― cs appleby (cs appleby), Saturday, 13 December 2003 09:57 (twenty-one years ago)
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 13 December 2003 09:58 (twenty-one years ago)
― cs appleby (cs appleby), Saturday, 13 December 2003 10:00 (twenty-one years ago)
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 13 December 2003 10:01 (twenty-one years ago)
― cs appleby (cs appleby), Saturday, 13 December 2003 10:03 (twenty-one years ago)
― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Saturday, 13 December 2003 10:06 (twenty-one years ago)
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 13 December 2003 10:07 (twenty-one years ago)
― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Saturday, 13 December 2003 10:10 (twenty-one years ago)
― cs appleby (cs appleby), Saturday, 13 December 2003 10:14 (twenty-one years ago)
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 13 December 2003 10:17 (twenty-one years ago)
― gaz (gaz), Saturday, 13 December 2003 10:22 (twenty-one years ago)
― cs appleby (cs appleby), Saturday, 13 December 2003 10:29 (twenty-one years ago)
Malory! Isobella! Paik! Pacific UV!
fucking Clairecords people!!!!
sort yourselves out
― the surface noise (electricsound), Saturday, 13 December 2003 11:08 (twenty-one years ago)
― Schwingung (Damian), Saturday, 13 December 2003 11:28 (twenty-one years ago)
― the surface noise (electricsound), Saturday, 13 December 2003 11:46 (twenty-one years ago)
― JoB (JoB), Saturday, 13 December 2003 12:24 (twenty-one years ago)
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 13 December 2003 16:27 (twenty-one years ago)
― A Nairn (moretap), Saturday, 13 December 2003 17:58 (twenty-one years ago)
― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Saturday, 13 December 2003 18:03 (twenty-one years ago)
― Sonny A. (Keiko), Saturday, 13 December 2003 18:16 (twenty-one years ago)
― keith m (keithmcl), Saturday, 13 December 2003 18:36 (twenty-one years ago)
― Nom De Plume (Nom De Plume), Saturday, 13 December 2003 19:12 (twenty-one years ago)
― Ian Johnson (orion), Saturday, 13 December 2003 19:22 (twenty-one years ago)
I think most bands these days that are labelled "shoegazer" would be better suited to "slowcore" or "dream-pop" labels.
Labelling is wrong.
― Stupid (Stupid), Saturday, 13 December 2003 20:24 (twenty-one years ago)
― cs appleby (cs appleby), Saturday, 13 December 2003 20:45 (twenty-one years ago)
― Aaron W (Aaron W), Saturday, 13 December 2003 20:54 (twenty-one years ago)
― cs appleby (cs appleby), Saturday, 13 December 2003 22:13 (twenty-one years ago)
Coldplay have certainly been influenced by Catherine Wheel, My Bloody Valentine and other bands like that, but that's not to say they're a shoegazer band.
I guess this is a semantical debate. Shoegazer, to me, isn't about an "atmospheric aesthetic", it's much more specific than that.
― Stupid (Stupid), Saturday, 13 December 2003 22:29 (twenty-one years ago)
I declare 2004 the year of the Shoegaze. I'm chinese for sake of argument. With all the discussion around here about it in the last month or so I feel Congress will agree.
A firecracker parade will follow.
― cs appleby (cs appleby), Saturday, 13 December 2003 22:44 (twenty-one years ago)
― Nihilist Pop Star (mjt), Saturday, 13 December 2003 22:47 (twenty-one years ago)
― cs appleby (cs appleby), Saturday, 13 December 2003 22:56 (twenty-one years ago)
this thread is good now
― the surface noise (electricsound), Saturday, 13 December 2003 22:57 (twenty-one years ago)
― cs appleby (cs appleby), Saturday, 13 December 2003 23:09 (twenty-one years ago)
― dlp9001, Saturday, 13 December 2003 23:13 (twenty-one years ago)
www.theearlies.com
― the priest, Saturday, 13 December 2003 23:14 (twenty-one years ago)
― the priest, Saturday, 13 December 2003 23:18 (twenty-one years ago)
I will now check out melodic.com
― cs appleby (cs appleby), Saturday, 13 December 2003 23:26 (twenty-one years ago)
― keith m (keithmcl), Saturday, 13 December 2003 23:58 (twenty-one years ago)
I would click the "Free Sample Issue" button on the side and see what happens.
This zine is run by Ryan Anderson who used to play with Fuxa back in the old Michigan space rock days. Each issue comes with a free cd comp that is mostly showgaze and space rock. If you are interested in that sound they are very worth picking up. Ryan keeps the prices dirt cheap, they cost $7.20 a piece and that covers the shipping.
If you do decide to pick up back issues I would recommend that you start with issue three and work your way forward. The first couple issues were a bit patchy but they got better with every following issue.
As far as bands go, I would recommend looking into Tristeza/The Album Leaf, Cerberus Shoal, Landing, Hinterland, and Tex La Homa. ESOJ's(the surface noise) and Ned's picks are both completely otm and I would have recommended them myself if they had not beaten me to the punch.
― Nihilist Pop Star (mjt), Sunday, 14 December 2003 00:09 (twenty-one years ago)
― Nick Mirov (nick), Sunday, 14 December 2003 02:36 (twenty-one years ago)
― Kent Burt (lingereffect), Sunday, 14 December 2003 04:40 (twenty-one years ago)
Readymade isn't exactly new. They were sending out annoying promo stuff 6/7 years ago.
― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Sunday, 14 December 2003 05:46 (twenty-one years ago)
― cs appleby (cs appleby), Sunday, 14 December 2003 07:56 (twenty-one years ago)
― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Sunday, 14 December 2003 08:13 (twenty-one years ago)
― derrick (derrick), Sunday, 14 December 2003 08:49 (twenty-one years ago)
― cs appleby (cs appleby), Sunday, 14 December 2003 22:57 (twenty-one years ago)
― the surface noise (electricsound), Sunday, 14 December 2003 22:58 (twenty-one years ago)
― the surface noise (electricsound), Sunday, 14 December 2003 22:59 (twenty-one years ago)
― Ian Christe (Ian Christe), Sunday, 14 December 2003 23:37 (twenty-one years ago)
The Meeting Places as well...reasonable enough rotegaze.
M83, now lemme tell ya, I guess I enjoyed the album the one time I heard it, but that was six months ago and I haven't felt any need to listen again.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 14 December 2003 23:53 (twenty-one years ago)
I remember feeling a bit superior about that at the time, the landmark MBV/Ride/Slowdive albums had been and gone - with just the occasional mention of the term as an arch callback to its original put-down usage - and then the US was all “hay guys I looooove shoegaze” and lots of not-really-relevant or second-rate bands being picked up seemingly at random.
― assert (matttkkkk), Thursday, 28 December 2023 16:58 (one year ago)
i was way into it and it woulda happened if it wasn’t for that meddling grunge. but all grunge did was push shoegaze just under the surface where it’s festered and now it is a wonderful ubiquitous toxic algae bloom.
― digital chirping and whirring (Hunt3r), Thursday, 28 December 2023 22:05 (one year ago)
Concrete Avalanche posts a pretty good intro guide to Chinese shoegaze https://jakenewby.substack.com/p/a-beginners-guide-to-chinese-shoegaze
― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 22 February 2024 03:14 (one year ago)
Really into the new somesurprises record, they’re touring the east coast in a couple weeks https://somesurprises.bandcamp.com/album/perseids
― JoeStork, Monday, 29 April 2024 15:24 (one year ago)
Yeah I need to get around to listening to that -- Catbus, a Bluesky account I've been following for a while for the good new shoegaze recs, has talked this up and I know I have it around here somewhere!
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 29 April 2024 15:27 (one year ago)
there’s a new Belong album coming out . the sample tracks seem a little odd but gotta say, not on my bingo card for the yearhttps://belong.bandcamp.com/album/realistic-ix
― butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Thursday, 16 May 2024 02:09 (eleven months ago)
also admit that their second album continues to get regular plays 13 years later
1) always amazes when i see release dates like 3 mos away, and while it makes sense to me roughly understanding what is supposed to happen, it still seems soooo far away, it would stress the hell out of me if i were an artist.2) recommendation of stuff unknown to me from trusted source— another good day
― well below the otm mendoza line (Hunt3r), Thursday, 16 May 2024 02:21 (eleven months ago)
my kid is way into all of this now. I think i said elsewhere that duster played one of the worst sets I've ever seen a band play probably 20 years ago. It's cool they have this revival; they're headlining the Warfield in SF! that's so weird. obviously I like all of these bands and even like some of the new ones. We saw Soft Blue Shimmer at a bar in SF last week and they were really good.
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Thursday, 16 May 2024 03:56 (eleven months ago)
They Are Gutting a Body of Water put out a collection of previously unreleased tracks earlier this week and they've been kicking my ass. For my money they're the most interesting band making shoegaze/adjacent music right now--doing a whole lot more than just rehashing old sounds. They incorporate electronic music in really cool and sometimes subtle ways, have a bit of a glitch thing going, and work in some breakbeats here and there. Got to see them play in NYC back in March and though it was a very short set, it was most excellent. Had almost DnB-like tracks playing through a sequencer or something in between songs played by the band.
And what's the deal with Philly? Seems to be a pretty clear thruline from Alex G-->Blue Smiley-->TAGABOW. Don't know that I'll be able to find the interviews but I seem to remember the guy from Blue Smiley calling themselves an Alex G tribute band and then another interview with the guy from TAGABOW calling themselves a Blue Smiley tribute band. But each is much more than their influences.
So, anybody else keen on these guys?
― Ubiquitor, Friday, 21 June 2024 18:02 (ten months ago)
What’s the album? Doesn’t seem to ge on their bandcamp page.
― Tsar Bombadil (James Morrison), Saturday, 22 June 2024 00:12 (ten months ago)
swanlike (loosies 2020-2023)
It's up on spotify and youtube
― Ubiquitor, Saturday, 22 June 2024 00:33 (ten months ago)
I love TAGABOW. I didn't get into "s" quite as much as Dextiny XL, but I agree completely that they're doing more interesting stuff w/ shoegaze than most.
I am a major sucker for heavy distortion, warped sounds and tons o' fuzz.
You know Blue Smiley's main songwriter passed away several years ago now, yeah?
― alpine static, Saturday, 22 June 2024 07:48 (ten months ago)
"what's the deal with Philly?"
best indie rock scene in America for a decade now, probably? i assume it's because everywhere nearby got too expensive and artists ended up there. (idk, i live 3,000 miles away.)
― alpine static, Saturday, 22 June 2024 07:49 (ten months ago)
Mad not to make the album buyable.
― Tsar Bombadil (James Morrison), Saturday, 22 June 2024 11:51 (ten months ago)
Philly is pretty good for independent music and always has been, ime as someone both from here and as someone who left for 15 years only to return. The punk/hc and indie-rock scene of the mid to late 90s was incredible, and it's kept up since then tbh.
― butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Friday, 19 July 2024 16:41 (nine months ago)
xpost alpine static, yeah it's a damn shame. Spotify algorithm fired Blue Smiley across my bow a few months before the remaining members put out their previously unreleased material in the fall of '23 and I was utterly crestfallen to hear that the brains behind the operation had passed away. Their music sounds like it comes from a damaged soul, but it has a particularly uplifting quality that I feel can only come from such a source.
― Ubiquitor, Saturday, 20 July 2024 00:24 (nine months ago)
The new album by Orcas (Rafael Anton Irisarri + Benoît Pioulard) came out this week and will make your ears bleed technicolor https://orcasmorr.bandcamp.com/album/how-to-color-a-thousand-mistakes
― Xgau Murder Spa (nikola), Saturday, 20 July 2024 16:53 (nine months ago)
Lorelle Meets The Obsolete in Tijuana last night. (my short review: fuck yeah!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_CgDxFZlJI
― Elvis Telecom, Sunday, 28 July 2024 01:40 (nine months ago)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq5C6g9L2-c
awesome
― mookieproof, Sunday, 28 July 2024 01:53 (nine months ago)
Think I talked about Pink Breath of Heaven earlier in the thread — easily my new favorite SF band and I would have seen them last night again if it wasn’t for finally getting a chance to see Cold Gawd at last. Anyway: new Pink Breath single is out:https://pinkbreathofheaven.bandcamp.com/track/the-wind-is-calling
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 4 August 2024 00:14 (nine months ago)
this popped up on boomkat email this week, probably fits here musically but someone will know more about them than i do
Belong:https://boomkat.com/products/realistic-ix
― koogs, Saturday, 10 August 2024 10:24 (eight months ago)
(i only clicked through because i liked the cover)
alternatively i could scroll back like a page...
― koogs, Saturday, 10 August 2024 10:25 (eight months ago)
The Belong album is so MBV drenched, it’s crazy.
― Tsar Bombadil (James Morrison), Saturday, 10 August 2024 13:08 (eight months ago)
https://www.stereogum.com/2245469/tiktok-has-made-shoegaze-bigger-than-ever/columns/sounding-board/are we talking about this anywhere else?― 龜, wednesday 20 december 2023 10:38 (seven months ago)
are we talking about this anywhere else?
― 龜, wednesday 20 december 2023 10:38 (seven months ago)
Wisp (still only 19 years old) played at the Pukkelpop festival in Belgium yesterday and reviews are very positive.
In case you didn't click that, here's a video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foTFjWd21e0
― StanM, Sunday, 18 August 2024 07:06 (eight months ago)
Full Cold Gawd set from July
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTu5UTnBYZk
― Elvis Telecom, Friday, 6 September 2024 21:05 (eight months ago)
Yup, they're something live, caught them a month back here doing an opening set as mentioned upthread a bit and it killed.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 6 September 2024 21:59 (eight months ago)
Is there a good Shoegaze thread?
Joe Dilworth (amazing drummer and photographer*) is releasing a book of his photographs from 1987-1994 from London including many, many acts that were performing in the scene before shoegaze and shoegaze-adjacent was retroactively applied to it. Many appeared in Melody Maker.
*Joe was the original drummer of Stereolab, Cavern Of Anti-Matter, Th' Faith Healers & Add N to (X). His photographs appeared on hundreds of albums, most notably for this thread: the Isn't Anything front and back covers.
https://bildbandberlin.com/collections/all-books/products/joe-dilworth-everything-all-at-once-foreverhardback, limited to 600
― Mrs. Ippei (Steve Shasta), Saturday, 28 September 2024 02:49 (seven months ago)
Hmm! Very tempted.
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 28 September 2024 02:50 (seven months ago)
Tanukichan latest - Circles is ok shoegaze but doesn’t wow me
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 29 October 2024 23:22 (six months ago)
here's a really good one i discovered via Bandcamp's year-end roundup
https://mo-dotti.bandcamp.com/album/opaque
https://daily.bandcamp.com/album-of-the-day/mo-dotti-opaque-review
Los Angeles shoegaze quartet Mo Dotti take their name from Italian photographer and communist revolutionary Tina Modotti, whose life as an artist began when she moved to California and took up acting in the early 20th century. Her most famous work, however, was produced while living in Mexico, capturing hazy, somewhat anonymized images of working class people. On their debut LP, opaque, band’s songwriting often mirrors the composition of Modotti’s photography, contrasting crisp moments of jangle-pop clarity against billowing clouds of distortion. Rather than zero in on a particular strain of shoegazing, Mo Dotti survey the genre’s evolution and fragmentation over time, fusing ideas and textures to make well-trodden territory feel fresh once more.
The band’s first two EP releases, combined to form Blurring/Guided Imagery in 2023, embraced those exploratory instincts to the fullest, never quite settling into a specific sound. They could do a convincing Cocteau Twins impression on the sparkling “Gravity Well,” go full Sarah Records on a washed-out 6ths cover, or even dial back the distortion to emphasize the wonky post-punk riffage of “Hurting Slowly.” On opaque, they’ve managed to synthesize these influences into a unique, restless style that makes each section of their songs feel like an unexpected twist.
The verses on lead single “Lucky Boy” revisit the strummy, wafer-thin psychedelia that My Bloody Valentine toyed with on their Glider EP, making an ideal counterpoint to meatier instrumental sections. When frontwoman Gina Negrini isn’t emulating Bilinda Butcher’s detached, sing-song delivery on the mic, she and guitarist Guy Valdez are stomping all over the pedalboard, rattling off twangy 4AD-core licks and wriggling peals of pure noise. Mo Dotti often conclude opaque’s songs with an invitation for each member to floor the gas pedal, and these crescendos make for many of the record’s best moments. The back half of “Wasted Delay” embarks on a proggy adventure, launching epic Cure-esque guitar solos across a crepuscular chord progression. “Pale Blue Afternoon” even invites comparisons to Dinosaur Jr., with its sputtering wails of feedback. Each small segment of music is constructed with utmost care: “I get pretty obsessed over just a 10-second part,” Valdez told My Little Underground in 2022. “I’ll figure out the easiest way to play it, and just keep listening to it over and over again.”
― omar little, Thursday, 5 December 2024 22:03 (five months ago)
They've got a few more things mixed in, a little midwest emo at points, but some really great shoegaze bits (check out "Game") on Wishy's Triple Seven:
https://wishy.bandcamp.com/album/triple-seven
Feel like this might be something Ivy would dig.
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 11 December 2024 20:11 (four months ago)
tried scanning the entire thread (must've missed something) but didn't see a mention of ML Buch. Fleshy (fantastic ep) came out during 2017... i hadn't realized that it's already seven (almost 8) years old. they *have* to have been discussed here, right? i mean, Fleshy is ridiculously good. i know y'all have already listened to it.
https://mlbuch.bandcamp.com/album/fleshy
― Lowell N. Behold'n, Saturday, 14 December 2024 20:37 (four months ago)
have always loved this forum (ever since 2002) ... everybody is so welcoming and responsive. what a great place to talk about music! err, yeah
― Lowell N. Behold'n, Monday, 16 December 2024 15:14 (four months ago)
i mean, maybe you didn't get much response because ML Buch isn't really all that shoegaze? crazy thought, i know.
― alpine static, Monday, 16 December 2024 17:46 (four months ago)
that was why I didn't respond here.
― husked, tonal wails (irrational), Monday, 16 December 2024 21:05 (four months ago)
I love Buch’s most recent album, “Suntub.” Fans of shoegaze and dream pop would probably dig it. It has some of the most unique guitar tones I’ve heard in recent years, lovely, mysterious songs. I’m not familiar with Buch’s earlier work, so I should dive deeper.
― Skrot Montague, Monday, 16 December 2024 23:33 (four months ago)
https://sunshyily.bandcamp.com/album/i-dont-care-what-comes-next
some pretty good mbv imitations on this sunshy album
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS7uhb5qZmI
― ufo, Wednesday, 18 December 2024 14:58 (four months ago)
Loving the preview tracks for the new Cloakroom.
https://cloakroom.bandcamp.com/album/last-leg-of-the-human-table
― jmm, Friday, 10 January 2025 17:05 (three months ago)
^^^ This latest preview song "Story of the Egg" is a really nice krautrock/shoegaze tune.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXTO-1ui0Ug
― jmm, Monday, 10 February 2025 16:26 (two months ago)
oh nice didn't know they were prepping a new one
― gestures broadly at...everything (voodoo chili), Monday, 10 February 2025 16:53 (two months ago)
My favorite new local band in the last couple of years, Pink Breath Of Heaven, release their debut album in May:https://pinkbreathofheaven.bandcamp.com/album/colors-make-a-sound
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 21 February 2025 14:00 (two months ago)
cloakroom album is out now. i think it's a bit of a step down from the last one, went too far in the pop direction imo. the back half is solid though, particularly "clover looper"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uShbKDUbUKw
― gestures broadly at...everything (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 4 March 2025 15:22 (two months ago)
this band from mexico city has a kind of early verve/slowdive sound.
https://thelsdays1.bandcamp.com/
check out "clouds"
― "The Well-Tempered Holophonor by Philip J. Fry" (Austin), Tuesday, 4 March 2025 16:58 (two months ago)
Have been yakking about Pink Breath Of Heaven for a while now, am listening to an advance of their debut album out Friday, and it kills:
https://pinkbreathofheaven.bandcamp.com/album/colors-make-a-sound
Something I hadn't fully appreciated is that one of the two lead guitarists, along with lead singer/band center Liv Field, is Rex John Silverton, longtime collaborator with Tamaryn.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 28 April 2025 00:15 (one week ago)
Apple Music just suggested that Pink Breath of Heaven album as a new release I should check out. I’ve got the volume down low as the whole family isn’t up yet on this Sunday morning, but it sounds pretty great.
― early rejecter, Sunday, 4 May 2025 12:15 (three days ago)
Glad to hear it!
Meantime -- digging into the thread's past when they were in fact something of a new shoegaze band! -- Highspire have returned! Album out in July:
https://highspire.bandcamp.com/album/crushed
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 4 May 2025 18:17 (three days ago)
i dig stevie nicks-like shoegaze vox. erm at least to me thats the timbre of it?
― Theodor W. Adorbso (Hunt3r), Sunday, 4 May 2025 22:17 (three days ago)