T ime for our annual shoegaze and dream pop albums of the year *drum roll*! It turns out an EP from last year is our top album for this year – ha! Such is the fickle business of list making. To be fair, the EP in question was released worldwide early in 2014 with a pre-release in Japan last December, so we figure it counts. Plus to ignore EPs in this niche would be sacrilegious! Moving on…

2014 began strong with the news of Slowdive‘s reformation and live shows, it ends with a similar announcement from Ride. Can’t get much bigger for reverb fans! Next year the holy trinity of shoegazin’ forefathers will be operational; MBV, Slowdive and Ride. And let’s not forget Swervedriver! The rock gods have been kind. The long awaited ‘Beautiful Noise’ documentary provided a cherry on top, and a reminder of where it all began.

The gluttony of electronic dream pop bands faded this year, replaced by more organic and natural sounding albums, Be Forest‘s ‘Earthbeat’ is at the top. The post-hardcore/punk sound swept into the shoegaze world via Nothing‘s ‘Guilty Of Everything’ and Whirr‘s ‘Sway’ (among others). The former being the obvious people’s choice, the most talked about and probably the most influential album on the list. We may see a swathe of Nothing band clones in 2015!

Ringo Deathstarr managed to add something new to the genre with ‘Gods Dream’, a twist on expectations. And of course, it’s full of brilliant songs. 2014 also gave us some amazing debut releases, Italian shoegaze trio La Casa al Mare are yet to deliver a full length but their singles are jaw droppers. Another point of note was the Aussie “roo gaze” explosion of 2014, with top shelf tunes from Lowtide, Fait, Roku Music, Kigo, Blush Response and Hideous Towns.

DAVE’S SAY: Another banner year for shoegaze and dream pop in the books (what, me biased?). I’ve got to thank my mate Jimmy and SBWR for the shot to be part of it! Both of my standout favorites came via Italy. Because it didn’t find an apt home on our list, let me first call out La Casa Al Mare’s dual two-trackers as the debut of the year; that there wasn’t a full LP release made the task of sorting the crème-de-la-crème for this season’s list a touch easier! Be Forest’s ‘Earthbeat’ was a transporting, impressionistic masterpiece that has gotten better and better, solidifying itself as one of the most beautifully satisfying albums I’ve heard. Lowtide, Bilinda Butchers, Fait, Sounds of Sputnik And Ummagma, ‘APZOO,’ and Imandra Lake’s releases pointed to the impressive diversity and talent represented in “the scene” from every corner of the globe. There were crushingly reverberant singles from Magic Love, The Hours, My Red Dress, Kigo, 93MMFTS, Blood Sister; Louise Trehy’s long hiatus was broken with an under-appreciated success, and Dead Mellotron’s shorter-term hiatus ended with a yuletide treat. There were more top shelf efforts than we could keep track of, a forecast I expect will last through 2015!

Summing up, we’ve compiled a mixed bag of 2014 faves, combining shoegaze and dream pop. A number of stellar albums were left out due to genre lines. For instance, there were strong psych and post rock records from Alcest, Lorelle Meets The Obsolete and Medicine. No doubt, more gems will be discovered in the coming months that should’ve been included, so please make your recommendations in the comments below. Our songs of the year playlist has been reworked, expanded and re-posted underneath. Plus there’s a recap of the best shoegaze and dream pop records of the past few years (according to Sounds Better). Deep breath, here we go…

SHOEGAZE AND DREAM POP ALBUMS OF 2014

# Artwork Artist Album Genre Label 1 Ringo Deathstarr God's Dream [EP] Shoegaze Neon Sigh/Noyes 2 Be Forest Earthbeat Dream Pop WWNBB 3 Nothing Guilty Of Everything Shoegaze/Rock Relapse Records 4 Cheatahs Cheatahs Shoegaze/Rock Wichita Recordings 5 A Sunny Day In Glasgow Sea When Absent Dream Pop Lefse Records 6 Fait Atmosphere [EP] Shoegaze/Instrumental Self R 7 The Bilinda Butchers Heaven Dream Pop/Concept Orchid Tapes/Fastcut 8 The Enters Small Town Love [EP] Shoegaze Self R 9 The Mary Onettes Portico Dream Pop/Jangle Pop Labrador 10 We Need Secrets Melancholy And The Archive Shoegaze Saint Marie Records / Noyes 11 Whirr Sway Shoegaze/Rock Graveface Records 12 Roku Music Collider Shoegaze Sonic Masala Records 13 Lightfoils Hierarchy Dream Pop/Shoegaze Saint Marie Records 14 Lowtide Lowtide Dream Pop Lost And Lonesome 15 Blush Response Telltale [EP] Shoegaze Self R 16 She Sir Go Guitars Dream Pop/Jangle Pop Shelflife Records 17 Imandra Lake Avane Dream Pop/Folk Seksound 18 The Death Of Pop Fifths [EP] Shoegaze/Psych Art Is Hard 19 Kairon; IRSE! Ujubasajuba Shoegaze/Psych Self R 20 To The Wedding Silver Currents [EP] Dream Pop Self R 21 Viscous Liquid Songs for Jealous Lovers [EP] Shoegaze/Surf One Note Forever 22 Wildhoney Seventeen Forever [EP] Shoegaze/Rock Photobooth Records 23 Aerofall Aerofall Shoegaze Hands And Moment 24 Dead Mellotron Winter 2014 [EP] Dream/Jangle/Psych Self R 25 Nothing/Whirr Whirr/Nothing Split [EP] Shoegaze/Rock Run For Cover Records 26 Reighnbeau Hands Shoegaze/Electronic Bridgetown Records 27 Neiv Decades [EP] Shoegaze/Dream Pop Self R 28 Asalto Al Parque Zoológico Hexadecimal Shoegaze Casa del Puente Discos 29 The Cherry Wave Avalancher Shoegaze/Rock Self R 30 Ceremony Birds [EP] Noise Rock/Shoegaze Emerald & Doreen Recordings 31 Power Pyramid Power Pyramid Shoegaze/Rock Self R 32

Kigo Close (Enough To Kiss) [EP] Shoegaze Self R 33 Sounds of Sputnik Feat. Ummagma New Born Shoegaze/Dream Pop Ear to Ear Records 34 Hideous Towns Hideous Towns [EP] Dream Pop Self R 35 Elastic Sleep Leave You [EP] Dream Pop/Shoegaze Big Tea Records 36 Spotlight Kid Ten Thousand Hours Shoegaze/Rock Saint Marie Records 37 TuT You Got Me When I Stare At You Dream Pop/Shoegaze Self R 38 Snowbird Moon Dream Pop/AC Bella Union 39 Strata Florida Made Of Stars Shoegaze/Dream POp Saint Marie Records 40 Mentalease Indian Summer Shoegaze/Rock Self R

SONGS OF 2014

TOP 20 SHOEGAZE AND DREAM POP ALBUMS OF 2013 (RECAP)

# Artwork Artist Album Genre Year 1 My Bloody Valentine MBV Shoegaze 2013 2 Weekend Jinx Shoegaze/Post Punk 2013 3 Medicine To The Happy Few Shoegaze/Psych 2013 4 No Joy Wait To Pleasure Shoegaze/Rock 2013 5 Panda Riot Northern Automatic Music Shoegaze 2013 6 Flyying Colours Flyying Colours [EP] Shoegaze 2013 7 Venera 4 Deaf Hearts [EP] Shoegaze 2013 8 Brothers In Law Hard Times For Dreamers Dream Pop/Jangle Pop 2013 9 Ovlov Am Shoegaze/Rock 2013 10 Beliefs Self Titled Shoegaze/Dream Pop 2013 11 Dråpe Canicular Days Dream Pop/Psych 2013 12 Besnard Lakes Until in Excess, Impercetible UFO Dream Pop/Psych 2013 13 Ceremony Distance Shoegaze/Noise Rock 2013 14 Candy Claws Ceres & Calypso In The Deep Time Dream Pop/Shoegaze 2013 15 White Poppy S/T Shoegaze/Instrumental 2013 16 Kigo So Lost Now Shoegaze 2013 17 Whirr Around [EP] Shoegaze/Rock 2013 18 Dead Leaf Echo Thought And Language Shoegaze/Dream Pop 2013 19 Black Hearted Brother Stars Are Our Home Shoegaze/Psych 2013 20 Miniatures DIS [EP] Shoegaze/Dream Pop 2013

TOP 20 SHOEGAZE AND DREAM POP ALBUMS OF 2012 (RECAP)

# Artwork Artist Album Genre Year 1 Dead Mellotron Glitter [EP] Shoegaze 2012 2 Diiv Oshin Dream Pop/Jangle Pop 2012 3 Arc In Round Arc In Round Shoegaze 2012 4 Ringo Deathstarr Mauve Shoegaze 2012 5 Echo Lake Wild Peace Dream Pop 2012 6 Tamaryn Tender New Signs Dream Pop/Shoegaze 2012 7 A Place To Bury Strangers Worship Shoegaze/Noise Rock 2012 8 Wild Nothing Nocturne Dream Pop/Jangle Pop 2012 9 Snøskred Whiteout Shoegaze 2012 10 Airiel Kid Games [EP] Shoegaze/Dream Pop 2012 11 Whirr Pipe Dreams Shoegaze/Rock 2012 12 Young Prisms In Between Shoegaze 2012 13 Death And Vanilla Death And Vanilla Dream Pop/Psych Pop 2012 14 Frankie Rose Interstellar Dream Pop 2012 15 Beach House Bloom Dream Pop 2012 16 Melody's Echo Chamber Melody's Echo Chamber Dream Pop/Psych Pop 2012 17 Highlands Singularity Shoegaze/Psych 2012 18 93millionmilesfromthesun Towards The Light Shoegaze/Noise Rock 2012 19 Observer Drift Corridors Dream Pop 2012 20 Violens True Dream Pop/Pop 2012

So that’s our Shoegaze And Dream Pop Albums of 2014, but what’s next!? We’re expecting a number of amazing records in 2015, with known releases from The Black Ryder, Tamaryn, Venera 4, Wildhoney, 93MMFTS, La Casa al Mare, Cheatahs, Dead Leaf Echo, She’s So Rad, Pinkyshinyultrablast, Cloakroom and more. See more end of year lists at our Hall Of Fame page/s.