Hum

Hum are a four-piece shoegaze/alternative rock band from Champaign, Illinois that formed in 1989 and disbanded in 2000. Since then, they've reunited sporadically for short tours and festival appearances, first in 2003, then 2011, and 2015, with a surprise new album dropping 2020. Their long-time drummer Bryan St. Pere unfortunately passed away in 2021, and they've been inactive until recently, with a new festival appearance slated for 2026 (Slide Away Festival with Nothing and Chapterhouse). 

The band blends heavy, noisy riffs with spacier, dronier tones and dynamic vocals that move between melodic singing and throatier shouting with cosmic lyricism. Imagine the layered, textured effects-laden atmosphere of shoegaze with the off-kilter, energetic propulsion post-hardcore. Their general gist is basically Dinosaur Jr., Quicksand, The Smashing Pumpkins, My Bloody Valentine, and Slint all thrown in a blender, merging these seemingly disparate, contrasting sources to form their own distinctly idiosyncratic wall of sound that never sacrifices breathable clarity. Besides a minor hit with "Stars" off their major-label debut and quintessential release You'd Prefer An Astronaut (as part of the post-Nevermind alt rock boom of the 90's), they've never quite gotten the recognition they deserve, especially considering how influential they turned out to be in the years since their initial tenure. Deftones have namedropped them explicitly as a major source of inspiration, and their DNA can be heard across a vast array of other bands, including Cloakroom, Narrow Head, Nothing, Superheaven, Cave In, Glassjaw, Deafheaven, and Title Fight.

As previously mentioned, You'd Prefer An Astronaut is generally regarded as their best and most popular effort, so if you're looking for a starting point that's it. Downward Is Heaven is the natural next step as its direct follow-up. I would then go to their reunion album Inlet, which is a very commendable, massive-sounding effort that I made the mistake of sleeping on the year it was released, though Electra 2000 is a nice, rawer, and grungier counterpart to it. Hum are one of those bands I've been meaning to get to forever, so despite this year being a record-low for inactivity, saying we closed it out by crossing this monumental group of the list is an accomplishment in and of itself. Enjoy.

Kissing Me Is Like Kissing An Angel (She Said) (1990)
1. Time Is Melting

2. Kissing Me

3. Jesus Wants You

4. Diamonds

5. Will

Fillet Show (1991)

1. Space Fuck

2. Formaldehyde

3. Detassler

4. Staring At The Sun

5. Hortense

6. Kind Of Night

7. Lip Saga

8. I Like It

9. Pocket

Hello Kitty (1992)

1. Hello Kitty

2. Roar, I'm A Tiger

Sundress (1992)

1. Sundress

2. Time Is Melting

Electra 2000 (1993)

1. Iron Clad Lou

2. Pinch & Roll

3. Shovel

4. Pewter

5. Scraper

6. Firehead

7. Sundress

8. Double Dip

9. Winder

10. Untitled

You'd Prefer An Astronaut (1995)

1. Little Dipper

2. The Pod

3. Stars

4. Suicide Machine

5. The Very Old Man

6. Why I Like The Robins

7. I'd Like Your Hair Long

8. I Hate It Too

9. Songs Of Farewell And Departure

Stars (1995)

1. Stars (Album Version)

2. Boy With Stick

3. Baby, Baby

4. Stars (Edit)

Comin' Home b/w Puppets (1997)

1. Comin' Home

2. Puppets

Downward Is Heavenward (1998)

1. Isle Of The Cheetah

2. Comin' Home

3. If You Are To Bloom

4. Ms. Lazarus

5. Afternoon With The Axolotls

6. Green To Me

7. Dreamboat

8. The Inuit Promise

9. Apollo

10. The Scientists

Inlet (2020)

1. Waves

2. In The Den

3. Desert Rambler

4. Step Into You

5. The Summoning

6. Cloud City

7. Folding

8. Shapeshifter

Website

Spotify

Apple Music

Instagram

Facebook

Parannoul

Parannoul (파란노을) is a post-rock/shoegaze/emo project from Seoul, South Korea. Any other information about them is unknown as they operate completely anonymously, though it does seem to be just one person. They first began releasing music online in 2017 using the moniker laststar, which became Parannoul in 2020. He's also used the name  Mydreamfever. Parannoul is a name I've seen pop up for the last few years now, and admittedly never took the time to delve into. Even when After The Magic a Topshelf release garnering positive acclaim, I still didn't get around to listening to it. I fully admit to being ashamed of myself, because it took me up until a few weeks ago to experience the lush and gorgeous experience this album has to offer.

It's artwork really encapsulates the feelings this record evokes, with an amplified brightness and burst of colour from the sun's reflection on freshly fallen snow. It's captures that shimmer through 10 tracks of beautiful guitar work that sounds absolutely massive on cuts like "Arrival" and "Imagination" or contemplative like "We Shine At Night" or "After The Magic". It's paired with a varied instrumental palette, which extends to strings and electronics. Vocally, the melodies are absolutely mesmering, particularly "We Shine At Night". Much like Sigur Rós, there's an emotional conveyance despite not being able to understand the actual words, and the vocals work in tandem with the instrumentals to create one seamless work. I'm sure this isn't doing it any justice, it's worth just checking out for yourself, and I look forward to going through his back catalogue to close out this year. Enjoy.

Let's Walk on the Path of a Blue Cat (2020)

1. Today's Sky Is Clear

2. Dream Hallucination

3. Path of a Blue Cat

4. Meaning Of Change

5. Bright Dark, Lost Shoelaces, One Year Of Failure

6. Alone In The Forest

7. Tone After Tone

8. Reincarnation

9. Meaning Of Disappear

10. The Next Day

Into The Endless Night (2021)

1. Into The Endless Night

To See the Next Part of the Dream (2021)

1. Beautiful World

2. Excuse

3. Analong Sentimentalism

4. White Ceiling

5. To See the Next Part of the Dream

6. Age Of Fluctuation

7. Youth Rebellion

8. Extra Story

9. Chicken

10. I Can Feel My Heart Touching You

White Ceiling / Black Dots Wandering Around (2022)

1. Escape

2. Someday

3. Soft Bruise

4. White Ceiling

5. Growing Pain

6. Ending Credit

Paraglow (2022)

1. Parannoul & Asian Glow - Hand

2. Parannoul & Asian Glow - The Light Side Of The Eyes

3. Parannoul & Asian Glow - Neoup

4. Parannoul & Asian Glow - Wheel

Downfall of the Neon Youth (2022)

1. Asian Glow - Nails

2. Parannoul - Insomnia

3. Sonhas Tomam Conta - Todos Os Sonhos Que Eu Tive

4. Asian Glow - Phone Ringing On Corridor

5. Parannoul - Colors

6. Sonhas Tomam Conta - Tons De Azul

7. Asian Glow - One May Be Harming

8. Sonhas Tomam Conta - Vento Caminha Comigo

9. Parannoul - 70 Seconds Before Sunrise

10. Parannoul - Love Migraine

After The Magic (2023)

1. Polaris

2. Insomnia

3. Arrival

4. We Shine At Night

5. Parade

6. Sketchbook

7. Imagination

8. Sound Inside Me, Waves Inside You

9. Blossom

10. After The Magic

After The Night (2023)

1. Polaris

2. Beautiful World

3. Analog Sentimentalism

4. Soft Bruise

5. Imagination

6. I Can Feel My Heart Touching You

7. White Ceiling

8. Into The Endless Night

Bandcamp

Spotify

Apple Music

Instagram

Dreamwell

Dreamwell are a five-piece screamo/post-hardcore band from Providence, Rhode Island that formed in 2016. I first heard this band when they released their sophomore album Modern Grostesque in 2021. Without a doubt that was one of my favourite screamo releases in recent years, as this band amalgamates such a wide variety of sounds into something so rich in detail, with cathartic performances and incredible lyricism with serious emotional depth to boot. The band blends the shimmering, ethereal guitars of post-rock with the hard-hitting rhythms and abrasion of a screamo act. They are one of the most vocally diverse bands in the genre, going through a wide variety of stylings that always fits the rise-and-fall dynamics of their songs, making each track feel essential and conducive to the whole. 

Now they are back with a new project, In My Saddest Dreams, I Am Beside You, which just came out via Prosethic Records. On just an initial listen, they have proven once again what makes them such a special and unique band, bringing the same melting pot of influence heard on previous albums and deliving into some new heavier, noisier, abrasive, and almost metalcore-y territory. It's going to be on regular rotation for the next, and if you have yet to hear this band, I implore you to do so. My poor and brief descriptions here are not doing them any justice, to be perfectly honest. This band is so far up this blog's alley is almost unbelieveable. I don't want to make comparisons here as Dreamwell truly do stand on your own, but if you're a fan of bands including Pianos Become The Teeth, Caravels, Gates, Funeral Diner, Suffocate For Fuck Sake, or Jeromes Dream, this might be the band of your dreams. Enjoy.

The Distance Grows Fonder (2017)

1. Consistency

2. Bury Me

3. To Dust

4. Closed Doors

5. Cowardice

6. The Distance Grows Fonder

7. The Invisible Thread

8. Blossom

Modern Grotesque (2021)

1. What Does It Mean To Live In Grotesquerie?

2. Painting Myself A Darker Day

3. Sayaka

4. A Crouching Tiger Waits For Prey That Never Comes

5. Plague Father, Vermin Son

6. You Dreamt Of Me, I Dreamt Of A Mountain Of Salt

7. The Vessel Bears My Face

8. The Lost Ballad Of Dominic Anneghi

9. Modern Grotesque

10. Sysphyean Happiness

20th Anniversary Subscription Series (2023)

1. My Fictions - Patience

2. Dreamwell - I Heard My Mother Begging

In My Saddest Dreams, I Am Beside You (2023)
1. Good Reasons To Freeze To Death

2. Studying The Greats In Self Immolation

3. Lord Have MRSA On My Soul

4. All Towers Drawn In The Equatorial Room

5. Obelisk Of Hands

6. It Will Hurt, And You Won't Get To Be Surprised

7. Reverberations Of A Sickly Wound

8. Blighttown Type Beat

9. Body Fountain

10. I Dream't Of A Room of Clouds

11. Rue de Noms (Could Have Been Better, Should Have Been More)

Death Goals/Dreamwell (2024)

1. Death Goals - Fake Smiles & Nervous Laughter

2. Death Goals - Music For Cryptids

3. Dreamwell - Music To Take Teeth By

4. Dreamwell - Suicide Commitment Issues

Bandcamp

Spotify

Apple Music

Instagram

Twitter

Facebook

High Vis

High Vis are a five-piece post-punk band from London, England that formed in 2016. They've released a handful of EP's as well as two full-lengths, the most recent of which came out last year. As usual, I'm pretty late to the game on this, since Blending seemed to keep popping up last year, and it took me this long to finally check it out. Of course, this is a fantastic album; it sounds like a bunch of hardcore kids got really into The Stone Roses, The Sound and Ride, among a litany of other acts you could name. It's a unique fusion of influence, with jangly guitars drenched in reverb and chorus swirling around a tightly-knit and driving rhythm section and distinct, shouted vocals. "Trauma Bonds" in particular was an incredible highlight. I'm sure this is now old news to most of you, but if you haven't given this band a listen yet, do yourself a favour and get on it. Enjoy.

I (2017)

1. A First For When You're Down

2. Positive Intervention

II (2017)

1. Luxor

2. Tribute

No Sense No Feeling (2019)

1. Choose To Lose

2. Walking Wires

3. Stabbed

4. The Bastard Inside

5. Voices

6. Altitude

7. Blood Moon

8. New Asbestos

Society Exists (2020)

1. Down To You

2. Desire

Blending (2022)

1. Talk For Hours

2. 0151

3. Out Cold

4. Blending

5. Trauma Bonds

6. Fever Dream

7. Morality Test

8. Join Hands

9. Shame

Guided Tour (2024)

1. Guided Tour

2. Drop Me Out

3. Worth The Wait

4. Feeling Bless

5. Fill The Gap

6. Farringdon

7. Mob DLA
8. Untethered

9. Deserve It

10. Mind's A Lie

11. Gone Forever

Bandcamp

Spotify

Apple Music

Instagram

Facebook

Modern Color

Modern Color are a four-piece hardcore/alternative band from Redondo Beach, California that formed in 2014. Since then, they've released three full-lengths and a handful of EP's. Sonically, the band has evolved quite a bit over the years, though they've always been rooted in a distinct cross-section between hardcore and shoegaze/alternative rock, bringing the fury and energy of the former and fusing it with the thick reverb and melodic depth of the latter. 

Early on, they learn heavily to the hardcore side of the spectrum, with aggressive vocals and pummelling delivery. Their more recent material has leaned into the more melodic aspects of their sound, incorporating mostly clean vocals and a Hum/Dinosaur Jr.-inspired sound that would appeal to fans of bands like Basement, Superheaven, and Turnover. Personally, I lean towards the Chromesthesia side of things (not to mention, the band and album name seem so fitting for this project), though I think From The Leaves Of Your Garden has more widespread appeal. Enjoy.

Somewhere Else (2016)

1. Skipping Stones

2. Pale

Chromesthesia (2016)

1. New Motion

2. Chromesthesia

3. Shade

4. Habitual Pain

5. Low

6. Vibrating Body

7. I'm Not A Part Of It

8. Indigo Vision

Time Slips Behind Us (2017)

1. Constant

2. Wool

3. Keepsake

4. Time Slips Behind Us

5. Not Here

6. No Praise

7. In Passing

8. Life Without Peace

9. Proxy Dream

10. Spring Again

11. Open Wound

Portuguese Bend (2018)

1. Jacaranda

2. Head Change

From The Leaves Of Your Garden (2020)

1. Lavender

2. Invisible Ink

3. On & Off

4. Alone

5. X51

6. Jacaranda

7. Empty Rooms

8. Head Change

9. Smiling Face

10. Out Of Reach

11. Sage

12. Pale

Now, Life Is Living You (2021)

1. Dread

2. Now Life Is Living You

3. Opiate

4. Day Star

Greener Grass (2022)

1. Greener Grass

Bandcamp

Spotify

Apple Music

Twitter

Instagram

Facebook

Store

Holy Fawn

Holy Fawn are a four-piece post-rock/shoegaze band from Phoenix, Arizona that began in 2015. Since then, they've released two full-lengths and a few EP's/singles. Sonically, they play a dark and expansive take on post-rock that's simultaneously foreboding and ethereal, with shimmering tremolos and hard-hitting riffs. They reach immaculately heavy crescendos with walls of distortion and reverb, while the driving rhythm section give them a real energy and urgency, with soft vocals splashed against the background of the noise. Fans of bands including Slow Crush, Greet Death, Nothing, Deafheaven or Cloakroom should absolutely give this a listen if you haven't already. Enjoy.

Realms (2015)

1. Can We Lie Here?

2. Colossus

3. Amulet

4. Foal

5. Glóandi

6. Lo

Death Spells (2018)

1. Dark Stone

2. Arrows

3. Drag Me Into The Woods

4. Yawning

5. Seer

6. Two Waves

7. Take Me With You

8. Vespertine

9. Same Blood

10. Sleep Tongue

The Maze (2020)

1. The Maze (Manchester Orchestra cover)

hf:LHPN/seer/REF2.alt (2020)

1. hf:LHPN/seer/REF2.alt

The Black Moon (2020)

1. Candy

2. Tethered

3. Blood Pact

Dimensional Bleed (2022)

1. Hexsewn

2. Death Is A Relief

3. Lift Your Head

4. Empty Vials

5. Amaranthine

6. Dimensional Bleed

7. Sightless

8. Void Of Light

9. True Loss

10. Blood Memory

Bandcamp

Spotify

Apple Music

Twitter

Instagram

Facebook

Black Tambourine

Black Tambourine were a four-piece indie pop band from Washington, DC that were initially around from 1989 to 1992. They took influence from bands such as The Jesus and Mary Chain, Beat Happening, The Vaselines, and My Bloody Valentine. Black Tambourine crafted simple, cheery songs with 60's pop sensibilities and added twangy guitars slathered in reverb and distortion. During their initial incarnation, they only put out two singles and a few compilation tracks. That small output would prove to be immensely influential, as their noisy, lo-fi sound, and sweet, airy vocals became staples of twee, dream and indie pop as a whole.

Their legacy was cemented on a compilation released in 1999, titled Complete Recordings. This was a widely-circulated discography, as their actual 7"'s had become hard to find. The title is slightly misleading, as it didn't include all of their recordings. In 2010, another discography was put out to replace the previous one. This new one ncluded the same tracklist as Complete Recordings, in addition to six additional songs. The band reconvened in 2009 to record four new tracks that they used to play live but never recorded. The new songs included two originals and covers of "Heartbeat" by Buddy Holly and the classic "Dream Baby Dream" by Suicide. These four songs were included on the 2010 discography, along with two previously unreleased demos. Two years after that, they released a newly-recorded EP of Ramones covers in celebration of the 20th anniversary of singer Pam Berry's magazine Chickfactor. 

It's been a few years since I've listened to this band. Revisiting them is a fantastic reminder of how irresistibly charming these songs are, and how clear their influence can be heard in so many bands from the past decade or so. Enjoy.

Complete Recordings (1999)

1. For Ex-Lovers Only

2. Black Car

3. Pack You Up

4. Can't Explain

5. I Was Wrong

6. Throw Aggi Off The Bridge

7. Drown

8. We Can't Be Friends

9. By Tomorrow

10. Pam's Tan

Black Tambourine (2010)

1. For Ex-Lovers Only

2. Black Car

3. Pack You Up

4. Can't Explain

5. I Was Wrong

6. Throw Aggi Off The Bridge

7. Drown

8. We Can't Be Friends

9. By Tomorrow

10. Pam's Tan

11. For Ex-Lovers Only (demo)

12. Throw Aggi Off The Bridge (demo)

13. Heartbeat (Buddy Holly cover)

14. Lazy Heart

15. Tears Of Joy

16. Dream Baby Dream (Suicide cover)

OneTwoThreeFour (2012)

1. I Want You Around

2. What's Your Game

3. I Remember You

4. I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend

5. I Remember You (Violens Remix)

Bandcamp

Slumberland Records

Spotify