A clumsy name for an art-damaged offshoot of psychedelia, shoegaze is guitar rock that’s heavily processed with effects pedals and recognizable by its distinctive lack of solos and traditional song structures.  Despite being an obscure artifact of ‘80s UK indie, its sonic textures continue to be heard in alternative rock (SMASHING PUMPKINS, GARBAGE) dream pop and black metal (BEACH HOUSE, DEAFHAVEN) in the years that followed.

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INFLUENCES

KEY ALBUMS

DREAM POP

NOISE ROCK

NOISE POP

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ACID ROCK

AMBIENT

Gossamer art rock or chainsaw cacophony? The shoegaze sound spans a broad spectrum of guitar music. Tap the buttons to learn more

#8

1991

Tap the cover for details

COSMICDUST

FLEETING JOYS

PINKSHINYULTRA BLAST

DESPONDENT TRANSPONDER

MY BLOODY VALENTINE

HAPPY SONGS FOR  HAPPY ZOMBIES

SERENA MANEESH

2009

#9

SM-2: ABYSS IN  B-MINOR

1992

LOVELESS

THE ECSTASY OF ST THERESA

2010

MEDICINE

SUSURRATE

LOVESLIESCRUSHING

SHOT FORTH SELF LIVING

#10

BLOWEYELASHWISH

LILYS

1993

IN THE PRESENCE OF NOTHING

FLYING SAUCER ATTACK

#1

KEY RELEASES

SNOW NOISE ASSEMBLAGE

This issue focuses on the noisier side of the shoegaze spectrrum, so there won’t be any Slowdive or Ride here. Apologies.

#2

#3

2006

#4

#6

#7

#5

SHOEGAZE

Swipe

Journeys into Psychedelic Distortion

#10

NO. 2: ABYSS IN B-MINOR

SERENA-MANEESH

S-M draw from their twin muses of krautrock and post-punk to create a swirling, dark cauldron of modern shoegaze.

FULL REVIEW

2010

FENDER Jazzmaster

REVIEW

AMPLIFIERS

The menacing, fuzzed-out bass that kicks off album opener ‘Ayisha Abyss’ lets you know this isn’t your average guitar worship record. Its hypnotic, throbbing percussion makes an immediate, visceral impact that’s felt beyond its 8-minute run time, peaking just as the record transitions effortlessly into the bright noise pop of ‘I Just Want to See Your Face’.

FENDER Bandmaster Reverb MARSHALL Bluesbreaker Amp (1960s)

Rather than Xerox the sound of My Bloody Valentine  note for note, S-M draw from their twin muses of krautrock and post-punk, resulting in the sprawling 8-minute gothic-tinged opener, “Ayisha Abyss”.  “Reprobate!” and “Melody for Jaana” are straight out of the Loveless playbook, with the latter being especially reminiscent of MBV’s “Sometimes”' downcast, slowly-strummed sheets of white noise. “Blow Yr Brains in the Mourning Rain” crosses the Jesus and Mary Chain with the caustic psychedelia of The Stooges, while closer “Magdalena” is parts gossamer dreampop and and Nico-channeling icy chamber pop.  An excellent album weaving together disparate influences in a way that simply would not have worked if the band were content to play it safe with only the faithful mimicry of their idols.

AUDIO

#01 - AYISHA ABYSS

#1 AYISHA ABYSS (audio sample)

GUITARS

EFFECTS PEDALS

DIGITECH Digiverb ROLAND RE-201 Space Echo VEXTER Fuzz Factory PRO-CO RAT Vintage x2 AUSTONE Soul-o-Stomp DEATH BY AUDIO  Harmonic Transformer DEATH BY AUDIO Total Sonic Annihilation

GEAR

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GUITAR

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HAPPY SONGS FOR HAPPY ZOMBIES

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2009

PINKSHINYULTRABLAST

 #9

Candied melodies and gorgeous guitar tones coated with feedback make for a thoroughly entertaining 14-minute EP.

#3 HONEYBEE (audio sample)

FENDER Mustang FENDER Musicmaster (late 1970s) FERNANDEZ Jazz Bass

PLAY/PAUSE

DEVI EVER Shoegazer STRYMON Bigsky STRYMON Timeline STRYMON El Capistan STRYMON Reverb

A 7-minute excursion into dreamy guitar bliss-scapes, "Bird Cries” originally generated buzz in 2005 when it was uploaded on file-sharing networks titled as “MBV Demo New”. While it was ultimately discovered to be completely unrelated to MY BLOODY VALENTINE, this clever bit of guerilla marketing  introduced us all to this gorgeous piece, heavy with melancholic longing. 

This St. Petersburg collective named themselves after a 2005 release by noise maestro Scott Cortez’s side project Astrobrite. Their debut EP however cribs directly from the classic shoegaze sound of the early 1990s: wispy, amorphous female vocals not unlike Alison’s Halo floating over dense waves of guitar distortion and reverb. While a number of nu-gazer bands pick a particular tempo and stick with it (usually going with the ethereal or aggressive route), Pinkshinyultrablast pick both. The overdriven guitars of “Deerland” give way to the C86-style jangling guitars of “Honeybee”, which nonetheless still manages to include the airplane hangar –levels of echoing guitar whoosh that pops up throughout the EP.  As debut releases go, PSB certainly set a high water mark here; candied melodies and gorgeous guitar tones that are coated (as opposed to slathered) with feedback make for a thoroughly entertaining 14 minutes.

2006

Among the canon of Loveless-coattail-riding shoegaze records of the 2000s, Despondent Transponder is a predictable, but otherwise welcome addition.

DESPONDENT TRANSPONDER

 #8

#4 SATELLITE (audio sample)

Fleeting Joys mercifully aren’t shy about what they want this record to sound like: the shimmering, reverbed outro on the opener “The Breakup” is impressively Kevin Shields-esque in its subtle control of distortion pedals.  "Young Girls’ Fangs" is similar, a two-minute cocoon of hazy distortion with the COCTEAU TWINS’-style wordless vocals buried under slabs of muffled feedback. People fond of “To Here Knows When” will either love or hate “Magnificent Oblivion”, as bassist Rorika does her best Bilinda Butcher impression over the tremolo-bended reverse reverbed guitars.   Among the canon of Loveless-coattail-riding shoegaze records of the 2000s, Despondent Transponder is a predictable, but otherwise welcome addition.

Like running underwater, the initial rapid-fire guitar riiffs on ‘Satellite’ are masterfully converted into a viscous mix of distorted overdubs, a la "Isn’t Anything"-era MY BLOODY VALENTINE. 

SNOW NOISE ASSEMBLAGE

A nom de plume for Japanese solo artist Y.A.F, Cosmicdust never played live and only released this record and one further EP before disappearing. 

 #7

#2 BIRD CRIES (audio sample)

SNOW NOISE ASSEMBLY

Snow Noise Assemblage features a wealth of Lovesliescrushing-esque formless noise soundscapes, such as on “Breath” but they also change things up with rapid fire noisepop such as on  “Plastic Toy”. With the Slowdive-influenced “Bird Cries”, they nail the soaring shoegaze epic in the way “Black Metallic” (CATHERINE WHEEL) or “In Yr Room” (AIRIEL) did. 

A 7-minute excursion into dreamy guitar bliss-scapes, "Bird Cries” originally generated buzz in 2005 when it was circulating on file-sharing networks titled “MBV Demo New”. While it was ultimately discovered to be completely unrelated to MY BLOODY VALENTINE, this clever bit of guerilla marketing  introduced us all to this gorgeous piece of guitar epiphany that's heavy with melancholic longing. 

FLYING SAUCER ATTACK

FLYING SAUCER ATTACK

Cosmic shoegaze that dabbles in tribal krautrock rhythms, rustic sonic interludes, and giant waves of distortion

 #6

“Pastoral psychedelia” is certainly an unassuming way of saying “folk-inflected space rock covered in sheets of shrieking feedback and cavernous echo”. Flying Saucer Attack feels like a spiritual sibling of sorts to Bailter Space's  record Robot World (also 1993), a nervy soundtrack for a dystopian future. But where BS’ sense of dread is built on its uncertainty about the unknown, FSA’s focuses on the introspective solitude of late night stargazing, with guitarist Dave Pearce’s BOSS DS-1 pedal deep frying those melodies in distortion.

VOX AC30 2X12 Combo

1993

FENDER Stratocaster (Japanese Copy)

As one of the breakout stars of the nascent Britpop scene, SUEDE’s glam-rock stomp was for fans of MORRISSEY and T-REX. FSA

BOSS DS-1 Distortion BOSS DD-3 Digital Delay BOSS DM-2 Analog Delay

#09 THE DROWNERS (SUEDE COVER)

AMPLIFIERS

ECSTASY OF ST THERESA

 #5

Shoegaze from beyond the Iron Curtain, marinating in gothic splendour and white noise. 

SUSURRATE

1992

Using borrowed Marshall amps from the Prague Music Centre, The Ecstasy put out a record of dense, grinding epics that interwove the slabs of white noise with the upbeat noise-pop of early MY BLOODY VALENTINE EPs. The fantastic closer “Absinth” is an example of this mashup, while the gothic-tinged ballads like “Swoony” and “Seven” carry a doomed glamor that is one part COCTEAU TWINS and two parts Children of God-era SWANS.

This monstrously discordant 7-minute epic sets a high water mark for melancholic shoegaze. Beyond the sheets of drone are  Irna Libowitz’ mournful vocals that feel like pseudo-religious chants. The song is a visceral experience, only calming down towards the end with a gorgeous ambient guitar coda.   

#2 SWOONY (audio sample)

A shimmering palette of ultra-ethereal noise that permeates every aural channel with a glaze of gothic guitar beauty. 

BLOWEYELASHWISH

 #4

Bloweyelashwish is steeped in an inescapably captivating and utterly unique melancholy that the rest of the shoegaze genre has never truly managed to reproduce. From the brooding ambience of “Plume” to the anthemic wall of sound of “Babysbreath”, no two tracks sound alike. The 20 tracks aren’t discrete songs so much as semi-instrumental, dreamlike soundscapes, with Melissa Arpin's choir-like voice lending the only detectable hint of human warmth amidst a storm of surreal distortion.  This would be LLC’s sole foray into Loveless-style shoegaze, as future albums would focus on a more ambient sound. Their noisier side would be revived on guitarist Scott Cortez’ future side project Astrobrite.

#10 MOINEXQUISITEWALLFLOWER (audio sample)

ARIAN Octave Pedal Digitech 8 Second Sampler ALESIS Quadraverb GT + Midiverb II OBERHEIM Echo-Plex 12 Second Digital 

EFFECTS

CRATE Dual Channel

FENDER Jaguar 1965 MOSRITE 12 String WURLITZER 6 String KENT 12 String

The glimmering, flanger-drenched sonic waves of “Moinaexquisitewallflower” feel like an aural timelapse of a flower blooming and then dying. There are several ambient interludes scattered across the album with a similar feel, soundtracking either your ascent to heaven (“Sugaredglowing”) or descent into an ocean of translucent, slightly viscous jelly (“Darkglassdolleyes”). 

SHOT FORTH SELF LIVING

Medicine weren’t really spoken of in the same breath as other Creation acts like My Bloody Valentine.  It’s a shame because their mashup of Dinosaur Jr.’s lo-fi garage rock squall and MBV’s extended guitar noise soundscapes makes for quality listening.

 #3

#6 A SHORT HAPPY LIFE (audio sample)

ALESIS Midi-verb III Multi-FX YAMAHA 8-Track Recorder TASCAM Porta 7 Recorder DUNLOP Original CryBaby Wah Pedal

Leaning heavily towards acid-washed experimental noise than stately dreampop, Medicine’s sound was probably closer to the raw aggression of early TELESCOPES, with the shrill vocals replaced by Beth Thomson’s gossamer voice.  The opener “One More” and closer “Christmas Song” are both nine- minute psychedelic suites drenched in distortion that alternates between the crystalline and the chainsaw-esque. “A Short, Happy Life” and “Queen of Tension” run parallel with MBV’s reverse-reverbed best, while ‘Aruca' and ‘Defective’  bury ‘60s pop melodies beneath shards of  tinny, lo-fi distortion. 

FENDER Super Reverb Combo ROLAND JC-120 Jazz Chorus (2x12)

FENDER Mustang 1964 SCHECTER Traditional Electric Guitar

Although clocking in at nearly 7 minutes, this is by far the most accessible song on the album. Guitarist BRAD LANER peels away the layers of white noise to expose a glittering, melancholic pop song that lets Beth Thomson’s vocals really shine. 

 #2

IN THE PRESENCE OF NOTHING

Featuring guitarist Archie Moore of Black Tambourine (no stranger to fuzzy noise pop themselves), the Lilys’ debut splits its sound between melancholic fuzz-drenched dreampop and upbeat noise pop. 

#9 CLAIRE HATES ME (audio sample)

Comparisons to Loveless are well deserved on tracks like ‘There’s No Such Thing as Black Orchids’ with its crunchy, buzzing riff that’s meshed with the woozy, barely-there vocals of guitarist Kurt Heasley. ‘Periscope’’s heavy riffs and improvised guitar bridge offer tantalizing glimpse of what might have been if MBV incorporated Daydream Nation’s atonal extended jams into their sounds.  While the MBV brand of oscillating, dreamlike glaze of distortion persists on every track, there are elements of the thoroughly American ‘90s slacker rock vibe, especially on the poppy closer ‘Claire Hates Me’ and ‘February Fourteenth’ . Loveless cost Creation Records £250,000 to produce thanks to Kevin Shield’s uncompromising perfectionism. It must have caused them no small amount of consternation when the Lilys managed to reverse engineer most of the sound less than a year later for a piddling $1,000. 

Although their debut was quite transparent about its Loveless-aping roots,  the Lilys had a fun side that contrasted sharply with MBV’s arty dissonance.  The pop melodies on 'Claire Hates Me’ are lifted straight from the slacker rock stables of SUPERCHUNK or DINOSAUR JR.

 #1

LOVELESS

MY BLOODY VALENTINE

A magnum opus of art-rock that mixed guitar feedback with dream-like ambience, Loveless made “shoegaze” a recognizable style at a time when alternative rock was breaking through into the mainstream. 

#1 ONLY SHALLOW (audio sample)

1991

VOX Tone Bender ELECTRO HARMONIX Triangle Big Muff BOSS GE-7 Equalizer BOSS DD-7 Digital Delay

MARSHALL JCM-800 VOX AC30 FENDER Dual Showman

A miasma of distended drones and ethereal textures baked into propulsive alternative rock, Loveless was the  seminal record that MBV had been working up to following their humble origins as JESUS AND MARY CHAIN ripoffs. The bear hug of amplfier distortion is tuned down to a gentle embrace on the trance-like ethereality of “To Here Knows When” and “Blown a Wish”.  The vocals are muffled, wispy and far back in the mix all throughout, becoming both an afterthought and an indispensable accoutrement. There are drums, but the patterns and fills are often paced like a dance track, especially on the druggy closer ‘Soon’.  While critical adulation made this the band’s most successful record,the band itself would break up shortly after. Guitarist Kevin Shields' relentless perfectionism led to enormous cost overruns, forcing Creation Records to drop them from the label.  The band dissolved in 1997, after several barren years at Island Records attempting to produce a followup. After reuniting in 2008, a successor finally arrived in the form of  M B V in 2013. 

FENDER Jaguar FENDER Jazzmaster IBANEZ Jazzmaster Copy

The dut-dut-dut-dut of the drums that kick off this song provide next to no warning of the fuzz vortex that envelopes you immediately after. The guitars float in near-suspended animation, but oscillate at a perfect pop-song frequency that demands to be heard at full volume. It’s a style that carries over to the punchy rockers “When You Sleep” and “What You Want”. 

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Robin Guthrie’s alien, cavernous guitar notes, intertwined with Elizabeth Fraser’s equally 

otherworldly, operatic vocals  brought a sense of order and trancelike beauty to a genre that might otherwise have ended up as a dour mishmash of post-punk and gothic moping.

DREAM POP

The marriage of effects pedal trickery and amplifier feedback needed one final tweak; the ethereal vocals and guitar soundscapes of the Cocteau Twins. 

PLAY

COCTEAU TWINS CRUSHED 4AD, 1987

NOISE POP

If an alchemist threw records from the Beach Boys, the Velvet Underground and The Cramps into a blender, they’d get three now- unusable records but one glittering copy of Psychocandy. 14 tracks 

THE JESUS & MARY CHAIN TASTE THE FLOOR BLANCO Y NEGRO, 1985

of bouncy ‘60s pop ditties absolutely slathered in guitar feedback. The sound engineer was frequently locked out of the mixing room so as to not clean up the sound, so you know it’s got to be good.   

NOISE ROCK

Largely a ‘fuck you’ release from Lou Reed to his label, this 64-minute LP of voiceless tape machine feedback would sound positively groundbreaking in light of what Spacemen 3 and The Jesus and Mary Chain would release in the following decade.

If the Velvet Underground & Nico convinced a generation of aimless youths to pick up a guitar, Metal Machine Music got them to mimic the sound of made-in-USSR vaccum cleaners. 

LOU REED METAL MACHINE MUSIC PT. 1 RCA, 1973