Cooking with Ketchup--A Food-Based Shoegaze Primer

Shoegaze is a genre I’ve discovered, read about, and delighted over…online. Not one person I’ve encountered in the real world has even heard of the genre (no exaggeration I assure you), nor do they believe me when I assure them that it exists. I’ve been drawn into arguments with friends, family, coworkers, strangers, waiters and cooks. No one has heard of shoegaze, and when I kindly educate them, they seem to feel the need to hit me. I don’t know why this is, so perhaps the best way to inform everyone of this genre (while not being yelled at nor physically abused) is to do it online.

And to those that not only know what shoegaze is, but would swear by it and then some: bear with me on this. Baby steps.

Well, off we go then.

Shoegaze is quite simply instrumental music to the nth degree. It’s that guitar solo in your favorite tune stretched, contorted, and made into its own song. Instruments rule the day here. Musicians intensely stare at their instruments during live performances. This downward stare (towards their feet) is why we have the term shoegaze. Make sense?

Shoegaze creates a wall of sound using many (probably hundreds) of effects on their guitars, which creates a distorted, solid sound. It’s almost like crafting a landscape using sonic effects; an impenetrable mound of noise that the musicians warp into melodic, driving rhythms.

Vocals take the back-seat in shoegaze, if indeed there are vocals at all. When there are, many times they simply become another wordless instrument. My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless (which is for shoegazers kind of like what Appetite for Destruction is for metal fans, Nevermind is for grunge/alternative fans, and No Strings Attached is for middle-school girls) displays this quality superbly. While there are vocals in many of the songs, most of the time you can never tell just what the hell they’re saying. More, they add to the overly-effected and distorted guitars. The vocals are just another instrument, and the lyrics are expendable.

This is why I believe shoegaze will never penetrate the mainstream music world – as a whole at least. Shoegaze in its purest form is the equivalent of an acquired taste delicacy. The overly-effected instrumentals could easily cause migraines and possibly blood clots, and the lack of lyrics estranges a huge bloc of music listeners. Frankly, shoegaze is not radio friendly and – even in this new digital world – the majority of people still get their music served to them through radio waves.

Shoegaze will enter the pop-arena of music as, not the main course, but as a condiment. Shoegaze is the musical equivalent of ketchup, and – just like ketchup – shoegaze will become an essential dependent in mainstream music. It won’t gain the same level of success on its own (much like you’d never have a bottle of ketchup for dinner). But man, will it taste good dripped over more-established and pop-friendly genres.

Many bands already do this. Three have risen to the top of my sonic pool: Dirty on Purpose, Silversun Pickups, and The Butterfly Explosion. They’re currently pushing into the established music scene, and will make a big splash when they finally hit the mainstream.

Dirty on Purpose, a quartet from New York City, plays an ambient style of indie rock, but that messy shoegaze wall of sound makes appearances as well – supporting the lighter, summer-esque foreground. Their latest release Hallelujah Sirens has received more than a few critiques mentioning the band’s shoegaze influences.

"I honestly hadn’t heard that term until we started to get the comparisons," declares Dirty vocalist/guitarist Joseph Jurewicz, "DJ [Boudreau] (bass) is a huge My Bloody Valentine fan, so I am sure its an influence to some degree." See? Shoegaze is seeping in, dripping over indie main-courses to give that spicy taste.

Dirty on Purpose’s tribute to shoegaze (however unknowingly) is "Monument," a scathing four minute instrumental that’s pure shoegaze bent around indie-stylized structures. Towering obelisks of guitar riffs puddle and collect, morphing into a power-packed climax that is more powerful than any lyrics could be.

Yet, lyrics wouldn’t hurt. Silversun Pickups, an energetic group from the City of Angels, squashes alternative and shoegaze into one innovative package. Where Dirty on Purpose unintentionally introduces glimpses of shoegaze into a handful of songs, Silversun Pickups knowingly injects every one of their songs with a landscape of floor-gazin’ sound. Songs like "Rusted Wheel" and "Melatonin" off their debut album Carnavas directly use heavily effected, horribly complex instrumental lines for their melodies. The result is a briar patch of music – one that may deter mainstream fans – but the wonderfully dynamic vocals (full decipherable as well) pull Silversun’s music back from the brink of being an exclusively ketchup meal.

The Butterfly Explosion are the most impressive of the lot. Not because they’ve achieved any sort of sweeping success, yet (they haven’t even released an LP) but in the manner that they’ve turned shoegaze into a pop-based, digestible sound. The breath-taking "Vision" off their Vision EP is wholly instrumental and ketchup with the french fries as the topping – if you follow. The brilliant part of Butterfly Explosion – an underground romp from Ireland – is that they’re totally radio ready. "Vision" never drags and always keeps the listener as interested as if someone were singing of the woes of the world. Even their vocal tracks like "Comfort of the Dark" and "Next Year" flip the equation: they take My Bloody Valentine and sprinkle a bit of alternative acts like The Smashing Pumpkins over the top. The condiment becomes the main course, and the other way around.

So, I suppose Butterfly Explosion destroys my whole argument of ketchup being indigestible for mainstream audiences, but even there a morsel of alternative is added. Don’t get me wrong either, shoegaze is an exhilarating experience by itself, I just don’t think it will take the mainstream citadel in its purest form. I do think shoegaze will be the next movement in music (and music is desperately waiting on the movement-donor wait-list). Shoegaze won’t get served to pop music lovers as the main course, but as the topping that will become a necessity in sonic cooking.