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shoegaze

Suuns ‎* Images Du Futur (cd 2013)

Well well, so now also Deezer starts to recommend music to me? I got a recommention for Suuns because I listen to Duchess Says. Now Suuns have little incommon with Duchess Says save the fact that the two bands are playing two shows together. And of course they both play guitar pop with electronic elements, but the results are very different. I also knew Suuns because I ran into them when looking for shoegaze that is interesting. Not that this band makes very typical shoegaze, but there certainly are elements to be found (not so in Duchess Says). The album that Deezer thought I should listen to was the previous album “Zeroes QC” from 2010. That album is indeed somewhat interesting, but mostly because it contains pretty experimental pop music, very soft pop, dreampop perhaps even. There are some nice songs, I especially like the songs with more electronics than guitars. The album is a bit slow, melancholic maybe even. “Images Du Futur” starts off with more tempo and nice, screaming guitars. Most of the songs are a lot slower though with some electronics, sometimes a little bit of rock, sometimes a noisy guitar; mostly soft pop though. Like on the other cd there are a few nice songs, but most of them I am quite indifferent to. I would not turn it off when I heard it on the radio, but I do not think I will play Suuns very often.
Link: Secretly Canadian

v/a * Death # Disco III (cd 2013)

Strange how things work sometimes. I listen a lot of different kinds of music. Since Last.fm this has increased a lot and now in combination with Deezer perhaps even more. A while ago I ran into the brilliant band A Place To Bury Strangers who make some sort of shoegaze (1980’ies wave elements, screaming guitars, etc.), but much more uptempo than the “dreampop” variety of the style. I have been looking for other interesting bands in that style and found good bands that combine guitars and electronics. To my surprise one of these bands (The KVB) played at last year’s (2013) Wave Gotik Treffen and than two more (The Soft Moon, Lebanon Hannover) at Summer Darkness. At a music-stand at Summer Darkness I checked the boxes of the usual goth-mailorder and found A Place To Bury Strangers, but also quite a bit of “minimal wave” (and related) music. That part included “Death # Disco” compilations, compilations of a Berlin based monthly clubnight. To my surprise these compilatons contain bands that I previously discovered as “shoegaze” (The KVB, The Exploding Boy, The Lost Rivers, etc.) and as “minimal wave”, another genre that I enjoy discovering (Agent Side Grinder, Xeno & Oaklander, Echo West, etc.). Apparently everything is growing together or is not as separated as I initially thought.
In any case, “Death # Disco III” goes from very nice uptempo analogue dancemusic to screaming guitars. Some tracks are downright briliant, but others are pretty boring, an experience that I got used to in ‘both scenes’. Nice to run into these compilations though.
Link: Death # Disco

The Soft Moon * Zeros (cd 2012)

I already knew The Soft Moon when I noticed that they would play at this year’s Summer Darkness festival. Out of place, since they are not from ‘the gothic scene’, but fitting with their sound which certainly has 1980’ies wave and gothic rock elements. The show was great, the albums that I listened to a bit on Deezer, are nice too. Great tracks and alright tracks alternate. During their show I bought two albums, “Zeros” is their last album, so I decided to review it.
“Zeros” has more uptempo songs which are the songs I like best. The sound reminds a bit of A Place To Bury Strangers here and there. The ‘wavey’ beats/drums, high-pitched guitars and screaking sounds (no guitars, but coming from the synth). There are not that many vocals, usually just some screaming. “Zeros”, as the other albums that I heard of The Soft Moon, goes from great tracks to nice tracks. Live they seemed more energetic and rocking, in the living room the sound is a lot better than it was in Tivoli (way too loud). A nice album, certainly, but not the best ‘in the style’ that I know. One of the faster bands though, so if you like A Place To Bury Strangers or The Lost Rivers, you might be interested in The Soft Moon too.
Links: The Soft Moon, Captured Tracks

The Cult Of Dom Keller * s/t (lp 2013)

In Leipzig I found a card of Mannequin Label and Mailorder. They have “cold wave”, “minimal synth”, “post punk”, “dark wave”, “experimental” and “industrial”. I did not see these cards at the minimal wave/synth night, but it would have been more fitting there. Anyways, since I like some of that minimal wave/synth stuff, I decided to check out the label. They have a Bandcamp with a lot of music on so that is good. One band did not sound like minimal wave/synth at all, but more something like shoegaze, another genre that I have been looking through recently. The band with the weird name “The Cult Of Dom Kellar” makes a nice piece of slow shoegaze, or perhaps better: psychedelic rock. There are some of the feedback sounds, but not all that much. This self-titled debut album is not the first release of this British band, there have been several 7″s.
This debut is available only through the Bandcamp of the label. You can either get one of the 500 lps and a digital download or just a digital download.
Links: The Cult Of Dom Kellar (Facebook), Mannequin

A Place To Bury Strangers * Worship (cd 2012)

When I was just a little Roy, I found a tape in my father’s collection with the “Psychocandy” debut album (1985) of The Jesus And Mary Chain. I liked the strange and noisy sound, but my musical tastes drifted elsewhere and I never really followed the band. Recently I am listening more to popmusic using Last.fm and since recently Deezer. I have listened to “shoegaze” a bit, but not that much. Then Last.fm recommended a new release of A Place To Bury Strangers. With a bandname as great as that I decided to find out what it is and APTBS proves to be the ultimate shoegaze band. “Worship” is a magnificent album! In case you are wondering, try to imagine the old style of wave with the screaming guitars, ‘flat vocals’ and drumcomputers or drumcomputer like drumming, then add a little distortion and here and there a bit of tempo and you are pretty close to the sound of shoegaze. APTBS seems to have taken things a step further and their sound is sometimes downright noisy and dirty and especially the uptempo tracks are brilliant. I am now working my way backwords in their large discography and so far it seems that this is going to be one of my favourite popbands.
Links: A Place To Bury Strangers, Dead Oceans

Dream Into Dust ‎* So Beautiful And So Dangerous (cd 2012)

Nine years after “The Lathe Of Heaven” I had never expected another album by Dream Into Dust. Then a while ago I ran into the band’s Facebook page and there was an announcement for “So Beautiful And So Dangerous”. Exited I sent some money to Derek Rush and yesterday the cd fell in the mailbox. The new album opens unexpectedly with a technoish rhythm going over in some kind of industrial rock (or actually drum’n’bass rock). That is not how I remember DID! Would the sound changed that much? The next tracks are more like earlier material. Soft, somewhat poppy rock music with a lot of electronics in the background, dreamy atmospheres and a complex set of layers to the music. There seems to be more IDM this time and there even are elements of synthpop and other (too) catchy sounds. The larger part is either dark or darkly melancholic. Dark ambient soundscapes alternating with shoegaze songs and whatever you (did not) expect from DID. The album certainly is mature and well-structured, but it does not grip me like its predecessor does. Still a very interesting album not following any of the scene’s trends. Dream Into Dust keep doing their own thing and they do it well.
Link: Dream Into Dust, Chthonic Streams