Shouldn't you be listening to your records?

Pressing matters regarding pressings that matter.

[the-vinyl-life]

Just spending some time with the current darlings of Austin, Texas. S u r v i v e.

This album was made quite some time before some of their brethren worked on the Stranger Things soundtrack. It gives us, the listener, a much more honest look at where they were heading before their newly acquired fame broke.

It’s theme (to me) is consistent throughout. Mystery.

There’s no reprisals of previous work here, only progression. That’s the whole point though right?, S u r v i v e ARE a prog act after all… But calling yourself one and not really going anywhere new is something I see in many a self declared “prog” band and it’s wonderful to witness such a humble collective mastering their genre.

Progression, exploration and ultimately profound exclamation are the key components for any band such as this to continue to (pardon the pun) survive. We always want to go further with a band like this, the music is so interesting and multifaceted that a slight rotation in ideas for the musicians turn the result into such unpredictable pieces. There’s no way you could honestly admit to having a detailed concept for this body of work. It must just, I don’t know… appear.

RR7349 is a beautifully moody, dark, enticing and captivating album. Perfect for a day like this.

Happy Halloween.

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Everyone’s got ‘that’ album haven’t they? The one that no matter how hard you try you can’t quite put your finger on why it’s just what you need to listen too? Well that album for me is Depeche Mode’s Violator.

Right from the beginning this album breathes a ghost out into your presence that envelops you in such an ethereal mood it’s very hard not to just sit and wait for it’s tingling hand on your shoulder.

There’s many emotions displayed within this album, the themes of Love and sex are blatantly apparent but if you delve deeper into the lyrics there’s also confessions regarding the acceptance of ones own immorality and the guilt that goes with it. If you want to, you can get in quite deep with these songs.

Unless you already have a copy of Violator you REALLY have to hear it on vinyl. It’s the bite of the synthesizers coupled with David Gahan’s smooth baritone that drives the sound so fantastically. Beg, borrow or steal a copy to witness the amount of warmth and detail on offer here. My original pressing of the album sounds mind blowing and to anyone buying a new (and possibly remastered) copy it will sound even better.

enjoy the silence...

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I would’ve never have heard this album if one of the guys who runs my favourite vinyl shop (Earworm Records, York) hadn’t have been busy that day and had a mate of his filling in for him. Luckily for me he was playing this, Royal Blood’s killer debut album ‘Royal Blood’.

Let’s just talk about the sleeve art for a second shall we? Artist Dan Hillier has put together not only one of my favourite album covers of all time but he’s managed to capture the true majesty of this bands sound, Bold, detailed and mean as bloody hell!

If you can pull yourself away from pawing over that damn cover you slip out the inner sleeve and see that instead of looking at a picture four or five dudes there’s only 2 guys in this band. Okay… Time for a listen, slide the good old black vinyl onto the turntable, drop the tonearm and you’re immediately grabbed by this huge sounding Garage Rock/Desert Rock/Heavy Blues-Rock band. This is just two guys?

They sound like worthy adversaries to The Queens of the Stone age with an embarrassing wealth of great songs full of grinding hooks, blusey guitar solos and more reasons than I can count to get my drums out of the loft and beat the living crap out of them. This is just two guys From Brighton? Really?

If this is what happens when they turn up for work then I can’t wait for album #2 which could drop some time in 2016 if we’re lucky!

This is just two guys.

Wow!

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If your love for the Red Hot Chili Peppers stopped with Blood Sugar Sex Magic then just keep scrolling and you might find something else you DO like…

BUT! For those of you not stuck in the 90’s let’s talk about Stadium Arcadium.

This double album released in 2006 contains a hearty 28 songs and it’s vinyl counterpart spreads those tracks over 4 heavyweight vinyl records. As the sticker shown above says these songs are analogue recordings and as a testament to that they sound great!

The band and their producer (the legendary Rick Rubin) have thrown a lot of layers into this album and as you can imagine the replay value of hearing new things seem infinite!

I remember hearing that bassist Flea and guitarist John Frusciante split the writing duties of Stadium Arcadium and claim a half each to themselves, these have been named Jupiter and Mars respectively.

I’ve never looked into finding out who wrote which half as I like to listen to the music and deliberate over who could’ve recorded what. Maybe it’s just a publicity stunt and the truth is that the drummer Chad wrote the whole thing! Just kidding!

As far as the packaging goes it’s a really nice boxed set, a solid cardboard box sleeve with two thick and glossy gatefolds inside.

A welcome item to my and undoubtedly many other people’s collections.

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So this pretty little blue thing dropped in my lap on Friday morning all the way from Northern Ireland. Coheed and Cambria’s 7th album ‘The Afterman part II: Descension’.

As well as containing a cd version of the album the record is accompanied by a 12" sleeve sized foldout lyric sheet.

Every inch of the album cover (and the included foldout) is bathed in either sci-fi artwork or hard edge graphic design so if you didn’t know Coheed are prog rock band then this is a major clue. The vinyl itself is a little more turquoise than it shows up here and sounds absolutely superb. This album is a favourite of mine from this band and I wondered if I could get hold of a vinyl copy, I’m so glad I did! This is yet another album from a smaller label (Coheed’s own Everything Evil label) that shows the bigger company’s and other bands how to please the fans and here’s why… Buying vinyl for me is mostly about music but with a record like this and a band like Coheed and Cambria the whole experience is ramped up so much further by the imagery and attention to detail, the band that put this record out not only have a solid vision for what the end product should sound like but how it’s received and interpreted by the listener using great imagery and the inclusion of lyrics.

I really hope all of Coheed’s back catalogue becomes available to buy on vinyl as I’m a big fan of theirs and can’t wait to hear all of their amazing work this way!

I bought this copy from the good peeps at Independentmusic.Com, theyre an independent record store with online ordering situated in Derry, Northern Ireland. They got it to me quite quickly and the postage to England was cheap so give them a try! They may even post internationally!

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I was really happy to recommend this album to a friend of mine today, he was looking for something relaxing so I thought about the otherworldly tones of Ane Brun.

Changing of the seasons was released March 12th in 2008 but I didn’t stumble upon it until 2014 and now I’m a big fan of hers. It’s amazing just how much mind blowing music is out there and unless we’re lucky (or really looking for it) it’ll never cross our path! This ghostly transparent vinyl sounds rather impressive, I’m always apprehensive when I purchase coloured or “special” editions but the quality of the pressing and the mastering behind it can’t be knocked.

The guitar, piano and vocals alone sound effortlessly live and so very natural that you’ll play it many times over just to hear her warm notes creep into the corners of your room, it will certainly take you somewhere!

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Minster Records in Beverly, East Yorkshire shared this on Facebook announcing some fresh stock! All I can think of is delving into those boxes to see what treasures lay within!

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Just a quick one before the day begins…

A sexy little 45 from the mighty Black Moth. The black label on the white disc is quite simple but I think it’s still a very striking combination. Check out their current album Condemned to hope. I’m patiently waiting for their third album as they’re currently in the middle of writing it!

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There’s nothing that captures my imagination better than atmospheric music.

Here the delicate piano, minimal orchestration and haunting vocals of Danish writer, performer and producer Agnes Obel paint such beautiful bold images in my head that I feel like I’m being taken somewhere a little dark but wonderfully familiar. Her second album (released September 2013) ‘Aventine’ continues to give me a fresh listening experience as I always hear something new every time I play this 180g vinyl release. I bought the album as part of a double LP that included her amazing debut ‘Philharmonics’, the records were accompanied by a cd of each album which I listen to in the car and ripped to my phone. An absolute bargain at the price I paid for it! It’s music for a restful evening. Fans of Kate Bush, Tori Amos and Ane Brun would certainly be wise to check out her work if they haven’t already.

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Now Playing… Shara Nelson’s sublime debut album ‘what silence knows’ hit the shelves in good old 1993 on the Cooltempo label. I was interested in listening to this album because someone told me that Prince had written her song 'down that road’ but it turned out to be Prince Be of 'P.M.Dawn’ fame who Co wrote the album with her. It’s an album full of strong emotional themes with Shara’s effortlessly soulful voice bathing in motown strings and smokey grooves throughout. Nelson’s rise to mainstream stardom came from her vocal on Massive Attack’s crushingly beautiful single 'unfinished sympathy’ of which she Co wrote. She also featured heavily on their 'Blue Lines’ album and subsequent releases by the Bristol based Wild Bunch collective.

If this is your kinda thing then be on the look out for her second album ‘Friendly Fire’ and let Shara Nelson show you again just how talented she it.

“I want to know what silence knows, so I can understand what it takes to be really free”…

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Ortofonography.

The closest I’ll get to putting a filter on my music is this.

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These albums may not be great to dance to but are certainly worth your shelf space! Observing the way your cartridge behaves is quite odd to say the least while playing test records but it’s the sound that’s important right?!

Basically… they’re records with test frequencies on them. The better aligned your turntable, cartridge and counterweight/anti-skate are the better it will perform on these discs. People using very high quality gear may have other politics/mehods when it comes to this approach but I’ve had no complaints so far.

A correctly set-up turntable doesn’t just sound better but increases the life of your stylus and protects your records from being worn out or damaged due to incorrect calibration or a worn/damaged stylus.

Read up on them and see what you think!

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If you haven’t already heard of Bettie Serveert then don’t worry, you have now and that’s what’s important!

Fans of 90’s alternative rock should check them out. This band hail from Amsterdam but certainly don’t sound like it! this is largely due to Canadian-born singer Carol van Dijk who moved back to the Netherlands in her youth.

What you’re looking at here is something I bought a week ago, their 1992 debut album ‘Palomine’. It came with a 7" single of the track “Brain-Tag”, something that their record lable used to do a lot of apparently. It has been reissued on Orange vinyl but this is a first pressing.

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While listening to a few Prince LP’s last week I noticed that my old copy of the Purple one’s 1989 album ‘Batman’ sounded a little worn. This was probably due to whatever crappy turntable I must’ve had when I was a kid.

Well, I picked another one up this weekend for less than the price a pint. It’s in amazing condition and plays like a new copy! POW!

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A new addition to my collection this weekend was this beautiful copy of the album Cuckoo by British dark indie-rockers Curve.

This is the bands second album (released in 1993) and it sounds very sharp on vinyl. As this wasn’t a very famous band I was a little worried that the sound quality might not be up to much but I was fretting for nothing as it sounds great! It came with a small poster (a rarity as most of these spent their days on bedroom walls). A solid copy and something I’ve been hunting for quite some time. Welcome home my pretty!

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First post… Sunday, 8th of May, 2016. I had a proper sort for once this weekend and put my records back in alphabetical order.

It’s great to do this once in a while as it gives me a chance to take a look at everything and stumble across things that maybe I forgot I had!

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