Review
Break out your ripped jeans and faded flannels because My Bloody Valentine's "Isn't Anything," released on November 21, 1988, gave the shoegaze scene a major wake-up call. Shaking off their earlier quirky indie-pop guise, this Creation Records treasure marks the band's shift toward more avant-garde, experimental terrains. Self-produced and brimming with fresh innovations, the album sends echoes through the musical world with Kevin Shields' mesmerizing guitar saga, swirling around Bilinda Butcher's celestial vocal stylings. It's an electrifying, eerie landscape that strikes the perfect balance between dreamlike and fiercely intense.
Diving into tracks like "Feed Me with Your Kiss" and "Soft as Snow (But Warm Inside)," you'll find melodies intertwined with riotous waves of distortion and feedback. Dreamy layers seep into your mind as Shields' distinctive riffs redefine guitar techniques on their own pioneering terms. It's no wonder critics raised their mugs to this revolutionary sound, quickly anointing "Isn't Anything" a landmark in both the dream pop and shoegazing genres. The album surfed high waves on the UK Independent Albums Chart, racing directly into the hearts of alternative music champions and shooting up Greatest Albums of the 1980s lists curated by hallowed names like _The Guardian_, _Pitchfork_, and _Slant Magazine_.
Although it wasn’t their magnum opus – hold tight for "Loveless" – "Isn't Anything" stands brilliantly on its own as an indie jewel. My Bloody Valentine's boundary-pushing production methods sculpted the alt-rock totemic sound like a glittering lighthouse for subsequent bands. This LP isn’t simply the shadow playing advance scout for future triumphs; it holds its own as a dynamic declaration, capturing the raw essence of the emergent shoegaze voice that commanded the late '80s. - Lila
