My Bloody Valentine - M B V
By: James Hagin
It has been twenty-one years. Twenty-one years since My Bloody Valentine’s last record. This is a band that was known for some reclusiveness, but I do believe that they have out done themselves with this hiatus. The new record has been called, by the members of My Bloody Valentine themselves, the “Chinese Democracy” of indie rock. It is the farthest thing from it. The sound is fresh, modern, and as new as a new album should sound. But the sound is still them. Still strong aura rock with melodies hidden in echoes and distortion. Each song creates a new vibe for the listener. The first track “She Found Now” is a soaring guitar heavy song that seems to be more orchestrated as opposed to simply played. The next song “Only Tomorrow” (also the longest track in the album at six minutes twenty-two) transports the listener to the dank dingy basement it was probably conceived in, to see My Bloody Valentine blast an audience with almost literal waves of distortion.
If it seems like I’m getting a little lost in my own metaphors, it is not without just cause. The album and these first two songs definitely in particular, is present physically. That is to say that the response one gets from listening is physical. It resonates throughout the body.
The third track is one of my favorites so far (I’m sure this will change once I listen to the album another hundred times). It isn’t the most melodic track and the percussion is nothing special, but this song ends in the most perfect way. It just cuts out mid measure and mid note. Everything stops, drums, guitars, bass, and vocals just stop, and then you wait for eight seconds, and then the next song comes on. It’s like these guys just got bored and decided that they didn’t want to play that song anymore, which is exactly the kind of thing one comes to expect from a band that goes into hiding for two decades. I’m making such a fuss over this only because these songs are so easy to lose yourself in. This is one of those aura-killing jerk moves you would expect from an 80’s hardcore band but not from a “shoegaze” modern psychedelic post punk light show AURA ROCK band.
This record reminds me a lot of their record Loveless (1991 Creation Records) and does keep a similar sound and depth to it, but M B V has a certain shall we say freshness to it that I find overwhelmingly captivating. The freshness itself is interesting considering some of (or most of I am not entirely sure) these songs aren’t even new. One thing is certain, if these tracks had been released in 91 they would have almost definitely been grouped into with the disgustingly vague genre of grunge, and would be played by disc jockeys around the world with Soundgarden and Rage Against The Machine and such. But here in 2013 this album can stand alone with no comparisons but to the band’s back catalogue. So to all of you cranky old people who say the digital age is bad for the music industry consider yourselves PWNED! This record could easily be the best of the year and I say that with complete awareness of what month it is.
If it seems like I’m getting a little lost in my own metaphors, it is not without just cause. The album and these first two songs definitely in particular, is present physically. That is to say that the response one gets from listening is physical. It resonates throughout the body.
The third track is one of my favorites so far (I’m sure this will change once I listen to the album another hundred times). It isn’t the most melodic track and the percussion is nothing special, but this song ends in the most perfect way. It just cuts out mid measure and mid note. Everything stops, drums, guitars, bass, and vocals just stop, and then you wait for eight seconds, and then the next song comes on. It’s like these guys just got bored and decided that they didn’t want to play that song anymore, which is exactly the kind of thing one comes to expect from a band that goes into hiding for two decades. I’m making such a fuss over this only because these songs are so easy to lose yourself in. This is one of those aura-killing jerk moves you would expect from an 80’s hardcore band but not from a “shoegaze” modern psychedelic post punk light show AURA ROCK band.
This record reminds me a lot of their record Loveless (1991 Creation Records) and does keep a similar sound and depth to it, but M B V has a certain shall we say freshness to it that I find overwhelmingly captivating. The freshness itself is interesting considering some of (or most of I am not entirely sure) these songs aren’t even new. One thing is certain, if these tracks had been released in 91 they would have almost definitely been grouped into with the disgustingly vague genre of grunge, and would be played by disc jockeys around the world with Soundgarden and Rage Against The Machine and such. But here in 2013 this album can stand alone with no comparisons but to the band’s back catalogue. So to all of you cranky old people who say the digital age is bad for the music industry consider yourselves PWNED! This record could easily be the best of the year and I say that with complete awareness of what month it is.