Category: Vinyl

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Vinyl

Vinyl love: Bright Eyes “Down in the weeds, where the world once was”

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)

Artist: Bright Eyes
Album Title: Down in the weeds, where the world once was
Year released: 2020
Details: 2 x LP, indie exclusive, limited edition, red and orange vinyl, etched, die cut sleeve

The skinny: The 10th studio album by the indie rock trio led by Conor Oberst is the band’s first in nine years and it also happens to be their first album that I immediately liked and liked all the way through. In fact, I liked it so much that I managed to find a spot for it (at number eight to be exact) in my top ten favourite albums of the year. For me, it captured the mood and the uncertainty of the world and put it to music with which you can sing along. Multiple different pressings and presentations exist for this album. The one that I purchased has the die cut sleeve, a circle cut out of the cover and the insert to show off the fireball colours of the two discs, one red and the other orange. The second disc is also one-sided with the other side etched with the same falling stick man that graces the cover, arranged in spiralling concentric circles. Sweet stuff.

Standout track: “Mariana trench”

Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: Venus Furs “Venus Furs”

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)

Artist: Venus Furs
Album Title: Venus Furs
Year released: 2020
Details: standard black vinyl, hand written note from the artist

The skinny: A week and a half ago, when I started my annual series counting down my favourite albums of the year, I told the story of how I learned about a new act out of Montreal while perusing one of my favourite sources of all things indie music, Under the Radar. The self-titled debut by this very same act, Venus Furs, captured my imagination and drew me in while listening to it on Spotify through my iPod ear phones. It may have been during my second time through that I went on the hunt for it on vinyl, thinking that something this expansive required owning it in a better format. I ordered a copy of it from frontman Paul Kasner’s own label, Silk Screaming records, and received it within a couple of days, complete with a handwritten ‘thank you’ note from the man himself. Always a nice touch. “Venus Furs” ended up squeezing its way into the number 9 spot in my top ten for the year and if you enjoy noisy psych rock in the vein of Spiritualized or My Bloody Valentine, this might just be for you too.

Standout track: “Chaos and confusion”

Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: The Strokes “The new abnormal”

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)

Artist: The Strokes
Album Title: The new abnormal
Year released: 2020
Details: 180 gram black vinyl, hard plastic sleeve, foldout poster

The skinny: Just a couple of days ago, I launched the countdown of my top ten albums of 2020 and this is the album that kicked it all off at number ten. I picked up this 180 gram pressing of The Strokes’ sixth studio a couple of days after the first Record Store Day drop back in August. I went into one of my favourite local shops, Compact Music, looking for something else but walked up to the counter with this record. I remember the owner commenting on how it was his last copy and how the packaging was original but impractical. I love the cover art by Basquiat, a nod to the New York City band’s home, and the foldout poster that was included. But of course, the real prize is the music, the new wave glam vibe on the band’s first new album in seven years is, in my opinion, their best work since their now iconic debut.

Standout track: “The adults are talking”