10 Essential Shoegaze Albums

Whirlpool exemplifies the shoegaze sound as we know it: jangly guitars, sparkly production, smooth vocals, and sharp songwriting. Released at the beginning of the grunge movement, Whirlpool managed to spend several weeks atop the charts on both sides of the pond and remains some of the most accessible shoegaze music ever recorded. Although Chapterhouse only ever released one other album, the band left an indelible mark on shoegaze’s development.

Like Chapterhouse before them, Lush took the gazer sound and made it more palatable for the masses. Their hooks were irresistible and they championed an interest in electronic music by partnering with DJs such as Spooky and Drum Club to help the style branch out into other musical worlds. Spooky inspired later electronic artists, like Ulrich Schnauss, to marry traditional, organic elements of instrumentation with new technological advancements.

Singer Rob Dickinson (cousin of Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson) possessed perhaps the coolest voice of all time and only served to sublimely complement the brilliant guitar work and moods of Catherine Wheel’s albums. Take “Fripp,” one of the finest shoegaze songs ever crafted, for example — it begins as a quiet crawl, gently stirred by Dickinson’s croak, until it builds into a melodic tornado of sound and emotion.

Swervedriver had taken all the things they’d learned on their debut album, Raise, and refined their approach while extending the jams on Mezcal Head. What makes their second album superior to the first is the feeling of encapsulation you get while listening to it, particularly on tracks like “Duress,” an eight minute swirl of psychedelia and guitar fuzz that still manages to end too soon.

Content to focus on the quiet subtleties, A Storm in Heaven is a significant shoegaze record because The Verve chose to be introspective and mellow instead of partaking in the flamboyance of their later output. It’s a grand exercise in restraint from start to finish, much like an underplayed acting performance, that proves there is just as much power in the quietudes if you let them evolve.

The Cocteau Twins most popular, accessible, and visible album also happens to be their best. Where their earlier output falls into the goth rock category — and their later work falls flat — Heaven or Las Vegas hits all the right notes and without a single duff moment on it. One of the most impeccably produced albums in the genre, it drifts from one track to the next with no effort.

The Jesus and Mary Chain were shoegaze before shoegaze was even shoegaze. This band invented staring down at the ground, looking annoyed with the very idea that you would want to see them play, and doing everything in their power to avoid eye contact. Fortunately, they also came up with some of the most unique sounding music ever produced. Through a haze of feedback and guitar squeals, Psychocandy was able to take the ethos of punk and twist it into something new in an age when new wave was taking over the charts.

Peerless in execution, Souvlaki managed to corral the jangled guitars and project them through an ambience not many other albums have ever been to equal. The elements of rhythm, rock, electronics, and harmony combine to make the melodies even more endearing and lasting than the artists themselves probably thought possible. Souvlaki sparkled like nothing else before it, and more than 30 years after its release, sounds like it could have been made just yesterday.

The cover of Ride’s debut album is appropriate in a vague way — crashing, meandering waves rolling on into infinity; forever changing and morphing into new possibilities. Nowhere wasn’t a smash hit at the time of its release, but is now praised as one of the greatest shoegaze albums ever made. Each and every sound on the record is perfectly placed and pitched, every nuance and detail hidden away until repeated listens expose its importance.

Sure, MBV’s earlier albums were marvels of the new guard — but Loveless is when things got real. Frontman Kevin Shields utilized an obsessive ear for detail that employed loops and backward-sounding guitars that made even the most sober of listeners feel like they were entering into a timewarp. Loveless is on a level all its own and will remain a classic for its sonic audacity and brutal originality.