It is morning in Baltimore, and I do not know if I will ever know love in its fullness. Yet I am cognizant of it; she calls. Sometimes she brings inspiration. Other times she washes over the land in a liquid morningrise; other times the day is utterly lost.

Slowdive’s 1991 Morningrise EP, on Creation Records:

Slowdive: Morningrise
Slowdive: She Calls
Slowdive: Losing Today

"Sometimes I just sit and think, and I don't think much."

Tonight I saw Neil Halstead at the Talking Head.

Neil Halstead: Sometimes The Wheels
Neil Halstead: Oh! Mighty Engine (Myspace version)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzEDHReG22A

This next one is for a woman I haven’t seen in over 10 years named Jody. We traded a few messages on Facebook, and she asked me for some recommendations. So here we are. My abiding memory of Jody is that she used to ride around campus in the coolest Range Rover. In spite of that she was still nice to me. In fact, once I sat in that Range Rover, parked, dark outside, a spring in the air, and we…

…listened to Slowdive. I was doing the squee thing before I even knew there was such a word. That music went straight to my melancholic soul. Jody kept laughing so naturally and delightfully, like she always did, just enjoying the sight of me being so blown away.

Well, Jody, for you it seems appropriate to share a couple of clear, peeling bells, which aren’t shoegaze, but which do follow up that shimmering Slowdive aesthetic rather nicely. The first is the Australian band Howling Bells, including a track off their brand new album released this month. The second is a Russian singer/New York resident named Olga Bell, who has a recent EP that’s extraordinarily hard to find but equally as rewarding. Oh, and as a bonus track, I have to include some rare Slowdive as well.

Howling Bells: Into The Chaos
Howling Bells: Setting Sun

Bell: Housefire
Bell: The Miner

Slowdive: Silver Screen (unreleased song)