-=- SHGZ -=- * Shoegaze * Indie * Post-Rock * Grunge * Dream Pop * Psych-Rock * Ethereal * ARTIST..: Gold Cage ALBUM...: Social Crutch GENRE...: Indie STYLE...: Shoegaze, Slowcore, Dream Pop, Indie Rock, Post-Punk YEAR....: 2020 LABEL...: Felte COUNTRY.: USA PLACE...: Los Angeles ENCODER.: LAME 3.100 -V0 BITRATE.: 259 kbps avg QUALITY.: 44.1kHz / Joint Stereo SOURCE..: CD TRACKS..: 9 SIZE....: 62.59 MB URL..: http://www.facebook.com/higoldcage/ - TRACKLIST 1 Repeater Kember 5:11 2 Halcion 3:02 3 Introduce My Mind 2:51 4 What Is Left 3:59 5 Shadows 3:41 6 Ripples 3:56 7 Spaghettify 3:31 8 Harshmellow 3:56 9 Creepfest 3:20 Total Playtime: 33:27 Los Angeles based three-piece slow-core outfit consisting of singer/bassist Monica Gamboa-Katz, singer/guitarist Cole Devine and Sage Ross/drums The band combines their artistic sensibilities to foster a dark ethereal, sonically-mature slow-core trio. Offering smooth-driving bass tempos, with catchy guitar loops and riffs. Gold Cage is sure to warm your heart with fog, and clouds. * 'Social Crutch' is the debut full-length album of Los Angeles-based post-punk-tinged slow-core trio Gold Cage. Comprised of singer/bassist Mony Katz, singer/guitarist Cole Devine, and drummer Sage Ross, the band combines dreamy guitar loops, delicate, dueling vocals, and slow, driving tempos to create spacious arrangements that shimmer with atmosphere. Warmed with tape saturation, 'Social Crutch' is an exercise in measured minimalism, with every tone carefully sculpted to fill the vast space of each track. Shoegaze, reverb-drenched guitars evoke Galaxie 500, Yo La Tengo, Deerhunter and even Rowland S. Howard. Yet 'Social Crutch' remains very much in the present, thanks in part to the band's ability to marry a range of influences into thoughtfully structured songs. Throughout the album, Katz's and Devine's equally laconic, whispery vocals elevate each song as they drift in and out of each other, sometimes softly colliding in gorgeous harmony. Album opener "Repeater Kember" captures the band's ethos with a decaying guitar loop that sustains and repeats for nearly all of the song, save for a heavy climax. The crest fades shortly after it begins, highlighting the band's penchant for subtlety and restraint, even during the album's crescendos. While 'Social Crutch' is full of satisfying slow burns, upbeat moments such as "Halcion" and "Shadows" showcase Ross' drumming, which provides a sturdy backbone with enough allowance for the catchy guitar 'hooks and vocal melodies' magnetism to shine. * LA slow-core trio Gold Cage released their debut LP Social Crutch last week, a sparse slow burner punctuated with moments of dreamy melancholic beauty, dual whispery vocals and shards of abrasive post-punk. We asked the band to take us through the album track by track - this was their enigmatic response. Repeater Kember Some studies may reveal what you're looking for. Knowledge is power. Halcion Listen to everyone speak and hear what they have to say. Introduce My Mind A 'Lil groove. How fun. What Is Left We could have done this even slower. Shadows A hip hop sample if you want it. Ripples The Strokes under water Spaghetiffy A song about spaghetti. Harshmellow Funkiller, upset the rhythm, etc. Creepfest Everyone is watching. * Gold Cage is a Los Angeles based band who just released their debut full length on Felte Records. They are a three-piece consisting of singer/bassist Mony Katz, singer/guitarist Cole Devine, and drummer Sage Ross. Together, they form to create an incredibly unique project. Names of some bands like Galaxie 500 and Explosions in the Sky have been likened to this group, where inspiration behind guitar work is attributed. It's hard to put one label on this band because they draw so many different elements on this record to create a sound that is truly unique and stands out. Upon first listen, you may classify them as shoegaze. But a closer analysis would show they are much more than that. They incorporate elements of dreampop, indie rock, slowcore, and experimental elements that makes for an engaging debut for a band that many people should keep an eye on. Social Crutch features nine songs across a thirty-three-minute album. The mood throughout is somber, relaxing, and above all lush and pretty. The band takes advantage of the shoegaze/slow core landscape throughout this album, including reverb soaked vocal tones and harmonies, while having really massive guitar work. In some tracks, the guitars taker over and create this huge wall of noise that blankets over the track and creates an incredibly lush and ethereal experience. The opening track "Repeater Kember" begins with a shaker, until the drums begin followed by a building guitar riff. The guitar sustain continues over the duration of the next few moments working in conjunction with the other instruments. Once the vocals begin the whole track is realized. It isn't until about halfway through the track that Devine lets his guitar go wild as it creates that distinct shoegaze drone over the track. "Halcion" is a slow and chill track after the chaos of the previous. It's subdued by a lowly bass line that balances the track well amongst the other band members. The vocal harmonies on this track are what really shine. Katz and Devine have very different vocal ranges where Katz are more angelic, and Devine's are on the lower end and rely on a much heavier reverb effect on his vocals. Both working in conjunction is a really pleasant thing to listen to. "Introduce My Mind" puts forth a more upbeat tempo of instrumentation which is a nice change of pace and also allows for the vocals to be put in more front and center position. "What is Left" is a slowcore song to its bones. The slow drum hits, the guitar that's both reverb heavy, vocals which will leave the listener in a daze combine for such a deep experience. "Shadows" with its reverse sounding guitar parts is very psychedelic to listen to and "Ripples" with its more melodic driving guitar are nice back to back tracks. Once again on "Ripples" the vocal performances of both singers one after the other adds a depth to this track. " Spaghettify" utilizes similar psychedelic guitar effects while Sage Ross holds the track together with some really tight drumming. This song pushes more of a dream pop sound with its nice twinkly guitar riffs. "Harshmellow" with its spacey guitar work, and vocal harmonies is the type of track that will suck the listener in. "Creepfest" serves as the closing track. It begins with very lush and ambient style guitar strumming until the vocal harmonies work their way into the mix. Both vocalists almost complete each other's sentences in a back and forth dance until the drums and bass enter the song. They begin to jam out in a poetic collaboration of reverb washed guitars that are both beautiful and emotional. The bass with its prominent pick pattern holds down a rhythm for the track as the drums serve as the backing force that holds the track together. This is as fine a debut album as any band this year has released. It has really deep instrumentation ideas, and its diversity of genres are enough to help it stand out amongst typical shoegaze bands and records. Some of the nicest work on this record are the vocals. The utilization of both Katz and Devine was a real nice touch because both have distinct sounds that are able to bounce off of each other. * Throughout their debut album Social Crutch (great name by the way), Gold Cage do a great job at making disappointment sound really *big*. The tambourines sound as close and large as their bursts of guitar. The lyrics are bleak, the melodies are pessimistic, the tempos are slow and the arrangements are minimal. The male and female voices bump into each other like awkward meetings in hallways. Drums start the songs, creating great empty spaces in need of filling. The guitars fill them full of depressed melodies. The bass is left to moon along at the back of the pack. This is slowcore-inspired American indie by numbers, and it'll suit the mood of a University dorm perfectly after Cigarettes After Sex have faded out. * Comprised of singer/bassist Mony Katz, singer/guitarist Cole Devine and drummer Sage Ross - the trio combine dreamy shoegaze melodies, with a lyrical tension of the present day environment and this is embedded in an aura of post-punk influence ranging from Yo La Tengo and Sonic Youth to the present day peers of Ezra Furman and Activity. While Activity - whose own debut is released the same day - are more avant-garde, Gold Cage have the backbone of the punk ethos through their collective DNA, rich evocative songs dripping with hooky basslines and in Katz and Devine's combined penchant for whispered delivery they have a knack of making songs that stick with you. rom lead single and album opener, 'Repeater Kember', this is the song that shows off their influences and this was followed up by second single 'Halcion' - a song that shows off the best of New Order and Smashing Pumpkins to the fore. Yet the best single might be third track 'Introduce My Mind' a song that is the most catchy of the album and ripe for radio play with the mainstream appeal every band requires for crossover potential. All in all, Gold Cage have made a stunning debut album that if given the right audience may well shoot them to greater things, the band allows the listener to hear the tightness of the band as a unit and is not as inclusive as other works say allowing the listener to enter their world and enjoy the view. -=- SHGZ -=- P.S. ** Thanks *** *** BCC FNT IPC SSR *** *** For Knowing Where The Music Is At *** *** Props to CaHeSo, awesome Asian Indie/Shoegaze *** *** And to FANG/HOUND for supporting all the Indie lovers out there *** --===-- ********************* * NuHS we miss you! * *********************