Once in love, I'll be the death of you
November 4, 2016 10:14 AM Subscribe
25 years ago, Loveless was released. The seminal record that influenced a movement, also known for allegedly almost bankrupting pre-Britpop Creation Records over dozens of recording studios and producers that couldn't match Kevin Shields vision among other legends makes a quarter of a century today.
1992: "So you know it was nowhere near as traumatic as people try and make out."
Alan Moulder, producer: "They’d look at him as if to say, ‘Well, what do you know? I’m an engineer; you’re just the guitarist in an indie band!’ But I learned very quickly that if Kevin thought something wasn’t working, 99 percent of the time he was right."
Kevin Shields on TapeOp: A lot of the impression of that record is that it's a lot of studio trickery and all that, but I'd say 90 percent of it is really just straight guitar music, very simple.
Kevin Shields on Soft Focus
The Quietus: a record capable of taking the faces off new generations, a message drifting in from what sounded like rock music's afterlife
In 5 Minutes (Pitchfork TV)´
25 Albums That Owe Their Existence To My Bloody Valentine’s ‘Loveless’ 1992-2016
Also a favourite of Final Fantasy VII developers
Afterwards, the band kind of disappeared: they were dropped by Creation and signed with Island, but only two covers followed in the years after Loveless (Wire's Map Ref. 41N 93W and Louis Armstrong's We Have All The Time In The World). Problems with the new studio of send the band into a tailspin, and despite having hours of material (influenced by Jungle and Drum and Bass), the band quietely faded away as the decade advanced. Shields found himself collaborating with other bands like Le Volume Courbe (along drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig) and touring with former labelmates Primal Scream at their XTRMNTR / Evil Heat era and releasing new material in 2003, for Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation soundtrack. The band eventually returned to the stages in 2008, and released the followup m b v in 2013.
1992: "So you know it was nowhere near as traumatic as people try and make out."
Alan Moulder, producer: "They’d look at him as if to say, ‘Well, what do you know? I’m an engineer; you’re just the guitarist in an indie band!’ But I learned very quickly that if Kevin thought something wasn’t working, 99 percent of the time he was right."
Kevin Shields on TapeOp: A lot of the impression of that record is that it's a lot of studio trickery and all that, but I'd say 90 percent of it is really just straight guitar music, very simple.
Kevin Shields on Soft Focus
The Quietus: a record capable of taking the faces off new generations, a message drifting in from what sounded like rock music's afterlife
In 5 Minutes (Pitchfork TV)´
25 Albums That Owe Their Existence To My Bloody Valentine’s ‘Loveless’ 1992-2016
Also a favourite of Final Fantasy VII developers
Afterwards, the band kind of disappeared: they were dropped by Creation and signed with Island, but only two covers followed in the years after Loveless (Wire's Map Ref. 41N 93W and Louis Armstrong's We Have All The Time In The World). Problems with the new studio of send the band into a tailspin, and despite having hours of material (influenced by Jungle and Drum and Bass), the band quietely faded away as the decade advanced. Shields found himself collaborating with other bands like Le Volume Courbe (along drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig) and touring with former labelmates Primal Scream at their XTRMNTR / Evil Heat era and releasing new material in 2003, for Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation soundtrack. The band eventually returned to the stages in 2008, and released the followup m b v in 2013.
25 Albums That Owe Their Existence To My Bloody Valentine’s ‘Loveless’ 1992-2016
I get how this list worked and that if you were to try to list every band influenced by MBV over the course of 25 years you'd be doing it for about 25 years but I'm still a little surprised The Pains of Being Pure At Heart aren't on there. Maybe they aren't as popular as I thought they'd been but here's MBV's When You Sleep and here's the Pains' Young Adult Friction.
posted by griphus at 10:22 AM on November 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
I get how this list worked and that if you were to try to list every band influenced by MBV over the course of 25 years you'd be doing it for about 25 years but I'm still a little surprised The Pains of Being Pure At Heart aren't on there. Maybe they aren't as popular as I thought they'd been but here's MBV's When You Sleep and here's the Pains' Young Adult Friction.
posted by griphus at 10:22 AM on November 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
Saw them a few years ago and they were excellent.
posted by alex_skazat at 10:33 AM on November 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by alex_skazat at 10:33 AM on November 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
This is a great post but I cannot forgive you for making me have the opening riff of I Only Said stuck in my head for the rest of the day
Trade you for Map Ref
posted by griphus at 10:34 AM on November 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Trade you for Map Ref
posted by griphus at 10:34 AM on November 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
I kinda preferred "Isn't Anything" but ok
This was definitely the loudest concert I've ever attended though (Liberty Lunch, Austin, 1992)
posted by fungible at 10:41 AM on November 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
This was definitely the loudest concert I've ever attended though (Liberty Lunch, Austin, 1992)
posted by fungible at 10:41 AM on November 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
I kinda preferred "Isn't Anything" but ok
That's like saying "I prefer escargot over caviar." Why discriminate? Have both in one sitting! Live a little!
posted by blucevalo at 10:49 AM on November 4, 2016 [5 favorites]
That's like saying "I prefer escargot over caviar." Why discriminate? Have both in one sitting! Live a little!
posted by blucevalo at 10:49 AM on November 4, 2016 [5 favorites]
I've never actually listened to this record, but I've had different people familiar with my tastes tell me that I'd love it and that I'd hate it. I also recall reading that Rob Zombie was a fan.
posted by jonmc at 10:52 AM on November 4, 2016
posted by jonmc at 10:52 AM on November 4, 2016
I'm still a little surprised The Pains of Being Pure At Heart aren't on there.
TPOBPAH were a bit more twee (and Conway-era MBV by extension) and C86 than straight-up Loveless-era MBV.
Fun story: because of a blog I followed then (Rock Sellout, IIRC) than had some Brooklyn scene coverage, I was likely one of their first European fans. Also: fuck MySpace deleting walls, because I had a message from Kip after I've mentioned one of their reworked songs kind of reminded me of something out of 1977. Turns out, he was a Ash fan at the time.
posted by lmfsilva at 10:55 AM on November 4, 2016 [4 favorites]
TPOBPAH were a bit more twee (and Conway-era MBV by extension) and C86 than straight-up Loveless-era MBV.
Fun story: because of a blog I followed then (Rock Sellout, IIRC) than had some Brooklyn scene coverage, I was likely one of their first European fans. Also: fuck MySpace deleting walls, because I had a message from Kip after I've mentioned one of their reworked songs kind of reminded me of something out of 1977. Turns out, he was a Ash fan at the time.
posted by lmfsilva at 10:55 AM on November 4, 2016 [4 favorites]
Loveless will stand as the last sonic masterpiece recorded in analog, and made me realise to don earplugs during
their sonic engine live performances.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W9oOGStPx0
posted by zippercollider at 11:05 AM on November 4, 2016 [4 favorites]
their sonic engine live performances.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W9oOGStPx0
posted by zippercollider at 11:05 AM on November 4, 2016 [4 favorites]
I think Loveless was the first album I bought that shocked me as a listener, that was difficult to get into. It was definitely the first album I bought that earned a "what the bloody hell is that noise?" from my parents.
A lot of the shoey stuff that followed has aged badly in comparison, even with the lovely and poignant reunions of Slowdive and Lush in recent years, because the production of so many of those records feels really thin today. Not so with Loveless. (Whether MBV were actually shoey or just prophets of the gazing of the shoe is another question.)
I also think from time to time of the effects and modelling tech that's available to guitarists these days compared to what Kevin Shields had at his disposal. (His pedal boards are ridiculous, but the core MBV sound is reverse reverb plus tone controls.)
posted by holgate at 11:08 AM on November 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
A lot of the shoey stuff that followed has aged badly in comparison, even with the lovely and poignant reunions of Slowdive and Lush in recent years, because the production of so many of those records feels really thin today. Not so with Loveless. (Whether MBV were actually shoey or just prophets of the gazing of the shoe is another question.)
I also think from time to time of the effects and modelling tech that's available to guitarists these days compared to what Kevin Shields had at his disposal. (His pedal boards are ridiculous, but the core MBV sound is reverse reverb plus tone controls.)
posted by holgate at 11:08 AM on November 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
Jeez, and here I thought this was going to be about the manga, Loveless. Imagine my surprise when I saw there was a post on the blue about this obscure, homoerotic, Japanese comic, and then my disappointment when I saw I had been mistaken.
posted by Dalby at 11:09 AM on November 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Dalby at 11:09 AM on November 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Like Gandhi said: be the poster of obscure homoerotic manga to the front page you want to see in the world.
posted by griphus at 11:21 AM on November 4, 2016 [17 favorites]
posted by griphus at 11:21 AM on November 4, 2016 [17 favorites]
I wonder how things would have turned out if Albini had recorded them and not put up with all the extended studio shenanigans.
posted by rhizome at 11:45 AM on November 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by rhizome at 11:45 AM on November 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
A lot of the shoey stuff that followed has aged badly in comparison, even with the lovely and poignant reunions of Slowdive and Lush in recent years, because the production of so many of those records feels really thin today. Not so with Loveless. (Whether MBV were actually shoey or just prophets of the gazing of the shoe is another question.)
For me there are two 'gaze bands that really stand above the others - MBV and Slowdive. And they are quite different from each other. Souvlaki is a pretty slick sounding record, an an era-specific way. Loveless is not, really - as mentioned above it turns out to be a lot less about studio trickery than the way he plays it. MBV is distortion, Slowdive is digital delay and reverb. MBV lyrics sometimes fit very well but in the late period they are largely in the background. Slowdive lyrics are more out front and fairly important to the atmosphere (IMO). Both bands transitioned from being oriented around pop songwriting to pursuing a more distinctive sonic vision before they broke up, but MBV is best known for that final album while Slowdive's is fairly overlooked - they're remembered more for writing some great songs and making them trippy and spacey with effects.
Anyway it feels to me like the revivalist shoegaze bands have done a pretty good job bringing back the mid-period Slowdive style (and Ride, Lush, Chapterhouse etc.) but never quite MBV because it is so much about the specific way Kevin Shields plays guitar, versus writing really good pop songs and loading them up with effects.
posted by atoxyl at 12:30 PM on November 4, 2016 [6 favorites]
For me there are two 'gaze bands that really stand above the others - MBV and Slowdive. And they are quite different from each other. Souvlaki is a pretty slick sounding record, an an era-specific way. Loveless is not, really - as mentioned above it turns out to be a lot less about studio trickery than the way he plays it. MBV is distortion, Slowdive is digital delay and reverb. MBV lyrics sometimes fit very well but in the late period they are largely in the background. Slowdive lyrics are more out front and fairly important to the atmosphere (IMO). Both bands transitioned from being oriented around pop songwriting to pursuing a more distinctive sonic vision before they broke up, but MBV is best known for that final album while Slowdive's is fairly overlooked - they're remembered more for writing some great songs and making them trippy and spacey with effects.
Anyway it feels to me like the revivalist shoegaze bands have done a pretty good job bringing back the mid-period Slowdive style (and Ride, Lush, Chapterhouse etc.) but never quite MBV because it is so much about the specific way Kevin Shields plays guitar, versus writing really good pop songs and loading them up with effects.
posted by atoxyl at 12:30 PM on November 4, 2016 [6 favorites]
If you haven't tried tuning your guitar to F#F#F#F#C#f# yet, you're a long way from playing like My Bloody Valentine.
posted by atoxyl at 12:38 PM on November 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by atoxyl at 12:38 PM on November 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
>I saw Lush in Vancouver in May. It was cathartic.
Oof, I got horribly sick and missed them in DC. Now not sure what their status is now. Here's their KCRW in-studio though.
posted by PandaMomentum at 12:40 PM on November 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Oof, I got horribly sick and missed them in DC. Now not sure what their status is now. Here's their KCRW in-studio though.
posted by PandaMomentum at 12:40 PM on November 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
The April after my first winter in Minnesota – a hard one, where I broke up with my college girlfriend and less than two weeks later found out my father had cancer. It was cold and it was dark and I didn’t really know anyone and didn’t know how to meet anyone either. That winter I’d been working as a temp folding paper in some windowless room, and I spent the months going from work to my basement apartment to a second job, only seeing the sun through some skyway glass if I emerged to take a lunch break.
But by April I’d gotten another job, one a few blocks away from my apartment, and the weather was warm enough that I could walk there. So I’d put on some boots and listen to Loveless and enjoy the little bit of sunlit warmth through my jacket as I navigated my way through the melting snow.
So that’s what Loveless sounds like to me now – the first hint of warmth and sun after a long, hard winter.
I’d been told that I should sell my firstborn if I ever had the chance to see My Bloody Valentine live, and I got that chance a couple years ago (though I paid by credit card, not by child). It was amazing, and the only concert I’ve been to where people were bragging about what sort of earplugs they brought. There’s something about feeling the music through your bones – literally, your insides vibrating because of how loud it is, and the overlying fuzz.
posted by dinty_moore at 1:01 PM on November 4, 2016 [5 favorites]
But by April I’d gotten another job, one a few blocks away from my apartment, and the weather was warm enough that I could walk there. So I’d put on some boots and listen to Loveless and enjoy the little bit of sunlit warmth through my jacket as I navigated my way through the melting snow.
So that’s what Loveless sounds like to me now – the first hint of warmth and sun after a long, hard winter.
I’d been told that I should sell my firstborn if I ever had the chance to see My Bloody Valentine live, and I got that chance a couple years ago (though I paid by credit card, not by child). It was amazing, and the only concert I’ve been to where people were bragging about what sort of earplugs they brought. There’s something about feeling the music through your bones – literally, your insides vibrating because of how loud it is, and the overlying fuzz.
posted by dinty_moore at 1:01 PM on November 4, 2016 [5 favorites]
So I guess that means it's been about 31 years since The Jesus and Mary Chain's Psychocandy?
posted by Bron at 1:39 PM on November 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Bron at 1:39 PM on November 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
I saw them at the Roundhouse in Camden a few years back. On the way into the auditorium, there were people standing in the middle of the double doors with carrier bags in their hands. "Oh, they're handing out sweets!", I thought, and didn't take any. Seemed like a nice gesture, and fitted in with the general feeling that this was an Event.
The band appeared on stage and I swear it was like they'd been frozen in ice for twenty years and thawed out - from halfway back, they looked exactly as they did back then, when I was too young to see them, or even to care for their music at all, I suppose.
Anyway, it was great, and at the end they played You Made Me Realise, and suddenly I understood that those sweets they had been handing out were actually earplugs, and I didn't have any.
It remains the only concert I've ever been to where I actually saw the music. Twenty minutes of pure organ-rearranging rage from the speakers. Brilliant.
My hearing seems to be OK.
posted by Buck Alec at 1:57 PM on November 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
The band appeared on stage and I swear it was like they'd been frozen in ice for twenty years and thawed out - from halfway back, they looked exactly as they did back then, when I was too young to see them, or even to care for their music at all, I suppose.
Anyway, it was great, and at the end they played You Made Me Realise, and suddenly I understood that those sweets they had been handing out were actually earplugs, and I didn't have any.
It remains the only concert I've ever been to where I actually saw the music. Twenty minutes of pure organ-rearranging rage from the speakers. Brilliant.
My hearing seems to be OK.
posted by Buck Alec at 1:57 PM on November 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
Sounds like we were at the same gig, Buck Alec. It was such a transcendent (though aurally devastating) experience that I sometimes have trouble convincing myself it actually happened.
There's a great account of the Loveless recording sessions in Dave Cavanagh's The Creation Records Story: My Magpie Eyes Are Hungry For The Prize.
As for the Shields/Primal Scream collaboration, I still think the best thing to come out of it was Accelerator.
posted by Sonny Jim at 2:15 PM on November 4, 2016
There's a great account of the Loveless recording sessions in Dave Cavanagh's The Creation Records Story: My Magpie Eyes Are Hungry For The Prize.
As for the Shields/Primal Scream collaboration, I still think the best thing to come out of it was Accelerator.
posted by Sonny Jim at 2:15 PM on November 4, 2016
Isn't Anything: "This is a really neat sound! Take JAMC, swap in a female singer and make it a little, um, gurgley. Yum!"
Glider: "Love this sultry new direction. There will be much zoning and/or making out to this."
Tremolo: "Much like Glider, which is still great! I can't wait for the full album!"
Loveless: "Gaaaaaah! The light! The light! The sky has ripped open and I'm being smothered by angels!"
posted by whuppy at 2:16 PM on November 4, 2016 [6 favorites]
Glider: "Love this sultry new direction. There will be much zoning and/or making out to this."
Tremolo: "Much like Glider, which is still great! I can't wait for the full album!"
Loveless: "Gaaaaaah! The light! The light! The sky has ripped open and I'm being smothered by angels!"
posted by whuppy at 2:16 PM on November 4, 2016 [6 favorites]
I wore earplugs to an MBV concert but the rest of my body was physically sore from the sound afterward. It was awesome.
That's a shame about Lush. They were really, really good in September. I hope Miki and Emma carry on though I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't.
posted by chimpsonfilm at 2:25 PM on November 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
That's a shame about Lush. They were really, really good in September. I hope Miki and Emma carry on though I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't.
posted by chimpsonfilm at 2:25 PM on November 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
Love the Loveless. And I also loved Ringo Deathstarr when I shared a stage with them a few years ago. Check 'em out.
posted by jetsetsc at 3:08 PM on November 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by jetsetsc at 3:08 PM on November 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Second and third that while great, they are very loud live. I could feel it in my bones. Also, they had one distorted drone segment that went on f-o-r-e-v-e-r.
A friend of mine saw them in the 90s and said it was so loud he was just infuriated and left.
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 3:45 PM on November 4, 2016
A friend of mine saw them in the 90s and said it was so loud he was just infuriated and left.
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 3:45 PM on November 4, 2016
So I guess that means it's been about 31 years since The Jesus and Mary Chain's Psychocandy
Their Psychocandy anniversary tour was great. Although they were selling Psychocandy coffee mugs. If only they had Psychocandy fanny packs...
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 3:47 PM on November 4, 2016
Their Psychocandy anniversary tour was great. Although they were selling Psychocandy coffee mugs. If only they had Psychocandy fanny packs...
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 3:47 PM on November 4, 2016
Psychocandy motorbike
Psychocandy leather boots
Psychocandy jacket
Psychocandy sharpened knife
posted by griphus at 3:50 PM on November 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
Psychocandy leather boots
Psychocandy jacket
Psychocandy sharpened knife
posted by griphus at 3:50 PM on November 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
Hey did you guys know that My Bloody Valentine concerts are loud? It's true!
I would however echo the sentiment about seeing music. Back in the day, I was stoned out of my gourd in a 500 person venue and it is astonishing how rich the endless overtones were. Like feeling a kitten purr through every bone in your body. At one of the reunion shows recently at the cavernous civic auditorium or some shit, I was only slightly less stoned and the experience was decidedly less psychedelic, more like standing in front of a jet engine. These shoes will never more be gazed upon.
I am now going to plug my Jaguar in and play surf music like god intended.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 4:06 PM on November 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
I would however echo the sentiment about seeing music. Back in the day, I was stoned out of my gourd in a 500 person venue and it is astonishing how rich the endless overtones were. Like feeling a kitten purr through every bone in your body. At one of the reunion shows recently at the cavernous civic auditorium or some shit, I was only slightly less stoned and the experience was decidedly less psychedelic, more like standing in front of a jet engine. These shoes will never more be gazed upon.
I am now going to plug my Jaguar in and play surf music like god intended.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 4:06 PM on November 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Here's a Youtube playlist of Feinstein's acoustic Loveless album, "Loveless: Hurts to Love". (As mentioned in the article.) It's for sale here.
I unironically like the Japancakes instrumental cover of the album. it's good.
posted by Nelson at 4:35 PM on November 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
I unironically like the Japancakes instrumental cover of the album. it's good.
posted by Nelson at 4:35 PM on November 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
Loveless is the outermost, innermost, uttermost rock record of 1991. - Simon Reynolds
Oh, nevermind.
posted by Twang at 4:47 PM on November 4, 2016
Oh, nevermind.
posted by Twang at 4:47 PM on November 4, 2016
Second and third that while great, they are very loud live. I could feel it in my bones. Also, they had one distorted drone segment that went on f-o-r-e-v-e-r.It's known, perhaps impolitically, as "the holocaust."
posted by Sonny Jim at 4:55 PM on November 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
I saw them at FYF a few years ago, stoned out of my mind and tripping on mushrooms standing right in front of the soundboard with my friends who are all diehard MBV fans. It was one of the best times of my life.
posted by gucci mane at 5:12 PM on November 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by gucci mane at 5:12 PM on November 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
Their Psychocandy anniversary tour was great.
Ugh. We saw them in Seattle and it was completely phoned in.
posted by The Hamms Bear at 10:52 PM on November 4, 2016
Ugh. We saw them in Seattle and it was completely phoned in.
posted by The Hamms Bear at 10:52 PM on November 4, 2016
Ugh. We saw them in Seattle and it was completely phoned in.
But...zero showmanship & zero interaction with the audience was always one of their hallmarks.
posted by lastobelus at 11:00 PM on November 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
But...zero showmanship & zero interaction with the audience was always one of their hallmarks.
posted by lastobelus at 11:00 PM on November 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
6. My Bloody Valentine: On the surface, My Bloody Valentine should be underrated, but they’re not; everyone who aggressively cares about alt guitar music considers Loveless to be a modern classic, and everyone who is wont to mention “swirling guitars” during casual conversation always references this specific album. Loveless sold about 200,000 copies. This is the correct number of people on earth who should be invested in the concept of swirling guitars.posted by panama joe at 11:07 AM on November 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
MBV lyrics sometimes fit very well but in the late period they are largely in the background. Slowdive lyrics are more out front and fairly important to the atmosphere (IMO).
Though actually I'm probably overrating this - I guess what I was getting out is that it's ironic that MBV in their own words actually spend a lot of time on the lyrics and vocal production, more than the guitars, only for the words to be fairly unintelligible in the mix. But Slowdive buried the vocals a bit sometimes too e.g. on "Machine Gun." Slowdive lyrics are just... kinda personal to me in particular.
posted by atoxyl at 2:11 PM on November 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
Though actually I'm probably overrating this - I guess what I was getting out is that it's ironic that MBV in their own words actually spend a lot of time on the lyrics and vocal production, more than the guitars, only for the words to be fairly unintelligible in the mix. But Slowdive buried the vocals a bit sometimes too e.g. on "Machine Gun." Slowdive lyrics are just... kinda personal to me in particular.
posted by atoxyl at 2:11 PM on November 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
zero showmanship & zero interaction with the audience was always one of their hallmarks.
TBH, I barely notice that anymore since I sit and watch the visuals and theirs were great. As were MBV and Slowdive; great visuals are my second favorite part of a performance. MBV's especially meshed well with the wall of noise. I'm glad they've become a staple of live music.
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 2:42 PM on November 5, 2016
TBH, I barely notice that anymore since I sit and watch the visuals and theirs were great. As were MBV and Slowdive; great visuals are my second favorite part of a performance. MBV's especially meshed well with the wall of noise. I'm glad they've become a staple of live music.
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 2:42 PM on November 5, 2016
Oh, I'd never seen this before: Shields in the BBC doc The Joy of the Guitar Riff, talking about the whammy bar and inducing trance states through noise.
posted by holgate at 2:59 PM on November 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by holgate at 2:59 PM on November 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
I guess what I was getting out is that it's ironic that MBV in their own words actually spend a lot of time on the lyrics and vocal production, more than the guitars, only for the words to be fairly unintelligible in the mix
Just because vocals are buried down, that doesn't mean it's a good idea to get sloppy with them. It's the Cocteau Twins school of treating voice as another instrument or layer of texture. They made gibberish sound good because Fraser could put enough emotion in those barely connected syllables to sound like the voice of angels or something like that. Sigur Rós does the same - Flugufrelsarinn is more moving than a lot of shitty heart-string pulling, written-by-commission bullshit even if it's a language a know nothing about. It could be Jónsi reciting his shopping list for all I care (it isn't). Not to mention they also have songs with actual gibberish.
posted by lmfsilva at 3:13 PM on November 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
Just because vocals are buried down, that doesn't mean it's a good idea to get sloppy with them. It's the Cocteau Twins school of treating voice as another instrument or layer of texture. They made gibberish sound good because Fraser could put enough emotion in those barely connected syllables to sound like the voice of angels or something like that. Sigur Rós does the same - Flugufrelsarinn is more moving than a lot of shitty heart-string pulling, written-by-commission bullshit even if it's a language a know nothing about. It could be Jónsi reciting his shopping list for all I care (it isn't). Not to mention they also have songs with actual gibberish.
posted by lmfsilva at 3:13 PM on November 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
It's the Cocteau Twins school of treating voice as another instrument or layer of texture.
one of the best innovations of the 80s and 90s. Freed up so much; I think it also enabled women's voices to mesh better in a rock context instead of just having to be a belter, screecher or to be gifted with a strong contralto in order to rise above loud music. The vocals didn't need to sit on top; they were just another layer of depth.
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 3:52 PM on November 5, 2016 [5 favorites]
one of the best innovations of the 80s and 90s. Freed up so much; I think it also enabled women's voices to mesh better in a rock context instead of just having to be a belter, screecher or to be gifted with a strong contralto in order to rise above loud music. The vocals didn't need to sit on top; they were just another layer of depth.
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 3:52 PM on November 5, 2016 [5 favorites]
One of my top five favorite albums, maybe even #1 if I really think about it, but also the warning sign to my male housemates in college. "Only Shallow" cranked to 11 and door slammed shut? Dooooon't knock and ask for something.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 8:28 AM on November 6, 2016
posted by bitter-girl.com at 8:28 AM on November 6, 2016
I love this album. Love it.
My wife and cat, not so much.
I put it on one day. During the first song, the cat started yowling at the speakers and at me, as if to say "make it stop". During the second song, my wife asked, over the cat's yowling, "what are we listening to?" (In hindsight, her tone clearly said "I don't like whatever it is we are listening to.") During the third song, she asked "Do you actually like this?" Shortly after that, we were no longer listening to Loveless aloud.
It was sad.
posted by Cranialtorque at 10:52 AM on November 7, 2016 [1 favorite]
My wife and cat, not so much.
I put it on one day. During the first song, the cat started yowling at the speakers and at me, as if to say "make it stop". During the second song, my wife asked, over the cat's yowling, "what are we listening to?" (In hindsight, her tone clearly said "I don't like whatever it is we are listening to.") During the third song, she asked "Do you actually like this?" Shortly after that, we were no longer listening to Loveless aloud.
It was sad.
posted by Cranialtorque at 10:52 AM on November 7, 2016 [1 favorite]
Ha! I had an experience like that once while listening to some experimental drone—I think it was White Winged Moth's Ribbon Arcade. My girlfriend's cat suddenly became very interested in the speakers and actually tried to hunt down the sound. Like, pounce on it, as though she could actually see it coming out of the sound system. It was the weirdest thing.
posted by Sonny Jim at 5:44 AM on November 8, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Sonny Jim at 5:44 AM on November 8, 2016 [1 favorite]
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I saw Lush in Vancouver in May. It was cathartic.
posted by My Dad at 10:21 AM on November 4, 2016 [9 favorites]