Shoegaze

[pierrot_le_fou]

who here loves them?

the whole shoe-gazer scene was so big in the late 80's/early 90's, then died, but now it's coming back in new forms.

i just love the sound of distorted guitars and feedback, combined with the soft vocals.
it's layers upon layers of music.
overwhelming at first, but it's such a wicked mix.

 

[akillerswife]

I love both bands.

karma for you.

 

[marqueemoon]

I love them both... My Bloody Valentine slightly moreso. The two groups do share a lush, layered sound, but Jesus and Mary Chain is more laid back and spaced out, while MBV is more intense and vivid. Loveless is one of my favorite albums of all time.

 

[city girl]

thankyou for making this thread! i love them both..i think equally. i love how their music is so atmospheric..i almost feel like i'm floating sometimes. my favourite MBV songs are 'sometimes' and 'when you sleep' and i love 'just like honey' by J&MC

 

[AlexN]

I can't stand Jesus and Mary Chain. Same chord progressions over and over and over and over...

MBV is interesting, but I don't find the sound very listenable, personally.

Slowdive is my favorite real shoegazing band. Beautiful, musical, melodic, noisy gorgeousness. Souvlaki is consistently brilliant and incredibly varied, though still cohesive somehow.

 

[pierrot_le_fou]

i enjoy slowdive as well. but when i listen to souvlaki, i only listen to alison and machine gun over and over and then i forget about the rest of the album.

 

[.francesca]

i'm hugely into both bands, but i never really considered jesus and mary chain shoegazer - but that might just be me my favorite (ok, one of my favorites) mbv song is 'you made me realise'

do you guys want to talk about all types of shoegazer? i can change the title of this thread to reflect the genre instead of certain bands...

 

[haute femme]

Wow! I'm so surprised to find this thread. I've become into shoegazing music lately..it's really interesting to explore the genre, too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoegazer gives an elaborate definition. Oh, and Loveless is my favorite MBV album as well!

And I think changing the title of the thread to a more broad genre would be cool, but it's not just my decision

 

[AlexN]

An entire shoegaze thread would be cool, Francesca.

 

[.francesca]

i'm on it, alex!

so, apparently shoegazer is getting huge in the san francisco bay area - i don't live there anymore, but some friends have been talking about the new wave of shoegazer bands. what are some modern examples of shoegazer? modern as in from the last 5 years or so.

 

[jennifer~]

I'm a fan of both, Loveless and Psychocandy are desert-island classics but embarasingly unfamiliar with shoegazer on the whole. It's a genre, like grunge and so many others, which seems fairly ingrained with the times, and though Jesus & Mary Chain were a clear influence I'd never have thought them part of the 'scene'

 

[IIsovietII]

thoughts on ambient and shoegaze music

i've become an increasingly large fan of bands such as 'my bloody valentine', 'aphex twin', 'brian eno', and 'bjork'.

does anyone else find this music completely fasinating, to the point of, quite literaly, no return.

 

[Zen]

I love Brian Eno. I especially love his work he did on the album "Music for Films" and "More Music for Films." I adore Bjork. Not so much Aphex Twin or My Bloody Valentine. Right now I'm into Brightblack Morning Light, Andy Partridge, Harold Budd, Marconi Union, Ingram Marshall, Mum, and Sigor Ros.

 

[strawberry daiquiri]

Threads merged.

 

[Mary-Anne]

I'm a big fan of shoegazer music. I was very much into it at one point, but maybe now a bit less...

Some of my favorites have already been mentionned by many of you...

My Bloody Valentine (Come in alone, When you sleep, Sometimes, Moon Song... )

The Jesus & Mary Chain (Just like Honey, Head On, April Skies, Darklands... )

Cocteau Twins (Amelie, This Love, Suggar Hiccup... )

The Clientele (Reflections After Jane, 2 am morningside, Monday's Rain, Porcelain, From a Window... I could really go on forever with this band )

Slowdive I used to adore them and think their Souvlaki album was genius, but for some reason.. I am incapable of listening to them now..

It really is interesting to see bands with shoegaze influences.... I think some Air and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club songs have a bit of that...
and definitely a lot of earlier Verve songs like She's a Superstar, Slide Away & maybe even Gravity Grave...

 

[Yppe]

I've lately become a fan of shoegazing, before I only knew My bloody Valentine and Jesus&Mary Chain, but in the last months I've discovered Ride and the Cocteau Twins records and I've really like it.
But My favourite album is Loveless from MBV.


Mary-Anne, I absolutely adore The Clientele but I never had thought they were shoegazer.

 

[Mary-Anne]

^ Hmm... I think you're right Yppe.... but I do tend to associate Dream Pop or Ambient Pop sounds with shoegaze... perhaps I am wrong in doing so..

ah, and I had forgotten about Catherine Wheel!

 

[The Baron]

Shoegaze forever! Can't believe no one has mentioned Lush (!!!) or Ride (!!! for the early stuff, although they went a bit downhill at the end).

As for modern shoegaze, I'd put Sigur Ros in that category, and Ulrich Schnauss has been doing a sort of electronic-shoegaze sound.

Slowdive are my absolute faves, though, followed closely by MBV and Lush. There's also a little-known American band called The Swirlies that did some great shoegaze stuff in the 90's.

 

[IIsovietII]

oh definetly lush, but i would consider that much more in the dream pop genre

Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine is easily one of the most tallented, and creative musical artists. The guy is a genius.

 

[The Baron]

Lush were actually one of the first bands to be labelled as shoegazers by the press, and their early albums do fit in with that aesthetic, while the later albums became more poppy and clean.