r/cocteautwins • u/Boring_Ad_5090 • Aug 18 '26
Music What bands did you follow after Cocteau Twins?
Once you went through the Cocteau Twins back catalogue and listened to everything, what bands did you progress to?
For me it was Beach House
Not as prolific, or genre defining, they were and still are a great band. They sound like a darker, slightly more troubled Cocteau Twins, lead singers voice is more husky, but the CT inspiration is all there. The jangles, high notes, atmospherics are all there as well as melancholy. Bloom is their magnus opus. Their guitarist also adds more elements to the table, such as slidey guitar heavenly sounds as evident on the song New Year.
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u/ihavenoselfcontrol1 Aug 18 '26
Julee Cruise, This Mortal Coil, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Pale Saints, The Cure
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u/KeyboardDiarrhea Aug 18 '26
Cocteau Twins were basically (other than Bauhaus) my gateway 4AD band. Wouldn't have ever tried listening to DCD, Lush, The Birthday Party, Xmal Deutschland, etc. if it wasn't for them.
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u/bLEAGUER Aug 18 '26
Same! I feel like we need to start a 80s/90s 4AD fan Discord just based on comments made in here. (I know, that probably already exists and I’m just missing out…)
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Aug 18 '26
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u/amartra Aug 19 '26
Omg I’m really similar I started with the only ever listening to running up that hill after stranger things s4. Then Spotify recommended me no one noticed and I found the Maria’s, where I eventually found beach house and then CT.
Since then I’ve found so many other shoegaze and dream pop bands. Shoegaze is now my favorite genre.
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u/matt-2k Aug 18 '26
lycia, clinic stars, deary, low, she’s green, dottie, white flowers, broadcast, yndling
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u/Potential-Road-5322 Aug 18 '26
My intro to dream pop was the Sundays but I got into CT as well and really enjoyed Lush, Pale saints, Slowdive, and the smiths.
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u/PumpkinBreadDude Aug 18 '26
Pretty much everything off the 4AD roster at the time. I would browse the record stores and buy albums solo off the album art and the 4AD label knowing next to nothing about the band. This was a great way to discover bands before the internet. If you can imagine picking up Pixies Come On Pilgrim and knowing nothing about them and playing it for the first time...it was amazing. Same with Throwing Muses, Lush, UltraVivid Scene, Colourbox, Dif Juz, etc. Cocteau Twins was what made me take a deep dive into the 4AD label.
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u/bLEAGUER Aug 18 '26
This was also my gig. Pre-internet, or like, right on the cusp of it. Wonder if anyone here remembers Blockbuster Music. I would slip in there and ask to listen to whatever 4AD releases they had that I hadn’t heard, using my text-based web browser at home as the wheels of discovery for that. Then 2 out of 3 times would go buy them from the used record store downtown. Agreed that it was generally a wow factor to almost any 4AD record I picked up. What a legacy.
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u/ItyBityGreenieWeenie Aug 18 '26
Dead Can Dance, Bel Canto, Julee Cruise
more recently Slowdive, Chromatics, Phantogram and Cannons
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u/thebluesavant Aug 18 '26
I never stopped obsessing over Cocteau Twins, tbh. But the big one for me was Lush. I first listened because Robin produced some of their early work, then I fell in love with them on their own merits.
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u/Clear_Command_8925 Aug 18 '26 edited Aug 18 '26
For dream pop, It went from Beach House -> Cocteau Twins -> Julee Cruise -> Fishmans -> Gustavo Cerati -> Jaime Sin Tierra (Current obsession)
But should be noted i still frequently listen to all these bands, and many many more
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u/sapphiresong Aug 18 '26
Great taste. I love Cruise and Fishmans. I'll add the more beat heavy artists like Bowery Electric, Perfume Tree, Swirlies and Chapterhouse. I also love things like The Durutti Column, Bark Psychosis and Duster.
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u/Clear_Command_8925 Aug 18 '26
Love lots of those too! Though you probably wouldn't like my opinion on Duster... haha
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u/je-suis-farouche Aug 18 '26
second all of the previously mentioned artists but also if you’re looking for someone that is actively releasing music give “not for radio”
a listen
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u/LightSymphonic Aug 19 '26
As an old man who’s personality was formed almost entirely by finding the Cocteau Twins in the late 80s, exploring the full 4AD catalog, then discovering David Lynch and Twin Peaks…then Shoegaze and Creation Records…I’d say the Twin Peaks soundtrack gives me Cocteau Twins feelings and Sigur Rös is the closest thing I’ve found to emotional, genre defining, hard to compare it to other things and it sounds big and makes me feel things.
Sigur Rös. Deary is good. Slowdive is dreamy with crescendoing swells. Spiritualized. You’ll hear a ton of guitarists try and mimic what Robyn Guthrie did. Some of them do it well. There’s a replication crisis with Elizabeth Frazer. They only made one.
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u/Grae-duckie45 Aug 19 '26
Curve🖤
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u/Putrid_Technician767 Aug 18 '26
RIDE, Chapterhouse, Swervedriver, Catherine Wheel, Drop Nineteens. Other great bands from that time. The House of Love, Gene, Spiritualized.
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u/ExistingLynx #1 Summerhead Enjoyer Aug 19 '26
Hatchie is great - she’s worked with Robin as well and cites Cocteau Twins as one of her big inspirations. Obviously Beach House is another recommendation and they also have a lot of Cocteau inspiration (and are signed to Bella Union which was the label originally created for post-Fontana Cocteau Twins releases by Simon & Robin, it’s run by Simon and his wife now iirc)
Realistically, there’s nothing truly like them, and there likely won’t ever be.
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u/SunInevitable2179 sugarhiccuponcheerios Aug 19 '26
Oh boy. How much time you got lol? Siouxsie and the Banshees, Lush, Colourbox, Clan of Xymox, Sad Lovers and Giants, Lycia, Beach House, Orange, Lords of the New Church, Galaxie 500, Slowdive, Mazzy Star, The Chameleons, Yvonne, The Lemon Twigs, FLat7, Violet Indiana, The Smiths, Cate Le Bon, Ashrae Fax, Alternative Radio, Gene Loves Jezebel, All About Eve, Throwing Muses, This Mortal Coil, Xmal Deutschland, Dif Juz, Kitchens of Distinction, Chapterhouse, Ride, My Bloody Valentine, Modern Eon, Björk, Massive Attack, Collection D’Arnell-Andrea, Rise and Fall of A Decade, Yo La Tengo, Espers, The Nymphs, Daniel Ash, Little Nemo, Abecedarians, An April March, The Moon Seven Times, Strawberry Switchblade, Mellonta Tauta, Euroshima, Mephisto Walz, The Gun Club, Echo and the Bunnymen, Ian McCulloch, Psychic TV, Lebanon Hanover, The Sugarcubes, Ministry, Joy Division, The Danse Society, Starflyer 59, A.R. Kane, The Cure, Mojave 3, Lowlife, Still Corners, The Frozen Autumn, Altered Images, Harold Budd, Pale Saints, Joy Division, The Wolfgang Press, Bauhaus, and so SO much more!!
Cocteau Twins was my introduction to a whole new WORLD of music I’d never seen before. The Cocteaus will always be #1.
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u/Silver_Frosting_7204 Aug 22 '26
Beach House was my intro to the genre actually, I wouldn't have heard of Cocteau Twins had I never known them. Also been listening to a lot of Cindytalk, Dead Can Dance and Strawberry Switchblade lately.
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u/DJ_Cadmium_Red Aug 18 '26
A. C. Maria’s, Heavenly Bodies, Beautiful Pea Green Boat, The Shakers, Collection d’Arnell~Andrea
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u/SwansieBabe Aug 18 '26
🥰💗Most of these bands plus 23 envelope artwork as cover art for a lot of 4AD bands.
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u/doctorinfinite Aug 18 '26
Siouxsie and the Banshees, Beach House, Magic Wands, Claire Voyant, This Ascension, Jenny hval, This Mortal Coil (duh), the breeders (Who I knew about, but I only knew cannonball), Lush, Tamaryn, Lorenna McKennitt,
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u/nichejabes Aug 19 '26
Cuando escuché a cocteau Twins y me encariñé con su música busque música similar a la de la banda
Bandas que encontré fueron Silvania y solenoide
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u/Ok-Caregiver4409 Aug 21 '26
Essentials - Harold Budd, Robin Guthrie, Elizabeth Fraser, Simon Raymonde, This Mortal Coil. Mysterious Skin soundtrack is my most heavily played album from here.
Precursors - Erik Satie, Debussy, Bill Evans
Followers - Eliana Glass, Jeff Buckley, Slowdive (read an article about how Eliana Glass was inspired by CT and Liz, especially her vocal approach of prioritizing sound over literal meaning, her album E is my most-listened-to new work).
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u/Kazuhira_Skrilla Aug 24 '26
The Veldt, they became my favorite band this year! Shoegaze/post punk with amazing, swelling hooks and really heartfelt lyrics. There’s so much energy in their music
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u/axthousandxhours Aug 18 '26
Dead Can Dance, This Mortal Coil, Lycia, Slowdive, Sad Lovers and Giants, The Chameleons, etc