Tag: Coloured vinyl

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Vinyl

Vinyl love: Breeze “Only up”

(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: Breeze
Album Title: Only up
Year released: 2021
Details: Limited edition, yellow

The skinny: Breeze is Toronto-based producer and musician, Josh Korody. He wrote, recorded, and mixed his second album under this moniker in only eight days back in February 2021. He also solicited the collaboration of many members of Toronto’s vibrant indie rock community to make “Only up” and well, it is just a fantastic record, my fourth favourite from last year. And it’s funny because I originally passed on it when I got an email from Hand Drawn Dracula announcing its release. But then, the track “Come around” came up on a Spotify release radar playlist and I was blown away by its faithful homage to 90s Madchester, especially to The Happy Mondays. As I wrote in my end of the year post, I shared the song with my friend Andrew and we both discovered the album together in a sort of virtual listening party. Two months and many more listens later, I was pulling the trigger on this limited edition vinyl pressing on the November edition of Bandcamp Friday. The album is a ready-made retro 90s dance party. So much fun.

Standout track: “Come around (feat. Cadence Weapon)”

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Vinyl

Vinyl love: The Reds, Pinks & Purples “Uncommon weather”

(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 Reds, Pinks & Purples
Album Title: Uncommon weather
Year released: 2021
Details: Limited edition, pastel blue

The skinny: When I counted down my favourite albums of the year at the end of 2021, the last one standing was “Uncommon weather” by The Reds, Pinks and Purples. I had never even heard of said act prior to last year but following an email blast from Slumberland Records and trip over to Spotify, I was an instant fan. I went on the hunt for a vinyl pressing of what I later learned was Glenn Donaldson’s third album as The Reds, Pinks and Purples and found the pastel blue variant at one of my favourite indie online shops. It’s such a great record, like pretty much everything he’s released over the last few years. And just as I wrote in my end of the year post, “there’s just something addictive in Donaldson’s short bursts of ear-worm pop. Each of the thirteen songs on “Uncommon weather” sounds immediately familiar and welcoming. There’s loads of reverb and silky smooth synths, peppy drumming and jangly guitars, and above it all, Donaldson channels all of our 80s John Hughes heroes: Robert Smith, Ian McCulloch, and Richard Butler.” I really just can’t help myself from gushing to anyone who’ll listen about The Reds, Pinks and Purples.

Standout track: “I hope I never fall in love”

Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: The Wonder Stuff “Never loved Elvis”

(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 Wonder Stuff
Album Title: Never loved Elvis
Year released: 1991
Year reissued: 2021
Details: Limited edition, HMV 100th anniversary exclusive, OBI strip, brown

The skinny: I hereby interrupt our regularly scheduled ‘Vinyl Love’ programming of my favourite albums from last year to bring you one of my favourites from thirty (!) years ago. The Wonder Stuff’s third album, “Never loved Elvis”, is what our friend Aaron over at KMA would call a grail find for me. It’s the only album from my Best albums of 1991 list that wasn’t already on my record shelves and was one that I never thought I’d find. It was almost by random that I discovered it had been reissued last November as part of an HMV anniversary series in the UK, the only problem for me was that it wasn’t available for purchase here in Canada. Not to be deterred, however, I managed to procure a copy with the help of a fellow vinyl addict named Jim, whom, some of you may remember, used to run an excellent blog named Resurrection Songs. I gave the record a spin within hours of receiving it in the mail and it immediately transported me back to those days of walking around my small hometown while my Walkman transmitted these very tunes to my earbuds. Needless to say, I sang along with good old Miles Hunt for the album’s entirety.

Standout track: “Welcome to the cheap seats”