{"id":6947,"date":"2013-05-21T15:54:25","date_gmt":"2013-05-21T15:54:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/?p=6947"},"modified":"2013-05-21T15:54:25","modified_gmt":"2013-05-21T15:54:25","slug":"my-bloody-valentine-m-b-v","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2013\/05\/21\/my-bloody-valentine-m-b-v\/","title":{"rendered":"MY BLOODY VALENTINE \u2013 m b v"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"20130203011303!My_Bloody_Valentine_-_MBV\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Something happened in early February that likely got many My Bloody Valentine fans cheering. The highly influential band released m b v<\/em>, their first full length since Loveless<\/em>: the alt rock record that set the high water mark for shoegaze the same year Nevermind<\/em>\u2019s baby went for a swim (1991!). \u00a0And, while I\u2019d like to say I\u2019ve been waiting for this album since I was three years old, I have to admit that I\u2019m one of My Bloody Valentine\u2019s most spoiled fans \u2013 I only discovered them after a friend directed me to this long-awaited gem. Despite my youthful inexperience, listening to both Loveless<\/em> and m b v<\/em> for the first time (and at the same time) has been, for lack of a better word, a real ear-opener. Here\u2019s my comparison of Bloody old and Bloody new.<\/p>\n

While m b v<\/em> delivers much of the dense layers, sonic waves, guitar wails and pitch bends that make Loveless<\/em> an ageless rock artifact, it is not without its surprises. \u201cShe Found Now\u201d<\/a> and \u201cOnly Tomorrow\u201d<\/a> open the album with plenty of rumble and fuzz typical of MBV, but with crunchier, more abrasive tones. Front man Kevin Shields has the magic touch when it comes to producing, even though his process could destroy a person\u2019s patience more than Chinese Democracy<\/em>. Both Shields and Bilinda Butcher\u2019s whispered vocals sink below crashing waves of guitar without ever being drowned, surfacing every so often to deliver a melodic hook. Just like Loveless<\/em>, the vocals in m b v<\/em> are treated like any other instrument, making the mix sound like distinct parts and one organic mass all at the same time. It\u2019s also proof that vocals can sometimes be better felt through surprising melodies than intelligible lyrics. One exception is m b v\u2019<\/em>s \u201cNew You,\u201d<\/a> the album\u2019s catchiest and most accessible track that lets Butcher\u2019s airy vocals fly over tremolo flutters and a fuzzed-out bass heartbeat. The atypical songs, like the organ-dominated \u201cIs This And Yes\u201d<\/a> and the two-second loop of \u201cNothing Is,\u201d<\/a> I\u2019m undecided on. Still, even the weakest new MBV song is a strong argument for the electric guitar\u2019s relevance in a synth-saturated landscape. (Sire\/Creation, mybloodyvalentine.org<\/a>) Matthew Dyck<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Something happened in early February that likely got many My Bloody Valentine fans cheering.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[648,852],"class_list":["post-6947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-my-bloody-valentine","tag-shoegaze"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6947\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}