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:
- Yo La Tengo Nowhere Near
- Grouper When We Fall
- DIIV Mire (Grant's Song)
- Galaxie 500 Listen, The Snow Is Falling
- Galaxie 500 Tell Me
- The Sundays Here's Where the Story Ends
- Mercury Rev Chasing a Bee
- Low Words
- Yo La Tengo Deeper into Movies
- The Horrors Three Decades
- Dinosaur Jr. Tarpit
- The Jesus and Mary Chain Reverence
- Primal Scream Shoot Speed/Kill Light
- Ride Vapour Trail
- Cocteau Twins Cherry-Coloured Funk
- M83 Don't Save Us from the Flames
- Beach Fossils Sleep Apnea
- DIIV Doused
- Mazzy Star Fade Into You
- Swervedriver Duress
- Deafheaven Near
- The Brian Jonestown Massacre Hyperventilation
- M83 Run Into Flower
- Chromatics Kill for love
- The Joy Formidable Whirring
- My Bloody Valentine Only Shallow
- Ride Leave Them All Behind
- My Bloody Valentine Sometimes
- Galaxie 500 Blue Thunder
- The Clientele Reflections After Jane
- A Place to Bury Strangers To Fix the Gash in Your Head
- My Bloody Valentine Soon
- Lush Sweetness and Light
- Ringo Deathstarr Kaleidoscope
- The Verve Star Sail
- Cocteau Twins Carolyn's Fingers
- Beach House Myth
- R.E.M. Let Me In
- Lush De-Luxe
- Slowdive When the Sun Hits
- Pale Saints Sight of You
- The Clientele We Could Walk Together
- Curve Faît Accompli
- Medicine Miss Drugstore
- Beach House Gila
- Curve Horror Head
- A Sunny Day in Glasgow Boys Turn Into Girls (Initiation Rites)
- Slowdive Souvlaki Space Station
- Teenage Fanclub Star Sign
- The Jesus and Mary Chain Just Like Honey