History Main / DreamPop

Dream pop was an important influence on the emergence of {{Shoegazing}}, and starting with TheNineties the two genres began cross-breeding and eventually became indistinguishable. You're not likely to find many DreamPop bands that use the "classic sound" of the Cocteaus or This Mortal Coil anymore, although there are a few new bands, such as Music/BeachHouse, that continue the "traditional" dream pop sound. There aren't many of these, but they're pretty popular amongst indie kids. Instead, there's a ton of bands that are somewhere between dream pop and shoegazing (which in itself could be called DreamPop taken UpToEleven), most likely thrown under the umbrella term "post-rock" - a good example of this would be Music/SigurRos.

* The album ''Enchant'' by Music/EmilieAutumn is basically a mix between this and BaroquePop.

** 1992 - ''Music/TheDeathOfCool''

* Music/M83

* Music/{{Lowlife}}

Generally, if someone says "dream pop", they're most likely thinking of bands in TheEighties on the 4AD label, such as Music/DeadCanDance, Music/CocteauTwins, Dif Juz and the genre's own {{Supergroup}}, Music/ThisMortalCoil. These bands represent dream pop's "classic sound" - all instruments and voices soaked in reverb, breathy vocals, introspective themes and creating a wall of sound out of generally sparse instrumentation [[note]]even the more arrangement-heavy dream pop bands like the Cocteaus stuck to the standard guitar-bass-drums-keyboards lineup; only This Mortal Coil really used string sections, and even they stuck to minimal arrangements instead of overproduction[[/note]], adding up to something that, all snarkery aside, is really quite beautiful. Most dream pop bands varied in terms of emotion between [[TearJerker somber and depressing]], [[NightmareFuel terrifying]] and [[SugarWiki/SweetDreamsFuel optimistic]]. Still, not every band on 4AD was dream pop (Music/ThePixies, Music/TheBreeders, Colourbox and Throwing Muses were on the label) and not every dream pop band was on 4AD (Cranes, The Passions, Bel Canto, Galaxie 500 and The Dream Academy among many others were on other labels). While dream pop was intially a pretty unified genre, variations on the basic "ethereal soundscapes + pop melodies" formula soon appeared, in particular bands that focused more on guitars than synths. Pretty soon, the genre started splintering into a ton of other subgenres as well: Low went into {{slowcore}}, Mazzy Star smashed together DreamPop, {{Shoegazing}} and PsychedelicRock, Music/LoveSpiralsDownwards went into electronica, and so on.

* Music/ARKane (the band who [[TropeNamer originally coined the term]] to describe themselves, though their sound also went into AlternativeDance and a [[NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly a whole lot of other stuff]])

+ occasionally ElectronicMusic, World Music, {{Folk}} and CountryMusic

Creator/DavidLynch likes this genre, as seen through his production work with Creator/JuleeCruise and his use of This Mortal Coil's [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic awesome cover]] of "Song to the Siren" in ''Film/LostHighway''.

* [[Music/ARKane A.R. Kane]] (the band who [[TropeNamer originally coined the term]] to describe themselves, though their sound also went into AlternativeDance and a [[NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly a whole lot of other stuff]])

* Music/{{Cranes}} (notably, unlike their more optimistic or atmospheric comrades, they dived completely into nightmarish PostPunk with the absolute creepiest CreepyChild vocals ever.)
** Their recent albums are much more optimistic.

** Chino Moreno's side project Team Sleep, on the other hand, is mostly Dream Pop.

** Luna (formed by ex-members of Galaxie 500)
* Music/LisaGermano

* Music/TendonLevey (deranged avant-pop with elements of funk and dream pop)

* Music/{{Luna}} (NOT to be confused with the [[DoomMetal Funeral Doom]] band of the same name)

* All {{Shoegazing}} bands could be associated with dream pop, due to the latter's influence on the former and some overlap between the two genres. For some it's reasonable (Music/{{Slowdive}}, which later evolved into the aforementioned Mojave 3, ''possibly'' Music/{{Starflyer 59}}), for others it's just too much of a stretch (Music/MyBloodyValentine are pure shoegazing, Music/{{Lush}} had their moments but too few to actually call them dream pop, Music/{{Ride}} moved into different territory later on).
** Another genre heavily influenced by Dream pop was {{Slowcore}}. Bands like Music/RedHousePainters and Music/{{Low}} have a very atmospheric and dreamy soundscape that sounds a lot like the bands from the genre.

* The album ''Enchant'' by Music/EmilieAutumn is basically a mix between this and BaroquePop.

* Music/ThisMortalCoil (not technically a "band", see above explanation; also {{Trope Codifier}}s)
** ''Music/{{Blood}}'' (1991)

* Music/{{Fishmans}} (Famous Japanese band best known for their big underground popularity from [[ImageBoards /mucore]], started off as [[Main/{{Reggae}} Dub]])

Dream Pop. [[SweetDreamsFuel It sounds really lovely; you can fall asleep to it.]]

Generally, if someone says "dream pop", they're most likely thinking of bands in TheEighties on the 4AD label, such as Music/DeadCanDance, Music/CocteauTwins, Dif Juz and the genre's own {{Supergroup}}, Music/ThisMortalCoil. These bands represent dream pop's "classic sound" - all instruments and voices soaked in reverb, breathy vocals, introspective themes and creating a wall of sound out of generally sparse instrumentation [[note]]even the more arrangement-heavy dream pop bands like the Cocteaus stuck to the standard guitar-bass-drums-keyboards lineup; only This Mortal Coil really used string sections, and even they stuck to minimal arrangements instead of overproduction[[/note]], adding up to something that, all snarkery aside, is really quite beautiful. Most dream pop bands varied in terms of emotion between [[TearJerker somber and depressing]], [[NightmareFuel terrifying]] and [[SweetDreamsFuel optimistic]]. Still, not every band on 4AD was dream pop (Music/ThePixies, Music/TheBreeders, Colourbox and Throwing Muses were on the label) and not every dream pop band was on 4AD (Cranes, The Passions, Bel Canto, Galaxie 500 and The Dream Academy among many others were on other labels). While dream pop was intially a pretty unified genre, variations on the basic "ethereal soundscapes + pop melodies" formula soon appeared, in particular bands that focused more on guitars than synths. Pretty soon, the genre started splintering into a ton of other subgenres as well: Low went into {{slowcore}}, Mazzy Star smashed together DreamPop, {{Shoegazing}} and PsychedelicRock, Music/LoveSpiralsDownwards went into electronica, and so on.

* Music/HisNameIsAlive

* Music/BeachHouse (unique combination of dream pop and SurfRock)

Creator/DavidLynch likes this genre, as seen through his production work with Creator/JuleeCruise and his use of This Mortal Coil's [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome awesome cover]] of "Song to the Siren" in ''Film/LostHighway''.

* Music/{{Deftones}} (a cross between AlternativeMetal and DreamPop, with {{Shoegazing}} and [[NewWaveMusic New Wave]] influences)

Dream Pop. [[SweetDreamsFuel It sounds really lovely and you can fall asleep to it.]]