Beverly - South Collins (video)

Thick and foggy, Beverly's latest single is pure guitar pop at its best. Like a sleepier Paula Cole song, played near an idling chainsaw, this tune is both delicate and jagged. There are hints of Lush here, yet less of the psychedelia and more of the moonscaped pop. It would be easy to label a song like this as shoegaze, but it feels much more like a forgotten cut off Gish, or Belong. While everyone waits for the summer club bangers to trickle onto the net, its nice to grasp onto some serious rawk. The video captures a jaded songstress dealing with heartbreak in a rural town. Slow-motion shots of hip locals at the bar and fall folliage take on an almost sinister vibe here, though its hard to place quite why. Take a look and have listen right here:

Bird Nest Roys - Aint Mutatin (video)

Look Back In Anger: Hi, Swingers!! Its been a little while but its time to begin again. First off special shoutout to Yumi Zouma and GVB for turning me on to this amazing group of New Zealanders, from they heyday of Flying Nun. Like being swirlied in a toilet of rainbow tea, this woozy single reverberates with psychedelic warmth and glittering harmonies. Not unlike other excellent Flying Nun label mates, Bird Nest Roys, dabbled in both jangley college rock, and hazified Dream Pop. Cast in black and white and complete with groovy background dancers, The Roys, (with a wink and a nod), knowingly acknowledge their roots in late 60s drug music, like The Byrds, or The Stones circa Their Satantic Majesties; while simultaneously layering in touches of modern Pop, a la REM, or The Field Mice. This tune really reminds me of the My Bloody Valentine song, "Cigarette In Your Bed," with the way it phases around your head like lovely purple fog. Trust me this one is worth a listen. Dig it man, dig it:

Deerhunter - Breaker (video)

Deerhunter continue to breathe life into a somewhat stagnant pool of music being produced this year. 2015 has been chalked full of impressive releases and yet, sadly, there continues to being a plethora of utter schlock rattling around the net. Well, the schlock stops here. Deerhunter a band that progressively continues to progress and will probably prove to be a group of truly propulsive pop prospectors, drop this song, a hot new single that will force you to keep pressing play. Breaker is the amalgam of all things Deerhunter; with a hook and tonality that somehow seems to transcend all of their past work at the same time. It is a song that is equal parts Orange Juice and Fleetwood Mac, with extra touches of Dream Pop and modern Indie guitar music. Melting 6 strings peel away, beneath a street walkin bass. The hook erupts with a crescendo of duelling harmonies that could make Grizzly Bear jealous. There's also a dreamy Pumkins'esque bridge that allows the song to drift slightly, if only for a moment, before being sucked back into place by that unforgivably kept bass. The frontier may be fading, but the boys of DH are still shining bright. Check it:

Tamaryn - Cranekiss (video)

The quintessential combination of the two words Dream and Pop reach a pinnacle, with this perfect tune. Cranekiss is another breezy, yet driven single, from ona-roll Gaze Queen, Tamaryn. Pitch bent guitars, flangey bass, the sparkling hint of an icy synthesizer; they're all carefully laid to bed beneath Tamaryn's delicately-drugged-out croons. Like Pale Saints meets Ulrich Schnauss, but better. I seriously just played this one 4 times over. You'll be craning not to miss!

Lusts - Mouthwash

Blending the rigid basslines of Post Punk with the shimmers of Dream- Pop, Lusts craft a gripping tone that reaches deep into your cavities. Reminiscent of The Wild Swans and possibly REM, or Echo and The Bunnymen, this is a soaring jam with overblown guitars and synths. You'll probably dig this one:

Yumi Zouma - Alena

New Zealand Soft Pop conduits, Yumi Zouma, explore a danicer realm with their latest single, Alena. The fluttering guitar lines are not so much abandon, as they are put to the side here, while room is made for some swollen string patches and bouncy piano chords. Its very easy on the ears and reminds me a little of Air France. Elements of House, Disco, and Dream Pop are stewed together in this crock:

Blonde Redhead - No More Honey

Blonde Redhead return with a stripped down, flanged out single, off their upcoming LP. Throbbing with pitch bends and a vocal hooks, Redhead seem to be recalling (or re-examining) various Dream Pop motifs. No More Sorry or A Forest come to mind.

The Clientele - An Hour Before The Light

Look Back In Anger: The Clientele are true connoisseurs of nostalgia, crafting masterful sound-pictures that seem to completely encapsulate the feeling of by-gone eras that no one has ever actually lived through. Not unlike a piece by Angelo Badalimenti, or Belle & Sebastion, or Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Clientele traverse the well-trodden path that lies between 90s Dream Pop and moody, 60s Rock-n-roll. It's a sort of sound that is almost unplaceable, like a forgotten Zombies record recently unearthed in someone's attic, or a more modern group, signed to Mexican Summer, with roots in Shoegaze. Soon The Clientele's first record Suburban Light will be reissued and and we can all travel back, once again, to 2000, or perhaps even further.... Whichever it is, this one of my favorite tracks of their's off that record. Have a lis:

Pure X - Starlight

Pure X return with a spindly dream ballad, that shows us the way to their love. This is a really lovely, glittering slow jam, with hints of late 80s R&B and Dream Pop. The progression itself is a shadow of Lush's Kinky Love. Feeling star-struck and strung-out in a post Valentine's haze? This one's for you.

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!

Mac DeMarco - Treat Her Better

Mac is back. Everyone's favourite lovable dirtbag, treats a crowd of pseudo-intellectual fashionistas, to a stripped down rendition of his latest track. Salad Days, MDM's new LP, wil be out this Spring and little titbits have begun to flake off into the web. Doubtless it will be a wonderful slew of easy going dream-pop, if Treat Her Better is any indication. Mac bends chords into his own Franken-Rock-N-Roll progression, while serenading the younglings with a cautionary tale about treating your babe with respect, bro!

Yumi Zouma - The Brae

Twinkling Dream Pop by way of New Zealand, Yumi Zouma serve up a healthy portion of Twee casserole, with The Brae. Reminiscent of early Wild Nothing, Talulah Gosh, and more recently Pure Bathing Culture, this a track that jangles with echoy guitar and balearic vocal harmonies. Are you super into bay window seat cushions? Do you have a strong affinity for all things paisley? Do vintage hairbrushes have a special place in your heart? And is watching the film Blow Up a weekly routine of yours? Well this is clearly a tune for you:

The Stone Roses - I Want To Be Adorded

It's Monday so its time for another instalment of Looking Back In Anger. For this week's chapter we focus our gaze on the Madchester golden boys, The Stone Roses. Roses are one of those bands you can continually come back to and recently I've come back around. 2014 feels like a year of the Roses. Last year they had their epic reunion tours and rumours were floated that a new album was in the works, one can only hope it will arrive this year. Stone Roses were and are one of the only bands to successfully blend the psychedelic ambience of late 80s dream-pop with stadium ready hooks of 90s Brit Pop. If Second Coming hadn't been so panned they could have gone one to be much larger than Oasis or even The Smiths. Check out their clip for the spine tingling, I Want To Be Adored, right here:

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Belong

The new video for TPOBPAH is a real trip down memory pane. The Pains haven't put out an album since 2011, so this clip is sorta a blast from the past.. on numerous levels. Proving that not everyone does look good in make-up, the band puts together a their best Cure-meets-Pumpkins-meets-Weezer look for a totally 90s stage(d) performance of Belong. It's a fun vid, and brings to mind the latest from Dum Dum Girls, which also rips visuals from the hey-day of Alt videos. So tune in here! And get your fuzz on:

Gems - Ephemera

Wirly-gaze, ghost-pulse, newcomers, Gem conjure up an Autumn ear-worm that is sure to get everyone's goat. Something about the side-chained beat, plus the gothy bassline, and the lofty vocals give this jam a unique, sorta totally 2013 dream-pop feel.... Don't roll your eyes, just take the dive!:)

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:

Medicine - It's Not Enough

Rippling tides of buzzing guitars liquidate the latest from LA-based 90s-gaze all-stars, Medicine! Medicine gained ground with a re-imagining of their single Time Baby II for the Crow soundtrack. That came out ages ago, but luckily everyone is like way into the dream-pop scene again and Medicine has born itself anew; dropping in our laps a new collection of skull-sizzling fuzz-poppers. It's Not Enough has a familiar Med-sound, with the vocals low and the guitars super echoy and loud. The video is some heady shit. The band is rockin in a basement-like-studio-space, with rainbow amoebas and other microscopic creatures scuttling across the cameras lens - Its a beautiful thing.

Mazzy Star - California

Wispy, dissonant, dream-folk - the descriptive terms one might invoke when describing Hope Sandoval and Mazzy Star. MS haven't released a proper LP since 96, when they were reigning high in the acousti-gaze scene, but now they're back! They're new album, Seasons of Your Day will drop in September, but California, the lead single is out now! Hope sounds as breathy and lonesome as ever and David Roback's guitar seems to still be lost in the paisley fog of the 90s. Yet, while this is a very Mazzified tune, there is also an air of the late 60s singer-songwriter era, not unlike Vashti Bunyan or even Karen Carpenter. Check it out, guys!

DIANA - Born Again

Psych-funk. Same vein as Summer Camp but cooler. Annndddddddd TrIPpIer!

Badlands - Sleeping Beauty

If you had to predict a song that could wind up on the soundtrack of a future Sofia Coppola film, this would at least be on a top 10 list. Badlands seem to blur the lines between dreamy, wall of sound type ballads, Jesus and Mary Chain ambiance and slowcore indie-pop, popularized by bands like Beach House. Washed with a romantic sheen, this track is packed with perfect mood-setting melodies. Light a couple candles, uncork that bottle of Chianti, and let Badlands unwind in your ear.