m b v
My Bloody Valentine
2013
Album Summary
m b v is the third studio album by Anglo-Irish rock band My Bloody Valentine, self-released on 2 February 2013. Produced by the band's vocalist and guitarist Kevin Shields, m b v was the band's first full-length release of original material since Loveless (1991), over two decades earlier. Recording for m b v began prior to My Bloody Valentine's breakup in 1997. Shields resumed recording in 2006 at the time when the band was reunited, with further recording occurring after 2011. The album received critical acclaim and was named among the best albums of 2013 by numerous publications, including Pitchfork, Uncut, and The Wire.
WikipediaA dude testing out all of the guitar effects in a music store AT THE SAME TIME, and insisting that his rather-be-ANYWHERE-else girlfriends sings along.
I found myself continuously asking “is this song done yet?” And it never was. It never was.
You know that feeling in your dreams when you're stuck in mud and you can't seem to get anywhere? That's this. Best Tracks: Only Tomorrow; In Another Way; Nothing Is
Nothing new they did could ever beat Loveless but this is a decent attempt.
I feel like this year I finally get 90s music. This is awesome (though, I do agree it makes a bit more sense in the context of a 1997 release). 3.75
It was like listening at noise rock, shoegaze, electro, indie pop and lofi stuff at the same time. I loved the general feeling that emerges from this record. I will definitely listen to it again.
I like it, second time I listen to it and I will listen to it again. Not sure if I like the noise genre yet...
Gostei bastante porque esse estilo já faz parte do meu repertório. Achei bem diferentão a forma como eles executam as músicas, o que me deixou bastante animada. Gostei.
A follow up album to Loveless was an impossible task. It is so sui generis that it created a subgenre within shoegaze that still reverberates today.
Ethereal music, not horrible, but actually forgot I was listening to it at one point.
My Bloody Valentine? More like My Boring Valentine (got'em). I don't get it - they just drone on and on with the same melodies song in and song out, minimal singing and the parts they do sing it's more like background noise. Not even impressive guitar playing or anything, almost like garage band level of music. 4/10.
At least now I can honestly say that I know why this album was voted off the island. This thing is BRUTAL. I never asked for a shoegaze birthday, but the algorithm dug deep into the discard pile to deliver what's possibly the worst of the genre. Let's stop saying Shoegaze by the way. And Yacht Rock for that matter.
An entirely miserable experience. Droney vocals. Droney sound. Awful. Low hum throughout like the neighbours doing his grass
A detailed dossier of the time my wife and I both shat on a dead body.
my brain today is very well reflected by the sounds that come from this album.
Superb album that gives the lie to the idea that records after long hiatus are never good. This is excellent. Such a lush and glorious sound. It's not quite as good as Loveless, but MBV albums are so rare that doesn't matter. Finishes off with a wonderful cacophony as well.
This is an album I have been dragging my heels on for nearly 10 years. I have no reason to have done so. I love Loveless. I knew MBV hadn’t made an album in a lifetime. I knew this album was getting rave reviews and appearing on year-end best of lists. What was I listening to instead in 2013? Mostly Foster the People, Naked and Famous and Two Door Cinema Club. I should have been listening to this, just vibe out to it in my old basement apartment. My Bloody Valentine I started listening to in my early 20s. I was in my third, maybe fourth year of university and while already a scholar of Britpop, I started digging deeper into some of the other bands that preceded the 90s boom. I loved those Ride albums. I love only Just Like Honey by the Jesus and Mary Chain(I cannot with the rest of their catalogue. I’m likely going to have to face Psychocandy at some point on this list). Even the revivalists Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. But the top is My Bloody Valentine and that album Loveless. I got into MBV most of all because their music weirdly sounded like music from Final Fantasy 7 (also had references with in game billboards) which I had been obsessed with 10 years earlier. I had also seen Lost in Translation during this period of my life and after that how could you not live shoegaze music. MBV (the album) sounds like a companion piece to Loveless. It still has that beautiful noise-pop sound going on and still manages to have catchy songs even though there is nearly always a wall of sound coming at you at all times. The winners here are she found out and only tomorrow. Truly wild that this group makes one of the best albums of all time, make everyone of their contemporaries look like musical morons, their record label drops them because they spent too much money, then come back nearly 20 years later and pitch a perfect game. I listened to this today while I mowed my lawn. I now have to schedule time when I can just lay on the floor, put this on an iPod, completely vibe out and become 24 again
A proper successor to the masterpiece of Loveless that evolves into something that seems both very natural to mbv's style and completely foreign and exciting. We start off with some nostalgic, calming ethereal tracks that seem like outtakes to Loveless. Shoegaze fans will immediately fall in love with the 3 fuzzy openers. "only tomorrow" is the most accessible song on the album, definitely something I'd recommend to someone getting into noise pop. Gives me goosebumps, especially during the solo. I love the whispery vocals that add another layer to the hazy cloud of noise. I also love when the sound appears to go in the wrong direction (your ears can tell it's off) but is swayed back to rhythm intentionally. You can tell they perfected each song... and it turns they did over nearly two decades. The songs are long and dramatic, taking you so many places that when they cut off, it takes you completely by surprise, out of the trance they put you in. The 4th song "is this and yes" takes you in a new direction: a lot cleaner with just two layers of synths, Butcher's grunts, and a very distant drumming pattern. My personal favorite is "if i am", a more hopeful and happier track, reminds me of Cocteau Twins actually. "new you" is another favorite, with the intro giving me goosebumps and putting a smile on my face. I absolutely love that transition at the minute mark from the swirly opener to the clear verse. Another noise-pop masterpiece you just wouldn't hear in their previous works. The last third takes a very dramatic shift into the avant-garde with no forewarning as "in another way" cuts into the music out of nowhere. It's fast-paced and could induce feelings of anxiety, but is still just as controlled and beautiful as the rest of the album. There's something nostalgic about the string-like instrumentals between verses; reminds me of PS2-era soundtracks I think. The next track "nothing is" is the most abrasive: characterized by a seemingly neverending second-long loop of the same drum beats and riffs. Finally, the closer "wonder 2" is another fairly abrasive and anxiety-inducing track, although this one returns to the pop roots of the earlier tracks with the melodic and energetic singing and riffs behind all the chaos, before the vocals fade away and the rambunctious noise completely takes over, slowly and silently dying down to a satisfying conclusion. I've been giving a lot of 5 stars lately, but I can't help but have this one join the club too. I'm a bit indifferent because I'd want to play this album for its warm and soothing feelings, but it strays away from that in the last third, and I'd just have to be careful about playing the whole thing. They're all fantastic songs, even the weird, unsettling "nothing is." But nevertheless, it's an incredible listen that leaves the shoegaze fan satisfied.
01/09/2022 my bloody valentine – m b v 4.5/5 This album genre, shoegaze (or ambient music for metalheads); is the definition of music that grows on you with every listen. It has so many layers that you always discover something new. That is one of the reasons why I don’t think I can review this album probably with only 2 or 3 listenings. But one thing is for sure, I like it quite a lot; and I’m going to listen to it more.
So delighted when I got to the end of a long, stressful day and discovered the album was mbv. I know this album back to back anyway, but always enjoy listening again. So beautiful and warm. It has my fave song on there 'who sees you'. I love how their songs build and build. Its a 5 star
The first album to make me go back and change a rating. That is damn significant.
I expected to hate this but I think I love it. I love the dense sound bed created by the guitars, together with the unrelenting beat. The mysterious, reverby vocals and the surf guitar licks are the perfect icing on top.
The fractured, matured sister to Loveless - while the latter has more tracks that I outright enjoy, something within me says that this LP is better in some holistic way. The disjointed grouping of ideas and sometimes rambling nature of the tracks makes that a hard sell, I know, but even in the more abstract, experimental final third of the album there's a complete sense of artistic freedom and creativity that's rare to experience in situ. The opening three songs are by far the band's best production-wise, and 'who sees you' is perhaps the most primal, evocative collection of sounds I can think of (like a melody ripping itself into existence from the sonic vacuum). The lows may be low, but the highs present a band so completely focused on a creative vision and singular sound that they changed the guitar's instrumental trajectory /again/ for an entirely new generation of listeners.
I really enjoyed this album. "Soundscape album" bucket. Very high distortion, very high reverb, dreamy and dissonant.
Crossing one off the backlog with this listen. Very enjoyable experience, great comeback album that you can easily get lost in. Heavier and more distorted than their earlier efforts, in the best way. The song nothing is was an anomaly - I listened multiple times and just can't wrap my head around it.
This is good… never listened to this before strangely! Defo revisiting!
This is my first time consciously listening to My Bloody Valentine and I have to say I was somehow always convinced that they're an emo band or at best a nu metal band - two styles I have little interest in. I had no idea that this is some sort of weird ambient shoegaze soundscape-rock. That said, I mostly enjoyed having it on. A bit too dissonant for more than one album at a time, but I liked having it on while working.
Really enjoyed this. Was sort of as I expected, given what I have heard in the past from their Loveless album. However, I like the variation here - not all of the songs were full-on guitar drones. The keyboard-led tracks had the same woozy feel and didn’t feel out of place. Makes me want to play Loveless all the way through (not sure I have ever heard it from start to finish) and would definitely play this again.
Mostly instrumental, with sweet, delicate vocals in the background The vocals felt more like an additional instrument to the shoegazey/noisey sound, as oppose to 'leading' the songs. Relaxing album, one you can lay down and listen to in a depressed mood. Also could be used for studying/concentration. I enjoyed it a lot. As someone already familiar with mbv (loveless), this was slightly different, but still high quality. Perhaps someone who's never heard mbv before might not enjoy it the same way? The noisey/drilling/luscious sound has a way of being simultaneously energizing and relaxing.
Haven't listened to this since it was released. Enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. Dense but beautiful
Well this is a very lovely album! I haven't had the pleasure of listening to much MBV in the past and certainly not an entire album. It's probably a good thing because I would not have enjoyed this album a decade ago or appreciated it in the same way. There is a wonderful richness to the sound. I particularly actually enjoyed the guitar-free track, is this and yes, that was so pretty and warming and relaxing. I really dislike the song nothing is though by contrast haha way too repetitive and stressful for my brain it kind of hurts even. Appreciate what other people see in it though. Very nice inventive shoe-gazey music I was happy to be introduced to.
While this could never live up to Loveless after so long, it was a good follow up. Only shame is how short it felt. She Found Now was a reassuring continuation of the Loveless sound with a few tweaks, but it's the tracks that sound different to the previous album that stand out - Who Sees You, If I am, In Another Way and the drum n bass inspired wonder 2 (complete with an aircraft take off, by the sounds of it!) New You sounds like their version of a Bond theme, maybe inspired by the cover of We Have All The Time in the World. This is nearly 10 years old now Kevin, where is LP4?!
my bloody valentine fans when someone whispers into their ear while a power drill is turned on for 40 minutes straight (aka i enjoyed this)
Starts out as a Loveless redux, but four tracks in it moves into different territory. Still noise but lighter, brighter, more energetic. Less smoke, more clouds.
Welp, that's the entire MBV discography only 139 albums in. m b v is better than Isn't Anything but not as good as Loveless. So there it is, the definitive MBV ranking. Shields is still a master of blending dissonance and harmonies (as on 'who sees you'), but a few soothing songs ('is this and yes' and 'if i am') I actually found a bit dull.
It may not have the exquisite otherworldliness that Loveless achieved, but that hazy and drony vibe still slays for me. Equal parts beauty and noise.
4.3 + Definitely a welcome throwback to “Loveless” though not as groundbreaking. Some of the edges are slightly smoother this go-round. Still, it’s an ocean of textures. Listen with good headphones.
A return—did it somehow feel like less than we'd hoped for? Maybe that would always have been the case given they went out on a perfect album. To me it seemed like the band hadn't changed much with this record but the world certainly had.
Great comeback from MBV, with some songs reaching almost as high as some songs on Loveless, like the song "only tomorrow". Most of it is pretty typical MBV shoegaze goodness with immaculate sound and production. 7,6/10
I rated "Loveless" a 3 a couple of months back, so while seeing the next My Bloody Valentine album appear didn't quite make me throw my headphones out of the window, I wasn't especially excited to hear it. Much like Aardman's upcoming "Chicken Run 2: Dawn of the Nugget" (get hyped) "m b v" is a sequel 22 years in the making. Shoegaze's answer to "Smile", it sat in stilted development for many years, with a notorious perfectionist at the helm, anticipation building with every passing year. Now he knew that that all the time he spent on "Loveless" paid off, what the hell would Kevin Shields do next? The very act of its release must have been a landmark moment: Shields' affirmation that it was perfect, and anybody who didn't get it just wasn't ready. It was lapped up by a succession of nostalgic critics who most likely grew up with the original. So it seems the album's success is a product of its mythology. The songs themselves? There's a lot to like, but it is very hit and miss. Three tracks in, as I was pounded by onslaught after onslaught of walls of guitar, whirling tremolo and indecipherable vocals, I was convinced I was sitting through "Loveless" lite. As the album unfolded, I was struck by its greater penchant for variety, its tendency to explore outside of the band's long established sound. Sometimes it works: "is this and yes" is a lush, organ ballad that drifts by delicately and graciously. There are no guitars, and just a funereal tom beat: it's all dream and all pop, sitting right at home alongside new blood like Beach House. "new you" is catchy and accessible, with bouncy fuzz bass, light tremolo effects, and even some wordless "doo doo" vocals. I hate to throw genre names around, but is this My Bloody Valentine leaning into chillwave? Elsewhere, the experimentation doesn't land with me. "nothing is" is just horrendous, a three minute looped drum-fill and one-note riff that made me feel like I'd been eaten by a broken printer. By the end of the album, "wonder 2", the cacophonous buzzing and droning has taken the form of a jet plane engine: together with the frenzied drum and bass influenced beat, it gives the impression that rather than coming in to land, My Bloody Valentine are taking off. They weren't resting on their laurels with this album, and that's surely worth commending. On the whole though, "m b v" is no better than Loveless- perhaps more interesting highs, but also much more challenging lows. By far and away, the middle three songs are my favourite stretch of the album and really hint at another side of the band: mellow, subdued, content. Altogether, the set leaves us wondering where My Bloody Valentine could go next and which direction they might push. We probably only have until 2035 to wait.
There wasn't anything i didn't like, though wonder 2 was a bit strange. For me they miss the mark of actually being interesting... lacking a bit of melody/tone or not varying the intensity. Who sees you is probably the closests, where the normal droning gives way to perks of intensity and then fades away. Nothing in has intensity and a vibe but nothing interesting happens. Overall, a challenging and interesting listen.
It’s shoegazey. But of course it is. It’s also a return to form. One that I didn’t think I’d be into. What I got was something that explores the sonic in such a way that I’d hadn’t though before.
I wasn't sure at the start, but it got really good in the second half. Sadly, I can't say that I don't like My Bloody Valentine anymore, thanks to you...
I can hardly justify whi this album is included in this list when their two previous albums are already featured. It's a good album, but it brings absolutely nothing new to their sound. To me this was a diminishing return and I'm sure there are far more deserving albums that could have been representend in the book instead of this one.
I enjoy MBV but I'm not sure there was a single song that I would say was exceptional on this album.
Meanders - not unexpectedly. Dense sounds, I think I'll need to give it a few more tries.
Decent album. I liked the 3-part concept of the album, which gave it enough variety to keep it interesting. It’s hard to explain what I enjoyed about it since it’s so simple, but somehow it ends up being good. 6/10
I would say the kicker to this modern art picture show of clouds drifting is how deceptively they take you somewhere tangibly different to where they started, but I'm a clod, so I doubt how deceptive the movement was solely dint of the fact that I noticed it. Whatever. It made me feel something decidedly untangible. Which is the point. Delicious.
I have found i just don't love shoegaze music. I appreciate the musicality of it, but it isn't for me.
A bit disappointed that they really haven't changed much since the 90s. Would have been nice to see a greater evolution in their sound
This album was lying underground for more than two decades. Unearthed. Then released. This intimidating wine blew my head into pieces then threw it in a hazy hyperspace. What a freaking punch. Shoegaze is something else.
If I hadn’t been streaming this, during significant portions of it I would have assumed something was wrong with either the media or my equipment. Apparently this was considered some sort of guitar innovation. A lot of juxtaposition of mumbly incomprehensible lyrics and grating noise. Didn’t care for most it if that’s not obvious.
Ça faisait longtemps que Robert nous avait pas glissé un album de Post-Erasmus-Indie. Je voudrais d'ailleurs rappeler que toute personne qui souhaiterait appeler Robert par le surnom rob aura affaire à moi puisque c'est moi rob, même si vous me connaissez davantage sous le nom de robfourmilière.
MBV is a bit difficult for me to listen along to, but I'd ay I liked this. My fave tracks are "in another way," "only tomorrow," and "wonder 2".
great, anachronistic, fuccking long and amazingly a record only 9 years old. If I was a MBV fan back then I would have been very happy with this.
Oli kyllä yllätävän heikko. Toki muutama oikein makea biisi ja sinänsä fiilaan tunnelmaa. 2,5/5 ja annetaan nyt täpärä 3.
Moni kaveri tästäkin bändistä tykkää mutta ei oo kyl koskaan mua se kärpänen purassut. Jotenki vaan liian suhinaa ja debistä. Loppua kohden kyllä paranee jotenkin painostavamman kuuloiseksi. Hmmm... Mitähän tästä olis mieltä oikeestaan. Kyl mä tälle annan sellasen 2,5 pongoo joten kolmeen tää pyöristyy. Heikko kolmonen!
I think Loveless is amazing (hence the 5 I gave it) their early work is good too. Somehow this album just doesn't do that much for me. I didn't love it when it came out and I still don't. It's good music to mope to, but it's hardly a fun listen for me. I honestly don't think it needed to make this list. Overall not a bad album, but not anything I'd deem essential listening.
This album was a 3, I looked up loveless per some reviews and that album is a 4, did some research into the genre shoegaze (indie/alt rock/psychedelic rock blend) and this genre deserves a 5. If you like dream pop and also like the genres I listed above, do some digging it’s worth your time.
solid album, it made me feel really relaxed, almost trancelike. listening while in the shower was like a dream.
Atmospheric in the first half, comes to life in the second half. Not sure it's essential though.
I've liked previous My Bloody Valentine albums but I found this a bit boring.
Is this what they call shoegaze music? Because I did find myself gazing down at my shoes. I noticed that my laces were slightly uneven and fraying a bit at the ends. Also, the tops of my shoes were starting to look a bit faded and scuffed up in a couple of places. Still comfortable and taking me where I want to go though. As far as the music goes, it's okay. I don't mind it, but I don't really love it either. It all sort of washes over you and sounds the same in the end. Strangely, I was listening to the album while I was driving through a thick fog to Wendy's for a breakfast sandwich, and that seemed fitting for the music. 3 stars.
was excited to hear this, unfortunately it's nothing special. Sounds unfinished in parts, as the mix goes in and out. Shame, I really try to like MBV as Kevin Shields is such a good dude, but they always disappoint me somewhat
Un peu monocorde pour mes goûts, par contre je reconnais la qualité des pièces. Je suis contente d'avoir essayé ce groupe et je compte me familiariser davantage pour l'apprécier encore plus.