To match the rainy weather in Detroit on Sunday, we fittingly played new music from the Pacific Northwest band Helen, with some 80s/Post-Punk/Shoegaze vibes. We also featured the grungy pop of Nashville’s The Sewing Club and a brand-new single from The Secret French Postcards. 

Plus, we celebrated the anniversaries of This Mortal Coil’s album, “It’ll End in Tears,” The Cure’s “Charlotte Sometimes,” The Jesus and Mary Chain’s “Just Like Honey,” and Lush’s “Black Spring” EP. 

We also talked about our upcoming spooky Halloween episode on Oct. 25!

Email me any Halloween song ideas at darrenrevell@wdet.org. They don’t have to be obvious Halloween songs. We’re going for mysterious, creepy, cool song ideas, Big Sonic Heaven style. Can’t wait to hear your ideas! Thanks for listening!

Big Sonic Heaven playlist for Oct. 11, 2026

• “Texture” – Catherine Wheel
• “Only So Much Light” – Air Formation
• “Ice Pick (Walk Away)” – Boy Harsher
• “Nothing Natural” – Lush
• “Complicated” – The Sewing Club
• “I’ll Fall With Your Knife” – Peter Murphy
• “In Real Life” – ACTORS
• “Softy” – Lowly
• “Lilies (Flood Mix)” – Cranes
• “Shame” – The Secret French Postcards
• “Typical” – Frazier Chorus
• “The Body, It Bends” – A Sunny Day In Glasgow
• “Starline” – Helen
• “Not Me” – This Mortal Coil
• “The Presence” – Emma Anderson
• “Got You” – Aerial Love Feed
• “Charlotte Sometimes” – The Cure
• “No More Kissing In The Rain” – Trentemøller
• “Morning, June and Yesterday” – The Veldt
• “The Ghost In You” – Siouxsie & The Banshees
• “All in a Life” – Johnny Marr
• “Half A Person” – The Smiths
• “Bind Us” – The Wolfgang Press
• “Summertime” – The Sundays
• “Goodbye Vista” – Deserta
• “Welcome Break” – Mary in the Junkyard
• “Just Like Honey” – The Jesus & Mary Chain
• “Fossilized” – Postcards
• “Into The Light (with Diamanda Galás)” – Delerium
• “All Flowers In Time Bend Towards The Sun” – Jeff Buckley & Elizabeth Fraser
• “We Prayed In the Dark” – Echo & The Bunnymen
• “When The Sun Hits” – Slowdive
• “Until The Dawn” – The Awakening
• “Let it Burn” – Le Blonde
• “Life That Can’t Be Shared” – &Tilly
• “Tower of Strength” – The Mission
• “Awake” – Tycho

Tonight, Big Sonic Heaven featured some great new shoegaze from Encarta 98, out of Bogotá, Colombia. They were handpicked by Robert Smith to open for The Cure and Slowdive in 2023. From New York, we heard the latest single from Aerial Love Feed, described as apocalyptic shoegaze. Plus, new music from Johnny Marr, and lots more. 

We also gave away an advanced copy of the book, “Still in a Dream: Shoegaze, Slackers, and the Reinvention of Rock, 1984-1994,” written by journalist Simon Reynolds, who covered shoegaze while it was exploding! And as always, I mixed in some of your favorite shoegaze, dreampop, and post-punk classics!

Big Sonic Heaven playlist for Oct. 4, 2026

• “Black Sun” – Dead Can Dance
• “Kisses” – Slowdive
• “Can’t Be Sold” – Echo & The Bunnymen
• “Already Yesterday” – The Church
• “Strange Land” – The Tear Garden
• “Paradise” – New Order
• “Like Me” – MØAA
• “That Feeling” – Johnny Marr
• “Terrified” – trentemøller
• “We Raise Our Hearts” – Postiljonen
• “Tomorrow” – Ladytron
• “Glass Castles” – &Tilly
• “Painted Bird” – Siouxsie & The Banshees
• “Blush” – The Secret French Postcards
• “Will it Break” – Silverdeer
• “Closedown” – The Cure
• “Ice Pick (Walk Away)” – Boy Harsher
• “Spanish Heart (feat. Bernard Sumner)” – 808 State
• “A New Goodbye” – Nation of Language
• “Nada va a cambiar” – Encarta 98′
• “Cocoon” – Morphine
• “Happiness Is Easy” – Talk Talk
• “I’ll Be (2026 Remaster)” – Sing-Sing
• “Who Sees You” – My Bloody Valentine
• “Pale Trembles a Gale” – The Autumns
• “The Drift” – deary
• “Blood on the Leaves” – The Wolfgang Press
• “REM (feat. Lili Hall)” – Now Always Fades
• “Deus” – Sugarcubes
• “The Big Shake” – The Mary Onettes
• “We Prayed In the Dark” – Echo & The Bunnymen
• “Someone New” – Aerial Love Feed
• “Thursday” – Asobi Seksu
• “Memories Fade” – Tears For Fears
• “Stare Into Light” – Velour 100

Tonight I featured the new trentemøller single from the upcoming album out this November. I also played a couple of shimmering new singles from Crystal Canyon and Alison’s Halo, as well as a reimagining of a Twin Peaks classic from Tokyo-based POiSON GiRL FRiEND. 

Plus, we heard the very dreamy new single from Kate de Rosset, and much more. We also spun the 60’s girl-group-inspired Sing-Sing, the 90’s group made up of friends Emma Anderson and Lisa O’Neil, who are reissuing their debut album after 25+ years with a new single and artwork designed by Chris Bigg. And, of course, our weekly dose of shoegaze, dream-pop, and post-punk classics!

View the playlist below and listen to the show recording above for up to two weeks after it airs.

Big Sonic Heaven playlist for Aug. 30, 2026

• “All Night Long” – Peter Murphy
• “Brother (feat. Dave Gahan)” – Humanist
• “Terrified” – trentemøller
• “Jerusalem” – Sinéad O’Connor
• “Mrs Connelly” – Crystal Canyon”Twisterella” – Ride
• “NIRVANA” – Glazyhaze
• “Clearest Blue” – &Tilly
• “Lilies” – Cranes
• “Feels Like Summer (2026 Remaster)” – Sing-Sing
• “Secrets” – Silver Swans
• “Chimär (Gbg)” – Kallsup
• “Duel” – Propaganda
• “Night Comes Out” – The Raveonettes”Are You Safe?” – Maquillage”Ornaments of Gold” – Siouxsie & The Banshees
• “Sacred Echoes (Part Two)” – The Church
• “Because I Don’t Know (Lita Lores Version)” – Lita Lores & Tricky
• “Speakers Don’t Speak (Clean Version)” – The Wolfgang Press
• “Screw” – The Cure
• “CTRL” – ACTORS
• “Stuck” – Alison’s Halo
• “Change” – Prepare My Glider
• “Space Song” – Beach House
• “The Light That Surrounds You” – Echo & The Bunnymen
• “Smile” – State Of Grace
• “Ophelia” – Johnny Marr
• “Paint A Vulgar Picture” – The Smiths
• “The Drift” – deary
• “It’s a Fine Day (feat. Ian Masters)” – Stefano Guzzetti
• “Crushed” – Cocteau Twins
• “Burrow” – AtticOmatic
• “Chase the Bloom” – Kate de Rosset
• “Falling” – POiSON GiRL FRiEND
• “Primal” – Slowdive
• “hide-a-lullaby” (Mixtape Version Feat. Peel Dream Magazine) – Winter
• “Of Course I’m Lying – Yello

Tonight we heard the brand-new single from Blonde Redhead and a track from the new Starflyer59 EP. Plus, some dreamy new music from Locust & Olive Kimoto, and more, along with your favorite shoegaze, dreampop, and post-punk classics.

Big Sonic Heaven playlist for Aug. 2, 2026

• “The Garden Ends” – The Autumns
• “Mon Amour Sauvage” – Dead Can Dance
• “Blood Spilled” – Blonde Redhead
• “Crank” – Catherine Wheel
• “I Wanna Disappear” – Starflyer 59
• “The Sweetness Of Honey” – Club 8
• “Eighties Fan” – Camera Obscura
• “Lions & Tigers” – Asobi Seksu
• “Coming Home” – The Haunted Youth
• “From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea” – The Cure
• “The Visitors” – Doublespeak
• “New Dress” – Depeche Mode
• “Recollection” – Keep Shelly In Athens
• “swim” – Night Tapes
• “Unicorn” – Bel Canto
• “White Light” – Locust & Olive Kimoto
• “Jellyfish” – Left at Orion
• “Pearl” – Chapterhouse
• “Sleepsong” – Deary
• “Without you (feat. Soccer Mommy)” – Winter
• “2 Wicky” – Hooverphonic
• “Octopus” – Starrgazy
• “A Return” – The Tear Garden
• “Orange Appled” – Cocteau Twins
• “Aurora” – Attic Ocean
• “Someone’s Calling” – Modern English “Northern Sky (w/ Anne Garner)” – Stefano Guzzetti
• “Mr. Somewhere/Andialu” – This Mortal Coil
• “Gold” – Sigur Rós
• “Ophelia” – Johnny Marr
• “Chained to a cloud” – Slowdive