Heat-Ray

What separates Heat-Ray from other second generation shoegazers like A Place to Bury Strangers or the Warlocks is that the Calgary five-piece had full access to Canada's endowed underground scene, which included pedal pushers and noisemakers such as Eric's Trip, Mystery Machine and SIANspheric. Featuring members of Hot Little Rocket, the Floor and Lotus Galaxy, Heat-Ray have recreated the spirit of a time when racks of pedals were more accessible than computer plug-ins. In fact, Heat-Ray cover so much ground — from Dinosaur Jr.'s dynamic rhythms to Swervedriver's intertwining melodies to Guided By Voices' song structures — that Love All Over comes off a bit too cut and pasted to be considered an essential part of shoegaze's new breed. Basically, if somebody did something cool on a guitar between the years of 1990 and 1999, Heat-Ray took note and transcribed it to Love All Over. The day Heat-Ray trade in their Cliff Notes for original scripts will be a great one.