My Intro to Shoegaze
Finally finished the shoegaze recs you guys gave me back in mid April. Here's what I think of them. |
| 1 |  | Hartfield
True Color, True Lie
Rec'd by sixdegrees
I like this a lot and is on my wishlist. Not as noisy but still undoubtedly gaze. Strong 4/5
Favorite Track: A Sorrowful Heartland |
| 2 |  | La Casa al Mare
This Astro
Rec'd by sixdegrees
I remember liking this upon the first few listens but have had no desire to come back to it. Spacey atmosphere was pretty cool and absolutely love the artwork. Light 3.5/5
Favorite Track: Sunflowers |
| 3 |  | Serena Maneesh
Serena-Maneesh
Rec'd by sixdegrees
Not a huge huge fan of the more indie influenced gaze stuff I heard, but it's still a 3.5/5.
Favorite Track: Sapphire Eyes High |
| 4 |  | Lilys
In the Presence of Nothing
Rec'd by sixdegrees
Probably my favorite shoegaze album I've heard so far. Similar to Loveless in many ways but this just does a much better job keeping me engaged. Plus I think there's a little more variation throughout. My review for this is taking way too long to finish. 4.5/5
Favorite Track: There's No Such Thing as Black Orchids, The Way Snowflakes Fall |
| 5 |  | The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa
Susurrate
Rec'd by sixdegrees
Would say this is also very similar to Loveless... but again I think this is better. The album is just under forty minutes, and I feel that is probably the perfect length for a gaze album. Close to perfect balance between the noisy and poppy elements. 4.5/5
Favorite Track: Ice Cream Star |
| 6 |  | Slowdive
Souvlaki
Rec'd by Hellscythe
I had pretty high expectations going into this since this is a bona fide classic, and they were somewhat met. A little too dreamy for my tastes but I think it's still executed well. Who knows, this might grow. 4/5
Favorite Track: Souvlaki Space Station |
| 7 |  | Whirr
Distressor
Whirr discography rec'd by hal1ax
Distressor is one of the recs I listened to the most. Really dig that EP. As for their two full lengths, I find those to be two of the most mehh gaze albums I've listened to. They are pretty much carbon copies of Distressor but devoid of anything interesting.
Distressor rating: 4/5
Pipe Dreams & Sway: Light 3/5s
Favorite Track: Meaningless |
| 8 |  | Lovesliescrushing
Bloweyelashwish
Rec'd by hal1ax
My first taste of the more ambient side of shoegaze. No drums or bass. Has some great moments but I struggled to stay attentive while listening to this, pretty much the reason why I've held off on diving into ambient. There isn't any moments on here that I would consider bad or unnecessary though. 3.3/5 |
| 9 |  | Pale Saints
The Comforts of Madness
Rec'd by hal1ax
I honestly can't remember too much about this album but I remember liking it. 3.5/5
Favorite Track: True Coming Dream |
| 10 |  | The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa
Pigment
Rec'd by hal1ax
For a 13 minute EP, 'Ecstacy' gave it their all here. High quality throughout, Found myself just listening to it three times in a row just to make it feel like a full album. 4/5.
Favorite Track: Square Wave |
| 11 |  | Swervedriver
Mezcal Head
Rec'd by hal1ax
Shoegaze with an obvious alt rock/grunge influence, or maybe it's the other way around? Idk. It may not sound very appealing but it's executed very very well on this album. Need to get off my ass and buy this. 4.5/5
Favorite Track: Duress |
| 12 |  | Kitchens Of Distinction
Strange Free World
Rec'd by AnimalsAsSummit
Not exactly the best gaze ever like ScaleTheLeaders says, but it's close. Would probably make it in my top five shoegaze if I tried to make that list right now. Think the poppy stuff is executed to near perfection. 4.2/5
Favorite Track: Polaroids |
| 13 |  | The Verve
A Storm in Heaven
Rec'd by YetAnotherBrick
Absolutely love this album, from the atmosphere to the vocals to the guitar tones to the psychedelic tendencies. Can see this possibly becoming a 5 one day. 4.5/5
Favorite Track: The Sun, the Sea |
| 14 |  | Asobi Seksu
Citrus
Rec'd by YetAnotherBrick
Can't really remember much about this album but I gave it a 4 so I must have thought this was really good, even though I give everything a 4.
Favorite Track: Strawberries |
| 15 |  | Chapterhouse
Whirlpool
Rec'd by YetAnotherBrick
"Can't really remember much about this album but I gave it a 4 so I must have thought this was really good, even though I give everything a 4." [2]
Favorite Track: Breather |
| 16 |  | Mallets
Replaced Tiles
Rec'd by Yet Another Brick
Similar to Bloweyelashwish, while not being anything necessarily bad, the ambient nature of this album didn't hold my attention very well, although it had it's moments. 3.3/5 |
| 17 |  | My Bloody Valentine
Isn't Anything
Rec'd by worthlessscab
Since this had the MBV name tag, I payed a little bit closer attention to this album compared to the others on this list. In conclusion, I was a bit underwhelmed. I still think it's good and it might grow on me, but there were plenty of moments on this album where I just became bored and wishing I was listening to Loveless instead. 3.4/5
Favorite Track: Sueisfine |
| 18 |  | Paik
Satin Black
Rec'd by worthlessscab
This album is huge in almost every aspect. Probably the most spacey/posty thing on this list, Satin Black never fails to put me into some kind of trance where I just stare at my ceiling for tracks at a time. The tracks being as long as they are can make the album feel tedious and make for some tiresome listens when not in the right mood though. 4.2/5
Favorite Track: Jayne Field |
| 19 |  | Astrobrite
Whitenoise Superstar
Rec'd by GmemberKills
Liked the way the electronicy elements were incorporated onto this album, but I find this album to be twenty minutes too long. 3.5/5
Favorite Track: Vanillablue |
| 20 |  | Alison's Halo
Eyedazzler 1992-1996
Rec'd by GmemberKills
For a 70 minute shoegaze album, I thought it made good use of it's length. Need to give this a couple more listens but so far it's a 4/5.
Favorite Track: Snowbleed |
| 21 |  | Autumn's Grey Solace
Within the Depths of a Darkened Forest
Rec'd by bach
Beautiful album. Thinking about bumping this. 4.25/5
Favorite Track: Cast to the Seas in Stroms |
| 22 |  | Ride
Nowhere
Rec'd by Idolatrous
Need to give this some more listens but nothing have popped out at me just yet. 3.4/5
Favorite Track: Polar Bear |
| 23 |  | Yo La Tengo
Painful
Rec'd by Idolatrous
Again, not too much of a fan of the indie kind of stuff. Found this kind of bland. 3/5
Favorite Track: Big Day Coming |
| 24 |  | LSD and the Search for God
LSD and the Search for God
Rec'd by CL0VER
Pretty good for what it is, nothing too special in my eyes. 3.5/5
Favorite Track: Backwards |
| 25 |  | Sullen Ray
BLUE MINOR
Rec'd by CL0VER
Found this EP devoid of anything interesting but wouldn't say it's bad or anything. 3/5 |
| 26 |  | Trespassers William
Having
Rec'd by Ashen
My first taste of anything that resembles slow core. "Beautiful album. Thinking about bumping this. 4.25/5" [2]
Favorite Track: Low Point |
| 27 |  | Cranes
Wings of Joy
Rec'd by Ashen
My first experience with anything goth. Found this kind of samey for the most part with some cool moments sprinkled in. 3.1/5
Favorite Track: Watersong |
| 28 |  | Band of Susans
Love Agenda
Rec'd by NeroCorleone80
A bit too noisy for my tastes, but handled exceptionally well. 3.4/5
Favorite Track: Birthmark |
| 29 |  | The Jesus and Mary Chain
Psychocandy
Rec'd by aoz007
"A bit too noisy for my tastes" [2]. I may be being a little unfair to this album though, the first time I listened to it was yesterday morning and I had just gotten my wisdom teeth pulled the afternoon before and I was irritated af at everything. Gave this a 3 first listen but I need to revisit this a couple more times. |
| 30 |  | Clairvoyence
The Horse in the Bookcase
CHECK MY EP http://clairvoyence.bandcamp.com/album/the-horse-in-the-bookcase |
| 31 |  | Deftones
Saturday Night Wrist
Just had to shoe horn Deftones into this list, that's how you know I made this list.
Jk. Well, my main purpose for listening to all of these aside from my desire to get into shoegaze was to figure out what these shoegaze elements were in Deftones' sound, and I honestly don't really hear it really at all :(... Well except on a few tracks from this album but again it's very very subtle. |
| 32 |  | My Bloody Valentine
Loveless
And we finally get to the crown jewel of the genre, fucking Loveless. When I first heard this when I joined sput I was completely blown away. After going through all these recs though, this album has kind of lost it's wow factor for me, yet, I think I have found a stronger appreciation for it, seeing as it influenced every album in the genre post 1992 in some way/shape or form. I still really like this album though, and some of the tracks on here are unmatched by anything on this list. 4.2/5
Favorite Tracks: To Hear Knows When, When You Sleep, Sometimes |
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