Even A Stopped Clock Gives The Right Time Twice A Day

A Shoegazer's Guide To The Galaxy...

Grouper - "Heavy Water/I'd Rather Be Sleeping"

(Sleeping With The Fishes)

"Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill in my ears feels like the relief of an unknown flickering series of burdens, drowning in marrowmoment a living freedom. lifted." These are the kind of comments you can expect to find on the one-girl band myspace page of Liz Harris (aka: Grouper) who has single-handedly reunited listeners with those early 90s' goosebumps with her blend of atmospheric/ambient music. Although it's a little early to start the selection process for Top Albums of 2008, but Grouper's Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill album this year is making it easy already. The Portland, OR native has the ability to create music that sounds like it was recorded at the bottom of the ocean and with Autumn already here, this music especially the song "Heavy Water/I'd Rather Be Sleeping" is the perfect soundtrack for the changing colours of the leaves, oscillating a soothing comfort in uncertain economic and political times... The kind of music that makes a snowfall seem like a welcome friend, one that you'll have over for dinner and talk over frostbitten lips and red cheeks. Until then, until then.

Grouper - "Heavy Water/I'd Rather Be Sleeping" (YouTube stream)
Grouper - "Heavy Water" (Myspace)

Ride - "Twisterella"

(Heathen Chemistry)

I sort of have to apologize for taking the mickey out of Mark Gardener's recnt slip into Grecian 5 territory in my last post, but I couldn't help laughing at how this man used to be a heart-throb during the shoegaze era, and now looks like an extra from a George A. Romero flick. Still, Ride *were* responsible for the whole shoegaze tag as people used to say wonderful things about them after catching them live. I suppose the whole term came from bands of that time playing wistful, slow-droning rock music and instead of flailing about the stage in rock n' roll ecstasy, they had to stare at the laces of their sneakers because the effects pedal-pushing required tons of concentration. If Going Blank Again hasn't already made it into the ranks of your CD collection, then I have little to no respect for you. This album ranks top 5 for sure in my Rob Gordon-esque list and marks the end of the band as they went on to release a few uninspiring albums before calling it a day. Still pissed at Andy Bell for joining Oasis, but at least that prevents any possibility of a reunion... somethings are better left burried, the legacy of Ride is left with great pop songs like "Twisterella" a song that always makes me smile... and Ride fans are tops!

Ride - "Twisterella" (YouTube)
Ride - "Taste" (YouTube w/interview)

The Mock Turtles - "Can You Dig It?"

(Oh, Manchester, So Much To Answer For)

Nirvana was really scared that they might get sued by Boston for having a similiar riff to "More Than A Feeling" as it had nearly the same progression. I bet they never had an ounce of fear from Manchester, UK's Mock Turtles because they had the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" intro knocked down pat before anyone could say the word, 'flannel.' Manchester had thousands of these kind of bands in the early 90s', ones where the lead singer had the long-sleeve, white sweater and danced like a spazz, but none did it better than The Mock Turtles. Martin Coogan (a hybrid look of Ian Curtis and Noel Gallagher) had been toiling in bands since 1985 and "Can You Dig It?" despite its 1960s' influenced sound and message, struck a chord with the Madchester mob, D'ya know what I mean? Last year during a Brit-Pop revival DJ night, I requested this song by e-mail the week before and made sure I drank enough Heinekens so I could dance equally as bad as Coogan... And hey, some girls.... 'dug' it? (they were drunk too).

The Mock Turtles - "Can You Dig It?" (YouTube)
The Mock Turtles - "Lay Me Down" (YouTube b-side to CYDI?)

SpireaX - "Speed Reaction"

(Slip Inside This House)

After Jesus and Mary Chain released their first album, Psycho Candy, their drummer (Bobby Gillespie) split and formed a new band called, Primal Scream. Well, another notable; albeit obscure band to form out of the Scream camp was a Scottish dude named Jim Beattie who started up the very psychedlic and dreamy outfit called, SpireaX. Never to be uttered in the same breath as other shoegaze or Creation bands, SpireaX shared a similiar sound to 4AD label mates, The Pale Saints, but still explored more straight ahead pop-clouds of bubblegum ala 60's bands like The Byrds and The Who. I was passed this band by suggestion by a friend who mocks me for liking this kind of music as he finds it to be like drinking your coffee with 5 spoonfuls of sugar and eating a slice of cherry-cheese cake with icing on top. Hey, as I always say, don't be afraid to love what you like!

SpireaX - "Speed Reaction" (YouTube)
SpireaX - "Chlorine Dream" (YouTube)

Blast of Thousands - Discecting the Sound of My Bloody Valentine

By Maths Equation: The Cocteau Twins + Sonic Youth + Public Enemy


Liz Frazer's vocals would become a huge influence on both Kevin Shields and Belinda Butcher. When MBV's singer Dave Conway parted ways with the band, it forced them to re-tool their sound especially the vocals and it was at the time they went for the girl/boy adrogynous leanings. You often didn't know who was singing or what they were saying as the shyness of both singers lead them to over-dub in the hundreds to create this almost alien-esque soundcsape. The way Liz Fraser accentuated certain 'oohs and ahhs' would also figured into Valentine's sound and become a sculptutred staple in recording the masterpiece, Loveless. Her voice obviously becomes operatic and sheering, but MBV tended to side with her mellow background singing instead. Here is just one example on how the Cocteau Twins played a significant role in shaping MBV's signiature blast, with a song called, "Carolyn's Fingers" from my favourite, Blue Bell Knoll album. You could even argue the danceability of the Twins also figured into the layered equation of the band. The Cocteau Twins - "Carolyn's Finger" (YouTube).


Sonic Youth have been around forever. Labelled as the neo-Velvet Underground in the early 1980s, SY made avant-garde post-punk music that was almost unlistenable at the time. Their experimentations with feedback and irregular guitar tuninigs provided to be a little too much for the ears of listeners at the time. But as they grew older and wiser, they discovered the odd melody out of a sea of discordant noise and wreckage. An important component to SY's guitar onslaught came from the ever-useless 'whammy-bar' that to most guitar players (including Hendrix) found to be a pain in the ass because it threw a whole guitar out of tune with one pull-down. Guitarists Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo experimented with so many different string-combinations and tunings that made pressing down the whammy-bar sound like a wave of bees coming to attack a honey comb. Here's a good example of its use, from a live performance of "Schizophrenia" from 1991. Pay particular attention to Ranaldo's guitar-sound.
Sonic Youth - "Schizophrenia" (YouTube live in 1991)



Public Enemy? What do they have to do with the sound of My Bloody Valentine? Well, it's no secret that MBV had a touch of rave and dance-influenced samples, throughout Loveless especially. (See also: "Soon" for more evidence) and made no qualms in mentioning that they had a deep respect for hip-hop and rap artists at the time who were utilizing samples and scratching with their DJs who would create these whacked-out sounds underneath bombastic beats. If you listen to this one Public Enemy song in particular, you would think MBV made a direct rip-off of it and pasted in somewhere on their first two-albums (um, like their only two). Their debut, Yo! Bum Rush The Show wouldn't prove to be a huge seller when it came to record sales (they would leave that to It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back), but the sounds and beats coming from a song like, "M.P.E." would definitely influence a few white, pasty kids from Ireland. Public Enemy - "M.P.E" - (YouTube)