A Reason To Be Optimistic

For mostly personal reasons, 2012 was a disappointing year for me, but I have to say I don’t think it was a particularly good year for new music either. Sure, there were lots of singles and EPs from promising new bands, but no full length releases that made the Shoegaze world sit up and take notice in the way that Tamaryn‘s The Waves and Highspire‘s Aquatic had done in 2010.

As Winter neared, the highlights for me remained a welcome and surprisingly good return to form from Echodrone with Bon Voyage and Tender New Signs, Tamaryn‘s understated second album. Then 93MillionMilesFromTheSun released Towards the Light with the disclaimer that it was only a stopgap, something to tide us over until the band released its next album in April 2013. Not long afterwards, another reason to look forward to the new year arrived in the form of an email invitation to preview the new album from Slowness—due to be released on 12 February 2013.

It was an invitation I was more than happy to accept, although, having recalled guitarist/vocalist Geoffrey Scott’s prediction that Slowness would be banned from all Shoegazing sites after the release of their next EP, I did so with some trepidation. Almost as if anticipating this response, Slowness kindly allayed my fears by placing “Day For Night”—easily the most Shoegaze song on the new album—at the top of the playlist. My worries dispelled, I was then free to enjoy the subtle changes in style that arrived with the second song and carried on through the rest of the album*.

Bassist Julie Lynn had indicated that the new music was influenced more by Metal than by Shoegaze. I don’t listen to enough Metal to comment on the accuracy of this description, but, for the most part, the Shoegaze aspects of the songs have become less obvious. One thing that didn’t change, however, is the great sound resulting from Monte Vallier’s production and Kramer’s mastering. Another is the dedication to quality—a keystone of the Slowness music-making philosophy—that left songs on the cutting-room floor others would have been tempted to include.

For Those Who Wish To See The Glass Half Full will be released by San Francisco label Blue Aurora Audio on 180-gram vinyl and put in the mail on 1 February, so there is every chance that it will arrive at the doors of some lucky audiophiles before its official release date on the 12th. For those who, like me, have consigned the phonograph to the past, Slowness are also selling the album in a variety of downloadable formats via their Bandcamp page, where it is now available to pre-order.

If all goes well, I’ll be interviewing Geoffrey and Julie (and possibly the drummer, Scott, who is the third and final member of Slowness) sometime this evening. Look for it in a couple of days or so.

Slowness: Bandcamp | SoundCloud | Web Site | Facebook
Blue Aurora Audio: Web Site

For Those Who Wish To See The Glass Half Full by Slowness (©2013 Blue Aurora Audio)

01. Day For Night (4:37)
02. The Glass (3:33)
03. Energy (3:06)
04. Calm & Dispel (3:46)
05. Repeater (5:48)
06. Wired (4:46)
07. Race To Mars (4:16)
08. Walls Of Blue (4:10)

*Coming in one song short of the very end, is the second most Shoegaze song on the album, “Race To Mars”, an earlier version of which appeared on last year’s Slowness​/​Dead Leaf Echo 7″ Split.

New Year, New (Mostly Old) Music

I’ll be trying something new this year: instead of making compilations that are downloadable only during a relatively brief, four-week window, I’d like to try using mixcloud to publish the compilations. The compilations will no longer be downloadable, but they will always be available to stream to any device with an Internet connection. According to mixcloud, this method has the added benefit of tracking the songs played and paying the artists/labels accordingly.

To give you an idea of what I have in mind, here is a link to a hastily assembled compilation of some of the better songs I found on Bandcamp in 2012. I didn’t use all of my favorite songs because my buddy Miloš beat me to several of them when he put together two, ‘Best of 2012′ compilations, which you can check out here.

Speaking of Bandcamp, I’ve made my first music purchases of 2013 in the form of several lossless digital downloads, including two, vinyl-only singles by The Pristines from the early ’90s: Souls To The Devil and Kimberley Somebody, as well as 2011′s Senseless>Sense by a band from the north of Italy, Piatcions.

Piatcions was brought to my attention by an invitation I received (thanks, Monica) from management and publicity firm, A Giant Leap, to download and listen to an EP due to be released 10 Feb 2013 on the Fuzz Club Records label. I liked the EP enough to look up the band’s 2011 release and, when I found it on Bandcamp, I bought it.

my mixcloud | Miloš’s mixcloud | The Pristines (Bandcamp) | Piatcions (Bandcamp)
A Giant Leap | Fuzz Club Records

A Place In The Sun

Generally speaking, I have come to the conclusion that there is only so much Shoegazing to be found in any band. Whether a band eventually goes Electronica like Curve, goes Alt Country like Moose, or just goes away like My Bloody Valentine, two albums and a handful of EPs is as much Shoegazing as most bands have in them.

There are exceptions, of course. A Place to Bury Strangers and Ceremony spring instantly to mind, but 93MillionMilesFromTheSun is another such band. Indeed, this band’s determination to produce quality music featuring a wall of sound with subdued but still discernible vocals folded into it is such that I will purchase any new 93MMFTS release without having to listen to it first.

Several months ago, I was overjoyed to learn that 93MMFTS were to release a new album in October. My joy turned to dismay, however, when I discovered that Towards the Light was to be released as a limited edition, vinyl-only album, unaccompanied by a digital download copy. Fortunately for me, this story has a happy ending thanks to bassist Rob Hogg, who interceded with the label on my behalf, and to Jase at In At The Eye Records, who sent me a link to a high-quality MP3 download of this wonderful album for reviewing purposes.

How, then, to keep my end of the bargain, as I fear I may be even less competent at reviewing albums than I am at interviewing the artists who release them. I have delayed writing this review for a couple of weeks, because I have been trying to figure out a way to say that this album sounds like every other 93MMFTS album without imparting any of the negative connotations that statement might imply. The fact is, however, that once Towards the Light begins playing, it is immediately recognizable as a 93MMFTS album, but this is a good thing. No, this is a great thing. 93MMFTS have a signature sound which endows each song with certain similar qualities, but without making them sound at all alike.

According to Jase, “Towards the Light is a stop gap release till the next full album due for release in April.” This is so typical of 93MMFTS. In 2007, I was fortunate enough to receive a demo/promo copy of the band’s self-titled first release on CD-R. It blew me away. The most frequent comment made about this demo by other lucky recipients was that it sounded as good or better than many official releases from other bands, which it did. So, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that 93MMFTS have eight songs of this high a calibre to just throw out there to the fortunate few (only two hundred, hand-numbered copies) who buy this album.

Buy | In At The Eye

Back to School

No, not me: I’m too old to learn new tricks, but I’m still fond of finding new music to listen to. First off, there’s a little bit of catching up to do: Gypsy Death and You have set a date for the release of their second EP—called E.P. No. 2, strangely enough. Here are the details (link takes one to the band’s spiffy new site). Also, it seems that Modern Charms have found that home they were looking for in Vancouver’s Clue #2 Records. This was reported in June, but the band reckoned that production on their first release would begin in the Fall. Well, Fall is here.

In the “good news/bad news” category, it seems that personal favorites 93MillionMilesFromTheSun will be releasing a new album in October. The bad news? Towards the Light will be a vinyl-only release, and I don’t own a turntable. Hopefully, once the 200 copies of the limited edition, colored vinyl have all been sold, the band will make digital downloads available from their Bandcamp page.

Recent additions to my collection I highly recommend:  By Night With Spear - Fortune EP and Cipher EP, both released in 2009 (Bandcamp), Gum – E.P (Bandcamp), Honeyslide – Honeyslide EP (Bandcamp), and Taffy – Caramel Sunset (Club AC30).

A Good Home

I had to put music on a back burner for five or six weeks while I looked for a new place to live and then move there, but I am now pretty much settled in to my new digs, so back to work I go.

Someone else looking for a good home is Modern Charms—one of the bands featured on Vibrato 12.01. Band member Mark Palm was nice enough to send me an MP3 copy of the self-titled six-song EP Modern Charms would like to release as soon as they find a label to help them do so.

The first two songs on this EP—which can be previewed here—are easily the strongest, but I did find one other song good enough to go on my iPod, “Epsilon”. Even though half of the songs were headed to my iPod, I was still leaning toward a three-and-a-half star rating before trying an experiment with the song order that I think makes a world of difference. The third song, “Falling Sun” is the slowest/quietest song on the EP and it seemed to kill the momentum created by the first two. When I moved it to fifth, however, it fit perfectly, continuing the gradual slowing of “Ancient Cities” and preceding the obvious closer, “Silver Lanterns”.

Modern Charms by Modern Charms (©2012 Modern Charms)

01. When We Get There (3:11)
02. Someday (5:36)
03. Falling Sun (5:49)
04. Epsilon (5:08)
05. Ancient Cities (4:09)
06. Silver Lanterns (6:21)

A Girl Can Change Yr Mind, Can’t She

There I was, thinking I had made my last Vibrato compilation, when, one after another, I kept stumbling upon good, new Shoegaze releases from bands I had, for the most part, never before heard of.

My discovery of Drowner was the result of some kind of screwup with my revived Twitter account. Somehow, Drowner ended up on the list of bands I was following, and in trying to clear that up, I managed to open up their website. I was about to close the page, when I recognized the SMR logo in the banner. I knew that Saint Marie Records was the home of Vibrato alums The Sunshine Factory, Sway, Bloody Knives, and Jetman Jet Team, so I decided to give the music of Drowner a listen. I was knocked out by what I heard. I liked it so much, I wished that I was still putting compilations together so that I could help spread the word about this band.

The next day, I was browsing Bandcamp and came across two songs from the six-song, self-titled release by Modern Charms. My enthusiasm for both songs inspired me to say to myself, “okay, I’m going to ask these guys for a song and, if they give it to me, I’ll do another compilation, if not, I’ll stay retired.” Obviously, permission was obtained.

While trying to figure out how to contact Drowner, I discovered that broaddaylight had not only become their labelmates at SMR, but had also put out a second EP in 2009 that I had somehow failed to detect. After listening to Stars Out, I knew I wanted a song from them as well, and with the aid of Wyatt Parkins at SMR, I was able to get songs from both bands.

The fourth band, Miniatures, is another one of those hidden gems that makes digging through Bandcamp worthwhile. A spokesman for the band claims that the four-song, self-titled EP is badly in need of polishing, but I like it very much. It is one free download for which I would gladly have paid.

Download: Link expired 10 April 2012

The title of this post refers to the female vocals found in the songs of the two bands that lured me out of retirement.

My original intention was to have Vibrato12.01 be a ten-song compilation, and I did get as far as collecting nine songs: four Dream Pop, four wall-of-sound Shoegaze, and one that landed somewhere in-between. I had considered dividing the songs into a virtual A-side/B-side (“soft”/”hard”) kind of arrangement, but then things started to go south with the Shoegaze contingent: one band pulled out for fear that being included here might complicate their search for a label, and two others are experiencing difficulties getting their songs mastered. So, this turned out to be a four-song, Dream Pop EP. Hopefully, the other songs will be ready to go on Vibrato 12.02 in a couple of weeks or so.

Special thanks to Wyatt at Saint Marie Records for his help. I would encourage the reader to visit SMR‘s (constantly growing) Artists page; there you will find the above mentioned Vibrato alums, as well as personal, local and regional favorites: The High Violets and Trespassers William respectively.

Vibrato 12.01
01. “Point Dume” by Drowner from Drowner (©2012 Saint Marie Records)
Hailing from Houston, Texas, Drowner features the talents of Darren Emanuel on guitar/drums/keys, Sean Evans on guitar, Mike Brewer on bass, and Anna Bouchard on vocals. Their big, atmospheric sound draws on influences as varied as Shoegaze, Dream Pop, and Post-Rock. Their expanded, self-titled EP was released this morning, 13 March 2012.
SMR | Facebook | soundcloud | website

02. “Everything” by broaddaylight from Stars Out (©2009 broaddaylight)
broaddaylight was formed in Los Angeles in 2005 by James and Sarah Eakins. They were joined at some point by guitarist Henry Bennet, and together they have released two EPs—both mastered by Robin Guthrie—and are currently working on a third release. The two EPs: The Bell Jar EP (2006) and Stars Out (2009) are both available for download in a variety of formats from Bandcamp. Brady Renick is credited as the bass player on “Everything”.
SMR | Facebook | Bandcamp

03. “When We Get There ” by Modern Charms from Modern Charms (©2012 Modern Charms)
Modern Charms is a trio formed in San Francisco, California with geographical tendrils spreading outward to the Pacific Northwest and far-reaching aesthetic roots in Dream Pop and fuzzy, blissed-out Rock. The band’s debut recording―soaked in the grey marine layers of San Francisco’s Ocean Beach, where much of this record was composed―glides through six tracks of gorgeous guitar damage and crystalline, female vocal melodies. Modern Charms temper atmospherics with confidence and clarity to sweetly excoriate your eardrums.
Bandcamp | website

04. “Midwinter (Air)” by Miniatures from Miniatures EP (©2012 Miniatures)
Originally conceived as a solo project of Christchurch, New Zealand native Ché Walden, Miniatures drifted through various directions and ensembles until a partnership with Annemarie Duff set things properly in motion. Steven Marr later rounded out the group as a bassist, while an extensive bank of effects-laden (though personality-devoid) programmed tracks continues to serve in lieu of a drummer. Miniatures is relatively new to performing, with only a handful of shows under its belt, but over the last twelve months the band has managed to record the four songs found on its self-titled EP―available now as a free download from Bandcamp.
Facebook | Bandcamp

All copyrighted materials used with the permission of the copyright holders.

A Change of Direction

Although most of the problems I was dealing with at the time I decided to take a break from blogging have been resolved, I am not going to return to trying to uncover and introduce new bands. I will instead leave that task to the more than capable folks at When the Sun Hits (and a few other sites) while I return my attention to a project I first conceived nearly ten years ago: compiling the ultimate Shoegazing box set.