Early on, even with their first single releases and their debut album being still freshly out, Swedish band Corduroy have left the impression of a very focused act, rapt in what they do.

The band parallelize their surroundings at Norrköping with the environment set by the factories in Manchester, UK, and accordingly their sound correlates to the big city's alternative scene and history. Consequently, Corduroy's songs convey a certain kind of bleakness which comes with a touch of peculiar familiarity.

Another album highlight, 237 dagar, is natural of the band's dreamlike type of indie rock, with the reverb and the resonant guitars put to pristine use.

"The feeling of not being home in your hometown and the city lights doesn’t shine for you," they say, describing their music. "The only things you can rely on are your friends, the music and the local bar."

With a nostalgic approach to both their concept and sound, Cincinnati-based band, Sungaze, release new single and video, Storm Chaser, ahead of their upcoming album, This Dream, expected out on August 13th, 2021. 

The new song showcases the warm shoegaze pop qualities of Sungaze's sound, together with their proclivity toward a traditional folk/Americana direction, and solid psychedelic rock undertones. 

Songwriter, Ivory Snow, details the song's conception: "Storm Chaser didn’t end up the way I had expected it to when I first had the inspiration to write it. What was originally meant to be a fun, lighthearted song sung from the perspective of an alternate-reality version of myself, turned out to be more of a calling-myself-out tool for self reflection and growth. I didn’t realize I was talking about myself when the lyrics first came through last April, and it’s only been through working to heal some of my patterns of codependency, self-sabotage and escapism that I’ve realized it."

The music's evident wistfulness pairs to perfection with the very well crafted video which is grounded in Ivory's childhood, and was further sparked off by a dream. "When we initially met up with our videographer, Brianna Kelly, the only notes I had for her were, 'lots of slow motion shots and billowy fabric'," Ivory says, as together with her creative partner, Ian Hilvert, brought the project to existence in two days, only those were exactly one year apart from each other. The field they were using was planted with soybeans, and Sungaze were forced to put their project on hold, eventually using the time to elaborate and build on their original idea. 

"About a week after realizing we would be waiting until 2021 to resume filming, I had a dream in which I saw the corner of a room set up in the middle of a field," Ivory Snow continues. "I couldn’t get the imagery out of my head and decided to incorporate it into the video. Ian and I built the set ourselves and I chose to model it after the kitchen of my aunt’s old home, where I spent a large portion of my childhood. The top and bottom photo in the line of three on the wall behind me were both taken at her house—the bottom photo was taken in her kitchen, and the top was taken in the living room, during a weekly Friday movie night / sleepover I often had with my two cousins. I chose that photo specifically because I’m pretty sure we were watching the movie Twister, which they all loved but I was terrified of. I had a huge fear of storms and tornadoes as a kid and during the springtime, my ears were always perked up, hyper-attuned for the sound of sirens. As I got older, my fear turned into a funny sort of fascination with the destructive nature and power of severe weather; an odd sort of dangerous beauty. I realized somewhat recently that in a way, that kind of mirrored my emotional/mental state; for a long time it felt much safer to be constantly focused on the upsetting things happening in the world and to others around me, than to have things be peaceful and calm, because it’s in the quiet moments that the things we’ve pushed down tend to resurface."

Ultimately, Storm Chaser is about escapism, seen through a filter of reminiscence and alienation. Ivory concludes: "I’ve found that when things seem hard, it’s often because on some level I’m choosing to make them so, hence the blindfolding scene. I wanted the video to loosely illustrate the process of becoming aware of the things we do to hold ourselves back in life, and to show that when we let go and embrace the storm, we can actually find quite a lot of beauty in it."

Softly Choke is the keenest, most goth-club inclined piece off the generally neat new EP by dark Canadian band, Ringfinger. Echoes Fade, out through Russian label, Other Voices Records, is quite distinct in its five-track entirety, and it doesn't take much to convince.

The EP's centerpiece sees the band at their most accessible, without abandoning anything from their underground darkwave core. By way of its groove, its perceptible texture and overall good production, the track becomes another instant which ratifies how Ringfinger are more than ready for a full length whenever and if ever that is supposed to be taking shape.

Two years after the well received Last Light, Gold Coast dreampop band, syrup, go on, return with Lavender Sky, the first example off the band's new material which eventually will lead to release of their sophomore album through 4000 Records.

With an interesting approach to the instrumentation and its production technique, the track uses elements and influence from contemporary styles such as hyperpop, while it remains level-headed through an earthier and plainer way of songwriting. 

"The song shares the feeling of new-found freedom and rediscovered autonomy," the band's statement reads. "Lavender Sky provides pause, highlighting and acknowledging that even the most simple experiences, such as admiring the sunset and sharing intimate moments with friends, should not be taken for granted."

Lavender Sky was produced by the band's own, Tom Briese, with drums engineered and tracked by Keelan Sanders at Bedlam studios. 

Mirabelle Van de Put’s Haze project releases a new video off their very nice self-titled album. Chromosome was written before the pandemic, and it’s themed on the classic concept of being stuck in old habits. The clip was shot by Sam Baguet, and directed by Evy Ottermans.




The intriguing act Trialogos released the entire footage of their show at Roadburn's Redux which was also their first ever live appearance, together with a video for the track Hikikomori off their expected album Stroh zu Gold, out June 18th, 2021 through Exile On Mainstream.




Alternative rock/slowcore staples Starflyer 59 will be releasing a new album soon, and they introduced it with the very melodious, negativistic single, Life In Bed.




Canada’s dark post punk band TRAITRS return with the opening track off their coming album, THE SICK, TIRED AND ILL, the follow up to 2018’s Butcher’s Coin.

Bay Area hardcore punks, Tuning, released the very energetic and intense, Pacific, a first offering off their coming full length, A Beacon In Impossible Seas.




Off their very well received album, Gathering Swans, out through Dais Records, Salt Lake City’s Choir Boy unveiled a video for the track Eat The Frog, made during lockdown and overflowing with strong DIY aesthetics.

ZR

The quite directly titled, Eat Acid See God, is the newest example of what psychedelic punks, The Gluts, will be offering in the near future, in anticipation of the follow-up to their previous album, Dengue Fever Hypnotic Trip, from 2019. The Italian band worked on their new material alongside producer Bob De Wit (A Place To Bury Strangers, White Hills, The Sonics, Gnod), and they sound extremely fuzzy, dark and all the way mind-bending.

The eight-minute expansiveness of Eat Acid See God brims with hallucinatory heaviness, and lures the listener in quite easily.

The band describe the new single: “Eat Acid See God came out during a session held in a gloomy atmosphere with only dim lights in the rehearsal room, despite the sun shining bright and long that late summer afternoon. The first few synth notes we started with turned into a sticky musical slime. We felt like flies stuck in honey: angry and desperate. Almost consequently it’s the heaviest, most psychedelic song on the whole album and it’s the most different to the rest of the album. It sounds like God’s wrath, a rising furious tide of flames. No words were really needed, only vocals that sounded like they were coming from an obscure and remote otherworld.”

Eat Acid See God is out now through Fuzz Club Records.

Composed of Tim Player and  Renee Barrance, Dunedin/Melbourne experimental darkwave duo, Ov Pain, come forth with an intricate dark sound of post punk, shoegaze, psychedelic and art rock properties akin to Coil, Swans, Psychic TV and more analogously tough to pin down avantgardistic acts. The band's coming sophomore album, The Churning Blue of Noon, will be out in August 2021 through It Records, and the rather somber and exploratory Daytripping is a mesmeric introduction to the apt mixture of darkwave, shoegaze and drone sound which the band engenders.

“Daytripping is probably the most straightforward song we'd written for a while,” Tim Player describes. “If my memory serves me correctly I think we wrote everything, save the vocal /lyrics, on the spot. It just came out more or less fully formed. I think we were both revved up about trying to write a little banger that could sit beside G.A.M.S. or Mars or This Heat's Repeat. Starting with a snare-less rock beat we add layer after layer. Renee's vocals are at some kind of career-best here. Similarly, Renee's synth work (though it can be and is a lot freer elsewhere) renders the post-punk image vivid and complete. I like playing this song because it was an experiment to make a thing out of percussion beyond simply a timekeeping instrument while at the same time keeping some tight timing. Being quite an unnatural drummer this was a fair test of those relevant skills.” 

Perfect to draw one into Ov Pain's intricateness, Daytripping is a largely engaging listen which incites further anticipation for the duo's full length.

Chimes is the newest single unveiled off Into The Blue, the impending full length by The Joy Formidable, out August 20th, 2021 through Enci Records in North America, Full Time Hobby in Europe and Soundly Distro for the rest of the world. 

The new song is very characteristic of the guitar-driven alternative rock energy usually found in the sound of The Joy Formidable, and one of the more forceful moments of the new record. Lyrically copious and hefty, the song feels like a personal affair for its creators, while at the same time it appears very relatable, intelligible and easy to absorb. As is customary for the band, an immaculate production makes the song's openness well attainable.

Fresh dreampop band, Kekko, from Singapore, prepare for the release of their debut EP, expected to come out through the eclectic Spirit Goth Records. A couple of notable singles have already displayed the coming release's potential, the latest of which is the colorful soft pop piece, Dreaming Life.

After gaining attention by covering dreampop and shoegaze standards through her YouTube channel, as well as via her previous band, Bored Spies, alongside members from the nineties band, Seam, vocalist Cherie Kekko together with Tim Kekko attempt their hand at original songwriting, echoing the genre's principles, while laying out their genuine voice.

With the cosmic character of their musicianship evident, Kekko emerge rather rosy, and very early on they leave the impression of a capable act.

Kekko · Dreaming Life

Almost four years after their very well received debut, Purple, Pink Milk return exhibiting the first example off their new material on which they've been working during the pandemic. The band's anticipated sophomore full length is coming in Fall 2021 through Black Hair Records.

New single, Blue Eyes (River of Glass), finds the duo continuing from where they left things, with their masterful use of reverb and their hazy style of production creating an immersive atmosphere, immediately suggesting musings of shoegaze and dreampop's finest. The new track feels like the dreamlike airiness of Cocteau Twins and Julee Cruise maxed out to the absolute fuzziest, and keeps the levels of gloom high as expected.

The band describe the track as being "about not getting the one you want," and that inherent anguish seems to be connecting really well with the enchanting tunefulness for which the song sticks out.

PINK MILK · BLUE EYES (RIVER OF GLASS)