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Her Vanished Grace – Passenger
I’ve long been an admirer of the Her Vanished Grace post-shoegaze sound but not enough to single out a tune for praise. Could well be that ‘Passenger’ has achieved that notoriety because it sounds so much like hugger faves Mew. The song is taken from the New Yorker’s latest LP ‘See The Moon’ and establishes Charles and Nancy Nieland as having the perfect vocal tag team to accompany the layers of sulphuric chords. ‘Passenger’ has the undeniable feeling of an early nineties classic, with the fuzz and atmospheric theatrics finally relenting to the soaring voices. Brings you back and them forward. KD
Her Vanished Grace – Passenger
More Info: Official
Buy Songs: Her Vanished Grace
Year: 2011
Teenage Fanclub – Sometimes I Don’t Need To Believe In Anything
I’m almost sick of talking about how Teenage Fanclub’s star quality has been on the wane. The truth is that they still record songs that for a normal group would amount to a career high. It’s just that the Glaswegians set the bar so high so any degradation in quality was always going to result in wails of dissatisfaction. Their newer album’s lack the cohesion and endless highlights of, say, ‘Grand Prix’ but there is still much to admire. Like ‘Sometimes I Don’t Need To Believe In Anything’ from 2010′s ‘Shadows’ which boasts a chorus to rival any of those from the glorious yore. KD
Teenage Fanclub – Sometimes I Don’t Need To Believe In Anything
More Info: Official
Buy Songs: Teenage Fanclub
Year: 2010
Joy With Colors – Hello Starters
I prefer the music over the singing on this one. In fact the instrumental riff is so memorable it could colour an Apple commercial given a decent mix. Its makers are called Joy With Colors, two French fellas who know their way around a clutch of musical devices. Their new LP, ‘Balcony’, is due any day and if this gets the purchase on ears that it should there could be plenty of romeo’s headed its way. KD
Joy With Colors – Hello Starters
More Info: Official
Buy Songs: Joy With Colors
Year: 2011
The Second Hand Marching Band – Bonbon
You could be forgiven for thinking this is Sufjan and the general festive vibes don’t help in any way to shake that impression. The song was recorded during a snowy spell in coldest Scotland and the collective probably felt inspired to reach for a sound that reminded them most of Christmas. Entirely odd that a song such as this should arrive in late May but then our isle has been so drenched in precipitation and howling air recently it feels all the world like the end of another year. And with half of the world’s leader bedding down in the capital it may be an opportune moment to slightly drunk on a gaggle of giddy brass. The Second Hand Marching Band don’t come out to play that often but when they do we tend to drop everything and join in. KD
The Second Hand Marching Band – Bonbon
More Info: Official
Buy Songs: The Second Hand Marching Band
Year: 2009
Stereolab – Super-Electric
To paraphrase a popular combo from the west of Ireland, I used to love them, I used to love them once. You see Stereolab excited me like no other band for a period in the 90′s. I bought every one of their releases, singles, EP’s, flexi discs, LP’s, it just made no difference because what they were recording so tapped into what gave me tingles. Their audiac was my heroin and I was willing to suffer in all other parts of my disposable income reliant life to witness first hand what they had cooked up. To this day efforts like ‘Low Fi’, ‘Transporter Sans Boucher’, ‘French Disko’, ‘Le Boob Oscillator’, ‘Transona Five’ and ‘Super-Electric’ soil what is for the most part a calm individual. They make me want me to climb mountains barefoot with a telescope and then wait until nightfall so I can contact other beings to let them know that we have the perfect band to play at the inaugural interplanetary get together. Let you know when it is happening. KD
Stereolab – Super-Electric
Adventures In Stereo – Underground Sound
Has there been a better song written about the sound from the underground? I doubt it and it’s probably unlikely to be surpassed any time soon. Although Glasgow’s Adventures In Stereo featured members from Primal Scream and Spirea X they flirted with an east coast sound with Judith Boyle’s vocals recalling Spector’s girl groups. They released 4 LP’s but it was their self-titled debut that impressed most. Over 18 short head spinning tracks the trio flirted with all manner of retro sounds that perfectly imagined how a perfect summer soundtrack should be. The peach of course was ‘Underground Sound’ with its luscious cascading harmonies and bar-blues progression. The only pity is that it finishes too soon. Fail to love, don’t love music. KD
Adventures In Stereo – Underground Sound
More Info: Wiki
Buy Songs: Adventures In Stereo
Year: 1997
Shoreline Is – Living Things
Communications that arrive in to us with a degree of personal tailoring are likely to get more attention. Human nature really I guess and a nod that we are deserving of more than a bcc now and then. Dortmund 3-piece went exactly this route the other day, explaining what they were about and how they’d be a good fit for this blog. Of course it matters that their music is excellent but following their email I spent a good hour in the company of their songs. They admit they come from an industrial part of Germany but that it had a huge influence on their dreampop leanings. There’s no denying their influences come from a couple of decades ago and as you’d expect that is just honey to the ears of grandpa hugger. ‘Living Things’ opens their first demo which is available for free on bandcamp. It is quite a catch, more electrogaze than its purer early nineties incarnation but that’s what makes it so enjoyable. A rub of history and an earful of the future. Factory records, don’t you just love them. KD
Shoreline Is – Living Things
More Info: Official
Buy Songs: Shoreline Is
Year: 2011
I Break Horses – Hearts
It was inevitable that we’d fall for this song. Not just because shoegaze is a huge part of our musical heritage but also because it is undeniably beautiful. It is the work of I Break Horses from Sweden who recently signed to Bella Union (on a bit of a roll aren’t they?). Maria Lindén and Fredrik Balck are certainly building something special, you could list their hero gazers (I’ll stop at saying this begins like Slowdive’s ‘In Mind’) but I Break Horses can comfortably stand on their own four feet. ‘Hearts’ bodes well for their debut which is due later this summer, I can’t play it but feel utterly devastated that I don’t have someone nearby to hold. There are words but not ones you’d easily pick out so the feeling in your pit is purely as a result of the exotic sound. KD
I Break Horses – Hearts
More Info: Official
Buy Songs: I Break Horses
Year: 2011
Tape Deck Mountain – P.I.
Probably showing my age and awful taste in 80′s TV shows but I read the title of this song and constantly prefix it with Magnum. Anyway, enough about my sordid past we’re to exclaim the joy of yet another Lefse artist to stoke our fancy. This time it’s a trio from San Diego called Tape Deck Mountain, a suitable moniker for sure because they sound like the era that media format was all the rage. ‘P.I.’ is an unwieldy tune with industrial sounding chords and vocals that fall just short of howl. But for all its effrontery there is something magnetic about the way it builds and creates definition where it ought not to exist. They are messing with our minds and we really don’t give a higgins. KD
Tape Deck Mountain – P.I.
More Info: Official
Buy Songs: Tape Deck Mountain
Year: 2011
Computer Magic – Grand Junction
Welcome to the Danz (Danielle Johnson), again. Brooklyn’s Computer Magic keep churning out songs, giving them away as free downloads and we keep lapping them up. Nothing physical yet but we are in love. This is electro pop of the highest order and despite the unsigned tag there is surely plenty of action behind the scenes to scoop the talented 21 year old. ‘Grand Junction’ is taken from her third digital EP ‘Spectronic’ and features the usual mix of bolshy vocals and spindizzy electronic flourishes. Just a matter of time. KD
Computer Magic – Grand Junction
More Info: Official
Download Songs: Computer Magic
Year: 2010
Phoenix – Love Like A Sunset (Animal Collective Remix)
This starts out sounding like an contemporary Thom Yorke meander but then I figure it’s still playing so it couldn’t be. The original material is courtesy of Versailles textured pop act Phoenix (from their 2009 album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, the follow-up of which is currently being recorded), a collective we should be all over but have stopped short of honouring on several occasions. Not sure why but it may be because in an odd way they don’t quite make sense. How bloody blog-minded of us then to start bringing up their name just because Animal Collective are in to do some spring cleaning. Seems the electro psychers are quite the fans but not as much as they are of their own music because ‘Love Like A Sunset’ does fit the AC mould quite seamlessly. KD
Phoenix – Love Like A Sunset (Animal Collective Remix)
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – Higher Than The Stars
Always puzzled by the level of interest in the Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. There are so many great bands playing the same brand of indie jangle (Celestial for example) but fail to register a smidgeon of the adoration that the New Yorkers receive. Perhaps it has been Slumberland’s steady and well respected hand or it could just be the fact that TPOBPAH never stand still on getting the word out and when it does people find it difficult to resist cherub’s like ‘Higher Than The Stars’. The song comes from a 2009 EP of the same name but could have been from 20 years previous such are its note perfect retro shapes. KD
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – Higher Than The Stars
More Info: Official
Buy Songs: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
Year: 2009