Protomartyr "Formal Growth in the Desert" (2023)

Formal Growth in the Desert

release date: Jun. 2, 2023

format: digital (12 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,86]

producer: Greg Ahee, Jake Aron

label: Domino - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Make Way" - 2. "For Tomorrow" - 3. "Elimination Dances" (4 / 5) - 4. "Fun in Hi Skool" (live) - 5. "Let's Tip the Creator" - 6. "Graft vs. Host" - 7. "3800 Tigers" - 8. "Polacrilex Kid" (live) - 10. "We Know the Rats" (4 / 5) - 12. "Rain Garden"

6th studio album by post-punk revivalists Protomartyr following three years after the acclaimed Ultimate Success Today (Jul. 2020) is another high quality release from a band who understands to stay true to its origins while exploring new territory.

Musically, it's fierce alt. rock building on an American college rock-tradition where both Pixies and Modest Mouse play equal parts with more classic British punk rock and post-punk roots. And then still, Protomartyr sounds just like no one else. They play with a nuanced understanding of balancing quiet and loud and delicate with the brutal, and lead vocalist Joe Casey's political comments are mixed with surreal / cryptic messages that fronts Greg Ahee's white noisy guitar constructs in perfect balanced disorder.

Formal Growth in the Desert gives us Protomartyr as a highly vital American band with something to offer than just a fabrication of mainstream sound.

Highly recommended. [Get the album here].

[ 👍allmusic.com, Uncut, Slant 4 / 5, 👍SputnikMusic 4,1 / 5, TheLineOfBestFit 4,5 / 5, Pitchfork 7,6 / 10 stars ]

Protomartyr "Ultimate Success Today" (2020)

Ultimate Success Today

release date: Jul. 17, 2020

format: digital (10 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,55]

producer: Protomartyr, David Tolomei

label: Domino - nationality: USA

5th album by Protomartyr follows nearly three years after Relatives in Descent (Sep. 2017), and it sort of arrives as a gritty exploration of existential dread. The album continues straight out of the tone of the predecessor showcasing that raw, driving energy that has become the band's hallmark.

Musically, the album features the band’s signature blend of jangly guitars, punchy rhythms, and hints of noise rock. While the album has standout tracks that showcase the band’s growth and depth, some songs can feel meandering, perhaps lacking the punch that defines their best work. Nonetheless, the reflective nature of tracks like "The Aphorist" adds a layer of introspection that complements the album's overall narrative.

Ultimate Success Today is a fine entry in Protomartyr's discography. It captures the spirit of its time with sharp lyrics and a robust sound, even if it occasionally falters in pacing. For fans of post-punk and those seeking a reflection on contemporary anxieties, this album is worth a listen, and even though, I don't find it among their absolute best, it definitely has its moments - much in the same way their other albums have turned out as rough and dirty, and filled with light beams in the darkest of nights, as something sinister overthrown with elements of beauty.

Lingua Ignota "Caligula" (2019)

Caligula

release date: Jul. 19, 2019

format: digital (11 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,12]

producer: Kristin Hayter

label: Profound Lore - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 2. "Do You Doubt Me Traitor" - 4. "May Failure Be Your Noose" - 5. "Fragrant Is My Many Flower'd Crown" - 9. "Spite Alone Holds Me Aloft"

3rd studio album by Lingua Ignota follows two years after her self-released international breakthrough All Bitches Die. The album is released on Profound Lore and features Kristin Hayter as songwriter, composer, instrumentalist, singer, photographer, and as producer, just as was the case on her two previous albums.

With this, Hayter refers to the dark time as partner in a long-lasting violent relationship, which she uses here to direct the general focus on. Central to the tracks are motifs such as (violent) revenge in the form of satanic brutal forces. Or perhaps rather: the prince of darkness himself as the righteous (?) avenger of violence against women. The brutality is drawn out through all eleven tracks, which have a total running time of 66 minutes, but in a refined way, where Hayter performs in slow ceremonial lamentation as well as extreme experimental noise-metal - and with throat singing, where her screams take on the form of apocalyptic dimensions.

The album garnered good reviews and ended up on several lists including the year's best albums, and Hayter herself has been highlighted as one of today's most remarkable musicians.

It's difficult to point to outstanding or especially distinguished tracks on Caligula because the compositions offer such unique melodic structures that it makes just as much sense to compare them with parts of classical works. Hayter mixes styles and genres like a painter mixes colors. There is classical or neoclassical music, folk - as in traditional folk music - you'll find metal - as in industrial metal and there is experimental noise metal and more nuanced darkwave. The album is her most complex work to date, which is not only either gentle or brutal. In places it's calm, quiet, soothing and elaborated. And it contains beautiful passages, yet it's mostly black on black. It's music formulated in capital letters BLACK. And, like her two previous albums, it's still quite fascinating. Even for someone who doesn't care much for death metal or related styles like black metal. I don't care about Slipknot, Korn, Metallica, Iron Maiden, etc., but Hayter is as attractive as car headlights to a deer: Scary, fascinating, and something that you deep down just know you should stay far far away from, yet you're gravitated towards it. I'm not a fan, but I can easily sense quality underneath a disturbing surface.

[ Footnote: and yes, Hayter actually has "Caligula" tattooed across her chest ]

Recommended? For a listen or two: Definitely! For multiple full spins: No way!

[ bandcamp ]

[ 👎Gaffa.dk 6 / 6, PopMatters 4,5 / 5, Soundvenue 5 / 6, Pitchfork, The Guardian 4 / 5, 👍Blabbermouth 3,5 / 5 stars ]

Lingua Ignota "All Bitches Die" (2017)

original cover

All Bitches Die

release date: Jun 7, 2017

format: digital (4 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3 / 5] [2,98]

producer: Kristin Hayter

label: selvudgivet - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Woe to All (On the Day of My Wrath)" - 2. "All Bitches Die (Bitches All Die Here)"

2nd studio album by American Lingua Ignota [meaning 'unknown language'], as the moniker of Kristin Hayter. She debuted on bandcamp with the album Let the Evil of His Own Lips Cover Him in Feb. 2017 and only five months later she's then ready with this album, which was also released via her bandcamp-profile, but this time to overwhelming international interest. She soon became associated with the record label Profound Lore, who re-issued this one with a new cover in 2018. The album consists of only four compositions of varying length from 5½ to 15 minutes and with a total running time of just over 42 minutes.

Musically speaking, it's based on a mixture of dark - or rather: absolute black noise metal with elements from classical music and a clear inspiration from industrial rock. Hayter's own life story as a victim in a long violent relationship lays a great foundation for her musical and lyrical universe. She is a classically trained musician and is credited the entire performance alone as songwriter, composer, sound engineer, producer, photographer, instrumentalist, and vocalist. Her expression balances on the extremely brutal, and she experiments with the use of pure noise, just as the use of her vocal reflects a similar approach. She possesses an excellent singing voice, which can be soft, finely tuned and sometimes terrifyingly distorted as bestial death screams and disturbing throat singing.

There is no doubt that Hayter is an original. The queen of darkness, Diamanda Galás, is closest as an inspiration and related artist, but Hayter is not only concerned with performance and singing, as a primary instrument. The compositions have both qualities from ambient and classical compositions, which make it both neoclassical works and experimental noise rock.

All Bitches Die is a fierce acquaintance. You probably have to have a certain fondness for Galás or black metal to find this beautiful. To my ears it's more fascinating than ordinary black metal, death metal, or related styles, but it's also too extreme a musical expression for me to just think it's really cool.

Disturbing. Fascinating. And at the same time, too much brutality.

[ SputnikMusic 4 / 5 stars ]

2018 reissue on Profound Lore

Protomartyr "Relatives in Descent" (2017)

Relatives in Descent

release date: Sep. 29, 2017

format: digital (12 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,82]

producer: Protomartyr & Sonny DiPerri

label: Domino - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "A Private Understanding" (4 / 5) - 3. "My Children" - 4. "Caitriona" - 5. "The Chuckler" - 6. "Windsor Hum" - 7. "Don't Go to Anacita" (4 / 5) - 9. "Night-Blooming Cereus" - 12. "Half Sister"

4th studio album by Protomartyr follows two years after The Agent Intellect (Oct. 2015). The album is the band's first to have actual producer credits as their previous releases only mention recording engineers.

Stylewise, the band has progressed from a more minimalist version of garage rock and post-punk to a more refined version still drawing on both styles in combination of more complexity bonding with indie rock and echoing The Bad Seeds, Pixies, and Modest Mouse - in their most tense versions, and sometimes with small hints of The National. That said, Protomartyr are still very much post-punk revivalists in the tradition where both Interpol and Joy Division play their parts. Greg Ahee's guitar swirls and roars as if a clone of Daniel Kessler (Interpol) Isaac Brock (Modest Mouse), and Black Francis (Pixies), while bassist Scott Davidson and drummer Alex Leonard are both highly familiar with Peter Hook and Stephen Morris of New Order / Joy Division. And in front of it all, vocalist Joe Casey fills in with sheer parts of Nick Cave, Matt Berninger, Ian Curtis - at times with a distinct Mark E. Smith (The Fall) wryness on top of his own original sneer. It's both dark, noisy, melodic, and first of all: pretty lively.

Bottom line: it's easily the band's so far best album, and a highly recommended listen.

[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, 👍NME, Record Collector 4 / 5, 👎Pitchfork 6,9 / 10, The Guardian 5 / 5 stars ]

Mogwai "Mr. Beast" (2006)

Mr. Beast

release date: Mar. 6, 2006

format: digital (10 x File, MP3)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,85]

producer: Tony Doogan & Mogwai

label: [PIAS] Recordings / Rock Action - nationality: Scotland, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Auto Rock" - 2. "Glasgow Mega-Snake" - 4. "Travel Is Dangerous" - 5. "Team Handed" - 6. "Friend of the Night" - 9. "I Chose Horses" - 10. "We're No Here"

5th studio album by Mogwai follows nearly 3 full years after the album Happy Songs for Happy People (Jun. 2003), and like that, this also features Scottish producer Tony Doogan. Unlike the predecessor and in fact the band's three most recent abums, this album comes out as something that naturally could have followed in the path laid out with Come On Die Young (1999) or even by the band's debut album Mogwai Young Team (1997). It's with a stronger shoegazing / noise rock sound than what has become the band's most recent and more subtle trademarks - only here, the members appear to have wanted something that sounds more like their first recordings without electronic bits and in its place: soaring guitars that brings to mind My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth. The album contains 10 tracks and has a total running time at 43 minutes.

Together with Come on Die Young this represents the best of "early" Mogwai.

[ bandcamp ]

[ 👍allmusic.com, The Guardian, Mojo 4 / 5, NME 4,5 / 5, 👎Rolling Stone 3 / 5 stars ]

The Breeders "Mountain Battles" (2007)

Mountain Battles
release date: Apr. 7, 2008
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,44]
producer: non-produced*
label: 4AD Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Overglazed" - 2. "Bang On" - 4. "We're Gonna Rise" - 5. "German Studies" - 8. "Walk It Off" (live) - 12. "It's the Love" (live)

4th and so far final studio album by The Breeders is not attributed producer credits - much in their usual way paying little attention on after-processing. Engineers and recorder credits include Steve Albini, Erika Larsen, Ben Mumphrey and Manny Nieto. Although, Kim and Kelley recorded initial sessions for a new album as early as in 2002 after having just released Title TK, a reunion tour with Pixies and several new studio sessions in various locations delayed the process. In 2007 guitarist Richard Presley left the band and the final recording sessions for the album is therefore only with Kim and Kelley Deal on guitar.
The album may be seen as a fine and natural successor to Title TK with its likewise focus on proto-punk influences and close to garage rock-styled noise pop. Basically, I think this is the album by The Breeders that comes closest to the sound of Pixies when thinking of a combo of Surfer Rosa and Title TK. It doesn't stir up things or excel in high energy guitar distortion as the predecessor, but it balances a demo-sound and typical quirkiness of the Deal sisters nicely within a sonic sphere with equal amounts of rock tradition and artistic originality. Some songs may come close to what sounds like retakes on early Pixies compositions ["German Studies" and "Walk It Off"], but all in all, I think the album is more typical for what represents Kim Deal, and imho that can't be bad.
The Breeders hasn't stopped touring, although, no new albums so far has been released. In 2012 the band re-united in the original Last Splash line-up with the Deal sisters, Josephine Wiggs and Jim Macpherson, and the album was reissued in a comprehensive 3-disc edition titled LSXX. In 2016 rumours suggested that the band was doing studio rehearsals, which would imply that a new album is on its way.
[ allmusic.com, Mojo, Spin, NME 4 / 5, Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5 stars ]

The Breeders "Title TK" (2002)

Title TK
release date: May 20, 2002
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,52]
producer: Steve Albini
label: 4Ad Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Little Fury" - 2. "London Song" - 3. "Off You" - 4. "The She" - 5. "Too Alive" - 6. "Son of Three" - 7. "Put on a Side" - 10. "Forced to Drive" - 12. "Huffer"

3rd studio album by The Breeders released 9 years [!] after the predecessor, the successful and acclaimed Last Splash. The title is a general expression for "title to come". A small decade without releasing noteworthy new material has its grounds, and the band is also a whole new set of people. The Breeders has always been a Kim Deal project-band - an outlet for her writing creativity. Pixies, which was her main band had been buried by frontman Black Francis in early '93, which should've given Deal room for playing with The Breeders, but Kelley Deal's drug abuse probably got in the way for the project. Anyhow, Kim founded the band The Amps (also with drummer Jim Macpherson), and The Breeders was a shelved project. Basically, what happened was that The Amps, who had been on tour since the release of the debut album Pacer in '95, had its name changed to The Breeders at some point in '96. The Amps consisted of Deal / Macpherson and with Luis Lerma on bass and Nate Farley on guitar. Deal had awaited Josephine Wiggs and Kelley's return but when Wiggs announced she was not in a position to rejoin The Breeders, Kim simply changed the band's name, which would hand them a broader repertoire, and with the addition of violinist Carrie Bradley the band now played as The Breeders. By late '98 Kelley rejoined while Macpherson left, and in 2000 both Lerma and Farley had left. Rumour has it that it wasn't just Kelley, who had a drug abuse - Kim had her problems and made regular studio work a challenging task, a point that was confirmed by Mark Freegard, who co-produced Last Splash when he found it impossible to work with Kim on sessions that should have been first takes on a follow-up album in '97. In '99 Kim had written new songs and to avoid conflicts with other musicians, she intended to make a solo album. She recorded several songs playing all instruments herself with Kelley in a supporting role but the idea of having to tour made her decide to find a group to play with. In 2000 the Breeders was a project consisting of the Deal sisters assisted by bassist Mando Lopez and guitarist Richard Presley from hardcore punk band Fear, and with Jose Medeles on drums.
Naturally, after 9 years and a lot of U-turns along the way this is not just the follow-up to the fine 93 album. How could it possibly be that? My reaction to the album was not a positive one. I had looked for news about the band and simply found it sheer stupidity not to release a follow-up within the first 5 years - they just didn't understand the importance of that 2nd album. And when it finally came, it was so far from the strengths of Last Splash. I had no idea of what the band had been through, but it's not really a bad album after all. It's biggest asset is that once you get the feel of it, it has a very uniform sound. I think, intentionally, it sounds more like session recordings - or even demo versions - without additional production editing or mixing to make it sound more vivid and alive, which in many ways link it more directly than almost any releases of the 90s to the proto-punk of the late 1960s and early 70s and with bands like Velvet Underground, The Stooges and Patti Smith.
It's not really a great album, but it certainly is a strong and individualised collection of songs, which in a most natural way bonds with Pixies, The Amps, all the 'noise rock' bands but also the whole grunge rock era of the 90s. And that's also a kind of a weakness 'cause by 2002 it does already sound dated - as something that should have been released in the mid-90s when proto-punk references were much more present. Regardless of being a Kim Deal project band, The Breeders has proven with Title TK that it's the most natural link between noise pop and alt. rock of the modern era and art rock and proto-punk some 30 years earlier, and in that respect this album is worth more than just a listen or two.
[ allmusic.com, The Guardian, NME 4 / 5, Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5 stars ]

Mogwai "Mogwai Young Team" (1997)

Mogwai Young Team [debut]

release date: Oct. 21, 1997

format: digital (19 x File, FLAC Deluxe Edition)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,72]

producer: Paul Savage (recorded by)

label: Chemikal Underground - nationality: Scotland, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Yes! I Am a Long Way From Home" - 2. "Like Herod" - 5. "Tracy" - 7. "With Portofolio" - 8. "R U Still in 2 It" - 10. "Mogwai Fear Satan" (official shortened video)

Studio album debut by Scottish post rock band Mogwai following the full-length compilation album Ten Rapid released 6 months earlier is recorded by Paul Savage (track #7 by Andy Miller) released on a small independent Scottish label. During the recording sessions for the album the band was expanded to a quintet by the inclusion of Brendan O'Hare (former drummer of Teenage Fanclub). The band is made up of Stuart Braithwaite on guitar, John Cummings on guitar, Dominic Aitchison on bass, Martin Bulloch on drums, and with new member Brendan O'Hare credited on piano and guitar. The album was originally released as double vinyl lp and 1-cd issues as the playing time exceeds 64 minutes. The standard issue comes with ten tracks and the single compositions vary in length from 01:34 to 16:20 minutes - with nearly all of the remaining tracks revealing likewise unconventional playing times (except #6 and #7 at 3:28 and 3:11 respectively). Shortly after the album release, new member O'Hare was dismissed from the band, who then continued as a quartet the following year.

Needless say, the music is with a certain dominance of guitar-sound in a band with three guitarists but that's by no means to say guitars take up 3/5 of the music. All but one track on the album are instrumentals - with lead vocalist Aidan Moffat of Arab Strap featuring on track #8. Being mostly instrumentals, the compositions are, however not without vocals. Several tracks are composed with speaking parts as a form of background noise, some of which are samples, and generally speaking, noise does amount for a central portion of both the single composition as well as the album as a whole. Tracks may start out gently, with few instruments playing softly at low key when it all explodes as a wall of noise rock before it then returns as sudden as it erupted - like an abrupt change of weather.

Mogwai Young Team is a strong debut from one of the most poignant bands of the post rock genre. This isn't just another band copying My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, Slint, Talk Talk, The Cure or any other artists in shaping its own soundscape. They set a new set of standards within the alt. rock genre and show us that contemporary post rock is more than Sigur Rós and that playing post rock doesn't necessarily mean "more of the same". This debut album is already a modern classic. The band may have produced better albums since, but it's remarkable how original and how much of a whole this album really is. It's a certified grower.

Recommended.

[ bandcamp ]

[ allmusic.com, NME, PopMatters 4,5 / 5, Pitchfork 9,2 / 10 stars ]

The Breeders "Last Splash" (1993)

Last Splash
release date: Aug. 31, 1993
format: cd (CAD 3014 CD)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,06]
producer: Kim Deal & Mark Freegard
label: 4AD Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "New Year" (4,5 / 5) - 2. "Cannonball" (5 / 5) - 3. "Invisible Man" - 5. "Roi" - 6. "Do You Love Me Now?" - 7. "Flipside" (live) - 8. "I Just Wanna Get Along" - 10. "Divine Hammer" - 11. "S.O.S." - 13. "Saints"

2nd studio album by The Breeders who at this point consist of Kim Deal on guitar and vocals, her twin sister Kelley Deal on guitar and vocals, Josephine Wiggs on bass, and with Jim MacPherson on drums.
Musically and stylistically, the band here sounds both more uniform but also more experimental than before. Pod was much more of a one-dimensional expression compared to this. Last Splash is like Pixies, Belly, and Breeders in one band. There are strong aggressive outbursts, which pars the strongest energetic outbursts by Pixies, and there are strangely sounding bits and pieces where you wonder what is going on - and then it all falls in to place in melodic harmonies and great chorus lines.
The album primarily harvested critical acclaim, and is so far the only album by The Breeders to sell Platinum (US), Gold (Australia & Canada) and Silver (UK). It reached number #5 on the album charts list in the UK (base of 4AD Records), and the single release of "Cannonball" went to number #2 on the US single charts list (Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks list). In time it has been lauded as one of the most defining albums of the alt. rock scene of the 1990s. A sample of "S.O.S." was used by The Prodigy in their hit single "Firestarter" (1996), and that electronic project also used a sample from "I Just Wanna Get Along" for the track "World's on Fire" released on the album Invaders Must Die (2009).

The album was released five months after Pixies' frontman Frank Black released his solo debut album to much attention. And Last Splash also spawned fine reviews and was greeted as an immediate success but The Breeders never was and never intended to lead a life in the spotlight, and the acclaim seems to have been more of a burden to a side-project with members who just wanted a playground for themselves. Anyway, the band members returned to other musical projects. Kelley Deal got occupied by drug 'related problems' and Kim formed the band The Amps (which included both Kelley Jim MacPherson), however, the band never split but was put on a hiatus.
In 2013, the album was issued as LSXX (Last Splash 20th Anniversary Edition) - a vinyl box set containing 3 full length records and 4 eps, as well as an optical version consisting of 3 discs.
Last Splash is probably one in three albums I played the most in the mid 1990s, and I'm sure my then-neighbours know "New Year" and "Cannonball" 'cause I kinda played them really L O U D.
Highly recommendable.
[ allmusic.com, Blender 4 / 5, Spin, Rolling Stone Album Guide 4,5 / 5 stars ]

1993 Favourite releases: 1. Tindersticks Tindersticks - 2. Björk Debut - 3. The Breeders Last Splash

Neil Young "Le Noise" (2010)

Le Noise
release date: Sep. 28, 2010
format: digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,48]
producer: Daniel Lanois
label: Reprise Records - nationality: Canada

31st studio album by Neil Young is one of his more experimental albums. Whenever he feels like it, he trows himself over a new style and here he plays with noise rock and experimental rock, mostly. The (French-)Canadian musician and producer Daniel Lanois has given name to the album, but it's also a rather fitting title. Not all tracks are fuelled with reverberating electric guitar, but I cannot help thinking of the album as the result of Young just playing along in a studio and Lanois taping, and adding a production fingerprint to that. However, the album sold well, and was met by positive reviews. It reached number #2 on the Canadian album charts list, and to number #10 in Europe.
Neil has had his time in the lab. A time spent experimenting with content and form, with genres and styles - with this and that. This is just another one trying something else. "Let's see what happens if you record what I make of this today..." Sure, the man is gifted and he he has made more than just a fair share of classic songs and albums, but sometimes he misses. This is such a case. I don't like it, and I frankly find it one of his worst albums.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5, Rolling Stone, The Guardian 4 / 5 stars ]

Thåström "Mannen som blev en gris" (2002)

Mannen som blev en gris
release date: Apr. 2002
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,52]
producer: Thåström, Micke Herrström, Henryk Lipp
label: Mistlur Records - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 1. "Släpp aldrig in dom" (live) - 2. "Ungefär så här..." - 4. "Ännu mera gift" - 6. "Bara när jag blundar" - 9. "Så kall så het" - 10. "Aldrig nånsin komma ner"

4th studio solo album by (Joakim) Thåström is almost as usual made with former collaborative musicians Niklas Hellberg, who plays organ and handles programming, and Per Hägglund, who has co-written four of the songs together with Thåström. The album also features Danish drummer Tomas Ortved (Sort Sol) on several tracks.
Mannen som blev en gris ['The Man Who Became a Pig'] is primarily alt. rock and industrial rock and together with the three solo albums Det är ni som e dom konstiga... (1999) and Explodera mig 2000 (1991) this album may be regarded as one of his most energetic and hardest solo releases. The song "Så kall så het" is a cover song by Stry Terrarie, with whom Thåström played in Imperiet - originally by Swedish band Garbochocks (1979-81).
In 2003 Thåström founded the band Sällskapet with long-time collaborator Niklas Hellberg and Per (Jerker) Ossler, and they began studio recordings while Thåström also worked on a new solo album. Both Hellberg and Ossler took part in the live band with Thåström's solo material.

Thåström "Det är ni som e dom konstiga det är jag som e normal" (1999)

Det är ni som e dom konstiga det är jag som e normal
release date: Oct. 18, 1999
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,56]
producer: Mikael Herrström, Joakim Thåström and Henryk Lipp
label: Mistlur Records - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 1. "Från himlen sänt" - 2. "En vackar död stad" - 3. "Hjärter dam" - 5. "Två + två" (live) - 6. "Städer när jag blöder" - 10. "Psalm #99"

3rd solo album by Thåström released more than 8 years following his most recent solo album, and after three consecutive studio albums released from '92-'97 with the band Peace, Love & Pitbulls, which only was active in this period. Thåström is still associated with the Mistlur label, although that label is by now a sublabel owned by MNW.

Thåström's second solo album Xplodera mig 2000 showed us a more aggressive and more hard rockin' Thåström than heard before, and that energy was continued and came to its full extent in the short-lived band he formed with Peter Lööf, Rikard Sporrong and Niklas Hellberg while living in Amsterdam. In 1998 Thåström and Hellberg co-wrote and released the album Singoalla - music for a theatre show based on a novel by Viktor Rydberg from 1857.
Det är ni som e dom konstiga... ['You are strange, I'm normal'] is his first studio album with songs in his native language since his '91 solo album, and it really follows closely in the footsteps of that particular album, as if he hadn't taken a move into industrial metal and singing in English on three other albums. Yes, there's still room for industrial rock, but that step had already been taken in the early 90s, and when listening to the music by Peace, Love & Pitbulls with its bold use of (vocal) distortion it's easy to point out the difference between industrial rock and the more extreme metal-version of the style, which is much closer the early albums by Marilyn Manson than any Thåström solo album.
I didn't listen to this album until after entering the new millennium, but it does have a strong and original touch with a mix of styles. It's not entirely just a bunch of hard rock compositions, as there's a nice blend of harmony-based songs scattered all over the album, and I also hear reminiscences of the old Ebba Grön sound and style - most openly in the song "Städer när jag blöder", which would have made a perfect entry on the first album by his old punk rock collaborators in Ebba Grön. A few tracks bond with the more white noise music of Love, Peace & Pitbulls but other compositions have more in common with his later move into a more apparent singer / songwriter universe (e.g. "Hjärter dam"), and that's also where he concludes the album with "Psalm #99".
The album was generally met by positive reviews from the Swedish music press and the audience who had longed for the day when he would make another album with Swedish lyrics. The album topped the national albums chart list and the first of three singles from the album, "Två + två" reached number #10 on the singles chart list.
Where Explodera mig 2000 showed Thåström experiment with styles and almost stumble into industrial rock, this album reveals a more mature version of his fascination for high energy rock, which blends much richer with music from his past. All in all, a fine release, although, he still seems in search of a unique style of his.

My Bloody Valentine "m b v" (2013)

m b v
release date: Feb. 13, 2013
format: digital
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,82]
producer: Kevin Shields
label: m b v (self-released) - nationality: Ireland

Track highlights: 1. "She Found Now" - 2. "Only Tomorrow" - 3. "Who Sees You" (4 / 5) - 4. "Is This and Yes" - 5. "If I Am" (4 / 5) - 8. "Nothing Is" (4 / 5) - 9. "Wonder 2"

3rd studio album by My Bloody Valentine is what is regarded the final album by My Bloody Valentine, and it follows some 22 years after the band's most recent album, the acclaimed Loveless from 1991. Alledgedly, Kevin Shields had tired of how the music industry worked in terms of having decisive opinions on his music, which in this case has become a self-made product - self-produced, -mastered, and self-released. Yes, this is complete control.
Apparently, the majority of these tracks were initially recorded before the band split in 1997. Other recordings were presumably made in 2006, shortly before the band officially reformed in 2007, but ultimately, all tracks here are credited Shields, and it falls rather fine in the chronology despite following more than two decades after the band's most recent album. In 2013, Shields publicly said a new album was soon to be release, and seemingly, it had already been mastered, but then Shields the prefectionist took over, and another 8 years passed before the end-result was approved.
This is a modernized noise pop and dream pop release that finally came out some 22 years after its predecessor Loveless (1991), as Kevin Shields didn't work in ordinary ways. As was the case with the two previous albums, this also ended up in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die", and really, it's a certified grower.
[ 👍allmusic.com, Spin 4 / 5, Pitchfork 9,1 / 10, The Guardian 5 / 5 stars ]

My Bloody Valentine "Loveless" (1991)

Loveless
release date: Nov. 5, 1991
format: cd
[album rate 4,5 / 5] [4,28]
producer: Kevin Shields and Colm Ó Cíosóig
label: Sire Records / Warner Bros. - nationality: Ireland

Tracklist: 1. "Only Shallow" (5 / 5) - 2. "Loomer" (4 / 5) - 3. "Touched" - 4. "To Here Knows When" (4 / 5) - 5. "When You Sleep" (4,5 / 5) - 6. "I Only Said" (5 / 5) - 7. "Come in Alone" - 8. "Sometimes" - 9. "Blown a Wish" - 10. "What You Want" (4,5 / 5) - 11. "Soon" (4 / 5)

2nd studio album by My Bloody Valentine originally released on vinyl by Creation Records and on cd by Sire / Warner. The band here is a quartet made up of main composer Kevin Shields credited on guitar, vocals & sampling keyboard, Bilinda Butcher on vocals & guitar, Debbie Googe on bass, and with Colm Ó Cíosóig on drums & sampling keyboard.

Loveless is perhaps THE best known and also the best reviewed dream pop, shoegaze, noise pop album ever released. It's enlisted on a variety of lists collecting all the best albums. The majority of the compositions were written entirely by Shields.

I purchased the album shortly after its release after reading an interview with Robert Smith of The Cure who mentioned the band as one of his personal favourites and for being a band with a highly unique sound. And that particular soundscape, as well as this album's sound, is highly dependent on Shields' guitar work. Listening to the album today, it's really no wonder how it found its way to iconic status. Post rock bands like Sigur Rós and Mogwai owe much to this and to the sound produced by Kevin Shields. Also, an alt. rock band like Smashing Pumpkins could most likely have looked to this, but also electronic artists and big beat performers like The Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim may also have found inspiration in tracks like "To Here Knows When" and "Blown a Wish". The track "Soon" reminds me of something made by (electronic artist) The Orb.

My Bloody Valentine didn't sell that many albums with this one, i.e. at the time of the release, although, its status of course has helped music buyers to the attention of its existence in years to follow. The sound of the album is quite unique. Listening to its predecessor Isn't Anything (1988), the band's debut album, it's both evident that it's the same band but also that they have made a considerable progression into a more dream pop area, also suggested by the ep Tremolo released nine months prior to this. The debut album is more shoegaze and noise pop founded, maybe with references to Sonic Youth and a proto-grunge-sensation with a mix of garage rock and the sort of noise pop one could find on Psychocandy (1985) by The Jesus and Mary Chain.

After Loveless the band found itself without a record contract as the costs in producing and making this album were too much for the small independent label Creation Records. Furthermore, Shields' studio work apparently had been more than the label's management would tolerate again, and the band then signed with Island Records, who is said to have paid for building a new studio just for My Bloody valentine and for Kevin Shields. New material was on its way but Shields found himself struggling in his process of composing and in the end no new material was released. Also, Shields started to work with other bands, making appearances and producing for other artists, at least up until 2013 when finally a third full-length studio album was released. Loveless is the band's most deserved inclusion in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".

[ allmusic.com 5 / 5 stars ]

=> needledrop review

My Bloody Valentine "Tremolo E.P." (1991) (ep)

Tremolo E.P., ep
release date: Feb. 20, 1991
format: cd (CRESCD085)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,75]
producer: My Bloody Valentine
label: Creation Records - nationality: Ireland

Track highlights: 1. "To Here Knows When" (4 / 5) - 2. "Swallow" (5 / 5) - 3. "Honey Power" (4 / 5) - 4. "Moon Song"

4 track ep with one track from the forthcoming album Loveless to be released in November.

It's quite evidently much closer in style to the bands coming second full-length album than the debut Isn't Anything album from '88. The multi-layered dynamics are already here, but the production sound is somewhat murkier than what would succeed. Anyway, this is a very fine ep and the three tracks you won't find on Loveless could easily have been included on that without lowering the quality or the status of that album. "Swallow" has a beautiful ethereal touch to it, which makes me think of Lush cloned with Cocteau Twins, and "Honey Power" sounds much like the first drawing to the great opening track "Only Shallow" on Loveless, but as is the case with this song, all tracks generally lack the extra dimension of clever production.

[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]

My Bloody Valentine "Isn't Anything" (1988)

Isn't Anything [debut]
release date: Nov. 21, 1988
format: cd / cd (2012 remaster)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,66]
producer: My Bloody Valentine
label: Creation Records / Sony Music - nationality: Ireland

Track highlights: 1. "Soft As Snow (But Warm Inside)" - 2. "Lose My Breath" - 3. "Cupid Come" - 4. "(When You Wake) You're Still in a Dream" - 6. "All I Need" - 7. "Feed Me With Your Kiss" (4 / 5) - 8. "Sueisfine" - 10. "You Never Should" - 12. "I Can See It (But I Can't Feel It)"

Full-length studio album debut by My Bloody Valentine and the band's first on Creation.
The album was the second that I heard with the band after listening to their epic Loveless (1991). Despite being officially an Irish band, American Kevin Shields (guitarist, vocalist, composer) is the band's mastermind. He created most of the material on this album, either alone (six tracks) or with help from drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig or together with vocalist & guitarist Bilinda Butcher, and in retrospect Shield is near synonymous with the band name. Prior to this, the band released a number of singles and eps without bassist Debbie Googe and especially also without Bilinda Butcher who contributed in shaping their iconic sound from around 1987 when former vocalist Dave Conway left the band. So what lies before '87 is basically music from what sounds like another band, and with Isn't Anything they initiate a style that many bands and artists copied in the early nineties, which may be referred to as noise pop, shoegaze, and dream pop, and which much later led other artists (e.g. Mogwai, Sigur Rós) to exercise into post-rock.
Only in recent years, I have come across their mini-album debut, This Is Your Bloody Valentine (1985), which really seems far from the style on this and their earliest releases with focus on post-punk, gothic rock, and psychobilly. I recall that Robert Smith (The Cure) in the late 1980s referred to this band as one of his new favourites - and I often wondered if he had heard the style they came to abandon or the style that should become their trademark.
Isn't Anything is not as great as the iconic '91 album but it surely points in that direction - especially tracks #1, 4 and 7. Back in the 90s, I never really enjoyed this all that much, but I do understand its significance as a cornerstone in music history. Maybe, it's great music for background noise when painting or being in a creative process that involves craftsmanship with your hands instead of work that is dependent on more relaxed thinking processes. Anyway, I don't think the album is easy to let in with it's unusual compositions build on walls of heavy distorted guitars, but if you're capable of seeing it as complex music with another purpose than just echoing nice poetic chorus lines in your head, it may appeal to you. The album seems like caught between British indie pop, which was what Creation Records traditionally released at the time, and a much more unique sound of noise pop echoing Sonic Youth and primarily originating in the US, and which in any case had its roots in the post-punk movement. The album is enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".
[ allmusic.com, Drowned in Sound 4,5 / 5, Q Magazine 4 / 5 stars ]

My Bloody Valentine "You Made Me Realise" (ep) (1988)

You Made Me Realise (ep)

release date: Aug. 8, 1988

format: cd (1990 reissue)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,55]

producer: My Bloody Valentine

label: Creation Records - nationality: Ireland

Tracklist: 1. "You Made Me Realise" - 2. "Slow" - 3. "Thorn" - 4. "Cigarette in Your Bed" - 5. "Drive It All Over Me"

Ep by Irish band My Bloody Valentine following the Ecstacy (Nov. 1987) mini-album, which was the first album to feature Bilinda Butcher, who had replaced vocalist David Conway after his own decision to leave the band in early '87. Initially, the ep was exclusively released on vinyl, and from 1990 as a cd. Half of the songs also ended up on the North American version of the compilation ep Feed Me With Your Kiss (Nov. 1988) released on Mercury.

It's quite telling how the style of the band evolves from one release to another. The style of The New Record by My Bloody Valentine ep (Sep. 1988) introduced a style closer to that of The Jesus and Mary Chain, and that is pretty much still the case here, although, it also reveals some news. Where "You Made Me Realise" and "Slow" are pure noise pop songs, which both comes the closest to style of The Jesus and Mary Chain here, the three remainders sound more like a fusion of 1960s surf rock and a jangle pop influence from The Smiths. Overall, there's now much more room for bass and heavier drums, and the production sound has generally improved.

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds "The Firstborn Is Dead" (1985)

The Firstborn Is Dead
release date: Jun. 4, 1985
format: cd (1996 Japan reissue)
album rate: 3 / 5] [3,08]
producer:  Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Flood
label: Mute Records - nationality: Australia

Track highlights: 1. "Tupelo" (4 / 5) - 2. "Say Goodbye to the Little Girl Tree" (3 / 5) - 4. "Black Crow King" - 6. "Wanted Man"

2nd studio album by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds originally released on Mute Records follows one year after the debut From Her to Eternity.

Compared to the debut album, this is a more melodic album, and it signals a final goodbye to no wave. The line-up here is Nick Cave on vocals and harmonica, Blixa Bargeld on guitar, slide guitar, piano and backing vocals, and with both Barry Adamson and Mick Harvey on bass, drums, guitar, organ and backing vocals. This is in fact an early example of music in the genre of alt. rock, which initially was made up of reminiscences of post-punk and art rock, but here with a certain amount of blues rock influences, although, it still displays obvious experimental and post-punk traits.
[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone Album Guide 4 / 5 stars ]

Hüsker Dü "Everything Falls Apart" (1983)

Everything Falls Apart [debut]
release date: Jan. 1983
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,18]
producer: Hüsker Dü and Spot (aka Glen Locket)
label: Reflex Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "From the Gut" - 2. "Blah, Blah, Blah" - 5. "Afraid of Being Wrong" - 6. "Sunshine Superman" - 8. "Everything Falls Apart" - 12. "Gravity"

Studio debut album by the American trio Hüsker Dü released after the first full-length release, the live album Land Speed Record released exactly one year earlier. The band was formed in Minneapolis in Mar. '79 and consists of Bob Mould on guitar and vocals, Greg Norton on bass and backing vocals, and with Grant Hart on drums and vocals. This is American hard-core punk, which only had a little in common with the early stages of what became known as punk rock, meaning 1976-77. Hüsker Dü is one of a few dominant bands of the genre when speaking of the American version of hardcore punk, which included Black Flag, Bad Brains, D.O.A., Circle Jerks, and Dead Kennedys. The UK scene included bands like The Exploited, Charged G.B.H., Subhumans, Crass, Anti-Nowhere League, One-Way System, and UK Subs, but the two scenes were not identical. The American scene was a primary source and link to noise rock, which more or less evolved at the same time, and that may be heard on this album. I recall being interested in the British scene, which had more evident roots in traditional punk rock with some focus on harmonies, chorus-lines, political subjects, and with the addition of intensified energy. A few bands with Crass as the extreme forerunners were on the edge of punk making highly political music with bonds to experimental art rock and rock satire, which was labelled anarcho-punk - and this only really happened in the UK, whereas the American artists more or less concentrated their energy in playing with speed, high-voltage energy and anger as driving forces - rebelling with either nihilism or what resembled 1960s anti-war protest-songs engagement, and not seldom as a huge (strange) mix of founding inspiration.
Everything Falls Apart is however, also one of a few albums that closes the gap between American and British hardcore punk. Listening to Subhumans, The Exploited and One-Way System this has an equal expression of harmony structures and short-lived tunes build on guitar-chords and wry statements.
I rejected this as too much noise for my liking. My first experience with the band was Zen Arcade from 1984, and that didn't do much for me like the band's last releases, which failed to my appeal. At the time, I thought, this was just a matter of playing fast, running wild with energy, and with too little diversion. Today, I actually enjoy some of the tracks from this. It has it's moments and moreover: it's quite evident how the band became a source to other styles and genres, including grunge, but also how close this was to noise rock and American alternative rock, which helped giving birth to bands like Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Red Hot Chili Pepper - all of these seem unthinkable without Hüsker Dü in this incarnation.
"From the Gut" is a great, simple, but original starter, which points to music by Pearl Jam and Red Hot Chili Peppers. "Blah, Blah, Blah" and perhaps even more "Bricklayer" are fine examples of music bonding with chanting chorus lines from the UK scene, experimental 'art rock' by Frank Zappa, Dead Kennedys, and Nirvana at the same time. The production sound is... of course on the low side of things but that's how it is with the genre. "Punch Drunk" (30 secs of distilled raw energy) could easily have thought made by Crass, The Exploited, Charged G.B.H. of the British scene, or by Dead Kennedys. Most songs are written by Bob Mould and one track "Sunshine Superman" is a cover of a track by Donovan, however, here highly transformed. The original album issue has a total playing time of just above 19 minutes making it a rather short long-player. In '93 the album was reissued as Everything Falls Apart and More on cd with seven bonus tracks including the band's first two singles.
[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone 3 / 5 stars ]