by Jason

AC30 #2 has a bit different mix to than #1 and #3 (my previously reviewed discs from this series). This single has a mixture of beautiful dream pop and goth rock in the mix. This is a great contribution to this series of singles.

AC30 #2 touches off with a track from Dutch band Douglas Heart. “Fast Way (Of Making Art) Ex.” begins with shimmering guitars and childlike, female vocals. This quickly changes into a fantastic bass line, straightforward percussion with some sort of backwards percussion track in there somewhere, and fuzzed out guitars. Eventually, things quite down and build again. The quieter moments are filled with acoustic guitar and floatingly gorgeous vocals. This is some beautiful dream pop!

Tex La Homa is an English band with Matt Shaw as its mastermind. Tex La Homa provides a track called “Can’t Explain.” This song starts off very strong and has very complicated percussion with breezy guitar. There are spacey keys in the mix with vocals akin to Richard Butler, Daniel Ash or Nick Marsh. The underlying blend of 80’s goth rock and shoegaze/dream pop influence makes for an interesting and fascinating track. Again, another band that is breathing some fresh feel into the shoegaze scene.

Alaska provides a track called “Drive.” “Drive” has more of that Gothic feel to it than the other songs on this single. It has loud, sorrowful guitars and a pounding rhythm section. Really, the flow of these three tracks is nice. It goes from blessed out dream pop, to a mix with goth rock and then an almost purely goth rock tune. There are loud, dissonant guitar solos mixed in the track that are layered upon one another. The vocals are also very distinct. They are usually, but not always, fuzzed out. The song builds and builds until you get lost in a landscape of utter chaotic noise. For me, not a track really in my taste, but it is a great track musically and it creates a great emotive feel.

Again, this is another great introduction to 3 great and innovative bands. Highly recommended!