Apparently, I buy too many records

My wife Helen, like every other woman i've ever lived with, believes that I buy too many records.

Which, as every record-buying man knows, is a ridiculous belief.

I will concede, however, that I do indeed buy a lot of records and that I don't afford them the same amount of listens and attention that I did 20 or 30 years ago.

To this end, I have decided to blog about the records that I buy, in order to help my appreciation of them - and perhaps to show Helen that I don't buy that many records after all.

Because i'm crap with deadlines the blog posts will be sporadic and probably be about a month or 2 behind but that's just the way i am! The posts will not necessarily be actual reviews (most likely comments, at best) and will generally be pretty damn short due to the reasons outlined above. As a writer in a previous existence i have decided not to worry about writing as art in the pieces but, instead, to attempt to convey feeling over semantic (and often grammatic) perfection.

And 'OCRB'? It stands for 'Obsessive Compulsive Record Buying' - a little known mental health affliction that is potentially damaging to the bank account but ultimately life-affirming. It is sad.......but a nice form of sad.

Thursday, 20 January 2011

Various - Until Human Voices Wake us Until We Drown (Rune Grammofon)



Inevitably fantastic 5 X 10" box set by all the lovely people in the Rune Grammofon stable. I say 'inevitably fantastic' as i haven't listened to it yet, nor have i even opened it for it is such a thing of beauty that i fear soiling it with my skin. I will get around to it, but not yet. I'm not worthy enough.

For a better look at the internal workings of this thing of beauty, you should just hop over to the wonderful Hard Format site:
http://www.hardformat.org/1372/various-until-human-voices-wake-us-and-we-drown/

And for an unbiased description of the musical delights within the box, please see the press release from the record label:


Celebrating 50 releases, this collection of 19 tracks from the catalog shows the variation of music we have put out since the first release in January 1998. From the timeless, austere melancholia of Fartein Valen and the pioneering electronic music of Arne Nordheim to the magic pop diamonds of Susanna and the Magical Orchestra and the restless youth improv that is MoHa!, taking in some traditional music, free rock, jazz, ambient, contemporary experiments and various shades of electronica along the way. Some are cornestones in the catalog, but this is not a best of collection, we want to show the different aspects of Rune Grammofon and have tried to give each of the records a common theme or base.
There are five 10” vinyl records, all in their own sleeve with an exclusive Kim Hiorthøy design, as well as a 16 page catalogue, also with special design from Kim and with an overview of the 50 first Rune Grammofon releases. All come in a very nice, solid cardboard box, also designed by Kim. Being limited to 1000 copies, this is bound to be a collectors item in no time, not only because of the limited aspect but also because of the fantastic design work at show, quite possibly some of the finest record design work Kim has ever done. Being a treasured format by vinyl collectors, the 10” is more expensive to manufacture than the ordinary 12”, meaning it isn´t made that often, especially not in a box set like this.


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