Where Are They Now? - Little Dreamers #3

It's time to get reacquainted with some bands that I "unearthed" over the past couple years and see what they're up to (wow, I'm feeling all Rumpus Room right now...)


We all loved a bit of scuzziness due to Toronto's The Bats Pajamas' garage shtick. Well here they are again, with their EP Totally, and like its moniker suggests this record totally kicks arse! OK, the EP doesn't suggest kicking arse, just that its totally... But seriously, 'Red Scared' is one hell of a rocking tune, and the rest of the album follows suit accordingly. You can get the EP for free here.

The Bats Pajamas - Sarai
The Bats Pajamas - Red Scared



Neil Weir loves his shoegaze, most evident in current band The Chambermaids. Their track 'China Blue' from last year really struck a chord with me, and the follow-up 'Whirlpool' mines this rich vein further. It's a slick, sexy number, released through Guilt Ridden Pop, and marries a windswept coastal vibe with a downward spiral of caterwauling guitars. They have been hard at work recording for a new album, and when the fruits of their labour surfaces Ill be the first person to latch on to it!

The Chambermaids - Whirlpool


Reading quartet Tripwires are cranking up for a big 2012 if 'Emerald' is any indication. These kids have been quiet since the ripples they cleaved with their last single 'Cinnamon', but 'Emerald' ensures and mollifies - the wait has not been in vain. The album will be burning its way across the sky very soon...

Tripwires - Emerald


Finally (and no offence to the other acts here, they are all amazing, but I feel I've left the best to last on this occasion), NY/DC's Drop Electric dropped an electric bomb on us all with Finding Color In The Ashes back in March last year. Er, sorry...tequila hangover induces lacklustre puns... But this is kinda fitting, seeing as the band's new track is called 'Santo Domingo' after the capital of the Dominican Republic (that isn't racist is it? To assume they drink tequila or some similar hard liquor in that country? I don't mean to cause international distress, seriously!) It's been a while since a new instrumental band really knocked me for six, but the brooding menace underpinning the Eastern inflections in this track paints an artful, epic soundscape that is nigh on impossible to escape. This is a good un, people. Stay alert on this one.

Drop Electric - Santo Domingo

The Briefest Candles Burn Brightest

Another little known band, another great release! This time Im talking about Milwaukee band Brief Candles, whose Fractured Days LP (out on Guilt Ridden Pop) is nothing short of spectacular. Marrying the shoegaze sonics of My Bloody Valentine with the finesse and whimsy of the Swirlies with some sort of Superchunk sugar rush in there too? At first description many of you will think "So Fucking What? Every band and his two-legged companion is doing that!" Well, that isnt that true, but when done well you nod and applaud. When done really well, like what is on offer on Fractured Days, then the lathered sweat is warranted.


Its so loud and guitar driven, yet the vocals and lyrics are incredibly affecting - look no further than the brilliant tete a tete on single 'Small Streets' ("In 1983, when we first heard ‘Come On Eileen,’ / I knew that you could see and you could understand. / We knew the same small streets, the same small towns, the same small creeps, / and we knew that we would leave or die by our own hands.") Those words are closer to my teenagehood than Id like to admit.

Which is interesting, as Fractured Days is so 90s indie that it has me tearing up at how affected it all was, and how much posing goes on today. When I look at a lot of the utter pandering "look at me! Ill pretend to be disdainful but really relish any attention, positive or otherwise!" bullshit bands that get lauded over, it makes me physically ill. So thank you Brief Candles, for reminding me that whilst guys like you are still around, everything just might turn out OK...

Brief Candles - 10 Weeks
Brief Candles - Small Streets