Shoegaze!

[Levis]

Even if I am the only person who ever posts in here, I want a thread for sneaker appreciation. A space to collate assorted thoughts and discoveries as one goes about exploring these lovely sounds. This includes bands of yore as well as bands of now as they revive the influences of bands of yore.

If you find anything 'gazey, dunk it in here, ok? If you know of any 'gazey bands that possibly no one else on earth has ever heard of (always very likely), dunk them in here too, ok?

[Levis]

Ok, let's jump in.

Medicine are awesome. I don't know why we don't hear more about them when the topic of shoegaze comes up because they are more than worthy upholders of, er, it. They're supposed to be America's answer to My Bloody Valentine but now that I listen to them more intensively, they're really Slowdive's twins. SO GOOD! I love love love love love, WHY DID IT TAKE ME SO LONG TO GET TO THEM? (I expect the last few words to feature frequently, here)

My favourite so far is 'Hello World', but I cannot find it anywhere, so you'll have to make do with this:

Aruca

[blind-fitter]

I imagine "shoe-gaze" means bugger all to most people. You need to define your terms of reference.

Whilst not deriding the practitioners of what you and I understand as "shoe-gaze", (some of whom I rate quite highly, btw), I always found it an abject label. It was coined by the NME to describe a cluster of bands who would otherwise have been termed "indie". Why? They were perceived as introspective, eschewing eye-contact whilst performing, looking downwards instead, faces hidden by their floppy fringes. Why did they do this? Mostly, because they had to really concentrate on putting foot to effects pedal at the right moment.

Any slightly coy indie band utilising distortion pedals (and a smattering of chorus perhaps) risked being perceived as shoe-gazers. It wasn't intended as a compliment at the time; I'm at a loss to understand why it should be now. So, for the sake of clarity; where does indie-jangle end and shoe-gaze begin? Where do "twee", "dream-pop" The Pastels and Spacemen 3 fit in?

Call me unpatriotic, but in the heyday of shoe-gaze, I was too preoccupied with the infinitely superior alt-rock coming from Stateside (stuff on the Blast First, Touch & Go labels) to really bother with it. My Bloody Valentine were manifestly exceptional, but in their wake followed much in the way of unconvincing imitation.

I saw Ride on the main stage at Reading Festival in 1990, and frankly, wondered how the hell they had managed to achieve that status, based on such unappealingly dreary music.

[blind-fitter]

However, not to put a dampener on things, "You Made Me Realise" , by My Bloody Valentine, which rocks like a bastard; one of those records you can remember hearing for the first time, many years after the event. I remember one of the contemporaneous reviews describing "Realise" as a meeting of The Membranes with Peter,Paul and Mary. Who could resist such a recommendation?

But is it shoe-gaze? Cos it sure just sounds like punk rock to me.

[Levis]

Do I have to explain it? I can't put it into words, it's something you just hear and know, you know? The best I can describe it as is a form of music in which vocals and instrumentation are nigh indistinguishable. And then I can throw in some... words: spacey, cloudy, floaty, ambient, drone, reverb, distortion...

I'm with you on the labelling. The term 'shoegaze' is actually a bit demeaning, innit? Kevin Shields and his ilk refuse to class themselves as such because they, quite rightly, think there's a bit more to them than just a fixed downward stare. And, yeah, it started off that way. Music journalists not particularly impressed with these people's lack of interaction with the audience when poor things are trying to get the sounds just right and only staring intently at the pedals at their feet.

But like most labels, it may have been initiated with a sneer, but it wasn't just flung around aimlessly and stuck to whichever bands happened to get in its path. 'Shoegaze', 'The Scene That Celebrates Itself' were stuck to bands that had more in common than just their unusual live performances. I'd make a distinction between shoegaze, dream pop and twee on the basis of how 'flat' each is. Shoegaze is the most flat and so, I guess, the hardest to really 'catch' because there's nothing to latch on to unless you pay attention. That'd be early 90s MBV, Slowdive, Ride, Chapterhouse and more currently The Daysleepers, Tears Run Rings and Airiel. This one's my favourite style. Dream Pop is more legible - Spiritualized, for e.g., lyrics, strings, instruments all sound clear and separate but it's not a simple 3-instrument setup. Twee is easy - it jangles. I'd put early MBV here - Paint a Rainbow, Geek, Strawberry Wine, Ecstasy - currently being revived by The Pains of Being Pure At Heart. It's also a bit childish. It's definitely not shoegaze because it's much too clear and, from what I gather, fairly simple in its instrumental setup.

Then there's ambient and drone which differ because they may or may not have lyrics. Drone is a bit heavier than ambient - the rawer material by the Telescopes, Spacemen 3 etc. Currently represented by The Warlocks and The Horrors. Ambient is lighter, more post-rocky. I can't think of any older examples off the top of my head, but Sigur Ros comes to mind immediately.

That's how I see it, anyway. It might sound like vague nonsense, but I think I'm right.

[blind-fitter]

Do I have to explain it?

Not to me, no. But for the benefit of everyone else, it's probably a "yes".

I think you made a pretty good fist of it, anyway.

[Lissy]

thats a cool song and a cool music vidio. ten points for levis :guitar:

[Levis]

Lissy is awesome

[Lissy]

Thankyou Levis. so are you

[blind-fitter]

I'm also a bit uncertain where shoe-gaze hangs in relation to post-Mary Chain neo-psychedelia.

I always associated Ultra Vivid Scene with what I perceived as "shoe-gaze" style...

"The Mercy Seat" - Ultra Vivid Scene

"Poison" - Ultra Vivid Scene

"Staring At The Sun" - UVS

but now, I'm not so sure.

[Levis]

I only have their debut album. She Screamed is not 'gazey at all, but Crash is rather.

[Levis]

Bethany Curve are a fantastic example of (what I see as) pure shoegaze: Jettison (how well it goes with the video)

Edited September 17, 2009 by Guest

[MindCrime]

Silversun Pickups are an indie shoegaze / dream pop band that are influenced by bands such as Velvet Underground, Smashing Pumpkins, My Bloody Valentine, and Sonic Youth.

Lead singer Brian Aubert describes the band's new album as, "instead of having a straightforward mid-tempo sound, "some songs are very quiet and delicate, [while] others are just f**king loud."

[Ombre Vivante]

Do I have to explain it? I can't put it into words, it's something you just hear and know, you know? The best I can describe it as is a form of music in which vocals and instrumentation are nigh indistinguishable. And then I can throw in some... words: spacey, cloudy, floaty, ambient, drone, reverb, distortion...

You just described New Wave bands such as The Durutti Column and Dif Juz

[Ombre Vivante]

Opal (pre-Mazzy Star)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU7Cb-PUTuo

[Levis]

I do love The Durutti Column. I only have a handful of songs but they are great.

[Ombre Vivante]

Only a handful of songs? The guy has about 30 albums and compilations. Hell, I feel very spare and incomplete at only 8 albums. Get the first album, at the very least

[Levis]

Only a handful, I got them off a Factory Records compilation. They got many <3s from me when I heard them for the first time.

[Levis]

A Sunny Day In Glasgow have just jumped to the top of my last.fm charts (passing My Bloody Valentine) thanks to me listening to them almost non stop this week. Ironically enough, frontman Ben Daniels thinks most of the bands that were around during the shoegaze era (barring the Cocteaus, Magnetic Fields and Stereolab) were 'horrible' and 'boring.' This is all well and good, but (and I'm sure he agrees/has noticed) it is a weird statement to make when your own band makes music so similar to that kinda stuff you know?

Anyhoo, the entirety of Ashes Grammar is stuck in my head in a creepy loop and I don't think I'm listening to ASDIG for a while now. Not that they suck but I can only take that much spooky music at once.

[Levis]

For your listening pleasure - shoegaze done expertly by a couple of russian peeps. I had to upload a video because, shockingly enough, there wasn't one!

Blaster - pinkshinyultrablast

[berjo1429030949]

Now that's a cool tune and probably the fastest one I've heard with the underlying of shoegaze (spacey, drenched reverberated vocals; clashing guitars, etc).

[Levis]

Is good isn't it?

Here's my favourite off M83's Saturdays = Youth, it is bliss.

Skin of the Night

[Levis]

CHAPTERHOUSE!!!

one of the 'seminal' (if you can use that word with any gazers other than MBV/Slowdive) bands of the era. top two are My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive. Then came more under-appreciated (and some would say downright snoozeworthy) Chapterhouse and slightly more liked Ride. We'll get to them eventually, but for now - CHAPTERHOUSE. No shoegaze without lovely, lovely Chapterhouse (who was it at Melody Maker who thought Pearl was terrible?)

She's A Vision

Pearl (Rachel Goswell of Slowdive on backing vox)

[Levis]

I haven't mentioned the Telescopes. I mentioned Chapterhouse first, for shame.

The Telescopes are a band that have been grossly overlooked by shoegazers and noise-rockers alike. They're genius. They started off noisy, rocky, droney and screamy. They've done weird low rumbly crazy instrumental shiz that predates Sunn O))) and thus lacks the pretentiousness. And then they did a complete 180 and slipped into shoegaze by crafting the PERFECT (and I do mean perfect) shoegaze song. The bewitching, sublime, absolutely enchanting Flying (which I have on regular rotation these days)

The more inaccessible stuff is really inaccessible. If you're keen to give it a listen let me know.

Bonus: Never Learn Not To Love You - shoegaze with strings. They thought of it all.

[Farin]

I like Flying