On Shoegazing, Breakthru Radio, New York Gazers, and The Deli Magazine

This Tuesday we were featured on DJ Mojo's weekly podcast on Breakthru Radio.  It's a track you've probably heard before ("Niagara," which is available on just about every page of Oceanographer's entire web presence at the moment), but Mojo has some very warm things to say about us and we're alongside some other really great music, so we thought we'd point you in the direction of this podcast.  Thanks, Mojo!

Also, I just became aware that New York Gazers, a new Facebook group, recently started up and is putting together information about New York City shoegaze bands, live performances and events, and anything that combines shoegaze and our grand City.  It's in fledgling form, but I'd love to see it succeed, so please follow the link and "like" it!

And lastly, at the direction of New York Gazers I stumbled across this page on The Deli Magazine's New York City music scene blog.  It's a list of New York area shoegaze bands, compiled in order of either "Web Buzz" or "Popularity," ranked automatically according to what I'm sure is an arcane and totally accurate algorithm.  We were surprised to find ourselves ranked at 27 and 28 (respectively) out of 55, and in fact we're thankful to be included at all.  Who'd have thought?

And a small word about that whole shoegaze thing: I'm aware that for a couple of reasons our music doesn't exactly fit into the specifications of the genre.  The vocals are not effects-laden or buried in the mix.  You can understand (most of) the lyrics.  The song structures are a little out-of-the-ordinary for the genre.  We have at least a little bit of stage presence.  All the same I've always used the word to describe our music because we do use a lot of guitar pedals and soundscapes and we focus a lot on texture.  OK.  Glad we straightened that out.

So... check out our new show listings, have a good week, and I hope we see you soon!

Playing a brand new venue in two days

We're very excited about our upcoming show, at The Grand Victory— the new venue where Bruar Falls used to be.  Its grand opening was on Thursday, and I have to tell you the place is absolutely gorgeous (click on the thumbnails to the left to see for yourself).

In the interest of full disclosure I am a little bit biased, as yours truly will be working there Saturday nights, so I'm a little emotionally invested in the venture.  But it really is a picturesque place to see us play, maybe the best sounding room in an intimate venue in Brooklyn, and with inexpensive drinks (or high end cocktails, whichever floats your boat).  And with a $5 door charge and a forecast of above-freezing temperatures there's really no excuse to miss this.

Joining us will be our friends Money / Paper / Hearts (their drummer, Drew Mendenhall, used to play in a side project with me and Eric) and Eagle Hawk Falcon Owl.  Both of these bands are definitely worth catching, so why not come by at 8:00PM and stay for the whole show?  I mean, it's three bands for $5.  What a deal.  Hope to see you there!

We have live video from last weekend, plus new photos from Tuesday night in the studio

Eric and Kevin and I spent several hours in the studio on Tuesday night and we posted four pictures from the evening.  I know, real exciting.  But let's be real, we both know you wanna look at them.  We are so close to finishing all the tracking, mixing and hope to have it in the mastering house by February.

In other news, Eric's sister Jayme took this video of our song "Finally Here," which will appear on our upcoming record, Spilling Blood.  This was from our show last weekend at Bar Matchless here in Brooklyn.  Hope you enjoy it.

As for the photos?  Have a gander.

Just found an article on Kevin's pedal board

I just stumbled across this article about Kevin's pedal board.  I thought I'd share it with everyone so you know just what a tech nerd he is.  Feel free to read it, if you're into that kind of thing, or just ogle the impressive photos.  And now you know (partly) how we get that Oceanographer sound.

We wrote a new song! And you can hear it this Saturday in Brooklyn

For the first time in several months we're changing up our set, pulling out a couple songs we haven't played since last year, unveiling a brand new song that sounds like nothing we've done before, and you can only hear it all for the low low price of $7 this Saturday, December 10th at Matchless in Brooklyn.

We'll be appearing with our new friends Ichicuts, our old friends Autumn Bells (who you may remember as The Bottoms Of Our Hearts from our show at Trash Bar a few months back, and you may remember features Alex Beard of the late great Hula), as well as some new bands we hope to become friends with— The Beach Arabs and The Dazzling Dooms.

The whole shebang starts around 7:30PM, and we play at 10:00PM.  Since The Dazzling Dooms go on at midnight and must be done by 1AM, set times will be pretty strict.  So just to be safe?  Turn up at 8PM and stay until the wee hours of the morning.  It's not a school night, after all.