My Bloody Valentine - Don't Ask Why

An atypical MBV tune, especially for their later years - it's almost minimalist, with unusually prominent vocals and some of their most heartfelt lyrics ever. That line, from the look in your face, I believe it's not too late, that gets me EVERY time.

I'd rank this in my top five MBV songs ever, actually.  Probably top three in fact.

Love Dance - Skisse #3

An absolutely stunning, upbeat shoegazey pop tune, the kind of song you fall in love with over and over again.

It was released earlier this year on the Beko 100 digital comp.

Whistler Post - Sebastian Says

One of a number of great bands to come out of Indonesia over the recent past. This 7" was released last year and reminds me a lot of the Nightblooms (for those unfamiliar, that means it sounds like the Cardigans on shoegaze). Very nice.

Boo Radleys - Skyscraper

Boos posts are always popular round these parts so here's another one from my favourite album of theirs, Everything's Alright Forever. It's kind of just a straightforward album track, but it shows the quality of their songwriting at the time that they could come up with album tracks as solid as this one, which certainly wasn't the case for a lot of their contemporaries in shoegazeville. As with so much on this album, it's mostly about the way they get everything right in terms of arrangement, soundscaping, and letting the music take the lead where it matters instead of throwing in totally unnecessary words just for the sake of it.

From 1992.

My Bloody Valentine - Honey Power

The title kind of makes me cringe now (weren't there just way too many indie songs about honey and sugar and all that back in the day?) but apart from that, this is a great song. It's from the 1991 Tremolo EP but I think it's more in the vein of earlier MBV, which I, apparently alone in all the universe, prefer to their final couple years. Not early early MBV of course, who were shit.

Catherine Wheel - Flower to Hide

While I'm in a '90s shoegaze mood (as if I'm ever not, ha) here's an album track from CW's debut that I particularly liked. Actually, I think a lot of their album tracks have held up better than their singles, but maybe that's just me.

From 1992.

   

Sunbear - Leadbelt

Sorry about yesterday, folks, you wouldn't believe what my computer was doing to me. Anyway, here's an absolutely gorgeous tune from a Dublin shoegaze band who really should have been better known back in the day. It's from their 1996 EP Bits and Pieces, or you can also find it on a recent compilation called Bits. And, really, you should.

The House of Love - Christine

Their second single, from 1988. The House of Love wouldn't have been identified as a shoegaze band but this is definitely an early shoegaze song. And one of their best, though personally they were never one of my favourites anyway. But I really loved this song.

Dead Leaf Echo - Kingmaker

A recent release from this New York band, light shoegazey pop in the vein of Chapterhouse or Spirea X.  It doesn't knock my socks off but we'll see what more they come out with.

Sad Day for Puppets - Again

Swedish band who emerged toward the end of the last decade, channeling that early '90s not-quite-indie-rock/not-quite-shoegaze sound. This was a 2010 single.

Pale Saints - A Revelation

B-side to the 1990 Half-Life EP, a short one with a very sing-song melody and particularly shoegazey guitars (bearing in mind that Pale Saints weren't usually as shoegazey as the other bands they were lumped in with). Actually, in retrospect I think they sound a bit like the Boo Radleys here. But maybe that's just me.

Adorable - Sunshine Smile

Adorable's first and best-known single. It wasn't one of my favourites of theirs, but as b-list shoegaze hits go, I think it's aged better than a lot of its contemporaries. I still maintain they would have been taken more seriously if they hadn't combined such a twee-sounding band name with a twee-sounding title for the first song anyone ever heard of theirs.

From 1992.

Young Prisms - Feel Fine

Blissed-out fuzz from San Francisco. Nice to listen to in the right frame of mind, though I think they're best taken either in small doses, or with a significant amount of drugs (if you're so inclined).

This is from their debut album, last year's Friends for Now.

The Ropers - Waiting

Classic DC shoegaze from a real Slumberland treasure, the Ropers' 1993 debut Sunbathe EP. There's something so incredibly innocent about this it gives me goosebumps.

Ride - Sennen

Ride at their dreamiest, and with some of their nicest guitar ever. It's from the 1991 Today Forever EP.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Ramona

Here's another example of a band whose b-sides are better than a lot of bands' a-sides. In fact, in this case the song is marginally better than its own a-side... though it's a close call. It was on the "Young Adult Friction" 7" (2009), and it makes me swoon.

Slowdive - Beach Song

I've never been a fan of Slowdive - most of the time I just find them, well, boring. But this song kicks. It's from a 1992 flexi.

My Bloody Valentine - I Believe

B-side to "Feed Me With Your Kiss". I'll say that again: this was a b-side. I still can't quite wrap my head around that. You could take the best bits from the best a-sides of 95% of the records that have ever existed, and make the best a-side you could possibly make from them, and it still wouldn't be fit to wipe the dust off this song. Which was a b-side.

OK, maybe I'm exaggerating just a little bit. But, seriously... can you believe this was only a b-side? I can't.

From 1988.

Ride - Like a Daydream

Opening number from their second EP, Play, from 1990. This was really where I felt Ride arrived: its self-titled predecessor a few months earlier had some strong moments, but there was nothing on it with the immediacy of this track, which I have to say pretty much knocked my socks off the moment I heard it. Actually, it still knocks my socks off.

Doesn't Mark look cute with his poofy li'l haircut, too. I bet he cringes seeing this now.

Lush - Bitter

Great track from Lush's debut EP Scar. I'm putting a shoegaze tag on it just because it's Lush, but there's really nothing shoegazey at all about this one: it's a simple two-minute rockin' guitar rush with lyrics that, let me just say, I really identify with at the moment. You don't want to know.

From 1989.