What is Shoegaze?
Shoegaze is considered a sub genre of alternative rock and known for its unique sound and guitar effects. I would say the genre focuses mostly on the guitar as the central focus while on the other hand, vocals tend to be very quiet and dreamy, almost hard to hear.The term Shoegaze originated from the musicians tendency to stare at their pedal board which is obviously near their feet (1). It’s all about creating a big, immersive wall of sound filled with unusual and dreamy noises.
As with very genre of music, Shoegaze drew it’s influences from other bands, mostly rock based, such as Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure, The Blue Magoons, Velvet Underground and The Beach Boys work in the 70’s (2). These bands were thought of as experimental with the new dreamy sound they brought to the stage. People disagree on which band created Shoegaze but some of the most notable include The Jesus and Mary Chain, Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine, of which I’ve talked about in my personal influences. All of these bands featured the essential loud effects on guitar and barely understandable vocals.
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Here I’m going to embed one of the most popular Shoegaze songs, a song I think showcases a prime example of the genre:
Noise pop on the other hand is another sub genre of alternative/indie rock that emerged in the 1980s when post-punk groups started using more distortion (3). Distorted guitars and feedback paired with ‘girl group’ lyrics and melodies are what make Noisepop the genre it is. All these aspects give the tracks a hazy feel with swirling guitar lines and melodie’s that match the texture.
But this genre can have quite a wide variety, some tracks feature more brutal noise whilst others contain a lighter and airy sound. So again, what bands influenced and helped to create this genre? Some of the clear contenders include The Velvet Underground, Sonic Youth and again, The Jesus and Mary Chain, specifically their album Psychocandy (4).
Some bands of this kind I enjoy include Yo La Tengo, Henry’s Dress and Sleigh Bells. Here’s an example of the genre:
So what is the difference? From my knowledge, Shoegaze actually came after Noisepop and took influence from it. They both feature loud effects on guitar with Shoegaze being more dense and immersive whilst Noisepop tries to create a unique blend of a pop structure with distorted guitars. Another key difference is vocals. In Noisepop vocals are quite clear and have an obvious melody meanwhile in Shoegaze the vocals are more airy and delicate and they’re used more as another instrument to create a wall of sound, not a clear vocal line.
A great example I think of a band that could fit into both genres is Swirlies. The band is a unique mix of many bands and influences but you can still hear they’ve birthed a distinct sound. My band flatcat is planning to cover their song Pancake in the gig I’m putting on as I feel they create random yet beautiful melodie’s and make instrumental disruption pleasing. Overall, I think I'm currently leaning more towards the style of Noisepop but instead of forcing myself to writer one or the other, I'm just going to wait and see what unique songs I can write, regardless of what genre they fall into.
Research used:
2. https://medium.com/@KRA_Music/the-history-of-shoegaze-music-88576fd2e767
3. https://rateyourmusic.com/genre/noise-pop/