The Return Of My Bloody Valentine

ok, now everybody seems to be enjoying the new album. great.

There really isn't much to see pixel-peeping at the 2400x2400 jpeg (looking at the blue channel only, enhancing contrast). All the members of the band, a studio with A1 sized prints of brick walls taped to the walls, a few shots through the window of a mediterranean tiled roofs. The cover of the You Made Me Realize EP appears on the left margin.

http://i50.tinypic.com/2v3r9c2.jpg

I'm not seeing any hidden messages. Just pictures pinned to white walls, rephotographed and overlayed as semi transparent layers in 'shop, rendered at max saturation in hue 238.

oh shit yes

just burned a disc of the mp3s, should be interesting to hear it tonight on my stereo

I think there are a lot of low quality jpgs of the cover floating around, it looks much better crisp.

Are there any stray mp3s out on blogs?

This is getting better the more I hear it, although the three tracks that stood way out on first listen (2, 7, 9) still stand way out, maybe even wayer

See whereas I hear the album as in 3 clear "acts" (which I think I touched on in my blogpost thingy)

just put this on my iPhone :D

This thread is so much fun to read from the beginning

hah thanks for making me re-read my account of the nyc shows from '08

"who sees you" has so much in common with "only shallow". the initial drums start-ups, the squealing elephant guitars. those last 3 minutes are occasionally cathartic, whereas i always felt "only shallow" was a novel song but one of my least listened to as it treats those said elephant squeals as having no real emotional basis but rather something to set the listener's head off in surprise with. "who sees you" i wish were longer, with that high-note held in perpetual motion, allowed to ring endlessly.

also worth noting that this album has had me access itunes for the first time in what feels like a year since signing up for spotify premium

quick thought: feels like "nothing is" was created solely for the live performances. i imagine KS adores the idea of killing his audience with love, but after so many holocaust sections he naturally is tired of going through the ordeal each and every show. as such "nothing is" is a song that is underscored right now but will be met with a huge amount of masochistic fanfare come touring. in sense filler, but only in this immediate environment. we forget that MBV is as much a ear-bursting live experience as they are suitable for solitary headphone confinement.

By the way here's the whole album cover cleaned up (as above) for inspection.

Still have the audiophile earplugs I bought after the '92 Houston show left my ears ringing for two days.

Oooh, Amoeba Music t-shirt

"Is This and Yes" is a pretty weird progression. "In Another Way" has kind of a weird progression.

Hearing that.

I just heard much of this in a pub just now, remarkable how warm and fuzzy it is, even the Stereolab-y track sounded like comfort food. We were wondering if the lack of top end was a product of long days in studio, rolling it off as your ears get tired. Or maybe he mixed it in a pub. Either way: good pub record

also worth noting that this album has had me access itunes for the first time in what feels like a year since signing up for spotify premium

― kelpolaris, Tuesday, 5 February 2013 04:21 (44 minutes ago)

Or maybe you don't mean you went to the iTunes store, you mean you used the program called iTunes.

Sorry, meant itunes the application. I also kinda assumed we had all come to equal consensus that the store, like the program, were dead things.

goontie: yeah comfort food is what i thought partic with the first three tracks, I called it "mashed potatoes"!

rejected cover:

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTutTXBZ8Xcjfpzz60lOLp1xVdEXoszEXimAnh3QEd6dE5TnW82wg

https://twitter.com/brandonstosuy/status/298104192642461696

lol barf

headphones + weed

am3n

also worth noting that this album has had me access itunes for the first time in what feels like a year since signing up for spotify premium

― kelpolaris, Tuesday, 5 February 2013 04:21 (44 minutes ago)

Exact same for me. Although the process for getting it on there was torturous and resulted in itunes deleting all the music I had on already. Oh well, what other music matters right now?

The first three tracks are probably the weakest, they mostly sound like Loveless but not as good. I'm not sure quite what I expected after 22 years but it wasn't really a retreat into comfort zone. It really takes off after that though and the second half is amazing.

The first three tracks are like a nice warm reassuring hug. No, probably not as good as owt on Loveless, but pleasant nonetheless. Agreed that it gets really good from thereon in, though. Wonder 2 is an amazing way to end it.

I get the feeling that "nice warm reassuring hug" is not really the point of MBV though.

I don't.

I think it's part of the point of Loveless, as a record. The live experience is obviously different. I've always thought one of the best things about Loveless is that its character changes quite dramatically depending on the volume you play it at; low, it's a soothing balm. High, it's something else entirely.

Loveless may feel comforting NOW but it certainly didn't when it was released. Or at least it didn't until you'd got past the alienating bits, even if that only took one listen.

I get the feeling that "nice warm reassuring hug" is not really the point of MBV though.

― Matt DC, Tuesday, February 5, 2013 5:03 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

you're right, it's "nice warm reassuring fuck"

Just filed a 500 word of this without mentioning Isn't Anything/Loveless - have i ballsed up?

Well, I'll let y'all judge:
http://crackmagazine.net/music/my-bloody-valentine/

nice!

CHeers - I think it's alright for something written whilst sat behind the till serving customers.

feels like "nothing is" was created solely for the live performances.

It was created to allow me to sneak some MBV into a techno set.

The first three tracks are probably the weakest, they mostly sound like Loveless but not as good.

I’ve realised that Only Tomorrow really reminds me of the direction The Pastels took in about '97, around the same time he did them a remix. I fact I can remember standing in front of Kevin and Debbie at a Pastels gig at The Garage around then.

The best remix he did I think: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wyqTc79H-s

Okay, so after numerous listens in headphones, speakers and in the car, I can confirm that I really, really like this album.

It took 22 years for My Bloody Valentine to get a new album out, so it maybe shouldn't be a shock that it takes a few songs for "mbv" to establish itself. Once it gets its legs, it's a masterpiece. If the beginning pays tribute to the band's past, the final three tracks - the military percussion battering shimmering guitars on "In Another Way," the thrashing interlude "Nothing Is" and the underwater-like dreamscape of album closer "Wonder 2" make both waits worth it. Bilinda Butcher's impact, if not input, on the album cannot be overstated.

Right, I have listened to it three times now.

Will put it away, until I get the proper LP/CD package...

I've listened to this probably a dozen times now. I absolutely love it, warts and all. What a great album.

yeah im gonna wait til the lp arrives too i think now. 3 or 4 plays is enough for now, i want to hear it properly.

the lp will never arrive
& the bitrate of the mp3s will deteriorate by 1kbps each passing day
until you are left
with just a shadow
of something
you barely got to hold on to

Man, that's so heavy.

so any guesses who's getting remix duties?

nm, should prob start another thread for that