V/A - Waves Of Distortion (The Best of Shoegaze 1990-2022) 2xLP

Label: Two-Piers

‘Waves of Distortion’ brings in some of the OG (original ’gazer) classics – Ride’s peerless ‘Vapour Trail’, Lush’s ‘Sweetness and Light’ from 1990 and Chapterhouse’s ‘Pearl’ from 1991. They are all incredible and timeless tunes. Once we get to 1992, there is a bit of a gap in the chronology as shoegaze was all too hastily dismissed in the country that birthed it, ignored in favour of grunge and then Britpop, the feedback fading away along with the bands that made it. But something amazing happened. when the s-word was used elsewhere in the world, rather than having negative connotations, it was merely a descriptive term. So, the flame was kept burning in the most unlikely places, waiting for everyone else to catch up once again.

And that is why we are here now, all these years later, listening to a compilation that joins the dots between all this stuff, from the beginning to the present day. The beautiful noise that has soundtracked the past 30 years and will continue to do so for many more.