Not had a chance to listen yet, but various (all?) tracks are available on YouTube:
youtube.com/user/TheOfficialMBV

You can download it in better than CD quality from the website. Typical Kevin Shields, haha.

Listening to it now, it's, erm, fucking brilliant.

I'm thinking that Wonder 2 has to be a reference to Bowie's Little Wonder.

Good spot.

I'm trying to work with it on, and smiling too hard. Also, my brain appears to be leaking out of my ears and around the floor.

Downloaded it and now listened to it three times. Excellent stuff, the standout track being in another way but it is “Loveless Volume II”. If anything, the new album only emphasizes just how epochal Loveless was and still is.

In 1991, Loveless (and the accompanying Tremolo ep) was a paradigm shift in the use of the electric guitar. 22 years later with MBV’s follow up there’s been no progression making Loveless now the end point in what can be done creatively with the electric guitar. If la Shields can't progress the sound, I don't think anyone can.

And at least Loveless didn’t have instant reaction/live blogging online hipster Guardian journalists wanking all over it.

Yeah, thank fuck none of us are instant reaction/live-blogging hipsters. Which only emphasizes how epochal the paradigm shift in online wanking has been.

It would be simpler if this were on iTunes.

alyxandr wrote:


Indeed. I'm wanking over this post.

Tapers off noticeably in the second half, doesn't it?

The album, that is, not the wanking post.

Haha, we seem to have opposite ears these days. I think it picks up in the second half; the first half is a little too sweet and Beach Boys-y for my liking.

I can't download it. When I try to buy it from the site, it says "your cart is empty" even though it shouldn't be. Fuck.

Lucia Lanigan wrote:


Ha, a nicely charitable way of phrasing it! I've only heard the thing once thus far. Maybe my opinion will change with more listens.

Got it yesterday and have listened to it about 4 times now.

My overall feeling is that it's a comforting album. You've waited 22 years, pondered what a follow up would be likely regularly and you're basically given what you'd hoped for. It's very good, but as an album, a group of songs, it doesn't work in the same way Loveless does. There's no "To Here Knows When" to blow your mind out two thirds through I guess.

My favourite track so far is "Only Tomorrow", basically because it sounds like a more mature version of MBV, it nods towards conventional song-writing and production whilst still being weird as f*ck. The most frustrating track is "Nothing Is", which could be incredible due to the subtle changes in looping drums, changing volume and intensity and occasional shift in chord of the repetitive guitar. But the problem is, it's not really a song, there are no vocals and it doesn't go anywhere - it just sounds like an experimental interlude before "Wonder 2", but it could've been the "To Here Knows When" of m b v.

Finally "Wonder 2" would've blown my mind if it were released in the second half of the 1990s, but it just sounds a bit of a tired idea, sort of like Shields is trying to prove where he was going over a decade ago, but just couldn't get there.

But overall, I'm enjoying it, any new MBV material is million times better than new material by any other band.

Another thing, the vocal patterns on "Wonder 2" really remind me of "If it's in you" by Syd Barret and as a song, it would be really interesting to hear it stripped down. The drums just destroy it, imo. It also starts off with an Amen break that's definitely ripped from a Digital Hardcore track, maybe Alec Empire's "Suicide" or "Turntable Terrorist" by Sonic Sunjunkies. Which sort of backs up my mid-nineties theory of the song.

I'm just in from seeing them at Barrowland and they may have fried my brain (in a good way). Fucking amazing. This may not be forwarding the debate in any way but it was a borderline spiritual experience and I hate that fucking phrase. It was awesome, carry on.

MBV at the Barras. I am seething with jealousy.

Out of interest, how long was the 'holocaust section' in You Made Me Realise? When I saw them 20 odd years ago on the roller coaster tour it lasted about 15 minutes and was akin to the opening salvos of the Battle of Stalingrad.

They made The Jesus and Mary Chain sound like Simon and Garfunkel that night.

When I saw them there in 2008 it was 18mins (yes, I timed it). Last night it was about half that, still a serious aural assault though. My ears aren't ringing anywhere near as much as I thought they would but then, I didn't stand next to the speakers this time.



Ha, on the bus home The Sound of Silence popped up on the ipod, made for an interesting contrast.

Oof, bitterly excited about seeing them on Tuesday night. The 2008 gig was a revelation, there's a whole extra dimension in their live sound.

Not to go off on a tangent here, but can excitement actually be bitter?