Slowdive - Silver Screen

Look Back In Anger: I had the pleasure of entering a portal of pure bliss this past Saturday, when I witnessed a performance by the recently reunited Slowdive, in New York City. One of the greatest sources of inspiration musically and creatively as a whole, Slowdive has had a massive impact on my life. These days the the trappings of the Shoegaze sound are everywhere to be found, inhabiting the most prevalent of Indie Rock, as well as the most obscure. It makes perfect sense that a band like Slowdive would reboot at a time like this, yet its odd to think that a relatively minor musical movemonet, that remained relevant for about 5 years, has had such deep impact on today's sonic stratosphere. There's no point rehashing the in's and out's of the scene that celebrated itself, when its merely a Google search away. It is worth noting that a group like Slowdive could be classified as Shoegaze royalty. They endured virtually zero chart activity in the US through their span of the 90s, and on Saturday night they played a sold-out show to 3000 people. Tonality-wise there are at least a dozen other modern and past acts who could accurately be compared to Slowdive, but few come close in dealing such devastatingly powerful blows via their song-writing. When the twinkling of the first few chords of Shine finally reaches a crescendo, one can almost feel that sun beating down in a mystical meadow. When the slide of the guitar bends back on itself in The River Man, you can picture the film to which it belongs. The greatness of Slowdive comes not only from their understanding and warping of Pop songs, but from the full spectrum of sensations that are evoked in each of their songs. Here's a demo cut of one of their early recordings of the Silver Screen. The quality here is rough, but song is top notch, touching on their earlier noisier roots:

Black Hearted Brother - Got Your Love (video)

Black Hearted Brother, the Shoegaze super group, provide a brand new vid for their Got Your Love single. We already know how infectious the song is, combining early Flaming Lips-type electronics with some crunchy guitars and Neil Halstead's recognizable Slowdive vocal delivery. Here the Brothers monkey about, presumably the English coast, and then psych us out with some trippy visuals. Def worth a gander: )

Slowdive - Shine

Another Monday, another day to reflect on the mundane. It's also time for another weekly installment of Look Back In Anger, where we look back through a tiny tiny lens on one artist that I happen to think is important. When I'm out and about on the steets and someone recognizes me I usually get asked one of two questions. The first being: "Hey, is the express train down this way?" The second being: "Kevin, what is Shoegaze?" And in response to that latter, I must say, "Shoegaze is not a thing, its a way of life, bro." Is it the sound of the wind rustling the pine bows of winter-logged Fir trees, gathered along the coast? No, it is not. Is it the sound of a leaky fawcet that wakes you from a foggy dream about fluorescent clouds that drift into your bedroom and drip rainbow candy onto your head? More or less, yes, it is. If I had to pick a band to introduce someone to this furtive genre I would pick My Bloody Valentine, but a close runner up would undoubtedly be Slowdive. Recently my mind evaporated when the internet announced Slowdive's reunion. The band is reuniting after 20 years, to do a new album and play new shows. It seems only too appropriate that we at Bigfoot Sightings report this astounding news from the world of Dream-Pop. Bellow watch one of the few clips for Slowdive, where they swirl through a field of wild flowers and get lost in their guitars and the sky. Stay tuned to LBS for all the latest shoegaze and Slowdive news to come!

Black Hearted Brother - (I Don't Mean to) Wonder

Shoegaze super-group featuring Neil Halstead of Slowdive and Mark Van Hoen of Seefeel, have come together to catharticly disembowel the world, through the power of ambient music. A few things to consider with this post: I personally have been waiting for Slowdive to reunite for a millenia and stumbling upon an email from a friend detailing the reunion of Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell on satge for a few dates in London was enough to implode my cranium. But then I read on. Not only has Neil reunited with Rachel, but he has also reunited with the sound of distortion. None of that yawn inducing, pseduo-country, Moajave 3 crap here! Black Hearted Brother is Neil and Mark Van Hoen shedding their ability to tour with Jack Johnson, and fulling engulfing themselves in the soup of early 90s big muff, Marshall stack, unintelligible-hyper-delay vocal greatness!

Let's be real. In 2013 have they reinvented the wheel? No. Have they even put out a new track that is as good as their best Slowdive or Seelfeel shit? ehhhh..No... BUT DON'T FRET! The tune might not be mind-blowing but its pretty damn satisfying.. even just hearing Neil repeat the line "I don't mean to wonder," in that blissed-out, monotone beauty is spine tingling. The is like the finale to Breaking Bad. Was it the finest, most artfully written BB episode to date? No way. But everyone has been waiting for it for so fucking long that it was enough for it just to air. It was a sweet episode, okay? Jack and those Nazis got lit up and Jessie got to drive off into the night, and that is what is happening here. It's not quite Slowdive, but some Nazis are getting blown away. No Doubt, you need to check this:

Baby Birds Don't Drink Milk - Saturday

Amazing Slowdive meets The Microphones sorta track. Fuzzy repetitive ambiance, with an irresistible chord progression. Like a long lost tape from a now defunct 90s group, found in your uncle's attic bedroom in your grandma's house. BBDDM has that nostalgic feel that many groups attempt and never get quite right. Bedroom-sleep-pop, y'all.

Morningrise

I'm on a big Slowdive bender these days, as everyone should be this time of year. So check out their super wonder video for "Morningrise"


Any chance they will reunite? I still sleep with my fingers crossed every night.

Souvlaki Space Station

I'm all about sweet visuals set to sweet music. So here's some Slowdive and images from the spacetelescope.org. Prepare to space out!: