The Shoegaze Genre

YorkeDaddy · 08-06-2012, 02:32 PM

Lately I've been getting into a lot of Shoegaze, and I wanted to sort of chronicle the expanding of my knowledge of this genre by reviewing each album I give an extensive listen. Yes, that means I'll eventually be reviewing Loveless and Nowhere, which are albums that have probably been mentioned on this forum at least twelve thousand times each, but that's irrelevant.

So I'm going to stop lollygagging and get to the point. Here's the first album:

Slowdive - Souvlaki

This might compete for the most purely beautiful album I've ever listened to. "Machine Gun" might just be one of my favorite songs of all time.

There are a few words or phrases that are going to be repeated several times in all of these reviews. Here's one of them: this album is a landscape of beautiful sound. The two opening tracks is arguably some of the greatest shoegaze ever recorded. This record is pleasant and easy to approach for someone that's new to the genre (while Loveless is a little more mature and a bit harder to chew). Rachel Goswell's voice is brilliant for shoegaze -- haunting, yet beautiful.

Slowdive's Souvlaki benefits from the creative and production input of Brian Eno, resulting in a dreamy and placid aesthetic which attains a similar emotional texture to Loveless - except whereas Loveless achieves its ends through murk and noise, Souvlaki's production is crisp, clear, and distinct. In this respect it represents the other side of the shoegaze spectrum, and it would probably have done a lot better had it been released a little earlier and had time to make a creative impact before the emergence of Britpop caused the Scene That Celebrates Itself to drop off the commercial radar.

Regardless, this album is among the juggernaut albums of shoegaze and is a must-listen for anyone that even thinks they enjoy the genre.

08-06-2012, 02:32 PM	#1 (permalink)
YorkeDaddy silky smooth Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Pangaea Posts: 4,079	The Shoegaze Genre Lately I've been getting into a lot of Shoegaze, and I wanted to sort of chronicle the expanding of my knowledge of this genre by reviewing each album I give an extensive listen. Yes, that means I'll eventually be reviewing Loveless and Nowhere, which are albums that have probably been mentioned on this forum at least twelve thousand times each, but that's irrelevant. So I'm going to stop lollygagging and get to the point. Here's the first album: Slowdive - Souvlaki This might compete for the most purely beautiful album I've ever listened to. "Machine Gun" might just be one of my favorite songs of all time. There are a few words or phrases that are going to be repeated several times in all of these reviews. Here's one of them: this album is a landscape of beautiful sound. The two opening tracks is arguably some of the greatest shoegaze ever recorded. This record is pleasant and easy to approach for someone that's new to the genre (while Loveless is a little more mature and a bit harder to chew). Rachel Goswell's voice is brilliant for shoegaze -- haunting, yet beautiful. Slowdive's Souvlaki benefits from the creative and production input of Brian Eno, resulting in a dreamy and placid aesthetic which attains a similar emotional texture to Loveless - except whereas Loveless achieves its ends through murk and noise, Souvlaki's production is crisp, clear, and distinct. In this respect it represents the other side of the shoegaze spectrum, and it would probably have done a lot better had it been released a little earlier and had time to make a creative impact before the emergence of Britpop caused the Scene That Celebrates Itself to drop off the commercial radar. Regardless, this album is among the juggernaut albums of shoegaze and is a must-listen for anyone that even thinks they enjoy the genre.