Tag Archives: My Bloody Valentine

EP REVIEW: Swervedriver – The World’s Fair  

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Swervedriver were formed in 1989 and lumped into the Shoegaze genre, alongside Lush, Chapterhouse, My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, and fellow Oxfordians Ride. The band’s catalogue is extensive and consists of six full-length albums and eight EP’s of which The World’s Fair is the latest; the latter following up from last year’s outtakes/ demos collection Doremi Faso Latido (aka CD3 of the band’s reissued-classic-99th-Dream). The band’s somewhat sizeable catalogue is impressive even taking into account the fact that they had disbanded for a period of eight years, 1999 – 2007 with frontman Adam Franklin going on to forge an equally productive solo career under his own name as well as part of the bands Toshack Highway, Magnetic Morning and the Sophia collective. Continue reading →


ALBUM REVIEW: Dunn With Lords And Lady Kevin – Last Days at Hot Slit

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Since 1987 Kevin Rutmanis has been involved in the production of a steady stream of records with bands such as Minneapolis Noise-Rock legends Cows, Sludge Grunge titans Melvins, supergroup Tomahawk, Hepa/Titus, and now Lord and Lady Kevin. 

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ALBUM REVIEW: Black Duck – Black Duck

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Black Duck can best be described as a supergroup featuring as it does key members of the Chicago music scene such as guitarist/bassist Douglas McCombs (Tortoise, Eleventh Dream Day), guitarist Bill MacKay (Broken Things, Sounds of Now), and drummer Charles Rumback (Colorlist, Leaf Bird). I confess to only really being familiar with McCombs due to his involvement in those bands who I’ve listened to for a number of years and hence why my interest was peaked when selecting this album for review purposes. 

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ALBUM REVIEW: Sightless Pit – Lockstep Bloodwar

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Following their 2020 Grave of a Dog debut which happened to feature a certain Kristin Hayter (Lingua Ignota), Sightless Pit (duo Lee Buford of The Body and Dylan Walker from Full of Hell) return (sans Hayter) with sophomore release Lockstep Bloodwar (Thrill Jockey).

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ALBUM REVIEW: LaMacchia – Thunderheads

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For every rush of adrenaline there’s the eventual lull. For each euphoric high there’s the comedown to follow. Thunderheads (Aqualamb Recordings) — the debut record of LaMacchia — plays like the 3am winding down of a night of excess. Thrills and sensual desires wedded to a shadow of sadness and introspection. 

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ALBUM REVIEW Boris and Merzbow – 2R0I2P0 (Twenty Twenty RIP)

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2R0I2P0 (Twenty Twenty RIP, Relapse Records)  is a collaboration album from two luminaries of the Japanese experimental music scene, Boris and Merzbow. Boris has released a vast number of albums over the past 25 years, and their sound ranges from psychedelic post-rock to crushing metallic doom riffery. Noise artist Merzbow (the brainchild of Masami Akita) has been even more prolific, having released hundreds of records over a 40-year career.

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Roky Erickson, Psychedelic Rock Legend, Dies at Age 71

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Sad news today as Roky Erickson, who build a career as a psychedelic rock founding father has died. He was 71 years old. No cause of death has been revealed at this time. A beloved artist by popular and underground acts, Roky first came to attention with seminal 1960s rock band 13th Floor Elevators. Erickson and the band coined the phrase psychedelic rock with the group and had a brief but impactful four years as a band. The bands’ trajectory was slowed down by Erickson’s issues with mental illness and depression. While he sought help, he was systematically abused in the system for years, which impeded his career further. But artists ranging from The Flaming Lips, Dave Grohl, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Spiritualized, Primal Scream, ZZ Top, Big Brother and the Holding Company, My Bloody Valentine, Ghost, The Black Angels, Ween, Mazzy Starr, The Verve, and more touted him and 13th Floor Elevators for years in song and in the press as a heavy influence. Ghost’s 2013 cover of ‘If You Have Ghosts’ has almost five million plays on YouTube. The 2007 documentary You’re Going to Miss Me’ led to renewed interest in his career. We send our condolences out to Roky’s family, friends, and fans at this time. Continue reading →


Nothing – Dance on the Blacktop

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Every now and then a band comes along to bring back all the emotional, raw feelings rock and roll thrives on. A typical trend within the genre for a while now, there have been a lot of misses and very few hits. Nothing, is a band of the latter.Continue reading →


Svalbard – It’s Hard to Have Hope

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When someone uses the words “It’s a grower”, it is invariably journalistic shorthand for a record that they wish they liked more than they did on first listen. There are lots of reasons for this: the time taken to listen properly to the music may not have been as acute as required; the fact your mates like it more than you do may now be playing, rather unhelpfully, on your mind. You get the drift. Continue reading →


Møl – Jord

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The only certainties in this life are death, taxes and Holy Roar not releasing bad records. With both Conjurer and Rolo Tomassi already blazing a trail this year, Holy Roar’s next world-beater comes to us from Denmark’s Møl, who may have just about perfected the whole Shoegaze/Black Metal trend with Jord (Holy Road Records), a record whose delicate intricacies are as emotionally devastating as its grossly incandescent rage.Continue reading →