Pitchfork - Best 50 Shoegaze Albums

Music
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No real surprises in here. Foreword by Pete Kember though.

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I’m sure they’re doing these now just to annoy all the people who comment on their FB page

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Really thought you were reposting an article from about 5 years ago. I suppose this means that the Ambient list ended up getting them a lot of pageviews.

Same as before, kind of dumb and a mix of mostly safe/obvious choices with things that aren’t really shoegaze. Not worth getting annoyed about mind. Nice to see Xinlisupreme and Lovesliescrushing get a mention though. Cue about a dozen shoegaze artists coming up with their own better version of the list!

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lol just the same bands over and over again in the top 15

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Can spacemen3 really be said to kick off shoegaze?

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also the bassist in the boo radleys is now the head of ICT in a school near me lol

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Citrus, Giant Steps… smile

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Not bad, but very safe, especially most of the top picks.

other thoughts:

  • Beat is much better than Bowery Electric’s debut, even if it’s not purely shoegaze.

  • Xuvetyn is much better than Bloweyelashwish

  • Chrome, Yerself is Steam, Pygmalion, and Going Blank Again aren’t really shoegaze at all and could’ve been left out in favor of other overlooked acts. To be fair, the 2 or 3 shoegaze tracks on GBA are the best tracks.

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I’d say A Storm In Heaven comfortably fits the shoegaze description. The subsequent albums, not so much but then they haven’t been chosen.

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11

Yeah, yeah, I’ve replied to the wrong person.

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Never liked Souvlaki much.

The first two tracks are beyond incredible but the rest of the album doesn’t do anything for me.

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Always thought shoegaze was always a bit niche to get it’s own genre, let alone a separate Pitchfork list. Essentially chillwave for the 90s

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I’ve always thought the first two tracks on Souvlaki were easily the weakest, especially compared to Souvlaki Space Station and When The Sun Hits. Even then, their first 3 EPs are their best overall material.

Just For a Day being #7 is a bit much too.

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Lots of good (if obvious) stuff on there, though some really weird choices (Nothing’s latest? Really?) and a fairly blinding lack of interest in much of the more recent ‘classic’ releases. Debuts by Panda Riot, Tamaryn, Radio Dept and SVIIB beat a lot of the records on that list. Nice to see Swirlies rightfully high up at number 11. Agree on Verve.

I’m going to jag my shoegazes mixes again for the first wave:

and then three subsequent ‘nu gaze’ mixes which hopefully back up my point above?

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Agree on Beat, but we’re moving into that sort of drone / shoegaze crossover area which makes things even more difficult.

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replying to this to remind me to look at the list tomorrow

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A Slowdive record is not better than Isn’t Anything.

And Going Blank Again is absolute dogshit. I don’t think I’ve ever been so disappointed in a record I bought.

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Beat is bloody fantastic.

MBV should be 1 & 2.

Mezcal Head isn’t even the second best Swervedriver album.

etc (and that’s just the top ten).

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Mezcal Head > Ejector Seat Reservation > Raise > 99th Dream…

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Isn’t Anything isn’t that great. I still don’t think Souvlaki is really that great of an album either.