Artist: Whirl
Album: Distressor
Release: 2010
Label: Self-Released
Tracklist:
1. Preface
2. Leave
3. Blue
4. Ghost
5. Meaningless
6. Child
7. Sandy
In a world where the glut of newer shoegaze bands (I refuse to use the lazy term “nugaze,”) Whirl are band that gets the formula right. Their three (!) guitars flow and ebb throughout this debut release not unlike Slowdive. But whereas Slowdive often focused more on melodies, Whirl have riffs as well, and the energy boost they lend the band’s tracks saves them from getting too boringly focused on creating effects-laden atmospheres.
“Preface,” like the album’s cover art, samples Nicole Kidman from Eyes Wide Shut, who posits that maybe we “should be grateful...that we’ve managed to survive through all of our adventures, whether they were real or only a dream.” “Leave” immediately kicks up the intensity with aching lead melody, steady drums and swirling guitars in the background. It’s here that we learn how perfectly the voices of Bianca Munoz and Loren Rivera are mixed, delivering melody and emotion while maintaining a healthy amount of lyrical obscurity. In the forefront, the guitars of Nick Bassett, Joseph Bautista, and Rivera are warm and perfectly enveloping. “Meaningless” drives like the ICDT-adored the Ecstasy of Saint Theresa. “Child” wails with a back-and-forth part that’s third cousins with “Only Shallow,” and “Sandy” evokes the beautiful sombreness of Souvlaki.
In a shitty Revolver interview for his Team Sleep project I read when I was 15, Deftones frontguy Chino Moreno praised Siamese Dream as a huge production influence, citing distortion that “sounded huge and heavy, but also like it was hugging you.” The Deftones are pretty uninteresting and I doubt Team Sleep is any better, but that description perfectly puts into words how the band's sound on Distressor feels. Appropriately dreamlike, never overproduced or gratuitously lo-fi, and elegantly navigating through a handful of a quailty tunes, Whirl-- not unlike Weed Hounds-- are a young band that offer plenty of promise while hearkening back to sounds of old.
Download Here
Buy Here
-Asa
Album: Distressor
Release: 2010
Label: Self-Released
Tracklist:
1. Preface
2. Leave
3. Blue
4. Ghost
5. Meaningless
6. Child
7. Sandy
In a world where the glut of newer shoegaze bands (I refuse to use the lazy term “nugaze,”) Whirl are band that gets the formula right. Their three (!) guitars flow and ebb throughout this debut release not unlike Slowdive. But whereas Slowdive often focused more on melodies, Whirl have riffs as well, and the energy boost they lend the band’s tracks saves them from getting too boringly focused on creating effects-laden atmospheres.
“Preface,” like the album’s cover art, samples Nicole Kidman from Eyes Wide Shut, who posits that maybe we “should be grateful...that we’ve managed to survive through all of our adventures, whether they were real or only a dream.” “Leave” immediately kicks up the intensity with aching lead melody, steady drums and swirling guitars in the background. It’s here that we learn how perfectly the voices of Bianca Munoz and Loren Rivera are mixed, delivering melody and emotion while maintaining a healthy amount of lyrical obscurity. In the forefront, the guitars of Nick Bassett, Joseph Bautista, and Rivera are warm and perfectly enveloping. “Meaningless” drives like the ICDT-adored the Ecstasy of Saint Theresa. “Child” wails with a back-and-forth part that’s third cousins with “Only Shallow,” and “Sandy” evokes the beautiful sombreness of Souvlaki.
In a shitty Revolver interview for his Team Sleep project I read when I was 15, Deftones frontguy Chino Moreno praised Siamese Dream as a huge production influence, citing distortion that “sounded huge and heavy, but also like it was hugging you.” The Deftones are pretty uninteresting and I doubt Team Sleep is any better, but that description perfectly puts into words how the band's sound on Distressor feels. Appropriately dreamlike, never overproduced or gratuitously lo-fi, and elegantly navigating through a handful of a quailty tunes, Whirl-- not unlike Weed Hounds-- are a young band that offer plenty of promise while hearkening back to sounds of old.
Download Here
Buy Here
-Asa
20 comments:
Fuck you, Deftones rule.
-Adam
Not hatin', they just weren't my thing.
This sounds fuckin' great! Thanks man...
fantastic, thanks
Loving this! It's like Slowdive and Black Tambourine minus the boring! And i LIKE Slowdive and Black Tambourine! Well played, Whirl.
oh man, you just made my year. this is awesome. love that wall of sound stuff.
yo. deftones are rad
trey
WOAH! This reminds me of carissa's wierd if they were shoegaze and about 50 times better.
My album of the year so far. And musically, this has been one hell of a year.
Favorite record of the year so far
really excited to listen to this. Great post, thanks!
totally into this, thanks dude!
This album is totally up my alley. Thanks so much for posting it!
I took a break from work just to listen to this whole album start to finish. It was well worth it.
i put off checking this record out for a while because of all "nugaze" hype and whatever, but holy shit i can't stop listening. the catchiness of "leave" is just too much. love it.
Great album! <3
too many bands named whirl. there is this band also called whirl from the town of amherst in massachusetts, and they are realy realy good. i would definetly watch out for them in the future.http://www.myspace.com/whirl4lyfe
Just checked out the Whirl from Amherst. Fucking terrible. Shoegaze whirl easily deserve the name.
i just checked out Amherst whirl too. they definetly dont suck in the least bit. all 3 songs impressed me. but to each there own, both whirls are great.
Still haven't heard Amherst Whirl and I would never say they suck, but they need to stop fucking spamming both Whirl posts with music videos of their band playing.
-Adam
Cassette of this is now available at www.bridgetownrecords.info
Could you please remove the download link? Feel free to replace it with the direct link to the MP3 I have posted on the site.
Thanks!
Kevin - email us.
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