Asobi Seksu – “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want to Fight Tonight)”

Quick one for the holiday. Japanese-American shoegazers Asobi Seksu released this single in 2007, combining a Ramones cover as the A-side with “New Year”, a selection from their then-current album Citrus, for a peak-seasonal mini-release. The following year, they also released an acoustic live version recorded in London for Bandstand Busking, one of the live […]

Seventeen Years Old And Berlin Wall – “Prism”

One of the OGs of the current Japanese shoegaze scene, the oddly-named-even-for-Japan Seventeen Years Old And Berlin Wall have been releasing mini-albums of boy-girl sharp-sweet fuzzy-shimmering dreampop since 2015. Whether they number four or five depends on your criteria for distinguishing an EP from a mini-album, and whether mini-album is even a thing – the […]

Wire – “Eardrum Buzz”

It probably doesn’t need to be said out loud, but the ’80s were a weird time. In the ’70s, Wire were the genre-busting art school firebrands redefining punk, and on their second resurrection in the early 21st century, they were the angry elder statesmen of art rock. But their second incarnation, where they absorbed the […]