我夢見長頸鹿對我說 [The Giraffe Told Me In My Dream] - Velvet Distortion (2025)

The "overly noisy, overly sweet" band from Taiwan with probably the craziest name out there is back with a new release! Six years after their first EP, the noisy machine gives us another small taste of what they can do with shoegaze music.

And I really mean shoegaze. It's not noisy rock, it's not atmospheric dream pop. It's very loud, very noisy and very dreamy shoegaze, true to the genre's origins. Driven by vocals that are absolutely gorgeous and ephemeral to the limits, making the audience feel as if they were immediate transported to their deepest, most intimate dreams. The music is a perfect fit here: noisy where it should be, euphoric when needed, slow and moody in other parts. A match made in heaven.

The only downside is that, once again, it is only a taste of what the Taiwanese are capable of. Basically three songs (with a short introduction) already shows a lot, but one would like to experience more. And more frequently than once in six years.

Velvet Distortion costs 4 USD.

Check: Glimpse

Country: Taiwan

Genre: true shoegaze

我夢見長頸鹿對我說 [The Giraffe Told Me In My Dream] - Slowfall (2019)

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Go With Strangers - Ave, Reverie (2025)

Remember when mum used to tell you not to go with strangers? Well, you definitely can do that with this one. Eugene San is based in Malaysia and makes music as one-man band to "face his social anxiety". And the results? A fantastic set of noisy shoegaze songs.

I love how immersive the noise can be. When listening to songs like Breathe In, what you breathe in is the reverbing air and dreams that flow around trying to drown you in. And sometimes it is the shoegazey, dense, overwhelming kind of noise, but sometimes it can go in more surprising directions with some metal riffs in Misery (You'll Never Break Me). And I really can hardly say which song here is my favourite. The artist has a very special gift of writing very well-leveled compositions and every one of them is worth the listerner's attention. In the end, I chose Further with its captivating melody and tasty noise, but it could as well be any other track.

Interestingly enough, the album was made out of "fascination with the feeling of “Sonder” (...), which is the realisation that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own – populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and craziness", a theme good for a whole book, but really works as a base for a music album as well. The artist concludes that the album may be "a warm greeting, and also a bittersweet farewell, to dreams and daydreams". So it matches everyone's life at some point, no doubt about it.

Ave, Reverie costs 8 USD.

Check: Further

Country: Malaysia

Genre: immersive solo shoegaze

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Glazyhaze - SONIC (2025)

Two years after their debut album, the Italian, "gritty yet dreamy" shoegazers, for whom the noise and the melodies can easily coexist together, are back. The new album takes the audience for a brief, but wonderful trip into the hazy soundscapes of indie rock melodies and fuzzy guitars.

The band have supported or will soon support quite big players of the noisy pop-rock music (Slow Crush, The Raveonettes, Softcult) which is great. Nothing makes me as happy as seeing artists who deserve it being recognized. And the Italians surely do. They try to balance the noisy atmosphere of shoegaze with extremely melodic pop songs, perhaps slightly towards the latter. But it works, the results are as catchy as songs can be, especially in the first part of the album with What a Feeling and Nirvana really standing out.

The song that best represents the second half is Slap, a perfect example of a well-written chorus. The album is said to touch the notion of "emotional contrasts across its two distinct halves that reflect light and dark". Its visual representation is the cover art with a match about to die down, the moment right between the two opposites. You can kind of hear it in the music too, but I wouldn't say it's the first thing that catches attention of the listener. More than the ideological basis, one focuses on how perfectly catchy the songs are. Well done.

SONIC costs 10 EUR.

Check: Slap

Country: Italy

Genre: melodic shoegaze

Glazyhaze - Just Fade Away (2023)

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Messier 13 - Stay for a While (2025)

There is more than one Athens-based band in love with Slowdive's music? Yes sir! Three years after the world received the debut album from Sugar for the Pill, Messier 13 releases their own and, even if not called after the shoegaze legends' song, their vibes may be even closer to the beloved band.

Especially when you think about the band's first phases with slightly lo-fi sound and psychedelic guitars in the background, accompanying the soft and emotional vocals. But it cannot be said that the the Greeks, whose name is taken from a cluster of thousands of stars, are a cover band. The vibes are similar, but there's more to this music. There is, for example, some experimentations with heavier, louder notes in Apartment that is clearly inspired by more modern nugaze outfits.

The artists admit that their music is meant to touch the "themes of everyday life's fragility, routine, unrequited love and mourning", a perfect fit for the emotional shoegaze. It is melancholic and poignant while also being hypnotic and self-reflection-fueling. And makes me curious about the Greek shoegaze scene even more now.

Stay for a While costs 7 EUR.

Check: Apartment 

Country: Greece

Genre: melancholic shoegaze

Label: Inner Ear Records

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SPANAWAY - Songs of Yesteryear (2024)

The Pennsylvania band's sophomore album is clearly more appreciate than the debut, and his to be said that their Nothing-like nugaze with more focus on melodies and less on the noise has everything to be one of the most important releases of the last quarter of 2024.

Nothing was the first thing that I came to my mind while listening to Songs of Yesteryear: there is something very familiar in the vocals and the high-quality guitar backgrounds. In fact, their PR company advertises the album talking about "alt-rock masterpiece" with "lush, heartbroken songs" and comparing it to Nothing among other artists. The only difference between the two bands is that SPANAWAY really focus on the melodies and catchiness of their song as well as the soft cushion of the vocals that accompanies the listener on every step while the noisy aspect of nugaze is less prominent (even if it appears from time to time like in Terrible).

But it's not a problem, especially that I like the sadder face of the album with songs like Twenty Seven or Born to Lose so I'm labeling them in my head as Sadder Nothing and I hope they'd like it.

Songs of Yesteryear costs 7 USD.

Check: Twenty Seven

Country: Pennsylvania, US

Genre: melancholic nugaze

Label: Burial Whisper

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93MillionMilesFromTheSun - Let Go (2024)

The British nugaze powerhouse is a frequent guest on this blog and there are good reasons for it. Led by Nick Noble, the noisy collective released their new album (I can't count so well to tell you which one in their discography) when other people were just getting calmer before Christmas.

It's their signature sound: you have to dig deep into the layers of noisy guitars, samples and whatnot to find the soft vocals and melodies. But if you do that, you are rewarded with some most beautiful and catchy songs on the shoegaze market, as in Sleep for example. This track could easily be an indie rock hit if stripped down of the noisy elements, but it'd lose a lot of its charm, no doubt about it. The punch, the melancholia lie in the overwhelming music the band donates right into the audience's ears. Sleep is dethroned as my best-loved later in the album by Only Living Now, which became one of my favourite songs at the beginning of the new year.

If I have to have one complaint, it's that it's too long for my attention span. Interestingly, Noble states that it was their most difficult album to finish and show to the world due to the band's lineup changes (which I don't hear in their sound at all) and personal problems. 'If I'm honest,' he adds, 'I'm not sure I still do want it to come out'. I, for one, am keen to say that I'm very happy it did in the end. Made the year's end better than it could have been.

Let Go costs 7 GBP (8.5 EUR).

Check: Only Living Now

Country: UK

Genre: guitar nugaze

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Psychic Scream - Psychic Scream (2023)

The "melt your face noise punk from the depths of hell", the depths of hell meaning North Carolina, band called Psychic Scream is a new thing that follows the trail of great American bands that combine nugaze with very aggressively heavy and noisy music. Connor Regan, who is responsible for this commotion, showed it on his self-titled debut EP.

I love how uncontrollably noisy the music is. While the melodies are very catchy, the vocals appropriately dreamy, the music beneath them (and above and around really) is a chaotic storm of noise: the guitars wreck your nerves, the audio effects make your brain scream and the drums march in extremely fast, mesmerizing pace. Regan didn't do the whole thing by himself, but I admire his music taste with the psychedelia and doom showing their influences everywhere on the album. The pure chaos of noise rock, however, is what I hear the most here and I love how overwhelming it gets and how well it works with psychedelic/nugaze vocals. Great debut.

Psychic Scream costs 4.20 USD.

Check: Fairweather Friends

Country: North Carolina, US

Genre: noise-gaze

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LOCKSTEP - Arrival (2023)

Tennessee

LOCKSTEP, the Tennessee-based project released already two fantastic EPs and so it's time for something a bit longer (but not LP-long) to arrive. Come Arrival, this year's (mini)album that's filled with heavy nugaze gold.

This doomgaze music is like a slower and heavier face of nugaze. It is very much focused on lead-heavy, crunchy, stoner-like guitar sounds that create a wall of sound with a super subtle, soothing vocals put on top. But the point is that the whole thing is extremely slow, as if an explosion was put in slow motion and served in perfect HD cause the quality of sound is fantastic. You can feel the weight of this sound on your shoulders and the slow pace only makes it weigh more and more. This album is filled with those heavy lullabies and the atmosphere of slow but steady sadness that crawls together with the notes is something difficult to shake off.

Arrival costs 5 USD.

Check: Hunger

Country: Tennessee

Genre: doomgaze

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Draag - Dark Fire Heresy (2023)

The Californian band Draag debuted back in 2018 and it's finally time they released a follow-up album. They filled this year's Dark Fire Heresy with high-quality nugaze music so it has everything a fan of the genre could want.

Their Facebook account includes a super short but extremely accurate description of their music: "a storm in slow motion". The shoegaze guitar effects, together with the overall energy and might of the sound make incredible impression: the best artists of the genre would agree here I'm sure. Another thing is that the music doesn't feel repetitive in the modern shoegaze context. There are electronic elements that add up to the uniqueness of the music, but, mot importantly, the compositions feel very fresh. Maybe it's not Flaming Lips, but there's a good deal of psychedelic experimentation here as well.

It all results in exciting, lively but also very noisy compositions. The quality of the vocals, in my eyes (ears), qualifies the music more as nugaze than the modern take on the classic shoegaze music. It's more flow-rich and soothing than dispersed and hazy. But it doesn't really matter as the final result is the same: overwhelmed and blessed audience. 

Dark Fire Heresy costs 9 USD.

Check: Demonbird

Country: California, US

Genre: psychedelic nugaze

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Spotlights - Alchemy for the Dead (2023)

There is a visible and exciting wave of bands from the States, who combine nugaze and heavy rock/metal influences. One of them is the New York trio Spotlights, who debuted back in 2016 and this year released their perhaps best album to date, called Alchemy for the Dead.

Extremely heavy, crunchy guitars meet slowcore pace and blissfully soft vocals. This is Spotlights' path to the listeners' hearts. And it works like a charm. You can clearly feel on your shoulders the weight of this music: the metal-like riffs, the monumental cascades of guitar sounds, it all works great in the not-so-hasty or sometimes clearly as slow as possible pace. So the music is not far from bands like Cult of Luna, but the vocals are a perfect counter-weight here. In the Nothing, SOM or Holy Fawns' fashion, they are smoothed out to become a flow-rich, slow, but also super melodic addition to the heavy music.

To spice everything up, there are moments where the metal atmosphere take over and gives the blackened empowerment to the dreamy whole. Still, I don't think I'd call this music blackgaze, but heavy shoegaze makes sense to me. 

Alchemy for the Dead costs 9 USD.

Check: Sunset Burial

Country: New York, US

Genre: heavy nugaze

Label: Ipecac Recordings

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SPACESHIPS - Ruins (2023)

The experienced band from Indiana (a decade passed since their debut album I Am a Storm at Sea!!!) released their fourth album this year and, while I came for the the guest musician in the first track, I stayed for the overall quality of their heavy and enchanting music on Ruins.

For any shoegaze/nugaze fan who hasn't been living under a stone for last years, the highlight of the album is gotta be the guest appearance of Ryan Osterman (Holy Fawn) in the opening track. However, the band proves that they don't need the bait really as already the following track, Sinews, is at least as good with overwhelming guitar music and super catchy finish. But their music is not only about being loud; there's a surprising amount of slower, calmer tracks that go in the direction of a very oldschool rock music with inclusion of some interesting instruments like, I believe, saxophone in Seedlings. Those slightly retro vibes are only strengthened by the way the vocals feel.

But probably the most important thing about this album is how easy for the band was to create ultimately catchy tunes here. From Spillt to Sinews and Shared Graves: next to every composition here hides a super engaging part that suddenly appears and you forget about all of the noise: it's just the melody that matters.

Ruins costs 7 USD.

Check: Spillt

Country: Indiana, US

Genre: doomgaze

Label: Friend Club Records

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Last Tourist - Last Tourist (2023)

Although they are around for six years already, this year's self-titled album is the debut for the Leeds-based nugaze outfit Last Tourist. They mix the most interesting things about shoegaze and post-punk music to create a really interesting take on the dreamy kind of music.

The band's inspirations include DIIV and The Jesus and Mary Chain, but also Joy Division or Interpol. That's why the artists aim to create more melodic, danceable version of dreamy music. You can hear that the vocals could as well be a part of some post-punk, tougher and grittier compositions, but they are treated with this oneiric kind of haze effects to fit the nugaze aesthetics. I like that things like that are noticeable in the dense atmosphere - and the atmosphere is certainly a thing the band is very capable of creating. It is thick, it is heavy and it's very, very dreamy. That's how we like it. 

Last Tourist state that they want to combine the lively world of the nowadays post-punk and the atmospheric shoegaze music. They go into one of those more in some of the compositions (like in the very melodic Black Raven) but they are capable of create a beautiful, hazy soundscape in other (as in Falling Into (Drone)). Very versatile artists.

 

Last Tourist costs 6 EUR (5 GBP).

Check: Spiritual Cove

Country: UK

Genre: melodic nugaze

Label: 1991Recordings

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Meena - Newspapers (2023)

This is the third EP that the Manchester-based band have released so far. The artists put a disclaimer on their Bandcamp website saying "play as loud as possible" and it's very fitting as Newspapers is a good example of nugaze music, one the excitement for which rises proportionally to the sound volume. 

The music on the EP feels very fresh. It's partially due to those little electronic tweeks here and there and hip-hop-like drums; it's not quite Holy Fawn's level, but it's in this direction. It's especially well-audible in Paving, where the hip-hop and electronica elements are the core on which the nugazey song is built upon. On the other hand, the compositions feel interestingly unique, you can't really guess what's coming next, the room for surprise is extremely big here. It's quite a shame that the tracks are so short, they could be going on and on without losing anything from their great flow I feel. Apart from the smooth backgrounds, it's also thanks to the vocals that range from the delicate dream pop murmurs to quite post-punk-like, tougher ones from time to time. And it's a real pleasure when they drown in the final song's noisy finish.

Newspapers costs 6 EUR (4.99 GBP).

Check: Paving

Country: UK

Genre: nugaze

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Shaki Tavi - Shaki Tavi (2022)

Leon Mosburg leads the Californian group Shaki Tavi. The Americans have recently released their first LP ever and with this self-titled album, a new and exciting nugaze entity appeared on my personal map of the world.

The band delivers "blistering tones confined to pop song forms to rail against the ennui of daily life". This and the overall vibes coming from their image, made me expect some kind of wild psychedelic rock, but, while still fairly psychedelic, the outfit is very much into fuzzy, modern shoegaze. Their sound is quite close to Nothing: similar clean but delicate and withdrawn vocals, similar heavy pace and entertaining melodies. It all is hidden behind the wall of very loud noise. It's certainly an exciting, almost euphoric blend. The album is not particularly short, but the otherworldly flow it represents make this 30 minutes disappear suddenly in a colourful and deafening bliss.

Shaki Tavi costs 10 USD.

Check: Voices

Country: California, US

Genre: nugaze

Label: Mutation Records

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Blushing - Possessions (2022)

The Texas-based Blushing debuted (world-wide but also on my blog) with their brilliant EP Tether back in 2017. Now, 6 years (!) later, they released the sophomore album Possessions, making sure that they should be counted as one of the big nugaze/dream pop bands out there these days.

As the canons want it, the noisy pop from the Americans involves huge amounts of reverbs, guitar noise and soft vocals. But their new release is also catchier and more psychedelic than what I associate the band with. The high-paced tracks go on and on with upbeat tunes and catchy riffs, making your body involuntarily dance to the guitar psychedelia they offer. This makes me think of a lighter, dreamier version of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart that is able to write captivating melodies and drown them in the ethereal atmosphere with ease - both in the faster hits and the slightly slower, very much psychedelic compositions like Gel.

Undoubtedly, a big thing for the band is the cooperation with Lush's Miki Berenyi; the icon's guest vocals (together with unorthodox backing vocals) made Blame one of the more memorable shoegaze song of the beginning of the year. Really well-balanced, top-of-the-shelf release.

Possessions costs 8.99 USD.

Blushing - Tether (2017)

Blushing - Blushing (2019)

Check: Blame

Country: Texas, US

Genre: nugaze pop

Label: Kanine Records

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WatchCamp November-December '21 with Ai fen, Pierre Andersson Ek, Avalon Skies, Hiroe, Sweet Sore

Ai fen - Can You Believe?

The Polish-Chinese Czech Republic-based artist is already fairly known in the offstream environment here. This time, she comes back with a new single that showcases her airy but also very much experimental electronic pop with outstanding vocals. The single costs 1 EUR (20 CZK).

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Pierre Andersson Ek - Vår värld

The "artist and neighborhood rascal" from the southern part of Sweden creates nugaze music that can be carefully compared to the icons such as Nothing or The Pains of Being Pure at Heart; his music consists of loud and noisy guitars (with such a good quality to them!) and melodic, soft vocals; I love it. Two tracks cost 6 EUR (56 SEK).

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Avalon Skies - Wanderer's Dream

Antti Pihlajaniemi creates "electronic yet organic, earthly yet otherworldly music" which translates to a blend of electronica and minimal dark folk with very dark and airy atmosphere, sounding very Finnish-like really. The original version includes a metal-like voice in spoken word parts, but, to be honest, I prefer the second, instrumental version. The two versions cost 2 EUR.

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Hiroe - demos

The Philadelphia-based fresh post-rock band released their demos, and while I'm usually very hesitant towards demo material, this time it absolutely rocks. Two tracks present so much good quality guitar-based instrumental music that I can't wait to hear some more from the Americans. The album costs 7 USD.

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Sweet Sore - Resonance

The South African artist Justin Mitchell has been releasing singles and short albums for several years now. His new single presents a moody bedroom dream pop with barely audible vocals and a lot of background drones. The single with a short intro costs whatever you want to pay.

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Nothing - The Great Dismal (2020) EN

The Pennsylvanian Nothing obviously make a very well-known brand on the nugaze stage, their melodic compositions and on-purpose not really beautiful cover arts are known to any fan of the genre. This year the Americans released their fourth album and you can safely say that they only go up.

It's no surprise that The Great Dismal is another album recently that is inspired by the pandemics and explores "existentialist themes of isolation, extinction, and human behavior in the face of 2020’s vast wasteland". Just like the situation this year, the album starts peacefully though in a very moody way in A Fabricated Life only to get rapidly sped up. Already in Say Less we do heave loud guitars and distortions clearly put in the foreground. Not to mention how awesome this track is in general - everything fits perfectly here: melodies, vocals, guitar noise and samples.

Another tracks balance between indie rock notes with clear vocals and riffing guitars (as in Catch a Fade) and what we love the band for the most: dense, shoegazing backgrounds filling the space with the melodic loudness. Exactly this ability to merry the noisy with the pop-like melodies is fascinating in the Americans' works, and on this new album it's audible not only in Say Less but also in Bernie Sandersie, In Blueberry Memories or Blue Mecca. I love it.

The Great Dismal costs 9.99 USD.

Check: Say Less

Country: Pennsylvania, US

Genre: melodic nugaze

Label: Relapse Records

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Nothing - The Great Dismal (2020) PL

Pensylwańskie Nothing to naturalnie uznana marka na scenie nugaze'u, ich melodyjne kompozycje i celowo niepiękne okładki znane są każdemu fanowi gatunku na świecie. W tym roku Amerykanie wydali swój czwarty krążek i trzeba przyznać, że poziomem swojej muzyki idą tylko w górę.

Nie jest niespodzianką, że The Great Dismal to kolejna ostatnio płyta, która inspiruje się pandemią i eksploruje "egzystencjalistyczne tematy związane z izolacją, wymieraniem i ludzkim zachowaniem w obliczu pustkowia jakim jest rok 2020". Tak jak sytuacja w tym roku, płyta zaczyna się spokojnie chociaż bardzo nastrojowo w A Fabricated Life po to by wkrótce gwałtownie przyspieszyć. Tak, że już w Say Less mamy głośne gitary i rzucające się na pierwszy plan distorty. Nie mówiąc jak doskonały jest to utwór tak w ogóle - wszystko tu ze sobą gra: melodie, wokale, brud gitar i sample.

Kolejne kawałki balansują między indie rockowymi nutami z wyraźnym wokalem i riffującymi gitarami (jak w Catch a Fade) i tym co lubimy najbardziej: gęstym, shoegaze'owym tłem wypełniającym przestrzeń melodyjnym hałasem. Właśnie ta umiejętność godzenia noise'u z praktycznie popowymi melodiami jest u Amerykanów fascynująca, a na nowej płycie objawia się nie tylko w Say Less ale też między innymi w Bernie Sandersie, In Blueberry Memories czy Blue Mecca. Fantastyczne.

The Great Dismal kosztuje 38 złotych (9,99 USD).

Sprawdź: Say Less

Kraj: Pensylwania, US

Szufladka: melodic nugaze

Label: Relapse Records

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