The Return Of My Bloody Valentine

"nothing is" is the standout for me thus far. The way it does something quite different for them, but familiar in sound if another band were to do it, and yet, still very MBV somehow?

It's great to my ears, and needs an extended remix à la Glider.

So um I'm no Ned or Matos or anything but I wrote up a review of this on my lil blog.
http://memorygongs.com/scratchings/?p=49

Whoa!
Are you sure you want to go there?
http://memorygongs.com/scratchings/?p=49 may be risky to visit.

Why were you redirected to this page?

When we visited this site, we found it exhibited one or more risky behaviors.

I took the chance. Fuck you, McAfee.

erm wait, did you seriously get a virus warning? if so I need to review my websites settings.

i have mcafee too and just about everything gets that notice!

all music blogs i mean

woke up sunday morning with a massive hangover, the emotional kind, the kind where you're easily bent out of shape by external stimuli. headphones on, did the parkland walk up to alexandra palace, listened to it three or four times, kept making me :') can't really ask for more. it's exactly what i expected and that's certainly no bad thing.

i have mcafee too and just about everything gets that notice!

Phew thats ok then, I got told when I installed an SQL database and wordpress that i'd be mad open to hackattax Ive no clue how to ward off, so.

I know I'm late to the party here, but I finally listened to this and really enjoyed it.

same here - as other people have said, i'm surprised by how un-fussed over and fresh it all sounds. I could see why people would describe the songs as demos.
Although the whole thing might feel a little bit like a collection of odds & ends, I think they did the right thing in avoiding the "grand statement" LP a la Loveless.

I don't think it sounds like a collection of odds and ends at all. I've read people say that quite a bit in various places online, but I disagree - the album is very much a start-to-finish experience for me as Loveless is. There's nothing that's jarring about the sequencing, in fact the album sounds perfectly sequenced to my ears. I think folks are letting this whole "recorded on and off over a period of time" thing colour their judgement of the record. It may have been recorded on and off in fits and starts, but the end result doesn't really sound like that to me.

I admit I'm a little put off that after two decades of incubation/meditation, Shields really hasn't moved that far in any new directions.

I was unable to purchase with a credit card but PayPal worked fine.

My speakers on my computer suck goat ass so I burned a CD which I am playing on my somewhat-better stereo speakers.

I like what I hear but it will require more listens. Which is fine since I am not on a deadline for enjoyment anymore.

It would have been a perfect album for "four years after Loveless", not so much if it had come out the following year after Loveless.

Now, it sounds fine to me...

(Mind you, it does seem a very long time ago my local indie retailler tipped me an advance copy of the "Tremolo" e.p. 12" white label, having raved over "Soon", it puzzled me no end, but I kept going back to it, and by the time "Loveless" came out, I was right there. Mind you, the shop had long gone...

(xpost, me too)

<q>the album sounds perfectly sequenced to my ears</q>
You know what - I think otoh that the sequencing itself could be better - I find the opening one (sorry im still struggling with titles, just like I'm still struggling after 22 years with those on Loveless) to be a bit out of place and sleepy as an opener.
Anyway, so far the only song I'm still not feeling is the Dots & Loops one which I find pretty tedious.

I think the opening track would have got lost anywhere but where it is.

"is this and yes"

"you never her"

lol

she found now only tomorrow. if i am in another way wonder 2, who sees you?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2013/feb/04/album-stream-bullet-for-my-valentine

I don't really know who Bullet for My Valentine is, but you'd have to think they found out My Bloody Valentine was releasing their first album in 22 years during the ramp up to the release of their own and thought "FUCK! THAT HAD TO COME RIGHT NOW?"

a shitty but hugely popular metalcore band

who sell more records than my bloody valentine

well, only because they release them more frequently.

i don't know anything about bullet for my valentine, but i'm sure they're just like "who are my bloody valentine? oh well we're rich"

Chart Race! My Bloody Valentine vs Bullet for my Valentine

we shall see...

NickB otm

OK i finally listened to it the whole way through on headphones. I get the demo comment now, but also a big part of the charm of this album is - as someone noted above - how fresh it sounds. "Loveless" is so meticulous, it's like listening in to a space capsule. Here, you have one sound that literally sounds like KS got a bunch of loops and is mixing the tune live, turning up the volume a little bit, maybe punching in another loop, then cranking the track so it's a noisey and distorted drone. The last half of the record stands out with its noiser bits. At one point it sounds like there is nothing but drums and one crazy noise guitar playing together.

Thing is, even on the songs where there's not really a whole lot there to grab on to, there almost always ends up being a guitar sound, or a solo or, or a synth part, or SOMETHING really wonderful and interweaving and glorious coming in at the end of the song. There were many times where all of a sudden something would happen on a track I was just droning out on and take it to a whole new awesome place.

This record is way great. I spend over half my life waiting for it and am NOT disappointed.

Actually, I thought the 'analogue remaster' of Loveless has something in common with this one: It sounds like the band....

The noisier tracks on this are WONDERFUL.

I am listening on headphones and the whirring of the dishwasher in the kitchen is bleeding into the sound when the volume gets all quiet and it's actually quite exhilarating, though I know that haters would see that as a gotcha comment.

My wife made me turn it off yesterday, which means Shields must have done something right. My kids were nonplussed.

It's possible that you're still listening to the fake vacuum cleaner leak

At least then she'd think I was cleaning!

hahaha

I've only listened to it once and I like it (apart from 'nothing is').

I think the opening track would have got lost anywhere but where it is.

― Mark G, Monday, February 4, 2013 2:32 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yep, I pretty much agree with this. There's nowhere else on the album I could imagine it going, and while it's no 'Only Shallow' in terms of album openers (then again, what IS?), at least it doesn't get lost and people will give the track a chance where it is.

I've only listened to it once and I like it (apart from 'nothing is').

― A Yawning Chasm (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Monday, February 4, 2013 4:07 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I've seen a few people get a bit down on that track, even going as far as calling it 'filler'. Personally, I find the pounding, relentless momentum of it very exciting.

I like it too. It works well leading into Wonder 2.

And after whatever comes before it... that really good one. I forget what it's called.

I love how experimental this record is. Like, I want to see chord progression charts for these songs, they would probably make no sense at all.

Really? Aside from "In another way" it sounds straight forward to me.
This record sounds great when played next to the Tremolo EP imo

"Nothing is" repeats every 28 measures (you can tell, there's a guitar flub)

so we've got the loveless outtakes collection now, when's this new album out

My only beef is if they wait as long again to put out another record I'll be almost 60.

Late to the party as usual, downloaded last night and played twice today. It sounds like MBV, what's the problem? I do think there's too many mid tempo songs at the start of the album, but the tempos generally speed up as it progresses, and the volume increases too. As someone else has said it makes a good follow up to the "Tremelo" EP, seeing as "Loveless" seemed to step back from the brink of experimentation of that EP. I enjoyed it more the second time, and I think I'll enjoy it more each time I listen. It won't gain them any new fans, but existing fans should be pleased with it.

And trying to have a discussion about the band and new album with my wife while also trying to discourage my 6 yr old son from saying the word "Bloody" because it's "a rude word" is bloody difficult. :)

m b v