Waves Crashing - Effection (2025)

The Cascadian shoegaze is not something I talk about every day, but maybe it'll change since Waves Crashing, a band from Washington state, released their debut album and it kind of rocks. If you need some tasty retro noisy vibes in your life, this is the address.

The retro vibes here are omnipresent. It is a noisy rock blessed by RIDE and The Jesus and Mary Chain: the melodic guitar music with a layer of fuzziness to make it even more beautiful. And the melodic aspect is dominant here, my favourite track, Comatose is a perfect example here. The way an unnerving and disturbing word is shaped into a fantastically catchy and airy chorus is done in a true classic shoegaze fashion. Just look at it: "Something out my window/I feel it close/Try to stay normal/In a comatose".

And what accompanies the lyrics is guitar music as fuzzy as one should expect. There are riffs that make it outstanding (like the finish in In My Head), but they are mostly just complimenting the airy vocals. Which is not a bad thing. I personally thing that the more atmospheric ballad-like the band gets towards the end of the release, the slightly less interesting the music. Slightly. Good thing that they finish with a remix of Comatose as this tells me they know they have a real hit in their portfolio.

Effection costs 9 USD.

Check: Comatose

Country: Washington, US

Genre: retro noise rock

Label: Neon Sigh / Audiomanic Music

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terraplana - natural (2025)

The Brazilians from terraplana made it to my blog already two years ago with their debut album and they are back so soon. Their sophomore release called natural proves that making the melodic, noisy and very honest music for them is, well, natural.

This is the kind of shoegazey, noisey music that feels like fun indie rock reworked to be airier and noisier with a big addition of the DIY honesty to the compositions. It is led by the duality of vocals with the more cheerful female ones provided by Stephani Heuczuk and the gloomier male ones. Interestingly enough, the new album features also a collaboration with Boston-based Winter and I have to say that hear a whisper has to be my favourite track here, the whispery additions fit so well to the otherwise upbeat song. I'm very happy to hear that the gazey scene in Brazil is alive and kicking and terraplana is my favourite proof for that.

Natural costs 10 USD.

Check: hear a whisper

Country: Brazil

Genre: noisy indie rock

Label: Balaclava Records

terraplana - olhar pra tr​á​s (2023)

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Glare - Sunset Funeral (2025)

A good dreamy debut album alert. Glare, a band from Texas with fuzzy guitars and soothing vocals is here to make you stare. At their music. Somehow. Anyway, the music is great: it's airy and noisy and melodic, just how you like 'em.

I'm shocked with how accurate and sly the description of their album is asking about what people envision when listening to the airy guitar music and answering: "Vistas big enough to be forgotten in. Deserts which stretch back to the beginning of time. Infinite horizons melting into pink bokehs. It’s Texas, isn’t it?". I thought it was northern Sweden, but they may be right! Never been to Texas. But this music is not only about geographical comparisons, it is  all about emotions. Like you do when you write dreamy music. The band states that it is aimed "for people who don’t know how to talk about how they feel."

I can feel it in every track at the album, especially in the ethereal vocals contrasting with the rougher music. I especially like the songs that have tons of atmosphere, but there are the summits of very noisy guitar sounds towering over it form time to time, which is especially noticable in 2 Soon 2 Tell and its finish. If metal screaming was played on guitars, it could sound like this part. A very promising debut from the Americans.

Sunset Funeral costs 8 USD.

Check: 2 Soon 2 Tell

Country: Texas, US

Genre: noise dream pop

Label: Deathwish Inc./Sunday Drive

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Magic Wands - Switch (2023)

It's time for already the sixth album in the California-based band's discography and I have to say, Magic Wands are one of the lesser known dreamy artists whom I find the most consistently good with what they do. As it is the case with this year's Switch.

Their dream pop feels like hot chocolate: it's beautiful but not high-paced, it's atmospheric but melodic, it's dark. I can feel notes of wave and post-punk here (especially thanks to the clear bass line backgrounds), but the whole thing is more dreamy and hazy than cold and minimalist. It's great pop music with this gloomier hint and ethereal mood all over it. The balance between all the ingredients is pretty good here and it's one of the reasons I find the band so good since 2018's Abrakadabra (and I need to check out the previous albums as well). For hardcore fans, the Bandcamp version of the album includes remixes that make the release virtually twice as long. 

Switch costs 10.99 USD.

Magic Wands - Illuminate (2020)

Magic Wands - Abrakadabra (2018)

Check: Switch

Country: California, US

Genre: wave-esque dream pop

Label: Metropolis Records

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Glazyhaze - Just Fade Away (2023)

Irene Moretuzzo and Lorenzo Dall’Armellina and two artists who together formed Glazyhaze, a debuting band with a taste for dreamy and ethereal pop rock music. Their first album is called Just Fade Away and is definitely something a fan of dream pop music should check out.

This is the core of good dream pop music: swift melodies, airy backing vocals and slightly noisy guitars in the backgrounds. This all, together with the fresh but also distracted vocals by Moretuzzo, are what make Glazyhaze's debut sound as if they've played for a long time. While the melodies can be often lively and designed to make the audience dance, there are parts where the music gets slower and moodier. And usually, it's something in between: an indie pop with heavy melancholic vibes and pretty hazy atmosphere. Certainly a good debut for the dreamy outfit.

Just Fade Away costs 7 EUR.

Check: The Shadow of Your Smile

Country: Italy 

Genre: melodic dream pop

Label: Slimer Records

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Solenoide - Casa de Islandia (2023)

Inspired by the novel by the Romanian writer Mircea Cărtărescu, the Peruvian band Solenoide started their musical journey five years ago and this year was the highest time for them to release their debut EP. And they did so and called it Casa de Islandia.

Led by Laura Rosales and Oscar Contreras, the outfit embraced the very noisy, very ethereal genre of guitar music that is as close to shoegaze as it is to dream pop. The music feels psychedelic and chaotic, but it is very coherent with the overall hazy and dreamy vibe of the album. And so are the mixed, male and female, vocals that sing out very melodic and lively tunes. In fact, the tracks on the EP all are extremely catchy and in this aspect, they feel like (dream) pop music could be one of the inspirations. Even though sang in Spanish, the melodies stick to your head with ease. Especially when drowned in the uber-airy backing vocals.

According to their own words, the title's Iceland is a country that is close to their artistic hearts. And no wonder, the ethereal vibes of their music certainly would fit into the noisy scene of the country in the Far North. 

Casa de Islandia costs 4 USD.

Check: Casa de Islandia

Country: Peru

Genre: melodic noise pop

Label: Catenaria Discos

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Strangers in My House - Leave It Undefined (2023)

Although on the local stage, they feel like they have been around forever, technically speaking, the Kraków-based Strangers in My House have only just released their debut LP. And with Leave It Undefined , the band proves that they are one of the best noisy bands in the country and perhaps one of the most underrated ones in general.

The band is known for their love for classic shoegaze music (RIDE for instance) and it's clearly felt in their songs. The hazy guitars backgrounds give away those inspirations pretty easily: while the songs in general are pretty much traditionally formalized, the chaos in the backgrounds can be pretty impressing. But this noise and this chaos are mostly kept in the backgrounds give way to the melodic vocals by Magdalena Radecka. Those are quite far from the distorted shoegaze standards and bring more of the fun, indie rock vibes. Indeed, the band admits that they wanted to keep the debut album in a more "energetic and groovy" atmosphere, compared to the previous releases (which is especially audible in the swift and surprisingly fast Destination Point).

The symbol of their musical road is Words, a song that featured on their very first single in 2019, now, in an improved form, is one of the highlights of the debut album. And to be honest, next to all of the tracks on this short album deserve to be called "highlights".

Leave It Undefined costs 7 EUR (30 PLN).

Strangers in My House - Strangers in My House (2020)

Check: Destination Point

Country: Poland

Genre: noise indie rock

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BrokenTeeth - 추​락​은 천​천​히 (How to Sink Slowly) (2023)

The lo-fi Korean noise pop/shoegaze music seems to be a genre on its own recently. With many artists and albums well-received by the worldwide deep alternative music society, it's a force to be aware of. One of its representatives is 김민하, better known as BrokenTeeth who comes back with his second album called 추​락​은 천​천​히 (How to Sink Slowly).

And BrokenTeeth offers something I appreciate more than the other artists like Parannoul: it's less noisy and nerve-wracking in the lo-fi way and more flawlessly melodic and melancholic. The flow of his compositions is unbelievable and so the not-so-short album feels like a short minute of pure ethereal beauty. The non-overwhelming music feels like an accompaniment to the extremely soft vocals in most places, but there is certain rock-like guitar-fueled energy within this sea of ethereal haze.

추​락​은 천​천​히 (How to Sink Slowly) costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: Sunset Strike

Country: South Korea

Genre: Korean dream pop

Label: POCLANOS

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Oceans - Dreamers in Dark Cities (2023)

The Australian Oceans, who are known for "fusing various genres together to create unique sonic landscapes inspired by ambient, new wave and 90s shoegaze", have appeared on my blog already when in 2022 they were part of the split release with the British band Wilt. And finally, they managed to release their debut album this year with Dreamers in Dark Cities being a fantastic take on the melodic shoegaze music.

This is the kind of music that fills a need for the atmospheric blessing and the melodic energy. The compositions are very much based on the distinct bass line that can be particularly fast while the heavy, fuzzy guitars around it give slower, more monumental vibes. This is, traditionally one can say, balanced by very ethereal and dreamy double, male and female, vocals (sometimes more uniquely sounding like in parts of Feels Like You, but usually following the genre's style guides). This balance is usually tilted in favour of the lighter, more melodic side of the project and it feels right for the band, although I'd be curious to hear them in heavier, more shoegazey compositions too (like in the final track of the album).

Dreamers in Dark Cities costs 7 USD.

Wilt & Oceans - Wilt (2022)

Check: Feels Like You

Country: Australia

Genre: atmospheric noise pop

Label: Shelflife

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Softcult - See You in the Dark (2023)

Mercedes and Phoenix Arn-Horn make music as Softcult. The Ontario-based artists haven't released a long-playing album yet, but See You in the Dark makes already their third EP. And it may well be the best one yet.

This is the kind of music that blends the energy and fun of indie rock with the expression of punk and the dreaminess of noise pop. Everything is very melodic, the pace is high and it makes you feel like dancing. Songs like Dress are real bangers that could be in the repertoire of the biggest indie rock bands. But there is also a hint of melancholia, some sadness in the compositions' dispersed vocals and hazey backgrounds. And the further the album goes, the more striking it is. The final songs are pure guitar haze with delicate vocals put on top: a music to feel and to shed a tear to (Love Song is sooo beautiful).

See You in the Dark costs 6 USD.

Check: Love Song 

Country: Canada

Genre: noise pop

Label: Easy Life Records

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Excellent Skeleton - On Mercury Sea (2023)

The Cardiff-based Excellent Skeleton debuted this year with their combination of psychedelic noise scapes and traditional rock & roll" on the album called On Mercury Sea. And this is one solid and promising debut if I've ever seen one.

One of the music genre they quote as influential on their music is shoegaze, but it has to be said that the loud and noisy guitars sometimes give way to the lively melodies and unpretentious vocals (as in the very catchy Train Station). And if it is noisy, it is noisy in the style of Spiritualized: music as psychedelic as it can be packed in a good dose of loudness. This also includes the "choral" vocals that, for me, always felt like almost a gospel-like and I have a great sentiment for them. This debut from the British Isles sure sounds like happened some around two decades ago and I appreciate it very much. They know what they like in the music from back then and know what to do to achieve a similar sound, that's for sure.

On Mercury Sea costs 12 EUR (10 GBP).

Check: Mosquito

Country: Wales/UK

Genre: noisy psychedelic rock

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Relay Tapes - Debris (2023)

Jade Tyers of Brisbane, Australia makes his music under the moniker of Relay Tapes. On Debris, their third ever EP, Tyers shows an impressive take on the noisier and heavier kind of noise pop.

Although it is a solo project, it's definitely hard to guess volume-wise. Tyer's music can be downright loud and noisy when it is necessary. The guitar sounds have this nice, crunchy texture that can feel really overwhelming at times, but they give way for the calm, dreamy vocals most of the time. There's a good dose of acoustic guitar here as well, especially when the songs gradually turn more into moody ballads and even industrial/ambient soundscapes (in Debris). 

Debris costs 2 EUR (3 AUD).

Check: Street Scene

Country: Australia

Genre: solo noise rock

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Flyying Colours - You Never Know (2023)

The Melbourne-based band of Flyying Colours seem to have their reliable way of creating very catchy and engaging noisy music. They proved it once again on their third album ever called You Never Know. 

This is this kind of noise music that certainly is very melodic but this feature is often lost, on purpose, in the sea of lo-fi guitar noise. It's rather slow and aims more likely to the audience's heart than to their legs and other dancing parts of a body. The guitars are toned down, although, if you focus well enough, they give out how powerful they could become. But that's not the point: the guitar noise accompanies the sweet melodies and even sweeter vocals that lead the way through the catchy compositions. In general, the Australians' dreamy music ranges from very twee-like songs to a bit rougher, but still very melodic pieces.

You Never Know costs 12 EUR (10 GBP).

Check: Never Forget

Country: Australia

Genre: lo-fi noisy indie pop

Label: Club AC30/Poison City

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Uniforms - Trance (2023)

Three years after their last album called Fantasía moral, the Spanish noise pop outfit Uniforms are back with their third ever LP. And Trance really induces this kind of melodic and noisy, but also a bit post-punk in some aspects, entertaining trance.

Those post-punk influences are mostly audible in the distinct bass lines and vocals that, form time to time, sound like taken from some female-led punk band - there's no screaming but some of the almost spoken word vocals certainly feel like it. However, this all is swamped with noisy guitars and dense, but energetic and melodic, music. That said, the Spanish can as easily go into different direction with indie pop ballads like Dusky, where the main focus is put on the vocals themselves. But the guitar compositions are definitely more numerous here. I appreciate how the band can create melodic songs but still accent the might of the guitar-fueled noise. Or transform their style into an adrenaline-filled run with a perfect flow in I Quit. 

Trance costs 7 EUR.

Uniforms - Fantasía moral (2020)

UNIFORMS - EQUALS (2018)

Check: I Quit

Country: Spain

Genre: post-punkish noise pop

Label: Oso Polita

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The Leontini Vernacular - AMLA (2023)

Two years after the debut EP, Gregory Jameswood and the band he leads are back with new material released on the short album called AMLA. After certain changes in the lineup, the Bristol-based artist who some may know from another noisy band, Nossiennes, created new tracks and I have to say, they do sound really good.

It is no less and no more than a well-written noise pop. The melodies here are easy to follow, the backgrounds skillfully filled with guitar noise (so well, in fact, that some fragments sound like very noisy post-rock music) and the compositions short and dynamic. It's hard to say what's the main genre here: sometimes the music is closer to extremely catchy surf rock, sometimes it's as noisy as it gets. This flexible approach to music is only fitting when you take into consideration the album's main theme, which is "dealing with shadowy aspects of love and loss".

AMLA costs 4 USD.

Nossiennes - Vivere (2020)

Nossiennes - Liminal (2022)

Check: P F

Country: UK

Genre: noise pop

Label: Shore Dive Records

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Velveteen - Empty Crush (2022)

Velveteen are from London and they have been releasing their music for some time now (Rate Your Music says it's been 10 years, but I'm not sure it's true), but this is, as far as I know, their first LP. And Empty Crush is a perfectly nostalgic piece of noisy compositions that gave me this "I was born in a wrong generation" kind of feeling.

They describe their music as "a sound that's as much a love letter to their inspirations as it is their own" with said inspiration taken from shoegaze, post-punk, dream pop and noise rock. The first track of the album clearly confirms it with the particularly noisy guitars leading the first notes of the release. When they make way to the dispersed vocals, the sound is almost a perfect homage to the shoegaze legends from the 90s, especially My Bloody Valentine (for the guitars) and RIDE (vocals). The nostalgia for those times and the way it inspired the new band is clearly the strongest aspect of the album. Tracks like Entwined and Sunborn perfectly show this and it's barely comprehensible that they were not, in fact, released 30 years ago.

Empty Crush costs 7 USD.

Check: Entwined 

Country: UK

Genre: old-school shoegaze

Label: Shelflife

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Soft Blue Shimmer - Love Lives in the Body (2022)

Back in November, the Californian band Soft Blue Shimmer released their sophomore album called Love Lives in the Body . The moody dream pop featured there certainly should be considered by any fan of the genre who looks for something new to add to their personal playlists.

This is the kind of music that is filled with melancholia and nostalgia and that forms those feelings in a dreamy and melodic moulds. There is a certain dose of guitar noise in the backgrounds but the music itself is rarely the first thing you notice. It's more about Meredith Ramond's dreamy vocals, this is what mesmerizes the audience. The softness, the gloomy hue and the sad vibes all over those vocals are the perfect fit for the noise pop the band makes. The album is very well-leveled and it's difficult to point to one track that stands out, but I feel like it represents the very essence of the nostalgic noisy music.

Love Lives in the Body costs 10 USD.

Check: Prism of Feeling

Country: California, US

Genre: noise pop

Label: Other People Records

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Twin Oaks - Strangers (2022)

Today, a very similar post to the yesterday's one: a band I really like (this time it's dream pop from US though) with their third album and some line-up changes (this time the duo became a collective of three). Strangers is such a fantastic album, a great continuation of Twin Oaks' discography.

The album's opening sound already surprised the hell out of me: the aggressive, almost dub-step like wall of noise welcomes the audience to the new release. This was only a jump scare as the whole thing sounds more like the previous ones: the ridiculously moody dream pop ballads fueled by the emotional vocals by Lauren Brown. However, it seems that their music became more complex, there is more going on in the backgrounds with some interesting electronica bits, sampling and generally, very modern approach leads to the fantastic level of immersion the listener experiences. The flow of the songs is immersive, it's difficult not to get carried away.

But those are still mostly ballads. Somehow it works together very well (so well audible in New York). So the whole album ranges from dreamy ballads, through some alternative r'n'b-like vibes, up to full blown electronica - and it all is kept together by Twin Oaks signature, very moody style. 

Strangers costs 8 USD.

Check: Reflex

Country: California, US

Genre: electronica dream pop

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Life on Venus - Homewards (2022)

One of my favourite European shoegaze artists are back, as it seems, with a smaller line-up. The now trio have released their third album, Homewards, recently and their dense shoegaze is as good as always.

The first longer track, You Will Be There shows pretty early how catchy and melodic the music here is. It's not always the case for shoegaze songs to be that easy to pick up by the listeners, but this is certainly the case here. The use of pauses, sweet melodies and heavy, immersive guitar noise is top-notch here, up to the impressive, abrupt finish. The songs are short (the whole album is only half an hour long) but it makes them even catchier. The band doesn't spend much time on introductions or noisy passages, this album is about shoegaze bangers that should be known to the genre's fans all over the world.

Another thing that is the most impressive is the quality of the thick, overwhelming guitar sounds all over the album. While usually devoted to make the haze in the backgrounds, sometimes, like in Speak to the Moon, their aggressive heaviness is so noticeable on your shoulders. This is what shogeaze should feel like.

Homewards costs 9.99 EUR.

Check: You Will Be There

Genre: melodic shoegaze

Label: Stereopark Music

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Waterville - Isle of Blue (2022)

The Polish band of Waterville is not the main thing that comes to mind when you think of noisy artists in Poland. But it's a mistake as the Białystok-based outfit's second ever EP shows, once again, top quality dream pop music.

Isle of Blue, brought to you by Shore Dive Records, has already been recognized by some important worldwide players, including DKFM. And it's not a surprise as it's filled with dreamy and noisy songs or, like they advertise themselves, "new apocalyptic dreampop/shoegaze" content.  Their music is more about the moody, atmospheric than it is about the catchy and the melodic. It's not particularly fast-paced but it's very well at keeping the suspense up (so well audible in the album's longest track, War and the closure in Under the Water). In fact, the band is really good at creating the vast, spacious atmosphere, which is especially well-tangible during their live gigs.

Isle of Blue costs 3 USD.

Check: Breathing

Country: Poland

Genre: spacious dream pop

Label: Shore Dive Records

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