First things first: There's no Shelly. Though they've only been making music together for a little more than a year, the Greek duo (producer RΠЯ and vocalist Sarah P.) are already sick of explaining the joke: They grew up in a neighborhood called Kypseli. In Athens. Get it? But Keep Shelly are used to feeling a little lost in translation: Their first two EPs, In Love With Dusk and Our Own Dream, were both cult… more »
It used to be easier to pretend that an album was its own perfectly self-contained artifact. The great records certainly feel that way. But albums are more permeable than solid, their motivations, executions and inspirations informed by, and often stolen from, their peers and forbearers. It all sounds awfully formal, but it's not. It's the very nature of music — of art, even. The Six Degrees features examine the relationships between classic records and five… more »
No, it's not a great name: "shoegazing." Very few artists who've actually played in that style like the term; Stuart Braithwaite of Mogwai has called it "a dumb term made up by clueless... idiots... if someone called us shoegazers, I'd be pretty unhappy." The other leading candidate seems to be "dreampop," which is also not quite satisfactory. But we're stuck with those words, because it's undeniable that there's a certain tendency in rock music, especially British… more »
