An Easier Download of the 100,000 Compilation.

Hi everyone! For those who haven't yet downloaded the comp, some angel went ahead and put all the files in one zip file - way faster than downloading the tracks singularly, which is apparently how we posted it the first time (dudes, we were really tired - sorry!). Thank you, anonymous wonder-person!!

HERE YOU GO!

The First 100,000: A Compilation. Free Download and Exclusive Material!

Here's the proof that the WTSH 100,000 Commemoration Compilation actually HAS been in the making and, in fact, DOES exist! But is it ready for download, you ask? ("For free?" someone in the back chimes in...) Hell yes it is! This will have a more official release in the next week or so on bandcamp, simply because we think it will reach even MORE people that way, but this is the final product! Below you will find the album cover art (sans Danzig, sorry guys) and the track listing. Please try to keep your wits about you, despite the high levels of awesome.

As we've already mentioned, several songs on this comp are very special. As you go through the track listing, you will see why! Most of the songs are brand new, unreleased, demos, or made specifically for this compilation. Huge deal to us! Thank you to everyone: the readers, musicians, label owners, and gazers. We're proud to know you all.

Cheers,
Danny & Amber.

The First 100,000: A Compilation.

Click above to download your free compilation.

:Track Listing:

1. The Consolation Project - Damage.
2. Love Culture - Islands.
3. Bloody Knives - Whatever You Want. (previously NEVER released)
4. Music for Headphones - Doctor.
5. The Sleepover Disaster - Funnel Cloud.
6. Astrobrite - Supernova Kiss. (unreleased, made specifically for this compilation!)
7. Soren Well - Starry Eyes Gone Blank Tonight.
8. Spell 336 - Silence. (new version of song)
9. Screen Vinyl Image - New Visions.
10. Resplandor - Sensitive. (Field Mice Cover)
11. The Ice Choir - I Want You Now and Always. (unreleased demo)
12. Famous - The Hanging Gardens (feat. Ana Breton - never been heard by the public or released)**
13. The Electric Mainline - Anyhow. (never been released)
14. Sleepmask - Black Depression Blues. (unreleased)
15. Dead Leaf Echo - Trial.
16. Presents for Sally - Smell Your Scent.
17. Starblood - Seaweed Princess. (unreleased)
18. Mittenfields - Mixed Signals. (unreleased)
19. bliss.city.east - Lady Luck.
20. Slowness - Little King.

**This particular band has a special history that we are going to cover next week in a feature. Until then, enjoy it!

Mini VJ Set: Ryan L Abato, creator of I Am The Programmer, chooses his top 5 most influential shoegaze tracks.

Mr. L Abato, WTSH owes you one of the biggest debts of all - your creation, I Am The Programmer (which got it's start as an IATP facebook group page fueled by Ryan's downloadable podcasts) gave music obsessives like us a nurturing arena to hardcore geek out and not feel super geeky about it. IATP played a big role in bringing together many groups of people via our common bond - and the WTSH group in particular. Every single person involved in this blog met via the IATP group page. We can all say whatever about Facebook - yeah it's annoying, it's distracting, it's just plain weird sometimes - but these people are our true friends. We speak on the phone, we care for each other, we are there for one another, we occasionally drunk dial one another, and we're business partners. It's amazing that a group of music loving fools could bond so much over music via the interweb that IATP has turned into an internationally acclaimed podcast and the company itself is flourishing, and our humble little blog here has been viewed over 100,000 unique times, and we have big plans on the way as all (I'll stop hinting about it soon, swears!). So thank you, Ryan. I hope that we have given back to you at least a little of what you have given us.

Here's to the future, everyone *raises wine glass*

Oh, and by the way Ryan, Erasure is a good band. You can drop the charade. You love 'em, we all know it - Erasure even knows it.

******

I really appreciate WTSH letting me take part in their celebration. It's an honor and I wish them continued successes with even bigger support. Thanks so much, Ryan

Blur : Inertia

They were thrown into all sorts of categories when Leisure was first released. When I bought the single to There's No Other Way, Inertia blew me away. It creates this killer wall of sound and should really be acknowledged as a shoegaze song .

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Fury Things : Flame

Is it cheating to upload songs not on youtube ? I could never find another song from Fury Things (not to be confused with Furry Things apparently). All I know is this has been played to death and thought I'd share a song with anyone who has not heard it.

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Moose : Soon Is Never Soon Enough

Moose appeals to every sense of my musical appetite. They were much broader than one genre, and that is how they became very personal to me. They were able to take a country chord and turn it dreamy. Russell Yates will be on Flights very soon. He has by far one of my favourite voices of all time. Paul Simpson and Guy Chadwick vibes, but way more delicate. This song is always in my head, lucky me !

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Blind Mr Jones : Dolores

I have been scrutinizing over what songs should make it in here. So tough ! I'm keeping Adorable, Ride, Swervedrive, UVS, CW, Lush etc out based on pure adoration for most influential songs personally in the genre and Blind Mr Jones has to be there. I frickin love Dolores. They added flutes, c'mon, flutes.

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Pale Saints : Babymaker

Ian Masters, a voice from Heaven. So many textures, and all so beautiful. Instead of listing
the actual song since we've all heard it - this fan does a really great job covering it.

Mini VJ Set: Kim Welsh of Morpheme, bliss.city.east and Bananagaze enthusiast chooses her top 5 most influential shoegaze-ish tracks.

Kim Welsh is one of the coolest girls we know. Honestly - she is a rare gem, and we are pissed that geography prevents us from hanging out with her and Perry all the time (I mean, if they would even let us in the door. You never know with them.) She is beautiful, her voice is beautiful, and her fucked up sense of humor is beautiful (sorry to break it to the world, but we shoegazers are the silliest people on earth when it comes to anything besides music. Banana Hammock. Should I say more?). Yes, I should. I should also mention that Kim as been a devout champion of banana hammocks throughout her life, but she has recently gone so far as to utterly revolutionize and rejuvenate the banana hammock community. She has even reached out to the small minded world via various media outlets about the the wonders of banana hammocks. In fact, even a banana, the fruit, isn't a safe conversation topic anymore.

Oops, tangent. We do that a lot, too. In short: We adore you, Kim Welsh!


OH and P.S. - She's TOTALLY serious about her 5th video choice.

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I don't have the same experience with shoes as everyone else. So I'll give you five that may or may not fit the category that have influenced me to explore the "dreamy" side of rock.

Ivy -Thinking About You

I discovered them way late. I heard "Edge of the Ocean" on a cruise-line commercial and looked for it online and discovered all this other stuff I love. "Thinking About You" has the cutest video, but I also LOOOOOVE "Corners of Your Mind".

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Stereolab - Flourescences

I freakin' love this song and I love the video. I've "borrowed" most of their video techniques for my day job. I listen to this song at least once a week.

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Pink Floyd - Pigs (Three Different Ones)

I've made no secret about my love for Animals. Soooooooooo dreamy. I picked this one for this list for the brilliant vocal arrangement. The phrasing and syncopation makes me want to karaoke it. (If only!) It's also why I like the kind of guitar noise I like.

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Church - Reptile

This makes me bob and sway around with my eyes half closed so it must be right.

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Marty Balin - Hearts

:20 fake dialing of phone and
2:20 to 2:50 banana hammock

Video: Bethany Curve. Door 2416.

This track should have been on my (Amber's) list, but only 5 choices - THE PAIN. The intro to this song alone is a testament to Kick Ass.

Video: Giant Drag. This Isn't It.

Gazer pal Mark T. reminded me that I love (love love) this song.

Tomorrow: The final day of 100,000 content, compilation news, and Amber forcing you to listen to guitar tone.

What Danny and I first conceived as a 2 day celebration has morphed into a week long string of awesomeness - and YES, there is still MORE to come! Tomorrow (Sunday) should be the finale of most (probably all) of the content; the binary equivalent of a crate full of band interviews will post next week, during back to normalness time.

The compilation WILL BE AVAILABLE TOMORROW. We're just waiting on 2 more tracks to be sent in, which we'll get tonight. The compilation is going to be really special, everyone. We're very proud of it. Due to time constraints, the first available download of the comp will be via an easier free download platform - in a week or so, it'll be available via bandcamp, as well, so that the spectacular master piece that it is can be more widely available to the world. Not that bandcamp isn't easy for YOU GUYS to dl from, but setting it up takes about a bazillion point three eight years (not really, but we need more time to do it).

And YES, the cover art has been chosen, approved of by all of us with little to no giggling, and won't feature David's laser adorned floating head, Mark E. Smith's mangled rat grill or a rose hued Danzig. I tried to get a unicorn on there, but was outvoted.

In all seriousness, it's a great great comp. High quality in all respects, one of a kind tracks, specialness all around.

ALSO, if not tomorrow, then Monday we will announce the Big Future Plans And Ideas we've been hinting about all week. We're excited about this! You should be too! Clap your hands and chair dance or whatever! Put on some German coldwave from 1985 and stoically cut a rug. Shout quotes from "Blue Velvet" at a loved one. Watch Ren and Stimpy. Make your mom watch the video for New Order's "Touched (By the Hand of God)". Whatever it is you do when you are excited, do that.

So until tomorrow, here's this video, which has nothing to do with anything 100,000 related, I was just speculating earlier today to Laser Head about how I really like the guitar tone in this song, and that's basically why I'm posting it. It's also a good song. But that guitar tone? It's good right? And I'll be putting on a sunn o))) LP right after this, so don't even TRY to call me cheesy.

News: Custom Made Music Releases Teaser Video.

Every single thing on this teaser vid is awesome.

Mini VJ Set: Perry Pelonero of Morpheme, bliss.city.east. and Skylight chooses his top 5 most influential shoegaze tracks.

Perry Pelonero is many things to many people: an excellent musician in a slew of current bad ass bands, a former member of a slew of now defunct bad ass bands, a kind and generous chap, a great friend, a huge supporter of music and musicians, he's married to a hot chick, and he is a flatulent pain in our arses...kidding! If you've followed the blog at all, you know we LOVE Perry Pelonero and Kim Welsh. They are hilarious and wonderful and have that rare sense of humor than can have us rolling on the floor laughing (because we have yet to actually grow up). Perry also enjoys getting into violent and hilarious verbal wars with one of his bandmates, Dean Garcia (yes, that Dean Garcia, of Curve), which is entertaining for everyone (especially us!). We'd say more, Perry - but yeah, nutsack. (don't even ask, people, haha)

We love you, P! THIS MUCH!

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Swervedriver - Sci flyer

First time I heard this song the guitars and Adams voice just did it for me. I had never heard tones like that. Met them in Boston right when this album came out. We sat at a bar and drank Red Stripes.. They went on stage that night, and I hung off the side of the stage monitors... They made me DEAF that night. Thanks guys.

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Spacemen 3 - Revolution

The drone and power .. Period.. This song still kicks massive amount of ass....

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Curve - Horror Head

Yeah.. Fuck yeah.. Fucking A yeah? Toni's voice. Dean's bass... The guitars!! Fuck yeah... Who would think that I would make music with him all these years later.... Influential? Fuck yeah...

And speaking of Dean, I just want to add two things: firstly, I can beat Dean's ass with my eyes closed. Secondly, Dean - fucking change your bass strings.

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Primal Scream - Higher Than the Sun
(Sorry Perry, this is your moment, but can I add: FUCK YEAH for this song. FUCK YEAH)

Pure.. Fuck the rest.. love this song...

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Boo Radleys - Does This Hurt?

Everything's Alright Forever... Nuff said.. I think i used to listen to the whole album over and over.. Never really liked much after this album... The video is fucking stupid though...

New Video: Rebecca Peake. Even Strawberry.

Usually we let Mr. Rob Turner (brave soul that he is) help us sort the blog's email inbox and prioritize emails and other sorts of wonderful magical things suchlike. Rob Turner is a magic man, and prevents Danny and I from having panic attacks daily by doing this. And yes, Danny and I read our emails (that Rob forwards to us magically)! We are just afraid of the actual email INBOX, which seems way too overflow-y with binary.

ANYWAY, this morning I cruised by the WTSH inbox for funsies, and discovered this interesting gem. We haven't yet checked out the rest of the tunes that are streaming on Rebecca Peake's bandcamp page, but we will (and you should, as well, and let us know what you think) but this video was more than enough to get me very intrigued.

Live Show News: The Sunshine Factory and Bloody Knives play Houston on June 2nd.

So THIS is happening in Houston tonight - Bloody Knives and The Sunshine Factory, on the same bill, this very eve. Location is Fitzerald's, Houston peeps. Doors @ 8pm! If you miss this without a good reason, you really need to sit down and contemplate your priorities. These bands are THAT good.

Ouote: Noel Gallagher, co-destroyer of Creation Records, explains how to be a douchebag.

Oasis usually get blamed for the destruction of Creation Records. Of course, there were a lot more factors than that, but Oasis is the most fun to focus on. Yeah, Loveless cost a small fortune to make (totally worth it, wouldn't you say?), Alan McGee was kinda losing it a little, and then Oasis came along, swaggering and sneering. They were the straw (a soda straw, clipped to make a cocaine snorting tool) that broke the Creation camel's back.

I will say - yeah, I don't mind their first album. It's fine and dandy. Whatever. Better than a lot of other classic Creation releases? PLEASE. NOT EVEN FUCKING CLOSE.

Still, love them or hate them, the Gallagher brothers stay the stupidest shit conceivable to the media. At this point, I'm over their whirlwind of destruction (plus quitting while you are ahead sometimes IS wise, and Creation at least has that bonus), and now find Oasis ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS. Not because they are awesome, but because they are an inexplicable phenomena of Ridiculously Entertaining Douchebaggery (yeah, that's a sickness). There are a bazillion funny Gallagher brothers' quotes out there, and feel free to leave your favorite in the comment section, but this one made me laugh earlier:

Noel Gallagher: All I ever wanted to do was make a record. Here's what you do: you pick up your guitar, you rip a few people's tunes off, you swap them round a bit, get your brother in the band, punch his head in every now and again, and it sells.

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PRICELESS. And you know what? Here's an Oasis video. You should just click play and see what sorts of weird feelings resurface. I did, and it was fun. Oh and hey Noel & Liam, when you were getting high, I was like, trying to figure out wtf a "champagne supernova" was. And probably making mix tapes in my cave-like bedroom. All I know is that it occurs in the sky, so elaboration at some point would be cool.

Mini VJ Set: Dave Jones, Owner of Reverberation Music, chooses his top 5 most influential shoegaze tracks.

Regarding the new mandatory shortening of our love fest introductory paragraphs (or VJ prologues if you wanna be all fancy) is now in effect. Short and sweet as promised:

Dave Jones is one of the coolest people you've never met. Not only is he a rabid music fan with impeccable taste, but he also owns and operates Reverberation Music, essentially the best music lover's specialty shop EVER. Warning: if you are a hardcore vinyl junkie, love rarities on vinyl (especially live ones) and .... I won't even go on about it, it's too dangerous...but if you are someone like that - GO TO HIS WEBSITE. There is stuff there we've never even HEARD of, and releases that make us dizzy and cause involuntary salivating. Anyway. Seriously. We love you, Dave. Cheers, mate! (Yeah that wasn't very short, was it? We're working on it).

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I graduated from high school in 1984 & music just kept progressively getting better as the decade went on. I also managed a CD store from 1987-90 before selling full time at record shows & mail order & saw the beginnings of shoegaze really kind of morphing out of the psych-space rock of that time (Spacemen 3, Loop, Telescopes etc). Seems like really Lush kind of started it with that Cocteau Twins sound with wailing guitars. I was very lucky to see many of the best bands multiple times in Detroit/Chicago/Grand Rapids. I’ll take 1991-95 over any period in my life for live music. Anyway, here are 5 off the top of my head that I really liked (& I could probably change this list daily as my memory comes back).

Slowdive - Soulvaki Space Station

Probably my fave song period (funny how the bass actually is similar to Paul McCartney’s "Band on the run"). Saw them open for Ride in '92, Catherine Wheel in '93 & then their 2nd to final show in Detroit in 1994. Amazing live sound. "Mellon Yellow" is a close 2nd fave track.

******

Blind Mr. Jones - Sisters

More great stuff by a band that got lost in the shuffle of shoegazery.

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Catherine Wheel - She’s My Friend

The much better original mix of this on Club Wilde, pre-Ferment. Saw this band live about 5 times.

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Verve - Blue

Managed to see them 3 times in 5 days in 1993. Day 1 - Detroit, day 2 - Chicago (this gig in the video!), rushed back from the suburbs from The The/Depeche Mode to catch this show at the Cabaret Metro & then 3 days later in my hometown of Grand Rapids. Best tour ever.

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Lush - Deluxe

They were great at the 2nd Lollapalooza tour in 1992 (Miki’s guitar & hair color were the exact same color of dayglo pink/red); saw one of their final gigs in Toledo in 1997. I even stood right next to Miki watching ex-Slowdive Mojave 3 on the "Shaving the Pavement" tour at St. Andrews in Detroit.

Mini VJ Set: Ana Breton of Dead Leaf Echo chooses her top 5 most influential shoegaze tracks.

As we noted in the previous post, our introductory love fests for each participant are going to have to be more brief, due to so much content left to post! Still, I think you'll get our sentiment. So: Ana Breton. She is a member of the highly lauded Dead Leaf Echo and in the past she was a long time integral contributor to another blog band fave, Mahogany. She is beautiful (mythological goddesses, eat your hearts out), talented in a number of ways (musically is one, clearly), and a genuine human being. We can just tell. She is. She's special, and we love her for it. Thank you, Ana. Never let your light dim.

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Ana:

I love that Amber asked me to do this because my friends used to do a top 20 songs of the month mix-tape swap. Then, at the end of a year we would put together a top 20 songs of the year. I always wanted to regroup and do a top bands of all time roundtable where the justification for your choices would be as much the musical integrity as the life experience of it. That is how I came at my list. I also am going to exclude the bands I have played in because they have definitely been the most influential and profound in my life, but I'll just let that speak for itself.

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1. Adorable - Sunshine Smile

The early 90s really were the Summer of Love for me. It was a magical time when I was discovering shoegaze music and was young enough not to realize that it wouldn't "always be this way", what with Ride, Swervedriver, Verve, Chapterhouse, Catherine Wheel, Lush putting out epic music all at once. Adding to the magic, I was also falling in love for the first time with someone who I would form my first band with, who made me mixtapes almost every month, and who took me to all the indie shows in DC. We did a college radio show together and bonded for life with the guy who had the show after, who also loved Adorable and who legendarily later fought off a crowd of fans for a piece of Piotr's white guitar when he smashed it at their last NY show.

My first band was formed around a group of friends who all loved Adorable.

I saw them twice, in DC and Baltimore and we became pen pals with Robert who later sent us the b-sides and rarities which we played on one of our last radio shows.

Sunshine Smile epitomized the magic and bliss of falling in love with music and beauty. Adorable is one of my top bands of all time and this song is definitely one of my top songs of all time. Like all great art, it still gets better with every listen.

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2. Revolver - Heaven Sent An Angel

"Heaven Sent An Angel" feels like a gift that I get to keep forever. It's the ultimate love song.

Revolver toured with the Drop Nineteens in '92 and I missed that show by a few weeks because I found out about them just after. I love both albums by Revolver.

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3. Ride - Leave Them All Behind

I think this song could easily fall on one of those "more academic" discussions Danny mentioned in terms of all time greatest songs. I also love that this is posted with the video because that is how I remember first experiencing the song - by watching the video during a very blissed out night. I was just in awe of it. The song consumed me and the band and the lighting look so cool. I was watching in a dark room and the light from the TV filled up the room and we danced along to it. It was like being absorbed into the song. I love the chant to just "let it go". Unforgettable.

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4. Majesty Crush - Uma

Ok - The WHOLE album Love 15 is amazing and dreamy and was the soundtrack to my life for a long while. Picking one song is so hard but "Uma" was always the standout single to dance around in circles to. It's so triumphant! The guitars are so rich and lush, the beats are really smooth and David's wistful and quietly obsessive lyrics about beautiful girls are enchanting. Saw them live in Baltimore and they came and hung out at an indie-dance party we threw in DC the next night. In an amazing coincidence of good fortune, I would find myself in a band years later with their drummer Odell Nails. Dream come true.

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5. Velocity Girl - My Forgotten Favorite

So VG went more indie rock / pop in their later albums, but their early singles are straight on "I can't make out all the lyrics walls of noise fuzz." There is a lot of focus on the british shoegaze bands, but let's not forget Lorelei, The Ropers, and The Swirlies, all who could of made this list. Velocity Girl were one of my DC local heroes. I was completely obsessed with the band, especially Sarah Shannon, who is still one of the best front women I have ever seen. She never stopped moving and could sing beautifully high, loud and clear live. I saw her in the mall once and was so excited and nervous to say hello I treated her like an untouchable celebrity - she just thought I was someone she knew from school. I sang along with all the songs, hoping I could sound as sweet. I love the jangle noise of the guitars which was so new to me. "This is what they mean when they say 'fuzzy' guitars!" The boys in the band were also great performers, Kelly always making jokes on stage, Archie's jangle noise. I thought it was ace when The Pains of Being Pure At Heart asked him to mix their record.

Mini VJ Set: Vince Corsaro of The Sleepover Disaster chooses his top 5 most influential shoegaze tracks.

Even though we enjoy giving an opening paragraph of love to every single person doing this, at this point, we're going to have to get a little more brief - so many amazing people wanted to participate, and there just isn't time for us to explain why we love every single one of you. We just do - read it and know it to be true. We particularly adore Vince Corsaro - his band, The Sleepover Disaster, along with having one of the best band names ever, is also SO EFFING GOOD. Top notch. Want proof? They'll be on the compilation. :) We love you, Vince!

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1. Ride - "Vapour Trail"

The first time I saw Ride's "Like a Daydream" on MTV's 120 Minutes, I was hooked. "Vapour Trail" epitomizes the shoegaze sound for me. A great song by the band which was most responsible for getting me on board with the genre.

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2. Slowdive - "When the Sun Hits"

This is another band that 120 Minutes debuted for me with "Catch the Breeze". This is hands-down my favorite song by the band (not just a kiss-ass selection for the blog!). I love the guitar tones, the classic whisper-y vocal, and the soft/loud dynamics.

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3. Lush - "Sweetness and Light"

A great example of the genre, and the first time I remember hearing a drum part that tied a shoegaze song together. I typically hear guitar tones first, vocals next, and the rhythm section last (odd, I know, for a drummer); even with the beautiful layered guitars and sweet vocals, this song spoke to me because of that simple, but so fitting, drum beat.

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4. Chapterhouse - "Breather"

An early discovery as I was getting into the genre. The "skip-beat" drumming, the vocal treatment, and the upbeat tempo sold me on this one.

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5. Catherine Wheel - "Tumbledown"

After hearing "Black Metallic" once on local commercial radio, I bought the album (Ferment). "Tumbledown" stood out to me right away, and to this day remains one of my favorite songs ever by probably my favorite band ever. These guys have had a great influence on my band. Although by most accounts they were never strictly a shoegaze band, this song is a shining example of the sound/genre.

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Honorable mentions (read: I wish this were a Top 10 list):

My Bloody Valentine "Soon"- All around amazing.
Swervedriver "Rave Down" - A huge influence on my band and a personal favorite.
The Telescopes - "High on Fire" Awesome vocal harmonies, big guitars, great drum work.
Submarine - "Dinosaurs" A rare-ish gem. From the album Kiss Me Till Your Ears Burn Off,
an all-time great album title.
Cocteau Twins - "A Kissed-Out Red Floatboat" - Robin Guthrie's guitar work. Oh yeah.