Giving Shoegaze the Boot

I'm not sure shoegaze is exactly what I mean with these bands but they are perfect for staring at things wistfully, k? Anyway, have a listen to the spotify playlist and you'll know what I mean. I have always been a fan of zone-out music when working or having those groundbreaking thoughts when you are walking in the rain and immediately forget when you take your earphones out... But goddarned it, along with old favourites Atlas Sound, Deerhunter and Blonde Redhead, with each passing day the Pitchfork and Hypemachine brigade are championing a new batch of sleepy-eyed, sluggish-melodied ditties with wistful, teen angst lyrics and it's getting a little old frankly...

I've rounded up the best of the bunch recently getting props to save yourself the embarrassment of falling for the Clarks of the shoegaze world and it's contemporaries ;)

Spotify Link: Shoegaze


BEST COAST

An overrated album by a bunch of stoners? There are some shining star tracks though; Boyfriend and The End are great schmoozy, sixties-inspired lullabies but the album can get a little repetitive as a whole. They have done a load of interviews where they just come across as Stoner Central and pretty dull really.

Watch this now:






REAL ESTATE

Beach Comber is a banging track, not on Spotify but worth a buysies. I like this. It even has one of those shaker things that looks like an egg, fucking love those. The guitar on Basement sounds like it's trying to snog itself. Surf poppy shoe gaze.


WASHED OUT

Ok so 'Feel It All Around' has pretty much been the soundtrack to my Summer. The bass is straight out of Human League- Don't You Want Me, smothered in glittery tinklings and a hazy finish. Delicious. The rest of the Life of Leisure EP ain't half bad either but no other song touches this one.


TORO Y MOI

An Eton Mess of sound. Whip 500ml of distorted, bendy guitar with a handful of mixed voices, top with a sprinkling of beepy things. Serve on drums.

CARIBOU

This is the livelier end of shoegaze, more like shoeshuffle, but I call the shots on this blog so it's going in also. Odessa is a stroke of pure genius and Swim is a phenomenal album.... Yeah, slightly off the shoegaze track but there are elements in there and it is FANTASTIC. Czech it out. 





GOLD PANDA

Lonely Owl is just beautiful...perfect wind down material. Just some flecks of shoegaze in here, lets call this one wallstare. Again a bit more trancey/ambience but a great wee EP on spotify, listen yes.

Arcade Fire- The Suburbs First Listen

Once again NPR come up trumps with their First Listen feature. New Arcade Fire album, getting some rave press reviews and a few lukewarm word-of-mouth ones.... Jury's out.

The Suburbs- First Listen