Dreaming in Stereo episode 26

It's funny how long Wye Oak flew under my radar. They're practically a local band for me, but I just now finally tuned into them. Digging what I heard, really interested to see what the new album has to offer. You can tell, though, that the group has elevated past the dreaded "local band" status, as their current tour features no Baltimore date (DC is the closest they get).

Lowtide is the key discovery of this show. As mentioned in the show, I caught them on an episode of Henry Rollins's radio show Fanatic on KCRW, where he played the entire album. It is brilliant all the way through, and definitely an album that will be on heavy rotation here.

And I've only been able to dig into a couple of tracks on the new TBTCI compilation, but so far it's looking like another quality comp. I don't know how he does it, but Renato Malizia is truly one of the standouts in keeping this music going.


Lowtide - On the Fence - Southern Mind - Rice is Nice
Purs - On - single
Tape Deck Mountain - Morse Code - Echo Chamber Blues -
Ride - Catch You Drowning - Tomorrow's Shore EP - Wichita Recordings
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Sway - Our Time On Poli - We Have No Influential Friends
Canards - Ending Soon - Ending Soon
Chapterhouse - Greater Power - Blood Music - Dedicated
Foliage - Fate - Truths
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Seasurfer - We Run - Dive In - Saint Marie Records
Minipop - Someone to Love - A New Hope - Arco Records
Wye Oak - If You Should See - Tween - Merge Records
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Zombie Girlfriend - Wind - Fuzzy Feelings - The Blog That Celebrates Itself

Dreaming in Stereo epsiode 25

True confession time: I haven't watched Twin Peaks. I know, I, too, feel that this is a personal failing of mine, something my better half is keen to point out. But, to be fair, I was 13 or so when it came out, and while I did enjoy a good mystery even at that age, I also think a lot of the truly Lynchian qualities of the show would have been lost on me at that point (although by that point in my life I was very much fond of the weird). I did see Fire Walk with Me while in high school though (with my parents, no less), and remember thinking, "He's really reaching with this one" (something my teenage self would most definitely say). But even then I was blown away by the soundtrack. Angelo Badalementi's compositions were just haunting, aided greatly by Julee Cruise's voice. I'd actually been toying with the idea of dropping some of that into the show, and here we finally are. If I had better foresight, I could have timed it to fit somewhere with the revival last year, but such is life. Anyway, here we're definitely putting the dream in dream pop.

And again, ignore what I say, the band is called Coma Pony. This is what happens when you have multiple notes all over the place.

Also, just to vent some steam, Mixcloud has been acting really wonky lately, making uploading far more difficult than it seems it should be. Here's hoping nothing goes away, but at least I feel better about filling up my computer's memory with all those backup files.

But enough kvetching. Enjoy!

Voluptuos Panic - If I Could Shine (The Sweetest Ache) - Popkiss, TBTCI Meets Sarah Records - The Blog That Celebrates Itself
Coma Pony (feat. Lucia Tacchetti) - Teletransportar - Magnánima Compilado Vol. 4 - Magnánima
The Black Windmill - Medicine - Black Windmill EP
Angelo Badalamenti feat. Julee Cruise - Into the Night - Soundtrack to Twin Peaks - Warner Bros.
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Starrsha - Sway - Starrsha
The Churchhill Garden (feat. HIDEKA) - Forever - single  Kindling - Sunspots - Spike & Wave
Slowdive - When the Sun Hits - Souvlaki - Sanctuary
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Snowbird - Porcelain - Moon - Bella Union
Love Spirals Downward - Ladonna Dissima - Idylls - Projekt
Bauhaus - Hope - Burning From the Inside - Beggar's Banquet
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Dead Can Dance - Don't Fade Away - Toward the Within - 4AD

Dreaming in Stereo episode 24

A "theme" show if you will - perhaps not as consistently noisy as I'd thought when putting it together (that middle sections ends up more like loud dreampop than anything), but I think there's enough feedback here to keep the people who enjoy that sort of thing happy.

That new A Place to Bury Strangers track is magnificent, and I can't wait for the full album to drop in a couple of months. I'll most likely also be revisiting Tape Deck Mountain when their new one hits in a few weeks. I still haven't made it all the way through the Magnánima Compilado Vol. 4 - it's 50 tracks, people! - but so far there are definitely a few keepers. One thing I'm really enjoying about doing the show in 2018 (not that I didn't in 2008) is seeing how this music is global now. There was an article in the Guardian a few months back focusing on Asian shoegaze which I think nicely puts a point on it. Needless to say, I think there's another theme show coming in the not-too-distant future.

That Medicine song was a fun find. There's a band with a definitely interesting evolution - I actually enjoyed their electronic album (which featured Brandon Lee's sister, of all people). 

That Dirty Sidewalks song was a joyous find - an American band that sounds like Definitely Maybe-era Oasis with Going Blank Again-era Ride feedback? I'm in!

Enjoy!


A Place to Bury Strangers - Never Coming Back - Pinned - Dead Oceans
The Jesus and Mary Chain - Reverance - Honey's Dead - American Recordings
Car Crash Sisters - Orange - Sundance Sea / Magnánima Compilado Vol. 4 - Industrias WIO / Magnánima
Young Boys - Love Hits - New York Sun - Hollow Eyed
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Communions - Forget It's a Dream - Communions - Big Love Records
Spotlight Kid - Sugar Pills - Ten Thousand Hours - Saint Marie Records
Merchandise (feat. Dum Dum Girls) - Red Sun - Red Sun single - Sub Pop
June Parker - Slow - We're Exactly Where We Are
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Medicine - Long As the Sun - To the Happy Few - Captured Tracks
My Bloody Valentine - When You Sleep - Loveless - Creation
Tape Deck Mountain - Suicide 1997 - Slow Salvation - Lefse Records
Au.Ra - Pyramid - Jane's Lament - felte
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Dirty Sidewalks - Where's the Love - Bring Down the House Lights

Dreaming in Stereo episode 23

One of the joys of ever-evolving technology (and generous friends) is that at some point in your life you'll find yourself booting up an old machine of some sort and finding all sorts of old treasures you'd forgotten about (as well as the occasional file you'd wished stayed buried). Looking through an old homemade tower I'd been gifted several years ago (how many? We're talking Windows XP) I came across my old rip of Mew's 2005 album And the Glass-Handed Kites, and quickly fell back in love with it. Seriously, this was the album to beat back in '05/'06, with its soaring melodies, wall of sound, and just the sheer ambitiousness of it - not just the lack of gaps between songs, but the way they bled into each other - it was very much an album of its era, and yet it stood out so far from what else was on offer that year.

2009's No More Stories Are Told Today, I'm Sorry They Washed Away // No More Stories, The World Is Grey, I'm Tired, Let's Wash Away on the other hand, couldn't live up to the glory of its predecessor (at least to my ears at the time), and I found myself eventually moving on. I suppose I'll be revisiting that album soon as well, and checking out last year's Visuals (which is worth checking out just for the cover, if nothing else).

Also on the technology tip (to borrow from '90s hip hop slang), can we all admit what a godsend mp3 blogs were/are? Even though all the streaming services have basically killed the format (save for a few notable holdouts), it was a great way to find a song or two from some band you'd never heard of, or even knew a bit. Not that a Soundcloud or Bandcamp link isn't just as good - hell, you should be supporting the artists, anyway - but those blogs were nice, especially for out of print or super rare tracks. Case in point, the Mercury Rev and Mazzy Star songs in this episode. I honestly can't remember where that MR one came from, and even after doing some research I'm still not sure that Mazzy Star live collection is 100% above the board, even by the much looser standards overseas.

The set as a whole is a pretty broad range, and covers the spectrum of genres this show features, so if you listen to only one - but why limit yourself? Oh, and that Indelicates song - another group I'd long forgotten about and recently re-discovered. So bitter, so acerbic, so entertaining. "Thank you and goodnight," indeed.


Blushing - Hidden Places - Weak - ATHRecords
Nabihah Iqbal - Saw U Twice - Weighing of the Heart - Ninja Tune
Dayflower - Big Blue - single / We're Sad and Listen to Loveless Every Night Vol. 1
Ride - Pulsar - Tomorrow's Shore - Wichita Recordings
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The Sundays - I Kicked a Boy - Can't Be Sure 12" - Rough Trade
Mercury Rev - Isolation (live) -
The Malady of Sevendials - Idol Hands - single
Mazzy Star - Flowers in December (Live at KCRW 1996) - Ghost Highway
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SKYDREAMER - Nebula - SKYDREAMER
Mew - The Zookeeper's Boy - And the Glass-Handed Kites - Sony BMG
M83 - Graveyard Girl - Saturdays = Youth - Mute Records
British Sea Power - Waving Flags - Do You Like Rock Music? - Rough Trade
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The Indelicates - We Hate the Kids - American Demo - Weekender Records