My Bloody Valentine: Gender Theory and Cyberpunk

I was originally writing this as part of the second instalment of the My Bloody Valentine: EPs 1988-91 review but decided it would make sense to spin it out as it is more of an artistic profile than a part of the track by track review. I decided I wanted to break away from the dynamics of gender and sex for a moment when describing My Bloody Valentine, because despite the theory often sounding reasonable it just does not seem pertinent half the time. This came up in conversation yesterday when I was watching footage of one of Primal Scream's Screamadelica gigs. For all the rock'n'roll clichés, gender seemed the last thing worth discussing. Certainly not from the standpoint of diagnosing patriarchal societies or something like that. Reading this blog post about Oneohtrix Point Never inspired me a little. More after the jump.

Review: My Bloody Valentine – EP’s 1988-1991 (Part Two)

This is the second part of my review which talks about tracks from the Tremolo EP and various rarities.

Review: My Bloody Valentine -- EPs 1988-1991 (Part One)

Standing at around an hour and forty minutes. I thought that I would split my piece about this collection into two. This the first part gives a track by track account of most of the collection with some brief discussion of the implications of the remastering. In the second half I'm focusing more on evaluating the whole deal and passing a verdict.

Rhapsodising after the jump.

Cracking HDCDs

HDCD stands for High Definition Compatible Digital not, as it would first appear, High Definition CD. If you have a middling to substantial collection of CDs (or lossless rips) the odds of you having one are quite high. If one of your CDs bears the logo, then good news. First of all, it means that the analog to digital converter employed in creating the digital signal on your CD is either the Pacific Microsystems Model One or Model Two, reputed to be some of the best converters ever made. From that standpoint, HDCD is a mark of quality.

Second, it means that on your disc or lossless file there may be features which have remained hidden. The most notable of these features is Peak Extension: a way of increasing the dynamic range of the recording by making the bulk of it quieter, increasing the bit depth (so that there is more room for different gradations of loudness), and then reversing the compression of some of the music's peaks.

More after the jump.

Comics and the Graphic Music Thing

Chico and Rita by Javier Mariscal and Fernado Trueba is one of my most recent comics purchases along with Jonathan Ross' Turf. It's a love story with its setting split between Havana and New York. Just as important as the romance between Chico, a pianist and Rita, a singer is the love affair between New York's legendary Bop Jazzmen like Dizzy Gillespie and the exotic sounds of Cuban musicians. More about Chico and Rita and the difficulties of doing the graphic music thing after the jump.

My Bloody Valentine: Review of Critical Coverage and the Issue of Product Errors

Fans of My Bloody Valentine should read this blog post before buying the recently released remaster of Loveless.

While of course many CDs have already sold, buyers have the right to know that there are major errors in this release that have now been identified. The two critical problems are widely reported mislabelling of the CDs (as they each represent different tapes of exactly the same sessions and music it's almost farcical) and a clearly identifiable digital transfer glitch sound on one of the versions of 'What You Want.'

It was Analog Loyalist's blog that made the comprehensive case with good analysis, so all credit to him for breaking the story. Here is the litany of woes:

details: My Bloody Valentine Loveless 2012 remasters - manufacturing errors

Pursuant to my other post on critics: notice that no critics until this blog have identified that the CDs were mislabelled, or found this glitch, or indeed attempted to figure out which of the tracks Kevin Shields had digitally limited as alluded to in his interview with Pitchfork.

Pitchfork in their review have now pointed to Analog Loyalist's blog. I have to take issue with some elements of Mark Richardson's review. As lovely as the prose and the history lesson are, I genuinely feel that today's music writers are doing their readers a disservice by not properly holding record labels to account over the quality of remasters they release. Reissuing old material with a new master is often more profitable than releasing new material, and yet the business aspect is hardly ever mentioned. This is at the expense of fans who are seemingly told by a unanimous chorus of voices that the reissue heralds a bold new opportunity to really appraise the artist. Based upon the real level of difference that a remaster brings this is often false.

More after the jump.

Critics and Technical Illiteracy

One compelling reason I've found to try and come up with a method of music writing that aspires to reportage is that it represents an attempt to eschew technical illiteracy that can bedevil critical writing. Critics with technical issues and a book recommendation after the jump.

My Return and Exciting News

Well, it's been too long. But rather than apologise like a failing blogger I'm just going to focus on some great developments. Collaborations, announcements and a USP after the jump.