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