Shoegaze

SilverScreen

Did a search for threads on shoegaze but none existed, so now one does. Over the past few years it's become very much one of my favourite musical styles and best of all as you look deeper into it you just discover more and more great bands.

My Bloody Valentine are the obvious ones of course, you all know them. Just had to get them out of the way first.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiomcuNlVjk

The best in my opinion however are Slowdive who are just f**king amazing. Just check out their second album Souvlaki.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J2O6SAOmxw

Ride were another one of the more popular originals, their debut album Nowhere is amazing. Guitarist Andy Bell is now wasting his talent in Beady Eye.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygGw_zo_W8A

Pale Saints were an amazing band as well, especially on their first two albums The Comforts of Madness and In Ribbons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L4s00Fa2Hg

seachto7

Anything by Swervedriver........

Sacksian

You might like some more recent shoegaze-y, dreampop stuff too...I felt the Depreciation Guild (split up last year) were really trying to do something interesting with a similar sonic palette, by incorporating chiptune elements into the mix. There are loads of videos on youtube, these two are probably their best-known:

The Depreciation Guild - Blue Lily
(you might have to skip a crappy ad at the start)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_9D57Ao5XQ

The Depreciation Guild - Dream About Me

SilverScreen

Yeah The Depreciation Guild were a pretty good band. Both their albums were really good, In Her Gentle Jaws was slightly more experimental with elements of chiptune while Spirit Youth had melodic pop-hooks to die for. It's a shame they split because I would have loved a third album but I think Kurt Feldman wanted to concentrate on his role in The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart.

With modern shoegaze bands you can't really go wrong with these:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8paDhfGQH4E

Probably the best shoegaze/dream-pop band of the past 10 years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxyYPlv4RVs

A bit of a rip-off of MBV and JAMC I know, but their debut album Colour Trip is just so good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whszf4xTtLM

One of the most amazing songs you will ever hear from one of the most underrated bands of the past 10 years. Amazing stuff.

mosstin

Zero1986 wrote: »

Did a search for threads on shoegaze but none existed, so now one does. Over the past few years it's become very much one of my favourite musical styles and best of all as you look deeper into it you just discover more and more great bands.

My Bloody Valentine are the obvious ones of course, you all know them. Just had to get them out of the way first.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiomcuNlVjk

The best in my opinion however are Slowdive who are just f**king amazing. Just check out their second album Souvlaki.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J2O6SAOmxw

Ride were another one of the more popular originals, their debut album Nowhere is amazing. Guitarist Andy Bell is now wasting his talent in Beady Eye.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygGw_zo_W8A

Pale Saints were an amazing band as well, especially on their first two albums The Comforts of Madness and In Ribbons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L4s00Fa2Hg

Highest recommendation I can make re shoegazing - terrible name for a scene but a step up from the NME's 'Scene That Celebrates Itself' moniker - is Moose. They were lumped in with all of these bands - Chapterhouse, Lush, Slowdive etc but somehow grew out of it and made some beautiful albums long after the scene imploded especially 'XYZ' and 'Honey Bee'.

take everything

Just listening to Undertow by Warpaint there.
Bloody good.
Kinda contemporary dreampop.

SilverScreen

mosstin wrote: »

Highest recommendation I can make re shoegazing - terrible name for a scene but a step up from the NME's 'Scene That Celebrates Itself' moniker - is Moose. They were lumped in with all of these bands - Chapterhouse, Lush, Slowdive etc but somehow grew out of it and made some beautiful albums long after the scene imploded especially 'XYZ' and 'Honey Bee'.

Been meaning to get into Moose actually, I kind of put them on the back-burner, but I will check out those albums soon enough. Yeah the UK scene kind of imploded before the mid-90's but quite a few US shoegaze bands started to pop up then, namely Swirlies and Lilys who are both really amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4E9TS-98Lg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VBWCFJwmPk

This last song is a reminder of why shoegaze is so amazing.

Steff

I have to give a shoutout to Alcest. One of my favourite bands, and this song in particular just blew me away first time I heard it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm7S6eGDPvY

Frank Black

Weren’t 'Curve' lumped in with this too? Never really thought they were that 'shoe-gazy' at the time. I remember the first Boo Radley album was very shoe-gazy.
Loved Ride's debut album and some of the Slowdive stuff and obviously My Bloody Valentine were amazing.
But at the same time I was relieved when Grunge blew it away.

Scubadevils

I need to spend more time digging into shoegaze, most of what I've heard I love but its very little really in terms of albums I own etc.

There have been a few electronica acts over the years that have dipped into shoegaze, Seefeel I would imagine being one of the first really with their 'Quique' album on Warp in 1993 - a lot more ambient and experimental stuff on it but a quality album from start to finish, well worth getting the 'Redux' reissue from 2007 which has a 2nd disc of bonus material...

Seefeel - Filter Dub

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2GWnEc4FEI

http://www.discogs.com/Seefeel-Quique/master/21177

indiewindy

What about galaxie 500

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn6db8RuV1I

SilverScreen

I love Galaxie 500 but I could never really understand why everyone lumps them in with shoegaze, they didn't really have much to do with it. I just see them as a great indie-rock band similar to Yo La Tengo.

rustyregan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQWFNSSD_hU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj_a8LqYfP8

Maybe it's more "dream pop" but how and ever:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWNjvC0kiZc

Uploaded the Damon & Naomi just now. Also, tried to upload some On! Air! Library! ("For No One") but no joy due to licencing issues or something.

Android 666

This was an absolute belter by The Boo Radleys:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3syHCPMJucM

Probably the last real shoegazery song Ride did. The rest of their second album was an awkward mix that didn't really gel. The guitars are beautiful on this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcyfPXF770U

Lush have some lovely songs in their time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-4Qj_5LidE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_F0wHzqZ2ws

And what was being created in Ireland at the time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NwgJ-PEYK8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptcnnNIQwpk

cinnamon girl

Zero1986 wrote: »

Yeah the UK scene kind of imploded before the mid-90's but quite a few US shoegaze bands started to pop up then, namely Swirlies and Lilys who are both really amazing.

Lilys began in the early '90s, I saw them a few times when I was living in DC in '91-'92. Great band. Velocity Girl were another DC band who were very good and shoegazey to start with, although they went a lot more mainstream after changing their singer.

nlgbbbblth

Re - Ride.

I loved Ride from the start (Buttery and McGonagles killer gigs), reckoned that Nowhere was a enduring LP of the shoegaze era and was thrilled to discover the slight change of direction on Going Blank Again. Carnival of Light was a revelation though. I bought it during the World Cup in 1994 and took a few days break from my summer job to head west for a short trip. Best laid plans meant that I forgot to bring a bunch of tapes with me aside from a taped from LP copy of Carnival of Light that was stuck in the Walkman. So with no other music for a week I got stuck in. It's a pleasant jangly 60s trip that wears a bunch of influences firmly in its grooves. Not much else released in 1994 sounded like this and from Carnival of Light I decided to check out The Creation...

mosstin

indiewindy wrote: »

What about galaxie 500

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn6db8RuV1I

Galaxie 500 had nothing to do with what was termed shoegaze.

iomega

Curve - Super Blaster http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh25cWav6Xs

The Cranes - Tomorrow's tears http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q77v7AyHVKI

Lush - DeLuxe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCvhc2gRBM4

One of the best "shoegaze" track IMHO

iomega

A modern-ish one. Not even shoegaze, but it has that dreamy vocal style. I love it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SDPG_LOM0w

SilverScreen

A shoegaze band with a flute player anyone? Blind Mr. Jones were jokingly dubbed the "Jethro Tull of shoegaze" by the media in the early 90's, but they have some solid guitars to back it up. Their 1992 album Stereo Musicale is a must have.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlPAxowzYTQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP2JMUzpYHk

DeadMoney

All this shoegaze reminds me so much of this movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Lp5v4oQZRw

rustyregan

DeadMoney wrote: »

All this shoegaze reminds me so much of this movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Lp5v4oQZRw

Article about that here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/aug/06/gregg-araki-kaboom-shoegazing. I've never actually seen any of his movies. Worth checking out..?

Frank Black

Always thought that the 'shoegaze' tag very quickly became a stick to beat the scene with. Was it NME that invented the term?

rustyregan

black francis wrote: »

Always thought that the 'shoegaze' tag very quickly became a stick to beat the scene with. Was it NME that invented the term?

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think it was shoegazing back in the early 90s and the name changed to shoegaze with the second wave. This could well be imagination/faulty memory on my part.

Has anyone mentioned Amusement Parks On Fire? Very good album from 2005. Probably edges towards the more punk/Swervedriver end of things.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdwHxjw-8BY

This is pretty cool too, a kinda garagey take on it. Wasn't entirely convinced by the album this is off, but sweet tune:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT_uwSI01Hc

cinnamon girl

black francis wrote: »

Was it NME that invented the term?

There are a few stories about this, but the one that seems to have the most traction is that it was invented by Andy Ross of Food Records after attending a Moose gig which the singer spent looking at lyrics taped to the floor.

Re: shoegazing, shoegaze, etc, I can't remember exactly when which was used but I do have a clear memory of one member of the Lilys back in '91 or '92 looking at a photo I'd taken of them onstage and saying, "Yep, we're the shoegazers".

A few other DC bands from that era if anyone's interested

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9IiZSpf1TE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKQNOtSl6RM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ott1BoSRZUY

cinnamon girl

mosstin wrote: »

Galaxie 500 had nothing to do with what was termed shoegaze.

I don't disagree, but what they were doing wasn't exactly a million miles away from shoegaze, either. In fact I'd argue it was closer to the sort of classic shoegaze sound than Pale Saints were.

20 years on it's reasonable to mention them in a discussion of shoegaze IMHO.

mosstin

cinnamon girl wrote: »

I don't disagree, but what they were doing wasn't exactly a million miles away from shoegaze, either. In fact I'd argue it was closer to the sort of classic shoegaze sound than Pale Saints were.

20 years on it's reasonable to mention them in a discussion of shoegaze IMHO.

Oh Christ no. For me much of the 'shoegaze' scene was merely a journalistic construct when there was very little else happening. They - the NME and Melody Maker in particular - lumped together several younger, generally London-based bands trying their best to create some form of excitement. Then Suede came along and they didn't need them anymore. Like most scenes, much of what was lumped in with the scene was drivel anyway in the same way as drivel such as Northside and Flowered Up were lumped in with the Baggy/Madchester thing.
Galaxie 500 however were just a three college kids who formed a unique band happy to make beautiful, Velvet Underground inspired music. The other thing is that G500 came before shoegaze and it's only been in the past decade or so that there's been a critical appreciation of their legacy. For all things Galaxie 500 related, you can't go wrong with this guy below who is rather pleasingly obsessed.

A Head Full Of Wishes

rustyregan

mosstin wrote: »

Oh Christ no. For me much of the 'shoegaze' scene was merely a journalistic construct when there was very little else happening. They - the NME and Melody Maker in particular - lumped together several younger, generally London-based bands trying their best to create some form of excitement. Then Suede came along and they didn't need them anymore. Like most scenes, much of what was lumped in with the scene was drivel anyway in the same way as drivel such as Northside and Flowered Up were lumped in with the Baggy/Madchester thing.
Galaxie 500 however were just a three college kids who formed a unique band happy to make beautiful, Velvet Underground inspired music. The other thing is that G500 came before shoegaze and it's only been in the past decade or so that there's been a critical appreciation of their legacy. For all things Galaxie 500 related, you can't go wrong with this guy below who is rather pleasingly obsessed.

A Head Full Of Wishes

They would have been proto-shoegaze, wouldn't they? Like Jesus & Mary Chain, early My Bloody Valentine, Cocteau Twins, The Cure and any other soundscape warriors. It's all good stuff anyway.

Did anyone go to the Dean Wareham does Galaxie 500 gig in the Working Mans' club? Was very good indeed. Pity no reunion though. I think that one's definitely out.

cinnamon girl

mosstin wrote: »

Oh Christ no. For me much of the 'shoegaze' scene was merely a journalistic construct when there was very little else happening. ...
Galaxie 500 however were just a three college kids who formed a unique band happy to make beautiful, Velvet Underground inspired music.

That's why I said "20 years on". We can all reminisce about what was or wasn't part of the scene back then - I'm certainly doing enough of that - but "scenes" become irrelevant with time and what's left is the recorded output. To someone listening to that output today, with no knowledge of who were or weren't scenesters, I think musically they would find Galaxie 500 a fairly comfortable fit - more so than a lot of Pale Saints' output or even Moose's even though they were supposedly the original "shoegaze" band.

That doesn't make Galaxie 500 shoegazers, but it does make them relevant to a thread about shoegazers.

BiffRifkin

Don't wanna argue the genre, just want to give a shout out to one of my favorite shoegaze bands, Film School. Even though their 2010 Fission seemed to be less shoegazey, featuring Lorelei Plotcyz on vocals a bit more, Still Might and Sunny Day are both quite enjoyable.

Activated (from Alwaysnever), an obsure song from an obscure album, remains one of my all time favorites.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4Xx9VP-C8Y

indiewindy

rustyregan wrote: »

Did anyone go to the Dean Wareham does Galaxie 500 gig in the Working Mans' club? Was very good indeed. Pity no reunion though. I think that one's definitely out.

I was at that gig, it was excellent, nearly fullv in a nice venue, got all the classics, didnt like the clown heckler at the back though. Picked up his book black postcards after the gig, one of the best music autobiographies that I have read. Wouldnt hold out any hope of a reunion

mosstin

indiewindy wrote: »

I was at that gig, it was excellent, nearly fullv in a nice venue, got all the classics, didnt like the clown heckler at the back though. Picked up his book black postcards after the gig, one of the best music autobiographies that I have read. Wouldnt hold out any hope of a reunion

Damon & Naomi are on record - sorry - as saying that there won't be a reunion. Too much tension. Black Postcards is a fine read though - written as wryly as a Galaxie 500/Luna/Dean & Britta lyric. Great to see some Galaxie 500 love on here.

mosstin

cinnamon girl wrote: »

That's why I said "20 years on". We can all reminisce about what was or wasn't part of the scene back then - I'm certainly doing enough of that - but "scenes" become irrelevant with time and what's left is the recorded output. To someone listening to that output today, with no knowledge of who were or weren't scenesters, I think musically they would find Galaxie 500 a fairly comfortable fit - more so than a lot of Pale Saints' output or even Moose's even though they were supposedly the original "shoegaze" band.

That doesn't make Galaxie 500 shoegazers, but it does make them relevant to a thread about shoegazers.

Well whatever gets people turned on to Galaxie 500 is fine by me even if I'd never associate them with shoegaze. On Fire is a relentlessly beautiful record.

nlgbbbblth

My first exposure to Galaxie 500 was reading a 12 dice review of On Fire in Hot Press in 1989.

Caught them at Manchester Uni in February 1990 supporting The Sundays who were on the Reading, Writing and Arithmetic tour. A pretty intense experience.

We were supposed to head down to The Sundays in London a couple of days later but had to go back to Ireland. Pity - because 'Arriet 'ad a sore throat so gig in Kentish Town was called off and the Galaxies played instead in the Camden Falcon. Supposed to be a blinder.

mosstin

nlgbbbblth wrote: »

My first exposure to Galaxie 500 was reading a 12 dice review of On Fire in Hot Press in 1989.

Caught them at Manchester Uni in February 1990 supporting The Sundays who were on the Reading, Writing and Arithmetic tour. A pretty intense experience.

We were supposed to head down to The Sundays in London a couple of days later but had to go back to Ireland. Pity - because 'Arriet 'ad a sore throat so gig in Kentish Town was called off and the Galaxies played instead in the Camden Falcon. Supposed to be a blinder.

As were most of their gigs by all accounts. You had to read the live reviews through an Everett True filter though. Before he, ahem, discovered Nirvana.

cinnamon girl

I was privileged to see Galaxie 500 a few times. The oddest being on a double bill with the Cocteau Twins which was supposed to take place in a theatre in Baltimore, Maryland... but a couple days before the gig a burglar accidentally burnt the place down and it was rescheduled for a high school auditorium. Where we were all sat on folding chairs. The ambience left something to be desired Both bands made the most of it though!

Decuc500

The Dean Wareham gig in the Workmans Club was amazing. Just to see him finally playing those songs live was a great experience. Good to see a big enough crowd there as well. I grabbed Britta's set list/song notes from the stage at the end.

I guess my user name is a nod to the band!

rustyregan

Broken Little Sister as an tSeapain. Some really good guitar sounds on this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk_GQItd3mM

rustyregan

Ulrich Schnauss - Gone Forever.

I saw him playing a few years ago in the sugar club. Quite good it was. The visuals were great. He has some great chord progressions, very unusual sounding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pulFEh9Tu4g

Mr_Spaceman

Interesting discussion I've just discovered as a Boards.ie newbie and original shoegazer!

Galaxie 500 as 'proto-shoegazers' ? Definitely!

Moose were hugely under-rated. Their early stuff was the fine noise of buzzsaw guitars before they went all jangly.

Another name to throw into the pot. Who remembers Spirea X?

From Glasgow and an offshoot of Primal Scream, this tune, Chlorine Dream, hints - at least in part - towards shoegaze.

Although as Scots they were never going to be lumped in with the Thames Valley shoegazers (Ride, Chapterhouse, Slowdive) there's a lovely dream pop vibe to them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axXGAxbJGxM

nlgbbbblth

I had Fireblade Skies on vinyl but quickly moved it on.

SilverScreen

Shoegaze mixed with trip-hop anyone? Bowery Electric are all kinds of awesome. Grab their 1996 album Beat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5kRrLmGJho

2012 so far has been a very dry year for new shoegaze releases compared to the last few years. The best album I've heard is Pipe Dreams by Whirr but it's still far from being a great album.

This song is pretty good however

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXn15m7QZDw

Rothko

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wpc1lhFfMA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_V62O2wa64

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnc-pYFPFdM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5zTuVhNs5c

In general, I wouldn't regard the Smashing Pumpkins as fitting under the term shoegazing, but I think this song could:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjXfFZmkwcg

Mr_Spaceman

Zero1986 wrote: »

Shoegaze mixed with trip-hop anyone? Bowery Electric are all kinds of awesome. Grab their 1996 album Beat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5kRrLmGJho

Thanks for this, Zero.

My shoegazer street cred has gone out the window as Bowery Electric somehow passed me by.

It's certainly good stuff and I'll look up the Beat album. This is what the hipsters back in the day would have dubbed 'shoe-tronica'

cranks

Not sure Loop could have been considered Shoegaze but much of their stuff up to and including the album Heaven's End wasn't far from it - albeit a little dark. One of the few bands I travelled for and whose sounds frequently accompanied my getting very familiar with my shoes...:p

From album 'The World in Your Eyes'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXwT-WHYvss

From 'Heaven's End'

nlgbbbblth

Loop's LP A Gilded Eternity was great. Two slabs of heavy heavy wax.

I saw them at McGonagles in December 1990. Therapy? supported.

Here's a photo from the gig - by Karl Burke.

cranks

nlgbbbblth wrote: »

Loop's LP A Gilded Eternity was great. Two slabs of heavy heavy wax.

I saw them at McGonagles in December 1990. Therapy? supported.

Here's a photo from the gig - by Karl Burke.

I was there:D

cranks

Here's a bunch I came across a year ago or so. They're American - which perturbs me a it when I think of Shoegazing - but, in fairness, they can knock out a good tune or two.

Manchegan

Is it any wonder they were considered carpetbaggers to begin with

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnsF4sqZg54

Of course, per Mr. Agreeable, the scene was called 'shoegaze' coz they needed to look at their hands to find the chords

Mr_Spaceman

Again, not strictly shoegaze, but certainly of the spirit. Kitchens of Distinction?

I remember a spur-of-the-moment trip to Dublin from Belfast to see them in McGonagle's back in '91, supported by Whipping Boy. A criminally ignored band, the Kitchens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McrG25IJGC0

nlgbbbblth

Mr_Spaceman wrote: »

Again, not strictly shoegaze, but certainly of the spirit. Kitchens of Distinction?

I remember a spur-of-the-moment trip to Dublin from Belfast to see them in McGonagle's back in '91, supported by Whipping Boy. A criminally ignored band, the Kitchens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McrG25IJGC0

great band. I adore the first two LPs. They played TCD in '89 if I recall correctly.