After the sonic strike of My Bloody Valentine, Kino Šiška will host another legendary shoegaze band! With its walls of guitar fuzz and dreamy pop structures, the Jesus and Mary Chain planted the seeds of shoegaze in the 1980s, changing alternative rock forever. In their heyday, NME declared them the best band in the world, while in addition to all the other accolades, their debut Psychocandy is still one of the 1001 Albums You Must Hear before You Die. After parting ways and then reuniting, the still amazing Scottish group is returning to Slovenia with its first record in 19 years, 2017’s Damage and Joy. Warming up for them will be local shoegaze heroes Haiku Garden.
Before the volatile brothers William and Jim Reid, the creative core of the Jesus and Mary Chain, had a wild falling out towards the end of the 1990s and walked offstage for many years, they and their revolving line-up of band members released half a dozen albums, including the ground-breaking Psychocandy in 1985, which also featured later Primal Scream frontman Bobby Gillespie on the drums.
On its above-mentioned debut, the group built a dark fortress of guitar feedback around the sugary popscapes of the time, incidentally establishing one of the foundations of shoegaze and enriching the history of music with one of the best and most influential albums ever.
After separating, eight years passed before the brothers performed together again, and then it took another decade for them to release their first new album with a fresh band, Damage and Joy. Production was entrusted to a founding member and former bassist of Killing Joke, Youth, with the 14 new songs representing a tribute to the legacy of the hazy, strobed-up ambiance of “the Jesus and Mary Chain’s” 1980s, while still successfully venturing into more contemporary sonic territory. Or, in the concise words of the Guardian, “the album contains old and new songs and moments of pure bliss”.
Those of you who have managed to catch the group live before know what we mean, while those of you who haven’t can now look forward to an exceptional opportunity to experience a band whose sonic heritage still influences the sound of younger acts, such as A Place To Bury Strangers, Wavves, The Horrors and many others, live.
Ljubljana four-piece Haiku Garden breathed fresh air into the Slovenian scene a good two years ago with their walls of floating guitar riffage, catchy melodies and beautiful atmospheres. They first drew attention opening for Mile Me Deaf, then continued developing their stage skills at the Radio Študent Club Marathon, Trnjefest, INmusicMENT, Velvet Festival and so on. After an inspired performance at this year’s MENT Ljubljana, they headed off on a successful tour of Eastern Europe, then did a great job warming up for LVL UP and Suuns after returning home. Meanwhile, proving that the band’s good tunes travel far, Kevin Cole of cult Seattle radio KEXP declared ‘Rosetta’ Song of the Day.
Organisation: ŠKUC Ropot and Kino Šiška.
