expect delay
The most famous anonymous person in Korean indie – at least from the shoegazing perspective – is Parannoul. Hihs 2023 opus After The Magic continues to stand as a monument of the genre, at least in recent years, and last week he released what would appear to be his first new work since those sessions. […]
Having made their recorded debut with the appropriately transitional Lush cover a couple months ago, Miki Berenyi Trio have offered up their first taste of original music with “Vertigo”, which previews a full-length album the details of which are still forthcoming. Of the track, Berenyi says: ‘Vertigo’ is about anxiety and the efforts to talk […]
Robin Guthrie popped up on socials last week and offered an update on his happenings just on time for Bandcamp Friday, OK, so, um, I have a bunch of new releases coming up in 2024, the first of which is at the factory getting manufactured right now. I’ll be the first to let you know, […]
A return to North America and English-language content with this one courtesy of Stereogum; Toronto journalist Lesa Hannah has collected a trio of interviews with some of the women who defined the first wave of shoegazer bands – Rachel Goswell of Slowdive, Emma Anderson of Lush, and Deb Googe of My Bloody Valentine – and […]
And now, a farewell to Tokyo after two glorious and exhausting weeks with the most on-the-nose selection possible, by one of the most unashamedly on-the-nose acts around – Tokyo Shoegazer. This selection comes from their last full-length of new material, 2022’s Moonworld Playground (not counting last year’s re-recorded Turnaround) and while it’s my least favourite […]
If there is any place on earth that is a physical manifestation of the Japanese dreampop/shoegaze scene, I think it would be Kōenji HIGH, a venue – or live house, as they call clubs here – in the northwest of Tokyo. They regularly host showcases from label/promoters Dreamwaves and Total Feedback, and by pure luck […]
I don’t know much about re:lapse, save for the fact that all the members have previous tours of duty in other bands in the Tokyo shoegaze scene and they’ve put out a series of terrific EPs since the Fall 2021, helpfully self-titled and sequentially numbered. The first was a pleasant if rather unremarkable slice of […]
My appreciation for Tokyo’s yuragi predates my J-gaze obsession, so they certainly helped lay the groundwork for where my head is now and deserve some (more) props. This live clip comes from the October 2021 release show at Shibuya WWW for their sophomore effort For You, Adroit It But Soft; it’s an album that certainly […]
“Influenced by Kinoko Teikoku” is basically a J-gaze subgenre – or maybe a synonym – and one of the current leading lights of that style is Hammer Head Shark, a Tokyo quartet especially good at their forebear’s combination of sonic aggression and angsty vocals, with a healthy dose of snotty youthful rebellion added for good […]
The first post from Tokyo proper – Kon’nichiwa! – should be the band that kick-started this whole J-pop/J-gaze obsession that’s been going on hereabouts for over a year, and is in no small part one of the reasons I’m here right now (don’t tell my family) – the dear departed For Tracy Hyde. I’ve celebrated […]
