Cam Recommends

At what point does shoegaze become dreampop? If that’s a question that more people than myself have been asking, then I think we might have the answer with Cloakroom’s latest incredible record, Last Leg of the Human Table. While genre discussions can quickly turn meaningless and pedantic, I, to reference Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, can’t help my training, and ultimately the question of “where do I put it on the shelf,” can’t help surfacing in my mind at some point when considering any given piece of music (thank you to the late-great Dr. Hart Wegner of the UNLV Film Department as this was his constant refrain from my college days). Cloakroom employees all the fuzz and distortion you could want but, taking a page from Beach House, makes most of it sound so warm and inviting that you can’t help but float along on top, riding the vibe. The songwriting chops have only leveled up from their previous outings and while I can wholeheartedly recommend the whole album, if you have to just give one track a go, take a listen to “Ester Wind,” which (and this is meant as a compliment) kind of sounds like an alternate reality take from Weezer’s Green Album in which they swerved towards more abrasion and less pop and you’re somewhere in the zone. The hooks are mightly, the energy is relentless and the warmth is irresistible. Elsewhere on the album (like with other standout “Bad Larry,”) Cloakroom even slows it down and brings out the acoustic instruments, leaning into an almost country-western sound. All-in-all, one of my favorite records of the year so far and entirely worth getting lost in. 

For such a short album and with so many collaborators it’s remarkable how cohesive and full this project sounds. A testament to a unified vision, perhaps, or maybe just a willingness to amplify the best instincts of this particular kind of “active ambient” sound. If you’re new around these parts and don’t have time to pull up a chair and listen to the likes of Aleksi Perälä, M. Geddess Gengras, Craven Faults or 36, but still want a general vibe-check without even touching any of those artists? Then Worlds: Collide is for you. Blending tracks featuring new-age tinged piano alongside looping-synth interludes reminiscent of the best of Jean-Michel Jarre’s Oxygéne, it’s also such a brisk listen that it’s over before you know it, leaving your brain wanting just a bit more of that digital warmth. 

Thundering and riotous goth rock that’s unafraid to really go balls to the wall with the freakouts and with lyrics like “nothing else matters…and this nothing turns black!” what else do I even really need to say? Newcomer Heartworms has created an incredibly nervy, ice cold and diamond-sharp piece of work in her full length from which “Jacked” hails (the impeccably named Glutton for Punishment) and if you’re not already sold by the first 30 seconds then I don’t know what I can do for you, except maybe call you a nerd. Be cool, put on that black eyeliner and listen to Heartworms.

While the correct lyric appears to be “never let go of the joys of being pure at heart,” I think it’s easy to hear it as “never let go of the choice of being pure at heart.” In this unbelievably earnest–but still massively uplifting–track from indie-pop rockers Hachiku they encourage a retreat from cynicism and insularity. In an age where forces seek to set up barriers and exclude, the simple act of announcing that “there is room for everyone,” is revolutionary. And while that’s certainly a sad state of affairs in the grand scheme of things, in this micro-moment, Hachiku, along with the always awe-inspiring (like, literally in all senses of that word) Mary Lattimore, reminds us of our responsibility to each other in finding joy–and yes–choosing to make room for everybody.

mrkrabsansweringphoneandsayingbeepboop.gif in song form. Delightful stuff for a cold (but warming) early morning after a difficult night. 

Breakneck psych rock (think Death From Above 1979’s classic You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine or King Gizzard’s genre-defining Nonagon Infinity) with a heavy emphasis on 50’s midnight creature feature vibes, this debut LP from Dr. Mocker is a shockingly good listen and deserves a lot of attention. If nothing else, for how well the band maintains the tantalizingly oppressive tone without making the thing dreary. Indeed, it thrums with an unhinged energy that explodes in tracks like “A Comfortable Lie,” and coils back up into the metal-spike ornamented steampunk jack-in-the-box that is the overall vibe of the thing (like mood-setters "Channels" and "Air of Sighs"). And that it all ends in an exemplary transition to a stunner of a ten minute-prog rocker ("Under the Rocks") is just icing on the cake.

I’m a sucker for a vocoder and Midnight Generation’s “Don’t Wait Up,” features some of the best use of that particular production trick since probably TWRP’s exemplary Together Through Time from 2018. Along with that, the sheer funkiness of this track is just irresistible and if it sounds like it could sit right alongside Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky,” that’s all for the better as I think we can all agree that the now-retired helmeted duo should have continued to explore that particular sound a bit more. So, thank goodness Midnight Generation for picking up that 10+ year torch and I’m really looking forward to hearing their upcoming full record.

“Please hold, your life is very important to us.” 

I remember the exact place I was when I first heard Múm’s bedroom "laptronica" classic “Green Grass of Tunnel,” and while this doesn’t quite reach the heights of that track (and, really, as an icon of whatever this microgenre of gentle bubbly electronica mixed with gentle live instrumentation is*, almost nothing else is close), this delightful tune from Ai Yamamoto & Dan West certainly puts me in that sonic headspace. I’d say it almost sounds like early 2000’s Múm trying to “do a Postal Service,” although this maybe suggests vocalists which is one element this song is missing but doesn’t lack. The bubbling synths and shuffling microbeats carry as much wistful emotion as any soft-sung melody.

An obsession with riding the line of blown-out guitars (ala Sleigh Bells and Jai Paul) combined with a love of disco and 80’s synth-pop coalesces into this absolute blast of a record from London’s WOOZE. I spent some time trying to figure out which track to feature for a single recommendation but I think it really takes a couple songs to wrap your head around all the toys that WOOZE have pulled out of the music production box and are bashing together like so many plastic dinosaurs, wooden blocks and stuffed animals. Opener “Sabre Tooth Spider” features power chords that sound 10 miles high and a nearly Brad Roberts-deep backing vocal as it slams through its blazing fast 3 minute run time. With lyrics like “I wanna be your sugar daddy, but you call me daddy of the long-legs variety,” and “haven’t I been the bane of sobriety? We should get together and do Dry January!” I’m not exactly sure what the song is supposed to be “about,” but with this much energy, who cares? Then, if you’re short on time and don’t want to just keep listening to the whole album, skip forward to “Was Father Present” which sounds like an honest-to-god forgotten b-side from Trent Reznor’s collaboration with David Bowie back with 1997’s classic “I’m Afraid of Americans.”

So, go ahead, take a spin and get WOOZEY.