Homegrown cottage industry Holodeck Records pulled national focus by being first to host Austin synth breakout Survive, facilitated by owner Adam Jones playing in the group. And yet, the label trucks in other waves of lysergic pulses. Reveling in the louder, heavier side of shoegaze on its debut Elude, Austin trio Grivo takes as much inspiration from Northwest grunge as from British guitar. Melodies float on the sweet-n-dreamy side given the wispy croon of guitarist Timothy Heck, but no matter how much shimmer wafts through “Render” and “Cave,” the return to a satisfying, effects-saturated crunch is never far away. Other gifted shoegazers entice rather than overwhelm, so with that principle in mind, San Antonio native Nicolas Nadeau leads Austin trio Single Lash into debut album Providence. With the leader’s distorted guitar determining rhythmic direction, the curly melodies of “Come True” and “Shredder Orpheus” drift rather than drive, while his droning baritone adds a shot of bitter to the sweet. Meanwhile, disguised as Future Museums, Single Lash drummer Neil Lord, also of Thousand Foot Whale Claw, wastes no time creating the sequel to this spring’s Rosewater Ceremony with Guardian of Solitude. Wielding analog synthesizers, electronic drum patterns, and occasional plangent guitar, Lord hums, buzzes, and whooshes like Tangerine Dream if the Seventies never ended. All three of these Holodeck drops dive deep into the waters of the Seventies, Eighties, and Nineties without ever leaving 2018.
(Grivo/Future Museums) 
(Single Lash) 
This article appears in November 9 • 2018.
