Well slap me sideways and call me Susan…We appear to have gone overtly pretty this week with some absolutely stunning tracks that have made me reach for lucid adjectives like gorgeous, stunning and vibrant to not only describe the sound of many of these tracks, but also to enable me to revel in my own wordsmiffery.
Either way…as always enjoy = buy and/or social media love….lets keep your favourite new acts around for as long as possible. See ya next week …
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Gushh
Track: Off Peak From: Surf n’ Turf (EP) Label: Self released Out: Now
All yesteryear loops and samples, Glom style chiming jangle and the most precocious of twee soundbytes, this solo project from Bristol is the Go Team with style and control.
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Morning Arcade
Track: Cold Shoulders – edit From: Cold Shoulders – edit (single) Label: Phwoar and Peace Out: Now
Cardiff’s Morning Arcade take the slight forboding of post-punk and wrap beautifully concise vocals around a ‘Mazzy Starr on happy pills’ aesthetic. This is then augmented with insistent chiming riffs. All gloriously dreamy subtle, yet still strangely epic.
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The Strayngers
Track: Small Stars From: I Don’t Know, EP 1 (EP) Label: Self released Out: Now
Warm, slightly hazy, west coast psyche, laced with the most fragile of jangly riffs. Sunshine on a stick from this Los Angeles based three-piece.
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Agent blå
Track: Frustrated From: Atopos (EP) Label: Kanine Records Out: EP out 02.10.20
This Stockholm based five-piece twist chiming jangle through all manner of post-punk melancolia. The current jangly post-punk resurrection could well have found it’s natural leaders.
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Readership
Track: Future Perfect From: Future Perfect (album) Label: Self released Out: Now
Traditional late 80’s College rock, that has the ability to drift intermittently between both dream-pop and fuzz-laden Teenage Fanclub textures. Despite the familiar reference points, it still seems so original in the hands of this Philadelphia based act.
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Wolf & Moon
Track: Eyes Closed From: Follow The Signs (album) Label: BonFire Records Out: TBA in 2020
This Dutch duo have done more than most to augment Berlin as the quirk-laden indie folk capital of the world. Possibly the most stripped down version of their aesthetic so far, they mix a lo-fi indie-pop Broadcast vibe to the indiest of indie folk.
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Sumeau
Track: Circle Circle From: Circle Circle (single) Label: Self released Out: Now
Imagine Everything But The Girl / Tracey Thorn getting her/their psyche and jangle on…one of the most beautiful tracks of the year so far from this LA based 9 piece (!!!).
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Naked Hugs
Track: If U Want To From: The Girls and Boys Broken Hearts Club Party (Album) Label: Self released Out: Album out 10.10.20
All Buzzcocks buzzsaw guitars, infused with glorious garage rock melodies that are allowed to simper through. This is the perfect level of fuzz laden dynamism for anyone who likes a bit of grumble in their jangle.
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East Notion
Track: Go Slow From: Go Slow (single) Label: Self released Out: Now
Melbourne based duo, Tom Crawford and Jordyn Keating, provide the most beautiful dreamy, indie folk you could possibly imagine. Somehow the male / female interplay and music just seem to blend into one stunning melting pop of aural textures….perhaps I am twisting the template slightly including this in a jangle-pop blog, but it is just too beautiful to ignore.
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Gim Kordon
Track: Joskus mä pelkään From: Joskus mä pelkään (single) Label: All That Plazz Out: Now
The perfect jangly mix of The Lemonheads laconic and The Posies grumble, from this Helsinki based act. No idea what they are saying, but the music is so driven my lack of Finnish needs no forgiveness!
Hermetic Delight
Track: Rockstarlari From: F.A Cult (album) Label: October Tone Records Out: Now
The same sort of driving fuzz meets hushed sweet indie pop vocals as Jetsream Pony with an added sense of that slight Goldfrapp mystic distance.
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Red Cavalry
Track: Give Me A Sign From: Give Me A Sign (single) Label: Self released Out: Now
Jangly indie-pop in the manner of any number of Sarah Records act…a perfect wink to beautiful early 90’s nostalgia.
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Frurn Fonds
Track: Blue Misty Mountains From: From A Birds Eye (EP) Label: Self released Out: Now
Simultaneously coursing early 60s surf through lazy, hazy psyche, this solo project of Melbourne based Mitch Barnes, provides a genuine touch of difference in an EP full of brilliant sunshine.
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Swiss Portrait
Track: These Days From: These Days (single) Label: Willow Records Out: Now
This Edinburgh based solo act, who merely refers to himself as ‘Michael from Edinburgh’ in his bio, takes the dynamic, subtle feel of early days Grandaddy and laces it through the best of subtle, modern jangly lo-fi / gaze inflections.
Benjamin Belinska
Track: Don’t Turn Away From: Lost Illusions (single) Label: Self released Out: Now
Although more rounded vocally than Night Heron, there is a definite similarity in the vibrancy of his The Byrds style riffs. A truly beautiful track from the best of this years ‘surprise finds’.
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The Poppy Seeds
Track: The Ashtray Is Proof From: It’s Like Heroine Withdrawal Without You (albub) Label: Self released Out: Now
This initially falls, very beautifully between The Luxembourg Signal and The Sundays. All stunning ‘fluffy dream gaze’ to lull you into a false sense of pretty, before it develops into something more MBV sinister. A superb track and eclectic album.
