Łabandzi Śpiew: Washington

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poniedziałek, 25 kwietnia 2022

Watchcamp March-April'22 with CERAS, Dream Suicides, Inner Mirror, Shallow Waves, Shuteye Unison

CERAS - 2022 Demo

The short album is "A glimpse at what's to come" from the Washington-based psychedelic rock artists who draw a lot from shoegaze's overwhelming sound with striking vocals. Certainly made me curious about the incoming music. Two tracks cost whatever you want to pay.

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Dream Suicides - It's Better Not To Say Anything

The Californian artist Daniel Romero has already a pretty impressive discography. The musician with a thing for Stranger Things the TV-series, released a new single filled with airy but also very melodic indie rock. Two songs cost 1 USD.

Inner Mirror - Azaran

Arturo Flores, a former member of the dream pop band Kordan, released a handful of EPs in the last months but my attention was drawn to the new single with its extremely warm and moody dream pop. It is partly so good due to the guest vocals by an artist called Coco, but also thanks to the airy and subtle music in the backgrounds from the New York artist. Two versions of the single cost 2 USD.

Shallow Waves - Skin

Zaid Khan and his band are from Canada create some particularly noisy rock with post-punk influences and minimal, guitar-oriented vibes. There's something from shoegaze here, there's something from darkwave, definitely an interesting mix. Two tracks cost 4 EUR (5 CAD).

Shuteye Unison - Pale Blue Dot | Severe Clear

Another Californians here; the band from Fairfax released an album over a decade ago and decided to "settle into fatherhood" only to come back with a new single now. They present a soft and subtle take on indie pop with heavy oneiric vibes all over. The two songs cost 2 USD.

piątek, 8 kwietnia 2022

Introvert - Dreamless Sleep (2022)

Introvert is a quite a fitting moniker for an instrumental ambient/neoclassical artist. This particular one comes from the West Coast and seems to release quite a bunch of albums every year since 2020. The newest one is called Dreamless Sleep.

The music on the album is based on classical instruments but it's not some minimal, atmosphere-oriented piano/strings-only stuff. The short compositions here have the real orchestral grandeur with the full complexity of various instruments put in one track. The artist describes the album as "a soundtrack to a movie in my head as well as an exploration of the empty space in which we sleep and arise from". It's no surprise then that the album has both massive and calm, happier and darker moments, just like a movie, just like life.

Dreamless Sleep costs 7 USD.

Check: Dreamless Sleep

Country: Washington, US

Genre: orchestral neoclassical

wtorek, 1 marca 2022

Watchcamp - Best Singles of January-February'22 with Builder, Minaxi, Sole Solitude, Thy Pallor, Tukisigure

Builder - Terrapin

A german duo consisting of Emanuel Oropesa and Sebastian Balk released their third, slightly longer single and filled it with dark and massive guitar post-rock. The quality of their music is clear and the ability to crush the audience with sounds - wort admiring. The two songs cost 5 EUR.

Minaxi - The Deep Blue Sea Conveys Your Love

Although they describe themselves as alternative rock band, the new single from the Americans from Minaxi is mostly about dreamy atmosphere and pop's catchiness. Also the remix made by Simon Scott shows vibes of utter ethereality and I dig it. The single costs 3 USD.

Sole Solitude - MEDS

Distorted vocals and slow beats, extremely ethereal atmosphere and melodies. The Washington-based artist brings some very modern-sounding electronica meeting dreamy slowcore in his new single. Great tunes. Two tracks cost 7 USD.

Thy Pallor - The Day Everything Begins...

Turkish artist released their first single with clearly lo-fi but very moody and ethereal take on distorted post-metal music.The single costs 1 USD.

Tukisigure - Inori

The name of the Japanese project translates to "drizzling rain on a moonlit night" and fittingly, the artist presents music that is both ethereal and post-rock-heavy. The first track from them shows some technical difficulties but still promises some great music. The single costs whatever you want to pay.

poniedziałek, 29 listopada 2021

Fotoform - Horizons (2021)

Fotoform is a Seattle-based dream pop band who, after releasing their second album, got acknowledged by the biggest, including the iconic KEXP. No wonder, their, as they call it, dreamy post-punk is very catchy and atmospheric at the same time. You can now check it out on Horizons.

Their own description is actually very fitting: post-punk influences the way the songs are based very much on the thick, easily recognizable bass line while fuzzy guitars are left in the backgrounds most of the time. The dreamy ingredient surely include vocals by Kim House. They are properly dream-like with tons of reverbs and high-pitched beauty. There's a fine balance between them expressing actual lyrics and serving as haze-inducing backing vocals - it is so well audible in Running and You Set Fire to the Sun - a lively and melodic track with House's voice put on a pedestal.

My favourite ones have to be the more atmospheric, moody ones. I really enjoy how the opening in Shadow Spreads is finished with the abruptly introduced silence, but songs like Let's Shut Out the World, Take and We Crystallize make the true dreamy experience with vocals focused on creating the atmosphere and toned down melodies. Especially the finish in the latter creates a well-cooked psychedelic and noisy soundscape, one that is perfect to dream to.

Horizons costs 8 USD.

Check: We Crystallize

Country: Washington, US

Genre: dreamy post-punk

wtorek, 18 maja 2021

MØAA - Euphoric Recall (2021)

Jancy Rae Buffington is MØAA, an artist who creates a very dreamy and moody music, which is kind of strange when you know that the moniker came from the name of a MAO-A gene, one that is connected to aggressive behaviour. She just released her debut album called Euphorics Recall on We Were Never Boring Collective label.

The music here is no punk, that's for sure. And although Rae created her music persona to write about frustrations and her "troubled past", she chose to do that in the form of very dark but also melodic, synth-rich dream pop. What's more, the album was created both in the rainy Washington state and the sunny Italy where the American met Andrea Volpato who is the second part of the project, the one responsible for co-writing the music as well as producing and mastering. This geographical factors may have influenced the way the music here combines the gloomy atmosphere with lively melodies that can be hummed from the very first listening (with the fantastic X Marks as the best example).

O2, on the other hand, combines the very ethereal ambiance and backing vocals with quite noisy form while Lam shows the more post-punk face of the project's synthpop with quite ominous vibes. And the further into the album, the more guitar-based and wavey the songs get, not losing anything from the atmosphere of the dark and moody, trip-hopish beginning.

Euphoric Recall costs 8 EUR.

Check: X Marks

Country: Washington, US; Italy

Genre: ethereal synthpop

Label: We Were Never Being Boring Collective

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wtorek, 29 września 2020

Sleepwalkers Baseball Club - How the World Ends (2020) EN

I wrote about Sleepwalkers Baseball Club already in January 2019 when a super intriguing single Grow Wings was released, then there was an EP called Six Steps Back. And now, finally, a long play How the World Ends that's a "culmination of three years, three jobs, three laptops, countless hours, and zero instruments".

Despite the fact that the artist swears he didn't mean to release an album about the end of the world during what seems to be one, it's inevitable that it is very on time. He knows it as he adds: "if nothing else, maybe it will serve as a good soundtrack for the insanity that is 2020". The theme is clear from the first song and its electronically infused post-punk. The vocals, lyrics and distinctive bass line fit this genre while there is also the richness of electronic sounds (that sound so good for example in Beware).

You can easily notice that while the theme is dark and fatalistic, SBC doesn't get rid of the synth melodic compositions and this contrast is bound to make the album such a good listen. And I can't not mention the wonderful cover art, so well designed and fitting my personal taste. Good job.

How the World Ends costs 7 USD.

Check: Beware

Country: Washington, US

Genre: electronic post-punk

środa, 8 lipca 2020

Kotlovan - Kotlovan II, Pt. 1 (2020) EN

The Washington-based Kotlovan is a project making some experimental rock influenced by post-rock but also the post-punky shoegaze with strong Ride vibes. The new, two-parts album was called simply Kotlovan II. And let's add that the second part is already available at Spotify.

The first thing you notice on the album are the vocals. Slow, especially comparing to the music, emotionless and choir-like. That's why I compare it to the Andy Bell-Mark Gardener band as they make me strongly think about Nowhere (for example in Batman). On the other hand, the guitar layers are not that hazy and, probably, pop-oriented. The very clear instruments sounds show the ability to create inteligent and interesting compositions, just like in A.A. where they attack the audience just like in some well-done post-rock. Let's also add that the music is so rich because the instruments used make a long and impressive list.

The band is led by Farkhad Saidmuratov who not only sings but also writes lyrics and music and even is listed as co-author of the cover art. Ode to Fatigue, the album's finish, makes yet another good composition on this very well-leveled album. Worth checking out, as well as its second part.

Kotlovan II, Pt. 1 costs 5 USD.

Check: Ode to Fatigue

Country: Washington, US

Genre: shoegazing psychedelic rock

zakè & City of Dawn - Wander (2020) EN

piątek, 12 czerwca 2020

Slow Dancing Society & zakè - Mirrored (2020) EN

When two artists I like and have been posted about here join forces, you can safely say it's going to be something special. And this is the case with the cooperation between (super busy lately) Drew Sullivan and Zach Frizzell and their common work called Mirrored.

From the very first minutes, their music shows extremely muted down electronic, lively sounds and dense drone. It sounds a bit as if a couple of walls away, there was a disco and the listener enjoyed it from the comfort of bed. It's similar in Drift but here under the soft layer of ambient there are neoclassical sounds. And the rest of the album likewise pleases and tucks the audience in.

Mirrored costs 1 USD.

Check: Mirrored

Country: Indiana/Washington, US

Genre: deep soundscape

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:facebook (Slow Dancing Society):
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piątek, 13 grudnia 2019

somesurprises - somesurprises (2019) EN

somesurprises is a music nickname for the Seattle-based artist Natasha El-Sergany who began her carrer on her own but now enjoys the company of three other musicians.It seems to be a good choice as she released her debut long-play entitled, obviously, somesurprises. And it's a great one too.

The artist's characteristic trait is the instrumental use of her own vocals, as we can read in the album's description: "El-Sergany uses her ethereal voice as an instrument, no more or less central to the music than a guitar hook or a drumbeat". And this beautiful, ears-melting vocal in Sometimes makes an impersonation of airiness. And even if in other songs a greater role is played by more traditional, yet still extremely delicate, singing - the airy element is always present and always thrilling.

Fantastic are also, or maybe first of all, the fragments of developing, atmospheric and not-too-fast noise, just like those in Late July, Country Sun or finally in the wonderful Cherry Sunshine - the longest track on the album but that could go on and on forever.

somesurprises costs 7 USD.

Check: Cherry Sunshine

Country: Washington, US

Genre: ambient pop

piątek, 11 października 2019

Retrospecter - Wormhole (2019) EN

Retrospecter is a band from Tacoma, Washington making music from the border of the oneiric styles. It's worth checking out on the new album called Wormhole.

As the band's name suggests, the artists like to watch behind on the music from slightly different eras. They write that the band "blends delicate and dreamy shoegaze melodies with heavier passages and riffage drawn from their punk roots." I'm not super sure it's exactly what I hear on the album. I'd call it a traditional Americana and psychedelia with a strong and clear dream pop touch. Of course, there's a lot of raw guitar sounds with a very rock-like vibes, but in general, it's an album that goes in his own, slow pace filled with catch ballads.

Wormhole costs 7 USD.

Check: Urchin

Country: Washington, US

Genre: psychedelic dream pop

środa, 14 sierpnia 2019

Lofty Stills - Holy Flutter (2019) EN

Lofty Stills is a project led by Luke Culbertson of Seattle. Their melodic dream pop can be appreciated on the second long play called Holy Flutter.

The band admit to seeking inspiration in Beach House-esque dream pop but also country music of Patsy Cline-style, but still, their music is more airy-pop than smelling of horses and dust. As they describe their music, it is "featuring warbled tape recordings, thick and heavy production, and emotional, incandescent vocals". It's certainly worth-admiration how pop catchy and oneiric at the same time it can be, especially in the brilliant Strong Enough.

In some places of the album, there are more lo-fi fragments appearing in which the band's energy somewhat goes down (as in Beach Bird), but it doesn't happen very often. Another meaningful thing is the band's maxim: "Aching as blessing. Dreaming as living. Change as tenderness. Nature as solace.These are the themes of Lofty Stills". hey try to convey those airy and metaphysical messages in the most assimilable and catchy way. Truth be told, they usually success.

Holy Flutter costs 10 USD.

Check: Strong Enough

Country: Washington, US

Genre: airy pop

sobota, 6 lipca 2019

Chris Joye - Lure of the North OST (2019) EN

Chris Joye is multi-instrumentalist dealing usually.with soundtracks and one of them was just released recently. And Lure of the North is definitely worth listening to, no matter the visual side.

The album is used as soundtrack to Jonathan Chapman's short movie and, as could have been guessed, it's about dogs, snow and the people amongst them. That's why Joye's music has a lot of the Scandinavian sensibility and beauty. Clear and loud piano keys are the music's engine and the backgrounds are made of sad strings and other sounds reminding people of the harsh North. As the album's title suggests, the North lures with them even more.

Lure of the North costs 6 USD.

Check: Instincts

Country: Washington, US

Genre: melancholic neoclassical

środa, 8 maja 2019

Black Nite Crash - Conflict of Disinterest (2019) EN

Black Nite Crash are perhaps right when introducing themselves, perhaps a bit dramatic, as "Overlooked and Underrated since 2002". And it's worth changing, the current occasion for this is the new album released by Neon Sigh - Conflict of Disinterest.

I admit, I didn't know them either although they have already four albums released. And the music from the band led by Jim Biggs surprises with its catchiness and the overall quality. The post-punk-like vocal made me think of another Jim, Ried of The Jesus and Mary Chain. But unlikely the Scots, the Americans play thicker, multidimensional shoegaze. Even in the catchiest tracks (Heart of Stone or Here It Comes) the music is not left in the background.

Actually each of the album's songs could as well be a part of one of the milestone albums by TJAMC and no one would find it odd. But still, Conflict of Disinterest doesn't feel like a cover compilation, there's too much fresh things like the psychedelia in All the Times I Never Slept, or the massiveness of the sound in This Is Mine.

Conflict of Disinterest costs 7 USD.

Check: All the Times I Never Slept

Country: Washington, US

Genre: post-punk shoegaze

poniedziałek, 25 marca 2019

WatchCamp March - Ellie Wilson, Existence Is A Coincidence, Night Swimming, Voluptuous Panic, We Shine Every Night (2019) EN

Ellie Wilson - Halyard

Composer and violinist from London shows a couple singles before the debut album. It's going to be an unsettling and emotional neoclassical one. The single costs 0.79 GBP.

Existence Is A Coincidence - Kiss The Sun

A new music project from Warrena Jacobsa of the English Goole, a solo project but it sounds like a band successfully combining instrumental post-rock with shoegaze climate Slowdive-style. The single costs whatever you want to pay.

Night Swimming - TV//Clean

The second short album by the "shoegaze influenced emo" from UK, hazy vocals, rampant guitars and eventually also angry screams, it has its own unique atmosphere. The two tracks cost 2,5 GBP.

Voluptuous Panic - Broken

Duet made of Gretchen DeVault (front woman of The Icicles) and a music journalist Brian J. Bowe crates some very melodic songs sung with DeVault's high-pitched voice with climatic dream pop. The two tracks cost 2 USD.

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We Shine Every Night - Shelter

"Warm soundscapes from the heart of Russia", Tambov-based band released a short album filled with atmospheric guitar music. Good stuff. Two tracks for whatever you pay.

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poniedziałek, 28 stycznia 2019

WatchCamp January'19 - Brise-Glace, Former Hero, otom, Sleepwalking Baseball Club, Veneer (2018) EN

Brise-Glace - Primer Coma

Unmixed demo from two years ago by the French band and for an unmixed demo from two years ago - it's really good. Soul-crashingly beautiful with its dense but also peaceful post-rock and melancholic atmosphere. Two tracks costing whatever you want them to.

Former Hero - Ecotone

Two songs by Mike Jones honouring the memory of his mother who recently passed away. And so these are very sad, dense ambient-neoclassical compositions from the York-based musician sounding very different from what he usually does. Two tracks cost whatever you pay.

otom - snowfall

What can I say, I love the sound of otom's music. This thick shoegaze and dreamy atmosphere is what I look for in this genre. I hope for a longer album by the Japanese soon! The single, together with an alternate version cost 3 EUR (300 JPY).

Sleepwalkers Baseball Club - Grow Wings

Re-written song from the debut album by the Seattle-based project whose motto says "Dance like the world is on fire. Because it is". Synth-pop shoegaze in which, what unusual for the musician, there is more romance than nihilist atmosphere. The single costs what you pay for it.

Veneer - Spheres

The Slovakian Veneer comes back after many years and 15 years after their debut. And it's good news as they create some fittingly airy and atmospheric trip-hop. The song costs what you want to pay.

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WatchCamp Styczeń'19 - Brise-Glace, Former Hero, otom, Sleepwalking Baseball Club, Veneer (2018) PL

Brise-Glace - Primer Coma

Niemiksowane demo sprzed dwóch lat francuskiego zespołu i jak na niemiksowane demo sprzed dwóch lat fantastyczne - wgniata w ziemię gęstym, ale również spokojnym post-rockiem i melancholijną atmosferą. Dwa utwory w cenie jaką sobie zażyczysz.

Former Hero - Ecotone

Dwa kawałki Mike'a Jonesa ku czci jego niedawno zmarłej Mamy. I tak są to smutne, zawiesiste ambientowo-neoklasyczne kompozycje muzyka z Yorku brzmiące całkiem inaczej niż jego muzyka normalnie. Dwa kawałki kosztują tyle, ile zapłacisz.

otom - snowfall

Co zrobić, uwielbiam brzmienie muzyki otom. Ten gęsty shoegaze i senna atmosfera jest tym, czego na ogół poszukuję w podobnych wydawnictwach. Mam nadzieję, że wkrótce Japończyk wyda jakiś dłuższy album. Singiel wraz z wersją alternatywną kosztuje 11 złotych (300 JPY).

Sleepwalkers Baseball Club - Grow Wings

Napisany na nowo utwór z debiutanckiego albumu projektu z Seattle, którego motto brzmi "tańcz jakby cały świat płonął. Bo płonie". Synthpopowy shoegaze, w którym wyjątkowo dla muzyka więcej jest romansu niż nihilistycznej atmosfery. Singiel kosztuje ile zapłacisz.

Veneer - Spheres

Słowacki Veneer powraca po wielu latach i 15 lat od debiutu. I dobrze bo to odpowiednio eteryczny i atmosferyczny trip-hop. Utwór kosztuje tyle, ile zechcesz zapłacić.

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piątek, 18 stycznia 2019

Pilot Cloud - Signals Through The Static (2018) EN

It's not just an album, Signals Through The Static is the Justin Lerner - Nick Biscardi duo's comeback after a decade! In 2008 they released their second album, In Transition, and then lost touch. The new album shows that it was worth it to resume the project and its shoegaze/post-rock atmosphere.

The album was created over the Internet and this left a mark in its lo-fi ambiance. The quality of the recordings is well compensated by their diversity as the melodies, riffs and composing ideas in general make the album worth listening to. Especially that in its every moment you can hear the musicians' core idea: very post-rock guitars (plus some other effects like adding samples from other media in Binary Road) and very shoegaze vocal. Sometimes combinations like this one makes a project chaotic and too complicated but Pilot Cloud can do it well.

Signals Through The Static costs 10 USD.

Check: Binary Road

Country: Washington, US

Genre: lo-fi post-rock

czwartek, 20 grudnia 2018

Emperor Emotion - A Loveless Dimension Called Death (2018) PL

Emperor Emotion to muzyczny głos wydawnictwa sentipentsaris z amerykańskiego Spokane. A Loveless Dimension Called Death, nowa płyta projektu, wypełniona jest nastrojową, a zarazem bardzo zróżnicowaną muzyką. Warto ją sprawdzić.

Warto bo można się w jej trakcie zanurzyć i w ambientach i w synthach i w klawiszowych kompozycjach i w rzężących gitarach. Wszystko to by spróbować osiągnąć sentipentsaris właśnie, jak wyjaśniają zaangażowani w życie wytwórni, jest to "antyczny irlandzki termin na jednoczenie się serca i umysłu". Dźwięki od Emperor Emotion stanowią pełne spektrum od cichych ambientów po wręcz post-rockowe kompozycje na surowe brzmienie gitary elektrycznej (Seven). A wszystko to spotyka się w najlepszym na płycie Farewell To Those Who Died At Sea, rozkręcającym się powoli, ale w końcu miażdżącym słuchaczy pięknym muzycznym hołdzie.

A Loveless Dimension Called Death kosztuje tyle, ile zapłacisz.

Sprawdź: Farewell To Those Who Died At Sea

Kraj: Washington, US

Szufladka: genre-bending post-rock

Emperor Emotion - A Loveless Dimension Called Death (2018) EN

Emperor Emotion is a music tube of the record label sentipentsaris from the American city of Spokane. A Loveless Dimension Called Death, the project's new album, is filled with atmospheric and very diverse at the same time music. Definitely worth checking out.

Worth checking because you can dive into ambients, into synth, into key compositions and into coughing guitars at the same time. Everything to reach the sentipentsaris, as people from the label explain, it's an "ancient Irish term for the getting together of the heart and mind". The sounds from Emperor Emotion make upa whole spectre, from the quiet ambients up to actually post-rock compositions played with very raw sounding electric guitar (Seven). And it all meets in the album's best Farewell To Those Who Died At Sea, slowly developing and crushingly loud in the end music tribute.

A Loveless Dimension Called Death costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: Farewell To Those Who Died At Sea

Country: Washington, US

Genre: genre-bending post-rock