It's Monday. No, It's Wednesday! Quite incredible what a long shelf life Shoegaze has proved to have. For a scene that was largely ridiculed in the Britishmusic press at the time, with the exception of My Bloody Valentine and Ride, (though they also got a fair bit of flack too), it seems to exert a particular spell on young bands, and particularly young American bands, almost thirty years on.
Asheville, North Carolina quintet Wednesday seem just the latest in line in this particular respect. Latest album, Twin Plagues, their second, is very happy to mine that particular sound and most particularly MBV's Isn't Anything. I certainly don't mind. It's one of my favourite records and musical moments, seeing the band at the peak of their powers just after the release of that record in '89.
Twin Plagues seems to draw from the well, rather more than breath fresh life into the things they love in the way that other young contemporary American bands such as Horesgirl and Dummy seem to be doing right now. Still there's a lot of good stuff on here. I was particularly taken by The Burned Down Dairy Queen, both song title and track. Another one I'll watch.
Another one I picked up on a recent Bandcamp Friday! I rather like it, too, although I am starting to think that most new music I like is because it reminds me of the 80s/90s stuff I liked first time round.
ReplyDeleteI think that's probably often the case with me too.
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