Made In America - Dead Gaze

North Mississippi native Cole Furlow has been operating as part of the Cats Purring Collective (Dent May, Bass Drum of Death, Flight) and under the name Dead Gaze since around 2009. Over the last few years Furlow has gained a favorable reputation for his heavily-textured, atmospheric indie pop that bleeds the sonic and phonic color spectrum. He has also turned the Dead Gaze moniker into a full band.

Dead Gaze’s self-titled debut, released on May 21st on Fat Cat Records, is actually a compilation record of his best work with a few added new songs that were recorded by the full band. Dirty, echoey vocals, fuzzy psyched out guitars and layered analog synth with influences of early Flaming Lips and The Shins make Dead Gaze fun and easily listenable.

Standouts include fuzzy pop-punk You’ll Carry On Real Nice and the celestial I Found The Ending, watch the video below.

Here's the full album:

Made In America - Low Culture

You don’t often hear the words “New Mexico” and “music scene” spoken in the same sentence. Off of the top of my head I can only name two bands with roots in New Mexico, The Shins and Beirut, both out of Albuquerque. So it was a pleasant surprise to find that garage rockers Low Culture were from the sleepy city of Los Cruses. 

Made up of members of The Marked Men, Total Jock, and Shang-A-Lang, Low Culture formed 2011 and released a split 7” with Dead Broke, Rad Girlfriend, and Drunken Sailor on Dirt Cult Records. 

Their debut LP Screens, released this year on Portland’s Dirtnap Records, is filled with short, gritty, punches to the gut, which is how I like my garage rock. I don’t want to dwell on it, I just want to get in and then get out and then back in again. Like The A’s or The Dickies, Low Culture delivers just this, only with a more even sound while cruising the fringes of punk rock. 

Low Culture is not a game changer by any means but what they do offer are highly-energetic sing along songs that grab you quickly and lack any kind of expiration date. So if you’re looking for a song or two to add to your “cross-country trip mixed tape” then Low Culture just may be the band for you.

Low Culture is currently on a European tour through Switzerland, UK, Belgium, and Holland.

Low Culture - I Feel Your Ghost