Tuesday, November 13, 2012

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING OLD - THE ASTEROID NO. 4 - Honey Bee (1998) + THE BILINDA BUTCHERS - Seafoam Green (2011)


I was a 21 year old living in Brooklyn, New York and the year was 1997. I had been going to shows mostly at NYC's IRVING PLAZA venue seeing a number of cool bands such as Stereolab, Ash, The Charlatans UK, Kula Shaker, Wilco (whom I walked out on), etc. I had heard of the Brian Jonestown Massacre and their My Bloody Valentine-like sound and read they were playing at a little bar called Brownies. So off I went to a night that changed my life. Asteroid No. 4 were the first band up and they played a short set that nevertheless blew me away. Been a fan ever since...
 
Here's a lovely instrumental by a band named after My Bloody Valentine lead vocalist (you guessed it) Bilinda Butcher. A new favorite band. They hail from San Francisco.

Monday, November 12, 2012

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW - MY BLOODY VALENTINE - Map Ref. 41N 93W (1996) + SHANA FALANA - IN THE LIGHT (2012)

With the good news that Kevin Shields is releasing a 'new' MY BLOODY VALENTINE record in the upcoming year, after eons of waiting amongst their hunger starved fans, here is one of the last 'new' tracks they released, a cover of a WIRE song on a compilation known as 'Whore' which was released in 1996. Which is simply stratospheric in terms of sound. Let's hope we can soon add My Bloody Valentine to the 'New' Category :-p
 
From more recent pastures we have Rosendale, New York resident (via San Francisco) SHANA FALANA with her dreamy-esque type of modern (at times chant-driven) dreampop that ebbs under your skin and lifts up the wings you didn't know you had. One example being this song, which is one of the most uplifting beautiful songs that I've heard in my young life. A positive vortex of dreampop sound. Pretty cool video shot in upstate NY as well.