I think this what's behind the appeal of Shoegaze music and why some people get it and others don't. There's something very comforting to me about the fuzzy evolving sounds you hear in Shoegaze music. As someone with a loud anxious mind who's also prone to auditory sensory overload I find certain sounds such as those found in Shoegaze music shuts this all off.
If I'm out in public and I'm feeling anxious there's really nothing that makes me feel at ease quicker. My mind kind of melts away with the music. I guess it sounds like how putting a blanket over my brain might feel.
While not Shoegaze, the first time I realized my inner dialogue had stopped completely for a few seconds was after the first time I listened to Washing Machine (the song, not the album, though I was listening to the album in full) by Sonic Youth. Up until then I had never though that'd be possible: I always assumed we all had an inner dialogue going on all the time (I later learned some people don't have this at all, which I find intriguing, probably as intriguing as they find that some people always have one!).
I have an inner dialogue, or at least I think I do. When I picked up meditation, I think I learned how to have it stop. Or at least so I don't notice it is occurring. It feels like instead of some of my brain resources being devoted to thinking or analyzing all my focus is shifted on the state of me, skin temperature, wind feel, sounds.
Interesting, I was picking up meditation too around the time I had this experience, though I was not (intentionally) meditating while listening to the record.
To this day, I don't know how to stop the dialog reliably, but I know some activities and some music that help me do that (Metal Machine Music from Lou Reed works great for me, for example).
I'm more into post-rock (gy!be <3) but I totally relate to your feeling. This massive/overload wall of sound blanketing your brain.
Even if there's nearly no lyrics in post-rock, it is strictly impossible for me to work while listening to it.
And shoegaze/postrock are something you have to enjoy with headphones. The work on stereo is always phenomenal.
(I wonder if some bands used binaural beats to go further this way. kinda reminds me I-doser ;) )
> As someone with a loud anxious mind who's also prone to auditory sensory overload I find certain sounds such as those found in Shoegaze music shuts this all off.
This is one of the main reasons for my love of extreme metal and other abrasive, noisy or drone genres. There are even shoegaze black metal bands (blackgaze) such as Andavald. The cacophony of the music drowns out the mental noise and I can focus on what I'm doing. Happy, up beat stuff, or clear vocals, seal focus and becomes an annoying distraction. Though classical music or certain instrumental music is soothing to me as well.
I remember reading that von Neumann was a fan of turning on the TV or radio to very loud volumes when he was working at home. Likely to achieve the same effect.
> I remember reading that von Neumann was a fan of turning on the TV or radio to very loud volumes when he was working at home. Likely to achieve the same effect.
There is a whole genre of YouTube videos that is just somebody walking in the rain in a cityscape for 3+ hours. I put the video on on my TV, to get both a sense of calm and also a sense of exploration/movement. Something about the coffee shop ambience videos just no longer tickles my mind. It’s best to pair with reeally slow, long music, such as Subaeris - The City in Rain (56 minute long ambient “dreampunk” song). There’s typically a moment in this process that I feel my mind de-tense.. allowing the real work to begin
Putting aside the troll vocals and terrible underlying philosophies, some Black Metal has similarly lovely guitar soundwashes as well. It's an interesting paradox.
fascinating, I like all those artists but would've never tried sleeping to Metallica or Yngwie. I take it the fast tempos and high-energy don't keep you up?
I think there's some mechanical nature to the rhythms, and the chords tend to be complex enough that something is going on that keeps my subconscious occupied and makes it easier to lose awareness (and fall asleep).
Or maybe it's me. I fell asleep for a minute or two in a stadium while Rush was playing Time Stand Still as a college student (so age wasn't a factor ;) ).
wow! I think falling asleep during a Rush concert might be some new kind of cardinal sin - even if it's a relatively more mellow song :P
curious if more progressive metal works the same for you? (e.g. Dream Theater) rhythms are less regular, although kinda mathematical in some sense so I could see it still applying
If listening to "Loveless" from My Bloody Valentine, make sure your volume is low, especially if wearing headphones, you've been warned. My ears will never be the same again, thanks. Wow.
The loudest show I've ever been to (and I've been to metal, noise, and other kinds of loud-oriented shows) was MBV, where you could actually feel the sound almost like a wave against your whole body. So I think Kevin Shields would disagree with this advice. :D
Talk Talk (Laughing Stock and Spirit of Eden, post-synthwave)
This all falls under dream pop and while I don't think it has much in common with noise's effect on the brain, it can be a little disorienting due to the depth and variance in sound.
Put some good earphones on, turn it up, and just let your mind shut off as the fuzz and noise slowly builds. The part around ~3.45 is almost orgasmic to my ear, but I'm on the spectrum and I'm quite sensitive to audible sounds so perhaps others don't hear it quite like I do.
Not sure if I'm on the spectrum or not, but that was good, thank you for sharing it.
Seems like that particular YouTube link is unavailable (maybe just in the UK?), but I believe this is another copy of the same track, The Radio Dept. - The City Limit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNOjIJN5u7E
I would add Mazzy Star, and a lot of Jangle pop to the list too. Thurston Moore's album The Best Day is another great recent addition to the jangle pop genre.
A general starting place will be My Bloody Valentine's album Loveless which is usually agreed to be the album that kickstarted the genre.
There are a lot of different directions you could go from there, but personally, one of my favorite releases is Guilty of Everything by Nothing as a more modern take on shoegaze. (mid 2010's vs 90's)
Additionally, there are some critically acclaimed releases in extensions of the genre like post-metal with Deafheaven's album Sunbather being a great entry into that particular sub-genre.
Hope that gives you a bit of a starting off point!
There are some great recommendations here for classic 90s shoegaze. I recently found a more current band that is playing some great shoegaze: Deserta. Love these guys!
That Mazzy Star performance ... in Silicon Valley, ha ha. Playing a floppy-disk-throw from Google HQ — well, were Google there in 1994 (I guess that would be Silicon Graphics or some such).
My first intro was The Jesus And Mary Chain's Psychocandy. The mix on "Taste the Floor"[1] is so crazy—the guitar is so loud it begs you to turn up the volume to "hurt your ears" levels (phone/laptop speakers will not do this justice). I swear I've lost hearing due to my love of shoegaze…
A more recent version of this kind of noise rock is The Raveonettes [2].
If I'm out in public and I'm feeling anxious there's really nothing that makes me feel at ease quicker. My mind kind of melts away with the music. I guess it sounds like how putting a blanket over my brain might feel.