Soundtrack2

Al Lover, Boris, SPC ECO, Girl Loves Distortion, Blouse & more

Photo by Phil Askew, luminouslives.com

Burning up, then fading away…

Soundtrack2 Ep. 87 [ 1:10:44 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

1.   Spacemen 3 – Starship
How the blues should’ve turned out – from the 2007 rarities album of the same name.

2.   Darker My Love – Blue Day
Shredding glam garage rock and roll.

3.   Verma – Salted Earth
Imagine “Radar Love” played by a bunch of  motorik-obsessed psych heads.

4.   Outrageous Cherry – Girl You Have Magic Inside You
’67 psychedelia re-incarnated.

5.   Thee Oh Sees - The Dream
Slightly abrasive, yet stellar ringing garage.

6.   Al Lover – Black Magick Starter Jacket
Killer throbbing psych drone anthem from Satanic Tambourine. Almost asked how I had never heard of him before, but then I remembered his Beefheart tribute. This is way better.

7.   Girl Loves Distortion – Psychic Raygun
Been wanting to play this one for ages…yes.

8.   Vinyl Williams – Higher Worlds
Nice, slightly off-kilter groove here.

9.   Boris – Spoon
You had me at the intro. This is what shoegaze is all about. Thrilling track from upcoming record New Album, due Nov. 25.

10.  Lush – The Invisible Man
This band’s never been among my fave early shoegaze bands, but they’re definitely under-represented on S2.

11.  SPC ECO – Fading Out
This band’s done a lot of great stuff, but I like how this new track off  You Tell Me really channels the Cocteaus.

12.  Blouse – Time Travel
Cool Broadcast-style dark electro popper. Wish I knew what that classic synth sound was from…

13.  Eight And A Half – Scissors (Tokimonsta remix)

Broken Social Scene member’s tune gets the glitchy electronic treatment. Pick ‘em both up at the link above.

14.  The Blanche Hudson Weekend – Screen Test
Can’t say I love everything on their new album You Always Loved Violence. But this lonely desert ballad’s drone drew me in.

15.  Icarus Himself – MCO
This reminds me a more muscular Low. Get it on last month’s Career Culture.

16.  Zombie Girlfiend – Sleeping Song
Epic slow burner off The Great Plain.

17.  Chatham Rise – Gone
This band is named after an area of the ocean floor near New Zealand. Real underwater psych drone.

M83, Pink Playground, My Bloody Valentine, Real Estate, Megafaun & more

Photo by Phil Askew, www.luminouslives.com

This week’s mix is in honour of the 20th anniversary of My Bloody Valentine‘s Loveless.

Soundtrack2 Ep. 86 [ 1:05:13 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

1.   Real Estate – It’s Real
Bouncy and slightly wistful 80s-style indie pop. Pick it up on the excellent Days album.

2.   Felt – The Day The Rain Came Down
The last track’s shimerring guitars brought this to mind. Love the little breakdown at the end of the chorus.

3.   Spirea X – Chlorine Dream
More of a 60s Rickenbacker light psych groove on this. Listen carefully to catch some guitar phrasing gems.

4.   Grabbel And The Final Cut – Psycho Popsong
90s German band that re-surfaced on Bandcamp. Lovely waves of guitar pop wash.

5.   Medialunas – Humming
This Brazilian band appears to love The Posies as much as I do.

6.   Asobi Seksu – Little House Of Savages
Wonderful track, but I can’t hear any trace of The Walkmen on this shoegaze rundown.

7.   Ride – Time Machine
This Going Blank Again track’s always stood out to me as a hybrid between shoegaze and new wave. In a good way.

8.   Anything After – Disconnected
Hypnotic moody pop with explosions of guitar.

9.   Orange Crush - Rapid Clouds
Norweigan band drops some lovely spirals of psychedelic guitar.

10.  Megafaun – Get Right
Back porch indie drone epic: “I got everything that I give…”

11.  Woodsman – Specdrum
Soaring triumph with mental drumming out of Brooklyn.

12.  Pink Playground - Dark Bloom
Want killer murky drone motorik psych you can dance to? Find it on Destination Ecstasy.

13.  My Bloody Valentine – Come In Alone
This monster from Loveless was released exactly 20 years ago yesterday. This album is still the sound of the future – only I’m not sure which one. Make sure you’re listening to this LOUD.

14.  M83 – Intro
“I were you before you even existed.” Still coming to terms with Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, but this windswept opener bubbled to the top.

15.  Damaged Tape - The Molten Universe
Captivated by how this Georgia band’s early Kraftwerk-inspired tune has a sense of mystery and urgency.

16.  Brian Eno - The Big Ship
Shields, Gonzales, Eno. This Another Green World track pretty much speaks for itself. This isn’t just an example of early ambient music. To me it sounds like heartache.

17.  Air Review - America’s Son
Mellow space pop ditty track takes us home.

The Jezabels, Bliss.City.East, The War On Drugs, Phantogram, Malajube & more

Photo by Phil Askew, luminouslives.com

Soundtrack2 Ep. 85 [ 1:00:23 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

1.   The Besnard Lakes – And This Is What We Call Progress
Last week’s show at Toronto’s Lee’s Palace was mindblowing. Here’s the song they opened with.

2.   Malajube - Synesthésie
Also on the bill at the BL show. Great spacey pop tune, available for download off their site.

3.   The Jezabels – Endless Summer
Ringing shoegaze guitar with classic pop songcraft. Reminds me of LoveLikeFire.

4.   Spiritualized – Electricity
Playing Spectrum last week made me think of this – the first track Iever heard by Jason Pierce.

5.   Duffy & The Doubters – Sorry Mom My Brain Is Dumb
Garage pop from Duffy of Ladyhawk.

6.   Bliss.City.East – I Like You
This Exposition track is a chilled shoegaze anthem in waiting.

7.   Lavalsa – She Floats
Brazilian grungy greatness.

8.   Trans Am – Carboforce
Words cannot describe how much these guys rock. Killer tension and release.

9.   The Soft Moon – We Are We
Nihilism you can nod your head to.

10.  Garbage – Supervixen
Risking my street cred a bit here, but I’ve been hearing lots of new stuff that sounds like this.

11.  Austra – Spellwork (Young Galaxy Remix)
YG channeling their inner New Order.

12.  Phantogram – Don’t Move
Nice bit of dreamy electronic pop: “I’m not your paranoia…”

13.  Warm Ghost – Once One
Abstract woozy chillwave from Brooklyn.

14.  The War On Drugs – Come To The City
There are so many good tunes on Slave Ambient that I had to play a second track. Huge journeyman anthem.

15.  Pressed And – Raid
From their page: “A complex interplay of primal effects and synth landscapes, rife with tension in a cascading sequence of loops and glowing drones.”

Psychic Ills, Deerhoof, The Chambermaids, Wooden Shjips, Sleeping Bags & more

Photo by Phil Askew luminouslives.com

Soundtrack2 Ep. 84 [ 1:05:23 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

1.   Husky Rescue – Rainbow Flows
Chilling out at a hookah bar on Venus.

2.   Psychic Ills – Mind Daze
Hazy psych roots rock off Hazed Dream, due out later this month.

3.   Duelelectrum – Ultrasensor
São Paulo band gets murky on this one from Exploding Galaxy.

4.   Neutral Milk Hotel – You’ve Passed
Recent touring and reissues made me dust off this powerful drone rock classic.

5.   Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Too Real
The trip down memory lane continues with this great midtempo dream pop tune from their first album.

6.   Spectrum – How You Satisfy Me
Also recording under Sonic Boom, here the former Spacemen 3 member drops shimmering organ psych like this one from Refractions.

7.   Wooden Shjips – Black Smoke Rise
Leadoff track to new album West.

8.   Model Morning – We Go All Night
A fantastic rock and roll epic. Anyone hearing a similarity between the lead singer and Peter Gabriel?

9.   Starfire Connective Sound – Acid Morning Ride
Bombastic Brazilian rock and roll.

10.  Broken Water – Heart Strings
Fulfilling my quota of tunes inspired by Sonic Youth. Available on Exploding In Sound’s sampler.

11.  Deerhoof – Scream Team
I went to the Battles show last week. Deerhoof singer Kazu Makino was featured on a video screen singing their very cool “Swinging & Shag.” Now I’m paying it forward by dropping this gem from The Runners Four.

12.  Azma – Sweetness and Light
This melody is 100% guaranteed to get inside your head.

13.  The Chambermaids – China Blue
Twin city garage power pop. Lovely.

14.  Weekend – Hazel
Indie power pop with a splash of shoegaze.

15.  Sea Dweller – Settings
Love Is Coming track of near-perfect C86 shoegaze.

16.  The Ludvico Treatment – The Last Thing You Should Do
Blistering cover of David Bowie’s 1997 Earthling track.

17.  Sleeping Bags – Canteloupe
Released last month, this may be placed in the chillwave category. But to me it’s just a fantastic, huge tune.

The Sunshine Factory, Panda Riot, Kathryn Calder, The Catherine Wheel, Blouse & more

Photo by Phil Askew, luminouslives.com

Soundtrack2 Ep. 83 [ 1:05:55 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

1.   The Waxwings – Clouded Over
Mod rock and roll starts us off. Sad this Detroit band is defunct.

2.   Maikotobranco – Curtain
This scorcher sounds like a Japanese Kevin Shields fronting the Beatles.

3.   The Sunshine Factory – Dive Dive
This band’s string of shoegaze singles continues to impress.

4.   Sounds Like Sunset – Frequency
More guitar! Ozzie rocker that begs to be played loud.

5.  Panda Riot – Serious Radical Girls
Cheers to Dean, and then Brian, for sending me this new shoegaze gem. We need more fresh stuff like this.

6.   Honey – Nowhere Floating
This new track already seems like a familiar classic. Cool vocals…almost like a world-weary Alex Turner.

7.   The House Of Love – Erosion
And now for some classics. Note: keep listening past the Brian Adams opening chords.

8.   The Catherine Wheel – Crank
Chrome mid-tempo anthem.

9.   Incan Abraham – Wailing Wall
New one that the S2 faves describe as psychedelic pop, due out October 12.

10.  The Phoenix Foundation – Buffalo
Been sitting on this excellent track from the New Zealanders for too long.

11.  Collider – Silos

Synthesizers guide this groovy shoegaze tune from July’s fine Vaede album.

12.  Zoot Woman – Grey Day

Any ZW fans out there?

13.  Blouse – Videotapes

Chillwave meets melodramatic dream pop on the streets of Portland. Fabulous.

14.  Katheryn Calder – Who Are You?

Undisputed song of the week off Bright and Vivid, due out later this month. Here the New Pornographer sounds like Kate Bush gone clubbing.

15.  Yawn – Sing Low

Slow but thumping chillwave off their Open Season album.

16.  Mint Julep – Aviary (Mogwai remix)

Headphone music for a cold, windy day.

17.  Eau Claire – Freefall

Supergroup of sorts drops this gloomy but beautiful gem from 2005.