Hard to imagine that just one year later, the band would blow the roof of the club scene with “Pump Up the Volume” as half of M/A/R/R/S, while at the same time, chasing forgotten ghosts across a string of essential 12’’ releases.ħ.
Kane would release a string of EPs that not only officially cemented dream pop as we know it (the band is also responsible for coining the term), but would also break down all rules and trappings of everything that came before. In just a few short years, the unpredictable and under-celebrated A.R. Kane- When You’re Sad 12’’ (One Little Indian, 1986) The serpentine “Soul in Isolation” explores the opposite side of the emotional spectrum with similar attention to detail, while both “Tears” and “In Answer” continue the band’s knack for capturing childlike innocence in the span of a perfect pop song.Ħ. Album centerpiece “Swamp Thing” is both their most complex and epic track to date, and the heart swells with every grandiose sweep. However, the Manchester quartet’s third record is arguably their dreamiest, trading in much of their early angst while swinging for the fences with a tremendous collection of songs.
The Chameleons- Strange Times (Geffen, 1986)Ĭhoosing a favorite Chameleons record is like choosing your favorite child – a true exercise in futility.
#The wild swans incandescent rar series#
Extractions expanded on a series of incredible EPs, offering a delicate balance of breezy jazz textures and avant-garde expressions, with just the right amount of melancholy to keep the band from floating away entirely.ĥ. One of 4ADs most underrated bands also received the magic touch of Guthrie and Frasier, adding their telltale sense of beauty and wonder to the band’s debut album. Lose yourself in the warmth of “O Pamela,” sway in the warm spring breeze of “Melancholy Man,” or let the title track bring out the hopeless romantic buried even in the deepest reaches of your heart. Often dismissed as a Joy Division/New Order clone (depending on which record you consider), Scotland’s The Wake layer bright lines over reverb-drenched production, writing a series of perfect pop songs that would inform much of the Captured Tracks roster over 30 years later. The Wake- Here Comes Everybody (Factory, 1985) This Australian band combined sparse washes of synthesizer, delicately rambling piano melodies, churning post-punk guitars, fretless bass, and ghost-ridden vocals, and the results are as ephemeral as they are stunning.Ģ. Our first entry on this list is an unsuspecting and extremely underrated one, released a few years before the genre was “officially” coined, but no less deserving of inclusion. Not Drowning, Waving- Another Pond (Rampart Releases, 1984)
Lastly, while indie-pop often flirted with the same textures and shared a similar set of influences, opening the door to the genre felt equally inaccurate (though we adore Black Tambourine, The Field Mice, Blueboy, and Heavenly as much as anyone).ġ. The same rule held true for bands like Curve, whose electronic cacophony didn’t feel quite-so-dreamy, as vital as it may be. As such, some of the noisier bands on the spectrum (Starflyer 59, Medicine, Swervedriver, Catherine Wheel) were left off. By design, we decided to steer as clear from pure shoegaze as we could. With that in mind, we at wanted to try our own hand at devising such a definitive genre list.įirstly, I’d like to thank resident experts Amber Crain ( When the Sun Hits) and Greg Fasolino ( The Harrow, Bell Hollow) for helping through every step of the process, from whittling down a list of nearly 200 releases over a series of loving debates, passionately defending and suggesting alternate choices, and most importantly, for their help in writing many of the blurbs below.Īs the line between shoegaze and dream pop is flimsy at best, we decided to set a few ground rules to help guide our selection process. We couldn’t help but notice Pitchfork’s attempt at capturing the 30 best dream pop releases, a problematic list that relied too heavily upon repeated artists and completely omitted THE band who coined the genre.