STREAM: Silversun Pickups - Bloody Mary (Nerve Endings)
Silversun Pickups has built a career on fuzzed-out sonic layers of sound that build into shoegazey dream-pop numbers. The Los Angeles group’s third effort, Neck Of The Woods, which will come out May 1 via Dangerbird Records, is no different. “Bloody Mary (Nerve Endings)” is the album’s debut single – a lush, heavily-tiered song that reclaims the band’s penchant for distorted melodies.
DOWNLOAD: Dive - How Long Have You Known
.jpg)
As much as I sometimes want to take a stance against jangly guitars and icy moods, I just can't when it's this good. Dive is rapidly becoming one of my favorite local bands here in New York, and their new single "How Long Have You Known" is just so dreamy and so well-produced that I have to give right in to its embrace. Hear more on Oshin, which comes June 26 on Captured Tracks.
DOWNLOAD: Evil Eyes - Evil Eyes
You know, it's really not a bad idea for a new band to release a theme song on its first EP. That's what Evil Eyes, a dreamy San Francisco duo, has done with this title/band track kicking-off its debut. This one is just so California with slide guitar, languid tempo and lyrics about "footsteps down the hall." You can download the entire EP for free on the group's Bandcamp page.
STREAM: Beach House - Myth
Teen Dream, Beach House's last effort, is now over two years old, but it has certainly maintained its devastating beauty. "Myth" is the first album-related single we've heard since then, and, yes, it's very dreamy – the production a little glossier and hooks a little stronger. Victoria Legrand's voice is basically a weapon at this point. The group just announced this will be part of Bloom, its new Sub Pop LP, which comes May 15.
DOWNLOAD: Memoryhouse - Walk With Me
(Photo: Vanessa Heins)
On "Walk With Me," Memoryhouse sound like they built a studio in the prettiest cloud they could find. Airy, plodding, tastefully orchestrated and with just enough anthemic indie elements to soundtrack college evenings, the track serves as an intriguing sample for the group's full-length Sub Pop debut The Slideshow Effect. Look for more February 28.
DOWNLOAD: Beach Fossils - Shallow
"Shallow" is unashamed to be a glistening piece of dream-pop. It's like Beach Fossils just got out of the pool before recording it. Guitars jump and ping around, bass bounces with sprightly intuition and the drums form a distinctive motor. It's the A-side to a new single that band is putting out via Captured Tracks on February 21.
DOWNLOAD: Blouse - Videotapes
In 2011, is there anything more degraded, expendable and expectedly warped than a dusty video tape? Blouse seems to feel that way on the track "Videotapes" -- a bad acid trip of a pop song that warbles along into wild transcendence. There's some '80s elements here in the soft, echoing siren of the vocals and bold, unabashed synth blares, but the track's smeared audio drives it into the territory of My Bloody Valentine and Broadcast singles discovered under some boxes in a basement. Find more on this Portland band's self-titled debut LP November 1 on Captured Tracks.
DOWNLOAD: Asobi Seksu - Little House Of Savages (Walkmen Cover)
.jpg)
New Yorkers have each others' backs. The city's bands are no different. Take Asobi Seksu. The Brooklyn group surprised everyone (OK, the Internet) last week with a cover of The Walkmen's intense "Little House Of Savages." Trading some of the original's energy and emotion for shoegazey guitars, Asobi singer Yuki Chikudate's lovely pipes surely provide a different look compared to Walkmen vocalist Hamilton Leithauser and his distinctive whiskey-soaked, lovelorn style.
