Black Marble: A Different Arrangement (Colored Vinyl) Vinyl LP - Turntable Lab Exclusive - LIMIT 1 PER CUSTOMER

If you’ve never been able to get over the sound of the drums on “Charlotte Sometimes”, welcome brothers and sisters, we’ve been saving a seat for you. A Different Arrangement is the 2012 debut LP from New York coldwave reanimators Black Marble, then a duo comprised of Chris Stewart and Ty Kube but since reduced to a Stewart solo project. The band’s first album marries the instant accessibility of classic New Order singles with the icy austerity of some band reissued by Minimal Wave you’ve never heard of, brimming with catchy picked bass, discordant synths and husky vocals. Opener “Cruel Summer” gets straight to the point with what remains the band’s finest ever bassline and one of Stewart’s catchiest hooks. The robotic coldwave of “UK,” “Safe Minds” and “Limitations” are enough to turn you to stone, but occasional moments of warmth ooze through the cold steel framework: “A Great Design” and “MSQ No-Extra” hint at a sentimental cadence Stewart would later perfect on It’s Immaterial. To think you’ve been wasting your time listening to the Stranger Things soundtrack when this record’s been under your nose for the better part of a decade. Turntable Lab exclusive ‘blown out black’ colored vinyl edition limited to 300, recommended.

➸ BONUS: Read our Q+A with Black Marble's Chris Stewart from 2019

• Turntable Lab exclusive
• ’blown out black’ colored vinyl
• limit (1) per customer
• limited edition of 300
• music label: Hardly Art 2020
• TTL Editions 040

reviewed by KY Tube 11/2020