Saturday, September 26, 2009

New/Old MBV (fingers crossed).

Despite the fact that I'd consider myself fairly competent on a computer, I've never had any luck with posting music here, so this is the latest in a long, long line of attempts, and it's probably doomed too. Edit: Well, it took just under three hours, but I think I've finally cracked it.

Recently, I came across four unreleased My Bloody Valentine songs, presumably demos, dating from around the time of 'Isn't Anything' and 'Glider'. My guess is that 'Good For You' and the infamous 'Cowboy Song' date from the former, 'Kevin Song' and 'Bilinda Song' from the latter. It would be very hard to explain how excited I was to hear essentially an EP of new music from Kevin Shields, or how in awe of his music I am (not so much pre-'You Made Me Realise', but that's not the point here). Posting music that has leaked online is obviously dubious at best, but after enduring and suffering the wait and the silence from the man (people born the year 'Loveless' was released are now eligible to vote, to give you an idea), and with a promise of new music in December at All Tomorrow's Parties (we'll see), it's too good and happy-making to ignore, or not to share, and I know I'll buy it if it ever gets a formal release. I'd love to hear a finished version of 'Bilinda Song', my favourite of the four.

I've added a few other rarities, the instrumentals that came on a 7" with initial copies of 'Isn't Anything', 'Sugar', which was only released on a flexidisc with a French magazine, the two post-'Loveless' cover versions (including the Wire cover I've nommed every chance I got), the full version of 'Glider', and, as an extra, the best of the pieces Kevin Shields wrote for the dance company La La La Human Steps, which is only available in bootleg versions, hence the strange intro on the version included here (the real piece, which I think is the best thing he's done in between MBV then-and-now, starts about 40 seconds in). I've also included a brief video, with terrible sound, of the performance to this piece, which looks amazing, and a fan video for the first track released post-MBV.

I'm still trying to figure out the whole Dropbox thing, so if these files are too large, or there's some other problem, please let me know. Hope you like.

Good For You
Cowboy Song
Kevin Song
Bilinda Song
Sugar
Instrumental A
Instrumental B
We Have All The Time In The World
Map Reference 41°N 93°W
Glider
2







11 comments:

Carole said...

I'll give these a listen when I have some spare moments.

Blimpy said...

Me too! I can't wait. The wire cover is one of my faves.

saneshane said...

...mammoth weekend of music listening coming up

Chris said...

'Cowboy Song' and 'Sugar' are brilliant!
Why is CS 'infamous', BTW?

Luke-sensei said...

congrats on conquering the technology Catcher, it took me a while too.

and thanks for posting these, as a MBV novice I don't have much to compare them too, but they all sounded great (especially Bilinda Song and 2) and i can see where Mogwai got their ideas from...

Blimpy said...

Aaaah, MBV, much copied never bettered. This would explain why it's been so hard for them to make a comeback - i would think it;s nigh on impossible to create a whole new aesthetic twice in your career.

Blimpy said...

It's odd, I listened to MBV lots when they were around and loved it, but never thought about their import in music history. It was just the music that was around at the time.

nilpferd said...

Awesome, Catcher, thanks. Apart from the Glider single, which I have, (sing out anyone who wants to hear the rest of it) and We have all the time in the world, it's all new to me.

Catcher said...

@ Chris - I wonder why too. The title's been floating around MBV notice boards for years, I don't think anyone believed it ever existed. I think it was thus named because of Kevin Shields' (interpreted as) semi-yodelling towards the end, and more because it was such a strange title for them.

@ Japanther - I'm delighted you're intrigued. I can't recommend 'Loveless' enough, no matter how hard I try.

@ Blimpy - Interesting you say that about them being part of the norm at the time. I know where you're coming from, but I think I just arrived on that scene as 'Tremolo' and 'Loveless' were coming out (I was 14 in 1991), when all the miasmic music I'd been listening to suddenly got thrown into sharp relief by the experts. Bands like Chapterhouse and Ride suddenly got shown up as pretenders by this 'WTF?' music, and, I admit, I've never lost that feeling with MBV.

@ nilpferd - Sorry if I sound like a dick, but have you listened to this version of 'Glider'? It's 10m25s long, 7 mins longer than the EP version, 2 mins longer than the EP remix version (the one with the godawful Weatherall remix of 'Soon' on the A-side), and is f***ing awesome!

If I ever post again about Kevin Shields' music, I'll probably be even more enthusiastic. You've been warned.

nilpferd said...

Aah, I hadn't realised it was different, will give it a listen, thanks! I had a bit of trouble downloading so had restricted it to the tracks I (thought I) didn't know. My Glider EP is the card cover one with the Album version of Soon, as well as Don't ask why and Off your face.

Second your thoughts re Loveless, at the time a friend played it for me we were just getting into Bitches Brew era Miles Davis and the more psychedelic Flying Nun bands, and Loveless seemed to fit here perfectly, with its cut-and-paste style, slippery timekeeping and harmonics, and wall-of-sound-maelstrom-through-which-beautiful-melody-appears aesthetic.
Also agree re never finding a comparable band- also found Ride disappointing, too much of a "rock" band. MBV for my tastes transcended musical genres; Loveless, like all great albums, removes itself from any category bar its own.

Have you heard Yppah, by the way? Not exactly MBV, but the sound does have some similarities.

steenbeck said...

Catcher - I hope you're still reading. I just had time to listen. I like it a lot. I like that it's fuzzy and rough, but still holds together to make sense to my ears. If that makes sense. I've been aware of the band but never actually took the time to listen. Thanks.