Steered by Linda Hopper and Lynda Stipe, Oh-OK’s simple swirl of minimalist post-punk and danceable dream-pop was a cool and refreshing addition to the early Athens new wave club scene at a time before such genre descriptors had yet to develop palpable meaning. They existed all of three years, releasing only a four-song 7-inch (Wow… Continue reading Another Reissue? Oh-OK
Tag: Dream-Pop
Easter Island Takes the Time to Get It Right
Athens/Atlanta group Easter Island washed upon our shores ten years ago with a clustered gust of activity, releasing a debut EP, Better Things, in 2011, a full LP, Frightened, the following year, and a 7-inch single the year after that. Since then, the band teetered on the verge of breaking up, acquired a new rhythm… Continue reading Easter Island Takes the Time to Get It Right
The Marshmallow Ghosts Count Down to The Witching Hour
For 12 years, Savannah-based Ryan Graveface’s spookcentric project The Marshmallow Ghosts has released annual Halloween-themed records that are as distinctive in packaging as they in concept. This year’s offering, The Witching Hour, is presented as a radio show featuring a mix of call-in ghost stories interspersed with songs by The Marshmallow Ghosts, San Francisco’s swirly… Continue reading The Marshmallow Ghosts Count Down to The Witching Hour
A Discussion Worth Listening To
Guitarist/vocalist Laura Pleasants’ post-Kylesa concern The Discussion is out with a brand new 7-inch capturing their shadowy, subterranean post-punk. Original A-side “Deathtripper” is a spellbinding swirl ‘round a throbbing bog bubbling over with equal parts shoegaze and dream-pop. The B-side’s cover of The Cure’s “A Forest” underscores it all for slow learners. With Pleasants on… Continue reading A Discussion Worth Listening To
Beck – Hyperspace
Beck breaks back into the scene with Hyperspace, an album that you very much want to like, but alas, your gut speaks the truth. Taking Beck’s many talents into account, this is not a good release. I literally will never hear these songs again. Not out of protest or spite, mind you, but because this… Continue reading Beck – Hyperspace
Shantih Shantih See the Light
Among our favorite Atlanta music makers since their 2013 formation, Shantih Shantih encompass a bewitching swirl of elements, among them groovy garage rock, hazy dream-pop, quirky neo-psychedelic flourishes, girl group-style backing harmonies, occasional early rock ‘n’ roll-inspired guitar bursts (Anna Kramer’s doing, no doubt) and an overall aura of timeless cool. Their second album, Someone,… Continue reading Shantih Shantih See the Light
If Memory Serves…Vivian Girls are Back
Ten years ago, seemingly everyone interested or involved in the overlapping worlds of punk and indie rock held strong opinions about Vivian Girls. Many of us enjoyed the dreamy, lo-fi ride, from the 2008 arrival of the band’s classic debut album to its final shows in 2014. Others seemed terrified of what’d taken root on… Continue reading If Memory Serves…Vivian Girls are Back
Azure Ray: Not Drowning, Waving
This past January, Azure Ray reunited for a sold-out show in Los Angeles. They must’ve enjoyed themselves, as they’ve now readied a brand new EP, Waves, which will be officially unveiled on Oct. 26 via Maria Taylor’s Flower Moon Records. The “dream-pop” duo – Taylor and her longtime friend Orenda Fink – formed in Athens, Georgia… Continue reading Azure Ray: Not Drowning, Waving
Mazzy Star Holds Still June 1st
It’s been 25 years (!) since “Fade Into You” first wafted into the consciousness of Generation X, where it became the soundtrack of countless tonsil-hockey sessions, and Mazzy Star still holds our hearts in their hands despite extended periods of silence. It took Hope Sandoval and David Roback them 17 years to cut a record… Continue reading Mazzy Star Holds Still June 1st
New La Luz? Fabulous Nuz!
Best news we’ve heard all month is that La Luz have completed work on their third album, and Floating Features will officially see the light of day on May 11th via Hardly Art. The album’s dreamy, bewitching, reverberating surf/garage tones were put to tape in LA, where they relocated from Seattle two years ago. Supposedly… Continue reading New La Luz? Fabulous Nuz!
Luna to Give Fans A Sentimental Education
Luna, who regrouped for selected live shows beginning in 2015 after a ten-year sabbatical, have announced the release of their first new studio recordings since the album Rendezvous 13 years ago. Due September 22nd via indie label Double Feature, A Sentimental Education will be a full album of carefully chosen cover songs, including tracks by… Continue reading Luna to Give Fans A Sentimental Education
The Radio Dept
Clinging to a Dream (Musical and Social): The Radio Dept. Make Their New Album Good, But Not Too Good For those who question whether something as trivial as pop music can carry a political impact, consider the Radio Dept.’s cunningly catchy new track “Swedish Guns.” Johan Duncanson never raises his voice, crooning gently over a… Continue reading The Radio Dept
The Radio Dept. – Running Out of Love
When I first encountered the Radio Dept. I assumed it was a pseudonym for a few of Sofia Coppola’s friends creating barebones (and very good) New Order knockoffs for her Marie Antoinette soundtrack. Soon enough, I learned there was plenty more to this very real Swedish duo, including a shoegazey backstory. Like their Manchester prototype,… Continue reading The Radio Dept. – Running Out of Love
The Radio Dept. Drop 4th LP, Set Tour
The Radio Dept. have announced an extensive North American tour for next February and March, including a Feb. 17th date in Atlanta at The EARL. The trek comes in support of their long-in-coming fourth album, Running Out of Love, out October 21st via Labrador Records. Although still rooted in what would generally be considered indie… Continue reading The Radio Dept. Drop 4th LP, Set Tour
David Lynch – Crazy Clown Time
David Lynch, 'Crazy Clown Time'
David Lynch is best known for such head-trip film and television productions as Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks and Lost Highway. But despite his strangeness, he is no stranger to music as a medium for setting surrealistic moods. He has collaborated several times with Angelo Badalamenti on scores for projects like Blue Velvet and Twin… Continue reading David Lynch – Crazy Clown Time
Vivian Girls – Share the Joy
Love it or hate it, Vivian Girls’ debut album was an event. Tight yet chaotic, catchy yet raw, it was the explosive first album that can’t and shouldn’t be repeated. The follow up, 2009’s darker, rangier Everything Goes Wrong, generated less attention but revealed the band’s potential for growth. It was the kind of album… Continue reading Vivian Girls – Share the Joy
Wye Oak
Grocery Shopping For One: Wye Oak Learn To Be Together Apart Wye Oak are two young people from Baltimore, Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack. With Jenn on guitar and vocals, and Andy simultaneously playing drums and keyboards, they create sparse, beautiful, captivating songs that are at once affecting and enigmatic. Wasner’s gentle, tender voice, inflected… Continue reading Wye Oak
Dum Dum Girls
Dee Dee the Dum Dum Girl: Ready to Go Plural Every home-recorded solo project that’s worth a damn at some point begs expansion – usually the kind that demands more hands in future endeavors. Such is the case with Dum Dum Girls, the L.A.-based, ramped-up garage-pop band helmed by Kristin Gundred, better known as Dee… Continue reading Dum Dum Girls
The Radio Dept. – Passive Aggressive: The Singles 2002-2010
Call them the Kings of Inconvenience. Sweden’s Radio Dept. spent the past decade building a formidable catalog of mesmerizing, beat-heavy indie pop that flew below most radar. Apparently receiving its big break on the Marie Antoinette soundtrack in 2006, the band responded by moving further underground, shedding members, cancelling tours and slowing its release schedule… Continue reading The Radio Dept. – Passive Aggressive: The Singles 2002-2010
Azure Ray
Love and Permanence: Azure Ray Draw Down the Moon No one in their right mind would trade their thirties for their twenties. If you can remember anything about them, they probably weren’t all that fun. But if you can’t, however, they’re horrible, tied with the teens as life’s two most calamitous train wrecks. It’s a… Continue reading Azure Ray
The xx
Happy Accidents: How The xx Discovered The Sound Of Two Hearts Whispering Their music is as simple, minimal and understated as their band name. Still, clear and uncluttered, it sounds like the middle of the night. When I learned that’s when the members of the xx recorded their album, it did not surprise me. I… Continue reading The xx
School of Seven Bells
The Hand You’re Dealt: It’s All In The Cards For School of Seven Bells There’s a certain amount of raw creativity that must be harnessed in order to fashion truly progressive music, so when electro-pop act School of Seven Bells found themselves at a crossroads, faced with the challenge of choosing a direction for their… Continue reading School of Seven Bells