Slowdive.Souvlaki

Sounding as if just might be emerging from an eternal realm, a place altogether universal in its breadth, and where time remains forever paused, “SloMo” from Slowdive’s 2017 self-titled release, is a cyclical, mantric, composition that promotes a real sense of timeless, everlasting return, an extension and refinement of everything that worked best on their sophomore outing, “Souvlaki”, released in 1993. “Souvlaki” is a recording that’s exercised an enormous influence over many of the groups identifying as bands operating within the present-day shoegazing scene, one that created shimmering, meditative soundscapes possessed by an almost ethereal beauty, and sense of dreamlike enchantment, and ranks only behind My Bloody Valentine’s “Loveless” as the genre’s most universally acclaimed recording. Slowdive rubbed shoulders with Ride and My Bloody Valentine, emerging contemporaneously alongside of them, each of them releasing a seminal recording that when considered together are recognized as shoegazing’s definitive releases; “Loveless”, dropped by My Bloody Valentine in late ‘91; “Souvlaki” itself, in early ‘93, and Ride’s “Nowhere”, in the fall of 1990. “Loveless” revolves around the singular, heavily-textured guitar tones chased and captured by Kevin Shields, a sound characterized by a swirling directionality and an enormous dynamic range, more than periodically climbing from a level plateau to sustained explosiveness. “Nowhere” was a baroque masterpiece defined by a subversive approach toward blending pop melodies with the controlled burn of effects pedals being deployed within a zone of precise and tuneful control, landing just a little more on the quiescent side than the aggressive, yet still with a muscular presence, and progress in the most straightforward, conventional direction out of each of these releases. “Souvlaki”, however, merges the characteristic sound of both bands into one of their own, with distinctive wrinkles that loom large even as they appear as small touches, creating songscapes that are lush, saturating, and compelling within a sense of delicate intensity. Typical instrumentation universally associated with conventionally arranged songs that unfold in a linear fashion are present here on “Souvlaki”. ; bass, guitar, drums, and keyboard; yet they’re not emerging either with the massive, miasmic riffs that characterize “Loveless”, or the jangling, slightly cascading, gentle overwash of guitar-driven sound run with judicious restraint through an effects rack and smartly bracketed by a crisply-executed, lockstep percussive groove so emblematic of Ride’s, but a suggestive, textural, gently cocooning mosaic of atmospheric guitar not so much undergirded by actively-engaged, timekeeping percussion as seamlessly integrating with it until it stretches out and blends into a frequently gorgeous, wistful, and diaphanous envelope of sound, languid and shimmering, the balance weighing much more into the quiescent end of the dynamic range as opposed to the aggressive, swelling much more frequently in amplitude rather than magnitude. “Souvlaki Space Station” , “Allison”, “Machine Gun”, "40 Days" “When The Sun Hits”, and ‘Dagger”are the most notable tracks, but the release overall seems to be just a bit more seamless than “Loveless” or “Nowhere”. Severe critical backlash from Britian's trendy, notoriously fickle music press (who'd just "discovered" Britpop) was astounding in its snottily derisive ferocity, and helped work to undermine the success of “Souvlaki” , the band gaining minimal support from its label, and hampering general public awareness in a manner that prevented it from becoming a radio-friendly unit shifter. “Souvlaki”’s reputation was rehabilitated during the following decade, as bands recording as nu-gaze outfits followed its formative blueprint, causing critics to take a long and considered second look at it, retrospectively declaring that it was shoegazing’s lost classic, a re-evaluation that caused it to receive almost universal acclaim, rated just behind “Loveless” in its impact and influence, and led to the band’s reformation during the following decade, their self-titled 2017 release acclaimed as not only a superlative return to form that extended and refined their sound, but a jaw-dropping marvel, acclaimed as an instant classic. I was 21 when My Bloody Valentine released “Isn’t Anything, which served as a primer for the entire shoegazing genre and bought it shortly afterward, and because that genre was the first one to emerge during my adulthood I paid special attention to both the bands that were considered part of that movement, and the releases they dropped. Please believe me when I say that “Souvlaki” deserves all of the attention and acclaim that it’s now deservedly receiving, and to grab a copy for yourself and find out why.

The first time I listened to this album I didn't liked it, but after a year I decided to give it another opportunity and it became my favorite Shoegaze album.

I love everything about this album. Everything, that is, but the name. "Souvlaki" conjures images of restaurants with menus high above the counter and backlit with harsh fluorescent light, where greasy men slave over greasier frying ranges and the food's all served in plastic baskets. It's an earthy name, whereas this is an airy album. There's a collective word for this subgenre of music--shoegazer. Reportedly, the name came about because many of the bands had such little stage presence that they didn't do much beyond playing their instruments and staring at their feet. Like "Souvlaki," that name feels wrong, at least for this listener; this is very atmospheric music, not fast enough to evoke flight, but a perfect soundtrack for lying on your back and staring up at the sky. The instrumentation's ethereal and nebulous--even by shoegazer standards--but there's a charging tension that holds it all together and gives it shape and substance. It's like a sky made more interesting by clouds--or better yet, a sky whose clouds are capable of anything from silence to storms. (People tend to describe shoegazer music as druggy. I think much of it is sleepy--but in a beautiful way, like an afternoon nap outside in the summer.) "Sing" is pleasant and sedate, while "Dagger" evokes that early morning space between sleep and dawn, where the hushed whispers from your lover mingle with the echoes of your dreams. But there are also darker clouds, and the occasional rain squall. "Here She Comes" starts out with a pleasant name and peaceful tone, but the lyrics soon turn the calm interior into an icy lonely landscape. The opener, "Alison," is charging and engaging, and "40 Days" builds like a summer thunderstorm until it brings forth bright beautiful flashes of guitar noise. All in all, this is a damn near perfect album, a wonderful mood piece that sounds great on the first listen and stays with you thereafter. It is beautiful, emotional, inspired--in a word, heavenly.

Tutte perfetto

Un buen regalo

Um clássico, albums como Souvlaki jamais serão duplicados, independente do quanto são imitados!

Perfect!

i really liked the sound of this vinyl, it was so crisp and authentic sounding, it came perfectly and is my fave