Hi everyone, I stumbled upon the site kind of by chance and found it really interesting. I’m looking for a place to get in touch with areas of music I’m less familiar with or don’t explore enough (like various facets and subcultures of the music industry from the last century), and I had the brilliant idea to skip the formalities and jump straight into a discussion. So, I apologize in advance for the wall of text I’m about to dump on you. I know I probably should have made my entrance with a lighter touch, but I’m just not the type to be the silent newcomer, so here I am with my question (hopefully not too badly put).
I’m mainly addressing those who are more familiar with the so-called "shoegaze" genre and related styles, but also anyone who has broader experience with the style and its crossovers: do you know of any examples where the combination of alternate tunings, relatively less conventional harmonic intervals, and heavy use of pedals and effects is matched by equally meticulous attention to creative and interesting songwriting solutions? In other words, are there examples where care for sound and song structure are both balanced and harmonious?
With this, I don’t mean to suggest that my impressions actually reflect a general shortcoming of the genre.
After all, these are just impressions I’ve accumulated up to this point, based on paying attention to only a limited number of bands and songs. If you disagree with the premise of the question, feel free to reframe it or share your own thoughts, but based on my listening, I tend to find the music itself lacking compared to the arrangement, density, and richness of the sound.
Almost certainly, further listening and more exposure will reveal aspects of the music that escape me now, but with vocal and guitar parts that are often barely intelligible (I’m thinking of My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless as a benchmark), I can’t figure out if the limitation is just mine or if the songs are actually not very developed (either way, I can provide more context in a separate comment).
So I was wondering if, with a little direction and some concrete examples, I might find something musically more complete, that I would genuinely want to listen to more often, rather than just appreciating a few aspects of the music. contaminazioni:
