Łabandzi Śpiew: shoegaze

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środa, 8 lipca 2026

Tokyo Shoegazer - Remains (2026)

I love how certain Japanese projects use their names to clearly state what to expect from their music. Tokyo Shoegazer play shoegaze. And are from Tokyo. 'nuff said. This makes it all about music and the classic noisy but airy gaze here proves it can work so well on its own. Also, somehow this is another Japanese band with a song about flowers, but unlike MONO, they stick to one track only.

Founded by Hiroshi Sasabuchi in 2010, the band has a rich history that includes a hiatus period and a comeback, 6 albums with two critically acclaimed at RateYourMusic database and many live gigs in Asia. The sound of their music is something most of us would call a "classic shoegaze": the noisy and the fuzzy are indeed noisy and fuzzy, the sound quality is not as important as the loudness and, finally, Kyoko Sahara's vocals are extremely, soothingly airy. What else do you want from a shoegaze album?

Well, I guess you could expect some catchy melodies, but the Japanese deliver here as well: the ear-catching riffs in Wisteria are cool but my favourite track has to be Vega with its dreamy melodies meeting the heaviest guitars of the album at the end and this kind of contrast is what does it for me. What a beauty.

Remains costs 12 USD.

Check: Vega

Country: Japan

Genre: classic shoegaze

Label: HigherHell Records

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Lucid Express - Floret (2022)

czwartek, 21 maja 2026

Lucid Express - Instant Comfort (2026)

Yes, this is already the second project in the last weeks on my blog and I'm very happy about it as Lucid Express came back with another oneiric album. Following the 2021 self-titled debut, the artists who refer to themselves simply as "five dreamers", created a new set of immersive, densely noisy compositions for us to day dream to.

Lucid Express' shoegaze brings all of the sweet classic vibes of the noisy pop music. The fuzzing guitar layers making the audience drown in the sound; the sweet and melodic vocals (Setback!), often catchingly vocalizing (such a fun in Something Blue!); the slightly melancholic lyrics. I won't enlist all of the 90s bands the new album reminds me of because everyone can imagine this, I'll only say that Instant Comfort if made back then would most certainly get included into the shoegaze classics.

Already present on the HK's music scene for over a decade, Lucid Express maintain the atmosphere of late night (or early morning) rehearsals that shaped their works at the beginning, which results in relaxed-paced, fuzzy (and in some places REALLY fuzzy, check out Aster) that ultimately results in the title song that closes the album and that, on the fuzziness scale, is located far towards the My Bloody Valentine end.

Instant Comfort costs 9 USD.

Check: Instant Comfort

Country: Hong Kong

Genre: classic shoegaze

Label: Kanine Records

wtorek, 21 kwietnia 2026

thrilled - no one for miles (2026)

Two short EPs and a single: this is the discography of the Dutch band thrilled so far. I met them at last year's Automatic Noise festival and it was a... thrilling experience marked by heavy atmosphere and energetic performance. No wonder I really had to post a bit about their newest release.

The Rotterdam-based outfit create shoegaze music that is both catchy and dripping with atmosphere. The guitars create a soft and fuzzy canvas that captivates me every time I listen to their songs. While the music is very much shoegaze-like, the vocals are more like withdrawn indie rock-inspired and I think it works quite well. Well, at least in the first 33% of the album as the finishing track, Tunnel, is a full-blown dreamy and loud shoegaze. It also happens to be my favourite here. The new EP is very short, but still manages to catch the attention of the audience. Easily.

"The warm and fuzzy tones of thrilled are sure to give you all the goosebumps you need for the day" says their Bandcamp account. I agree. But why so short?

no one for miles costs 5 EUR.

Check: Tunnel

Country: The Netherlands

Genre: noise rock

trauma ray - [trauma ray] (2018)

czwartek, 9 kwietnia 2026

trauma ray - Carnival (2026)

Two years after their well-received debut album, the Texas-based trauma ray are back with a short EP. But, spoiler warning, the album may be short, but it's not short of intensive sounds balanced by ethereal peace in some parts. These ever-changing, forward-thinking but also always extremely moody compositions are what we love the band's music.

Years and years ago I called their music "Somewhat shoegaze, somewhat post" and I can still agree with my former self. Their music is very guitar-heavy, I don't think there's place for any weirdness like samples or synths or electronic additions. No, it's rough guitar sounds and tangible textures everywhere. But this is contradicted with very modern-feeling compositions that make me think of Holy Fawn or Nothing, bands that are definitely more keen on experimenting with sounds. I love it.

The description of the album says that it's the band's "strongest, most intense, and exploratory work". It was created in the midst of an extremely busy period of time when the artists toured a lot with barely any time for developing the project further. In the middle of a real-life Carousel if you wish. But the compositions here don't feel rushed, in fact, if it wasn't for the length of the album, I'd say it's already material from the sophomore album. But for that, we have to wait.

Carnival costs 4.99 USD.

Check: Méliès

Country: Texas, US

Genre: heavy shoegaze

Label: Dais Records

piątek, 3 kwietnia 2026

BAZGROŁKI - Przełamując fale (2026)

The Tricity music scene is said to be one of the most important ones in Poland, but living on the other side of the country makes it very distant for me, even in the age of social media. I was lucky enough to get to the new album release show where BAZGROŁKI showed to the world how dramatic the change in their music had been recently and how well they can now enchant the audience with the dreamy and mesmerizing music.

Because Przełamując fale is not a debut album, but more of a reborn: the days of the funny indie pop rock are gone and the artists embrace the more mature and way darker music now. The album's title is the Polish translation of von Trier's classic movie Breaking the Waves, but it's also a reference to the sea-oriented nature of their home city of Gdańsk and finally, a sign of a breakthrough in the band's story. The artists claim that it is a "sonic drift between the sea and the subconscious", making comparisons between sea waves and sonic waves and I find it apt and beautiful. And just like the sea, the sound here is massive.

If I HAD TO choose, the balance between the airy shoegaze atmosphere and the heavy guitar psychedelia is slightly shifted in favor of the latter (and it was even more pronounced during the live performance). The desert-like psychedelic walls of sound go on for ages and then you realize the song is already gone and you've been staring into space the whole time it was on. Sometimes those are more like the calm sea, without any recognizable feature, just a constant stream of noise (Bezmiar!), sometimes there are notes that rip through to make you pay attention (in Meduzy!) and then they disappear into the depths of sonic waves once again. The tide has turned for BAZGROŁKI.

Przełamując fale costs 5 EUR (22.5 PLN).

Check: Podwodny świat

Country: Poland

Genre: dreamy psychedelic rock

Label: S7Records

piątek, 20 marca 2026

Callière - Solar (2026)

Andrew Rose makes his music for ages now! His music alter ego came back in 2021 after a long hiatus and there's already 6 albums released as Callière. Solar, the final one, makes me think of the classic shoegaze artists as it is as dreamy as it could be while being a clearly offstream gazey project. No wonder that Rose has some interesting connections to Nick Noble of 93MillionMilesFromTheSun, one of my favourites within the sub-genre.

Rose's music is based on dreamy and dense backgrounds and very airy vocals. The important parts are the melodies: in fact, everything in this music is about extremely catchy melodies (sometimes drawing from the old pop song-like motifs as in Calling Claire from Clare) submerged in the oneiric atmosphere. The compositions are never loud, it's way more dream pop than shoegaze, especially that the backgrounds seem to be designed to creating the atmosphere rather than than to draw attention to themselves. It's the melodies that matter, even when they drown in the noisy music (in the beautiful cover of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart's Anne with an E).

This album is said to be inspired by the artist's "journeys along the Camino in northern Spain, where the landscapes and the quiet rhythm of long days on foot sparked a wave of new songwriting" and I can definitely sense this in the unhurried compositions that take their time to get through start to finish, more interested in the landscapes/soundscapes around. I love it. The album features also a handful of guests, but I don't recognize anyone. Still, the vocals provided feel like a good match for the compositions.

Solar costs 5.75 EUR.

Check: Cephalophore

Country: UK/France

Genre: lo-fi dream pop

Label: Pristine Audio

Softcult - See You in the Dark (2023)

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środa, 4 marca 2026

Softcult - When a Flower Doesn't Grow (2026)

Whenever the Arn-Horn sisters release an album, it makes a storm in the less mainstream music world. The Canadian duo and their skillfully crafted songs (and very coherent image) charm the audience with the blend of dreaminess and punk's attitude, making the artists call their music "riotgaze".

And I feel like this riotgaze gets better and better with every release so it's only apt that the debut album (so far the band has only EPs in their discography) is their best work yet. As things should be. Short album with short songs the range of whose stretches from delicate, dreamy compositions to high-paced shoegaze indie rock of the best quality. The latter is represented by my favourite in here: 16/25. Incredible flow, the backgrounds that burst with energy and quality melody make it feel like a breeze, wishing it was longer than two minutes, thirty seconds. But that's the thing about this music: it's short and beautiful. Hurry loving the music.

But there is more! She Said, He Said is a hit banger, Hurt Me is the sisters embracing their punk side while When a Flower Doesn't Grow closes the album with delicate, airy sounds that turns into the most rock sounds on the release. Oh and very punkish of them is also that...

When a Flower Doesn't Grow costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: 16/25

Country: Canada

Genre: riotgaze

Label: Easy Life Records

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Sunset Images - Traumatismo Nacional (2021)

wtorek, 17 lutego 2026

Sunset Images - Oscilador (2026)

Back in 2018 I attended one of the best discontinued festivals in Poland. And that edition of SpaceFest was brilliant, it featured SPOIWO (one of two best post-rock bands in here, together with Ciśnienie, as we know), Medicine Boy and this unlikely hero: a psychedelic band from Mexico. And as most of SpaceFest artists, it took the whole audience far from Earth. Now, Samuel Osorio and the team come back with their third release and it's filled with the same vibes I remember.

In many places I can notice that Sunset Images is tagged as shoegaze project. While there certainly are some clear inspiration drawn from the genre, to me it's really the psychedelic rock that makes it so special about the Mexicans. Yes, there are fuzzy, ethereal vocals that add the airiness to the whole stuff, but they are accompanied by the roughest-sounding, desert-like guitars ever with a little trace of electronica. It is an invitation to the trance induced by the guitar noise that takes us to the hot and sun-kissed desolations of Central America so everyone can appreciate the psychedelic sunsets on their own.

The album, mixed by Alberto González (of Lorelle Meets the Obsolete) and mastered by Oliver Ackermann (A Place to Bury Strangers), revolves (!) around the way our world revolves all the time. "Our world is cyclical; everything repeats itself: our history, our customs, our trends, our way of communicating", the band says and, furthermore, they illustrate it with their repetition-rich music that goes on and on, bringing the audience a message of criticism of everything wrong about the reality around (!) us.

Oscilador costs 8 EUR (150 MXN).

Check: El tiempo oscila y muere al inicio (Tommy)

Country: Mexico

Genre: shoegazey psychedelic rock

Label: Dedstrange

czwartek, 29 stycznia 2026

adele dazeem - Metanoia (2025)

They are named after actress and singer Idina Menzel (whose first name was famously mispronounced by John Travolta, resulting in her using "Adele" in multiple occasions afterwards), they come from London and they released their first EP last autumn. This blend of shoegazey atmosphere and post-punk vibes caught my attention immediately.

The EP is short, but still it's clearly well done: there are parts that are noisy, there are parts filled with darker, coldwave approach to music, there are some curious instrumental parts too. Their compositions are designed to go on and on, mesmerizing the audience with the harsh trance-inducing passages and overwhelming with noisy guitars. I'm very happy that the musicians don't consider the end of lyrics as the end of their songs: I'd say that in this case, the songs really start after the post-punk vocals disappear. But it's only my instrumental-noise bias probably.

Metanoia costs 6 EUR (5 GBP).

Check: Misère

Country: UK

Genre: noisy coldwave

Label: Sonic Cathedral

wtorek, 27 stycznia 2026

The Lions Constellation - New Moon Rising (2025)

This year I already posted about ARIMA, melodic and noisy guitar rock music from Spain, but not really as they are from the Basque Country. Now I have The Lions Constellation, melodic and noisy guitar music from Spain, but not really as they are from Catalonia. It took 15 years (!) for the band to release their second album, but I'm gonna call it: it was really worth it.

I love shoegaze music that can impress with the noisy side and the catchy side as well. When listen to this album, released last autumn (I still haven't caught up with the new year releases!), I can hear exactly this. Take Allison for example: obviously the first thing I checked was if it was a cover, but no: and instead of focusing on the other Allison's hazy atmosphere, it presents a fantastic melody and catchy flow that makes it closer to the third Allison, the one from The Kills. It's a banger and still isn't my favourite one here.

The very shoegaze-like atmosphere is, on the other, the main focus in some spaces too, especially in When You Dream, which HAS TO be a reference to When You Sleep, right? Same vibes. But the melodic, hit-heavy shoegaze generally overshadows anything else on the album with A Long Life Is Not a Real Life being my favourite song here as it features my beloved way of using guitars in noisy music genres.

New Moon Rising costs 9 USD.

Check: A Long Life Is Not a Real Life

Country: Catalonia/Spain

Genre: catchy shoegaze

Label: Shelflife

środa, 21 stycznia 2026

Glimmer - Get Weak (2025)

They've been releasing singles since 2023 and now it's time for their debut album (which, honestly, is way a better tie line than many other bands). Glimmer (what an awesome shoegaze name!) are from New York and Get Weak showcases how fluent with hazy and loud music they are.

If I had a sheet with features of a perfect shoegaze album, this one would check all of them. The guitars build thick walls of sound that, additionally, has tendency to sound pretty rough on the edges (yeah, that's where all the grungegaze tags come from!). The songs are melodic and catchy. The vocals hazy and soft (with a hint of Americana in them? Or am I hallucinating things?). It's music that takes as much from the garage rock-and-roll as it does from the ethereal genres. My preference is when they shift into higher gear while maintaining the nice level of haziness.

When posting about their debut album, the band stated "We put everything we had into this record. There were moments of pure joy and sadness during the process, but it was well worth it, and we’re stoked for you to hear". And I have to say, it really was worth it.

Get Weak costs 10 USD.

Check: Sorrow Again

Country: New York, US

Genre: grungegaze

środa, 7 stycznia 2026

Nuclear Daisies - First Taste of Heaven (2025)

Coming from Texas are Nuclear Daisies, a band who likes their shoegaze served trippy. With Ringo Deathstarr's Alex Gehring in the lineup, the outfit released their sophomore album back in the summer, but it's so good that it deserves mentioning in the middle of winter's frozen landscape.

What makes this project quite special is the psychedelic vibes of the shoegaze/dream pop offered. Or even a step further: the trip-hop-esque bits and pieces that add up to the music's ethereal but very much otherworldly atmosphere. The further the album goes, the more audible the trip-hop influences with Doves and Fangs sounding as t-h as possible while still clearly within the realm of dreamy guitar music and finally, 333 is basically Teardrop.

This also makes the album's flow so attractive! The melodies are captivating, the pace faster than slower, the ethereality clearly noticeable in the soft vocals and hazy backgrounds. When it comes to the song I'd recommend, it has to be Infinite Joy as I love the shoegazey compositions that use the silence to fuel their overall catchiness and this is definitely the case here.

First Taste of Heaven costs 9 USD.

Check: Infinite Joy

Country: Texas, US

Genre: psychedelic shoegazey indie

Label: Portrayal of Guilt

środa, 24 września 2025

chirrp. - Lurid (2025)

Following the trail of lo-fi shoegaze bands from Asia from last week, this time it's time for a new group from a country with solid shoegaze traditions. chirrp. are young and beautiful but already showing great skills at noising up melodic songs and making them as hazy as possible.

They say that they are "good at kneading broken sounds and space into a soft but solid wall of sound, and then hiding behind it" which is such a lovely way of saying that their music is filled with indie pop-rock melodies with a healthy dose of noise. Accordingly, the warm, twee vocals add to the extremely inviting an open atmosphere of the album. It's clear to me that the artists have fun doing their music and that it must be equally fun to see them performing live.

Running to the Sun is a perfect example: a perfectly mesmerizing melody supported by suddenly raising guitar noise. No wonder that it's already visibly more popular than the rest of the songs here. The only thing I don't like is that Silhouette is clearly inspired by Slowdive's Dagger, a little too close to the original I feel. I think that the talented artists from Taiwan don't need to use hit melodies that already exist.

Lurid costs 8 USD.

Check: Running to the Sun

Country: Taiwan

Genre: lo-fi hazy indie rock

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