New Year, new album of shoegaze goodness from Aire Espacial

Also, Debi Ruud collaborates on a song inspired by California's wildfires and hardcore band Harsh Reality gets an anthology.

Aire Espacial stands in the legacy of Fresno in the early 2000s, when Sleepover Disaster was bringing it loud and playing all-age DIY shows with the likes of Starflyer 59 (I use the example because it was a show I was at and remember).

To be filed under: Spanish-language post-rock; shoegaze (which seems like such an obvious thing to come out of the Central Valley).

The band released its third album “City in Friction,” on New Year’s Eve. Let it be the go to for anyone questioning the state of shoegaze in Fresno in 2021.

The bulk of the seven songs were recorded over a two-day session in 2017 by Josiah Mazzaschi, who is known for his work with The Jesus and Mary Chain (among others) and for playing in the band Light FM (a familiar name on Fresno show fliers in the late 2000s). Recording was finished in Fresno in early 2019 with the help of Eric Peters, who understands the genre from his days playing with the Sleepover Disaster.

The album was mastered by Simon Scott, who also has an ear for the genre, as the drummer of the shoegaze legends Slowdive.

This is Aire Espacial’s first bilingual release and the first with vocalist Lorena Reyes doing backups for guitarist Carlos Valencia (and also a great duet on the song “Neon”).

“Love is in the Ashes,” Debi Ruud and Ward

Debi Ruud released a new song (and an accompanying video) just after Christmas. The song was written and recorded remotely, in collaboration with Los Angeles musician (and Ruud’s brother) Christopher Ward.

“In September, when the California fires happened, we both were displaced from our homes. I took my family to an AirBNB in Tuscon to find fresh air,” Ward says.

“We had been talking about collaborating and we decided that this would be an appropriate theme,” he says.

“Debi had a poem and some ideas for lyrics, and I put together a general song idea.”

And the song works on Ruud’s lyrics (a rumination on the hope that can be found in devastation) and voice (especially so, when set with Ward’s vocal harmony).

Ruud is the longtime singer and vocal teacher who runs Fresno Music Academy and Arts. Her brother writes and performs with the LA band Ward. Check out the video for “Bring Me Low” to get a sense of what they do.

Face the Harsh Reality

Harsh Reality came out of the same ’80 hardcore scene that produced Capitol Punishment (not to be confused with Ben Stiller’s high school band Capital Punishment), Toxic Shock and Nazi Bitch and The Jews.

The latter, (sometimes known simply as NBJ) just got a Europen re-release of its 1983 12-inch “Dead Porker.”

Harsh Reality is getting a 34-track studio anthology, which collects versions of songs from four recording sessions in 1984-85 and one from the band’s 2009 reunion. Included is a previously unreleased rehearsal recording from 1985.

This is ’80s hardcore at its peak. Fast, loose and dirty, with song titles like “Ronald Reagan,” “I’ve Got a Bomb (Next World War)” and “Here Come the Cops.”

The album follows the band through major lineup changes, which likely justifies multiple versions of the same songs. Still, this release is probably best for the archives, or for those who can remember (or have totally forgotten) being there first place.

“Face the Harsh Reality” will be out Jan. 8, though it looks like you can get it now on Bandcamp.

If you have anything you think I need to be looking at or listening to, feel free to let me know: jtehee@gmail.com