Cud – Louise / Mexico (2013) and Life as a Space Cudet

This particular record by Leeds band Cud has not quite reached the loft but my rules for writing this blog are getting looser with time and frankly, if I don’t write about Cud soon I might just burst. So acquiring their recent double a-side Louise/Mexico (signed!) at a recent gig is all the excuse I need.

Cud were a massive band to me in my early 20s. I was a student in West Yorkshire in the late ’80s /early ’90s, living in a grubby shared house, each room strewn with old copies of the NME and Melody Maker. While we were friends with the usual student-y common interests, at that tender age much of our identity was defined by the bands we listened to. Or perhaps pretended to. But with Cud no pretence was needed…

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The Art of the 12” Single. And a Cry for Help.

Much of my vinyl attic “archive” (as I never refer to it) is made up of 12” singles. I think the first one I ever bought was Thompson Twins’ King For a Day picture disc, sadly no longer in my possession and probably thrown out when my sense of undergraduate post-modern irony was underdeveloped. Which makes me wonder what that Rick Astley one is still doing in there…? And that’s where my problem lies…

I might buy more vinyl if…

I might be tempted to buy more modern vinyl if…

1. I always received a cd version or a copy to download as part of the package.

2. Release dates weren’t pushed back while equivalent CD and download dates stayed the same (take note De La Soul,The Breeders…alright Mr Bowie, you’re sort of excused).

3. I didn’t have to pay silly prices compared to CDs and downloads. Unless I got a cd or download with it, of course.

4. Replacing my record deck didn’t mean my budget only stretched to something half decent that still needed the drive-belt re-threading just to change the speed.

5. And with my new deck I didn’t have to mess around with counterweights and “anti-skate weights” just to make the needle stay on the record.

6. I genuinely thought the sound quality was better (when the needle stayed on, that is).

7. Given the prices, someone could convince me that the artist benefitted more from a vinyl purchase.

8. There was less snobbery about vinyl.

9. It didn’t feel like the resurgence still might be a fad?

Discuss…?

 

 

Happy Record Store Day

I’ll probably give record store day a miss this year. My dislike of queuing and sheer lack of independent record shops where I am this weekend makes it very hard for me to take part. Plus there’s not much I really want from the list (a Kate Bush 12″ and Wedding Present ep sung in German were the only things that interested me) and I go to record stores all the time anyway. I don’t need to be told by BBC 6Music to go. So I shouldn’t feel guilty.

Our piano

We have a piano in our house. It’s digital but sounds and plays as near as dammit to the real thing. I bought it as a present a little while ago for my wife. She was always playing the one at her parents’ house when we visited and we had often talked about getting one if we ever had the space. And she plays beautifully for someone who has not had any lessons since she was a child.