4 posts tagged “4ad”
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Yep, it's nearing the end of the year and everyone's doing their top stories of the year. I have so many favorites that I'm splitting them by categories. This is the Shoegazing/Dreampop Top 7 for 2007.
To my ear and understanding, Dream Pop and Shoegazing/Shoegaze are essentially the same, deriving from from the 80s 4AD sound (the most famous being The Cocteau Twins and Dead Can Dance). The term 'shoegazing' was coined by Melody Maker in the early 90s because the musicians in these groups does nothing but stand and stare at the floor.
This quote from wikipedia made me laugh at the generalization of the look and sound of Dream Pop:
The essence of the music is a focus on ethereal textures and moods, rather than on propulsive rock riffs. Breathy, high-register female vocals (and androgynous male vocals) are the preferred means of lyrical delivery; lyrics are generally introspective and existential in nature. Cover art tends to consist of blurry pastel imagery and/or stark minimalist designs.
You may noticed that bands such as Lush aren't listed here, that's because the songs represented here aren't Shoegazing, but more rock (Lush's sound changed shortly after Split was released). Maybe in 2008, I will have to write about the pre-Split Lush. Also, will someone do coverage on My Bloody Valentine already?
Special thanks to Gus, Cristina, and Michael for submitting some of these articles:
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12/22/2007 13:13:44
vu
my♥posts
www.weheartmusic.com
Mojave 3 paint dreamy summer soundscapes with steel guitars and saws
Written for We♥Music by Gus
e-mail // vox
If you're expecting a reprieve, I'm sorry to disappoint.
When I recall my own summers, everything seems to come back to me in Polaroids and hazy golden snapshots -- maybe it was just the pollen that killed my allergies June after June that lent that golden hue to everything, or maybe it's just the bittersweet twinge of nostalgia creeping into the corners of my mind.
Whatever the case, Summer to me has always been a stretch of freedom and near limitless childhood. Even in the past few years, where I've spent the entire three month block of the sunny months trapped in my cubicle at odd hours of the night, I haven't been able to shake that abundant feeling of giddy fireflies-in-the-stomach eagerness that the month of June brings with it (this year, it's for different reasons; I'm turning 21 in mid-June, and will be finally legal to drink here in the States).
And with me, everything necessitates a soundtrack. First kisses, nights on the town, rainy days -- everything demands I throw together a playlist or mixtape or... well, just about anything. So it should come as no surprise that the most epic of seasons requires an epic playlist; songs that ensconce that fleeting, glowy warmth that is June, July and August. There are of course teeth-hurting songs of saccharine sweetness for those days at the pool, and ear-bursting punk rock anthems for the ubiquitous house parties, and slow-core ambient beats for those nights on the town. But for me, Summer has been defined in those quiet, somber moments when the sun is just below the horizon, and the crickets sing the Earth to sleep. You know the nights. The last smell of barbecue is falling off on those cool breezes, and the discarded bicycles of neighbor kids line the street outside the houses where everyone is staying the night.
It's in this thin veneer of nostalgia that Mojave 3 find their sound. If I could sum up the whole of my summers past in an album, it would undoubtedly be Mojave 3's Spoon and Rafter. The band -- founded by once-Slowdive members -- focuses a lot of effort in generating a sound that is all at once here-and-now and way-back-when; ghostly saws moan over steel guitars and ooh-la-la-la choruses, backed by crystal clear electric guitars and summer-breeze vocals that coo out "Judy I can see your smile / Running with your hair all wild / Running for the weekend / Looking for the daylight in our eyes."
If I could, I would put the entire album up for mandatory summer listening, I would. But I can't, so I'll just beg and plead you to check out their website, and buy their record, and get lost in their dreamy, starlit soundscape.
Spoon and Rafter is released on 4AD, label of fine music since the dawn of time.
P.S. - I know my posts have been sickeningly flowery lately, but I can't help it; I'm caught in the Summer spirit, and I'm taking you all down with me. One song at a time.
Last year, I had this stupid idea about my Winter Mix CD - I was going to get people to just send me songs and I would put it together and everyone who contributed would get a copy. I didn't get nearly enough songs to fill up a CD, and then I sort of just forgotten about it.
This time around, I realized that I've already gotten enough songs to make a CD - off weheartmusic! I will also be including a printed booklet, see example photo.
So, I wanted to mention that I bought a CD based on a review by Gus and the strength of the song (which I'm re-posting here).
I saw the CD at Best Buy for $7.99 on sale. The packaging is a cardboard digipak. The image on the cover is slightly raised and the tri-fold-out is in all blue with the words "23" in the center. There were no lyric book or liner notes... in fact, there's no information at all! On the CD it has the track listing and their website Blonde-Redhead.com (it directs you there for more information on this CD). Their website doesn't even have any information on "23", by the way.
Well anyway, I've only listened to half the album, but it's pretty good so far. There's a guy singing on a few of the songs, which caught me off guard.
| 秀吾 wrote: Apr 14, 2007 at 9:46 PM |
I got this album recently, and I think it's great. So far, on the whole I still prefer their previous album, Misery Is A Butterfly. Anyways, here is a song from their Melody Of Certain Damaged Lemons album which is also great.
I was surfing around their website, and found out that these 4AD (Modern English, Cocteau Twins, The Pixies) vets are releasing a new CD in April. Being a huge fan of their previous albums (specifically the aforementioned Misery and Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons), I snatched up the single off their forthcoming album and gave it a much needed listening-to.
The track in particular, "23" (pronounced "two-three," vice "twenty-three") starts off with distorted guitars, a persistent beat, and lead singer Kazu Makino's ghostly vocals. They do their thing perfectly here -- anyone with a heart for 4AD nostalgia would do well to check this one out. It blends Blonde Redhead's signature weirdness with classic shoegaze elements -- over-the-top guitars, a wall-of-sound approach, and that tingly feeling you get shortly thereafter.
--Gus
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