Shoegaze is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volume. It emerged in Ireland and the United Kingdom in the late 1980s among neo-psychedelic groups who usually stood motionless during live performances in a detached, non-confrontational state. The name comes from the heavy use of effects pedals, as the performers were often looking down at their pedals during concerts.
Dinosaur Jr. is an American rock band formed in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1984. Originally called Dinosaur, the band was forced to change their name due to legal issues.
Interpol is an American rock band from Manhattan, New York. Formed in 1997, their original line-up consisted of Paul Banks, Daniel Kessler, Carlos Dengler, and Greg Drudy (drums). Drudy left the band in 2000 and was replaced by Sam Fogarino. Dengler left to pursue other projects in 2010, with Banks taking on the additional role of bassist instead of hiring a new one.
Joseph Donald Mascis Jr., better known as J Mascis, is an American musician who is the singer, guitarist and main songwriter for the alternative rock band Dinosaur Jr. He has also released several albums as a solo artist and played drums and guitar on other projects. He was ranked number 86 in a Rolling Stone list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists", and number 5 in a similar list for Spin magazine in 2012.
Failure is an American alternative rock band from Los Angeles that was active from 1990 to 1997 and from 2014 to the present. They have released six full-length albums and five EPs.
Mark Edward Kozelek is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and occasional actor. He is known as the vocalist and primary recording artist of the indie folk act Sun Kil Moon and founding member of the indie rock band Red House Painters, with whom he recorded six studio albums from 1989 until 2001.
LCD Soundsystem is an American rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2002 by James Murphy, co-founder of DFA Records. The band comprises Murphy, Nancy Whang, Pat Mahoney (drums), Tyler Pope, Al Doyle, Matt Thornley, and Korey Richey. They have been signed to DFA since their inception, and also signed to Columbia Records in 2016.
M83 are a French electronic music group formed in Antibes in 1999. Initially the duo of multi-instrumentalists Nicolas Fromageau and Anthony Gonzalez, Fromageau parted ways shortly after touring for their second album Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts. Gonzalez remains the sole constant member of the project, as the primary songwriter and lead vocalist. The band has released nine studio albums, including the Grammy Award-nominated Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, and two soundtracks. Gonzalez records primarily on his own, with numerous guest musicians. The band is signed to Mute Records and found breakout success in 2011 with the single "Midnight City". Their sound has been described as dream pop, new wave, shoegaze, and ambient.
Swervedriver are an English alternative rock band formed in Oxford in 1989 around core members Adam Franklin and Jimmy Hartridge. Between 1989 and 1998, the band released four studio albums and numerous EPs and singles despite a considerable flux of members, managers, and record labels. By 1993 the band's lineup had settled with Franklin on vocals/guitar, Hartridge on guitar, Jez Hindmarsh on drums, and Steve George on bass. They had emerged with a heavier rock sound than their shoegaze contemporaries, and over the next five years it evolved to include elements of psychedelia, classic pop, and indie rock.
Grizzly Bear was an American rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2002. For most of its tenure, the band has consisted of Edward Droste, Daniel Rossen, Chris Taylor, and Christopher Bear. The band employed both traditional and electronic instruments, and their sound has been categorized as psychedelic pop, folk rock, and experimental. The band was known for their use of vocal harmony, with all four members contributing vocals and lead vocals alternating between Rossen and Droste.
You Fail Me is the fifth studio album by American metalcore band Converge, released on September 21, 2004 by Epitaph Records. The band's first release for the label, it was produced by Alan Douches and guitarist Kurt Ballou, with the artwork created by vocalist Jacob Bannon.
Japandroids are a Canadian rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia, consisting of Brian King and David Prowse.
Ceremony is an American punk rock band from Rohnert Park, California. The band's current line-up features Ross Farrar (vocals), Anthony Anzaldo (guitar), Justin Davis (bass), Andy Nelson (guitar), and Jake Casarotti (drums). Ryan Mattos (guitar) left before the group's Matador Records signing in 2011, being replaced by Nelson. The band have released six studio albums to date, and have changed their sound considerably across their discography – ranging from elements of powerviolence, grindcore, hardcore punk, punk rock, garage rock, post-punk, indie rock and new wave. Pitchfork once wrote that "Ceremony are hell-bent on not making the same record twice", while Stereogum described the band as "a very good punk band executing old punk tricks to massive effectiveness".
White Lung was a Canadian punk rock band. The band consisted of Mish Barber-Way (vocals), Kenneth William (guitars) and Anne-Marie Vassiliou (drums). They have released two albums on Deranged Records and their latest two on Domino Recording Company. Exclaim! named the band's first full-length album It's the Evil as 2010's punk album of the year. The band was nominated for Punk/Hardcore Artist/Group of the Year at the 2011 Canadian Music Week Indie Awards.
Shelter is the fourth studio album by French shoegaze band Alcest. It was released on 17 January 2014 via Prophecy Productions. The album's name is related to the album's overall concept of shelter, "a safe place to escape, this secret thing we all have when life is going too fast and you are full of anxiety." The album marks a significant stylistic shift for the band, fully embracing the band's shoegaze and dream pop influences while eliminating the previous metal influences, with Rolling Stone writing that the album has "more in common genetically with Sigur Rós than Satyricon."
Preoccupations is a Canadian post-punk band from Calgary, Alberta, formed in 2012 under the name Viet Cong. The band consists of Matt Flegel, Scott Munro, Daniel Christiansen (guitar) and Mike Wallace (drums). Flegel and Wallace had previously been members of the band Women, which broke up in 2010. The group's musical style has been described as "labyrinthine post-punk".
The discography of Swervedriver, an English alternative rock band, consists of six studio albums, one compilation album, one video album, seven extended plays, and eighteen singles. The band's back catalog of non-studio-album material rivals that which has been released in album format.
Ought was a post-punk band from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The band consisted of Tim Darcy, Ben Stidworthy, Matt May (keyboards) and Tim Keen (drums).
Full of Hell is an American grindcore band from Ocean City, Maryland, and Central Pennsylvania, that formed in 2009. They are currently signed to Relapse Records and have released five studio albums – Roots of Earth Are Consuming My Home (2011), Rudiments of Mutilation (2013), Trumpeting Ecstasy (2017), Weeping Choir (2019), and Garden of Burning Apparitions (2021) – as well as several EPs and splits. In addition to studio albums, they've released five collaboration albums – Full of Hell & Merzbow (2014) with Japanese noise artist Merzbow, One Day You Will Ache Like I Ache (2016) and Ascending a Mountain of Heavy Light (2017) with sludge metal band the Body, Suffocating Hallucination with doom metal band Primitive Man in March 2023 and When No Birds Sang with shoegaze band Nothing in December 2023.
"Solara" is a song by American rock band Smashing Pumpkins. It was the band's first song to be released after reforming three fourths of the band's original lineup in 2018, featuring Billy Corgan, James Iha, and Jimmy Chamberlin performing on a track together for the first time since 2000's Machina/The Machines of God album and subsequent non-album single "Untitled" prior to their original breakup. It was released as a single on June 8, 2018, as the first song from a set of two upcoming EPs that were set for release in 2018 before a full-length album titled Shiny and Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun. was announced in September. The song peaked at number 47 on the US Hot Rock Songs chart.
