Slowdive – “kisses”

Time is relative in the world of Slowdive. Yes, it has been six years since their triumphant comeback self-title, but that was 22 years on from Pygmalion and it helps that Slowdive was and remains endlessly re-listenable. But this is not to say that a new record hasn’t been anxiously awaited and as promised by […]

Lucid Express – “Venture”

Here’s a thing; I’ve been listening to Floret, the 2022 release from Hong Kong dreampoppers Lucid Express, under the impression that it’s their latest effort and most representative of where they are now…. but as it turns out, it’s their debut release, originally put out in 2015 when they were going by Thud. When US […]

Blankenberge – “Everything”

I hope I haven’t violated any kind of embargoes in buying copies of Blankenberge’s last two albums – Everything and More – on the May edition of Bandcamp Friday, but I think I’m okay. I’m pretty sure they shipped from Portland. And come on, the Russian outfit’s soaring shoegaze kind of transcends borders or nationality. […]

Blouse – “Into Black”

Too busy to do up some “proper” content right now, so I’ll settle for a, “hey remember these guys?” from a blog-era band that’s vanished into the ether. Blouse came out of Portland, Oregon with an icy, skeletal sound that I certainly dug for their 2011 self-titled debut, at least. This song, in particular – […]

Velocity Girl – “Sorry Again”

Took a week off – sorry not sorry – and of course in that time, the big news dropped that ’90s DC shoegaze/dreampop heroes Velocity Girl were reuniting for the first time in over 20 years to headline the 30th anniversary party for Washington DC club The Black Cat in September. They were a university […]

Lush – “De-Luxe”

Let’s land the wayback machine in 1990, and look at the first video – or videos – from Lush. They released their debut mini-album Scar in July of 1989 and despite it being well-receieved, they didn’t record any promotional videos for it. They saved that honour for “De-Luxe”, the opening track of their follow-up EP […]

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 […]