WEDNESDAY MAY 31, 2017
Wildhoney
Wildhoney don’t want to make noise. Well, they do, but noise isn’t the end game. It’s just a tool of expression. The Baltimore-based five-piece guitar band consciously eschews the genre label of shoegaze in favor of indie pop. They view shoegaze as more an approach to their music as opposed to a specific defining feature. Listening to the group’s ambiguous guitars immediately draws to mind beloved experimental bands of the 90s like My Bloody Valentine, but Wildhoney’s deliberate pop sensibilities are there too, shining through in sparkling melodies amid layers of harmonies, vaguely recalling Kinski or Stereolab. This is band that doesn’t like limitations. Wildhoney got together in 2011 and proceeded to release a couple 7-inch records, using a lo-fi combination of GarageBand and other assorted Apple devices. They never recorded any proper demos, but, through word of mouth, their EPs reached punk label Deranged and Forward!, who signed Wildhoney for a full-length release. You won’t hear any punk influences, though: Wildhoney’s music is swirling saccharine guitars with vocalist Lauren Shusterich’s high-pitched warbles complementing the reverb. And unlike with a lot of the band’s peers, her soaring vocal melodies aren’t buried deep within the music; it takes a stand and demands your attention. Shusterich states that she writes her lyrics with the expressed purpose of being something that people can relate to. Through excellent technical songwriting, you can hum along to it; if you were sufficiently drunk, you could even dance to it at a bar. -Noisey
Wildhoney don’t want to make noise. Well, they do, but noise isn’t the end game. It’s just a tool of expression. The Baltimore-based five-piece guitar band consciously eschews the genre label of shoegaze in favor of indie pop. They view shoegaze as more an approach to their music as opposed to a specific defining feature. Listening to the group’s ambiguous guitars immediately draws to mind beloved experimental bands of the 90s like My Bloody Valentine, but Wildhoney’s deliberate pop sensibilities are there too, shining through in sparkling melodies amid layers of harmonies, vaguely recalling Kinski or Stereolab. This is band that doesn’t like limitations. Wildhoney got together in 2011 and proceeded to release a couple 7-inch records, using a lo-fi combination of GarageBand and other assorted Apple devices. They never recorded any proper demos, but, through word of mouth, their EPs reached punk label Deranged and Forward!, who signed Wildhoney for a full-length release. You won’t hear any punk influences, though: Wildhoney’s music is swirling saccharine guitars with vocalist Lauren Shusterich’s high-pitched warbles complementing the reverb. And unlike with a lot of the band’s peers, her soaring vocal melodies aren’t buried deep within the music; it takes a stand and demands your attention. Shusterich states that she writes her lyrics with the expressed purpose of being something that people can relate to. Through excellent technical songwriting, you can hum along to it; if you were sufficiently drunk, you could even dance to it at a bar. -Noisey
Twin Studies
"Twin Studies started out as the solo bedroom recording project of Jay Stanley in late 2012. The project grew to a four piece in 2013 after Stanley enlisted the help of other local musicians and friends to complete a live lineup, and released their debut EP, Precious Places, the following year. In 2015 the band released two songs, “Attic Room” and “Space Girl.” After a complete change of musicians except for Stanley in 2016, Twin Studies is now releasing a new record. For this song, we were specifically chasing much more involved guitar melodies while still maintaining a wall of sound and a driving rhythm. This song is the best representation of the rest of the songs on the release because it combines and distills elements of all of them – floating pop riffs, droning guitars, and lush synths." -New Noise Mag
"Twin Studies started out as the solo bedroom recording project of Jay Stanley in late 2012. The project grew to a four piece in 2013 after Stanley enlisted the help of other local musicians and friends to complete a live lineup, and released their debut EP, Precious Places, the following year. In 2015 the band released two songs, “Attic Room” and “Space Girl.” After a complete change of musicians except for Stanley in 2016, Twin Studies is now releasing a new record. For this song, we were specifically chasing much more involved guitar melodies while still maintaining a wall of sound and a driving rhythm. This song is the best representation of the rest of the songs on the release because it combines and distills elements of all of them – floating pop riffs, droning guitars, and lush synths." -New Noise Mag
Fake Flowers
Indie rock trio Fake Flowers plays lush, propulsive pop songs, combining elements of shoegaze, post-punk, surf, and psychedelia. With guitars both fuzzy and jangly, a grooving rhythm section, and layers of dreamy vocal harmonies, the band could easily fall into late 80's/early 90's college-radio rotation but emphatically and refreshingly retools the styles of its forebears.
Indie rock trio Fake Flowers plays lush, propulsive pop songs, combining elements of shoegaze, post-punk, surf, and psychedelia. With guitars both fuzzy and jangly, a grooving rhythm section, and layers of dreamy vocal harmonies, the band could easily fall into late 80's/early 90's college-radio rotation but emphatically and refreshingly retools the styles of its forebears.