The Nineties revival starts here

August 24, 2005 2:37 AM

OK -- so I like early Flying Saucer Attack. What now?

I've been looking for music recently that has a kind of FSA quality to it: whorls of spiralling feedback noise over folky guitar, with the essential component of harmony and tunefulness. The sound of one man singing in the bath, late at night, during a tropical cyclone. That kind of thing.

I've heard a lot of labels bandied about over the years -- Space Rock, Post Rock, Dream Pop, and so on -- but I guess my question is, who else (if anyone) is producing/has produced similar-sounding stuff?

posted by Sonny Jim to media & arts (13 comments total)

Spaceman 3, of course. Also Bardo Pond, Mono (Japanese,) Magnog, His Name is Alive (King of Sweet or earlier (1993).)
posted by The Jesse Helms at 3:06 AM on August 24, 2005

Try Bowery Electric's "Empty Words", from Beat. It's the FSA sound made perfect.

Other things less like FSA, but that you might like: Explosions in the Sky, Bardo Pond, My Bloody Valentine's Loveless, Slowdive, The Jesus and Mary Chain's Psychocandy, Yo La Tengo's "Damage" and "Sleeping Pill", and the song that invented the feedback-plus-folky-guitars sound, Big Star's "Kangaroo" (from 1974!).
posted by fuzz at 3:31 AM on August 24, 2005

If Spaceman 3 fit the bill you could also try Spiritualized, and if you like Slowdive, try also Ride.
posted by jontyjago at 4:03 AM on August 24, 2005

The Sames would seem to fit your bill, with a bit of mid-90s Chapel Hill Indie thrown in.
posted by bendybendy at 4:10 AM on August 24, 2005

I was going to mention Bowery Electric as well- all good recommendations so far. Maybe look into Arthur Russell's "World Of Echoes" album. A lot of Windy and Carl's stuff (they actually own a record shop in Dearborn, MI too - Stormy Records)

And without naming specific bands, you could also check Kranky Records which is usually pretty similar, sometimes a bit less noisey than FSA though. Tonevendor distribution who specialize in that shoe gazer stuff and also run the Claire Records label (you should find a few audio smaples if you poke around their site too). Darla distribution/label is also good but usually a bit more on the sugary side of the space rock sound.
posted by p3t3 at 5:39 AM on August 24, 2005

I would suggest Bowery Electric, Bardo Pond and My Bloody Valentine.

You could also have a look here

Or give Pandora a try
posted by juniorbonner at 8:01 AM on August 24, 2005

Jessica Bailiff's solo work is stunning - sheets of reverby guitar fuzz with fragile and haunting melodies over the top. She also recorded an album with FSA's Dave Pearce under the name of Clear Horizon (on Kranky), which is great.
The Ecstasy Of Saint Theresa's early stuff is fantastic - the album Susurrate, which is all-out lo-fi fuzz pop psychedelia, and the Peel Sessions, which were released as a single called Fluidtrance Centauri. Their later stuff is crap ambient trip hop, steer clear of that.
From the same scene that spawned FSA comes AMP (and the more abstract A.M.P. Studio) - their first two records, Sirenes and astralmoonbeamprojections are totally awesome, and out-FSA FSA themselves.
On a more folky tangent, try Taurpis Tula and Charalambides, both of which make liberal use of blissed out noise, reverb etc., and Six Organs of Admittance, which is less noisy and more John Fahey-late-night-porch-psych-folk with Eastern Raga mysticism.
posted by nylon at 8:09 AM on August 24, 2005

I second Windy and Carl.
posted by mike_bling at 9:32 AM on August 24, 2005

I third Windy & Carl, specifically the Drawing of Sound album. I also nominate the Verve's fist album, A Storm in Heaven. Later albums are much more Brit-poppy.
posted by LionIndex at 11:34 AM on August 24, 2005

Second the first Jesus & Mary Chain album. Also the first two Lilys albums.
posted by 88robots at 11:55 AM on August 24, 2005

TV On The Radio.
posted by Vidiot at 8:40 PM on August 24, 2005

Well, that's me sorted. Lots of decent recommendations here, some of which I'm familiar with, but a lot that I'm not. Thanks everyone!
posted by Sonny Jim at 12:55 AM on August 25, 2005

TV On The Radio.
posted by Vidiot at 8:40 PM PST on August 24 [!]

What? My mom has more in common with Flying Saucer Attack than TV On The Radio.
posted by The Jesse Helms at 7:14 AM on August 25, 2005