Agent: Mahmood Shaikh
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“a soundtrack of tropicaliá, motorik, and library music” — pitchfork
“one of the more true inheritors of the mantle of stereolab to emerge in some time” — aquarium drunkard
“[agitprop alterna is] an album that intends to challenge norms of rock music, while acknowledging those that came before — kexp
“hooky, harmonic rock that seems to glow softly” — exclaim!
“shoegaze and classic velvet underground-style zone-outs and krautrock-indebted art-pop all colliding” — stereogum
“fuzz bliss” — viking’s choice, npr
“an intoxicating wave” — paste
Peel Dream Magazine is the nom-de-plume of Los Angeles songwriter Joseph Stevens. Drawing on kosmische, shoegaze, baroque pop, and retro electronica, the band emerged from New York City’s vibrant DIY scene with its 2018 debut Modern Meta Physic, which Aquarium Drunkard hailed as “one of the more true inheritors of the mantle of Stereolab to emerge in some time”. Eighteen months later, the band released their more aggressive sophomore LP Agitprop Alterna, which proved to be a breakout success. Pitchfork described it as “a term paper on Bertolt Brecht and Karl Marx, written to a soundtrack of Tropicália, motorik, and library music,” and NPR’s Lars Gotrich as “fuzz bliss”. Unable to tour due to quarantine, Stevens quietly relocated his project to the west coast, where he picked up work composing for ads and film. In 2022, Sophie Allison of Soccer Mommy invited the band to open for them on a US tour.
During breaks from the road, Stevens completed a third album – Pad – which was released later that year. Breaking with his previous LPs, Pad is a conceptual work about Stevens fictitiously getting kicked out of his own band (spoiler: they let him back in). Draped in midcentury bleeps and bloops, it contains a brooding, dark psychedelia reminiscent of cultishly beloved late 60s-era Beach Boys, and as Stereogum proclaimed, “portends a softer, more elegant sound.” The album broke further ground for the band, who went on to do a London residency in early 2023 and a European tour shortly thereafter. After returning from Europe, the band made their SXSW debut. Loud and soft, subversive and easy-listening, Peel Dream Magazine blurs the very lines it invites you to define it by. But at its core is a dedication to songcraft above all else – a breath of fresh air, no doubt.
