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PREMIERE: She's So Rad - Confetti
Hell yeah, new New Zealand ‘90s-flecked shoegaze! Ladyhawke openers and peppermint indie rockers She’s So Rad have really won us over with “Confetti.” Remember that time when you went to a concert at some crappy stadium in, oh I dunno, Hartford, with a million kids packed into the car and you sat next to your ninth grade crush and your elbows touched the whole time, and then during the show you kept accidentally brushing each other too? And you spent the car ride home wondering if you’d kiss and your stomach was flipping and you wanted to throw up in euphoria? That’s what this song sounds like. The moment before you stepped out of that car, stalled in front of your house, waiting for that kiss.
STREAM: My Bloody Valentine - Good For You
A familiar drone ushers in the latest offering from My Bloody Valentine entitled "Good for You." While still basking in the haze of MBV's layered vocals, this previously-unreleased EP-era track transitions into less shoegazey territory on the shoulders of a consistent Colm Ó Cíosóig drumbeat. Get a load of it in advance of the landmark group's reissue blitzkrieg, which finally comes May 7 after years of delays.
Stream: My Bloody Valentine - Good For You [Pitchfork]
PREMIERE: NIHITI - Ghosts And Lovers (Marissa Nadler Cover)
It's no secret that ghosts and lovers are the two things that scare me the most. NIHITI seems to understand that mindset on this Marissa Nadler cover. "Ghosts And Lovers" takes a distant four-to-the-floor to cold hymnal territory. When the searing guitars finally hit, it turns into a shoegaze explosion that clouds everything – a burial and an act of pushing away. Their new album For Ostland is out May 27 on Lo Bit Landscapes.
DOWNLOAD: Dive - Geist
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Dreamy, driving and evocative, "Geist" is yet another pitch-perfect track from Brooklyn band Dive. Sure, there's enough reverb here to stifle a birth, but the motorik push of the drums and torrential psychedelic guitar should make you pick up your step right quick. Is Krautrock having a resurgence in 2012? It's part of a new single coming April 3 on Captured Tracks with a debut on the way thereafter.
DOWNLOAD: Yppah - Film Burn (feat. Anomie Belle) (Kwes Remix)
(Photo: Theo Jemison)
Atmospheric electrokid Yppah looks like a nice gentle fellow and likely he is, judging from this shoegazey Kwes lift of “Film Burn.” It’s all buzz-drunk beats and spirit vocals and torpor-inducing layers of dusk swirled around what is essentially, a very nice and gentle and hooky electronica effort. Get the even kinder original on Yppah's upcoming album, when it settles on Ninja Tune on April 2.
DOWNLOAD: Young Prisms - Floating In Blue
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After spending my required two weeks wearing out the ol' iPhone grooves on My Bloody Valentine's catalog each winter, I crave (no, need) more. Fortunately, San Francisco band Young Prisms has come through with the cloudy molasses of "Floating In Blue." If you wanted to grab the guitars here, it wouldn't be possible. Mix that with sweet, hushed female vocals, a bass more rumbling than present and skittery drums, and you got yourself a shoegaze song that still feels contemporary. Hear more on In Between, which comes March 27 on Kanine Records.
DOWNLOAD: Dive - Sometime
What's it like to be buried under a mound of guitars? Zachary Cole Smith, a member of Brooklyn shimmering indie crew Beach Fossils, posits a guess in his new solo project Dive. "Sometime" is something of a six-string cathedral with chiming chords bouncing off its walls and vocals smeared atop a minimal drum machine thump. It's also a 7-inch single, which is available now on the ever-excellent Captured Tracks.
DOWNLOAD: Sleeping Bags - Shark
If you're not feeling a little shoegaze in the autumn, then, well, you're probably a well-adjusted person and I'm very happy for you. For everyone else, there's Sleeping Bags' "Shark." The track is no deep-sea killer, but its guitars are packed with countless layers, creating a cavernous, spacey effect that could easily soundtrack the next time you're trapped inside a frozen lake. Need more? The Los Angeles band's self-titled debut is out now on Easter Everywhere.
