A veteran with a flamboyant comeback and two most promising newcomers are our latest proposals in our discoverer series, all coming from the States, where there's still a lot to love despite the dark times they are (we are) facing. As a wise man used to sing, "music will provide the light you cannot resist"... Enjoy!
Papercuts. We begin our music trip in Los Angeles to meet Jason Quever and his long-standing project. Based in San Francisco until very recently, Papercuts began as a solo endeavour, debuting with album 'Rejoicing Songs', followed by 'Mockingbird' in 2004. But it was their next stride of releases, 'Can't Go Back' in 2007, 'You Can Have What You Want' in 2009, both via Gnomonsong Records, and 'Fading Parade' in 2011, out via the mighty Sub Pop, who certified Quever's talent as a songwriter... as well as a producer, something his ever-growing resumé, including names such as Luna-Dean Wareham, Cass McCombs, The Mantles or Beach House, proves. That studio work became has been his major focus during this decade, with just another Papercuts album, 'Life Among the Savages', out in 2014, breaking that sort of hiatus. Luckily, that standstill is over, as since this October we can enjoy 'Parallel Universe Blues', out via Slumberland Records. A striking combination of melodies and atmospherics, Quever's tunes are the perfect marriage of shoegaze's distant spaces and feedback, the dreamier, moodier side of folk, and an irresistible "Velvetian scent". A soundtrack for the Fall, and a record fated to top the best-of-the lists year.
Blades of Joy. And without leaving California, we remain in the Bay to meet this exciting new combo, formed around 2015 by members of local bands Swanox and Dissolve. There's not a lot of info about the quartet, so we'll happily stick with the music, as their debut, self-titled mini-album out now now via Melters speaks for itself. Seven killer tunesnaturally pairing the electricity with the dusk, the jangle with the haze, the spectral with the rockier. Like the Rain Parade under the Kevin Shields "treatment", there hasn't been a more apt name to define a sound in recent times than Blades of Joy. Not to be missed!
Carbon Poppies. And we end in Lafayette, Louisiana (finally this Blog travels to the Deep South musically), in order to introduce you to this trio responsible of what it looks, smells and, most importantly, sounds like one of the EPs of 2018. Members of other music acts such as Brass Bed, Lost Bayou Ramblers or Kind Cousin, Allison Bohl DeHart, Jonny Campos and Peter DeHart formed Carbon Poppies around 2011, debuting with self-released 6-song, 12” vinyl EP 'And Don’t the Kids Just Love It' in 2012. Since then, not much info available... until now, as the always worth checking Elefant Records has just released their selt-titled sophomore EP under its 'New Adventures in Pop' collection. Four slices of top-notch, hyper-addictive indiepop, with an arresting version of 'Rain On My Face' by the 60s lost band Shape & Sizes, nods to our dear The School as well as to power-pop humming choruses or the slightly psychdelic pop vibes from the golden era of the West Coast pop. A knockout pop gem.
Winter season (well, not so much in Barcelona, but anyway), perfect time of the year to move to sunny California in order to look back to one of the most exciting and influential bands (and records) of the so-called Paisley Underground movement in our Indie Anthology. Guitars, attitude... and a timeless tune!
Song: Tell Me When It's Over
Artist: The Dream Syndicate
Year: 1982
Although my favourite group from the Paisley scene might be The Rain Parade (won't be long until one of their songs ends in this section) it's hard not to consider 'The Days Of Wine and Roses' as, arguably, the most accomplished, explosive and enduring record from that period. Edgier and rockier than their Californian peers, The Dream Syndicate were not so obsessed with the sun-soaked psychdelic vibes, but instead were focused in experimenting with energy, distortion and crunching guitars. And there's not a better example of that "make no prisoners" sound than the sonic blast of single 'Tell Me When It's Over', with Karl Precoda's rattling guitar riff sounding almost like a "call to arms", being quickly joined by the rhythmic section of bass player Kendra Smith and dummer Dennis Duck, before Steve Wynn impersonates Lou Reed's vocal delivery, pointing out the obvious Velvet's reference. 'Tell Me When It's Over' is "a song of songs". You can hear the echoes of the past tunes that fuelled its existence, as well as the pieces that, going forward, pushed to create... left of the dial. "That beautiful noise", again...
Papercuts. We begin our music trip in Los Angeles to meet Jason Quever and his long-standing project. Based in San Francisco until very recently, Papercuts began as a solo endeavour, debuting with album 'Rejoicing Songs', followed by 'Mockingbird' in 2004. But it was their next stride of releases, 'Can't Go Back' in 2007, 'You Can Have What You Want' in 2009, both via Gnomonsong Records, and 'Fading Parade' in 2011, out via the mighty Sub Pop, who certified Quever's talent as a songwriter... as well as a producer, something his ever-growing resumé, including names such as Luna-Dean Wareham, Cass McCombs, The Mantles or Beach House, proves. That studio work became has been his major focus during this decade, with just another Papercuts album, 'Life Among the Savages', out in 2014, breaking that sort of hiatus. Luckily, that standstill is over, as since this October we can enjoy 'Parallel Universe Blues', out via Slumberland Records. A striking combination of melodies and atmospherics, Quever's tunes are the perfect marriage of shoegaze's distant spaces and feedback, the dreamier, moodier side of folk, and an irresistible "Velvetian scent". A soundtrack for the Fall, and a record fated to top the best-of-the lists year. 
Carbon Poppies. And we end in Lafayette, Louisiana (finally this Blog travels to the Deep South musically), in order to introduce you to this trio responsible of what it looks, smells and, most importantly, sounds like one of the EPs of 2018. Members of other music acts such as Brass Bed, Lost Bayou Ramblers or Kind Cousin, Allison Bohl DeHart, Jonny Campos and Peter DeHart formed Carbon Poppies around 2011, debuting with self-released 6-song, 12” vinyl EP 'And Don’t the Kids Just Love It' in 2012. Since then, not much info available... until now, as the always worth checking Elefant Records has just released their selt-titled sophomore EP under its 'New Adventures in Pop' collection. Four slices of top-notch, hyper-addictive indiepop, with an arresting version of 'Rain On My Face' by the 60s lost band Shape & Sizes, nods to our dear The School as well as to power-pop humming choruses or the slightly psychdelic pop vibes from the golden era of the West Coast pop. A knockout pop gem. 
