Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct

[aphasein]

Originally Posted by dubman

I think it was Autechre that said it takes a new album for everyone to finally get used to and accept their last album for what it is.

It's getting funnier to me that this duo continually evolves faster than we're collectively ready for. Every new LP on the horizon conjures this comparison image of the Tomato-based typographic long jams from nearly 30(!) years ago, even though they've doggedly proven that their 'world is bigger than that. It's annoying as fuck when that next step doesn't jibe with us, but even when it does I have this uncertainty of "is this what it is now?" and I'm stuck between how artists move and what I waaaaant.

Yeah, that is definitely said about Autechre releases (both by them as mentioned, and by their fanbase explaining them). I've realized over the years that Autechre is my second favorite artists after Underworld (not that it matters, but for me they do both have a rich, deep catalog with a lot of breadth, openness on sharing stuff, and focus on graphic design tie-in).

And as shocking and jarring as each new release has been with Autechre, it's always felt very much them each time, even if the leap in music was a lot to process (plus the alien-ness/breaking-new-ground feeling on first listen is really looked forward to in a time-stopping way).

Underworld has always been more comfortable I guess, as I know and expect they can and will go anywhere musically and still retain all their elements and essential feel - it's more an excitement at what they'll do this time and having new variety. The new graphic design era can be jarring, but I'm a big fan of Tomato (like I am for The Designers Republic) and it's always felt like still them and an evolution each time.

Drift really pushed outside that feeling some, but the nature of the project helped it feel more casual/purposeful and the individual track covers felt more coherent, and I guess that partially prepared for the sampler cover to feel less leftfield (definitely bland and disappointing still, along with the final name).

Strawberry Hotel has been an interesting rollercoaster so far and still a lot to go. Mainly the tracks played out a year ahead of time and the design from their single drops all felt really classic and epic, like a later evolution of Mk2 type stuff. I think I was just thrown by the album cover and short track times, as it seemed to break that idea (we love our long UW tracks). The long gestation and lack of communication definitely added to it (and only in relation to how forthcoming/inclusive it has been in the past, not that it's required).

I will say this buildup with the album snippets has exceeded any expectations on the music and been wildly fun (it's been a lot more consistent and dance-based than expected for this many tracks, figured we veer off more). The album cover not being Tomato probably explains to me why it felt so leftfield (but so were the singles and they didn't for some reason). The music is what matters and it has been really exciting so far, can't wait to hear the full tracks. I'm also probably too invested in this as an outlet currently, but it is one of my favorite things and not sure how much more it will happen. Here's looking forward to the remaining two weeks!

[lemonjelly]

been contemplating the "do not shuffle" message. It got me wondering whether the tracks may be blended or sugue at all. I then started wondering if that impacted the track times we have discussed.
I could be looking for things I want to see,..

[saintrik]

Since the track lengths for the 4 already released tracks are the same as the album versions, my guess is that the album is not segued.

Perhaps the "do not shuffle" is more to encourage an uninterrupted listening experience, or that R&K feel like their final track order is critical to the album journey.

Will be interesting to see how the Japanese CD bonus track either works with that order, or against it.

[TheBang]

All track runtimes here:
https://www.qobuz.com/nz-en/album/st.../wbjl275992f9a

Total album runtime: 68:24

That is the (digital) cover art. They could have different ones for the physical products though. High res artwork here:
https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/t...000x3000bb.png

Black Poppies is being released as a single tomorrow, and has its own cover art too:
https://www.qobuz.com/nz-en/album/bl.../puorsofzmdylc

[Dino3D]

Still don't understand what's going on with UW. What is this silence from them? All the album infos out there but they still haven't announced nothing, WTF is gonig on??

[Vancouver]

Originally Posted by Dino3D

Still don't understand what's going on with UW. What is this silence from them? All the album infos out there but they still haven't announced nothing, WTF is gonig on??

Thinking digital sites may have jumped the gun? Odd for that to happen in more than one site though....

[Dirty0900]

There’s a lot going on in the artwork. Like the subtle picture of Rick and Karl.

[negative1]

well, good to finally get news about the album.

the first single is very short though.....hmmmm.

well, time to update the discography listings again.

later
|| | ||| | |
ne gative 1

[aphasein]

So...... yeah. A lot to unpack here, including no Strawberry Hotel track itself, and Denver Luna and Gene Pool being the only long tracks. And no continuing with the recent cover style, and no reason really to even have the same logo font it's so small. And a really odd choice of photos/design overall, including the Black Poppies one. And some really odd song titles, even for them. And no actual news to fans or general public announcement. And I gotta stop. Careful what you wish for.....

[34958hq439-qjw9v5jq298v5j]

Originally Posted by aphasein

And some really odd song titles, even for them.

I remember when Oblivion With Bells came out half the people here thought the tracklisting was fake