A bi-weekly broadcast dedicated to the finest in shoegaze, dream pop, darkwave, ethereal, Britpop, and more, featuring new and classic bands. 9-11 pm EST every other Wednesday on Stranger Radio.
Made it out to Record Store Day this year, but didn't manage to pick any of the exclusives up (the real prize was the Smiths 7 inch, but not being in the UK made that difficult - thankfully, it's just different versions of songs everyone already has, plus of course a little Moz-ian bonus. But I did manage to pick up White Poppy's Natural Phenomena album, which was a prize in itself. More gauze than gaze, it's swirly, hazy, trippy goodness.
And now, this week's show:
Eagulls - Skipping - Ullages - Partisan
Chain of Flowers - Death's Got a Hold On Me - Chain of Flowers - Alter
Moon Duo - Creepin - Occult Architecture Vol. 1 - Sacred Bones Records
Cheatahs - Su-Pra - Mythologies - Wichita Recordings
-
White Poppy - Midnight Sun - Natural Phenomena - Not Not Good
Cocteau Twins - A Kissed Out Floatboat - Blue Bell Knoll - 4AD
Daughter - New Ways - Not to Disappear - 4AD
Radiohead - Knives Out - Amnesiac - XL Recordings
-
White Lies - Summer Didn't Change a Thing - Friends - BMG
Editors - Lights - The Back Room - Kitchenware
The Church - Reptile - Starfish - Arista
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Israel - Once Upon a Time: The Singles - Polydor
-
The Pink Tiles - Time for Love - #1 Fan - self-released
The good thing about doing a music show is that it gives you an excuse to spend entirely too much time digging around looking for new bands, and chasing down "YouTube recommends" rabbit holes in search of forgotten gems. The latter is how I discovered Sad Lovers & Giants, a London band that only lasted about three years in its initial run, and completely flew under my radar until recently. It's one of those joyous discoveries that reminds you just how much greatness is out there.
Friends of Alice Ivy is another group that I stumbled upon thanks to a friend posting an amazing song on Facebook from the defunct Aussie group Ostia, which lead to my finding FoAI, the new project from Ostia member Amps. One could easily accuse the group of gothiness (and not be entirely wrong), but the ethereal atmospherics and haunting melodies will draw you in whether or not you go in for the black mascara (or however the kids are doing it nowadays).
And this seemed as good a time as any to have a special focus on the compilation album Alternative F/acts. Put together by the guys at DKFM, it's 18 tracks from a nice variety of shoegaze and 'gaze-like bands featuring some pretty stellar groups, and with proceeds going to the ACLU and Planned Parenthood. Unlike a lot of "benefit" comps (especially some of those godawful ones from the 1990s), this is a solid collection of music that's definitely worth adding to the collection.
And now, on to the show...
Beach House - Majorette - Thank Your Lucky Stars - Sub Pop
DIIV - How Long Have You Known? - Oshin - Captured Tracks
Thrushes -Skywave - Night Falls - Birdnote Records
Wildhoney - My Disguise - Wildhoney EP - self-release
-
Planning for Burial - Warmth of You - Below the House - The Flenser
Amberhaze - 1994 - The We Saw the Stars Again - KityWu
Daydream Machine - And I Love Her - Twin Idols - Picture in My Ear
-
Fight Bite - Charlotte Iris - Fight Bite - self-release
Cranes - Réverie - Loved - Dedicated
Julianna Barwick - Nebula - Will - Dead Oceans Records
Area - Why Should I Worry - The Perfect Dream - Projekt
-
Mercury Rev - Coney Island Cyclone - Yerself is Steam - Mint Films
Panda Riot - Gold Lines - Alternative F/acts - DKFM
Angel Falls - Touch the Sun - Alternative F/acts - DKFM
Fawns of Love - Please - Alternative F/acts - DKFM
-
Friends of Alice Ivy - Wycca - The Last Days of Fenwick - self-release
Vivian Fantasy - Strawberry Moon - Serial Experiments 1: Pink Moon - self-release
Soundpool - Makes No Sense - Mirrors in Your Eyes - Killer Pimp
-
The Chameleons UK - In Answer - Strange Times - Geffen
Kitchens of Distinction - Drive That Fast - Strange Free World - A&M
Sad Lovers & Giants - Colourless Dream - Epic Garden Music - Midnight Music
The Mighty Lemon Drops - Where Do We Go From Heaven - Laughter - Sire/Reprise
-
A Thousand Hours - Dawn - Alternative F/acts - DKFM
And here's the Ostia song:
And the band Area (featured in hour 1) was one I discovered in high school, when a girl I knew let me borrow a tape of some music her brother in L.A. had sent her (meaning, of course, that it was far cooler than anything we'd have back in the Midwest). One side of the tape had the Area album, the other had another band that I listened to briefly and wrote off as being too weird and noisy and not very good. That band?
Needless to say, my opinion has changed in the intervening years. Ah, the folly of youth.
And here we are with the newest episode! I'd planned originally to have it up on Monday night, but technical difficulties made that a no-go, but at last it's here!
I picked up the new Soviet Soviet album this week and can't recommend it enough. From start to finish it's loud, driving, and full of hooks and amazing instrumentation all around. There is not a weak track on here, just pure goodness.
And a few of this week's bands are touring as well. Here are the pertinent links (and I'm sure I'm missing some):
Also, I decided to try Mixcloud as a host, since they offer far more upload capacity than Soundcloud, and their model seems more in line with this type of show anyway.
And so, the show:
Soviet Soviet - Going Through - Endless - felte
Cold Solstice - Joyce - Phosphenes - self-released
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Come Saturday - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Slumberland Records
The Raveonettes - Hallucinations - Lust Lust Lust - Vice
-
Ride - Charm Assault - Weather Diaries - Wichita Recordings
Melody's Echo Chamber - Cross My Heart - Bon Voyage - Rayon Vert
UNKLE w/ the Black Angels - Natural Selection - Where Did the Night Fall - Surrender All
SKELETON HANDS - Flood Spell - Flood Spell EP - self-released
-
Devoured by Flowers - A Seaside Ballad - The Luminescent EP - self-released
Damon and Naomi - Time Won't Own Me - Fortune - self-released
Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions - I Thought You'd Fall for Me - Suzanne EP - Rough Trade
My Bloody Valentine - Only Tomorrow - MBV - self-released
Tears Run Rings - Waiting for the End - Always, Sometimes, Sledom, Never - Clairecords
Ceremony - Someday - Rocket Fire - Killer Pimp
The Jesus and Mary Chain - All Things Pass - Damage and Joy - ADA/Warner Group
-
Girls Names - Hypnotic Regression - The New Life - Slumberland Records
Still Corners - The Trip - Strange Pleasures - Sub Pop
Dum Dum Girls - Coming Down - Only in Dreams - Sub Pop
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - The Weeping Song - The Good Son - Mute
-
The Besnard Lakes - For Agent 13 - The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse - Jagjaguwar
Wild Nothing - Paradise - Nocturne - Captured Tracks
-
Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space (I Can't Help Falling in Love With You) - Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space - Dedicated
Yes, you are reading correctly, Dreaming in Stereo has returned! If ever there was a good time for it, it's now, what with seemingly every '90s band of note getting back together, so why not celebrate the scene that celebrates itself again?
As before, the show will bring listeners two hours of the best in shoegaze, dreampop, Britpop, classics, and whatever sounds good every week. You'll notice this episode is broken into two sections - nothing like discovering your recording program's limitations whilst in the middle of using it!
So here are the two sections of the program, with setlists below each. Enjoy!
Slowdive - Star Roving - Slowdive - Dead Oceans
Warpaint - Love is to Die - Warpaint - Rough Trade
No Joy - Califone - Creep EP - Grey Market
White Bats - Midnight is When Life Begins - Complex Echoes EP - Subterfuge Records
-
Living Hour - Steady Glazed Eyes - Living Hour - Lefse Records
Secret Shine - Spellbound - After Hours - Clairrecords
Skeleton Hands - Second Skin - self-released
-
Chromatics - Birds of Paradise - Kill for Love - Italians Do It Better
The Horrors - First Day of Spring - Luminous - XL Recordings
Interpol - Leif Erikson - Turn on the Bright Lights - Matador
Morrissey - Angel, Angel Down We Go Together - Viva Hate - Sire/Reprise
-
Nothing - The Dead Are Dumb - Tired for Tomorrow - Relapse
Swervedriver - Girl on a Motorbike - Mezcal Head - A&M Records
Psychic Teens - Dose - TEEN - Golden Voyage Records
feeble.curses - Don't Come Crying - single - self-released
-
Belle & Sebastian - A Century of Fakers - Push Barman to Open Old Wounds - Jeepster (NOT Matador!)
Jarvis Cocker - I Will Kill Again - Jarvis - Rough Trade
Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights - The Kick Inside - EMI
Suede - The Wild Ones - Dog Man Star - nude/Columbia
-
Jesus and Mary Chain - Darklands - Darklands - Warner Bros.
Blur - New World Towers - The Magic Whip - Parlophone
Lush - Rosebud - Blind Spot EP - Edamame Records
David Bowie - When I Met You - No Plan EP - Columbia
-
Echobelly - Dark Therapy - On - Rhythm King
