Tag: Shoegaze

Dream Pop Duo Sungaze Honor Human Connection on Sophomore LP This Dream

Photo Credit: Dana Lentz

Sungaze makes a powerful return with their sophomore album, This Dream. The Cincinnati duo – comprised of husband and wife Ian Hilvert and Ivory Snow – combine cinematic swirls of shoegaze, psychedelic rock and dream pop on their new 8-song offering, released on Friday. Although it was created during 2020 – a year marked by feelings of isolation for many – This Dream is powered by hopefulness, unity in the human experience and the ways that togetherness prevails. 

“I had watched a few videos showing the people of Italy singing to each other from their balconies and found it really moving and beautiful,” Snow tells Audiofemme. “It got me thinking – even more than usual – about what it means to be a human being alive on this planet and what makes it worthwhile to be here. I think the answer is connection—to ourselves, the planet and each other.”

“I don’t know what the world will look like moving forward, but my hope is that it’s less divided, kinder and more loving,” she adds. “That’s always going to be my dream.”

Sungaze began as a four-piece band started by Hilvert, whose years of experience in a metal band shine through ever so slightly on This Dream. Snow joined Hilvert, drummer Tyler Mechlem and bassist Jimmy Rice as a temporary keyboardist, but soon grew into a fixture of the band in her own right. In 2019, the quartet released their debut album, Light in All of It. 

Now, as a solely husband-and-wife duo, Hilvert and Snow share vocal duties and benefit from their genre-blending influences. Here, Snow talked with Audiofemme about This Dream, the benefits and challenges of being a married couple as well as bandmates, what’s next for Sungaze and more. Read the full interview and stream This Dream below.

AF: Congratulations on releasing This Dream! What was your writing and recording process during quarantine like?

IS: Thank you! As far as recording goes, it actually wasn’t much different from our usual way of doing things—if anything, it was easier. We have a studio space about 10 minutes from our apartment where we do most of our tracking. A lot of other people use rooms in the building for various things and for most of 2020, it was a bit of a ghost town. Ian and I were really the only people there. It was nice to be able to record whenever the inspiration struck and to not have any distractions or other schedules to work around.

Writing was decently different—on the first album, it was mostly collaborative from start to finish, and this time, the collaboration really began in the recording stage. Ian was still working for the first half of 2020, so I had a lot of time to myself at home, and that’s where the bulk of the album was written—from our sunroom couch [laughing].

AF: Now that the album has been released in a post-quarantine world, have the meanings behind any of the songs inspired by or written at the peak of the pandemic changed to you in any way?

IS: I don’t think so! Most of the lyrical content is stuff we think and talk about all the time anyway. There’s really only one specific part that was directly influenced by the pandemic and it’s the section of “This Dream” that goes: “So uncertain/I stay open/To the changes of us/To the will to discover new/Ways of being and relating we/Are not bound by the tides of this time.”

AF: This is also your first album as a duo, as Sungaze was previously a four-person band. How has that changed your process?

IS: It’s definitely opened doors for us to explore new sonic territory. Some of the first album was written in a similar fashion to this one, but a good chunk of those songs came about through jamming out ideas with our previous drummer, Tyler Mechlem. We feel a little less genre-bound this way and were able to work a little quicker, since we can pretty much head into the studio at any time and start recording without needing to make sure other members are on board with whatever we’re working on. I do miss having a full band, but it’s also been enjoyable to work in this stripped-down, more intimate way. It feels kind of sad and kind of freeing at the same time.

AF: What made you choose the title This Dream, and what role did dreams play in the making of this album?

IS: We chose the title shortly after the song “This Dream” was written, sort of on a whim. Some people have assumed we’re talking about sleep dreams, but the dream we’re talking about really has nothing to do with being asleep and everything to do with being awake. It’s the dream of people coming together, having what they need, being cared for and finding a stronger path forward that is more in sync with the planet we live on. It’s also a nod to our personal dreams and goals for this project: “Every dime I have in me/I’ll gamble on this dream.” Maybe someday we’ll share just how true that line ended up being. 

AF: What are some of the challenges and some of the benefits of being a husband-and-wife duo?

IS: The biggest challenge is it’s sometimes hard to compartmentalize the different sides of our relationship. When we’re working together, we do our best to be professional and objective, but sometimes feelings can get hurt and that can leak over a bit into our romantic life together. We’ve done a lot of work, over the last year especially, to separate the two. Also, lots of practice at being straight up and honest with each other, which is something I’ve tended to really struggle with in general because my least favorite thing in the world is disappointing people. 

Benefits – we’re very comfortable around one another and trust each other’s judgment. We know how to motivate and inspire each other, and we usually have a lot of fun while working on things together! 

Another big one is since we spend so much time together, we understand each other’s communication style very well and often just sort of know what the other is wanting. If I tell Ian that I’m hearing a specific guitar line, but I don’t have the vocabulary to describe it exactly, I can just give him a few words or a general feeling for direction and nine times out of 10, what he plays is exactly the thing I was hearing in my head. 

AF: Which instruments did you both play for this album, and were there any unique sounds/instruments featured on this album that you hadn’t used before? 

IS: Ian sang and played guitar, percussion, keys and bass, and I sang and played guitar and keys. Prior to this album I hadn’t written anything using guitar, so that was new for me. Besides that, there’s a squeaky sound towards the end of “Look Away” that almost sounds like a synth, but is actually the sound of my microphone rubbing against the pair of leggings I was wearing when I recorded my vocals for that track; it was initially an accident but we liked the way it sounded so we ended up adding in a few more.

AF: Are you planning to release any more videos in support of the album?

IS: We are working on a lyric video for “This Dream,” which will probably be out in a couple of weeks. 

AF: Do you have any shows coming up?

IS: We’ll be at the Hi-Fi in Indianapolis on October 29 to support our friends Fern Murphy for their album release, very excited for that! We may have a few local shows between now and then and are looking forward to eventually returning to touring.

AF: You recently signed with BMI to license your music for commercial and film use – are there any specific shows you’d love to see your music featured in? 

IS: It’s not a show, but I saw that there is a Legally Blonde 3 in the works and I would love to have “Body in the Mirror” on the soundtrack for that. Our favorite sorts of shows are usually in the coming-of-age, drama, fantasy or mystery categories, so pretty much anything that falls under any of those would be really neat—if it were fitting, having a song in Stranger Things would probably be at the top of the list. And if we could time travel, being a part of the Twin Peaks soundtrack would be a dream come true. 

Follow Sungaze on Instagram and Facebook for ongoing updates.

Winter Infuses Synthy Dreampop with Magic and Wonder on Third LP

Photo Credit: Angel Aura

Samira Winter has been putting out charmingly sweet yet sassy songs through her indie rock band Winter since 2013, capturing her Brazilian heritage with Portuguese lyrics in many of them. Her latest album, Endless Space (Between You & I), is full of the same infectious shoegaze she’s so adeptly mastered, but it stands out in its dreamy style, which she dubs “fairy tale surrealism.”

The 11 songs are each experimental in their own way but also incredibly catchy. “Healing” opens with warped synths and a sweetly sung verse that will almost certainly get stuck in your head — “Why’d you have to be so cold?/Everybody knows that it’s not your way” — then disintegrates into dissonant notes at the end. Winter croons about a scene “higher than the sky” in the chorus to “In the Z Plane,” which resembles a children’s song, with a simple melody that makes you feel like you really are floating above the clouds.

The LP’s title track gives off subtle ’80s vibes, with Winter’s angelic voice mellowly singing, “I don’t want to feel afraid to give the love I have to you.” She says it was originally written about an unattainable love but, in the days of COVID-19, has come to signify “the space between humans,” she explains. “The space between human relationships right now can feel so infinite, and the time from now until the way things were pre-COVID feels like an endless amount of space.”

The LA-based artist released a stunning video for the single in April, featuring her turning into a butterfly amid natural imagery and celestial lighting that belies where it was shot: in a New York City apartment. She worked with a director whose background was in puppetry and old-form storytelling, and the result was a style she describes as “old Hollywood mixed with fairytale story.” The metamorphosis is meant to symbolize “coming into your own skin,” she says.

Winter’s childhood in Brazil introduced her to the beautiful, softly sung melodies that now characterize her work, then later on, she became inspired by the shoegaze and dreampop she listened to in college. Endless Space (Between You & I) is her third full-length album, and she’s already released two EPs and is working on her third, but has mostly been taking it easy during the pandemic and hanging out with her cat Zoey, who happens to be the subject of what is perhaps her catchiest song and definitely her cutest video.

All in all, Endless Space (Between You & I) has the heaviest psych-pop influence of Winter’s music. “The way I write songs is very melody-heavy, so I think it’s a cool mix of dreamy, beautiful melodies with psych arrangements and a lot of ambient influences,” she says. “I’d run my mics through pedal board on every song.” She and producer Ian Gibbs also got creative by incorporating samples of bird sounds and fireworks she heard outside her house.

The experimental sound and outdoor samplings suit the natural and otherworldly themes of the album. Winter’s interest in occult literature, tarot, and astrology influenced her songwriting; “Pure Magician” is named after a tarot card, and keeping the video for another single off the album, the airy “Here I Am Existing,” features Winter dressed as various tarot cards. “I was really inspired by the tarot,” she says. “I think they’re really powerful ways to express different human stories and human archetypes.”

Endless Space unfolds the more you listen to it. The album as a whole aims to depict “a utopian dream world — this place that you can either discover deep within yourself or that you can journey in your dreams,” she explains. “Through music, I like to take people through a magical world.” With darkness hovering over the real one, it’s nice to have that escape.

Follow Winter on Facebook and Instagram for ongoing updates.

PREMIERE: Lauren Lakis Spreads Optimism With “We’ll Be Fine” Video

Shoegaze/dream-pop artist Lauren Lakis originally wrote her latest single, “We’ll Be Fine,” about an imagined future breakup with someone she was dating at the time. “I was just trying to convey that no matter what happens between us, we’ll still be friends and it’s all good because there’s so much love between us,” she explains. As it turns out, they did break up and they did remain friends, so the message of the song proved true. But in the apocalyptic COVID-era world, the song, like many works of art, came to take on a whole new meaning. During a time when everyone is wondering what life will look like on the other side of the pandemic, the song offers a reassuring answer, wrapped in calming waves of reverb and cascading vocals.

Lakis hopes the song teaches listeners that “it’s okay to work through the shadow self,” she explains. “It’s just kind of all a part of life — we all have to experience yin and yang. And sometimes, when we’re going through hard times or difficult times or scary times — actually, usually when we’re going through those things — it’s only going to elicit a transformation within us.”

The progression of the song itself embodies the concept of transformation. Lakis wrote the beginning and ending of “We’ll Be Fine” at two different times, and that shows in its varying melodies, paces, and instrumentals.

The track starts off slow and contemplative, a wash of cymbals accompanying a drawn-out, echoey vocal, but picks up as Lakis almost shouts the next verse: “See you walking on the water/Praying for a miracle now /Won’t you fuck it up, suck it up, Do, you got your miracle now?/See the man in the moon?/The man in the moon is you.” Lakis never sings repeated lyrics the same way twice, stretching her witchy intonations over crashing drums as though willing the positive outcome she promises.

The video for the single paints a mystical scene, with celestial-looking light shining down on Lakis as she wanders across a bridge, runs through a forest, and picks flowers in a fairy-like blue dress. Impressively, it was filmed while Lakis was sick with an illness she thinks might have been COVID. She was quarantined with her producer in Portland, so they decided to film it in the woods nearby.

“It kind of felt like more than being trapped in the house — I felt trapped inside my own head and trapped with recurrent thoughts and my own habitual behavior,” she says. “Being in the woods was symbolic of being trapped inside one’s own head. I felt like I was running from myself. At the end of the video, I was running through the woods and I was out on the street, and it was at the end of the quarantine life, like a ghost town, emerging from the depths of one’s own mind to society, but society isn’t even there.”

The single encapsulates a more standard indie rock aesthetic than much of Lakis’s past work, with reverb-laden vocals and guitars in the vein of Band of Horses and Fleet Foxes. “I wanted it to feel big and swirly,” she says. “I wanted to go for a really energetic and powerful vibe. I wanted it to elicit chills if possible, but in a good way. I just wanted it to be hopeful, something you could belt out on a road trip while going through a breakup or whatever.”

Her upcoming album, Daughter Language, contains a mix of this style and a heavier rock, almost doom-gaze sound, with prominent drums and baritone tracks. It was recorded at LA’s Seahorse Sound Studios, where there are microphones going up three stories, creating reverberation off the walls, which allowed for a big drum sound on the album.

Each of Lakis’s releases thus far have offered up a distinctly different aesthetic. Her last full-length album, 2018’s Ferocious, had more of a dark ’80s punk sound, while last year’s Sad Girl Breakfast EP gives off a chill electronic vibe reminiscent of Phantogram. She sees Daughter Language as tying these two styles together. “It kind of traverses different vibes much more so than the other two records, and it’s a little more all-encompassing,” she says.

Thematically, Daughter Sound deals with healing various wounds from Lakis’s childhood. “Fear of God” reflects on her experiences in Catholic school, and in “Sail Away,” she talks to her inner child, expressing the wish to protect the little girl still living inside of her. “All of these things that happen in our childhood become imprinted,” she says. “We don’t even realize that maybe those things are calling the shots in our relationships and the things we’re drawn to. I think so much of that happens during these years, where we’re just not even aware of how much is entering our brains.”

Currently residing in LA, Lakis is not just a musician but also an actor who’s appeared on a number of movies and TV shows including Big Little Lies and Homecoming. She’s been playing guitar since high school but first got into music professionally when an actor friend of hers invited her to audition to sing in his band, indie grunge-rock group Hobart W Fink, in 2013. She did that for three years, then made the leap into solo artistry in 2016, after her favorite female artists’ music helped her through a series of hardships.

Most recently during the quarantine, she’s been making new music that she describes as somber, slightly depressing shoe-gaze. “I’ve always kind of walked the line between completely hopeless and depressed, but optimistic at the same time,” she says.

Follow Lauren Lakis on Facebook for ongoing updates.

PLAYING ATLANTA: password:password Discuss New Singles and Dream Pop Vibes

We’ve really got it all here in Atlanta: rock ‘n roll, pop, R&B, soul, and – with the resurgence of the indie scene – some of the best shoegaze-y dream pop a music lover could want. Atlanta-based, Georgia Tech-born quintet password:password is at the helm of the movement.

Fronted by lead singer Claire Lacombe and backed by Chris Mickas on guitar, Heath Murphy on synth, guitarist Jed Paz, and bassist, Merritt Treaster, the group takes DIY to the next level, writing, recording, and producing their own music, while blending the swirling, experimental sounds of My Bloody Valentine and Phoenix with classic synth-pop acts like Pet Shop Boys.

The band released their debut EP, Session Boyfriend, on Valentine’s Day. Just over four months later, they’re gearing up to put out a new single on June 28th, with a b-side that pays tribute to another local act. Check out our interview below to hear more about what they’ve been up to and how it all began.

AF: All five of you have been in bands before; how did password:password get started? 

We met while we were all students at Georgia Tech. We were each a part of the Musician’s Network there, which is a student organization that connects musicians at Tech and runs a student-run venue/practice space called Under The Couch. MN has a thing called New Band Showcase every fall, and in the fall of 2017, we got together to compete. A lot of us had been in bands together before (Merritt and Chris in Yes! Hornberger!, Jed, Merritt, and Chris in Priam, and Jed and Claire in Junior Prom), but for the 2017 showcase we decided to start a new project. 

AF: Which bands do you consider your greatest inspirations when writing and performing?

Shoegazey stuff like Slowdive, Cocteau Twins, and My Bloody Valentine, newer indie pop like Alvvays, Japanese Breakfast, Beach House, M83, MGMT, Phoenix, and older synth-pop like Pet Shop Boys, Eurythmics, Nena, and all that. You can hear joy division in some of Merritt’s bass playing. There are some other pulls that we’ll make for little details and stuff, but those are probably the biggest influences.

AF: How did your sound develop as you began writing and playing together?

We actually set out to start a dream pop band from the beginning. All of us have an appreciation for sonic textures and a mutual love of bands that experiment with it. When the five of us got together to start creating our own music, those mutual influences came through. Also, having a dedicated synthesizer/keys player in the band ends up pushing the tone of the music in many different directions. Combine that with constant tinkering of effects pedals, and we end up where we are now. 

As far as the instrumental arrangements go, we all have an appreciation for simpler parts. Chris and Heath have jazz backgrounds, and we know a decent bit about music theory, but we try to convey that through atmospheric and interesting sounds rather than really technical pieces. 

AF: What’s your creative process like? Do you usually write together, or does one of you come in with a finished idea and jam it until it feels good? Has it changed over the years, as you’ve played together?

Most of the time one of us (usually Jed) comes to practice with an idea or a written demo, usually one that consists of one or two parts and possibly a melody. We play around with it for a bit to get a feel of where the song needs to go, and then a lot of the song’s progress comes from us working on it from home. Merritt has a knack for fleshing out what would otherwise be a boring midi demo, which really helps us get a feel for the potential of the song. We’ll send each other updates or additional parts and then come together at the next practice to try them out as a band. All of the lyrics and vocal melodies come from Claire, so after listening to the rest of the band playing around with the song structure, she’ll write the rest of the song on her own. It’s overall very collaborative and everyone kind of holds their own. 

AF: You’ve got some new tracks coming out soon! What can you tell us about them? What was the recording process like?

“Just Yours, Not Mine” is our first single written after our EP, Session Boyfriend. It’s the first time we’ve approached a song with a drum machine base, resulting in Jed playing guitar for this song. We’ve started to utilize backing drum tracks a lot more, but this is the first song we’ve written with it in mind since the start. Also! “Just Yours, Not Mine” includes a couple samples that come before each chorus. One is from our friend Dennis Frank when he performed his solo set at Under the Couch. The second is when Claire was testing out her digital recorder and caught Jed talking about how researching Buddhism helped his outlook on life. 

“Gold Room” is a song originally by our friends in The Organ Machines, who have graciously allowed us to perform and record the song. It’s probably our favorite song by them, and we hope that we do it justice!

We recorded both of the songs on our own at Standard Electric in East Atlanta. Merritt used to intern there and is close with the owners, so they let us rent the space to ourselves when we need to record. Merritt oversees the whole session, and we each come in, hang out, and record our parts. It’s really a great space with a lot of cool equipment, and we’re lucky to be able to use it. 

After all of the parts are recorded and tidied up a bit, we send the initial mixes off to our friend Cody Lavallee in Murfreesboro, Tennessee to mix and master them. Heath has known him since elementary school (they were in a band together in high school), so it’s a great set up to have him help produce the songs. He did both Session Boyfriend and the upcoming singles, although our first single [from the EP], “Thursday,” was mixed and mastered entirely by Merritt. 

AF:What inspired “Just Yours, Not Mine”? What made you decide to release it as a single?

We’ve been playing “Just Yours, Not Mine” at shows recently, and people have been super receptive to it. It has a strong energy. We really think the studio version will do that justice. 

JP: I had been playing around with the chord progression for the verse of “Just Yours, Not Mine” for a while before bringing it to the rest of the band, and at first I had planned for it to be a much more downtempo song. My main source of inspiration for the feeling behind the progression came from lo-fi hip-hop. I’m really glad it evolved past that though. I think what it became is a million times better than what I originally had in mind (which has been the case with all the ideas I’ve brought to the band so far).

CL: For lyrics, I liked the idea of an upbeat song with a sad story attached. It’s about feeling like you aren’t an individual once you’ve been in a relationship for so long, on top of feeling distanced from the other person in said relationship. It resolves with a repeating “don’t go,” because in the end, you are so dependent on this person it would be way worse off alone. 

AF: What do you consider to be the greatest challenge when it comes to writing, recording, and performing? The greatest victory for you as a band?

Making time for the five of us to get together is always a bit of a challenge. We also record all of our own music at Standard Electric Recorders, so acting as both the artist and the recording engineer typically leaves us pretty exhausted. Performing, practicing, and writing together is really enjoyable still. We’re all really close friends, so any time that we have to work on password:password stuff is pretty great.

AF: Claire, this one is specifically for you: can you talk about your experience as a woman in the music industry? Do you ever feel like you’ve got to “prove yourself” or work harder to be taken seriously? How do you use your platform to encourage more women and girls to be active members of the music industry?

CL: There have definitely been times where I am at a show and I look at the bill and am like, “Wow, I am the only woman performing tonight.” Especially coming from Georgia Tech, which is majority male anyway, I kind of got to expect that I was always going to be a minority. The issue of women in the scene is kind of a conundrum because women will be encouraged to join the scene when they see other women in the scene, but, like, there have to be women in the scene as an example first. Also I think that women have to be more original, talented, and have a better thought-out presence to make it big or do well in music, which can be discouraging. Like, why can’t I just be as good as everyone else? Why do I feel like I have to be better to make it the same distance?

I try to use what platform I have just to encourage women to jump in with no reservations. That’s what I really like about DIY shows; they are low pressure and you can really just mess around as much as you want. You don’t have to be this amazing new concept that’s going to “make it.” On that same note, you don’t have to be amazing at your instrument to contribute and play in band if you want, so for sure, learn a new instrument and experiment as much as you are comfortable with!

AF: This column is dedicated to Atlanta bands, so let’s talk about the industry in the city! It’s expanded rapidly in the last few years, and is continuing to grow. What’s your favorite aspect of being part of the Atlanta music scene?

The best part about the expanding indie scene in Atlanta is definitely the “expanding” part. Having new venues and bands pop up every year means there is so much opportunity to move up and get into the fold. Compared to what I’ve seen in other cities, it’s pretty good about including women and LGBTQ people, too. With Claire as a frontwoman, and Heath as nonbinary, it’s very nice to have other groups around and venues that are receptive of that. 

AF: What’s next for password:password?

We’re continuing to play shows around town over the summer. We’re also taking some time to focus on writing new songs. You should see some bigger releases from us somewhat soon™. 

AF: Last one! Best show you’ve ever seen in Atlanta?

JP: Definitely Mitski, Japanese Breakfast, and Jay Som at the Masquerade back in 2016. Looking back, it’s a dream bill of mine, even if I didn’t realize it at the time.

HM: Oof, this was one that I arranged and password:password played at, but Couchella 2018 was so much fun. Superbody, Lunar Vacation, and Delorean Gray were major highlights. Seeing Kero Kero Bonito and Tanukichan at 529 was also a great one.

CL:Easy; Anarcticats’ album release show at Drunken Unicorn. Everyone was so hype, and they overpacked Drunken Unicorn by like 30 people. It’s really cool to see your friends so lifted up like that. 

CM: Julien Baker. I saw her a few days before her most recent album came out, and the crowd was almost silent when she was performing new songs because everybody wanted to hear every word she was singing. It felt very unique and intimate. 

MT: Tame Impala at the Tabernacle in 2013 for sure.

Dreaming of more? Follow password:password on Facebook and keep an eye out for more music coming soon.

PLAYING DETROIT: Shady Groves Release Dreamy New Singles Ahead of Hiatus

Shady Groves – the culmination of Detroit songwriters Adam Fitzgerald, Dylan Caron, Jeff Yateman, Jamie Dulin, Colt Caron, and Sage Denam – recently released two singles from their upcoming record, Dreamboat, and both are worthy predecessors for an album with a title that hints at serenity. “Quiet Wolf” and “Backflips” stand on their own as separate entities – perhaps even representative of different genres, due in large part to the fact that each member of Shady Groves has a hand in composing songs, and each bring disparate styles to the table.

“Backflips” offers a fusion of shoegaze, funk, and electronic elements that join effortlessly to create an ambiance of nonchalance. The mantra of the song (“back and forth, knowing it doesn’t matter”) isn’t specific; Fitzgerald (on vocals) could be referring to love, inner turmoil, the actual act of making music – any number of things, really. The lulling synths and hooky beat settle into a casual, unbothered rhythm befitting the song’s terse themes.

“Quiet Wolf” taps into a different side of the band, with Caron’s vocals vulnerably recounting a journey down a path of self-destruction: “I want to clench my fist so fucking tight / Around that bottle of gin all day and night / I’ve been through this before.” Whether it’s a coping mechanism for a broken heart or a boomerang of a behavior pattern, the song accurately wraps the feeling of desperation and dependence into a tiny bow and presents it to the listener with a subtle emotional wallop.

All of the musicians in the band also release music under their own solo projects, and Caron’s latest also happens to bear the name Quiet Wolf (Yateman performs as Jemmi Hazeman both with and without the Honey Riders; Fitzgerald makes solo work under the name Quells). There’s no doubt the band is going places, both figuratively and literally – Fitzgerald is plotting a big move to Edinburgh, Scotland, though the band plans to continue writing music together from their home base in Detroit, even across the Atlantic. Keep an eye out for Dreamboat, which should see release sometime in the fall before the band goes on its official hiatus.

LIVE REVIEW: Dead Leaf Echo @ Knitting Factory

There is no doubt about it – Brooklyn band Dead Leaf Echo’s brand new LP Beyond Desire is a fabulous stew of shoegaze, ’77 punk, pedals and reverb. Released late last week by PaperCup Music, the band’s sophomore album is expertly produced and mixed, resulting in a sonic meal you can really chew on. It was for this reason I was excited to attend their record release gig at Knitting Factory Brooklyn last Friday (the 13th, of course).

Opening band Parlor Walls – a local duo led by the charismatic Alyse Lamb – were a delight with their art rock set reminiscent of Talking Heads, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and The Slits. Lamb bounced around the stage in black sequin hot pants like a delinquent Rockette. The band’s most recent LP Opposites was released in March, 2017, and is certainly worth a listen. Glancing at their Bandcamp page, I notice a genre tag more relevant to their sound (and far catchier) than any I’ve mentioned or thought of: “trash jazz.” It’s just a shame it wouldn’t work as knuckle tats.

Dead Leaf Echo took the stage and plunged into their web of sound. Unfortunately, the mix for the evening was a bit murky, and it was difficult to distinguish front man LG’s 12-string guitar from Ana B’s six string riffs. This of course, was not the band’s fault, and is a frequent setback when playing New York’s smaller venues (and sometimes its bigger ones, too. See: Terminal 5).

As much as I enjoy their new record, Dead Leaf Echo’s stage presence left something to be desired on Friday night. Their performance seemed a bit stilted and self-important, which surprised me given the inherent silliness of their music videos. Then again, one less-than-rapturous gig doesn’t say anything about Dead Leaf Echo’s career as a whole, and it certainly doesn’t tarnish the fantastic collection of songs that is Beyond Desire.

MORNING AFTER: Hot Cakes With Bloom Waves

There are three ways Bloom Waves’ Ren Julius Reyes saved me before we even met, with the first involving the doldrums of being stuck in Brooklyn during SXSW. It’s not that I even have designs on Texas, it’s just that being stuck in a gray, slushie hellhole during Indie Kid Spring Break is rough when you already despise the cold and people exhibiting happiness on Facebook. The second involves the Union Square Best Buy being closed before our get-together and him directing me towards Adorama on 18th street (“I just checked and they open at 9:30”). So now I have a fab new camera with all the trimmings! Thanks, Ren.

The third way Ren saved me involves tuning intoBloom Waves’ Yumi On The Shore EP the evening prior, a shoegazey flotation tank of an album. Yumi is largely delivered in calming yet still acoustically arresting ripples, subdued with complimentarily elemental lyrics about washing everything away and/or drowning everything far into the sea. It’s oddly pleasant, a dreamy respite that doesn’t solve all your anxieties but certainly tables them for the time being.

So between all this anguish and anxiety, the perpetual wintertime sadness and SX FOMO, I’m grateful to meet Ren in the flesh. I’m especially grateful that he shows up promptly at 11, the nearby bells of St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery ringing in his arrival, because I am freezing to death.

Four ways.

The Scene: Hi-Collar came as a recommendation from Ren’s friend in Chicago, and the Japanese kissaten is a different flavor than I’m accustomed to, at least in terms of breakfast-ing. The shelves ahead of us showcase the cafe’s love for juxtaposition, with delicate floral tea-cups on top of complex glass coffee makers. A single counter space guarantees that the place will fill up, and quickly. Sure enough Ren and I are soon shouting over the din of bright-eyed patrons and Jazz Age tunes.

11:12 A.M. From the way he’s explaining it, Ren’s bedroom-project-turned-Actual-Band kind of formed Voltron style, with everything falling perfectly into place. Guitarist Paul Alvarez was a childhood friend, someone who lived down the street from Ren after he moved from the Philippines to Jersey as a child. Somehow they managed to get through decades of a friendship without collaborating creatively, but when Ren asked for him to play in Bloom Waves it was an “instantaneous” yes.

Bassist Seiji Kokeguchi was a connection made from the Japanese shoegaze Facebook group. He serendipitously made the move to New York about a month shy of Ren formalizing Bloom Waves, another instant yes.

Drummer Kevin Francisco was another old-time connection from the days of anime conventions, kicked out at the time for playing music in the hallways. The two had collaborated a couple years prior, and he was more than happy to rejoin forces.

And Ren forms the head.

11:24 “Cheers!” Our iced coffees are here, delightfully sweet and energizing, and we clink our copper mugs before Ren gets back to the story behind the Yumi cover. He designs ads for Broadway as a day job (“Is that like, fun for you, are you having a great time with it?”) but had a brief flirtation with publication design. Yumi draws from that first love, an interest in John Gall’s paperback covers of Haruki Murakami, the album title itself an allusion to the author’s Kafka on the Shore.

So yes, Ren is having a great time with graphic design, as a career and as something that both supports and informs his music. “It’s kind of like putting puzzles together,” he explains. The arrangements are all working out.

11:34 After our hotcakes arrive I shout, “It was AnimeNEXT!” That was the New Jersey-based convention Ren attended, and incidentally the one my ex was at the first time I smoked weed. That’s a long and arduous story I make Ren sit through, but anyway, they might have overlapped since back in the day he was there trying to make money off his art.

Incidentally trying to nail manga was never a style he felt comfortable with. He can do portraits, fan art, high-end digital painting, but not lines. And trying to draw a manga based on a band, merging two passions in that way, was all a little much.

“Drawing guitars, and drawing hands on a guitar is the hardest thing ever, and I just gave up right there.”

11:47 “Have you watched Super yet?” Whenever I mention Dragon Ball Z I’m asked this. And the answer is no, I’m waiting to watch it with my brother and I’m really worried about Trunks’ storyline because I was in love with him when I was 9.

“The story is complex, and it’s actually well-written,” Ren says. Huge sigh of relief. Our talk takes a few twists and turns before we land on the real break-out star of the series.

“Everyone likes Vegeta more than Goku because he’s way more human even though he’s saiyan. Goku’s supposed to be a perfect warrior and he never comes close to that…maybe he’ll get there for an episode,” Ren says. It’s that failure that makes the arrogant prince more relatable because, “it’s the trials and tribulations of a human.”

“The more you grow up the more you become Vegeta,” he summarizes.

“We all become Vegeta,” I concur.

12:09 As Ren’s finishing his coffee, he’s talking about how he tries to bring J-Pop and J-Rock elements to his English music. Even though he isn’t fluent in the language he loves “how the syllables are cut, how they phrase words, it flows so well” and tries to mimic that flow with Bloom Waves (ah, and there’s all that water imagery).

Our talk then turns to why the J-Pop and J-Rock scenes are still so niche in this country, an alternative in an alternative. Our counterpoint is the appeal of music from the U.K., and I have my theories: language barriers, America’s Euro-centric bias, how the baby boomers latched onto the British Invasion, creating a mainstream millennials and Gen Xers would grow up on, how douchey white kid hipsters (me) have a total boner for all that post-punk Manchester stuff. Things like that.

On a mainstream level, the bands that ended up translating here were… I don’t know, Dir En Grey had a moment, Puffy AmiYumi had that Cartoon Network stint… “Shonen Knife, Shonen Knife was I guess a big one in the ‘90s,” is my conclusion. Which is crazy because they’re playing “Alphaville or something” like us mere mortals.

Ren corrects that it’s Sunnyvale (right, right) and mentions that he actually caught their Halloween show at Knitting Factory. Apparently I missed that being a thing, and as such missed Ren’s Halloween costume, which, as he proves via his Instagram, was a full body shark suit.

I’m SCREAMING.

12:17 Ren and I make friends with the gentlest fuzziest puppers of all time – one of those Pomeranians that look like a orange cotton ball. There aren’t any pictures, so I’ll understand if I don’t win a Pulitzer prize for this piece. Anyway.

12:19 “Wait, so you date pigeons?” I’m trying to understand all these gag dating games that apparently exist on the mobile-verse. He assures me that all these games are not played in earnest, strictly for the lol-factor, and as he’s never actually investigated this one personally. “You should check it out, it is exactly what I say it is,” he says.

“Oh, I trust it’s exactly what you say it is,” I respond. “I’m also horrified.”

This isn’t as ridiculous as Love Sushi Rangers, which Ren explains is a dating game about sushi who magically come to life one night, and from there you have the option of dating gorgeous bishounen men (he went the salmon route, he loves salmon). My question is, is the sushi actually enchanted or is the fish that was part of the sushi enchanted?

“I think it was just the sushi being enchanted,” he clarifies.

“For some reason that’s stupid to me, like the magic fish thing seems less ridiculous,” I counter.

“I guess if it was a magic fish, it’s dead,” he reasons. Fair point.

Our day culminates with some sprawling photos against a shark mural, some talk about owning dogs and a hug farewell at the 6 train (my insistence). Ren and I have had a nice little vacation – maybe not to Austin, but to somewhere splendid, silly, and weirdly serene.

And then I immediately fall back into my agitated, self-absorbed nonsense as I catch the L back into Brooklyn, a trifecta of the Showtime dancers swerving on the poles around me (I’ve been a subway rider for a decade and it’s never showtime, not for me, especially not now), missing my friends, and missing the sun. But that’s only temporary, a seasonal affliction… I think?

Coming out of the underground tunnel for air, I shuffle around YouTube, popping my headphones into my ears. And as the slush melts in McCarren Park, I let the cascade of Yumi On The Shore take me back home.

Follow Bloom Waves on Facebook and stream Yumi on the Shore via bandcamp below.

EP REVIEW: Phosphene “Breaker”

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A phosphene is the experience of  seeing light when none has actually entered your eyes; it’s where the phrase “seeing stars” comes from, and common causes include rubbing your eyes or being hit in the head. It’s the perfect name for the indie shoegaze trio from Oakland, whose latest EP, Breaker, is the sonic equivalent of a light in the distance. Sometimes it’s a warm glow, like on “Hear Me Out,” or flickering, like on “Ride.”

On one of Phosphene‘s best tracks, “Rogue,” it’s like neon sign, steady and bright, with a surge before burning out completely. The lyrics will resonate with anyone who takes the subway, though they namedrop the Bay Area’s version of the MTA: “BART is rocking me to sleep/ It keeps reminding/ Me of the loves I can’t keep.”  There’s a nice current that runs through the five songs, all wrapped up in a dreamy haze, worth checking out when you need to light up your life a little bit. Check out Breaker by Phosphene, below:

https://soundcloud.com/phosphene_sf/sets/breaker-ep

BAND OF THE MONTH: A Place Both Wonderful And Strange

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Sorry For Your Loss, the debut album of the ‘occult electronic dance music’ duo A Place Both Wonderful And Strange, is like an eerie journey into a dark forest; it’s terrifying, yet beautiful, and you can only arrowope you’ll make it out alive. This duality in Niabi Aquena and Russ Marshalek’s music perfectly fits the duo’s Twin Peaks references. “Pedestal” prominently features longing vocals and mysterious whispers provided by Niabi, while the sounds of wind and static surround her. The song’s theme is echoed in the last track, “blue is like drowning and drowning is like this.” “DONT,” however, shrugs off beauty and is straightforwardly creepy, with a taunting, sinister voice and an accompanying music video that shows religious fervor in a darker light.

Though they have a lot of upcoming projects in 2016, Niabi and Russ took the time to talk to us about the occult, their love for dogs, and how they started their duo (you’ll find a stream for Sorry For Your Loss at the bottom of the page).

AudioFemme: How did you two meet? 

Niabi: We’d begun the dialogue of wanting to work together after he booked my solo project for a Tori Amos covers night of her album “Under the Pink.”  I covered “Icicle” and Russ covered “The Waitress.” We both gravitated, as individuals, to a more beat-orientated, abstract version of our covers, so when he asked if I’d be interested in joining him, it felt quite natural and logical.  

Russ: When I moved to New York I was throwing shoegaze parties, and Niabi, ever the shoegaze aficionado, would come out. When my former band played our second 92Y Tribeca gig and were asked to curate a night of moody, Lynchian music, we booked Niabi’s solo project and she got a great response. We tossed around the idea of making music together for a long, long time, but we finally started poking away at it at the end of last year. The energy just felt right so we figured we should at least nail down the tunes we had made together.

AF: Where are you from originally? 

Niabi: I’m from the Shenandoah Valley, in Virginia. We’re talking very rural here. I grew up on a dirt road and my address was a route number. We heated our home with a wood stove; my mother being the one, as a single parent, to chop the wood. There was no cable, no internet. I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything though. I feel very lucky and grateful to have the upbringing that I did.

Russ: Atlanta, Georgia. I miss it at times. I sometimes wonder if I’d tried harder down there if I could’ve had the successes I’ve had in New York. Sometimes I fantasize about taking my band and my dog and my fiancee and running away back south.

AF: You call your music a “raw, visceral mess.” Can you expand more on this? How does it affect your art, and life in general?

Niabi: After playing in a bunch of bands, including my solo project, I got so tired of striving for perfection. I felt real dismay, not feeling like I could be more playful and experiment without major judgement from others and myself.  So now working with Russ in APBWAS, it’s wild and I don’t really know how it happened, but I feel so free to be myself and be experimental without fear of failure.  If something doesn’t stick, it’s okay, and when it does – holy hell how neat.  So everything has gotten a lot more raw and a lot more natural, [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][both] in our process of creating and certainly when we play live as well.  

Russ: I have no formal musical training, which probably won’t come as a shock to anyone. So a lot of my creative process is literally slopping around in ephemera, taking samples to places where they’re unrecognizable, crafting sounds based on how much I can possibly tolerate. Niabi’s the first person I’ve ever worked with who can, well, work with me in this way. For me, it’s how I live my life, too. I live and love big, messy, and without apology or forethought, and I think that reflects in the music, as well as the performance. We’re two people but we’re big, loud, and messy.

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AF: I read about the Goths for Dogs show you were involved in. It’s an amazing idea- though, since you describe your genre as Occult Dance Music, I thought you’d be more into cats. Which animal is your favorite, and why? 

Niabi: I love all animals, it’s difficult to name one as a favorite. Right now, I only have a dog. His name is Odie and he’s a blind senior with many missing teeth. “Goths for Dogs” raised money for both of the rescues where we got our current animal friends. To quote one of my favorite art films, Nadja: “I have walked behind the sky, we are all animals.” So that is my answer.  There is no favorite, we are all animals.

Russ: I fucking hate cats. As a dear friend said, “If I wanted to throw money at something that doesn’t care about me, I’d invite a man over.” I definitely didn’t choose my dog, Mr. Frito Burrito, he chose me, and he is my favorite animal. He worked on a video with us for Goths for Dogs, by the way:

AF: In your music video for “DONT,” I really liked how you placed such a dark, moody song over the religious archival footage. I was wondering if you could explain: Does association with the occult mean a different kind of religion, or the absence of religion? 

Niabi: I’d say a different sort of religion. I’m deeply spiritual of a person, gravitating towards a more Wiccan practice of earth based ritual. The moon and recognition of celebrated earth holidays, solstices, and equinoxes are a very big part of who I am. Of course I am referencing of some very old knowledge here that is actually the influencer of modern Christianity. The thread between paganism and Christianity is not only tangible but historic.

Russ: For me, the occult association is a different kind of religion. Practicing witchcraft, for me, is about personal empowerment as well as appreciating the forces that are beyond my control. It’s made me a much more grateful person.

AF: You picked a great band name. What is the strangest place you’ve been to, or situation you’ve found yourselves in? What about wonderful, or beautiful? 

Niabi: It takes a lot for me to consider something strange. Although if I would have to, I’d say humans’ gravitation towards negativity and hatred.  I don’t understand how others intentionally try to hurt people. In risking like sounding like a total fucking hippy, I just wish there could be love everywhere and with everything. On beauty, I’d like to offer another quote that I’ve held for many years. I adore mid century art and design and of course love Charles and Ray Eames. I think that he nailed it when he stated that he wanted to find “the uncommon beauty of common things.” Beauty is everywhere if you just open your eyes and look.

Russ: Without getting into it, I every so often have extreme auditory hallucinations. And definitely that is the strangest, because suddenly, in the actual tangible physical world, I experience the deepest and most terrifying parts of my brain, the parts even I keep secret from myself, acting as though they’re real, and present. Some of it is what bleeds into our song “Way Out.” For beautiful: Iceland. Iceland Iceland Iceland. We’re trying so hard to get into Airwaves [Music Festival] this year.

AF: What can you tell us about your upcoming projects?

Niabi: There’s much on the docket for 2016, personally I’m very excited. Our second album is to be recorded upstate in a real cabin with a real wood stove, which I’m very excited about given my mountaineer-woman upbringing.

Russ: I’m terribly influenced by our friends/mentors-of-a-sort Azar Swan, and they talk about their upcoming albums by labeling them LP#, LP#, etc, until they have real names, and so I’ve taken to calling everything LP2, LP3, and LP4, because those are what’s on the docket right now. LP2 is going to be recorded in a house up in the fuck-off woods of Phoenicia, a place that’s really magical, and it’s going to be a version of our touring Keys Open Doors: Hidden Life of Laura Palmer show.

Niabi: During the recording of our second album, we are also going to play with the beginning songs of our third album, which will be more of a collaboration with Vanessa of The Harrow and Synesect and the magical Shanda. 

Russ: LP3 we’re writing and recording with Vanessa Irena aka knifesex, aka my fiancee, and our dear friend Shanda. Niabi and I really want to try and make that one an album that’s very much taking the idea of weird electronic dance music and applying some song structure to it. I’m thinking huge, world-stopping choruses.

Niabi: Our intention with the third album is for something more structured, slightly more commercially accessible, with songs that have a chorus and maybe a bridge.  Our fourth album will be recorded at the end of the year, however at the moment I can’t say anything more beyond that we have a very exciting producer who we’re working with and it’s going to be incredible.

 

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BAND OF THE MONTH: The Harrow

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With a name inspired by a Kafka story, it makes sense The Harrow would be well-spoken. Yet even with the bar set high the mysterious Brooklyn coldwave/post-punk band impressed with their bewitchingly intelligent interview. The Harrow is Vanessa Irena (vocals, synth, programming), Frank Deserto (bass, synth, machines), Barrett Hiatt (synth, programming) and Greg Fasolino (guitar). They are currently working on an upcoming LP that we’re already gnawing to hear. I spoke with our Artist of the Month about gothic art, nerdy influences, and selectivity of gigs.

AudioFemme: How did you guys meet and form a band?

Barrett: We all seemed to have traveled in the same circles for some years, and it seemed like it was only a matter of time for this band to come to fruition. Frank and I became close friends during our previous band, and we had shared stages with Greg’s previous band as well. Vanessa and Frank met through their respective DJ gigs, and the timing just felt right. Frank had some demos kicking around, I jumped in and we started fleshing things out. We then invited Greg to add his signature sound, and Vanessa was the perfect last piece to the puzzle.

AF: Who do you look up to as musical inspirations?

Frank: As far as sound is concerned, bands like Cindytalk, And Also the Trees, Breathless, Cranes, For Against, and of course, The Cure and Cocteau Twins are hugely inspirational, as well as most of the players in the French coldwave and early 4AD movement. Belgian new beat and ’90s electronica have been influences that I’m not quite sure have fully manifested yet, but are definitely something I’d love to explore further in the coming years.

Greg: For me, the 4AD sonic universe is definitely a place we all intersect and Cocteau Twins are the ultimate touchstone. As a musician, I am particularly influenced by classic ’80s post-punk bands like The Chameleons, Comsat Angels, Banshees, Bunnymen, Sad Lovers & Giants, and The Sound, as well as ’90s genres like shoegaze (Slowdive, Pale Saints, MBV), trip-hop (Massive Attack, Portishead), and alt-rock (Smashing Pumpkins, Suede, Radiohead, Jeff Buckley). Lately I am very inspired by a lot of modern neo-shoegaze bands, who seem to be carrying the torch for dreamy, effects-heavy music now that much of the post-punk revival has dissipated, as well as more atmospheric metal stuff like Agalloch and Deftones/Crosses and creative, hard-to-categorize bands like HTRK and Braids.

B: I’m not sure if I can get through an interview without mentioning Trent Reznor, but he has always inspired me, through his recording methods as well as his choice of collaboration, and just his general attitude towards music. Of course: David Bowie, Chris Corner, Depeche Mode, Massive Attack, The Cure. I do have a tendency to lean on bands from the ’80s.

Vanessa: I’m a huge fan of Karin Dreijer Andersson (Fever Ray, The Knife) and Elizabeth Bernholz (Gazelle Twin). These days I’m mostly listening to techno and textural stuff (Ancient Methods, Klara Lewis, Vatican Shadow, Function, Profligate, OAKE, Adam X, Mondkopf, etc.).

AF: What about other artists: poets, painters, writers – who else has influenced your sound?

F: Literary influences are as important to me as musical influences. There’s the obvious surrealist and nightmarish nods to Kafka, but other authors such as Isak Dinesen, Robert Aickman, Albert Camus, Charles Baudelaire, and William Blake have inspired the lyrics I’ve written for the band, some more directly than others. As for art, the same applies; Francis Bacon seems almost too obvious to mention, but his work is incredibly moving. Francisco De Goya as well. I’m also drawn heavily to bleak, medieval religious art, usually depicting the crueler aspects of Christianity. Perhaps a bit cliché as far as gothic influences are concerned, but lots of imagery to draw upon.

B: David Lynch, John Carpenter, Jim Jarmusch, Anton Corbijn, just to name a few. These guys paint wonderful pictures through film, and I always find it very inspiring.

V: Frank and I have pretty similar tastes in art, so I definitely agree with him on the above, but I think it’s worth mentioning that we’re also all a bunch of huge fucking nerds. I’m not ashamed to admit that lyrical inspiration for me can come just as easily from The Wheel of Time or an episode of Star Trek: TNG as it does from Artaud.

AF: What do you credit to be your muse?

F: My bandmates.


G: Posterity.

V: My shitty life/Being a woman.

B: Dreaming.

AF: Blogs love labels, but how would you describe your music?

F: I don’t ever attest to reinventing the wheel. We all draw from different influences and I mostly consider our sound to be a blend of shoegaze/dream pop, 4AD, and early ’80s post-punk vibes. We generally err on the dreamier side but have no qualms with getting aggressive if the mood calls for it. At this point in the game, creating a new sound is out of the question, but our varied tastes and interests have led to some cross-pollination of genres that hopefully proves to be interesting amidst dozens of modern bands operating in a similar medium.

B: I’m still trying to get a little saxophone in there.

AF: Will you speak to the darker element of your style?

F: Operating in this medium is less of a conscious choice for me than it is a catharsis. Therapy in a sense – a method of expressing otherwise unpleasant thoughts and feelings to make something creative, rather than letting my shadow side consume me.

B: Darkness is way more interesting. And real.


AF: If you could collaborate with any artist, who would it be?

F: At this point, the idea of collaborating with someone famous is an overwhelming thought. Sorry for the cop out, but I can say that we’re looking forward to some collaborations from some of our peers, both original and in remix form. More on this as it develops!

B: Sorry Frank, but I’m going with Pee-Wee Herman.

AF: Will you tell me about your current LP you’re working on?

F: We spent the majority of 2014 hunkering down and working on the record. We recorded Silhouettes in piecemeal form over the course of the year, layering synths and guitars and drums as they fell into place. The record is currently in the can and is being mixed as we speak by the uber-talented Xavier Paradis, and will hopefully see release this fall via aufnahme + wiedergabe.

AF: How does it differentiate from previous work?

F: The new record is incredibly diverse – there are ambient segues, the occasional industrial/hip-hop hybrids, and plenty of other eclectic sounds to go around. There are more complex rhythms that are the result of Vanessa and Barrett’s superior drum programming talents, for starters. We also took turns writing lyrics this time around, with Barrett, Vanessa, and I all contributing. It’s truly The Harrow as it’s meant to be – a band hitting their stride as a full working unit with equal love and collaboration driving us. 


AF: Can we expect any live shows for you in the future?

B: While we enjoy playing live from time to time, it isn’t the primary focus of the band. We are at points in our lives where making the music is more important and rewarding in and of itself than performing it on stage. Our goal with the band leans much more toward the creative side. When we do play though, we want to make sure it is an event, and something to look forward to, not just the typical four random bands on a Tuesday night thing.

Watch The Harrow’s music video for “AXIS” below.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK: The Bulls “Come Unwound”

The Bulls - photo by Josh Giroux

Happy day after Thanksgiving. Let’s fade away from sweaters and forced family relations and return to head-in-the-blogosphere normalcy with a viewing of Los Angeles duo The Bulls “Come Unwound.” Sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll is a cliché for a reason, the trio go together like turkey, stuffing, with a dollop of gravy. Stick with weed and red wine for this one, as far as this video is concerned sex and rock ‘n’ roll are a delicacy to be savored rather than substance to be abused. Yet speaking of abuse, the bondage-themed video uses shibari (the ancient Japanese form of rope bondage) to illustrate the ethereal sounds of Anna’s voice paired with Marc’s strumming. An anonymous woman dressed in a ghostly white body suit and dominatrix black heels sways to the lovely music as beautifully intrinsic knots tie across her body with bold red rope. Laced through the bondage scenery is Anna, singer and multi-instrumentalist and Marc the guitarist in leather jackets in an empty warehouse that just as easily could have been used for a Kink.com shoot. Like that time I wrote about group sex while wearing a gingham sundress and my hair up in a bun, the video uses (my favorite) artistic technique of meshing the traditionally beautiful with the perversely taboo. In The Bull’s case, it’s a blonde playing the violin with arms tied in scarlet bondage ropes. The soft shoegaze yings as BDSM imagery yangs. Take a break from Black Friday online shopping and watch the video below (then talk dirty in French).

ALBUM REVIEW: Stagnant Pools “Geist”

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Indiana-based shoegaze duo Stagnant Pools combines the guitar pickings and vocals of Bryan Enas with the rhythms of his brother Douglass. They released their debut in January of 2012 and they’re due to put out Geist, their sophomore record on 6/10 via Polyviny. The band’s name connotes a hazy scene, near motionless. The record’s title implies a phantom or spiritual figure. Geist certainly channels some kind of ghostly misery. You’ll hear a bit of Joy Division, Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine, with an undercurrent of emo. It’s a familiar dream that doesn’t always work – sometimes there’s too much going on to feel much and sometimes there’s just nothing to feel – but it’s great for any creative mind.

The opening “You Whir,” for example, has a loudness to it that doesn’t work with the emotional undertones. I want to know more about the “beautiful nothing” that Bryan speaks of (though it seems cliché), but it’s too difficult to concentrate. Often Bryan’s voice is too affected into a mellow mumble, to the point of slight absurdity. The words to a lot of the songs are also lacking in depth, though that is not necessarily wholly negative. When Bryan conveys hopelessness through “You can’t take it away / It’s never here to stay,” it’s clear: happiness is never there to stay. But, while the music may soothe the creative side of us, that kind of description, in such a dead voice is so unimaginative it’s almost boring. There’s really hardly any vocal variety throughout.

This kind of music is easy to daydream to – more than allowing your mind to wander, it encourages it to. The “fuzz,” as so many like to describe it, that the drums and guitar create combined with repetitive melodies creates a drowsy effect. That sleepy brain is ripe for the lazy feelings Stagnant Pools’ describes. The music, on the whole, does reflect the lyrics, in that it is cyclical to the point of losing my interest.

Tracks like “Filed Down” engage the listener at first by taking the deadened misery implied in the title and following through with the vocals and music. There is a strong sense of emptiness. But it’s hard to listen to something like that for more than a few minutes. There simply isn’t enough force to keep your attention.

Look out for Geist which will be released this June and check out “Intentions,” in the mean time:

LIVE REVIEW: Lazyeyes @ Mercury Lounge

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On the closing eve of a very shitty week, I am standing on the corner of East Houston and 1st Ave, drunk dialing my best friend in Seattle. I lament my mundane failures, slurring and shouting a bit over the traffic zipping by, the ambulance sirens, and whatever other unidentified noise pollution that is turning my phone call into an extreme sport. It’s one hell of a way to start the night.

I’ve had five drinks since work got out, which for me is equivalent to licking a poisonous frog. Some combination of the motivational phone chat and my inebriation has me back in a hopeful spirit nonetheless, and I decide that instead of leaning creepily against the exterior of the Mercury Lounge, I should stagger over to that group of guys and trouble them for a cigarette.

“I beg your pardon gentlemen, but would it be terribly possible that I could perhaps buy a cigarette from you?” There is no explanation for the need I feel to become an English nobleman from the 19th century when I’m drunk. It just happens. One of the guys hands me a cigarette, refusing my rumpled dollar bill, and I’m relieved. Let’s be honest, no one who offers to pay for a cigarette does it without a burning reluctance, and if the money is accepted, it is seen as the most despicable offense to the occasionally-smoking public.

The four of us start chatting. They’re a chill group of guys who eventually score mucho points in my book when they invite me to a BBQ the following day. “There’s going to be a keg and about 100 lbs of steak, burgers, and hotdogs.” Be still, my heart. I ask if they are here for the show tonight.

“Oh yeah, we’re actually playing it.”

“ Oh, what band are you in?”

“Lazyeyes.”

“No shit! I’m supposed to be covering you guys tonight. I’m from AudioFemme.”

“ Oh, well, be nice!”

“ You already gave me a cigarette and invited me to a BBQ so I’d say we’re on pretty good ground at the moment.”

I’m already feeling better, maybe even a bit more sober. I order water at the bar like a champ and head into the venue. Lazyeyes take the stage and begin their energetic set-a fittingly gritty mixture of shoegaze and garage pop. The rhythm guitair and vocals are far-off and softly distorted in a manner reminiscent of Sonic Youth. The tang of lead guitar prickles in and out of the more ambient soundscape.

They have a solid stage presence and all seem equally enthusiastic as they do focused while playing. Jeremy, who invited me to the BBQ, is a more than adequate drummer, and he and the bassist have an affectionate stage rapport. The lead singer seems to be in his own world, putting on more of a self-conscious performance than any other member. He’s a pretty man, and he dances around like he just might know it. Then again, this could be my par-drunken interpretation of someone who is truly enjoying himself, not giving half a shit what onlookers think. Behind the boys is a swirling projection of wandering ink in fuchsia, emerald, and royal blue. I look to my left and there are two guys bent over a projector, one pouring shallow pools of pigment on the surface, the other meticulously blowing through a straw to make it sort of slow dance across the stage.

Next on the bill is Stardeath and White Dwarfs, a band that seems to be pretty successful according to the pre-show research I did. I listened to a few of their tracks earlier in the morning, and I wasn’t so thrilled to see them, unlike Lazyeyes, whose discography had me eager for their set. Like Lazyeyes, Stardeath feels the need to dress their stage with special effects. Though while the former did so in a low-fi manner, Stardeath played amid imposing columns of neon light that would be more fitting at laser Pink Floyd.

Their front man Dennis Coyne-nephew of Flaming Lips lead singer Wayne Coyne-is all Jim Morrison with long tangled hair and a sheepskin vest. The whole band is giving off that Rockstar vibe and it’s a little too much for me to handle. I suddenly feel relieved that I’m here to cover Lazyeyes and not Stardeath, a band that is described as “ experimental rock,” and yet sounds as clichéd as, well, a musician in a sheepskin vest. To their credit, they did do an impressive cover of David Bowie’s “ Life on Mars” which is not the easiest song to tackle given the vocal range it requires. Oddly enough, it was bassist Casey Joseph who stepped up to the microphone and belted it out.

After Stardeath’s set, Jeremy bought my friends and I all shots of what was called tequila, but what I think may have been an ulcer-inspiring blend of rice wine and acetone. The rest of the evening melted away with every cigarette I lit, beer I drank, and the vital late-night tuna sandwich I ate on the walk home. I never did make it to that BBQ the next day, but at least I made it through the week.

 

TRACK PREMIERE: Blackstone Rangers “You Never”

Blackstone Rangers Audiofemme

Descendant opens with a pulsing beat and glimmers of what’s to come in the next 27 minutes: a washed out, floating female voice, distorted guitar freak-outs, and catchy, upbeat pop rhythms. These six tracks are the work of relative newcomers, Blackstone Rangers, a trio from Texas consisting of Ruth Smith on synths and vocals, Daniel Bornhosrt on drums, and Derek Kutzer on guitar and vocals. Descendant is their second EP, released via Saint Marie Records, and it’s a doozy of a release, oozing indie, shoegaze-y pop a la Beach House, with a bit more punk sensibility.

The opener, “Descendant Of,” is a blistering, rock-leaning number that stands out among the other friendlier tracks. The listener is quickly submerged in the music, as the band takes its time unravelling its possibilities from the depths of their warped instruments. “Judas Tree” is the first to show the their pop inclinations, picking up the pace and setting a catchy foundation with the repeating line, “Did you hear me the other night?,” as vague yet affecting as their actual sound. It’s with songs like this one that the band manages to exude a badass energy and presence while maintaining their haziness.

But without a doubt, the two standouts on the EP, are “Frozen Echo”, and “You Never” — hypnotic numbers that have Smith warbling enchantingly over steady drum beats and fuzzy guitar distortion. She wields her chiffon-y vocals artfully, like a painter, diminishing the need for lyrics to keep the song interesting, and opting instead to let the music beckon us into her world.

Descendent is a great showcase of the band’s talent for woozy pop and wall-of-sound textures: in less than half an hour, you’ll find songs you can bang your head to, and others you can twirl around in a daze with. We can’t wait to see what is in store for this talented young project.

The EP is due out at the end of the month. In the meantime catch them on one of their many tour stops including  5/1 at Cake Shop with Blessed Isles & FIELDED and 5/2 at Radio Bushwick with Dead Leaf Echo. Until then, check out the Audiofemme premier of the ever-haunting, “You Never”, right here:

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AF LIVE: Spike Hill 12/18

Live Music

Ooooh, we’re having a showcase! Please join us on 12/18 at Spike Hill in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and peep some local bands who we believe should be heard and seen. Doors are at 730 and the show is free. Below please find artist profiles of the talent we booked. We hope to see you there!

 

8PM: Wildcat Apollo

Wildcat Apollo

Formed in 2012 by Alex Margolin and brothers Taylor and Aaron Eichenseer, with lead singer Cat Tassini completing the indie rock/synthpop band a few months later, Wildcat Apollo released their debut full-length in October of this year. The 12-track eponymous record combines elements of garage rock and dancey shoegaze, full of catchy bass lines and innovative guitar hooks.

AF: We read that you guys are planning to make a permanent move to Austin, TX to join your bandmate Aaron. How do you anticipate that move influencing your sound, or inspiring each of you musically?

 Cat: Well, we’ll all be together, so we’ll be writing together and growing together musically and just feeling more like a unit.  I think Austin’s more relaxed vibe will definitely sink into our skin and come out in our music.  It’s Aaron, Taylor and Alex’s hometown, and even though it’s not mine, I love it there, and I think we’ll all feel really comfortable and confident.  And of course all the festivals and venues there will inspire us to be on top of our game.

AF: You all seem to share a lot of instrumental duties within the band (Cat and Alex both doing percussion and synth, Taylor and Aaron both on guitars). Do you also share songwriting duties? How do you generally go about collaborating as individual artists to create your music?

 Taylor: Everybody in our group contributes to the songwriting; there’s certainly no set process as to how we develop a new song.  It’s a mixed bag.  Sometimes there is an independent writing process going on, where one member will come to the group with a decently formed concept and everybody else is left to fill in the blanks.  Like when I was working at an after-school program and the fourth graders would take pink highlighters and glitter and brown and purple crayons to sketches I would do in my notebook.  Collaboration breeds magic.  You can’t be afraid to let your vision grow into something bigger.  But we also do a lot of jamming and recording of jamming with a loop pedal or on a computer.  This is great because it lets the music be the guide and you can turn your brain off and just let it flow and figure out what happened after the fact.  It’s how we express ourselves, by shutting up and playing.  Also, that everyone is artistically motivated in our group is a real blessing, because we hold each other accountable to be our absolute best.

AF: Where’s some of your current inspiration coming from?

 Cat:  I’ve been listening to Lorde, Miley Cyrus, and Sky Ferreira all week.  Taylor:  Brutally honest self-reflection.

AF: Cat, you’ve said you had no previous experience being in a band before you joined Wildcat Apollo last year. What are some of the things you’ve learned along the way, so far?

 Cat: The biggest lesson I’m learning is giving up control.  My artistic life before the band was dominated by directing.  I was doing performance and video projects where I would handle almost everything and I’d just work with a friend or two on it.  I came up with the idea, figured out all the details and made sure it all happened.  So I didn’t have to depend on anyone else.  But I missed the camaraderie of being a part of a cast and a crew.  And eventually I felt limited and wanted to work with more people, people who were better than me.  And in my the rest of my life, I was traveling and trying different jobs, floating around in the post-collegiate nebulous phase, just being totally free and independent, but also feeling confused and angsty.  And then I got drawn into the band, which sort of came out of nowhere, but gave me a great sense of belonging and gave my life a direction.  But I had to learn how to be a part of a team again and do it in a brand new context.  And that context was a group of guys who had been playing music together their whole lives, so that was intimidating.  Also I tend to have really strong artistic visions, so I had to learn to trust my bandmates and not just reject an idea because it’s different from the idea in my head.  It’s something that I’ll have to keep learning over and over again: how to disregard my perfectionist control freak instincts and just trust the process and the people around me.   Also, I recently co-directed one of our music videos and worked with Bull Moose Pictures on it, and it was a wonderful experience.  So I’m learning and I’m happy the band is giving me an opportunity to experience that.

AF: Since it’s the end of the year and all, what are each of your New Year’s resolutions?

Aaron:  To really push boundaries sonically and to embrace new technology in the song writing process.

Alex:  To find a job.

Cat:  Mine is always to be better with time and money.

Taylor:  To release another, better record by year’s end.

Wildcat Apollo wishes to thank you, Annie, and everyone at AudioFemme for the tremendous opportunity to take part in your monthly showcase, especially considering the abundance of great music in Brooklyn and on the internet at large.

*Aw, yr welcome, Wildcat Apollo. Can’t wait to hear you play tonight!

Listen to “Gotham”, here, via Bandcamp:

 

 

9PM: New Politicians

New Politicians

New Politicians have been building some great hype with their two EPs, Alpha Decay and Drag A City, both released earlier this year. Their self-described post-punk sound has a gritty and straight-forward aesthetic, paired with melancholic lyrics. The four piece band are set to accomplish a lot more in the coming year.

AF: How did you guys come together as a band? Are you all still based out of New Jersey?

Gian:  All four of us are currently based out of New Jersey. Around the time the band was formed though, I was living in Philadelphia attending college and Renal was working in Manhattan. We would share files via email and then come home to Centerville on the weekends to jam. As brothers, Renal and I have always connected over music and have been writing together since we were young. Winston and I went to school together and had been playing in a few projects before the idea for New Politicians was formed. When I tracked the demos for some of our first songs, I brought it to them and we decided to form a band around it.

Q: Your two EPs were released about 6 months apart. How do you think you developed as a band in that time and in what ways are the two releases unique from each other?

Gian: Well, since the release of Alpha Decay we’ve had a lot of opportunities to play live in New York and New Jersey which has given us plenty of experience playing together as a group. We recently recruited a new drummer, Chris, who allowed us to implement a pretty rigorous practice schedule that’s been refining our skills collectively and individually as well. From the song writing aspect I think there is a continuity between the songs on both EP’s. The only major difference is that Drag a City was self-produced at home in our apartment where we didn’t feel the restrictions of time and money during the process. That allowed us to take control of our sound for the first time and we ended up with a record that we’re really proud of.

 Q: Your most recent EP includes a song titled “Are We The Dining Dead?,” presumably a reference to the Eternal Sunshine line. What other non-musical sources do you draw inspiration from?

Renal: Why yes, it is a reference to Eternal Sunshine. At the time of writing the lyrics to that particular song I had finally gotten around to watching the movie from beginning to end. Lyrically, I tend to draw most of my inspiration from life experiences as well as books and movies. Finding connections between my life and what I am reading or watching helps me generate multiple perspectives. While we were writing for the Drag a City EP, I had just finished reading Tender Is the Night and “Winter Dreams”, both Fitzgerald stories that served as a catalyst for my ideas.

 Q: What’s the story with your band name?

Gian: Renal came up with the name New Politicians and when he brought it to the group we immediately liked the irony of calling a rock band “politicians.” It’s more tongue-in-cheek than it is a deep statement or anything. However, a lot of truth is said in jest.

 Q: What are your plans and goals for the upcoming year? A full-length release, perhaps?

Gian: We’re planning to play as many shows as we can in support of Drag a City as well as continue to promote the record with the goal of receiving some label attention.  So far there’s been a lot of positive feedback on our social media sites and we hope to continue to gain new fans throughout 2014. A full-length isn’t completely out of the question but we feel we don’t currently have access to the resources necessary to make a quality debut record. Regardless we will continue to write, record, and build our song catalog so who knows what the future holds for New Politicians.

Listen to “The Length Of Our Love” here, via Bandcamp

 

10 PM: Wild Leaves

Wild Leaves

This folksy five-piece and their “sun-drenched harmonies” sound like a far cry from Brooklyn’s cityscape, but the fresh local band is making waves with their debut EP, Wind & Rain. The 7-track release is a confident showcase of their wispy, nostalgic melodies, which are sure to bring some comfort and warmth to our showcase!

AF: How and when did you guys come together as a band?

 WL: Wild Leaves officially formed as band in January of 2011. But its roots run much deeper.  We had the pleasure of being friends in college, moving to Brooklyn together, and experiencing a similar struggle to find our respective places in the world. The band formed in the midst of that struggle as we began to articulate the challenges we experienced, through songs. Starting with intimate two-piece performances in our Crown Heights apartment, and growing into regular gigs, across the city, as a five-piece.

AF: What are you focusing on right now? Any plans in place for 2014?

 WL: We just recorded a new batch of songs a couple weeks ago so we are mixing them now. This is a fun part of the process because a lot of the pressure is off (temporarily) The songs are what they are at this point and we get to just focus on putting the whole presentation together.  We’re looking to do a release in early 2014 followed by massive amounts of touring.  We’ve got people to see all across this beautiful country.

AF: Seven tracks is a good amount for an EP. Why did you decide to go with an EP release and not a full-length album debut?

 WL: Ultimately it came down to releasing something that encapsulated a moment. We had a bunch of songs that didn’t make the cut because they felt ancillary to the place we were in.  Recording those seven songs was a turning point in our collective time together in this city. A lot of work had gone into our transition and the songs were a away of acknowledging the past, while still embracing the future.

AF: What are your long-term goals for the band? Where do you anticipate going from here?

WL: Our long-term goal as a band is to write songs powerful enough to change the world. One of the major driving forces in our creative process is the open conversation we maintain with the people we come across on the road.  Whether its through lyrics, a performance, or a conversation after the show, we view each experience as an opportunity to exchange ideas and hopefully make the world a better place.

AF: What are your New Year’s Eve plans this year? Any parties, shows, etc?

 WL: Our new years plans are to lay low and spend some quality time with our loved ones.  It’s been a wonderfully busy year. We played something like sixty shows, made new friends in many new places, but didn’t spend a lot of time at home.  Winter is the perfect time for reflection and recuperation.

Listen to “Everyone”, here, via Bandcamp:

 

After the live show, stick around for dancing, courtesy of the ever-wild, B-Tips, who’ll be spinning all your faves til late.

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