Summary.
When My Bloody Valentine walked on the stage of feedback-pop,
something truly magic was finally created in the realm
of psychedelia. The mini-album Ecstasy (1987) explored the ambiguity
that would make their mature sound so haunting and devastating:
ecstasy and terror were two faces of the same moon, and that moon shone
day and night. Daydreaming and nightmare became the same state of mind
as guitars enveloped naive melodies and drums smashed vocal harmonies.
Isn't Anything (1988) went one step further than Jesus And Mary Chain,
in that it renounced punk's violence and harked back to the most dilated forms
of acid-rock. Kevin Shields' "shoegazing" guitar fullfilled Jerry Garcia's and
Jimi Hendrix' galactic bliss, and helped the sweet litanies grind their way
into a transcendental trance.
Electronic keyboards joined guitar noise on Loveless (1991), the
ultimate exploration of textures in rock music. Its stunning chaos can be
viewed both as an enraptured "om" to the universe or as a deranged scream
in a madman's cell or as a terrified paralysis in the face of a supernatural
force. The album changed the meaning of the word "music" by proving the
equivalence between "noisy" and 'symphonic", the same way that Einstein proved
the equivalence between inertial and gravitational mass.
(Translated from the Italian by Troy Sherman)
My Bloody Valentine were among the most original, complex, important, and influential bands of the
'80s. Although they recorded only a few records and only held a few concerts,
their legacy is great. As is the case with all revolutions, the one which they
started began with a very simple idea: to make noise with guitars, but in doing
so generate a sound that is almost transcendent in the Buddhist sense of the
word; a sound that can excite as much as appease the spirits; and a sound that
can evoke at the same time ecstasy and terror. That simple idea launched the
phenomenon of the "shoegazer" genre, the equivalent of Zen for the
punk generation. In fact, this revolution inaugurated an idea of
rock chamber music that would eventually lead to the revival of
ambient music.
My Bloody Valentine formed in Dublin in 1983. They grew up
in the middle of the culture of the "Batcave", a London nightclub
which was the center of the English Gothic subculture. Although they began in
this dark and gothic setting, they soon got rid of the stereotypes of
dark-punk. On their debut EP This Is
Your Bloody Valentine (Tycoon, 1985), the quartet still consisted of its
founding members: Kevin Shields (born in New York) on guitar, David Conway on
vocals, and Colm O'Ciosoig on drums. Conway, with sobs and howls of bass and
baritone, imitated Brian Setzer, swinging in commemoration of him on the track Forever and Again. Inferno is similar to the gospel of The Animals. The
"drumming" of O'Ciosoig, which was both obsessive and acrobatic,
propels the tribal Do not Cramp My Style.
Their background in "Gothic" music came to the light at intersection
of catchy rock and roll, The Cramps,
and The Doors (which was evident in Homelovin`
Guy and especially Love Gang ).
With the following year came two more EPs. The former, Geek! (Fever, 1986), proposed
compositions that were still uncertain, such as No Place To Go and Love
Machine. These were still influenced by the Gothic aspect of The Doors and
Nick Cave. The New Record By My Bloody Valentine (Kaleidoscope,
1986) began slowing down harmonies with the ethereal and naive Lovelee Sweet Darlene. Sunny Sundae Smile (Lazy, 1987) was the
last EP with Conway, who was destined for a career as a fiction writer.
The entrance of the new guitarist and vocalist Bilinda
Butcher gave the band impetus to adopt the idea of the distorted pop of the
Jesus and Mary Chain. Where the Scottish Jesus and Mary Chain were tied to the
violence and the frenzy of punk-rock, My Bloody Valentine emancipated
themselves from many bondages of the punk aesthetic. If anything, they began
drawing more from older acid-rock. The sound was deafening and aggressive, but
morbid and dreamy.
The group incorporated the ideas of the '60s into their
music. They pushed these to
extremes, though, by using a lot of technology that did not exist at the time,
and added those extremities to the powerful sound of the punk era. In the hands
of My Bloody Valentine, the layered wall of sound that Phil Spector created
became pure cacophony, the
jingle-jangle of the Byrds became a Freudian nightmare, and the vocal harmonies
of the Beach Boys became the whispers of angels. The EP Strawberry Wine (Lazy, 1987) shows the influence of the folk-rock
of Love (Can I Touch You, Never Say Goodbye), and on the
mini-album Ecstasy (Lazy, 1987) they
discovered the virtues of hypnotic distortions (The Things I Miss and Clair).
As partners, these discs leak My Bloody Valentines forthcoming intent to go
beyond what was in vogue: a renewed style of feedback-pop, a reinvigorated
psychedelic revival. In this period of their music, My Bloody Valentine began
sailing towards a sound that was the sum of all of the sounds of the era, while
at the same time exceeding them. Ecstasy
And Wine (Lazy Records, 2002) collects their Lazy Records period.
Their maturity, and with it a truly personal sound, set to
"glide guitar" (signified by the exacerbation of the tremolo effect),
came with the 1988 EP You Made Me
Realise (Creation, 1988). This maturation can be seen on tracks such as Cigarette in Your Bed and through the
distortion of the legendary title track, as well as in the similar EP Feed Me with Your Kiss, between the
relentless rock and roll of that title track and the languid I Believe.
In November of 1988, the band finally released their first
full length album, Isnt Anything
(Creation, 1988 - Sony, 2002). The quartet at this point was perfectly balanced
(even sexually, after the entry of bassist Deborah Googe), and it was finally able to build
a bridge between the psychedelic music of yesterday and today. Soft As Snow was still an epigone of the
Sixties (the Beatles Day In The Life)
and Cupid Come takes its cue from the
transcendent strumming of the Velvet Underground. Songs like You're Still in a Dream and You Never Should push to the boundaries
the use of the distortion pedal, the deformation of the rock and roll rhythm,
and vocal harmonies beat. The culmination of ecstasy is indeed reached in the
litanies that are whispered in an almost distracted tone by Butcher (Lose My Breath and No More Sorry).My Bloody Valentine succeeded in at least Several Girls Galore to chisel a
memorable lullaby, and the band even touched REMs folk rock in the second to
last song on the album: Nothing Much to
Lose.
E` questo sound svenevole, sfumato, senza nerbo, che sembra una prova di canzone piu` che la sua versione finale, a costituire la vera innovazione apportata dai My Bloody Valentine al rock psichedelico.
It was precisely this languid, nuanced, spineless sound,
which seems to be a test run of a song rather than its final version,
that constitutes the
true innovation brought about by My Bloody Valentine to psychedelic rock.
The disc
proved to have an enormous influence on the groups of the next generation; the
latter day "dreampop" bands, primarily. Unlike their imitators,
though, My Bloody Valentine did not embellish pop melodies with distorted
guitars. They created melody from chaos (not just from guitars). The music of
My Bloody Valentine becomes "ethereal" in retrospect, while many of
their disciples tried to be "ethereal" a priori. In this sense, their
brand of rock is one of the few that truly mimics the psychedelic '60s, instead
of borrowing the sounds after the fact. It is the process that matters, not
the result. Theirs is therefore a search for musical textures, relative to that
of Sonic Youth, not that of Jesus and Mary Chain.
The 7 single release of two instrumentals, which coupled
the aforementioned album, foreshadowed the jungle of a few years later.
In April 1990, My Bloody Valentine released another EP, Glider, which was given to good and
beautiful trances, in particular the long, hypnotic track Soon. This EP
shows the obvious advantage of being able to be danced into a rave.
In February 1991, the band released another EP, Tremolo, with the bizarre, harmonic To Here Knows When, Honey
Power, and Moon Song. The formula that they created
had been, at this point,
turned into a style, and the "shoegazing" genre had become a trend
that was turning into a landslide.
Loveless (1991 - Warner, 2002) was released in November
1991. It was produced by Alan Moulder (a student of Brian Eno). My Bloody
Valentine had increased their potentiality by using the technology at their
disposal. In particular,
they thickened the "mix" of samples and electronic sounds. The soft
chant of Only Shallow is first lulled
by the rhythm of the guitar and the smooth rhythm section, but it is suddenly
torn apart by soaring melodramatic keyboards. The distortion of I Only Said is perhaps the most pounding
of their career. It was a result of an accurate processing of their tone, as if
there was a feedback of feedback. Deafening chaos of that then flows through a
tune that is demented by electronics and vocal harmonies are merged into a
single whistle with the guitar. The harmony of Blown A Wish is so refined that it brings them into the area of the
Cocteau Twins. Come In Alone,
however, recovers the rhythmic psychedelia of Sgt Pepper. With Loomer, their
method reaches an experimental peak. It is whispered even more slowly and
immersed in a frantic strumming guitar. Sometimes
is a rough diamond, with a
distorted bass line in the foreground and busy strumming (acoustic) in the
background. The most spirited moments on the album are When You Sleep and What You
Want, the only ones which recognize the complexities of rock music. The
songs are drifting and performed distractedly with no action taken, and are
destined to exist in this state of permanent awe. The melody is a tinsel which
emerges only from time to time. Live,
those songs sometimes last for twenty minutes.
Isnt Anything
and Loveless are two of the most
important albums of the decade. Their ectoplasmic guitar brought psychedelic
rock to new heights of expression and actually coined a new genre. In a time
when British rock retraced its steps and everything was created solely on the
basis of its preexisting examples of good music, the Valentine were one of
the few bands that really upset tradition and changed the course of British
rock.
Deborah Googe went on to form Snowpony .
Kevin Shields then collaborated with
Experimental Audio Research .
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I My Bloody Valentine sono stati fra i complessi piu` originali, importanti e
influenti degli anni '80, benche' abbiano registrato pochi dischi e tenuto
pochi concerti. Come tutte le rivoluzioni, la loro fu soprattutto un'idea:
quella di fare rumore con le chitarre, ma un rumore quasi trascendente nel
senso buddista del termine, un rumore che poteva tanto placare quanto eccitare
gli animi,
un rumore capace di evocare al tempo stesso estasi e terrore.
Quella semplice idea lancio` il fenomeno degli "shoegazer",
l'equivalente dello zen per la generazione punk, e di fatto inauguro` un'idea
di musica rock da camera che avrebbe portato al revival della musica ambientale.
I My Bloody Valentine vennero formati a Dublino nel 1983. Crebbero nel mezzo
della cultura del "batcave", in scenari cupamente gotici, ma si liberarono
presto degli stereotipi del dark-punk.
Sull'EP This Is Your Bloody Valentine (Tycoon, 1985) il quartetto
constava ancora di Kevin Shields (nato a New York) alla chitarra, David Conway
al canto, Colm O'Ciosoig alla batteria e un organista.
Conway, con i singhiozzi e gli ululati del baritono basso, imita
Brian Setzer nella swingante rievocazione di Forever And Again.
Inferno e` quasi un gospel degli Animals.
Il "drumming" ossessivo e acrobatico di O'Ciosoig propelle la tribale
Don't Cramp My Style.
Il loro retroterra "gotico" veniva alla luce in rock and roll trascinanti
all'incrocio fra
Cramps e ai Doors (Homelovin` Guy e soprattutto Love Gang).
L'anno successivo uscirono altri due EP. Se il primo,
Geek (Fever, 1986), proponeva composizioni ancora incerte come
No Place To Go e Love Machine, ancora influenzate dal gotico
di Doors e Nick Cave,
The New Record (Kaleidoscope, 1986) cominciava
a rallentare le armonie con l'eterea e naif Lovelee Sweet Darlene.
Sunny Sundae Smile (Lazy, 1987) fu l'ultimo EP con Conway,
destinato a una carriera di scrittore di fantascienza.
L'ingresso della nuova chitarrista, Bilinda Butcher, diede l'impulso ad
adottare il pop distorto dei Jesus And Mary Chain.
Laddove gli scozzesi erano ancora legati alla violenza e alla frenesia del
punk-rock, i Valentine se ne emancipavano del tutto, attingendo semmai
al vecchio acid-rock. Il suono non era stordente e aggressivo, ma morboso
e onirico.
Il gruppo riprende idee degli anni '60 e le spinge agli estremi, avvalendosi
tanto di una tecnologia che ai tempi non esisteva quanto di una potenza
di sfondamento come quella dell'era punk.
Il wall of sound di Phil Spector diventa cosi` pura cacofonia stratificata,
il jingle-jangle dei Byrds diventa un incubo freudiano, e le
armonie vocali dei Beach Boys sembrano bisbigli d'angeli.
L'EP Strawberry Wine (Lazy, 1987) mostra cosi` l'influsso del folk-rock
dei Love (Can I Touch You, Never Say Goodbye), e
il mini-album Ecstasy (Lazy, 1987) scopre le virtu` ipnotiche delle
distorsioni (The Things I Miss e Clair).
Per quanto interlocutori, questi dischi lasciano gia` trapelare l'intento
di spingersi al di la` di tutti gli stereotipi in voga:
rinnovato il feedback-pop, rinvigorito il revival psichedelico, i My Bloody
Valentine veleggiano verso un sound che e` il summa di tutti i sound dell'epoca,
ma che al tempo stesso li supera.
Ecstasy And Wine (Lazy Records, 2002) raccoglie il periodo Lazy.
La maturita`, e con essa un suono davvero personale, impostato sulla "glide
guitar" (un'esasperazione dell'effetto di tremolo), arriva con gli EP del 1988:
You Made Me Realise (Creation, 1988), con
Cigarette In Your Bed e la leggendaria distorsione della title-track,
e Feed
Me With Your Kiss, fra l'incalzante rock and roll della title-track e la languida I Believe.
Nel novembre del 1988 esce finalmente il primo album, Isn't Anything
(Creation, 1988 - Sony, 2002). Il quartetto e` perfettamente bilanciato (anche sessualmente, dopo l'ingresso
della bassista Deborah Googe) e riesce a costruire un ponte psichedelico fra ieri e oggi. Se Soft As
Snow e` ancora epigonica nei confronti dei Sixties (i Beatles di Day In The Life) e Cupid
Come prende lo spunto dallo strimpellio trascendente dei Velvet Underground, brani come You're
Still In A Dream e You Never Should spingono il pedale del distorsore deformando la
cadenza rock and roll e le armonie vocali beat. Il culmine di estasi viene anzi raggiunto nelle litanie
trasognate che Butcher bisbiglia con tono quasi distratto (Lose My Breath e No More
Sorry), riuscendo almeno in Several Girls Galore a cesellare una ninnananna memorabile (e
sfiorando il folkrock degli REM in Nothing Much To Lose).
E` questo sound svenevole, sfumato, senza nerbo, che sembra una prova di
canzone piu` che la sua versione finale, a costituire la vera innovazione apportata dai My Bloody
Valentine al rock psichedelico. Il disco esercito` un'influenza enorme sui gruppi della generazione
successiva, quella del "dreampop". A differenza dei loro imitatori, i My Bloody Valentine non
abbelliscono melodie pop con chitarre distorte, ma fanno emergere le melodie dal caos (non soltanto delle
chitarre). La musica dei My Bloody Valentine diventa "eterea" a posteriori, mentre molti loro discepoli
prenderanno l'"etereo" a priori. In questo senso il loro rock e` uno dei pochi che davvero imiti la
psichedelia degli anni '60, invece che prenderne soltanto in prestito le sonorita` "dopo il fatto". E` il
processo che conta, non il risultato. La loro e` pertanto una ricerca di tessiture musicali, parente di quella
dei Sonic Youth, non di quella dei Jesus And Mary Chain.
Il singolo accoppiato all'album, Instrumental, anticipa persino
la jungle di qualche anno dopo.
I My Bloody Valentine pervengono alla trance bella e buona sull'EP dell'aprile
1990, Glider, in particolare il lungo brano ipnotico Soon, che ha
l'indubbio pregio di poter essere ballato ai rave.
Nel febbraio del 1991 e` la volta di Tremolo, con la bizzarria armonica
di To Here Knows When, Honey Power e Moon Song.
La formula e` ormai diventata maniera, ma lo "shoegazing" fa proseliti a
valanga.
Ci vogliono tre anni perche' il gruppo che ha scatenato la bagarre si
ripresenti con un secondo album, Loveless (1991 - Warner, 2002),
che esce nel
novembre 1991, prodotto da Alan Moulder (un allievo di Brian Eno).
I My Bloody Valentine hanno aumentato le loro potenzialita` ricorrendo
alla tecnologia, in particolare infittendo il "mix" di campionamenti e
suoni elettronici.
La tenue cantilena di Only Shallow non e` soltanto cullata dal ritmo vellutato
della chitarra e della sezione ritmica, ma anche squarciata all'improvviso dalle impennate
melodrammatiche delle tastiere. La distorsione di I Only Said e` forse la piu` martellante della
loro carriera per effetto di un'accurata elaborazione della sua timbrica, come se si fosse fatto un feedback
del feedback; su quel caos assordante solca poi un motivetto quasi demenziale dell'elettronica e le armonie
vocali vengono fuse in un sibilo unico con la chitarra. L'armonia di Blown A Wish e` talmente
raffinata da portarli in area Cocteau Twins.
Come In Alone recupera peraltro la psichedelia cadenzata di Sgt
Pepper. Il loro metodo tocca vertici sperimentali in Loomer, bisbigliata ancor piu`
lentamente e immersa in un frenetico strimpellio di chitarra, e in Sometimes, con un ruvido
rombo di basso in primo piano e un altro fitto strimpellio (acustico) in sottofondo. I momenti piu` grintosi
si chiamano When You Sleep e What You Want, gli unici in cui si riconosca il complesso
di musica rock. I brani vanno alla deriva senza che succeda nulla, appagati di esistere in questo loro stato
di permanente stupore. La melodia e` un puro orpello, che affiora soltanto di quando in quando. Da qui
alla new age il passo non dovrebbe essere troppo complicato.
Dal vivo quei brani durano talvolta venti minuti.
Isn't Anything e Loveless sono due degli album piu`
importanti del decennio. I loro ectoplasmi chitarristici hanno portato il rock psichedelico a nuovi vertici
espressivi e hanno di fatto coniato un nuovo genere musicale. In un momento in cui il rock britannico
ritorna sui suoi passi e tutto viene giustificato solamente sulla base del suo preesistere, i Valentine hanno
rappresentato uno dei pochi impulsi a stravolgere davvero la tradizione.
Deborah Googe formera` poi gli Snowpony.
Kevin Shields collaborera` poi agli
Experimental Audio Research.
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