My Bloody Valentine's mbv

Mark February 2, 2013, on your calendars as “the day My Bloody Valentine broke the internet.” Why? Because on that day the band released mbv, the follow-up to a perfect album: 1991's Loveless.

Twenty-two years of anticipation broken by two Facebook posts. (Ah, the power of the internet.) Those of us who could make it through the “403 error” on the band's site saw that the impossible was indeed possible. There is life after Loveless. After determining whether or not I was dreaming, I purchased the album. My card was accidentally charged three times. Ain't even mad.

mbv, like the rest of the band's discography, is an album that feels timeless. It's remarkable that My Bloody Valentine has retained the same ambition and relevance they had 22 years ago. The first three songs start where "Loveless" left off: a swirly pink hurricane of vacuum-cleaner shoe-gaze bliss. The second three songs present the concision and youth of Isn't Anything and its adjacent EPs. The final three songs are something entirely unexpected — a relentlessly structured drone jungle that ends the album with an ear-splitting roar.

• Album: mbv
• Artist: My Bloody Valentine
• Label: Self-released
• Songs: (1) "She Found Now" (2) "Only Tomorrow" (3) "Who Sees You" (4) "Is This and Yes" (5) "If I Am" (6) "New You" (7) "In Another Way" (8) "Nothing Is" (9) "Wonder 2"