Posts Tagged ‘Music’

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.

40 Years Ago Today: Genesis Releases “Mama”

Saturday, August 19th, 2023

Forty years ago today, August 19, 1983, Genesis released their self-titled album (their twelfth), and “Mama” was the first single released off that.

As a fairly new convert to classic Prog Rock Genesis at the time, I wasn’t a fan of Genesis’ move toward more mainstream pop, but “Mama” caught my attention, as it’s a pretty interesting song. And far from being an average pop song, it was weird and sinister.

And it has perhaps the most memorable laugh in any song, ever.

Peter Gabriel-era Genesis had a lot more overtly sinister songs (“The Waiting Room” comes to mind), but “Mama” was distinctly different from Genesis’ 1980s output, or indeed, just about anything else on mainstream radio in 1983. Between the sparse drum loop, the eerie high synthesizer wash, and Collins’ urgent, hungry vocals about a young man’s unrequited love for a prostitute, it still has power four decades on.

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: hyperlilly’s “springs (the oracle)”

Sunday, June 11th, 2023

Hyperlilly evidently hale from Cologne, Germany. Not a fan of the video (static band shots + mild psych color filters), but the song reminds me of Auburn Lull crossed with a bit of M83.

George Winston, RIP

Thursday, June 8th, 2023

Pianist George Winston died at age 74. December is a great Christmas album for people that hate Christmas albums. Here’s “The Holly and the Ivy.”

(Hat tip: Dwight.)

Shoegazer Sunday: Kinoko Teikoku’s Musician

Sunday, June 4th, 2023

Been a while since we did some Japanese Shoegaze, so here’s Kinoko Teikoku’s “Musician”:

It sounds a bit like Asobi Seksu crossed with Lemon’s Chair. It takes about 30 seconds to get beyond the initial noisy buzz.

Kinoko Teikoku evidently means “Mushroom Empire,” and they “suspended activity” in 2019.

Shoegazer Sunday: The Underground Youth’s “Underground”

Sunday, May 21st, 2023

UK-born, Berlin-resident The Underground Youth get labeled as post-punk, but echo-and-reverb drenched “Underground” seems pretty shoegazey to me, and a bit like Civic’s “Innocent.”

This is off their album Mademoiselle, which is available through iTunes.

Shoegazer Sunday: Flyying Colours’ “Lost Then Found”

Sunday, May 7th, 2023

Flyying Colours evidently hail from Australia.

Shoegazer Sunday: Ozean’s “Scenic”

Sunday, April 9th, 2023

Ozean’s “Scenic” was featured as part of a three song set quite a while back, but here it is on it’s own, accompanied by (mostly) quite beautiful AI-generated art.

Basically, AI generated art is now better than 95% of all self-published trade paperback art.

Shoegazer Sunday: Glixen’s “Moodswing”

Sunday, April 2nd, 2023

Glixen evidently hales from Phoenix, and that’s about all I know about them. Except the fact that they make some tasty, fuzzy noise.