Amoeba is now taking preorders for My Bloody Valentine’s long-awaited third LP, mbv, at Amoeba.com. The album hits stores March 12 and is available on CD or LP. The LP is 180 gram and includes the CD as well.

CD $22.98

LP $32.98

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Most of you probably know the story, but here’s the quick rundown: My Bloody Valentine released two full-length albums, 1988’s Isn’t Anything and 1991’s Loveless, to universal acclaim and a cult following which seemed to grow with each passing year, kicking off the shoegaze genre and spawning legions of imitators. Then they virtually disappeared — mastermind Kevin Shields could be seen in a number of guises over the years, namely playing with and producing Primal Scream and contributing to Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation soundtrack, but the band was dormant. An album was said to be “3/4 done” in 1996 but never surfaced.

I always hope that there will be another reissue of some sort of some band that I never even knew existed. I figure that there has to be at least a couple dozen bands of the dreampop or shoegaze era that I have never heard before. Some band that only put out a couple of limited 7"s and EPs . I know they are out there! I just rely on some label such as Captured Tracks, Darla or Slumberland to reissue them and bring them out of their obscurity. Kranky has gone and done it this time. The band is Dreamscape. A perfect name for what the music sounds and feels like. I will be honest and tell you that I had absolutely never heard of this band until this week. Kranky is putting out a collection from Dreamscape called La-Di-Da Recordings on both CD and LP. The previously had an EP on the label La-Di-Da. This collection comes out next Tuesday 8/21. And you can pre-order them now on amoeba.com.

I really probably should have known who this band was. Two of its former members went on to be one of
my favorite bands of the era, Secret Shine. Dreamscape was around in the very early 90's and basically done being a band by the time I would have been into them. They are the perfect mix of all the best of shoegaze. A mix of The Cocteau Twins and Lush. Not as heavy as My Bloody Valentine. Not as amazing as Slowdive. But still a band that deserves your attention. Much more on the lighter and more ethereal side of shoegaze. This band obviously deserved much more recognition then they had at the time. I am glad to now have them in my life and I look forward to see what other barely known shoegaze bands might be out there. Thank you Kranky for bringing this album to us! Here is what Kranky has to say about the contents of this collection from Dreamscape...

Sweet Valley and Heaven
 
There’s a new Sweet Valley track out. Who’s that, you ask? It’s Nathan Williams of Wavves, along with his brother, Kynan. “Total Carnage,” from their upcoming debut record, Stay Calm, is warped, instrumental surf rock that makes its looping riff sound like an endless summer. You want to just put it on, lay at the beach and never have that moment end. Stay Calm is out Aug. 7 from Fool’s Gold.
 

 
And speaking of Wavves, Wavves drummer Jacob Safari debuted songs from his new project Heaven via Vice’s blog this week. “Hanging Out” is kind of industrial and cool, with a foreboding beat and spacey vocals, while “Can’t Grow Up With Poison” is more of a straight-up shoegazer with a driving beat and a more melodic bent. I’m really digging this, obviously. An EP is due soon!
 
 
Wild Eyes – Blue Haze
 
New band crush: Wild Eyes, a So. Cal. shoegaze band with heart-and-brain-melting tracks that recall the best of the genre — Ride, Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine. Found this one over at Buzzbands.la, where I learned they recorded their Blue Haze EP in a garage and rehearsal space. For such humble beginnings, the thing approaches Creation status. Gotta love those garage-gaze bands!
 

Chelsea Wolfe – "Flatlands"
 
Chelsea Wolfe has a new, all-acoustic album due in October on Sargent House. Here’s the first track, a spare and haunting departure from the more densely layered, dark folk you’ll find on 2011’s Apocalypsis. The track features Andrea Calderón on violin, Ezra Buchla on viola and Ben Chisholm also on guitar.
 

 


John Maus – "Bennington"
 
John Maus’ We Must Become the Pitless Censors of Ourselves was a fun trip through the sort of cerebral art pop of Klaus Nomi or Kraftwerk but with goofy lyrics and sturdy hooks. “Bennington” is no different, boasting a raunchy synth groove and lyrics like “I miss those funky eyes.” A Collection of Rarities and Previously Unreleased Material, collecting 16 tracks recorded over the past decade or so, is slated to come out July 17 on Ribbon Music. He’ll be at FYF Fest Sept. 1 (tickets go on sale at Amoeba today at 5!). I never realized what a babe John Maus is till today.
 

 

Hey y'all! Here are my album picks for January:

Porcelain Raft – Strange Weekend
 
Porcelain Raft, aka Italian-born Mauro Remiddi, makes the kind of wide-eyed romantic pop that borrows from various genres — lo-fi, soul, indie pop and shoegaze — but ends up in its own emotional territory due to Remiddi’s bedroom-recording aesthetics. “Drifting In and Out” appropriately sees its swooning electronics and new wave guitars come in and out of focus in what feels like falling asleep with the radio on. Strange Weekend works because its filled with tiny surprises, like the way Remiddi suddenly gets all glam in “Shapeless & Gone,” like an electro-twee Marc Bolan, or the psych-hop beats that pull back the marvelously affecting “Unless You Speak From Your Heart” from preciousness. It’s not the first time at the rodeo for Remiddi, a 37-year-old veteran of indie pop, previously in the band Sunny Day Sets Fire; perhaps that’s why he gets nearly everything right on his first solo full-length record.

Howler – America Give Up

What a pleasure Howler’s debut, America Give Up, is. Already this early into 2012, we have the year’s most irresistible album, 10 songs from a band weaned on the likes of The Jesus & Mary Chain and Guided By Voices. Much like their forebears in The Strokes (how’s that for making us all feel old), Howler has a way of distilling somewhat obvious and oversaturated influences into three-minute gems that get pretty much everything right. — dig the swaying romanticism of “Too Much Blood,” or the surf-gaze of “America,” or the snarky indie rock of “Back of Your Neck” (featuring the too-good lyrics “you think we’re Bonnie and Clyde, but both of them fuckin’ died”). If you can stop playing this on repeat, you’re stronger than we are.

Common – The Dreamer/The Believer