Categories
Rediscover Review

Obligatory Year-In-Retrospective Writeup

Everyone’s got to do one. I am not everyone but I am going to do one anyway. There are two ways of going about putting together a retrospective:

1, Make a lot of lists

2. Do a recap of all major events – like a neutron-star newsfeed

But then I am not a pro-blogger, I don’t necessarily keep up with news or new releases unless it is something I know I like, or expect to like or something that has been recommended to me by someone who knows what I like. See it’s all about what I like so no lists or news, just the highlights of this year in shoegaze. For me.

NB: The real reason I’m not doing lists or news is because I am too uncool to keep up well enough to form an opinion

In this edition – shoutouts to my  favourite albums of the year. Disclaimer: This is not a list. I just happen to like a few albums from this year a lot. A lot a LOT. In no particular order:

Soundpool – Mirrors In Your Eyes

You’ve already seen me compose an ode to this album on here and with good reason. I love it. Soundpool sound better than ever and they have really, really come into their own here. They’ve managed to finally, finely sculpt their very own discogaze genre into a marvellous glittery, slightly blurry Studio 54 dance floor and it is marvellous. I am as enraptured with ‘Makes No Sense’ now as I was when I first heard it. Splendid.

Me You Us Them – Post-Data

Thanks to my comrade-in-arms Talha for forcing me to listen to them. You know how Kanye-fever appears to have gripped the world? Indie kids everywhere can’t tear their ears away from his album. Everyone around me – because I am surrounded by indie kids – is stumbling around in a strange Kanye trance mumbling his lyrics under their breath unable to speak of anything else. That album came out last month, did it not? Post-Data was out in April, I think, and it did the same thing to me and is STILL carrying on. I cannot get over the professionalism in conjunction with the fact that this is a debut. Every song is flawless and every song is different – the segueways and contrasts are perfect and the most jaw dropping bit is the fact that the unconventional variety (by shoegaze, or even indie rock standards – towards which this record really appears to lean) doesn’t appear to injure any of the tracks in any way. It’s even got meaningful lyrics – specifically on the unintentionally anthemic ‘Drugs’. Though it keeps changing, I think I’ve settled on ‘Loving Like Lawyers’ as my favourite track. I simply cannot say enough good things about this album and the reason I’m going on about it is because Talha’s the one who reviewed it (as he should have) (lucky thing!)

Butterfly Explosion – Lost Trails

I was a super mega excited worm about this album – having only heard ‘Chemistry’ off a shoegaze compilation and downloaded their EP I’d already classified them as one of those ‘These Guys Cannot Fail’ bands. A dangerous thing to do, but it has served me well in the past. Lost Trails did not disappoint and I maintain Butterfly Explosion are one of the most unfairly ignored (relatively speaking) bands even within gazer circles. Maybe it’s because they’re so good everyone takes their excellence for granted. Maybe it’s because they don’t appear to socialise in shoegaze circles though I do know they have an association with Soundpool up there. Whatever the case, the reason I like them so much is because they make songs that are strong – and, like caffeine, I like shoegaze to be strong without being bitter or harsh. And Butterfly Explosion nail it. They’re like the custom blend of coffee that cuts through the wet foam of expertly steamed milk when it’s placed before you in its ceramic mug so that neither overpowers the other and you’ve got a delicate, yet uniquely flavoured cup of ground-bean extract. I’ve become a bit of a caffeine fiend lately – expect analogies!

A shoutout also goes to my homies Highspire who delighted me by a) continuing to exist and b) releasing an album out of the blue. Aquatic is nothing like Your Everything lacking its predecessors pop sensibilities and well and truly living up to its name. Clearly, Highspire lean towards the sink side of the float/sink shoegaze spectrum. It was inspired by The Cove and is loaded with secrets like easter eggs – my favourite being the little note in the liner that reveals “no drum hardware was used in the making of this record” – whaaaaat.

There are other notables as well but I would rather not just randomly list them without providing a bit of a story for each. Besides, I’m hiding in my room from a forty degree day and must make myself look less like melted wax prior to heading out the door to legitimise New Year celebrations by not being home for it. New Year celebrations are always amusing – so much celebration for one motion of one hand of a clock. Humans are bizarre. Have a happy 2011!

Categories
Familiar Sounds

Secret Shine vs. My Bloody Valentine Part 2

WHAT, Secret Shine are ripping off My Bloody Valentine
again? HOW CAN THIS BE?!?!

 

If what ran through your mind is something along those lines plz drop
your Shoegazer Club Membership Card at the desk and GTFO for any
‘gazer worth his salt and membership card knows that photocopying MBV
is Secret Shine’s USP.

 

Behold – their version of ‘Sometimes’ which they fondly refer to as ‘Last Words’

Categories
Familiar Sounds

Nazz vs. The Who

One of Todd Rundgren’s assorted bands – Nazz – has a song
called ‘Open My Eyes’ which I only know of because it featured in a
Nuggets compilation. This is because I don’t really swing the
pre-1980s way. There are exceptions though, and one of those
exceptions is The Who and that is why it took me mere
milliseconds to go from ‘hey that’s The Who!’ to ‘oh. No it’s not’
when I first heard ‘Open My Eyes’ because you know as well as I do
that the opening is blatantly Mr. Townshend’s. I think Todd R. ruins a
spectacular riff, though, when he decides to buzzsaw into it 3 seconds
after it launches. You need to revert to the ‘original’ for auditory
closure.

Categories
Familiar Sounds

The XX vs. Fehlfarben

Why I do believe Familiar Sounds gold has been struck and I owe it all to my favourite German.

 

My Rostock-dwelling friend sent me a link to a song from 1980 called ‘All That Heaven Allows’ by a German post-punk band called Fehlfarben.

 

“Does something in that sound familiar to you?” He asked.

 

Yes, something in there was indeed a bit deja-ecoute. But what?

 

“That guitar riff at 0:18… maybe you’ve heard it somewhere before?”

 

YES. Yes I have! But where?

 

The resemblance was excruciating. However I figured out why I took so long to place it. It was because I am not an indie kid.

 

So has anyone else called The XX out on their ‘Islands’ hook?
Categories
Rediscover Track

Emperor X – Bashling (2004)

I have never, ever been so desperate to get out of a café.

I spend hours in coffee shops, making sure my nerves don’t dare sink into complacency. They must always be on edge, the system always in fight (of fight-or-flight) mode, constantly wired, perpetually in a state of DO SOMETHING – it’s how I balance university, work, life, music (that counts as life, surely?), and half a dozen blogs all at once.

And today is a beautiful day by anyone’s standards – even a sun-loathing vampire such as myself is a fan of the delicate warmth shrouding the city today. Not blindingly bright and the air still nippy – I’d suckle on cups of coffee for an eternity if eternity was this weather.

But I didn’t today. I thought I would. But I couldn’t. I had a craving for a song I’d been listening to for two continuous hours yesterday and still hadn’t got enough of.

It’s called ‘Bashling’ and it’s by Emperor X. He’s been hopping about Australia for the past couple of weeks. I was clever enough to not say no when a friend of mine and fan of his asked me to come to one of his shows. Suffice it to say his performance left me a bit stunned.

This isn’t a live review, though. This is about what happened after I patched the cracks in my chin from where it had hit the floor. I decided to go discography exploring. And that’s when I met Bashling.

I feel a bit guilty about how quickly I fell in love with a song that’s been around forever. How long? About six years or so. I am so late to the scene, I am a n00b in the Emperor X clique and I already have a My Song, that’s not right.

Never mind, I am too busy playing it over and over and over again on a university PC alternating the official gazer version with a ‘live’ version which may as well be a different song for its lack of gaze but that I love to pieces all the same.

I think it’s because I can make out the words in the non-gaze version (thus the gazelessness). And it’s beautiful even when it’s stripped down to six strings (not counting vocal chords). There’s this line that frames the song – “wanted to climb to you… on the swing set” – and it absolutely kills me. I think it’s so devastating because you can’t really clamber about effectively on a swing set without the risk of moderate injury. So for someone to want someone else so much that they’re willing to take that risk in a setting as innocently harmless as a swing set – that’s just heartbreaking.

Of course I might be wrong. The ‘swing set’ might be more than the couple of steel-threaded planks of wood that I see. But that’s what I want it to be so THAT’S WHAT IT IS. Don’t question my interpretation, I’m not questioning what a ‘bashling’is now am I?

What’s a bashling?

Listen.

Photo credit

Categories
Familiar Sounds

Silversun Pickups vs. Silversun Pickups

I saw the Silversun Pickups‘ Melbourne show last night. They didn’t play either of these songs but I know them well enough to have noticed the resemblance between Swoon‘s ‘Draining’ and Carnavas’ ‘Waste It On’ when I heard ‘Draining’. Now, let it be known that I am a Carnavas-girl through and through. However I must admit that I much prefer ‘Draining’ to its older doppelganger – I love that cello, it’s marvellous. I love SPPU. I can’t believe I saw them. Here, listen:

 

 

Categories
Album Review

Tears Run Rings – Distance (2010)

It started with ‘Mind The Wires’.

‘Mind the Wires is a song off Tears Run Rings’ first album. It is one of the most exquisitely understanding, most sympathetic songs I have ever had the privilege to hear. I am (unsurprisingly) not quite sure what they’re saying, and while I would like to know, I am quite happy in my lyrical ignorance thanks to a comforting Discernible Lyric Template that ensures the involuntary filler lyrics you insert can do no damage.

You do want to know, though. A template that looks like this:

“Mind the wires, let your love…

Slow down – slow down, be careful

A million stars…”

And also includes:

“Say goodbye…

… stay a while.”

leaves you craving the words you miss every time you listen.

Tears Run Rings don’t get enough credit. Even within shoegaze circles they are oft overlooked and perhaps the most unfairly ignored of all neo-gaze bands. This might be because they don’t appear to travel in the same incestuous musical circles* as several of the others appear to. But they are easily somewhere at the top of the pile in terms of expertise and expression. You can see their honesty manifest itself in their delicately vague song titles, the hazy abstractness obvious in such detached album names as Always, Sometimes, Seldom, Never and even more glaringly so in Distance… which is what I’m supposed to be talking about, by the way. Sorry, ‘Mind The Wires’ always distracts me from the task at hand.

‘Happiness 3’ is a lovely way to start Distance and is, in my humble but somewhat reliable opinion, better than its prequels. It is a stunning, twilit vocal waltz – two voices swirl in each others’ metaphorical arms melting into one another in the kind of blinkered love that leaves you oblivious to your surrounds. Lost in themselves, twisting elegantly into a dewy double helix.

‘Intertia’ is the song with the most personality on the album thanks to some rebellious drums that develop a mind of their own mid-verse and wander off  the set path for a few liberated seconds before snapping out of their reverie, gathering their bearings and reining themselves back in. And ‘Reunion’ is surprisingly psychedelic, radiating the echoes the Jesus and Mary Chain trademarked. The only song I find myself not such a fan of is the much hyped (by TRR standards, of course) offering, ‘Forgotten’. Don’t misunderstand me, ‘Forgotten’ is a great song. But I am left slightly cold by the jarring in-and-out-ros, the guitars screaming a little to harshly to follow the cradle set up by Happiness 3 and appearing out of place in the song itself.

I’m having some trouble adequately expressing how transcendent the title track is. ‘Distance’ the song is an absolute gem, with a melody and words tender enough to coax even the most ardent insomniac to, if not sleep, at the very least a state of out-of-body other-worldly suspension. “We are tired but we can’t go to sleep” – you couldn’t have asked for a more compassionate statement. Tears Run Rings say the words for you and then – “here I am” – say the words to you. You can feel them gently stroking your hair right up to the magnificently crashing close that unfailingly sends ripples through your bloodstream.

It’s quite obvious how much I am in love with this song isn’t it? It’s a seven minute long track and I listened to it five times in the course of writing the preceding paragraph. 35 minutes. I may as well have blinked.

‘Distance’ is followed by the unsettlingly sweet-sounding ‘Divided’. “I try to scream…” says a voice of icy, crystal honey that you know is incapable of such an unmelodious act – and this very thought is what makes the song so disquieting.

I’m quite happy with TRR’s relative elusiveness. It’s not just a matter of having a band you love all to yourself. It goes beyond the mere selfish protectiveness we tend to coat our favourite possessions with (though, no doubt, I am rather pleased with how much more mine this makes them). No, I am also in favour of this because it means there’s less pressure on them.  You know? As in, I’d imagine they’re their own strongest influence. Distance takes its time to unfurl. It’s unhurried and natural – untouched by expectations from peers or industry. Like its predecessor, it’s unadulterated.

[*I love how those incestuous circles are so reminiscent of the original ‘Scene That Celebrates Itself’ mentality. It’s like an involuntary homage to classic shoegaze.]

Categories
Familiar Sounds

Explosions in the Sky vs. Pavement

I could scarcely believe this one myself.

 

What I could believe even less was how no one else on the internets appeared to have noticed.

 

It’s not like ‘Six Days at the Bottom of the Ocean’ by Explosions in the Sky and ‘Grounded’ by Pavement are exceptionally elusive search topics for Google. Explosions in the Sky, maaaan, there is only one.

 

It’s also not like there’s not an overlap in listeners of both bands. Sure, the styles of music are different but jeez, indie kids, you have failed me.

 

This is my favourite Pavement song.

Categories
Familiar Sounds

Elvis Costello vs. Bob Dylan

I heard Elvis Costello‘s ‘Pump It Up’ while trying out a new cafe this weekend. He doesn’t really make the kind of music I’m into (ya dig, daddy-o?) so it’s quite fortunate I heard it at all, and quite fortunate that I managed to pick up, over the din of happy chews and light conversation, the resemblance to Bob Dylan’s ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’. There’s another person who doesn’t make My Kind Of Music, but really, who doesn’t know Dylan songs?

 

This one’s to convince all of you my ears are still somewhat functional – I’m sure I lost some trust with the last post.
Categories
Familiar Sounds

The Ronettes vs. The Beatles

aka ‘wut?’

 

Back with a bang making a rather risky claim. I promise I’ve thought it through, but it just so happens that WHENEVER I hear the opening of the Ronettes’ ‘Be My Baby’, I instantly think of the two lines off one of my favourite Beatles songs ‘And I Love Her’. 

As always, I might be alone in a corner with my observations, but dammit, I make the connection EVERY TIME and that’s reason enough to post it. 

The more I listen to this, the more I think it’s just me. Perhaps it’s the ‘if’ bit. Perhaps the songs are too well-known to everyone else. Perhaps I need to do a better mashup to prove my point. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps HEY AT LEAST I’M STILL AROUND, eh, how about some credit there?