /post-punk /noise /indie rock duo formed in 1987, Salem Trials – “ESPERS See Your Crime” from “ESPERS See Your Crime / End of Level Boss” single from the upcoming album via metal postcard records
- Paris based surf /drone /new wave /psychedelic rock project of Max-Antoine Le Corre, AKA Tropical Horses “Romance” from the upcoming third album “Fever” on Le Turc Mecanique
- Brussels, Belgium garage /power pop /indie rock trio Annabel Lee “By The Sea” from the third LP “Drift” on Howlin Banana and Humpty Dumpty
- Nottingham, UK post-punk /indie rock /art pop 4-piece Cucamaras – “Cotton Wool” from upcoming EP “Buck Rogers Time” via Exag’ Records
- Caldicot, South Wales‘ garage rock trio The Bug Club in disguise, Mr Anyway’s Holey Spirits “Eddie Says My Songs Are Whack” from the live album “Mr Anyway’s Holey Spirits Perform! One Foot in Bethlehem” on Bingo Records
- Osnabrück, Germany krautrock /new wave /country /indie rock band VON KORF “Es ist Frühling” single
- Australian-born, Oakland-based folk /dream pop /indie rock pop artist Hazel English “Slide” new single
- London-based indie-rock pop trio Gold Baby “Cheer” single
- Bay Area jazz /hip-hop /soul /indie rock /experimental pop singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Lindsay Olsen, AKA Salami Rose Joe Louis “Akousmatikous (feat. Soccer96)” from the upcoming “Akousmatikous” album on Brainfeeder
- Brooklyn, NY experimental /acid /kosmische /psych-pop /synth /art pop quartet Operator Music Band “Oval” maxi single
- Milton Keynes UK lo-fi /ambient /noise /experimental techno /electronic /grungecore DIY project Grungemaster “Heisenberg” from the album “Deleter” on Crafting Room Recordings