Amber Arcades - Fading Lines [12", LP]

AMBER ARCADES' debut album FADING LINES saw the light of day last week. Annelotte de Graaf, an artist with a dayjob at the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service, is the mastermind behind the project. She recorded the album in NYC with the help of producer Ben Greenberg (who'd worked with Beach Fossils, a.o.) in two weeks time, after years of savings to make it happen. Musicians on the album play in bands like Quilt and Real Estate. The result is absolutely great. Ten varied but perfectly written indie-pop songs, ranging from garage pop, beat and doo-wop to dreampop and krautrock. Mostly dreamy, gentle and quiet songs. Bands that come to mind are for example Stereolab, Bettie Serveert, DIIV, Mazzy Star, the Sundays, the House Of Love and Toy. The song Turning Light is my favourite at this moment, but that might just as well change over the coming days, since i just got the album. It's an upbeat krautrock song and a bit different than the others, for that matter.
With Fading Lines, she's established herself as one of the Netherlands' finest indie artists. I'll be seeing her live in two weeks, so i really look forward to that.

Label: Heavenly
Cat.nr.: HVNLP126
Year of release: 2016

SIDE A:
01. Come With Me
02. Constant's Dream
03. Fading Lines
04. I Will Follow
05. Perpetuum Mobile

SIDE B:
01. Right Now
02. Apophenia
03. This Time
04. Turning Light
05. White Fuzz

Fujiya & Miyagi - Electro Karaoke [7"]

Recently i came across this 7" by FUJIYA & MIYAGI; their debut single from 2002. I just love their modern take on krautrock, and ELECTRO KARAOKE is a perfect example of that. Actually i think it's still one of their best tunes. The motorik beat keeps on going and makes it a great indie dance track. The song on the B-side, Rot, is a pretty laid back tune. Both are from the band's debut album Electro Karaoke In The Negative Style which until now sadly has never been released on vinyl.

Label: Massive Advance
Cat.nr.: MADV001
Year of release: 2002

SIDE A:
01. Electro Karaoke

SIDE B:
01. Rot

DIIV - Is The Is Are [12", 2LP]

In 2012, DIIV debuted with the brilliant album Oshin. It even was my #1 on that year's Finest Vinyl list, leaving bands like Tame Impala, TOY and Ringo Deathstarr behind. Since then, we didn't hear much from them other than main man Zachary Cole Smith (together with his girlfriend Sky Ferreira) being arrested for drug possession, and bass player Devin Ruben Perez posting stupid sexist and racist stuff on 4Chan. But Zachary's finally back in the spotlight for his music. He left rehab and started to work on this second album as remedy instead. As expressed in interviews, IS THE IS ARE is his way to show what he and his band mates can really pull off.

It's become an ambitious lengthy double album, with 17 tracks and more than one hour of music. A very personal and vulnerable one, when you read the lyrics that deal with unrest, inner turmoil, addiction and recovery. Certainly not easy to digest. It also feels like the lyrics are much more important on this new album. Lyrics that can be found in two 12-page art booklets by the way, which make this double vinyl a really nice package. 

Musically it's a varied album as well; there are lush tunes like Under The Sun but also dense and heavy ones, like most of the others. Besides the expected krautrock and shoegaze influences, also The Cure and Sonic Youth are never too far away on this album. Sky Ferreira on Blue Boredom sounds a lot like how Kim Gordon did her thing in SY. Mire (written as Marijuana in the booklet) has lyrics that seem to come straight from Primal Scream's Movin' On Up  (or is it Can's Yoo Doo Right): "I was blind, now i see. You made a believer out of me".

All in all, i think this album is very good. If some more demons will be dealt with along the way, and there won't be accidents like between the first two albums, album number three could be an actual masterpiece. And it doesn't need to be a double or triple album for that.

DIIV will be touring Europe in March and April. Just bought a ticket for the Amsterdam show; can't wait to see them on stage again. The only time i saw them previously was at the Ekko in Utrecht (Le Guess Who 2012).   

Label: Captured Tracks

Cat.nr.: CT-231

Year of release: 2016

SIDE A:

01. Out Of Mind

02. Under The Sun

03. Bent (Roi's Song)

04. Dopamine

SIDE B:

01. Blue Boredom (Sky's Song)

02. Valentine

03. Yr Not Far

04. Take Your Time

SIDE C:

01. Is The Is Are

02. Mire (Grant's Song)

03. Incarnate Devil

04. (Fuck)

05. Healthy Moon

SIDE D:

01. Loose Ends

02. (Napa)

03. Dust

04. Waste Of Breath

Girls Names - Arms Around A Vision [12", LP]

My favourite Irish band is back with an absolutely great album. ARMS AROUND A VISION is another huge step forward for GIRLS NAMES, just like The New Life already was compared to their first album. One of the first things you notice, is that Cathal's vocals are much more in the front of the mix. No more soft mumbling, no echoes. Call it less new wave, more post-punk. Actually it reminds me the most of Felt's singer Lawrence. Musically it's more experimental than what they did before. You'll hear a saxophone, eerie screeches and weird noises, short instrumental interludes... yet still it's typically Girls Names. Their sound is like an eclectic mix of all bands that influenced them; without ever sounding as a copycat. No need to sum them all up here, but you'll surely hear familiar sounds. And if those bands happen to be your own favourite bands as well, like they are (amongst) mine, you're in for a treat for 46 minutes. This album is definitely one of the best releases of this year as far as i'm concerned. Also they'll be going on a month-long European tour in two weeks from now, so check them out if you get the chance.

Totaly unrelated: I just noticed this is my 500th post on this blog. Anniversary post, yay! ;)

Label: Tough Love Records
Cat.nr.: TLV083
Year: 2015

SIDE A:
01. Reticence
02. An Artifcial Spring
03. Desire Oscillations
04. (Obsession)
05. Chrome Rose
06. A Hunger Artist

SIDE B:
01. Málaga
02. Dysmorphia
03. (Convalescence)
04. Exploit Me
05. Take Out The Hand
06. I Was You

Girls Names - Zero Triptych [12"]

GIRLS NAMES have recently announced that their new album Arms Around A Vision will come out in October, and i can't wait. This 11-minute long ZERO TRIPTYCH one-sided 12" single came out in May this year, as a little taste of what to expect of Girls Names anno 2015. And man, it's fantastic! Simply a brilliant piece of post-punk/krautrock that proves that this three-quarter Belfast/one-quarter Dublin band is one of the best in their league. Adventurous, tight and in-your-face. The song won't be on the album, but i can only imagine at this point that it will become one of my favourite albums of the year. There were 500 copies made of this 12": 350 on black (like mine is) and 150 mailorder copies on clear transparent vinyl.

Label: Tough Love Records
Cat.nr.: TLV079
Year of release: 2015

SIDE A:
01. Zero Triptych

SIDE B:
-

Toy - BBC Sessions [12"]

No idea if these six songs were recorded over various BBC SESSIONS, as the title suggests, or only one - however the band was in pretty good shape. It features songs from the first few singles (+ B-sides) and the debut album by TOY. Supposedly only 300 copies were made of this, and i was lucky enough to come across a copy at the Utrecht record fair recently. Their last album Join The Dots is already two years old now, so hopefully they'll release something new this year.

Label: Heavenly
Cat.nr.: HVN248
Year of release: 2012

SIDE A:
01. Left Myself Behind
02. Clock Chime
03. Bright White Shimmering Sun

SIDE B:
01. Motoring
02. Colours Running Out
03. When I Went Back

Toy - Heart Skips A Beat [12"]

HEART SKIPS A BEAT is a song lifted off the self-titled debut album by TOY. Besides the album version of that song, there are two non-album tracks on this 12" EP and a pretty decent BBC session of the song Kopter. She's Over My Head is a nice song that would not have been misplaced on the album, while Layered Electronics is almost as redundant as Live Electronics was on the Make It Mine EP.

Label: Heavenly
Cat.nr.: HVN255
Year of release: 2013

SIDE A:
01. Heart Skips A Beat (Album Version)
02. She's Over My Head

SIDE B:
01. Layered Electronics
02. Kopter (BBC Session)

Various Artists - Electronic Rock [12", LP]

I found this fantastic krautrock compilation in the second-hand crates of a shop in the middle of Sweden last year. For the rest it was all 70's and 80's mainstream music there; the kind that you'll find at flea markets. The good thing was that the price was accordingly: i paid only 2 euro or so for this, while on sites like Discogs it goes for no less than ten times as much. Great bargain! ELECTRONIC ROCK has some really good tunes like Rheinita by La Düsseldorf, Dance Macabre by VC-People and Metropolitan by Hydravion, but my favourite one is definitely Europium by Zeus (= Zeus B. Held). Classic stuff.

Label: Strand / Teldec
Cat.nr.: 6.24719
Year of release: 1981

SIDE A:
01. LA DÜSSELDORF - Rheinita
02. MOEBIUS - Mirror Of Inifinity
03. SPACE - Space Media
04. HYDRAVION - Metropolitan

SIDE B:
01. RICHARD WAHNFRIED featuring KLAUS SCHULZE - Druck
02. LUTZ RAHN - Solo Trip
03. ZEUS - Europium
04. WOLFGANG BOCK - Robsai Part I
05. VC-PEOPLE - Dance Macabre

Toy - Join The Dots [12", 2LP]

One of the last albums i bought in 2013 was the new album by TOY, called JOIN THE DOTS. I was quite excited about this release, because i liked their self-titled debut album a lot. It even became third in my yearlist of 2012. This one came in too late for my 2013 yearlist, but it wouldn't have ended up in the top 10 anyway: somewhere inbetween number 11-20, i recon. It is certainly not a bad album though. It's just that there were so many good albums coming out in 2013. It's once again an excellent mix of krautrock, psychedelic rock and a little bit of shoegaze.I guess that the title track is my favourite song of the album; a hypnotizing uptempo tune. Didn't manage to catch them live during last year, so that's on my to-do-list for 2014 then.

Label: Heavenly
Cat.nr.: HVNLP102
Year of release: 2013

SIDE A:
01. Conductor
02. You Won't Be The Same
03. As We Turn

SIDE B:
01. Join The Dots
02. To A Death Unknown
03. Endlessly

SIDE C:
01. It's Been So Long
02. Left To Wander
03. Too Far Gone To Know

SIDE D:
01. Frozen Atmosphere
02. Fall Out Of Love

Younghusband - Dromes [12", LP]

DROMES is the debut full length by YOUNGHUSBAND from the UK. A great mix of 60’s psychedelica, shoegaze and krautrock. I really like the artwork as well; totally fits with the music. The title track and "Silver Sisters" are my favourite songs of the album, but the rest is also really good. Some bands that come to mind when you listen to this album are for example the Byrds, Spacemen 3, Ride - and more recent bands like Deerhunter and TOY. The Sonic Cathedral label usually stands for quality releases and this is no exception.
For Younghusband it’s a shame that so many other good albums got released in 2013: it was a close call, but otherwise they surely would have had the honour to end up in my Finest Vinyl list ;)

Label: Sonic Cathedral
Cat.nr.: SCR060LP
Year of release: 2013

SIDE A:
01. Running Water
02. Comets Crossed
03. Left Of The Rocks
04. Sunstroke
05. *
06. Silver Sisters

SIDE B:
01. Reunion Message
02. **
03. Wavelength
04. Divisions
05. Constantly In Love
06. Dromes

Death In Vegas - Satan's Circus [12", 3LP]

SATAN'S CIRCUS by DEATH IN VEGAS is pretty different from the other Death In Vegas albums, in that it is completely instrumental. Also musically it's not as diverse as the other albums: it's pure krautrock and not much anything else. Which is, when done properly like it's done here, not at all a bad thing of course. Perhaps a little cheesy for a krautrock album, but a lot of song titles are related to Germany: Ein Für Die Damen, Kontroll, Sons Of Rother (must be referring to Neu's Michael Rother), Reigen (a controversial play by Arthur Schnitzler) and Anita Berber (a bisexual drug-addicted and alcoholic actress/nightclub dancer from Berlin, during the Weimar period). I found this 3LP for a really good price at the record fair in Utrecht, a few weeks ago. It's been on my wishlist for quite some time so i'm glad i finally have it now.

Label: Drone
Cat.nr.: DRONELPONE
Year of release: 2004

SIDE A:
01. Ein Für Die Damen

SIDE B:
01. Zugaga
02. Heil Xanax

SIDE C:
01. Black Lead
02. Sons Of Rother

SIDE D:
01. Candy McKenzie
02. Reigen

SIDE E:
01. Kontroll
02. Anita Berber

SIDE F:
01. Head

Black Hearted Brother - Stars Are Our Home [12", 2LP]

When a frontman of a shoegaze band I really love goes all country and folky for nearly two decades and then suddenly returns with loud guitars, I'm all ears. Neil Halstead (Slowdive, Mojave 3) has teamed up with Mark Van Hoen (Seefeel) and Nick Holton to form BLACK HEARTED BROTHER, a spacerock/krautrock/electronic/shoegaze band (or project?) that just released STARS ARE OUR HOME. It has become a wonderful album. It's so diverse that it's hard to describe as a whole. Experimental, yet packed with great pop tunes in disguise. And i'm loving every bit of it: from the shoegaze tune that was used online to introduce this release (I Don't Mean To) Wonder to the krautrock-ish track Oh Crust and the space disco of My Baby Sailed Away. Great stuff. Nothing wrong with folk and country music, but as long as there's no concrete plan to revive Slowdive, Halstead's new musical directions are at least a step in the right direction again as far as i'm concerned.

Label: Sonic Cathedral
Cat.nr.: SCR070LP
Year of release: 2013

SIDE A:
01. Stars Are Our Home
02. (I Don't Mean To) Wonder
03. This Is How It Feels

SIDE B:
01. Got Your Love
02. If I Was Here To Change Your Mind
03. UFO

SIDE C:
01. Time In The Machine
02. Oh Crust
03. Take Heart

SIDE D:
01. My Baby Just Sailed Away
02. I'm Back
03. Look Out Here They Come

 

DIIV - Geist [7"]

GEIST was the third single by DIIV (then still written as Dive) before they released their awesome debut full length Oshin. The Sometime and Human singles were basically just demos put to vinyl, but this song isn't. Sounds great and could've been featured on Oshin without any problem. B-side Bambi Slaughter is a cover from an old Nirvana demo track. Not surprisingly, because the band named themselves Dive - after a Nirvana song as well.

Label: Captured Tracks
Cat.nr.: CT-154
Year of release: 2012

SIDE A:
01. Geist

SIDE B:
01. Bambi Slaughter

Girls Names - The New Life [12", LP]

While their previous album Dead To Me has more of a surf/garage sound, THE NEW LIFE by GIRLS NAMES from Belfast is a damn fine mix of new wave, post-punk and krautrock. I must admit i hadn't heard about this band until recently, when a friend of mine from Dublin (who plays in Logikparty) said he'd be filling in on drums for them during their live shows for a while. So I've seen them live in Utrecht a couple of weeks ago for the first time -before this album had come out-, and tonight they'll be playing in Amsterdam so that's gonna be the second time. It's the last day of their European tour and tomorrow they'll be flying to NYC, playing a gig the same evening at the Cameo in Brooklyn and then 4 days SXSW. Respect for that! They're a really good live band as well, i can tell you.
The album has some great songs on it, like Hypnotic Regression, Drawing Lines and the closing song of the album; its title track. The songs remind me of The Cure, Bauhaus, Neu! and Joy Division, for example. But still very much 2013. And the artwork looks great as well. Has a bit of a Factory Records feel to it, and suits it very well for that matter. Clear transparent vinyl to top it off.

Label: Tough Love Records
Cat.nr.: TLV062
Year of release: 2013

SIDE A:
01. Portrait
02. Pittura Infamante
03. Drawing Lines
04. Hypnotic Regression
05. Occultation

SIDE B:
01. A Second Skin
02. The Olympia
03. Notion
04. Projektion
05. The New Life

Mmoss - Only Children [12", LP]

This album by MMOSS would've ended up in my Finest of 2012 if i would've bought it earlier than last week. ONLY CHILDREN is such a great LP. A true psychedelic masterpiece with songs that sound like they could've been on a long lost krautrock, Syd Barrett or Byrds album.

Label: Trouble In Mind
Cat.nr.: TIM043
Year of release: 2012

SIDE A:
01. Spoiled Sun
02. Okay
03. War Sux
04. Hands

SIDE B:
01. Marty Hills
02. Another Day
03. Another Dream
04. Wander
05. Spoiled Son

Toy - Toy [12", 2LP]

One of the best albums of 2012 to my opinion, this self-titled debut album by TOY. A really cool blend of psychedelic rock, krautrock and shoegaze. It comes pretty close to what The Horrors did with their second album Primary Colours, although i like this album better. Hopefully i'll get to see them live in 2013 - that's definitely high on my wishlist.


Label: Heavenly
Cat.nr.: HVNLP94
Year of release: 2012

SIDE A:
01. Colours Running Out
02. The Reasons Why
03. Dead & Gone

SIDE B:
01. Lose My Way
02. Drifting Deeper
03. Motoring

SIDE C:
01. Heart Skips A Beat
02. Strange
03. Make It Mine
04. Omni

SIDE D:
01. Walk Up To Me
02. Kopter

Toy - Lose My Way [7"]

LOSE MY WAY is a song taken from the awesome debut album by TOY, one of the best debut albums of 2012 as far as i'm concerned. The b-side was the actual reason for me to buy this 7" as it can't be found on the album. A nice krautrock-influenced tune and definitely worth the purchase. I hope we'll be hearing more from this band soon, now that they've released such a great album.


Label: Heavenly
Cat.nr.: HVN247
Year of release: 2012

SIDE A:
01. Lose My Way

SIDE B:
01. Bright Light Shimmering Sun