Well Thought Out Twinkles

It seems that normally, it takes twenty years for a previous decade to come back into style. And music typically follows that cultural pattern. Things have been getting screwy lately, though.

I don't want to say who started it because honestly I don't know. But it feels like we might be coming up on the end of the Gang Of Four/Joy Division/Magazine wannabe phase. In other words, bands like Interpol, The Editors, The Killers, et al.

We're starting to see something different. It's still '80s, without a doubt, but the '90s are creeping up on us, too.

Remember how Smashing Pumpkins were really good at the psychedelic folk-ish gentle sounds mixed with psychedelic freakout sounds? There's a lot more of that coming up lately. First off, we have Dirty on Purpose. Go here to their MySpace page and check them out. The Brooklyn band's new album is called "Hallejulah Sirens." The sound is folky, and then majestic. In fact, it's remeniscent of the recently dead and gone band Grandaddy. But all of that comes back to Smashing Pumpkins and even Slowdive ('80s shoegazer). A more modern touchpoint could be Mojave 3, but that band was the later edition of Slowdive, so we're back to the '80s again.

Just slightly similar to Dirty On Purpose is Mew. I gotta tell you, I've been obsessively listening to this since I got it on Monday. Memories of My Bloody Valentine and the Pixies and Dinosaur Jr and even the Pet Shop Boys all come together in their new album "And the Glass Handed Kites." Their site is pretty cool, you can check that out here. Last week I was at Record Time, and I was looking at all of the featured new releases. I saw Mew's new record, and I kind of liked the cover art, so I was intrigued, but I didn't know what they were about. Then the album showed up on my doorstep and has rarely left the CD player since. It's a space-pop kind of thing, for sure. The vocal harmonies are amazing, the songwriting is tight, and the melodies are sugary, but not annoyingly so. Oh, and they're Danish, and everyone knows that Scandinavians know what the fuck they're doing when it comes to good music. Mew mew mew.

A few days ago (or was it last week?), I posted a link to a track from this LA band Silversun Pickups. If there were ever a modern Smashing Pumpkins-esque band, it would be these guys. But, fear not, for they do it well. Their new record is called "Carnavas," which may or may not mean something in Spanish. Swirling guitars, ups, downs, psychedelia, it's all there. Their site featuring the amazing Carnavas cover art is here, and their MySpace page is here. With all of this Smashing Pumpkins worship going on, I should note that I'm referring to the Gish era, and not the bald idiot with ZERO on his t-shirt era.

Your past is coming back to haunt you, are you ready for it?