I wouldn't call it dull myself, but I think I can understand how it might seem that way to some. Seventy two hours after having access to it, and listening to it a number of times, I think I'm pretty satisfied with the album as a whole. I would go as far as saying that, like Genteel Death, I actually prefer it to Loveless, while still considering Isn't Anything to be the album to beat here.

The cover art is just terrible though. So is the album title. It gives it the feeling of something thrown together on a dare. But the music itself is great at best, and almost great at worst. I think it's better by far than it could have been, and I am still really loving the first three songs, and the last one. Can't quite choose a favorite yet, but it would be one of those.

no. though they're at least often better than rock elements in an electronic band
note i didn't say i thought they would release something innovative. i said i thought they would go for a more electronic road, considering where they had left things - kevin shields into jungle, remixes of their tracks, shoegaze heading in this direction circa '94 (cf slowdive's in mind, etc). now as that was 22 years ago, it's hardly innovative

I adore the cover and I've grown to appreciate the "mbv" slapped on it. Maybe the album is untitled, and it is by mbv!!

Hmm. Well, that would be an improvement, but I see no evidence that that is the case. Both album art and title are lazy and lack imagination. The albums itself is great, though.

on first glance, I thought the artwork was fucking atrocious, like really horrible. but having listened to the album I've gained a new respect for the cover, it mirrors that illusory aura that the album emits. it doesn't stand up to the music though, can't help but think that.

I think the title is fairly apt though, considering the fact that it really isn't an album in the traditional sense. it serves as a summation of MBV up to a point, just drawing a line under that incarnation of the band.

But the last track is nearly half the fucking album, haha.

Sorry we are off topic now, but I love that longish freaky one that Cale narrates. That whole album really is amazing, Man.

A shaky interpretation of ''New You'' with some footage I took on a freezing London morning recently.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...v=skvc8cEfZ3g#!

i m listening to the other songs now via utube, because of 'new you', YOU posted baby.
pretty much consistent with Loveless sounds, which seems like a safe choice for them.
for now 'new you' i like the best. and it sounds fresh.

I really like this album. The sounds are instantly recognizable and echo the whole Loveless-vibe, which one might argue is not very innovative but I really can't complain since I dig the hell out of its predecessor.

So it isn't anything completely new technically speaking but does it really matter? That giddy, dreamlike atmosphere is still there and I'd rather listen to a brilliantly executed Loveless 2.0 than something that is trying to break new grounds but ultimately doesn't really deliver.

In a nutshell: I didn't believe they'd release any new material anytime soon (or possible ever) and in this case m b v turned out to be a very positive surprise. Very good album, Loveless is still a tad better.

First verdict: 8.0-8,5/10 (Might need a few listens to settle for a definite score)

I love it! Start to finish. I love the stutter in Only Tomorrow. Such a vast listening experience! The sound of my heart melting.

Am I correct in saying that this is a recording from the mid-late 90's, I remember Shields saying he has one older direct post-Loveless album and one more current album coming through the pipes in a interview on Soft Focus with Ian Svenonius.

It seems that at least partly it is. The wikipedia entry for the album states that part of it was recorded prior to their initial breakup, probably sometime around 1996 til 1997. It certainly sounds like some of the material was recorded during that time peroid.

Okay, I'm watching the interview right now and Shields says its mostly 1996-1997 material paired with some 1993-1994 material, and then a few newer tunes.

http://www.vice.com/soft-focus/kevin-shields

I don't know... first listen struck me as pretty underwhelming, but its growing more now but i still can't help to feel that the album as a whole sounds abit "dated" and it makes sense since this material was written in the 90's. some of the songs have alot of the same feeling and tone as in "loveless" and then there are those heavily electronic dance percussion type tracks (like jungle beats) that make the 2nd have of it sound lazyily produced and haphazard to me (especially "nothing is"). the weird guitar-esque solo track thats in the intro to "in another way" sounds like something the smashing pumpkins would do. alot of the parts of this album sound way too busy and not subtle enough that mbv have been known for me at least. "is this and yes" is pretty great, the repeating synth-esque thing reminds me of that gastr del sol track on "camofleur". I'd be more interested on what Kevin and the band could pull off today as far as songwriting and recording technique are concerned, but damn it may take him another 21 years to do that... for being known as such a "perfectionist" for years now, i'm abit surprised and baffled by this "new" album... it should've been labelled as a "lost" album in a way. all that said, i still love this band though and always will...

First track sweeps over me like a tidal wave every time, despite sounding like a remastered 91 outtake. How could anyone be underwhelmed?

actually, the first track is the best on the album in my opinion, what makes the majority of the album on the underwhelming side for me is in your statement "sounding like a remastered 91 outtake". and I have to agree about the album as a whole sounding underdeveloped, thats more apparent to me on the last several tracks. I was kinda hoping if they were to retread some of the same sounds like they've already done, they would've done at least one more heavy rock-like groove track. (i.e. what you want, only shallow, when you sleep, or honey power) the album is absent of that, except for perhaps "in another way", though that song sounds too messy.

I need to get this bastard! The wife asnd I are moving this weekend, so in a few weeks I will have the MOney!!!!!

if you forget your music journalist fantasies, or those of being someone into music in a big way, this record has some great licks you can enjoy and maybe lick your own face for a change.

I can't find anything not to love about the album. the fact that it sounds like my bloody valentine shouldn't count against it, but saying it's treading old ground makes it seem like that's not what we've all been waiting for this whole time. But we have been something that sounds like my bloody valentine is exactly what I've wanted and if it sounded revolutionary for 2012, it would probably piss all of us off.

It really separates the men from the boys though. Nobody made a stink when dinosaur jr put out Beyond and it sounded exactly like dinosaur jr, only more polished. Clearly mbv sucked in people's souls, while Dino had a different kind of effect all along.

I think it is brilliant how it starts off quite effortlessly and low key, mimicing Loveless, and ends like a plane crash. It's a very unusual way to sequence an album, but given the 21yr gap and the worship of Loveless, mbv feels just right to my ears. It's a fuckin great album, folks. I'm thrilled with it. I only wish that MBV Mk2 isn't just this. I think one more album would complete the MBV saga. And hopefully that album picks up where mbv leaves off.....yikes.

My verba...

Ya

words n awesome me mmm yea

Not too bad but it's not too shit either.....calm the fuck d......

like it's alright but not as good as my 2008/2006 unreleased indie hit album is it? idiots!!

God help me, I just don't care about this. I saw all those bands in the early 90s, and Ride and Verve in their early days both wiped the floor with MBV live. Slowdive too. MBV were the loudest, but that's about it.

Yeah, what little interest I had is already gone. I don't even remember what most of the songs sound like.

There's just nothing memorable or interesting about this band, in my opinion. So many bands do this sound way better.

Loveless was an important album to me when I first heard it as I'd never heard anything remotely similar at the time. But I overplayed it big time, and it really doesn't age well. Just a fairly boring album with some nice guitar sounds.

This new one is OK but nothing worth getting excited over, to me.

Isn't Anything is decent but not that great either.

I'll always be a fan for nostalgic reasons, and they've some nice songs for sure, but I don't think I'll ever need to listen to MBV again in my life. The same applies to a lot of shoegaze bands, to be fair.

My fave is the You Made Me Realize EP.

http://youtu.be/j9qLnmEN7S8

Fuuuuuck me, ....bunch of miserable cunts in this thread. I've been around a while and MBV (the band) have made a string of incredible music for 3 albums in a row now.

I love you, cranky old guy.

I can't help but think that some of us are just so goddamn jaded that we find ways to be disappointed with anything and everything.

It's a NEW my bloody valentine album for fuck's sake!

WORD! But I think it's probably not a matter of being jaded or not but rather depending on the expectations you had.

Some people expected something radically new or innovative while others were just blown away by the mere fact that MBV finally released some previously unheard material (I'd consider myself one of these). Imho it's probably too much to hope for new material that is pushing the envelope or carries on their legacy in fresh and innotive ways.

I could be wrong about that though and in case they release something new in that direction sometime in the future I wouldn't mind to stand corrected. It's just that most bands run their course sooner or later and attempts to find a new sound are often not appreciated or mocked by critics and fans. What kept MBV fresh is that they stopped producing new stuff at the height of their popularity (That is after the release of Loveless of course).

Like I stated before I adore Loveless and I really dig that m b v is picking up where its predecessor left off. I wasn't expecting much more than that, hell I wasn't even expecting that they'd release that fucker. And with that in mind this is a damn great album. Brilliantly produced drony and dreamy Shoegaze in 2013, what more could I ask for?

You sure are using a lot of strong words against people simply because they have opposing views on a band you seem to adore so much.


Jaded? Hardly. Just from my own experience, I loved Dinosaur's comeback, especially Beyond. Superchunk returned with one of their best albums period in 2010. In Prism by Polvo was simply great. Mission of Burma has released a string of great records since reuniting. If you call them shoegaze, I'm beyond excited for the new Swervedriver record sometime this year.

The difference between those bands - as well as others - and MBV is they actually create a hook, a song, a melody, an interesting arrangement, etc. MBV is playing a barely audible vocals over the same droney chords throughout that particular song. I don't believe myself or any other "jaded" listener should have to apologize for wanting to listen to something better or more interesting.

And I'm not buying the whole, "It's a great record because it's a new My Bloody Valentine album! I never thought it would get released! For some reason that automatically makes it amazing!". Obeying to that logic, a new 'N Sync record would be incredible because they got Justin Timberlake to come back.

Like I said, if you enjoy the record, more power to you. But don't criticize others, calling us "cunts" or "jaded" simply because we don't have the excitement over it you do.

Nobody should apologize for anything, this is an open discussion and opinions may vary and may or may not tend to be very polarizing. Point taken and I can see were you come from but once again, we're not arguing on an objective standpoint. It's damn near impossible to view art and music in an objective manner anyway. What is 'better' or 'more interesting'? Most people on here love or at least find Loveless to be 'interesting', therefore an album that sort of sounds like Loveless will probably evoke the same feelings for said people (Me being one of them).

Nobody claimed it's a great record solely based on the fact that it's a new MBV album. I believe each one of us stated what exactly we like about the album at some point in the thread. I appreciate the fact that you stand up against some of those unjust insults but for the sake of discussion I have to tell you that mocking or looking down upon the reasons given by the album appreciators is sort of tapping in the same vein, albeit being less blatant.

All generality aside: In my opinion m b v does have melodies, songs and interesting arrangements. They're even damn recognizable and sweet if you ask me.

I didn't mean to insult anyone. I think I myself am an incredibly jaded person. People are free think and feel whatever they think and feel. I'm just saying that for me, it's a new mbv album, and that alone makes it worth while.

Sorry. I really didn't mean to be all prickish about it.

I'm glad I enjoy stuff in a different way than most people.

I'm drinking wine and feeling ''the ecstasy''.

ECSTASY

WINE

SEX

Yeah, sorry, my previous post was done in half jest, and I apologize for it's harshness. Your middle paragraph quoted above though....YIKES! MBV does "abstract" things with their music, and some find this infinitely more interesting than something that is presented "clearly defined". To my ears, the arrangements are monumentally interesting, 20+ years after Loveless, precisely because each listen has me wondering exactly what it is they are trying (or maybe not trying?) to conjure up.

yeah

7/10