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Category: Shoegaze
My top 25 albums of 2016 – #’s 15-11
We’re halfway to #1 on the countdown!
#15 
The Kills released a great album for their 15th anniversary. Ash & Ice oozes with their sweaty, smoky, whiskey-tinged rock and is one of the best albums about love and sex from 2016.
#14 
I didn’t expect a full record of shoegaze from the Duke Spirit, but Kin is the best shoegaze record I’ve heard all year (and probably of the last two or three years).
#13
All Them Witches released a live album last year (which I still need to get), teased a new album for this year, and started 2016 with Dying Surfer Meets His Maker – a great blend of stoner metal and blues voodoo rock.
#12 
Comacozer contacted me through this website and asked if I’d like to hear their record. I’m glad I said yes, because this stoner metal album, Astra Planeta, is amazing.
#11 
The KVB make excellent dark wave and shoegaze. It’s a bit difficult to believe at first that just two people produce that much sound. Of Desire was recorded on vintage synthesizers and sequencers, and the rich sound produced is excellent.
Who’s made it into my top 10 for 2016? Come back tomorrow to find out!
Keep your mind open.
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My top 25 albums of 2016 – #’s 20-16
The countdown continues!
#20 
This is the best funk / Afrobeat record I’ve heard in a long time. Golden Dawn Arkestra will get you moving and possibly transport you to another dimension.
#19 
I happened to catch Ron Gallo at a show in Fort Wayne and was glad I did because his RG3 EP is one of the best EP’s I’ve snagged all year. I need to get his full album pronto. He plays a neat style of garage blues-influenced rock.
#18 
Morphine is one of my favorite bands of all time, so it’s no surprise that I was going to love Vapors of Morphine, which includes two of the band’s original members and a new singer and bass player performing glorious low rock and blues.
#17 
There’s no way an album by Goat wasn’t going to be at least in the top 50% of albums I’d like, and Requiem is full of their usual weird voodoo rock. It’s mellower than previous releases, but still trippy.
#16 
I discovered the new Cosmonauts record late in the year, and I’m glad I did because I think they’re going to be one of my new obsessions. A-OK! is full of neat psych-rock and shoegaze. I’m all in if you can combine those two genres.
Who cracks the top 15? Come back tomorrow to see!
Keep your mind open.
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Cosmonauts – A-OK!
Cosmonauts make groovy California-vibe psychedelic rock with a bit of a dark edge. Imagine a California sunset while a storm is rolling in from the Pacific Ocean and you’ll get the idea. Their new album, A-OK!, stresses that everything will be okay, however. We can brave the storm. It’s a good thing to remember after the brutal year that was 2016.
The title track is about someone who seems to slip away from bad luck and tragedy like an all-star running back (and the guitar work on it is definitely all-star quality). I love the way the crisp bass on “Doom Generation” interacts with the cheese shredder-fuzz guitar and tripped-out vocals. It’s one of the best psych-rock tracks of the year. “Party at Sunday” is luscious dream-psych that floats like a lotus blossom on a pond. The guitar buzzes like a dragonfly past your ear as they sing about the dangers of falling in love.
“Be-Bop-A-Loser” could’ve been a goofy song with a title like that but is instead an excellent shoegaze track with more killer bass, Nick Cave-like vocals, and slick percussion and guitar work. A fast drum groove pushes “Short Wave Communication” along as echoing guitars nearly overwhelm the nice male-female duo vocals. The synthesizers that come in near the 2:00 mark will make you grin because they’re perfectly placed.
If the heavenly host of angels choir sounds anything like “Heavenspeak,” then I’ll be extra happy if I make it through the pearly gates. It’s another outstanding psych-rock track with some of the rhythm section’s best work on the album. The band’s Cure influence can’t be denied on “Good Lucky Blessing” (again, listen to that bass and guitar work). “Cruisin’” is perfect for such an activity. The fast beat, lyrics about “tearin’ up the 101,” and sunny guitars are ideal for a summer drive. “Discophilia” starts with sludge drums, but then bursts like a flare gun with bright, reverbed guitar. “Graffiti” is a sweet psych-cake iced with distortion and sprinkled with sweat lodge visions. It overlooks Drone Rock Valley, but never enters it. It’s a song about regret, but the music isn’t without optimism.
The album is titled A-OK! after all. Despite the many lyrics about rough relationships, overinflated egos of lovers past and present, and unfulfilled desires, the album’s ethereal dreamscapes show us that we’ll be all right if we ride the wave long enough to make it to shore. The album is more than A-OK. It’s A-Outstanding.
Keep your mind open.
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Death Valley Girls – Glow in the Dark
Death Valley Girls’ newest album, Glow in the Dark, is at times psychedelic, others shoegaze, and others power-pop. The title track opener is firmly in the shoegaze category, with desert sunrise guitars and powerful drums. “Disco” has great old school 1960’s organ running throughout it while they sing about having a grand night out. “Death Valley Boogie” has an appropriate title because the beat is made for hip shaking. The guitars are fuzzed so much that almost sound like they’re melting at one point. It’s fantastic. It ends with a furious guitar solo that’s over just as you want more of it.
“Seis Seis Seis” is fine doom-psych rock, with Karen O-like vocals as a funeral organ plays in the background and the guitars sweep over you like the Grim Reaper’s cloak. “Pink Radiation,” with its Ronettes styling and simple guitar chords, is a lovely track and a refreshing change after the doom of the one before it. The middle finger flipped by the ladies during “I’m a Man, Too” (“If you’re a man, I’m twice a man as you.”) is backed with not only a fist but also solid rock hooks. “Love Spell” doesn’t just knock you back into your seat; it knocks your seat back as well. The breakdown in the middle of it is pretty much a bear trap that snaps shut when the guitars roar back to life and flatten you back to the floor.
“Horror Movie” refers more to the state of the world we see on the nightly news more than the film genre (“A horror movie right there on my TV, shocking me right out of my head.”). The lyrics of “Summertime” may be simple, but the powerful guitar throughout it is not. It sizzles hot enough to fry an egg on it. The closer, “Wait for You,” squeaks and squeals with face-melting guitar while what sounds like a warped Hammond B3 organ warps your brain. I’m sure this song is insane live.
I don’t know why Death Valley Girls named the album Glow in the Dark, but my guess is that the energy on it provides enough luminescence to light up your living room. Let it shine forth on your stereo.
Keep your mind open.
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Rewind Review: PINS – Wild Nights (2015)
I don’t know if “sexy shoegaze psych” is its own genre of music, but PINS (Anna Donigan – bass, Sophie Galpin – drums, Faith Holgate – guitar and vocals, Lois McDonald – guitar) are the queens of it if it is. Their 2015 album Wild Nights oozes with sex and the lush, distorted, dream pop guitar us shoegaze and psych-rock lovers crave.
“Baby Bhangs” has a groovy bass line throughout it and enough reverbed backing vocals for three tracks. “Young Girls” starts off like an early New Order cut and then drifts into a lovely song about girl power (“What will we do when our dreams come true, young girls?”). Galpin’s rock drumming it is a neat counter to the crisp, bouncy guitar. “Curse These Dreams” has psychedelic rock flavor (check out those Brian Jonestown Massacre-like drums and ethereal backing vocals) while Holgate pines for silence from dreams about her former lover.
“Oh Lord” continues the neo-psychedelia guitar, but the vocals are more like something you’d hear from the Duke Spirit. They’re dark and spooky and full of lust. Donigan and Galpin knock this one out of the park. It’s impossible not to think that “Dazed by You” could’ve been a Dum Dum Girls track in another dimension, because it’s jumpy, dreamy, and lovely in all aspects. “Got It Bad” is a resurrected 1950’s wall of sound girl group ballad that you swear you’ve heard on an old jukebox somewhere, but it’s a new creation by PINS instead. It’s possibly the loveliest song on the album, and that’s saying a lot due to do how lush this record is. “Too Little Too Late” is more psychedelia that hits hard with chugging guitars. “Yeah, you said you’re sorry, but I’ve heard it all before. Yeah, you said you’re sorry, but are you sure?”, Holgate sings. Haven’t we all been there?
“House of Love” has Holgate warning her lover not to be in such a rush to leave, because things won’t necessarily be better outside those walls. “If Only” is about the break-up and how she now finds herself unsure of how to perform even simple tasks. McDonald’s guitar work on it is excellent. “Molly” could be about the drug or about a girl (“Wild nights with Molly, she’s got a hold on me.”). I think it’s the latter, but the reference is inescapable – as is the reverb on McDonald’s guitar.
The closer, “Everyone Says,” is a torch song with fuzzed, echoing guitar and heartbreaking lyrics (“Everyone says that you’re no good. That I don’t we do what I should, but what do they know that I don’t know?”). It’s a lovely piece of work and an excellent end to an excellent record. This would’ve been in my top 25 of 2015 had I been making lists last year. I need more Pins. You need more Pins. We all need more Pins.
Keep your mind open.
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The KVB – Of Desire
I don’t remember where I first heard The KVB (Kat Day and Nicholas Wood). It was probably BBC 6 Music, but I remember immediately thinking, “Who is that?” within a few moments. Their blend of electro, shoegaze, and John Carpenter film score riffs grabs your attention right away, and their newest album, Of Desire, is a great introduction to them if you’ve never heard them before now.
“White Walls” starts with 1980’s no wave synths and somewhat distant vocals about Nicholas Wood letting a lover leave while he stays inside to do some self-imposed penance for saying some things he regrets. The synths soar and click in beautiful waves. I don’t know what will get you to like this band if this opening track doesn’t.
Peter Hook-like bass creeps throughout “Night Games.” It sounds like something Snake Plissken would be playing in his glider flight in Escape from New York. “Lower Depths” is a goth gem, both lyrically (“Don’t want the light. I see the inside. I’m lost in a hole. My head’s on fire.”) and musically with its industrial guitars, programmed simple snare beats, and synth drones. “Silent Wave” reminds me of the Knight Rider theme at first, but it’s Knight Rider with KITT being a hearse instead of a Trans Am and the hero being a 1980’s goth computer hacker instead of a guy who’s a pop star in Germany.
“Primer” is an instrumental appetizer for the lush “Never Enough.” It’s almost the opposite of “White Walls” (but the deep synths and shoegaze guitars remain the same), as Wood has now flipped the table on his lover who has ruined everything. “And it’s all too much, because it’s never enough. And it’s all your fault as it slips away,” he sings.
I’m pretty sure “In Deep” is about a ghost waiting for its lover to die so they can be together again (“Being here, not living, I see it brings you down. And I’m trying hard to help you, but I feel I’ve come too late.”). The synths are bright like the afterlife, but the electro-bass is rooted to the Earth. “Awake” brings back the John Carpenter soundtrack feel, and it’s a great song for dark nights, dark car rides, or dark rooms. “V11393” is a cool instrumental that has probably been remixed across industrial clubs across the world by now.
“Unknown,” a song that has Wood wondering about the future as he lies in bed with his lover, has some of the loudest guitar on the record, but it knows when to move out of the way and let the synth bass take the forefront. Another good instrumental, “Mirrors,” leads into “Second Encounter,” with floating synths and clear guitar that makes you wonder if the song is about a relationship coming to an end, death, heroin, depression, or all of the above.
Of Desire is aptly named because every song on the record is about lust, love, loss, or regret. It’s a gorgeous record and actually inspired me to buy DJ gear and begin making electronic music again. Let it inspire you.
Keep your mind open.
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Failure offer “Fantastic Planet Live” through PledgeMusic campaign.
1990’s shoegaze / alt-rock maestros Failure have begun a PledgeMusic campaign to offer a live album from their October 2016 tour (which, sadly, I missed). They played their outstanding album Fantastic Planet in its entirety and chose the best versions of each song from the tour for this live record.
In case you don’t know, Fantastic Planet is one of the best records of the 1990’s and a masterpiece of engineering. You deserve to hear it, so jump on this campaign before all the signed stuff is gone.
Keep your mind open.
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Live – Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Death from Above 1979, Deap Vally – October 13, 2016 – Chicago, Illinois
I knew this was a triple bill I couldn’t miss. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Death from Above 1979, and Deap Vally were playing the Chicago House of Blues all in the same night. That’s a killer lineup. Any of the three are worth seeing alone, but all three on the same night. It’s a no-brainer.
First up were Deap Vally, who I’ve wanted to see since I missed their set at Levitation Austin in 2013. They came out to a large crowd and, no exaggeration, stole the show.
They opened with “Make My Own Money” and powered through prime cuts like “Gonnawanna,” “Walk of Shame,” and “Royal Jelly.” Guitarist Lindsey Troy and fill-in drummer Lia Simone (formerly of A Place to Bury Strangers and Les Bucherettes) rocked so hard that I felt bad for DFA 1979 who were to follow them. Ms. Simone played like she’d been playing the tracks for years. It turns out she’s longtime friends with Ms. Troy and full-time drummer Julie Edwards, so Ms. Simone practically knew the chops already when she jumped behind the kit. Everyone within earshot of me was talking about their set even after the end of BRMC’s, proclaiming Ms. Troy’s “bad ass” attitude and Ms. Simone’s excellent kit work.
Death from Above 1979 were no slouches, mind you. Their crazy light show was perfect for their loud fuzz-rock. How drummer Sebastien Granger can sing lead vocals while playing those insane drum licks is a mystery to me, but he makes it look easy. Jesse Keeler wanders the stage like an enraged Rasputin and plays as heavy as the mad monk’s legend. A crazy, aggressive mosh pit broke out during their set. I got in for one song, still happy to mix it up with the youngsters.
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club closed out the night and, as usual, put on a great show. “Let the Day Begin,” “Beat the Devil’s Tattoo,” “Conscience Killer,” “Red Eyes and Tears,” “Cold Wind” (a personal favorite) and “Ain’t No Easy Way” were all crowd-favorites. Any worries anyone might’ve had about drummer Leah Shapiro’s health (who underwent brain surgery in 2014 for Chiari malformations) were dashed because she unloaded on her kit like a machine gunner.
The only bummer of the set was some sort of equipment malfunction on Peter Hayes’ side of the stage. The band had to alter some of their song selection, and the broken thing (my guess is a bad monitor) apparently was never properly fixed. They closed with a winner – “Whatever Happened to My Rock and Roll” – and had no encore due to the faulty gear.
It was a good rock show despite the early exit from BRMC – one of the best rock bills I’ve seen in a long while, in fact.
Keep your mind open.
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Chromatics release new single from upcoming album.
Dream pop / shoegaze maestros Chromatics have released a new single, “I Can Never Be Myself When You’re Around,” from their long-awaited new album Dear Tommy.
The new single is another fine example of their ethereal sound and a further tease for the Dear Tommy album that was announced two years ago.
Keep your mind open.
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