The Return Of My Bloody Valentine

Maybe I'm in a minority, but Colm's clattering rush adds a whole new level of thrill and complexity to the Valentines. He should be live on EVERY TRACK. Imagine how dull "Nothing Much to Lose" would be without him. And with him, it's one of my all time favourite songs.

Colm - if you're reading this, I was the fortyish guy whose mouth dropped open when he spotted you outside the barbecue tent in the roasting heat of Altona.

matt's bbq valentine

Aw man what they were wandering round in the food court at ATP? Just my luck.

Well - I saw Colm wander around, being a smallish guy with greying hair in a grey t-shirt he was easy to miss, in fact I don't think anyone else twigged!
Kev walked through the inside foyer later but had a small retinue with him as you might expect. Apparently a very approachable guy though.

I'm embarrased to realise/admit I would not have twigged it was Colm in a million years anyway which is sad cos hes kind of my fave part of the MBV thing. I love his drumming.

THen again I didnt go outside that often, it was too brutally hot.

In my nerdy attention to detail, it sounds to me like there are four songs with live drums on loveless - only shallow, when you sleep, come in alone and what you want - and the rest is programmed. I could be wrong though. I don't think Debbie Googe played on either Isn't Anything or Loveless.

If you read one of the interviews with Shields around that time (early nineties) he explains the drumming thing. Can't really remember but I've got it somewhere. Something like the drums on Loveless are programmed on anAtari but with Colm's 'feel', because his drumming is out of time.

With regards to Debbie I think he said she only played on one album and an ep, but don't quote me on that.

The 33 1/3 book on it goes over this. It's drum-machine exclusively, but Shields claims that he made them human enough to resemble Colm. Admittedly, I didn't deduce them as 'machine'd from the get-go, I just thought it was a subtle and maybe a bit weak approach to the new sound post-Isn't Anything. Subdued drumming, minimal flair.

Wasn't Colm too ill to play on Loveless?

Ó Cíosóig recovered enough to play live on two of the albums' songs, "Only Shallow" and "Touched", the latter of which was composed and performed entirely by the drummer.
wikipedia citing the 33 1/3 book.

i realised that i quite love the sluggish drumming on the countrified version of loveless by japancakes. but of course the pedal steel is even more remarkable because it fits so well with the warped sound of loveless. maybe the best cover album ever.

Ok found the bit about Deb:
"Debbie has been in the band for years, but she stopped playing on the records in '88. She only played on one song in 1988. To tell the truth, she only played on one whole record in 1985. She hated playing in the studio. She liked playing bass but only if she could attack it. Well, maybe she's changing now, but that's the way she wanted to do it. She didn't have anything to do with making the records."

That interview was from the nineties after Loveless had come out. Still trying to find the bit about Colm, but found this on a forum:
"I do know they sampled and retriggered Colm's drum (he was out of time)."

Sorry, bit in brackets should be: (he didn't keep the best time).

At fucking last. From FAQ on the To Here Knows Web site:

Most of the drum sounds on Loveless are triggered and sequenced; Colm played either electronic or natural drums triggered to electronic sound into a computer sequencer. The drum pattern was then quantised (each trigger was put to the nearest beat) and replayed. Colm's drumming is characteristic but usually off-time. The drums on Loveless have Colm's characteristic playing, but they are exactly on the beat, redone by a computer. From an interview with Kevin Shields:
"Actually we started the album with live drums, but Colm got very ill. So we sampled his drums and his rolls. So even when a track is programmed, it has his feel."

In 1991? No wonder it took so long / was so expensive.

Nah, wouldn’t take very long at all for someone who knows what they’re doing. Samplers were pretty advanced by that point.

I remember seeing them live in '92 and Colm was watching an LED metronome for some songs. I think he was also triggering the samples.

According to Shields the sequencer was only used by Colm when he was taking too long between dongs (needed a breather?) to fill the gap. Apparently he was just activating the passage that came between what you want and soon on loveless.

Songs lol omg

(needed a breather?)

was wondrin' 'bout the dongs..

new cd on amazon as an "import" - £19.39

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00BHUJ2XI/ref=s9_newr_gw_d63_g15_ir04

£11.99 + £1.50 p&p

http://www.normanrecords.com/records/138932-my-bloody-valentine-m-b

Having a giggling attack about dongs now

<i>taking too long between dongs ... just activating the passage that came between what you want and soon<i>
that's what she said

Enough about Colm and his dongs. How about we talk about some of the old 12"s?

Dong.

I complained to the MBV website about my damaged LP. They asked for photos. Today a replacement cover arrived in the mail. Better packaged than the LP, but still a tiny bit scuffed. It'll do

was the packaging the same for the replacement?

The replacement cover came in the same box, but loosely wrapped in shrink wrap (my LP was completely naked). When I say "loosely" - I mean the shrink-wrap wasn't taped around it or anything. So the cover managed to wriggle a little loose in the mail and is slightly scuffed on one side.

smh

yep -- you'd think they'd take extra care the second time.

i wonder if whoever does the packaging just sincerely doesn't get it?

anyway. timely revive because i was listening to mbv on the way into work for the first time in a few weeks. it's nice to live with it a while and get to know it, know the songs and where they're going, look forward to certain parts

this makes me worried since they said they'll send me a replacement with "extra-secure packaging."

anyway. timely revive because i was listening to mbv on the way into work for the first time in a few weeks. it's nice to live with it a while and get to know it, know the songs and where they're going, look forward to certain parts

― your holiness, we have an official energy drink (Z S), Wednesday, April 3, 2013 4:10 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah i have had this a couple of times & it has been sorta the nicest thing about it so far - i got off the bus into the snow a couple of weeks ago just as if i am or something was starting &, totally divorced from context or status, it was so nice just to be hearing it as a song, this bright sounding sweet melodic record i get to bop around to. i am still thinking this record more as this kind of a happy curio than as one of the mbv records at this stage i think.

You realise the new Wire album has been longer in gestation than this one?

Listened to this a few times last night, and it's still my favorite record of the year. And I think "Nothing Is" is my favorite track on the album. It's just so awesome and relentless. But because it's so repetitive there are many tiny things that one notices upon closer inspection. The changes in the mix. The turning up of the overall volume. I kind of see now why "It sounds like demos!" was a criticism when this was released. This track in particular is very raw, not just in sound and construction but in context. It's almost a meta-record experience, listening to it on headphones. Audio-verite or something.

The latter half of this record is the most experimental music I've heard all year, and I don't say that lightly, cos there seem to be plenty of established artists recently doing more experimental work than usual.

For you LA folk:

http://factmag-images.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/mbvfest-05.13.2013-500x772.jpg

Wonder what Glasser is up to atm?

I wonder that often.

Looking forward to the show, if not the heat.

Don't let Roky melt

when's the new album coming out?

I re-listened to "Loveless" recently. I think I like "mbv" more.

yeah. even though i haven't been able to buy it, MBV is a lock for top three (for now, anyway) - up there with grouper.

+ MORE & COMEDIANS

North American tour dates announced. Info is spotty ATM.

August 16 Austin Music Hall, TX

August 17 Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie, TX

August 19 Ogden Theatre, Denver, CO

August 21 WaMu Theatre, Seattle, WA

August 23 Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Fran, CA

according to the facebook notice