Intenna

By Del Chaney

I once read a quote – “After reaching its apotheosis with My Bloody Valentine’s 1991 masterpiece, Loveless, shoegaze petered out quickly, although numerous bands have tried to keep the dense, sense-pummeling sound alive since then, with varying degrees of success.”

To me, shoegaze never died. It simply went underground, far away from the prying eyes of the mass media hounds and the unrelenting record corporations looking for a fast buck! Its vibrant sound continued to cross divides and break borders all around the globe, drifting by us in waves. Every once in a while, it popped its head up to take a peek at this modern-day musical landscape, before quickly retreating back under the radar, waiting for its chance to explode once again. This scene, once dubbed introverted, bubbled under the musical surface and gradually gained the attention of new ears in bedrooms and garages all over the world.

Young teenage kids listening to the first generation of shoegaze gathered their friends together to start bands & collectives just to recreate its atmospheric post-punk and droning psychedelic sound! This spark, in turn, lit the fuse, leading to a burgeoning underground scene erupting onto a musical landscape that had been crying out for something different to cling to. The shoegaze bands of today are the next wave. They have studied their craft and, in some cases, created a completely new subculture in a genre of music that is, traditionally, a hard thing to penetrate. It’s bizarre to think that shoegazing, considered the wimpiest of all of the 90’s musical scenes, is now thriving in a post-Pitchfork world!

My Bloody Valentine, first wave shoegazers.

Now, Ear To Ear Records and Indonesian label Gerpfast Kolektif have brought together a selection of these ‘Next Wave’ shoegaze and dream pop artists from all around the globe for one free compilation release. What they have collectively achieved will cement this underground shoegaze scene into history and give the next generation of gazers something to reference when they in turn gather themselves to create their own wave.

Revolution – The Shoegaze Revival is an epic, truly international, 30-track compilation composed of outstanding original material. Such bands have set the stage for shoegaze pioneers’ return to today’s scene by upholding their wall of sound and painting it with breathtaking colour. Some of these bands are also ‘first wave’ but have remained underground, while some are newbies – the ‘second wave’ of shoegaze.

Curated by UK label Ear to Ear Records and Indonesian label Gerpfast Kolektif, this compilation features 30 bands from 16 countries, covering 5 of the 6 inhabited continents. Each was selected purely on the basis of their dynamic sound, without any consideration of geographic preference, label affiliation, popularity ranking, or hype. Without even one throwaway or filler track, these are all ‘keepers.’ This 30-track compilation of epic music will be available as a free download as of today from both labels’ bandcamp pages (eartoearrecords.bandcamp.com and gerpfastkolektif.bandcamp.com).

Chilean shoegazers Trementina are among the bands included on Revolution.

Revolution is not a shoegaze tribute album to MBV or Slowdive, or even The Beatles. There is simply so much greatness to the new wave of shoegaze that the focus is on original tracks, which showcase the immense talent of the featured bands. For some, this album may be the best shoegaze soundtrack they’ll encounter in 2015. At minimum, it will serve as a fantastic introduction to these new sounds and happily tide existing shoegaze fans over for quite some time.

With several endorsements from first wave artists and producers such as Creation Records co-founder Joe Foster, Graham Bonnar (Swervedriver/ Brian Jonestown Massacre), Stephen Lawrie (The Telescopes), and Louise Trehy (Swallow/ Strata Florida) this release promises to attract old school gaze fans and newbies alike. This compilation will help move this genre beyond being “The Scene That Celebrates Itself” to one that is also celebrated by others…

Bands featured include //orangenoise (Pakistan), Sounds of Sputnik (Russia), The Yours (Hong Kong), Trementina (Chile), Ummagma (Canada-Ukraine), Digilite (Indonesia), Jaguwar (Germany), Stellarscope (USA), Spool (Japan), Wozniak (Scotland), Ether Feels (Japan), Hideous Towns (Australia), Lights That Change (Wales, UK), Damascus (Indonesia), Weird. (Italy), Hermetic Delight (France), Rev Rev Rev (Italy), The Evening Primrose (Hong Kong), Stella Diana (Italy), Seaside (Indonesia), Blood Lips (UK), Magao (Japan), Clustersun (Italy), Duelectrum (Brazil), Intenna (Indonesia), Robsongs (Brazil), Slow Motion Picture (USA), Thud (Hong Kong), Sharesprings (Indonesia), and Puna (Peru).

DEL CHANEY is a self-confessed music freak and is never far away from a turntable. He divides his time between fronting popular electronic band Analogue Wave and uncovering and actively promoting artists from all over the globe in the shoegaze, dream pop, noise-rock, & post-rock genres with The Primal Music Blog and The Primal Radio Show. Hailing from Dublin, Ireland, Del is a keen vinyl collector, tattoo fan, & all round good guy.