Here's a change of pace.

I have only dabbled in listening to shoegaze bands, so I asked DIMP's own Eric San Juan (aka: Shoegaze on our forums) to suggest a few for me to check out if I wanted to write a 5 Bands piece about the genre.  I told him that I had heard certain bands and liked certain songs.  I asked him to point me in the direction of some that may be more off the beaten path.  Here are five bands now regularly played on my iPod that I never listened to before Eric turned me on to them.

Bethany Curve
What Eric said:  Bethany Curve is not my favorite shoegaze act, and I'm not sure why. They have all the hallmarks of the genre, and pull them all off well. Their album YouBrought Us Here is all sorts of Slowdive with male vocals (as is much of their work). Lots of energy and a dynamic sound, yet not a band I return to very often. Yet I probably should.

What I think:  I couldn't find You Brought Us Here originally, so I went looking on allmusic for another suggestion.  I ended up with Skies A Crossed Sky, which I think is a great album.  I've been listening to it regularly ever since I purchased it.  Like Eric said, all the hallmarks are here, from the wailing feedback to the layered and atmospheric vocals.  My favorites right now are "Spacirelei" and "Door 2416" but those change on almost every listen as I keep picking out things I like from each song.


Alison's Halo
What Eric said:  It's a damn freakin' shame this band did not do more. A compilation called Eyedazzler is their only CD release; a few 7" singles (all with a fairly low run) are the only other releases to be found. This is pretty classic and "pure" shoegaze material – soaring guitars, dreamy vocals, long instrumental breaks, solid songs. Lots of shoegaze fans missed this one. That’s too bad; I would have loved to hear more from them. The last we’ve heard from them was in 2005, on their MySpace page.

What I think:  Fucking A!  This band has jumped high onto my list of favorites. Eric's right that it's a damn shame this is the only release from them.  Eyedazzler collects their singles from 1992 - 1996 and there are really great songs on here.  Check out "Melt", "Always April" and "Chalkboard James" if you want just a taste.  Really, though, you should download the album and treat yourself. 


Loveliescrushing
What Eric said:  Okay, you know those formless My Bloody Valentine tracks on Loveless, “Loomer” and “Touched”? And the slightly more shapely “To Here KnowsWhen”? Well what the duo that make up Loveliescrushing does are pretty much songs just like that, but for an entire album. Bloweyelashwish for instance, is 20songs, most only about two minutes, and all of it vague, formless music that sounds as if it was assembled from tape Kevin Shields accidentally threw in the dumpster. It's cool and ambient and very relaxing. Don't expect any catchy songs, though. This is “shoegaze” mostly because it sounds like MBV leftovers – and that’s not a bad thing.
 
What I thought:  Three or four years ago I heard a track from Stars As Eyes that had been remixed by Main.  It was just like Eric describes above; formless, shifting and relaxing, wave upon wave of feedback.  I've been looking for something similar ever since and when I'd finally collected many of Main's albums and been disappointed, I didn't know where else to go.  Loveliescrushing fulfilled and exceeded my wildest expectations.  Bloweyelashwish is (as twisted as this may sound) what I listen to on my way to work in the mornings and to wind down at night.  It's the kind of music I can get lost in, and that is something I absolutely crave! Again, as mentioned above, it's hard to recommend a particular track.  It's just all good.

Drop Nineteens
What Eric said:  These guys came out of the decent Boston scene of the early-to-mid 1990s. I never did get their last record (1993’s National Coma), but their first,Delaware, is pretty straightforward shoegaze from 1992. Solid songs, big guitars, vocals washed in reverb. Yeah, you know the drill by now. The track “Kick The Tragedy” rips off MBV's “Soon” so hard it sounds like lawsuit, but thankfully none of the other "borrowing" is quite so overt.
 
What I think:  This was a band I had already heard of and while I didn't pick up Delaware, I was able to find their followup EP Your Aquarium at a used CD store near my house.  This is pretty solid stuff but less shoegaze than I was expecting.  Even so, there's enough of an influence here to include it. I would say you need to give this a listen just for their cover of the Barry Manilow song "Mandy".

Should
What Eric said:  This band used to be called ShiFt (with a capital F) but were forced to change their name. I was lucky enough to stumble across them on accident; I tradedtapes with the guy who is Should’s brainchild, swapping my own music for his, and was greeted with a cassette and a CD of fantastic shoegaze music. There is a strong MBV influence here, yet they make the sound their down. I really like the slow, s l o w approach these guys have. Reminds me of "slowcore" act Codeine(who are awesome). Look for the track “Feels Like Morning” on the excellent EP A Folding Sieve.  It's among their best.
 
What I think:  This might be my favorite find of the bunch.  Should definitely brings the tempos down considerably, and as Eric said, the most perfect example of their sound is "Feels Like Morning".  The track features atmospheric male vocals amidst rhythmic distorted guitar with swirls of additional feedback just underneath it all.  The thing is, that approach permeates almost every track on A Folding Sieve and that's what I love about this album.  It puts you in a mood and very few albums really have that big of an effect on me.  About halfway through every listen, I feel like my perception of the world around me has been altered in some way... and I'm usually sober when I listen to this.  It's like an aural drug.  This one is HIGHLY recommended.