Tag: Clear vinyl

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Vinyl

Vinyl love: Pale Blue Eyes “This house”

(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: Pale Blue Eyes
Album Title: This house
Year released: 2023
Details: clear

The skinny: From the ‘in case you missed it’ files, I’ll be replaying my top five albums from 2023, albeit in a ‘vinyl love’ format, over the next few weeks; partially because I love these albums and partially because I have them all on vinyl and want to show off their physical beauty as well. My number five album of 2023 came courtesy of a band I hadn’t even heard of at the beginning of last year. Pale Blue Eyes is a trio that until recently hailed from South Devon, England, and formed just before the start of this pandemic madness. “This house” is the group’s sophomore record and as I wrote about it before: “It is 44 minutes of transporting music, songs that stick to your bones and seep into your skin, and make you want to live in the music and let it delay what comes next just a little while longer.” It also happens to be the last of this top five that I purchased for my shelves, ordered from the online shop of one of my trusted UK record vendors just back in November. It’s the standard clear pressing but you’ll hear no complaints from me on that count.

Standout track: “Simmering”

 

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Vinyl

Vinyl love: Nation of Language “Strange disciple”

(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: Nation of Language
Album Title: Strange disciple
Year released: 2023
Details: clear vinyl

The skinny: Two weeks ago today, I headed back downtown from my home office in the suburbs, not something I would not normally dare to do after work on a Friday night. This was Black Friday, though, and I had my eye on a particular RSD Black Friday release so I went on down to Compact Music in the Glebe, one of my preferred local indie record stores. I was unsurprised to find that the special release had sold out hours before*, given the store had been open for hours, so as plan B, I decided to take advantage of being at a brick and mortar store and purchase some records at the 20% off deal of the day. One of the two records that I brought with me up to the front caught the attention of the store’s two owners and the young woman working the cash and each approved of the purchase. Nation of Language’s synthpop revival sound would definitely be appealing to any fan of 80s new wave and their energetic and passionate sounds caught my ear with their debut album back in 2020. “Strange disciple” was super close to making my top ten favourite albums of this year but I definitely didn’t let my ‘honourable mentions’ post pass without a nod to this great 10 track collection.

Standout track: “Sole obsession”

*Have no fear, I managed to track down said album online the following day.

Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: Beach House “Teen dream”

(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: Beach House
Album Title: Teen dream
Year released: 2010
Year reissued: 2020
Details: Gatefold sleeve, clear vinyl, Love Record Stores 2020 release

The skinny: A few weeks after the COVID-19 pandemic shut everything down in March 2020, a campaign called ‘Love Record Stores’ was started in support of brick and mortar independent music vendors in England and a number of musical artists, big and small, threw their weight behind it. Many record stores, not just in England but worldwide, had to rethink how they did business and shifted from analog and tactile sales towards the online marketplace. It didn’t happen quickly enough to rescue the Record Store Day festivities in April but Love Record Stores managed something in June, which saw a bunch of artists offer a lot of great albums for special edition pressings in support of the cause. I found and purchased once such record, this clear vinyl reissue of Beach House’s third album, “Teen dream”, a couple of years after the original event. This no-brainer purchase came courtesy of one such indie record store in England that actually has a great online presence and from whom I order quite often. The album had been on my wish list for a while, being one of my favourites by the Baltimore-based dream pop duo. “Teen dream” took the well-practiced elements from their first two outings and amplified them into a collection of memorable numbers. Victoria Legrand’s vocals feels more pronounced, more melodic, and pushed to the fore, breathing new life and energy into their sound. It’s an album that, from the start, I was able to delve into deeply, soak my whole body into its warm flowing eddies and let it stream through my fingers.

Standout track: “Used to be”