The Return Of My Bloody Valentine

were kevin and the gang sonic youth fans at all?

yeah definitely

KS talks about the influence of sonic youth et al during that period in this interview: https://thequietus.com/articles/08745-kevin-shields-interview-mbv-my-bloody-valentine

TP: So the new sound began here...

KS: Well... by that time, live we'd become that kind of band anyway, we just hadn't recorded it. Live we'd always been much harder than the records ever were. The records were like playing games. They were conceptual, all the early ones, they had kind of sick lyrics and... it just felt like we were messing about. Then when Bilinda joined, around that 86-87 period, we were getting into Husker Du, Dinosaur Jr, Sister and EVOL by Sonic Youth... they put a different slant on everything for me. A slightly more melodic, more soulful, more beautiful element. And when Bilinda joined it all became more balanced. So we were happy with the You Made Me Realise EP because suddenly we had something we could play live. The difference between the record and what we were live was much less. And it was actually easier to play that most of the stuff from the Ecstasy record.

So for the You Made Me Realise EP we got five days in the studio. Which we were very grateful for, because before that we'd been given seven days to make a mini-album, that Ecstasy thing. But because of how we lived at the time - we were in squats and had a very transient, free life – we didn't rehearse too much. Even back then we'd write in the studio, just go in with the basic bare bones of stuff. But then we got two months to make Isn't Anything, in a residential studio in Wales. And the guy we were recording with was a good guy, Dave Anderson – he'd been in loads of interesting bands like Hawkwind and Amon Duul II, as a teenager he'd been over to Germany – so he gave us a crash course in Krautrock. We'd been listening to loads of it, but he told us all the stories about taking acid all the time, getting into all sorts of trouble... so lines were crossing in the right way, you know? And when we were making the You Made Me Realise EP I'd become consumed by a certain attitude... but to be honest it came out more on Isn't Anything than the Feed Me With Your Kiss EP, which was more the darker side.

TP: The darker side?

KS: I mean, the band always sits between positive and negative, I guess, and that was veering towards the negative. A darker sound. People listen to the Feed Me With Your Kiss EP and say it's a bit more lo-fi than the one before, because I was becoming more conscious of high frequencies and - partly from the hip-hop thing - I was thinking "You don't have to keep putting all this top end on everything, making it all separate and bright." The '80s production value, basically. So the sound of that record is part of that whole attitude, which was solidifying around that time, but it's all low frequencies, not much top end.

interesting about amon duul ii though, it's nice to think that the low end on FNWYK is a nod to 'archangel thunderbird'

*argh FMWYK

Feed Nick With a New Keyboard

Dave Anderson, aka the "idiot who left his bass in the van" according to his Hawkwind replacement Lemmy.

nice; yeah it really does make sense that that's what they were into at the time. it's a very easily decoded influence and i always just assumed they were sonic youth fans — just had never heard it from anyone directly in the band.

also this made me chuckle:

that Ecstasy thing.

it seems like he genuinely does loathe that early material.

i own both the deluxe and the non-deluxe issues of loveless now, lol, anyway i can confirm that the deluxe analog cut sounds marginally better to me but also holy shit how good does this thing sound

was working from home alone today and was able to turn it up, something really does happen to this record when it's loud

The non-Deluxe remember is actually closer to the master (from first gen tapes), the deluxe analogue cut is made from copies as I understand it (I mean they didn't chop up the actual master to make it).

But I'm back to thinking the only real Loveless is the original DAT master ;-)

listening to the deluxe Isn't Anything now having bought it but not gotten round to putting it on and it sounds really really good, it jumps out of the speakers

Took me months to sort out a replacement platter for a turntable I’d bought, but got it all installed and set up today. Currently drowning in Isn’t Anything which sounds lovely on my very pedestrian Pro-Ject.

remember how there were going to be an ep, maybe even a new album by end of this year

*tremelos the memory of that up and down and out the brain hole at top volume*

i immediately forgot about that bc i never believed him in the first place

^^^

i didn't either, but it was extra frustrating this time because they are actually on a label now which added to my false hope. plus you can hear a very short snippet of a studio version of a new song in that fender interview with kevin

i'd like to hear a tender interview with kevin, maybe asking him about something i like to call Love

would read and re-read

I don’t doubt it *exists*, just whether it will ever be released. But even if it’s 20 years between records again, I doubt I will be awake all night waiting for the download to go live …

tickets at https://t.co/juApqJOqAX pic.twitter.com/qr8Xp0HDFs

— my bloody valentine (@MBVofficial) March 28, 2023

feels weird man

So it’s an album listening session, not a proper show?

Some kind of sit in a theater society of the spectacle thing looks like.

I get the appeal of listening to your favorite music on top-of-the-line gear, but this just makes me think of boorish d-bags at a wine tasting party.

Reminds me for some vague reason of those flash mob dinner parties where all of the sudden you’d see hordes of people exiting the subway dressed in white and carrying picnic baskets headed towards some water or greenery. For someone younger than or different from me.

Le Dîner en Blanc! Still going on. Maybe somebody could combine that with the m b v listening and do both.

Needs more lasers

Heh

nice to see some semblance of activity on their end meager as it is

but kevin. stop teasing us

remember 'album is definitely coming out by the end of 2021'? lol. he is so full of shit

maybe it’s a fakeout and they’ll play a NEW album instead of mbv

tbh MBV would be kind of well-suited to a Dark Side of the Moon laser experience

why Denver and Cophengagen of all places?

Why not just turn off the lights in your room and put the album on

I would probably attend a pro-level Isn't Anything laser show.

Probably inevitable:

https://www.facebook.com/Fender/posts/pfbid0oTvkpXhtqfRZ2UJLHNmdkXPKcYBtAUfLFtgqYAWcPqakjzkh9bNbKDL4dLPnRm6dl

honestly buy one if you can, even if you've never touched a guitar, that thing will be selling for $1000+ after it's released

Offset guitar forums are filled with demands to know why Fender hasn't made a Shields signature Jazzmaster, but I think this is better.

This new video of Shields playing guitar with the new pedal should hold us over until album 4.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjY2QJ1QnsU

Guarantee that not a single word of the owner's manual will be intelligible.

Fender Shields Blender Easter Egg! Hidden USB drive inside

Apparently, 100 of the 700 pedals released contain a hidden USB thumb drive inside them. It contains a track by Kevin Shields and comes with instructions to play at 80dB and above on speakers.

https://guitarbomb.com/2023/06/16/fender-shields-blender-easter-egg-hidden-usb-drive-inside/

Mine arrives today. NGL if I got one of the 100 I’m flipping it for a new amp.

But you're sharing the track with us of course.

Presumably most people will end up hearing this through a YT rip on a phone or something. A weird move for someone so obsessed with quality.

it can only be played on the PonoPlayer

Sorry, no MBV world premiere from me, no USB drive in mine.

Alack

2 sources have confirmed this is the same track on their devices:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVNDw5OgLwE