View basket “The Cinderella Story” has been added to your basket. shapes & colors abracadabra SKU: MELO135LP Barcode: 5060168043658 19.00 £19.00 Genre: Electronica Label: Melodic Released Date: 20th January 2023 Buying Format: 1LP Out of stock Back Order Add to your Wishlist Description Product Info ‘shapes & colors’ shimmies with the charismatic energy of ESG, Tom Tom Club, Lizzy Mercier Descloux, and the dub hits of King Tubby, the melodic sensibilities of Prince, Stereolab, and idiosyncratic Deerhoof offering an ornate alternative to traditional guitar pop chord progressions as they layer wrecking ball-sized danceable motifs to rumble the dust off the cars on the street from the nearby concrete factory. If you find the time, please come and stay a while in abracadabra’s beautiful neighbourhood; a magically wonky wonderland where strangers leave as friends to a block party soundtrack as eclectic as it is infectious. The California duo’s album shapes & colors is a dazzling collage of psych-fuelled synthscapes and contemporary Baroque-pop of anti-capitalist movements and escapism, precisely pieced around their own working lives in a blue-collar town. In the heart of Oakland’s industrial Jingletown above a former auto-repair shop in what was once a mechanics’ break room where poker rounds ensued, Hannah Skelton (Vocals, Synthesizers) and Chris Niles, (Bass, Synthesizers) constructed the angular 80s-tinged anthems (think John Hughes montages to Talking Heads) of their new album, to positively offset the pandemic’s amplification of dysfunctional society. “It reflects our current reality: a huge mess that is systematically broken but isn’t entirely lost,” Hannah tells. “We’re inviting listeners to conjure up every drop of hope and willpower left inside them, pour that into the giant vat of anger and frustration bubbling inside us all, and with this potion collectively enact the necessary change to bring love and light into this dark space.” When Covid forced Hannah from her salon in San Francisco to become a backyard mobile hairdresser, what she saw inspired them both and the lyrical foundations for their new record. “I’d drive to mansions and people would complain about how hard the pandemic had been next to their swimming pool and tennis courts.” First meeting after the album’s co-producer Jason Kick (Mild High Club, Sonny and the Sunsets) recruited the pair for a Halloween band covering Eurythmics’ art-rock debut ‘In The Garden,’ the pair hit it off and shapes & colors is a product of the years that followed. It combines Chris’ own rhythmic demos following years on the road touring and opening for Amon Tobin, Matthew Dear and Generationals in Maus Haus with Hannah’s lyrical musings honed from project Cassiopeia, so even when topics are as heavy as the beats, they’re met with luminously positive arrangements of hope and warmth. The by-product of a psychedelic New Year’s Eve escaping a monotonous 2020 reality, the title track itself captures fireworks over East Oakland as viewed from the pair’s couch whilst listening to Mort Garson’s Plantasia for 6 hours straight. The daydream collage of ‘inyo county’ is “a little souvenir taking me back into the bottled-up essence of a slow lazy morning, waking up in bed far from home,” Hannah tells recalling those enforced stay-at-home days. “It fell out of me because I was craving that blissful flavour.” Meanwhile ‘dawn of the age of aquarius’s new parallel reality evolved from a happy accident when their demos had reset to a drone which Jason reworked into a Laurie Anderson-esque breathy vocoder effect. Even bloops and beeps from a forgotten recording session at the Vintage Synthesizer Museum in Emeryville can be heard, where the pair used Mini Moog, Fairlight EMI and ARP 2600 to arrange their sound into shapes whilst distortion and dirt from mixing on 1979 Neve 5313 Console added to the recordings’ color. Casting a brighter rainbow still, in all its pastel-hued glory, Hannah, also illustrated a self-portrait of the band for the album artwork. “It reflects our makeshift recording studio to encapsulate all aspects of that time and space,” she shares of their abode where, over an intense two-week period and fuelled by the aroma of fermenting vino from the winery below, their single chord, bass and drum-heavy, groove-first momentum took them on an unexpected journey whilst the next-door couple would fire pizzas in their yard and a grandfather across the road would sweep the street clean. “We’d drink coffee and start the day, consistently working, without interruption,” Chris tells of finding their flow. “The loft is a cool space with skylights, tall ceilings and no shared walls so we could be as loud as we wanted to be.” Just as well. Diving into decades of electronica and crunchy sound effects, field recordings and animal sounds, blended with an infectious Latin influence, shapes & colors is bolstered by live percussionists Greg Poneris (drums), K. Dylan Edrich (Vocals, Percussion: congas, bongos, chimes, cow bells and wood blocks, tone drum and tri-tone whistle) and Tom Smith (Guitar, Synthesizers, Vocals). NIMBY crews grab those earplugs now. abracadabra is your new noisy neighbour, and there’s no turning this party down. Artist abracadabra Genre Electronica Label Melodic Buying Options 1LP Format 1LP Condition New Country UK Track Listings talk talk in a photo telling time swim inyo county don't like u impactor at the zoo shapes & colors dawn of the age of aquarius Share this On Facebook On Twitter Via Email More from Electronica View Product Quick View Die Antwoord Mount Ninji And Da Nice Time Kid Electronica | Zef Recordz | 2LP, Gatefold Sleeve, Includes Download Code Released 25th November 2016 £21.00 Add to basket Reserve View Reservations Die Antwoord Mount Ninji And Da Nice Time Kid £21.00 Genre: Electronica Label: Zef Recordz SKU: ZEF004VL Formats: 2LP, Gatefold Sleeve, Includes Download Code Released Date: 25th November 2016 Reserve View Reservations Read More Add to basket View Product Quick View Proc Fiskal Siren Spine Sysex Electronica | Hyperdub | 2LP Released 24th September 2021 £19.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Proc Fiskal Siren Spine Sysex £19.00 Genre: Electronica Label: Hyperdub SKU: HDBLP059 Formats: 2LP Released Date: 24th September 2021 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Daniel Avery Song For Alpha Electronica | Phantasy Sound | 2LP Released 6th April 2018 £18.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Daniel Avery Song For Alpha £18.00 Genre: Electronica Label: Phantasy Sound SKU: PHLP09 Formats: 2LP Released Date: 6th April 2018 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Ratatat Magnifique Electronica | Because Music | 180g, 1LP Released 17th July 2015 £17.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Ratatat Magnifique £17.00 Genre: Electronica Label: Because Music SKU: 5060421561608 Formats: 180g, 1LP Released Date: 17th July 2015 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Various Artists Electro compiled by Joey Negro Electronica | Z Records | 2LP Released 17th February 2017 £21.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Various Artists Electro compiled by Joey Negro £21.00 Genre: Electronica Label: Z Records SKU: ZEDDLP40 Formats: 2LP Released Date: 17th February 2017 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Boards Of Canada Hi Scores Electronica | Skam | 1LP Released 24th August 2018 £11.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Boards Of Canada Hi Scores £11.00 Genre: Electronica Label: Skam SKU: SKA008 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 24th August 2018 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Nosaj Thing Continua Electronica | Lucky Me | 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released 27th January 2023 £23.00 - £24.00 Select options Nosaj Thing Continua £23.00 - £24.00 Genre: Electronica Label: Lucky Me Formats: 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released Date: 27th January 2023 Read More Select options View Product Quick View Forest Swords Compassion Electronica | Ninja Tune | 180g, 1LP, Coloured Vinyl, Gatefold Sleeve, Includes Download Code Released 4th May 2017 £20.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Forest Swords Compassion £20.00 Genre: Electronica Label: Ninja Tune SKU: ZEN243X Formats: 180g, 1LP, Coloured Vinyl, Gatefold Sleeve, Includes Download Code Released Date: 4th May 2017 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Black Lodge Bitter Blood: A Collection Of Archival Recordings Electronica | Disciples | 1LP Released 20th July 2018 £17.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Black Lodge Bitter Blood: A Collection Of Archival Recordings £17.00 Genre: Electronica Label: Disciples SKU: DISC1 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 20th July 2018 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Gas Narkopop Electronica | Kompakt | 3LP, Includes CD Released 21st April 2017 £59.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Gas Narkopop £59.00 Genre: Electronica Label: Kompakt SKU: Kompakt371 Formats: 3LP, Includes CD Released Date: 21st April 2017 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders See more in Electronica Start again
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