The Lost Rivers [Ger]

The Lost Rivers is a Noisy Shoegaze/Psychedelic/Experimental band from Baden-Württemberg Germany.

Made up of Phil Walkendorf on Guitars and Vocals, Hell Pilot on Bass and Izzy on drums, this trio is relentless in delivering a constant barrage of psychedelia infused, post punk, shoegazing feedback laden tunes.

My Beatific Vision (2010) is their official EP at Northern Star Records.

http://www.myspace.com/thelostrivers

Telltale [US]

Telltale - Altahmam EP 2010


Brooklyn’s Telltale showcases an intriguing mix of experimental no-wave, reverb-soaked post-punk, and dark shoegaze. Featuring Eric Gilstrap, Laurie Ruroden, Stephan Cherkashin, and Lauren Andino, the quartet's ear-splitting washes of guitar feedback, deadpan chants and ominous droning wastelands doesn't so much blanket you as it does envelop you, overpowering you with Sonic Youth caterwauls and JAMC-esque walls of sound. The music churns in a slow burn, awash in effects, but there’s an aggression lurking just beneath the surface that maintains an uneasy atmosphere. There’s also a healthy dose of reverb to help wash down all the gauzy noise...

http://www.myspace.com/telltalemusic

Lower Heaven [US]

Lower Heaven - Ashes 2008

With a haunting sound and ominously reverb drenched melodies, Lower Heaven live up to their name which they've taken from an Echo and the Bunnymen lyric. Absorbing and reinterpreting influences like My Bloody Valentine, Hawkwind, and the Jesus and Mary Chain, the band has been able to defy constraints of genre classification by keeping the song writing, arrangement, instrumentation, and production of their work unconventional and innovative. Having finely tuned a sound that is very much their own, Lower Heaven have been turning the heads of their local peers, building a strong fan base, and creating a word of mouth buzz in Los Angeles for the past year.


...

http://www.myspace.com/lowerheaven0

Ashes is really a great debut album, let's eye on this band!

93 Million Miles From The Sun [UK]

93 Million Miles From The Sun - St (2009)

93MillionMilesFromTheSun - aka Nick Mainline (Guitar/Noise Vox) and Rob Hogg (Bass/Noise) both live in Doncaster in the north of England.

They both create amazing shoegazing rock and they sound like a shoegazing Mogwai with bits of early Verve, My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Loop, Slowdive, The Cooper Temple Clause ect… 93MillionMilesFromTheSun are becoming quite popular in America and have become one of the very best shoegazing bands of recent times fastly becoming big favourites with people out there especially in the shoegazing scene.

93MillionMilesFromTheSun have already released an exclusive track on the “Secret Garden - The New Wave of Shoegaze (Nugaze)” compilation album along with other artists like Ulrich Schnauss and The Fauns. 93MillionMilesFromTheSun also play lots of live gigs in the U.K and are very good live.

Their self-titled debut album was out now!

Band myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/93millionmilesfromthesun

The Sunday Reeds [Aus]

The Sunday Reeds are a female-fronted noise pop/rock band named after 1930/40s Melbourne patron of the arts Sunday Reed. The love-child of some kind of rock 'n' roll orgy between The Jesus and Mary Chain, Joy Division, The Ramones and The Velvet Underground. Driving bass lines, plenty of guitar feedback, primitive rock beats and low, velvety female vocals. If Nico had joined The Ramones, strapped on a bass, and a whole lot more noise was added, this is how it might've sounded.

Debut album Drowning In History from Australia's finest purveyors of black clad, feedback and fuzz drenched pop/rock. Like the love child of some kind of rock n' roll orgy between The Jesus And Mary Chain, Joy Division and The Velvet Underground. If Nico had joined The Ramones, strapped on a bass guitar and a whole lot more noise was added, this is how it might have sounded.

http://www.myspace.com/thesundayreeds

George Dorn Screams [Pol]

George Dorn Screams - O'Malley's Bar 2009

George Dorn Screams is definitely a band for late evenings. This music is full of sincerity, calm and melancholy. George Dorn Screams is also energy coming from between post rock and slowcore. After their debut album called "Snow Lovers Are Dancing" they were called the forerunners of Serpentine Rock by Piotr Kosinski from Polish Radio 3rd Programme. "Mazzy Star meets Joy Division".

The band was created at the turn of 2005/2006. After only half a year of working on their material they decided to record it in Electric Eye Studio. In the meantime they appeared on “Songs from Bydgoszcz” with a song “The Woman with a Bow” among other bands such as: Ecstasy Project Trio, Dubska, Upside Down, Dezire, 3moonboys or Variete. They gave a promoting live performance in the 3rd Channel of Polish TV.

In July 2008 the band recorded the new material to be published on their second album in Elmwood Studio, Dallas, Texas. The recording was produced by John Congleton, a Grammy nominated producer who previously cooperated with such bands as Explosions In The Sky, The Polyphonic Spree, Logh, The Appleseed Cast, The Roots, Pleasant Groove, Modest Mouse. Band signed a contract with Ampersand Records (iSound Labels) at the end of the 2008. New album, called "O'Malley's Bar" was released on 9th February 2009.

http://www.myspace.com/georgedornscreams

Sad Day For Puppets [Swe]

Sad Day For Puppets - Unknown Colors - 2009

Sad Day For Puppets was formed in 2006 in Blackeberg, a suburb to Stockholm (Sweden), by Martin Källholm, guitarist and songwriter. The natural focal point of the band is singer Anna Eklund, in it's turn leaning on Marcus Sandgren's ringing and fuzzy chords.

Most of the bands influences can be traced back to the early nineties, when they all were teenagers. This period has made it’s mark on the band. The guitars are once again allowed to roam free and shine. The music is all about shimmering layers of guitars, intertwined feedback melodies all dreamy and grand and sad, and ethereal harmony vocals.

The debut album "Unknown Colors" is just out this year.

http://www.myspace.com/saddayforpuppets

Alt-Ctrl-Sleep [US]

Alt-Ctrl-Sleep - The Earth Lens 2009

Alt-Ctrl-Sleep is a husband/wife duo consisting of Joe and April Diaco. Alt-Ctrl-Sleep started writing music together in January 2006.

"The music of Alt-Ctrl-Sleep is as sweet and seductive as Galaxie 500's and the lot of dreampop bands they birthed, but with a melodic pop punch that Dean Wareham's first group never quite mastered. Think My Morning Jacket with less baggage.

www.myspace.com/altctrlsleep

But for me, they are too dreamy to stay awake..

Her Vanished Grace [US]

Her Vanishing Grace - Blue (2009)

Her Vanished Grace bring you their brand of imaginative guitar rock. Nance and Chas Nieland, along with Maria Theodosiadou and Billy Loose continue to explore the terrain of sweet melodies and biting guitars. The powerful rhythms of Billy and Maria anchor the soaring textures while Nance and Chas spin tales of mystery and regret.

HVG 's new recording BLUE (2009) is dark urgent pop singed with white noise. They've crafted a sweetly menlacholic tableau of vivid memories with lush vocals and simmering tension. With Nance and Charlie’s guitar textures veering from candy colored swirl to vintage ‘60s bite, this is the blend of old and new that the band has been striving for. Click the link below to preview and purchase the new CD.

http://www.myspace.com/hvgrace

http://www.hvgrace.com/

Dead Leaf Echo [US]

Formed in 2005 "Dead Leaf Echo create almost a sinful surrealism. Their melodies are dreamy, the art is elaborately elegant, and the music is driven. LG, Mike DiLalla, and Ana B. all have the skills to hypnotize you into their world. "

Discography:

Faint Violet Whiff - 2006 debut

Pale fire - 2008

http://www.myspace.com/deadleafecho

http://cdbaby.com/cd/deadleafecho2

SafeAsHome [UK]

SafeAsHome - Not What Happens 2008

Not What Happens is SafeAsHome's first full-length album. Composed of 11 tracks, it plays like a flow of disconnected memories, a random series of photo slides projected through the distortionary lens of long-lost childhoods or uncertain futures. From raging guitar epics to delicate, fleeting moments of introspective electronics, it is an album of fertile contradictions.

Pop-song structure persistently competes with gritty texture. Soaring melodies are overwhelmed and lost in phases of intense sonic density. Suspended synth and vocal lines are set against grinding riffs and noise, in bittersweet moments of dream versus reality.

Not What Happens is the difficulty in expressing anything more than the Unimportant. It is sudden starts and abrupt endings. It is haunted by the uneasy comfort of nostalgia, and by the frustration with what remains unresolved. It is the derelict spaces of disappointment through expectancy, of loss via pursuit.

The album itself is graced with the stunning, sprawling artwork of Roberto Calbucci, the depth and substance of which mirrors the sound's myriad of layers. Both seem to be questioning the extent to which detail is not what is concealed, but is what draws away from the greater picture, itself hiding in plain sight.

http://www.myspace.com/safeashome

Dreamtiger [US]

Dreamtiger - Glisten EP 2008

"Dreamtiger is a band better described through poetic devices than through comparisons. Their first EP entitled Glisten is an ambient creation swathed in reverb and within the first line, becomes the soundtrack to indie romance. "

"Even though there's a lot of similarity to the Cocteau Twins' floaty harmonies, the band doesn't give off one of those "We're tyring to be British" vibes. Still, it's not easy to find a local comparison. It's been a while since we got any shoegazer type music sent over here. So it's a pleasant surprise that this five-song EP is full of lush, atmospheric songs. There are pretty melodies and boy-girl harmonies making it easy to get lost into. But what's surprising is that as soft as the music appears on the surface, there's an undertone of toughness thanks to heavy guitars and strong vocals."

http://www.myspace.com/dreamtigermusic

Black Nite Crash [US]

Black Nite Crash - Array 2008

It’s no coincidence the band name was picked from the final and most explosive single by legendary Brit-rock band Ride. Black Nite Crash continues in the same fuzz-drenched tradition of gorgeous melodies and big guitar sounds. The band’s atmospheric, dynamic sound has seen them compared to The Church, The Pixies & The Jesus & Mary Chain. Black Nite Crash formed in 2002 in their adopted hometown of Seattle. A shared love of shoegaze bands, new wave and classic sixties garage blended together into their own version of noise-pop. "We always felt a little too post-punk to be psychedelic, a little too psychedelic to be post-punk," states Jim Biggs, "but we've always seen the obvious connections: a good melody, loud guitars and a dark sense of absurdity." Array, the band’s full-length debut, was recorded at London Bridge Studio. Recorded & produced by Dave Hillis & Erik Blood. It is being released as an LP with a free CD version of the album included. Highlights include “Falling Down”, “Soft Focus”, & “Perfect Blue.”

http://www.blacknitecrash.com/

http://www.myspace.com/blacknitecrash

Pains of Being Pure At Heart [US]

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - Everything With You 7" (2008)

Everything With You is a total noisey-pop classic, bursting with all the melodic magic, guitar blaze and sunshine vibes that we've come to expect from the Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Everything With You is but a taster for the Pains of Being Pure at Heart's debut album, which will be released in early 2009.

"Despite only having been together for the best part of a year, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are fast becoming the most name-dropped band in underground circles on both sides of the Atlantic, and only seconds into jaunty opener 'Hey Paul' (think The Pastels, The Razorcuts or indeed any pre-Madchester bands before indie became part of the mainstream first time around) it's blatantly obvious to see why. While they make no bones about where their hearts and inspirations lie, it would be churlish to call them mere revivalists, particularly with the way singing/guitarist and humble storyteller Kip engages in almost constant interplay throughout their 25-minute set with perma-smiling keyboard player and co-vocalist Peggy. Hell, their new single is even called 'Kurt Cobain's Cardigan' yet it sounds like Lazy-era My Bloody Valentine exchanging sweat glands with a pre-major label Soup Dragons in a sixth form common room. What's more, it's utterly ace like the rest of their set and turns the whole of the Red Room into spring-loaded coils of unbridled excitement." (Drowned in Sound)

http://www.myspace.com/thepainsofbeingpureatheart

http://www.thepainsofbeingpureatheart.com/news

Vivian Girls [US]

Although only a band for a little more than a year, the Vivian Girls charms have already worked their magic on their short road to “out of nowhere” status. With their irresistable mix of 60’s girl-group sounds, punk, post-punk and shoegaze, the ‘Girls have mastered blurring the lines of genres and coming up with something aggressive yet beautiful; simple, gutsy music with a lot of class and melody.

http://www.myspace.com/viviangirlsnyc

http://www.last.fm/music/Vivian+Girls

Averkiou [US]

Averkiou - Throwing Sparks @Clairecords 2008

Clairecords is excited to present the debut from Gainesville, FL's most promising young, fresh fellows, Averkiou. Inspired by everyone from Ride and Guided By Voices to Teenage Fanclub and Wire, and taking cues from the likes of Dinosuar Jr. and Sebadoh, Averkiou is like the classic indie rock band that you've always loved – you just haven't heard 'em yet. A modern indie rock masterpiece clocking in at a scorching 22 minutes, Throwing Sparks will rock you like a Category 5 cyclone. You best not blink. Not matter what, we are positive you will be begging for more.

http://www.myspace.com/averkiou

Have A Nice Life [US]

Have A Nice Life - Deathconsciousness - 2008

HAVE A NICE LIFE is a shoegaze/industrial/new-wave hybrid band from Connecticut.

It is the brain-child of TIM MACUGA, black-metal experimentalist and songwriter for the classic Western Massachusetts hardcore band The Danger Strangers, and DAN BARRETT, singer of the ghost-music project Giles Corey and the now-defunct In Pieces.

The music recalls the droning melodies of My Bloody Valentine, crossed with the crushing abstraction of SUNN0)), but is ultimately unclassifiable; beautiful, yet simultaneously droning and heavy.

HANL released their first full-length record in January of 2008, a double-album entitled DEATHCONSCIOUSNESS.

The two discs (entitled The Plow That Broke The Plains and The Future, respectively) feature music spanning over five years of collaboration between the two artists, and are accompanied by a 75-page booklet on medieval Italian heretics in lieu of liner notes. The album was entirely self-released, right down to the hand-painted discs, and put out via the ENEMIES LIST HOME RECORDINGS label.

http://www.last.fm/music/Have+A+Nice+Life/+wiki

http://www.sputnikmusic.com/album.php?reviewid=15024 (new album review)

The Silence Kit [US]

The Silence Kit plays textured, moody rock music. The band is based in New Jersey and Philadelphia, PA, and was started by Patrick McCay in 2002, as a home recording project. Inspired in equal parts by post punk, shoegaze, neo-psychedelia, avant-garde and indie rock, countless shows have been played and more than a few band members have come and gone through the years.

The Silence Kit released their debut LP "In Regulated Measure," in February of 2006. The album was very well received and garnered many positive reviews. The press favorably compared the band to the likes of The Cure, Joy Division, The Sound, Chameleons, Echo and the Bunnymen, Nick Cave, David Lynch film soundtracks, and more. A live band was assembled to support the album and they quickly began writing and recording for the second album. The band played many shows in 2005 and 2006, sharing the stage with bands like I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness, Early Day Miners, Windsor for the Derby, among others. The second TSK album, entitled "A Strange Labor" is being released on July 19th, 2008. It is a split release by Azteca Records and Breakeven Records, and is comprised of recordings from 2005 and 2006.

The Silence Kit is always changing, and 2007 proved to be no different. Three members left and Patrick built a new lineup. TJ Wark (guitar, synth), Don Ocava (bass) and Jay Dyer (drums) joined The Silence Kit and after a few short months of rehearsal, the band resumed playing shows and began writing and arranging new material. The current lineup is playing shows in support of "A Strange Labor" and are already recording new material for the band's forthcoming third album (with an expected Winter 2008 release date). 2008 has already seen the band opening for Gene Loves Jezebel and a brief encounter and interview with Robert Smith of The Cure. The band is looking forward to the shows and releases in the years ahead.

http://www.myspace.com/thesilencekit

Albums:

http://www.aztecarecords.com/thesilencekit/the-silence-kit-music.html

The December Sound [US]

The December Sound - The Silver Album - Debut 2007

This cult of noise-terrorists cloak themselves in MELTING GUITARS, DANGEROUS SONGWRITING, EVIL DRONES, HYPNOTIC BASSLINES, MANIACALLY DISTORTED BEATS, HEAVILY EFFECTED/DETACHED VOCALS & OTHER-WORDLY SOUND-SCAPES. It’s dark and extreme, influenced by existentialism and avant-garde/radical/underground currents. The group has a reputation for unrelenting live shows that are a full-on assault of the senses,whilst achieving even greater depth on their debut album.

Led by Zack Sarzana’s gliding guitars and vocal stylings that range from soft and hazy to outright threatening. The December Sound creates a feeling of hollowed reverberations, echoing trough the air. Jimmy Rosi joins in creating this vicious soundscape with dreamy keyboards and melodic rhythm guitar that often calls back to Zack’s leads. Keeping the back-beat going is the hypnotic ryhtyn section which includes the spiral-like drumming of Drew Richards, along with newest member Cat Crowley, delicately playinga bass that huns chaos and quit alike.

The December Sound debut album is filled with drones and tones of dark, profound sonic depth. Already being heralded as “the best unsigned band on the planet!” by the THE BIG TAKEOVER, their debut effort certainly lives up that praise.

http://www.myspace.com/thedecembersound

http://www.thedecembersound.com/

The Sky Drops [US]

The Sky Drops are Rob Montejo and Monika Bullette - a superforce of guitars, drums, and vocals. Based in Wilmington, Delaware, the band members each have their own fine pedigree and began The Sky Drops in the Autumn of 2005.

Rob Montejo's previous band Smashing Orange's retrospective album "1991" was released on Elephant Stone Records in 2005. Monika Bullette's debut album The Secrets won Philadelphia's City Papers 2005 Music Award "Best Album You Can Get For Free and Without a Guilty Conscience".

Rob and Monika's beautiful harmonies are intensified by swimming blissed-out guitars and no-nonsense drumming. The Sky Drops have been likened to a "shoegazing Everly Brothers".

http://www.myspace.com/theskydrops

http://www.theskydrops.com/