Pokazywanie postów oznaczonych etykietą shoegaze. Pokaż wszystkie posty
Pokazywanie postów oznaczonych etykietą shoegaze. Pokaż wszystkie posty

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 While the music is very much shoegaze-like, the vocals are more like withdrawn indie rock-inspired and I think it works quite well.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



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



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




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



czwartek, 18 września 2025

The Stargazer Lilies - Love Pedals (2025)


I know the American band thanks to the regretfully discontinued Spacefest that used to create unforgettable psychedelic Novembers back in the day. The rays of the hazey sun The Stargaze Lilies' music is so good at providing, can still make my autumns warmer thanks to another great album from the Pennsylvania-based band.

Their sixth album opens in the best possible way: with an intriguing and noisey riff that automatically glued my attention to the music. And since the rougher guitars are skillfully balanced with the airiest of vocals and tropical-ish background effects, the listening session create a safe space for half-dreaming with tears in your eyes. Something like listening to Still Corners but less dreamy and more noisy. Melancholic summer memories? Me like that.

But the Americans are not such one-dimensional artists, it's not all about dreamy melancholia. There are parts that literally drown in guitar noise (By Your Side) or are based on My Bloody Valentine-esque pedal weirdness (the beautiful Shining Yellow). Lilies can create both intimate atmosphere and grand, almost orchestral one to overwhelm the audience. And sometimes both of them in one song. To me the versatile and yet coherent approach to dreamy music means that the duo is now very, very experienced and really knows what they do. Is it their best time yet?

Love Pedals costs 9 USD.

Check: Ambient Light
Country: Pennsylvania, US
Genre: warm shoegaze




środa, 17 września 2025

OutControlJoys - S/T (2025)


The Nepalese band OutControlJoys have recently released their debut full-length album and it makes me, once again, amazed how great music can be born in the most distant places and thanks to Bandcamp find its way to my speakers. Because indeed, the self-titled debut is top-shelf DIY shoegaze noisy music.

Already the instrumental intro lets you know that these guys know how to create engaging and immersive guitar compositions. It's melodic but also noisy, just how we like it. And it's even before the airy vocals are introduced! From the second track, Paribartan, the music turns real shoegaze. And I'm not talking some indie rock with hazey elements. No, it's old-school shoegaze, maybe also because of some lo-fi vibes that make the whole thing perhaps noisier and airier than it otherwise would be. Which is great! 

And yes, this is my first ever Nepalese artist on the blog! Woo-hoo for all finding-new-music-from-all-over-the-world enjoyers! I really recommend trying out the band's debut album to all indie shoegaze lovers.

The self-titled album costs 7 USD.

Check: Paribartan
Country: Nepal
Genre: DIY shoegaze
Label: Ris Records



wtorek, 12 sierpnia 2025

신윤수 - Wherever (2025)


Another proof that shoegaze music fits so well into the Asian scene that serves as a real hub for the beautiful, noisy music. For Korean artist 신윤수, Wherever is the third short EP in her discography filled with the perfect balance between the soft and airy and the loud and heavy.

"Crafting emotionally textured soundscapes rooted in solitude, memory, and motion", the Korean musician is deeply rooted in the genre's 90s original sound, but adds the contemporary sound quality and the overall good flow. Like in the fantastic old table and its flowing backing vocals that drive the whole composition. It's melodic enough but the artist doesn't over do it: it's not twee, it's not indie pop, it's a real guitar banger of an EP with airiness and ethereality woven inside.

Especially when the album looses all the breaks when it comes to the guitar noise. It's not a coincidence that there's post-rock mentioned in the description. I just wish it was longer: the album and the tracks themselves, I feel like they don't reach the whole potential before they're cut short.

Wherever costs 10 USD.

Check: old table
Country: South Korea
Genre: melodic shoegaze
Label: THE VAULT



środa, 2 lipca 2025

Monochromatic Visions - Change Who You Are (2025)


It's only four tracks, but when something is that good, who cares? I have mentioned the British band a couple of times before and it's no surprise as their music makes a perfect blend of the noisy and the melodic. It was proven on their new EP.

Shoegaze, new wave, pop music. They all have their place within this short release. The music here feels light and unbelievably catchy, but there is a hint of a darker atmosphere and the omnipresent noise somewhere in the backgrounds, like something you catch with the corner of your eye but can't really focus your sight on. All for compositions are worth checking out, including the most poppy one, the first song of the album, I Told You. And frankly, I like it the most, probably because it's as catchy as it can be, a candidate for a summer hit within the noisier offstream world.

Change Who You Are costs 14 EUR (12 GBP) (which is slightly ridiculous to be honest).

Check: I Told You
Country: UK
Genre: melodic ethereal wave




piątek, 20 czerwca 2025

Sugar for the Pill - LUV (2025)


I've seen Sugar for the Pill this year at Automatic Noise in Amsterdam in January and it was one of the highlights of the festivals. The band with probably the least difficult inspiration to decipher in the world, released their sophomore album last month and showed why this was the case.

Good shoegaze can be found anywhere in the world. I'm not very familiar with the Greek scene, but Sugar for the Pill is an outfit that proves this thought. Led by the airy vocals and light melodies, the band released a beautiful collection of songs that are as ethereal as they are melodic. A selection of certain hits for every (other) Slowdive lover. This ability to marry the airy and the catchy is what draws me to their music and songs like Anelia, Komorebi and, especially, Colours prove it over and over again. 

The album offers no break from the melodic, fast-paced music that, maybe because of the album title and the overall visual setting, feels... cute. Light and carefree, dreamy like a dream you don't want to wake up from. And one that, when it's finally over, makes you immediately miss it. 

LUV costs 10 EUR.

Check: Colours 
Country: Greece
Genre: catchy shoegaze
Label: Make Me Happy Records/Shelflife Records



środa, 18 czerwca 2025

Lazy Legs - Tower (2025)


It's been 8 years (!) since the Oregon band Lazy Legs appeared on this blog with their EP called Chain of Pink. Now, after what seems to be some changes in the line-up, they released their third album and enchanted me with their minimalist yet very airy take on slowcore kind of noise music.

The artists admit to take inspirations from a variety of genres, mixing "shoegaze, grunge, slowcore and doomgaze" into one, moody kind of music. It surely is slow, it's very airy and based on the rougher nature of guitar sounds. It feel also a lot like a letter of admiration to minimalist rock music usually made by duos (I'm thinking The Kills, but maybe it's because I've been listening to them a lot recently). It's maybe because the band now only consists of Laura Wagner and Michael Tenzer while before, there was also Nicholas Piontek playing drums. Regardless of the reasons, the band's music feels now closer to the audience, honest and beautiful in this desert, grunge way.

The rough guitar makes here a beautiful dialog with vocals that are not only made airy. They are literally very often just backing vocals playing the main part of the song. It makes the compositions well-balanced but also very, very dreamy regardless of the heaviness of the music. 

Tower costs 5 USD.

Check: Rot
Country: Oregon, US
Genre: shoegazey slowcore
Label: Wild Patterns




wtorek, 17 czerwca 2025

我夢見長頸鹿對我說 [The Giraffe Told Me In My Dream] - Velvet Distortion (2025)


The "overly noisy, overly sweet" band from Taiwan with probably the craziest name out there is back with a new release! Six years after their first EP, the noisy machine gives us another small taste of what they can do with shoegaze music.

And I really mean shoegaze. It's not noisy rock, it's not atmospheric dream pop. It's very loud, very noisy and very dreamy shoegaze, true to the genre's origins. Driven by vocals that are absolutely gorgeous and ephemeral to the limits, making the audience feel as if they were immediate transported to their deepest, most intimate dreams. The music is a perfect fit here: noisy where it should be, euphoric when needed, slow and moody in other parts. A match made in heaven.

The only downside is that, once again, it is only a taste of what the Taiwanese are capable of. Basically three songs (with a short introduction) already shows a lot, but one would like to experience more. And more frequently than once in six years.

Velvet Distortion costs 4 USD.

Check: Glimpse
Country: Taiwan
Genre: true shoegaze




wtorek, 10 czerwca 2025

Go With Strangers - Ave, Reverie (2025)


Remember when mum used to tell you not to go with strangers? Well, you definitely can do that with this one. Eugene San is based in Malaysia and makes music as one-man band to "face his social anxiety". And the results? A fantastic set of noisy shoegaze songs.

I love how immersive the noise can be. When listening to songs like Breathe In, what you breathe in is the reverbing air and dreams that flow around trying to drown you in. And sometimes it is the shoegazey, dense, overwhelming kind of noise, but sometimes it can go in more surprising directions with some metal riffs in Misery (You'll Never Break Me). And I really can hardly say which song here is my favourite. The artist has a very special gift of writing very well-leveled compositions and every one of them is worth the listerner's attention. In the end, I chose Further with its captivating melody and tasty noise, but it could as well be any other track.

Interestingly enough, the album was made out of "fascination with the feeling of “Sonder” (...), which is the realisation that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own – populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and craziness", a theme good for a whole book, but really works as a base for a music album as well. The artist concludes that the album may be "a warm greeting, and also a bittersweet farewell, to dreams and daydreams". So it matches everyone's life at some point, no doubt about it.

Ave, Reverie costs 8 USD.

Check: Further
Country: Malaysia
Genre: immersive solo shoegaze



środa, 4 czerwca 2025

Waves Crashing - Effection (2025)


The Cascadian shoegaze is not something I talk about every day, but maybe it'll change since Waves Crashing, a band from Washington state, released their debut album and it kind of rocks. If you need some tasty retro noisy vibes in your life, this is the address.

The retro vibes here are omnipresent. It is a noisy rock blessed by RIDE and The Jesus and Mary Chain: the melodic guitar music with a layer of fuzziness to make it even more beautiful. And the melodic aspect is dominant here, my favourite track, Comatose is a perfect example here. The way an unnerving and disturbing word is shaped into a fantastically catchy and airy chorus is done in a true classic shoegaze fashion. Just look at it: "Something out my window/I feel it close/Try to stay normal/In a comatose".

And what accompanies the lyrics is guitar music as fuzzy as one should expect. There are riffs that make it outstanding (like the finish in In My Head), but they are mostly just complimenting the airy vocals. Which is not a bad thing. I personally thing that the more atmospheric ballad-like the band gets towards the end of the release, the slightly less interesting the music. Slightly. Good thing that they finish with a remix of Comatose as this tells me they know they have a real hit in their portfolio.

Effection costs 9 USD.

Check: Comatose
Country: Washington, US
Genre: retro noise rock
Label: Neon Sigh / Audiomanic Music