Posts Tagged ‘Slowdive’

Shoegazer Sunday: Slowdive’s “Catch The Breeze” Live in Copenhagen

Sunday, January 28th, 2024

Been a while since I put up a Shoegazer Sunday post, so here’s a live version of “Catch the Breeze” from Slowdive’s 1/21/24 shoe in Copenhagen.

Vocals aren’t great, but the rest of the sound is pretty good.

Shoegazer Sunday: Slowdive’s “The Slab” (and first impressions of Everything is Alive)

Sunday, September 10th, 2023

Here’s “The Slab,” the final track from Slowdive’s new Everything is Alive album. But I should warn you that this is a case where the song of the CD is much stronger than the compressed version on YouTube:

I finally got the CD in this week, and I think it’s a very strong album, more consistent than their previous self-titled album, but only time will tell is something as strong as “Slomo” or “No Longer Making Time” emerges as particular favorites. (And the later only really twigged for me when it became such a burner live.)

Shoegazer Sunday: Slowdive’s “Skin in the Game”

Sunday, August 20th, 2023

Here’s another song off Slowdive’s forthcoming Everything is Alive album, due out September 1st.

Shoegazer Sunday: Slowdive’s “Kisses”

Sunday, June 25th, 2023

Everything is Alive, Slowdive’s long-rumored next album, is finally coming out September 1, and “Kisses,” the first single from it, just dropped.

I still love the way Neil Halstead constructs songs.

Shoegazer Sunday: Slowdive’s “Sleep” Live

Sunday, September 25th, 2022

Slowdive’s “Sleep” was one of those Souvlaki outtakes that showed up on numerous bootleg demo compilations but never had an official release.

This version, recorded live at Komedia, Bath in the UK on May 18th this year, is evidently the first time they ever played it live.

Shoegazer Sunday: Slowdive’s “Slomo” (Domo Slomo)

Sunday, October 24th, 2021

I think I posted a live version of this song, but not this album version. And as a bonus, this version features footage from the Domo Kun stop motion animated show, of meme fame.

Shoegazer Sunday: Slowdive’s “Blue Skied An’ Clear”

Sunday, September 26th, 2021

Wednesday was the Autumn Equinox, and I was surprised by a crisp, clear morning here in Austin that was actually cool, meaning we were getting Fall on the first day of Fall, and that’s something that never happens.

Given the cloudless sky, I thought this was appropriate:

Pygmalion is probably my least favorite Slowdive album, with it’s sparse, minimalist, almost ambient feel, but “Blue Skied An’ Clear” is one of the standouts.

Shoegazer Sunday: The 30th Anniversary of Slowdive’s Just For A Day

Sunday, September 5th, 2021

On September 2, 1991, Creation Records released Slowdive’s debut album Just for a Day. This was the first Shoegaze album I had ever heard, and in many ways is still my favorite.

1991, you may remember, was a banner year for music. Everything interesting got slapped with the “Alternative” label, but Slowdive was far from the Seattle sound of Nirvana and Pearl Jam dominating the airwaves. The first track I heard off it was “Catch the Breeze”:

From it’s echoey, moody opening to it’s soaring wall of guitar ending I was hooked. But I truly loved closing track “Primal.”

The first seventy-five seconds are the most beautiful music Slowdive ever created, while the rest builds to a melancholy crescendo of loss.

Shoegaze is The Genre That Refuses To Die, and I think Just For A Day is a huge cornerstone.

I hear Slowdive will be releasing a new album as soon as they can book a run at a vinyl pressing plant.

Shoegazer Sunday: Two Versions of Golden Hair

Sunday, May 9th, 2021

Here’s some A/B comparison testing. Here’s Planet Cell covering Slowdive’s cover of Syd Barrett’s “Golden Hair”:

It’s pretty good…up until the end, when it becomes a sort of strident mess.

By contrast, this live version of Slowdive doing the piece themselves at the Best Kept Secret festival (which I’ve posted here before) just takes it to an entirely new level at the end, all the parts of the band meshing together for a soaring climax.

Shoegazer Sunday: Kuuhaku Marinus Covers Slowdive’s “Machine Gun”

Sunday, February 28th, 2021

I have no idea who Kuuhaku Marinus is, though he seems to reside in Mexico and his ideogram (空白磨理成) seems to translate as “Blank Grid.”

Here’s a pleasant cover of Slowdive’s “Machine Gun”: