Sea Dweller

Sea Dweller

Okay, whoa. To be honest, I already forget how I stumbled upon Sea Dweller — aka Italy's greatest whammy-bending secret — but I am sooooooooooo glad that I did! This is truly some of the best shoegaze I've heard that was made in the past ten years. I suppose we all prefer our noisy melodies in different ways, but the Swirlies/MBV/Ecstasy of Saint Theresa sort of thing that Sea Dweller has got going on could not be more accurately hitting the nail on the head for me. When the the verse comes in on "Settings" I simply die. Anyway, they just released their debut record this past November on 2&1 Records. Had I heard it just a little bit sooner it would have been a huge favorite of the year for me. Listen to "Settings" right now!

[MP3]: Sea Dweller :: Settings (Super Recommended!)

Sea Dweller on MySpace!

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Weed Hounds

NY's Weed Hounds

Weed Hounds are a brilliant newish band fron NY that I recently stumbled upon. One of the best stumbles I've taken a dive on in some time, too. They play songs influenced by the likes of MBV, and Swirlies, but ultimately sounding a lot like For If You Cannot Fly-era Small Factory with notably catchy melodies, great boy/girl alternating vocals, and a whole lotta noise. Since their four-song demo made it's way into my life last week, a day hasn't gone by that I haven't listened to it all the way through at least twice. At the moment I would have to say my favorite is either "Save Me From My Lethargy" or "Embrace (More Or Less)" (Which appears on the September mix).

[MP3]: Weed Hounds :: Save Me From My Lethargy (Verrrrry Recommended!)

Their demo cassette is available to buy now from Crooked Direction Records, and you would do well to buy one immediately! They've also got a split 7" with Dude Japan on Rok Lok Records due out sometime in the hopefully near future.

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Panda Riot

Chicago's wonderful, though oddly named, Panda Riot!

I've seen Panda Riot around on the interwebs for quite some time now, but to be quite honest, I'd never checked them out until just recently because, well, their name doesn't exactly scream really beautiful shoegaze pop. But another lesson learned about judging a book by it's cover, because I'm now completely obsessed with Panda Riot's new-ish record She Dares All Things. Panda Riot takes all the best things I love about MBV's Loveless and Slowdive's Souvlaki and molds and shapes those particular things into dreamy and dancey, yet occasionally roaring, pop songs. A large portion of She Dares All Things sounds like a buffet of varied interpretations of the Loveless closer "Soon" and, being that that song makes me brilliantly happy everytime I hear it, I think that's why I love this record so much. The particularly "Soon"-ish song "She Dares All Things" is probably my favorite right now, but I'm also pretty in love with "Like Flowers At Night." The whole record is pretty outstanding though, definitely best shoegaze I've heard since, oh, well, I don't know I guess. I walked around the city all day today with this on and I can now guarantee that it is very good music for walking around on a slightly snowy and VERY cold day. It's also a good thing to remember that banks and libraries are not open on Martin Luther King Day before you walk two miles to get to them...

[MP3]: Panda Riot :: She Dares All Things (Very Berry Recommended!)
[MP3]: Panda Riot :: Like Flowers At Night (Very Cherry Recommended!)

You can buy the album from them, here!
Panda Riot on MySpace!

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Wednesday Shoegaze Mélange

Mmmmmm Wednesday.

Hello hello! This post, like the others, is a quick five-song mix of random songs that I love a lot. However, today there's a theme, which unless you're blind, you should be fairly aware of already. Anyway, I don't have too much to say, except that if you've never heard some of these before, I would urge you to do so, cause you might just fall in love. It's hard not too, sometimes.

[MP3]: Slowdive :: Alison
from the Souvlaki LP [Creation Records, 1993]

[MP3]: Secret Shine :: Temporal
from the Untouched LP [Sarah Records, 1993]

[MP3]: My Bloody Valentine :: Cigarette In Your Bed
from the You Made Me Realise EP [Creation Records, 1988]

[MP3]: Eternal :: Sleep
from the Breathe 7" [Sarah Records, 1991]

[MP3]: Ride :: Like A Day Dream
from the Play EP [Creation Records, 1990]

Well! Okay! Bye! Also, I may do a part two of this sometime cause as I was picking songs, I ran across a lot more than five that I wanted to post, and I'd like to post them sometime. So yeah, awesome.

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The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, indeed.

I meant to mention these guys quite a while ago, in fact I would have had I actually gotten through all the NYC Popfest acts that I said I was going to cover. Oh well, yknow? Quite alright though, as now's a better time to talk about NYC's The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, anyway. The gloriously noisy indiepop three-piece are getting ready to release their debut EP, on their own Painbow label. The songs on the self-titled debut are brilliant pop gems, every last one of them. The catchy boy/gurl harmonies of Kip Berman and Peggy Wang-East are cast upon a background of simple driving basslines, mechanical drums, keyboards and of course, a wash of ringing guitar distortion, creating a sound not too far off from 90s indiepop heroes, Black Tambourine or early MBV. Long sentences aside, this really is a fantastic EP, and The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart are becoming one of my favorite US indiepop bands out there right now. Both song songs below come extremely recommended!!!

[MP3]: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart :: This Love Is Fucking Right!
[MP3]: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart :: Orchard Of My Eye
Right out of the gate the EP starts off with the super solid TVPs-esque "This Love Is Fucking Right!". I say TVPs-esque because it reminds me quite a lot of their song "This Time There's No Happy Ending", which I'd like to note, is NOT bad thing, as it's probably my favorite TVPs song ever. "Orchard Of My Eye" however, seems to move at a more graceful pace. Probably the "prettiest" track on the EP, highlighted my the excellent echoing harmonies in each chorus. Boy, it's just all so so good.

You can preorder the EP on Insound right now! Also, if you happen to be in New York on August 7th head down to the Cake Shop for their CD release show! More details on their Myyyyyyyyspace.

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Get In Your Car and Drive It All Over Me

Slightly photoshopped You Made Me Realise 12" cover art.

I love My Bloody Valentine a lot, a real large amount. However, while I do consider -- like many people -- Loveless to be one of the greatest records ever, I do, for the most part, prefer their earlier, poppier moments quite a bit more. It took me quite a while to track down the You Made Me Realise EP, but it's got one of my all-time favorite MBV tracks on it. It was released by Creation Records around August of 1988 as a 12" and a maxi CD single, and featured probably the best cover of any of their records up to this point. There's just something about it. Anyway, "Drive It All Over Me" is a real great track, mixing the perfect amount of shoegaze and pop together with Belinda's super catchy vocal melody overtop it singing cryptic lines like:

Cover up your windows
Close up all the doors
Time has come for me to really shine
Pick myself up off the floor
Things that'll make yourself cry
Can be tied above the well
Helplessly withering away
But I'll never ever tell

[MP3]: My Bloody Valentine :: Drive It All Over Me

Okay, so, if you've heard this song before you should give it a shot. That's all I've got to say. Oh, and, happy Wednesday! Oh, and I wont be able to make it to the NYC Popfest, so everyone else enjoy it for me okay :'(

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