Category: Vinyl

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Vinyl

Vinyl love: Gateway Drugs “PSA”

(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: Gateway Drugs
Album Title: PSA
Year released: 2020
Details: standard black vinyl, booklet included

The skinny: In a couple of weeks time, I plan to start counting down my favourite albums of 2020 and though I am still finalizing things up – crossing my Ts and dotting my Is – I know that there are a couple of albums that are definitely going to finish up just outside of my top ten that still bear special mention. And you guessed it, this might be one of them. In my opinion, it’s a travesty that Gateway Drugs’ sophomore album, “PSA”, aren’t likely to be on too many radars. I first met up with these indie rockers when I saw them open up for Swervedriver back in 2015 and was completely taken in by their sleek and sexy and pure rock and roll performance. The quartet is three siblings, Noa (guitar), Liv (bass), and Gabe (drums) Niles*, all of whom share and trade vocal duties between them, and a second guitarist in Blues Williams. This sophomore record picks up where the debut, “Magick spells”, left off, playing dirty poker for their very souls at the same table as Jesus and Mary Chain and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Here, they’ve upped the ante, though, handing over the production to The Ravonettes’ Sune Rose Wagner. This pressing is bare bones black with a pretty sweet mini-booklet included but the sound is built for your best noise cancelling earphones.

Standout track: “Wait (medication)”

*They may be tired of us mentioning it by now but the father of these three siblings is Prescott Niles, bassist of The Knack. Rock and roll might just be second nature here.

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Vinyl

Vinyl love: Mew “And the glass handed kites”

(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: Mew
Album Title: And the glass handed kites
Year released: 2005
Year reissued: 2020
Details: 2 x 180 gram, black and white marbled vinyl, Limited, Numbered 1450/2500, 15th anniversary expanded, RSD 2020 drop 2

The skinny: So here’s one of the four Record Store Day exclusive releases I managed to pick up from this year’s offerings. This 15th anniversary expanded edition of Mew’s fourth album and undisputed masterpiece, “And the glass handed kites”, was released by Music on Vinyl on the second (September) of the three ‘drops’ this year. The record is pressed onto two 180-gram slabs of white and black marbled vinyl, the second disc being of b-sides and alternate versions of the studio album’s tracks, and it includes a lovely 12-page booklet, as pictured above. This album was my introduction to the Danish band and what an introduction it was. An epic and big sound, songs that ebb and flow into each other, creating a sonic dreamscape that would fit snugly in the same solar system as Spiritualized, Ride, and Sigur Ros. Beautiful stuff and this pressing sounds just amazing, well worth the money.

Standout track: “Why are you looking grave?”

Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: Joy Division “Substance”

(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: Joy Division
Album Title: Substance
Year released: 1988
Year reissued: 2015
Details: 2 x 180 gram

The skinny: It’s all hallow’s eve but with everything going on, the celebrations will be tempered and the amount of trick-or-treating children will likely be very, very low. We can still spin some dark and haunting tunes, though, in honour of all the ghosts and goblins that will be on the prowl tonight. For me, it’s going to be Joy Division, not necessarily a goth rock band but definitely a big influence on all of those that followed on the darker side of the alternative spectrum. “Substance” is a 1988 compilation that was released by their label, Factory Records, several years after Joy Division’s dissolution. (Interestingly,  it was a year after a compilation with the same name was released by Factory for New Order, the band that Joy Division’s remaining members would go on to form after the suicide of their frontman, Ian Curtis.) The original release of Joy Division’s “ Substance” collected the band’s four non-album singles and b-sides, as well as an early EP and this remastered reissue that was released and purchased in 2015, was not only pressed to two 180 gram slabs but included three additional tracks.

Most would’ve thought I would pick their classic “Love will tear us apart” for the standout but instead, I kept with today’s theme and shared the track Nine Inch Nails chose to cover for the soundtrack to the film “The crow”. Happy Halloween all!

Standout track: “Dead souls”