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PO NOW: Beach House - 7 (LP Out May 11)


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15 minutes ago, holyvacantsholyhell said:

I gotta disagree here to an extent. The album to me, at least for Beach House standards, is a massive branch out. It's definitely still BH and has their signature sound, but I love that they just went wild in the studio with every track. You can really tell right from the first track that it's a sonically expanded experience, which is crazy given that they've always made lush soundscapes their trademark.

 

Black Car best song for sure though! I also seriously dig Woo and Dark Spring... and Lemon Glow... L'Inconnue... The second half of Dive... Drunk In LA... Fuck, this album is really good. I guess I should grab me a copy of the loser, after a lot of back and forth I think yellow looks best. The insert and holofoil on the cover really sell it for me.

I'll have to give it a few more listens. I posted that right after my first playthrough, but I think I just expected more.

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29 minutes ago, holyvacantsholyhell said:

Love me some Beach House but I wasn't expecting much haha. Guess I'm very pleasantly surprised.

Yeah, it was that interview they did where they were talking about how they "completely reinvented themselves" on this record and hearing some synths and stuff on whatever single that was I was like, "ok, they're going in a little bit more electronic direction, this could be ok." Then...it was a Beach House record. Which is great! I love Beach House and have since Devotion came out. But...I donno.

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14 minutes ago, The Ghost of Randy Savage said:

Yeah, it was that interview they did where they were talking about how they "completely reinvented themselves" on this record and hearing some synths and stuff on whatever single that was I was like, "ok, they're going in a little bit more electronic direction, this could be ok." Then...it was a Beach House record. Which is great! I love Beach House and have since Devotion came out. But...I donno.

DC and Stars just sorta fell flat for me save a few tracks here and there so it was nice getting excited over a Beach House record in 2018 but yeah they definitely didn't completely revamp who they are as a band.

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45 minutes ago, armadillo01 said:

Like Yo La Tengo, we're really only ever going to see them refine their aesthetic. Some bands are like that & it's ok.

Oh for sure, but as I've said twice, to read that they said they were completely revamping/reimagining their style and to get just some refinement is still a disappointment. It's still solid, it's definitely Beach House, but I had certain expectations after reading that.

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3 hours ago, holyvacantsholyhell said:

DC and Stars just sorta fell flat for me save a few tracks here and there so it was nice getting excited over a Beach House record in 2018 but yeah they definitely didn't completely revamp who they are as a band.

Ah, I enjoyed Stars actually. I know everyone seems to love Bloom, but that's one that fell way short for me. I remember listening to a few of those songs and thinking some of the parts were directly lifted from some of their older songs.

Edited by The Ghost of Randy Savage
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51 minutes ago, swb said:

For some reason, Teen Dream is my Beach House "pop" album I just can't get into. Bloom is the record that got me back on board and confirmed BH as one of my favorites. I always viewed it as more textured, rhythmic, groovy, and weighty than Teen Dream.

But Walk in the Park 

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Do people not love the first two albums? That's when I first saw them live and loved them. Loved the melodies, loved the minimal instrumentation. Was fully on board til Bloom and then they started to really shed that previous skin and become less interesting. It all felt overblown, overproduced, lacking the subtleties and simplicity of the earlier stuff. I've kept an ear out for them ever since, curious of them pulling things back to simpler times.

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2 hours ago, moodist said:

Do people not love the first two albums? That's when I first saw them live and loved them. Loved the melodies, loved the minimal instrumentation. Was fully on board til Bloom and then they started to really shed that previous skin and become less interesting. It all felt overblown, overproduced, lacking the subtleties and simplicity of the earlier stuff. I've kept an ear out for them ever since, curious of them pulling things back to simpler times.

I saw them open for vampire weekend circa 2010 and that was my first exposure to them. Fell in love then and there. The first two albums are good but I prefer TD and Bloom because they expanded on their sound in meaningful ways. DC and Stars were more stagnant than bad, and this one is a nice departure that expands on their sound in a meaningful way again.

 

i have no desire for them to strip back the layers they’ve added over the years... sounds like regression to me. To insinuate they haven’t always layered gauzy textures over everything in the studio and that they became overblown and overproduced on Bloom doesn’t make much sense to me either

Edited by holyvacantsholyhell
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6 hours ago, moodist said:

Do people not love the first two albums? That's when I first saw them live and loved them. Loved the melodies, loved the minimal instrumentation. Was fully on board til Bloom and then they started to really shed that previous skin and become less interesting. It all felt overblown, overproduced, lacking the subtleties and simplicity of the earlier stuff. I've kept an ear out for them ever since, curious of them pulling things back to simpler times.

I'm with you.

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My yellow loser copy is flawless. Nice packaging and the record is on the lower end volume wise but plays without surface noise or pops even in the quieter moments on a high volume. I have no issues with distortion or muddiness and can easily get it loud enough to compensate for the low default volume.  This album may surpass Teen Dream for me quality wise, but only time will tell that.

Edited by holyvacantsholyhell
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I've only spun this in full once but it might be my favorite BH record behind Bloom. On first listen, it feels like they put a little extra effort into incorporating small flourishes that are outside of the traditional BH mold. Overall, it's still BH but I can definitely see the fingerprints of those comments about this being outside of their comfort zone/usual sound. Good rec.

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23 hours ago, holyvacantsholyhell said:

My yellow loser copy is flawless. Nice packaging and the record is on the lower end volume wise but plays without surface noise or pops even in the quieter moments on a high volume. I have no issues with distortion or muddiness and can easily get it loud enough to compensate for the low default volume.  This album may surpass Teen Dream for me quality wise, but only time will tell that.

 

19 hours ago, erasedtapes said:

I'll chip in with another good review of the yellow vinyl. Looks way better in person and sounds great, no noise or anything. Now if it gets repressed down the road with something interesting…

Makes me kinda bummed that my yellow copy has some distortion and Side A seems pressed off-center.

 

Has any contacted Subpop before asking for a replacement? I've never asked a label for a replacement before but I'm tempted for this one because I'll probably listen to it a lot.

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