Shoegaze!
I love shoegaze. Nowadays, I am a bit out of the genre and scene but hearing shoegaze always makes me happy.
My first introduction to the genre was through Lowtide. They are an Australian trio (originally quartet) that were inspired by the classics like Slowdive. "Held" was the first ever shoegaze song I remember hearing a/o loving. Their self-titled album is one of my favourites of all time, and I have it on vinyl!
Of course, the landmark shoegaze album remember by many is Loveless by my bloody valentine. Great album, noisy asf and has awesome songs like "Only Shallow" ,"To Here Knows When", "Blown a Wish", "Sometimes", "Soon", "I Only Said". There are many other bands out there that deserve recognition, like Show Me Mary with "A Dream" from their self-titled EP.
So yeah. Post some of your shoegaze picks, if you love shoegaze.
Already aware of mdg, MASS and yuragi! But in general, the Japanese shoegaze scene is awesome. Need to check out more of these bands, I used to follow a playlist on Spotify full of Japanese shoegaze acts.
You forgot Universe Nekoko tho!
Is there a way to save comments on Tildes? There are a ton of good recs in here that I know I'm going to forget otherwise.
I believe that would be the "bookmark" function, linked at the bottom of each comment.
Bookmarkbutton at the bottom of the comment.Oh great, thank you. Not sure how I missed that
I was pretty surprised by some of those choices by the Japanese Shoegaze artists and critics. I love some of Hazel Engish's music, particularly Never Going Home, but I never would have guessed she had mad a stir across the Pacific, let along make it into number 86. Then we find Beach House down at the bottom of the list, pretty interesting.
Great links, I'll definitely be checking them all out!
You mentioned a lot of my favourite Japanese shoegaze bands, very nice list! (Although the Tokyo shoegazer omission hurts a little.)
I was wondering if you could recommend me anything that scratches the same itch as the first two Kinoko Teikoku albums? I've been looking for that style of music for a long time, and while some bands get close on occasion (like Plums, Spool or Split End), I just don't find that level of intensity anywhere else.
First of all, I appreciate the thorough response and the large number of recommendations!
I totally get how hard it is to figure out what I mean by that because "intensity" isn't a well-defined thing at all, I struggle there too. One approach I'd say is just to say that it's what they lost between this version of Azemichide and this version, years later - so, sharper production with the distorted guitars given a lot of prominence, Chiaki's much roughter vocals than later in her career, and especially those climactic moments that this song has in the demo near the end, compared to the sanded down version on the album. I think that is even more prominent on songs like Taikotsu Shinogi with its almost post-rock-like peak.
Other music within Japanese rock (not mentioned in your response) that have had similar appeal to me include the occasional Hitsujibungaku song (mostly early, like on the Blue EP or, less emotional but similar in sound, the first Bungeitengoku EP.
I know some of the bands you've recommended quite well - Itsue does actually have a similar appeal on the few longer songs they have, though it lacks a lot of that roughness. In fact I like all of the bands in the first batch you mentioned, especially Fermenting Dregs and Yuragi. I'd never heard of Brandy Senki or School Food Punishment before, and enjoyed those tracks a lot! Downy was actually one of my favourite discoveries in the last year and definitely has a similar emotional appeal.
The Culenasm song you linked is probably the closest to what I'm looking for, actually! I've listened to some of their music before, but I remember it being a lot less rock-y, maybe they moved away from this kind of sound too?
Glad you got back into their music a bit! There's a lot of shoegaze I like, including many Japanese bands, but their output up to Long Goodbye has a very special place in my heart.
I like shoegaze, but with a touch of black metal. My favorite song is Dark Stone by Holy Fawn.
Some other I enjoy are Moonweed by Blush Response, Candy by Holy Fawn and White Noise by Blanket.
Check out Alcest if you haven't already!
Interesting!
Been meaning to check out Holy Fawn, but I'll give these a spin soon! I'll let you know what I think.
As much as Deafheaven is the face of the genre, I adore Deafheaven. I’d also recommend Liturgy, Ragana, and Bosse-de-Nage.
Need to listen to Liturgy's latest. They def aren't blackgaze but "transcendental black metal" gets a pass from me.
I’m definitely going to keep a look out for suggestions in this thread.
I’m more of a casual shoegaze fan, who stumbled on MBV and Slowdive one day and thought they had some of the best albums out there! (Emphasis on casual ok, don’t grill me😄). From there, I went off of recommendations and started listening to some of Ariel, Ride, Catherine Wheel, Turnover, Starflyer 59, Swervedriver, Nothing, Hum, The Boo Radleys, Lush, and Chapterhouse. I gotta admit, Lush and Chapterhouse are a bit out there for me lol. My favorite of those is probably Swervedriver and Hum. So leaning towards more rocking with shoegaze elements.
Anyway, yeah, following this thread so I can find more music to listen to while at work. Shoegaze deserves more of a deep dive anyway.
Fun fact Kevin Shields is a relatively on mine by law, back when I was younger I had no idea about him and it came up in conversation with my father, looked it up and turns out there was a huge following!
I am relatively new to the genre but some albums I liked are:
My favorite Shoegaze band is "A Shoreline Dream." I think their best song is "Ukraine" (no relation to current world events). Here's the official music video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDnZaHs79Jg
If you enjoy that one, check out these other songs by them: "New York," "Love is a Ghost in America," "Saturday Morning," and "Pasadena."
Here are two recommendations that I can make, some gazey bands on Graveface that I enjoy:
https://graveface.bandcamp.com/album/illusions-of-control
https://graveface.bandcamp.com/album/beachy-head
I do love My Blood Valentine and Slowdive, but I'm really liking how bands incorporated shoegaze into their sound. Like you have Title Fight shifting from hardcore to post-hardcore to straight up shoegaze in their excellent "Hyperview" ( check out Chlorine )) or straight up revivalists like Nothing, (check out April Ha Ha which features another favorite of mine , fellow Philadelphian Alex G) but one of my favorite is probably Wednesday mixes 90s alt rock, shoe gaze, and dirt bag county. Check out two of my favorite tracks Cody's Only and Bull Believer.
Been meaning to check out Wednesday! Tried Bull Believer but did not have a good mood, so I turned it off.
It’s closer to the indie rock flavor of shoegaze but Silversun Pickups’ first album Carnavas is mildly shoegazey in the best way.
This is perhaps a bit of an offshoot from Shoegaze, but Deafheaven's Sunbather is one of my favorite albums of all time.
I saw them several years ago on tour and I'd never been to a show like that, but it was electric. Great experience.
Most people call it blackgaze — a mixture of shoegaze with the techniques and sound of black metal.
Sunbather is a great album. I found it on vinyl at an exchange and it was one of three I believe. I never heard anything like that. As soon as I got over the vocals, I thought it was an amazing experience. "Please Remember" is my fav interlude and "Dream House" is so good.
I'm a bit of a shoegaze casual but I love shoegaze-adjacent bands.
Siamese Dream by The Smashing Pumpkins oozes that fuzzy, wall of sound shoegaze feel and is my favourite album of all time. Shout outs for Cherub Rock, Quiet, Hummer, Mayonnaise, Soma, and Rocket).
The B-sides album, Pisces Iscariot released between Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is also full of fuzzy, shoegazey goodness (Starla, Hello Kitty Kat, Frail and Bedazzled, and Pissant are standouts).
The first two albums from Silversun Pickups, Carnavas and Swoon are also great albums with strong Shoegaze elements!
Can someone help me understand what the difference between post-punk and shoegaze is?
I've always considered bands like Crystal Stilts or The Frowning Clouds or Cloud Nothings or Black Lips to be quintessential shoegaze. But from the looks of it I might be off?
The other related genre I'd like to bring into the discussion is shitgaze, the rougher, more distorted cousin of shoegaze.
Ty Segall is probably I top pick for shitgaze. The album Melted is a great entry.
Thee Oh Sees is another great one. The albums Protean Threat or Carrion Crawler are gorgeous.
Both of these artists are prolific and you'll likely get one or two new albums a year. For the Thee Oh Sees they just put out Goon and the album doesn't disappoint.
Otherwise you have records like Meatbodies - Meatbodies, Reverse Shark Attack, Jaccuzi Boys - Glazin, or the Orwells - Remember When
When someone says "post punk" I think of bands that were happening in the late 1970s or early 1980s. And it's quite a broad genre.
Adam and the Ants - Zer0x
Young Marble Giants - Final Day, Young Marble Giants - The Man Amplifier
Cocteau Twins - Sugar Hiccup
That Cocteau Twins song is tricky, because that's to me moving between the two.
When someone says "Shoegaze" I think a bit later, so from the late 80s to early 90s.
It's tricky because both are poorly defined, other than "British bands in the late 80s, early 90s, who were a bit noisy but not too noisy". Which is a rubbish definition - look at all the great music posted in this thread which is unambiguously shoegaze and not British late 80s early 90s. And this terrible definition just mashes together a bunch of genres - post punk, goth, indie rock, shoegaze, etc.
IMO these songs are not shoegaze, but I've seen a few websites say they are.
Bleach - Wipe it Away
Jesus and Mary Chain - The living End
I found this quite obscure album from 1994 from the band Difference Engine, which seems to be their only release. There's a Wired article about them from 2008 when they rereleased it for the first time, but otherwise there's not much info about them. It got a remaster in 2020 which you can now fine on Bandcamp! Just some solid, atmospheric shoegaze. Highlights for me are "Tsunami" and "Bugpowder".
Difference Engine - Breadmaker
I was a huge fan of The Sundays' first album, Reading, Writing And Arithmetic. Their follow-up albums didn't grab me as much, though they did have a hit w/ their cover of Wild Horses which I quite liked.
A more recent shoegaze-adjacent band (may be a little bit too poppy to qualify) I really liked from the late-Aughts is Camera Obscura. The band members have mostly moved on to other projects, although there are rumors of them reuniting.
other albums that I like that weren't mentioned here are Candy Claws - Ceres & Calypso in the Deep Time Sweet Trip - Velocity : Design : Comfort and Have a Nice Life - Deathconsciousness
All good ones.
Stopped listening to Sweet Trip however because Roby (on top of making unwanted advances) had likely assaulted Valerie, and that led to the band's breakup
Shoegaze is wonderful stuff. I always find myself listening to it during the summer for some reason. Maybe the melty heated haze of the weather melds well with the effect petal-drenched sound?
I could go on for ages about albums and artists but instead here are three albums.
The Favorite
The Daysleepers - Drowned In A Sea Of Sound (2008)
I ordered this album when it came out from an online music shop back in the days when that was still weird and a bit scary to give out payment info to your computer. I still enjoy it now as much as I did back then. The album takes a nautical inspiration which is unique but it's the sound design that sets this one apart; the entire wall of sound that Jeff Kandefer crafts feels incredibly smooth and I can't get enough of it.
(This is actually the runner up. Candy Claws - Ceres & Calypso in the Deep Time is my absolute favorite but it was already mentioned.)
The New
Magic Wands - Switch (2023)
It's not trying to reinvent the wheel but it's a great album nonetheless. The vocals remind me of a more dreampop version of Warpaint, which is awesome. Recently got me through some kitchen deep cleaning where I discovered there were no bad tracks in the entire LP.
The Weird
Meeks - Beatless (2013)
An entire album of shoegaze covers of Beatles tracks from a group in Japan. It's a unique experience to hear songs that have been "passed into the fetus subconsciously along with all the amniotic stuff" all stretched out, fuzzed, with unaffected vocals set gentle on top of the pile.
Let It Be is my favorite track and a fantastic closer to the album.
I have one band that I always harp on when shoegaze comes up. Yo La Tengos early albums are hardly mentioned when it comes to shoegaze and that's such a shame. Their second album, Painful, has to be a contender for my favorite shoegaze album. I got into it through I Heard you Looking. Ira Kaplan takes such a simple idea and makes it amazing. It's terribly easy but fun to play on guitar. That and tracks like From a Motel 6 and Superstar-Watcher are phenomenal! I can't recommend it enough, much to my friends and family's disappointment.
Really anything off of Matador records in the 90s is great/ shoegaze adjacent. Guided by Voices, Dinosaur Jr., Pavement, etc. are all great. As much as I love grunge it's sad that most people overlook indie rock from this era. There is a ton of great bands!