After writing a rather useless column — “Football and post-rock” — I thought it may just be time to venture again into the range of uselessness and write another useless column, so as I might best continue my run of things here.

Now, I hate to admit that I may just be aiming for something that’s not totally desirable: Uselessness, you might say, is bad. I’m not convinced, but for the sake of argument, let’s assume that, yes, things should have some sort of utility. I hope, then, that these columns, despite being useless on the very surface, will be found as something that provides at least something. What that something is, we have yet to see.

Now, I should probably discover some sort of topic, such that I might end this run of somewhat pathetic rambling I’ve — as expected —made into a certain sort of venture. There’s nothing new here, I suppose.

At any rate, I was listening to some Lush as I walked from my home to the university today — 1992’s classic Spooky — and realized that I’m a big fan of shoegaze, and that I’m perhaps getting into it 15 or 16 years too late. No bother, though, as if I were to have been into the style at the time, I would have been a mere five or six years of age, and certainly this isn’t music targeted or intended for people at that sort of age.

Now, the question, put simply, isn’t whether it’s good or bad that I’m listening to music nearly my age — a large population of people listen to music many times older than they are, and there’s no dispute that there ought not be limitations on what music a person can listen to. No, the question hardly involves me, and it’s one I’m intensely curious about.

Is there good shoegaze being produced now?

I hope the answer is yes, but as I’ve really just started my exploration of the genre, I can’t say so with any real assuredness whether that is actually the case. So, I implore you, the reader, to inform me as to quality music coming out of the style, if it exists.

How’s that for laziness?

Lush — “Hypocrite”
httpv://youtube.com/watch?v=buz5D8OWmRc

January 18, 2008 Tags: shoegaze
Posted in Columns, Music Geek by Matthew Montgomery, Video 4 Comments »