racord aragaz
aspirator chirurgical
chiuvete baie
preturi baterii
administratorul de bloc
clinica eva
procesor sempron
garsoniere confort 1
anunturi locuinte
echipamente fotbal
exemple facturi
vand frigider arctic
forum idei
guri de aerisire
legendele olimpului povestire
masini matiz
obiceiuri alimentare sanatoase
parbrize cielo
obiecte personalizate
renovare locuinte
sigle radio
sisteme pc
suport uscat rufe
televizor funai
ventilator axial
Minikon: Hope
My longtime friend James White (aka Denty One, aka Ol’ Doc Tucker), recently completed his third album under the Minikon moniker; the aptly named Hope. If you care for unapologetically bright, electronic tunes with an emphasis on beautiful melodies, then you should have already purchased this album. This newest offering takes a slight departure from the 8-bit video game inspirations of the first two albums and delves headlong into more complex arrangements replete with subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) shoegazey undertones. The only problem with the album; it ends far too soon for my liking. You can buy it now for a paltry $7; A small price to pay for something that will genuinely put a smile on your face.
My Bloody Valentine: Really?!
Okay, admittedly this has been around for a while. In fact, it’s been around in some shape or form ever since my black fingernails ripped open the over-sized box of the Loveless cd in the Turtles parking lot back in 1991. But, unlike the band, this story just won’t die. Sticking true to what he mentioned back in January, Kevin Shields says there will indeed be a new MBV album. Not only that, it will happen this year! I’ve learned to believe only what I see from this man, but it doesn’t stop me from getting excited all the same. Could this be the Christmas present we’ve been waiting for the last 16 years?
Taken By Trees: Open Field
Victoria Bergsman is no longer part of The Concretes, which is a bit of a bummer because they have a great thing going, and Bergsman was a large part of it. She does, however, have a new project called Taken By Trees, and I’m completely taken by it. This is simple songwriting at its finest delivered with beautiful instrumentation. It’s another melodic gem, that seems to exist solely to make the listener happy. It’s a great album for sitting around the house on a brisk fall evening and just sipping on a cup of tea.
yikes! i fell in love with Victoria’s voice the instant i heard “young folks” - awesome to learn more about her for sure. and of course, the minikon and MBV news is great. i can’t even wait to see this freakin’ interview - much less fathom the hysteria i’ll be subject to if a new MBV album (or two?!)actually comes out. i can’t believe what i’m talking about… happy veterans day, indeed.
Branden first and foremost apologies for not getting back to you. This was my first week back to work and you know… work, well … work is work!
Surely in the first minute I’ve also been taken by trees. Nice.
Hopefully Kevin is not pulling legs anymore!
Thank you for your kind words, Branden. The limited CD-R will surely make up for the brevity of the digital download and I will have one with your name on it (and under it).
Concerning Kevin, I wonder if he even has another great album in him. Even if we do get a new one, could it possibly live up to the expectations? Hasn’t the world of music seen hundreds of beautiful and even more experimental releases since ‘Loveless’ blessed our ears? What could he do at this point? I mean, others remain interesting in their ongoing pursuit of perfection, but what if you’ve already reached it?
But, yeah, I’d buy it any way.
Those are heavy questions James. I’m sure these are just the sort of things that weigh heavy on the minds of many successful artists. How do you follow-up a masterpiece? Should you even try? The same arguments would have been just as valid back in 1991.
I have a feeling that even if they had released a follow-up in the mid-nineties, it would never have been able to please all the fans. That just seems to be one of the side-effects of success.
Personally, I’ll be pleased just to see it come to fruition. I’m willing to lend an ear to anything Shields sees fit to offer. I feel I owe the guy that much.
i’ve kinda been going in and out of the thought all day of what Kevin could possibly be thinking currently, as well as, what he might’ve been thinking over the years. it’s too much for me to articulate but, i think it’ll help me to write some of it out and get you guys’ thoughts. obviously, Loveless was no accident. Kevin apparently knew what he was doing - striving for that perfect vision in his mind. we’ve all heard the stories of his time (well) spent and of countless engineers dismissed. he is seemingly a perfectionist and extremely intentional with his work. he doesn’t seem to be a guy who really cares what people think - whether he wins or loses. why wouldn’t he be able to follow up Loveless? he knows what made it so beautiful - so innovative. i really can’t decide if it’s fear and self doubt or pride and ego that would cause him to not want to create something astounding again. was he fearful that we would all see how accidental it was? i don’t believe that. was he afraid that he simply couldn’t do it again as well? i have trouble believing that, either. had he simply achieved everything he cared to achieve? i kinda lean that way but, i just don’t know.
their “not wanting to make a record” for so long can easily be explained by just a cursory glance at what music trends have looked like over the years. he saw grunge, math rock, idm, post-psych whatever else all come onto the scene. that would have to be a little disorienting and disappointing for someone who crafted such otherwordly music. not that there wasn’t some really amazing stuff to come out over the last 15 years (of course) but, how much did he know about? how secluded and out of touch has he been?
the last few years’ gentle sway of the shoegaze sound has had to have stirred something inside Kevin and the rest of the band. i mean, if i went online to read about new music and saw my name peppered within every other papragraph - i’d definetly feel compelled to contribute something to the mix. that’s probably just me but, i have to doubt that seeing how revered he is causes Kevin to withdraw further from the music world.
i’m just super excited about all this if you can’t tell. i think (if it happens) it’s going to be one of the greatest things to happen in music in a very long while. yes, you could say my hopes are up.
i’m sorry. that’s definitely an obese comment there. hopefully you still feel like replying after you read it all. look, i’m still fricken’ writing!
Let’s just remember the way he felt immediately following Loveless. He said he wanted to make a jungle album. For those of you who don’t know, ‘jungle’ was a short lived genre which involved little more than impossibly fast beats. Maybe it was just a phase he was going through. Maybe his involvement with E.A.R. was just a fluke. Maybe his love of prefabricated Madonna beats could be chalked up as a need for money. Whatever the case, this is that very same Kevin Shields. I want to love a new My Bloody Valentine album, but I’ll get excited when I know that I do.
I think it’s safe to assume that if we do get a new album from MBV, it won’t be jungle. I don’t think Kevin ever said he wanted to make a jungle album.
I do recall him talking an awful lot about jungle when it was becoming popular in the early to mid-nineties. But he and Colm always sited influences that seemed to have little or no connection to their own aesthetic.
Let’s remember this is the same man that says early hip-hop like LL Cool J was a big influence on Loveless. I still maintain that if he just puts this album out there, it’ll hold up.
…and dang straight Luke! Those are all the questions that fans like us have been trying to solve for years. We’re all excited, but James is right, we should temper that excitement with a healthy dose of caution.
Now, I must temper my face with a healthy dose of sleep.
I’m almost not wanting to put anything down because I simply am not as well aclamated with MBV as all of you cats but I will because of some of these replies which make me like Kevin even more. I’m currently listening to Loveless which monsieur Branden gave me. Highly appreciated B. I liked them a lot in high school and at times during college their sound would haunt me but in no way am I an avid listener.
To hear about his interests in something like Jungle a decade ago, early hip hop and Dinosaur Jr.(in the Soft Focus interview) is downright titillating to me. It shows me his mind is open and interested in music and not in an insular or singular idea of it. Even though one doesn’t hear LL Cool J, Treacherous 5, Run DMC, DJ Soulslinger in MBV all of these interests and perhaps influences have partly contibuted to a sound unheard of pre MBV. So much of the music we listen to today has been influenced in innumnerous ways by hip hop, for instance and simultaneously some who listen to those types of genres would entirely disagree.
I’m personally very eager to hear what comes out either way.
Yo I’m digging on Le Loup’s “PLanes Like Vultures” and “Look to the West”. Maybe Dec. will be looking nice. pace
Agreed. It’s a great album. If you’re digging those tracks, you should probably get your ears on To The Stars! To The Night! Then it should be obvious that you’ve got to purchase a ticket.
MBV - I’m pretty much over it. I’m really curious, but, really, it’s been too long. So much has come since then. Some of influenced by MBV, and some of it not. But most of it has surpassed MBV in almost every way possible. MBV doesn’t have to worry about outdoing themselves - that’s the least of their worries. Of course, that’s just one man’s opinion. I moved to wordpress - update yo links, yo! I LOVED the video of Linus. Kiss him and the wifey for me. Love you.
…”most of it has surpassed MBV in almost every way”???
wowsers! that certainly is “just one man’s opinion”. i think every single music critic in the world (fan or otherwise) would tend to disagree with that statement. regardless of what one person (in a million) might say about the prospect of a new MBV release - it will easily sell 500,000 copies within a few months - if not many more. surely the multiple thousands of concert tickets they’ve sold (out of immediately) over the last few weeks stands for something. naysayers, they’re the least of their worries, actually.
Brendan maybe you could enlighten the crew also with a top 10 list of 2007. Word?! Word. Thanks for the Christmas card.
I can promise you that for every MBV fan out there (including myself), I can find one former fan who feels the same way I do. I give them all of the credit that they deserve, but no band should rest on the laurels on an album the way that they have and still draw such credo. Unless there is something literally hypnotic about all of the past work they have done, I still stand by my statement. I’m not naysaying. I just refuse to ceremoniously jock these guys. And yes, I do have most of their stuff on vinyl. Cos I’m cool like that.
Happy Holidays everyone.
Agreed. For every fan that still burns the candle, there are probably ten that view the lack of a follow-up to Loveless as a personal slight by the band. I personally fall somewhere in between. I don’t think anyone should “ceremoniously jock” these guys, but let’s be honest, does the lack of a follow-up detract, in any way, from such a pivotal album as Loveless? Not in the least.
For me, it all boils down to two very important things: Their existing albums are great (hypnotic in my opinion), and I think Kevin has at least one more great album in him yet.
I’m not gonna be standing in line at Coconuts just yet, but I will be keeping my ear tuned to this news.
…and who is “Brendan?”