Strange Things from Vancouver, British Columbia recently released their Sunshine EP and one of its highlights is ‘I Feel Fine’, a tumbling cascade of distorted guitars and howled vocals that flies along on sustained notes of electricity and an endless groove. The heavier psych end of shoegaze is the order of the day here. Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Strange Things – I Feel Fine
Blue Canopy, the moniker of Portland Oregon musician Alex Schiff, has recently released his debut EP called Mild Anxiety, featuring this track – ‘Keys To The Garden’, a shimmering slice of psychedelia with a hazy tropical bent. According to Schiff, ‘Keys to the Garden’ was written about the New York Knicks, cloaked with fantasy lore imagery. “At that point in my life, I knew that my … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Blue Canopy – Keys to The Garden
Hazy, rolling sonic waves are the order of the day on this blissed-out new psychedelic track from El Paso TX band Holy Wave. It slowly builds, layer upon layer of chiming, effects-laden guitars and astral voices, droning and intoning as it heads skyward. ‘Escapism’ is the 2nd single off Interloper, Holy Wave’s fifth album, out July 3, 2020. You can also listen to the title … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Holy Wave – Escapism
Bittersweet swerving guitars and sonic verve are two of the defining aspects of War Strings‘ single ‘Tragedy (Lovesong)’. Think New Order, The Cure, Girls and the dense static and fuzz of Swervedriver all combine to form a transatlantic blend of angst and shoegaze. Tough and tender, the song is a gem of the kind that inhabits that sweet spot where melody meets melancholy. War … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: War Strings – Tragedy (Lovesong)
Sydney group The Wednesday Night follow up their 2018 LP Music Club Volume Two with their new single ‘The Perfect Scene’. Over tumbling drums and bass that wanders with curiosity and a free spirit, Laura Murdoch relays the scenario of a perfect scene (of two tales) through a hazy lens of psych-pop melancholy. Like Mazzy Star filtered through a tougher 60s aesthetic, the guitar of … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: The Wednesday Night – The Perfect Scene
With a bass-line straight out of The Cure and Joy Division handbook, this track from bdrmm is undeniably the sum of its influences, but they’re great ones and they approach the music with reverence and respect, keeping all the elements of mood and texture in check. The result is a wistful, melancholically propulsive and free-flowing track that draws from shoegaze, post-punk and dark pop. ‘Happy’ is the … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: bdrmm – Happy
Find a riff, nail it down and wear it out. That’s the approach from the best psych-rock and shoegaze bands and the central guitar chords and bass in Unwed Sailor’s track ‘Camino Wheel’ is a perfect example. They know how long to stretch it out for, peppering with adjacent sounds before opening up the music with a sweeping gesture of held electric notes akin to … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Unwed Sailor – Camino Wheel
Tan Cologne are the American duo of Lauren Green (formerly Mirror Travel) and interdisciplinary artist Marissa Macias who began collaborating in Taos, NM. Their debut album Cave Vaults On The Moon In New Mexico came out last week and ‘Alien’ is a shimmering, atmospheric and gently propulsive example of the cosmic psychedelia that the pair have created. You can hear the desert, the stars, the shimmering … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Tan Cologne – Alien
MOON DUO OXFORD ART FACTORY 13/02/20 The evolution of Moon Duo has been a slow and steady one over the last decade. Originally starting as a duo of Wooden Shjips guitarist Ripley Johnson and Sanae Yamada, the pair have retained their minimal aesthetic and core personnel but expanded their live performance to include a drummer and most recently, a stunning light show, by Manchester-based visual … Continue reading LIVE REVIEW: Moon Duo @ OAF, Sydney
Mazeppa are an Israeli psychedelic rock band who have recently released the video clip for their second single from their upcoming album. Michal Perez Noy, a Haifa musician and composer, initiated in 2017 a project to compose songs by the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke. She was soon joined by Asaf Koren (guitar), Elad Bardes (bass) and Amir Noy (drums) and what started as the … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Mazeppa – The Way In
A blistering sonic harmonic scree is the order of the day on this new track from the Southampton, UK band Burning House. You can hear the spirit and verve of bands like Swervedriver, Trail Of Dead, My Bloody Valentine, Smashing Pumpkins and Sonic Youth as they careen across the speakers, leaving vapour trails of melody and distortion. ‘Her Vowel No’ comes from their debut LP … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Burning House – Her Vowel No
We posted another Charcoal Burners track earlier this year and this one also hits the spot with its warm buzz and jangle of guitars, interlaced with piano (that reminded us of Able Tasmans). I like that they reference the sound of the song in its title, you can definitely hear both bands that they mention, more so their Dunedin counterparts. I’d also throw in a … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Charcoal Burners – The Verlaines and Husker Du
Doubtful Sounds 