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ARAB STRAP

Arab Strap

I’m Totally Fine With It - Don’t Give A F**k Anymore

    Following their critically-acclaimed UK Top 20 album “As Days Get Dark”, Arab Strap return with their 2nd long player for Mogwai’s Rock Action Records with the excellent titled “I’m totally fine with it - don’t give a fuck anymore”. Almost 28 years after their debut, Arab Strap have never sounded more essential, and this new record is a fierce testament to their laser focus on wider horizons. Written and performed exclusively by Malcolm Middleton & Aidan Moffat, and finessed with longtime collaborator Paul Savage, the album furthers the band’s transformation from swooning, slow-core romantics to raging, alt-pop chroniclers.

    STAFF COMMENTS

    Barry says: A typically massive sounding, visceral blast of indie-adjacent avant-pop and shadowy electronica that's both instantly recognisable as Arab Strap, but furthers their already vast sonic explorations. With the uncompromising wit of Moffat & Middleton shining through every note, this really couldn't have been done by anyone else.

    TRACK LISTING

    1. Allatonceness
    2. Bliss
    3. Sociometer Blues
    4. Hide YOur Fires
    5. Summer Season
    6. Molehills
    7. Strawberry Moon
    8. You’re Not There
    9. Haven’t You Heard
    10. Safe & Well
    11. Dreg Queen
    12. Turn Off The Light

    Belle And Sebastian

    The Boy With The Arab Strap - 25th Anniversary Pale Blue Artwork Edition

      Twenty-five years after its original release, Belle and Sebastian have produced their most popular album in limited pale blue artwork with matching coloured vinyl. This 25th Anniversary edition also includes an exclusive art print of behind-the-scenes photos from the promotional video for the album, taken by band member Sarah Martin.

      This limited pale blue colour artwork is reproduced in the original colour used in 1998 on the album’s promotional poster and T-shirt.

      The album was recorded in Glasgow at CaVa Studios during 1998. Videos were made at that time for Is It Wicked Not To Care, which inspired the 25th Anniversary art print, and Dirty Dream #2 (directed by Lance Bangs) which did not feature any band members.

      Belle and Sebastian were awarded Best Newcomer at the 1999 Brit Awards following the release of The Boy With The Arab Strap.

      Joining Stuart Murdoch on song writing duties on this album for the first time were band members Stevie Jackson, Isobel Campbell and Stuart David.

      The eponymous title track has become one of the most popular Belle and Sebastian songs and an iconic symbol of the live shows, when the band are ritually joined by their fans onstage as they dance to ‘The Boy With The Arab Strap’.


      TRACK LISTING

      A1. It Could Have Been A Brilliant Career
      A2. Sleep The Clock Around
      A3. Is It Wicked Not To Care?
      A4. Ease Your Feet In The Sea
      A5. A Summer Wasting
      A6. Seymour Stein
      B1. A Spaceboy Dream
      B2. Dirty Dream Number Two
      B3. The Boy With The Arab Strap
      B4. Chickfactor
      B5. Simple Things
      B6. The Rollercoaster Ride

      Arab Strap

      Aphelion

        These two songs were written, recorded and mixed during the sessions for Arab Straps' first album in forever "As Days Get Dark". As much as they loved them, they couldn't find a place for them on the final album. Maybe it's because they seem to have their own distinct identities, but sometimes a song just sounds better on its own, when it's not part of a crowd and vying for attention. So, to celebrate the anniversary of the album's release, we present As Days Get Dark's two runaway loners; a couple of black sheep who might not click with the rest of the family but, even though they aren't very happy, are still worth a cuddle.

        TRACK LISTING

        Side A - Aphelion
        Side B - Flutter

        Arab Strap

        As Days Get Dark

          “It's about hopelessness and darkness,” says Aidan Moffat. “But in a fun way.” The Arab Strap frontman is speaking about the band’s 7th studio album and their first since 2005’s The Last Romance. The band's exciting return saw the much lauded "The Turning of Our Bones" single achieve Record of the Week on Jo Whiley's BBC Radio 2 show and hit the B-list at BB6Music. The new album will appeal to longtime fans and pick up new ones who weren't ready for Arab Strap first time round!



          STAFF COMMENTS

          Barry says: It's hard to believe it's been 16 years since the great Arab Strap hit us with a full LP. Sure we've had Moffat's decidedly excellent solo work but there's something to be said for the superb, ironic and cleverly written melodies and singeable hooks that only Arab Strap can bring. Brilliantly listenable and perfectly timed.

          TRACK LISTING

          1 The Turning Of Our Bones
          2 Another Clockwork Day
          3 Compersion Pt. 1
          4 Bluebird
          5 Kebabylon
          6 Tears On Tour
          7 Here Comes Comus!
          8 Fable Of The Urban Fox
          9 I Was Once A Weak Man
          10 Sleeper
          11 Just Enough 

          Legendary Falkirk duo Arab Strap present a double album compilation celebrating with ‘20 songs for 20 years’, complementing a clutch of feverishly anticipated anniversary shows.

          Reflecting on a 20 year career that was as influential as it was controversial, the compilation highlights an extraordinary output that staunchly refused to conform to expectation. From the string-led sashay of ‘Shy Retirer’ to the piano-driven noir of ‘Love Detective’; the lo-fi crunch of ‘The Clearing’ to the spartan electronica of ‘Rocket, Take Your Turn’, Arab Strap were a fearless and resolutely original proposition from the minute the band regaled us all with tales of their ‘First Big Weekend’ back in 1996.

          Here’s Aidan on the tracklisting for ‘Arab Strap’: “We chose 20 songs - one for each year since we started - and decided to split them into two lots of 10. The first disc’s a kind of best-of, but we just stuck to the more electronic stuff for this - there’s so many different sounds going on in Arab Strap albums, so we wanted to make it a more coherent whole.

          “The second disc’s filled with rarities from EPs and b-sides and out-takes and stuff, so there’s some louder rock stuff on there. I think all of these songs could’ve been on the albums they were recorded for, but sometimes you’re trying to tell a story and they just don’t fit. This disc is more live drums and rock-y too, so anyone looking for the noise should hopefully be satisfied.”

          TRACK LISTING

          The First Big Weekend
          Love Detective
          Cherubs
          (Afternoon) Soaps
          Here We Go
          Rocket, Take Your Turn
          The Clearing
          Don’t Ask Me To Dance
          The Shy Retirer
          Turbulence
          The New Saturday
          We Know Where You Live
          Where We’ve Left Our Love
          To All A Goodnight
          Dead Air
          Daughters Of Darkness
          I Still Miss You
          Toy Fights
          Blackness
          Mustard

          Belle And Sebastian

          The Boy With The Arab Strap

            After 1997's "If You're Feeling Sinister" made them critics' darlings, Scottish octet Belle And Sebastian ran straight into a series of label woes, and into the inevitable feeding frenzy that surrounds a free agent with their prodigious talents. Their experience with one label exec is detailed in "Seymour Stein" on "The Boy With The Arab Strap", which finds theband building on the pastoral pop charms of "Sinister...", adding a palpable layer of anger and an increasingly rich sonic palette to their painfully shy tales of despair.

            Near-overnight success taught the band a lot. This album moves from their trademark confessional diary sketches (still in abundance, as on the disarmingly naive "Is It Wicked Not To Care", and the tender "Rollercoaster Ride") to genuine social criticism, as on the title track, a narrative meditation on Britain's pretensions and societal ills. "Chickfactor" pulls apart the banality the band encountered on arrival in New York, an experience which only served to deepen the bashful anger that makes Belle and Sebastian so endearing.

            TRACK LISTING

            1. It Could Have Been A Brilliant Career
            2. Sleep The Clock Around
            3. Is It Wicked Not To Care
            4. Ease Your Feet In The Sea
            5. A Summer Wasting
            6. Seymour Stein
            7. A Space Boy Dream
            8. Dirty Dream Number Two
            9. The Boy With The Arab Strap
            10. Chickfactor
            11. Simple Things
            12. The Rollercoaster Ride

            Arab Strap

            The Weekend Never Starts Round Here

              The debut album from Glasgow's finest, "The Week Never Starts Round Here" is collection of tales about love, life and alcohol. A bleak and dark affair focussing on the pain and turmoil of a failed relationship, rubbish jobs with worse wages and a love for Kate Moss - all set to the most brooding music. It includes surely one of the best debut singles ever, the fantastic "The First Big Weekend".

              Arab Strap

              Monday At The Hug And Pint

                After a short break to work on solo projects (Lucky Pierre and Malcolm's solo album), Arab Strap return with a brand new album. Bolstered by the full-time involvement of Stacey Sievwright and Jenny Reeve on violin and cello, the album tells tales on familiar Arab Strap themes of love, loss, depression and hope. The intervention of various friends: Conor and Mike from Bright Eyes, Bill Wells and Barry Burns from Mogwai, makes the album their most diverse to date, switching from piano ballads to spiteful guitars to wistfull Scottish folk and glassy eyed bar-room sing-a-longs.


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