Logo
DiS Needs You: Save our site »
  • Logo_home2
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • In Photos
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Search
  • Community
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • Blog
  • Community

THIS SITE HAS BEEN ARCHIVED AND CLOSED.

Please join the conversation over on our new forums »

If you really want to read this, try using The Internet Archive.

Japancakes

Loveless

Label: Darla Release Date: 30/10/2007

29037
Daniel_Indeed by Daniel Ross November 8th, 2007

Japancakes? Really? How cute! Covering My Bloody Valentine's Loveless in its entirety? That is just as sweet as a button made of peaches held in Paddington's marmalade-sodden paw while Harry Corbett operates the whole scenario. The simple premise here is that the brilliantly/terribly named Japancakes 'do' MBV's magnum opus without the distortion pedals and Kevin Shields' voice – surely at least a novel experiment. It turns out to be surprisingly nice if you're not terribly familiar with the original and, even if you are, there are still some interesting corners to discover.

Though these interesting corners are quite pleasurable when you find them (the bob-bob bass of 'Come In Alone', for example, is notably more accentuated than the original recording), the main pleasures on this Burton-esque re-imagining are actually the work of the parent version. Sadly, there's a big neon light hanging over Loveless that, unstoppable in the murk of the shoegazer's favourite time (the night-time), saying "Novelty". And buzzing. While it rains. It's difficult after the initial "Oh yeah, I LOVE this song!" of 'Only Shallow' to not then realise that you miss all the fucking noise and all the fucking Kevin Shields as well. If this release is an attempt to say that you don't need distortion to make these songs sound good, then it's only winning half the time. Don't you understand, Japancakes? These songs need to be loud and distorted! No-one's bowels have ever been involuntarily called into early deployment at an acoustic Americana show (I think), and that's what we want from MBV.

We're somewhat resigned, then, to labelling Japancakes' bizarre experiment as a curio. Curios, it seems, are Japancakes' business – previous outings have featured the same chord held for 45 minutes a la Terry Riley (who some might argue never clambered out of John Cage's shadow anyway), and the band record all their individual parts at different sessions to one another, supposedly to venture forth more individuality on the part of each member. This, in the context of self-penned material, might be a nice idea, but ultimately doesn't hold water as much as the actual writing process – forced ideals of musical expression masquerade unsuccessfully as enhanced individualism. So in the context of this thin concept, it is rendered moot. Though Loveless is not without its charm and brilliant moments, it is stunted, even doomed, by the charm and brilliant moments of My Bloody Valentine.

  • 6
    Daniel Ross's Score
Log-in to rate this record out of 10
Share on
   
Love DiS? Become a Patron of the site here »


LATEST


  • Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024


  • Drowned in Sound is back!


  • Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Year: 2020


  • Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter


  • Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing


  • Glastonbury 2019 preview playlist + ten alternative must sees



Left-arrow

LCD Soundsystem

Someone Great

Mobback
28746
28834

These New Puritans

Numbers/Colours

Mobforward
Right-arrow


LATEST

    news


    Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024

  • 106145
  • news


    Drowned in Sound is back!

  • 106143

    news


    Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Y...

  • 106141
  • news


    Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter

  • 106139

    Playlist


    Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing

  • 106138
  • Festival Preview


    Glastonbury 2019 preview playlist + ten alterna...

  • 106137

    Interview


    A Different Kind Of Weird: dEUS on The Ideal Crash

  • 106136
  • Festival Review


    Way Out East: DiS Does Sharpe Festival 2019

  • 106135
MORE


    news


    The Neptune Music Prize 2016 - Vote Now

  • 103918
  • Takeover


    The Winner Takes It All

  • 50972

    Takeover


    10 Things To Not Expect Your Record Producer To...

  • 93724
  • review


    The Mars Volta - Deloused In The Comatorium

  • 4317

    review


    Sonic Youth - Nurse

  • 6044
  • feature


    New Emo Goth Danger? My Chemical Romance confro...

  • 89578

    feature


    DiS meets Justice

  • 27270
  • news


    Our Independent music filled alternative to New...

  • 104374
MORE

Drowned in Sound
  • DROWNED IN SOUND
  • HOME
  • SITE MAP
  • NEWS
  • IN DEPTH
  • IN PHOTOS
  • RECORDS
  • RECOMMENDED RECORDS
  • ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
  • FESTIVAL COVERAGE
  • COMMUNITY
  • MUSIC FORUM
  • SOCIAL BOARD
  • REPORT ERRORS
  • CONTACT US
  • JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
  • FOLLOW DiS
  • GOOGLE+
  • FACEBOOK
  • TWITTER
  • SHUFFLER
  • TUMBLR
  • YOUTUBE
  • RSS FEED
  • RSS EMAIL SUBSCRIBE
  • MISC
  • TERM OF USE
  • PRIVACY
  • ADVERTISING
  • OUR WIKIPEDIA
© 2000-2025 DROWNED IN SOUND