m b v

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.

There’s a reason the shoegaze genre is the lowest ranked genre on this site. This is it. It just drones on and on and you can’t even tell it’s the next song except for the fact that you know you ended the previous one by pressing next halfway through. Imagine waking up and thinking “you know what will be really groundbreaking? Having vocals in a song that you can hear someone is singing but because the mix makes them super low, and I just stone on and on, no one can tell what I’m saying, but not in a cool way like metal or grunge, just in a way that makes the record sound unfinished. That would be really cool.”

я видимо их не слушала, но представляла по-другому. в принципе не запомнились, но и не взбесили)

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.

Did another one before. It's a unique sound, but one that makes everything feel like a first draft, rather than actual finished songs. It's not for me.

Good

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.

I understand "Loveless" being on here, but this is like its afterbirth being delivered 22 years later. I don't want to listen to this musical placenta.

I enjoyed it but mostly forgettable except the 2nd track.

good but not my style

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.

The first album to make me go back and change a rating. That is damn significant.

Couldn't hear a damn thing

Atmospheric and experimental, this album is less intimidating than the band name would suggest. m b v does an excellent job of blending art rock and darker tones of an EMO and Goth genre.

I can hear the influence this had on other things I listen to. I hear some Soccer Mommy, Japanese Breakfast, Melody’s Echo Chamber, etc. it’s not something I’d seek out, but it would be good background music. I like In another way best.

great reading music

Prefiero el loveless.

Okay, I've now listened to all three MBV albums thanks to y'all, and this was definitely my least favorite. They are not my thing and I'm glad there's not more.

Amu

Just give me a good album pls

Offensively dull

There were aspects of this album that I really liked, but when taken as a whole it just fell flat. I genuinely love music that has a lot of interesting and even disperate things going on but this album really seemed to take that idea and make it boring somehow? I did really like she found now though

This is what I would imagine that satellites would play to each other as music. Sadly, I’m not very extra-terrestrial.

Much better than the other albums by mbv that I've listened to, quite a chill experience

Didn't know what to expect, but I kind of expected more. Most songs are decent but they could probably sound better without so much distortion, especially in the first half of the album. It was good background music, though. Also, cool band name. Fave track(s): new you, in another way, nothing is

Liked the vocals, didn't like the instrumentals that much.

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.

So... That's the entire MBV discography, huh? That was quick. After 22 years of album silence from My Bloody Valentine they returned with a self-titled album that somewhat honored the legendary Loveless and somewhat went in an entirely new direction. Shields is still masterful at creating beauty in noise and the first three tracks really blows me back. The following "Is This and Yes" and "If I Am" then suddenly stops the freight train of sound that was set in motion by the opening songs. And although the rest of the album is in no way bad or boring, I don't feel like we're moving at full speed again until the closing "Wonder 2".

That was some terrible noise.

Awful, tried the entire time to figure out how this would work live and had to concede it simply wouldn’t. Repetitive with nothing to catch my attention anywhere in the album

What a pile of wank. In fact, at least you get some pleasure out of a wank, this was like a 3 day bender hangover, but worse

Прослушано! Пока это самый ужасный альбом. Слушать невозможно. ГОВНИЩЕ!

Rating: 6/10

It's not loveless and that burdens it for me. Still some really great songs on it.

So fuzzy

Ha, mbv two days in a row! Y'all must really want me depressed. I thought this record was decent, but it felt like they got lost in their own experimentation this time. The album was much longer and meandered in certain pockets a little too much. Some of the experimentation was really gorgeous though, which really makes up for some of the pacing issues. Probably my least favorite mbv record but still highly enjoyable.

Solid

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.

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.

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

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)

I hated this, the production sounds terrible & I just found it overall boring.

“Shoegaze”, eh? The second half starts doing some interesting stuff, but the first few tracks don’t have enough stuff going on with the synth loops to hold my attention

Somtimes felt like I was listening to a bridge of a song but turned out to be the whole song, other times just kinda 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.

Kinda boring

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?!

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.

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

I've liked previous My Bloody Valentine albums but I found this a bit boring.

Jakbym słuchał soundtracku do kilku gier na raz.

Haven't listened to this since it was released. Enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. Dense but beautiful

very low-key techno beats some garage guitar mixed in too

4/10. Has the texture of porridge. Would probably be excellent to listen to if I was trying to fall asleep

Better than Isn't Anything, worse than Loveless. 8/10

Unwittingly and entirely against my will I have now listened to the ENTIRE My Bloody Valentine back catalogue. I wish I could say it had been in any way an enjoyable, interesting, or fulfilling 2 hours and 13 minutes. Whilst there is more identifiable tune going on here than their previous two efforts, it is still basically dirge, but with modern production. This album took from 1997 until 2011 to come to fruition. I would rather they hadn't bothered. Rating: 2/5 Playlist track: only tomorrow Date listened: 06/10/22

Lot of noise but second listen started to grow a little

Gwah

- Hey we invented a genre that's so dull the name is literally just staring at the floor, want to listen? Nah I'm alright thanks mate.

Quite nice actually, beautifully trippy.

Atmospheric and moody, also dull and repetitious

Atmospheric in the first half, comes to life in the second half. Not sure it's essential though.

Just keeps going on and on.

solid album, it made me feel really relaxed, almost trancelike. listening while in the shower was like a dream.

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.

Couldn’t get past the first 3 songs.

During the 4th song I wondered if the first song ended already. Sounds a bit like comforting noise

On the first listen I thought the car radio was broken and had to skip. On the earbuds it was okay I gues but I remember very little of it

Dog shit

Genuinely have no idea how anybody can find this enjoyable. This barely even registers as music to me. I wish I could give it a 0

No words for this

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.

Love MBV but this one isn't for me

Boring. Some new sounds but very monotonous.

Bad

I think I like this band but not this album

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.

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.

Even unsliced bread is better

They really couldn't be bothered, could they? Everything about this has a 'will this do?' air to it, from the no-title title to the lazy rehashes of former glories that simply have no spark of joy or imagination. I'm a huge fan of Loveless. I have no love for this.

I don’t really enjoy the shoe gaze genre. It feels like it’s trying to be modern psychedelic but without any substance or talent. I didn’t absolutely hate this album but I wouldn’t revisit it either. 3.7/10

okay i guess

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!

Oli kyllä yllätävän heikko. Toki muutama oikein makea biisi ja sinänsä fiilaan tunnelmaa. 2,5/5 ja annetaan nyt täpärä 3.

Herranjestas miten tylsä levy. Miten voi olla näin paljon huonompi kuin loveless :D

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.

Shoe gazing noise, can hear My Vitriol in Loveless - seems like a better album than m b v anyway. So rating this low but Loveless higher

Alt rock/indie. Genre is known as Shoegaze. Extreme volume and heavy on guitar texture/distortions. My Bloody Valentine is thought to be the godfathers of Shoegaze. New you was good, psychedelic experience Wonder 2 was trippy

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.

thumbs down.

Two MBV albums? i don't know if i agree - i mean the first "Loveless" even if it's not my favourite music I can definitely understand being on the list; it really sounded and *felt* like nothing i'd heard before. I suppose though the same things I could never fully connect with on Loveless apply here as well - underwater/warbly effects to the extreme... just doesn't seem as revolutionary when it's another album of the same. None of these are truly "songs" in any traditional sense - again, that's kind of cool in the abstract but it's also not really working for me as any sort of background or atmospheric mood. I've just ended up either being annoyed/distracted at what is often approaching grating. The first half was fine - but after 20 minutes or so it really started to fall apart, and maybe it's simply that after 20 minutes of this ... that's enough. Also the final two cuts are omg please stop - especially "nothing is" - a joke on anyone who bought this album. come on, now. A 20 years waiting for the same thing is a long slog - I'm fine with Loveless on occasion but a big no to the remix. 4/10 2 stars.

Ok this is far worse than I remembered MBV. Maybe it's because I keep fooling myself into thinking shoegaze is something I could like? Anyway, I'd be ashamed to release this as a garage band. Why anyone would put this on an "albums you must hear before you die" list is just completely beyond me. It must be cause they're from the UK. There's no other explanation. This fucking sucks. 1/5.

I, uh, like this more than I thought I would.

Boring but captivating. Did I say captivating? Just boring and dull as hell. The best way of describing the record is by means of one of the songs: nothing is, indeed.

loud and enveloping

Quite liked some of the wafty moments. Otherwise a bit noisy

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".

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.

Robert peut bien aller se faire foutre avec ses albums de merde de indie et de shoegaze sensés représenter les années 2010.

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

It was okay, good as background music

Not my bag.

Very noisy. Some songs felt like I was listening to them on a radio station as I slowly left the station’s range and static took over.

couldnt do

listened to before didn't love it

No

Man whispers through distortion… It’s sort of like trying to listen to the shins from a mountaintop using a HAM radio

SHOEGAZE

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.

I found myself continuously asking “is this song done yet?” And it never was. It never was.

not exciting shoegaze

Borin'ell. I was just waiting for it to end.

I have tried and tried to get into Loveless, but the wall of sound buried melodies and mumbled vocals just don't do it for me. This album seems more of the same but it seems to have more moments where I found myself nodding my head and thinking ok yes this part does work. On a couple of occasions they dial back the distortion and feedback to where one can actually hear individual instruments. Still the overall feel is of pleasant noise instead of stirring music. 2.5 🌟

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.

I'm not sure this album was worth the 22 year wait. The DJ Wrongspeed thing is annoying.

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.

Nice

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.

Though I love a few good noise & post-rock sounds -- A Place to Bury Strangers, Mogwai both come to mind -- I couldn't get into this.

5th May 2022 Listened in the morning, chilled in the evening. Quiet day. It goes straight in as if you’re late to the gig, or you’ve heard them playing in the garage and you want to see what the noise is. Speaking of noise, I think that’s what this is. In a good and bad way.

decent

coffee shop record store ass music

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

I have found i just don't love shoegaze music. I appreciate the musicality of it, but it isn't for me.

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 don't have time to type this but 5/5 for sure

This was just loud

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

A detailed dossier of the time my wife and I both shat on a dead body.

Easter lamb chops

Loved both "Isn't Anything" and "Loveless" but this one really didn't click with me sadly. 5-6/10

Slow, melancholic, droney. All together not too bad.

Very good

Not a big fan of MBV anyway, and this didn't change things.

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.

I hate this

Not as ground breaking as their 1991 album. Enjoyed in places.

2.75

Some songs took me back to my emo roots, but mostly it was bleh

Didn’t mind ‘in another way’ but overall boring.

Dreamy

An entirely miserable experience. Droney vocals. Droney sound. Awful. Low hum throughout like the neighbours doing his grass

This is good… never listened to this before strangely! Defo revisiting!

Meh

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

Meanders - not unexpectedly. Dense sounds, I think I'll need to give it a few more tries.

Fuzzy but with unmistakable purpose

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.

det är väl sisådär. fattar inte den här genren.

Pas trop vertain de quoi en penser. J'ai aime qhan meme 3.25

Nothing new they did could ever beat Loveless but this is a decent attempt.

3.5

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.

I enjoy MBV but I'm not sure there was a single song that I would say was exceptional on this album.

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.

Couldn't really get into it much.

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 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 like it, second time I listen to it and I will listen to it again. Not sure if I like the noise genre yet...

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.

not... i listened to this low in the background - none of it seemed to make me want to stop, turn it up and 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.

Weirder than I was expecting. But didn't really catch me.

There are a couple of songs that hit the stride quickly, like new you and if I am... but yeah, most of the others just miss the mark. Not something I'm likely to pull out ever again.

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.

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

Muito barulho por nada.

When I got this album, I just thought "Ok...let me listen to this 1-star album"... However, after listening to the whole album, I was kind of hypnotized by this noise ambiance song with dirty guitars....so, 2 stars are enough for the power of hypnotizing songs, and maybe this is the reason to include the album on this list.

not my cup of tea

Ethereal music, not horrible, but actually forgot I was listening to it at one point.

A pile of noise, sometimes pleasant and organized.

Background noise. Lame. At least it was short.

A 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 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.

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

Straight noise

I love the album artwork, but 2013's bloody valentine sounds remarkable similar to 1991's. There doesn't seem to be any stylistic innovation or growth, which is surprising when there's a 22 year gap between albums. It sounds like elevator music for a 2000's wannabe indie neo-noir film that no one saw. This is too much of a downer for me, I won't be coming back to it.

Everyone likes a little bit of experimental sounds to be in their rock, but some people like it in smaller doses. This listener is the latter. Moments later a person may wonder why they are easily offended or short-tempered and this album likely caused it. Perhaps there is a mood conducive to both enjoying the melodically pleasing songs and not feel offensively interrupted by the seemingly deliberate out of tune elements. Maybe this is the price humanity pays for art it does not want.

Probably my favorite of theirs

Guitarrero y un tanto oscuro. No me ha aportado nada y no me ha gustado que no se entienda casi nada de la voz del cantante

too emo

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.

Man, this sure ain't Loveless.