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.

Tuesday, 22 November 2011

Reigns: The Widow Blades (Monotreme)


Just look at that package above - black/white 180gm vinyl, gatefold sleeve, free CD and numbered  individual linocut - pretty fucking top stuff, graphically speaking.

And the music inside matches the spectacle of the wrapping. As usual with Reigns there is a backstory behind the songcycle (let's not use the word 'Concept' ok?) regarding a woman disappearing during a blizzard, and the lyrics all make sense once you ready the words - there is exceptional intelligence and care for detail here. Musically speaking, this is pretty stripped down stuff - focussing mostly on piano, acoustic guitar, subtle electronics and voice, all reverbed up, and the darkness of the mood is perfectly conveyed by this simple instrumentation. Best track is the near-instrumental sidelong closer 'The mounds' which starts quiwtly until motorik rhythms appear slowly and take over before spoken words close the track. A fine 16+ minutes and a fine album as well. Recommended for all fans of intelligent music and exciting concepts (oops).

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