Genre · Grunge & Alternative
Shoegaze
Guitar fog: tremolo bends, stacked fuzz/delay, vocals buried in the wash.
Shoegaze treats texture as composition. Pedalboards and studio layering build harmonic blur; drums stay relatively dry so the guitar ocean can move. UK Creation-era records and US noise-adjacent peers share the method even when scenes argue labels. Loveless-era My Bloody Valentine is the production ceiling most later indie cites.
Downstream
Pioneer acts
Acts that opened or crystallized this sound—fused landmarks, not a separate encyclopedia.