Nr. 23
EESTI ELU reedel, 10. juunil 2022 — Friday, June 10, 2022
13
Exploring Estonia’s place in the recent shoegaze revival But the British media coined “shoegazing” as something A symphony of dreamy, dis negative. torted, melancholic noise is While most shoegaze bands what defines the shoegaze were antagonized by the press, genre. Slowdive was disproportionately The amorphous, overwhelm so. In a review of Slowdive’s ingly loud guitar effects (in album Souvlaki (1993), Melody cluding reverb, echoes, and Maker’s Dave Sampson wrote heavy distortion) create a wash that “This record is a soulless of sound that buries atmospheric void. I would rather drown vocals. Meant to be accompany choking in a bath full of por ing melodies to the intimate ridge than ever listen to it fabric of noise, lyrics are often again.” unintelligible, putting listeners Perhaps critics like Sampson in a hypnotic dream-like trance. negatively perceived shoe Shoegaze’s sound originated gazers’ aloofness because they in the UK during the late 1980s thought these artists undermined and is inspired by a melting pot the fundamental experience of of earlier musical movements, live music: to witness an en including the psychedelia of the gaging stage presence. But 1960s, 1970s post-punk, and shoegaze is not like ordinary 1980s American noise rock. live music. Nor is it meant to Bands like The Jesus and Mary be. Chain and the Cocteau Twins Head-banging, crowd surf extracted different elements of ing, and smelling the sweaty these movements to create a stench of the stranger next to unique soundscape that in you are some of the joys that fluenced later shoegaze artists. traditional rock concerts offer. The Cocteau Twins’ fourth- But shoegaze concerts strayed studio record Victorialand far from this. Artists in this (1984), for instance, envelopes genre rejected commerciality the listener in drowned out, and performance. Concerts, angelic vocals and hazy guitar rather than being a display of digressions. Meanwhile, The grandiose theatrics, were meant Jesus and Mary Chain used to encase audiences under a feedback in their 1985 record serene wall of sound (a term Psychocandy to create a re developed by producer Phil sounding barrage of noise, per Spector in the 1960s) that fectly balanced between chaos would drown out the chaos of and harmony. everyday life. Just under a decade later, My “Likes attract likes,” wrote Bloody Valentine released their British magazine Underground. critically-acclaimed 1991 record “The pre-occupied shoegazers Loveless. The album is often on stage are playing for those cited as the pinnacle of the who are just as coy as them. shoegaze genre, representing The mere desire of experiencing the true essence of its sound. heavy distortion and feedback Washed out swirls of strato are all that matters. There is no spheric sound bid the listener to need to be performative, as drown out the happenings agreed by both the performers around them. Shoegaze is not and the gig goers.” for socializing, it’s for drifting Shoegaze, though widespread, away. It’s a sound for dreamers. was short-lived. The sudden Maybe this detached form of emergence and growing popu listening is why British music larity of Britpop and grunge critics originally gave shoegaze squashed shoegaze’s relevance. Since the late 2010s, how a bad rap. The term itself was used to describe how artists ever, there has been a resur performed at shows. Rather gence of shoegaze’s popularity. than engaging with the crowd, According to Spotify, there performers glued their attention were twice as many shoegaze to the floor where their foot- recordings released (or re activated guitar pedals lay. leased) in 2018 as there were in These were necessary for pro 1996. The same article reports ducing the guitar effects quint that “while shoegaze started in essential to shoegaze’s sound. the UK, today the music is
Photo: Wikipedia
Natalie Jenkins
Ehatare residents take in engaging session on KESKUS progress: On June 3, 2022, residents of Toronto’s Estonian community retirement residence Ehatare had a visit from KESKUS project lead Ellen Valter, who filled them in on what’s happening with the building’s construction as well as a couple of new and exciting creative projects. “MisKESKUS” is a video game developed by local Estonian talent and Ellen described how it’s meant to familiarize young users on the new centre’s highlights and provide some language skills to boot. She also brought fabrics samples from an innovative project led by two textile artists from Estonia who are designing a dramatic, sweeping drapery for the KESKUS main hall and wings. The drapery will incorporates technology and contains fibreoptic yarns that through light, show wave and wind activity on the Baltic Sea in real time. The engaging session drew a roomful of interested partici pants, eager to learn about how the community’s new home is progressing. Photo: Karin Ivand
streamed the most in Portugal, Greece, Israel, and Lithuania – and most modern shoegaze bands aren’t British, they’re American.” Estonia also has a significant shoegaze scene. Formed in 1998, Pia Fraus has released seven studio albums. Their 2002 record In Solarium offers the classic shoegaze sound with washed out (English language) vocals and fuzzy guitar riffs. But the record goes even further by incorporating elements of elec tronica similar to those of the Boards of Canada. Although lesser known, She Bit Her Lip is just as deserving of praise. Their debut album Viiv (2015) features lyrics entirely in Estonian. Far from being heavy on the guitar feed back like The Jesus and Mary Chain’s Psychocandy, Viiv offers
a soothing and weightless listening experience. Lastly, Bizarre’s 1994 album Beautica is certainly an un polished gem in the shoegaze scene. Out of the three men tioned, Beautica is the most atmospheric. Dreamy, drowned out vocals sound as if they are trapped in a bottle effortlessly floating through the ocean waves. So what can explain the world’s sudden renewed obses sion with the shoegaze scene? Trends come and go around. That has been made clear by the fashion industry. The same is true with music. It was only a matter of time before something popular in the 90s would return to its former glory. But perhaps this explanation is too simplistic. In an age where many are chronically online, we find ourselves trapped in a world
defined by sameness. At best, hyper consumerism has limited trend cycles to last a few months. Social media fuels constant competition to buy the latest craze. People who blindly follow these micro trends are deemed “basic” or unoriginal. (This is not to say that enjoying mainstream things is bad – just that the term is often used condescendingly.) Others feel a strong need to differentiate themselves from this alleged insult. This has manifested in the form of reviving trends once enjoyed by the oddballs and nonconformists of the past, including shoegaze enjoyers and performers.
Estonia commits the highest aid to Ukraine by GDP share, dwarfing Germany by over 10x
0.46%. Based on the size of the economy, the U.S. aid commit ment to Ukraine in managing the war ranks fourth at 0.2% of the GDP, while Lithuania is fifth at 0.2%. Other countries leading in contributions include United Kingdom (0.18%), Canada (0.13%), Slovakia (0.12%), Nor way (0.09%), Hungary (0.09%), France (0.08%), Czech Republic (0.08%), and Luxem bourg (0.07%). Germany trails in the 14th spot with a share of 0.06%, at least over 13 times compared to Estonia.
aid into Ukraine is part of the donors’ recognition that the fall out of the conflict might have consequences on the region and possibly in other parts of the world without support. How ever, of interest will be the sustainability of the aid in the long-term, especially in the ab sence of domestic legislation and considering that the support is partly eating into the donor’s GDP.” Additionally, the aid commit ment for Ukraine will likely be channeled towards alleviating the economic impact of the war. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, global economic dis ruptions have affected key sec tors like security, energy supply, food production, and exports. Read the full story with statis tics here: https://finbold.com/ estonia-commits-the-highestaid-to-ukraine-by-gdp-sharedwarfing-germany-by-over-10x/
As Russia continues to wage war in Ukraine, different countries are coming together with significant donations in a bid to restore normalcy in the east European country. Based on the aid’s share in relation to the gross domestic product (GDP), Baltic region countries are leading the way. According to data gathered by Finbold, Estonia has pledged the highest aid by share of its GDP at 0.81% towards Ukraine between January 4, 2022, and May 10, 2022. Latvia ranks second with a GDP share of 0.72%, while Poland has com mitted the third-highest aid by the percentage of GDP at
Aid commitment aided by need to restore normalcy The research explores some of the drivers for the massive donations towards Ukraine. According to the research re port: “The significant inflow of
Shoegaze has stood the test of time. Whether its sudden revival amongst young people can be attributed to trend cycles or something deeper, shoegaze remains good in its own right.
FINBOLD
