The name of this was a dead give-away. How could something named “Moon Pollen Shine”
be anything but perfect summertime chillwave? This beautiful track, which will fit nicely on trip-to-the-beach mixtapes, is a fully developed song with the rare feature of a brief but sublime guitar solo. It will have you feeling like it’s summer 2010 again. Moon Pollen is a shoegaze / dreamwave singer and songwriter based in Argentina who has been posting to Soundcloud for six months or so but this is the first track he’s made available for download. A debut worth waiting for.
Moon Pollen - Shine (Radio edit) by Moon Pollen
a-robb is the recording project of Andrew Robb, currently living in Wyoming, which just goes to show how one can be geographically isolated, yet totally wired. He’s a prolific Soundcloud uploader who’s definitely been growing as an artist.
Last week he dropped his “Outta There” EP on his Bandcamp, a five track set, and it’s well worth listening to. My fave is probably “Feel Better”, but the tracks are all distinct and interesting, non-conformist, slightly melancholic glow-fi. Then this week he’s posted a pulsating dreamer that is 7+ minutes of pure blissful beauty to Soundcloud, called "twotwotwo". “Dreamscaping” is an apt description left by someone on the SC message board. With the heat beginning to build across the continent, this is exactly the kind of chillwave I'm going to need to stay cool. There’s no download on the SC post but here’s a link to the MP3.
twotwotwo by a-robb
It's never too late. I came across this gem following a thread from Astro Nautico, trying to figure out who's responsible for the stream of quality material emanating from that front. Kuhn is the recording project of one of the persons behind that label. From NYC, released in April 2010, this still sounds fresher than most new stuff. The best song on this Space Music EP is deff "We're Gonna Make It". It's got that rare vibe that can only properly be called chillwave (or maybe Dream pop).
This escaped me back in February when it was released by the good folks at Crash Symbols. Welcome Back Sailors is an Italian duo making cutting edge electronic dream pop. It reminds me Keep Shelly in Athens, who contribute a remix here, which is to say it’s some serious cutting-edge underground shit. The originals are the stand-outs here.
“Stronger” is a downtempo masterpiece. Dreamy vocals carry a hauntingly beautiful and addictive melody over a spare bed of keyboard and guitar. The Pet Shop Boys-like “Flesh & Blood” is a journey into synthpop heaven that soars to truly majestic heights.
This is deeper, more substantial stuff than dujour chillwave. I think I’ll be listening to this for a while. Bliss out! Download the free EP below and check out the other fine releases at Crash Symbols Bandcamp.
