Shoegaze – Page 3 – 7th Level Music

Rewind Review: The Psychedelic Furs – Here Came the Psychedelic Furs: B-side & Lost Grooves (1994)

I scored Here Came the Psychedelic Furs: B-sides & Lost Grooves at a wrecka stow in Arizona last month. I had no idea this collection existed until I stumbled across it for a mere seven dollars in a used CD bin. The Furs have become one of my favorite bands in the last decade, although I have been enjoying them since I practically wore out their Talk Talk Talk album on cassette back in 1981. I missed a lot of their catalogue because most of it wasn’t available where I grew up. MTV, when it still played music videos, kept me up to date on their newest singles, but that was it.

As a result, this collection has allowed to me hear a lot of great stuff that I didn’t know existed. It starts off with a loud, gritty dance mix version of “Aeroplane” that’s over five minutes long, was produced by Todd Rundgren, and was the B-side of the “Love My Way” 12″ single from 1982.

“Another Edge” (the B-side of the “Here Come Cowboys” single from 1984) is pretty much a krautrock track with Tim Butler adding some great slap bass to the electro-beats and flashy horn section. “Badman” (taken from a promo-only 12″ release of 1989’s “Should God Forget”) has that cool psych-saxophone / spooky bass / cracking drums / drone guitar mix that only the Psychedelic Furs seem to pull off without effort.

“Birdland” is the B-side of the “All That Money Wants” single from 1988, and is a slick, dark bit of shoegaze. Up next is another five-minute-plus, Rundgren-produced dance mix from the 1982 “Love My Way” 12″ single – “Goodbye.” Richard Butler‘s vocals and lyrics are in fine form as he growls about the proliferation of apathy (“Yesterday’s news is today’s news…You don’t remember, you forget, that’s the way the stories all go…I’ll see you all around sometime if I ever go back there.”) and, at the same time, finding strength in leaving negativity.

Speaking of “Love My Way” B-sides, “I Don’t Want to Be Your Shadow” was on the flip side of the 7″ version of that single. It’s has a cool, pulsing beat and a surprising bit of guitar shredding. The 7″ remix of “Heartbeat” from 1984 originally appeared on the B-side of “The Ghost in You” single. It’s another track full of Richard Butler’s bass groove, this time churning out disco funk along with the guitars, and frantic saxophone blasts.

A cover of “Mack the Knife” (the B-side to the “Angels Don’t Cry” single from 1987) is a fun inclusion, barely recognizable, and a dark, broody version that turns the title character into someone probably found more in dark basement clubs than swanky jazz affairs. “New Dream” (taken from the 1987 “Heartbreak Beat” 12″ single) is a slick blend of 1980s city pop, shoegaze, psychedelia, and a goth of goth. It reminds me of some of The The‘s work from the same era. The guitar solo on it from John Ashton is especially good. Mars Williams was also on saxophone by this point, and you can hear how much he elevates the band right away.

The 12″ remix-edit version of “Here Come Cowboys” from 1984 is another fine example of Richard Butler’s vocals and lyrics, this time taking a jab at masculine stereotypes (“It’s so hard at times to take it serious. It really gets to be a drag when all we really need is love. Here comes cowboys, here to save us all.”). You can practically feel Butler sighing as his eyes roll upwards at the idea of angry dudes screwing things up yet again.

The extended 12″ mix (over eight minutes!) of 1987’s classic “Heartbreak Beat” is top-notch. The 7″ remix of “Angels Don’t Cry” from the same year is a picturesque love song that borders on pop-alternative, another type of song the Furs do well while other shoegaze bands chose to cover their feelings on love with walls of sound (which isn’t a bad thing, by any means, and can be quite effective and evocative). Want another remix from 1987? How about Shep Pettibone‘s 12″ remix of “Shock?” It turns the track into a nightclub hit with bright vocals, saxophone, and synths but never losing it’s rock edge.

The last two tracks are live cuts. The first is a recording of “President Gas” (a song that, unfortunately, never goes out of style) on The King Biscuit Flower Hour from 1983 and was on the B-side of the “Run and Run” single. The second is “No Easy Street” and was only released on maxi-cassette (Remember those? They were cassettes that featured one song per side.) in 1988. Both are sharp recordings. “President Gas” is fuzzy and growling, while “No Easy Street” is haunting stuff that borders on dark wave at some points.

This collection is well worth tracking down if you can find it, and it begs for the Furs to release a large retrospective. There has to be a vault of live cuts, demos, and other rarities somewhere on top of their already impressive catalogue.

Keep your mind open.

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Joanna take us into “Bandit Country” with the newest track from their lost album.

Today Manchester band Joanna share a third look at their long lost debut album ‘Hello Flower’, which will finally be released on December 5th via New Feelings, 35 years after intended.

In 1989, Joanna were on the cusp of something bigger, their sound alive with the same electricity sparking through the North West of England. Yet in a world where gatekeepers decided who would rise and who would vanish, their debut never saw daylight. Now, ‘Hello Flower’ blooms at last — a time-capsule of youthful abandon, freed from the silence it was once consigned to, and finally able to be heard on its own terms.

Following previous singles “If You Don’t Want Me To“ and “Gardeners’ World“, today they share a third look at the record with “Bandit Country” – a track that is pulsing, catchy and flickers with the brightest sounds of the Madchester era.

“’Bandit Country’ is about navigating the years after leaving school and growing into adulthood” the band explain. “Neil’s brother-in-law would refer to areas of other towns you’d have to get through to go and watch Liverpool FC (where the locals would want to beat you up) as “bandit country”. Neil took it as describing life in general when you have no idea what you want to do, never mind how you’re going to get there.”

Listen to “Bandit Country” on YouTube: https://youtu.be/CJkLNUmKAnI
Also on:Spotify | Apple Music

It’s 1989. The Stone Roses are dominating the Indie scene and music press. Happy Mondays are laying the foundations of what would come to be known as the Madchester era with chaotic live performances. All eyes are on the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. Along the East Lancs Road, throughout industrial heartlands between Manchester and Liverpool, punctuated by woollyback accents, four young musicians meet and form the next contender for the scene’s attention, Joanna. Neil Holliday (vocals) and Terry Lloyd (bass), work colleagues from Runcorn and Widnes, join forces with Leigh Music College students Tyrone Holt (guitar) and Carl Alty (drums). They hail from thoroughly working-class backgrounds, raised by hard working dads and harder working mothers. Rejected by other local bands because of their perceived youthful naïveté, the four lads create a world of their own inside Pentagon Studios in Widnes. This world includes a stolen smoke machine and strobe lights, a wooden shack to prevent feedback on the vocals, and the occasional friend who would dance around wildly.

“I think the first tune we rehearsed was called (I Wanna) Marry Joanna,” says Holliday, “I’d never sang into a mic before and had no clue about levels, amps or speakers and started sweating after a couple of failed attempts to vocalize the words I had on a scrap of paper about smoking weed.”

Each track on ‘Hello Flower’ came together in the Pentagon rehearsal room, a fusion of hard-edged indie rock with bass funk rhythms and crunching guitar riffs spiraling into infinity. With a clear sixties influence, Joanna was impossible to ignore and irresistibly danceable. Listening back today, their music evokes fantasies of Hacienda acid trip jubilees, where the hook is secondary to the groove and attitude. Organic and jammy, their demos are infused with a kinetic energy, full of the defining youthful experience of figuring it out.

Their momentum grew quickly. They were interviewed on the cult Kiss FM by future Best Selling author and filmmaker Jon Ronson, performed at the 1500 capacity Ritz in Manchester, International 1 and Liverpool Polytechnic. The band secured coveted support slots for established acts of the time including Shack, Dr. Phibes and the House of Wax Equations, Rig, and Asia Fields. After recording several demos, Joanna had the opportunity to perform in London.

It seemed like a given. The A&R people would show up, the band would sign a contract backstage, and their local-legend status would evolve into international superstardom. They were already mentioning an upcoming record deal in interviews, with a bravado that inspired one journalist to describe Joanna as epitomising “the simple beauty of youth.” Bands like World of Twist, Charlatans, Rig and Paris Angels had all followed a similar route towards recognition and secured record deals. A few hours before their fateful London show after the band had sound-checked, singer Neil bumped into a girl he knew from school. She had started dating a guy with a good job and settled into London life and escaped beyond their small-town limitations. She’d made it out. Neil puffed out his chest and let her know about Joanna’s big show and imminent success. She laughed. Neil returned to the venue in a black mood, leading to a domino-like fall of morale. They were never offered a record deal.

When the long shadows of doubt crept up on them, Joanna started to lose its magic. Wounded, they limped along for another year, never recovering their initial verve. This story doesn’t have the happy ending of instant success, but it does preserve something much more ephemeral and unique. Joanna constantly brushed shoulders with fame as manager and friend Martin Royle pulled the strings with a quiet determination in the background. A major player in the Liverpool scene, Dave Pichilingi, offered to manage the band. The Boardwalk, which later became the rehearsal space for Oasis, asked Joanna to headline their re-opening after a major refurb, selling the venue out. Was a certain young roadie called Noel Gallagher there to witness the evening while he was putting his own band together? Definitely. Maybe. Hand-written letters on headed stationery, recently found in the attic of the Isle of Man home of Royle, show labels like Rough Trade, Factory Records and Polydor courted and encouraged the band to keep playing and recording.

Thirty-five years later, these long-forgotten ¼-inch reel tapes from Pentagon Studios were discovered in the loft of a mutual friend, their manager having handed them off to him 24 years earlier. These musical time capsules contained tracks the band members themselves hadn’t heard in over three decades, offering a poignant reconnection with their creative past and tantalising glimpses of what might have been. “We realised we were actually as good as we remembered,” says Alty. The memories between the band members are blurred and contradictory but the tapes hold everything together, they are real, definite and irrefutable. With the release of ‘Hello Flower’, Joanna is no longer “the most popular band without a record out,” as NME called them in 1990, but their singular spirit is now available for anyone who wants a taste. The simple beauty of youth can only be experienced when you are invincible, fulfilling your natural destiny, buoyed by complete optimism… This record captures innocence untainted by failure. Beyond analysis, beyond critique, just lost in the groove.

Joanna will play a sold out show at Manchester’s Low Four Studio on Saturday December 13th. More information here.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Kate at Stereo Sanctity!]

Tombstones in Their Eyes release “Alive & Well” from their upcoming new album.

LA-based indie rock outfit Tombstones In Their Eyes presents ‘Alive and Well’, a beautifully raucous psychedelic rock revival hymn, following the brooding lead track ‘Under Dark Skies’. This unexpectedly fierce and defiant declaration of strength is the second taste of their ‘Under Dark Skies’ album, to be released viaLittle Cloud Records (for North America) and Shore Dive Records (for the UK and EU). This 2-track offering also includes the radio edit.

This song is dedicated to TITE guitarist Paul Boutin, who recently lost his battle with cancer. As Paul Lovecraft, he was a prolific musician, releasing music even after an operation nicked his vocal chords. Having met Tombstones’ main-man John Treanor at Kitten Robot Studios about 10 years ago while working on his own projects, they fell into the same orbital realms until Paul eventually joined the band.

The song features John Treanor on vocals and guitar, Paul Boutin on guitar, Nic Nifoussi on bass, Paul Roessler on keyboards, Stephen Striegel on drums and percussion), and Courtney Davies, Clea Cullen and Joel Wasko on backing vocals,

“When our beloved friend and guitar player lost his life on 10/18/25, we were shocked, confused and incredibly saddened. Paul was so kind, generous, intelligent and always optimistic. Being in TITE was a source of pride and joy for Paul. He was so easy to be around and was dedicated, driving many hours for practices and shows, always bringing his cheerfulness and optimism. We miss him greatly and are glad he is all over this record,” says John Treanor.

“We were initially going to scrap ‘Alive and Well’ as a single after Paul’s passing (for obvious reasons), but because it was one of Paul’s favorites and a song on which he played guitar, we are going ahead with the release. The lyrics are about rising out of desperate circumstances with newfound strength – something Paul himself experienced, having dragged himself out of his own difficulties to ultimately rebuild a life full of joy and purpose. While not planned that way, ‘Alive and Well’ ended up being a statement of intent – a story of a journey from despair to strength.”

The accompanying video was created by Italian multi-arts visionary Francesca Bonci, known for her work with Federale (BJM’s Collin Hegna), British bard Philip Parfitt,The Dandy Warhols’ Peter G. Holmström a.k.a. Pete International Airport and Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell.

A year on from their ‘Asylum Harbour’ album, this record emerged during a year of intense personal change, before finally moving into a place of light and gratitude. Recorded and engineered by Paul Roessler (The Screamers, Nina Hagen, 45 Grave) at Kitten Robot Studios, this album was co-produced by John Treanor and mastered by multi-platinum engineer Alex DeYoung at DeYoung Masters (Michael Jackson, BTS, Macy Gray, The Linda Lindas, TSOL).

As of November 11, ‘Alive and Well’ is available everywhere, including Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp, where the ‘Asylum Harbour’ album can also be found on CD and red vinyl. On December 5, the ‘Under Dark Skies’ album will be released digitally and on vinyl via Little Cloud Records (US) and Shore Dive Records (UK and EU).

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Shauna at Shameless Promotion PR!]

Review: The Quality of Mercury – The Voyager

Check out that album cover. That pretty much sums up how The Quality of Mercury‘s new album, The Voyager, is going to sound.

Jeremiah Rouse, otherwise known as The Quality of Mercury, has come back from a nine-year journey to release his new record, and my guess is that was how long he was cruising around in that spaceship on the album’s cover because The Voyager is full of cosmic riffs and epic sounds that seem to drift around distant planets or alongside speeding comets.

“Moonrise” starts off the journey with Rouse proclaiming, “Sleeping giant rise. It’s time to breathe the stars.” The sleeping giant could be us, the moon, the Earth, a celestial being, or just the sound of the entire album. “Radiate” blasts you with Hum-like intensity and an intense tale of an astronaut fleeing a burning, crumbling ship in one last ditch effort to leap from his craft to a space station and hope his oxygen doesn’t run out before he can reach it. “Ganymede” is a story of how the future, or even distant moons, aren’t far enough to escape heartbreak (“Thirteen was the number of the airlock where you left me…Now I’m broken and still frozen on this ice moon where you left me.”).

“Heaven’s Gate” is indeed about the doomed cult of the same name, but not about its ideals. It’s about how those people wanted to find something in the stars that they were missing on Earth…even though it was around them the entire time. The thick bass line Rouse plays on it is a good touch. “Desperate Measures” has two lovers on opposite sides of space taking great risks to reunite. This theme of longing for connection is prevalent on the whole record, and Rouse has said how “…relationships, both human and spiritual, are at the center of everything.”

“Receiving Hertz” has Rouse (Who, by the way, plays everything on this record.) singing about wishing for a human connection across vast distances as he gets “signals from a distant light. Receiving hertz, but still out of sight.” Rouse’s guitar work on “Selenite” has so many layers to it that it feels like he’s terraforming a landscape with it. The title track, which ends the album, has Rouse leaving on his journey into the stars to search “…for purpose and meaning, but the space goes on and on. Tranquil horizons deceiving.” He thinks he’ll be alone, and he might be right, but he also knows he has to make the launch.

We all do at some point, be it into adulthood, parenthood, a new job, a new relationship, a move across the country or the cosmos. We’re all seeking connection here on Earth and even across our galaxy. It’s the eternal quest, and The Quality of Mercury invites us to take it.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Shauna at Shamless Promotion PR!]

Rewind Review: Portishead – Third (2008)

It’s easy to forget that the gap between Portishead‘s second album and their literal Third album was eleven years long. They’d put out two perfect trip-hop records and then faded out after drummer and songwriter Geoff Barrow became uninspired with music, underwent a divorce, and moved to Australia.

He started tinkering with music again in 2003, eventually landing on one of the tracks that would be on Third. That led him to link back up with keyboardist and guitarist Adrian Utley in 2005 and things blossomed from there.

They, along with singer Beth Gibbons, started collaborating on more tracks and Third emerged seemingly out of nowhere, surprising fans and critics alike. The surprise came from not only Portishead releasing an unexpected album, but also from the unexpected sound of it. Gone were the trip-hop elements, replaced with krautrock, synthwave, and dark wave.

“Silence” opens the record with industrial percussive beats while Charlotte Nicholls‘ cello haunts the entire track and its abrupt ending pulls the rug from under you. “Hunter” sounds like something you’d hear in a Twin Peaks episode if the show were scored by Can instead of Angelo Badalamenti. “Nylon Smile” has Gibbons singing about how she’s trying so hard to accept love and give more in a relationship that’s already boring her. “The Rip” almost becomes a sea shanty with Utley’s simple guitar picking, but then it transforms into a synthwave hypnosis session.

“Plastic” is jagged and weird (in a good way), reminding me of giallo film music at times. “We Carry On” goes almost full krautrock with its throbbing beats and unsettling synths as Gibbons sings about tastes she can’t describe and putting one foot forward to get to the next moment. The shoegaze guitar power chords from Utley are sharp on this track. “Deep Water” is an acoustic track that’s almost a lullaby.

“Machine Gun” is an immediate contrast with industrial thumps and hisses while Gibbons sends out siren song to hypnotize the sailors working deep in the hold of a passing ship. “Small” gets close to trip-hop, but keeps a darker edge to it that gets under your skin and into the back of your skull.

“Magic Doors” is the no wave song Barrow started writing in 2003 that eventually led to Third‘s creation. Vintage synthesizers are all over the album, with the final track, “Threads,” being no exception. The band used a detuned sound of a VCS 3 to create a spooky effect that resembles a clarinet played by a wraith. Jim Barr‘s guest bass is like a slowly boiling contents of a cauldron found simmering in a dark woods.

People are still unraveling Third, myself included, all these years later. It’s worth the effort.

Keep your mind open.

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Just Mustard’s release powerful new single – “Endless Deathless.”

Ireland’s Just Mustard release “ENDLESS DEATHLESS,” the third single/video from their new album, WE WERE JUST HERE, out October 24th via Partisan Records. “ENDLESS DEATHLESS” arrives on the heels of a sold out September tour and release of the album’s title track, “WE WERE JUST HERE,” which “takes Just Mustard’s minimalist noise rock into a dreamier, goth-like arena” (Consequence). One of the most explosive tracks on the album, “ENDLESS DEATHLESS” captures the band at their most urgent and cathartic. It’s immediate and visceral, built on a foundation of warped guitar textures, clattering percussion, and thudding sub-bass. Katie Ball’s vocals rise above the chaos; a break in the clouds cutting through the noise. It’s a high point of the record’s embrace of physicality and directness, designed to hit with the impact of a packed club running at full tilt. The song’s accompanying video was directed by band member David Noonan.

Watch the Video for “ENDLESS DEATHLESS”

Just Mustard is Katie Ball, David Noonan, Mete Kalyoncuoğlu, Rob Clarke, and Shane Maguire. WE WERE JUST HERE was recorded at Black Mountain studio just outside of the band’s hometown, produced by Noonan and the band, and mixed by David Wrench (Frank Ocean, FKA twigs). The strange and distinct universe the band creates on record is reinforced with haunting interludes of speech and noise, snippets of voice memos, and elements from various demos. While their approach to composition had previously been inspired by their love of electronic music, starting with instrumental loops and textures and later weaving vocal ideas around them, the band made a conscious decision to reverse engineer this process on WE WERE JUST HERE. This meant adopting a more traditional method, looking to the swirling rock and dynamic song structures of Nirvana and My Bloody Valentine and striving for big, bold, fully encompassing songs.

“The vocal structure was the most important thing,” Noonan comments. With choruses bursting with melody and brightness, Ball’s vocals rise higher in the mix throughout the album. Her lyrics can be ingested as a conflicted and toxic grasp at positivity, or a cathartic breakthrough into bliss. “I was trying to write more optimistically, and feeling like a fraud sometimes. I was trying to put myself in places of physical joy to try and get that euphoric feeling,” Ball explains.

WE WERE JUST HERE signals a pivotal moment for the band. Across their first two albums—2018’s Wednesday and their 2022 Partisan debut Heart Under—the band “rode a wave of noise to the front of the shoegaze pack, breaking from the distorted yearning of the genre’s softer acolytes” (Pitchfork). While Just Mustard’s signature elements are still intact on WE WERE JUST HERE, it’s all been channeled into a warmer and more anthemic path. For Heart Under, a core concept of the album was to make listeners feel like they were traveling through a tunnel. With WE WERE JUST HERE, they explode out into the blinding light.

Pre-order WE WERE JUST HERE

Watch the Video for “WE WERE JUST HERE”

Watch the Video for “POLLYANNA”

Just Mustard Tour Dates
Fri. Oct. 24 – London, UK @ Rough Trade East
Sun. Oct. 26 – Kingston Upon Thames, UK @ The Fighting Cocks
Mon. Oct. 27 – Bristol, UK @ Rough Trade Bristol
Tue. Oct. 28 – Brighton, UK @ Resident Music
Wed. Oct. 29 – Liverpool, UK @ Rough Trade Liverpool
Thu. Oct. 30 – Dublin, IE @ Spindizzy Records
Fri. May 1 – Dublin, IE @ Olympia Theatre
Fri. June 26 – Dublin, IE @ Marlay Park *
Sun. June 28 – Belfast, IE @ Belsonic ^
Sun. Aug. 23 – Edinburgh, SF @ Royal Highland Showgrounds, Edinburgh Summer Sessions #

* with The Cure & Stella and the Dreaming
^ with The Cure & The Twilight Sad
# with The Cure, Slowdive, & Mogwai

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jaycee at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Levitation 2025: Day Three recap

You can always recognize faces by the final day of Austin, Texas’ Levitation Music Festival. You see the same people who’ve been sweating and rocking with you all weekend and can tell who hasn’t had enough sleep, who’s been in the sun too long, who’s hungover, who’s dehydrated, and who’s an old pro.

The crowd was light when I arrived to see Daiistar open the final day of the festival. This isn’t because Daiistar is a bad band, quite the contrary, but the people who show up early on Sunday are either the die-hards who are getting every cent of their money’s worth for the weekend pass, the people who can only make it on Sunday and have the same logic, the fans of the first band, and those who are so deep in the festival zone that showing up when the gates open has become as automatic as breathing. All of those people got to see a good set of early-90’s vibe psychedelia from Daiistar that was a good warm-up to a hot, humid Sunday.

Afterwards, shade spots were prime real estate at the outdoor stage for Population II, who brought their fiery cosmic psych all the way from Quebec and wowed the audience. They cracked jokes about touring, their own merch, and lack of English in between songs about everything from pizza to panic.

Population II gathering a large population of new fans.

Two friends, Wes and Chelsea, met me at the festival on this day, and I took them to see A Place to Bury Strangers. This was their first time seeing APTBS. “I envy your innocence,” I said. We walked into the indoor stage area within moments of the opening notes of the set and, of course, were greeted by what sounded like a saw mill on fire. As is now custom at an APTBS show, they came into the middle of crowd, near us, to perform a wild, weird set of hammering rhythms and distorted synth…something. Chelsea said, “It felt like they’d summoned us to be sacrificed and then put a hex on us.” We later told frontman Oliver Ackermann this and he said, “Yes! That’s it.” Chelsea said she was still thinking about their set by the end of the night.

A Place to Bury Strangers casting spells.

As if that wasn’t enough face-melting for you, along came Frankie and The Witch Fingers afterwards with a ton of groovy garage-punk chaos for which I joined the mosh pit and rocked out with the sweaty crowd for a bit (which you could easily have done outside as well since it was so hot and humid that day). FATWF always play well and are a ton of fun.

Frankie and The Witch Fingers casting spells.

We had some time for food at some point. It’s difficult to remember when you eat and which set is at which time when you’re on Day Three. We did remember that The Black Angels were up next for us. The festival’s hosts and curators always play and put on a set of some rare tracks I hadn’t heard in a while, possibly ever, which was a treat.

The final two bands of the night on the indoor stage were indie rock giants -— both of whom drew big crowds. First was Built to Spill, whose lead singer and guitarist Doug Martsch had some of the best guitar tones of the entire festival.

Spilling thrills for the appreciative crowd.

Next, and closing the day and the festival, was Pavement. They had a great time on stage, laughing a lot, poking fun at each other, and getting a lot of cheers from the crowd.

There’s always an odd feeling when Levitation ends. You’ve been there for multiple days and nights. You’ve made some new friends, seen the same groups of weirdos, ate some spicy food, drank too much caffeine, and your ears are sore from wearing earplugs for three straight days or not wearing them at all. You’ve experienced something…and now it’s finished. You don’t feel empty or sad, but you do wish you could squeeze another day or night out of it…and you also feel renewed and ready for next year.

See you in 2026, God willing and the creek don’t rise.

Keep your mind open.

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Levitation Austin 2025: Day Two recap

“This is gonna be a sweat-fest.”

Those were the first words I heard about Day Two of 2025’s Levitation Austin musical festival as I walked toward the entrance of the Palmer Event Center. Some guy said this to his pal as they steeled themselves for the day to come. The guy was right, as the bright sun was brutal at times — especially at the outdoor stage.

I started indoors, both to avoid the peak sun and to see Hooveriii put on a solid set of psych-rock that bordered on grunge rock a couple times (which was fine by me).

Hooveriii (pronounced “Hoover Three”, not “hoovery.”)

Many of us ventured out into the sun to see Dutch disco funkers Yīn-Yīn play for the first time anywhere in the United States. They had the afternoon crowd jumping and were having a great time despite not being used to such heat.

Yīn-Yīn getting their sweaty groove on, and on all of us.

I had time for a chicken shawarma wrap (possibly the best food bargain at the festival) and some ice cream before heading back to the outdoor stage to see Model / Actriz put on a blistering set of queercore post-punk with lead singer Cole Haden prowling through the crowd while his bandmates played tight, snappy beats and riffs. Guitarist Jack Wetmore knows not only how to play, but the right moments not to play — a skill overlooked by many.

Model / Actriz bringing more heat than the afternoon sun.

I took some more time to hydrate and get a full meal (It’s a marathon, not a sprint.) before heading back indoors to join the large crowd for The Brian Jonestown Massacre, who played to a happy crowd — many of whom (at least around me) hadn’t seen them before now. It was a good set, with only minor issue when, believe it or not, Anton Newcombe decided his microphone had too much reverb.

The Raveonettes were a welcome return to Levitation. I hadn’t seen them since 2013 when Levitation was still the Austin Psych Fest (which has returned in its own form). They still sound great and played classics and newer stuff.

The biggest show of the night, and for the entire festival for me, belonged to TV on the Radio. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to see them, so their appearance at Levitation made the decision to fly here a no-brainer. They slayed it and had everyone jumping and moving. Their energy was infectious and immediate, and a great way to close the night.

TVOTR didn’t close my night, however. I was so wired after their set that I walked over a mile to Elysium to see Past Self and Urban Heat. I knew we were in for a treat when Past Self’s bassist started the show by playing his guitar with a bow. What followed was a mix of desert rock (They’re from Las Vegas, Nevada.), New Romanticism, and dark wave.

Past Self. Are they ghosts, musicians, past incarnations of you?

Urban Heat are local heroes who play aggressive shoegaze mixed with post-punk anger. It’s good stuff, and they seem destined for big things. They reminded me a bit of early TVOTR, which was fitting because I bumped into TVOTR’s guitarist / multi-instrumentalist Jaleel Bunton at their show and got to thank him for the great set.

Up next, psychedelia, indie rock, and a couple sets that might cause you to seek a chiropractor afterwards.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: No Joy – Bugland

Jasamine White-Gluz got out of the city to make Bugland, the newest No Joy album, experimenting and collaborating with Fire-Toolz (AKA Angel Marcloid) for an record that is difficult to categorize, but why should we even bother to try? Why not just sit back and enjoy it?

Starting with electronic bloops, bleeps, and beats, “Garbage Dream House” gets things off to a weird, wonderful start – mixing buzzing guitar chords with synths and processed drums while White-Gluz’s voice bounces off the back wall at some points and nuzzles your ear the next. The title track crunches and munches like an early Garbage track and White-Gluz’s reverb-soaked vocals practically lift you off the floor.

“Bits” has more 90s electro-rock vibes to it, practically begging you to blast it on your headphones as you hit the mid-mark of your treadmill workout. “Save the Lobsters” is based on a true story of White-Gluz smashing open lobster traps washed up on beaches so she could get the creatures back into the ocean. Her vocals are often drenched in distortion or echo effects, seemingly putting you under the water with the freed animals.

“My Crud Princess” not only has a great title, but also a sparkling energy bursting through the slightly sludgy (cruddy?) drum beats. “Bather in the Bloodcells” reminds me of My Bloody Valentine if they turned down the volume a bit and covered Elastica.

“I Hate That I Forget What You Look Like” is a stunner about grief that, for some us, is all too relatable. The snappy drums and synths grow like a mind almost spiraling into panic, but catching itself just before toppling into madness. The psychedelic closer, “Jelly Meadow Bright” is almost eight minutes of trippy bliss, nearly fading out halfway through it and then returning with a wild saxophone-led acid-jazz / industrial freak-out.

Again, I’m not sure how to describe Bugland…apart from it being one of the best releases of 2025 so far.

Keep your mind open.

[It might bug me if you don’t subscribe.]

[Thanks to Tom at Terrorbird Media!]

Rewind Review: Goat – Seu Sangue EP (2023)

Goat‘s Seu Sangue EP is a collection of four remixes from their Oh Death album and one new track. It came about after the surprise release of Oh Death, which reminded everyone of how good Goat is and had producers and DJ clamoring to remix several (if not all) tracks from it.

Seu Sangue is the result, starting with the funky and snappy 12″ Extended Dance Mix of “Under No Nation” by John Mark Lapham. The “Shit & Shine Rework” of “Do the Dance” is jagged and weird, and Sonic Boom‘s Party Mix of “Soon You Die” somehow makes the song even fuzzier and grimier. I wish it were double the length – just under three minutes isn’t enough for this much madness.

Marlene Ribeiro remixes “Remind Yourself” with extra hand percussion for a funky instrumental. The new track is the title track, mixing acoustic guitar and what sounds like a Mellotron with seagull cries and reverb-loaded vocals for a meditative experience that is perfect for a sunset or when you’re about to make a potentially life-changing decision (and, really, aren’t all of them life-changing?).

Keep your mind open.

[Soon you subscribe!]