Dedicated Ears

Bullets In Madison – We Became Your Family When You Died

Elements of ambient, shoe gaze, post rock, and indie pop music make We Became Your Family When You Died by Chicago based dream pop/shoe gaze collective Bullets In Madison, one of the most ambitious albums your are likely to listen to. These songs are 4 to 7 minutes long but the indie pop narratives make them seem to go by much quicker.  In post rock and ambient music the emotion as all important, and this album has that in spades with a shimmering wave of strings, percussion and guitar accents that sound wistful.

Sunlight Ascending: All The Memories, All At Once

Hailing from Detroit, Michigan is Sunlight Ascending, who play a brand of instrumental ambient/experimental rock that relies most heavily on the guitars to builder somber feelings as well as elation when they soar and reverberate.  Their first album All The Memories, All The Time has a full range of sounds that deliver powerful emotions to the listener. The band formed as high school freshmen and this album is the result of three years of playing together. The impressive learning curve that finds a three year old band making such an accomplished and fully wrought album is a testament to Sunlight Ascending.

Blacanova – Madre EP

From Seville Spain, Blacanova plays an indie rock that is equal parts ambient and shoe gaze on their Madre EP.  The mark of indelible music is that it transforms boundaries.  The Spanish language vocals on this EP could be an impediment for those who don't understand Spanish, but the composition and beauty of the vocals make a common spoken language unnecessary. The guitars are both shimmering and haunting as they lay a groundwork for an album that reveals more with each play.  Manuel Begines, Pepe Fernández, José A. Pérez, Inés Olalla, Armando Jiménez y Paco Arenas make up the band.

milk white white teeth: The Holy Trinity Ep

Milk White White Teeth are a Leeds collective that play a brand of indie music that is a swirl of indie rock, folk, tropical, progressive music that is infused with effective harmonies that makes for a beautifully big sound that sways as it unfolds. Members are James Hare, Jon Crabbe, Barrie Wilson, Alistair Grant, Polly Meadows, Michelle Clapham, Michael Gill, Chris Clark Alex Thomas and Alex Crabbe. Their latest release, The Holy Trinity Ep has so many influences it's hard to nail them all down. "Long Long (Before)" has echo's of post punk and the recent Canadian explosion of school band extroverts like Arcade Fire. "Long Long (After) is rife with no wave synth influences and prog rock guitars.