Chance: Worth Taking

            This is a review of the EP Chance, by Australian artist Kigo, and the 17th review of a release, here on Track-By-Track.

            Well, mixtape month has come and gone, but I'm returning to my normal review style with a bang.  Australian artist Kigo (Solo artist D.P. Pearce) has been on my radar for a while, and with every new release (which tends to be nearly monthly), the sound gets even better.  Kigo definitely has a shoegaze sound, but interestingly, with digital and sampled-sounding drums, instead of the generally live-sounding drums most modern shoegaze artists have.
            A certain kind of sheer raw power comes through each track, to a degree that is incomparable to any band I can think of.  My Bloody Valentine is definitely an influence on Pearce's writing and performing, but mix-wise, Kigo stands alone.  And this is just part of a prolific, albeit young, career: Since February, Kigo has released 4 EPs, and a single with a b-side, amazingly, comprizing 20 songs.  Get ready for raw and amazing sound.
             Here's my TBT:

            Chance starts with "Dress", which in the beginning sounds like My Bloody Valentine's "She Found Now", leading into their "Soon".  The chord structure and style are very similar to "Soon", but the vocals and lead instrumentation show the differences.  The entire track is overdriven to the extreme, and the vocals are decimated out of understandability.  Loads of glide-guitar, over a drum sample or two, with bass and plenty of reverb and delays over most of the tracks.

            Then, coming out of seemingly nowhere related, the title track changes the whole trip.  Huge tremolo-affected guitar, a fast drum sample -- used slower before in Kigo's "Eyes so Bright (See the Spark)" -- and a great screeching feedback sound in the beginning are immediately noticable.  Vocals are once again obscured, mainly by eq, and not by distortion.  It's a fast song with loads of the energy that Kigo has had from the beginng, just with a slightly more-refined sound than the earlier releases, like Guilt and Closer (Hear My Voice).  It's a bit space-rock as well, like Duster's "Echo Bravo".

            "Leave Me Behind" is the third track.  The beauty of the sound is once again driven by the power, but it's a slower, more contemplative song than would be expected with the general guitar sound.  This is something I really like about shoegaze in general; artists can play powerful and huge-sounding guitar tracks, without actually playing abrasive songs.  Emotive synths show up in this one, drums are digital, and guitar is sublime.  The bass track is also more noticeable than usual, and it really drives the track into Debbie Googe territory.  Vocals are breathy and less-obscured than the previous two tracks, but still not clear enough to my ears to make out words.  The vocals in Pearce's songs are mostly equalized out of recognition, through hi-passing the base notes almost completely out, or emphasizing the higher frequencies.

            The last track is "When You Look", which again emphasizes synth and bass, and this time, vocals are even clearer.  The overall sound of the song is really warped and introspective, and it's a bit droney (genre, not boring by any means).  It's like if Spacemen 3 turned into a prog-rock band in the late '70s, but better than what that might sound like.  The only perceptable beat in the track is a soft bass kick, which might be just the bass's strings being touched, which makes it a bit more like the previous (and uncharacteristically slower) Kigo EP Some Other Place, which I also highly recommend.  The guitar, bass, and synth combination is dream-inducing, and the whole track is a fitting end.  For anything.  It feels like the end of an avant-garde movie, in one of the rare times the ending is satisfying and full of wonder.

            Overall, this is an amazing EP, and the sound of Kigo has loads to offer to the genre of shoegazing.  The raw power and soft emotion that comes through Chance is as genre-specific as it is unique.  Kigo will be coming out with an LP soon, and Pearce has also created a black-metal solo project (Afterwalker).  You can get this album (and all previous releases) for pay-what-you-want at: http://kigo.bandcamp.com/.  This is a Chance worth taking.

APZOO EP: Shoegaze Evolved

            This is a retrospective review of Asalto al Parque Zoológico’s first release: The original version of their APZOO EP (2009), and the 13th review here on Track-By-Track.

            Asalto al Parque Zoológico (APZOO for short) is a band from Buenos Aires in Argentina.  Though they’re a fairly recent band -- they’ve been going since 2008 -- I’m reviewing their EP as part of the retrospective theme of this month because I would normally avoid reviewing music released before 2012, to keep current.
            And the retrospective theme suits them perfectly.  They have a style like older alternative rock, just with hints of modern flare.  There are noise rock and psychedelic elements to their work, but mainly they’re a shoegaze band.  There are also some old-school (not mainly synth) dream-pop sounds underneath their overall noise-gazing bliss, underplayed to near-obscurity.  When I found APZOO, I was amazed that there were bands keeping shoegaze alive, let alone being evolutionary forces keeping it growing, like this EP certainly does.
            Here’s my TBT:

            The EP starts off with “Below”, a visceral grating guitar tone with soft drums and blurred vocals, with a scoop-processed bass.  It’s ethereal, but also harsh, and sounds like My Bloody Valentine playing a set with The Flaming Lips (“Ego Tripping” era).  There’s a great uneasiness that is pronounced with the warping and drifting guitars and vocals throughout; which are quickly interrupted by a holocaust of starchy distorted guitar, somewhat comparable to “You Made Me Realize”

            Then comes “Breeze”.  Huge loud guitars, with vocals that skillfully double-trip over each word.  The bass pretty much never stops, and it sounds more like the hum of a large vehicle at times than just a bass guitar.  the drums are heavy and the low frequency is emphasized.  At the end, there’s a mainly reversed coda, which is a definite homage to My Bloody Valentine’s Tremolo and Loveless era codas.

            “Awake” is more psych-rock; kinda like The Brian Jonestown Massacre playing with The Dandy Warhols.  There’s a huge resonant whirlwind, and strange shimmering (heavily delayed with loads of high-frequency) guitars.  It’s a treat to hear chords and sounds this unusual, especially with tambourine and a bass kick like a persistent deep drum on a log.  The lyrics are repetitive, but it suits the song.  There’s a dissonance between the resonant washes of what I think is reverb and the main guitar and vocal sounds, that makes it that much more alternative.

            “Slow Motion” is the second-last song on the APZOO EP.  It’s a noise-rock piece.  People who like both The Velvet Underground and Rune Lindblad will love this one.  It’s instrumental, and seems to have muddled bass and a guitar that sounds pitch-treated, awash in huge reverb.  Those low-end frequencies makes the APZOO EP sound older than it is, to good effect.

            “Le Dernier Jour” is the final track, and though I don’t speak its language, I do love the clarity of the vocals; it’s unusual in shoegazing tracks, though it works just as well as obscuring them does.  It sounds like a shoegaze-influenced modern track, until the chorus messes with expectations by removing the reverb, and changing key.  You’ll find radio-transmissions (or vocals that sound like them) throughout the second half, and there’s a feedback solo that gives way to another coda.  And before you know it, like the snap of a finger, it’s over.

            Overall, this EP is an earthy alternative rock/shoegaze treat, and like all addictive substances, makes you want more.  APZOO has since re-released the EP with two new tracks -- and deleted their original Bandcamp page, which mentioned what year the original EP was released -- but the new songs very nearly stand on their own.  You can stream for free and purchase in CD quality at http://sadness.bandcamp.com/album/apzoo-ep-asalto-al-parque-zool-gico.  And the new version's new tracks are like the cherry on the cake.

The Millia Pink And Green: Perfect Shoegaze Harmony

 

            This is a retrospective review of the EP The Millia Pink and Green (2003) by Sway, and the eleventh review here on Track-By-Track.

            This EP is succulent.  Though ten years old, like fine wine, it only gets better with age.  It’s a perfect portrait of the shoegaze genre, and of music itself in my opinion.  There’s a beautifully overwhelming quality to it that is in part due to the compression throughout, which instead of stonewalling, enhances the artistry of the track.  Through this compression a kind of pleasantly burning sound is achieved, for lack of a better description.
            But there isn’t fire alone with this masterpiece by Sway.  Simultaneously, there’s a watery modulated sound to the guitars in most cases.  The two big names in shoegaze I tend to cite are My Bloody Valentine, and Slowdive, because of the overall atmospheres and emotion that they create with their music, and The Millia Pink and Green is a revival of sorts of their main genre of music; but with a sound that instead of copying, reaches beyond the two bands’ individual styles for a third distinct part of shoegaze.  Just listening to the first track sends me into bliss, so with that in mind, you might want to find a special time and place to listen to this release.  “Like a mind-altering substance, without the risk” (look up the quotation).
            Here’s my TBT:

            The EP starts off quickly with a hit of sound.  It's immediately enveloping and classic, through huge guitar and sharp drums.  This is one of only a handful of songs I mean when I say  "shoegaze proper”.  The crisp snares ride waves of guitar delays, as the beautifully sung and wonderfully harmonized vocals, heavily drowned in reverb, create yet another atmosphere within the song.  Even though the chorus is one word, it’s addictive and massively ethereal.  The lyrics seem to be nice (from what I can understand of them), and it just feels like one of those songs you remember.  Touches of bass and glockenspiel add to the instantly classic nature of the track, which just solidifies the perfection of “Fall”.

            “Sounds Like Everyone” comes next, and is very Slowdive.  Processed and layered guitars play drums that slowly fade in over their own reverberations.  All of the guitar in the chorus brings out what it might sound like if My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless were part of Slowdive’s Souvlaki.  The vocals are harmonized and processed, and again, the compression on this track especially brings out that distinctively well-done burning sound.  The end is a complete abandon to the forces of music.  It’s a rich phased treat, and the minor key emphasizes a forceful yet soft seriousness like the darker songs by Sigur Ros.  Or perhaps this is the song I’ll be referring to in the future about that sound.

            “Sullust” is like Slowdive’s ambient work Pygmalion, but with a modern flare.  It’s an ethereal sound progressing linearly, without chorus or definable words; only the harmony of massive guitars and vocals, and an underlying drumbeat and bass that supports it well.  If there are synths in the track, they are only slightly discernible above the guitars and vocals, and what I think are synths might just be a trick of the mind induced by oceans of reverb.  It’s textured so well that it doesn't sound muddled, yet simultaneously it overwhelms the senses with harmonies through vast reverb soundscapes.

            “Ever And Ever” is the fourth track, with a great indie tom-based drumbeat, and introspective lyrics like: “Everything we are goes away / All we are is dust”.  Guitar and vocals once again amaze.  There are loads of resonant tones throughout the track, and the end brings the classic riding shoegaze-style drumbeat back.  Staggering harmonies, and sheer love come through level after level of music, which takes more than just a few listens to even begin to explore.

            The final track, “Opentillate”, is like what it would sound like if R.E.M. at their musical peak collaborated with Slowdive just before their last album, and Billy Corgan ghostwrote some guitar lines.  The levels of resonance bring a bliss to the track unparalleled in most songs, and 90s-alt-rock guitar glows beside harmonies to perfection, a soft but powerful bass, and drums that contain all the elements of the previous tracks.  How five tracks like the ones on this EP were ever brought together astounds me, because any band with one of them to their credit deserves praise.

            Overall, in a word, perfection; musical sophistication and production quality is through the roof, and I'm in love with this EP.  You can download it in CD quality for whatever price pleases you at http://sway.bandcamp.com.  Sway has since split up, leaving Andrew Saks as the sole member of Sway.  Fortunately, that means we can expect new songs from Sway in the future.  If they’re anything close to this, I can’t wait.

Blue Haze: Psych-Gaze

            This is a review of the EP Blue Haze (2012) by Wild Eyes, and the seventh review on this blog.

            Instead of talking about how I found yet another amazing band, I'll talk about its sound.  Fans of My Bloody Valentine and psych-rock alike will likely find common ground in enjoying this EP.  It has loads of reverb, but also general alt-rock influences, and melodies to die for.
            This is an inspiring EP, and deserving of mention, despite its barely 14 minute length spread over 4 songs.  Wild Eyes is an LA-based shoegaze band, but their sound doesn’t feel Hollywood-ized (overly pop-ish), with drone vocals and a sound in between a happy kind of more-structured goth-rock, and psychedelic-shoegaze.
            Here’s my TBT:

            “Blue Haze” starts the EP.  The opening is great, and the track carries its shoegaze soul to the max.  I think I hear some resonators in there, though it might just be amazing guitar eq.  Vocals are slightly psych-rock, but they don’t betray the track’s shoegaze roots.  Drums nearly blast the track into a new century, without seeming too fast or high in the mix.  It's probably my favorite track on the EP.

            “Ride” brings together feedback, an energetic (and heavily compressed) drumbeat, soft drone vocals, and great bass and guitar collaboration, and puts them right in the reverb chamber.  It has a certain kind of psychedelia about it, which is a good example of the EP's psychedelic influence or direction.  When feedback is used properly, like in this song, it sounds mind-altering.

            “When It’s Over” is the pop song, if the rest of the album were straight up rock.  MBV-style glide-guitar solos gently raise the chorus’s drone-vox to ecstasy, and the cymbals are just in that perfect frequency (pitch and tempo) zone for addictiveness.  It reminds me of parts of Pink Floyd's Live at Pompeii movie, especially when the lead guitar's single-tone glide-guitar delves into an even deeper atmosphere than the other tracks.

            “Summer” is more indie, and the guitar and vocal eqs shoot down to near-mid-range bandpasses.  Not a lot of high-freq stuff, except the once-again addictive hi-hat.  I wouldn’t have ended on this one, because the other tracks are more complex, both melodically and equalization-wise.  I’m not against indie, but when it comes to shoegaze, it rarely mixes perfectly for my tastes, though it's still worthwhile listening to this song.

            Overall, the EP is a strong psych-shoegaze work, and Wild Eyes is releasing new material later in the month, which, given the consistency of Blue Haze, should be great. You can stream Blue Haze EP for free at http://wildeyestheband.bandcamp.com, and purchase a CD-quality download of it at the same link.

(is it): It Is

            This is a review of Dead Mellotron’s newest (and possibly last) EP, (Is It) (2012), and the fourth review (and first bonus review) here on Track-By-Track.

            I first heard Dead Mellotron when I was searching for shoegaze and dream pop bands on Bandcamp.  I’ve found quite a few great bands that way, which is likely a main reason why the huge labels are scared of the digital era.  I was still really forming my ideas about what shoegaze and dream pop are when I found Dead Mellotron’s 2009 release, Ghost Light Constellation.  This EP just about confuses the two sub-genres further, but in a good way.
            (is it) is a great gapless EP, after which you won’t know what hit you.  Even though there are just four tracks, its emotionally powerful effect is enough to merit loads more poetry than I could write into this review.  I’ll save it for the next Eliot, or Whitman, or a different blog of my own (egotism intended).
            In the meantime, here’s my TBT:

            The EP starts with “Fade In/Out”.  The first thing I wrote about this track was: It sounds like the sun, if it could speak in music.  This is dream-pop heaven, with warbling synth pads, dreamy vocals, and hard yet loving drums.  Dead Mellotron has done it again.  The harmonies bring the song up, but the synths drive you straight above the clouds.  Even though there have been some great tracks from Dead Mellotron before, this stands out as an amazing musical achievement for Dead Mellotron, like R.E.M.’s “The Great Beyond”, but solidly in the dream-pop sub-genre.

            “Weird Dreams” is the second track, which has some great shoegaze guitars, within the scope and breadth of its total dream-pop.  It’s like there’s a string section, without the strings, with the way the guitars and synths compliment each other.  The lyrics are sparse, and almost lo-fi-style.  The vocals sound pitch-corrected, but I couldn’t care less with the atmosphere this track brings.  The deep bass drives it home, and the drums, though obviously samples, remind of My Bloody Valentine.

            The third track, “Vacation”, is a vacation from lyrics and vocals.  It’s heavily compressed and modulated to the extreme, yet without the stonewalling that most songs and remasters have now.  It’s like a coda by Kevin Shields himself, with synths and guitars, even though I don’t know whether there are any synths, or if this is a track in which there really was a labyrinth of pedals near the guitarist's shoes.  It leads gently into the last track.

            “Vacation II” is a continuation of the previous track, but by no means instrumental.  The vocals return, as feint whispers of a mood, without form to really give shape to recognizable words.  Great choral-style samples, and just enough echo, mixed with a strong drumbeat and ocean of guitar; and the deep bass is more noticeable when they cut out.

            Overall, it's like a great tape of music was left out in the sun, and was warped, and that somehow made it better.  It’s instantly replayable, and each listen brings some new part of it to light.  This whole EP solidifies Dead Mellotron’s place in the shoegaze/dream pop crossover that few artists exemplify as well.  Sadly, this might be the last we hear from Dead Mellotron (they've announced through Facebook that their last gig is in July), so this might be a kind of Abbey Road.  You can download this EP for pay-what-you-want, and more from Dead Mellotron, at http://deadmellotron.bandcamp.com.  Like a room filled with sunlight and warmth, outside a snowy mountain (like the one on the cover), it’s a secretive and warm EP, with qualities that defy explanation.  This is why I love dream pop.