Shoegaze
Noah’s Barks pages relating to the shoegaze music genre.
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Swervedriver – “I Wasn’t Born to Lose You” (2015)
Oh, hell yeah. “Autodidact” may be a few miles from reaching a shoegaze classic, but it’s undoubtedly a Swervedriver classic. One track into I Wasn’t Born to Lose You, and we’ve already got another essential song from this once-lost band. Something any fan thought they’d never have again. …But it never gets any easier. I Wasn’t… (read more)
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Slowdive – “Just for a Day”
Slowdive frontman Neil Halstead falsely claimed to the band’s label Creation Records that they had enough songs for an album. In six weeks, Slowdive created their debut. It shows. (read more)
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Slowdive – “Holding Our Breath”
The final EP recorded by Slowdive before their debut album is also their final recording with drummer Neil Carter, whose hypnotic rhythms defined the band’s early sound. (read more)
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Slowdive – “Slowdive”
Shoegaze icons Slowdive begin their career with this modest, self-titled, 1990 EP. (read more)
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Slowdive – “Morningrise”
1991’s "Morningrise" EP has Slowdive make gigantic strides in songwriting. (read more)
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Slowdive – “Souvlaki”
"Souvlaki" is one of the most major albums to come out of the shoegaze movement of the 90s — and for very good reason. (read more)
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Pale Saints – “In Ribbons” (1992)
The shoegaze “canon” be damned; In Ribbons is objectively the best Pale Saints album—much, much better than The Comforts of Madness. The thing that killed the shoegaze movement was the fact that many bands thought all you had to do was step on effects pedals and find a pretty noise so you wouldn’t have to bother writing any… (read more)
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Band of Susans – “Veil”
The riff in “Not in This Life” is so similar to the Big Black song “Kerosene” that I kept expecting Steve Albini to shout the title. I originally got this album because it had a pretty, purple cover. As it turns out, Veil is a solid B-tier shoegaze album that’s worth checking out for enthusiasts… (read more)
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Catherine Wheel – “Painful Thing E.P.”
The two exclusive songs on the Painful Thing E.P. (“Spin,” “Painful Thing”) are great but really held back by awful production values. Additionally, the two early versions of songs that would end up on Ferment are better experienced there. Rob Dickinson’s vocals sound much younger here than they’d be on their debut and beyond, which… (read more)
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Lovesliescrushing – “Bloweyelashwish” (1993)
Bloweyelashwish is completely lacking structure or cohesion. All over the place with no reason to be because it has no good original ideas sonically. Basic, fuzzy shoegaze that uses a bunch of short noisy forgettable drone interludes to try and set itself apart from its contemporaries. Amateurish and jagged, a shot in the dark where… (read more)