Soundtrack2

Disappears, Lower Dens, Stagnant Pools, Blonde Redhead, Deep Cut & more

Photo by Phil Askew, luminouslives.com

An online breach at our host meant this week’s mix is about a week behind. The tracks are still blistering, but the newer ones are – well, less new than usual.

What music are you digging these days?

Soundtrack2 Ep. 95 [ 1:13:59 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

1.   The History Of Colour TV - I Knew It Was Wrong But I Did It Anyway
Dramatic opening chord gives way to shoegaze pop goodness.

2.   Deep Cut – Decision Time (Electric Loop Orchestra remix)
Motorik space pop by former member of Revolver.

3.   White Rabbits – Heavy Metal
Chillwave funk with fabulous stabs of guitar.

4.   Florence + The Machine – No Light No Light (Spector Ryan Gosling Remix)
I haven’t loved F+TM, but this production brings texture and a bit of drama, kind of like Austra. Not too familiar with the remixer, but sounds like that should change.

5.   The Naked And The Famous – No Way
There’s freezing rain outside, but there are signs it’s letting up.

6.   Now, Now – School Friends
Great new track from this wistful band. You can’t help but hang on the singer’s every word. Look for it in March on new album Threads.

7.   Sea Oleena – Swimming Story
Like an illicit nighttime dip in a candle-lit pool. Captivating. And from Canada!

8.   The Nocturnes – Grandmother Make A Steeple
Lovely track that sounds a bit like Chris Isaak and Pink Floyd. This is one of many gems on Aokigahara.

9.  Conduits –  Top Of The Hill
Omaha represent! Can’t wait to hear more from this band.

10.  Disappears – Replicate
Boom! They’re back. Praise them…that is all.

11.  Fields Of Industry – The Sum
Track from a few years back that needed to be heard.

12.  Lower Dens – Brains
Second return to form this episode! Love this dense, tense track as it speeds towards an uncertain ending. “Don’t be a friend…”

13.  Stephen Paul Smoker – Green City
Fabulously weird psych blues.

14.  R.M. Hendrix – Last Year’s Hopes Are Playing Through The Wall
Engrossing swirling psychedelia.

15.  Stagnant Pools – Consistency
Track of the week.  If you need a shot of slacker shoegaze rock and roll, look no further.

16.  Asalto al Parque Zoológico – Warn You
Still carrying the flame for the classic shoegaze sound!

17.  HEHFU – Come Home
Short burst from the Come Home EP.

18.  Blonde Redhead – Big Song
Sometimes, choruses need only consist of one vowel.

Trailer Trash Tracys, White Cloud, Porcelain Rift, Loop, Screen Vinyl Image & more

Get your psych on.

Soundtrack2 Ep. 94 [ 1:18:19 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

1.   Star Horse – Stranger
Delightful Stockholm shoegaze.

2.  Dråpe – We Want The World
Great band. Yearning, dramatic stuff.

3.   Hundir La Flota – Autopista
Madrid Motorik rock and roll with woozy bass.

4.   The Raveonettes – Rebel Invasion
This newly-released Rarities track reminds me of some other great Whip It On tunes.

5.   Screen Vinyl Image – Station 4
Nearly five minutes of SVI’s take on New Order meets The Jesus and Mary Chain. Pick it up exclusively on the 200,000 Gazes compilation.

6.   Rangers – Conversations On The Jet Stream
Very hard to describe this one…space age slacker pop?

7.   Porcelain Raft – Put Me To Sleep
“Would you do something for me…?” Huge song for fans of Engineers.

8.   The Asteroid Shop – Planetary
Austin band slows it down with some groovy dream pop.

9.   Trailer Trash Tracys – Candy Girl
Like a lot of tunes from their newest album Ester, but this reverb-drenched torch song is a gem.

10.  Doctors – A Is For
Rainy day anthem out of the Pacific Northwest.

11.  Cloud Nothings – No Future/No Past
Black clouds darken the sky. Fantastic!

12.  Demonic Death Judge – Stick That In Your Pipe And Smoke It
Bring on the Finnish psych. If you dig Robin Trower, pick up this one from The Descent.

13.  Atlantic Drop – Dead Souls
Love the 70s progressive bluesy psych. Lush this ain’t.

14.  Parton Kooper Planetarium – Voyager
Lots of great American psych bands in this part of the podcast. Love the drums and organ here.

15.  Haunted Leather – Sun It Shines
More trippy 70s-style psych.

16.  Loop – I’ll Take You There
See how nicely the seminal 90s drone band fits here? Find it on The World In Your Eyes.

17.  Røsenkøpf - Troth
Eastern-influenced rock and roll monster.

18.  White Cloud – I Know It
Hailing from the mighty psych hotbed of San Francisco, this band gives S2 faves Tame Impala a run for their money. Track of the week, even if it’s from last year.

19.  Karl O’Connor – Here And Now (English version)
Dance tune that should have been included in the Space Is the Place movie. Apparently Karl is more commonly known as Regis.

Check out this great video from the fabulous A Place To Bury Strangers. Shot completely on the band’s iPhones, this also comes with complimentary ADD.

Bummer you can’t click the image to play – couldn’t find an embed option on SPIN’s player.

Frankie Rose, Trespassers William, Caveman, The Spits, Apteka & more

Soundtrack2 Ep. 93 [ 1:07:30 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

1.   The Spits – Last Man On Earth
5…4…3…Wake up with this new off-kilter space punk.

2.   Digital Leather – Young Doctors In Love
Facebook page doesn’t reveal much, but loving this album’s melodic post punk and killer chorus. And I’m not even a doctor.

3.   Germans – No Job
Rock and roll from a few years back that somehow reminds me of a Torontonian British Sea Power.

4.   Car Seat Headrest – Bodys
Ah, Brooklyn. Six minutes of stream-of-consciousness vocals and ecstatic indie rock.

5.   Dream Brother – Pretty Eyes
A bit poppy for us, but this song is just so damn catchy!

6.   Frankie Rose – Know Me
Lots of buzz about the latest single from Ms. Rose. Pure 80s swinging pop a la Sarah Records. Check out upcoming album Interstellar.

7.   Field Mouse – You Guys Are Gonna Wake Up My Mom
Some wistful, dreamy pop out of Brooklyn.

8.   A Classic Education – Night Owl
Slowing it down. Lovely guitar work. Find it on October’s Call It Blazing.

9.  Trespassers William – And We Lean In
Though they decided to call it a day, here’s a great acoustic-ish number from Having.

10.  Yo La Tengo – Pablo and Andrea
An Electr-O-Pura classic. “Show me where you hide all your secrets upstairs…” Love when the guitars come in.

11.  Caveman – Easy Water
The track of the week comes from Coco Beware, a fantastic record released last fall. The mysterious intensity of this track stood out for me.

12.  Red Horses Of The Snow – Airborne
Brilliant song that seems like an instant mellow shoegaze anthem. And what a voice!

13.  Brief Candles – Permafrost
One of many fabulous tracks on WTSH‘s superb 200,000 Gazes compilation. Love that Ride bass.

14.  Aerofall – Up’s & Down’s
Straightforward, almost hypnotic chord progression with layers and layers of guitar.

15.  The Hang Ups – Sweet Tooth
A nice one from the 90s indie rock heroes So We Go album.

16.  Pale Saints – Angel (Will You Be My)
Blistering shoegaze pop tune that’s perfect for dancing around your bedroom.

17.  Luminous Orange – Walkblind
Superplastic stunner by the Japanese shoegazers.

18.  Apteka – Gravesend
Very excited to hear new stuff from this band. In their words: “We play rock music. We like large kick drums, tube amplification, and face melting.” Hear hear.

Tokyo Shoegazer, We Were Promised Jetpacks, Menkena, Reina Republicana, Lilys & more

Photo by Phil Askew, luminouslives.com

It’s 2012! Let’s get to it.

Soundtrack2 Ep. 92 [ 1:10:46 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

1.   Buddha On The Moon – Coastal Hwys
Killer Houston shoegaze off the well-named Stratospheric album.

2.   Swirlies – San Christobal De La Casas
Stone cold crunchy shoegaze classic from a criminally overlooked band.

3.   The Boo Radleys – Take The Time Around
Giant Steps anthem, complete with the weird cut out in the middle. You should check out what that part looks like in WAV form. A hidden message?

4.   Tokyo Shoegazer – Just Alright
There are walls of guitar, and then there are wall of guitar. Very nice.

5.   Lilys – The Hermit Crab
Another gem from Eccsame The Photon Band which nicely documents their shift from In The Presence Of Nothing shoegaze to the mod-pop The 3 Way. BTW Kurt, if you’re listening: new album please? It’s been six years!

6.   The Domino State – For Now
This London band sounds like a more blissed out version of Dears.

7.   Violet Age – Caledonia
Some nice dream rock out of Vancouver.

8.   We Were Promised Jetpacks – Act On Impulse
Intense, glorious rock and roll off In The Pit Of The Stomach. “We died alone…”

9.   Dive – Reverberation
Full on midtempo Japanese shoegaze from 2003′s Freeze Frame.

10.  Tearwave – Nothing’s Wrong
Slowdive-indebted ethereal pop tune from apparently defunct band.

11.  The Fauns – Cool Stuff (Mastermind Mix)
Very nice dream pop offered as a free download at the end of the year. More please!

12.  Engineers – Twenty Paces (A Shoreline Dream remix)
I loved their two previous records, but it took some time for To An Evergreen to speak to me.  Lovely futuristic sound on this track.

13.  Menkena – Rocketships
Great buildup – from dusty roads to the deepest reaches of space. One of the many great tracks on With You I’ll Travel.

14.  Reina Republicana – Verano
The track of the week comes from Pamplona, Spain. Great electronic synths during the verses explode into orchestrated choruses.

15.  Eleventhfloorrecords – Jassafraine
Nice Swedish electronic dream pop that I’ve wanted to drop for a while.

16.  Narrow Sparrow – Moon Temple
Every so often there’s a track that doesn’t really fit anywhere. So why not put it at the end of a mix?