Twin Atlantic - You're Turning Into John Wayne

First of all, I'd like to apologise for the almost total lack of updates over the past few weeks. Starting back at uni has been stupidly hectic, and I just haven't found the time to keep on top of this as well. However, it's Friday afternoon and I don't feel like working so I think it's as good a time as any to bring the vinyl rain. YEEEEEAH!

So, the blog is back in business and back to Scotland. Twin Atlantic, like so many of their Scottish peers, are fucking ace. The best way I'd describe them is like if Biffy Clyro had gone mainstream two albums earlier (yeah, more Biffy comparisons. Soz). That sounds like a negative thing, but it's really really not. It's like an unholy marriage of the choruses of Puzzle and the heaviness of The Vertigo of Bliss. I made the long journey to Sheffield to see them on Saturday, and it was well worth the journey. A really solid live band who know how to put a smile on your face (despite not playing I Cave In). Moreover, the first time I saw them I ended up buying their mini-album and a t-shirt from the lovely lead singer Sam (holder of possibly the strongest Scottish accent in my music collection - a fairly impressive title) who was genuinely lovely and appreciative of people buying things from him. Always nice.

This particular single (there's another double-single post coming soon-ish) is the song You're Turning Into John Wayne. I picked it up from what I think is the only independent music shop in Stoke-on-Trent's city centre (the wonderful Music Mania) for about £2. Bargain.

So yeah, here's the cover. It's got loads of green TVs on it and looks pretty cool. Now you may or may not be able to tell from this picture, but this has been signed by the band, which is nice BUT it was like that when I bought it. It wasn't long after they'd played a gig at the Sugarmill in Stoke so maybe they popped in and signed it or something. Who knows. All I know is it means I still haven't met the mighty Barry McKenna. One day I will and that day will be amazing.

Plain black vinyl, yet again. The labels and back cover remind me loads of Fallout 3. Always a good thing. So there's two songs on this vinyl, as per. The A-side is ...John Wayne itself, a very enjoyable song indeed. Not entirely sure what it's about, but that doesn't make screaming "YOU'RE TURNING INTO JOHN WAAAAY-AYYY-AYYY-AYNE" any less awesome. The B-side, intriguingly, is an acoustic version of the song. Now, I think this is something that should definitely be done more often, probably largely because this acoustic version is really good. The pace of the song slows a lot and it becomes very different to what it was before. Top marks.

Maxïmo Park - I Want You To Stay

After the dizzying heights of NEW VINYL for Christmas, we're back to old vinyl for now. I'm also back in my university house now and thus have no vinyl readily available, but I took pictures of most of my vinyl before coming back so I'd have some things to update this with. God bless foresight.

I was going to try and work in some kind of alphabetical order, but I had a request from the lovely Tom to do some more coloured vinyl, because it makes for way better pictures. So I skipped about half of the alphabet and landed on Maxïmo Park. Maxïmo are a Geordie indie band who make very catchy music. I haven't really kept up with their releases, but their first album was one I really enjoyed. An odd mix between songs that were just okay and songs that were utterly brilliant. I spotted this vinyl, the first in a two-part release of one of the best songs on the album, on the same shopping jaunt that brought Marmaduke Duke vinyl into my life. It was reduced to £2. It is insanely pretty. I couldn't say no. 

This is the cover. It's a lot like the artwork for the album it comes off (A Certain Trigger) and, as I have mentioned before, this kind of continuity is something I really like. The turquoise colour also looks amazing, and that carries through...

...into the vinyl! It's a lovely colour for vinyl, let down only slightly by the tracks on it. The A-side is a demo version of the song, which is kind of interesting but inferior to the recorded version, and the B-side is a remix. I've expressed my thoughts on remixes before, and this one again didn't change them. Added nothing to the original song and wasn't particularly memorable. Bit of a shame really, but ah well.

As I mentioned earlier, this is one of a two-part set. The second vinyl is white and has the same artwork but with the turquoise and white sections reversed, which is pretty cool. I don't think I'm particularly bothered about getting it, but if I find it cheap I'd like to have the pair for completeness' sake. Oh dear.