So, it's time to switch things up a little as discussed in the last thread. We're going to have multiple records a week from now on and follow themes rather than the alternating weeks we've had until now.

The first week of our new format is the beginning of a genre introduction series that I'm running: Intro to Shoegaze! We will likely have several different themes switching off each week, and I'll kick off a few over the next couple weeks. These aren't intended to be tailored for genreheads (at least not right now), but rather a way to have a conversation about the all-time greats of specific genres, scenes, labels, etc. while also having something fresh that those already into that kind of music might not already be familiar with.

Shoegaze

Shoegazing (or shoegaze, initially known as "dream pop") is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock that emerged in the United Kingdom in the late 1980s. It is characterised by its ethereal-sounding mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volume. The term "shoegazing" was coined by the British music press to ridicule the stage presence of a wave of neo-psychedelic groups who stood still during live performances in a detached, introspective, non-confrontational state with their heads down. This was because the heavy use of effects pedals meant the performers were often looking down at the readouts on their effects pedals during concerts.

Most shoegazing bands drew from the glide guitar template set by My Bloody Valentine on their early EPs and 1988 debut Isn't Anything. A loose label given to the shoegazing scene and other affiliated bands in London in the early 1990s was The Scene That Celebrates Itself. In the early 1990s, shoegazing groups were pushed aside by the American grunge movement and early Britpop acts such as Suede, forcing the relatively unknown bands to break up or reinvent their style altogether. In the 2000s, there was renewed interest in the genre among "nu gaze" bands.

Essential Album: My Bloody Valentine - Loveless - Listen to it!

The shoegaze genre has a pretty much univerally agreed-upon "Big 3" records, the most prominent and influential of which being My Bloody Valentine's Loveless, which is undoubtedly the #1 starting place if you're looking to check out shoegaze for yourself. It's the darling of the genre and of internet music nerdom in general for a reason.

Loveless is the second studio album by English-Irish rock band My Bloody Valentine. It was released on 4 November 1991 in the United Kingdom by Creation Records and in the United States by Sire Records. The album was recorded over a two-year period between 1989 and 1991, with vocalist and guitarist Kevin Shields leading the recording sessions and experimenting with guitar tremolo techniques and tuning systems, samplers, and meticulous production methods. The band cycled through nineteen different studios and many engineers during the album's prolonged recording, with its production cost rumoured to have reached £250,000.

Preceded by the EPs Glider (1990) and Tremolo (1991), Loveless peaked at number 24 on the UK Albums Chart and was widely praised by critics for its sonic innovations and Shields's "virtual reinvention of the guitar". However, after its release, Creation Records owner Alan McGee removed the band from the label, as he found Shields too difficult to work with, a factor alleged to have contributed to the label's eventual bankruptcy. My Bloody Valentine struggled to record a follow-up to the album and broke up in 1997, and Loveless was their last full-length release until MBV in 2013.

Since its release, Loveless has been widely cited by critics as one the greatest albums of the 1990s, a landmark work of the shoegazing subgenre, and as a significant influence on various subsequent artists. In 2012, it was reissued as a two-CD set, including remastered tracks and a previously unreleased half-inch analogue tape version, and peaked on several international charts. In 2013, Loveless was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry.

Minor Album: Vyva Melinkolya - Vyva Melinkolya - Listen to it!

This one is a shoegaze record which lies a little more on the dream pop / ethereal side of the genre than Loveless, and is my personal album of the year for 2018 so far by a longshot. I would suggest this for anyone who wants to to live in that wonderful dreamy yet noisy middle ground. The artist is also nonbinary, and while I can't speak for everyone, I find that this speaks to gender dysphoria in a way that only the best shoegaze can.

Here's the place to discuss your thoughts on the records, your history with them or the artists, and basically talk about whatever you want to that goes along with Loveless and Vyva Melinkolya! Remember that this is intended to be a slow moving thing, feel free to take your time and comment at any point in the week!

Again, if you'd like to stream or buy the albums, they can be found on most platforms here (Loveless) and here (Vyva Melinkolya).

Releases of the week 8/12/2018 - 14/12/2018

Featured Release

Charlotte Gainsburg - Take 2 - EP (Art Pop, Synth Pop)

"Charlotte Gainsbourg has announced a new EP called Take 2. The five-track project, which features her cover of Kanye West’s “Runaway,” is out December 14 via Because Music. Today, she’s shared the EP’s first song “Such a Remarkable Day.” Check it out below with a video of Gainsbourg’s live performances.
Take 2 is produced by Frank Ocean collaborator SebastiAn and mixed by Tom Elmhirst. See the artwork below. Last year, Gainsbourg released Rest, which featured on Pitchfork’s “50 Best Albums of 2017.”

Source: Pitchfork

Listen to single

Stream

Other Notable Relases

Kodak Black - Dying To Live (Hip Hop, Trap)

Listen to single
Stream

Vic Mensa - Hooligans EP (Conscious Hip Hop)

Listen to single
Stream

$ilkMoney - *I Hate My Life and I Really Wish People Would Stop Telling Me Not To * (Hip Hop, Trap)

Listen
Stream

Feel free to discuss or feature any and all other releases in the comments below

Discussion Points

Have you listened to any of these releases?
What are your thoughts?
What are you looking forward to listen to?
What have you enjoyed from these artists in the past?

// All feedback on this format welcome below.

Whom couldn't make it today so here I am with the weekly post.

What have you been listening to this week? You don't need to do a 6000 word review if you don't want to, but please write something!

Feel free to give recs or discuss anything about each others' listening habits.

You can make a chart if you use last.fm:

http://www.tapmusic.net/lastfm/

Remember that linking directly to your image will update with your future listening, make sure to reupload to somewhere like imgur if you'd like it to remain what you have at the time of posting.

On the second week of the new format, we're going to try out themes based on periods of time, this time being the year of 1992. Themes, both years like this one or whatever else you think would work well for the listening club, can be suggested in this thread or if you join the unofficial Tildes Discord server in the #listening-club channel.

Essential Album: Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92 - Listen!

While a lot of excellent and long-lasting work was released in 1992, Selected Ambient Works 85-92 stands out as one of the most influential and has stood the test of time as well as any of them. As much as everyone hates the label of "Intelligent Dance Music" (IDM), there's no doubt that SAW is one of the cornerstone records of that genre that has an impact in the world of music at large that can't be ignored.

Selected Ambient Works 85–92 is the debut studio album by the English electronic musician Richard D. James under the pseudonym of Aphex Twin, released as a very limited import in late November 1992 by Apollo Records, an imprint of the more prominent label R&S Records, and later widely in February 1993. The 1992 LP was James' third release overall, and collected tracks dating back as early as 1985. An analogue remaster was released in 2006, and a digital remaster in 2008.

Selected Ambient Works 85–92 received widespread acclaim and has been characterised as a landmark of electronica, ambient music, and IDM. It was followed by Selected Ambient Works Volume II (1994). On the week ending 27 September 2014, the album entered at #30 in the UK Dance Albums Chart after the release of his 2014 album Syro.

Widely regarded by critics as one of the pioneering works in early IDM and modern electronic music, retrospective reviews mention its influence on electronic artists. Warp Records refers to it as "the birthplace and the benchmark of modern electronic music" and has stated that "every home should have a copy." In 2003, the album was placed #92 in "NME's 100 Best Albums" poll. Nine years later, it was named the greatest album of the 1990s by FACT Magazine. The album was also featured in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Minor Album: Divine Styler - Spiral Walls Containing Autumns of Light - Listen!

This is a strange one, possibly the strangest hip hop album released as of 1992. It's so disjointed and all over the place that instead of describing it myself, I'll steal the descriptors from RateYourMusic: "Islamic, psychedelic, anxious, cryptic, conscious, abstract, introspective, surreal, eclectic, male vocals, avant-garde, noisy, spiritual."

Spiral Walls Containing Autumns of Light is the second album by hip hop artist Divine Styler, released in 1992 on Giant Records. This album marked a significant change in Divine Styler's musical direction, incorporating a much broader range of styles and influences than 1989's Word Power. Despite the album's unusual style, it was actually released by a major label but, perhaps inevitably, failed to sell as well as record executives expected. Although the album was largely regarded as a commercial failure, it has since developed a large cult following. Styler was signed to Giant because of Ice-T’s relationship with Warner Bros. Records.

The album is notoriously experimental—Allmusic referred to the album as being like '"The Residents meets Funkadelic"—and takes influence from a wide variety of music genres such as hip hop, rock, electronic, funk and even elements of spoken word and noise.

The majority of the album was produced and arranged by Divine Styler himself, which included him performing and processing all of the vocals, playing the guitar, drums (and drum programming), and keyboards, among other instruments. Due to the artist's dominance over the album's direction, it is generally regarded as a very introspective and personal album.

Here's the place to discuss your thoughts on the records, your history with them, the artists, or music in 1992 in general and basically talk about whatever you want to that goes along with Selected Ambient Works 85-92 and Spiral Walls Containing Autumns of Light! Remember that this is intended to be a slow moving thing, feel free to take your time and comment at any point in the week!

Again, if you'd like to stream or buy the albums, they can be found on most platforms here (Selected Ambient Works 85-92) and here (Spiral Walls Containing Autumns of Light).

What have you been listening to this week? You don't need to do a 6000 word review if you don't want to, but please write something!

Feel free to give recs or discuss anything about each others' listening habits.

You can make a chart if you use last.fm:

http://www.tapmusic.net/lastfm/

Remember that linking directly to your image will update with your future listening, make sure to reupload to somewhere like imgur if you'd like it to remain what you have at the time of posting.

This week let's share some of those favorite tracks that you don't usually advertise to other people - the guilty pleasures. The ones that tend to make music critics and other music lovers cringe, and garner raised eyebrows from your friends and family. We've all got them hiding in our playlists.

Thanks @ainar-g for the topic suggestion. Feel free to suggest topics for upcoming threads in the comments, and happy listening. :)

Last week's thread on uplifting earworms.