Alpha Waves - Analog Girl

Like most unhygienic, spotty teenage boys with a fledging passion for music (at the time, for me, this was only the music of Radiohead), I found myself in a couple of bands. Again, most of the music we made was meant to channel Thom Yorke. This was never as easy as one might’ve hoped. My biggest regret, band-wise, is not forming a big, brash guitar band with friends. A love of No Age ought to have prompted it but nope, without the garage space and without the lo-fi-loving pals, it never happened. Alpha Wavez are another in a long string of jealousy-inducing youngsters who played their cards right. ‘Analog Girl’ is a gradually building, shoegaze-indebted throwing together of every influence within a square mile: My Bloody Valentine, No Age, every Captured Tracks signing under the sun. And it works. If these guys get signed, I’ll know I chose the wrong path in life.

Verttigo: Autumn Dreams

I don’t want the vocalists of Verttigo to take this as a sour criticism, but a huge part of me wants to see Blonde Redhead’s Kazu Makino appearing out of nowhere to sing on these songs. Three rough demos from the Canadian, shoegaze-enhanced troupe have enough promise to suggest that maybe, one day, we’ll see Makino collaborating with the group. Heady dreams pushed aside though, for the time being we’ve been gifted with a hugely promising selection of introductory efforts, our pick of the bunch being the song placed at the top of the post, ‘Autumn Dreams’, on the basis of its sheer immediacy. 

Lockets: Catch Me

There was something extremely charming about Lockets’ opening salvo, ‘Camera Shy’. Fully suited to emotional rolling credits on a film or a collection of overexposed family photos, it seemed to hone in at a sense of beauty that not a great deal of bands are capable of tapping into. Latest effort ‘Catch Me’ is of similar style; tucked into a tidy pocket of 90s era shoegaze production, with pop songwriting at its very centre. 

Moon Creatures: Balloon Festival

Spilling out of ‘Balloon Festival”s pent-up chorus is an entirely separate song; there’s a point, around a minute in, where you’re convinced of the fact. Instead it seems that the London group have simply taken a gung-ho approach, throwing every inch of paint at a giant canvas. Moon Creatures have three songs to their name, including a Magnetic Fields cover, but ‘Balloon Festival’ is the one that drew me in, such was its full-on nature. Layers of guitar with only one intention: To collide.

[via Sound Injections]

Some Gorgeous Accident: Panorama

Tumblr-veteran Pierreism points out that Some Gorgeous Accident, far from being another bunch of cultured so-and-sos from Brooklyn, are based in the Philippines. Perhaps being so detached from the shoegaze, guitar-pop American sound has contributed in part towards their truly unique, undeniably beautiful “dreamgaze” pop. And that name. It’s the fitting companion to a song like ‘Panorama’, lavished in gently evolving atmospherics and gorgeous guitar lines. The band have nearly one follower per song on their soundcloud account. Sort it out.

Stream

via theseskinnyfists:

Still Corners: Into the Trees

For a while, whenever I heard Still Corners, I could only wonder what might lie behind the misty smoke. Was this a real band or some well-rehearsed old sound footage, leaping into the hands of four stylish, impressive musicians? Cinematic is a fairly limited descriptive word when applied to music but with this group, you can only imagine their songs placed up against some genius, confusing work of David Lynch”s. For some time, the buck stopped there with Still Corners. Cinematic, yes, and interesting because of it, but yet to become a real force.
’Creatures of an Hour’ is our first step towards finding the truly inventive and imaginative band, standing behind the smoke. It’s an album of complete coherence, inviting you into a grand, immersive experience. On ‘Into the Trees’, the drums feel as if they’re only inches away and Tessa Murray’s peculiar, ghostly vocals appear more human than ever. Still Corners the band. No longer a beautiful mirage.
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The album is out today on Sub Pop 

Still Corners - Creatures of an Hour by subpop