I make no bones about the fact that I’m a moron. Exhibit M (or wherever we are in this real time demonstration), I start cleaning out my old email, and find a message from October of 2008. That’s Q4 of ‘08. This was during the second Bush administration, mind you. Stamps were 42 cents. Billy Mays was still alive and selling me on cleaning solutions I used on a weekly basis.

Yeah, so that was a while ago. Sorry dudes. Regardless, the message from Panda Riot caught my eye and I checked it out. Liked it very much. Liked it so much that the PR firm that employs me picked them up too (just a full disclosure). Anyway, the Chicago collective gives off a thick vibe blast of second wave dream pop vibes a la The Stratford 4 and The Eaves (though perhaps more informed by Velocity Girl), packed with restrained and hypnotic analog electronic flourishes and sugar siren meets punchy Spector-esque post doo-wop vocals. And their name is Panda Riot. Ya know what I mean:

But of course they’re on MySpazz, so see about ‘em. Additionally, I’m very happy to premiere this track off their forthcoming EP Far and New.

MP3 :::
Panda Riot – Streetlights and You and Me

Dude… last week was shit. We found out that our largest (and rather legendary) independent music retailer, ear X-tacy, might be closing their doors. We also found out that our Six Flags will definitely be closing its doors (miss you wave pool). And to top it all off, I’ve been trying to quit smoking. Fuck, it’s a horrible experience that I don’t recommend! If you’re a non-smoker, don’t start. If you already do, keep the smoke stack churnin’ because quitting is psychologically destructive and sucks major dick. I’ve been having dreams reminiscent of the last five minutes of Eraserhead and shit. So, needless to say, things are not well with our hero.

To that end, I’m very thankful that Deep Space Recordings is around to provide me with my fix. Check the glory that is The Fauns (not to be confused with The Fonze, which I could not put up with right now). The Fauns come to us from the motherland of shoegaze, The UK (though their hometown of Bristol is more known for their beats than their beats in space). Not only is this original-yet-true-to-canon shimmering and subdued ethereal pop awesome, it’s awesome sounding. The resonant low end and thick tones on “Lovestruck” are as much of a joy to hear as the song itself. And… that’s all that really needs to be said about it. Sure, I spent most of this entry talking more about contextual and tertiary details that are in no way relevant to The Fauns. But dude, this anecdotal evidence is all you really need to know… I was bumming, this song turned my frown the fuck upside down, and it’s massive and beautiful. So have a listen below, venture to Deep Space Recordings to hear more streaming audio and look at The Fauns’ stash (as well as other fine artists), and we’ll talk again soon. Laters.

MP3 :::
The Fauns – Lovestruck

Really like what I’m hearing from New York City’s Dead Leaf Echo. While you could toss them in the newgaze camp, I would argue that Dead Leaf Echo is only tangentially reminiscent of the scene that celebrates itself (which is what was immediately appealing to me in the first place). The vocals (coming from a gentleman simply known as LG, like my phone) have an odd, clear croon, brought up high in the mix rather than washed out (as is apropos to most shoegaze), bolstered more by moody and light synth flourishes and melted, chorus-heavy guitar rather than pure “wall of sound” or fuzz distortion. Lush as fuck, easy on the ears, yet keeps a visceral ominous tone throughout that reminds me of the finer portion of Medicine’s repertoire and, actually, older Blonde Redhead. Creation addicts should also take notice of these dream pop mensch, in the event you’ve not already. Hear more at Dead Leaf Echo’s website.

For fans of:  Soundpool, Medicine, Blonde Redhead

MP3 :::
Dead Leaf Echo – Half Truth

Nightmare pop is the term I’ll coin for The Grimlets. This isn’t suggesting that it’s a nightmare to listen to (the xx gets that distinction… ick). No, The Grimlets are firmly housed in the dream pop sector, paying homage to classic 4AD and Creation artists, with soaring siren vocals and reverb saturated, chorus-heavy jangle. However, there’s something spooky and foreboding within “Glass Lips.” Perhaps it’s the masterful use of sonic space or the icy, candlelit timbre voice as the music’s centerpiece, or perhaps The Grimlets are actually kinda evil.

So while the group prefers the term “maudlin hyphy,” I think I like nightmare pop. Regardless, this is good shizz – have a listen below. Grimcore is available for free download at the artist website.

For fans of:  Cocteau Twins, early Slowdive, Pale Saints

MP3 :::
The Grimlets – Glass Lips

I’ll try to keep this short, since Bear in Heaven’s recently released debut Beast Rest Forth Mouth will probably be all over the Intarwebz and college radio soon, and people with more sophisticated prose than I will be discussing this jam hive. But I’m a verbose bro, so we’ll see what happens. This is what you need to know, in easy-to-read bullet format:

- Bear in Heaven is not to be confused with Grizzly Bear, Panda Bear, Gorilla Vs. Bear, Bear Bryant, The Black Bear Jamboree in Pigeon Forge, TN (which is the tits, don’t be misled), Bearforce1 (look it up if U DON’T KNO), Smokey the Bear, et fuckin’ cetera. They’re totally different than the aforementioned. They just have “bear” in the name. “Bear” is the new “wolf.” Or “crystal.” Or “sufjan.” Crystal Bears are Wolf Like Sufjan. I challenge The Hood Internet to mash that up.

- Bear In Heaven isn’t exactly new. They’ve been doing the damn thing since 2003. Before that, group founder Jon Philpot (not to be confused with Pol Pot – see first bullet) was half of Presocratics, who were sick and insane. Peep Works and Days.

- Yes, they formed in Brooklyn, but I’m really not trying to hold that against them.

- “Dust Cloud” and “Deafening Love” are near perfect songs. “Wholehearted Mess” is kinda shitty, though.

- That last fact notwithstanding, the album as a whole is really good. Remember when M83 released the Dead Cities set and it totally ruled? Then M83 released the follow-up, Before the Dawn Heals Us, and it sucked major dick? Bear in Heaven is reminiscent of the former, but only reminiscent. They don’t actually sound like M83. They sound closer to some sort of Public Image Ltd./Siouxie Souix/Bark Psychosis meets Cocteau Twins/Curve/Boo Radleys creature.

- All the songs are constructed from ideas straight out of the Mogwai School of Thought: constantly evolving and tension-building jams that collapse and fade. Their approach is much closer to this than the nuanced, motorik drive of krautrock. However, that genre definition has been thrown around in a few recent reviews for Beast Rest Forth Mouth. Don’t listen to these people because they are idiots. Bear in Heaven is an excellent nod to post rock and dream pop, not krautrock.

- For reasons that remain intangible, there’s something about Philpot’s vocals that is viscerally similar to REO Speedwagon’s Kevin Cronin, especially during the crescendo of “Bear in Peace” and the chorus of “Lovesick Teenagers.” I think that rules. REO Speedwagon plus shoegaze is a recipe for win.

- I can’t tell what’s synthetic and what’s live instrumentation, much like Manitoba’s Up in Flames. That’s a great style, too.

- This is why we don’t release our Best Of/Worst Of list until the actual end of the year. You never know when stuff like this will pop up.

For fans of:  Cocteau Twins, Fever Ray, Slowdive, Bark Psychosis

Fagen-Becker Quality Rating

MP3 :::
Bear in Heaven – Dust Cloud
Bear in Heaven – Deafening Love

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club is known for two things: 1) being called “hippies” by Brian Jonestown’s Joel Gion in Dig, and 2) very strong live shows. So considering the latter, it’s fitting the group is set to drop a 2 DVD and CD live package, poignantly titled Live. The package spans a number of European shows on their Baby 81 tour. The jam hive hits shelves next Tuesday, November 10th. Wanna win a copy? Cool… well I have two to give away.

Just shoot an email over to kb@thedecibeltolls.com and tell me what you’d like to see more of on the blog. We’ve had a lot of discussions on how to better serve you, the smarmy blog reader. This way, we get something, and you get something awesome. Contest closes on Friday at 5 p.m.

You can peep the track listing and pre-order info here. Good luck.

MP3 :::
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Spread Your Love [Live]

The Big Pink currently enjoy an astounding wave of Intarwebz hype, but I certainly won’t let that affect my opinion of the their debut A Brief History of Love. However, the record itself just happens to suck, all things considered. No, the hype didn’t ruin the listening experience. It just epically blows, hype or not.

Yes, The Big Pink is a true and accurate nod to shoegazing, and yes, I love shoegaze and second-wave shoegaze. However, it’s bad shoegazing, dude. It’s The Jesus and Mary Chain AFTER Darklands. Ya know, when they made rad videos for “Sidewalking” and shit, with, like, their name on a big marquee behind them while the Reid brothers are fuckin’ rawwwkin’ (one of the few unintentional hilarious decisions of the Creation camp). Gross…

There are some worthwhile moments on this album, such as “Velvet,” wherein the band combines their natural pop-centric attitude with truly thick distortion swells and harmonies, coming off more like The Catherine Wheel or The Boo Radleys than, ya know, an even shittier version of Pop Will Eat Itself or somethin’. Maybe The Big Pink could rename themselves Pop Will Shit Itself. That would be poignant. But even if the whole album was packed with songs like “Velvet,” no amount of quality songwriting on A Brief History of Love can make up for “Dominoes.” That song gave me gastric pains. As Jeffrey said while we were listening to the record in the office, “it’s like Jesus Jones goes on a date with Kevin Shields, and JJ tells everyone they slept together, and Kevin is totally embarrassed.” Gotta do better next time, 4AD.

So yeah, this record is doo doo. I’m totally bummed. Gonna listen to the new No Age EP instead for a pick-me-up. Laters.

For fans of:  Jesus Jones, Shitty-period Jesus and Mary Chain, The Jesus (circa Big Lebowski)

Fagen-Becker Quality Rating

MP3 :::
The Big Pink – Velvet

Been totally missing Serena Maneesh as of late. Not sure what they’ve been up to or if they’re still together or if they really dig their day jobs or what, but it’s been a minute since their eponymous record dropped. Regardless, lots of other groups pick up that slack. Joensuu 1685 is one of the best and most accurate interpreters of the bunch. Their cover of The Boss’ “I’m on Fire” captures Bruce’s grandiose battle for the working man, then noises it the fuck up with scary walls of sound. The dude’s ten minutes long, too. I’m excited to explore more of their catalog…

Joensuu 1685 have a rad blog here with lots of pretty gorgeous photos and trippy videos.

MP3 :::
Joensuu 1695 – I’m On Fire

A Polynya is an oceanographic term that refers to an area of open water generally engulfed by sea ice. The band Polynya do not provoke such imagery.

Rather, Polynya come to us from fun, friendly, and gorgeous North Carolina, and their sophomore effort Crop Rotation sort of evokes more of that same feeling. Polynya is a group firmly planted in neo-gaze, or what I call “second wave dream pop” or “shadow dream pop.” They don’t exactly emmulate, say, Slowdive or The Catherine Wheel, which is probably for the best anyway. Rather, the group sounds closer to collectives like Dirty on Purpose, The Aislers Set, or The Eaves, who take the trademark characteristics of shoegaze and dream pop, and transform them into something decidedly their own sound, replete with a contemporary gloss. All the while, Polynya feels familiar and welcoming in the most rewarding of manners.

I really enjoyed this record, because sometimes I don’t really want to hear insanely experimental noise jumble screaming at me from my laptop’s tweeters (despite the fact that The Decibel Tolls sorta strives to write about challenging music). Sometimes it’s nice to listen to a perpetually enjoyable sunny afternoon body of songs. Polynya does that well, while still maintaining a variance of moods, layers, and most importantly, cool noises dripped in reverb. This is no rehash, friends. Polynya are quirky, fun, and interesting dream pop for 2009, with a warm southern flair to boot. Totally worth your time to czech out.

Dig the kraut-ish feeling on “Fan Fiction” meshed with Stereolab-sugarry vocals. Definitely dig on the distorted autoharp tones and old school 4AD good vibes on “Fields.”

Crop Rotation is available now courtesy of the band themselves. Grip it here.

For fans of:  The Eaves, Velocity Girl, Aislers Set, Cocteau Twins

MP3 :::
Polynya – Fan Fiction
Polynya – Fields

I’m making it my personal mission, my top task on the action items list, to spread the gospel of Detroit quartet Oblisk. This is an amazing new band that, no exaggeration, might be the best American shoegaze group (and it’s gritty shoegaze) these ears have ever heard. I will do everything in my power to make sure these guys sell billions of records, and it’s a goddman travesty that this is not the case.

Anyway, there’s no need for any sort of overlong, overhyperbolic review for Oblisk’s Weather Patterns, despite the fact I’m wont to do such. The brass tacks of the matter is that Oblisk has crafted an absolutely beautiful record that both travels at high speeds above the troposphere and slithers within cracks in the earth. It’s odd in many ways that Oblisk hails from a decaying industrial metropolis. Sure, the minor keys, grimey fuzz, distant tones, and distorted vocals suggest a bit of an ominous environment. But Weather Patterns is packed with mystique and excitement – a record that wonders and wanders.

Oblisk’s loyalties are outlined with a line in the sand – this is new psychedelia. That is to say, this is not a group rehashing flower power like the Paisley Underground did. Oblisk is a group that synthesizes what’s good in psychedelia and adds an opaque gloss. Weather Patterns evokes pure Spiritualized-informed space rock, kraut a la Amon Duul, a touch of post-punk, darkly veiled and midtempo pop-oriented shoegaze in the vein of Medicine and Slowdive, and eastern mysticism (best exemplified on instrumental “Blue Iceberg”).

The epic “Tiger Fighter,” and I’m calling this right now, is the “Leave Them All Behind” of this decade. It’s fucking gorgeous and I don’t want to ruin it by yapping on about it. The song is available below along with one other sample (and it took me forever to narrow down my selection for sharing to two because the album is sick).

Buy this record at Candy Colored Dragon. Do it.

For fans of:  Slowdive, Deerhunter, Spiritualized

MP3 :::
Oblisk – Tiger Fighter
Oblisk – Epicenter