Vehicle Blues vs. Shivering Window (Juniper Tree Sounds)http://junipertreesongs.bandcamp.com/album/jts002-vehicle-blues-vs-shivering-window
http://junipertreesongs.bandcamp.com/
Yes, this is a split. Vehicle Blues has three songs on Side A and Shivering Window has four songs on Side B. While I fully realize that 3 + 4 = 7 and I vowed to make all SBSR no more than 6 songs, umm… I don’t care. I make the rules so I can break them and besides, it’s not like all seven songs are from the same band, okay? I also feel like if I’m going to alter the rules as I see fit, it should be done on a Cassette Review, yeah?
<1> “OD Plus” – And we begin with the Vehicle Blues. Why do I feel like I keep seeing this name on Band Camp? Perhaps I need to look into that. This is pretty dreamy so far. Kind of twangy, kind of distorted rock n roll with female vocals. This is definitely rocking, though not in the way that makes you want to punch the guy next to you. I wish I knew some bands to compare Vehicle Blues with, mainly because I like what I hear of them so far so I wish I was listening to more bands that sounded like this. I could put this under the shoegaze tag, but I mean, does Panda Riot sound like this? No. Cassettes on Tape or )Videotape(? Eh, kinda, but no. I also really wish that there was something more mainstream that I could compare this with, but alas, music history has not been kind to the ladies.
<2> “Total Vic” – Such a nice guitar riff. Oh, and now a guy is singing. I hope it wasn’t a guy singing the first song really high. Maybe I’m going to need to do some homework on this band… No, I think I hear female vocals in here too now. Can I compare this with Save Ends? Kind of sort of yeah? I just don’t know too many bands that have this sort of pure dream pop sound like this. It’s just bliss for my ears. I defy anyone to put this song on and say they don’t like it. You don’t have to fall in love with it and marry it, but there is something about it that is oh so hard to resist.
<3> “Sprayed Our Names At Every Station” – Whoa, that guitar just woke me up. It’s not quite Nada Surf sounding, but it’s something along those lines. But the vocals are male again and they also sound like they’re off in the distance. I would definitely call this song shoegaze and even go so far as to say that it sounds like some other shoegaze bands that I listen to, but alas, I’m too involved in this song right now to care about such comparisons. This also has a slight hint of The Replacements coming out and I like that. And as this song ends, I must say goodbye for now to Vehicle Blues and Side A. I will be back with Vehicle Blues shortly though, because they do have new music on Band Camp under the shoegaze tag. Huzzah!
<4> “Little Skulls” – And now we begin Shivering Window. Shiver Me Whiskers. Shiver Me Widow. You know, something like that. I wonder if anyone has ever wrote this band name wrong and put Shivering Widows. I bet they get that a lot. Probably because widows seem like they’d shiver more than windows. Okay, time to start the music. I’m just sitting here typing whatever because I know you’ll read it. Here comes a somewhat scary bass line. And now this really reminds me of The Illegal Wiretaps for some reason. And it’s kicking in to be almost new wave. I haven’t said it yet, but Shivering Window is an excellent band to experience on cassette, as opposed to any other musical format. And apparently those Vehicle Blues releases I saw pop up in the new shoegaze section are actually back from 2010 and 2011. Hmm… Sometimes I wonder about Band Camp and their concept of time. This song still had a pretty haunting guitar riff ala the Misfits or something.
<5> “Old Scratched Youth” – Wow this song is starting with something like The Hives or The Vines. No, it was The Vines who had to get free, right? Yeah. I always get those two bands mixed up because their names are so close. Like “Hole” and “The KurtCobainKillers”. Good night, folks! … Okay, if you’re still with me after that little outburst, how would you feel about me comparing this in some way to Meat Puppets? Because I’ll do it. I’m serious, don’t taunt me. It does have some semblance to them. And once he turns off his amp, we switch gears into a new song.
<6> Ash On You” – This is a pretty little guitar riff. Then we get some more distant/static vocals. When I was younger, I was Catholic and whenever we went to church on Ash Wednesday the priest would always say, “Ash On You!” when he put the ashes on our heads. Okay, only part of that story is true but I don’t want to pull out a Pokemon reference. The way these guitar notes are going, this sounds like it could be on a loop but I don’t think that it is. This song goes from distorted notes to distorted chords—I love it. I know I’ve said it before but I really do feel like I love Shivering Windows because they remind me of the music I aspired to make in my youth but didn’t have the dedication to ever see pan out.
<7> “Inner-Exo” - And here, on the second Juniper Tree cassette, is the title of the first Juniper Tree cassette! There are some clean guitar notes coming out, but behind them is a mass of static you can only truly appreciate on a cassette. I’m pretty sure the song just ended and that was really short. But, I mean, yeah, I’ll take what I can get and I wouldn’t have been above doing something like that if I was making this album, so, you know, more props to you Shivering Window. 
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