A few bits and pieces...

This is really a small collection of things that I have heard about recently, been "told" or have previously forgotten to mention.

Several people have asked me/arrived at this blog seeking an answer to this question:

• Is 'I Speak Because I Can' - Laura Marling available on 12" vinyl LP?  Well I could not find it either but, let me tell you this, it will be available within the next month or two.  The exact release date has, to the best of my knowledge, not yet been announced.
• On the same theme; the third Laura Marling album, originally and rather optimistically pencilled in for 2010, is still in the works. My hunch is that an early summer 2011 release is a good bet.

The end of 'blue January' is when new releases really start to pick up and in some ways define the direction of 2011. I have mentioned some of these already and Adele's '21' is certainly shifting units in the UK this week: it had sold more than 100,000 copies in its first two days of release and by the midweek  Top 10 album chart-preview it was comfortably out-selling #2 - #10 even if their individual sales were totalled!

My first 2011 12" vinyl acquisition is 'Violet Cries', the début album from Esben and The Witch (UK: 31/01/2011).  If you can make it then they are marking the event in their home city of Brighton the following evening.

It is an album that, in an interesting twist, eschews the inclusion of the singles 'Skeleton Swoon' and 'Lucia At The Precipice', but if you have seen E&TW live then you will know just what to expect.

If you wondered why I didn't make a specific post about where I think (live) music is heading in 2011, in contrast to previous years, then this is what I have to say.
I think 2011 might just possibly be a turning point. If it were to be so then I think that the result will not be the dominance of any particular genre but rather the acceptance of many that co-exist and can intermingle influences.  I believe that, as a result of many circumstances, the seeds of this change were first sown a few years ago.

Lyrics again - Babelonia

Babelonia

she is the fractured one sewn
from sums of fractured time
her heart speaks a fractured tongue
her life a fractured design
she shares the weight of the sun
a love that burns alone
leaving their heart with no one
claiming no other their own

babelonia
it's a wonder
you can believe
in what you see
babelonia
divided love
childhood history
adult's mystery

she is her prophet and god
she is the comfort she seeks
she is a thousand wires sewn
through the outcome she receives
they share the cloak of the moon
under the darkened sky
they leave their secrets to roam
in the forgiveness of night

babelonia
it's a wonder
you can believe
in what you see
babelonia
divided love
childhood history
adult's mystery


I mentioned School of Seven Bells (SVIIB) as one of my highlights of Latitude 2010 and, now I have the album 'Disconnect From Desire', I am only reminded why that is and the music is only the start.
Amazon.co.uk will send it to you as mp3 for £7.90 (obviously including delivery).  No chance... for £8.24, including the rather pertinent issue of delivery, I was more than happy to patronize a UK independent music store.  That is not just a matter of loyalty or conscience, however, for that extra 34p ($0.50) resulted in a tangible item; something (it is actually spilt across two 12" slices) real, totally loveable and also easily damaged.  The moral of the tale is that new vinyl can be affordable it just takes a little effort and the support of the independent labels and retailers. In this case it was Reflex Records in Newcastle and the record is released in the UK by Full Time Hobby as FTH094LP.

 If £0.34/$0.50 in this regard becomes a matter of life or death then I'll quit.  

What's In It For?

Some have been asking, and I have been waiting, for this album to arrive!  The wonder that is the global marketplace has determined that this vinyl album (SP865) has made its way to me from the US via Australia and simply because that was by far the cheapest way to do it. That is patently idiotic.

This was the first outing for my copy of Avi Buffalo - Avi Buffalo; a 12" LP record just destined to played.

Is it good, like I thought it would be?  Not really perhaps, its rather better than that, and it fits neatly with some of my comments, both recent and forthcoming, on the music at Latitude and, simply because I can, here is a lyric.


What's In It For?

i walked in on a plan to
dissolve all of your wishes
but i couldn't help your mouth
which i missed by two inches
maybe i thought that you and i
could run away alongside
but I didn't understand i was
a cold tear in your raw hide
what's in it for someone with
nothing to do what's in it for me?
what's in it for someone with
nothing to do what's in it for me?
i can read but i won't if i'm sleeping
here without you and all these things
that you learn, i've been knowing since
my childhood. you are tiny and your
lips are like little pieces of bacon
i can feel you on fire 'cause you're
drunk and i seem too cool
know i love it when you put your
fingertips around my shoulder
should i take you to more functions
or would you rather be lonely?
i feel like i'm messing up too much
and i forget where i am, you are
so much wiser and i'm used to
stretching things out so long.

That said the very vinyl virtues are always now going to come with such issues in tow but, as Jack White recently stated, vinyl is the only growing market for tangible recorded music today.  The lyric sheet and associated artwork is just a glorious bonus...

 

 Devin O'Brien provided the album cover artwork and Rebecca Coleman that for the insert.

Vinyl, for those who have asked...

It pains me to say that, while I'm delighted to discover that so many are still so interested in vinyl, I am often not able to provide the answers requested.

If I could find 'I Speak Because I Can' - Laura Marling (2010) on vinyl then I would have let you know. This is one of the ones that I am asked about most often. I hope that Virgin/EMI will take the hint...
Amy LaVere vinyl is something I can't find either - but recently discovered that is sought-for too and if you know something about any of this please copy it to me too!

Vinyl is not dead but it needs nurturing; independent labels and the likes of us are the future and we have to keep the faith, continue to fight for it and while is not going to be something for just for the short term, that only makes it more worthwhile. It is true that, while not twenty years ago they were commonplace in charity shops and similar, they now deserve a good home.

Demand can make a difference, something that is becoming increasingly apparent, but there are rarities from times long gone that await discovery in dusty attics and the like. If it is offered to you then just accept it gracefully; you can decide what is junk at your leisure and you might just get a surprise.

If you merely wish to listen to 'The Book Of Taliesyn', and I expect that quite reasonably that will be the limit of your ambition, then it is available to download, or on CD should that take your fancy, for a very modest price.

This may appear to be little different from that quite common, but it is up to us to save them from landfill. Yes it is vinyl (T-107) but not all that it seems. In the early days (1967) Deep Purple signed to the small US label Tetragrammaton because the band could not land a deal in the UK. Tetragrammaton went bust just months after this, Deep Purple's second album release, in 1968. Major-label history followed but that was not without its quirks either...

Leyland Kirby - The CD trilogy - Sadly, The Future Is Not What It Was

For the last six weeks or so you have witnessed my quest, ultimately successful, to obtain the trilogy of double-vinyl 12s released by Leyland Kirby. Whatever the reason - curiosity or incredulity come to mind - a large number of people have found themselves here as a result. If vinyl is simply not your thing I can understand that, and if you were unable to partake I sympathize, but a more readily available and more easily handled alternative is now available:

It has the same content as the vinyl releases, but on three CDs instead, and the same track listing and notes too (absolutely none at all) but new artwork. It is available as follows:

LEYLAND KIRBY - Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was (Deluxe Triple CD Edition)
Label: History Always Favours The Winners
3CD // £15.99 [approx. €17.60 and US$ 26.50] plus the appropriate shipping charges.
Released: Oct 2009
Catalogue Number: HAFTW001CD

While Amazon.co.uk list it, it is described as unavailable so they may as well not bother. It is however available from independent retailer Boomkat Records, Manchester, UK and they will ship internationally. The link to this item, including a review etc., is here:
http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=236773

I'm listening to the whole lot, rather over four hours of it, from end-to-end for the first time and I can see a misty but near-full moon out of my skylight window. Perfect for Halloween and, were there wolves in Somerset, I expect that I would be able to hear them howling in the distance as I write...

There are, actually, but Longleat is just a little bit too far away and that puts me in mind of a very sad story from earlier this week: nineteen-year-old Taylor Mitchell, a promising (and award-nominated) Canadian folk singer-songwriter, was hiking in Cape Breton National Park, Nova Scotia, when she was attacked, fatally, by two coyotes; a shy animal not known as a species aggressive towards humans.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6895020.ece

Note added 3 November:

It is also available on mp3 from Boomkat for £8.99 (€10, US$14.75) but I don't actually know if that facility is available internationally.

Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was

I'm back from a break in posting, but not listening, with more than a few things to share. It is a while now since I've added a "New Music I Want..." post.

In another two months it will be the time for that "Best of..." consideration again but what immediately strikes me is that while most items I want are recent they are very varied. This is to the extent that they need to be divided in to several posts, or at least that is my current assessment and one of them, shock horror, is going to be about new releases by major label artists. Not just that, this is about releases that I actually want!

This, however, is at the other end of the scale altogether...

Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was - #2 in a trilogy of vinyl LPs by Leyland Kirkby.

Like the last (and the next) it is only available on 2 x 12" vinyl each limited to 450 copies worldwide. Cheerful it is not but cheer up: once the vinyl is all done there will be a 3-CD release incorporating all six LPs so the future isn't quite so bad after all and, furthermore, it is curiously uplifting listening.

Preaching To A True Believer...

I receive regular bulletins from amazon.co.uk and amazon.com and that is fine as I have signed up for them. Earlier this week I received one that made me smile like the Cheshire Cat. While on that subject I might mention that in 2002 said mythical feline lent its name to the first album by 'Blink 182'. More importantly I well remember the days, in the penultimate decade of the last millennium, when hands were wrung, prayers said and obituaries written.
It started thus:

Dear Customer,

Everyone knows music sounds best on vinyl. As you've bought or browsed vinyl-related products, we thought we'd let you know about some of the 260,000 plus vinyl records we have on site. With everything from classic albums to new releases in every genre--be it an old folk 12" or the latest DJ favourite--you're bound to find something to add to your collection.

'No shit, Sherlock!' is to wantonly borrow the title of a column that specialises in abstracting statements of the obvious in the free paper Metro, which is widely distributed on public transport in the UK, but all credit to Amazon too: Some, even many, new vinyl releases are local or otherwise limited in some way, and that makes life difficult for a mass-market player but I can't fault Amazon for trying and the Marketplace sellers are also a vital resource and they can frequently supply things not easily found on Amazon itself:

The world has become a small place for illegal downloading and for legal vinyl.
Artist: Irish; Release: US 12" vinyl only; £4.60 (UK, delivered) and tangible :-)

Vinyl has, despite the current poor Sterling exchange rates, become cheaper in real terms than it was twenty years ago and is also - and this was an issue particularly in the late 1980s and early 1990s - now usually of unimpeachable quality with 180g being the gold standard but even lighter ones are usually excellent too.

Then there are the myriad other releases, often also (sometimes only), available on vinyl. One such that I have on order and am much looking forward to is the début solo single 'Wounded Bird' by La B, who has already appeared in this archive in a different guise, and it is available to pre-order from Spillers Records in Cardiff (scheduled release date - 23 March 2009).

Note added: 22 March 2009:
This 7" single will now be released on 30 March 2009.

Boca al Lupo

One of the facts of getting older is, perhaps, that you should pay more attention to your own sanity. I'm still not sure how this works but, for me at least, this seems to include the realisation that I like a far wider range of music than I did when I was a teenager. It is true that what I liked then was not just current chart; now I like a diverse range but it still includes plenty of chart music. I liked much folk/roots music then too and I still do. Wholly electronic music is something that I'd never really considered until somehow, and quite why I can no longer remember, I decided to give it a try...

If, however, you had asked me about this kind of electronica three years ago I'd have questioned both your sanity and mine.

Then I discovered that I like it! Not all of it, of course, but that applies equally to any category of music. One of the first albums I bought in this genre was the 2007 re-release of Xela - For Frosty Mornings and Summer Nights. I was acquainted with releases by the 'Type Records' label before that but this was my first experience of Xela and I mentioned it here.

The new Xela album In Boca Al Lupo was pre-released on 2 x 12" vinyl on 24 November TYPE043V. It is wonderful and, although I have not yet listened to it sufficiently often to fully appreciate it, my thoughts are that it is rather more movingly sinister and organic than Frosty Mornings... but like it totally without lyric. It is a shame that it wasn't available in time for my suggestions for Halloween music, as it would have been the perfect dénouement.

In Boca Al Lupo is released (in the UK on import) on CD on 9 December 2008 but you might still be able to get the vinyl version here.
A prolific artist without doubt but some Xela releases have to be grabbed as soon as they appear and this, a 12" vinyl only collaboration with the The North Sea, is a good example...

RITE003(2008)