Drowned In Sound: Here's a special DiScover column of new bands who fit beneath the arc of "shoegaze". 93 Million Miles From The Sun As stereotypical visions of people and places go, the good folks of Doncaster aren't exactly at the top of the list when thoughts turn to embracing new, experimental music. Indeed, having spent the occasional stag night in DN1 and its dens of iniquity also known as night clubs, the nearest anyone could expect to come to encountering new music would be the "Indie half hour" in Seventh Heaven, where Oasis, The Enemy and Ocean Colour Scene are the so-called alternative. Thank heavens for small mercies then, as 93 Million Miles From The Sun not only manage to dampen stereotypes, but their self-produced, self-titled debut long player could (whisper it) just be one of 2009's most exquisite offerings on the album front. Combining layered, textured guitars over an array of effects and choral vocals, 93 Million Miles From The Sun is one of those records that, while evoking memories of the likes of Slowdive in their heyday or even a more sonically enhanced Maps, stands tall and proud in its own right due to the dazzling range of variation across its thirteen tracks. Another key element of 93 Million Miles From The Sun's extensive make-up is that not only do they express a desire to take their sonic experimentation one step further, but they also never lose sight of the fact that beneath all the reverb and delay lay actual songs that would sound just as affecting stripped down. 93 Million Miles From The Sun are:- Nick Mainline (guitars/effects/vocals), Rob Hogg (bass/effects) and Jack Straker (drums/effects). The album 93 Million Miles From The Sun is available direct from Parallax Sounds.

REVIEWS:
It’s not rare to find myself wondering what makes musicians choose a band name -a name that can sometimes make or break their career. Perhaps there is a higher meaning behind it? Or simply it’s something catchy and easy to remember? Difficult to say… All I know is that, no matter how long, funny, or weird a band name is, if the music sounds good in our ears we tend to love it anyway. Equally difficult is trying to understand how 93millionmilesfromthesun came up with this awkward name! Ok, the distance between Earth and the Sun is indeed 93 million miles but living in the moody surroundings of the industrial Midlands had something to do with this too -after all, this is a place where you can easily realize that the Sun is indeed far far away from the Earth! But all these are small words when the music starts. And 93MMFTS’ first full album takes us to an ecstatic journey outside reality! Entering their official website, makes it clear that 93MMFTS’ music is well within the realms of shoegaze and dreampop -where vocals are “hidden” behind waves upon waves of distorted soundscapes. And 93MMFTS do not break this (successful) formula. Nevertheless, they manage to generate enough heat to melt the polar ice, and transform the barren landscapes of Everest into green heavens! Album opener ‘’Step Into The High’’ is a psychedelic frenzy opus that - as the title implies - lifts you from the very first second, while at the same time bringing back memories from the best days of Spacemen 3 and Loop. In the 12 minutes long epic ‘’The Times We Have now’’ you find yourself transported to their music galaxy through seas of swirling layers and fairily vocals.This astral journey continues with the gorgeous “Yesterday Morning” where 93MMFTS remind us the art of Ride on building their compositions equally around melody and tones of distortion and tremolo effects, while the pounding drums and underwater guitars on ‘’Forever Soon’’ celebrate the landing to the heart of the solar system. You can write much more about the 73 minutes this majestic trip lasts. So far Shoegaze music was all about looking at the sky or gazing at the stars tremble. On the contrary, with their debut album 93MMFTS, exhort us to spread our wings and soar towards the Sun without the danger of falling down like Icarus... 8,5/10 (Taken from http://albatross2.wordpress.com/)

MARK WHITBY (Dandelion Radio) Session Review:
There was a time when the word ‘shoegazing’ possessed little scope for being anything other ...than a derogatory term. This was almost certainly unfair, one of myriad examples of something preposterously classed as a ‘scene’ or, even a ‘movement’ when clearly it was nothing of the sort. From this point I could write something about lazy music journalism but I’m not going to. I’d rather write about how a term once deemed so pejorative has been majestically reclaimed, and about 93MillionMilesFromTheSun, very possibly the finest of the many bands unashamedly to label themselves as such, and even more specifically the amazing session they’ve done for my Dandelion Radio show.

In fact I’ll spend most of my time doing that, stopping only to note that, this year, Serena-Maneesh have made one of the albums of the year and followed this up with a fine 7” single with Fucked Up that I also feature in my October show. 93MillionMilesFromTheSun have already contributed much to the revitalisation of the shoegazer, their self-titled album last year on Parallax Sounds followed this year by a free five-track EP on the same label. So there was little doubt about their brilliance. But when the tracks for the session arrived, seven of them, clad in a sleeve with a picture of John Peel on one side, they ratcheted their status up several more notches.

I’m featuring five of the tracks in the show. It’s a session that coasts, glides, builds; while the tracks vary in length, you always feel they could go on longer, perhaps in a continuous loop forever. It’s a seductive process with, if you’ll allow, the final two tracks an explosive multiple orgasm to bring things to an epic close: ‘Waiting There’, a version of a track from that free EP, is one of the most spectacular things I’ve heard all year, followed closely by the eight minute plus ‘Sonic Assault’.

I always knew this band was good, but the session has raised them to one of the most powerful musical entities on the planet. This is a band that can alter your perceptions of what can still be done with such well-used musical tools, of how ignoring labels and simply doing what you do can still be the most productive of all musical pathways. I suppose one of the problems with the ‘shoegazing’ moniker at that time is that bands so labelled were essentially using building blocks provided by the Cocteau Twins, Jesus and Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine. Too add anything interesting to that substantial legacy proved beyond most of them, and inevitably – however good they were – they were viewed as pale imitations of something more substantial.. Perhaps now sufficient time has elapsed for a new generation to emerge, and on this evidence at their head will be 93MillionMilesFromTheSun.

You can hear more from the band at http://www.myspace.com/93millionmilesfromthesun and buy them at http://www.parallaxsounds.com/ one of the finest and most productive labels of the year.