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.
Having shopped at thrift stores since the grunge bands introduced the idea to us kids in the 1990s (look, it was a different time), I've come to discern the cycle of re-sale merchandise, particularly when it comes to music. I picked up lots of 1970s and '80s rock in the early-mid 2000s, and now it's time for all the '90s bands to take their turns in the $2 bins. Which is fine for me, and was how I was able to re-discover PJ Harvey's balls-out 1995 album To Bring You My Love, which starts off this week's episode. Giving the title track a listen, and hearing that power in Harvey's vocals (to say nothing of the music behind it) - forget nostalgia, that's just a masterpiece that still holds up.
PJ Harvey bookends this episode, because I don't want to act like she never put anything good out after that, and I really dug this track off her latest album.
PJ Harvey - To Bring You My Love - To Bring You My Love - Island
Killing Joke - Requiem - Killing Joke - E.G.
The Cure - Disintegration - Disintegration - Fiction
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Nothing - Nineteen Ninety Heaven - Tired of Tomorrow - Relapse
Moving Panoramas - Always - One - Modern Outsider
Eternal Summers - Together or Alone - Gold and Stone - Kanine Records
Žen - Žal (Strand) - Jantar - Unrecords
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The Telescopes - Flying - # Untitled Second - Rev-Ola
Pinkshinyultrablast - The Cherry Pit - Grandfeathered - Vinyl Junkie Recordings
Strand of Oaks - Radio Kids - Hard Love - Dead Oceans
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PJ Harvey - The Wheel - The Hope Six Demolition Project - Island
I discovered Zen whilst blog-hopping recently, and this is another group I (and presumably, you) really need to check out more. Here's a video - nice and loud:
I was planning on doing a proper write-up of the Slowdive show at the 9:30 Club, but then I got busy seeing another classic British band two days later (The Damned), and promptly got sick. So, to give you the tl;dr summary, Slowdive were mind-blowingly amazing. From the sound to the playing to the set, everything was perfect. I even got to meet Rachel Goswell after the show, and she was very nice and tolerant of my minor rambling. Definitely one of the top ten shows of my lifetime.
And on with the show:
Trementina - Please, Let's Go Away - 810 - Burger Records
Sulk - Black Infinity (Upside Down) - No Illusions - Perfect Sound Forever
Vadaat Charigim - Ein Li Makom - Sinking As a Stone - Burger Records
Japanese Breakfast - In Heaven - Psychopomp - Yellow K Records
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Ozean - Scenic - Ozean - Moon Sounds
The Philter - Skinned Knee - The Philter/Love in Athens split - Doorway Recordings
Froth - Romance Distractions - Outside (Briefly) - Wichita Recordings
Kestrels - No Alternative - Kestrels - Sonic Unyon
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Dylan in the Movies w/ Tanya Donelly - Girl in the Black Tights - Sweet Rebel Thee - DeeVeeUs Records
The Veils - Swimming with Crocodiles - Total Depravity - Nettwerk
Johnny Marr - The Messenger - The Messenger - Warner Bros.
Hammock - In the Middle of This Nowhere (Oblivion Hymns) - Oblivion Hymns - Hammock Music
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Lush - Undertow - Split - 4AD
In honor of their North American tour (all half dozen dates of it), this episode is all Slowdive - either the band itself or its various spin-off and solo projects .
Also, all the praise for the new album is entirely justified.
And now, enjoy...
Slowdive -Catch the Breeze - Just for a Day - Creation
Slowdive - Souvlaki Space Station - Souvlaki - Creation
Slowdive - Blue Skied An' Clear - Pygmallion - Cherry Red Records
Slowdive - Sugar for the Pill - Slowdive - Dead Oceans
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Slowdive - Morningrise - Morningrise EP - Creation
Monster Movie - Keep the Voices Distant - Keep the Voices Distant - Graveface
Minor Victories - Folk Arp - Minor Victories - Fat Possum Records
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Mojave 3 - Love Songs on the Radio - Ask Me Tomorrow - 4AD
Neil Halstead - Tied to You - Palindrome Hunches - Universal
Red House Painters w/ Rachel Goswell - Again and Again - Take Me Home: A Tribute to John Denver - Badman Recordings
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Slowdive - Crazy for You (alt version (demo)) - Pygmallion - Cherry Red Records
And for those not lucky enough to get to see the band at one of these shows (fortunately not the case for me), here's the band in action (you'll have to advance to the 5 minute mark for the show to begin, and astute listeners will recognize their intro music):
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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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The Besnard Lakes - For Agent 13 - The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse - Jagjaguwar
Wild Nothing - Paradise - Nocturne - Captured Tracks
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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
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Living Hour - Steady Glazed Eyes - Living Hour - Lefse Records
Secret Shine - Spellbound - After Hours - Clairrecords
Skeleton Hands - Second Skin - self-released
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Echobelly - Dark Therapy - On - Rhythm King
