6 posts tagged “shoegazing”
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01/16/09 PR (Self Titled Party w/Free Blood, Juan Maclean (live acid set), & Justin Miller (DFA)) New York, New York
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02/06/09 Wellesley College Wellesley, Massachusetts 02/07/09 Terrace F. Club Princeton, New Jersey 02/11/09 7th Street Entry (w/Fujiya & Miyagi) Minneapolis, Minnesota 02/12/09 Bottom Lounge (w/Fujiya & Miyagi) Chicago, Illinois 02/13/09 Magic Stick (w/Fujiya & Miyagi) Detroit 02/14/09 Alfred University Knight Club (w/Fujiya & Miyagi) Alfred 02/15/09 Paradise (w/Fujiya & Miyagi) Boston, Massachusetts 02/18/09 The Trocadero (w/Fujiya & Miyagi) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 02/19/09 9:30 Club (w/Fujiya & Miyagi) Washington DC, Washington DC 02/23/09 Whelans Dublin, Ireland 02/24/09 Captain’s Rest Glasgow, Scotland 02/25/09 Cockpit Leeds, UK 02/26/09 Cargo London, UK 02/27/09 Night & Day Manchester, UK 02/28/09 Start The Bus Bristol, UK 03/01/09 Audio Brighton, UK 03/04/09 AB Club Brussels, Belgium 03/05/09 Le Point Ephemere Paris, Ile-de-France 03/07/09 Gleis 22 Münster, Germany 03/08/09 Bang Bang Club Berlin, Germany 03/09/09 Molotow Hamburg, Germany 03/10/09 Studio 672 Cologne, Germany 03/12/09 Flex Vienna, Austria 03/13/09 Atomic Cafe Munich, Germany 03/14/09 La Casa Milan, Italy 04/07/09 The Ritz (w/Bat for Lashes) Manchester 04/08/09 Queen Margaret Union (w/Bat for Lashes) Glasgow, Scotland 04/09/09 Stage 2-Northumbria University (w/Bat for Lashes) Newcastle 04/11/09 Metropolitan University (w/Bat for Lashes) Leeds 04/12/09 Birmingham Town Hall (w/Bat for Lashes) Birmingham 04/13/09 The Regal (w/Bat for Lashes) Oxford 04/15/09 Anson Rooms (w/Bat for Lashes) Bristol 04/16/09 Brighton Corn Exchange (w/Bat for Lashes) Brighton 04/17/09 Sheperds Bush Empire (w/Bat for Lashes) London |
I am assuming that the Andes Mountain shown in the PBS program might have inspired the naming of their debut album, Alpinisms (the term refers to the European mountain range, often called the Alps). Strangely, however, the cover artwork by Bryan Collins, well, it looks like it was pulled from a picture of Yosemite National Park's famous Half Dome.
The band consists of two real life twin sisters called Alejandra and Claudia Deheza and bassist Benjamin Curtis, formerly (?) of Secret Machines. The band was formed in early 2007, and they are bringing back an old familiar sound of electronica, mixed with a little shoegazing/dreampop - mostly because of the harmonies of the two sisters.
I think grouping the band into the shoegazing category might not describe them, these aren't really sad/depressing songs (with the exception of the slow-moving song, "For Kalaja Mari"). Instead, surprisingly, the album is pretty upbeat, thanks to noisy sounds and quirky keyboard and sound effects. It's like half dance and half awkwardness (because they're not like typical dance rhythm).
My favorite songs on the album is "Wired for Light", a strange violin-ish scratch sound and afro percussions made this song stand out. Obviously, "Half Asleep" is big hit for them. It's pretty melodic and poppy, I can see why they chose this song to release as the single.
My absolute favorite is "Chain", however. Which I'm sure most people won't like for its use of vocal-correction effects. I think it fits the song, especially with the various samples (or at least I think they're samples), and overall gives it a dancey vibe to it. "Chain" should be a real crowd pleaser if they play it live.
And speaking of live, be sure to check them out on tour this year, see the two handsome sisters for yourself, as they play with some other indie-favorites such as Fujiya & Miyagi and Bat for Lashes.
Fans of 4AD, Movaje 3, Cocteau Twins (wow, will someone please do an article on them?), Au Revoir Simone, and Blonde Redhead, will immediately fall in love with SVIIB (if you haven't already). So pick up their wonderful album, Alpinisms, at any online retailer or their record label, Ghostly (where you'll find some EPs for sale as well).
Links:
schoolofsevenbells.com
myspace.com/schoolofsevenbells
ghostly.com
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04/12/08 Annex, New York
04/17/08 Parish Navdo Presents-Austin, TX 04/18/08 Parish Navdo Presents-Austin, TX 04/26/08Galaxy Hut - Arlington, Virginia 05/01/08 Mercury Lounge - New York 05/04/08 Soundpool live! 90.3 the Core - NJ 05/09/08 Metro Gallery, Baltimore, MD 05/10/08 Contemporary Art of Detroit, MI
Discography
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Okay, so I had this stack of CD, including this one, to see some local W♥M writers to possibly review for me. Then, something happened, I decided to listen to a few albums on my drive to see them. I put in Soundpool's album, Dichotomies & Dreamland, not knowing what to expect, and was blown away by their music! They instantly made me think of the shoegazing genre.
I was so impressed that I removed the album from the stack of CD right away and have decided to write about this album personally.
This five-piece band is based out of New York City, and on their myspace description, it looks like they have trouble keeping their bass player (as there are three names attached to this position). It would seem, according to their liner notes, that Dean McCormick plays on most of the of the tracks on their album.
I don't have their first album to compare notes, but it would seem that most of the music were written by John Ceparano with some collaboration with vocalist Kim Field, both are obviously big fans of early Lush[W♥M], Stereolab[W♥M], My Bloody Valentine[W♥M], etc.
I really enjoyed "Do What You Love", it reminded me of Miki Berenyi's dreamy voice. This is really a great song, and even at five minutes, I still think it's too short!
So one of the big problems for me is that I can never understand or hear clearly enough the lyrics being sung on shoegazing music. Thankfully, Dichotomies & Dreamland reprinted all the lyrics.
Here are some sample lyrics from one of the other songs I love, "The Divides Of March":
Peace through violence, peace through war
Love through hatred, less through more war
The divides of March have blinded the dove eyed to their dove vision
If I hadn't read the lyrics, I would've never figure that this song is about war.
Dichotomies & Dreamland is out now on Aloft Records (errr, not online???) in the US (alternatively iTunes) and Quince Records in Japan.
PS, I really dislike the term "nu-gaze".
03/31/2008 01:54:44
vu
my♥posts
soundpoolmusic.com
myspace.com
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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
Discography
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Mazzy Star is a Dreampop band from California. Their biggest hit song is called "Fade into You" from 1993, which is when I first heard of them.
Mazzy Star's creative driving force was between David Roback and Hope Sandoval (who actually didn't write the majority of Mazzy's music.)
Although they said they haven't broken up, they haven't produced any music since their last album Among My Swan in 1996.
Since then, you did see Hope Sandoval in various one-time collaborations such as Jesus and Mary Chain and Le Volume Courbe[W♥M]
Did you know that she is actually in a new band called Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions? They released Bavarian Fruit Bread in 2001.
So kind of unrelated, but a friend of mine saw Hope Sandoval at a video store one time and he contests that she's gorgeous in real life, just as he suspected.
I've picked out some songs I like from their various albums for you to listen to. Enjoy.
10/18/2007 18:50:50
vu
my♥posts
vu@weheartmusic.com
www.hopesandoval.com
If there's any recurring theme to the music in my life, it always seems I'm playing catch up. Whether it's going back and listening to bands I should have listened to the first time they were popular, or even going back to original influences from before I was born, I feel like I'm not the best person to impart any sort of musical expertise. Perhaps that's why I tend to write more about what the song means to me, rather than any sort of trivia or facts about the band. I suppose that's what the internet is for, if you're so inclined to look up and learn those things...
Shoegazing music is a perfect example. When it first came on the scene, I found bits and pieces of it to be enjoyable, but on the whole I found it to be tedious if I actually tried to sit through an entire album. And yet I find myself now listening to a bunch of things that I was only vaguely exposed to back in the early nineties. This song is one such occurence. I really can't tell you about its background, because I honestly don't know much. I only remember seeing that cover multiple times on some 120 Minutes weekly countdown, and when it came time for me to even remember the name of the song, I drew a blank. Vu couldn't remember either, an I kept talking to him about it like I was some deranged cheerleader. Heck, the band name itself was a vague memory until this song popped up on Big Sonic Heaven on Indie 103.1 ( go ahead, listen to it Tues-Thurs nights, I will continue to champion it until everyone hears what they're missing: Indie 103.1), and then the memories came flooding back. Ok, maybe not "flooding," but this song definitely puts me back into that Sunday late night viewing routine where I would dutifully sit through band after band that I had never heard before in order to get to some video premiere at one in the morning...I'm looking at you, Blake Babies...
--Nooker
| Artist: Website: Members: | Astreal myspace.com/astreal Ginette Chittick, Muhammad Alkhatib, Redzuan Hussin |
This band is from Singapore, and I sort of know Ginnette, so could you please comment on what you think of this band ?
I think if you like shoegazing, you'll love Astreal. Check out their myspace page for more information
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