Medicine "The Mechanical Forces Of Love"

Where did you see it?

Which earlier Medicine stuff is worth seeking out?

The Buried Life is a bit more prog (and therefore wonderful) - IIRC, cause I no longer have a copy of it. :-(

Her Highness had mixed reviews, but I loved it because it drew from quite a broad range - prog, Prince, techno, bubblegum and George Harrison all thrown into the blender with the MBV wall of feedback.

They did an E.P. with the Cocteau Twins which should have been a lot better than it was, unfortunately.

I don't know how hard/easy this stuff is to find - were they on Creation in the UK?

But wow, this is one of the few times when I wish I'd paid more attention to the music press because this is one of those things I wish I'd known about. Top of the list on my record buying for the month!

I mean, Medicine basicaly *is* Brad Laner. I just think his music works better with a female singer, which is why Medicine were better than Amnesia or whatever his later band was called. Is Jim Putnam still involved? He was their secret weapon, really.

Funny thing is, I hated Her Highness when it came out, except for one or two songs, because there wasn't as much Beth singing, and I don't like the songs where just Brad sings as much.

I wonder who's in the band now he's lost basically his entire backing group to Beck... Oh. The review answers the question. Just him. OK, we'll see. It really does hinge on having female vocals and the tone of those vocals.

it was really funny, because Beth *looked* like such a scary So-Cal goth skank girl, but then she opened her mouth and had the voice of an angel. Never has someone looked so LITTLE like their voice.

Also, probably the loudest band I've seen live..

There was an article about them in the Independent last Friday, and it was a two page spread (i haven't checked, there may be one on the Drop 19s this week). Anyway, Brad Laner heard about some band on Wall of Sound called Medicine and got in contact about them using his licensed name. WOS said 'those rascals pissed off to Regal' and offered Laner a contract there and then.

Kate - EP with the Cocteaus? Didn't they only remake "Time Baby" with Robin producing and Liz on vocals? It was on "Sounds of Medicine" mini-LP which a bit of a mish-mash. Still, it got them onto "The Crow".

And Jim Putnam now makes lovely slow quiet music with Radar Bros, the total antithesis of Medicine. But well worth checking out anyway, he's a genius just like Brad Laner is.

Hang on, if it's a new band behind Brad, does that mean that Jim Goodall's not drumming any longer? Shit... he was so good...

MUST...BITE...DOWN...HARD...

There. Better.

The best overall is 'Studio City', completely chisled pop noise, very impressive, overlooked record and the place to start if you're a Medicine fan. It was his last record on a major label. The EC live shows around this time were incredible. 'A Pert Cyclic Omen' was the one that came out while Medicine mk I was still going, it's a guitar record, all the washy atmospherics of Medicine, beats reduced to pulses. Also, the EC track on the Tigerbeat6 inc. compilation is one of the best things he's done.

I loved the first two Medicine records, looking forward to the new one...

EVERYTHING I HAVE EVER LOVED IN MUSIC!!!

ALBUM OF THE YEAR!!!

And yes I'm aware that I said that about Manitoba, the new Dandy Warhols and the new Radiohead, but I was wrong. This album is everything that I want music to be. Throbbing electronic hum that makes me sway gently in my seat, WIBBLING SPACEROCK GUITARS, texture texture chew chew chew, yum and LOVELY LOVELY LOVELY GIRLIE HARMONY VOCALS!!!

I really was never expecting Medicine to make another album. And they've made their best one yet.

Ned you are so wrong about Medicine that it hurts. I don't care if Brad Laner killed yer mum or shagged yer girlfriend, they are still the most perfect expression of music, EVAH!!!

"chew chew chew, yum" is one of my favourite bits of music criticism this year.

If this is wrong I don't want to be right! However, you at least make it sound like Brad is finally playing to his strengths, ie computer manipulation, when it comes to Medicine, because all the early stuff is and remains el craptastic.

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=CASS70307151848&sql=A19klu3qaan4k

i really wish that amg would allow you to click on the reviewer's name and bring up other reviews the person has written to give you context on where they're coming from. it's the kind of thing that computers do very well and shouldn't be too difficult.

I think that's your answer there. At least the reviewer has the kindness to admit their bias. When he says it's got "no tunes" what he means is "no guitars". There are tunes aplenty. It's as pop as a Missy Elliot album.

This album makes sense to me because all that retrofetishistic guitar wank like the Warlocks and BRMC just sounds like shit to me. My head is at the sort of fusion of electronica and guitar psychedelia that bands like Capitol K and Manitoba are doing. If Medicine had made another guitar-ridden album like it's 1992, I'd have been sorely disappointed and written them off. Instead, they branched out in the direction that tracks like Heads and Brad's solo work were leading them. And are much more interesting for it.

I want Machines Inna Garden. And I want it now. ::pouts::

WHAT?!?!? That's the most straight-ahead RAWK song on the album.

Good For Me which switches very nicely between moody, trippy verses to a knockout Beach Boys on Mars chorus

Good For Me is the only song that sounds even vaguely electroclash to me, but mainly only cause of the Georgio Moroder bassline.

I think the reviewer just has the song titles mixed up, really. :-(

From the descriptions, I think he likes all the songs that I don't, and hates all the songs I think are strongest. Typical.

But I don't. It's a smash.

It's so funky. This I did not expect. I got hung up on the Manitoba reference. It's way more soulful. Like the last Spiritualized album only not so fake sounding (this was the one beef I had with that thing, sounded put-on, the whole pseudo-gospel aspect). Missy's a cool comparison, cuz like Missy everything goes in the pot. I can dig it. Some unexpectedly key southern california hazy harmonies, too, a la Fleetwood Mac.

ALAN VEGA " collision drive/ jukebox babe "
BAD MANNERS " loony tunes "

It would be very kind to be informed somehow, as reply I got some rare stuff too.

Gleb from Saint-Petersburg, Russia.

If this is wrong I don't want to be right! However, you at least make it sound like Brad is finally playing to his strengths, ie computer manipulation, when it comes to Medicine, because all the early stuff is and remains el craptastic.

Ned, I don't get you at all here. The first two Medicine albums are incredible. Why do you like a ton of noise pop and shoegaze, yet dismiss Shot Forth Self Living without a second thought?

Nick, what did you think of the album(s) you picked up?

The first two medicine albums are fucking great. MBV is the obvious comparison, but i think of Medicine as being sort of warm and inviting, while MBV is comparatively distant and icier. Different shoegaze for different moods, I suppose.

"One More" transcends the genre just as much as anything MBV did IMO. Laner's controlled-noise approach was, at its best, second only to Shields' in the pantheon of 'gaze effects-pedal freaks and differed almost completely from Shields' "glide guitar" method. I like their first two records alot, but there is far too much filler on both (especially SFSL) for them to be considered classics. If you took the high points from both and condensed them into one record it would make the 'gaze all-time top 10 easily. Maybe even 5.

I like their first two records alot, but there is far too much filler on both (especially SFSL) for them to be considered classics. If you took the high points from both and condensed them into one record it would make the 'gaze all-time top 10 easily. Maybe even 5.

Definitely 5, in my opinion. I can't even think of other shoegaze bands that are even in the same league as MBV, Slowdive, and Medicine. Ride, Swervedriver, and Chapterhouse are middling at best IMHO.

Is personal for Ned. Brad killed his father. ;-)

SFSL is def in my top 5 but I never ever managed to get into that last 2003 album. For me it's a different band (which it is, I know I know)

So what exactly is Ned's beef with this band? Honestly, I prefer the best songs of Medicine and Slowdive to the best songs of MBV any day of the week. I don't give a shit how that impacts my credibility. In fact, my favorite songs on "Loveless" are the ones that sound most like Slowdive ("When you Sleep" and "Sometimes").

Didn't like it, long since sold on, never investigated further.

Cool! Though I did like Mechanical Forces a lot.

What other albums are you referring to?

probably mbv

Oh true, should have been obvious!

hah - thought you were joking!
well mbv obv, but also new JT and Daft Punk (and to lesser extent Knife)

I generally sincerely ask things without first thinking about it for a second.

Doesn't a guy from Medicine post here? Or used to?

Brad Laner rarely posts here; I think he's frustrated by Ned's intransigence towards Medicine. If I recall correctly, Ned described them as "total crap" (or somesuch) and then went on to give middling reviews to reissues of their albums on Pitchfork. See this very thread.

Though his Pitchfork reviews were written with a "giving it another shot" vibe, right? That's what I remember.

OK just looked back on this thread and yes I remember and still agree that perhaps a more undecided writer should have taken on those reviews.

http://boomkat.com/cds/754636-medicine-to-the-happy-few

this too:
http://capturedtracks.com/catalog/_earth-dies-burning/ct-180-earth-dies-burning-songs-from-the-valley-of-the-bored-teenager-1981-1984-lpcd/

felt like this should be posted as evidence for the prosecution on the Strypes thread
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJag0zrrVqo

The one song I heard from this sounded really good.

This being the new album.

So how's the new one? It's getting pretty decent reviews.

Wow, this album rocks.

The new album is MAD

on my list of things to check out but I need a bit of encouragement to get to it - any reveiws up?

Allmusic:

After splitting up in 1995 and going their separate ways, it seemed unlikely that the original members of the pioneering American shoegaze band Medicine would ever record again. Especially after the band's main man Brad Laner revived the name for the not very noisy, not very good Mechanical Forces of Love record in 2003. Things began to change when Captured Tracks reissued the group's first two albums: the breathtaking noise blast Shot Forth Self Living and the candy pop gem The Buried Life, in 2012. Spurred by how good the albums sounded, Laner, vocalist Beth Thompson, and drummer Jim Goodall buried their bad feelings and began working on a new album. Picking up where their last album, Her Highness, left off, To the Happy Few is a swirling kaleidoscope of poppy noise and guitar-driven euphoria. To their credit, the trio decided not to allow the sonic advances that occurred after they split to worm their way into the mix -- no electronic, no laptop squiggles, no dubstep -- in other words, there's precious little to mark this as an album made in 2013. Instead, it sounds like it should have been the follow-up to Buried Life. The songs are drop-dead gorgeous, the waves of noise and sound are all-encompassing but arranged perfectly, and there is enough joyous craft and blown-out intensity in the sound to keep it from being just an empty nostalgia trip. Laner and co. sound energized and inspired by the chance to create Medicine music again, and they deliver the best result fans could have hoped for. Along with the songs that have the trademark Medicine sound like "Long as the Sun," which opens the record with a thrilling jolt of overloaded sunshine pop, the languorous "The End of the Line," and the warped "Daylight," there are a few that take some chances and succeed. "Holy Crimes," with its rolling rhythms, aquatic pianos, and dramatic arrangement, the insistent, almost danceable "Butterfly's Out Tonight," and the dub noise "Burn It" all add interesting new elements to an approach the band could follow if they stick together and make more records. Really, though, it's good enough to hear Thompson's breathless vocals weaving in and out of Laner's soundscapes again. Not to mention how good it is to experience Goodall's massive drums, which feel like the hands of Zeus pounding on the listener's skull. It's good enough to have Medicine back and making records like To the Happy Few, which stands proudly with the work they were doing 20 years previously. Other bands thinking about re-forming would do well to follow their lead and not just get back together to play the hits and count the cash, but instead create something vital and relevant; something that makes the group's continued existence worthwhile.

http://www.allmusic.com/album/to-the-happy-few-mw0002553632

track 2 sounds like something off a rubble compilation but fuzzier

Looking forward to listening to this.... but what's with the way Pitchfork handles this band? Last time, they gave the review to Ned, an avowed Medicine hater. And then this time they give to a guy who spends 90% of the article talking about everything except the actual album at hand. Would it have killed him to mention a single song that stood out?

Saw them at the Echo on Sunday night (first show in 18 years), and they were great! Hope they can get a proper tour for this going...

I'm seeing them on Friday in Brooklyn! Bringing earplugs that's for sure.

I don't think any of the "major" music reviewers were given the OK to admit this album is better than a 6 or a 7. There's so many newer bands doing the same thing but worse and getting all the accolades. Medicine just never managed to clear the bar for some reason. The Buried Life is a lost classic.

But what do I know? I'm just a know-nothing low-level forumite.

i gave it four stars

Clearly, Ned is the secret media puppet master.

See you Friday.

The Buried Life is amazing, and it pisses me off that there's absolute crap out there in shoegazeland that gets more accolades than this.

XXXXXXXP to ET - recording up on Dime, with apologies to Brad if you guys are taper unfriendly.

Not at all, wish I had a Dime account. Is that a live recording that got uploaded ? Your encryption worked too well.

Ah, grabbing it now. Thanks !

It isn't my recording, but I'm really excited to hear it, what are the chances of a UK visit?

So I feel like I want to tell people who like Tame Impala to check the new Medicine out. Not that they're terribly similar in songwriting, but the sweet pop songs plus heavily textured and processed sound put them in crosstown ballparks?

Also I really really really like the new album. That is all.

They were so good live in Brooklyn a few weeks back.

Oh! I was there, too!

Laner's new solo record Nearest Suns is gorgeous in places

So apparently Medicine, Tropic of Cancer and Savage Republic (!) are playing together at the Church on York in L.A.

http://thechurchonyork.com/site/event/medicine-savage-republic-tropic-of-cancer/

It's true, thanks.

New album announced, new single out! Like a month ago!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54Y8HfM6O5g

Ack! Usually I see news on Brad's Tumblr but I've somehow missed this one!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKaWJad7PR0

I guess it really is true?

New album Home Everywhere is fantastic so far. The Quietus a few weeks ago called for a new psychedelia that held true to its spirit of being on the absolute edge of the outer limits and pushing out further (instead of constantly paying homage to aging hippe aesthetics). This album contains both impeti.

Shhh ! Ned might hear you.

Lol Brad that post has some of the worst sentences I've written all year; my bad.

Album is great, though: "Turning" is nothing but big-drum fun and you guys have really learned how to take those jarring shifts from the last album and turn them into something sort of close to killer hooks in their own right (not that the melodies dont have tons of hooks on their own)

Thanks for listening, glad you like it !

God when I get paid I am going to buy ALL THE ALBUMS. I feel like I'm missing out on so much right now.

Cool video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK9iM5dilLY#t=60

Really enjoying Home Everwhere!

Thanks ! Video was made by Vinyl Williams, also the drummer in the Morgan Delt live band FWIW.

love the new album. so good to have this band back.

Thanks, really glad you like it !