Download

Newgaze

Mahogany comes to town

By MICHAEL BRODEUR | April 22, 2008

Mahogany

The lamely monikered “newgaze” movement is pretty great — you get all the shimmering, over-processed guitars, all the feather-light vocals, and all the intense volume without the unsightly Doc Martens or ugly Beetlejuice tights. This Saturday, the international octet of Mahogany make their way to P.A.’s Lounge to play a chunk of songs off their landmark 2006 album, Connectivity (Darla), and, with any luck, some new stuff — it would appear that a crucial part of shoegazing is taking fucking forever to write a song. Anyhoo . . .

Mahogany, “Springtime Save Our Country”
Easily my favorite track off Connectivity, and perhaps the most representative of the surreal simplicity the band are able to forge from a host of complexities — from the insistently chugging bass to Ana Breton’s sweet soaring vocal to those sleigh bells in the background. Jeez, dudes. Reverb much?

A Sunny Day in Glasgow, “Watery (Drowning Is Just Another Word for Being Buried Alive Under Water)”
It might be unfair to post a demo from a band whose official releases are about as perfect as newgaze gets — especially a demo that they only “just kind of like.” But whatever, it’ll never get released otherwise, and even if it’s a little simple and wanky, it’s an entrancing view of their process.

Resplandor, “Raindrops”
Don’t let all that æthereal dreaminess fool you: these shoegazer types are very practical. This is a genre built on names, and these Peruvians enlisted folks from Mahogany to collaborate and dreampop czar Robin Guthrie to produce. Here Guthrie may have left them sounding like the Cocteau Quadruplets, but that’s hardly a bad thing.

Airiel, “You Kids Should Know Better”
It’s difficult to imagine this Chicago four-piece sounding any less like a Chicago band, but they certainly do add some much-needed bite to this fledgling revival. Think Catherine Wheel with a streak of Th’ Faith Healers; then think about JetBluing to the Second City to catch them loud and live.

Related: I think I’m gonna throw down, The beat goes on, Make it new!, More

Topics: Download , Robin Guthrie

| More

Most Popular

The Current Issue

Table of Contents

Cover Archive

Masthead | Authors | Contact us

Blogs

Where To Follow Me
Talking Politics | March 24, 2013 at 11:09 AM

Mo Takes His Turn
March 21, 2013 at 12:59 PM

[Q&A] KMFDM's Sascha Konietzko on art, Columbine and having balls
On The Download | March 18, 2013 at 3:22 PM

See this film series: The Belmont World Film Series @ Studio Cinema in Belmont
Outside The Frame | March 18, 2013 at 11:00 AM

See this film: This is Spinal Tap [with post-film talk by expert from Acoustical Society of America] @ the Coolidge
March 17, 2013 at 12:00 PM

ARTICLES BY MICHAEL BRODEUR

FOLK ACT | June 26, 2010
Vikesh Kapoor

BOSTON PRIDE WEEK: OFF THE MAP | June 07, 2010
We may seem a little cranky, but us local gayfolk just love a parade, and we’re actually heartened by this annual influx of brothers and sisters from every state of New England and every letter of our ever-expanding acronym.

THE NEW GAY BARS | June 02, 2010
If I may channel the late, great Estelle Getty for a moment: picture it, Provincetown, 2009, a dashing young man with no discernible tan and an iffy T-Mobile signal languishes bored upon the sprawling patio of the Boatslip Resort.

ARIEL PINK’S HAUNTED GRAFFITI | BEFORE TODAY | June 01, 2010
If the gradual polishing of Ariel Pink’s sound — and it’s not all that much more polished — puts his loyalists at odds with his albums, I count that as good news.