All posts by ryan

AV Club Reviews Ever

The Onion’s AV Club has posted a fairly positive review of Love Spirals Downwards’ 1996 album, Ever, to their website:

In the past 10 years, countless shoegazing dream-pop bands have come and gone, leaving behind a large but largely forgotten body of lush, languorous work. If that ethereal little subgenre is dead, Love Spirals Downwards plays “post-shoegazer” music, co-opting the crisply pretty guitar lines and billowy female vocals—and stripping away the layers of cloudiness that typify the work of bands like Slowdive and pre-1995 Lush. Ever , Love Spirals Downwards’ third album, plays through like one long, meandering voice, albeit one that’s sometimes fed through filters or accompanied by acoustic guitars and the occasional electronic noise. Singer Suzanne Perry has one of those high, hypnotic voices that swoop and soar dramatically, and it’s awfully pretty to listen to. It’s just too bad that a substantial portion of Ever is devoted to ambient noodling rather than simple, unpretentious voice-and-guitar tracks like “El Pedregal” and “Lieberflusse.” Still, it’s a nice, airy surprise, recalling many of the best things about a lot of dead-and-gone bands.

—Stephen Thompson, AV Club

Windblown Kiss PR: New Bio & Band Glossy

Lovespirals are gearing up to release our first full length album this Summer on Projekt Records. Are you excited yet? You will be after you read our snappy new bio:

Lovespirals are musician/producer Ryan Lum and singer/songwriter Anji Bee. This duo’s lush, sensual collaborative songwriting embraces numerous styles and sounds, creating a unique blend which defies genre categories altogether.  Beginning their collaboration in 1999 with Jazz Step Drum & Bass dubplates spun in Ryan’s DJ sets, then continuing on with  a series of singles released on compilations for various labels (including Water Music and Metropolis Records), the band has traversed vast musical territory to arrive at their first full-length album for Projekt Records.  Due out June 18, 2002, Windblown Kiss, is focused on beautiful melodies based around Ryan Lum’s dreamy acoustic and electric guitar playing and Anji Bee’s versatile vocal work.  This first full-length album also features special guest musicians Sean Bowey, of Eden, and Doron Orenstein, of Frescoe, on several tracks.  Slow-burning Blues, Bebop Jazz, Flamenco-spiced Folk Rock,  Western-tinged Dream Pop – Lovespirals blend all these influences and more into heady, intoxicating mixture.  Romantic, spiritual, and utterly heartfelt, Windblown Kiss envelopes one in a beautifully soothing dream-drenched world, timeless in quality and essence.

— Projekt Records

Star Vox Best of 2001 List

Staffer Kevin’s Top Ten Picks for 2001

2001: 10 Best From a Year of Blood and Fire
The Chinese curse about interesting times comes to mind when reviewing 2001: so does the line about rough beasts slouching toward Bethlehem. For much of 2001 world events made it difficult to concentrate on silly things like music and entertainment. Still, there were some excellent releases this year, as Gothic and Industrial Music lurched into the 21st century.

10/9 Tie: Lovespirals Ecstatic (Projekt) & Claire Voyant  Time Again (Metropolis) 

As synthpop’s rise led inexoribly to its decline, some Gothic/Industrial artists have started looking toward other avenues of inspiration. On these releases, Lovespirals and Claire Voyant provide tasty Illbient and Trip Hop influenced grooves and give us a harbinger of Goth’s Next BigThing.

(Ed. note: it should be noted that “Time Again” includes a track remixed by Lovespirals.)

Lovespirals On New Compilation CDs

Water Music Records just released 2 various artist compilations with Lovespirals tracks. We’re excited to be included on a comp with one of our favorite producers, LTJ Bukem! You can listen to RealAudio or Windows Media files at their site, as well as make an online purchase, so check it out…

  • Chill Out Lounge Vol. 2: 12 track mixed set of chill electronic grooves, including LTJ Bukem, Baby Mammoth, France & Dom, and more. The Lovespirals tune included is a special edit of our 1999 Jazz-Step song, “Hand in Hand”. Check out the Water Music Chill-Out Lounge v. 2 page for details.
  • Chill Out in the City: 12 track comp of Jazzy Down Tempo featuring Baby Mammoth, ORG Lounge, France & Dom and more. The Lovespirals tune included is the 1999 instrumental, “Beatitude,” featuring Doron Orenstein and Gabriel D. Vine of L.A. Deep House band, Toof!. Check out the Water Music Chill-Out in the City page for details.
Chillout in the City CD

NEW Mp3.com EXCLUSIVE track!

Since everyone seemed to enjoy “Echoes” so much, we put up a second out-take track, this time from the Flux sessions. “Influx” has been holding on at #5 in Ambient Drum ‘n’ Bass the past two weeks, which is really cool. Once again, this track is ONLY available through MP3.com!

Speaking of charting, we’ve put the LSD Live DAM CD on sale this week, in celebration of “Liberflusse (Live Acoustic)” being the #1 Folk track. If you haven’t already picked up a copy, you may want to check that out now.

We really appreciate all the support you’ve shown us, through both the Lovespirals and Love Spirals Downwards pages on MP3.com.

Please take the time to subscribe to our mailing list. Simply email us at: lovespirals@mac.com or go to our email page.

Peace,
Ryan