The year was 1990 and baggy culture had truly taken hold. While the movement saw the indie and dance streams merge, Ride from Oxford cut a furrow down the Shoegaze route. A blazing guitar backdrop with vocals intermittently drowned out and then coming back to the fore defined their sound. Ride had an incredibly cool persona and boasted 2 great songwriters. Mark Gardiner had the choirboy vocals, while Andy Bell (who went on to join Oasis) on guitar provided the ammunition. While their relationship was all things harmonious at the beginning by the time 'Tarantula' was released in 1996 things had soured considerably.

Nowhere's artwork contains a drawing of a cool blue sea with a large swell building. The scene is a good analogy for the goings on throughout the album. 'Seagull' sweeps in with incredible power, a mountainous soundwave of shearing guitars, bass tumbles, backward loops and that unique bi-vocal supplied by Gardiner. When 'Kaleidoscope' carries on the assault it's almost enough to shake your boots. Ride's tact changes considerably over the next 2 tracks. 'In a Different Place' has a subdued momentum and that early nineties guitar trickle that sounds positively historic but cool in a Doors hammond sound sort of way. 'Polar Bear' is still immense, its circular guitar structure a much loved Shoegaze technique. Gardiner sounds ethereal at times and the song's energy is powerful enough to induce cloudbursts.

On side 2 (no cd's in 1990) 'Dreams Burn Down' is a quilt of buzz-saw guitars, a searing sound that will melt your ears and put the fear of God into small household pets. 'Decay' and 'Paralysed' are probably the 2 weakest tracks on the album but are pleasing in there own way. Things improve markedly with 'Vapour Trail', which is nothing less than beautiful. Gorgeous melody and the cleverest guitar strums combine with a drumbeat that jumps out at you. A fitting climax to an album that could take your breath away. When I bought the cassette back in 1990 Nowhere had only 8 tracks but the CD has 11 including the single 'Taste' and 2 of its B-Sides 'Here and Now' and 'Nowhere'. 'Taste' was born in Pop heaven, it has lived there ever since. It can only be heard on the sunniest of days, by the happiest of people in the coolest Joe Bloggs ever. 'Here and Now' is completely of its time and is full of fender rushes suffering a little by being a bit too echo and not enough bunny.

'Nowhere' is not a perfect album by any means but it has a jagged sound and vision that is hard to resist. When you hear it first you'll probably wonder what all the fuzz is about but hang around and it will start to make sense. It is a landmark album from the Shoegaze scene, up there with Slowdive's 'For A Day', Chapterhouse's 'Whirlpool' and My Bloody Valentine's 'Loveless'. KD

Rating: 8/10

More Info: Official
Buy Album: [UK] Nowhere: Remastered [US] Nowhere
Year: 1991

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Don't let their name put you off. If you've imagined leather-clad hair balls shouting from the top of their lungs over a sprawl of loud and aimless guitars motions then you you'd be wrong. My Vitriol have a much clearer agenda; at their best they can create clean harmonious vocals with clever guitar accompaniments. The band was formed when Som Wardner and Ravi Kesavaram met at college in London in the late nineties and their music owes a lot to the sound of the early part of that decade. 'Alpha Ways' is the enjoyable instrumental that opens Finelines, the bands debut album. It could easily be an outtake from the Cure's 'Disintegration' sessions with a shimmering guitar at its core that is both feisty and appealing. As well as having a great title 'The Gentle Art Of Choking' possesses lots of interesting sonic avenues. There is an unbridled feel to the guitar directions and the ragged vocal tendencies merely add to its ragged glory. Other tracks like 'Static' and 'Losing Touch' bluster like a gale but the dust that frequently flies about is a golden colour.

When My Vitriol hit the jackpot they uncover a rich, almost endless seam of ideas. 'Grounded' is close to being the perfect pop song. Things start off innocuously enough in a sub jam type refrain, but then the cleanest of guitar cuts washes over vocals as fresh and untouched as falling snow. 'Always Your Way' was the perfect choice for release as a single. It exposes My Vitriol breathlessly following their own instincts with dramatic effect. 'Always Your Way' is furious in its pursuit of perfection, the guitar tomes are heavenly and the chorus is sweetly addictive. It's a shame that the band didn't follow this lead more consistently throughout the album. That early nineties feeling is alive and well on 'Pieces' (which lasts a meagre 19 seconds) and 'Kohlstream'. They both resemble the Cocteau Twins frazzled sound minus the eternal vocals. Striking from the same persuasion 'Under The Wheels' and 'Windows and Walls' inhabit unadulterated shoegaze territory. Initially they sound well past their sell-by-date, but repeated listens does pull you closer to falling for their unrequited beating hearts.

Unfortunately the album falls down badly on occasions. C.O.R. (Critic Oriented Rock) may have been written with an ironic shirt but it is music with so many creases, not even an industrial iron could sort it out. 'Taprobane' is so forgettable; it forgets to include a tune. The aptly title 'Cemented Shoes' plods along failing to twig any sort of reaction from the listener. 'Infantile' is less disappointing, those whispered vocals are an embarrassing mistake but at least the spiralling chorus is quite uplifting. A knowing, limited cull could have prevented these three non-runners. My Vitriol are definitely worth investigating. There's nothing revolutionary on show but they are capable of producing a deep fried indie noise. 'Finelines' is three-quarters a very good debut. With 16 tracks it would have been easy to separate the wheat from the chaff and still be left with enough to chew on. It's up to you to choose which course you skip.

Rating: 5.5/10

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Loveless is an album beyond compare. Layered with as much precision as a 18th century petticoat, its profound influence has crafted the musical direction of countless bands. The sound is staggering in its intensity yet its the underlying subtle melodies that marks it out from the crowd. Loveless resembles a wild stallion, unfettered but still magnificent. It is only when you have tamed the sound that the true genius appears through the fog. The fact that Kevin Shields spent several months trying to perfect its lush sound, almost going mad in the process can only be for the worlds benefit. Nowadays he occasionally slums it on stage with Primal Scream. Colm O'Ciosoig (drums) is now a Warm Invention with Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star fame.

While a lot of the tracks on Loveless do employ a vocal, it is buried so deep in the mix that a lot of the time it takes quite an effort to pick it out. The heavenly sounding Belinda Butcher provides the voice alternatively with Shields. Opening track 'Only Shallow' may resemble the crunching noise of industrial machines processing at full throttle initially but My Bloody Valentines greatest trick is to follow this up with a streamlined blanket of lush vocals and exquisite guitar meshes. 'Touched' is upsetting in a Banshee wail type of way. That's why 'To Here Knows When' is almost spiritually uplifting. It contains a faint glimmer of a female vocal encased in the most delicate guitar string stretch. To here this sound directly after an episode of Coronation Street might induce several heart attacks but in this context it resembles a cool strawberry milk-shake on a secluded beach. Then 'Blown a Wish' with its warped vinyl tendencies conjures imaginary feathers falling from the sky that allow your aural cavities to wallow in splendid comfort. Majestic doesn't get more regal than this.

Listening to Loveless is more often than not a moving experience. I have witnessed several dedicated non-followers of challenging music sit up, take note and comment positively on its extraordinary sound. 'Sometimes' a single lifted from the album is about as close as you will get to straightforward pop. Its understated nature is more affecting than is legal, watch as your metabolism slows to match the laid-back guitar strumming and quashed organic sounds. My Bloody Valentine sometimes get lumped in with the shoegazing pack and while that scene is fondly remembered by many, Loveless remains a peerless album that will persevere through this and many generations to come. It's 2 outstanding moments 'Soon' and 'I Only Said' rank among the best music ever made. If Beethoven was still around this is the sort of stuff that he would have come up with. Both tracks are vaguely repetitive but are built around such resilient hooks they could raise the titanic.

As albums attract your attention and are slowly forgotten you'll find yourself continually returning to Loveless. The Loveless experience might only be a bi-annual event but in-between the warm glow of its greatness will assure you whenever you begin to doubt the mood enhancing effect of music. The 142nd listen will sound as fresh the first. Loveless' blood red cover contains a shadowy grey outline of a hand strumming a guitar. Hunt it down in your record store and watch as the sales assistant marvels at the wisest decision he/she has seen since somebody bought the last copy of that limited edition Giant Steps.

Rating: 10/10

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