Your resource for all things shoegaze and dream pop: August 2017

30 August 2017

TONIGHT! WTSH airs on DKFM. Stream it live @ 10pm EST/9pm CST.

WTSH gets fuzzy in 1 HOUR! Expect tunes by Gleemer, WIDOWSPEAK, Black Sea, Orange gold red, Lapse, Iris, Shallow, Lilac, Headclouds, a certain smile, Seapony, Heavy Sigh + MORE!

Stream it live

10pm EST | 9pm CST | 7pm PST
www.decayfm.com

Repeats 12 hours later!

23 August 2017

BANDCAMP TRACK OF THE DAY: Iris | What Kills You.

“What Kills You” is the opening tracking on this Toronto-based 4-piece’s just dropped self-titled EP, which is available digitally via Bandcamp, and on physical cassette format via Backpack Records. It’s been nearly two years since we last heard new material from Iris, so we are understandably excited. Not only is the EP incredibly solid, but this opening track is absolutely killer. Enjoy and welcome back, Iris!

TONIGHT: When The Sun Hits airs on DKFM! Stream it live @ 10pm EST/9pm CST.

TONIGHT!

When The Sun Hits airs on DKFM

Stream it live

10pm EST | 9pm CST | 7pm PST

www.decayfm.com

Repeats 12 hours later!

Don't forget to stay tuned in for the Somewherecold Radio Hour, which airs at 12am EST / 11pm CST on DKFM! TWO world premieres are happening tonight!

INTERVIEW: Plasticstatic.

Plasticstatic is the Washington-based duo of Keisha and Ryan Winn. They're known for their trademark dark aesthetic and trippy sonic palette, both of which are fully represented on their newest full-length LP, Some Strange Alchemy (released August 21). Replete with dark meditations, altered perceptions and clever songwriting, Some Strange Alchemy is a sonic rabbit hole you want to tumble into. Their usual guitars, while still present on the album, have taken a backseat to more atmospheric electronic elements and enigmatic lyrical content. This progression of style suits them and their material well; Some Strange Alchemy is easily their strongest and most compelling offering to date. A companion album, Songs From Thee Black Lodge, is also available and just as captivating as the album proper. We highly recommend that you get lost in both releases. Enjoy learning more about these two talented artists.

How and when was the band formed?
Ryan: I started making music in the late 90s. In 1997, I named the band after the title of a poem I wrote. At that time, the music I made was just a backdrop for my writings and the occasional song. It became more song-oriented in the early 2000s. Keisha joined in 2012, and that’s when the band as it is now really started to exist.

Can you tell us what the band has been working on and what you've got forthcoming in the near future (any new releases, tour, etc.)?
Ryan: We just finished Some Strange Alchemy and its companion album Songs From Thee Static Lodge. I thought I would want a break after working on those albums for three years, but we have a few new songs recorded already. We’ll most likely do singles and EPs for a while after this, because we take way too long on albums — writing around a theme, and shelving a lot of music when it doesn’t fit the theme.

Do you consider your music to be part of the current shoegaze/dream pop scene, or any scene? Defining one's sound by genre can be tiresome, but do you feel that the band identifies closely with any genre? How do you feel about genres in music, in a general sense?
Ryan: I feel a loose connection to the current scene, because some of the early shoegaze bands that influenced the current bands have also had an influence on my music — especially the way we layer instruments and treat vocals. It’s the approach, more than the sound, that shows up in what I create. I try to make every album sound different from the last, so it’s hard to really belong to any particular genre when you do that. There’s nothing wrong with referencing the history of the kinds of music you make in your own music, but I really like it when bands add something to a genre that wasn’t there before.
Keisha: I never really feel solidly part of any scene or genre with anything I do. I have always ended up being a sort of outsider because I tend to do my own thing and follow my own (often opposite) direction.

INTERVIEW: The Starlight Run.

The Starlight Run is the music project of Neil Carey and Warren Ard, who are based in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The duo have been making music together since 2014, when they released their impressive debut A Place to Land. Their newest offering, the Let’s Float EP, came out in June and the shoegaze/dream pop community has been abuzz with praise for the project’s dreamy and nostalgia-laden sound. We hope you enjoy learning more about The Starlight Run in the following interview, and thanks to Warren and Neil for taking the time to speak with us.

How and when was the band formed?

Warren: I met Neil when a mutual friend of ours asked us independently to start playing with him, then after a few practices he bailed. But Neil and I kept going and some other people ended up joining in and we played around for a couple years. When that band ended we wanted to play some of our own stuff so we started the starlight run, probably around 2014 or so.

Neil: We started after the previous band we were in dissolved. We had gotten together before and played around with stuff before, but it wasn't until the other band broke up that we took it seriously. We’ve been around for about 3 years I believe. I’m not too sure.

Can you tell us what the band has been working on and what you've got forthcoming in the near future (any new releases, tour, etc.)?

W: We put out an EP a month or so ago on Bandcamp called Let’s Float. And we just covered “I Heard Her Call My Name” on The Blog That Celebrates Itself’s Velvet Underground tribute: After Hours, Velvets In Another View. Was super cool to be a part of that, been a Velvets fan forever. We’ve been working on an album on and off for a while, most of it probably predates the EP we just did. But it’s getting there, and hopefully it’ll be out around the beginning of next year.

I’m in another band called d.e.b.b.i.e. with my friend Edmand. We’ve been friends for years and were in a few bands together too. We finally started back up again last year and then put out an EP on Bandcamp in April called Cousin Larry. Its more synthy stuff than The Starlight Run, but still pretty dream poppy with a little shoegaze and some 80s new wave and 90s indie rock thrown in maybe. We’re finishing up another EP that will probably be done by the end of the year and have a bunch of songs ready for an album after that.

N: We released an EP entitled Let’s Float last month, and we have our first full length in the works. We were also just on a Velvet Underground tribute from The Blog that Celebrates Itself.

W: I think we definitely fit in with that stuff. I don’t really think about it while were coming up with songs or configure them to be a part of any scene or anything. But I’m happy to be in it if we are. A lot of the bands I love are probably considered shoegaze or dream pop, so it’s cool. Whatever helps people find the music they’re interested in is a good thing so having a genre to be associated with is useful.

N: I feel that we fit in pretty well with the Shoegaze and Dream Pop scene. We have a love for that type of music and enjoy playing it. Slapping genres onto a band can be a necessary evil. It can help someone who’s never heard of a band get an idea of what they may sound like. People can get a little carried with genres though.

“The Alchemist” is taken from this Washington-based duo’s brand new LP, Some Strange Alchemy, released today and available for stream/purchase via Bandcamp. Dark meditations and altered perceptions await you down this sonic rabbit hole. Expect an interview with Plasticstatic this Wednesday, along with a deeper look into this record.

20 August 2017

ONE DAY LEFT TO PREORDER The Daysleepers' debut EP on 12 inch pink swirl vinyl!

Clairecords is doing the first-ever vinyl release of the debut EP, Hide Your Eyes, by The Daysleepers (originally released in December 2005). Out of print for many, many years, this 12 inch pressing is limited to 500 copies. Two bonus tracks will be included!

ONLY ONE MORE DAY LEFT TO PREORDER!
Preorders will be accepted until August 21, 2017.
Get yours HERE.

ALL preorder copies will be pressed on special pink swirl vinyl. After the preorder window closes, no more copies will be available on this color variant! This EP is planned to be officially released on October 20, 2017.

This release kicks off a string of vinyl reissues for The Daysleepers' material, to be followed by The Soft Attack EP and culminating in the 10 year anniversary vinyl release of the debut album Drowned in a Sea of Sound, all first-time-vinyl issues in limited edition pressings.