More Pink

Talking of Pink vinyl, here's the 8 track debut album by Manchester post-rockers Plank! It's pink, which makes my daughter very happy.

I saw Plank! live at the Green Man Festival a couple of years ago and immediately took to them, as I thought they sounded a lot like my old band The Deltics - maybe they were part of the 20 strong crowd that saw us at a gig once...or maybe it's just that post rock / math rock sound. When it comes to their records, the sound is very much like Standards-era Tortoise with an element of post-punk thrown in for good measure.

Four Tet's "Pink" on vinyl

Four Tet's latest album, Pink, collected together a number of tracks Mr Hebden has released over the last 18 months, with a couple of extras thrown in, and is available as a "download only". However, with the extra tracks (Lion and the beatiful Peace On Earth) now available as a 12" single, there's a 5x12" audiophile vinyl format of the album that you can get. If you can be bothered to track them down or bought them when they came out.

You even get an art print of the albums design with the lastest 12".

So here's the tracklisting (technically with two "bonus" tracks not available with the digital version):

Disc 1
Pinnacles
Ye Ye (by Daphni)
Disc 2
Locked
Pyramid
Disc 3
Jupiters
Ocoras
Disc 4
128 Harps
128 Harps (Anthony Naples Remix)
Disc 5
Lion
Peace for Earth

Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!

The return! of! Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

Completely out of the blue, this album turned up unannounced at a GYBE gig in Boston a couple of weeks ago - a far cry from the usual "please please please buy me" overpromotion that most bands sign up to with every release. Anyway, it's now available in proper shops too (yeah, I know - sell outs eh?).

In classic GYBE style, you get something unique with both the vinyl and CD versions, with songs differing in length (I haven't listened to the CD so I can't tell you what is different, I've just noted that the track lengths are different) and sequencing. As always though, the vinyl version is the one to get - a 12" album and a 7" single, both housed in a wonderful elaborate gatefold sleeve with a "spot metallic ink and spot matte varnish" and a poster.

As well as looking good, it sounds great too. The usual beautiful, mournful, uplifiting and aggressive monoliths that you would expect from the band. The sequencing works better on the vinyl with the two long tracks - think classic GYBE symphonies designed to be listened to during a heavy storm - being placed either side of the 12" to make a wonderful 40 minute album, whilst the two shorter "drone" tracks (also good, but an acquired taste akin to Tangerine Dream's "Zeit" or Tony Conrad & Faust's "Beyond The Dream Syndicate") are kept together on the 7" as a beautifully unsettling side dish.