James Arden checks out the garage rockers latest album.
The Christian rock band from Brighton bring religion to the masses.
Recipe for modern R'n'B album: liberal helpings of guest rappers and an overdose of sexual euphemisms.
Main Band Members (Loveless period) Kevin Shields: Composer, Vocalist, Guitarist Bilinda Butcher: Vocals, Guitar Debbie Googe: Bass Colm O ‘Ciosoig: Drums
Years Active: 1983-1997, 2007-present
Genre: Shoegaze
Albums: Isn’t Anything, Loveless
Do you consider yourself an ‘indie’ kid? Trademark skinny jeans, so tight that if you’re a guy you risk making yourself sterile? Hair casually died and swept to one side that always looks great in a kooky Facebook profile picture? Casual iPod playlist designed to impress other like-minded alternative music fans, with varied music from a band ‘before they became too big’ and not just ‘that song that everyone knows’? Congratulations! You will probably be a big fan of My Bloody Valentine and should read no further than this paragraph (I know your time is filled with scouring Pitchfork so you know what your opinion is on the latest music; you’re far too important for me!). For everyone else: read on.
My Bloody Valentine are acclaimed as one of the best artists of the ‘shoegaze’ genre, a type of music very popular in the late 80s-90s which involved wearing a lot of black, using fuzz on everything, and playing music very LOUD! YouTube videos don’t catch how loud this band sounded on tour – NME famously described it as ‘torture’. Founded in 1983, they turned over band members more regularly than a struggling Premiership football team does managers, and only released two major albums, along with the detritus of several EPs, one of which was only released as a placatory gesture because their label were so impatient for them to release their first album. So what is it about their music that brings out praise from all quarters?
The first time you listen to a My Bloody Valentine (here by referred to as MBV) album, I recommend you listen with the speakers up. What washes over you is an avalanche of sonic wailing that will probably drive your chair back into the wall. Quickly you grow accustomed to the noise and by the second time through the various disparate elements coalesce into what is quite simply a wonderful piece of music. The songs have a foetal quality to them, as if the listener is in utero and the songs are distorted through the layers of the womb. Layers of sound gather, riffs rise, the horse kick of a drum propels it all forward and the ethereal vocals of Kevin Shields transform the music from just another bunch of songs to an experience that drills into your skull.
Splitting up MBV’s album, especially the seminal Loveless, which best unites the band’s aforementioned qualities, is a cardinal sin, next to Simon Cowell and people who like Russell Howard; their albums gel best when its all inhaled in one go. Normally I’d recommend just a song but you have to listen to this album in one go. From the wrenching sounds of ‘Only Shallow’, the distinctive riff of ‘I Only Said’, the thunderous rumble of ‘Sometimes’ to the mellow winding down of ‘Blown a Wish’ and ‘Soon’, you will not be disappointed. Since this album, MBV released 60 hours of stuff but deigned it unworthy of release and have been working to an elusive third album in a period spanning success, splitting and reunion. Though Kevin Shields contributed to 'Lost in Translation's' wonderful soundtrack, it’s a proper album that fans crave. Do yourself a favour; catch up with the rest of their albums and invest in hours of pure pleasure.
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