Refreshers
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KtM407 said... I'm sorry, what what exactly does shoegaze mean? How do I know when a band is shoegaze? Is it just a dreamy, ambient, drawn-out style? I resorted to dictionary.com and it told me:Main Entry: shoegaze
Part of Speech: verb
Definition: to play a musical instrument while looking at one's shoes, esp. a guitar
I think I like shoegaze but I don't really know... Explain this to me.
ejival said... Shoegazers were the fore runners to your indie Kids - they were the scruffy folk with a bone structure like Shaggy from Scooby Doo and in fact Shaggy may have been the first Shoe Gazer. Most ShoeGaze bands would play their music with a moody Dark attitude - staring at the floor and concentrating on the musical Atmosphere they were creating at the that time instead. The fans of this music could be seen in trench coats, loads of Black wool and messy hair.
Battlex said ... Common musical elements in shoegaze are distortion (aka "fuzzbox"), droning riffs and a "wall of sound" from noisy guitars. Typically, two distorted rhythm guitars are played together to give an amorphous quality to the sound. Although lead guitar riffs were often present, they were not the central focus of most shoegazing songs. Vocals are typically subdued in volume and tone, but underneath the layers of guitars is generally a strong sense of melody.
Blessted said ... The reason all those guitarists and bass players were gazin at their shoes, is because they had to, in order to create those wonderful sound textures while pressing the 'flange', 'echo' and 'digital delay' pedals on the floor. It was supposed to be a putdown and derogatory term for all those bands but for some reason it stuck and ended up staying and baptising a musical scene that always denied itself in being. If you are more interested in it's history, please read Simon Reynolds enthusiastic "Blissed Out" book.
KevinShieldsShoe said ... The name 'shoegazer' was coined in a review in Sounds of a concert by the newly-formed Moose in which singer Russell Yates read lyrics taped to the floor throughout the gig. The term was picked up by the New Musical Express, who used it as a reference to the tendency of the bands' guitarists to stare at their feet (or their effects pedals), seemingly deep in concentration, while playing. Melody Maker preferred the more staid term The Scene That Celebrates Itself, referring to the habit which the bands had of attending gigs of other shoegazing bands, often in Camden, and often moonlighting in each other's bands.
Sampler
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Despite Lush's shambolic live sets, the music press caught on, and 4AD offered them a record deal. Their first three EPs were jangly, swirling affairs, but Cocteau Twin Robin Guthrie's otherworldly production of 1992's 'Spooky' swamped the album in a hazy, golden mire. Their music subsequently became more pop and pristene, but they never manage to shake off the shoegazer fallout, and they dropped out of sync with the times. Their 1994 album 'Split' plummeted in Britain, and Lush were deemed to be failures, has-beens, no-hopers. -- Liz Evans, SelectLush 'De-Luxe'
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Slowdive was founded while its members were still in their teens. After sending in some demo tapes to various labels, they arrived at shoegazers' heaven Creation Records - home to their contemporaries Ride and My Bloody Valentine - in 1990. The group released its debut LP, Just for a Day, in 1991. The band members pushed the envelope for 1993's Souvlaki, a dense and swirling album that is generally considered their masterstroke. 1994 saw them progress in a more ambient, electronica-tinged direction, abandoning some of their shoegazing aesthetics. In 1995, Creation Records dropped Slowdive from their roster. The band called it a day, although two members, Goswell and Halstead, moved on to form Mojave 3.' -- rymSlowdive "Souvlaki Space Station', live '94
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Medicine was a shoegaze/dream pop band from Los Angeles, USA. Formed in 1991 by guitarist and programmer Brad Laner, Medicine was considered the American response to shoegazing bands such as My Bloody Valentine, Ride and Chapterhouse. With a signature guitar tone, created by running Brad Laner’s guitar through a Yamaha 8-track recorder, Medicine’s music managed to distinguish itself from some of the more noisy and ambiguous endeavours of the shoegazing movement. -- last.fmMedicine 'Aruca'
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Catherine Wheel formed in 1990, comprising singer/guitarist Rob Dickinson, guitarist Brian Futter, bassist Dave Hawes, and drummer Neil Sims. Hawes had previously played in a Joy Division-influenced band called Eternal. They took their moniker from the firework known as the Catherine wheel, which in turn had taken its name from the medieval torture device of the same name. The band was often included in the shoegazing scene, characterized by bands that made extensive use of guitar feedback and droning washes of noise, as well as their continuous interaction with extensive amounts of effects pedals on the stage floor. -- WikiCatherine Wheel 'Flower to Hide', live '92
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The debut album by Chapterhouse was one of the finest shoegazer/ dreampop albums, though the little known Reading, U.K. band only made one more supposedly less successful follow up (Blood Music) before breaking up. In their sound, big drums that propel a propulsive rhythm, a jangly layered guitar melody, and of course dreamy vocals that mostly serve as another instrument rather than to elucidate concrete, readily identifiable lyrics. -- sflomanChapterhouse 'Whirlpool'
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In 1989, Jim Reid of The Jesus and Mary Chain heard a copy of Ride's demo that was in the possession of the DJ Gary Crowley, and this led to interest from Mary Chain manager Alan McGee who signed them to his Creation Records label. The band's first album Nowhere was a critical and commercial success, reaching #11 in the UK, and the British media dubbed Ride "The brightest hope" for 1991. In February 1992 the band broke into the UK top 10 with the single "Leave Them All Behind", and the following month saw the release of the band's second album Going Blank Again. The strain within the band was already apparent, guitarist Andy Bell stating "By the time the second album came out we were touring too much. We were tired. We then took time off, but it was too much time off". -- Steve TaylorRide 'Vapour Trail', live '92
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The band who brought the car song into the shoegazer era, Swervedriver was formed in Britain in 1990 by vocalists/guitarists Adam Franklin and Jimmy Hartridge. Initially associated with “shoegazing”, their heavier rock & roll style also related them to the grunge genre coming from the U.S. Pacific Northwest. The band’s mix of storming and swirling guitar experimentation often crossed into psychedelia, coupled with mystical lyrics that often praised the nihilism of sports cars, racing and the open road. -- sodaheadSwervedriver 'Rave Down'
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Ethereal pop band the Pale Saints formed in Leeds, England, in 1987. Categorized within the current shoegaze scene with My Bloody Valentine and Lush, their sound had just about all the features of the subgenre, as well as a bizarre experimental bent. Masters' boyish vocals also stood out, not needing any production treatments to carry a wispy, levitational quality. the band called it quits prior to 1997. -- Lucius KwokPale Saints 'Hunted', live '91
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Nowadays critics argue that Curve were not really shoegaze, but rather the foreparents of the dense, crosshatched pop of the current day band Garbage, and while Curve's influence on Garbage is so obvious as to seem borderline litigious, I say to them "pah, I was there in London at the time. I have the stagediving scars to prove it". While the band became more commercial and suspiciously trend-hopping with every new release, during the height of the shoegaze era, Curve produced a cacophony of noise that still makes our ears bleed. -- HistoryLessonCurve 'Horror Head'
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Moose have been credited by some as being the first band to be called "shoegazers" which was inspired by an early gig of theirs at which Russell Yates read lyrics taped to the floor. Despite a strong critical response, Moose’s albums sold few copies. Not so much underrated as unheard, Moose grew up in Britain's distortion-heavy shoegazing movement of the early '90s but soon shed the fuzzy wash of their compatriots to embrace a clean, acoustic-based style -- inspired by '60s icons Burt Bacharach and Tim Buckley as well as jangle merchants like the Byrds and R.E.M. -- that still relied on the intense guitar effects which characterized the band's early works. -- slowconfetti.comMoose 'Suzanne', live '91
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Boo Radleys became the shoegazer success story in the mid-1990s by riding on the coat-tails of Britpop with the Wake Up! album, which featured among the most commercially successful Britpop albums of 1995. Subsequent albums C'mon Kids and Kingsize saw the band shed the new fans (and record company loyalties) overnight, before splitting up in early 1999, ending a decade together. Martin Carr now records as Brave Captain on Creation Records' Dick Green's Wichita label. -- 3amMagazineBoo Radleys 'Does This Hurt?'
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The British group Cranes were often lumped in with the shoegazers during their early years but were more indebted to the industrial and gothic dream pop spectrums due to the childlike and almost creepy vocals of Alison Shaw and the sometimes brutal sounding backing tracks. The group’s 1991 album “Wings of Joy” received acclaim in Britain and American for its dark tone and Shaw’s distinctive voice. Their followup, “Forever” became known as their became known as their best work with its mix of shoegaze and gothic rock akin to bands like The Cure and Bauhaus yet filtered through a more melodic styling. -- Alan McGeeCranes 'Starblood', live '93
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The Swirlies, a Boston shoegaze band, were founded in 1990. The band's juxtaposition of noisy, chiming guitar and dreamy, floaty pop songs on their first albums, 1992's What to Do About Them mini-LP, and 1993's Blonder Tongue Audio Baton, was often compared to late-period My Bloody Valentine. Blonder Tongue Audio Baton added analogue synths and found sounds to the mix, however, making for sounds reminiscent of musique concrète. After a series of line-up changes, the Swirlies released 1996's They Spent Their Youthful Days in the Glittering World of the Salons, sporting a new singer, Christina Files, and more electronic influences. -- The AgitSwirlies 'Jeremy Parker'
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Progenitors of the shoegazing scene, after the seminal and genius-like Isn't Anything (1988) and Loveless (1991), My Bloody Valentine entered a well-documented and much-mourned period of silence, only emerging briefly in 1996 to contribute a track to a Wire tribute album. Kevin Shields lent his considerable talents to ex-Spacemen 3 frontman Sonic Boom's Experimental Audio Research side project and J.Mascis' post-Dinosaur Jr solo album More Light (2000), as well as taking on production duties on Primal Scream's Xtmntr (2000) and Evil Heat (2002) albums. Debbie Googe, after a year of being a London cabbie, formed Snowpony with Katharine Gifford (ex-Stereolab), who released The Slow Motion Adventures of Snowpony in 1998 and Sea Shanties for Spaceships in 2001. Colm O'Ciosoig is now a member of the Warm Inventions with Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval. -- 3am MagazineMy Bloody Valentine 'When You Sleep', live '91
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A fiercely loved shoegaze band from the early 1990's, Adorable formed in Coventry, England, in 1991. Although generally considered seminal shoegazers, the band often attempted to downplay the genre, despite their being a ferocious noise-pop group featuring the destinctive vocals of Piotr Fijalkowski. The band's unusually brash behavior often led to bad press, and perhaps their ultimate downfall with the fickle English press. The band broke up in 1994. -- Rick TaylorAdorable 'Sunshine Smile'
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Seefeel formed in 1992, when guitarist Mark Clifford and drummer Justin Fletcher met vocalist Sarah Peacock and bassist Darren Seymour. They released their first EPs on the Too Pure label in 1993. Stylistically situated at the intersection of dream pop/shoegaze and ambient electronic/IDM, their music has a distinctive sound. This might have contributed to the band getting a contract with the seminal electronic label Warp Records in 1994. Since 1996, the band has been on an open-ended hiatus. Its members, however, have continued to release new material under different aliases. -- last.fmSeefeel 'industrius', live '94
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Like Catherine Wheel, Revolver were always coincidentally members of the shoegazing set, although the band had more worldlier aspirations. Their second album, 1993's Cold Water Flat (named after the minor US band of the same name, fronted by the brother of Buffalo Tom's Bill Janowitz) attracted favourable reviews. The band did not survive much further past that point however, as vocalist Matt Flint joined with ex-Drop Nineteen Paula Kelley and future Jack Drag frontman John Dragonetti to form Hot Rod, who released the Speed Danger Death album on Caroline that year. Flint later took up bass duties with electronica duo Death in Vegas. -- 3amMagazineRevolver 'Cradle Snatch'
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On their early singles and records, The Telescopes helped forge the sound that would later be termed Shoegazer, but they were by no means somnambulant Brits of a feather. Their songs, although vaguely dreamy, were hardly soothing, and much more in the vein of early Jesus and Mary Chain or Spacemen 3's barely reined cacophony. During their tenure at Creation Records, they gradually stripped away the feedback walls, leaving a psychedelic core smoked over in unexpected layers of jazz. By 1992, the Telescopes had broken away from any tangential connection to shoegazing by becoming a band Marlene Dietrich could take drugs to. -- Pop MattersThe Telescopes 'The Perfect Needle', live '89
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p.s. Hey. Nothing much to say today apart from have the greatest weekends. ** _Black_Acrylic, Serious congrats on getting the DLA income, man. Nice boon. So, how were Chicks on Speed then? Gallery contexts can squash and intimidate bands into either giving something extra or something less official that can pay off surprisingly. I've seen it happen. Did it? ** Bollo, I miss the high concept sitcoms like The Munsters, Batman, Get Smart, Bewitched, The Beverly Hillbillies, etc. that I grew up taking totally for granted. Nowadays, at least in the States, you mostly just get ... what, half-assed and wishy-washy concept shows like Medium or whatever. Darned fine weekend to you. ** David, I have a place in my brain for Tears for Fears, basically the first album though, I guess. Hm, I couldn't find your paean post to 'TSoL'. Where is it? I liked your friend DDS's video, but using Hemingway as the only benchmark is pretty cranky. Well, I did find your dialogue, thankfully. Very nice bit of writing there indeed. Everyone, d.l. and writer and far more David (Kelso) wrote a cool, tight little dialogue that the the wise and briliant Shane (Memoirs of a Heroinhead) and Nick ('Stoopid Slapped Puppies') have lodged in their consistently must-see blog 'sometimes they don't come back', and here it is, and there you go. 'Userlands' ... ah, you're taking me back. Hal Hartley gets referenced here occasionally. He has at least few big fans here in the gang. I haven't seen 'The Book of Life'. I'll find it. I like him, and I love the fact that Bresson is his favorite filmmaker, of course, although I've never fallen hard for his work, I don't know why. ** Oscar B, Oh, that's very good. No news is the best news, right? So, what's up with you and Italy? What do you guys do when you're together? What did you guys do, oh, this weekend, for instance? ** David Ehrenstein, Thanks, David. I figure the Honore film will at least play US festivals or something. Why was Donald Windham vicious? I knew him and his bf Sandy a bit when I lived in NYC, mostly because Tim Dlugos knew and idolized him, and he seemed like an interesting, okay guy. And his fiction is curious, not wildly so, but particular and stylish. Is it the memoirs that are the problem? I've never read them. ** Chris (British), Yeah, you're kind of living in the Pacific Ocean's death row, and it definitely goes out with a flourish. ** Alan, Great about the demo. I hope yesterday's was even stronger. I fear the Israelis are going to be all nicey-nice and play good cop to the Irish ship today and that will be enough to basically kill the story in the US. ** L@rstonovich, Yeah, but someone who spends all that time learning how to play an Aaliyah song on a ukulele can't be totally fascinating, can she? Pretty flimsy use of my marbled swarm there, but I'm just trying to help you out, man, ha ha. ** JoeM, Those were some beautiful Graham lines, right? For what it's worth, that scale model of The Munsters house was actually used/filmed extensively in the horrible Munsters remake TV show because the original set on the Universal Studios lot had long since been converted into a blah looking home/set for other, later sitcoms. I like The Munsters better too. Fred Gwynn was a god, for one thing. ** Killer Luka, Oh, thanks a lot! I actually looked for that book yesterday and couldn't find it. Yum. ** Patrick deWitt, I keep getting these sinus headaches, so I'll go ask the pharmacy for a Neti thing today. Oh, right, I get it on the publishers front. Well, that's even more fucking awesome! Massive congrats to you and to them. Are you working with Dan Halpern at Ecco? ** Davidc, I simply can't imagine you inspiring aggression in and of yourself, so I bet she's just a general hard ass. Well, high hopes you get the job offer so you can choose which mind is yours. ** Christopher/ Mark, You're in LA! A good friend of mine is seeing 'Roaratorio', the lucky dog. How did the first night go? I hope you can get out of downtown. It's fine and all, but ... well, you know. Enjoy, man, and here's hoping against hope it gets a Paris gig. ** Mark Ward, Wow, hey, Mark! Awesome to see you. It's been far too long. Noise music ... that's very interesting, needless to say given my noise adoration plus fannish admiration of you. I'd love one of your records, if you really don't mind. Here my address: c/o Centre International des Recollets, 150 rue du Faubourg St. Martin, 75010 Paris, France. And, yeah, I am very into fire island, AK, so the collab is excellent news too. You're doing great! That's so heartening. And, one more yeah, 'Jerk' is finally breeching Dublin, and cool if you can see it. I'm about 90% sure I won't be able to be there for the shows, but in spirit, for sure. Great to see you! ** Steevee, Will do. I didn't end up going out into Paris and doing the meetings yesterday, but I will today. If the store that I have in mind stocks it, I'll grab one for you. ** Pascal, What's up with the 'life sucks' thing? Share or not as you see fit. Hope it abates straight away. What kind of cake are you baking? I think I've only ever cooked carrot cakes and not for decades. I used to be famous in my circle of friends for my awesome carrot cakes. Or humored possibly. ** Ken Baumann, Thanks, Ken. Nice news is nice. Oh, that thread of testaments to Keanu Reeves' good guy-ness is really, really nice. It would have made a good post, even. In my super-limited dealings with him, he was the total sweetheart. All great and exciting news on your creative front, man. Much buzzing with your name on it going on over here as well. Have you read 'Witz'? I just started it the other day. It does seem as amazing as everyone is saying it is so far. ** The Dreadful Flying Glove, Okay, the minute I can square away the time and dough to cross the channel, we're down for Bekonscot. There's supposed to be some scale model of Paris attraction/ tiny cityscape around here somewhere, and it's not made out of Legos either. If it looks up to speed, I'll trade you guided tours. ** Alex Rose, My psychic powers have transmitted an appropriate form of thanks into your mind. Did you get it? No, I'm pretty sure I won't be going to Dublin, which sucks. It's not out of the question, but I have to do this other thing at exactly that time. I'm trying to finagle being able to go though. ** Justin, Mm, 50 scale porn models. Imagine the possibilities. I'd make a bad psycho, I think. I tried to be a psycho for a while, but my victims thought I was miscast. Oh, yeah, I guess 'God Jr.' is kind of tricky title. I hadn't thought of that. It would really suck if they changed the name, though. Bon weekend. ** Chris, Excellent on the new gig! No, I don't know anything about this Ben person, but maybe he wrote to me at my Aol address. I've been weirdly blocked out of my Aol mailbox for more than a month. God knows what I'm missing. Yeah, the tight budget, I kind of figured. Well, of the three of us, it's least important that I be there for the rebuilding, I guess. And I fear bringing me over is a real budget eater. So, worst comes to worst, I guess you guys could make the piece, and I could consult from here. Obviously, I'd really love to be there, and I hope that can be figured out somehow. I guess just keep me informed of what's what when you talk to Ish, and we can put our heads together and figure out a game plan that meets the financial criteria or something. It would be good to know pretty soon if the August stint is going to happen as planned. Yeah, it all seems awfully vague. ** JW Veldhoen, Big agreement about Larsty's book, yeah. The photographs are madness? Huh? I don't get that. A Banff residency would be cool. Prettiness and quiet everywhere you look. So different, so not conventionally 'you'. ** Postitbreakup, Hey! Mopish love for the straight-identified, yeah. At least the set of rules there are clearer than in the unrequited situation, I guess. But, yeah, urgh, that's a sticky one. Maybe the English Masters degree is the way to go, although if you went the Creative Writing route, you'd have the impetus and peer pressure and so on to write, and I will admit that's my wish, but I think attending university in general is the most important thing you could do for yourself, and not studying writing won't prevent you from writing. Mm, no, I haven't read Lipsky's interview with DFW, I don't think. Where may I find it? I'll try to have a great weekend -- and that wish goes double from me to you -- but all I'm doing right now is working on my novel, and greatness isn't the cards unless trudging successfully counts, and it kind of doesn't. ** Bill, Welcome home aka back, man! ** Justin, That Justin's a perceptive guy, ha ha. Hey, what about your mom quitting smoking and all that! You/she haven't given up already, have you? Maybe saying 'it's horrifying' while grinning like a cheshire cat is right response. Or, in blog terms, uh, 'it's horrible :))))))))))))'. Justin's grandparents freaked out at a few beer bottles? What is this, 1952 or something? I guess to grandparents, it always is. ** 'Stoopid Slapped Puppies', Hey, Nick! You made it back in time. Awesome. If it's any consolation, innocence is a pretty dogged and flexible thing, weirdly. I actually consider myself to be a pretty innocent person, as strange as that may sound, and, if I'm right, my innocence has survived a fuck of a lot of pain and betrayal and cruelty and disappointment and loss and so on, and it's weird how having even one amazing experience or dealing with even one unimpeachably great person can restore the innocence that you had thought was totally trashed and cause you to view the awful things that have happened to you as far more random than you'd believed. I don't know what you've been through. I remain interested to know what happened at any point. I can tell you that the belief in you and love for you from me, from so many people around this place, for instance, is not delusional or foolish or corrupt or dismissable at all. Sometimes, maybe even always, it's important to force yourself not to invent the reasons people why respect and love you, or, on the other hand, why they hurt you. I think when one is an artist or writer who lives heavily in the imagination, that's a particularly hard thing to do. But when you do that, you simultaneously give people more power over you than they actually have and dismiss their importance at the same time. Maybe Shane and your other good 3D friends and your friends from here are right about you. That would be kind of logical. Hm, I'm not sure I'm making a lot of sense, but I think you know what I mean. Nick, I swear to Whoever and Whatever, you're a brilliant artist and a person as good, admirable, and generally fine as anyone I know. If this was a room, a whole lot of people would practically deafen you with similar sentiments spoken in all their many foreign accents. Believe it. ** Okay. It's been a long time, years even, since I turned the blog over to good old Shoegazer. Me, I already love that stuff. Now, it's your turn. See you on Monday.
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