The term “shoegaze” is controversial amongst fans and artists alike. There was a period more than fifteen years ago when the term was derogative, for it assumed that all the artists adopting the sound played their instruments with their focus on their effect pedals. You might be saying, well, if that’s what they did, then the term is only fitting. To that I rebut with, well, does the term “gay” not carry derogative implications? But this list is not about the is and is nots of shoegaze, just the songs that remind us of that other prominent 90s genre (alongside grunge and boy/girlband pop) that, for each fan, exist twice the detractors.
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Aboard ho!
10 - Lush – Hypocrite
Lush is not a shoegaze band as much as they are a pop/rock band that subtly adopts the genre’s motifs. For a band with a name like Lush, you would expect them to sound a lot more like Slowdive and less like Garbage.
9 – The Magnetic Fields – California Girls
The Magnetic Fields are great theme based band, and one of their most affecting efforts, after the overwhelming epic 69 Love Songs, is Distortion. In 2008, they wrote a love letter to all shoegaze and dream pop fans, and we love the Fields for it.
8 - The Jesus and Mary Chain – Just Like Honey
The band’s most recognizable single may not be their most dream-like, but if shoegaze is synonymous with the term “dream-pop,” then Just like Honey fits the mantle perfectly. Its cameo at the end of Lost in Translation is perfect, and it reminds us why the genre exists in the first place.
7 - M83 – Kim & Jessie
Where Graveyard Girl is too loud wrap its listeners in a warm blanket of sound, Kim & Jessie is just perfect. The looping chorus in the song’s last moments, coupled with Gonzales’ perfectly composed soundscapes, give birth to a song that is almost impossible to dislike.
6 – Sigur Rós – Sæglópur
Sæglópur isn’t exactly shoegaze until it bursts two minutes in, but it is dream-pop at its flawless. A lot has been said about Jonsi’s falsetto, but one thing that is often universally agreed upon is its ability to take the listener away from their immediate setting and into somewhere ethereal and magical.
5 - A Sunny Day in Glasgow – 5:15 Train
Reminiscing on the days before shoegaze had been properly termed, A Sunny Day in Glasgow are a throwback to dream music before My Bloody Valentine made it pop. 5:15 Train is at once disorienting, frustrating, and haunting, but for people with a keen ear, it is a gem among the genre.
4 – Cocteau Twins – Lorelei
Very much in the same vein as A Sunny Day in Glasgow, Cocteau Twin’s Lorelei is not immediately captivating, but perfectly mood setting. The entire record from which it originates is a very strong effort, and Lorelei is the track that stands out.
3 - Stars - Ageless Beauty
Stars dwell prominently in pop-orchestra, focusing on story driven lyrics, strings, and pop music outside shoegaze. In Ageless Beauty, they let go to wrap their listeners in a frantic blanket that at once smothers them while setting them free. It sounds like the effort of numerous angels as they accompany you to a sublime land.
2 - Slowdive – Alison
What is shoegaze without Slowdive, and what is Slowdive without Alison? The opening track of their most affecting record, Souvlaki, Alison is a song we all deserve.
1 - My Bloody Valentine – Only Shallow
I almost considered giving up on this list when I realized just how hard it was to select one song from My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless to be number one. At last I decided on the song that any uninitiated listener is often subject to when the genre is introduced. Only Shallow is a song that you can listen to and say “I get it!” in regards to the genre as a whole, and as such it is number one. Really, could you have expected anything else?
You can listen to any of the above songs on Mixturtle: Just the most amazing website of the 21st century.
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