Moscow Olympics

For fans of: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Yuck, Zaza, The Radio Dept.

Taking their name from an Orange Juice b-side and their influences from New Order and My Bloody Valentine, Filipino four-piece Moscow Olympics are reminiscent of shoegaze past and present yet emerge with a sound which is subtly unique. That sound combines a blanket of distorted, reverb drenched guitars laced with ambient synth cut through by distinctive and well written lead guitar lines. Softly sung and sparsely used female vocals can’t help but add to the former.

My eyes were opened to this band by The Answering Machine’s twitter feed and like the late, great Manchester band, Moscow Olympics formed in 2006. However unlike tam, debút Moscow Olympics album Cut The World (pictured above) is yet to be released in the UK , and without a UK release imminent you’d do well to invest in an import from Amazon, Happy Prince or Fraction Discs. Tracks No Winter, No Autumn and The Farthest City are available on iTunes to convince you. If you do splash out on this gem however you shouldn’t be disappointed, despite being only seven tracks in length Cut The World delivers half an hour of soothing shoegaze, which never dips in quality.

If you’re looking for a couple of tracks to get you started check out the double punch of Second Trace and the aforementioned No Winter, No Autumn (together the album’s highlight). And if you work for a UK label sign these kids up and save all us brits the hassle of getting an import.