Tokyo Shoegazer – “Bright”

At first, you might think the even the name is a joke. Tokyo Shoegazer? And… they’re shoegazers? From Tokyo? Well, yes. And it’s fitting that Tokyo Shoegazer is a sort of avatar for everything about Japanese shoegaze; it’s not original or boundary-pushing, but it’s also not trying to be. Instead it’s taking everything they love […]

Dry Cleaning, Live @ KEXP

I’d thought I already posted the first of these Dry Cleaning studio sessions from Seattle’s KEXP, but no – those were other live sets, so let’s make this one a twofer. Or threefer, since I didn’t even know about the middle one. And they make a nice little pre-post-pandemic triptych, if “nice” can be used […]

Sweeping Promises – “Eraser”

It’s been a hot minute – or three years – since Sweeping Promises dropped their terrific debut Hunger For A Way Out, but they’ve been busy in that time, signing to SubPop internationally, relocating their home base from Boston to Lawrence, Kansas, and crafting their follow-up record which they’ve now announced to the world: Good […]

Echo Ladies – “Dirty Dancing”

I didn’t realize it’d been so long since we’d heard from Sweden’s Echo Ladies – pandemics do things to one’s perception of time – but it has been five years since their 2018 debut Pink Noise and saying it out loud, well that’s far too long. So it’s great to hear them back with a […]

Beach House / Become

Beach House participated in the just-passed Spring 2023 edition of Record Store Day with Become, an EP of new material drawn from the sessions that begat last year’s Once Twice Melody. Of the five songs, the duo said: The Become EP is a collection of 5 songs from the Once Twice Melody sessions. We didn’t think they fit in […]

The Clientele – “Blue Over Blue”

It’s a good day when you’re reminded that The Clientele remain an active concern. Their last musical dispatch came in 2020 with “Orpheus Beach”, a one-off Go-Beetweens cover, so it’s a good start to the week when you receive news that they’re returning with a new album – their first since 2017’s Music For The […]