eye cew rew see

by Plastic Girl In Closet

Interest in Japanese music has risen exponentially thanks to the city pop boom. But Japan is also home to many other thriving music scenes – from ambient to psych rock, from twee pop to shoegaze. The latter is a particularly fertile scene, with a consistent flow of releases, a healthy number of labels, and even its own festivals. What’s more, the quality of Japanese shoegaze releases has always been consistently high. Among these, our long- time favorite is eye cew rew see, the 2014 album from Iwate Prefecture band Plastic Girl In Closet.

Originally called Graph, the group was formed in 2003 by vocalist and guitarist Yuji Takahashi, who’s joined by Ayako Sugai on vocals and bass, and Takaaki Tsukui on drums. Four years later, they changed their name to Plastic Girl In Closet. eye cew rew see, their fifth long player, found Yuji-san and co. infusing the classic shoegaze sound of their earlier releases with a more eclectic set of influences. It’s not hard to imagine p!o!p kids falling in love with the sugary rush of “Citrus Kiss” and “Error”, or for fans of the wavy gravy dream pop of No Vacation and Fazerdaze to feel at home among the airy melodies of “Tennis Court”, “Sad Dream” and “After Dark”, while “Ferris Wheel Night Lights” is proof that four- to-the-floor beats and feedback can peacefully and gorgeously coexist. In short — just like genre touchstones In Ribbons, Going Blank Again, and ...xyz decades ago — eye cew rew see is the sound of a band hitting their stride, tweaking their formula, and expanding their horizons, without losing sight of what made them great in the first place.

- Agasyah Karim

Eleven Pop Songs

by Happydeadmen

Aah, Sweden. From power pop heroes Popsicle to Tambourine Studios mainstays Eggstone, from the Balearic-facing The Embassy to noughties favorites The Radio Dept. — the country has never ceased to supply p!o!pkids everywhere with quality aural highs.

This admirable tradition in indie pop can ultimately be traced to one band and one album: Happydeadmen’s Eleven Pop Songs.

When the Stockholm band was formed in 1988, the country’s alternative scene was mainly filled with hardcore, punk or goth outfits. Then Eleven Pop Songs came along and being called a “pop band” didn’t sound like a bad thing anymore. Built upon the jangly sound of ‘80s British indie, the record still managed to stand apart thanks to the band’s unique brand of energy and melodicism. Songs like “Emilia”, “Heaven No”, “We Swim” and “Is This All?” evoke the same pure pop pleasures of The Bodines, Lloyd Cole and The Commotions and The Sea Urchins, while main single “Silent Sigh City” deserves, in our humble opinions, to be mentioned in the same breath as “Between Something and Nothing”, “Anorak City” and “Rain of Crystal Spires”. The band would go on to release two more poptastic albums, but Eleven Pop Songs is where it all began — both for Happydeadmen and Sweden’s indie pop scene.

Daydream Records are proud to name Eleven Pop Songs as our first ever release. It’s our pleasure to re-introduce the joys of this album on vinyl — the first time it’s getting the wax treatment since 1990. With the band’s blessing and using hi-res digital transfers from the original master tapes, the album has been lovingly remastered by Nick Townsend of Townsend Mastering and pressed at Cleveland, OH’s Gotta Groove Records. For maximum visual enjoyment, we’ve used the original artwork and made the record available in three color options: translucent pink, translucent blue and vibrant party monster. So be sure to place your pre-orders now and get ready to discover — or rediscover — these classic slices of Swedish jangly goodness.

- Agasyah Karim

Happydeadmen:

Jan Hedin – vocals, guitars
Magnus Karlsson – guitars, vocals
Roger Kjellgren – bass
Thomas Kristoffersson – drums