I occasionally get bands (or PR people) contacting me about listening to and/or reviewing them, sometimes the emails just get lost in the pile of ads and newsletters I subscribe to (or my websites get messed up somehow and I need to spend days figuring out what happened). Since I do like what I’ve heard of Ummagma from various shoegaze compilations I’ve downloaded, I figured I’d actually listen and write something about Ummagma’s new single “Rotation / Live and Let Die.”
Ummagma do seem to sound a lot like the Cocteau Twins (especially on “Live and Let Die”), though with expanding layers of fuzzy synths on the song “Rotation” – which sort of winds up and down while blending syncopated drums, more synths with wailing guitar sounds. “Live and Let Die” balances the vocals over the guitars, synths and drums, which adds a sort of rhythmic mix of dreamy sounds. Definitely worth a listen for shoegaze and indie pop fans.
You can find video links for Rotation and Live and Let Die and embedded below:
Press release info below:
“Like The Sundays and Cocteau Twins might sound after dropping acid, jumping in a space ship and jamming together as they float through space and time” ~ The VPME
Ummagma single release: Dec. 9 on Emerald & Doreen Records
Emerald & Doreen Recordings will release the double A-side single “Rotation / Live and Let Die” from up-and-coming indie power dreampop duo Ummagma. It will be available for digital download from Beatport, iTunes, Juno and other resources on December 9. In these two tracks, stunning hypnotic vocals and lush blissed-out resonance create a sonic launching pad to the galaxy. In ‘Rotation’, this occurs on waves of bombastic synths, and on “Live and Let Die”, epic guitar riffs lace with magnetic drumbeats. These addictive Stereolab and Curve-style tracks embed themselves in your brain. This single is a teaser for several Ummagma releases on Emerald & Doreen Records forthcoming in early 2014.
Since exploding onto the underground music scene in 2012 with 2 independently released full-length LPs – “Antigravity” and s/t “Ummagma”, the Canadian-Ukrainian duo has been blazing a colourful, yet eclectic, path forward. Blending their love of indie rock, synthpop and electronica to create their own brand of “dreamgaze” power pop, Ummagma are a rare commodity in today’s music scene: deliciously diverse, dreamy, and loaded with positivity.
Since then, Ummagma has garnered over 240 unique articles, with rave reviews from Rolling Stone Russia, The VPME, Echoes and Dust, AltSounds, Sounds Better With Reverb, The Sound of Confusion, and WaveMaker Magazine, among others. The 2 albums tied as #3 Best Album of 2012 in After Pop Magazine, ranked in the top 20 of 2012 for Rock XS Radio and #21 Best Album in Sloucher Zine. They have also caught the attention of Amazing Radio, CBC Radio (Canada) and Robin Guthrie (Cocteau Twins), who has remixed a track for their forthcoming LP. Ummagma also won the 2013 Alternative Eurovision, hosted by Britain’s Amazing Radio.
The album is available to stream and embed from Bandcamp, Soundcloud or can be downloaded here.
www.ummagma.com
www.facebook.com/ummagma
www.soundcloud.com/ummagma
www.youtube.com/ummagma
http://ummagma.bandcamp.com
http://twitter.com/ummagma
