Katie Lass: "Luster" video

Detroit art-rock artist Katie Lass has unveiled a video for Luster, a track from debut album, Hypnopomp: "She goes all out with sounds and textures, throwing out all of the usual "proper" recording tricks and familiar construction bricks of a song out of the window. Combining elements of dream pop, shoegaze, noise and rock she has constructed a truly unique collection of songs. Imagine Syd Barrett attending a party thrown by the cast of Alice in Wonderland, with the members Soft Machine and Can pretty near the top of the guest list. (...) Carefully sidestepping the pitfalls marked "self-indulgence" and "art-for-art's sake", Lass has made an album that both challenges and invites the listener to go in at the deep end and explore an alternate universe, wherein a sound can have a colour, and a colour can emanate a sound".

» Katie Lass on Instagram

HCTF review of Hypnopomp.

HCTF's best of 2022 (5-1)

• 20-16
• |
• 15-11
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• 10-6
• |
• 5-1

» Best of playlist

» Listen here

HCTF's annual list of the 20 albums that will be in regular rotation for many years to come. As per usual many genres are represented. Here Comes The Flood covers a lot of ground and it shows in this eclectic, final tally.

Today: final countdown from number 5 to 1.

Please shop at your local record store. The folks who work there know their stuff. And most of the stores have a pretty good website where you can order your stuff. It might even be cheaper than the big ones on the 'net.

Buy directly from the artist, attend live shows and stop by the merch table. And be sure to tell your friends about that great new act you discovered. Word-of-mouth can't be beat as the prime source to discover new music.

Katie Lass: Hypnopomp

Detroit art-rock artist Katie Lass goes all out with sounds and textures on her debut album Hypnopomp, throwing out all of the usual "proper" recording tricks and familiar construction bricks of a song out of the window. Combining elements of dream pop, shoegaze, noise and psych rock she has constructed a truly unique collection of songs. Imagine Syd Barrett attending a party thrown by the cast of Alice in Wonderland, with the members Soft Machine and Can pretty near the top of the guest list.

Twinkling keyboards are teaming up with Pixies-alike atonal surf guitar. There is a lot of echo and reverb, and bleeding of the tracks is welcomed an not corrected by Warren Defever of Third Man Mastering who rose to the challenge to keep all the weirdness intact. Carefully sidestepping the pitfalls marked "self-indulgence" and "art-for-art's sake", Lass has made an album that both challenges and invites the listener to go in at the deep end and explore an alternate universe, wherein a sound can have a colour, and a colour can emanate a sound.

Katie Lass: "Shadow on the Shoreline" video

Detroit art-rock artist Katie Lass has unveiled a video for Shadow on the Shoreline, a track from her forthcoming debut album, Hypnopomp: "Her wavering guitar tone will strike a chord with fans of shoegaze and dream-pop, using plenty of reverb and echo, and clashing chords. She is a sonic explorer, relying on her intuition and letting the music guide her, weaving a tapestry for her soft-spoken vocals". The video was made by Oceans of Phantasy.

Katie Lass: Shadow on the Shoreline

Detroit art-rock artist Katie Lass has released Shadow on the Shoreline, another single from her forthcoming debut album, Hypnopomp. Her wavering guitar tone will strike a chord with fans of shoegaze and dream-pop, using plenty of reverb and echo, and clashing chords. She is a sonic explorer, relying on her intuition and letting the music guide her, weaving a tapestry for her soft-spoken vocals.

Happy accidents are welcomed with open arms. Lass doesn't give a fuck about rules or pleasing the listener, which is very rare indeed. A cult legend in the making, whose influence will be far greater than her sales figures.

Katie Lass: Sunshine1 (headspunstar)

Detroit art-rock artist Katie Lass breaks all the rules of "proper recording" on her new single, Sunshine1 (headspunstar), a neo-psych rollercoaster ride in slow motion, with an unrelenting back beat and swirling background vocals, drenched in reverb and echo. It is a journey into a musical innerworld where she is playing the role of Alice in Wonderland, partaking in a disuccion with Syd Barrett and Kim Deal about holes in the fabrics of time and space. The track is a first taste from her debut album, Hypnopomp, which was mastered by Warren Defever of Third Man Mastering, so all the weirdness was carefully preserved.