MUSIC list.co.uk/music
A SHOEGAZE COMEBACK My Bloody Valentine launch their fi rst album in 22 years
T he unexpected surprise comeback is a devalued currency in music these days, what with The Stone Roses and David Bowie having crossed the rubicon and The Smiths’ return feeling more like an inevitability waiting to happen. In which case the stealth release the other week of mbv, Anglo-Irish shoegaze progenitors My Bloody Valentine’s first album in 22 years, was not what might strictly be termed a surprise. The group reconvened in a live sense almost five years ago, and their musical orchestrator Kevin Shields hinted in an interview towards the end of last year that a new record was imminent.
What we’re left with, then, is a minor but welcome alternative event that feels more resonant and unique for the way it happened than because it happened at all. One, because
70 THE LIST 21 Feb–21 Mar 2013
the act of hearing the record unspoilered and unleashed even as our friends took to social media to offer up their own live responses felt like a rare instance (insofar as the much- buffeted music industry is concerned) of the hypercommunality for which the web was designed. And two, because it’s a sublime record by any measure those who love this band might care to make. The looping swoons and effect- ridden helicopter guitars of ‘Nothing Is’ and the mountainous ‘Wonder 2’ prove towering peaks on which to immolate your cochlea at the cacophonous live show. (David Pollock)
Barrowland, Glasgow, Sat 9 Mar. See list.co.uk for an in-depth review of the album.
HITLIST THE BEST ROCK, POP, JAZZ & FOLK
✽ The Pictish Trail The verdict has been pretty unanimous;
new psych-folk-pop album Secret Soundz 2 is a career best for the bobble-hatted one. With eagleowl, The Caves, Edinburgh, Thu 21 Feb. (Rock & Pop)
✽ The Twilight Sad Considering the power of their squally guitars, the stripped-back,
acoustic ’Sad experience is also, perhaps surprisingly, almost equally mighty. Electric Circus, Edinburgh, Sat 23 Feb; Nice‘n’ Sleazy, Glasgow, Sun 24 Feb. (Rock & Pop)
✽ Frightened Rabbit and Wintersleep Frabbit’s new album, Pedestrian Verse is really just asking to be played out in a big venue; full of plaintive anthems and desolate singalongs. With Three Blind Wolves, Picture House, Edinburgh, Tue 26 Feb; Barrowland, Glasgow, Thu 28 Feb. (Rock & Pop)
✽ Minimal: Steve Reich in Glasgow A weekend of music dedicated to
the minimal composer (pictured above) who will be in town bringing new work Radio Rewrite (inspired by Radiohead). His masterpiece Drumming will also be performed. See preview, page 94. Various venues, Glasgow, Fri 8–Sun 10 Mar. (Classical)
✽ Ulrich Schnauss Spaced-out ambient- techno from the Berlin producer, and new tracks off recent krauty-reverby delight, A Long Way To Fall. Sleazys, Glasgow, Sat 16 Mar; Electric Circus, Edinburgh, Sun 17 Mar. (R&P)
✽ Alarm Bells, Bwani Junction and
Honeyblood The List goes live. Yep, we’re beginning a series of live music nights. First up is a triple bill of Alarm Bells (see interview, p77) Bwani Junction and Honeyblood (above). Thu 21 Mar, Stereo, Glasgow, see list.co.uk for info, or go to page 7 to win tickets.