Medicine "The Mechanical Forces Of Love"

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 !