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Ice Station Review on When The Sun Hits

We got a really stellar review for our Ice Station EP from When the Sun Hits. We also did an interview with them recently which we'll post later in the week. Be sure to browse their blog for interviews, videos, album reviews and even gear reviews! It's a great resource for discovering new stuff of the dream pop / shoegaze variety.

Album Review: Ice Station EP
By: Amber

Screen Vinyl Image are Jake and Kim Reid, a husband and wife team who were both former members of the now-defunct Alcian Blue (an incredibly talented shoegaze/new wave influenced band that parted ways in 2006. If you don't know Alcian Blue, I recommend you rectify that mistake immediately).

As a big fan of Alcian Blue, I was sad to see the group end, but from those ashes rose Screen Vinyl Image (the other members of Alcian Blue also went on to do excellent projects of their own - Vacuole Eyes, The Antiques, Torsion Fields and A Cricket in Times Square, to name a few), and this, my friends, is a very good thing, indeed. SVI's first release in 2007, entitled The Midnight Sun EP, was so incredibly promising that my no-more-Alcian-Blue pity party came to an abrupt halt. All things change, and evolution makes the world go around. Besides all that, and for lack of better phrasing, SVI essentially kicks ass.

Since the release of The Midnight Sun EP, SVI have gone on to release a slew of ever-more well-crafted releases, including the Chaser single (2007), a Split EP with Ceremony (2008), Interceptors (full length, 2009), and an album of remixes earlier this year. Every release leaves me more and more impressed (and I am not easily nor repeatedly impressed, I assure you). And not only do Jake and Kim consistently dazzle as SVI, but they also run the independent record label, Safranin Sound and Design, with a venerable roster of releases from bands such as Skywave, Ceremony, the Offering, the Antiques, the Vera Violets, the Vandelles, Safe as Home and Vacuole Eyes. These guys are creating and releasing some of the finest dark-tinged shoegaze around right now. Better recognize. When The Sun Hits is all about keeping a finger on the current pulse of shoegaze. Grab a wrist, people, because here it is.


The Ice Station EP is the band's most recent effort, issued first as a limited run of 200 red-tinted cassette tapes, and will be followed by the Siberian Eclipse 7″ this fall (both on Fan Death Records).

The Ice Station EP consists of two new tracks, "Siberian Eclipse" and "New Visions", as well as live tracks from the band’s May 2010 show with Spectrum at the Velvet Lounge in Washington, DC, and a few other songs from The Ice Station (SVI’s own studio) sessions. An additional track, "Too Much Speed", is also slated for release in the fall on the Custom Made Music label.

The cassette starts off with "Siberian Eclipse", and is an excellent example of SVI doing what they do best - a powerful and seamless blend of frigid electronica, dark shoegaze, and psychedelica, with a tinge of post-punk thrown in for good measure. Far from a rehashed melting pot of these genres, SVI combine these influences to create sonic soundscapes that are as fresh and vital as anything they've ever done. "Siberian Eclipse" is an aptly named track; it is as cold and ominous as it's title suggests. It wouldn't be out of place soundtracking the coolest horror flick you could ever hope to see. If you like your gaze on the somber side, with dark beats and attitude, this is for you. And if you don't like your gaze on the somber side, perhaps you should reconsider your stance. This song has a chilly, compelling atmosphere you aren't going to forget. Nor will you want to. Had Ian Curtis lived, I could easily imagine Joy Division creating an early prototype to this sound.

As if I wasn't already pleased enough by this, then comes "New Visions", quite possibly the best SVI track I have yet heard (which is saying a lot, considering how highly I regard everything I've heard by them). It is a synth and sequenced-beat driven track, still encapsulating the darkness SVI do so well, but there is also an upbeat, almost hopeful undertone to it. After all, after an eclipse, the sun does inevitably return. New visions appear. The vocals, while gorgeously delivered, take a backseat to the ambience of the track, bringing to mind some of the more restrained and distorted vox of certain the JAMC tracks. "New Visions" is nearly epic in scope of sound. If "Siberian Eclipse" could soundtrack a horror film, "New Visions" would play during the rolling credits.

I really couldn't speak more highly of this release, and that goes for all previous SVI releases as well. I eagerly await future releases from them. Screen Vinyl Image is, quite frankly, one of the most exciting and talented bands releasing their own unique brand shoegaze music right now.

Siberian Eclipse on Voxpop's Latest Sampler

Voxpop is a French "Tout & Musique" magazine and their Sept-Oct issue features a free download sampler of artists. They contacted us about using some new music so you can head on over to their site link below and pick up some free tunes including our new single, Siberian Eclipse!

Voxpop Pop Up 02 Link

Weekend Thx and Ice Station Review

First off, big thanks to EVERYONE for coming out this weekend in Cleveland and Kalamazoo, we had a blast and got to catch some really rad bands and dj's.

Special personal thanks to Scott Feeney for hooking the Cleveland show up, Jay Davis for heading out to both shows and getting the word out about them, Rob Wood for filming the Cleveland show and major thanks to the Glowfriends for putting on yet another wicked festival. (Esp Jenn from Glowfriends for helping us load gear)

On that note, our bud Scott Causer who runs the very awesome Northern Star Records in the UK pushed our new EP to Fabio over at Retrophobic, here's what he had to say:

Translated from Italian:

Screen Vinyl Image: Ice Station
New and curious on tape for this American label of whom I did not know existed. Screen Vinyl Image is an American band who appeared on Revolution In Sound, the compilation of Northern Star Records from last year and do part of that "sottomondo" son of the shoegaze, from the fossils of the Jesus And Mary Chain and of the extinction of the dinosaurs of Kraut. It seems that this cerebral species of apocalypse have bred a new species of bands and artists, a "developed stock" that melt with dexterity and wisdom of "historical elements" cited to create a "new sound". The sound of Screen Vinyl Image is dark, nocturnal and this long EP, containing a variety of material, goes from new tracks to live performances. "Siberian Eclipse" is moved on the solid base of electro, with inserted lunar melodies, rich guitars and other noisy delights. A languid psychedelic episode, that introduces the remainder of the box, divided between almost environmental passages, in which the planning becomes rerefatta, true and actual "crowds of noise" ("Too Much Speed"), luxuriant cosmic walks ("Tomorrow Is Too Far"), and marked reports dancing in the territories of Joy Division. If what what you seek is drum machines, effects in saturation, ancient synthesizers and a dreamlike suspension, Screen Vinyl Image is what you need.

Cleveland and Kalamashoegazer This Weekend!

Heading out for a few mid-west shows this weekend. Lots of cool bands
and we'll have our Ice Station cassettes in hand too. 

Bela Dubby
Fri August 20, 2010
Cleveland OH

 

The Strutt
Kalamazoo Michigan
Kalamashoegazer Festival

Sunday Aug 15 Velvet Lounge

We have two awesome bands coming down from NYC this weekend. And No Love Lost is happening downstairs with Sean (Fan Death Records) and Denman (No Control) on the decks spinning tons of goth, cold wave and minimal wave all night.

We are also releasing the Ice Station EP that night. Copies will be available on glorious red-tinted cassette featuring 2 brand new tracks, live tracks and studio sessions.

Check the band sites below and see you sunday!

Soren Well

Telltale