Discoverer 167: new indie findings

September's arrival comes with a new round of our discoverer series with a trio of infallible Antipodean proposals, with bands and artists that have come out with some of the most exciting releases of the year so far. Long life to guitar indie-pop from down under!

School Damage. We begin our trip between Melbourne and Geelong, with this foursome formed around 2013, although initially it was the bedroom pop project of Carolyn Hawkins (member of the great Chook Race and also in Parsnip) and Jake Robertson (Ausmuteants), releasing the tape 'Deep Net' that November via Moontown Records. Then the duo expanded to its current format with the addition of Jeff Raty on drums and Dani 'Damage' Hakim on bass. After two 7", 'Break Up' in August 2014 and 'Phone Drone / Something New' in October 2016, the band came out in 2017 with their self-titled debut album, out in June 2017 thanks to Chapter Music. This year they have released another 7", 'Sings' ... Four Songs About One Cat' out via Upset! The Rhythm in May and, since this August, their sophomore album 'A To X'. Like an impossible crossover of Look Blue Go Purple, Young Marble Giants and Television Personalities, their songs are quirky and über catchy  indiepop tunes revolving around shaky keyboards and knitting bass lines. Instant crush.    

The Beths. Quick shift to Auckland, New Zealand, to meet this irresistible (damnit I missed their recent gig in Barcelona) four-piece leaded by Elizabeth Stokes (guitarist, lead vocalist, and primary songwriter). A band of longtime friends, Stokes and guitarist Jonathan Pearce attended high school together, and at the University of Auckland meet up with old mates bassist Benjamin Sinclair and drummer Ivan Luketina-Johnston, where they studied jazz. Luckily for us, that genre has nothing to do with The Beths music, something we started to confirm in March 2016 with debut EP 'Warm Blood'. Now the band wants to hig big with first album 'Future Me Hates Me' out via Carpark Records since this August. And they should achieve that goal, because the record is a knockout collection of energetic and infectious guitar indie-rock tunes packed with bitting lyrics, joyful pop hooks and killer vocal harmonies. Heavy contender for debut album of the year.

Hatchie.  And we return to Australia to meet Harriette Pilbeam, a very young artist from Brisbane who is making a lot of "good noise" over the blogosphere thanks to her debuting EP 'Sugar & Spice', out since May. Formerly part of Blog favourites Go Violets, her current incarnation has been properly active since 2016, the 25 year-old musican's tunes are an inmediately catchy coalescence of dreampop landscapes and the poppier side of shoegaze, with a stunning knack for penning the definitive pop hook. Yeah, it might have a bit of that everywhere now 80s sound and the "sugar", or the Sky Ferreira-Carly Rae Jepsen (ugh) could easily "win" in forthcoming releases. But there's no point in creating future bad vibes as, for now, we can enjoy this addictive five tunes summoning the spirits of The Sundays of Cocteau Twins. Lot to love.

Discoverer 153: new indie findings

It wasn't planned, we guarantee you! But this week's trio of music findings in our discoverer series, are all based in Texas (Dallas & Austin) so here comes our unexpected little tribute to the 'Lone Star State'. A place for great music!

Danny de la Matyr. Born & raised in Dallas, Texas, and following the footsteps of his father, a country musician, Danny quickly blossomed into a gifted artist (he majored in painting and drawing) within the emergent scene around Denton. Aside playing in a renowned Beatles cover band, A Hard Night’s Day, he fronted The Days, a celebrated local power-pop combo who published one album 'The Mystery Of The Watched Pot' in 1996 before calling it a day. Then De La Matyr moved to L.A., making himself a name as in-demand guitarist/singer (playing for Rhett Miller, Jesse Malin or Lukas Haas), while he assembled another short-fated band, The Sheers, who recorded LP 'Goodbye World' in 2006. Next step for Danny was backing Luther Russell on several albums and tours, as well as contributing harmonies to the self-titled debut album by Those Pretty Wrongs, Luther’s project with Big Star's legend Jody Stephens. In return, Luther got in charge of production duties of De la Matyr's first solo album, which got an anticipated release with the 7" 'Lines b/w “How Can It Be' in late 2013. Now, since February 2017, and thanks to our beloved Pretty Olivia Records, 'Crybaby' has seen the light of day. I could remark Danny's masterful songcrafting, his arresting voice... but these would be understatements. Let me say it sounds as exciting, haunting and disarming as finding there was another amazing Big Star record "missing", waiting to be discovered. This Blog album of the year so far...

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Molly Burch. Born and raised in L.A., California, but now based in Austin, Ms. Burch was surrounded by the arts since a very early age, as both her parents work in the movie industry (as writer/producer and casting director). The old Hollywood musicals were a first but major influence. One that impulsed her finding her own voice as a teenager and packing up to University of North Carolina in Asheville to study Jazz Vocal Performance, where she met guitarist Dailey Toliver, a key contributor to her music. After moving to Austin Burch began to write her own songs, tunes that, with the help of Toliver and Dan Duszynski of Cross Record, have become 'Please Be Mine', debut album out since February via Captured Tracks. A soulful, smoky, vintage affair, one in which Burch's vocals stand out, an Angel Olsen close pal as well as a modern Patsy Cline reincarnation, warm, raw & real. Definitely one to watch, folks.

Blushing. And we remain in Austin for our last discoverer of the week, this promising dream-pop/shoegaze quartet (as a curiosity, formed by two married couples) formed in the summer of 2015, when Michelle Soto found the right music companion for her guitar compositions in Christina Carmona, quickly enlisting their respective husbands's talents on drums and lead guitar to assemble a proper band. Now we can enjoy their self-released debut EP 'Tether', out since January 13th, four tunes that are able to channel the eerie atmospheres of dream-pop, the most serene, ecstatic beauty of shoegaze, and the knack for pop melodies of, let's say, Lush or even The Sundays. A blissful beginning for a must-follow band.     

Discoverer 137: new indie findings

Sometimes, the stars align and the trio of bands proposed are just so good it's a no-brainer for our discoverer series. That's the case today, so we prepared to enjoy!

Witching Waves. Hailing from London, UK, the band is the creation of vocalist/drummer Emma Wigham (Weird Menace) and vocalist/guitarist Mark Jasper (Sound Savers Recording Studio), who joined forces in April 2013 with a first tape arriving at the end of that same year by Supplex Cassettes. Two more tapes followed, a split covers tape with band As Ondas in 2014, and the 'Concrete' single tape that September, which anticipated the release of their first LP, 'Fear of Falling Down', out in December, as well as the signature with the always recommendable Soft Power Records, and the addition of Ed Shellard at the bass expanding the band to a trio. A couple of limited cassettes, including another split, now with Rattle, whom with they toured, has now preceded the arrival of sophomore album 'Crystal Cafe', out just now on Soft Power and our dear friends HHBTM Records. You should check it immediately, because their music is a sonic blast. Early Cure, Wire, Sonic Youth, Buzzcocks, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Pylon... you name it. Waves of noise, echoes of punk, a relentless urgency, a threatening edge, a fearless attitude, a mystery hiding in fuzz. An early MUST of 2016.

The High Violets. Hailing from Portland, Oregon, this unbeatable named band formed in 1998, from the ashes of the Bella Low breakup. Initially the trio of founder members Clint Sargent, Luke Strahota and Violet Bianca Grace, the line-up changed dramatically with Grace leaving very soon, while the remaining duo recruited Allen Davis of Echoplex and the amazing voice of Kaitlyn ni Donovan, self-releasing their first EP 'Dream Away' in 1999. In 2002 came out their mini-album '44 Down', followed by 'Invitation', another self-released EP, in 2005 and their debut album 'To Where You Are' a year later on Reverb Records. After a remixes album in 2007, the High Violets delivered 'Cinéma', sophomore LP in 2010, out via Comet Rock Records, probably their most celebrated release to date. Now, after another line-up change (Davis left, being replaced by Colin Sheridan) they are back with 'Heroes and Halos', scheduled for early April through Saint Marie Records. A record you shouldn't miss by any chance: a haunting collection of dreampop/shoegaze tunes recalling beloved ones like Slowdive, The Sundays or Soft Science, leaded by the magnetic vocals of Kaitlyn, the layered guitars and lush arrangements. Gorgeous sounds enveloped in haze.

Crescendo. And we end in L.A., California to meet the dreamgaze (half dreampop, half shoegaze) trio formed by Gregory Cole, Olive Kimoto and Jess Krichelle, expanded to a quintet in their latest incarnation (google cres·cen·do if you don't find enough info on them). They debuted in 2014 with self-released album 'Lost Thoughts' but now, with their sophomore release 'Unless', out now via our dear friends of the WWNBB collective, they are bound for greater things. A stomping yet ethereal collection of tunes, urgent and distant, melodic and fuelled by a very tight rhythm and light-years ahead vocals. Like a brighter and accelerated version of Wild Nothing or the Radio Dept, it's the sound of a collision, of a fast and enigmatic voyage, of adventure, rumble and endless excitement. It's the sound of the night, aiming to be lived. A crescendo of sonic wonders!

"The Distractions EP", vindicating Rose Elinor Dougall

The Distractions EP

"Without Why", the 2010 debut album from the ex-Pipette Rose Elinor Dougall was a fantastic work that went criminally under the radar. Let's admit it, The Pipettes were a fun, entertaining band, even a guilty pleasure with some undeniably addictive tunes, but it was hard to consider them seriously being a 60s girl-group recreation. Luckily, The Pipettes gave us something much more rewarding than some "silly" (without negative connotations) songs to dance to. They gave us Rose Elinor Dougall, a real artist, with a (I hope) career to look for.

"The Distractions EP" is a three-songs collection released for free (they are available for download at her bandcamp) in early January 2012. The tunes were recorded at the end of 2010 as rough demos with The Distractions, her backing band. On the release note, Ms Dougall stress that "this is not material off the new record, as since the time of recording, a whole new body of work has been formed that has suggested a different path to me from the one gestured towards in tracks such as these. But i really hope you enjoy it all the same"... Too bad because the three songs are great, following the path of "Without Why".

Miles away from the "doo-woop" style of her former band, Rose keeps showing a deeper, richer side, where sounds are sweeping but at the same time springy, especially on the more upbeat, song of the trio, the jangle greatness of "I've Always Known". Wistful arrangements that blend with her disarming sad voice, on which you can hear traces of Mazzy Star, Cocteau Twins or The Sundays. "The Night" is epic despite its constraint, allowing the atmosphere embrace Rose's singing before reaching the end, on an instrumental crescendo. "Hanging Around"  starts in a more straightforward way, with guitars presiding the verses before the chorus turns into a jangle, more melodic tune. Morrissey would be proud of this. Overall, "The Distractions EP" is a dreamy, weightless, slightly dark but charming, sophisticated and lasting indiepop offer. Really eager to hear your next step, Rose!

SCORE: 8/10