Tag: Indie rock

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Vinyl

Vinyl love: Andy Bell “The view from halfway down”

(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: Andy Bell
Album Title: The view from halfway down
Year released: 2020
Details: Blue vinyl

The skinny: If you follow me on Instagram as well, you’ll know that I try to post a picture of what’s spinning on my turntable every Sunday. You’ll also know that this very record was my #sundayspin last week and that I admitted there that I didn’t actually listen to Andy Bell’s solo album, “The view from halfway down”, when it was first released back in October of last year. Even now, I couldn’t tell you why, given how much of a fan I am of all the bands with which he has worked (Beady Eye notwithstanding). By the time I got around to it in December, I had already drafted my list, was deep into counting down my favourite albums of the year on these pages, and found myself kicking my own ass for my tardiness and for not being able to include it. I wasn’t too late, however, to snag a copy of it in blue coloured vinyl, a chance I would not let pass me by. The album only vaguely sounds of his work in Oasis and Ride but the sentiments are there. It is pop music that dances across a shoegaze and psychedelic canvas, a breath of fog on a grimy window, a cloudy sky with just a hint of the light blue beyond. If you haven’t listened to it, do so now.

Standout track: “Love comes in waves”

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Tunes

Best tunes of 2012: #14 Dum Dum Girls “Season in hell”

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I got into Dum Dum Girls, the sadly now defunct project led by Kristin “Dee Dee” Gundred, with their very excellent sophomore record, 2011’s “Only in dreams”. Though it wasn’t issued as a proper single from the album, “Bedroom eyes”, and the video made for it, became a personal favourite of mine, landing at number five on my Best tunes of 2011 list. And with the repeat listens of that album, I was super excited to see them at the Osheaga festival in Montreal in August 2012. I remember rushing over to their stage right after Of Monsters and Men finished up their eye-opening early afternoon set and though Dum Dum Girls’ performance was shortened due to sound problems, they were fantastic, all attitude and noise.

The following month the group released an EP called “End of daze”, featuring three songs held out from the “Only in dreams” sessions, and I loved it. It was one of my favourite releases of 2012 and it’s one of the very few examples of where I agree with Pitchfork media’s reviewers when they said it was the best thing Dum Dum Girls released up to that point. My only problem with it was that, at a five song EP, it was way too short. I was left wanting more, more, and more. It is still such a favourite of mine that it is one of only a small handful of EPs that I purchased for my vinyl collection and it regularly gets pulled down for a 45 rpm spin.

The final track on the EP is this humdinger called “Season in hell”. It is Sandra Vu crashing away at the drums, soaring guitars all around, that familiar reverb-drenched production by Raveonettes’ Sune Rose Wagner, and Dee Dee’s vocals uplifting and floating in space, way up above the heavens, hinting at a change in direction and a hope for better days.

“Doesn’t dawn look divine”

Taken in hindsight you can read a lot into this track. The ‘season in hell’ could be referring to the period before Gundred’s split with Crocodiles’ Brandon Welchez, or it could be that she was starting to feel constrained by the image, aesthetic, and sound that she had created for Dum Dum Girls. That hat certainly feels tipped at in the couplet that ends the song and gives the EP its name: “Lift your gaze, it’s the end of daze.” And it’s a theory that feels more concrete when taken in context with her next album, Dum Dum Girls’ swan song, “Too true”, where the haze and gaze is all but dispensed with in favour of a glam and britpop influenced sound.

Again, though, that’s only in hindsight and if you’re in a mood to read into things. I typically avoid such heady topics when this particular song comes on and I just give in to the excitement and joy. The bliss and the hope.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 2012 list, click here.

Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: The Coral “The Coral”

(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 Coral
Album Title: The Coral
Year released: 2002
Year reissued: 2011
Details: Black vinyl, 180 gram, Music on Vinyl

The skinny: Just a few days ago, I wrote about this ridiculous ear worm that appeared at number three on my Best tunes of 2002 list. But “Dreaming of you” is by no means the only incredible tune on The Coral’s self-titled debut. Indeed, the (at-the-time) young sextet from Merseyside, England had put together a twelve-song kooky and psychedelic party, that you might say is reflected in the colourful pastiche album artwork. When I saw a reasonably priced copy of this Music on Vinyl reissue pressed to a 180 gram disc, I did not hesitate. And I can happily say that I am just as pleased with this pressing as I have been with everything else I’ve purchased by MOV.

Standout track: “Wildfire”