My Bloody Valentine

_ wrote:also love that each track has a pretty well-defined sonic identity, just really well-structured and not as exhausting as plowing through loveless can be. played through this thing like four times in a row already. "new you" sounds so great after the first half

Paves wrote:"Wonder 2" strikes me as an attempt to go a step further than their last supposed "this is the future of music" achievement "Soon," i.e. strong melody over a not traditionally pop/rock beat.

Those rhythms definitely do it for me in a big way. Was thinking about the song while enjoying the crap out of Autechre's "Flutter" today.

Paves wrote:Loveless is awesome and all, but experiencing those songs in a live setting and now hearing this album makes it clear to me that the released album was only a step towards a sound that Kevin Shields has been obsessively tinkering with for years, waiting for modern sonics to catch up with his vision. This new shit is defined by the enveloping low-end and the fact that there's no tinniness to be found.

these are some great thoughts.

to the first point about m v b and Loveless and "exhausting", i wish a few of the tracks had some more vocals because you can get a little lost in the middle section on some of these songs.

perhaps, as Paves says, the "WOW" is not the songwriting but the production and the quality of the recording, which is more apparent every time you go up a decibel level.

I can't say yet if it's a product of reverence for the band or if it's just what they do, but for me the wow is that this is My Bloody Valentine doing what My Bloody Valentine does, but neither as a retread nor in a form completely divorced from their previous work.

I wasn't given any medicine but neither doctor I saw expected this to be a recurring thing I'll have to deal with. I'll keep that in mind though.

jasperness wrote:my dad had an episode like that last year Duff and they just gave him vertigo medicine to take in case it was reoccurring. it hasn't happened again, so i hope you're past it.

my main take on the MBV album as i've been playing a track every once and awhile is that i'm surprised to be seeing near universal acclaim for it, at least in the early going. it strikes me as very unspectacular and a little aimless. put together so meticulously though. i'm really liking it a lot for those reasons - there's great depth to these compositions. mainly just a little confused by the album "WOW"ing people. not a lot of "WOW" here for me.

Greg Kot gives it a 2.5/4, I will have you know.

The depth of the compositions is the source of the "WOW" for me, I guess.

You're definitely getting at an interesting debate that this album is sort of inspiring or at least making me think about when I read reactions to it, which has something to do with the subjectivity of what songwriting even is and its role in determining an album's quality.

There seem to be people that really believe that My Bloody Valentine put everything into the sequencing and production while skimping on the "songs" aspect. But maybe the case is that for those people that believe "it's all about the melody," Loveless is everything they ever dreamed of and can't be improved upon. It has honest to goodness catchy riffs and synth lines, after all.

But then m b v is arguably better because it more effectively achieves a medium between melody and Kevin Shields's other concerns. Not to "go there," but this is a quintessential "grower." As is the case with a shitload of albums that contain dimensions that might take the listener aback on the first listen before revealing that, hey, melody is as much of a strength as anything else (just talking about this brings back to every time Radiohead releases an album.)

Gonna drop a serious "artwork analysis" bomb here for a sec and say that keeping that kind of shit in mind is the key to understanding why "Nothing Is" is track eight on this album. Not only does this thing sound amazing for me because I'm into guitars and production and blurring lines between pop concerns and purely sonic ones, but because I'm also really into art that comments on its own place in the world. And the new MBV album's place is one of the juiciest!

The "Nothing Is" and "Wonder 2" closing of this album is so insane to me. I cannot even put into words what those songs make me feel right now.

Maybe happy, scared and paranoid all at once. So those are some words I guess. The whole album though... After having several days to absorb it and get over the shock that it is here I am just now appreciating it.

I had the riff from Only Tomorrow in my head all day while swimming.

anyone that thinks this albums doesn't have "songs" is a fuck mitt.

spiritofeden wrote:anyone that thinks this albums doesn't have "songs" is a fuck mitt.

it's so annoying to me that people still talk about music like this today.

this brand of dismissive, anti-criticism that values conformity to the taste of your immediate internet peer group rather than accentuating and developing our own musical uniqueness is incredibly lame.

thats just like, your opinion, man.

Gentlemen prefer sawngs.

just put on "Only Tomorrow" to induce a good cry while i fire up some out-of-market basketball

Going to stand in front of the people in this band and watch them play some music in about 15 mins time.

I will type a bit more when I am at home at my computer but jesus fucking christ.

So to paraphrase what I blurted out on twitter: I really liked the show, despite the fact that it was held in a sweltering warehouse / sports centre that, with thousands crammed in, felt like a sauna all day. Part of the first ATP event down here since 2007 - Thee Oh Sees, Swans and GY!BE were the MBV prelude, so, you know, heavy rock times all round. Good stuff.

Setlist was the same as Japan / Taiwan and (I think) London, no new album except for "New You", still doing their holocaust thing which for me was fun to experience the first time round. Those that had no idea what was going on walked out, others jammed their fingers into their ears and stood transfixed. I thought the whole thing was kind of hilarious and complete asshattery and also just one of the most incredible things ever - I felt like I was standing adjacent to a launching rocket and at times my whole body was vibrating. Best part was when they went back into YMMR and you think they're going to finish off with this relatively "normal" rock song and then they suddenly jump back into the bellowing BRNNNNNNGHHH guitar. Plenty of laughs.

I started the show standing up near the soundbooth with a few of my friends and they left me about halfway through to catch an earlier bus home and miss the crowd, and so I moved up a bit closer by myself. Nearer the stage the vocals seemed slightly clearer but further down they were completely inaudible. I know MBV are supposed to be all about drowning out the vox in favour of the guitar but it would've been nice to hear a bit of Bilinda.

Otherwise not much more to say really, I took my earplugs out at certain moments when I was really enjoying proceedings and was like "okay this bit'll be worth hearing in full glory even if you do get tinnitus" - like for virtually all of "Soon" or the spiralling flutey bits in "I Only Said", which I think might be my favourite MBV song now, or when Kevin did that careening, screaming guitar line in "Come In Alone" which was just glorious to hear.

Mostly I'm just grateful that I actually got to see them, I never thought they'd make it down here again and just seeing the band up there doing their thing was pure joy. Round 2 is on Friday.

monotony wrote:they left me about halfway through to catch an earlier bus home and miss the crowd

These are the worst people.

Glad you enjoyed the show.

I'm here again! They're on in 5.

monotony wrote:Thee Oh Sees, Swans and GY!BE were the MBV prelude

Yeah.

Any other Chicagoans going Sunday?

^^^^^^^^^

m b v still sounds incredible. If you haven't listened in a while go play this album. I feel like it just came and went but am struggling to think of albums in the previous several years more enthralling.

Quality thread bump

Broke this out in June or July. Nick's right.

Just played Loveless. Also holds up!