The Sky Drops
The Sky Drops however, are a bit of a departure from that album. Her beautiful voice is still very much present, but the fuzzed out guitars and soothing vocals create a specific mood, one that harks back to a time when I wished my easy-going life consisted of a little more angst so that I could relate better to the music I thoroughly enjoyed. Fans of My Bloody Valentine should rush out and purchase the new EP immediately. It should also be mentioned that, although, they're another in a recent trend of guy/girl duos out there, they are no mere gimmick. In fact, if you listen to their music, likely you'll be amazed that this has been put together by only two people. There are full bands that don't have as full a sound as these guys do.
Visit their myspace page here.
Purchse the new EP, "Clouds Of People" here.
Downloads: Now Would Be mp3
Green To Red mp3
posted by Bobby B at 12:53 PM
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7:47 AM
Shoegazers was a nickname given to members of a 'scene/subculture' which originated in Manchester, England, in the late 1980s and came to be known as the 'Mad-chester' and later the 'baggy' scene. I was in my late teens and lived just outside Manchester during those years and was a part of the Madchester scene.
The scene came out of and, for the most part, revolved around a club in Manchester called The Haçienda which was opened by a small independent record label called Factory Records. The club and record company was run, pretty much singlehanded, by a charismatic and slightly incompetent man called Alan McGee. The first 'shoegazer' bands came from the local Manchester music scene and some of them were signed to Factory Records and played gigs at the club. They were influenced by early British Indie bands such as The Smiths and Joy Division who were from Manchester and also bands like Jesus Jones. Joy Division were, I think, the first band signed by Alan McGee but this was earlier than the Madchester scene and Joy Division are not a 'shoegazer' band.
The scene gradually spread across the British Isles and similar bands later emerged from across the UK. Typical shoegazer music combined psychedelic, electronic and Indie-rock elements and songs tended to have smooth dreamy melodies over rumbling bass & drums. Many songs were instrumentals or had minimal lyrics. Example bands are The Happy Mondays, Primal Scream, The Inspiral Carpets, Embrace, The Stone Roses, The Farm, The Soup Dragons, The Charlatans, EMF, James, Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine and early Blur.
Style-wise, a stereotypical shoegazer (myself included) would wear trainers or sneakers, oversized t-shirts or long sleeved hooded t-shirts with very wide jeans known as 'baggys'. These could be anything up to 48 inches round the hem of each leg and were wide up to the top rather than particularly flared. They didn't really resemble those worn now by hip hop fans though - the crotch was not low. All the clothes and shoes had to have a worn-in look with bright colours being faded and trainers scuffed. The haircut of choice was a kind of grown out all-round pudding basin shape reaching halfway down the face with a centre parting but allowing the front hair to almost completely cover the upper half of the face. This haircut was known as 'curtains'. The typical dance style was a kind of swaying motion and shuffling of the feet with the head dropped forward and the 'curtains' hanging over the eyes, hence 'shoegazer'. The style was unisex - we all wore the same stuff.
The scene reached a peak in 1988/89. Drug use on the scene wasn't huge by today's standards but, if you were so inclined, ecstasy was the drug of choice. Beer was also much in evidence and the scene was about going out and having a good time. It's most famous slogan was "Mad fer it" ('it' being the aforesaid good time). I don't remember it being quite as 'Mad' as the name suggests but a good time was definitely had by all and I have very fond memories of what came to be known as 'The Second Summer of Love' - a nod to the psychedelic influences in the music (and, presumeably, the ecstasy.) The scene petered out in the first couple of years of the 90s. As far as I know there is no active 'shoegazer' scene in the UK today and it didn't spread outside our shores but I could be wrong on this.
There's a very good film about the scene called '24hr Party People' which is well worth watching. It's very tongue-in-cheek but that suits the atmosphere that was around the shoegazer scene. There's also quite a long article on Wikipedia under 'Madchester'.
9:52 PM
Thanks for the intense definition GSB. I was actually quite aware of what shoegaze was, and I'm even moreso now (this post is over 3 years old...) but your summary is still very informative. I was more tongue in cheekedly expressing mock confusion as to what the actual word "shoegaze" means as in "one who gazes at shoes..."
5:05 AM
oh and I've seen 24 Hour Party People...several times! Great flick!
5:05 AM
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