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m b v by My Bloody Valentine

m b v

My Bloody Valentine

2013
2.73
Rating
21340
Votes
1
16%
2
28%
3
30%
4
19%
5
7%
Distribution
Genres: Rock Styles: Indie Rock, Shoegaze, Alternative Rock, Dream Pop

Reviews (page 2 of 8)

Unexpectedly fantastic. Easier on the ears than their classic too.

Kevin's perfectionism has deprived us of who knows how much good work, or, be thankful that he released anything at all.

No Loveless, but still that wonderful warm, sad, fuzzy blanket of an album

What do you do if you release an album that is so lauded and beloved that is defines an entire, ever more sprawling genre of music and, even moreso, redefines the sonic landscape of an entire generation of music? If you're My Bloody Valentine, you don't rush. You bide your time and return two decades later with a work that is equally as gorgeous, lush and dense. One that, while it may lack the certain innefable perfection of it's predecessor, is still a richly satisfying, thrilling and cathartic listen. What makes this such a triumph though, is just when you think you are in for Loveless 2, the band have the sense and guts to zag, offering new frontiers to their seemingly horizon-less soundscapes.

The peak of western civilisation

I promise the wall of sound won’t hurt you if you let it engulf you.

It’s got a heartbeat it builds it releases. The wall of sound is well employed the vocals wistfully faint. Love this

Modern classic by the masters of their craft.

Loved this — shoegaze is my bread and butter Playlist add: "who sees you"

A difficult album that richly rewards those who are up to the challenge.

This is strange, it's weird, it's unexpected, it doesn't make any sense, but I completely get it. It's really different, it's an experience for sure, and we're along for the ride, or something like that. I expect a lot of people not to like this very much, and maybe I'm just in a strange mood today or something, but for me - on this day - this album totally rips. 4.7/5

90’s classic

noise but different but same but good noise the whole way through

Comparado com o Loveless, eu consigo entender pq alguns fãs se sentiram decepcionados com esse álbum, especialmente depois de toda a espera. Porém sua orientação mais rítmica é muito interessante, e continua alguns dos temas que já estavam presentes anteriormente, ainda que subsumidos.

I've never noticed before that the album cover somehow appears 3D on my phone screen, which is exactly how this album sounds

Loved it

я обожаю my bloody valentine и на этом все

Pretty good a bit repetitive towards the end

Loveless is one of my favourite albums, but this one is just great as well.

People waited over 20 years for this and wow it actually doesn't disappoint. Very cool sound that I can actually picture clearly in my mind

Hearing this for the first time upon release was like slipping into an old, warm coat. All of the classic MBV touchstones are here without the band drifting into self-parody like a few reunited acts.

Sonically, this is right up my alley. Great stuff. 4.75/5 Top 5: she found now, only tomorrow, who sees you, if i am, and new you no bad songs

I guess I’ve learned that I really like whatever this style is. The fuzzy noise is immersive and enveloping. It’s rich and textured and layered but it also washes right over you. Listened to this album for the first time driving to work in the cold while the sun slowly came up - it was beautiful.

Спасибо за возрождение большого шугейза в 21-ом веке. Лучшая песня - in another way.

After a long break, My Bloody Valentine expands their shoegaze sound. 5/5

Great!

Listen, if you don't find this riveting then I'm certainly not going to argue with you - Kevin Shields is an acquired taste and plenty of people don't acquire it and that's fine. But, speaking as a *Loveless* devotee for multiple decades, I could spend the rest of forever listening to Shields look for himself in the wreckage of his former self. Whether it's the haunting rhythmic figures on "she found now," or picking up right where *Loveless* left off on "who sees you," or using the church organ as an instrument of anticipation rather than bombast on "is this and yes," or the erstwhile Britpop throughout (I hear *13*-era Blur in there, which is a very good thing), Shields (and his bandmates!) are never less than intriguing. I don't know if I can adequately explain why this album matters so much. It feels like the indie-kid equivalent of Syd Barrett turning up for the *Wish You Were Here* sessions as if nothing had happened, only this time, rather than being a husk of himself he's actually ready to play. Standout track is "in another way," which scans like Shields' "The Private Psychedelic Reel" - all groovy and slinky before it mutates into something just plain gorgeous around the 2-minute mark.

Love MBV. Great album.

One of my favorite albums of all time.

Perfect, no notes. Just a perfect band that made two perfect records.

Where Loveless is considered peak shoegazing, My Bloody Valentine seamlessly picks up where the left off after a 22 year hiatus with MBV and even evoles from shoegaze to what shoegaze can be while including more drum and bass, and industrial repetition.

This album serves a long-awaited continuation of My Bloody Valentine's classic sound. It's melodic, dense, layered and textural, but also slightly more aggressive and disjointed than the continuously flowing dreamscape of loveless. Slight differences aside they really don't reinvent the wheel here, it's more like "here's the wheel you already know and love, with some bits and pieces added". And to that I say thank you.

In a culture consumed by the nostalgic need to regurgitate past successes, we are increasingly fortunate to have had (hopefully still have) a band like My Bloody Valentine that both sounds like none other and is resolutely uninterested in recycling sounds from 20+ years ago.

This is modern classical.

This is definitely an album that I truly love. When you play it, it feels like it’s divided into three sections. The first part is more in line with Loveless, with its swirling, dreamlike guitars. The middle section leans more into the melodic, ambient, and introspective side of shoegaze. The last third of the album shifts into a more experimental sound, with heavier electronic elements and beats that almost have a breakbeat feel. What’s nice about this album is that MBV stayed true to their signature sound while also pushing into new territory. It’s one of those albums that gets better and more rewarding the more you listen to it.

First listen, loved that. Cross between the Cocteau Twins and the Jesus and Mary Chain.

I love My Bloody Valentine. Helped me get into shoegaze. This album wasn’t as good as their second, but it does its own thing. More dreamy, less intense overall. Loved it. Standouts: everything but and this and yes and nothing is.

OMG, THIS IS MY FAVORITE MY BLOODY VALENTINE'S ALBUM. The soft noise and sound wall give you the feeling of being pulled away from everything and drifting in the beautiful blueness. Sometimes, I love it more than Loveless. This is so beautifully and perfectly done, so admirable I'm speechless. A completely unarguable 5/5 album here because, damn, this is one of my all-time favourites.

Awesome

Precioso.

When this turned up I was skeptical on a My Bloody Valentine reinvention but it turned out to be very lovely, dark and moody - got to listen to it on runs on Welsh Coastal woodland runs and it was very apt. Its a record’s record - meant to be heard it it’s entirety to fully appreciate - and it presents a full evocative journey.

cool ranch 😍

really really awesome. not many individual tracks but as a complete listen just love

Заебись.

not my favorite my bloody valentine album, but that doesnt mean it isnt almost perfect as well. loveless is probably my favorite album ever, and this doesnt live up to it, but shoegaze is still shoegaze at the end of the day and this is a shining example of the genre

It took 22 years for Kevin Shields to record a follow-up to *Loveless*, a pivotal and timeless record for every noisy shoegaze fans out there... So you can bet your boots expectations were sky-high when *mbv* was released. And yet the latter delivered, even exceeding expectations on key moments. No dud, all killer no filler. Many cuts (the dreamy "she found now" and "only tomorrow", catchy banger "new you", the rhymically and harmonically hectic "in another way"...) would have fitted right into *Loveless*'s tracklist, actually. For any other "legacy" band, this would mean that you're just stuck in the past, yet My Bloody Valentine's magnum opus was so groundbreaking and influential that the usual rules about treading old ground can't apply here. There is indeed a melancholic, chiaruscoro poetry to the Irish band's sound that makes it stand out compared to all its followers. And there's also a manic, obsessive attraction to layers and depth that belies its apprent droney surface. This album even ups the noise-rock ante with its challenging last two cuts "nothing is" and "wonder 2", where guitar tones wince, wail, drill, tremble and enchant, helped by the ever-eerie vocals of Bilinda Butcher. Punishing for folks not attuned to off-kilter rock music (a sad majority?), but pitch-perfect for everyone else. 5/5. Number of albums left to review: less that 150. Numbers of albums I'll keep in my list: half approximately (including this one) Numbers of albums I might keep: a quarter, approximately. Numbers of albums I won't keep: another quarter.

wonderful, an album i have been looking forward to hearing since the start - and especially since i had their debut a few months ago. flawless, and with the option to fully immerse yourself or have it as (interesting and absorbing) background music. try both!

Love this one. It’s got a vibe that’s good for driving and for sitting back and smoking a j with friends.

Sure it can't really compete with 'Loveless' but what can. Nobody does it like My Bloody Valentine does, so even if this isn't their best, the deafening wall of sound that masks those sweet pop songs hiding underneath is still worth a 5 to me. Over the course of this album i found myself increasing the volume steadily throughout, until I finished it at about twice the volume I started it on.

Love this! Soft, whispering, pretty, melodic vocals backed by layers of fuzzy distortion and trance-like rhythms. A sweet spot of aggressive rock and alternative noise, which MBV influenced and perfected!

Amazing rainy day album, sounds so familiar tho I’ve never heard of them. Rock/indie vibes. Something unsettling, yet so comforting that’s created in this album. Lots of dissonance which you don’t get to hear much and is also very hard to do properly. It’s the stuff that tickles your brain in all the right wrong-ways. I think I like it extra cause I love sci-fi movies and a lot of the great ones from recently feature music similar to this. Type of dystopian feel

Mmm cozy warm musical blanket.

mbv! I’m a fan and always have been. This record could have been a huge risk as Loveless was a milestone record for the band and the genre. The wait certainly paid off and this album, while just shy of the greatness of Loveless, is excellent.

Two decades to make this album and it's pretty great. Hope we get another before 2033.

wow so atmospheric

To me this is still the "new" MBV album that I had not got around to listen to, but then I discovered it is already eleven years old. In any case, I listened to it today multiple times. It is excellent and contains both accessible and less accessible songs (towards the end). I liked all of them, and this is a 5* album. To compare: the previous two MBV albums are 10/10 (made more impact and have a bit stronger songs) whereas I would give this one 9/10.

So so so good

Un incontournable du shoegaze période 5eme république. Un bruit d’aspirateur en fin de vie pour certains, le cri d’une armée de angsty teenagers pour d’autres.

The shoegaze GOATs. Honestly this album may even beat out Loveless for me. I can’t believe it really happened still.

a worthy successor to loveless here’s hoping it’s not another 20 year wait for another mbv album

This album is like a long weekend with nothing to do but by Saturday morning, you've gotten lost in something completely gluttonous and consuming and just give in. This is yours, you keep it all to yourself and quietly decide this is how you're going to spend the next three days ... getting lost in the drone-y feedback and static abyss.

10/10 wow, MBVs discography is so good I guess all I have left to hear is Isn’t Anything

I love the ethereal fuzz of MY Bloody Valentine so much. This is my 3rd album of theirs on this list, and they absolutely grow in my estimation each and every time. This rating is really for the band overall, I'm not sure if this individual album is truly their best. I'll need to revisit it over the rest of my life!

There is no mistaking a mbv record

Gr8 innit

Imagine putting out a literal masterpiece and then having the task of creating something to come after it. Now, m b v is no loveless, but it’s still really fucking good and definitely holds its own! Love it.

Mbv I had them mixed up with My Chemical Romance- so I was really surprised. Was not expecting noisey, textural art rock. Probably the best of this kind of stuff we’ve had so far. I love the super saturated fuzzed out sound on the first few tunes. After a while I kind of need a break dynamically or texturally. Some of this is pretty challenging like the repetitive broken record thing that happens. Cool to have a repetitive trance inducing thing but still pretty challenging. I like the 2nd half of the album and cool how the sound changes throughout kept surprising me. Last song I think “Wonder 2” was my favorite. Something about the busy drums with the swelly guitars reminded me of tales of topographic oceans. Pretty crazy how it was recorded over 13 years. Kind of interesting how it can sound drastically different and consistent at same time. tough one to rate. Some of it is so great but also challenging enough that I probably won’t always want to listen throughout. 5

Loved this!! Really dig the sludgy fuzzed out vibe, fav song was who sees you. Def gonna keep this on rotation and check out more of their stuff

I feel like I’m gonna be in the minority here but I loved this album. Only tomorrow especially at the end was great. Love all the percussion in who sees you. Nothing is could be edited down but that’s my only complaint. I would listen to this album over and over again and feel like I would like new things.

Surpreendente a beleza sonora desse álbum. Realmente entregaram uma experiência auditiva carregada de camadas sonoras e principalmente pelas guitarras distorcidas.

Letting this wash over me like a wave of fuzzy distorted endorphins. Fantastic stuff. (Loveless is even better).

i hadn't given this album a real shot before this - i kinda thought it would be mediocre, but it was pretty damn good. not on the level of loveless of course but still great. it's kinda difficult for me to rate shoegaze albums because as long as the album is good I kind just sink into the feeling but I think a five is in order.

Didn't know this was on the list! I mostly consider this a slightly different and slightly less good album than Loveless. I'd guess I listen to Loveless 10-15 times for every listen of m b v on average? That said... I always feel surprised by this one when I listen to it. I do feel it holds up better than Isn't Anything. Better than Ride - Nowhere for sure. Less good than Slowdive - Slowdive if we're talking shoegaze reunion albums. Certainly less good than Slowdive - Souvlaki. So once again I find myself comparing an album to some of my favorites of all time, deciding whether it's a 4 or a 5. ...And it's definitely a 5. I guess it's more like a 4.5 rounded up, but... No way I'm giving this the same rating as Nowhere lol. It's shoegaze, the production is fucking wild and beautiful... Doesn't hurt I saw them live on this tour. I love it. How about a 4.85? That feels right.

It’s like the Platonic ideal of an MBV album without being cartoonish or self-caricature.

Any follow-up to the flawless Loveless was going to be a daunting effort with impossible expectations. That the follow-up took 20+ years only adds to those expectations. Despite all of that m b v landed as a great third record from My Bloody Valentine. It has everything you'd expect from the band. It doesn't ascend to the impossible heights of Loveless but it's still a phenomenal album and a great companion listen to their previous masterpiece.

I have only ever heard 'when you sleep' from 'loveless' before. I love that song so I'm expecting good things. The first song clearly demonstrates that this album is still shoegaze, like 'loveless' 22 years before. However, the more I listen, it sounds like it was influenced by... pop. Specifically electropop, with loops. Not what I was expecting on the second half, from 'if i [sic] am' until the end. In fact, 'nothing is' is a rave track and no-one can tell me otherwise. I can understand the lead singer better on this album, which is positive. I'm thinking an 8 or a 9 out of 10. 'new you' was probably my favourite, but none, including that one, really stood out. Nevertheless, I loved the overall cohesive sound so I'll give it a 9/10. I will listen again.

Hypnotizing and fascinating. Similar to one of my favorite bands, Slowdive and 4AD label groups. Real find.

I had heard the name of the band but never heard their music, which is unlike anything else I’ve heard. I looked up all the lyrics on genius.com, and the only comment on any of the songs could have been a comment on all the songs — every line is “wonderfully cryptic.”

Such a large shadow was cast on My Bloody Valentine in the years following Loveless that it became all the more plausible that no new music would ever come from them again. Now that m b v has past its ten year threshold, it can be safely said that, no matter how close we may appear to be, the large shadow appears to be in the shape of this album than the one that preceded them. For m b v is not just a continuation of what Loveless achieved, it is also a markedly decisive evolution of their sound, incorporating spacy ambiance, sudden stops and instrumental passages that pulverize and leaves one asking for more. For an album whose anticipation was greater than expected, the wait was rather worth it.

Oneirically unhinged! Love the otherness of this, the changes in pitch and tempo that you make you think either the music is fucked, or your head is. Pretty sure I saw them on the tour promoting this album, and I think it was maybe the single loudest gig I've ever been to - louder than any metal band I've seen. Just an ego-obliterating wash of vibration. 🤘 Fave track - "New You", but this is an album album.

My Bloody Valentine took over two decades to follow their masterpiece, 'Loveless.' It was well worth it. m b v treads familiar ground, but infuses it with a thoughtfulness and more adept touch. The electronic elements are well placed among the drones and noise, and the androgynous vocals flit in and out throughout the music. m b v may not be as groundbreaking as Loveless, but it is still incredibly beautiful and a worthy addition to the discography.

I adore this band so much you have no idea

I am not super familiar with MBV but when I think of them, I think of soft grunge which is probably not too far off. But with this project, it seemed a lot more trance and electronic. I really liked how those two sounds blend together on this record. Not a single skip for me, perfect atmosphere to chill and do some work with. I seriously kept coming back to this, officially a mbv FAN

I wasn't sure how much I would like this album at first but I think by the time it got to who sees you I really got into it. It's best to not think too much and just crank the volume, sit back and chill. The final song is fantastic and it gets so pleasantly loud. I listened to it a 2nd time right after. Score: 90 Art: 60

So great. What a comeback

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.

I really enjoyed this album. "Soundscape album" bucket. Very high distortion, very high reverb, dreamy and dissonant.

Nice change of pace

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.

good but not my style

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

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

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.

my brain today is very well reflected by the sounds that come from this album.

they're faves

Not quite up to the level of Loveless, but not too far off either. Overall very engaging shoegaze record by the best to ever do it.

This one has to grow on you. Super mellow, super distorted instruments. Super repetitive. Super mopey. But as it played, I began to conform to it. It pulled me into it's hypnotic gaze. When it was done, there was silence, and I think I missed the noise.

I’ve always really liked this album, I remember being very excited for it when it came out and pre-ordering the vinyl! Still like it!

J'ai bien aimé.

Surporenant.. immerssif

It might not reach the highs of Loveless, or add a lot to the shoegaze genre, but it's a strong album. Light 8/10

Eu gostei bastante da experiência de escutar esse álbum. É um rock alternativo denso, que te puxa para clima soturno do álbum. Instrumentais muito bem executados. TRN Medusa.

Plater skal ikke være så bra som dette etter en lengre turbulent tørkeperiode. Høres ut som både gammel MBV og et naturlig neste steg videre. Sterk 4'er.

157. m b v - My Bloody Valentine (2013) 7.29.26 Variety: 5 Adequacy: 5 Listenability: 3 Uniqueness: 5 Emotionality: 2 = 4.0 "Something comes and pins me to the sky to come" This is an album I've avoided since it came out. I really like Isn't Anything, which we had not too long ago on the list and - spoilers - and Loveless is one of my all-time favorites. We skipped right over Loveless though in the order and went right to this one. It came out SO long after loveless that I think I just assumed it must be awful, or at the very least disappointing. The first strike against it is that it's following an all-time classic that has been built up and mythologized by critics and fans that anything that followed would have to suffer by comparison. And maybe that's why it took so long. That kind of pressure must be pretty insane, unless you're like the Beatles or the Stones maybe. Supposedly this thing was started in 1996 and not finished until 2013 or so. Not a great journey. Then on top of that, by the time it was released the band might as well be a legacy band the likes of Devo, the Cars, the Stooges, or any number of older acts who decided to try and reclaim some past glory with releases made decades after their last. Some of these have proved decent enough, if not especially thrilling ( the Cars and Devo both turned out a couple of very solid singles that hearkened back to their classic sounds), while most felt like something was lost. The Cure fared a little better, having a huge gap between albums, but having also still stayed relevant with touring, and Depeche Mode maybe being one of the few to figure out how to navigate the 21st Century by having not amazing, but still interesting material come out at a slower, but still regular pace. I'm hoping for the best on this one ( maybe they can show some evolution and be at least at 50% power like a Depeche Mode), but expecting the worse ( a sad, zombie version of the act, recognizable but irrelevant and somewhat embarrassing like the Stooges). Fingers crossed... THE TRACKS "She Found Now" - If you were anxious at all about this album, like I was, I can say this first track will allow you to unclench your buttholes, at least a bit. It's VERY much a continuation of the same sound as Loveless. Maybe a little less bright and spacey. The almost droning, fuzzed out helicopter blade strumming on this carries throughout the track with the whispering, echoey and indecipherable lyrics calmly guiding us into familiar territory. A ringing tremolo guitar line dances around over top, still showing vestiges of that spacey dream pop feel, and occasionally things drop down before rising up even higher again, but for the most part this stays steady and on target, easing us in. Things rise at the end for an epic finale that closes on a single, sustained pitch wobbled note. "Only Tomorrow" - This one fades in like it's already been playing for some time, and feels like a bit of a change up with a more poppy structure visible underneath all the effects. Definitely still in the noisy dream pop arena, but with maybe a bit more of a nod to modern indie pop sensibilities as we get some still distorted and crunchy, but recognizably standard rock playing underneath, with some relatively clean sounding ( possibly looped) drums. As an added touch there seems to be some electronic swooping noises added in. All the playing underneath the distortion sounds like it could have come off of a Yo Al Tengo album from the late 90s. "Who Sees You" - The cleaner drums stay around, and we get a warbled, processed guitar line that seemingly stumbles in and out of tune while the vocals seem even more buried than normal. This one was not as successful for me, feeling less like an attempt at ethereal beauty that I have come to expect, and instead a try at a more abrasive and decidedly unmelodic sound. It almost plays like an older song that got eaten up by the cassette player in real time. Interesting, but didn't entirely land for me, despite a few nice vocal bits. This is more like what I imagine the effect of the stuff I love from these guys has on people who bounce off of the band's whole vibe. Though I did really like the abrupt end. "Is This and Yes" - Ooh, now this is different. Churchy synth organs over a pulsing , watery beat. Very unexpected swing not even half way in. The full on electronic sound, along with the hummed "aahhhhs" and "ooooohs" make this feel much closer to something Stereolab would have put out, but splitting the difference with less of that kind of kitchen sink approach to window dressing, and maintaining a solid drone feel throughout. It's like the band travelled to an alternate universe and recorded a track from their counterparts who had never heard of guitars. have to say I dug this out of left field entry quite a bit. "If I Am" - Dang. Leaning into those vibes again here, but adding in some clean guitar work on top. It's like with each track, teh band is prepping us for the next one. At least in chunks. Again the drum loops and the spacey Stereolabbbish touches are throwing me off, but in a good way. That hypnotic lounge-inspired feel is very strong here. "New You" - Excuse me a moment while I apply a neck brace form the injuries sustained by the opening of this track. Say what now? This sounds like for all the world like a basic as hell bare bones mid 90s indie rocker. Like what if Cocteau Twins had made a run for a spot on mainstream pop radio. Like, it's not that, but it leans as much in that direction as it can. The big tells this is still MBV are the vocals and the repeating tremolo guitar. If the first three tracks were the band easing us into this new reality by offering a bit of familiarity these last three have been them saying "ok - now that we have you on board, we want to try a few things. Please be patient with us." I can't say I necessarily loved this on first listen, as it was SO different than what I expected, but it grew on me. This is both pleasantly surprising, and a bit worrying. Are they going to try and combine these two approaches on the remaining tracks ( that seems the most obvious thing to do). "In Another Way" - Drum and bass elements mixed with distorted, somewhat menacing guitars and ethereal vocals. This is reminding me a LOT of some Sonic Youth stuff, especially "Bull in the Heather" off of Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star. Less dream pop, and more confrontational, angry guitar playing here. Not exactly the mix I was expecting coming off that middle section of songs, but I like it nonetheless. "Nothing Is" - An almost industrial surf beat starts us off here, with the grinding crunchy guitar riff repeating over top that almost sounds like a train chugging along. Imagine if you excised a 3 second bit of a Keith Moon drum solo and looped it with some processed noise for flavor and stretched it out over 3:34, then ended with a VERY brief machine blast on a snare. That was crazy. "Wonder 2" - We've now travelled far away from the band's initial sound, and entered into some sort of weird realm where ADHD techno beats co-exist with arty noise collages while traces of the shoegazy dream pop are just barely present underneath it all, only recognizable in the vocals and the swishing guitar that barely makes itself known. The effect is almost like travelling along an expressway at 100 mph with the windows rolled down in an ambulance that is passing by an endless row of concrete barriers that create a pulsing, deafening doppler effect. Then at the very end these noises all blend as the ambulance grows wings and you take off to the sound of a jet engine. What did I just hear? Not any sort of pleasantly enjoyable music to be sure, but interesting as fuck, and not entirely unpleasant either. HIGHLIGHTS - "She Found Now" - "Only Tomorrow" - "Is This and Yes" - "If I Am" - "New You" - "In Another Way" - "Nothing Is" MIDLIGHTS - "Who Sees You" - "Wonder 2" LOWLIGHTS - FINAL THOUGHTS Wow. I have to say this album kind of subverted most of my expectations, and in a very good way. Part of me was hoping for and expecting a safe, nostalgically pleasant rehash. Loveless part II. But instead of that we got what sounded like to my ears, the evolution of a band over 20 plus years compacted into one small package. This makes complete sense in retrospect, considering how prolonged the journey was of assembling this thing, but I would not have expected it to play out so literally. I was more expecting to be making a lot more references to the Jesus and Mary Chain as we had just listened to them, and they seem like a primary influence on MBV. There were a ton of surprises on here, most especially "Nothing Is" which was SO off the wall that I literally had to stop a few seconds in and reorient myself. And yet it still somehow made sense and felt like the same band. I absolutely loved that the band was willing to just go for it and not give us warmed over Loveless outtakes. This is not my favorite by them, not even close, but it's very, very good still, and given some re-listens might scoot up there with Isn't Anything eventually. PLAYLIST ALTERATIONS - nah FURTHER LISTENING - Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star. by Sonic Youth - Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements by Stereolab - Long Season by Fishmans - Feedbacker by Boris

Essential

No, it’s not Loveless pt. 2. But it never was going to be, and follow-ups almost 25 years later than the previous album need to be judged alone. m b v is abrasive, challenging, loud, and beautiful. Not for everyone, but it cemented their status as the shoegaze GOATs.

pretty bloody good, nice bit of shoegazy stuff terrible name though

another one that I reckon would be a 5 after a few listens.

Good shoegsze

I'm assuming Loveless will be coming at some point if the reunion album made it.

It’s no loveless, but still pushing great.

good shoegaze

Not loveless. But nothing is.

I'm not genrephobic and I showed that on all of my reviews but these my bloody valentine reviews really throw me off this is by far the least experimental mbv album for those who that hate them but still there are a lot of people calling this guitar noises and the stupidest review that I've seen on here are those who that critised the vocals in shoegaze vocals are treated as an instrument. listen I don't know what you guys want from a noise pop album if you hate this you clearly hate the whole genre so this is not a 1 star album it is well deserved to be in this list

Ime poznam, muske ne. (Kar mi je fakin neverjetno - poznam band, miljon let, ampak sm zarad imena, foolishly, sklepala, da so nek á la MCR band, kar pa men takrat ni potegnil sploh & zarad tega nism nikol šla karkoli poslušat - TIL, da je v bistvu shoegaze. In starejši band, kot sm mislila. Kako da fak mi je uspelo te podatke nekako zgrešit?!) Anyway, I like it. Vajb je konsistenten. (O, waw. Sramota. Bullet for My Valentine je band, ki obstaja. Pomojem sm cel lajf mislila, da sta tedva band en in isti band & pač, ne dojela, da sta drugi imeni. Ufff.) "In Another Way" mi je najljubši. "Nothing Is" je insane.

high 4 good this, great sound

Loved “nothing is”

Вроде неплохо. Надо обязательно вернуться к ним

I like Loveless a lot. Female vocalist: excellent Good guitar work Only tomorrow: good song Music creates a good atmosphere. Great album: four stars

maybe you fucks would like this if you listened to it with headphones

Immaculate, forward thinking production, just not the same strength of songs as Loveless. When it goes right it is amazing.

What a strange album. At times sounding like rising shepherds tone, others sounding like pure groovy pop distillate, this album challenges and envelops. The noise and intentionality is unlike many of its contemporaries, and the mood set is one of a kind.

It’s obviously no Loveless and it probably shouldn’t be here, but I’m a sucker for that MBV formula.

felt like a dream

I woke up this morning. Pulled on a random tshirt. A blue one with the initials mbv written on it. Then the aggregator randomiser generator thing chose an album chose an album with a blue cover and the letters mbv on the cover. The forces of synchronicity have turned me into a full kit wanker. I’m not sure why this is on the list. But the fact that it is gives me the chance to dig it out possibly for the first time since its release year. The thing is. You know how it goes I get a craving to hear My Bloody Valentine I go to the Shoegaze section of my collection, find the bit where the m’s are about to turn into the n’s and I pull out Isn’t Anything or Loveless or The Glider ep or Tremelo but not this. Listening again it’s a perfectly enjoyable listen but if you want a triumphant 2010’s Shoegaze return you’re better listening to Slowdive. If this was mbv’s tenth album of the millennium then I think we’d be saying they’ve still got it but we waited so long it feels like more of a letdown. The embarrassing thing is I’ve worn the t shirt all day, found the album on my shelf, listened to it, read the wiki, wrote my review and it’s only at bedtime that I realise that I’m wearing the t-shirt of the selected album. That’s Shoegaze for ya!

OK, so I have completely mistaken My Bloody Valentine and because of this mistake, I have been avoiding listening to them for years. I thought that they were a 2000's metal band like "Bring Me The Horizon". And although I have a place for that type of roaring vocal, metal band. Its not my favourite. Much to my surprise "m b v" is an experimental rock album. Full of noise, distortion and a dream like quality that makes some songs have an ethereal feel. And other tracks feel a little psychedelic. It is quite intense in places like the repetitive "nothing is" but I get what they are doing here. I am impressed and this has reaffirmed to me why I have decided to take this musical journey. (3.900)

m b v by my bloody valentine was actually pretty good. I went into it expecting it to kinda drag on but I liked it. I’m a bit undecided on whether it’s a 4 or 5 start album but I certainly enjoyed it. Top songs: she found now, only tomorrow, is this and yes, if i am, in another way, nothing is

Loveless is a masterpiece and after waiting 21 years for the follow up not disappointed at all. Not the first time listening to this album and might be bias but it holds a special place in my heart. Not as moody, noisy or textured but has a chill spring/summertime vibe going on

Anything recorded by MBV is going to be compared to "Loveless," given the heft that record has in the genre. "m b v" is more accessible, weirder (somehow), and just as satisfying. There is a diversity of sound here that I wasn't expecting. After defining their sound so narrowly, this album stretches out a bit and is all the better for it. Another album new to me that will start going on the rotation. FOUR STARS

I'm mixed on this one. Generally I really liked the music, but buying stood out for me. I think this would've been my jam if I was in the right headspace for it.

shoegaze gets too much hate on this site yall gotta train your ears

My Bloody Valentine, it’s not just a weird slasher film about coal mining, folks. We’re about to enter the world of shoegaze and noise pop, a couple of genres that frighten me. What’s interesting about this album is that recording began in 1997, and then the band broke up. The band then reunited in 2011, finished the album, and released it in 2013. This is the band's third album and their first album since 1991. That’s wild. Not that the band broke up, then reunited and recorded an album. No, the wild part is that the album is regarded as one of, if not the, best they ever recorded. How many great albums were released after a 20-year breakup? Hell, how many great albums were released 20 years into a career? I assume not many. So, let’s see if m b v rises to the level of must-listen. There are nine tracks, and the album is 46 minutes long. We’re off to a good start. Track 1 is She Found Now. Hmmm, the music starts as noise, but it is pleasant-sounding, I guess. That must be noise pop. It’s just a wall of guitar distortion with one kind of plucking in the background. There are very soft vocals. Kevin Shields is the vocalist and guitar player. The vocals are almost so soft you can't even really make them out. It sounds like the song is getting louder as it goes on. The guitars are starting to be more musical. It’s almost like Shields is whispering the song. It reminds me of what Tool does sometimes with the vocals of Maynard James Keenan, especially in the song 46 & 2. You can just barely hear him singing in parts of the song. I can’t say I don’t like this. It’s not totally unenjoyable, but I can’t imagine a whole album of this. The song ends with one big wave of distortion. Track 2 is Only Tomorrow, and it starts more like a song. It reminds me of a band, a 90s band, but I can’t make my brain think of the band's name. It’s going to drive me crazy. I do like this song. It’s definitely more musical, but it’s still a lot of guitar distortion. The vocals are a little louder, but not much. Again, the song isn’t unpleasant. It’s just weird. Ooooh, the guitars are really getting loud and fuzzy. I wish I were more musically inclined. Then I could tell you exactly what I’m hearing. But I’ll say the song has a brighter sound, and it’s definitely a fun sound. I really like this song. It’s a bit melancholy, but I’ve never really heard anything like it, so it makes me happy. I can see how someone would think it’s noise, but it’s how the noise is arranged. I can see just putting this on and just zoning out. I loved this song. It’s unlike anything I’ve heard in a long time. So, shoegaze is a subgenre of indie rock that features, according to our good friend Wikipedia, “ethereal soundscapes, obscured vocals and extensive use of guitar effects and distortion.” The genre is rooted in Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound and the production of the Velvet Underground. Yes, the Cocteau Twins are shoegaze. I listened to their album Heaven or Las Vegas. I liked it, but I remember them being more pop than noise. I think they were even a subgenre of shoegaze and noise pop. They were dream pop and an even more ethereal kind of music. Track 3 is Who Sees You, and it starts with more distortion and sounds out of tune….Wait a minute! I just realized at this moment that I earlier listened to MBV’s first album, Isn’t Anything. What reminded me? Track 3 has that weird “glide guitar” sound that Shields invented. The note played starts in tune, then he uses the whammy bar, or tremolo, to take the note out of tune before bringing it back in tune at the end. Shields' thinking was that the brain isn’t quick enough to pay attention to the out of tunesness before it’s back in tune. Or something like that. I focus just on the out-of-tuneness mostly. Turns out I hated MBV’s debut album, and I think it was because most of it was out of tune. I’m going back to track three, which is wildly out of tune in places. The guitar sounds kind of like how a chainsaw's “tune” changes when it's sawing something. However, I think maybe Shields has perfected it, because I actually find it pretty cool in this song. It sounds beautiful, really. The vocals again are buried deep in the mix, and it’s all about the distortion. Interesting. I’m in awe. Maybe it’s my headspace right now, but I’m digging just listening. Not thinking, just letting the distortion wash over me. Track 4 is Is This and Yes. Now this is different. The song starts with synths and what sounds like robots. I’m sure there have been synths and keyboards used throughout the first three songs, but they are out and in the open on this track. Now this is dream pop. Added to the keyboards is now a chorus of female singers just singing whole notes. Hmmm, that’s all it was. Just a nice break from distortion. Track 5 is If I am and it starts with a good drumbeat, and then it sounds like track 4’s music, but with distortion added. The same female chorus is now singing vocals. This song has guitars, which track 4 didn’t. One thing about this album compared to MBV’s debut is that the music seems to be more musical. I can hear songs in these songs, whereas in some of the songs from Is This Anything? I couldn’t hear songs. It was just noise. Track 6 is New You, and wow! This really does sound like a real song. This sounds like a pop song from 1998, but a new wave song from 1985. The vocals again are sung by women, I assume they are Debbie Googe and Blinda Butcher, as they are in the band. The song really isn’t much, but there are little things that happen that add up to being really cool. I know that doesn’t sound like anything, but this album is hard to describe. I have no idea why I’m liking it as much as I do. Is it as simple as saying I like the chords the band’s playing? The keyboards in the background of the song remind me of Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing in the Dark. The guitars remind me of the Smiths’ song How Soon Is Now. With all that being said, New You is a really poppy song, and I bet it could have been a hit in 1985 or 1998. Track 7 is In Another Way. It starts rather chaotically with drums and guitar distortion before morphing into something resembling a song. The women are on lead vocals again. The vocals give the song its popness. Oh, there’s a point about midway through the song where all the instruments combined sound kind of like bagpipes. I love the sound of the guitar in that part of the song. The verses of the song make you appreciate and love the part of the song where the bagpipe-sounding music comes in. I love this song, or at least half of it. Track 8 is Nothing Is. The song begins with hard-charging drums and the guitar screaming out the same riff over and over. I’d think the record is skipping if I were listening to a record. Who comes up with songs like this? I don’t know if Shields is a genius or a madman. The intensity is growing. It’s almost to the point where I can’t take much more. Is that the point of this song? I want to skip ahead and see if, or where, the tension breaks. I don’t think it will. What a weird song. Track 9 is Wonder 2. The ending of Nothing Is kind of leads into the final track on the album. I hear vocals, I think. It sounds like a jet is taking off in the background of the song. I keep waiting for a sonic boom or something. Now the guitars sound like a freight train's horn. This song just keeps getting louder and louder. The drums keep getting faster and faster. This is not the song I would have used as the closer to what was a pretty good album. Okay, that was MBV’s m b v. I must admit, I enjoyed this album way more than their debut. Shields, who wrote all the songs, really seemed to mature as a songwriter, without giving up any of his experimentation. I’d imagine that was the most accessible of their music, but as there were no singles released, I assume none of this album was heard on the radio or MTV at the time. Can I recommend it as a must-listen? No. I think most of you would hate it. But if you’re kind of bored with the state of music now and are looking for something weird? This might be for you. It isn’t so weird it will repulse you, but it’s not so poppy it will repulse you.

Great rock on the edge of chaos. That blend of calm and noise I love. 4/5

Loveless is one of my favourite all time albums. I never really clicked with m b v the same way, but to be fair, I never really gave it much of a chance. I would listen to it once every now and then, kind of lose interest about halfway through, endure to the end, then forget about it again. This time I set out to do things differently. I planned three full play-throughs before forming an opinion and I promised to not put Loveless on every time I was reminded how much better an album it is. I guess this is three different albums in one, each consisting of three tracks from the nine in total. Album one is the tracks that didn't make the grade for Loveless. They're similar, but very dreamy/ chilled and not as ground breaking. Album two feels more like a step back to MBV's first studio album, "Isn't Anything". Everything is more simplistic, there's less guitar, then it suddenly switches. Album three is a bit more experimental and dance-orientated. I feel that this is around a 3.5 star album, but I'll mark it up to 4 stars as there are flashes of brilliance here and there and I know I will try it again in the future, even if I still don't love it anywhere near as much as Loveless.

I didn't listen to this in 2013 but it is sooo very tumblr era.

First time listen. I really liked this! Not too many standout songs to me this time, but I liked the experience of listening all the way through.

I love My Bloody Valentine, but I was surprised this album made the list. Loveless is obviously a classic, and this album isn't close to it.

I'm not super familiar with them, but did hear one other album on here before this. I like it, shoegaze noise pop works for me.

This was good. I've only ever heard of this band, never actually listened to them before. Me likey.

I’ve listened to My Bloody Valentine before and it’s definitely one of those things you have to be in the mood for. I was in the mood for this today.

Could be 5 stars if it didn't feel like they got stuck in the same style of experimentation on the last 3 songs

Best Song: only tomorrow I think that this project has made me appreciate shoegazing more and more. My Bloody Valentine I have enjoyed every time I've listened to them and this is no exception. Only tomorrow is a fantastic song to boot! 4/5.

Some lovely melodic and rhythmic moments tarnished only slightly by the tendency of shoegaze to simply dial up the gain and reverb and hit all the notes at once

These guys are the face of shoegaze music. A sub-genre that’s starting to have a resurgence with young listeners and a genre of music I personally adore. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea but the experimentation that comes from this kind of music is so cool to listen to. My Bloody Valentine put out one of the best records I’ve ever listened to (loveless) and I constantly go back and listen to. This is the first time I’ve done a deeper listen of m b v though and I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. No it doesn’t reach the heights as their magnum opus but some of the sounds they play around with are out of this world. Listening to this album I felt like I was in a trance at some points but other times my face was being melted off by the thrashing guitars. The wall of sound with unique guitar effects hit the listener constantly throughout this record. These guys are so experimental and weird. They’re easily on my bucket list of bands I need to see live.

Вообще не фанат шугейза, но альбом на удивление понравился, особенно вторая половина. Причем понравилось даже больше, чем loveless. Приятная мелодичная музыка, а не просто вайбовый шум, который делают почти все шугейзеры

Сначала Ариана Гранде, Леди Гага, Slowdive, Jesus and Mary Chain, Cocteau Twins, Ride, а потом уже My Bloody Valentine. Сущий кошмар для любого инди крейзи лейбла. Мило, что люди тратили свои деньги. Поэтому и дописали чудом этот альбом. Когда он вышел, мне понравился. И сейчас вроде норм, но чуть меньше.

Жжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжжж

Surprisingly excellent. In my head, when I see My Bloody Valentine, for some reason I always think of Type-O Negative, probably because of Bloody Kisses (and the fact that I have never really listened to either band). Suffice it to say that this album is extremely different than I expected. I was taken aback at first, but I started liking it more and more as the album continued. Using my own personal rating system, would I play this album of my own free will? You know, if I were in the right mood? I just might.

Brrrrrrrrrpp

Ik ben nog eens gaan luisteren naar loveless wat me nooit echt heeft gepakt en ik vind dit leuker dan loveless

Drone-y en gefragmenteerd. Zoals een wijs reviewer zei: 'geweldig als je loveless niet kent, valt net tegen als je loveless wel kent'.

not as original as Loveless, but pretty cool

I didn't know MBV was chill like this! This has a very soothing chill vibe. I'm diggin it.

I can’t believe this album made it on the list even after their first two albums were put on it. Not that it’s a bad thing but after the first two this one is probably not essential. It would be great to free up a bit of room for some other artists who aren’t on the list although I wouldn’t kick this one off the list before the other bunch of shitty albums that are inexplicably on this list. Anyways, this is a great album and if putting three albums on this list by this band raises the chances of people getting exposed to their unique style of music then so be it!

wow. i’m going on an mbv deep dive after this… finally. favs: she found now, is this and yes, in another way,

delicious

Pre listening: Love mbv. Not sure if I’m in the mood for it today though. But challenge is a challenge.

Kúl shoegaze, maður skilur vel að ekki sé hægt að líta upp þegar menn eru að spila svona svala tónlist og þurfa að afstilla gítarinn rétt.

Highlights: only tomorrow, who sees you, if i am, new you, in another way I was completely prepared to take a dump on shoegaze as a whole but this was a pleasant surprise. I didn't pay mind to the lyrics all that much, but the instrumentals were decent. They never got stale even though they do follow a certain formula. It was amazing since I expected to be bored out of my mind. The low point was definitely Nothing Is as it was just plain repetitive. Not a masterpiece but it was definitely an experience. The record is best listened to as a whole.

Wait, My Bloody Valentine is an Irish Shoegaze band form the 90's?? I could have sworn they were an American emo-pop band from 10 years ago? Who am I confusing this band with? Anyway, jokes on me, this album is pretty great. I have long heard of this band but wrote them of as something I wasn't interested in. This was a pleasant surprise. Definitely not an everyday album but hits the spot if you're in the mood. Loud enough to have some edge but also low-key enough to not be in your face which for me is what I want in this type of music.

I’m definitely into the innovative, fuzzed out, experimental guitar playing, so I dig the instrumental side of this album. I can also appreciate My Bloody Valentine’s influence on music especially because a few bands I’ve been listening to lately like Deafheaven and Agriculture have drawn direct influenced from shoegaze. That said, I just don’t really care for the dreamy, washed out vocals and the album kind of drags a bit through the middle. Overall, I did enjoy it though.

When I first heard this album I wasn’t super blown away (compared to how much I love Loveless). I gave it another listen and I still love Loveless a lot more

This album is certainly very good, but moreso at the beginning and end. The middle is a bit less interesting to me. But overall it's nice while it's on. 3.5/5 -> 4/5

I appreciate this a lot, but I’m biased because I love shoe gaze and Loveless. Good album, but not quite a 5 I give it a 3.9

Kommt auf Vinyl bestimmt krass

First impression: I'm sure this fuzzy, muddy indie mumbling was cool in the 90s, but doing a comeback 20 years later with the same sound is lame. Second impression: actually, this does sound cool. Let me sit with a beer in the sunshine. Third impression: life has no meaning but the sad pain of loss and change. Fourth impression: life has no meaning, in all its messy, soft-focus tragedy, and that's why the world is beautiful and songs about love are noble. Solid 4*.

Мені трохи не вистачило динаміки, яка точково проявлялася у гурті в Loveless. І через це він відчувається іноді занадто шугейзовим з саунд-ефектами і менш пісенним. Але насправді це скоріше бажання порівняти з суперкласичним альбомом і побачити, що є відмінності, що саме по собі не погано. Сильний камбек альбом, в цілому гурту все вдалось

felt like i was in a diff world i loved most tracks

if you didn’t listen to this with noise canceling headphones you didn’t listen right

I know shoegaze isn’t for everyone but I’m a fan

Super cool noise

It just doesn’t have the same magic touch that Loveless did, but if i am, new you, and wonder 2 are close to that level. Still love their sound

Shoegaze at its finest. Solid record

Nowhere near Loveless level but it's still so good. Favourite Songs: she found now, only tomorrow, in another way, wonder 2. Least Favourite Songs: new you, nothing is.

Cherubic vocals over dissonant guitar orchestra fuzzscapes? I'm in!

Not my favorite of all their efforts, however it's My Bloody Valentine how can you go wrong

It's like ambient music dialed to 11.

Ahhhh take me back. Love this shoe gazey album.

9 / 10

Im very conflicted on this one because many many moments of it were so cool and beautiful in a Radiohead-esque style, but then I would be rudely torn away from my vibing by weird dissonances and noisy fuzz. I only had time to listen through once, so I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt and try to give another listen or two to truly judge. I think this would be an excellent album to listen to while really really baked.

Fadey druggy nothing music, enough for me to like, though by 2013 there's probably better options for this area of music

Artish, creative. Liked it.

pleasing noises i see why they want it LOUD all of the time

in another way, this album was pure wonder.

Although I personally love this band and this album, I don’t think this album deserves to land on the list as much as Loveless. The hype for MBV was fever pitch, but fans nowadays don’t care too much about it.

Overall: 7/10 While I prefered Loveless, this was also a pretty great album. I was able to get lost in all the noise and vibe out. I found it surprisingly relaxing in a way that I didn't expect. I would've liked to be able to understand the vocals a bit more, and I found the mix was overshadowed by all the staticness of the overly distorted guitars. Overall, I'd recommend it if you've already heard MBV, but otherwise you should just check out Loveless. I'm gonna take this opportunity to point out that the choices for this list post-2010 are very strange to me and don't really seem to represent the decade very well beyond a few obvious choices. I wouldn't have included this album personally and I don't think most people would. 2013 was a great year for music and it's a shame that we have this, The Next Day and Beyoncé in favour of Random Access Memories, ...Like Clockwork or even Pure Heroine. Fav Song: New You

Shoegaze!!

Solid stuff

only tomorrow 2013 shoegaze irish-english

This album is so weird lol i love it

really enjoyed! and then listened to some of their other stuff. loveless isn't on spotify which is odd

I liked this, but it isn't quite as memorable as some of My Bloody Valentine's other work, e.g. 'Loveless'. It's still a very good album in my opinion, though. 4/5

This is definitely a mood. It's not an easy listen, the songs on Loveless are way catchier. But it still feels like a logical continuation of MBV sound in the 90s.

I’m shocked to be writing that I think Tame Impala was influenced by the synthier tracks on here. Very sludgy and not something I’d normally put on, but I do think I see the appeal.

Genuinely liked it. It's moody, muted and the perfect listen for a dark, rainy day

Interesting noise. Synths and repetitive drums reminds me of boards of Canada, but rock version

Mbv really captures the most dreamy parts of the My Bloody Valentine sound. Only Tomorrow captures the most interesting guitar sound-scapes on the whole album, and the last three songs are really cool too. But the middle few are just fine. The dreamy stuff here sounds pretty similar, but it is enjoyable. Even though this isn't Loveless, it is cool, and MBV experiments with their sounds in really cool ways. Overall, this is not a bad last album of the year. Happy New Year, let's enjoy more albums

need to listen more

Actually really liked this album a lot I was really jiving with the shoegaze instrumentals on this one. Really still had trouble with the vocals, but the instrumentals were super strong. Was wool sock gazing on this one at my desk cause it is cold as hell up here in Maryland. My southern bones can't handle this anymore

So we've now had every MBV album and got them in order! Wild this one came out 22 years after the last one. This has some really beautiful parts in it. Some not so beautiful parts as well (still not sure about Nothing Is), but as an overall whole I really enjoyed it. Not as much as Loveless but it's still pretty good. Going with a low 4 on this one and fully expect a 1 from the Hamills.

very nice cozy vibe, the last two songs kinda ruin it but it’s nice for background noise

Well, well, well this is really good, and nothing like what I was expecting. Another for the 'to buy' list, and another band that I've seemingly missed out on. Heard before ❌️ Listened this time ✅️ Revisit ✅️ ★★★★☆ (7/10) Total reviewed : 176 Already owned : 39 Purchased : 6 To buy : 5 Nope : 126

Ég elska lagið Only tomorrow, það er svakalegt. New you og In another way eru dáleiðandi líka. Hin lögin eru flott en ekki alveg eins grípandi. Ég var að velta fyrir mér að henda fimmu á þetta, en ég er í svona 4,3 núna. Látum það gott heita í bili.

oceans of shimmering fuzzy guitars, everything slightly wobbly and not quite in focus - lovely

First time listen and a fitting follow up to Loveless. Kevin Shields doing Kevin Shields things, song titles all in lower case, obscured album art, and digging further into the esoteric and the ethereal. This has some interesting twists such as the Stereolab similarities in spots and much of it sounding like it was built around 'touched'. I like this take on inverted "pop" music. Still sounds sexy but in a weird Cronenberg body horror sort of way.

very high 4

It's not Loveless, but very few albums are as good as that one is. This is still fantastic, can't wait for the next album in 2035.

Worth the wait. 😎

Did they record this album through a pillow? Maybe I have a double ear infection? I dunno. Regardless, I found this album annoyingly muffled. However, when I was done shouting at the clouds about this, I very much enjoyed it. Like their fellow footwear observers in Lush and Slowdive, these folks churn out some dreamy, quasi-psyche guitar rock that hits quite nicely . . . even from underneath a pillow.

One thing I’ve noticed about my vinyl collection is that I own a lot of second or third best records of bands. This is an example. I bought this in the mp3 era and I don’t own Loveless for some reason. Someday I need to trade quantity for quality because I don’t listen to this record. That preamble makes it seem like I don’t like MBV but this is an interesting album because it feels like it is roughly divided into thirds. The first third sounds like Loveless 2.0, and sure, I’m going to like that. The middle third is more subdued and while it is not unpleasant, it is a little boring to me. The last third sure seems a lot closer to EDM, and maybe even jungle. I know Shields has liked that scene for years and this seems like what MBV sounds like fused to heavily percussive electronic music. It’s sometimes grating, but definitely an interesting new direction.

Good stuff! Liked the droning, fuzzy guitars. Will listen to more from them.

4/5 - When I think of MBV, I think of Loveless and Kevin Shields doing the score to Lost in Translation. I didn't know this decades-later follow-up existed and was surprised to read that it was entirely self paid for and released. The sound here was what I expected from Shields, and I'm pretty much always up for this type of guitar -- ambient distortion or whatever it is. It's like being in a soft noise cocoon with the mood washing over your ears. Obviously, if this is on the list, Loveless will be too, so I'll reserve my MBV 5 for that.

I wondered why they'd list an album from 2013 for a band prominent in the late '80s/early '90s? My Bloody Valentine was able to release a (sort of) self titled album decades past their era of influence and it was still highly regarded and sought after. That is quite a feat and listening to the album, it makes perfect sense. Shoegaze feels too simple and lazy of a descriptor for this album. Sure, it has all the characteristics of shoegaze, but My Bloody Valentine is giving so much more here. And maybe that's what 20 or so years off allows you to do. The album feels very contemporary and of the time. Yet, you can feel the influence this music had and would have moving forward. It's like you're experiencing that first beat of a massive ripple effect. The album is wistful and atmospheric; perfect for a late night drive with no particular destination. This isn't sleepy music though. The final duo of Nothing Is and Wonder 2 build up an adrenaline inducing tension and cap off the album in cathartic release. The album is a solemn journey that caps off in a quaking exit that still feels like a warm hug and a wave goodbye.

I appreciated this one more listening today. It would never surpass Loveless but a pretty great final result after 20 years of tinkering. It’s only an essential listen for MBV fans but I still found it to be up to their lofty standards. Rating: 4.3

Did you know shoegaze is pronounced like fugazi? Another MBV banger.

Very atmospheric and fantastic production

This is a very specific genre I don't often find myself listening to, but I admit it is excellent within that genre. Noise rock, as many of us have seen can be utterly trite without careful artistic vision, and this is no such case. Very musical, creative, and innovative.

A warm wall of sound. It's not as good as Loveless, but it certainly scratches an itch.

Now I’m partial to a bit of shoegazing so enjoyed quite a lot of this. I’m sure my mum would have said ‘but it’s just a lot of noise’ and there are moments in this where I would agree. But overall I enjoyed this one.

A sonic assault on the senses at times and at others a dreamy masterpiece. I love the multi layer feel and quite a few of the tracks but some are a struggle to get through. The album is clearly structured to perfection but yet still manages to sound improvised.

After a 22 year wait, My Bloody Valentine returned with an album that picked up where Loveless left off. Fans may have expected something fresher after such a long wait, but for me it's forgiveable given that nothing sounds quite like Loveless and having more of that in the world is a gift. And besides, "Only Tomorrow" stands along their best songs. Also, after the first three tracks the album starts to veer in a new direction. The middle is lighter and dreamier, and while "Is This And Yes" is a bit too minimal the next couple tracks are enchanting. The ending is completely new, going in an almost drum and bass direction. It hinted at a new sound, and it's a shame we may never hear what that would have been. A pleasant album for fans of the band that is mostly comfort food but which has enough surprises to be interesting.

I dug the fuzzy dreariness and even the mopey vibe. I think I would listen to this again, it just barely reaches the level of a 4 for me. I would be interested on another listen to dig deeper on lyrics, of which I only caught a small portion the first time through.

Not as good as Loveless (what is?) but still very good

its no loveless but honestly nothing else is

MBV!! So rad. I'm always excited when we get an MBV album. Do all of the songs kind of blend into one? Yes. Is kind of a confusing haze of chill shoegaze confusion? Absolutely. And its why its good. I can have this on all day and just vibe out. Its kind of the epitome of Autumn music. Its perfect. Give me a warm latte and a sweater. I'm gonna feel happy and sad at the same time.

Was anxious, put this on and it was pretty calming. 4/5 for getting me through a tough moment.

I'm at least familiar enough with My Bloody Valentine to recognize them as one of the pioneering groups of the shoegaze genre. I recall listening to Loveless a couple of years ago, an often-considered landmark album, and I enjoyed it. Apparently, there was a lot of hype surrounding their follow-up, as the band recorded it on and off before their breakup in 1997, only to continue working on it after their reunion in 2006. m b v, for all intents and purposes, had been decades in the making. Was it worth the wait? The answer is a yes, albeit with more tempered expectations. I wasn't looking to be blown away by this album, given the style My Bloody Valentine plays in. The thick, droning guitar textures, the hushed vocal delivery, the simplistic dreamscape imagery in the lyrics, and the overall laid-back, unintrusive rhythm section make for a sonic cushion that I can ease back into. It's amazing how many elements put to record over the years were woven together in a seamless haze. That said, there are moments on this record where I felt like the band could have pushed a little further. There were a couple of interesting experimental choices made, such as the ambient piano piece "Is This and Yes", the fuzzy bass and punching drums of "New You", the sheer loudness of the instrumentation on "In Another Way", and the progressive build of the drum machine loop on "Nothing Is". But a part of me feels these ideas could have been developed a tad more, as songs tended to end before building to something potentially greater. Also, for as much as I do find Kevin Shields and Belinda Butcher to have very pleasant vocals, their presence here felt more innocuous in the mix. Granted, it's not like someone checks out My Bloody Valentine primarily for the vocals, but perhaps there could have been room for better integration of them. Still, I consider m b v to be a pleasant enough record. It does feel like a natural continuation of where My Bloody Valentine left off after Loveless, which is certainly commendable for a group that had been inactive for some time.

Wasn't totally feeling it until the last 3 songs. May need to revisit it again since I like those so much.

Really enjoyed this one. Very soothing and the lo-fi production reminded me of some blackgaze bands (no doubt influenced by MBV) that I enjoy. 3.5/5.0: Very Good

a cold grey droning background wall of sound, ft. some 90's style ghostly voices. like they took Loveless, removed some of the fire, and replaced it with a softer more brooding energy. kinda like drinking a well-aged scotch: much more subtle, but you yearn for the edge. 3.5/5

Beautiful and fantastic. Almost a 5 but one dong (nothing is) dragged it down.

considering the length of this bands career, they still manage to pin down their sound and keep quality high after over 20 years, this was great, dreamy and spacey music that i love

I love this album.

Oh boy, the standard deviation on this one is going to be high. My Bloody Valentine, among the originators of shoe gaze, is an experimental band, always has been. Experimental music is intrinsically challenging and many people hate being challenged, despite sometimes claiming otherwise. When listening to experimental music, I like to first consider what the band is trying to accomplish. In this case, exploring tonal variations of the guitar and layering them together into music that is noisy, sure, but also beautiful. While influenced by bass and drums, you will not find a traditional beat on any of their tracks. Not everyone will like this music, but there is a reason why music fans remained excited about the return of the band to the studio after a 20-year hiatus. Getting back to the experimental nature of the music, several critics have pointed out the MBV can be separated into thirds, each playing with different guitar tones/layers and vocals. Part one is surreal, focusing on layers of fuzzy guitar tones and once I let go I found myself lost in this music in a pleasant way. Part two brings forward Butcher’s beautiful, albeit intentionally understated vocals, with layers of wavy guitar. There are fewer textures here and the sounds are more accessible and perhaps less interesting? The final third of MBV see an increase in tempo, a little more melody. The guitar tone experiments on “in another way” are twangy and then crunchier on “nothing is”, in both cases they are repeated and layered in a way that droned me into a state where I was genuinely lost in the music at points. The final track, “wonder 2” sort of mixes all of the previous experimental sounds into a sonic soup that I found interesting, but perhaps less enjoyable. My Bloody Valentine remains a highly influential band, who essentially started the shoe gaze genre using experimental sounds that are all their own. Numerous bands have cited the band as an influence including the obvious shoegaze bands (e.g., Slowdive, American Football), but also less obvious bands like Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead and even modern experimental psychedelic rock bands like LSD and the Search for God (check them out if you are unfamiliar). The band and this record, as a critically acclaimed return to the studio after two decades, certainly belong on this list, whether or not everyone appreciates the sonic experiments.

Great album! The best introduction to shoegaze.

Good album. It's not Loveless, but what is? A few tracks in the back half are even bangers. 3.5/5

Not to be that guy, but I’m always a little thrown off by people complaining that shoegaze has too much reverb. Like, isn’t that the whole point? It’s like shitting on jazz for having too much improvisation.

22 years later, the Loveless follow-up had no chance of meeting expectations but they did a great job picking up where they left off.

It grew on me. I was surprised.

Cool stuff

Not nearly as groundbreaking or memorable as Loveless but still a cool return from the fuzzmasters. Surprised it made the list though.

Nogle af de første som virkelig definerede hvad shoegaze var. Eller definerede og finetunede lyden. Jeg synes musikken er rigtig god og jeg kan godt lide albumcovered. Jeg bliver ved med at være fan af noise rock, dreampop osv så naturligvis er jeg også vild med shoegaze. Jeg tror bare "støjen" virker sammenhængende og beroligende for mig. Jeg ved ikke rigtig hvad jeg sådan generelt synes om dette album, men det var jo et comeback fra MBV efter lang tid, som satte gnist til at andre shoe gaze bands også begyndte at lave et comeback. De viste at man godt kunne modernernisere lyden af shoegaze og udvikle videre på genren. Jeg synes ikke det var sådan megaaaaaa iøjenfaldene for mig. jeg kan godt lide genren og musikken men jeg tænkte bare ikke wow det her album er noget helt specielt. Jeg vil maks sige 3,5 men jeg vil ikke give det på en 4.

Spectacular sonic atmospheres from track to track as per usual from MBV. My favorite was "New You." Reminded me most of the stuff I've most enjoyed from Loveless.

Heck yeah! I don't listen to this band too often. But I enjoy them when I do. I think I need to watch a video on the guitar players pedal board. I'm sure it's huge and awesome. I like the washed out ethereal qualities of Shoegaze, especially the vocals set in the mix. Don't read the reviews that give this a low rating. Negativity will rot yer brain. Listen to this album for what it is instead of what you think it should be and you'll enjoy it more.

I love the first album .. hadn’t heard this one before and was prepared for disappointment. I was wrong. This one is great too 👍

Jag gillar gitarrer och då gillar man shoegaze. Men man måste se live eller lyssna med hörlurar. Tror jag gillade den mer än loveless (bäst att inte säga högt)

I'm a 100% shoegazer, and MBV offered a cosmically heavy version of that in the nineties. This is an album that came out of the blue 20 years later, and without changing too much is a great listen, distortion, layers and the Loveless sound - but rhythmically more varied and with some songs that -gasp - are almost straightforwardly unadorned. Won't convert the uniniated and not quite sure what it's doing on this list after their first two albums made it, but four from me.

The Valentines pick up where they left off 22 years after ‘Loveless’. ‘m b v’ is the follow up we didn’t know we needed - until it arrived.

Beautiful atmospheric opening track, followed by a collection of grungy shoegaze that's easy to get lost in. The guitar work is interesting - distorted power chords are complemented with reverby riffs that add to the rhythms, with the occasional addition of ambient synths.

The glorious return of the shoegaze kings does not disappoint.

Fine album, but not as catchy as loveless

Great vibe Each song is unique Love the album cover

It's not as good as Loveless but it's still mbv. There's not much else that sounds like this in a very good way

My bloody valentine the blueprint for shorgaze. Incredible album wouldn’t expect anything less.

Never listened to My Bloody Valentine in my life. Didn't even have a concept of what they sounded like. Kinda surprised me

This grew on me after repeated listenings, but I must admit that it still wasn't my favorite. It has many components that made me think I should have liked it (downtempo, fuzzy.guitars, etc). However, the tonal qualities tended to grate on me.

Ja leuk

loveless is better fav: she found now, only tomorrow, who sees you least fav: is this and yes

Nice atmosphere and mood in this

More of a swan song than a comeback. Interesting to look back on after 12 years, especially so far from the hype that was around this thing when it came out. The verdict: it's still really good!

great album from a very underrated band

Enjoyed it, but didn't really connect with any specific tracks.

Banger Album, selten so gute "Background chill vibes" gehabt

It sounds a lot like their older stuff. Not a bad thing.

A little less interesting than Loveless, but then what could possibly compare to Loveless? As a standalone record, m b v is still pretty dang impressive. It's less obscured by a distortion-wash than its predecessor, meaning the compositions themselves are a little easier to judge. And they're pretty good (if a little longer than necessary). The experimentation leans more on individual instruments, including a goopy-sounding guitar in the opening track and a rougher, 90s-esque texture in the following song ("only tomorrow"). Track #2 also benefits from a distinctive central guitar melody that carries the baton for the vocals, which take an eerie background role for the full six minutes. Track #3, "who sees you", has a sort of weeping melody on another thickly distorted guitar, though this one's a bit harder to follow. And again, another six-minute track. The sudden end comes as a shock, but also a bit of a relief. The two strongest tracks here, in my opinion, are the aforementioned "only tomorrow" and "is this and yes", narrowly beating out some strong contenders. The latter song is fever-dreamy, switches between four (or so) heavily suspended keyboard chords with a high hummed vocal on top. Pretty simple, and maybe a little unexpected from MBV. But it's excellent. The five remaining tracks pick up the tempo significantly, beginning with an unnervingly echoey rock piece in "if i am". "in another way" is a rapid number that begins with a nifty guitar tone that it doesn't replicate anywhere else in the song. I would've loved to hear a soundscape made of interweaving guitar lines with that techno-ey feel. But alas. "nothing is" is another slightly odd track for MBV to release. It's one very fast 3/4 bar with a repeating two-note melody, over and over again for three and a half minutes. Weird. 4/5 Key tracks: only tomorrow, is this and yes

Maybe.doesnt move much past loveless, bit still great

Esse disco marca o retorno do My Bloody Valentine enquanto uma força motriz na industria fonográfica, mostrando que eles ainda são relevantes e empurram a experimentação de camadas e texturas de som antes não desvendadas. Ainda assim, é um disco claramente marcado pela dificuldade em superar o magnum opus da banda, loveless.

Agréable à l’écoute

I love shoegaze, faites un autre album et venez au Québec

Similaire à Loveless mais plus accessible. Très 'dreamy'.

After a long break, We are back at it. Let's go. I'm a big fan of Loveless, although it took me time to process it initially. Coming to this one excited. Track 1 absolutely magical 2 builds it up beautifully 3 has some surprising chord changes and great energy. Track 4 is stunning and hypnotic. The most notable keys I've heard on a mbv song ever. Super sweet vocals as well. 5, 6- feature a more traditional rock sound, but executed great. Got to point especially the vocals that are great on each track here. Track 7 bring the energy back up. Guitar sounds goes crazy. Panning and mix as well. Awesome songs, highlight here for sure. 8 is a repetitive section but it has a nice effect in my opinion. Good energy. The final song on this one is the most adventurous and complex listen on the album. I think it's a great reminder of what mbv are. Some Robert Wyatt keys in the end. What an album... Absolutely loved it. In a way, it's more easy then Loveless, but the depths are incredible and very warming. A wintery record, I will come back to it for sure. 4.5

Virkelig glad for at den her plade eksisterer

Great (late) follow up , which sounds almost like Loveless.

I'm not that familiar with their work but this album was very much in keeping with the little I do know. I generally enjoy the wall of sound approach although given that this album was released in 2013 I do question how this adds anything to their catalogue.

This album gets in there and shakes up your soul. It's got a texture you can't really get from any other group. Thoroughly magical. Pairs best with woodworking or lsd (I wouldn't recommend them both at the same time though).

Loved the atmosphere, like people have said maybe a few songs went on too long but still 4 stars

Perfect for angsty strolling through the italian contryside, which is exactly what I was doing yesterday

perfecto para disociar y romantizar tu vida

For the first couple of songs I didn't get it. Then I realized this album isn't something I'd ever go out of my way to listen to intentionally. It is however an album that would make great background noise.

Not the best My Bloody Valentine album, but still a great shoegaze album. Just love the dichotomy between the noise and the whispery vocals. 4 stars

A most brill, venerable comeback record from the toppermost troupe of 90s shoegaze. It’s not quite the masterpiece to match Loveless but does go toe to toe with their debut Isn’t Anything. Some choice swirly, dreamy, psychedelic noise assaults. Particular highlights are Is This And Yes with its stark organ and sparse, twinkly midnight vibe and New You which is a wondrous, hyper blissed groove monster that rivals Soon as my fav MBV track. Does trail off slightly into stuck on a groove drum n bass festival in a wind tunnel chogginess towards the end but overall still the highest of 4s. Definitely a 1001 album to check out before you die for My Bloody Valentine fans.

I am glad I finally listened to this album but it does have some problems. First off, I feel like a lot of the songs go on just a tad too long to the point were it starts to get boring. I don't think 6 minutes is long for a song, but I don't think enough happens in these songs to really need that length. Another issue with this album is that the first 3 songs all kind of sound the same, they are good songs, they just kinda sound the same. I should say I do enjoy this album, it is just hard not to compare it to Loveless. Mid 4.

This album isn’t Loveless but anyone who thinks this album is bad has never spent the night staring up at the ceiling of their room in the dark thinking about every decision they’ve ever made with only the soundtrack of crunchy guitars to lull them to sleep This album for me is a 4.5 but I will be rounding it down to a 4 since the first half of the album is well-tread ground for MBV. The second half is so inventive and SO COOL from them, and I wanted more of that ambient-drone-shoegaze DnB inspired sound. I liked the first part but it’s not really anything new. Great album.

Well, its My Bloody Valentine, so its layers of distortion, so many layers of distortion... I did appreciate the endless drone in Loveless, and I can appreciate the endless drone in this too, but its really not for everyone. My Bloody Valentine isn't what you would call an accessible band.

One of those albums that demands you listen on good headphones as loudly as you're willing to go. You want the wall of sound to overwhelm and the gorgeous, haunting melodies to emerge and worm their way into you. I'm completely swept up by shoegaze and My Bloody Valentine is the best of the genre. I came to My Bloody Valentine very late in life -- after even this 2013 album was released -- writing them off as some kind of horror rock band that I had no interest in, so I didn't get to participate in the roller coaster of emotions that accompanied its sudden and startling release 22 years after it was begun after so many false promises and waylaid hopes. I've often wondered out loud if my whole life trajectory would have been changed by discovering Loveless in real time. Its hold on me is so complete that I imagine my younger self wandering through my hometown desperately searching for one likeminded fan of music to lay on a floor with and let the unstable tuning of the tremolo arm wash over us. The intimacy of the soft, sweet mix of Kevin and Belinda's voices buried so deep in the mix that they make you lean all the way in demand (in my mind's eye) to be pictured like the light of an early 90s indie movie projected through dusty air onto the screen of a worn-down theater that hasn't yet been scooped up by AMC. Their music lends itself to romanticizing a soundtrack to my teenage emotional turmoil, falling in love every other week, desperately wanting out of the house, longing for a place in the world that I can just be myself and not be shoved into lockers for it. mbv isn't quite the monument that Loveless is, so I don't return to it quite as often. It's essentially broken into three distinct sections. Tracks 1-3 could fit onto Loveless seamlessly. Tracks 4-6 feel like a step into something new, possibly what a proper follow-up to Loveless would have felt like in the early 90s. Tracks 7-9 are stark departures with pummeling percussion only really hinted before now on the final track of Loveless, though there it was nearly a proper dance track. Those last three tracks by nature can't sink into your psyche quite the same way and so it's taken many more listens to find their melodic heart, especially buried in "Wonder 2." I don't know that I actually like the last three tracks so much as I feel obligated to like them, though on the right day I can find them invigorating.

Need to be baked out of my gourd when I listen again but was pretty good while sober.

• 4/5 • A great shoegaze revival from the original masters