Speaking of acts who kept the torch of shoegaze alive in those years where things were darkest, let’s talk about Rhode Island’s The Brother Kite. Which, as those who’ve followed me over here from past endeavours, know that I have. Their 2006 record Waiting For The Time To Be Right was, for a long time, amongst my top 10 records of all time, and I remain grateful to have been able to seen them live a number of times over the years, as well as helped put on a couple of shows for them in a past life.

It’s only the passing years and sheer volume of music that has crossed my path since that has pushed it out; whenever I’m reminded to go back and to listen to it – as I have the last few days – I fall in love with it all over again. The elevator pitch is Beach Boys melodies and harmonies layered over Ride guitars, and as good as you think that might be, the actual record sounds even better. And make no mistake, the follow-ups – 2010’s Isolation, 2013’s Model Rocket, and 2020’s Make It Real – are all excellent records; that Time remains their highwater mark is just a testament to how good it is.

And while the point of this post is to let people know that, hey – this 18-year old record is really really good, I’ve gotten something out of it too. Without putting it together, I wouldn’t have know that back in 2016, presumably to mark the album’s 10th anniversary, the band released both the bonus tracks from the Japanese version of the record and a set of unreleased, alternate mixes of the album on their Bandcamp? I wouldn’t have, and that would have been a damn tragedy. But instead, it’s a celebration. New TBK tracks circa Waiting For The Time To Be Right? Gimme.

So go, listen, but also since people like the moving images, here’s the only video from Time.