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 tunes naturally 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.
