PLAYLIST: Music, working combine for entertainment, productivity
Few things change your working environment more than good music. In my experience, music is often an essential part of work, whether I’m working on some routine data entry, trying to plow through that last line of code, or getting a last-minute news feature ready for publication. Here’s a short list of some of my favorites.
Pavement – “Spit on a Stranger”
When I’m working, I need something that will capture my attention but not demand it — Pavement’s “Spit on a Stranger” somehow hits on the right side of the line: It’s something rare. A catchy melody and evocative guitar work define this song, and over the past few days of working, I’ve not been able to turn it off.
Tags: fusion jazz, indie rock, pop-rock, shoegaze
By Matthew Montgomery 
Mar 07, 2010 
Playlists 
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Review: A Faulty Chromosome — As An Ex-Anorexic’s Six Sicks Exit, …
Released Feb. 19, 2008; self-released.
A Faulty Chromosome, previously the subject of a Feb. 19 MusicGeek.org spotlight, is an unruly shoegaze group; while they do pull from a variety of influences — and it’s evident, it’s not just some blurb on the band’s MySpace — they create music that sounds as if it’s all essentially the same song, repeated ad infinitum. It’s not a bad song, though, just a bit on the repetitive side.
A Faulty Chromosome — “Jackie O” | download
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By Matthew Montgomery Feb 25, 2008 Downloads, Reviews Comments (0)
Spotlight: A Faulty Chromosome
A Faulty Chromosome produces fairly engaging music that, while pulling from a variety of influences, maintains a fairly distinct shoegaze tone. At times a little offsetting, the band doesn’t “pull any punches,” per se, with their usage of several slightly grating guitar tones. Still, the two tracks I’ve posted below, “Jackie O” and” Them Pleasures of the Flesh” are interesting and worthy of a listen, but if you’re looking for the melodic tendencies of Lush, it’s probably best to work elsewhere. This band isn’t going to be known for ethereal, beautiful vocalizations, but more a more-or-less gentle sort of repetitivity that, while not the high point of musical achievement, does provide something interesting and surprisingly listenable, considering. Two tracks are posted below for listening and downloading, and a video is posted after the jump.
A Faulty Chromosome — “Jackie O” | download
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A Faulty Chromosome — “Them Pleasures of the Flesh” | download
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By Matthew Montgomery Feb 19, 2008 Artist Spotlight, Downloads, Video Comments (0)
Spotlight: Cryv | Japanese shoegaze, huh.
It’s not often I come across something so compelling as this: Cryv is a Japanese shoegaze and electroclash group — they’re twin brothers — that, well, are far from bad. Yes, that’s really just a roundabout way of calling this band good, and they are deserving of more than such clumsy trepidation. Cryv isn’t well known outside Japan, it seems, as a cursory web search will reveal. It’s a pity, really, because this band is really very good. A video for “Lonliness” [sic] from their 2007 self-titled debut is posted below. Check out their MySpace for some tracks.
Tags: electroclash, japan, shoegaze
By Matthew Montgomery Feb 15, 2008 Artist Spotlight, Video Comments (0)
Spotlight: Experimental Aircraft
Experimental Aircraft are an interesting group (there are plenty of those out there) that’s releasing their third album, Third Transmission: Meet Me On Echo Terrace on Feb. 26 on Graveface Records. Maintaining a healthy combination of psychedelic influence, dream pop, space rock, shoegaze, and indie seems a difficult feat to juggle, and I’m sure it is — but Experimental Aircraft seem to hold up just fine. Of the four tracks posted below, two are from Third Transmission and are likely to find a home in most playlists of engaged listeners. They’ve found that nice realm of sonic beauty between My Bloody Valentine and driven indie rock, of which there may not be some easily accessible example like MBV — and if there is, I apologize for not simply making something up. The Jesus and Mary Chain, on second thought, might be a nice fit, so let’s shove them in that square hole. Perfect.
At any rate, Experimental Aircraft provide more than a simple, fun listen, though they are undeniably enjoyable; Third Transmission looks to be a release that will be well accepted by the well-intentioned populous.
Experimental Aircraft — “Stellar,” from Third Transmission | download
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Experimental Aircraft — “Upper East Side,” from Third Transmission | download
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Experimental Aircraft — “Symphony,” from Love For the Last Time | download
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Experimental Aircraft — “Electric Surgery,” from Thank You For That Perfect Day… | download
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Tags: dream pop, indie rock, psychedelic, shoegaze, space rock
By Matthew Montgomery Feb 14, 2008 Artist Spotlight, Downloads Comments (0)
Music Geek #3: Shoegaze, Famicom-style — The Depreciation Guild offers synthesizers with lush guitar work
In the time since the writing and subsequent posting of my previous column, in which I probed for quality shoegaze, I have been offered a small variety of options by which I might discover more of this music I’ve found myself so enamored with.
First, I must offer my appreciation to those who answered my call; the suggestions have been greatly appreciated, and I’m putting effort into exploring these artists more.
In my own search, I’ve found some interesting things. The first is a group I discovered not terribly long after admitting to the internet that I was — and still am — on the clueless side of things as far as proper shoegaze is concerned. The group, The Depreciation Guild, is composed of two musicians and a certain device entertainment-happy children in the mid-1980s and, indeed, most anyone who’s spent time in the confines of American popular culture: the Famicom, or, as it’s more popularly known in the United States, the Nintendo Entertainment System.
The Depreciation Guild – “Butterfly Kisses”
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Tags: nintendo, shoegaze, synth pop, synth rock
By Matthew Montgomery Jan 21, 2008 "Music Geek" by Matthew Montgomery, Artist Spotlight, Downloads, Reviews Comments (0)
Music Geek #2: Does good shoegaze still exist?
After writing a rather useless column — “Football and post-rock” — I thought it may just be time to venture again into the range of uselessness and write another useless column, so as I might best continue my run of things here.
Now, I hate to admit that I may just be aiming for something that’s not totally desirable: Uselessness, you might say, is bad. I’m not convinced, but for the sake of argument, let’s assume that, yes, things should have some sort of utility. I hope, then, that these columns, despite being useless on the very surface, will be found as something that provides at least something. What that something is, we have yet to see.
Tags: shoegaze
By Matthew Montgomery Jan 18, 2008 "Music Geek" by Matthew Montgomery, Columns, Video Comments (4)
An interview with Waxwall Afterglow
Matthew Montgomery interviewed Waxwall Afterglow, a band from Henderson, Nev.
Waxwall Afterglow – “Floating Family Tree”
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How would you describe the music you create?
Very intimate. The music we write strikes very deep roots for me. I’d say it’s the closest thing to self therapy for me. Whether I’m writing about the monotony of everyday life that I see people living or about the end of the world or space both lyrically and musically, it’s all pretty much communicating my feelings about how I envision life and the universe. Weaving in and out of sci-fi and real life instances, and then there are just songs about people. I guess to sum it up, I just want to write the soundtrack to the world and universe.
Tags: ambient, las vegas, post-rock, shoegaze
By Matthew Montgomery Nov 24, 2007 Interviews Comments (0)
