Serena-Maneesh ‎– Ayisha Abyss [12"]

This rare 12" by SERENA-MANEESH was bought at the great Big Dipper vinyl specialist store in Oslo, Norway. It's a white label edition, according to Discogs given as a pre-order incentive - i guess for their #2: Abyss In B Minor album. AYISHA ABYSS on side A is an edited version of the song that appears on that album, while Call-Back From A Dream on the other side is a rather psychedelic and chaotic non-album track. Would love to see them perform live some day; unfortunately i never had the chance.

Label: 4AD
Cat.nr.: BAD 2941
Year of release: 2010

SIDE A:
01. Ayisha Abyss

SIDE B:
01. Call-Back From A Dream

Pale Saints - The Comforts Of Madness [12", LP]

Considered by many as one of the albums that defined the shoegaze genre, THE COMFORTS OF MADNESS by PALE SAINTS couldn't be missed in my vinyl collection. For some reason this band has been thoroughly overlooked by me, but since i bought some 12"s earlier this year i'm slowly getting into them. This album is indeed a classic. It's less dreampop than Slowdive and less avantgarde than Cocteau Twins. Definitely less noisy than My Bloody Valentine as well, however they sometimes remind me a bit of them in their pre-Creation period in the way the songs are written. All in all, a great album and it has a really nice cover as well; of course designed by Vaughan Oliver who did all the 4AD artwork in those days. My copy is a recent reissue from 2011; the original is very hard to find.


Label: ORG Music (originally: 4AD)
Cat.nr.: ORGM-1003
Year of release: 2011 (originally: 1990)

SIDE A:
01.Way The World Is                                                                                   
02.You Tear The World In Two   
03. Sea Of Sound
04. True Coming Dream
05. Little Hammer


SIDE B:
01: True Coming Dream                                                                                   
02. A Deep Sleep For Steven
03. Language Of Flowers 
04. Fell From The Sun
05. Sight Of You
06. Time Thief
                                                                                                                                                             

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

 

The Stargazer Lilies - We Are The Dreamers [12", LP]

I didn't know THE STARGAZER LILIES until a few months ago, when some teaser songs of their debut album WE ARE THE DREAMERS showed up online. The moment i heard those, i just knew i had to get this album. It's dreampop in its purest form. Loads of reverb, fuzzy guitars, soothing vocals, slow-paced tunes, and mostly in minor keys so in general it sounds pretty sad and melancholic. When songs like that are over-produced, they all start to sound the same and can get pretty boring; that's definitely not the case here. The songs usually keep a raw edge, especially when it comes to the guitar work (check Undone and Light Of Day for example).
At this moment, the songs Del Rey Mar, Sad Colored Tears and Endless Days are my favourites, but i keep on discovering new things when i listen to this album. At the moment i'm writing this, i'm listening to How We Lost and suddenly i start to think that parts of this song sound a little bit like a slow version of Radiohead's Creep. Ha!
This album is one of the best dreampop albums i've heard in years. Besides that, the artwork and the coloured vinyl really suit to the music and make it a true gem for vinyl collectors who dig shoegaze and dreampop.

Label: Graveface Records
Cat.nr.: Grave096
Year of release: 2013

SIDE A:
01. We Are The Dreamers
02. Del Rey Mar
03. Undone
04. How We Lost

SIDE B:
01. Endless Days
02. Well Versed To Verb Doubt
03. Light Of Day
04. Sad Colored Tears
05. Don't Waste My Time
06. Because

Siouxsie & The Banshees - Happy House [7"]

Another copy from the archive of the Dutch Top 40: HAPPY HOUSE by SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES. I'm not particularly a big fan, but this happens to be a great tune so i just couldn't let it lie when i bumped into it. And apparently I'm not the only one who likes it: in 1993, Cappella had a hit with the song U Got 2 Know, and in 2011, The Weeknd released House Of Balloons. Listen to the original by Siouxsie and you'll know what i mean...

Label: Polydor
Cat.nr.: 2059 215
Year of release: 1980

SIDE A:
01. Happy House

SIDE B:
01. Drop Dead/Celebration

Slowdive - Slowdive EP [12", Promo]

The regular version of the self-titled EP by SLOWDIVE is something i still haven't been able to find, but the promo edition i bumped into a while ago for a decent price. This was of course their first ever release and i'm happy to finally own a copy now. Previously, the only vinyl release that i had with these tracks on it, was the Blue Day compilation. These tracks are among my favourite Slowdive songs; especially the title track, with its majestic wall of guitars.

Label: Creation Records
Cat.nr.: CRE 093TP
Year of release: 1990

SIDE A:
01. Slowdive
02. Avalyn 1

SIDE B:
01. Avalyn 2

Edweena - Solar Days And Lunar Nights [12", LP]

EDWEENA is a shoegaze band from Stockholm, Sweden. A friend of mine (Vionyl Richie; check out his blog) told me i should check them out, and since i'm a sucker for any good new music i gave it a try and checked out their Bandcamp page. Guess what? They completely blew me away! This LP, manufactured in a limited run of only 300 copies, is definitely 2013's best kept secret when it comes to new shoegaze/dreampop. The band they remind me most of is Ride, mainly because of the song structures. Check out Perspective or Deathstar for example, and you'll know what i mean if you are slightly familiar to Ride. Simply beautiful songs! But when it comes to their sound, also Slowdive comes to mind. Edweena is definitely more uptempo than Slowdive ever was, but it has the same ethereal and fuzzy sound (Heliopause, for example). So, to cut a long story short: if you sound like the love child of Ride and Slowdive, you've hit the right spot with me. SOLAR DAYS AND LUNAR NIGHTS definitely deserves a lot more attention than it got so far. Until now this LP is only available to order straight from the band, like the way i got my copy. But hopefully soon it will be possible to order from a lot of other places, like your local record store.

Label: none (self-released)
Cat.nr.: EDW01
Year of release: 2013

SIDE A:
01. Thunderboy
02. Perspective
03. Featherfeet
04. Deathstar
05. Adamantium

SIDE B:
01. Heliopause
02. Dyson Sphere
03. Sold Gold
04. Phantoms
05. Solar Days