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Asobi Seksu
Asobi Seksu are a band which formed in New York in 2004 and is focused around vocalist and keyboardist Yuki Chikudate and guitarist and vocalist James Hanna. This band have combined shoegaze and dream-pop influences together to create a dreamy and lush textured sound, and are one of the main bands responsible for popularising shoegaze and dream-pop in towards the latter half of the 00's. What really sets them apart from other bands doing the rounds is Yuki's tendency to write and sing some songs in Japanese which adds an exotic feel to their music. The band have released 4 studio albums to date: Asobi Seksu (2004), Citrus (2006), Hush (2009) and more recently Fluorescence (2011).


Bethany Curve
Bethany Curve formed as far back as 1994 just as the original wave of shoegaze had fallen from the glare of the media. Nevertheless these Californians plowed on releasing two albums in the late 90's, Skies A Crossed Sky (1996) and Gold (1998). The band really hit their stride after the turn of the millennium when they released their 3rd album You Brought Us Here (2001) , a dark and heavily atmospheric offering sounding like Slowdive on downers. They followed this up with the excellent Flaxen EP (2004) which further built on their atmospheric sound with added beauty. Alas Flaxen is still the last release from this band but their long delayed 4th album, interestingly titled Murder, will apparently soon be gracing us with it's presence. Also in the works is a remastered edition of their 1994 demo Mee-eaux.


Amusement Parks On Fire
Originally started in Nottingham, UK in 2004 as the solo project of Michael Feerick who played all instruments on their debut album Amusment Parks On Fire (2004). Their debut combined passionate and melodic vocals with a heavily textured sound to great effect. The band had expanded to a full line-up before their blistering second album Out Of The Angeles (2006) which further build on their debut and presented us with clearer production and a huge, dense, powerful yet melodic sound. The band seemed to lose their way somewhat with their 3rd album Road Eyes (2010), which sounds like a slightly miscalculated attempt to crack the American market and perhaps grab onto the coat-tails of Silversun Pickups, resulting in a slightly musically confusing album. Hopefully the band will return to the promise they showed on Out Of The Angeles for their follow-up.

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