Good stuff, especially at the end of your mix where they actually let the chick sing a little. Is Shoegaze Music defined by having only two chords? It's certainly not Schubert, n'est ce-pas? I find that this is good stuff to play loud when you're getting the swordfish ready for the grill and grinding up the hummus, heh.
But it does not compare (in my view) with Silver Wedding's “Adieu la tête” (still on my top ten bookmarks) though I have to see the vid along with the music – Starchild, Mustache Man, et al. Again, many thanks for this one. urbando
Thanks urbando. Some of the tracks are from before she joined the group, but it's also true that she doesn't appear as much as you'd expect. That could have something to do with her being in another group and dividing her time between the two.
Here's the other group. Completely different style from S3P though. She mentioned Bjork as a major influence in one of the interviews and I think it shows here.
Excellent find. Daria live has a nice approach to dancing and gesturing, a throw back to when the Grateful Dead were psychedlic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZIRTVDueIw I haven't seen other women singers in shoe gaze as expressive.
Lately I've been tryng to figure out why I like this genre so much. As far as the rock or indie categories go, shoegaze has been my favourite style even before it was called that and was lumped in with New Wave. Cocteau Twins and See Feel are early examples Loved those bands and anything that sounded like them.
The music itself is not that complicated, even a beginner guitarist can play it once they get command of their effects, which is half the allure. Many of the songs could be played as straight ballads on acoustic. It's the effects, and mastery thereof that makes this sound. The complex harmonics and overtones have a hypnotic effect which is very relaxing. After I finish a mix and do a test run I often doze off half way through...lol. If the term wasn't already taken I think this could easily be called 'trance.' Definitely more trance inducing than the DJ stuff which I don't really like. Never had much interest in the DJ scene, probably because I know how that stuff is made. Just press play, then stand there and try to look like you're doing something. Gets old after the first hour.
Brilliant analysis, my nigga! I encountered a couple of local gazer brothers who turned me on to the genre two years ago, about the same time I found you on substack. To me it's the last iteration of new wave. And maybe the end of the line for the rock express. I know grunge fans would scoff, but other than Cobain who died before he ran out of inspiration, I didn't get on their bus. Or the subsequent emo van either. All good things do come to an end on this planet. But you'd think rock, being hard, would've hung on longer.
In art the Renaissance spawned a few iterations, Rococo being the last. But the classical approach to painting still remained vital thru impressionism and some of the early modern painters were naff. I don't want to dismiss the whole modernist movement the way conservatives do. Nor would I try to defend what's in galleries and museums now. I think it's very much the way dance music has devolved into dreary monotony.
Bowie had a crap song, I Am a DJ, which forewarned of the cult of death - stand there and try to look like you're doing something. Amen. Beam me up, Scotty.
Thanks. I agree, she has great stage presence. She cites Bjork as a major influence, so that probably tells you something. Not a big fan of Bjork myself, but she seems to be a major point of reference for female vocalists. Dasha Shultz cites her as well.
Shoegaze vocalists more often than not are also instrumentalists and part of the original line up. When you add a vocalist to an existing band, as is the case here, you're usually dealing with someone who just wants to sing and is flexible as to style or genre. You have to be or you won't get work. Slot's original vocalist was like that. She adapted to metal, but her preference was pop, which she moved on to. Daria seems like she'd be just as happy in a rock band as with these guys. She's actually in another band I haven't had time to look at yet, but I'm guessing they're more rock or pop oriented than S3P. Gazers aren't really expected to be dramatic in their presentation. Kind of goes against the grain actually.
Recently watched some live OMD videos for the first time. Couldn't believe what Andy McClusky was doing when he wasn't playing bass guitar. Flailing around the stage like a gospel minister in heat. Ruined the mood of their synth pop for me. Much too overt. Somebody fire that guy. But his fans must love it or tolerate it somehow.
I saw OMD in Vancouver in the early 80's. About 20 minutes in some people realized that they weren't actually playing their keyboards and the music was note for note off the album. Some started booing and a few people walked out. I wasn't too impressed myself. That was before the club DJ thing where people would pay to see exactly that - some guy just standing there pretending to be busy.
My idea of electronic music is Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada. The rest I can do without, even though I played synth myself for a while after I caught the Kraftwerk bug. That Russian thing I've seen before. Just hilarious. And the audience - so serious! I don't think they understood what they were seeing. New Wave was supposed to be a parody, at least that's how we took it. You're not supposed to take yourself too seriously was the whole idea. My favourite bands from that era were Blondie and the B52's. I also liked Wire and Dome. Gilbert and Lewis were ground breaking back then, but largely unrecognized. Oh, and The Stranglers and Siouxee and the Banshees. Mustn't forget them!
If OMD were just playing to tapes, I guess that freed McClusky up to make a live fool of himself.
Most of your influences remain obscure to me. Kraftwerk, the godfathering Teutonic giants. Blondie and B52s for fun, of course. Wire only Pink Flag. Dome nope. Boards and Aphex nope. Stranglers and Souxsie of course. You did a deep dive where I only skimmed the surface.
"You did a deep dive where I only skimmed the surface."
I was up to my neck in it at one point. Or maybe over my head? Still not sure.
I don't think OMD were using tapes. MIDI was just coming in around that time, and sequencers had been around for a while. I think they just played it the way they made it and maybe riffed a bit on top, expecting that people would accept that. They do today.
Not sure what you're saying re tapes v instruments. I'll bet a lot of us don't know the realities of modern sound performance: what's live, what's canned, and what's in between? Is the difference about live and canned only about who does the button pressing? If it's someone backstage or at the sound board, then it's like Milli Vanilli. Not acceptable. But if someone in the onstage band releases a prerecorded sequence by pressing a button, we might consider that kosher as long as it's a short segment. Acceptable as in-between, but technically not live performance. Backup or choral vocals come to mind in this regard. You don't have the money or logistics to bring along the girls and boys who sang for the studio recording to sing live (unless you're making a dvd.) But if you're sequencing entire songs even from onstage instruments (sequencers), that's cheating, right?
It's been long a given that as long as the band was playing live, it didn't matter that it was (almost) note perfect to the studio version and that was true for both rock and classical. Improvisation was not expected. "Riffing on top of it" was a bonus feature.
That is possibly the most beautiful thing I have ever heard.
Thank you. More than I can possibly say.
Wow. Glad you liked it. They've become one of my favourite groups since I found them last spring, along with Blankenberge and Amethyst Veins.
If you want to hear more of them, just go here:
https://eemusic.ru/?song=sectrets+of+the+third+planet&s=f&song=secrets+of+the+third+planet&s=f
Ebear,
Good stuff, especially at the end of your mix where they actually let the chick sing a little. Is Shoegaze Music defined by having only two chords? It's certainly not Schubert, n'est ce-pas? I find that this is good stuff to play loud when you're getting the swordfish ready for the grill and grinding up the hummus, heh.
But it does not compare (in my view) with Silver Wedding's “Adieu la tête” (still on my top ten bookmarks) though I have to see the vid along with the music – Starchild, Mustache Man, et al. Again, many thanks for this one. urbando
Thanks urbando. Some of the tracks are from before she joined the group, but it's also true that she doesn't appear as much as you'd expect. That could have something to do with her being in another group and dividing her time between the two.
Here's the other group. Completely different style from S3P though. She mentioned Bjork as a major influence in one of the interviews and I think it shows here.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYfu4WWFsxsgfrYa9EkmNQQ
Excellent find. Daria live has a nice approach to dancing and gesturing, a throw back to when the Grateful Dead were psychedlic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZIRTVDueIw I haven't seen other women singers in shoe gaze as expressive.
Lately I've been tryng to figure out why I like this genre so much. As far as the rock or indie categories go, shoegaze has been my favourite style even before it was called that and was lumped in with New Wave. Cocteau Twins and See Feel are early examples Loved those bands and anything that sounded like them.
The music itself is not that complicated, even a beginner guitarist can play it once they get command of their effects, which is half the allure. Many of the songs could be played as straight ballads on acoustic. It's the effects, and mastery thereof that makes this sound. The complex harmonics and overtones have a hypnotic effect which is very relaxing. After I finish a mix and do a test run I often doze off half way through...lol. If the term wasn't already taken I think this could easily be called 'trance.' Definitely more trance inducing than the DJ stuff which I don't really like. Never had much interest in the DJ scene, probably because I know how that stuff is made. Just press play, then stand there and try to look like you're doing something. Gets old after the first hour.
Brilliant analysis, my nigga! I encountered a couple of local gazer brothers who turned me on to the genre two years ago, about the same time I found you on substack. To me it's the last iteration of new wave. And maybe the end of the line for the rock express. I know grunge fans would scoff, but other than Cobain who died before he ran out of inspiration, I didn't get on their bus. Or the subsequent emo van either. All good things do come to an end on this planet. But you'd think rock, being hard, would've hung on longer.
In art the Renaissance spawned a few iterations, Rococo being the last. But the classical approach to painting still remained vital thru impressionism and some of the early modern painters were naff. I don't want to dismiss the whole modernist movement the way conservatives do. Nor would I try to defend what's in galleries and museums now. I think it's very much the way dance music has devolved into dreary monotony.
Bowie had a crap song, I Am a DJ, which forewarned of the cult of death - stand there and try to look like you're doing something. Amen. Beam me up, Scotty.
Thanks. I agree, she has great stage presence. She cites Bjork as a major influence, so that probably tells you something. Not a big fan of Bjork myself, but she seems to be a major point of reference for female vocalists. Dasha Shultz cites her as well.
Shoegaze vocalists more often than not are also instrumentalists and part of the original line up. When you add a vocalist to an existing band, as is the case here, you're usually dealing with someone who just wants to sing and is flexible as to style or genre. You have to be or you won't get work. Slot's original vocalist was like that. She adapted to metal, but her preference was pop, which she moved on to. Daria seems like she'd be just as happy in a rock band as with these guys. She's actually in another band I haven't had time to look at yet, but I'm guessing they're more rock or pop oriented than S3P. Gazers aren't really expected to be dramatic in their presentation. Kind of goes against the grain actually.
Recently watched some live OMD videos for the first time. Couldn't believe what Andy McClusky was doing when he wasn't playing bass guitar. Flailing around the stage like a gospel minister in heat. Ruined the mood of their synth pop for me. Much too overt. Somebody fire that guy. But his fans must love it or tolerate it somehow.
Here's the opposite front man approach. Makes me smile. Takes minimal into a new realm. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6wl-EyhXl0
I saw OMD in Vancouver in the early 80's. About 20 minutes in some people realized that they weren't actually playing their keyboards and the music was note for note off the album. Some started booing and a few people walked out. I wasn't too impressed myself. That was before the club DJ thing where people would pay to see exactly that - some guy just standing there pretending to be busy.
My idea of electronic music is Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada. The rest I can do without, even though I played synth myself for a while after I caught the Kraftwerk bug. That Russian thing I've seen before. Just hilarious. And the audience - so serious! I don't think they understood what they were seeing. New Wave was supposed to be a parody, at least that's how we took it. You're not supposed to take yourself too seriously was the whole idea. My favourite bands from that era were Blondie and the B52's. I also liked Wire and Dome. Gilbert and Lewis were ground breaking back then, but largely unrecognized. Oh, and The Stranglers and Siouxee and the Banshees. Mustn't forget them!
If OMD were just playing to tapes, I guess that freed McClusky up to make a live fool of himself.
Most of your influences remain obscure to me. Kraftwerk, the godfathering Teutonic giants. Blondie and B52s for fun, of course. Wire only Pink Flag. Dome nope. Boards and Aphex nope. Stranglers and Souxsie of course. You did a deep dive where I only skimmed the surface.
"You did a deep dive where I only skimmed the surface."
I was up to my neck in it at one point. Or maybe over my head? Still not sure.
I don't think OMD were using tapes. MIDI was just coming in around that time, and sequencers had been around for a while. I think they just played it the way they made it and maybe riffed a bit on top, expecting that people would accept that. They do today.
Not sure what you're saying re tapes v instruments. I'll bet a lot of us don't know the realities of modern sound performance: what's live, what's canned, and what's in between? Is the difference about live and canned only about who does the button pressing? If it's someone backstage or at the sound board, then it's like Milli Vanilli. Not acceptable. But if someone in the onstage band releases a prerecorded sequence by pressing a button, we might consider that kosher as long as it's a short segment. Acceptable as in-between, but technically not live performance. Backup or choral vocals come to mind in this regard. You don't have the money or logistics to bring along the girls and boys who sang for the studio recording to sing live (unless you're making a dvd.) But if you're sequencing entire songs even from onstage instruments (sequencers), that's cheating, right?
It's been long a given that as long as the band was playing live, it didn't matter that it was (almost) note perfect to the studio version and that was true for both rock and classical. Improvisation was not expected. "Riffing on top of it" was a bonus feature.