Tape Slang

Few bands have got me excited this year like Beach Slang have. I probably stumbled on them in late 2014, picking up their 7'' that Tiny Engines released, and ever since rumours of a full length through Polyvinyl started surfacing, I haven't gone more than a few days without spinning something from this incredible band. When pre-orders came up for the new LP, I jumped on the Big Scary Monsters cassette. Normally I would grab an LP, but the Joyce Manor cassette BSM put out always sticks out as one of the best looking cassettes I own and so I assumed (correctly) that they would be on top with a tape of this one too. 

Beach Slang - The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us - Big Scary Monsters // Polyvinyl - 1st Press - White Shell - 078 /250 

This cassette sounds great, which is lucky as I've heard one or two people having issues with the B-Side with the LP coming off a little sluggish. Barely any surface noise and plenty of clarity to get all the low end punch this record has. One of my favourite things about buying a physical release from this band is how perfect the art looks. It follows a similar theme (for the most part), and you could almost pick it out flipping through the racks.

B-Side // J-Card 

Printed up shells always look cool. More often than not they're stickered or handwritten nowadays, and having them printed up almost gives them a little more of a classic look to me. I don't know, it's definitely great. 

The J-Card folds out and the text is a line from each song, and it flows together remarkably well, but I assume that was the intention! For us - All of us. 

The other side of the J-Card contains credits and this nice little story on how the album title came to be. James Alex is a great frontman, offering everything other than an apology for his sincerity. I don't think this band are really re-inventing any wheel as such, but the heart makes it more infectious than most. 

And here you see the numbering of 078/250.

Next up is their Cassette Store Day release. And I know this doesn't follow their normal look for their releases, but with good reason.  

Beach Slang - Here, I Made This For You! (Beach Slang Mixtape - Volume 1) - Polyvinyl - 1st Press - Red Shell /500 (CSD '15) 

I managed to grab this from the Polyvinyl Store as nowhere in the UK was stocking this. I get that Cassette Store Day isn't a huge deal, especially in the UK so it was nice to find this without a hassle. This is exactly what is says; a mixtape of cover songs played by Beach Slang. The Ride cover would've been enough to get me to grab this anyway! 

B-Side // Inner J-Card 

Again, we're back to the trademark Beach Slang artwork I love! 

This looks pretty convincing as a mixtape. My Mum's old car only had a cassette deck, so I spent an awful lot of time in my early teens making mixes for her car whenever we went anywhere. I'm likely to romanticise this more than I should as a result of that, but I don't mind at all. 

I have the previous releases across the two 7''s they were originally destined for. But having these together kind of makes me want to own the Broken Thrills cassette too. I'll likely never listen to it, but the weirdo in me likes things to be a certain way sometimes. If I ever grab it, assume you'll see it here. 

Cheers! 

Big Scary Horses

Pale Horses by Mewithoutyou is without doubt one of my favourite releases of 2015. Not only because the music is great (which it really is), but as a package this record is pretty special. It's strange to think that there is a deluxe version out there that looks cooler than this...

Mewithoutyou - Pale Horses - Run For Cover // Big Scary Monsters - 1st Press - Clear w/ Purple and Blue Splatter /300 (Banquet Records Exclusive) 

In order to get all of this in, it's easier to photograph it all almost section by section. BSM did a three colour press of numbers totalling 1000, broken down as 200/300/500. Run For Cover pressed a total of 6000 units over 4 variants. MwY also released a double LP deluxe edition with two variants /? I kind of forget how big this band is; and really is shouldn't surprise me because they're great. 

All of the Pale Horses art (all of Mewithoutyou's album art in fact) comes from Vasily Kafanov. I first became familiar with his work when he did the album art for Machina: The Machines Of God by Smashing Pumpkins. Much the same as that LP; there is the main cover art and then a set of illustrations that follow the record, providing visual accompaniment to each track. A similar concept appeared on MwY's previous LP, Ten Stories. 

Back Cover 

Kind of minimalist in comparison, but the working titles scratched out and replaced by the printed titles is a pretty neat thing to do. Also here you get to see that a bonus track (Chapelcross Towns) was added for the UK press. This appears on the deluxe but isn't present on the RFC version. That also means that there is a minimum of three tests made for this record, without thinking about rejected tests and such... I think for once I'm more than happy to settle on one variant! 

Stickered Sleeve 

This record arrived in shrink with a sticker affixed to the shrink. I managed to get the sticker free and stick it on a poly sleeve, and if I hadn't done that I may not have noticed that the sleeve for this record is a little taller than your average dimensions. Also, aside from the height issue; the sleeve is super thick. Probably the thickest sleeve I have seen; such a high quality production all around. 

Next up are a few photos from the inlay booklet. This may have also been used in the CD press, or it may have been made up in place of an insert to accommodate the extra art from Kafanov. It's incredible to think that this was all created with ink and paper; the art here is truly magical and captivating. There's subtle detail in each illustration and it's all perfect! 

More of the art. There is some rumour that this was created in 1978, and some sources state it was as recent as 2015. I'm thinking that it's pretty new, but I've been wrong before!

This is how it's all laid out: illustration, title and lyrics. 

List of thanks, including companies used by// endorsed by the band. Also, tour buds are given a thanks here which is cool right? 

The record is housed in a printed inner sleeve too. Kafanov art all over, with one side cut to see the centre label and one side solid. 

The bit about this side that really gets me is the working titles in the top left. Xmas Cards For The Mentally Ill would've been a winner for me, purely for The Smiths reference. 

I'm a total sucker for this record, and this variant looks beautiful next to the art. The packaging is incredibly well thought out, and it's another victory for a cool UK label, what's not to love? 

Cheers!