New Year, New My Bloody Valentine...Hopefully

     Good bye 2012. Thanks for "Call Me Maybe" and "Condom Style" ...NOT! 2013 has got to be better, especially if My Bloody Valentine actually release their long awaited follow-up to 1991's Loveless. Loveless not only set the standard for the shoegaze scene, it is also one of the great albums of all-time. It has been immortilized with a 33 1/3 book and continually tops polls of best albums of the 90's. It was the album of the year during the greatest year of album releases since the 60's.  Apparently the problem for Kevin Shields was how to follow it up. Well, according to Shields, via Pitchfork, he has finally done it. He is finished mastering the new album and there is actually hope that it will be released sometime this year. Woo-hoo!
     I got into My Bloody Valentine the same way many people who missed them 20 years ago did; the movie Lost in Translation. I thought I'd like the movie, because it starred Bill Murray and Scarlet Johansen, but I hated it. However, I loved the music in the background and decided to investigate who it was. That's how I discovered Kevin Shields and MBV and shoegaze. The great thing about finding new music that you like is it leads to more. In this case it lead to Ride, Slowdive, Boo Radleys and Chapterhouse. I recommend that my kids listen to Loveless, Nowhere by Ride, Giant Steps by Boo Radleys and The Brit Box.
     The Brit Box is a box set by Rhino that covers shoegaze, brit-pop and UK indie rock. It's a fantastic collection, although I wish they'd have represented Oasis with "Supersonic" instead of "Live Forever". Here is a list of my favorite songs from the Brit Box.

     * Just Like Heaven- The Cure
     * Crash- The Primitives
     * Vapour Trail- Ride
     * Only Shallow- MBV
     * I Want To Touch You- Catherine Wheel
     * Star Sign- Teenage Fanclub
     * Duel- Swervedriver ( another awesome band)
     * Lazarus- Boo Radleys
    
     The whole box set is great though. I strongly recommend it to anyone who missed this stuff when it came out and doesn't already own most of it. Hope everyone has a great 2013. Peace.