Vaporhaze

"Actively passive, losing-itself-in-the-noise" - new column by Kieran Press-Reynolds steps out of his lane to explore the "dreamy malaise" of "hazy new-gen alt-rock":  bar italia, untitled halo, deer park et al.

Slackerdelia part 3, only this time they don't even have the energy to capitalize their names... 

Slackerdelia part 3? 

Well obviously part 1 is Mercury Rev, Pavement etc. 

But what would part 2 be? 

Chillwave, glo-fi, hypnagogic pop, of course. 

Not the sound of the groups he's writing about particularly, but some of K's evocations of them reminded me of my favorite guitar album of the past 15 years: Suburban Tours by Rangers. 

Also the name of one of the bands, deer park, reminded me of the opening track "Deerfield Village".

I got into this record not long before we moved to LA and I think it somehow prepared me for suburban life in the land of perpetual summer.  Drifting through, dazed by light, mood oddly suspended between anomie and bliss.... 

As I recall, the album is inspired by living in Texas and the newbuilt suburbs, which often have names inspired by the wilderness they've supplanted - hence track titles like "Bear Creek", "Deerfield Village," "Woodland Hills," "Glen Carin."

That integration of wilderness and built-up areas is very LA and something that continues to enchant and unsettle - just the other day heading off to an on-the-early-side dental appointment we saw a mangy looking coyote in someone's driveway. This in a neighbourhood completely built-up with suburban houses, no wilderness or even parks nearby.

An early attempt to connect hypnagogic pop and Southern California while freshly enchanted as a new arrival. 

Then there's the Suburban Tours track "Out Past Curfew" - an allusion to the fact that some  towns in America actually have legal curfews for teenagers. You're not allowed out after sundown. 

Joe Knight has put out a bunch of excellent records since but here he tapped into something really magical-mystical - I bracket Suburban Tours with The Greatest Hit and Up On the Sun. 

Supposedly he drew some sideways inspiration from this song by Rush - not musically but the mise en scene 

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Another recent Rabbit Holed - K reports on SWAGGOTFEST, a 12-hour anarcho-pride parody of a music festival that transcended cringe and captured the sweetest, rawest aspects of the New York DIY scene