The origins and history of Shoegaze
Monday, March 7, 2011
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SHOEGAZE: "Origine e fine (?) di un genere" - My Bloody Valentine, The Jesus And Mary Chain, Ride, Slowdive ...
The origins and history of Shoegaze
curious fate to be a musical genre defined by the attitude of property held by the musicians who remained in that position by looking at the floor of the stage (or rather their shoes) while playing, thus justifying, quite unconsciously, the word that is derived:
"Shoegaze" The origins and history of Shoegaze
. In this regard, in order not to generalize too much, should be made a couple of caveats. A first coined the term which was later identified the genre in question was 
the British magazine "Sounds"
, closely followed by many other magazines. The exact term used on that occasion was the British magazine "Sounds" 'shoegazer'
referring precisely to the person or persons which overshadowed on the scene that posture characteristic time to 'look at the shoes'. Only after that word in everyday speech was cut off and became 'shoegaze' o ‘shoegazing’ con il significato non tanto di colui che 'guarda le scarpe' ma di genere riferito a coloro che volgevano lo sguardo in basso, sul pavimento. In realtà dunque, lo shoegaze non si riduceva evidentemente ad un aspetto puramente scenografico o “spettacolare” ma divenne piuttosto una definizione identificativa di una ben precisa espressione sonora fino ad allora mai manifestatasi apertamente con queste caratteristiche. E questa precisazione è indispensabile per sgombrare il campo 
da molte e talvolta opportune obiezioni che si potrebbero fare sulla genesi reale del genere shoegaze. La storia della musica è un campo disseminato di molti semi ed è spesso assai difficile conferire una patente di originalità ad un frutto maturo senza correre il rischio di dimenticare tutti i frutti maturati precedentemente verso cui si rimane in una qualche misura debitori. Tuttavia, non volendo in questa sede approfondire una disamina sulle origini del genere shoegaze che ci porterebbe assai lontano con il rischio peraltro fondato di giungere a conclusioni opinabili, ritengo più utile rimanere nel tracciato universalmente riconosciuto nel fissare le origini di questo particolare genere musicale pur non disdegnando un paio di veloci considerazioni personali (peraltro condivise da più parti). Lo shoegaze databile intorno alla fine degli anni ’80 e l’inizio degli anni ’90 fu Originally a musical expression typically British and identified as a variant of alternative rock. A want to be picky, a lot of criticism back strongly questioned the existence of the shoegaze genre, almost were an 'invention' without any substantial connotation of novelty, due only to certain publications that welcomes ( everything new that is still a few copies sold in more) seize every opportunity to arouse curiosity about the new movements and musicians. The definition of the kind had happened, however, and this notwithstanding a very unwelcome to the same protagonists. The most obvious characteristics and identification comprised of the shoegaze manipulation, especially those of guitars to create the typical wall of sound that is one of the particularities of gender and that is precisely induced the musicians involved in ongoing monitoring of the effects that arose from that the need for look back down. sounds that resulted in distortions, reverbs, sudden silence and slow slip in the 'reconstruction' of the sonic wall of sound as if it were hanging on a distant horizon, clouds swollen with rain, misty layers with the voices of interpreters tones often dreamy, evocative and almost no consistency even if in a musical journey that is dragged forward as un drappo infinito. Il tutto teso a 'riformare' quasi la consuetudine di trovare nelle note melodie frutto di accordi tradizionali, ormai del tutto assenti.
Lo shoegaze ha avuto in fondo una vita brevissima che si può quantificare in non più di 3-4 anni e tuttavia ha dato il via alla nascita di un numero incredibile di bands ma anche di varianti del genere fino a 'contaminare lo slow-core , la musica ambient
, persino la space music e il rock in generale in tutte le sue espressioni posteriori. Numerose bands shoegaze sono nate lontano dalla patria di origine, negli Stati Uniti, in Oriente, in Italia a dimostrazione del fatto che il genere ebbe la capacità di identificare in sé vocazioni e desideri which fascinated many, leaving a vivid trace of their passage to the present day.
My Bloody Valentine, "Is not Anything" If you want to identify in this brief survey of the shoegaze a starting point and then a band-a record I think we can easily agree that the true Such were the pioneers My Bloody Valentine
with their first album titled
"Is not Anything" (1988, Creation). A whole album, probably not easy to hold, rich in architecture often distant from each other but
is one of those grooves that the world era saw the birth of a new sound enough to give the My Bloody Valentine on the role of the initiators of the shoegaze genre. An obvious example is represented by these two songs from the album (
Nothing Much to Lose - All I Need 
) in which the origins of shoegaze finds its full realization. And the next song Lose My Breath see My Bloody Valentine anticipate all the unique characteristics of a genre that soon will arrive in the shoegaze territory surrounded by a blurred light, forever shrouded by an impenetrable fog that only the sound seems to grant a opportunity to life. The Jesus and Mary Chain "Psychocandy" Whilst it may be that the Bloody Valentine have been a reason the palm of 'founders' of the shoegaze genre it can hardly ignore the fact that even before they release this, his debut in 1985, a Scottish band, The Jesus and Mary Chain brothers
William and Jim Reid with an album, "Psychodandy"
(1985, Blanco Y Negro) which is considered a milestone for the innovations that have emerged from and for the track, no doubt, the highway of shoegaze. atmosphere ethereal, dreamy landscapes, overlapping melodic feedback and a large number of
distortions are the main features of a sound completely veered towards a path hitherto unknown and which led him to consider the means (and the guitar first) as the source of sounds far from the traditional harmonious building although a clear debt to that effect should be paid to bands like Velvet Underground but then we risk making a journey back in music history. The opening track of "Psychodandy" was Just Like Honey that since the attack is un perfetto, magnifico esempio di
shoegaze con i componenti della band che hanno già lo sguardo rivolto verso il basso, concentrato sugli strumenti. Album che non è affatto esagerato definire leggendario . You trip me up Never understand
Cut dead
Taste of Cindy
Sowing Seeds
My little underground
Something's Wrong
Cocteau Twins, "Head Over Heels"
A citation must be made for another band that certainly deserves a central place in the ranks of the shoegaze movement as not attributable to this genus: the
Cocteau Twins. This Scottish band, formed in 1979 and long before the shoegaze movement take root, had already drawn up tones and sounds that can be considered forerunners of the genre. The band's second album in particular (now devoid of drummer Will Heggie), entitled
"Head Over Heels"
(1983, 4AD) sees Elizabeth
Fraser protagonist of a symbolic transition from dark wave
extremely rarefied atmosphere to mix with the fundamental sound of the walls made by Robin Guthrie's guitar . An exciting album that contains the fingerprints already evident in the making of the shoegaze genre in its most intimate and melancholic but also in the approach sound of Robin Guthrie. 
Sugar Hiccup In Our Angelhood Five Ten Fiftyfold
The Tinderbox (Of a Heart)
Whatever their true origin, gender shoegaze catalyzed immediately upon himself a great deal of interest and numerous bands since then have entered the scene, with more or less worthy of note. Needless to say, just naming the most representative would require a long chapter specifically devoted. Here, then, for pure fun, but still certain to whet the curiosity of newcomers to a general approach to the Treaty, I just mention a couple of albums from which I propose interesting excerpts.
Ride "Nowhere"
The first album in question is
"Nowhere"
dei Ride (1990, Creation). Originari di Oxford, i Ride sono stati inizialmente fra i rappresentanti più interessanti della scena shoegaze britannica per passare poi, dopo alterne vicende, a percorrere strade ben diverse. L’album in questione, che costituisce il debutto discografico della band, rimane ad ogni modo fra i capisaldi e certamente uno dei più distintivi del genere shoegaze. Val la pena sottolineare a questo punto che
All Music Guide ha definito “Nowhere” fra i più importanti in assoluto nella storia dello shoegaze.
Seagull 
Kaleidoscope In a Different Place
Polar bear
Dreams Burn Down
Decay
Paralysed
Vapour Trail
Slowdive "Just For A Day", "Souvlaki"
Among the many bands that have left an indelible mark in the shoegaze scene can not be exempt quote again from the Slowdive
(The one person I loved most) in the name that embodies all the characteristics of the genre. The first two albums are among the "cardinal points" of the shoegaze, considered by many the most beautiful ever, and have left a deep mark in many bands that have followed in his footsteps. Slowdive was formed in 1989 and released their first album
"Just for a Day" in 1991 for Creation Records, now on the threshold of the downward turn of shoegaze.
The band closed his artistic career in 1995 with his third and last album that has long been the center of a controversy about the style adopted by the coordinates band in this last occasion. From that experience gave birth to the magnificent
Mojave3 . But this is already another story.
English air 
Celia's dream Catch the breeze
Ballad of Sister Blue
Brighter
The Sadman
Primal
And here's a full presentation of the next album by Slowdive, "Souvlaki" (1993, Creation), without doubt their most mature and convincing that sees even the presence of Brian Eno
in a couple of tracks on keyboards as well as producer of the album . The album also had a version for the U.S. market. Compared to the same My Bloody Valentine or Slowdive Cocteau Twins were able to touch "Souvlaki"
one of the absolute top shoegaze experience. Songs like Machine Gun (with ethereal vocals and dreamy Rachel Goswell
and a wall of sound to put the willies), the very short Here she comes (con l’inconfondibile voce di Neil Halstead e le tastiere di Brian Eno) o la straordinaria Souvlaki space station e When the sun hits 
sono vere e proprie gemme del firmamento shoegaze, ormai parte della storia della musica. Allison 40 days Sing
Altogether
Melon yellow
Dagger
My Bloody Valentine, "Loveless"
With the dates and chronological determinations are likely to always take the glare of sound, especially if the topic is a history of music. Certainly not be otherwise with the need to establish the end of the shoegaze genre itself, without taking account of all leads and influences back. In principle, however, the shoegaze finds its culmination in the second overtime, the Irish suffered album
My Bloody Valentine that after giving the boot al genere, simbolicamente ne determinarono anche la “fine”. “Loveless”
(1991, Creation) dato alle stampe alla fine del 1991 costituisce il raggiungimento dell’espressione massima del genere tanto da essere universalmente riconosciuto come l’album nr. 1 dello shoegaze e fra i più grandi della musica in generale. Un album avvolto da un’aura di leggenda, con una certosina ricerca di soluzioni sonore innovative, incisioni interminabili, snervanti sessioni di registrazione, difficoltà di ogni genere, non ultime quelle
economiche per gli elevati costi di produzione e realizzazione del disco. Un album che, a prescindere dal genere di riferimento, tutti music lovers should have listened at least once in life. The disc opens with this track, 
Only shallow, a perfect synthesis of the shoegaze genre in a state of grace. To Here Knows When 
When you sleep I only Said
As alone
Sometimes
Blown a wish
Soon
The end (?) Of Shoegaze
The parable of the genre "shoegaze" closed so his path after a brief flowering of bands that had dominated the pages of the press and indie charts for at least three to four years . Almost none of these bands had the opportunity of joining the U.S. market and thus prolong his artistic career and, in most cases, were simply swept away by the arrival of "grunge and Britpop in the UK. Many groups disbanded, while others have started on other roads. But this is basically only half true. In reality, the shoegaze remained very much alive under the ashes, and went on to give birth to esperimenti di derivazione che andarono sconfinando in generi assimilabili. Ne venne fuori così un costante, continuo sviluppo del genere che seppure lontano dalle caratteristiche “pure” delle origini ha continuato a mantenere una cifra stilistica comune che è giunta fino ai tempi nostri e che è riconoscibile in un numero impressionante di bands! Certamente ne riparleremo.
Roberto Melfi
SHOEGAZING Selection by Federico Porta e Marco Colasanti: Fifteen Shoegazing Songs
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