Soundtrack2

Posts Tagged ‘Engineers’

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?

Engineers, Tammar, Serena Maneesh, Charlatans, Deerhunter & more

This week’s audiocast could read like a Best Of Soundtrack2 compilation. Lots of great new stuff!

Soundtrack2 Audiocast46 [ 1:03:29 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

1. 2:54 – Creeping

UK band kicks us off with some moody post punk.

2.   Victorie & Hyde – Black Leather Jacket (Demo)

JAMC garage evolves into stratospheric dual guitar assault.

3. The Blue Velvets – Bring Me Down

Now known as Dead Rabbits, the ghosts of Spacemen 3 haunt this track.

4.   Tammar – Arrows Underwater

Love this psych track. Sounds like The La’s Lee Mavers on a bad trip. Transcend!

5.   Serena Maneesh – O.J.W.S.W.T.T.O (Stereolab remix)

Electropop treatment by legendary French band that works! Also possibly the first (and last?) track to appear on Soundtrack2 featuring a flute.

6. The Charlatans – Love Is Ending

90′s vets storm back with this new mod-pscyh tune. On first listen I thought it was an outtake to Some Friendly.

7. Deerhunter – Memory Boy

Picked up Halcyon Digest yet? It’s good but different to earlier stuff – definitely an evolution for them. This one’s closest to the stuff we play.

8. The High Violets – Ciné

Off their new album of the same name, I love this blast of stare-at-the-sun shoegaze.

9. Brother Kite – Young Pioneer

Dream pop from new album Isolation.

10. Engineers – Press Rewind

Great melodies, fantastic singing and production. Yes, it’s another Engineers album. Ulrich Schnauss even plays on In Praise Of More. Will this be their breakout record?

11. The Radio Dept. – The New Improvised Hypocrisy

More utter perfection, available for free via their website.

12. Screen Vinyl Image – New Visions

Familiar yet fresh, sun-is-rising-and-the-world-will-be-better tune.

13. Yume Bitsu – Sharp, Twisted

Guided By Voices reunited recently to play a “classic lineup” show, but this track could be from their comeback album.

14. The Black Angels – Phosphene Dream

“Our president was dead to us. Hallelujah.” Great lyrics over intense psych off  their latest album. If they come to your town, make sure you see them live. Mindblowing.

15. Maserati – Pyramid of the Sun

Imagine Eye Of The Tiger as done by Trans Am. Blistering.

16. Seeland – Black Dot (The Horrors‘ Tom Furse Remix)

Dude from the Horrors takes Seeland to a dark, electronic place.

Film School, Pale Saints, NYC UFOs, Weed, Brad Laner & more

Messing with the formula a bit this week…

Soundtrack2 Audiocast45 [ 1:05:51 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

1. Engineers – Song For Andy

Mellow electronic dream pop off last year’s superb Three Fact Fader. New album In Praise Of More is out next week!

2. Calm Palm Vapors – Run The Tables

Chicago band bring wistful, beautiful melodic indie rock with touches of noise.

3. Ulrich Schnauss & Jonas Munk – Sonnenblumenstrahl

This year’s Manual and German shoegaze electronica-meister’s collab has lots of nice tunes. This one builds in intensity with glorious swathes of synths.

4. The Chemical Brothers – Escape Velocity

Up for a Krautrock techno masterpiece? Look no further. Not a fan of this band but I couldn’t pass this one up.

5. Film School – Find You Out

This one’s off their new Fission record. Really like the lost 80s/M83 vibe here and the vocals.

6. Brad Laner – Brain

The name of this track could describe Brad’s music. On this song, there’s heady, furiously inventive noise pop with hints of classic rock. His MySpace defines his music as “Bossa nova/ happy hardcore  / Healing & Easy Listening.” Hmmm…

7. Medicine – I Feel Nothing At All

We dig back a bit further to Brad Laner’s previous 90s group, the mighty Medicine. This one’s got a nice Boo Radleys vibe.

8. Pale Saints – You Tear The World In Two

Real C86 pop vibe on this early track.

9 . Sugarplum Fairies – Velcro Girl

Fantastic singing and production on this pop rock tune outta Vienna. Melody’s so catchy it makes me wonder if (a) this is a cover or (b) if I’ve already put this tune on a mix.

10. Telenovelas – Bloody Mary

Now we’re back to some straight-up shoegaze. Great guitar from a band with several sweet tunes. Free on their Bandcamp.

11. Guided By Voices – Motor Away

The first GBV song I ever heard. Pure, righteous rock and roll freedom.

12. Spitfire – Fluid

UK 90s rock and roll band play to the balcony.

13. NYC UFOs – I See You

Spoon-cool Massachusetts mob provide a dark, jangly late night anthem. Check out their Bandcamp and watch for this song in a car commercial.

14. Weed – Quilt

More Bandcamp goodness, this one a muffled, melodic five-and-a-half minute monster of a tune.

15. Antiseptic Beauty – Freefall

90s Derby, UK band take us home with a sweet dream pop journey.

Mazarin, Serena Maneesh, Besnard Lakes, Engineers, Best Coast & more.

Happy 2010 – here’s some great tunes to soundtrack snowy, cold days and keep you going. The intro/outro are back, but I’m still open to suggestions on how to re-vamp our audiocast format.

Soundtrack2 Audiocast27 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

1. The Jamboree – Doing Fine

Hazy garage rock gets us rolling. This comes off the Doing Fine EP, a side project by Justin LaBo of Technicolor & Film School and Lisa Ingram.

2. Bleed Stone – Free Fall For All

Really like this dreamy singalong track off the excellent Far From Gone tape. You can pick up a link to download this from their MySpace page.

3. Mass Of The Fermented Dregs – Skabetty

Bright shoegaze pop straight out of Kobe, Japan.

4.   Popolice – Action

Loved this Stonesy shoegaze track by the New Zealand via Melbourne band.

5.   Renminbi – Portland

Thanks to Gimme Tinnitus for pointing out the free Surface record by this great rock and roll band.

6. Mazarin – Chasing The Girl

Comparisons to Elephant 6 piqued my interested in this band. As this dreamy indie pop track reveals, there’s much, more more going on here. Check out Watch It Happen from early last year.

7. Best Coast – Over The Ocean

Lovely 60′s-inspired mid-tempo distorted pop from Make You Mine on eMusic.

8. Vidulgi OoyoO – Siren

Beautiful building track from the Electric Muse label out of South Korea. Thanks to MML.

9. Engineers – Hey You

Off Mojo‘s The Wall Re-Built compilation, ST2 faves Engineers deliver a fresh take on the Pink Floyd classic. Strange to hear this sung by someone other than Roger Waters…far less angry and creepy-sounding here.

10. Philippians – Love Machine

Gorgeous dreamy electronica. Absolutely no relation to kickass 70s rock band Luv Machine.

11. Gary War – Grown In Shells

Abstract 3 a.m. weirdness off the New Raytheonport LP.

12. Tamaryn – Mild Confusion

Fader premiered this gauzy drone rock tune by the NY/SF group back in October. Nice.

13.  Moloko Velocet – The Black In Her Eyes

French band gives us some BJM-sounding psych off their upcoming S/T EP. Their name is taken from a hallucinogenic European drink and their influences are listed as “Trains, planes & spaceships.” Hmm.

14. Serena Maneesh – Ayisha Abyss

Finally a new song from these guys! Well, this is less of a song than a deep trip through the darkness, but I like. Kinda drum and bass-y with a pummeling, relentless bass.

15.  Luder – Sing To Me

Yes…one of the few metal/shoegaze tunes that I like.  Maybe because it’s becuase of the female vocals or the glam-sounding guitar. This comes off last year’s Sonoluminescence.

16. The Besnard Lakes – Albatross

New track from The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night takes us home as the credits roll. Glorious.

Can’t upload images or tags in regular “add new” but I can do it in Quickpress.

Makes no sense – anyways, here’s what I wanted to have in the Engineers review