Somewhere in the ether, below the comets and beyond the wall of sleep, is a sunsplash of sound known as Shoegaze.
Shoegaze gets the name from the performers' style when playing live. They'd hunch over their instruments in the shadows and stare at the floor as they played.
It is a unique genre with two close cousins; space rock, and dream pop. Shoegaze, an English phenomenon of the late 80's-early 90's, was a sonic phenomenon. It was a very loud music, emphasising heavily distorted repetitive riffs, or long drones. It was constantly awash in feedback, almost at all times, layered, filtered, flowing, avalanches of feedback. Melodies and vocals were given equal distortion, and buried deep in the mix until it became impossible sometimes to distinguish instrument from voice.
Despite the immense amounts of white noise and murk, these records still managed to be quite tuneful at times, and often had an immensely sad vibe to them. The performers themselves were a notoriously shy bunch, by rock standards, and were seldom very good interviews.
My Bloody Valentine gets credit for inventing the style; their 1991 Loveless album is the masterpiece of this genre. Their influence was deep and profound; informing legions of indie bands. Among their contemporaries and early followers were Catherine Wheel, whose "Black Metallic" is perhaps the genre's most well known and cherished tune, Ride, who had a more psychedelic sound, and the Verve, who later evolved into a space rock band and scored some hits.
Shoegaze rocks less than space rock, and it is rougher sounding than dream pop. There is crossover among all three genres; Lush and the Boo Radleys could fit into shoegaze or dream pop; The Verve and Chapterhouse could be called shoegaze or space rock. By the mid-90's, it was gone; most groups had either broken up, or evolved out of the genre.
But tonight we're gonna bathe in feedback and get introspective. Tonight is Shoegaze night.
The following titles were randomly selected by Media Center from all titles in my library with "shoegaze" genre tags, a pool of 128. The first ten randomly selected are profiled Jam Tags, 1-5 stars, follow:
1. Ride: Kaleidoscope ****
Ride had a little more pop songcraft than most of the shoegazers; Kaleidoscope is a catchy psychedelic pop number. Soundling like a cross between Echo and the Bunnymen and the Byrds, with wall-of-sound feedback and tuneful bass, this is more upbeat than the remainder of this excellent album. The album from which this is taken is often cited as shogaze's second best album.
Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
beautiful uao! I absolutely love "Shoegaze" and your list includes some of my favorite albums of the '90s, although the randomization aspect perhaps reduces the actual song impact. Thanks and welcome!
2 - DJMonsterMo
As a shoegazer fan, I must say this is a great introduction to the genre.
3 - Mike Kole
I remember hearing a friend use the term "shoegazer" for the first time. I spit a stream of beer onto some guy who was not nearly as amused. The term slays me. It was obvious to him: "Oh, you shoule check out this shoegazer band, Catherine Wheel."
Great intro playlist. Thanks!
4 - uao
Thanks, guys. I wanted to reply sooner, but was trapped behind a firewall.
This is a fun site; I'm enjoying participating, and reading the other entries.
5 - Moka
I was surprised to find this introductory playlist as we've organized very similar playlists full of shoegaze at our blog this week, look at this one friend carl did and a recent one I did today
Peace.
6 - Tim
Very cool writeup, love shoegaze :)
7 - claire regan
great article!! id love to find an article on shoegaze hardware, like what instruments and effects were used by these bands, i know jaguars were popular (fender) amonst guitarist, and fuzz/distortion pedals, but id love to learn more....i wanna be a shoegazer !!!
8 - charlie
Claire, fuzz pedals/effects are a part of the shoegaze sound, you're right, as well as moderately loud distortion pedals. But what really makes shoegaze rock is a heavy does of reverb on the vocals or guitars (or both), along with delay and chorus effects for distorted guitars, and probably some tremelo effects too.
And about The Verve's "The Sun, The Sea," I think it sounds closer to Smashing Pumpkins songs like "Hummer" (which also came out in 1993) than Oasis. But that's just my opinion.
Great article overall (as old as it is). I would add "When The Sun Hits" by Slowdive as an essential shoegaze track, for those looking to get started in the genre.
9 - Gazing downward
I recently discovered this awesome band!
Color Wall. They kinda sound like Ride.
10 - Benny
GREAT article!
@Gazing downward: Color Wall sound cool, thanks!
Another amazing and fresh band in this genre comes from Cologne, Germany: Velochrome
Check Velochrome on Soundcloud if you like
11 - F
My favourite shoegaze:
The Depreciation Guild: Trace
Amusement Parks on fire: Flashlight Planetarium
Beach House: New year
Bon Iver: Blindsider
American Analog Set: Born on the cusp
Deerhunger: Fountain Stairs
Bombay Bicycle Club: How can you swallow so much sleep
Real estate: Easy
Blouse: Into black
S.Carey: In the dirt we grow
Blonde Redhead: Spring and by summer fall