Weekly Shoegaze / Dreampop / Psychedelic / Indie Tips – SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER #40 – 22
PICKS OF THE WEEK:
- UK fuzzy /noise pop /indie rock band from Brighton, BEACHTAPE “Pokit” new single
Although with an easily mistakable name, I recall the Brighton foursome as far back as 2016 with their laid-back, scruffy, at times crunchy fuzz-centric melodic guitar rock, amidst sweetness and roughness, very 90s American style, or at least Scottish alike, with nods to early Teenage Fun Club, Weezer, Dinosaur Jr and Pavement. Following the same endearing territories the slightly lo-fi introspective noisy new single blends nervous, obsessive distorted guitar work with stumbling beats, and throbbing bass lines over lost angsty vocal worries to evoke escapist moods and aimless wanderings, amid turbulent disruptive subtly abrasive sways of emotional distress.
- South Australia indie pop /synthpop /new wave project of Caleb Carr (The Guild, formerly English Summer/Arts & Letters), Old Romantics “A Ghost Story” debut single
Romantic purveyor of upbeat Jangly Indie Pop tunes, left his guitar aside and set a synthetic instrumentation, as did some distinguished predecessors such as Paul Haig, Ed Ball and Momus long before, for his new New Wave /Synth-pop moniker Old Romantics, to narrate “A Ghost Story” through swirling icy bright synthetic anxious stabs, smooth rolling percussive patterns, and percolating bass tones into a surreal fluctuating obsessive demeanour around restless vocal angst, longing for love and comfort amid lonely haunting dream. “nothing is perfect / the way it should be”, enough for a fine debut.
- L.A. based by the way of Montreal, Brussels-bred indie /shoegaze /dream pop singer-songwriter CARINA MESSIER “What It Seemed” single
Dream pop singer-songwriter seamlessly weaves ethereal expansive cinematic auras and subtly distorted reverberant ripples, laced with vaguely lysergic arabesques, to draw surreal, sidereal and shimmery bittersweet elegies, where agonies and ecstasies from the depth of the soul collide and harmonize under the glinting refractions of a crystalline starry night. The cool and sparkling new single layers of other-worldly breaths of shock and shame with intense bass lines, relentless drum beats, piercing and glistening guitar melodies and swirling synth atmospherics, to depict an out-of-body experience where an ultimate betrayal creates the tragedy of “what it seemed”.
- Leicestershire, UK ambient /drone /minimal /post-rock guitarist Jon Attwood, YELLOW6 “Hollow Trees” from the new ltd. CDr album “A Change In The Weather” on Athens’ sound in silence
- French bedroom pop /gothgaze /shoegaze /dream pop 5-piece from Paris, Pam Risourié “Comme un glas” (Ruby Loo short movie soundtrack)
- Tokyo, Japan ambient rock project Goateatspoem.[ゴート・イーツ・ポエム] – 夏の怪物 – from 4-track ‘Demo_202209’
- Stockholm, Sweden kraut /psych /electronic /dream pop musician Mikko Singh, AKA Haleiwa “Low Heaven” from the upcoming sophomore album “Hallway Waverider” on Morr Music
- Göteborg, Sweden analog electronic pop artist Catharina Jaunviksna, AKA Badlands “My Time Will Come Again” from the upcoming album “Call to Love” via RITE label.
- New ambient /electronica / modern classical /alt-pop musical and visual collaboration between Scottish artist Vivien McDermid and Icelandic singer-songwriter Benedikt H. Hermannsson, AKA Blew the Veils “Petrol Soft Breath” ltd. 2-track lathe cut 7″ single on Blackford Hill
- Italian psych-pop /indie folk singer-songwriter HER SKIN “Confident” from the second album “I Started a Garden” on We Were Never Being Boring Collective
- Madison, Wisconsin DIY lo-fi /indie rock /psych pop duo Red Pants “Century Phaser” from the cassette EP “Gentle Centuries” on Painted Blonde
- Palmerston North, New Zealand emo-pop /shoegaze /jangly /dream pop duo Sports Dreams “Banger” from the new EP “Weather admitting”
- Glasgow, UK indie folk /dream pop artist Daydream “Wasn’t” from upcoming debut “Bittersweet” EP
- Vienna, Austria-based bedroom pop /ambient /shoegaze /indie rock /dream pop DIY artist of Chinese–Japanese origin, SAKURA “Skin” title track from the debut album “Skin”
- Norway/Germany jangle-pop collaboration of Jørn Åleskjær (The Loch Ness Mouse, Sapphire & Steel) and Sebastian Voss (Nah…, The Fisherman and his Soul), aka HERR WADE “Bitte Sag Nicht” from the debut album “…dreht am Kabel” on Platiruma!!!
- Bergen, Norway synth-pop /indie pop duo Love Dance “PSF” from “Parallel Lines / PSF” first of five ltd. 7″ vinyl singles on Brest’s Too Good To Be True label subscription series
- Düsseldorf, Germany bedroom indie rock /jangle pop solo project of Lars from Subterfuge, The Radio Field “Clove” from “Simple” EP CD on Subjangle
- Dreamy surf-pop from Scottish musician David Skimming based in South Korea, LUNAR ISLES “Unwinding” single.
- San Francisco based indie /new wave /dream-pop solo project, Soft Pastels – “Knock On The Door” from the album “Shutters View” on Spirit Goth Records
- Gothenburg, Sweden post-punk /synth-pop /indie rock 4-piece BEVERLY KILLS “New Berlin” from the debut album “Kaleido” on Welfare Sounds & Records
- Amsterdam, Netherlands indie /dream pop artist Mazey Haze “The Weight of the Weekend” new single on Lustre
- Philadelphia‘s indie dream pop band WORK DRUGS “Flashes of Light” from the upcoming LP “Some You Leave Out”
- French psych /indie rock technicolour connoisseur Cimrya Deal ‘Torn Down’ first single from Cimrya’s album ‘Skyful of Daiseson’ on Aldora Britain Records
- Melbourne guitar pop/indie-rock trio Low Key Crush “Bats Over The Eastern Freeway” title track from the new EP “Bats Over The Eastern Freeway”
- Kansas City lo-fi /shoegaze /jangle /dream pop solo project SEVENTEEN YEARS “I needed you” from the album “Bedroom Gloom” on BIRTHDIY
- Tokyo, Japan dream pop /shoegaze /J-Pop 5-piece エイプリルブルー / AprilBlue – ノクターン – new single.
- London based Synth /Indie /Dream /Psych Pop band led by brother duo Angus and Oliver James, The Death Of Pop “This Place” from “For a Minute” 8-track EP cassette via Hidden Bay & Discos De Kirlian
- London based dream pop /shoegaze 5-piece Boy Marina “Thousand Dreams” single
- Tolyatti, Russia post-punk /noise pop /shoegaze /dream pop FAIENCE KNIFE “Ребёнок” from “Дом” EP
- Los Angeles indie rock /jangle /dream pop duo Sakkaris “Strange” single on BIRTHDIY
- Los Angeles based noisy dream pop trio Soft Blue Shimmer “Love Being” off the upcoming second album “Love Lives in the Body” on Other People Records.
- Sydney’s dream pop /shoegaze /indie rock trio Key Out “Drive” from the upcoming “Afterville” LP
- Instanbul based, Turkish one-man doomer /post-punk /indie rock band, ALTAN “Bu Renkli Dünya” title track from “Bu Renkli Dünya” EP
- Kalmar, Sweden indie rock /post-punk /shoegazing band since the mid-90s, LOOM “To find A Meaning” (originally from 1996) single
- Yekaterinburg, Russian sovietwave /indie rock /post-punk 4-piece Перемотка [Grupa Peremotka] ‘Мир Не Вид’ from the new album ‘Улица Мира’
- Belgian shoegaze /psych-pop/ dream-pop band led by Joachim Liebens, The Haunted Youth “Teen Rebel” off of the debut LP “Dawn Of The Freak” upcoming on Mayway Records
- Netherlands-based shoegaze /gothic rock-pop project of songwriting partners Lisa Ann Swain and Drew Campbell, AKA Sleeps Under Beams “Like Veronika ’22” single
- Birmingham, UK indie /shoegaze singer-songwriter Finlay Hatton “This Is My Memory Of You” from the single “This Is My Memory Of You//This Leaden Heart”
- Stockholm, Sweden indie /dream pop band LILAC “Is It” 4th single from the debut album “There’s someone else in my skin”.
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania dream pop /shoegaze band DRAMAMINE “Back In Time” single off of upcoming EP “Wind & Sand”
- Italian Dream-Pop /Shoegaze project of Tommaso La Rocca based in Livorno, AKA Inframell0w “Thousand Gardens” from the single “Thousand Gardens / Sky Lovers”
- Japanese dream pop /shoegaze band SPHERE “the starry night” single on Tetrahedron
- Swedish ambient /instrumental post-rock collective Feed Me To The Waves “It All Lingers” from the forthcoming album “Apart” on dunk!records
- Paris, France shoegaze/ dream pop 5-piece NEBULA GLOW “You’ve Joined My Ghosts” from s/t EP on Somewherecold Records
- Durham, NC noise pop /shoegaze duo Sweet home “Oxidation” from the second LP “Advice”
- Detroit, Mi Alt-Rock /Shoegaze band SULK “A Way Out” from the sophomore album “If You Look Long Enough It All Starts Moving” on Flesh and Bone Records
- Salt Lake City, Utah alt-rock /shoegaze 4-piece NO SUN “Near To Me” from the sophomore “In the Interim” album on Church Road Records
- Wattignies, France dream pop /shoegaze solo project Jōetsu Shore “Crashed” from the 11th album “Summit”
- Malmö, Sweden dream pop /shoegaze solo project of the LKWRM and Slowmotion Club drummer Paul Saarnak, AKA The Beremy Jets – ”Excess Joy” from the new sophomore album “Devastation” via Somewherecold Records
- Australian dream pop /shoegaze band from Adelaide, Blush Response “Afterglow” single
- Florence, Italy based grunge /shoegaze band led by Brazilian musician Denis Kandle, aka DKANDLE “Dissociation” from the debut album “Mondano”
- Swedish indie rock /noise pop /shoegaze solo project by Alex Johnsson, VIRIDIAN “Introspective” from “Til Death” EP
- Philadelphia‘s shoegazey /noisy /dream pop band Puppy Angst “Perpetual” final single from the upcoming debut album “Scorpio Season”
- Chicago-area alt-rock/shoegaze duo, The Burying Kind (TBK) “In Black and White” from The Burying Kind’s upcoming debut LP “Tragic Airwaves”
- Graz, Austria indie /noise rock /grunge three-piece-band OXYJANE “Always Never” from the debut album “0 2 9” via Numavi Records
- Wellington, New Zealand 4-piece noise rock band FOULER “Twix” single
- Los Angeles‘ dream rock /shoegaze /slowcore band MILLY “Ring True” from the album “Eternal Ring” on Dangerbird Records
- Brooklyn, NY three-piece grunge /shoegaze /indie rock band Hello Mary “Rabbit” single
- Derby, UK garage rock /dark indie pop 4-piece Electric Pets “Make You Mine” from upcoming “Elephant” EP due November 11th via Reckless Yes.
- Marseille, France garage /jangle /power-pop band led by Téo Tomy Tannières of Tomy & The Cougars, FLATHEAD “The End Of My World” from “Sunset Girl” EP on SNAP RECORDS SPAIN
- Richmond, Virginia power pop /noise pop band DAZY ‘Split’ from the debut full length ‘OUTOFBODY’ on Lame-O Records
- Nashville, TN based Shoegaze /Post-Punk /New Wave /Indie Rock band led by songwriter and producer Joseph Lekkas, Palm Ghosts “Signal” 2nd single from the upcoming “Post Preservation” album on Ice Queen Records
- Fuzzy alt-rock /post-grunge band from Southend UK, HIGH/LOW “Tiny Monocle” single
- Berlin based post-grunge-pop artist J. Vague “Fire Fantasy” second single off the debut album “SILVER” on Mansions and Millions
- Dutch alternative /indie rock /noise pop band from Amsterdam, Von Veh “Friction” second track from the upcoming EP
- Galway, Ireland shoegaze /noise-rock /guitar rock band NewDad “ILY2” (Charli XCX cover) new single on Fair Youth
- Portland, OR indie rock /psych /post-punk /alt rock band Forty Feet Tall “Big Red Bus” from “BOIL” EP
- Philadelphia, PA dream pop /shoegaze 5-piece Knifeplay “Ryan Song” from the upcoming album “Animal Drowning” on Topshelf Records
- Brighton, UK ambient /dream pop /psych pop artist Dove Lazarus “Amber Doves” single
- UK indie folk /dark pop duo Amy Spencer and Avi Barath, AKA Charlotte Spiral “All This Time, Asleep” title track off upcoming “All This Time, Asleep” EP
- Melbourne, Australia psych /acid folk singer-songwriter Adam Geoffrey Cole “A man of sorrow” from the album “The tracks of the Afterlander (with Anthony Cornish)”
- Perth, Australia blues /folk rock singer-songwriter Stephen Bailey “The Holder” off upcoming fourth album ‘G.G Ryder’ via Third Eye Stimuli Records.