For many years, there was nothing but rumours, conjectures, and blind hope, and eventually, all that gave way to eye-rolling and running jokes.
Nevertheless, in 2013, Kevin Shields finally made good on his long-standing promise to follow up 1991’s “Loveless” and he did so in astonishing fashion. I fully admit to getting caught up in all the hoopla on February 2nd, 2013, when Shields had the Internet a-buzz with his announcement that a new My Bloody Valentine album would be made available for purchase from his website that very night. I think I remember reading somewhere that for most of that year’s Super Bowl weekend, “MBV” (or sorry “m b v”) was trending higher on Twitter than that hallowed sporting event.
But how was the album? Did it stand up to “Loveless”?
To be honest, I was in a slightly different situation than other music fanatics my age because I didn’t feel like I had waited the whole 22 years for “m b v”. Though I was aware of My Bloody Valentine at “Loveless”‘s release and liked a few songs at the time, I didn’t become a fan until much later and so my expectations weren’t as insurmountable. Personally, I liked “m b v” from the start. Yes, much of it sounded like it was recorded 22 years before, along with the sessions of its predecessor (except with better production), but for me, there were subtle differences and hints throughout at the direction Shields and company could have been looking to take should they have continued to make music.
Indeed, “m b v” was exceptional because it did something no other album had been able to do: stand up to the brilliance of “Loveless” and not flinch. I don’t think it could have been released at any other time than 2013. I don’t think we were collectively ready to be able to appreciate it as an album for its own beauty until then.
All that being said, “new you” was and still is my favourite track on the album and the one I point to whenever the album comes up in conversation. A double barrelled shotgun of plodding bass and funky drumming, looping guitars that soar and dive, and Blinda Butcher’s ghostly vocals. It is a song in constant climax – no ups, no downs – just pure joy as noise consummated. It is My Bloody Valentine and it is good.
For the rest of the Best tunes of 2013 list, click here.
Well, folks, here we are at the precipice of a new year and I’m wrapping up the old one, crumpling it up like an off-scribbled on piece of foolscap, and jettisoning it in favour of new ideas… but not before celebrating my favourite piece of work that 2023 had to offer.
“Everything is alive”is Slowdive’s fifth studio album and second since re-forming back in 2014. Their original run spanned only six years from 1989 to 1995 but it was a prolific period resulting in 3 LPs, 5 EPs, and a handful of singles. The five players moved in different directions when they were dropped from Creation Records, a victim perhaps of the flagging shoegaze scene with which they were lumped, a flash fire that passed as quickly as it started. The lineup that performed on the group’s debut album – Neil Halstead, Rachel Goswell, Nick Chaplin, Chris Savill, and Simon Scott – announced a string of reunion shows nine years later and they’ve stuck together ever since then.
Slowdive has appeared a few times on these pages already, including placing number two with their triumphant return, the self-titled album, on this blog’s inaugural end of year, best albums list in 2017, and in pretty much every post I’ve referenced how I wasn’t super-enthused with them during their first go-round as a band. My attitude has, of course, changed and I now fully appreciate what they were doing back then and it goes with saying that I am completely enamoured with their new work.
“Everything is alive” got its start as many of Slowdive’s albums do, with principal songwriter Neil Halstead writing and demoing by himself. He had originally envisioned the album as more austere and electronic based. The recording sessions were then planned for the spring of 2020 but were in the end impacted and informed, as pretty much every album over the last three years has been, by the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns. The recording of the album was pushed back and then spread out over various sessions and locations. But for the band, these were all joyous occasions when they finally happened, being the first time they had seen each in months and perhaps the first time they had seen people other than those with whom they were living for the same amount of time. This positivity likely informed the mood of the record and the original concepts for these songs were enlarged and expanded and became a representation of the band and their mood as a whole.
Indeed, “Everything is alive” is hopeful and joyful and full of life. It is eight songs that don’t want to be anywhere near darkness and solitude. It is five musicians and friends that have known each other a long time performing as one, familiar and familial, a large sound that can envelope and absorb and has room for everyone and everything. It is the album we needed, whether we knew it or not.
There is so much to love here that I wanted to pick all eight songs and run through each for you but in recognition that we’ve only got a few hours left to make 2023 brighter, I’ve managed to narrow down my picks for you to three.
“Alife“: Track three was the final single to be released in advance of the album and was the first one to be finished for it. It starts with a ringing and jangling guitar line and Rachel Goswell adds a set of vocals that are just as ethereal.”Two lives are hard lives with you.”And this is a theme that continues throughout, setting out a mysterious balance against Neil Halstead’s slightly more straightforward narrative. But really, it’s all just a whirlpool of sound and cyclical tones, a hint of relationship struggles, a blockage of communication, diverting wishes and dreams, he said, she said, a billion voices, all looking for love in this difficult life.
“The slab”: The climactic track on the album is very much that, dense and heavy and intense, its title perfectly describing the sound rather than hinting at a narrative. The intro is just over a minute and a half of pounding drums and guitars that fritter and sizzle in repetitive drones and underneath it all is something a bit ominous, washes of deep synths, like black curtains in a black room, ponderous and striking. When the vocals do come in, it’s like Halstead is allowing us in to a conversation already in progress but not quite completely opening the door. The words seem like they’re purposefully incomprehensible, just adding to the mystery and mood of the piece. And at the end of the five minutes, as the sound fades, you’re left bereft and just want to restart it but before you can stop yourself, you’re already flipping the disc back to side one.
“Kisses”: The first advance single from this amazing album is the closest thing to a pop single I’ve heard from the group in a very long time. Though it does feel upbeat and perhaps a little structured for Slowdive, it still is very much a chill vibe. The drums provide clarity in just one of the many layers of gauze and cobwebs, chiming guitars echo off into eternity and Halstead’s and Goswell’s harmonies flit and flirt on the surface of a million mirrors refracting in upon themselves.”I know you dream of snowfields, floating high above the trees, living for the new thing, sometimes the new won’t do.”It is a perfect sampling of the joy that the five-piece is looking to spread about here, drumming up memories previously lost, and forcing you to face them and appreciate the good and the bad and how they shaped everything that came after.
In case you missed the previous five posts, here is the rest of the list:
To be honest, Tuesday mornings are not something I typically get too excited about but today, I’m starting in on the countdown of my top ten favourite albums of the year. Music has always been a trusty crutch and a source of joy and in recent years, has even been more so. And the albums that I’ll be focusing on as we close out the year are my favourites that the last eleven plus months have offered us.
As in years past, there’s been lots of great music in 2023. It’s true that I’ve had to be more selective in vinyl collecting, continuing a trend from last year, what with the rising costs of everything. But rest assured, I’ve been listening to lots more than the handful of new records I’ve procured, streaming hours of music through my trusty Apple Music service.
I’ve discovered plenty of great new artists over the course of this year’s music journey and I’ve also reacquainted myself with many old friends. Indeed, a good number of my top albums have come from bands that I’ve been a fan of for years and despite high expectations, have put out some fantastic new pieces of work. Some of these were represented in the post I shared on Friday of five exceptional albums that didn’t quite make the cut but were worth your attentions nonetheless. Some are these are yet to come – today, and in the weeks ahead.
As I mentioned earlier, this post marks the start of my top ten countdown in earnest, starting with albums #10 through #6. Then, I plan to share my favourite five over the next few weeks, hopefully, getting them all in by the end of the year.
With all the excellent releases, I am sure I missed out on one or two so as we go through my own ten favourite albums, I welcome your comments and thoughts and perhaps even your own top ten favourites in the comments spaces provided.
Let’s do this.
#10 Bodywash “I held the shape while I could”
Bodywash is a shoegaze duo that was formed in Montreal in 2014 by Chris Steward and Rosie Long Decter, apparently after musically bonding over another Canadian indie, dream pop group: Alvvays. I only came upon the group a few weeks after the release of this, their sophomore record, but I was so enthused that I immediately went back to explore their previous debut EP and LP and was sad to hear that I had just missed their swing through town on their tour. “I held the shape while I could” was mostly self-produced but recorded with Jace Lasek (The Besnard Lakes) and is notably darker and muscular than its predecessor but shares its penchant for shimmering guitars and airy vocals from both its singers. It is by times haunting and fleeting and explosive.
#9 Boygenius “The record”
Just over five years ago, three of the most exciting young solo singer/songwriters in indie rock banded together and put out a six song, self-titled EP. This particular music fan could and should be forgiven for assuming that that one fine release would be it for the humorously named Boygenius. As great as it was, Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus were all very successful and busy in their own careers, had put out their own excellent albums in the interim and toured quite a bit. The announcement of “The record” was met with a lot of excitement and just as much hype and the album of course lived up to meet both face to face. The songs are all finely crafted but what’s more impressive is how you can almost feel the joy with which these three musicians perform together while listening and you just can’t do so passively at all.
#8 Depeche Mode “Momento mori”
Depeche Mode is probably the band that I’ve been following the longest of those that I consider amongst my favourites and they’ve made quite a few appearances on this blog’s pages already. The new wave and synth pop icons have been making music for more than four decades and the time that passed between records had never been more than four years before. “Memento mori”, though, comes six years after 2017’s “Spirit” and after news came of Andrew Fletcher’s passing last year, reducing the one-time quartet down to a duo, I was actually surprised we saw the 15th album come out at all. But what was even more surprising to me was how much I loved this album. It’s like a return to form without feeling like a retread and chock full of bangers.
#7 The Clientele “I am not there anymore”
The Clientele has also already appeared on these pages a number of times*. I can’t really believe that I’ve been following the indie pop group from London for a couple of decades but the dates on all those timeless albums on my record shelves don’t lie. Indeed, their sun-kissed and lazy sunday psycheledelic dream pop has been one of my mainstays and every album an event. However, it had been almost six years since we’d last heard from them and then, when news came of a new album but that it would be a departure, I was hesitant to check it out. Luckily for me, those words of experimenting with jazz and electronic music were a bit overstated. They have indeed expanded their sound, freshening it up and seemingly invigorating its players in the process, but it’s still beautiful Clientele music.
#6 Eyelids “A colossal waste of light”
Eyelids are a power pop, indie rock band from Portland, Oregon. As far as I can tell, they’ve been active since some time around 2012, which blows me away because I only just learned about them this year. The announcement of the impending release of their sixth studio album, “A colossal waste of light”, came up on my Instagram feed care of The Decemberists’ account. As it turns out, the latter band’s drummer, John Moen has had this side thing going with a good friend of his, Chris Slusarenko (ex-Guided By Voices), for quite some time and they are quite excellent. Their latest features their new bassist Victor Krummenacher (Camper Van Beethoven, Cracker) and is produced by good friend Peter Buck (R.E.M.). With all this music pedigree, you can bet that the tunes are tight and slick, jangly power pop that gets stuck in your head for days and will cause no complaints while it’s there.
*They had songs on my Best Tunes lists for 2000 and 2003 and made my Best Albums lists for 2007 and 2017.
Stay tuned for album #5 on this list. In the meantime, you can check out my Best Albums page here if you’re interested in my other favourite albums lists.
My (life in) music lists 