CNC – No Mood EP
DRAW Records 2009

[tags: shoegaze, dream pop, 2009]

Listen while reading:

___________________________________________________

No folk today because we leave our traditional route and head for some shoegaze with a hint of dream pop from Warsaw/Poland made by Borys Dejnarowicz and Piotr Maciejewski operating under the moniker CNC. They just released their debut EP called No Mood and they did a very good job with it.

If you want to speak in metaphors I would say you can imagine listening to the EP as flying around in a spaceship that visits four different planets on its journey. It starts at home (No Mood) where you can see it slowly blast off and flying away to outer space. The track itself sounds a good bit drony and slowly grows over the time to a seven minute opener with hushed vocals and lots of shoegazing atmosphere (you may hear some Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? by Of Montreal) until it reaches universe. After a short while of hovering through space with light speed we reach the first destination: Magenta Ants. The chewy atmosphere from No Mood went away and made room for a more cheerful track with dream pop character, reminding a litttle (ok, really just a little) bit of Galaxie 500 and Spacemen 3. But we don’t have time to rest and so we leave to visit Vegas. Maybe I’m mistaken but I feel a slighty indication of Massive Attack in there. The deep bass line and the female vocals create a very spacy mood and the synthesizes support it at their best with sparkling melodies. Vegas is completely different than the other two tracks but fits in very well.

After the next “Plot Device” (between the four “real” tracks you find tracks called Plot Device 1, 2 and 3 and they take over the part of intro and outro) there is the hardest song on the EP called Xenility with hard shoegaze like guitar passages, but also with calm moments between the hard parts. I don’t like the industrial touch in the track but I think it is a good addition to the other three tracks because it shows the bandwidth of the band.  After five minutes the track ends with a nice synth melodie that is consumed by some evil noise – and our journey is over (and I don’t know if we are lost or still on our way).

In the end CNC made a nice little EP with strong moments and with a multitude of different styles that circle around the shoegaze and dream pop center. If they ever make a full lenght, I would say they should focus a bit more on one specific style without those hard noise moments and without those industrial influences as I can hear them in Xenility. But this is just my point of view because I’m more attracted to the calm side of music, you know.

To get the EP you probably head over to rockserwis.pl because they are in English. (If you speak Polish you maybe want to visist mystic.pl or some other shops, look here.) I can’t find them on iTunes but maybe they will appear there soon. In the meantime you can check out CNC’s MySpace site for further details.

memory cassette – last one awake (friend version).m4a

MySpace
Website
Ano: 2010
Género: Dream Pop
Download

1. Zebra
2. Silver Soul
3. Norway
4. Walk in the Park
5. Used to Be
6. Lover of Mine
7. Better Times
8. 10 Mile Stereo
9. Real Love
10. Take Care

Delorean is like a breath of fresh air. If you’re looking for something to dance to, clean to, sing to, you should probably check out their EP Ayrton Senna (all tracks listed below). There is little information out there about Delorean(not to be confused with the hard-rock band), but the group is a fantastic pop foursome hailing from Spain.  This is a sunny representation of music, with rock roots and heavy piano layers, creating an extremely uplifting sound. I am a firm believer that music is a direct influence on your mood, and can, in extreme cases, change your life. That being said, I’m not about to say that this EP will change your life, but it will change your state of mind. It will make you stand up and smile, and if it doesn’t make you move just a little bit.. well, I think something is wrong with you.

Seasun

Big Dipper

Deli

Moonson

Sleep Whale - Houseboat

Tracklist:

1. Green Echo

2. Cotton Curls

3. We Were Dripping

4. Roof Sailing

5. Summer Sick

6. Dissolved

7. Still Drumming

8. Sleep Reprise

9. Make Another Picture

10. Icicles

11. Ferry Whistle

12. Light Tunnel

13. Giant Wings

______________________________________________

Momentan scheint es total angesagt zu sein, das englische Wort “Whale” im Bandnamen stehen zu haben. Nach Noah the Whale, den Black Whales und Paper Whale, sind in diesem Monat also Sleep Whale am Start. Ihr Debüt Houseboat macht auch gleich klar wieso der Name: Er passt einfach wie Arsch auf Eimer zu der Musik. Das Quartett aus Texas klingt hier mal ein bisschen psychedelisch, da mal ein bisschen folkig und insgesamt nach dem, was momenten so angesagt ist. kostja.

Links:

Free download (Cotton Curls, We were dripping)

Label

Blog

Y es que lo rolaron tan rápido que ni portada dio tiempo de hacerle.

Este disco es una filtración de la red que ha permitido que, para el año que viene cuando salga a la venta, ya todos lo hayamos escuchado varias veces.

Este es el último disco de tres de una banda americana que siempre le ha tirado al Dream Pop, el caso es que ahora, con el Glo-Fi en pleno apogeo resulta que sus melodías, ligeramente electrónicas, han entrado también en el gustito hypster y eso está muy bien, porque este disco es tan hipnotizante como el Chill Wave, con esas influencias de antaño, con ese sonido como de casete empolvado y con lo bonito que resulta un viaje suave y armonioso a traves del tiempo, en la comodidad de tu cama panza arriba.

La diferencia con el Chill Wave, en este caso, es que los instrumentos orgánicos suenan más trabajados, más claros y poco más indies. Sin embargo el resultado es el mismo: música y confort para viajar, como dirían otros hace mucho tiempo.

En la playa, en la mar.

Por cierto, la discografía completa también disponible en click, gracias a nuestro lector Inheaven.

Tick, tick, tick.

Es ist der Rhythmus eines Songs des Genres “dream pop”. Das wirkt auch tatsächlich und treibt mich angenehm davon. Weg von nahenden Schulaufgaben, weg vom Stress des Alltags, hinein in vollkommen bahnbreche Sphären. In diese tauche ich ein, komplett und treibend.

Hach, ich schwärme, ich weiß. Eigentlich bin ich aber einfach nur müde und die Musik untermalt meinen allumfassend scheinenden Gemütszustand nur zu perfekt. So geht es tiefer und tiefer hinein in das dunkle Blau, das wie Traum schmeckt und damit zu betäuben weiß.

Ideal, gerade einfach ideal. Aber halt, irgendwo drängt sich bereits das Ende auf. Glücklicherweiße ist das Band noch nicht zuende.

Die Nuss

1. “Intro” – 2:08
2. “VCR” – 2:57
3. “Crystalised” – 3:22
4. “Islands” – 2:41
5. “Heart Skipped a Beat” – 4:02
6. “Fantasy” – 2:38
7. “Shelter” – 4:30
8. “Basic Space” – 3:08
9. “Infinity” – 5:13
10. “Night Time” – 3:37
11. “Stars” – 4:23

[RS] [MultUp]

the xx – heart skipped a beat.mp3

[no cover yet]

The highly anticipated new album by the canadian duo is awesome. The music is more complex and rich. Nicely layered with guitar, synth/organ and vocals.
The vocals, oh they are so rusty now. Sounds like Victoria Legrand has been smoking a lot since their 2007’s Devotion.

My favorite track is Norway. Where they passionately declare their love for Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine.

beach house – norway.mp3

the mary onettes – puzzles.mp3

It amazes me how a band as talented, old, and prolific as this, goes under the radar. Still going since 1991, Lovesliescrushing is an amazing crossroads of ambient music and dream pop, leaning heavily on the dream and backing off of the pop. In their relentless pursuit of heavily textured sound, they have as much in common with Tim Hecker as with Cocteau Twins. It’s probably important to note that the word textured gets thrown around a lot with regards to shoegaze bands, but Lovesliescrushing makes Loveless sound as textured as porcelain. Guitarist Scott Cortez uses only guitar to make his otherworldly sounds, running it through endless effects, loop devices, and using many manners of unorthodox ways to get his haunting sounds. Over their career they’ve managed to get as far as possible from traditional guitar sounds, to the point where your jaw drops in astonishment because there’s no fucking way that could be a guitar. Couple that with the fact the band records all their music on a 4 track recorder, and you’ve got yourself ineffably mind-blowing music. But texture isn’t the only facet of their craft, always holding true to their dream pop roots. Singer Melissa Arpin-Duimstra layers her utterly angelic voice seamlessly over the wall of sound. The chords are thick, massive, and uplifting, progressing like beams of sunlight pulsing through sparse clouds. The music drifts and builds until you’re lost in it, floating along with them in a percussionless chorus from an otherwordly heaven. It’s unconventional and experimental without sounding unfamiliar, always retaining that human element.

I’ve sifted through their discography and upped two of what I feel are their best. Xuvetyn is their second full length, and sounds very nineties. It’s more drawn out and thicker, less polished but not any less beautiful. Voirshn is a lot more glitchy and processed; Cortez describes it pretty aptly as “glitch-bliss.”

Xuvetyn (1996)

Voirshn (2002)

Check them out and support the band
They’ve got a box set of rarities coming out next year that looks fantastic.

-Brian S

1. “I Feel”
2. “Goodbye“
3. “Life & Soul”
4. “More”
5. “On Earth”
6. “God Made Me”
7. “Love“
8. “What Do You Think?”
9. “24 Hours”
10. “Blood on My Hands”
11. “Medicine”

Género: Dream Pop

Download – Buy

Scarlett Johansson, American actress/singer

Band: Beach House
Label: Sub Pop
Genre: Dream Pop
Release: January 26, 2010

#. Title. Sound Proficiency. Appeal. Catchy Factor

1. “Zebra” – 9 +8+8 = 8.3
2. “Silver Soul” – 9+8+9 = 8.7
3. “Norway” – 8+7+7 = 7.3
4. “Walk in the Park” – 9+7+8 = 8.0
5. “Used To Be” – 9+9+9 = 9.0
6. “Lover  of Mine” – 8+7+9 = 8.0
7. “Better Times” – 8+7+6 =  7.0
8. “10 Mile Stereo” – 8+8+9 =8.3
9. “Real Love” – 9+7+8 = 8.0
10. “Take  Care” – 9+9+9 = 9.0

Sounds Like: Grizzly Bear, Washed Out

Final Grade: 8.2

*This is going to be the new review format for 2010 releases. Hopefully my ratings will be a little bit more clear than before; I came up with three categories to be added up and averaged in reaching the final grade for each song (as opposed to just assigning one number). The first category is sound proficiency. Questions I ask myself to come up with a score for this category are: how is the instrumentation? Does the song flow well? Are the vocals strong or weak? The second category is appeal. Does this song  have lasting appeal? Is it, over time, forgettable? The final category is related to appeal. Instead of long-term appeal, the question is a matter of right now. The first few times  I listen to the song, how much do I instantly adore or hate it? It is possible for a song to be not so great now, but could be great after some period of time. A final component to my reviews is satisfaction/bias. For example, if I am not too familiar with a band, I really dig their record, and was tough on their individuals songs I might give extra credit of up to 0.5 points on the final grade. Inversely, if I really dig a record by a band that I am familiar with, I could deduct up to 0.5 overall points because of bias…maybe I was being too easy.

Glass Pear es el nombre bajo el cual se esconde el cantante-compositor, llamado Yestyn Griffiths, el cual es proveniente de Cardiff, en Gales, aunque reside en Los Angeles, Estados Unidos, al cual tambien lo suele acompañar los siguientes musicos, Alex en las teclas, Tom en la guitarra y Tasha en la batería. Y también hay casi siempre un piano, aunque no se quien lo toca, este chico recaudo cierta fama por ser hermano de la cantante “Jem”, por que sus canciones fueron ocupadas en varias series, y también por que su productor y aveces guitarrista(ya mencionado) es Tom, pero no cualquier Tom sino Tom Welham, guitarrista, 2da voz y aveces compositor de la famosa banda thirteen senses, y de ellos este chico en su musica tiene bastante parecido, ya que a su trabajo se lo podria definir como brit pop, acoustic pop, o algo asi, hay casi siempre o siempre guitarras acústicas, piano, y aveces bajos y batería, la verdad a mi me encanta la música de “Glass Pear” ya que a pesar de tener claras influencias y comparaciones como son coldplay, travis, keane, radiohead, thirteen senses y otras, Yestyn intenta encontrar su propio estilo, y asi es como logra canciones con letras y música realmente memorables como “Last day of your life”. A principios de este año, lanzo su álbum debut al que le puso de nombre “Street Of Love” y es completamente imposible encontrarlo por la red, pero después de un gran esfuerzo lo e conseguido, y vale la pena el disco, muy bueno, disfrútenlo, ah y quiero aclarar que el tracklist que arme contiene todas las canciones de Glass Pear, pero no conozco el tracklist del disco así que posiblemente este desordenado…

GLASS PEAR – STREET OF LOVE(2009)

1. Colours
2. Come Alive
3. Fall To Earth
4. Last Day Of Your Life
5. Listen To The Music
6. Morning Light
7. My Ghost
8. Street Of Love
9. Violet Waters
10. Vultures
11. Wild Place
12. This is Not A Dream

COMENTAR NO CUESTA NADA MAS QUE TIEMPO!!!COMENTEN!!!

Brian Borcherdt – Torches (& The Ward Colorado Demos)
free album (download) self-released 2009

[tags: news, folk, free album + demos]

Listen while reading:

___________________________________________________

Maybe I should add an subsequent note, that the new release features older and unreleased material. Torches is from ‘04/’05 and the demos are from ‘06.

What a surprise! As I read the news this morning I was taken aback that Brian Borcherdt released his new album for free download and with it The Ward Colorado Demos. I just gave a short listen to Torches (and the demos) and it is obvious that Torches is not as calm (but as good) as Coyotes was (though the demos sound more like Coyotes). But because this post is meant to inform you, I won’t (and I don’t have the time now to) do a full review here. For more information on the subject visit NxEW and The Indie Files. And, most important, DOWNLOAD TORCHES RIGHT HERE! Wonderful news to start the day!

___________________________________________________

Beach House – Norway (Single) from the upcoming Teen Dreams
Carpark 2010

[tags: dream pop, single, 2010]

Listen while reading:

___________________________________________________

I know, it is a little late to post about the first mp3 from the upcoming third full length album by dream pop monsters Beach House, but better later than never. Norway sounds really cool and I’m sure Teen Dreams will be the hell of a great record. Have fun with it and visit Beach House’s MySpace site.

Sleep Whale – Houseboat
Western Vinyl 2009

[tags: dream pop, 2009]

Listen while reading:

___________________________________________________

Today I don’t have much time to post (and between you and me: I don’t found interesting folk stuff to write about). So I decided to do a quick one on the new Sleep Whale full length called Houseboat. It’s been a long time since I found this one in my mail inbox, but I could not decide on posting about it. All the same, now I do.

Maybe you remember the post I did on Introductions’ debut Hold Up Your Hands and the fact that I totally loved it because they were the first band I found that was near as good as dream pop legends Beach House. What I liked about Hold Up Your Hands was the combination of dream pop elements and folk elements. And this combination can be found on Sleep Whale’s album, too. But this doesn’t mean that the two records sound the same. Sleep Whale focuses more on instrumental music supported by vocals here and there and the mixture of synthesizer sounds, strings, drums and acoustic guitar. In theory this may sound a bit weird but de facto it is a surprisingly fresh record (and one of the best dream pop releases this year) that, again, proves the excellent music taste of the guys over at Western Vinyl. Respect!

So don’t wait and head over to Western Vinyl to buy your copy of Houseboat (or, if you prefer Mp3s, get them on iTunes). Further information can be found on the band’s MySpace site. Goodbye for today.

______________________________________________

Gestern noch ging’s um Carpark, heute um Subpop. Was die beiden Labels verbindet? Zwei einfache Worte: Beach House. Das Duo aus Baltimore meldet sich nämlich am 26. Januar 2010 zurück mit neuem Album und neuem Label. Der Wechsel zu dem weltweit bekannten Indielabel aus Seattle unterstreicht die Bedeutung der Band. Wird über Dream Pop gesprochen, fällt ihr Name früher oder später, waren sie doch eine der Gruppen, die vor zwei Jahren die zweite große Dream-Pop-Welle lostraten.

Nun kommt also Album Nummer drei, das den programmatischen Titel Teen Dream trägt. Auf der letzten Tour testeten sie das neue Material bereits, dass sich experimenteller anhörte, als der Vorgänger Gila. Das Lied “Norway” des Albums verfestigt diesen Eindruck noch. Das Stück beginnt catchy, mit den altbekannten Orgel-, Synthie- und Gitarrensounds und einem mehrstimmigen Gesang. Ab der ersten Strophe klingt der Synthie jedoch, als sei er seekrank, was einen klaren Stilbruch zum Easylistening-Sound der ersten Alben darstellt. Was ist da los? Hatten Victoria Legrand und Alex Scally vielleicht einfach nur Lust zu stänkern oder waren sie sich während der Aufnahmen darüber bewusst, dass sie über Subpop auch ganz schnell den Weg in die Kuschelabteilungen irgendwelcher Radiohörer finden könnten?

Was auch immer die Motivation war, es bleibt zu hoffen, dass “Norway” nicht der einzige Versuch geblieben ist, ein bisschen aus der Reihe zu tanzen. Auf dem Album findet sich übrigens auch das Stück “Used to be” , was die Band bereits Anfang des Jahres als 7″ veröffentlichte. kostja.

Links:

subpop

myspace

Från sydvästra London kommer The XX. Ett debuterande gäng ynglingar, som imponerat stort på kritikerkåren och som kanske står för den absolut värsta hypen just nu. När till och med SVT:s program med samma namn åker till engelska huvudstaden för reportage, då vet man…

De består främst av duon Romy Madley Croft och Oliver Sim, men är ibland en eller två bandmedlemmar till. Och visst är det här bra. Riktigt bra. Lågmäld dream pop med new age-antydningar, ibland riktigt lo-fi (som i Fantasy). Fina melodier. Tre singlar har släppts, Crystalised (i april), Basic Space (augusti) och nu senast Islands (26 oktober).
De kommer till Sverige efter nyår, och gör tre spelningar i våra tre största städer; Stockholm, 19:e januari, Göteborg 20:e, Malmö 21:e.

MySpace
intervju i SVT:s Hype
Young Turks
video till “Islands” på YouTube