May 7th, 2010
Check out an exciting new band – The Notes from Southhampton / London UK who twist and turn our conceptions of Shoegaze by introducing elements of Garage, Goth (a la Siouxsie and the Banshees), and Post Punk POP.
http://www.myspace.com/wearethenotes
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Take parts of The Three Johns and The March Violets, and blend them with Slowdive, The Shop Assistants, The Close Lobsters and early Soup Dragons and modernize them with The Dum Dum Girls, The XX, and The Crystal Stilts and you may get something that sounds like The Notes. Then again, maybe you won’t, but at least it gives you an idea of what I thought when I heard them for the first time. The Beauty of music is that it is in the ear of the listener, so give them a listen and tell me what you think.
Download their first single for free courtesy of Holiday records here - http://www.holidayrecords.net/notes.html
As if that’s not enough to give them a listen, they are also inspired by the Velvet Underground, Orange Juice, Joy Division, The Wake, The Sonics, and Gang of Four ensuring they have been given an education in fine music (or is that a “Bad Education” as The Blue Orchids once said). And that’s not even the best part, they are also fans of the Television Personalities and have agreed to record several covers for the TVP tribute series so keep your eyes and ears Peeled.
Enjoy!
Categories: 2010 Favourite, Great Music |
Tags: Close Lobsters, Crystal Stilts, Post Punk POP, Shoegaze, Shop Assistants, television personalities, The Soup Dragons, The Three Johns | No Comments
July 16th, 2009
There has been much discussion in the past about the musical genre, referred to as Shoegaze music (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoegazing) and whether this is even a good description or not, or if this was intended as an insult, as many of the bands tended to look at their shoes while playing (while in fact they were busy manipulationg all the effects pedals to get that unique sound), making for a less then exciting visual spectacle. Shoegaze became associated with a whole slew of great bands like Ride, Slowdive, The Cocteau Twins, JAMC, My Bloody Valentine, Swervedriver, The Telescopes, Lush, Chapterhouse, Moose and many many more. Some of these bands, though had already been around for years, but shared a similarity in sound and thus fit in nicely.
All this aside, that’s not why I am writing this to start another debate, but rather to celebrate this style of music which created a significant body of beautiful recordings and sounds that still sound great today and continue to influence bands the world around, why even Drowned in Sound even had a Shoegaze week in April where they featured a wealth of information and some features on some new clubs/labels like Club AC30 that help keep the gaze alive (http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4136607).
Many new bands cite this genre as an influence, and many more have borrowed from the sounds created to create further masterpieces of their own. I realized this many years ago when I picked up a copy of the Italian magazine Losing today which came with a free CD that featured many new bands that were inspired by that sound. A few more recent acquisitions of mine really brought this to the fore once again, when I picked up a copy of “Half Dreaming: An Asian Shoegaze Compilation” CD (http://www.tonevendor.com/item/29698) which was relased by the fabulous folks at Quince Records (http://www.quince-records.com/) in Japan. This compilation, along with others like “Just Like A Daydream - A Dreampop, Shoegaze Comp” and all the Dale Marquez’s Filipino bands comps that feature the likes of Some Gorgeous Accident, Sonnet LVIII (www.myspace.com/sonnet58) and The Jealous Sea helped me realize that Shoegaze is alive and well in pockets all around the globe.
First lets travel to Asia and hear a few tracks and later if we have time we can travel to a few more exotic places …
Tracks 5, 11, 13
elemental gaze – unperfect sky
caucus – sing(half dreaming) japan
sharesprings – fix your eyes on indonesia
Tags: [mp3] [Asian Shoegaze] [ Chapterhouse] [Club AC30] [Dale Marquez] [Drowned in Sound] [JAMC] [Lush] [Moose] [My Bloody Valentine][Quince Records ][Ride][Shoegaze][Slowdive][ Some Gorgeous Accident][Sonnet LVIII][Swervedriver][The Cocteau Twins][The Jealous Sea ][The Telescopes]
Categories: Beautiful B-Sides, Feature 45, Great Music, zUncategorized |
Tags: Asian Shoegaze, Chapterhouse, Club AC30, Dale Marquez, Drowned in Sound, JAMC, Lush, Moose, My Bloody Valentine, Quince Records, Ride, Shoegaze, Slowdive, Some Gorgeous Accident, Sonnet LVIII, Swervedriver, The Cocteau Twins, The Jealous Sea, The Telescopes | No Comments
