Tag: Limited edition

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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.

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Vinyl

Vinyl love: The Weakerthans “Reconstruction site”

(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 Weakerthans
Album Title: Reconstruction site
Year released: 2003
Year reissued: 2013
Details: 20th anniversary, limited to 1000 copies, brown with red splatter

The skinny: Like the last post in this series, today’s album is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year but in the case of “Reconstruction site”, the pressing in my collection is the one done to celebrate this very milestone. The Weakerthans are one of those bands that I had always known quite well and had seen live a bunch of times but never fully appreciated until after they disbanded. I am now quite in love with all four of the Canadian indie rock quartet’s albums – the sound, the style, and the outstanding songwriting – and have been working hard on tracking them all down for my vinyl shelves. So when I saw the group’s penultimate record was getting the 20th anniversary reissue treatment, I did a bit of internet digging to track down a copy. I finally found a Canadian distributor in Cut Loose Merch that was selling this sweet brown and red splatter colour variant. Supporting a Canadian company and paying in domestic currency? Yes, please and thank you.

Standout track: “One great city!”

 

Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: Spiritualized “Songs in A&E”

(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: Spiritualized
Album Title: Songs in A&E
Year released: 2008
Year reissued: 2012
Details: Limited edition, 2 x LP, white, gatefold sleeve

The skinny: Continuing the backwards trend through the Spiritualized records on my vinyl shelves, we come to their 6th studio album, 2008’s “Songs in A&E”, aka the album that got me excited about one of my favourite bands again. It had felt to me like Jason ‘Spaceman’ Pierce had lost a bit of momentum with his previous two albums but when this one arrived, a whole five years after its predecessor, it hit me like a ton of bricks. Named for the period of time that he had spent in the hospital after a brush with death, this album felt like a different approach to a similar destination but one that revelled in its journey. And whenever I think of this album, I remember seeing the band supporting its release in Toronto with an afternoon slot at the Virgin festival and being tickled pink by a toddler-aged fan singing along to all the tracks and dancing with his father. Like the rest of the records that will be featured in this series, my copy is a reissue (this one in white) and was plucked from the racks of one my favourite indie record stores*.

Standout track: “Sweet talk”

*I’m pretty sure this one was found on the racks at Rotate This in Toronto.