The Bilinda Butchers: Goodbyes (DiscsAu/Fastcut, 2012)

I'd avoided this San Francisco band due solely to their silly name. How could such a blatant tribute to My Bloody Valentine, mopping the name of the band's singer/guitarist, be worthwhile? But gotdang if their Goodbyes EP doesn't honor the memory of Loveless and then some. On the most stunning track, "Crystal Tears," The Butchers stutter their Wall of Shoegaze as if they were were pushing pause to the beat. Within the crevices, you can grasp a jaunty, banjo-like figure and eventually, a structure - verse-chorus-verse, breaks, an unwillingness to rush back into the verse which only reinforces the heft of the chorus, etc. It's a sound captured remarkably by the cover - a frightened gal drowning in a vat of Campbell's Cream of Daisies.

I'm still exploring their oeuvre including a recently released debut LP. But I come to gush not to conquer. Bandcamp: http://thebilindabutchers.bandcamp.com/