Suggestions
Suggestions
Shoegaze puts the guitar sound itself near the centre of the song. Long riffs, distortion, feedback and sustained chords can merge into a dense wash around melody and vocals, sometimes making individual instruments hard to separate. The same basic approach can end up loud and abrasive, soft and dream-pop adjacent, or stretched toward slowcore and post-rock.
The first wave came out of British indie rock around the late 1980s and early 1990s. My Bloody Valentine became the central early reference, with Ride, Lush and Chapterhouse among the bands that developed their own versions. The Jesus and Mary Chain, Cocteau Twins and Dinosaur Jr. were important earlier influences.
On IDIOTEQ, the geography is much wider. Tashkent’s elbowsway emerged as one of the city’s first shoegaze voices. OutControlJoys came to the style from Nepal’s hardcore roots. Lorient’s Trainfantome made it dirtier, while Milan’s No Pine Mall work closer to post-rock.
Manchester’s Surfing Pointers moved from lo-fi shoegaze toward experimental slowcore. Mississippi’s Kicking brought grunge, doom and sludge into the same space. Brooklyn’s Spirits of Leo connect back to post-punk.