So now that I have an old school record player, I’m delving into a few vinyl releases I’ve accrued over the last couple of months. The first one was the excellent Judgements LP by hardcore act Protestant, and now, I’m moving onto a different genre altogether. To a release that’s not really needed for its musical merit, but as a piece of vinyl art.

And This is Why I Speak to You in Parables is a two track (or one track really, just two versions) limited edition (500 made) vinyl LP from Portland’s psychedelic sludge rock act White Orange. As it stands, the music is a pretty enjoyable fuzzed out psychedelic rock, with a catchy, simple riff repeated over and over and spiced with some hazy solos and waffling clean vocals. To me, it sounds a little like ’90s grunge and alternative rock on barbiturates. That being said, this particular medium is meant for this kind of music as  the crackling vinyl seems to be engrained into the track’s warm main riff.

On one side of the LP there’s the full 13-minute version of the track “And This is Why I Speak to You in Parables”, which is the track sandwiched between some samplings and esoteric spoken words of someone I should probably know. The other side is a condensed 5-minute version of the song called “The Middle of the Riddle” that gets right to the fuzzy goodness inside.

However, the draw of this weighty LP is the artwork: The cover art and the 13-minute side is a detailed Ceremonial Seal by none other than Aleister Crowley and the 5-minute side is a gorgeous piece of Mastodon/Paul Romano-ish art by gentleman named Raul Casillas. And to be honest, with the actual music (and only 20 minutes or so of it) not being something I’d typically listen to, this LP was a bout five seconds away from being a clock in my basement. I’d say vinyl aficionados might appreciate this limited edition LP more than me.

[Visit the band's website]

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