Someone on r/shoegaze asked this week, “What happened to Dirty On Purpose?” which, of course, opened some serious nostalgia floodgates. I’d actually intended to do a post on the dearly departed Brooklyn shoegazers but that just done got moved up some. I’ll be digging up some old pics for an IG post soon, too.

Dirty On Purpose were a five kids from Brooklyn who made loud, pretty, fuzzy, earnest songs at a time when it was decidedly unfashionable. And while out of step with what the scenesters of the day – that which history books now refer to as “indie sleaze” – their influences and aesthetic spoke to those of us who would rather listen to Ride than The Bravery. And, considering this came a time that was as mathematically distant from the era of original shoegazers and the current revival as possible, they were a balm.

“Mind Blindness” was the first single and video (uploaded 19 years ago!!!) from their debut release, 2005’s Sleep Late For A Better Tomorrow EP, which still holds up as far as I’m concerned. Of course, I’m incapable of separating the music from the memories of standing up on bloggy little soapboxes, shouting their praises to anyone who’d listen (though not memories of cool shows in cool Williamsburg basements because that was never a thing for me). And while I like to think those effors helped a little, life is hard and music is harder and the band split in 2008 after one full-length in Hallelujah Sirens and a few more EPs. Pour one one for Dirty On Purpose.