Is it just me, or are things getting stupid with the shoegaze pedals?

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redchapterjubilee
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Re: Is it just me, or are things getting stupid with the shoegaze pedals?

Post by redchapterjubilee » Mon Sep 12, 2022 5:36 am

Were I not in college radio at the time I'm not sure I'd have known who half the Britpop or shoegaze bands were. I forget sometimes that the music I take for granted that everyone knows, well, not everyone actually knows. Not sure America is gonna get a Menswear ripoff any time soon. It's Oasis and Blur and really only the one Blur record that isn't exactly like the rest of their catalog, though I think a lot of folks will be looking at Supergrass again thanks to the Taylor Hawkins tribute show. I still like all three of those bands, but not as much as I like "the Big 4 of Shoegaze".

We've had a lot of dreampop and shoegaze bubbling under the surface in US indie rock for 15 years. From the harder edged stuff like A place To Bury Strangers or Ringo Deathstarr, to the more commercial big guitar sound of Nothing and DIIV to the Mazzy Star obsessed True Widow to the Curve-electro of Washed Out, etc. The sound is out there. I think it's cool more people are discovering it.

FWIW, I sent a link for the Soft Focus to a non-social media using friend last week, knowing this pedal would be of particular interest to him. About 10 years ago he painstakingly put together a Christian Savill rig, complete with rack and MIDI controller and gigged it for several years but eventually got tired of carrying all that stuff out with him and retired it. He immediately followed the link and bought one. "Hey, I can get that sound in something easier to deal with!"

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Re: Is it just me, or are things getting stupid with the shoegaze pedals?

Post by panoramic » Mon Sep 12, 2022 5:43 am

UlricvonCatalyst wrote:
Mon Sep 12, 2022 5:34 am
panoramic wrote:
Mon Sep 12, 2022 5:24 am
UlricvonCatalyst wrote:
Mon Sep 12, 2022 5:21 am
I think it's neither fair nor accurate to label the likes of Blur or, especially, Pulp as 'Britpop' as both preceded that A&R onslaught of signing all things Camden on the back of :k Cool Britannia :k .

Can't say I agree that Elastica were a highlight of the era either; always found them pretty unpalatable.
I just listened to their "big" album with my GF the other day in a comedic fashion as we were on a 90's kick and that record is actually pretty good aside of the Wire theft. I hated them when they were on the radio but now, I don't mind them and they are a shit ton better than the garbage out today.
Gonna have to take your word for that. ;)

I'm probably just bitter because my band who did that Three Girl Rhumba thing a few years earlier than them didn't make it as big.
I know how that feels my friend... all of my 90's projects went literally nowhere
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Re: Is it just me, or are things getting stupid with the shoegaze pedals?

Post by UlricvonCatalyst » Mon Sep 12, 2022 5:46 am

redchapterjubilee wrote:
Mon Sep 12, 2022 5:36 am
I think a lot of folks will be looking at Supergrass again
This is where shoe-horning bands into movements or genres falls down. I like Supergrass, but I'd forgotten 'they were a Britpop band'. Much easier to just file bands under 'I like them' and 'I don't like them' if you ask me.

Also, yes, I can see the appeal of a stomp box v rack equipment, especially now that so much can be fitted into that form factor.

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Re: Is it just me, or are things getting stupid with the shoegaze pedals?

Post by jorri » Mon Sep 12, 2022 6:14 am

So its settled, we need a Wire revival and a pedal that emulates all the sounds of Map Ref. 41°N 93°W with graphics in the style of 154 album cover.

FWIW also, no of course i don't mind easy pedal form stuff. I think its just: having an album cover on a pedal then making your own albums in emulation, and making everything about it on your board in emulation a bit cringey (i see it a lot).
The Soft Focus is not that i suppose. It sounds nice but i think as others have said the marketing allows quite a limited pedal to be sold that only does one algo, whereas Context or Space or others actually ARE a whole rack in a pedal format, not just ONE PRESET, and not a whole lot more cost. Hearing about it did actually make me play with my Context settings a lot as i havent recently, and confirmed i wouldn't need one...even if its based of lexicons and alesis . Same same, different flavour, still like the old racks.

The Realizer just didn't sound that accurate to me and i suppose even worse to have the album cover style on it AND not be that accurate, with no settings to customise like an actual Yamaha thingy.

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Re: Is it just me, or are things getting stupid with the shoegaze pedals?

Post by jorri » Mon Sep 12, 2022 6:18 am

I don't know much about that band who did the Trigger Happy Tv theme.

Like Blur and Verve. Verve had a shoegaze start. In amongst other shoegaze emulators it was refreshing to see a band recently who had an early verve sound instead and so its got more to a point where finding the nuggets of "originality" are just more emulators chosing a less popular source lol.

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Re: Is it just me, or are things getting stupid with the shoegaze pedals?

Post by UlricvonCatalyst » Mon Sep 12, 2022 6:20 am

jorri wrote:
Mon Sep 12, 2022 6:14 am
a pedal that emulates all the sounds of Map Ref. 41°N 93°W
Always dreamed of those Bruce Gilbert tones, but I suspect a few, including the above, might have been sent through some of Mike Thorne's synthemasizers.

I do have a secret recipe for the I Am The Fly clang, though. :ph34r:

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Re: Is it just me, or are things getting stupid with the shoegaze pedals?

Post by timiscott » Mon Sep 12, 2022 6:46 am

s_mcsleazy wrote:
Mon Sep 12, 2022 3:48 am
i'm already seeing a bit of a revival for brit-pop. look at that sam fender dude. he's basically half way between oasis and ed sheeran. wonderwall hasn't left most buskers/open mic dude's repertoire. 40+ year old dudes are getting nostalgic for that stuff. a few months ago i was cycling in edinburgh and passed a pub that had a britpop cover band playing and the crowd fucking loved it. plus people seem to like noel ghallager's band.

honestly, outside suede, about 60% of blur's material, 40% of pulp's material and the odd elastica track, i'd be happy to leave britpop in the past. the only way i can think i'd wanna see it is because a lot of the british post-hardcore scene of the 00's was a reaction to how popular britpop was so maybe we could start seeing some more love for reuben, yourcodenameis:milo and million dead.

although i do wanna say, fashion wise, bucket hats and corduroy skirts are already coming back in fashion so maybe we will get a britpop revival. keep in mind the people who were teenagers during that time are now definitely old enough to have kids who are now in their teens going through old pictures of their parents like "oh mum looked so cool back then, i know..... i'm going to start dressing like that and posting it on instagram or tiktok" and that starts a trend.
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Re: Is it just me, or are things getting stupid with the shoegaze pedals?

Post by timiscott » Mon Sep 12, 2022 6:55 am

UlricvonCatalyst wrote:
Mon Sep 12, 2022 5:21 am
I think it's neither fair nor accurate to label the likes of Blur or, especially, Pulp as 'Britpop' as both preceded that A&R onslaught of signing all things Camden on the back of :k Cool Britannia :k .

Can't say I agree that Elastica were a highlight of the era either; always found them pretty unpalatable.
Christ, if they're not Britpop, who is? I wasn't just Oasis! If I remember rightly, Suede invented it and, suddenly, Blur went all '70s Bowie, partly because America rejected them on their first tour. The Justine F link might be key too. At the time, the rumour was that Damon wrote the first Elastica album and I've heard him sing on a demo of Stutter. Who knows what's true though...

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Re: Is it just me, or are things getting stupid with the shoegaze pedals?

Post by sal paradise » Mon Sep 12, 2022 6:58 am

timiscott wrote:
Mon Sep 12, 2022 6:55 am
UlricvonCatalyst wrote:
Mon Sep 12, 2022 5:21 am
I think it's neither fair nor accurate to label the likes of Blur or, especially, Pulp as 'Britpop' as both preceded that A&R onslaught of signing all things Camden on the back of :k Cool Britannia :k .

Can't say I agree that Elastica were a highlight of the era either; always found them pretty unpalatable.
Christ, if they're not Britpop, who is? I wasn't just Oasis! If I remember rightly, Suede invented it and, suddenly, Blur went all '70s Bowie, partly because America rejected them on their first tour. The Justine F link might be key too. At the time, the rumour was that Damon wrote the first Elastica album and I've heard him sing on a demo of Stutter. Who knows what's true though...
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Re: Is it just me, or are things getting stupid with the shoegaze pedals?

Post by timiscott » Mon Sep 12, 2022 7:45 am

I can't say that I knew Nirvana before they were signed, or that I spent quite a bit of time with them afterwards, so I don't know the answer to that question.

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Re: Is it just me, or are things getting stupid with the shoegaze pedals?

Post by UlricvonCatalyst » Mon Sep 12, 2022 8:21 am

I guess the point I was making, which obviously didn't come across clearly, was that as with Shoegaze, Britpop was a label the press put onto those bands, that they would probably have rather not been identified with.

Hey, there are probably still guys in Liverpool who are furious about having lumped in with that bloody Merseybeat crowd.

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Re: Is it just me, or are things getting stupid with the shoegaze pedals?

Post by timiscott » Mon Sep 12, 2022 9:44 am

I think you're right. For a time, they were all known as 'The Scene That Celebrates Itself'. I think the music press editors must have been hitting the bong hard that day...

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Re: Is it just me, or are things getting stupid with the shoegaze pedals?

Post by Larry Mal » Mon Sep 12, 2022 10:09 am

I'm about to get stupid with my shoegaze pedal when it shows up on Wednesday.

It's gonna be all "Souvlarry" and fuck all y'all that don't like it.
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Re: Is it just me, or are things getting stupid with the shoegaze pedals?

Post by sal paradise » Mon Sep 12, 2022 10:26 am

Larry Mal wrote:
Mon Sep 12, 2022 10:09 am
I'm about to get stupid with my shoegaze pedal when it shows up on Wednesday.

It's gonna be all "Souvlarry" and fuck all y'all that don't like it.
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Re: Is it just me, or are things getting stupid with the shoegaze pedals?

Post by MrShake » Mon Sep 12, 2022 10:37 am

Palarry Saints

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