New Björk album, Vulnicura, March 2015

NO! I've got my LP copy in hand right this minute and I'm busy admiring the "deluxe" sleeve! Maybe it's the US copies that are delayed?

 

BTW folks, I didn't want to spoil anyone's fun but just to put a few minds at ease, the "deluxe cover" is an acetate removable outer sleeve / slipcase. You can remove it and, voila, you have the "original cover" art underneath, so she's accounted for all tastes! Having removed the slipcase myself I found it very hard to insert the gate-fold sleeve back into the heavy gauge acetate slipcase. But hey, it's worth the effort - the presentation is beautiful. Picture inner sleeves with lyrics included, plus MP3 download voucher (what's an MP3? ). Tonight's listening session is now fully booked and taken care of!

 

Awesome, let us know how it sounds!

I'm slightly hopeful now that the vinyl will be in US stores tomorrow alongside the CD, but my gut tells me that it won't make it to this side of the pond until April 7, on account of international shipping and OLI's general incompetence at said shipping.

 

Both times I've listened to Vulnicura in its entirety, on MP3 and now on CD, Mouth Mantra stops the album cold. It makes sense conceptually, but it seems awfully loud and repetitive to stick at the tail end of a long album. Otherwise, the album is great.

 

I will be playing the LP in 2 hours time!

I have a question for you techies in the forum: the album comes with MP3 download code. Is it possible to properly upscale / convert the MP3's to WAV's and then burn a CD-R of them for the car? I have seen websites claiming this can be done but would it be the same as the original CD? If so, I assume you select 16 bits and 44.1KHz when converting the files as anything bigger or faster would not work burned to CD-R?

 

I'm wondering if the US pressing will be the same as the UK (or EU). If you don't mind, would you please post your LPs matrices so we can tell as soon as the US ones are released? Thanks.

 

Any media player such as iTunes will have functionality to burn MP3s to a CD that is playable in any CD player.

 

Yes this would be helpful, but I have a feeling there will be only one pressing of this that is distributed worldwide. Bjork isn't currently on any US label that I'm aware of. Even Biophilia was one pressing and the US copies simply had a Nonesuch barcode slapped on the back.

 

Rough Trade in NYC claims to be the only store in the US selling the LP until the official April 7 release date (scroll down in the comments):

https://instagram.com/p/0g0ns4H-zw/

 

But to clarify @SteveM not at cd quality since once data is lost in compression, it can't return.

Should sound fine in your car though - I do this quite bit.

 

Thanks for this. So what do you make of the sites that convert MP3 to WAV? If a CD can be played in any CD player with just MP3 files on it, what is the purpose of converting MP3's to WAV's in the first place? Does this not improve the sound or make it similar to the original uncompressed CD?

 

Well I listened to the album last night and here are a few of my thoughts. Firstly the album comes as 2 LP's which have so much static on them it is almost impossible to remove them from the sleeves! Not surprisingly my copy had bits all over the LP's as soon as I pulled them out. Why do record companies insist on using paper inners that scratch LP's? Under a tungsten light both LP's look very scuffed due to the tightness and grip of the rough paper inners. Straight into poly liners these went! On listening the quality of the production comes through quite well. There is oodles of bass and sub-sonic frequencies all over the map and the strings do sound very lush indeed. So far so good.

However, my copy exhibits annoying little crackles throughout. This album has many quiet spots and a silent pressing would really benefit it. This sadly isn't one of those pressings. Side B starts with a lot of surface noise but appears to quieten down after a minute or so. I also notice quite a lot of sibilence on the vocals which sound quite muted in places. This is not an album of Bjork screaming in your face. The vocals are quite delicate and soft. Maybe the mix is deliberately recessing the vocals but at times I yearned for a little more clarity and a little less mushiness.

LP no. 1 is as flat as a pancake and exhibits quite a glossy sheen. LP no. 2 looks like I've just attempted to wash it with the dirty dishes and let washing up soap dry all over it. The Lp is also dished like a fruit bowl, so apparently flat on Side D whilst raised on Side C - only the label touches the platter. In my experience this is becoming a very common problem with a lot of todays vinyl pressings and is one of my pet hates. Anyway both LP's play through without a loud click or pop in audible range. I think these LP's are probably about as good as we're ever going to get from mainstream labels for new releases.

The acetate sleeve is a great piece of artwork though my partner didn't approve of the ****** on the chest of the lady on the outer sleeve (is that really Bjork on there?) and thought it all alluded to S & M practices!

So what about the music? I have to be completely honest here and say that this album leaves me a bit cold. The first song "Stonemilker" is very good but not really one of her best, but the album never seems to retain even that level of consistency thereafter. I probably need to play it more and for this I will use my home-made CDR or possibly I'll pick up the CD. Somehow I think I'll be able to settle down and enjoy the album more on CD than vinyl. It isn't that I think it's particularly poor but there don't appear to be many "songs", just lyrical interludes set to background noise, sampled effects and glitchy electro beats. I don't think it's any better than "Volta" or "Biophilia" and certainly isn't better than "Medulla" but maybe I need more time with it.

I will look up the matrices when I get home later and post them here.

Rating(s) as of today:

Album - 6/10
Vinyl - 6/10

 

No better than those sites that upconvert from standard cd quality to high res - it doesn't work that way. Sort of like baking a cake without one of the key ingredients. It may look like a cake, but it isn't going to taste like one even if you sprinkle that ingredient onto the top of it afterwards. In my car, cds made with MP3s at 256 or 320 sound just fine with all the road and vehicle noises.

Thanks for your review of the vinyl album. Disappointing if that is the quality of the pressing in general - you might consider returning your copy. In terms of the album, you weren't moved or blown away by "Black Lake". To me that is the centerpiece of the album from an emotional and sonic perspective. But full disclosure, I'm coming off a divorce so take my point of view for what it is worth.

 

Thanks for the information. No, I won't return it as my past recent experience tells me it will more then likely be a fruitless exercise as most copies tend to be the same. Anyway it plays ok and I am nit-picking. Modern vinyl is not generally all that good so you have to lower your expectations a little.

I need to hear the album more, obviously.

 

Quick question - don't know whether to get the vinyl or CD. Is the CD mastered well, not too compressed etc, sound good?

 

I don't know but my MP3's sound fine on CD if that helps! How bad can the CD be if the MP3's sound pretty good? The vinyl is not earth-shattering in any way.

 

Disappointed to hear that about the pressing quality. Even though it would be unfortunate for you, I hope you just got a lemon copy and that this isn't widespread.

When I first heard samples of Vulnicura and realized how spare/quiet much of it was, I was pretty concerned about the LP pressing quality, because of course on quieter albums like this all the pressing defects come glaring through very easily.

This album needed to be pressed at Optimal.

 

I'd prefer Music On Vinyl to have pressed this to be honest. I've not been remotely impressed by anything from Optimal in the past 5 years.

 

Wow, all my Optimal pressings have been fantastic. I ordered the Led Zeppelin vinyl from the UK and Houses of the Holy has to be the quietest record in my collection. Also the new reissues from Broadcast, which were even cut in-house at Optimal, are phenomenal.

I'm looking forward to grabbing these... I'll echo Bryan's sentiment and hope that you just got a bad one. By the way, do you have an record cleaning machine? If so, did you try giving them a good soak?

 

No, I don't have an RCM. In fact, I don't as a rule clean records at all unless I pick up used LP's that are very dirty, but that's not something I do too often. I never wet clean vinyl.

I've had several Beatles Mono sets, Nick Drake reissues etc, all pressed by Optimal and ALL dished or warped or both. There are obviously major variations from batch to batch. Even ordering separate Beatles titles didn't help so I gave up.

 

So, who pressed it? No mention of GZ in the runout?

 

Thanks for the Vinyl review , sorry to hear yours is so bad ..........

 

It's not a GZ pressing, sadly.

No info in the run-out whatsoever, just the catalogue number which you can get from the sleeve spine: OLI TPLP 1231
There are, what could be three initials in the deadwax, but I doubt this is exactlly enlightening to anyone - "MPO"

 

MPO is a French pressing plant I believe, they pressed much of the indie vinyl from the 90's.

 

Yep. Got mine today, MPO in the runout as mentioned. Normally excellent quality, but I've got a noisy run in on all four sides which then continues over the start of the first song. Not especially pleased. Wondering if worth swapping or if all marred and I should just return it. Anyone got an MPO with quiet run ins?