Album Rating: 3.0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AExZCFrgqs4

why would you base the comparison on the strength of their pop chops though. Souvlaki is mostly dream pop, this is shoegaze

Alison's songwriting isn't particularly strong either, it has a near perfect verse but the chorus feels uninspired

Album Rating: 3.0

Souvlaki draws equally from both camps and caters to a much wider range of listening environments as such - not that that necessarily makes it better

Alison's chorus melody isn't as strong as the verse, but the lyrical narrative finds a perfect space to open up there (something I can't say for any MBV song). verses set the scene and the chorus provides the zany "oh god" moment the narrator has been holding back - strong songwriting at work there

and Souvlaki's pop chops are relevant to its songwriting which is relevant to this discussion bc I specifically brought them up...?

Thank you for link shit goes

I think Loveless not adhering to pop sensibilities as strongly makes it more impactful, it makes its sound more commanding and the cohesion makes it more immersive. and shoegaze derives so much of its potency from the contrast between the expressiveness of the instrumentals and vocals for the lyrical narrative to be a defining highlight 9 times out of 10

Album Rating: 3.0

cohesion/immersive/homogenous/stolid is kinda a potato-potahto for this album and the reason that people who overstate the Souvlaki rivalry (which i did not bring up!) are more often crotchety defenders of this album's pedestal than actually interested in picking apart the relative merits of the two - don't see why anyone who prefers Souvlaki would either put this in competition with it for the same fix or necessarily value homogeneous immersion as the #1 appeal of shoegaze

for the itch this does scratch, like, I get it - 10 yrs back i was actually kinda peeved at the acclaim and thought this whole fanbase was high on Kevboi's farts. nowadays i love enough gaze to respect it as a genre classic and for its uncompromising commitment to That One Sound, but any time i'd otherwise jam this, there's always another record i'd rather put on

The Loveless wall-of-fuzz noise suffocation? Pinkyshinyultrablast for as long as i can handle it. The Loveless nebulous layerings of fuck-what-was-that-daydream experience? Bloweyelashwish if feeling adventurous, Slowdive s/t ep (their only comparable record tbh) if not. The Loveless zany rainyday nothing-changes noise pop sound? True Color True Lie ten times out of ten. An MBV record where they go full gaze? first third of m b v for that superior production and smarter songwriting (*not* incompatible with this style after all!), and then dip.

could go out of my head trying to pin down what makes each of those records that much more appealing (would be a mix of songcraft and aesthetic vision, depending on the album), but that kinda misses the point - it ain't that i hate this being a genre figurehead and want to tear it down, just kinda bums me out to see so much discourse that mistakes its prominence for its being the be-all-and-end-all in a deceptively diverse genre

which fwiw isn't directed at anyone itt (for a classic case-in-point, see that cancerous Iai soundoff), but it do often be that way

Album Rating: 5.0

I don't pay attention to the vocals at all on the project, and I think that's what makes it so refreshing. Like drone but different. We have plenty of singer-songwriters out there that want to Didionize their stories for all to relate to, and as movies can have shite stories but incredible visuals, it pays to have an album that's only expectation of you is to observe. This is not always a fulfilling technique as I think the MBV soundscape has contributed to a ton of knockoff, schlocky copycats, but this is pure gold. Nothing like it out there.

Album Rating: 3.0

"I think the MBV soundscape has contributed to a ton of knockoff, schlocky copycats, but this is pure gold. Nothing like it out there."

this tbh is exactly what i'm talking about. which artists are you referring to

Album Rating: 5.0

very little actually sounds like mbv

Album Rating: 5.0

when someone calls something a loveless clone 90% of the time they just dont know much shoegaze so they use this as a benchmark tb h

Album Rating: 3.0

which is bad and sad

and disrespectful to great bands like Medicine and Curve that did take overt influence from this

Album Rating: 5.0

Fleeting Joys comes to mind which I would say sounds almost too similar. Even parts of LSD and the Search for God is like, ugh. But I'm not even one of those guys that says "All shoegaze sounds the same" because it definitely doesn't. You just mentioned Medicine and Curve. Sweet Trip is another good example.

Album Rating: 5.0

yea def not saying ur like that but that is the vibe i get when i hear thise complaints about albums that sound little like loveless

Album Rating: 5.0

Music discourse is sometimes frustrating like that.

Album Rating: 5.0

(for a classic case-in-point, see that cancerous Iai soundoff)



Wait, where is this btw? I can't find it.

Album Rating: 3.0

Top of this album's ratings page! Big tier cringe :[[

And yeah LSD are kinda stodgy and regurgitative - not bad, not great. My fav bits remind me more of Slowdive though, esp vocally

Album Rating: 5.0

Damn, you woulda thought that album gave him the best head of his life.

Album Rating: 3.0

given that he's still sharting out prose of the same flavour over on rym, I'd wager it's the closest he's come to the real deal since

Album Rating: 4.3

Ryus what would you say about “the breakup” by fleeting joys