Warm Digits — A Warm Wind Coming In From The North
It’s hypnotic drone Wednesday with the Warm Digits! It’s like krautrock, but a little friendlier, shoegaze, but a little sunnier, and ambient electronic but a little more pulsating. I hear glimpses of Stereolab and Trans Am mixed in with their earlier krautrock influences. The English duo released their debut album, Keep Warm… with the Warm Digits, on Distraction records. Related...
Star Slinger – Elizabeth Fraser
We did crown this track “Best Remix of 2011.” Star Slinger (Darren Williams) is surely humbled, and has quickly replaced The Guardian’s “Best New Act of the Year Label” with this honor from braintrust here at Synconation. So what’s all the hubbub? He took the much beloved title track from the classic Cocteau Twins album,...
Seapony – Blue Star
Seapony makes sweet, dreamy music, but it’s not sugary sweet and there’s not shtick, it’s an earnest, simple sound. They just released their debut album on Hardly Art titled Go With Me. At it’s hooky moments it’s reminiscent of the Besties and at other times is almost a deconstruction of a band like Ivy. The reverb saturated,...
Little Scream – Cannons
Little Scream is the moniker used by Laurel Sprengelmeyer for her indie sometimes folk/sometimes rock band. “Cannons” is off her debut full length album, The Golden Record, and despite this, she was already a darling of the Montreal scene. Members of Stars, Arcade Fire and Bell Orchestre were on hand to assist in making the album....
Deafheaven – Roads to Judah
Roads to Judah’s four songs make for a 38-minute long album, with the shortest song, “Language Games” finishing just shy of seven minutes. Deafheaven packages their shoegaze meets black metal in the long form, slow burn and build of instrumental post-rock.
Ringo Deathstarr – Imagine Hearts
More throwback. Why not? What isn’t? Ringo Deathstarr sounds straight out of early 90s England, but actually hails from that britpop/shoegaze capital, Texas. Their debut album, Colour Trip, is out on Sonic Unyon Records. Everything from My Bloody Valentine and The Stone Roses to Ride and Medicine can be heard in their fuzzy, noise pop...
Slowdive – Machine Gun
Today’s song of the day comes from those UK shoegaze pioneers Slowdive. They mesmerize us with the hypnotic song “Machine Gun.” Featuring the versatile Neil Halstead (Mojave 3), the band had a penchant for writing melodic pop gems, layered in sad sonic bliss. The band’s culminating work, was the record “Souvlaki,” a modern day shoegaze classic on which...
Trying to Feel the Winter… A Conversation with Hammock
I remember it vividly. It was 2008 and there I was, my body already conditioned to Florida’s version of winter, staring outside the window of the two-story building where I worked. I felt a strange sense of comfort whenever I stared into the bleak, overcast skies. I always thought it funny that the dreariest time of year made me feel so...
