Have you ever listened to psychedelic rock an thought "man, this isn't trippy enough, I wish there was some kind of super psychedelic genre"? Well now you have it with the shoegaze album Loveless by My Bloody Valentine! Shoegaze (also called shoegazing) sounds like psychedelic, stoned and on acid. The genre features loud distorted guitars with a blurry dreamlike sound and softer, muffled vocals in the background. The hazy wall of sound created by shoegaze is purposely there to try to overwhelm the listener. Whenever I listen to shoegaze I feel like I am floating through space in a dream, which is a result of the calming effects of the music. Shoegaze is called as such because of British newspapers who criticized the new genre by saying all the musicians did was gaze at their shoes during live performances. These same newspapers also coined the term "shoegazing," which eventually stuck. The reason why they always looked at their feet, is shoegaze bands heavily use foot petals in their music, and must look at their feet to keep track of them. My Bloody Valentine is one of the original shoegaze bands. Despite the similarity of the band's name to Bullet for my Valentine and My Chemical Romance, My Bloody Valentine has noting to do with emo. My Bloody Valentine uses trippy, psychedelic melodies and drony guitars in their songs to create that dreamlike shoegaze sound.
The cover art, I think is perfect for this album. Just by looking at it, you can tell what the music is going to sound like. The image is a blurry, heavily saturated and filtered picture of a guitar, and the music is blurry, heavily distorted guitar. The guitar in the picture is so distorted and obscured by pink filters that you might not even realize this is a guitar, and it forces you to look at the guitar in a different light. This also reflects the obscured and lo-fi nature of the music.
One of the interesting things about this album is that it isn't focused on the melody or even the song, but instead is focused on the noise. My Favorite songs on this album are "Only Shallow," "Loomer," "When You Sleep," and "Sometimes."
Loveless starts off strong with massive, heavy, sludgy guitar riffs at the start of "Only Shallow," followed up by layers upon layers of distortion and feedback. As the song goes on, these heavy riffs are cut by a sweeter fuzzy melody and watery vocals. This is one of those songs that you have to listen to many times to really fully grasp it. I'm talking like 20 times. Each time you listen to this track, you unravel new layers to it and delve deeper into the psycodellic dream that is "Only Shallow."
What My Bloody Valentine seems to like doing is taking relatively simple songs and transforming them into thick, viscous, drug induced visions; this is especially true with the next track on the album "Loomer." The band is able to achieve an even more sludgy sound in this song by not using drums. This completely removes all indication of a beat from the song, and results in a song which sounds like you are swimming through acid-molasses in outer space. Throughout the song there is the constant sound of distorted strummed guitars, which are occasionally cut through by the singer's ghostly voice and winy feedback. This combined with the static sound of the song makes the noise move and shift as it goes on.
My favorite song on this album is "When You Sleep." This is probably the most straightforward song on the album, with a mostly standard melody, but despite this, the song is made by the opening guitar riff, with a winy ghost-like sound, which haunts the rest of the song, overpowering the vocals and the rest of the melody.
The last of my favorite songs on this album is "Sometimes." This song might be My Bloody Valentine's version of a ballad. It is much more slow and dreary than a lot of other songs on the album, and features soft, quaint vocals which move slowly along in the background. It also sounds like this song features acoustic guitar, which gives the track an almost nostalgic, melancholy feel to it, similar to something The Smashing Pumpkins might of made, except not as clear.
Although this album might not be for everyone, it is definitely one that I love and is worth a listen. Due to the focus on creating a certain sound, this album does lack slightly in song writing, which may turn some people away; despite this, Loveless if chock full of psychedelic sludge and almost mind altering distortions and heavenly sounds. This classic album is extremely unique, creative, and otherworldly. Therefore, I definitely recommend that everyone give this at least one, if not several listens, and open your mind's eye.
The cover art, I think is perfect for this album. Just by looking at it, you can tell what the music is going to sound like. The image is a blurry, heavily saturated and filtered picture of a guitar, and the music is blurry, heavily distorted guitar. The guitar in the picture is so distorted and obscured by pink filters that you might not even realize this is a guitar, and it forces you to look at the guitar in a different light. This also reflects the obscured and lo-fi nature of the music.
One of the interesting things about this album is that it isn't focused on the melody or even the song, but instead is focused on the noise. My Favorite songs on this album are "Only Shallow," "Loomer," "When You Sleep," and "Sometimes."
Loveless starts off strong with massive, heavy, sludgy guitar riffs at the start of "Only Shallow," followed up by layers upon layers of distortion and feedback. As the song goes on, these heavy riffs are cut by a sweeter fuzzy melody and watery vocals. This is one of those songs that you have to listen to many times to really fully grasp it. I'm talking like 20 times. Each time you listen to this track, you unravel new layers to it and delve deeper into the psycodellic dream that is "Only Shallow."
What My Bloody Valentine seems to like doing is taking relatively simple songs and transforming them into thick, viscous, drug induced visions; this is especially true with the next track on the album "Loomer." The band is able to achieve an even more sludgy sound in this song by not using drums. This completely removes all indication of a beat from the song, and results in a song which sounds like you are swimming through acid-molasses in outer space. Throughout the song there is the constant sound of distorted strummed guitars, which are occasionally cut through by the singer's ghostly voice and winy feedback. This combined with the static sound of the song makes the noise move and shift as it goes on.
My favorite song on this album is "When You Sleep." This is probably the most straightforward song on the album, with a mostly standard melody, but despite this, the song is made by the opening guitar riff, with a winy ghost-like sound, which haunts the rest of the song, overpowering the vocals and the rest of the melody.
The last of my favorite songs on this album is "Sometimes." This song might be My Bloody Valentine's version of a ballad. It is much more slow and dreary than a lot of other songs on the album, and features soft, quaint vocals which move slowly along in the background. It also sounds like this song features acoustic guitar, which gives the track an almost nostalgic, melancholy feel to it, similar to something The Smashing Pumpkins might of made, except not as clear.
Although this album might not be for everyone, it is definitely one that I love and is worth a listen. Due to the focus on creating a certain sound, this album does lack slightly in song writing, which may turn some people away; despite this, Loveless if chock full of psychedelic sludge and almost mind altering distortions and heavenly sounds. This classic album is extremely unique, creative, and otherworldly. Therefore, I definitely recommend that everyone give this at least one, if not several listens, and open your mind's eye.
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
1.) Only Shallow
2.) Loomer
3.) Touched
4.) To Here Knows When
5.) When You Sleep
6.) I Only Said
7.) Come In Alone
8.) Sometimes
9.) Blown A Wish
10.) Soon
7.) Come In Alone
8.) Sometimes
9.) Blown A Wish
10.) Soon
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