Swervedriver – “Rave Down”

Summer’s effectively over so let’s say goodbye with some early Swervedriver. “Rave Down” was the title track from the band’s second EP, coming in November 1990 almost a year before their debut full-length Raise, on which it would feature. The video kind of features a live performance but the visuals are all pretty obscured by […]

Utero -「虜」

Not a lot of time at the moment so will just post up a track that’s been sitting in the queue for a while. Utero is the project of a Hokkaido native Rin Yumegiwa whose background, in addition to being a musician, includes work as “a nurse, idol, and IT engineer”. She was part of […]

Douglas Heart – “Komplex”

It’s a shame that Gothenburg’s Douglas Heart are so little-known that their Apple Music bio offers the most comprehensive backgrounder on the early aughts dreampop outfit, but at the same time, hats off to K. Ross Hoffman for managing to compile as much information as he did. I’ll refrain from repeating the whole bio, but […]

Blurred City Lights -「花束」

Nagoya’s Blurred City Lights released their very good double-EP-slash-second album Utopia/Dystopia earlier this year but today I’m going back not just to last year’s debut 天使のいない街で , but to their second-ever single 「花束」 (aka “Flower”), which they dropped in December of 2022 accompanied by a simple animated video. Why that song, and now? Well this […]

My Bloody Valentine – “You Made Me Realise”

I’ll probably be just about landing at home in Toronto when this post goes live, but still it seems appropriate to close out this trip with a nod to Ireland’s greatest ‘gazers, My Bloody Valentine, though the country’s claim on the band is not necessarily the strongest. Though they were formed in Dublin, only drummer […]

Just Mustard – “Seven”

Carrying on with the “hey I’m in Dublin” series: Just Mustard announced their return to action a couple months ago but haven’t yet revealed exactly what that return entails, at least with regards to new recordings. So while we wait, let’s go back to November 2019, when they released the single “Seven”. Because of its […]

Cephalo -「ルート225」

It has been exciting to see Tokyo’s Cephalo taking last year’s Fluorite Code international, though only to nearby nations like Thailand and Taiwan, so far. It’s interesting to see the band working that record while frontwoman Fuki also handles promotion for 混乱するアパタイト, the debut album from her other project, the more pop-oriented duo iVy. Also […]