MBV MBV MBV

 If you haven't listened to Loveless you need to choose one of the following options:

A) Get the fuck off my blog you uncultured scum.
B) Click the download link immediately, locate the nearest pair of headphones or quality speakers--and spent the next 48 minutes doing nothing but staring at the ceiling and listening to this. And thank me later.

Ok so I am going to acknowledge that My Bloody Valentine isn't an original thing to post, however--it's raining out and this blog needs to be christened with the obligatory Loveless post. Recorded in 19 different studios, over the course of two years, and costing Creation Records £250,000--Loveless is a record fraught with one of the most conflict filled, costly, and high maintenance histories. Maybe it fell flat on it's face from a financial and commercial standpoint--but musically, I have no qualms saying that it's one of the most gorgeous compositions ever recorded--and extremely influential in creating a solid soundscape that future shoegaze bands could modify and build upon.

This album is really Kevin Shields' baby. Even the exhaustive production process speaks to Shield's general lack of concern for practicalities and his blasé (or as some would say, lazy) attitude towards the pressure to release material in a timely fashion. After the release of Loveless in 1991, MBV has been cagey about their intentions to record another album. However, the black hole left by MBV post-Loveless has created a culture of fantastic shoegaze bands in their wake.

The iconic fuzzy sound of Loveless comes from the "glide guitar" technique which causes the strings to wobble slightly in and out of tune giving the sensation of multiple guitars, when in fact it was just Kevin Shields.

About the vocals:
"According to Shields, because the band had spent so long working on the album's vocals, he "couldn't tolerate really clear vocals, where you just hear one voice", thus "it had to be more like a sound." Butcher explained her "dreamy, sensual" style vocals, saying, "Often when we do vocals, it's 7:30 in the morning; I've usually just fallen asleep and have to be woken up to sing." To aid this effect, Shields and Ó Cíosóig even sampled Butcher's voice and reused it as instrumentation." (Source)

Loveless isn't a set of songs with a couple hits hidden among weaker tracks. Loveless is a unified, cohesive album. Each track communicates with another, and a chronological story is created as opposed to snapshots of sound, emotion, evocation of memory. The transformations of sound from track to track illuminate things within each other--giving the album a rare kind of depth and intelligence.

So download this, and don't do anything else. Just listen. This is one of those albums you'll remember listening to for the first time, at least I do...and one that will stick around forever, encapsulated in its own self-created musical universe.

When I look at you, I don't know what I feel--once in a while.