compiled by meezly
I was 18 when I first listened to Loveless, and it was one of the few times in my life where a piece of music just blew me away. The dichotomy between pop and noise, melody and dissonance, harmony and chaos - My Bloody Valentine created beautiful music out of that. Then sometime afterward, they just disappeared off the map and became the stuff of legend. I remember just waiting and waiting for their next album, hoping to recapture that feeling of bliss. I didn’t realize until quite recently that in the years that followed, I’ve been subconsciously searching for that elusive sound in other artists who have been doing the very same thing. This compilation is the result of that search.
1. “From a Motel 6
Yo La Tengo
Painful (1993)
Painful was released two years after Loveless. I like Yo La Tengo well enough, but looking back at their 20-odd years as a band, this particular song was a bit of a departure for them, probably due to a shared suffering from withdrawal at that time. So I was all over “From a Motel 6” with its soft, Bilinda-esque vocals and shimmery guitar work that evoked a more accessible MBV. It also assuaged my post-Loveless angst.
2. “Clear Day”
Ulrich Schnauss
A Strangely Isolated Place (2003)
It’s been about a decade after Loveless. Throughout that time, Kevin Shields did a few sporadic gigs here and there. In 1999, I went to see a La La La Human Steps performance just because Shields scored the music. There was also nothing terribly exciting going on in the world of guitar-based rock and pop, so I explored elsewhere, namely electronic music which kind of exploded in the 1990s. How reassuring to find that a number electronica artists all over the world were searching for that elusive sound too. “Clear Day” is like a sunnier electronic version of MBV, and though I don’t like all of Ulrich Schnauss’ work, this one’s definitely a keeper.
3. “Needle in the Camel's Eye”
Brian Eno
Here Come the Warm Jets (1974)
Where have I flippin’ been all this time? Delving into noise rock and ambient electronica all throughout my twenties and not bothering to look up Eno? I was not introduced to Eno’s music until my 30’s, and by my bf (now husband) no less. In any case, does not the pleasingly dissonant guitar work hint at the strong possibility that these very chords might have crossed our dear Kevin’s ears in his early youth - and took hold?
4. “Shosts In Silver”
Tim Hecker
Pop Ambient 2009
Formerly known as Jetone, and IMHO, probably the best ambient electronic artist in Montreal, if not in North America. Here Tim Hecker is featured in the compilation by the highly regarded German label, Kompakt. Some of Hecker’s noisier works bring to mind MBV, but I think the quiet ones channel their spirit more truly. Hecker has also professed that his favourite song ever is “Sometimes”:
“I kind of waver on this one, but the one I always come back to is "Sometimes" on Loveless . That's my reflex answer. I grew up in the suburbs, and as for every teenage shoegazer product of the suburbs, this is very much embedded in my DNA. It's an amazing blend of lush and heavy, violent, and soft.”
5. “Don't Come Down Here”
Serena Maneesh
self-titled (2006)
The soundtrack work Kevin Shields did for Lost in Translation in 2003 was - how do I put it - somewhat underwhelming. What happened to you, Kevin? You're like a shell of what you once were. I want me some of that gorgeous earth shattering noise!
But what’s this? A group of young Norwegians from seemingly out of nowhere, with a bevy of influences but whose predominant muse being that ol' beloved Irish shoegazin’ band? Bah, must be a knockoff band. Not quite!
Serena Maneesh may be the only band I know who has truly and courageously attempted to emulate the MBV sound, with some surprising success if I may venture to say. And still come across as sounding unique. Almost. But I’m still too afraid to admit they may have saved me from utter musical despair.
Thank you, Serena Maneesh, for carrying the torch.
6. "It Will Find You"
Maps
We Can Create (2007)
The beginning bit by this DIY UK artist reminds me of the opening of “Soon”. It ain’t no accident either since James Chapman is an unrepentant follower. Except the guy practically recorded his debut album in his own bedroom. No, I don’t think there is enough recognition for this talented chap.
7. "Welt Am Draht"
Pantha Du Prince
Black Noise (2009)
Do German electronica dudes have a thing for British shoegaze, or are they just very sophisticated ;-) ? Hamburg artist PDP’s debut Diamond Daze (2004) was noted for drawing inspiration from the likes of Slowdive, Moose, Ride, and of course, MBV. Sadly, I can only provide a track from the 2009 album Black Noise. If the influence isn’t obvious, you can’t deny the shoegaze touch in sophomore album name This Bliss or song title “Lay in a Shimmer”. Welt Am Draht means “World on Wire” and although the title does not sound very shoegazey, it’s named after a 1973 sci fi movie by Fassbinder. MBV was named after a 1981 Canadian slasher flick that featured an undead miner. There’s a connection there; it just isn’t obvious. I also watched the original film as well as the 3D remake of My Bloody Valentine. Only because I love horror films as much as I love MBV. In any case, I digress…
8. "My Weakness"
A Place to Bury Strangers
Exploding Head (2009)
There has been some interesting noise rock coming out of NYC the past several years and though the sound of this duo is more inspired by the likes of Jesus and Mary Chain and Sonic Youth, you cannot deny the elusive sound is there in this track.
I would also like to say that although many fans (including yours truly) tend to wax on and on about the masterpiece that is Loveless, my fave MBV songs of all time actually come from Isn’t Anything and the various EPs that followed.
And APTBS can rock the MBV, pre-Loveless style.
9. "Vacuum"
Gang Gang Dance
Saint Dymphna (2008)
"For the GGD novice, Gang Gang Dance specializes in complex rhythms and dense layers of equal parts noise and melody, with tribal/worldbeat influences in both the percussion and the vocal chants. Like the Dirty Projectors, Gang Gang Dance is a New York band extremely popular in the noise kids circle while also, and perhaps inexplicably, gaining notoriety among the indie pop dorks."
To be fair, this review describes GGD’s sound quite aptly but completely misses the fact that the track “Vacuum” is a major riff off of “I Only Said” (which happens to be my fave song from Loveless):
“Though this is the group’s closet foray into psychedelic, it [“Vacuum”] comes off as a bit corny.” !!
10. "Die Slow"
Health
Get Color (2009)
For those who spurn and disappoint in love, they do not deserve a quick death. During a long train ride from Montreal to TO, “Die Slow” was on repeat for a while there. Like crimson and turquoise or caramel and salt, there is nothing else that assuages boredom and loneliness like hearing ethereal vocals floating thru a tumult of discordant noise. Though this LA noise quartet is a little noisier and less melodic than MBV, “Die Slow” is a definite homage and the airy vocals remind me of Bilinda Butcher. Imagine my surprise when I learned that the lead singer is actually a dude.
11. "Soon"
Japancakes
Loveless (2007)
While I was in the process of compiling this mix, I discovered that an experimental indie band from Athens, Georgia did song-by-song instrumental covers of Loveless in 2007! But get this - with an alt-country spin! How could this have escaped my diligent attention?! Frankly I am not a huge fan of the pedal steel guitar, but I must admit that it actually works in this rendition of “Soon”.
"One thing that can be said about Loveless is that it manages to sound fairly unique even today, and instead of trying to match its intensity and searing sounds, Japancakes has instead taken things the complete opposite direction. It's a wise move that's also a bit disarming. Pedal steel and cello take the places of vocal and lead melodies respectively, with the real kicker being that the group uses no distortion on the release (which is easily one of the defining elements of the original). Needless to say, it's a completely different experience."
12. "Only Shallow"
Nadja
When I See The Sun Always Shines On TV (2009)
For an ambient metal act, Loveless is basically Everest, and for Nadja to tackle one of its signature songs and flawlessly stick the landing for the opening track of their record gives just a hint of When I See the Sun's ambition and reach.
You probably assumed there was no earthly way that "Only Shallow", the opening track on My Bloody Valentine's immortal Loveless, could possibly get any heavier or more monolithic. And there, apparently, you would have been wrong: the Toronto metal-gaze duo Nadja proves it on the first seconds of their audacious and spectacular new covers record When I See the Sun Always Shines On TV. Their version slows the tempo so drastically that the song feels like it might derail; listening to it feels like watching a drunk friend stagger to their front door and praying they don't trip on their dragging feet... If you could chop and screw a shoegaze record (screw-gaze?) it might sound like this, and Nadja's roaring wind-tunnel version manages to render MBV's original airy and harmless by comparison, as blasphemous as that might sound.
But don’t dismiss Aidan Baker just because he did a drone metal covers album as Nadja. He and Tim Hecker (see Track 4) are two of Canada’s most interesting and prolific musicians. Even though Baker specializes in epic doom metal slash ambient drone and Tim Hecker in ambient electronica, they have more in common than meets the eye and it was only in time that they collaborated together on the album, Fantasma Parastasie. Yes, indeed, another beautiful pairing of melodism and noise.
Fennesz
Venice (2004)
From this review:
When people talk about Fennesz's Kevin Shields fixation they're thinking of tracks like this. "Circassian" drowns in loud, slightly out-of-tune power chords, each of which leads a long and happy life after the initial strum. The string reverberations multiply and mutate endlessly, making it possible to imagine cathedrals, a jet airplane passing through billowy clouds at 500mph, or the volatile racket of a tropical storm. Markus Schmickler gave it a shot, but no one does neo-shoegaze laprock as well as Fennesz.
14. "Kevin Song"
My Bloody Valentine
Unreleased track
The real MBV sound does not necessarily entail a wall of pretty noise. This as well as two other unreleased songs were supposedly recorded sometime between Isn’t Anything and Loveless, and for whatever reason, surfaced about a year ago. Rather fitting, I think, to end with “Kevin Song”.
