Daily Jam - Soon

It's time for some My Bloody Valentine.  We might not deserve it, but we certainly need it.  Here's "Soon," our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - Sometimes

This column was originally published in 2016.

I have not slept much in the last week. My seven-month old son is teething (it seems as if he’s been doing this for the last four months) and he’s contracted a cold or something, snotty and congested little nose (most likely from the germs his older brother brings home from pre-school everyday), and so he’s not sleeping well. He’s been waking up every 45 minutes or so, my wife and I taking turns as to who has to get up with him, but the waking is so constant that neither one of us ever gets any real sleep. And so my brain is mush. My body hurts. The seemingly endless cup of coffee I’m consuming does nothing. And I sit here writing, listening to “Sometimes” from My Bloody Valentine’s 1991 masterpiece, Loveless, and it calms and soothes just as it always has.

The floaty, almost ethereal “Sometimes” has always been comforting to me, the layers of distorted guitar playing melodically, the light, reverby, and faraway-sounding vocals of Kevin Shields coming in like a gentle coo in your ears, and the serene bits of synthesizer that feel like waking from dream caressing my mind, body, heart, and soul. It feels like it’s about unrequited love, a kind of yearning for comfort or to be held. And for years, decades even, it served as a soothing elixir to wash away the lament of a Loveless follow-up that never came. That follow-up eventually got here in 2013 to much rejoicing, so now, for today at least, “Sometimes” will still calm my nerves and relax me, but as reminder that I will get to sleep again one day.

Some day.

Listen below, our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - To Here Knows When

Every once in a while, i can go back and listen to My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless," and it's like hearing it for the first time.  Just a perfect and amazing record.  Listen to "To Here Knows When" below, our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - All I Need

I'm a big time shoegaze homer, and it's still wild to me how wide the net was that My Bloody Valentine cast.  You can hear their sound is literally every other shoegaze band that came after.  Here's a track from "Isn't Anything."  Listen to "All I Need" below, our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam (October Edition) - The Ballad of Harry Warden

Of all the hundreds of slasher flicks that were produced during the boom of the early '80s, i think my favorite one that didn't spawn a million sequels is the 1981 Canadian slasher "My Bloody Valentine."  Here's the theme song from that film, "The Ballad of Harry Warden," by Paul Zaza, our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - Only Shallow

It's a My Bloody Valentine kind of day.  But when isn't it really?  Here's "Only Shallow," our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - City Girl

I remember way back in 2003 when we were 12 years removed from "Loveless," and still had a decade to go before we'd get "m b v," and the excitement generated by the handful of new (mostly instrumental) tracks My Bloody Valentine front man Kevin Shields recorded for the "Lost in Translation" soundtrack.  We were getting a new album?  A follow up to "Loveless?"  A solo project?  Anything?  The answer was ultimately "no" until 2013, but speculation is fun i guess.  Anyway, here's "City Girl," our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - Map Ref 41 N 93 W

In between 1991's "Loveless" and 2013's "m b v," Kevin Shields and My Bloody Valentine occasionally got our hopes up for a new album with a song here or there over the two decades.  One of those is this fantastic cover of Wire's "Map Ref 41 N 93 W."  Why the tribute album was called "Whore," i do not know.  Anyway, here's our Daily Jam.

Brian Eno with Kevin Shields - Only Once Away My Son

Legendary artist/producer Brian Eno recorded a new song with My Bloody Valentine main man Kevin Shields...and that's really all you need to know.  Listen to "Only Once Away My Son," and then maybe blur out of reality.  It's beautiful.  Much thanks to Adult Swim.

October Horror Trailer - My Bloody Valentine

Brian Reitzell

LA-based composer Brian Reitzell, best known for his film score work with Sofia Coppola, just released his first solo album, "Auto Music," on Smalltown Supersound.  The album hums and throbs its way through shoegazey, electronic and often droney, motorik krautrock.  In many ways, it's driving music, but not entirely.  Listen to "Last Summer" below, featuring My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields on the organ.

My Bloody Valentine at Austin Music Hall

Well, it took 20+ years, but i finally got to see My Bloody Valentine perform live.  And all of those stories you may have heard about them being almost unbearably loud?  Totally true.  They even handed out ear plugs at the entrance.  The closing wall of noise felt like sitting on the inside of jet engine.  Awesome show.  Here's a few pics of the band and opener New Fumes.

New Fumes

My Bloody Valentine

My Bloody Valentine

My Bloody Valentine

My Bloody Valentine

My Bloody Valentine

It's been over 20 years since shoegaze stalwarts My Bloody Valentine graced us with a new album, but the wait is finally, finally over.  No bullshit.  Yesterday, the band's new website went live with the new album, "mbv" up for sale in a variety of formats.  Sure enough, in the worldwide mad dash to hear it, the site crashed.  It's back now, and you should go purchase it right now.  Go here.  Listen to "She Found Now" below in the meantime.

Yellow Loveless

Because racism is perfectly funny and acceptable if you're doing it to yourself (am i right Spike Lee?), the tribute to My Bloody Valentine's seminal 1991 album "Loveless" featuring a slew of Japanese bands is titled "Yellow Loveless."  The album features Boris, Shonen Knife, and a bunch of other bands i've never heard of.  Here's the tracklist:

01. Tokyo Shoegazer – “Only Shallow”
02. GOATBED – “Loomer”
03. The Sodom Project – “Touched”
04. Lemon’s Chair – “To Here Knows When”
05. Shonen Knife – “When You Sleep”
06. Tokyo Shoegazer – “I Only Said”
07. Age of Punk – “Come in Alone”
08. Boris – “Sometimes”
09. Shinobu Narita (4-D Mode1) – “Blown a Wish”
10. Lemon’s Chair – “What You Want”
11. Sadesper Record – “Soon”

Listen to Boris's fuzzy, distorted take on our all time favorite MBV jam "Sometimes" below via youtube, and keep your eyes peeled for the album from High Fader Records.

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