THE LINES – hull down – OUT NOW
As of this past friday, “hull down” by The Lines is available to purchase on LP or via digital, stream digital and soon on CD as well in limited quantities. I don’t need to go on and on about how cool this record is, about how surprising a mix of post-punk, new wave, krautrock, dub, electronics, acoustics, songwriting, tape-editing it is. I do want to share some more info about it from others, and maybe say a thing or two about it.
First, make sure you check out Rico’s blog Rico’s Reel where the latest post is a track by track run down of the LP with insights into the history and production of the material. Especially good reading for the gear nerds our there.
Second, make sure you tune into dublab this Wednesday, May 18th at 10am when Rico will join Ale (Alejandro Cohen of Languis, Pharaos and Psychic Powers) on the air. Interview? DJ? Talk Radio? Not sure but looking forward to it!
Third, there’s been some kind words written online that are worth checking out, like this review from Loud and Quiet, Tim Gabriele’s short but sweet write-up here, this extensive article with contributions from Rico at Cold War Night Life, Red Bull Music Academy’s interview going deeper into Rico’s 80s productions, or Andy Kellman’s review on Allmusic comparing hull down to Cabaret Voltaire and On-U sound and giving me official commendation for my work with Acute, which I initially read as condemnation.
Finally, just wanted to give a tiny bit of background about this release from our perspective. One of the most fun things about doing a reissue label is when you begin discussing reissuing a favorite artists recordings and they tell you they’ve got some unreleased stuff and would you like to hear that as well? I’m really proud of the various bonus-tracks and previously unreleased material that has been strewn throughout the small Acute catalog and this is another fantastic example.
I first got in touch with Rico as far back as 2003, around the time of our first releases. It took 5 years to get our Lines CDs out (Memory Span compiling the singles and Flood Bank the LPs for those not keeping track). At some point during that Rico first mentioned these tracks, sometimes referred to as just “the 1983 album”. Of course I was beyond excited to get to hear this stuff and when I finally did…what can I say, it blew me away.
It was clearly the Lines, many of the trademarks that made the singles and LPs so great, but was a clear development from that material, which only made sense as they were always moving forward. And it isn’t just a single direction but represented exploration in several directions, some of their most experimental music and some of their catchiest songs. Some of it exciting in it’s rawness and immediacy, some of it shocking in it’s sublime beauty. It was a no-brainer, Acute definitely wanted to release this, perhaps not long after the initial 2 CDs, so sometime around 2010?
Well things don’t always work out as planned. Rico found the time to get back to it and put it shape, then Acute got a bit quiet and continued it’s uniquely deliberate and thoughtful pace (read: slow). By the time we jumped on the lucrative and forward-thinking vinyl bandwagon hull down was definitely gonna be. By then still only a few people had even heard the material. A few friends and special fans of the band had the chance to preview it and of course were blown away. But as before, life and laziness gets in the way and for various reasons I decided it was time to put Acute Records to rest. But not before at least one last release, something that we had long been hoping to do and promising to do. Being that it’s an extension of 2 CDs that were GREAT Acute CDs from back then and being a great collection of unheard stuff really made it seem like an ideal and appropriate way to go out. All this essentially being written to say….sorry it took so long!