Radiation City :: Cool Nightmare

Radiation City—one of the very best discoveries from ET's years living in Portland, Oregon—quietly released another excellent collection of atmospheric pop gems this past March in the form of an EP, Cool Nightmare. Like a slow gathering of storm clouds on a summer day, songs like "Find It Of Use" and "Eye of Yours" lend a touch of electricity to the air as they build swell, form and dissipate. The songs here rarely ever take on one definitive shape or tone, and instead travel from idea to idea as movements within one ethereal symphony. As the instrumentation varies from fingersnaps to giant crashing drums, plucked strings, blows of brass and swirling keys, it can be hard to put a finger on just what makes this five-piece so compelling, but compelling it consistently is.

Purchase Cool Nightmare from Apes Tapes.

Radiation City - "Find It Of Use" (from Cool Nightmare)
Radiation City - "Eye of Yours" (from Cool Nightmare)

Radiation City singer Lizzy Ellison lent her considerable vocal chops to "Forever," a candle-lit scorching slow dance of a number by fellow PDX group The Tomorrow People. Check it out below, and the rest of the group's music here.

The Tomorrow People - "Forever" (from Rose City Rose)