Bob Hair said I don't know what shoegaze music is. He was right about that, as with most things. But I found out on Thursday 7/25 at DC's Songbyrd.
First, if you like the Cocteau Twins, you'll like Coldgawd and Newmoon. They replicate Robin Guthrie's guitar effects with multiple instruments, so the listener is bathing in delay and reverb. If you don't know the Cocteau Twins, think of U2, and the guitar sound of The Edge, turned into a signature with a half second of delay.
Live, this kind of music is a different story. The vocals are smothered under the guitars, as in a lot of active rock. So what you get is a combination of the Cocteau Twins and The Cure tossed in the blender with Turnstile, Linkin Park and Audioslave.
Coldgawd is from Rancho Cucamonga, California, and the “main-brain” is Matt Wainwright (right). He has an appealing tenor voice. The guy in the center would sometimes scream or shout. I couldn't figure out the names of the other members.
Their press said Coldgawd creates stormy, wounded shoegaze music born of open tunings and R&B melodies. I couldn’t hear either but musically I may be ignorant.
Coldgawd likes the Cocteau Twins so much that they transposed a CT sample and looped it at the end of one of their own songs.
They are all over the streamers and YouTube. Check out songs called “Gin,” “Malibu Beach House,” and “Sweet Jesus Wept Sh*t.” Again, like a lot of other performers, the live sound differs from the recorded version.
Newmoon is from Antwerp, Belgium. The guitarist on the left (below) did all the singing, also in a tenor, and the lyrics were unintelligle. You can find the names of the band on the Internet but there was none of the usual rock 'n roll "Introduce the Band" stuff, so I don't know who is who.
They have one kind of poppy song, "Let it End." Live, they create a wall of sound and use distorted samples that is not part of their recordings.
The singer seemed very happy to be here, and said there was no indie music scene in Belgium. He said before the end of the show "If you don't like how things are, form a band, make some art. Bands are gone before you know it."
Shoegaze is called that because the guitarsts are always looking down at least a half dozen effects pedals to press, not because the songwriters are shy or moody. Just making that clear. (see above).
There were about three dozen people at the show -- 2 dozen dudes, 2 women, a few people of color, and a white couple that drove from Cleveland. These bands were loud and thrashed. I enjoyed it from start to finish.