You'll be in no way surprised to learn of the 'Pacific northwest kids' who comprise Seattle ensemble Beach Vacation's penchant for Captured Tracks' back catalogue even after a cursory listen to their latest, the Maritime EP. They cite the likes of Beach Fossils, Wild Nothing and Craft Spells among their key influences, and it shows in the sonic makeup of the four pieces to comprise the release though so too is the guidance of 'every Swedish pop band' since ever key, and never is this more so than on the song which concludes the piece. Though it's [...]
>> So rarely does a song rate on our proprietary Spicoli/Sneaker Rockness Axis (which, briefly, means a song rocks us so hard that listening to it makes us want to hit ourselves repeatedly in the skull with a sneaker a la "Fast Times At Ridgemont High" protagonist Jeff Spicoli), that we had to look up the small number of instances in our archives (we'll shortcut it for you: 1 , 2 , 3 ). But this new number "Mind Like A Sieve" from Cambridge, Mass.-based Varsity Drag is just such a rocker. It's [...]
If you've never experienced the bliss of Pia Fraus before, this is your moment. Their formation is the stuff of... well, its easy to ham up. Six Estonian art school students came together in the late nineties to write dreamy pop songs, in 2001 their debut LP 'Wonder What It’s Like' was born. The band have re-recorded (or remastered) all of their key tracks for a new compilation called 'Silmi Island' (1998-2008), available on January 22 through Shelflife Records ( order here ). Take a listen to ' Feeling Is New ', first released in 2006 on the Pia Fraus album 'Nature Heart Software'. [...]
It wouldn't be hyperbolic to say we've had some shakeups at the Girlpants offices. When I say offices, I mean offices: we had some pretty nice ones, but we lost them in an ill-considered card game that big time hustlers Joel and Mike initiated against a rival blogful of poker-shark web journalists. Then several hard, unmusical years passed, and we could nary afford a seven-inch as we lived on oatmeal packets, the paltry nickels from our freelance stump grinding, and whatever Ben could scare up spanging by the highway on-ramp with his "Opinions: 25 Cents" sign. But our hard work [...]
Everybody go awwwwhhhh. Think this is the first time I’ve thought that shoegaze could actually sound sweet, normally my reaction to it is to well up inside or coil in the corner with near fatal goosebumpery. ‘Loveloops’ is taken from the Estonian’s 4th LP ‘After The Summer’ and was produced by Norman Blake. Wait, Norman flippin’ Blake, that explains things, he of the pole position monopolising Grand Prix making Teenage Fanclub. In truth Pia Fraus were always a step above the bandwagonesque of a torrent of nice indie bands, they like to pack lots of decent tunes you see. ‘Loveloops’ [...]
Listen/Download: "Springsister" Myspace Amazon
Κυρίες και κύριοι, ladies and gentlemen, mesdames et messieurs.. καλωσήλθατε στον τρίτο διαγωνισμό της εναλλακτικής Eurovision ! Μετά την περσινή νίκη της Ρωσίας ο διαγωνισμός [φανταστείτε ότι] μεταδίδεται από την παγωμένη Μόσχα . Ο οικοδεσπότης σας υπόσχεται ότι δεν θα αλλάξει τουαλέτα κατά τη διάρκεια της μετάδοσης [η κρίση βλέπετε..] Φέτος οι συμμετοχές έφτασαν τις 22, και για κάποιες χώρες η επιλογή ήταν τόσο δύσκολη που από του χρόνου μας βλέπω να φιλοξενούμε και προκριματικό διαγωνισμό για κάθε χώρα [λέμε τώρα.. έχουμε και ζωή ξέρετε! ξαναλέμε τώρα..] [...]
No doubt that regular readers are familiar with the satirical Billy Corgan Twitter gimmick . It's really taken off in a ways that I could not have foreseen, and I have to assume that you all might be interested in an update. First, Corgan himself has acknowledged its existence. Official statement from the King Pumpkin, found in paragraph six of his mission statement thesis : I do plan on doing other things coming up though. I have notions to start 2 other bands and also release some more solo work. I would [...]
Image From Here It really seems to me that the pace of life has gotten out of control these days. Everyone is in a hurry to get something done or to be somewhere fast. Even though I am unemployed right now, I still feel the 'tug' of the maddening, fast pace of life. You see it everywhere; at the store, driving in your car, and even twittering on the internet (I do like to twitter though). Don't get me wrong, sometimes I thrive on this pace. It gets me moving and doing things [...]
There's no real need for an introduction. Spring is here finally, and it rules. West coasters may not be privy to this, but on the east coast, we have this thing called February which really sucks the life out of you. With these new mild conditions and sunshine, I had the energy to pull together a rather massive springtime collection of music - sunny folk and psychedelia (with annotations!) that evokes the oft conjured imagery of the season that I won't waste time reiterating here. This gangsta-ass mix is so massive, as a matter of fact, that it will be [...]
The ever-consistent XLR8R have recruited Dreamweapon to put together this mix of sound odysseys and dreamy drones. Melodies in Distortion covers the pedal-attacking pioneers of the early shoegaze movement, paired with the contemporary Wah armed gangs of the newgaze formation, then sidelined by a mind melt of the space-rock and drone-driven pedal pushers. Enjoy this leap through the decades. Melodies in Distortion Mix Tracklist: 1. Mogwai - Stereodee 2. Spectrum - Undo the Taboo 3. Slowdive - Slowdive 4. [...]
Listen/Download: "You Look Fine" Myspace On Amazon MP3
Listen/Download: "Moon Like a Pearl" Myspace Amazon MP3
So, Shoegaze (again). For a genre that was derided back in the day, it's become awfully prevalent - as long as you know where to look. Pia Fraus hail from the exotic-sounding Tallinn, Estonia, which is actually just a stone's throw from Swedes ( The Radio Dept. come to mind) and such. Their recent release, After Summer , hits a sweet spot between loud guitars and soft vocals. It's not terribly distinguishable from their peers, but it's pretty, enjoyable dream pop. In any case, their niche isn't really about innovation; it's more [...]
Pia Fraus just recently returned this past May to deliver their fourth and latest album upon us titled After Summer . The album also happens to be a return to Clairecords, which released their second full-length In Solarium five years ago. Since then the bands has released one other record along with a couple EP’s in between. I must say, Claire has been on a pretty good roll lately with their releases and judging by the songs contained on After Summer it’s [...]
Half Man Half Biscuit - Blue Badge Abuser (Probe Plus) Taken from the new album "CSI Ambleside". Buy Here Bardot Pond - A Tune (Three Lobed Recordings) Taken from the new mini album thingy "Batholith" which is apparently just a small compilation of stuff they just had lying around. There are only six tracks on here but every one's a winner. The Wedding Present - Boo Boo (Pinnacle) Another track from the new album "El Ray". Out 26th April. [...]
Pia Fraus and Herrs (vague feeling of mistranslation. . .) Team Powerpopulist doesn’t always display creativity or logic in its rationale for posting particular songs in particular posts. Some of the fault owes to the filing system. True, it’s hard to blame something that doesn’t exist, but all of this is to say we’ve come across some songs we’d intended to post back in earlier days of the
This series covers some of my top favorite albums of the past 7 seven year (2000-2007). There is no order or ranking - they are as a collective whole my favorite albums. And if you have read Part I and Part II, you are probably wondering where the Shoegaze is. Well, here is Part III. Who would ever think that one of the top Shoegaze ( Neugaze ) albums of this decade would come out of a band from Estonia ? Pia Fraus are from Estonia [...]
Dearest Friends, I'm so happy! What a story I have for you! But it's not really mine to tell. And you may already have heard about it over at Dearest Vinyl Villain's . So if you have, hold on to that warm, fuzzy feeling and feel free to skip on down to the celebratory tunes below. So, that story. It's about e-boy meets e-girl in Blogtopia, then real boy meets real girl, in Utopia. Only with the Isle of Man standing in as proxy for Utopia. It's got everything: tea, twee, goth, and, erm, (sea) froth. And [...]
Pia Fraus take the ‘Loveless’ template, stir it about and come back with what it would have sounded like if they had been My Bloody Valentine. This might sound like a recipe for disaster considering the legendary status of ‘Loveless’ yet Pia Fraus’ knack for a tasteful presentation of the dynamics means much of what they peddle is hugely entertaining. ‘400 & 57’ is taken from their sophomore
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