In the past several years it seems Japan has more or less been churning out “technically” great shoegaze bands that I should probably love at almost dizzying numbers, but for a varying reasons, none of them ever really seem to stick. I’d seen Bertoia’s ‘Modern Synthesis’ floating around a bit last year, but never gave it a shot for that very reason. Anyway, going against my obviously-flawed logic, I went for it this past weekend and aside from the sporadic Anna Domino binges, it’s basically all I have been listening for the past 72+ hours. Every listen seems to yield a new favorite song. Right now I’m stuck on “Upside Down”. Beautiful vocals, dreamy melodies, and perfectly placed bells—it’s all so perfect. If you like Lush’s earlier, dreamier moments, or perhaps that Fauns records from a few years back, you will probably love this as much as I do!

Bertoia on Facebook!

I have just fallen madly in love with Anna Domino. That is all. Carry on.

Eux Autres, one of my favorite, hardest-to-pronounce bands, are back with a bunch of new songs! Their new, six-song ‘Sun Is Sunk’ EP will be out February 28th on Bons Mots Records and good news—the lead off track, “Right Again”, has got a gem of a vocal melody that’ll most likely be sticking around in your head for a while! And just look at that lovely cover art! Get excited!

If sparkling melodies and dreamy guitar jangles are your cup of tea (if they aren’t, I might wonder what you’re even doing here) then it is high time you got very excited about The Pipers. They hail from Southampton and as you may already be hearing, they make catchy-as-hell pop songs that light up the room and set your heart spinning. There’s no better way to say it. This song—their whole ‘Sunless Sea’ EP, rather—is simply brilliant. Check out the rest of the ‘Sunless Sea’ EP on Bandcamp and grab their fantastic split 7” with Marc Desse on Bleeding Gold Records!

The Pipers on Facebook!

“Painted Orange” is a new track from Ghost Ship’s forthcoming debut EP that will hopefully see the light of day sooner than later, because this new recording is fantastic. The screaming guitars, driving bass lines, and deep croon on Ghost Ship’s demo were giving contemporaries Ringo Deathstarr a bit of a run for their money and this new recording is everything and more. The noise on “Painted Orange” is bolder and impressive, but most importantly for a band making this much of a racket, the melodies are definitely there and they’re definitely infectious. I’m particularly excited about the fact that these guys are from PA and I can’t wait to see them live. Keep your eyes peeled for that EP. Might be one of the best of the year.

Ghost Ship on Facebook / Bandcamp

Between the upcoming second Maribel LP and now this I Was A King/Half-Handed Cloud 7”, Norwegian label Splendour is effectively KILLING IT, as it were. Half-Handed Cloud still do as little for me as they did several years ago when I last heard them, but that’s neither here nor there. I Was A King’s track, “Happy”, is a gleaming slice of pop wonderfulness that you need to hear immediately! So fantastic in that windows-down, Teenage Fanclub-y kind of way that I just have no way of resisting.

In addition to my seemingly endless listening to the new Frankie Rose single, the new-ish Kuryakin/The Sunny Street split release has also been filling up a lot of my sonic time. I’m constantly amazed by the dream-like beauty that The Sunny Street are are capable of creating and “Hungry Hippo’s” is yet another gem! Kuryakin’s contributions are equally lovely, but I’ll mention them later. For now, let’s all just take naps to this song.

Grab it from Dufflecoat Records!