Shoe gazing (Full Version)

All Forums >> [Fun] >> Music



Message

PHmosh1 -> Shoe gazing (5/16/2008 7:44:16 AM)

Is anyone familiar with the so-called "Shoe Gazing" genre of music. The only band I know of in this style is My Bloody Valentine. I'd like some suggestions for more bands of this type.



shemaromans -> RE: Shoe gazing (5/16/2008 10:10:58 AM)

American Analog Set fits that genre pretty well. They're different from My Bloody Valentine, though. More keyboard driven.



miasma -> RE: Shoe gazing (5/16/2008 1:59:58 PM)

I reckon it's pretty obvious from my screenname I'm familiar with the genre.

The most common bands, in addition to MBV, include Ride and Slowdive. There's not really a lot of them.

Other bands similiar to, but associated with shoe gazing include the Jesus and Mary Chain and one of my all-time favourite bands, the Cocteau Twins. The Stone Roses...Ultra Vivid Scene,

What are you looking for? Just fuzzy, distorted, loud guitar at any speed? Just slow? Harder rock?

Smashing Pumpkins, Dinosaur Jr. and Lush would fall into the latter category. There's a newer band I just heard of this week, the Silversun Pickups.

There was a Christian group back then, Morella's Forest (not shoe gazers, just similiar).

This article has more names.



WHTim -> RE: Shoe gazing (5/16/2008 5:07:54 PM)

Early Starflyer 59



Nakedprey -> RE: Shoe gazing (5/16/2008 6:14:50 PM)

Not too many CCMers have done it in its purest form. But yeah, the first 2 Starflyer 59 records are VERY shoegazer-ish. The Choir's Speckled Bird album had a noisey shoegaze feel, but in a poppy sense. The Prayer Chain flirted with the sound on their Mercury album. There's also the first Luxury record Amazing and Thank You. The Lassie Foundation had some shoegazer-ish influences. The Violet Burning had a self titled mainstream record released in 1996 that had a lot of shoegaze/wall of guitar. And yeah, the first 3 Morella's Forest records.

As far as mainstream bands go, check out Chapterhouse, early Ride, Slowdive, Curve, etc. New band Serena Maneesh is more noise rock, but has some shoegaze. Check out their song "Drain Cosmetics". Sounds very much like something My Bloody Valentine would do.

You might also check out The Jesus and Mary Chain and Cocteau Twins. Those bands were big influences on that genre. In fact, it was often asserted that shoegazer music was basically a fusion of The Jesus and Mary Chain's noisiness crossed with the Cocteau Twins' dreaminess.



ravneskrik -> RE: Shoe gazing (5/17/2008 7:13:51 AM)

It's amazing to see this genre come back like this ... I remember it from the early / mid '90s when it was just a part of the still alternative 'alternative' scene.

Personally I am really liking the 'shoegaze black metal' scene the likes of Xasthur, Wrath of the Weak ...etc.



uncabeeil -> RE: Shoe gazing (5/17/2008 9:16:09 AM)

Help out an old man here, why the heck is it called "shoe gazing"???



markb77 -> RE: Shoe gazing (5/17/2008 9:36:54 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: uncabeeil

Help out an old man here, why the heck is it called "shoe gazing"???


Now I'm no expert on this type of music - some Starflyer 59 is about the only thing I listen to that comes close - but I believe it's because the singer typically keeps his/her head down while performing. Much too overwhelmed by the trials of life to look at the audience, you know.



PHmosh1 -> RE: Shoe gazing (5/19/2008 7:54:53 AM)

Thanks for all the suggestions! To be honest I only have one album from MBV, Loveless, so I can't claim to be well-versed in the genre. I do love that CD though! It has the coolest vibe!

I recently bought The Glorious Unseen's new CD (see other thread), and they seem to have a heavy "shoe-gaze" influence. That's what piqued my curiosity about more bands of this type.

Again, thanks for the suggestions, and I welcome any more you may have.



miasma -> RE: Shoe gazing (5/19/2008 9:14:20 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: uncabeeil

Help out an old man here, why the heck is it called "shoe gazing"???


From the article I linked to earlier:

By 1993, the ’shoegazer’ (allmusic.com traces the term to: “the bands’ motionless performing style, where they stood on stage and stared at the floor while they played”)...

Not just the lead singer, but the whole band, and the audience. Unless you're into the technical work, there's not much to watch.



uncabeeil -> RE: Shoe gazing (5/19/2008 9:18:59 AM)

Oh, I've seen lots of shows like that. Back in the 60's we used a different term, "Boring". [;)]



miasma -> RE: Shoe gazing (5/19/2008 9:25:29 AM)

[8|]

There's also a lot of pedals involved, which we always thought made a bit more sense (they had to stare at the floor to see which to step on) than the gist the news liked to give it.



uncabeeil -> RE: Shoe gazing (5/19/2008 11:02:41 AM)

quote:

I recently bought The Glorious Unseen's new CD (see other thread), and they seem to have a heavy "shoe-gaze" influence.
They sounded a lot like Kutless did on their worship cd, so there's one you might like. It's called "Strong Tower" in case you didn't already know. BTW, thanks for that thread because that Glorious Unseen cd is now on my want list.



Nakedprey -> RE: Shoe gazing (5/19/2008 1:52:37 PM)

The term shoegazing doesn't necessarily mean staring at the floor. It was just a term thrown around because someone saw a band with this dreamy wall of guitar sound and called them shoegazers because they were staring at the ground while playing. I think the band was Ride, but for some reason the name became a genre.

I just listened to Glorious Unseen and there is no shoegaze happening there. I mean, there's some Coldplay-like dreaminess, but no shoegaze as far as I can tell. But I only heard 30 second snippets.

And Kutless, that's about as far from shoegazing as you can get.

Shoegazing to me is a noisy brand of rock where there is a "wall of guitar" sound to where the different guitar sounds are sometimes almost indistinguishable from each other. Although it's typically very loud and distorted, there tends to be a dreamlike quality to the sound. Lots of delays, tremolos, feedback, etc. Sometimes it has that "being played under water" feel about it. Vocals tend to be somewhat buried in the mix. Despite all this, it is normally melodic. It's very rare that a shoegazer band comes off as metallic, but there are some bands that did sound "heavy". The first Starflyer 59 album sounds pretty heavy but it's not metal, same with Swervedriver. It's generally not a slick or accessible sound. It has yet to gain any real commercial acceptance. The closest a popular hit song ever came to sounding shoegazer-ish is that "Zombie" song by The Cranberries.



everythingat -> RE: Shoe gazing (5/19/2008 2:13:55 PM)

This generally covers every aspect of the genre:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shoegazing_musicians



miasma -> RE: Shoe gazing (5/19/2008 4:50:34 PM)

There's a small handful of bands who are genuinely shoe-gazing, musically, and referred to as such. The overwhelming majority of bands on that list are not shoe-gazing bands/music.

It is a good list of bands, though, for the OP to give a try.



PHmosh1 -> RE: Shoe gazing (5/20/2008 7:42:33 AM)

quote:

I just listened to Glorious Unseen and there is no shoegaze happening there. I mean, there's some Coldplay-like dreaminess, but no shoegaze as far as I can tell. But I only heard 30 second snippets.


I don't think they really fall into the category, I just felt they had a heavy shoe-gaze influence.

quote:

This generally covers every aspect of the genre:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shoegazing_musicians


Thanks for the link! Surely I'll find more of what I'm looking for here. [:)]



Page: [1]



Forum Software © ASPPlayground.NET Advanced Edition 2.5 ANSI