#seablite

[sitting-on-me-bum]

A seagull sits on the “red beach” created by clusters of suaeda salsa – also known as seepweed or seablite – in Yingkou, China

Photograph: VCG/Getty Images

[shoegazekid]

@seabliteband #shoegaze

[tsyllaes]

This is Ulindu, who will be the main character for my NaNo this year :D He's a chef from Ni-Badra, the town at the mouth of the Ra-Lin and hence is as much a coastal community as it is a river community. The inspiration for this one came from this Insta post, where she took selfies, printed them out, then made a collage of props on top of the photo to make a story. Raykin hasn't invented cameras yet so Uli gets a sketch. All the props are coastal plants used in cooking, plus some cockles and his chef's knife.

Sketch on its own, just cos I'm proud of it :D The table is made of Norfolk Island pine (which they just call island pine cos they don't have a Norfolk Island) which is practically a requirement of every beachside town or suburb in Australia.

Also Uli's knife, cos I felt like I needed something to indicate he's a chef not a gardener. Just a simple iron knife which he keeps meticulously sharp.

Now onto the foooods :D

In his hand is sea parsley, which tastes kinda like a cross between parsley and celery (it's also sometimes called sea celery) but a bit more peppery. All these are Australian natives, btw, most especially native to the SA coast.

Up the top left, the silvery one is coastal rosemary, which I cannot for the life of me find. I plan on going for a beach forage a bit further from the city beaches in the hopes of finding the things I haven't tasted yet, but it's cold and extremely middle of winter right now so the beach is uninviting. Anyway. The internet tells me coastal rosemary is an extremely close substitute for regular rosemary so.

The reddish one in the top right is seablite, another one I've not tried, but which is apparently quite salty and kinda succulent and crisp.

Cockles, which I've already talked about and which of course live all along the Raykinian coast, too.

The little berries are muntries, little salty-sweet pops of apple-currant-clove and they're delightful. I have a plant in the garden but it's only smol and hasn't started producing yet.

In the bunch down the bottom left we have ice plant, which the Raykinians call dew plant, named for the teenytiny blisters all over it, stems and leaves both, which look like it's covered in dew! Tastes like succulent, slightly salty spinach. I found one at Brighton beach, dug it up and took it home and it's happily living in a pot now =3

The twiggy one in that bunch is samphire, which is kinda like salty asparagus but really skinny.

Last of all, the pink flower is karkalla, a kind of pigface, with thick, fat, juicy, succulent leaves, also kinda salty. These things are everywhere and usually used as ground cover by beachside councils because they're very self-sufficient.

[dustedmagazine]

Andrew Forell 2023 End of Year

Robert Forster, photo by Stephen Booth

2023 buzzed by in a whirl of too much work and music. So many records and so many missed. I kept going down rabbit holes of genre and artists, chasing and never quite hauling in all the things I wanted to, or felt I should, listen to. In the end, music being so difficult to rank, here, in alphabetical order are the records I spent most time with a bunch of others I’ve been recommending to anyone who would listen.

The Feelies – Some Kinda Love (Bar/None)

2023 has been a good year for guitar music.  New albums from Teenage Tom Petties, The Reds, Pinks and Purples, The Drin, The Tubs and The Murder Capital have been on high rotation here. So why a 2018 live tribute to a band who broke up in 1973 by a group in their fifth decade? First, these are songs are from The Velvet Underground, and second, simply, The Feelies. Joined by Richard Barone and Joey Maestro from The Bongos, they rip through a set that features the “hits” and some lesser-known songs with affection but not awe. Glenn Mercer and Bill Million’s guitars thrum in the style we are accustomed to, while Stanley Demeski, Dave Weckerman and Brenda Sauter provide rhythmic support which adds a dynamic swing to songs like “There She Goes Again,” “Head Held High” and “I’m Waiting For the Man.”  Some Kinda Love is a pure dopamine hit of great songs played by a brilliant band. Joy and fun in equal measure.

Robert Forster – The Candle and the Flame (Tapete)

On The Candle and the Flame Robert Forster produces some of the most emotionally direct and effecting songs of his career. Recorded in the shadow of his wife, Karen Bäumer’s diagnosis of, and treatment for ovarian cancer, Forster writes with grace about family, friendship, love and the past. The only song written in direct response to the illness “She’s A Fighter” contains only six words but the propulsive tension of the music expresses everything Forster doesn’t attempt to say. It’s an extraordinarily powerful performance, a cathartic blast, and for me, one of the songs of the year. “Tender Years,, “The Roads” and “When I Was A Young Man”  are also up there. As I said in my review “few (songwriters) imbue the quotidian joys of domestic life and the power of memory with such poetry.”

Iceboy Violet – Not a Dream But a Controlled Explosion (Fixed Abode)

On their self-produced album Not a Dream But A Controlled Explosion Iceboy Violet mixes rap, grime and swathes of liminal ambience into an emotionally purgative chronicle of identity, desire and fantasy which flows with a dreamlike intensity. Over deep pulses of sub-bass, taiko influenced percussion and concrete noise, their voice shifts in and out of focus, here a background whisper, there an urgent Northern accented boom. The music, like the vocals, is in constant flux, slipping between hard club beats and eerie ambience. At just 17 minutes, the eight tracks here stay with you for far longer.

The Inward Circles – Before We Lie Down in Darknesse (Stone Corbel Press)

Scottish composer Richard Skelton manipulates a six second fragment of Baroque recorder music taken from the run-out groove of a battered 50-year-old vinyl recording into haunted soundscapes that to tap into something primordial and elemental within layers built like geological strata. This is music to lose yourself in. Obsidian and glacial, Skelton’s work captures and preserves trace elements of melody and rhythm so imperceptible that you feel as much as hear them. Before We Lie Down in Darkness is a beautiful, timeless voyage andhas often eased me from insomniac anxiety to sleep in the last few months.

King Vision Ultra – Shook World (hosted by Algiers)

Using musical stems from Algiers’ Shook, found sound and collaborations with artists including ELUCID, Matana Roberts, DJ Haram, Dis Fig and Bigg Jus, King Vision Ultra’s self-styled mixtape is a companion piece and conversation with its source rather than a remix. A shifting  sound collage that explores and interrogates race, class, gentrification, violence, love and community, Shook World digs into the core of New York City. Recordings of subway announcements, overheard conversations and confrontations lend a bracing realism and more than once Shook World  has merged with the noise and incident of daily trips on the 1 train. A brilliant, often disorientating and abrasive sound portrait of NYC from some of its most interesting musicians.

Kofi Flexxx – Flowers in the Dark (Native Rebel)

Native Rebel founder Shabaka Hutchings has been in the vanguard of the English jazz scene with his bands Sons of Kemet, Shabaka & The Ancestors and The Comet Is Coming and as a cross-genre collaborator with artists on three continents. Posited as a “creative principle” rather than a band, Kofi Flexxx, Hutchings acts as guide and producer. Flowers in the Dark is anchored by pianist Alex Hawkins, flautist Ross Harris and a dynamite rhythm section of bassist Daisy George and drummer Jas Kayser. Backing guest vocalists including rappers billy woods and ELUCID, singers Siyabonga Mthembu from South Africa and Tamil born Ganavye and poet Anthony Joseph on album highlight “By Now (Accused of Magic)”, the quartet provide a fulcrum that draws together the strands of black music into sinuous unity. The instrumental tracks  are equally good. “It Was All a Dream” has the rhythmic power of Sons Of Kemet with Hawkins’ percussive piano and George’s bass bounding along ahead of a wall of horns and Harris flying above them while managing to find a gritty rasp the bottom end of the flute. “Fire” is a bluesy spiritual jazz with George and Harris both prominent. An album that exemplifies Hutchings’ holistic approach to music.

Seablite – Lemon Lights (Mt St Mtn)

San Francisco band Seablite’s second album Lemon Lights delves deeper into their love for 1990s English sounds. The quartet of vocalist/guitarist Lauren Matsui, vocalist/bassist Galine Tumasyan (bass), guitarist Jen Mundy and drummer Andy Pastalaniec channel the lush end of 1990s British indie. Ride guitarist Mark Gardener mastered Lemon Lights and the result is an album of shoegaze adjacent songs which incorporate the jangling sound of Seablite’s Bay Area contemporaries. It’s a deeply satisfying combination elevated by vocal harmonies, serpentine bass lines and Pastalaniec’s driving percussion. Lead single “Melancholy Molly” has the rollicking rhythm of Ride’s “Leave Them All Behind” overlaid with Matsui and Tumasyan’s lush harmonies and the twin guitars sparking from the mix. The sound is dense but melodic, allowing the guitars to chime and shimmer than rather fuzz and the  melancholic edge to tracks like “Pot of Boiling Water” and the dreamy closer “Orbiting My Sleep” make Lemon Lights resonate.

Sinaïve – Répétition (Antimatière)

When Sinaïve released Répétition in April, I had a cursory listen, filed it away and promptly forgot about it for several weeks. My mistake. On second listen, their combination of Gallic cool, psychedelic pyrotechnics, VU drone and the distant echoes of Ye-Ye and the French underground was irresistible. The Strasbourg trio - Calvin Keller on vocals/guitar/keys, Alicia Lovich drums /vocals/organ and bassist Alaoui O - make a wholly satisfying racket. On the 11 plus minutes of “Citadelle/Bis Repetita”, Sinaïve ride Lovich’s robotic rockabilly beat and Alaoui’s throbbing bass though a suite that sounds among other things like “Ghost Rider”, “Sister Ray” and Love at their wiggiest before Keller’s freight train riffs entangle themselves as if on a lock groove. It’s a terrific piece of sonic détournement. “Les Diaboliques” finds Keller crooning over a squalling guitar and molasses bass line before guest singer Raphaëlle Albane enters, an earthbound angel amidst the feedback. Albane appears again on “Cela ne Fait que Commencer” to close the album duetting with Keller over a quiet pulsing beat, organ and strummed guitar.

99Letters – Makafushigi (Disciples)

Osaka producer Takahiro Kinoshita’s Makafushigi (Mystery Tape)is built on samples of the instruments and vocal styles used in Japanese Imperial Court music. As 99Letters, Kinoshita fuses these ancient sounds with modern electronic music in ways that are as malevolent as the demons of mythology and as sinister as the organized crime and ultranationalism in contemporary Japan. The tracks on Makafushigi are washed in a seamy mix of grit and clamor, a grim, grimy world of back alleys, dingy bars and low-tech manufacturing. On discovering this I went on to a deep dive into 99Letters’ back catalogue and emerged when Kinoshita put out his most recent album Zigoku on Phantom Limb in November. He is the artist I’ve been most thrilled to discover this year.

The Others:

Algiers – Shook (Matador

Armand Hammer – We Buy Diabetic Test Strips (Fat Possum)

jaimie branch – Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) (International Anthem)

John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy – Evenings At the Village Gate (Impulse)

Comet Gain – The Misfit Jukebox (Tapete)

The Drin – Today My Friend You Drunk The Venom (Drunken Sailor)

Euglossine – Bug Planet is the Current Timeline (Hausu Mountain)

Asher Gamedze – Turbulence and Pulse (international Anthem)

Gods Gift – Turn All the Lights Out (Play Loud!)

Laurel Halo – Atlas (Awe)

The Reverend Michael Kristen Hayter – SAVED! (Perpetual Flame Ministries)

Irreversible Entanglements – Protect Your Light (Impulse)

Life Strike – Peak Dystopia (Bobo Integral)

Kevin Richard Martin – Black (Intercranial)

OXBOW – Love’s Holiday (Ipecac)

Purelink – Signs (Peak Oil)

Quicksails – Surface (Hausu Mountain)

Rainy Miller x Space Africa – A Grissaille Wedding (Fixed Abode)

Speaker Music – Techxodus (Planet Mu)

Strategy – Graffiti in Space (Constellation Tatsu)

The Tubs – Dead Meat (Trouble In Mind)

billy woods & Kenny Segal – Maps (Backwoodz Studioz)

99Letters – Zigoku (Phantom Limb)

[shoegaiz]

041023

[drhoz]

#2191 - Suaeda australis - Austral Seablite

AKA Redweed.

After we'd moved to a much better hotel immeadiately adjacent to the airport, I walked across the freeway to investigate a few parks I saw on the map. They were dissapointing - large trees, certainly, but lawn underneath, and not even any gardens to investigate. I did find a few halophytes in low, damp, presumably salty area of reclaimed land next to the sports ovals and tennis courts, though. Not immeadiately adjacent to the estuary, but probably very close to the water table.

Suaeda australis is an Amaranth native to Australia, growing to about 90cm tall, wth succulent green or pinkish-red foliage.It grows in coastal, estuarine, and salt marsh areas in all Australian States, where it grows in irrigated areas it's a good indicator of salinity problems.

Mascot, Sydney, New South Wales

[emptyhead00]

I had a ton of favorite albums/EPs and honorable mentions this year, more than I've ever had in a single year. I've just listed them alphabetically because I can't possibly put them in order of preference.

Attic Ocean - the heavy blue and then after [Les Yeux Fermés, Fall]

Bleach Lab - Lost in a Rush of Emptiness [Nothing Left to Lose, Everything at Once]

Esben and the Witch - Hold Sacred [The Well, Petals of Ash]

Ewiniar - Another World [Cyanide, Sister Moon]

Fragile Animals - Slow Motion Burial [December, Glass]

Frankie Rose - Love as Projection [Saltwater Girl, Come Back]

Glazyhaze - Just Fade Away [The Other Side, Saltless]

Maraschino - Hollywood Piano [Illusions, Venus' Kiss]

Paramore - This Is Why [Thick Skull, This Is Why]

Pia Fraus - Evening Colours [Cloud Winterland, Who's the Envelope-Man?]

Pony - Velveteen [Sick, French Class]

Sea Lemon - Stop at Nothing [Cellar, Breakdown]

seablite - Lemon Lights [Melancholy Molly, Monochrome Rainbow]

Soft Science - Lines [Sadness, Kerosene]

Softcult - See You in the Dark [Drain, Someone2Me]

Taleen Kali - Flower of Life [Tomorrow Girl, Only Lovers Left Alive]

Some comments:

Bleach Lab, Fragile Animals, Glazyhaze, Maraschino, and Taleen Kali are all debut albums, and Attic Ocean is a debut EP.

I listened to Esben and the Witch a lot while playing Tears of the Kingdom, especially while running around in the depths. Coincidentally, there's a song on the album called The Depths.

Ewiniar and Fragile Animals came out less than two weeks ago, so I haven't had as much time with them as a lot of the other releases on this list. They're why I didn't make this list sooner. I wasn't expecting either of them until early 2024.

The Other Side by Glazyhaze and Sick by Pony are two of my top favorite songs of the year. I've binged both of them a lot.

I didn't know Maraschino released a video for Illusions a few weeks ago until I went to grab a link for this list. It's my favorite song on the album.

Maraschino is the solo project of the vocalist of Puro Instinct. The album feels like a fairly natural progression from Puro Instinct's second album.

Evening Colours by Pia Fraus is such a solid album. I had trouble picking a couple favorite songs because all the songs are great. This album is definitely in the upper half of my favorites.

Velveteen by Pony is the other main album I was listening to a lot while playing Tears of the Kingdom. It was more my surface album while Hold Sacred was my depths album.

Velveteen is also in the upper half of my favorites. Seriously, this album is super catchy and addictive.

Melancholy Molly by seablite has an actual video, but it's very flashy, so I didn't link it as part of the main list. If you want to watch the video: Melancholy Molly. Beware of the strobing.

There's a lot of dreampop and shoegaze in my list because earlier in the year I started listening to a dreampop/shoegaze online radio station called DKFM. Before then, I struggled to find new(er) shoegaze and dreampop despite it being one of my favorite areas of music.

Now on to my honorable mentions:

Acid Wave - heart2heart

Atrium Carceri - Forgotten Gods

Bodywash - I Held the Shape While I Could

Dream Wife - Social Lubrication

Duga-1 - Abyss

Eloise Chamber - Departure

The First Eloi - Low Glow

GEL - Only Constant

Ghost and Tape - Freeform

Glixen - She Only Said

Gorillaz - Cracker Island

Hazel Mills - The Embrace

Helios - Espera

Isadora Eden - forget what makes it glow

Johnny the Boy - You

KEN mode - VOID

Sanguine Glacialis - Maladaptive Daydreaming

Screaming Females - Desire Pathway

She's Green - Wisteria

Skrika - Vyeltyra Vortex

Soulmass - Let Us Pray

Speedy Ortiz - Rabbit Rabbit

Tim Hecker - No Highs

Yaeji - With a Hammer

I hope I haven't forgotten anything. Even though I keep a list throughout the year, while writing out this post, I noticed that Atrium Carceri was somehow completely missing from my list.

[thehappywun]

Seablite from the Knockout from last week. Sound was a bit muffled but the group played a heady mix of tracks from both of their albums.

[albumswhatilistenedto]

[yellowsnow77]

Seablite - Lemon Lights

Con todas las bandas de shoegaze y noise pop que salen a lo largo del año, es casi imposible acordarse de las que sacaron su debut hace cuatro temporadas. Algo que me ha pasado con Seablite, un grupo de San Francisco que me encandiló con su primer trabajo en el verano de 2019. Pero claro, si no le das continuación a tu propuesta, al final terminas en el olvido. Afortunadamente, han sacado tiempo…

[valaquenta]

seablite - Hit the Wall

[punkrockmixtapes]

Listen/purchase: Skeleton Couch by seablite

[shoegazekid]

@seabliteband #shoegaze

[chlorophyll-and-chitin]

Suaeda australis

11-JUN-2025

Melbourne, Vic

[daggerzine]

Neutrals- New Town Dream (Slumberland)

I first heard this band on 2019’s Kebab Disco EP and was psyched when I heard that Slumberland was releasing the new LP. Well here ’tis and it sounds fine. Very fine.

I know the band hails from Oakland, CA, but the vocalist (and guitarist), Allan McNaughton, has a thick Scottish accent, which honestly….I couldn’t tell if it was fake or not (think Mick Trouble), but I think the dude actually is Scottish. He and bassist Lauren Mastui (also in the fab Seablite) and drummer Phillip Lantz create a nifty little sound here for three folks with cheap gear.

Most of the songs are quick n’ sharp, not wasting any time in letting the jangly guitar split it with the bass and the obedient drummer. Cuts like “Wish You Were Here,” “Stop the Bypass,” and “Travels Agent’s Windows” all feature McNaughton’s stinging guitar work while the rhythm section is perky as heck.

The band will throw you a curve ball here and there like on the synth pop of “How Did I Get Here” or the weirdo title track opener. Personally, I like it best when the bands stick to their oddball bangers and mash indie pop, though I do like their oddball curios as well. Speaking of killer indie pop, do not miss the great “Last Orders” and “Steven Proctor, Bus Conductor” (which is an homage to the Television Personalities if ever I heard one!).

These folks rolled up their sleeves, worked hard, and are darn proud to present to you New Town Dream.  Please do listen.

www.neutrals.bandcamp.com

www.slumberlandrecs.bandcamp.com

[magikmarkers]

We’re coming for you

July 19 Oakland

Stork Club with Famous

Mammals and Loose

July 20 Sacramento

V Street House with with Neutrals, Seablite, and Collate

July 22 Santa Cruz

Sub Rosa with Rip Florence and Leshy

July 24 Ojai

at Signal with Rob Magill

July 25 LA

Zebulon with Carlos Giffoni, and Useless Limbs

Julv 28 San Francisco

at Edinburgh Castle With Zebra Secrets

🦜