#shoegaze classics

[lovejustforaday]

Shoegaze Classics - Loveless

Loveless - My Bloody Valentine (1991)

Main Genres - Shoegaze, Noise Pop, Dream Pop

A decent sampling of: Experimental Rock, Neo-Psychedelia, Alternative Dance

DUT DUT DUT DUT VREW VREW VREW VREW VREW VREW VREW

Well, if you knew anything about shoegaze going into this series, you knew that this review was going to be inevitable.

Today I take on the most truly revered shoegaze band, and probably one of the most legendary indie bands of all time. God help me, I'm going to do my best, so here goes nothing. Let's talk about My Bloody Valentine and Loveless.

The Band

My Bloody Valentine is an awesome band. Plain and simple. The name is awesome, the sound is awesome, their public persona is awesome. Just, lots of awesomeness.

Okay, I can probably do better than that. Hmmm... Okay wait, stay with me here.

My Bloody Valentine were originally an unlikely, little-known post-punk band from the 80s, that somehow went on to being one of the most important and influential bands of the 90s whilst only having dropped one record for the entire aforementioned decade.

After a series of lineup changes that coincided with a search for the bands' sonic identity, the true My Bloody Valentine lineup solidified as Kevin Shields, the madman musical genius leader of the crew on guitars and vocals, Bilinda Butcher, a feathery soft-spoken punk on guitar and vocals, Colm Ó Cíosóig as the animated, flappy-haired drummer, and Debbie Googe as the badass butch bassist (BBB) who was originally from the anarchist punk scene.

I've been trying to consistently use the term "British Isles" to describe the epicenter of the initial first wave of shoegaze. I wanted to be careful not to just say "Britain" or the U.K., because that would be somewhat revisionist.

Proto-shoegazers A.R. Kane may have formed in London, but other "proto" bands like Jesus and Mary Chain and Cocteau Twins were from Scotland. As for the band most credited with the true inception of shoegaze by its strictest definition, that would be My Bloody Valentine, hailing from Ireland, folks who often (for very good reason) don't take too kindly to being described as "British". That being said, Debbie and Bilinda are English.

I won't waste too much time going into the history of the band for this review, mostly because this is already gonna be a long one and I've got so many things to say about the record itself. So I'll give you the sparknotes version.

Like most early shoegazers, My Bloody Valentine dropped a few EPs before their first full-length LP, albeit in some completely different genres. C86 style Jangle Pop, Post-Punk, and frigging Psychobilly of all things apparently?

The band really found their sound, and pioneered the definitive collective traits of shoegaze in 1988, signing with Creation Records and dropping the EP You Made Me Realize and, later that year, their debut full-length Isn't Anything which, depending on who you ask, is the first true shoegaze LP (Though a very little known post-punk band named A Primary Industry may have something to say about that).

Shoegaze was invented with the propagation of a new world of sonic timbres discovered through the usage of guitar pedals, and My Bloody Valentine in particular really loved their pedals. On top of those pedals, the band laid a lot of distortion and harsh volumes.

Likeswise, My Bloody Valentine has pretty much always been just as much a noise pop band like their contemporaries The Jesus And Mary Chain. The two scenes overlapped a lot during the first wave (just like dream pop and neo-psychedelia), and some even describe the shoegaze formula as essentially being dream pop + noise pop = shoegaze. Personally I think this is a reductionist definition when there are many shoegaze bands that don't fit nicely into either of those other categories. But I digress.

Isn't Anything was the record that launched a thousand (shoegaze) ships. It's certainly a bit more overtly post-punk in its foundations, and rougher around the edges than what would come next. But I also really do love this record. "You Never Should" and "No More Sorry" in particular are two of my favourite My Bloody Valentine songs.

What came next, however, is a whole different beast entirely.

The Record

I'll start with the disclaimer that everything I could possibly say about Loveless is probably already a cliche by now.

Insanely fuzzy and warm. Layers upon layers of sound that demonstrates a level of musical precision and perfectionism that almost doesn't seem human. Reinvented the guitar like virtually no other record before or since. Oddly arousing and potentially even sapphic if you read into the lyrics (tbf Debbie is a confirmed gay indie icon). Sounds exactly like the neon shades of magenta displayed on the cover art.

2023 is frankly a little bit late to be writing a review about this heavily celebrated 1991 record. Others have already written entire dissertations about this revolutionary LP. I don't promise this is going to be the most definitive and thoughtful review of this record, nor am I anywhere close to being the first or last indie nerd to ever champion and fanboy over this goddamn masterpiece of its genre, but I do wanna talk about how I myself personally experience Loveless.

Funny enough, my favourite memory of listening to this record (which I've been loving since 2015) was actually when I was dog-sitting for a friend's mom at her house in 2018 during the early autumn. The dog herself even seemed to wanna dance with me while I was spinning in little circles to the rhythms of "Soon". I think that's the season when I enjoy this record most - probably a mix of the coolness and crispness of the autumn breeze, and wearing the same kind of cozy sweaters that the My Bloody Valentine members are wearing in like half of their 90s photoshoots.

Okay, enough chitter chatter. Let's get into it.

"Only Shallow" is one of the most iconic album openers of all time, period. Instantly overpowers the listener with those first few overblown snare stabs before exploding into a pounding noise pop delirium of screeching banshee guitars. Letting up only slightly for the verses, where Bilinda Butcher describes something sweet, soft, and warm, in a brazen contrast to the blustering razor guitars that are unleashed after each verse. This track most perfectly encapsulates a pervasive trend across the rest of the album, wherein the sonic mosaic of textures can be described paradoxically as both cushiony and razor-sharp at the same time.

Lyrics and their delivery will continue from this point on to be every bit as textural and vague as the music itself, creating abstract entities that are transient and androgynous. Indeed, I struggled a lot on my first few listens to discern which tracks were being sung by Bilinda and which were Kevin or the both of them. Bilinda recalls that she would often take naps in the studio when they were recording Loveless and would do her vocal tracks soon after being awoken, which lends itself to her very tranquilized delivery in which I feel like I can picture the drowsy bags under her eyes in some of these songs. Likewise, most of this entire album is best appreciated in a half-awake mental state, even more so than other dream pop / shoegaze records.

"Loomer" is the dark underbelly of Loveless, like listening through the old floorboards of a basement ceiling to sounds of the band playing a live house show in the living room upstairs. It's a grainy, gloomy bed of sound that feels as though it could be physically slept on if desired.

I have no idea how many actual layers of track recordings went into the concoction of the heavily experimental "To Here Knows When", but it feels like hundreds. This song is a whirring helicopter blade of thousands of little sounds, scattering everywhere until it creates a thick, opaque, sparkling lilac mist that obscures the upbeat melody that's utterly buried in the fog of noisy drones and distortion. The mastering sounds as though you're listening to all of this happen through a small tubular opening in a giant glass wall, as if all of the tonal anarchy is happening from the other side, perhaps in another dimension. For a bonus observation, this one in particular sounds even more unreal and transcendental when you're tired as fuck on an early morning bus ride after a night of zero sleep (Don't ask me).

"When You Sleep" is probably My Bloody Valentine's most acclaimed and influential song. That de-tuned, icy, fluorescent glowing pop melody motif is seriously addictive, and it sounds almost deranged. The heavily compressed drumming provides the propulsion needed for a track that feels like its intensely vibrating every last quark of matter in its audible vicinity. I really have to remind myself that these crazy sounds are being made by guitars with effect pedals, and not with synthesizers (or, as the meme goes, vacuum cleaners).

The record really crunches in on those guitar textures with "Come In Alone" a track that you'll be hearing echoing in the back of your mind long after its finished (note: this record is NOT recommended to those especially prone to having tinnitus). This track is like all of the blood rushing to your head when you would hang upside down from the monkey bars as a kid. It feels intoxicating in the best way.

The band takes an unsuspecting turn for gut-punching emotions on "Sometimes", likely the only song with a more or less discernible lyrical theming on the record, about sharing intimacy with another person and the insurmountable fear of isolation from someone you love. The timbral effects are applied minimally on this song, but the dozens of recorded guitar tracks drone in a wondrous hum that resonates with the vibrations of a lonely soul. Usually, I'd say this is my favourite My Bloody Valentine song, though "To Here Knows When" and "Only Shallow" occasionally compete for the number 1 spot as well.

"Blown a Wish" is cool, dreamy shoegaze that fizzles and melts in your mouth like an ice cream soda. Pure pleasure is the best way I could describe its sensation, with all of its rippling, neck-tingling guitar effects that dance in and out of the foreground. Alternatively, this is like being high on helium and having so many butterflies in your stomach that you actually start to feel like you're levitating in a luscious trance. Delicious song.

The record closes with its poppiest and most accessible number "Soon", a mix of comparatively light shoegaze psychedelia and alternative dance beats that sounds enormously sexy. Evokes psychoactive substances, gently swaying hips, and grassy fields filled with buzzing fireflies. A very stylish way to end the record and solidify My Bloody Valentine's status as indie music legends.

What Came After That?

Loveless was a certified gold commercial success, about on par with the success of Ride's Going Blank Again, but it was also purportedly so expensive to make that it bankrupted the Creation Records label (serves you bastards right for making Oasis happen) and caused the band to be dropped.

I honestly kind of laugh to myself whenever I think of Alan McGee's pompous ass looking at the numbers and having a panic attack, almost as much as I laugh when I remember how Catherine Wheel gave him a big fat "NOPE!" to being signed after he pestered them. Have I mentioned I really don't like Creation Records ways of doing things?

*seething* ANYWAY, My Bloody Valentine basically disappeared for the rest of the 90s. Members moved on to different projects.

And then, after years of teasing a third record, the band's self-titled mbv was finally dropped in 2013. This one seems to divide fans a lot more than their other records; it wasn't as universally received as the Slowdive comeback record a few years later. This one is arguably more experimental than Loveless, and there's even a couple of tracks with some DnB influence. I think all things considered, it's a pretty great comeback record. I think many folks were probably expecting a Loveless 2, and it probably helps that I didn't even listen to this band before the new record came out, so I had no expectations built over years for this record.

There is allegedly a fourth record (and possibly fifth) LP in the works, but Shields has been teasing at it for years now, and its sort of becoming a running joke in the shoegaze community that we're gonna be waiting another five or ten years.

But hey, good work takes time. After making a record like Loveless, I personally think you've earned the right as an artist to afford yourself all the time in the world. I certainly wouldn't know how the hell to follow upon something that masterfully crafted, and some bands probably wouldn't even try to.

But besides all that, Loveless speaks for itself. It is a singular album experience. Nothing really sounds anything quite like it, to the point that newbies often getting into shoegaze for the first time with this record often lament the fact that the scene is not full of other records sounding just like this. It's for this reason precisely that, if you are totally new to shoegaze, I don't recommend this as a starting point. A lot of other great shoegaze records are unfairly compared to this record a whole fucking lot, and it can have a spoiling effect for some folks. But not every shoegaze band should sound like My Bloody Valentine, or have a Loveless in their discography.

But, at the same time, holy crap this is one of the coolest records of all time and if you haven't already heard it by now then you're doing yourself a huge disservice by not listening to this some time in the next week at the latest. Loveless is something that every fan of music should experience at least once, and there's only a handful of albums that I could confidently make that statement for.

So, yeah. Go listen. (✿ ᵔ ᴗ ᵔ )y

10/10

Highlights: "Sometimes", "To Here Knows When", "Only Shallow", "When You Sleep", "Blown A Wish", "Soon", "Come In Alone", "Loomer", "I Only Said"the

[blackmarket-playlists]

First part with forgotten treasures of the shoegaze/dreampop genre and closely related styles (influenced by the time in which they were released) Most bands are pretty much forgotten with less than 200 monthly listeners on Spotify, despite excellent songs. (The Songs mentioned below are my favourites from them).

All songs can be found in one playlist! (The playlist will be updated in the coming weeks with further posts here on this channel and more lost songs from great bands. So stay tuned...)

🔥Playlistcover: OLD MAGIC PALLAS (Brazil) 

Artist name: Old Magic Pellas Country: Sao Paulo, Brazil Latest release (Spotify): Pull My Daisy (1995, remastered 2024) Highlight song: Stargazer (1995) Info: Formed in the mid 90's. Nice that this treasure has been polished up!

Artist name: The Great Wilderness Country: Costa Rica Latest release (Spotify): In The Hour Of The Wolf (2013) Highlight song: Nicholas Cage (2013) Info: Still playing live, sometimes...

Artist name: Astreal Country: Singapore Highlight song: Wallflower (2006) Info: Formed in 1992

Artist name: The Caulfield Sisters Country: Brooklyn, NY Highlight song: Box of Glass (2013) Info: Formed in 2000.

Artist name: Colfax Abbey  Country: Minneapolis, MN Highlight song: Chameleon (1996) Info: Mid '90's indie band

Artist name: Laboratory Noise Country: Bradford, UK Highlight song: You Can Never Get Inside Someone Else’s Head (2006) Info: Formed in 2005

Artist name: Study of the Lifeless Country: US Highlight song: Promised Land (1999)

Artist name: Moral Mazes Country: US Highlight song: Gold Beach Fortress

Artist name: The Crash That Took Me Country: Dallas, US Highlight song: Deeper Than The Sun’s Pulse (2007)

What is your favourite?

To be continued....

[fashionlandscapeblog]

Lush - Lovelife

[f0restpunk]

Medicine from The Crow

[foursaints]

music taste of barty, evan, pandora and reg? like genres and artists and songs? that they like?

anon.... i was waiting for this. i actually very psychotically have a playlist of music that i think barty listens to. I have so much respect for the people that want barty to listen to Lana del rey & mcr or whatever. but THAT'S A GRIMY DUDE!

he's listening to terrible traphouse music & drill & fuckboy rap & industrial noise and the day that juicewrld died was probably his personal 9/11!!!

[kitschydoll]

[omegaremix]

Omega Radio for February 20, 2013; #9.

Mogwai “Letters To The Metro” (Zombi RMX)

Nujabes “Latitude” (RMX)

Sun Ra “Enlightenment” (live)

Sleater-Kinney “You’re No Rock & Roll Fun”

Damned, The “1 Of The 2”

Dead Boys, The “Sonic Reducer”

Alec Empire “Kiss OF Death”

Boards Of Canada “5/9/78”

Rainer Maria “Already Lost”

Sonic Youth “Tuck & Dar”

Shonen Knife “When You Sleep”

Dot Allison “I Think I Love You”

Cobra Killer “Is It Coloured?”

Swervedriver “Rave Down”

Mazzy Star “Bells Ring”

Slowdive “Catch The Breeze”

IO Echo “Carnation”

Aphex Twin “Xtal”

Saul Williams “Can’t Hide Love”

Crystal Castles “Alice Practice”

Stereo Total “Do The Bambi”

Bjork “Army Of Me”

Ladytron “Seventeen”

All-Girl Summer Fun Band “Dear Mr. & Mrs. Troublemaker”

Blow, The “Democracy Of Small Things”

Mirah “Recommendation”

Pop Will Eat Itself “Mask”

Godspeed, You Black Emperor! “Sunshine + Gasoline”

Manual “Baja Nights”

Jesu “Silver”

Deluxe 'rainbow' broadcast.

[lynchianslut]

loneliness...

holly warburton/sylvia plath/van gogh/tatiana kuchar-karpova/unknown/bob dylan/george seferis/the smiths

[zaphffayrkunialofphinsfable]

the my band Marwood

me! the lead singer and lead guitarist

James, the support singer and (co) lead guitarist

Ned, support singer and rhythm guitarist

Brynn, the support singer and bassist

Alex, the support singer and drummer

Inspirations:

AC/DC, Aerosmith, Alice In Chains, Alien Sex Fiend, Arctic Monkeys, Bad Brains, Bad Religion, Bauhaus, Bikini Kill, Billy Idol, Black Sabbath, Bob Dylan, Buzzcocks, Car Seat Headrest, Christian Death, Circle Jerks, Cocteau Twins, Crass, David Bowie, Deftones, Depeche Mode, Dinosaur Jr., Donovan, Drop Nineteens, Echo & The Bunnymen, Fleetwood Mac, Flipper, Gang of Four, Gene Loves Jezebel, Germs, Gorillaz, Green Day, Guns N' Roses, Hüsker Dü, Interpol, Iron Maiden, Jack Stauber, Jimi Hendrix, Joy Division, Judas Priest, Killing Joke, L7, Leadbelly, Led Zeppelin, Malfunkshun, Megadeth, Melvins, Metallica, Minor Threat, Misfits, Molchat Doom, Mother Love Bone, Mudhoney, My Bloody Valentine, Nick Cave, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, Pantera, Pearl Jam, Pink Floyd, Pixies, Queen, Radiohead, Rammstein, Ramones, REM, Red Hot Child Peppers, Ride, Sex Pistols, Sham 69, Siousxie And The Banshees, Sonic Youth, Soundgarden, Stone Roses, Stone Temple Pilots, Temple Of The Dog, The Adicts, The B52s The Beatles, The Cars, The Clash, The Cramps, The Cult, The Cure, The Doors, The Exploited, The Gits, The Hives, The Jam, The Jesus And Mary Chain, The Kinks, The Manic Street Preachers, The Moldy Peaches, The Rolling Stones, The Sisters Of Mercy, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Smiths, The Stooges, The Strokes, The Velvet Underground, The Vines, The Virgin Prunes, The White Stripes, The Who, Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Genres:

blues

goth rock

hypnagogic pop

indie rock

lo fi

metal

post punk

punk rock

shoegaze

space rock

r&b

[lovejustforaday]

Shoegaze Classics - Xuvetyn

Xuvetyn - Lovesliescrushing (1996)

Main Genres - Ambient, Shoegaze, Ethereal Wave, Experimental

A decent sampling of: Drone, Noise, Dream Pop, Post-Rock, Neo-Psychedelia

I'm not gonna lie - I'm super excited to gush about this record. I've been meaning to get around to reviewing this bountiful, fascinating little gem for years now. Let's hope that I can do this often unsung masterpiece the much needed justice that it deserves.

🙙

I touched on this previously in my Ride review, but for all of the talk of the 'Big 3' of shoegaze, I think that many of the younger shoegaze fans these days would agree that Slowdive and My Bloody Valentines' discographies are a cut above the Ride catalogue. Not to diss on the band, but the Big 3 is really starting to feel more like a Big 2 these days, with Slowdive's relevance to new fans only increasing over time whilst Ride's relevance seems to be stagnating.

This has left a potential vacuum in the consensus online. Don't get me wrong; plenty are still going to champion Ride as one of the giants of shoegaze, and most folks that were around for the original scene that celebrated itself are most likely still diehard for Ride as the scene's closest group to being mega rockstars.

But in terms of the legacy of 90s shoegaze, could there still be a record that is missing from all-time canonization? One that has oft been overlooked when discussing this supposed "Big 3"? Is one of indie rock's most beloved and revisited eras still hiding an elusive diamond in the rough?

In case it wasn't already obvious, that's the case I'm going to be making today. And I don't think I'm entirely alone on this one. Few shoegaze bands from the 90s have had such a considerable late resurgence like this band, though they've always had a cult following.

Today I'll be making the case for Lovesliescrushing, the creative juggernauts behind the 1996 experimental ambient shoegaze masterpiece Xuvetyn.

The Band

Lovesliescrushing are one of the rare American bands of the original 90s wave.

The project began in 1991 as the brainchild of avant-garde guitarist and producer Scott Cortez, who teamed up with the apparitional soprano voice of singer Melissa Arpin-Duimstra, a vocalist who more than any other shoegaze vocalist before or since has dedicated her artistry to using the singing voice as a medium to carry and modulate the properties of sound timbre first and foremost.

Daringly, Lovesliescrushing as a band decided to forego having a rhythm section altogether. Not even a drum machine. The band's radical ethos right from its inception would seem to have been to distill shoegaze rock music down to a purified elemental substance, achieving the platonic ideal by creating an undisturbed solution of dense and glorious blended textures.

Indeed, where reverberated guitar sounds with bizarre effects and blended vocals were what set apart bands like Swervedriver, Catherine Wheel, and Curve from being otherwise ordinary indie/alternative rock bands, the qualities I just described encompassed the near-entirety of Lovesliescrushing's early output, taking the concept of the subgenre to its logical extreme.

The band pioneered what is essentially the fusion of ambient music and shoegaze, a match made in heaven as far as I'm concerned. This marriage of genre ethos would give way to some of the most unyielding sublime auditory sensations that I have ever been so fortunate to have experienced.

Lovesliescrushing also had one foot steeped firmly in the murky waters of ethereal wave (particularly on the sophomore record), the goth subgenre which served as shoegaze and dream pop's most apparent predecessor and influence. Indeed, some of the band's material can be seen as building upon the prototypical blueprint that can be found in Cocteau Twins' fourth LP Victorialand which similarly removed the rhythm section in order to create pure blissful atmosphere.

Some may see Cortez's work as hero worship, and I've heard a dozen or so folks accuse this band of being "My Bloody Valentine without the melodies and drums", but this is a grossly reductionist take that does a huge disservice to just how brazenly groundbreaking and experimental this band's early work was at the time and still remains to this day.

Lovesliescrushing also regularly made their foray into other schools of experimental music like drone, sound collage, and harsh noise, incorporating these ideas into their creative process. Some of their material even sounds like experimental music with no apparent roots in any particular legacy whatsoever.

This is honestly some very radical music. I can't think of much of anything really quite like early Lovesliescrushing. Perhaps MBV is one of the closest points of reference, but then only because they were a shoegaze band that also sounded quite unlike anything at the time.

Information on the beginnings of this band is scant on the internet compared to many other shoegaze artists, and they were never well-documented by the alternative music press the way that bands like Slowdive or even Catherine Wheel were. And as far as the North American scene goes, Drop Nineteens definitely overshadowed their popularity.

I think it's a fair assessment to say that Lovesliescrushing were truly underground in the band's formative years. I remember only as far back as 2017, when I was just getting into this band through online recommendations, that even many avid fans of Slowdive and MBV had never even heard of this band. But I digress.

Lovesliescrushing released their debut LP Bloweyelashwish twice: first as a casette tape in 1992 on their own indie label with a shorter track listing, and then as a longer full-length album in 1993 on Projekt Records, with newer recordings and mastered versions of the songs.

Bloweyelashwish is a beautiful record in its own right. More generally noisy and droning than its successor, with crunchier guitar sounds, blown out distortion, and a listless melancholic atmosphere. Somewhat closer to very early Sonic Youth, or some of A.R. Kane's weirdest output. What the record does somewhat lack, at least in comparison to its successor, is relative cohesion.

Nevertheless, some very brilliant tracks on the debut LP. "Babysbreath" is music for when you need to smother your tears in a pillow with all of the lights off, "Sugaredglowing" is one of my favourite ambient tracks ever (and a surprisingly potent form of migraine relief), and "youreyesimmaculate" is a stunning and ethereal foreshadowing of what was to come next.

Speaking of which...

The Record

Xuvetyn is... what even is it?

Xuvetyn is a series of documented sound frequencies that would be made by a sentient, shimmering blue light galaxy consisting entirely of trillions upon trillions of frozen ice shard particles. Alternatively, it is the contradictory sound of the bitter coldness of the universe itself caressing the listener in a warm cocoon.

The fact that most of all of this is accomplished with guitar, pedal, vocals, and some studio effects here and there is still unfathomable to me. That is an incredible feat in itself.

Judging solely by the ability to create awe-inspiring atmosphere, I don't believe that there is any other shoegaze band that has managed to accomplish the level of mastery that Lovesliescrushing consistently demonstrates on this record. Yes, If Loveless was the zenith of shoegaze texture, then Xuvetyn is the zenith of shoegaze atmosphere. Completely surreal and captivating.

As I've described the band's sound itself, Xuvetyn really is the concept of shoegaze distilled into its essence, then manipulated ever so slightly with a delicate songcraft and expertise, in order to give these tracks a semblance of form and structure. But make no mistake - there is no solid seabed foundation to this ocean of resonant sounds like there would be on any other shoegaze record. No, this is just infinite, icy sonic fluid that flows all the way down into a multi-dimensional abyss. And holy fuck is it ever beautiful.

Which is not to say that there is no songwriting here - just that it is incredibly subtle. But also incredibly effective.

People who generally don't care for or listen to ambient music often stereotype the genre as being uninteresting, low-effort, or too non-descript, when in fact all of the truly greatest ambient musicians know that making a masterpiece is about learning how to do miraculous things with precious little. It requires immense patience (as does the listener sometimes), a keen ear for detail, and meticulous perfectionism. Unsurprisingly, Scott Cortez strikes me as being just that kind of guy.

The album is a double LP in length, with an hour and sixteen minutes runtime and a listing of 18 tracks. Most songs generally run over the five minute mark, with the A, B, and C sides of the record all padded out every one or two tracks with these really curious little intermissions that are generally less than a full minute each.

These intermissions are often the most experimental recordings on the album, like the abrasive hailstorm noise collage of "Aquan 1" and the gloomy factory white noise of "Hum VIbralux". I could see how someone might want to omit these, but personally I think it adds to the record's pacing by giving it room to breathe, and they made the right decision to let up for the last set of tracks. Plus, the little intermissions are all so deliciously weird that it kinda reminds me of the way that your brain will just plant these bizarre, inexplicable little blips in the middle of your dreams sometimes.

Also hey, can I just nerd out about something really silly for a second? Has anyone ever noticed how a bunch of the track names on this record end in an "-ed"? "Threaded", "Handed", "Blue-Eyed", "Honeyed", "Blooded". Just another cute little detail, adding to the esoteric nature of this record, and I appreciate the alliteration.

OKAY, let's just get to the track by track analysis already.

Admittedly this is one of those records that hits you with the very best it has to offer right out of the gate. Listening to "Valerian (Her Voice Honeyed)" is among the most sublime feelings I have ever experienced in my life, literally ever. Not just in music but like, anything.

Think of any familiar place, or perhaps a virtual space in a piece of media, that held a sort of transcendental significance to you during your childhood, as though it carried a life of its own, a place that you may have revisited in your warmest dreams - for me, it's the lost woods in Ocarina of Time. Think of the sensation that those transcendent spaces would give you.

This track is that same sensation, only on steroids. As soon as that heavy ambient wall fades into the foreground and the sense of infinity takes hold, this gently flowing waterfall of dark sound matter creates a sort of window of reflection into wherever it is in your soul that you have ever felt the most at home. I get that music is a subjective experience at the end of the day, but I feel like what I just described would be inevitable for almost any listener, unless they simply weren't listening to this track the right way. One of the greatest songs ever? I'd wager a hard fucking yes.

The good news is that from here, you have only just begun your journey into a world of many more sublime and mysterious figures.

"Xarella Almandyne" is like the sound of a choir of angels in a massive hall the size of an entire city - the unknowable, lovecraftian, biblically-accurate seraphim kind of angel. Somehow soothing, yet oddly paralyzing at the same time. Based on this track alone, I must say that I'm not entirely convinced that Scott and Melissa are regular mere mortals of this world.

"Blooded And Blossom-Blown" is an eerie, gleaming, and loudly piercing void. I find the majority of the songs on this record to be overall comforting, sometimes somber and darkly mystifying if anything, but this might be the one odd track that genuinely unsettles me; in a way that I cannot get enough of, mind you. Compared to what we often call white noise, this piece represents sound that I visualize in the distinctly unnatural shades of negative blues and turquoises.

"Virgin Blue-Eyed" is a very rare departure in the band's early discography from their guitar ambience, focusing on the incantations of Melissa's euphonious elven voice, with clanging little bells in the background (which, funnily enough, technically makes this the most percussive track on either of the band's first two records).

My favourite of the intermissions is "Seesaw". Transitory shoegaze in a continuously elevating loop, like music for the loading screen that would take you to the shoegaze version of heaven, or perhaps the mythological world of Mag Mell.

"Golden-Handed" is soft, swirling, hypnagogic, and lamenting. This ambient ethereal wave track manifests as the faintest, loneliest light flickering in the gloomy hush of an otherwise dead midnight. Completely arresting atmosphere.

"Bones of Angels" is a two parter - first there's "Bronze Lit Feathers", a labyrinthine chorus of resplendent, inharmonious, and rippling guitar impressions, drifting almost aimlessly and forming only vague constellations with the help of Melissa's frail melody, and a foundation of ambient bass notes cutting through the discordance with great magnitude. This is contrasted by the second part "Her Tongue Pulled Out", wherein the sky parts and the drifting guitar sounds align into a shrill cry, forming a radiant column of sonic light, as if something gorgeous is beginning to descend upon the world. Music for high priestesses summoning divine power.

Xuvetyn reaches its second greatest peak with the penultimate track "Ghosts That Swirl", a piece which opens with this really foreboding orchestra of dreary, gargantuan ambient chimes, sounding as though the world around the listener was compressing in on itself and then stretching in and out of itself, like alternating waves in the membrane of the universe. This overture leads into an ominous, secluded, and crystalline dreamland soundscape, further removed from reality than any other track on the record, and unlike any other song that I have ever experienced. This is music that could only be dreamt up from the confines of a comatose slumber, wherein Melissa's whispers in your ear are the only traces connecting you to the corporeal world, though only audible as faint echoes far off in the distance of a seemingly endless cerulean.

I could go on all day but I've decided to end the track-by-track analysis here. The entire record is vividly evocative beyond what should be reasonably possible (and what I can convey words). You might get something entirely different from my descriptions of these tracks, but I guarantee that you will experience something unearthly.

What Came After That?

Lovesliescrushing followed up their first two records with a series of two records in 2002 that were more just straight up ambient music, rather than comprising an ambient shoegaze fusion.

The first of these is Glissceule, a similarly icy record to Xuvetyn with less dark edge and more of a reserved calm, plus more electronic elements. Second was the more ambiguous Voirshn which I enjoy significantly less than previous projects unfortunately.

The band has sporadically released more ambient records over the course of the last couple of decades, which I have yet to really deep dive into. Scott has worked on a few separate projects, most notably his other band Astrobrite which releases much harsher noise shoegaze records. Nothing from this band has really grabbed me like Lovesliescrushing's work, so I am not very familiar with it.

Like I mentioned previously, Lovesliescrushing's relevance in online shoegaze circles has seen a steady increase over time for a little while now. But Scott and Melissa have always been favs amongst the more hardcore followers of the scene, achieving an almost mythical status as figureheads of the experimental shoegaze micro-scene. And they're pretty much always one of the first bands I see people recommending nowadays when someone online says that they're looking for more "weird shoegaze".

And believe me, I'm one of those nerds recommending this band with every relevant opportunity that I can seize. This should be among the first dozen records we play when the aliens come down to Earth, in order to plead our case for the culture of humankind. This is a very special piece of art.

I won't pretend that this is going to be music for everyone, but if you really wanna transcend your corporeal existence in way that doesn't involve experimenting with potentially harmful substances, I can't really think of any better method. Xuvetyn is from beyond our plane of existence - some people native to our world (allegedly) just happened to manifest it one day.

Join me next time where, in case this review wasn't goddamn long enough, I will be doing a series of reviews on every major Slowdive release from the self-titled EP all the way up to their latest record 🙃.

10/10

Highlights: "Valerian (Her Voice Honeyed)", "Ghosts That Swirl", "Bones of Angels", "Xarella Almandyne", "Golden-Handed", "See Saw", "Blooded and Blossom-Blown", "Virgin Blue Eyed", "Flowered Smother", "Mother of Pearl", "Mandragora Louvareen", "Milkysoft", "Hum Vibralux", "Staticburst"

[bruntalism]

[fashionlandscapeblog]

Chapterhouse - Breather

[f0restpunk]

https://microgenremusic.com/articles/pale-saints-in-ribbons-4ad-album-review/

[omegaradiowusb]

SEPTEMBER 9, 2023 (#358)

Husker Du: "Gravity" Replacements: "Unsatisfied" Scratch Acid: "Owner's Lament" Cult, The: "Rain" Love And Rockets: "Ball Of Confusion" Jesus And Mary Chain, The: "April Skies" Big Audio Dynamite: "Just Play Music" R.E.M.: "Stand" Smithereens, The: "Drown In My Own Tears" XTC: "King For A Day" Flaming Lips: "Shine On Sweet Jesus (Jesus Song No. 5)" New Fast Automatic Daffodils: "Fishes Eyes" Pulp: "Countdown" Frank Black: "Hang On To Your Ego" Suede: "Still Life" Elastica: "Waking Up" Guided By Voices: "Jane Of The Waking Universe" Death Cab for Cutie: "Information Travels Faster" Radiohead: "How To Disappear Completely" Interpol: "Take You On A Cruise" Sneaker Pimps: "The Chauffeur" IAMX: "Sailor" Fischerspooner: "The 15th" Cansei De Ser Sexy: "Bezzi" LCD Soundsystem: "Someone Great" Cut Copy: "Cold Youth" Small Black: "Bad Lover" Juan MacLean, The: "Tonight" Minks: "Ophelia" Yeasayer: "O.N.E." Neon Indian: "Should've Taken Acid With You" Hot Chip: "Flutes" Franz Ferdinand: "Stand On The Horizon" (Todd Terje RMX) Prince Rama: "Bahia" Caribou: "Silver" Classixx: "A Mountain With No Ending" Toro Y Moi: "A Girl Like You" Washed Out: "Olivia" Brian Jonestown Massacre: "Pish" Mark Lanegan: "Flatlands" Pixies: "All I Think About Now" Beach House: "Drunk In L.A." Nothing: "Eaten By Worms" Porcupine Tree: "Chimera's Wreck" Florence & The Machine: "What Kind Of Man" Shannon & The Clams: "King Of The Sea" King Gizzard: "Head On / Pill"

We welcome all of our listeners to Omega Radio, WUSB's most diverse show on its grid. Tonight, we start off our Autumn broadcasting season in a major way. It's a double-deluxe program as we take over for Everything Must Go with four hours of marquee artists, tried-and-true synthpop, chillwave, and newer all-around favorites. We also revisit some artists that we haven't played in quite a while and ones who are featured here for the first time.

A huge thank you to @tewz for proving us with lots of ideas for tonight's show. We'll have plenty of Autumn sounds to go around, including ending the year with our annual 'second-chance' broadcast. Thanks for listening.

September 23, 2023 (10PM New York City): deluxe Omega

October 7, 2023 (10PM New York City): deluxe Omega

October 21, 2023 (10PM New York City): deluxe Omega

November 4, 2023 (10PM New York City): final deluxe Autumn Omega + Year 11 broadcast.

[concerty]

Calling all headbangers out there!

If you didn't have the chance to see Metallica live this year, don't worry, because the metal legends will be back in early 2024. Our duty is to keep you updated with all the information we can!

Click the link below for setlist predictions, upcoming concert dates, tickets, and more!

[wickedcity666]

Berserk 1997. Eps. 24-25.

Cocteau Twins - Mussete and Drums. 1983. Head Over Heels.