Helios - Hollie (Type, 2008)

Utterly divine dreampop beauty.

I've got a couple of albums by the mysterious Helios thanks to regularly raiding Boomkat's sale stock for Type releases.

Helios - aka Keith Keniff aka Goldmund - deals in elegant, austere dreampop instrumental loveliness and 'Hollie' is no exception. Think the most candyflossy of AR Kane's output or a restrained, inward-looking version of Cocteau Twins. Without vocals, obviously.

Download Helios 'Hollie' (shoegaze mp3) (Divshare)

Revolver - Crimson (Hut, 1991)

Swirly Shoegaze Indie Pop

Poor old Revolver seemed to bear the brunt of the Shoegaze backlash. Whilst the likes of 'Crimson' are yearning and a little fey, it's really just classy indie pop. It's a rush of hormones edged with a couple of effects pedals.

Download Revolver 'Crimson' (Hut, 1991) (Box.net)

Maps - It Will Find You (Mute, 2007)

Luminous electronic Shoegaze

Maps is the nom-de-Shoegaze of solo artist James Chapman. 'It Will Find You' was a single of no little shimmering beauty from his 'We Can Create' debut album.

It builds layer-upon-layer of gauzy melody around a puttering drum pattern. It has the open space and stately grandeur of Slowdive's classic 'Catch The Breeze' but is machine-based Shoegaze rather than guitar-based. So maybe it should actually be called Fingergaze instead?

Download Maps 'It Will Find You' (shoegaze mp3) (Divshare)

Chapterhouse - Delta Phase (Blood Music Global Communication Remix) (Dedicated, 1993)

Ambient reprocessing of shoegazer's forgotten album.

Chapterhouse's 'Blood Music' is - IMHO - not one of the great sophomore albums but it did come with a rather innovative 'retranslation' of the whole album by Global Communication.

It bears little resemblance to the original but is a rather pleasant hour of ambient noodle soundscaping in a similar vein to their ground-breaking '76:14' album.

Download Chapterhouse 'Delta Phase (Blood Music Global Communication Remix)' (Shoegazer, Ambient, mp3) (Divshare)

Grab the whole Chapterhouse 'Blood Music: Pentamerous Metamorphosis' album over on archive:live+rare

Listening Post - Beach House - Bloom (Sub Pop/Bella Union, 2012)

More swirling loveliness from Beach House.

Beach House's 2010 album 'Teen Dream' was a duskily ethereal slow-burning classic. Soaring melodies amid the gentle ebb and flow of a million guitars refracted in a gauzy hall of mirrors. Superlative dreampop in the vein of Cocteau Twins and AR Kane and a cousin of beautiful Korallreven.

'Bloom' is evolution rather revolution, taking 'Teen Dream' as a starting point, adding more clarity in the vocals but more dreamy sheen in the music's candyfloss of sweet fogginess.

Listen to Beach House 'Bloom' in full (NPR.org)

Drop Nineteens - Winona (Hut, 1992)

Shifting, droning, soaring slice of preppy Shoegaze.

No big fanfares seem to be marking the twentieth anniversary of Drop Nineteens' debut album but 'Winona' is a thrilling piece of slidey-guitared Shoegaze business.

Obviously in thrall to 'Loveless', Boston (USA, not Lincolnshire) band Drop Nineteens rise above their influences with the dreamy, melodic noise pop which sounds like about three records playing at once. The vocal and drums hold it all together as guitars churn and spin around, mixing sweetness with dischord.

Download Drop Nineteens 'Winona' (Shoegaze mp3) (Divshare)

New Music - Thula Borah - Live Secretly (Bandcamp, 2012)

Tasty, elongated Shoegazey Post Rock.

Glasgow's Thula Borah have an expansive, widescreen sound somewhere in the same realm as Slint, Mogwai or Explosions In The Sky or the classic post-Godspeed sounds of the Constellation label. However, across the tracks of this EP, they demonstrate a real mastery of dynamics and restraint.

'Murder' is a vast, surging slice of gently distorted post rock with occasional vocals in a Mark-Gardener-being-gently-tortured sort of way. Some really nice melodic guitar work and uses its eight minutes to good effect without outstaying its welcome.

The EP ranges from US alt-rock flavours (Drop Nineteens in the house) to the wonderfully edgy minimalism-blasting of '(Null Interface)' where the guitar interplay reminds me of Suede's 'The Asphalt World' played refracted through Mogwai's FX rack.

Well worth a listen.

More about Thula Borah at their Bandcamp.

New Music - Dive - How Long Have You Known (Captured Tracks, 2012)

Swooning, wobbly, shoegazedreampop loveliness.

Partying like it's 1990, Dive are serving up slice after slice of keening, swooning, woozy dreampop-type shoegaze business. After last year's 'Corvalis' single, they've just unleashed another gem in the form of 'How Long Have You Known' which precedes their debut album 'Oshin' in June.

Delightfully driving but wobbly at the same time with layer upon layer of melodic guitar. Nice one for fans of The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, the wonderful Wild Nothing and Blouse.

Or Revolver, The Field Mice or Moose, of course...

Download Dive - How Long Have You Known (indie, shoegaze, dreampop, mp3)

Memoryhouse - Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic (The Police go Shoegaze)

Classic Police chirpiness given Shoegaze makeover

Oddly, I was actually thinking of posting the original, which is a earworm that marries ponderous, slightly melancholy verses with a bright, sunsplash of a chorus. Bee-Oh-Oh.

Instead, I stumbled on this version that majors on the chord progression of the versions and maxes out the moodiness, remininscent of arch slowcorers Low. It rolls along on a massive reverbed-up semi-acoustic with rolling toms and sweet, simple female vocals, building with some plaintive organ and exploding into the chorus with a slapdash indie-rocking guitar before busting the old, backwards echo, mooding-up to a close.

Lovely stuff.

Download Memoryhouse - Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic (Police cover, Shoegaze mp3) (Divshare)

New Music - Sigur Ros - Ekki Mukk (XL, 2012)

Radical change of departure for Icelandic moongazers.

Not really.

If anything, new album 'Valtari' promises to be even more minimal and beautiful than previous Sigur Ros outings.

'Valtari' apparently means "steamroller" which is perhaps the most inappropriate title ever, given that the first track to emerge -'Ekki Mukk' - is the sound of 10,000 angels blowing you a kiss goodnight under the Northern Lights.

The track opens with just an ooze of backwards ambience, evolving into a cradle of atmospherics and minimal strings, Jonsi cooing quietly so as not to distract. Beautifully restrained all the way through its eight minutes leaving you with just a sparse piano line.

Beach House - Myth (Sub Pop, 2012)

New dreamy loveliness from Beach House.

Very much picking up where the last album left off but a gorgeous swirl of 'Victorialand'-era Cocteau Twins loveliness nonetheless.

Download Beach House 'Myth' (Shoegaze, Dreampop mp3) (via Beach House website)

Pale Saints - A Thousand Stars Burst Open (Brass Band Version) (4AD, 1992)

Brassed Off treatment suits Shoegaze masterpiece.

Across two awesome albums, Pale Saints were genius, marrying proggy time signatures with skyscraping, yearning guitar pyrotechnics and angelic vocals. One of my absolute favourite bands ever.

This track was given away as a 7" with initial copies of 'In Ribbons' and just works perfectly.

Layers of gorgeous brass recreate the soundwash of the original, creating a wide open, In The Bleak Midwinter vibe that rouses to a joyful crescendo.

Stunning.

Download Pale Saints 'A Thousand Stars Burst Open (Brass Band Version)' (Brass Band, Shoegaze, 4AD mp3) (Rapidshare)

Chapterhouse - Breather (Dedicated, 1991)

Euphoric, rushing, swooning, indistinct.

'Pearl' is, perhaps, the more obvious choice when it comes to Chapterhouse, but I love how this track bowls along in a rush of hormones and floppy fringe.

It was the opening track from their debut album and, whilst it does feature waves of swooning guitar and vocals in a Shoegaze style, it also has a delicious headlong energy and purpose to it. More 'Like A Daydream' than 'Catch The Breeze'.

Sweet.

Download Chapterhouse 'Breather' (Shoegaze Chapterhouse mp3) (Rapidshare)

Trespassers Williams - Vapour Trail (Bella Union, 2003)

Languid version of the Ride shoegaze classic.

Now, let's be honest, it couldn't be better than the original. However, Trespassers William's slow, soft version of the closing track on Ride's perfect debut album is a joy.

The jangling, ringing guitars of the original are replaced with a steady piano line and yearning, male Shoegaze vocals are replaced with a blissed-out female take and heavenly backing vox. Beautiful.

Download Trespassers Williams 'Vapour Trail' (shoegaze mp3, Ride cover, mp3) (Mediafire)

The Boo Radleys - I Will Always Ask You Where You've Been... (Creation, 1993)

Delightful skronk-then-sweet vignette.

Blessed with one of the greatest (and longest) songtitles of all time, this was tucked away on the b-side of 'I Hang Suspended'.

'I Will Always Ask You Where You've Been Even Though I Know The Answer' starts with a soup of skronk and primordial, I've-just-been-listening-to-My-Bloody-Valentine-in-the-bath-with-my-head-under-the-water atmospherics before bursting into a sweet, joyous piece of Martin Carr songwriting.  

Download The Boo Radleys 'I Will Always Ask You Where You've Been Even Though I Know The Answer' (indie, shoegaze, mp3) (Divshare)

The Boo Radleys - Spaniard (Creation mp3, 1992)

Widescreen, Spaghetti Western-meets-Shoegaze doozy.

'Spaniard' is the opening track from The Boo Radleys' 'Everything's Alright Forever' album.

The use of the trumpet right up-front seems to signal their intent to break-free of the noise-pop confines. It succeeds and ushers in one of the best albums of that or any other era whilst paving the way for another one ('Giant Steps').

Download The Boo Radleys 'Spaniard' (indie, Shoegaze mp3, Creation mp3) (Mediafire)

Ride - Chelsea Girl (Demo) (1989)

Sweeter, Buffalo Springfield-meets-The Field Mice version of the Ride classic.

Whither the blizzard of distortion and the maelstrom of drums? And vocals?

This demo version of Ride's 'Chelsea Girl' sounds like The Field Mice have just necked a bag of sherbet and washed it down with two litres of Sunny Delight.

Set against a polite drum machine beat, the song and melodies are present and correct. It's a sun-doused stroll, gentle and more plaintive where the single version is almost desperate.

All in all, very much in thrall to Sarah Records but the bent-strings and layers of guitars and arpeggios - to me, anyway - also suggest a degree of West Coast/Byrds/Buffalo Springfield about them.

Sweet.

Download Ride 'Chelsea Girl (Demo)' (indie Shoegaze mp3) (Mediafire)

Lush - De-Luxe (4AD, 1990)

Shimmering guitars. Oozy vocals. Impressionistic lyrics. Delicious dynamics. Shoegaze classic.

My introduction to the wonder of early Lush - probably via The Chart Show - was this wonderful EP. Produced by Cocteau Twin Robin Guthrie it adds a hazy layer of mystery to the more straightforward sound of the previous 'Scar' mini-album.

'De-Luxe' opens with a spiralling, picked riff then simply bursts into a Shoegaze wall-of-sound and seems to climb, climb, climb in intensity. Layer-upon-layer of guitars and interlocking female harmonies create a wonderful, enveloping sound.

Bizarrely, it's also the basis for much Guitar Hero action.

Download Lush 'De-Luxe' (indie, shoegaze mp3) (Rapidshare)

#indiechristmas - Cocteau Twins 'Frosty The Snowman' (Fontana, 1993)

Something of a departure but their rococo swirl suits the song. 

By 1993, the Cocteau Twins were on a major label and singer Liz Fraser had started singing much more comprehensible words rather than the esperanto of yore. As it was, the songs mainly seemed to be digs at long-term partner Robin Guthrie but on this occasion we got a full-blown recognisable lyric.

As a consquence, it wasn't such a shock to hear them deliver a Christmas EP. 'Snow' paired their warbling take on 'Winter Wonderland' with a swirling, cascading version of 'Frosty The Snowman'. The refractions of guitar and glissandos of vocal suggesting a crystalline snowscape.

Perfect.

Download Cocteau Twins 'Frosty The Snowman' (indie Christmas mp3 download) (Mediafire)

Cocteau Twins 'Dials' (4AD, 1991)

Gentle rarity from the 1991 singles box set.

'Dials' was one of the tracks on the bonus disc in the 1991 singles box set (along with 'The High Monkey Monk' post herebefore). It was released as they were about to leave 4AD for Phonogram's major label headaches.

It's an outtake from the 'Heaven Or Las Vegas' sessions and is a beat-less piece of beauty. It bridges the ambient gorgeousness of the 'Victorialand' album to the richness of the later 4AD period, thereby teaching a generation of Shoegazers what singing should sound like.

Beautiful.

Download Cocteau Twins 'Dials' (indie, Dreampop, Shoegaze mp3 download) (Mediafire)