Should i change the title? That's what it's called, but i don't want to offend anyone.

So I've seen this label thrown around a lot of late, but little of it is known to me except it's origins (the labelhead for Siltbreeze coined the term more recently, right?). It seems like this might be the "next big thing" in indie rock, what with bands like Times New Viking and No Age making waves.

The term seems to encompass those bands that utilize limited recording means ("lo-fi" if you will) to create grand atmospherics. Basically, it seems like a more aggressive and spacious version of GBV or early pavement (obvious touchstones for many of these groups).

Does anyone have a more informed opinion on/definition of this genre? Seems like a scene to watch considering i love TNV and more recently got into other siltbreeze bands (psychedelic horseshit are stellar). Are Crystal Antlers shitgaze? They seem like it.

Discuss.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: CleverName84,

I think it is quite the appropriate term. At first I thought you were referring to the lack of quality in some of the shoegaze these days, but I now understand the "shit" as being the static and fuzz that bands use in order to attain that wall of sound. I really really don't like No Age at all, and I haven't listened to TNV. Crystal Antlers' EP I thought was amazing though. I thought it blended the aforementioned fuzz and such perfectly with synth atmospherics and some really aggressive riffs and vocals. I can't wait till their full length.

quote:

I think it is quite the appropriate term. At first I thought you were referring to the lack of quality in some of the shoegaze these days, but I now understand the "shit" as being the static and fuzz that bands use in order to attain that wall of sound. I really really don't like No Age at all, and I haven't listened to TNV. Crystal Antlers'

Yeah, i just keep seeing the term pop up in indie webzines (i believe p4k even talk about it as a genre-tag a bit at this point). It's like shoe-gaze but with a strong sense of DIY and punk-ness.

I like shoegaze, i like punk, i like lo-fi, so combining all of those makes me really happy to be quite honest.

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The term seems to encompass those bands that utilize limited recording means ("lo-fi" if you will) to create grand atmospherics

shitgaze...sounds like inferior shoegaze...or music for people who tries to make grunge but lack ideas...I mean, how can you make shoegaze with a low-fi sound? It will sounds like shit....oh! I understand now....

I guess you can make up all the genre tags you want to organize yr collection, but I'm not sure I see the shoegaze connection with Times New Viking and Psychedelic Horseshit. I would rather just called them lo-fi/punk. At any rate, they do kick ass (and btw check out Hospitals - Hairdryer Peace)

I'll give you No Age, but I haven't heard the Crystal Antlers stuff yet. This probably isn't the proper place to have such a discussion but it does raise that question that's maybe just another side of the nauseating "What is Indie?" discussion...namely "What is a good way to do genre tagging?"

Times New Viking are just the worst GBV songs, played louder.

Which is not to say I don't like them a lot

quote:

Originally posted by CleverName84:

Does anyone have a more informed opinion on/definition of this genre? Seems like a scene to watch considering i love TNV and more recently got into other siltbreeze bands (psychedelic horseshit are stellar). Are Crystal Antlers shitgaze? They seem like it.

Discuss.

A few days ago I heard this term for the first time. It was in a review, probably in P4K. I thought the reviewer was joking. Maybe he wasn't.

From my googling, according to this blog Psychedelic Horseshit came up with this term.

I'm not really too big on genre terms, but this kind of music makes me interested. No Age seem like the go-to "Shitgaze" band, though they have nothing to do with coining the term. I'd say these bands basically have a Husker Du sound, so "Lo-Fi Punk" is pretty dead on.

I was listening to the Thermals More Parts Per Million yesterday and realized that they could fit into the genre-tag... perhaps as progenitors (at least that album). Something about tape-hiss and heavily distorted guitars reminds me of Shoegaze (*cough* JAMC *cough*), but these bands are going at it from a distinctly "punk" perspective, so i really enjoy the music and kind of want it to blow up more than anything.

quote:

Originally posted by CleverName84:
Something about tape-hiss and heavily distorted guitars reminds me of Shoegaze (*cough* JAMC *cough*), but these bands are going at it from a distinctly "punk" perspective, so i really enjoy the music and kind of want it to blow up more than anything.

huh? tape hiss and shoegaze? This is what confuses me... Loveless and lo-fi? Ride and Slowdive never (to my knowledge) redline their tapes to get that nasty lo-fi skronk. Call me a purist - you can use the tag if you really want, but please pardon my confusion?

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Originally posted by V:

huh? tape hiss and shoegaze? This is what confuses me... Loveless and lo-fi? Ride and Slowdive never (to my knowledge) redline their tapes to get that nasty lo-fi skronk. Call me a purist - you can use the tag if you really want, but please pardon my confusion?

That's kind of the dichotomy of this music that i think draws me into it so much... It's not really shoegaze, nor is it labeled as such, but it's not really lo-fi punk as others have suggested (it's way too full sounding and carries sonic touchstones very unlike punk rock). It's a term for bands that fall somewhere between Husker Du and the Jesus and Mary Chain i think... Possibly some Mission of Burma thrown in there (definitely with No Age i think).

I didn't coin the term, so i don't really have too much of an attachment to it, i just like some of the sounds coming from this supposed genre.

They're taking the more-with-less approach but simultaneously sounding deeply layered at the same time, which i find exciting and something different.

Maybe these bands are just covering up their lack of musical creativity by using heavy effects and lots of noise to produce something that sounds original but is not (No Age I'm pointing at you).

i could see a band like eat skull being considered "shit-gaze", but i don't know if i would categorize crystal antlers as such. i see them more as a psychedelic prog rock band, similar to comets on fire's earlier stuff.

I don't really think that No Age lacks creativity, so could you explain that opinion? I think they're doing something genuinely different than the rest of indie-world in that they balance a kind of accessible pop sensibility with distinct layers of feedback and, well, "shit" if you want to label is as such.

Crystal Antlers was something i was curious about... They do seem more like a lo-fi CoF though, so i kind of think that falls in line actually. I still haven't checked out Eat Skull, i really want to though, so i'm going to get on that.

Mission of Burma and Husker Du seem to be the templates for this kind of music, so i can't really say that Crystal Antlers share a similar musical lineage to those bands, but No Age and TNV certainly do. Ah, to gaze at shit is a wonderful thing.

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Originally posted by CleverName84:
Ah, to gaze at shit is a wonderful thing.

hahaha. i still can't believe this is actually a genre. hilarious and descriptive, but then i have a 2nd grader's taste in scatalogical humor.

Hey guys, have you heard this crazy "Shitgaze" album?
It's called White Light/ White Heat, by this band called the Velvet Underground. I mean, like seriously low production values, crazy ethereality at times, and this killer 17 minute song at the end called "Sister Ray." Seriously guys, you've got to hear it. And get this; it was released in 1968! Talk about Shitgaze.

quote:

Originally posted by brighteyes215:
Hey guys, have you heard this crazy "Shitgaze" album?
It's called White Light/ White Heat, by this band called the Velvet Underground. I mean, like seriously low production values, crazy ethereality at times, and this killer 17 minute song at the end called "Sister Ray." Seriously guys, you've got to hear it. And get this; it was released in 1968! Talk about Shitgaze.

The Velvet Underground? Who are they? I've never heard of such a band.

Seriously, though, i don't think VU are the starting point for this "Shitgaze" sub-meta-mini-genre. I just listened to Eat Skull and I'm starting to find a more common thread between these bands: Suicide... the band.

These bands are (mostly) propulsive, very rhythmic, and pretty much anything but ethereal. No Age would be the closest to being labeled ethereal, but i'm not sure they fit into the genre at all, let alone fit into being labeled ethereal. Although VU could be considered a touchstone of the genre, i think that the genre's main qualities aren't very in line with 'em. And VU's lo-fi quality was through necessity and age rather than their desire.

Meho Plaza seems like they might fit the genre as well, though they have a very tight rhythm section that reminds me of Kraut-rock at times (though only slightly).

Dude, I was being sarcastic. My point lay mostly in that No Age or any of the other "Shitgaze" bands aren't doing anything that revolutionary. Taking "lo-fi" and the use of this limitation to your advantage is something dating back a while. I mean, I love No Age, and think that their stuff is unique for what it is, which is hardcore punk making its way towards the avant-garde a la Husker Du's "Dreams Reoccurring" or just Zen Arcade in general, except the speed is messed up too slow or too fast at times as the record is playing. Which really does make a difference. Sebadoh, if Lou Barlow had been less into Satan also.

And I don't see how Shitgaze would be an applicable genre name, if the bands involved weren't ethereal or at least weren't interested in the use of sound as texture. No Age, I thought, WERE "Shitgaze". As in the founders. But then I haven't heard many other bands in the "genre."

Sorry, i wasn't trying to be prickish or anything. I was being sarcastic as well, maybe it came off wrong (I'm still waiting for someone to invent sarcasm-font).

I actually thought it was some dude from the Psychedelic Horseshit (if i'm not mistaken) who invented/coined the term.

No Age is probably the go-to band of the "genre" (if it is such a thing), so i think they kind of take-over the topic, which is kind of sad, because i don't know if they are really a part of it. Sure, they're shoegazy at times, but it seems more pummeling and disorienting rather than ethereal, glacial, or atmospheric, you know?

Maybe my definition of ethereal is different.

the track "Satan" produced in 1991 by Teenage Fanclub makes me think of shitgaze.