Listen to our playlist of songs that flirt or are in the genres dream pop and shoegaze.
Shoegaze and dream pop are two subgenres of alternative rock that are often confused and mixed. It is not easy to distinguish them. After all, some sound elements are common to both and the main artists of these styles are generally associated with both.
Some scholars of pop music consider that the elements that gave characteristics to dream pop were born in the 1960s and 1970s with works by bands like Beach Boys and Velvet Underground, and albums produced by Phil Spector, like All Things Must Pass of 1970 by George Harrison . It is understood that dream pop acquired a sound form in the early 1980s, mainly with the Scottish band Cocteau Twins. Many consider shoegaze to be a derivation of dream pop.
But, what is the difference between them? In a brief and simple way, shoegaze presents a harsher sound, in which the ethereal vocals are buried under layers of guitars, creating nebulous songs. In dream pop, there is more clarity in vocals and melodies, with soft sonorous textures that evoke dreams.
Their experiments gave an air of renewal to the aesthetics and sound structures of pop music. Their influence, over the years, contributes to the emergence of bands, which, although not labeled within these styles, flirt with their elements.
Featured Tracks:
- My Bloody Valentine Only Shallow
- The Joy Formidable Whirring
- R.E.M. Let Me In
- A Sunny Day in Glasgow Boys Turn Into Girls (Initiation Rites)
- Lush Sweetness and Light
- The Horrors Three Decades
- Galaxie 500 Tell Me
- The Jesus and Mary Chain Reverence
- The Clientele We Could Walk Together
- My Bloody Valentine Sometimes
- Beach House Myth
- Pale Saints Sight of You
- Slowdive Alison
- Lush De-Luxe
- Cocteau Twins Carolyn's Fingers
- A Sunny Day in Glasgow Close Chorus
- Spiritualized Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space
- Beach House Gila
- M83 Don't Save Us from the Flames
- Curve Faît Accompli
- The Clientele Reflections After Jane
- Galaxie 500 Blue Thunder
- Yo La Tengo Deeper into Movies
- The Cure Plainsong
- Ride Vapour Trail
- M83 Run Into Flower
- Medicine Miss Drugstore
- DIIV Mire (Grant's Song)
- Cocteau Twins Cherry-Coloured Funk
- Low Words
- Swervedriver Duress
- The Verve Star Sail
- Primal Scream Shoot Speed/Kill Light
- Chromatics Kill for love
- DIIV Under the Sun
- A Place to Bury Strangers To Fix the Gash in Your Head
- Teenage Fanclub Star Sign
- Mazzy Star Fade Into You
- Deerhunter Hazel St
- Curve Horror Head
- Ride Leave Them All Behind
- Cocteau Twins Heaven or Las Vegas
- Grouper When We Fall
- The Brian Jonestown Massacre Hyperventilation
- Slowdive Souvlaki Space Station
- Deafheaven Near
- DIIV Doused
- My Bloody Valentine Soon
- Ringo Deathstarr Kaleidoscope
- Galaxie 500 Listen, The Snow Is Falling