I have been discussing music with a fellow teacher a lot at work, and disocvered much in common in terms of music, particularly stuff from the pre-Britpop era. having spent today listening to Slowdive, how could I not encourage others to listen to?
The first Slowdive album Just For A Day was released in 1991, at the height of shoegazing, or as the Americans called it -'Dreampop.' This latter label seems quite appropriate when applied to this album. These two tracks are taken from there:
Slowdive-'Spanish Air.'
Slowdive-'Catch The Breeze.' mp3
1993 saw the release of Souvlaki, which suggested a bit more of a dub feel. Whilst some sections of the music press were more preoccupied with grunge (on both sides of the Atlantic), there were those who fell for the charms of its dub influences, which showed the band had built upon the success of their debut.
Slowdive-'Alison.' mp3
Slowdive-'When The Sun Hits.' mp3
By 1995, the music scene had changed drastically. Kurt Cobain had died, and Britpop held sway in the UK, not only in the 'indie/alternative' scene but in the national pop charts too. Their Wikipedia entry denies that labelmates Oasis had insisted they leave the label, but this album was released a mere week before they were dropped. a shame, because this might even be my favourite of their three albums, representing truly adventurous music that's just as out there as their (former) labelmates My Bloody Valentine had been when they released Loveless in 1991. This is ambient and dub becoming ever more important in the sound, though to be fair, the Boo Radleys -who had reinvented themselves in line with the times, had hints of it on their earlier albums.
Slowdive-'Rutti.' mp3
Slowdive-'J's Heaven.' mp3
After the release of Pygmalion, the band more evolved than split into Mojave 3, who had far more of an Americana-influenced sound and who still prosper today.
Slowdive's official website is here.
As always, the mp3s will be up for one week only. If you like what you hear, please go and buy the music, be it from Amazon, or your local indpendent retailer.
4 comments:
I just finished a talk about a subject I am not such an expert on to a bunch of people who are in fact experts (well more than me) in the subject...
Listening to Slowdive is a nice meditative atmospheric joy to fall into.
Juan-I sympathise. as ateacher you can sometimes find yourself only about 2 pages ahead of your students. So much of life is the art of bluff. Glad you enjoyed the Slowdive!
Great to hear slowdive again, my shoegazer vinyl is long forgotten in the loft my mum's that is. 17 odd years ago went to a Moose gig and met, Micky from Lush, Ride, Chapter House and the Manic Street Preachers at the World's End. Ta for bringing it all back
Ah, 'The scene that celebrates itself' as they were known in NME. Seems a while back now, but happy to bring it all back!
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