Review: 'Distance' by Ceremony

Just a few days before christmas Ceremony brought their very own little present to Shoegaze town.

   
On december 17th the band from Fredericksburg, VA released their Album 'Distance' via Moon Sounds Records which also is a home for the surf-psych rockers The Vandelles.
When Ceremony released the single 'I Want to Kiss' in august last year they already got me with this massive fuzzy bass sound and I felt like back in the 80's with this poppy The Jesus and Mary Chain songwriting. But there was more to come.
 
With their new album they continue doing hat they do best: Writing heartbreaking love songs with fuzz fuzz and more fuzz, lovely voices and punk rock attitude.
With simple but awesome guitar lines they create this innocent athmosphere of some cute little teenage love. 

The sound of 'Distance' doesn't remind of A Place by Bury Strangers by accident. The good friend and former bandmate from Skywave times Oliver Ackermann mastered the whole albumand gave it this rich noisy over the top sound which makes all the APTBS songs so intense.

So what's more to say?
Get your copy now! here

Outside Shoegaze Wonderland: Riot Grrrls & stucked back Grunge Guys

Hey Boys and Grrrls.

We're doing a little trip today. I want to show you another place I call home.
I'm a shoegaze girl. I live in Shoegaze Wonderland. But sometimes I like going out and take a drink with some friends in a cute little bar at the corner. Let's call it "BitchTown".

I call it this way, 'cause most of the girls, called a "bitch" are girls, who behave in an inadequate way.

I'm a Riot Grrrl. I play guitar in a Riot Grrrl Band called poor little rich girl. We're loud and we're not like the other girls and it sound like this:

I'm a feminist. And I'm not ashamed to say this out loud!
Every woman should consider herself a feminist. I believe in equal opportunity.
Just do, what you wanna do and be proud. Don't let anybody tell you, you're not good enough because you are a girl. You can do everything you want. EVERYTHING.
Or how Courtney would say:

Most people outside Bitch Town may think about the old times back in the 90's when hearing about Riot Grrrl stuff: "It's dead!"

I'm in love with the old stuff. And Rock'n'Roll is not dead because the King left us decades ago, right!



So, when I go out to drink some beer with my girls, we're talking about the new hot stuff out there in Bitch Town.



Last friday we talked about a band called I'm a Sloth from Vienna.
One Girl and two Boys in love with 90's Grunge and Punk Rock attitude.

They released their first album "Satisfashion" in 2012.
They are young and in love. In love with Noise, Sonic Youth, Beer, Hole and the whole 90's grunge thing. 

Of course they were too young when Kurt Cobain died and Sub Pop was (like really!) independant. So what?
They don't seem to copy things they saw on television when they were 4. They are authentic, real and honest kids, doing what they want to and give a fuck about what's in charts right now. They won't start the new Grunge Revival though, but listening to the LP I feel like 16 again. When I listened to Grunge Music the first time and was like "OMG, I was born at the wriong time." It makes me blue.

But back to I'm a Sloth. One thing I really like about them is the female and male vocals. They are adaptable. The one moment they sound like Melvins. Deep and dark. The next one they are L7. Punk Rock and Pop at the same time. I like it. I really do.

The guitar voicings are changing to much in my oppinion. Sometimes it reminds me of myself, when I got my first guitar ... However in Songs like "Employee Of The Mounth" they should ask Thurston Moore if he wants his sound back.

I hope I'm a Sloth will be able to release their next album very soon. I'm excited and dancing in my room while listening to the last song "Different". Hopefully they'll find their own sound and get support for Hole when Courtney is touring Austria again. :)

next shows:

Sept 9th @ Fluc | Vienna
Oct 14th @ Arena Beisl | Vienna
Jan 9th @ Noise Fest (B72) | Vienna

VVHILE - Vanity 7" debut EP

"VVhile delivers pop driven songs fueled with 80s punk rock energy colored with noise and shoegazing attitude."
That's something I can work with!
VVHILE are "your favorite rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrriot boys"?! I'm not sure about this one.
Let's check the two boys out.
VVHILE are Stevan Ćirović and Andrija Spičanović. They are from Belgrad / Serbia and formed in May 2011. They like sugar and chocolat. This doesn't sound really riot boyish to me. But to not be rude I will give 'em a chance.

VVHILE released their debut EP "Vanity" in May 2012. All Songs were recorded at the boy's rehersal space and mixed and mastered by Marko Ilic. The EP is released in limited edition of 100 black and 100 white vinyls (I LOVE VINYL!!!) by: Napravi Zaedno, Twin Toe & Jazz Chairs ( the bands own record label). It will be repressed and released by Called Dirt Cult Records in February/March 2013. It contains 4 Songs. Popsongs? We'll see.

The first song is not only giving the EP it's name but also says: "everything is overcontrolled". Nice punk rock drums, noisy guitars and lovely lo-fi voices make you dream about the years when everything was forbidden and done anyhow.
Definitely the right decision to put this song at the beginning. It reaches for your hand to invite you without getting annoying.
I was blown away by "Fecal Gaze". It's the last song on the EP and shows that's sometimes less can be more. The only shortcoming to me is that it releases the listener with an open end. It's like when you're reading a book, for example a detective story, and they don't tell you who the murderer is. You just don't get rid of the feeling that there's something you're missing. But maybe the next release will continue the story. I'm curios.
"Marriage Riots" shows cool noise rock paired with post-hardcore influences. I like the song because it goes straight forward. But I miss some innovative aspects in sound and songwriting to make it more special and not just a poor copy of any noise rock song.
To me "Worldending Curse" lacks the right hookline to make it a real popsong. Nevertheless it has an attitude that fits into the whole concept.

Alltogether: Great Neo Noise Pop with garage charme and a lot of potential. Please don*t destroy your own popsongs like No Age does.

I hope I'll get the opportunity to see VVHILE live someday.

VVHILE sounds like: No Age, Japandroids, Wavves, The Thermals


you can download the whole EP for free on bandcamp.

"Mauve" by Ringo Deathstarr

Ringo Deathstarr is one of my favorite bands since their debut album "Color Trip"
I was listening a lot to the new Ringo Deathstarr album "Mauve" lately.
That's why I thought I should right a little review about it. Maybe we can discuss your views and opinions on this blog. I would appreciate it.

First step: you should listen to it!




The first impression I got was that it's like a part 2 of the "Shadow"-Ep.
I have to admit that I wasn't so impressed by this EP because the songs were less pop and sounded more thought-out in a postitive and a negative way.
With "Mauve" there were similar feelings coming up inside of me but after I listened to it some more times it changed.
You definitely hear the influences of The Smashing Pumpkins sound, Ringo Deathstarr went on tour with recently, and Billy Corgans Songwriting.
In an interview with Red River Noise Elliot said about the difference between the new album and "Color Trip":

"On Colour Trip, we didn’t have a lot of the songs finished, most of them got done in the studio with all the bells and whistles of the studio. We thought to get some crazy-ass drum sounds, some unnatural things, you know? But with Mauve, we had everything done before getting into the studio and we didn’t use the computer very much at all. We didn’t use computer editing or computer plug-ins. We did it like people used to do, but today it’s rare to do that."

That's the thing I like the most about the new album. It's more natural. Nowadays many young shoegaze bands work a lot with every possible plug-in they can find on their computer to make everything sound really spacy, but just to rely on the sound you did in the studio is rare.

I really like about "Mauve" that Ringo Deathstarr kept up the different vocal sounds for each song like they already did on "Color Trip".
In this way every song get an own atmosphere and soul.

The first single "Rip" is well chosen and probably the most catchy song on the whole album. The music video is nerdy as always and it's fun to watch it. take a look.



Overall it's a really good mix. There are still some catchy pop songs like "Rip" , "Slack" and "Please don't kill yourself" and experimental doom sound wall songs like "Wave" as well.
 
I think you need to listen to "Mauve" twice at least to recover it's whole beauty.