Guitar echo effects and loud train horns = The Most Underrated Shoegazing Bands Pt. 1
The shoegazing genre of the early 90s was based around a loose sound description by the music press for bands that often used heavy echo guitar effects and soft, often indecipherable vocals mixed with almost classic Brill Building pop melodies. Here is a list of the most underrated and often forgotten great shoegazing bands, some of which are still making great music to this day mixing odd sounds and loud train horns into something of beauty.
Cranes
The British group Cranes were often lumped in with the shoegazers during their early years but were more indebted to the industrial and gothic dream pop spectrums due to the childlike and almost creepy vocals of Alison Shaw and the sometimes brutal sounding backing tracks. The group’s 1991 album “Wings of Joy” received acclaim in Britain and American for its dark tone and Shaw’s distinctive voice. Their followup, “Forever” became known as their best work with its mix of shoegaze and gothic rock akin to bands like The Cure and Bauhaus yet filtered through a more melodic styling. The band released a few more albums in the 90s but fell silence for awhile until the early 2000’s when the started playing music again and released “Future Songs” in 2001, “Particle Waves” in 2004 and “Cranes” in 2008. The new decade saw them experimenting more with ambient and electronic sounds which kept their sound exciting and fresh. They are still one of the most underrated shoegazing bands that is due for a revival.
His Name is Alive
This experimental/shoegazing rock band from Michigan is named after a quote about Abraham Lincoln is one of the stranger bands labeled as shoegaze. Starting out as a home project of Warren Defever who sent tape after tape of home recordings to 4AD label president Ivo Watts-Russell, the label eventually signed him and released his material in a remixed and reworked format. It wasn’t until 1993’s “Mouth by Mouth” that His Name is Alive got a suitable studio to record in and the sound is much improved, still mixing shoegaze and sampling and experiemental noise into a sound unlike any other. They’ve got through a number of lineup changes which saw a remarkable turn in 2001 with the release “Someday My Blues will Cover the Earth” which sounded like a straightforward soul and R&B album thanks to new vocalist Lovetta Pippen. In 2007 they receieved new fans and acclaim with “XMMER” a dream pop album like their early recordings. They are still making music and will undoubebly keep fans on their toes with their refusal to be lumped into any one category.
Alan McGee is a freelance writer from MN.
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