#eu pressing

[an-album-cover-a-day]

Pet Shop Boys, Please

[myrecordcollections]

Minor Victories

Orchestral Variations

@ 2017 EU Pressing

****

Last year Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite, Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell, Editors’ Justin Lockey and his brother James formed a super group and released a self-titled album called Minor Victories. All of their parts were recorded in isolation, so the story goes, and it was an almost perfect merging of their individual styles. Throw in guest spots from Mark Kozelek and James Graham and you had a very interesting, and diverse, album. Now Minor Victories have released an orchestral version, which has stripped out the vocals and ramped up the luscious melodies to create something that at times eclipses the original album, yet manages to sound totally different too.

'I don't really know that much about music in terms of theory, notes, scales etc. I generally just fuck about with things until it sounds right to my ear... So I guess to call this album Orchestral Variations, it would have to be in the loosest ever sense of the term' Justin Lockey said in the accompanying statement. 'When we were putting together the Minor Victories album, a lot of the music came about through string arrangements, motifs, melodies, countermelodies and other such noodlings I was messing about with. This record kind of takes it back to that initial point, and re-imagines the whole record from that standpoint - the bare bones, the hint at a vocal melody, not relying on any backbeat - but stripping the songs back to the base elements and then piece-by-piece making an entirely new record. It takes the songs and elements around them and the phrases into a new place, mostly born out of hindsight and I guess a curiosity to fuck around with it all long enough until it sounded right to my ear. From all that an entirely new record was formed. It's not a remix album, or b-sides... it's just another way at looking/hearing things.'

Nick

[myrecordcollections]

Low Roar

Once in a long long while

@ 2017 EU Pressing

*****

Once In A Long, Long While… marks another chapter in the compelling story of Low Roar lead- singer Ryan Karazija. Having moved from music industry locale California to settle in the lovely though isolated Reykjavik, Iceland to pursue his career may seem counterproductive, yet Karazija defied the odds to release two exemplary LPs. Almost a cliché, new album Once In A Long, Long While… was born from personal strife. Karazija wrote much of the album from experiencing intense turmoil through the dissolution of his marriage and starting over in a new land; Warsaw, Poland.

To describe Once In A Long, Long While… is no easy feat. The 12-track LP borrows elements of classical, electronica, folk, and even pop to create a medley of sounds that relaxes and transports its listener to a place of Zen. Ryan Karazija lays down beautiful vocals across the board, at times coming across as highly melancholic, yet never seems to lose his cool.

Previously released tracks “Give Me an Answer” and “Bones” served as a pleasant preview of what was yet to come. With a release date of April 14, Once In A Long, Long While… proves to be Low Roar’s finest work to date. The album is an assortment of musical riches with profound lyrics paired perfectly with innovative and futuristic tunes; à la Radiohead, most notably on opening track “Don’t Be So Serious” and album climactic single “Waiting (10 Years),” which at times mirrors Thom Yorke’s solo work. Not too shabby for a musician searching for inspiration far from the musical industry mecca.

[myrecordcollections]

Beirut

No No No

@2015 EU Pressing

*****

Beirut's fourth full-length album, No No No, has songwriter/singer Zach Condon swaying away from 2011's more indie pop The Rip Tide back toward the European folk-infused eccentricity of the band's first two LPs, and hanging out somewhere in between. With a flock of instruments ranging from piano, guitars, bass, and percussion to brass, strings, ukulele, and a selection of vintage synths and electronic organs, the songs are rarely sparse and often whimsical -- a diversion from more typical indie rock fare, as has been Condon's calling card since the beginning. While there are several electronic instruments on No No No, the experience is that of an acoustic jamboree. The bouncy opening track, "Gibraltar," for instance, highlights bongo-type drumming, piano, handclaps, and Condon's distinctive, humming vocal tone over synths. The serene instrumental interlude, "As Needed," actually is entirely acoustic. Synthesizers and organs are much more prevalent on the title track, including its '80s video game-like intro and rhythmic keyboard intervals, but it still plays like a roaming street band, with colorful brass, hand-held percussion, and Eastern European folk scales. Elsewhere, "Fener" is a bright, celeste-stippled tune, and the laid-back "August Holland" and strolling "Perth" are mellow but with churning grooves befitting pre-Saturday night rituals. The overall effect of the album is similarly steady and reflective yet toe-tapping. A perhaps surprising tone not reflective of Condon's turbulent personal life during the four-year break since The Rip Tide, which included divorce and hospitalization, No No No is a feel-good mean of the band's prior releases that should appeal to the Beirut loyal as well as serve as a fine representative for any potential admirers who've simply managed to miss them along the way.