formation

Daylight Storms
$6.99
Shoegaze is just one of those genres that I keep on getting closer and closer to admitting is total BS even if I like it a lot. It just seems like a shoegaze record that actually tries something new and succeeds only comes around once in a blue moon, and most everything in the genre is a My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, or Ride clone. What one has to realize is that sometimes these clones are actually very good. They probably won't be very memorable in the future because they don't try anything new or craft their own styles, but they succeed nonetheless by producing some serious beauty. It's a very narrow genre where the fans are very devout and often disappointed, and depend on these clones to get their satisfaction. Well Daylight Storms is a pretty damn good way to distract yourself until the next great great awakening, or whatever.

So I'm sure shoegaze fans will first ask...MBV, Slowdive, or Ride? It's Slowdive. VERY Slowdive. The vocals sound very similar to Neil Halsteads, and they pull the typical trick of blurring a random colorful image beyond recognition and sticking it on the cover as well as utilizing a beautiful sounding name. The songs are all slow, with washes of beautiful sound. Most people probably grow tired of this by now. Washes of sound? We have had this on record for years. But here it sounds good. If all a shoegaze record needs are big walls of chords, I would have signed up a long time ago. Well maybe that is really all it needs. And maybe that's why the genre is such BS. In any case, I like this kind of music. Just crank it reeeally loud and then the beauty starts to surface when your ears are enveloped. These specific clones have always been able to avoid any melodic finesse by making their music all about big, beautiful sound, so you shouldn't be tricked into thinking you are going to hear a catchy record. But it is a nice, quick, pretty fix for people who always wanted a true Souvlaki sequel and was disappointed that there never was one. These melodies are bittersweet like Slowdives, but this time around are probably more optimistic and full of love than Slowdive's often brooding personality. It's actually probably the best Slowdive clone I have heard to date, so you would be doing yourself good to pick this up if you like shoegaze and don't mind not hearing anything new. Highlights are Daylight Storms, Into View, and Adrift.

Richard Bandler's Guide to Trance-formation: How to Harness the Power of Hypnosis to Ignite Effortless and Lasting Change
$15.95
The original Trans Formations was a very dry book. This one is written easy to understand.

The Formation of Damnation
$15.98
What needs to be said? Testament are still going strong and this CD is brilliant. Rock on TESTAMENT!

Tactics and Skills - Positional Play and Team Formations
$3.99