Description: Reissue, originally released in 1989. After Dinner's Paradise of Replica is a concise nugget of tomfoolery that occupies a whimsical no man's land between art pop, Japanese folk music, and full-assed Art Zoydian avant proggery. Gentle, arcane and covertly sweeping, it typifies that friendly strain of experimentalism that Eastern music seems so predisposed towards and which curious minds find such great delight in. Assembled by the enigmatic chanteuse and composer known simply as Haco, After Dinner was less a band and more of a loose art collective that utilized a plurality of different musical disciplines stapled together through free improvisation sessions. And some of this does come through on Paradise of Replica -- the record is a scrapbook of bells, strings, and koto humming under Haco's ethereal vocals, and the effect, while perfectly tuneful, does come off more as a musical project than a conventional album. But Paradise of Replica is far from an impenetrable scholastic endeavor -- in fact, there's something of an Elephant 6-like quality in its ability to warp conventions while still coming off more or less like pop music. Counter to the ramshackle hostility of much improvised music, After Dinner's choices are melodious and feel deliberately sequenced. Even crescendos don't tend to rise above a murmur, and there are even apparent hooks on tracks like "A Walnut" and "Ironclad Mermaid." Ultimately, there's not much to be said about Paradise of Replica that can elucidate more than actually hearing it will be able to. Proggy, playful, and lush, it's a brief glimpse into something in the vicinity of genius, and just outside the realm of commercial music. It's a quietly bold project that shows a softer side of the avant-garde, and makes a perfect companion to Stereolab and Magma at once. SHIPPING / ORDER INFORMATION:Orders with a value of $30 or less: $5.50 per order: USPS Media Mail (includes tracking). Orders with a value of $30 or greater: $6.50: USPS Media Mail (includes tracking, insurance). In either case, if you paid multiple shipping charges when checking out, all overage will be refunded to you! Some items may have a mandatory service based on value or type of item (for example: USPS Priority). Examples: high value and non-media items. All packages ship media mail unless requested by the buyer to ship another method (the difference for upgrading will be covered by the buyer). Orders are shipped out twice per week, but not on set days - it just depends on the volume. You will not see tracking info posted until the package is ready to go out the door (from which point they get dropped off that night or the following day depending on when they're being worked on). SHIPPING and PACKAGING (updated 10/09/22):Shipping is a flat $5.50 per order (apologies on the $4.50 referenced on the listings - these will slowly be changed). Orders over $50 include insurance. Orders over $100 ship for free. All packages ship media mail unless requested by the buyer to ship another method (the difference for upgrading will be covered by the buyer). Orders are shipped out twice per week, but not on set days - it just depends on the volume. You will not see tracking info posted until the package is ready to go out the door (from which point they get dropped off that night or the following day depending on when they're being worked on). Records that are shrink-wrapped will ship sealed unless otherwise requested by the buyer. Records that are in poly-sleeves or resealable sleeves will be removed from the jacket to prevent damage. For LPs, we use brand new mailers, Bags Unlimited's standard- design heavy duty mailers. Please note we do not do refunds for minor wear that occurs during transit (corner dings, seam split on a sealed record, etc). The orders are packed with quality supplies and a lot of care, but once in awhile we all get packages that get have been roughly handled along the way. If you're preferring your order to be packed a specific way, just send over a message and we can sort it out! TRACKING ISSUES (updated 05/15/22):All packages are dropped off at the Phoenix, AZ hub. The benefit of this is it will save a couple of days of transit (as all AZ mail is processed through the hub before leaving state). The disadvantage is that they are not consistent in doing a receival scan. With many packages, your first scan may not pop up until it arrives at another distribution center (sometimes with a phantom AZ scan minutes before it). Some packages are making it to buyers across the country in three days, some are sitting for a month on end in various USPS black holes (Phoenix Annex, Jersey City, Bell Gardens - if you ever look at tracking info, these names are surely familiar to you)! Because of this very abnormal and sporadic delay, orders will need to be considered "in transit" for the duration of the time that USPS indicates the order is still "in transit" which is an annoyance that requires patience from everyone involved. CONDITION (updated 05/15/22):Almost all of the records for sale are NEW. Although there's been records made new without being sealed for decades, some people are convinced that all records come sealed - of course they do not, but as a precaution it's being disclosed. (Believe it or not I have had PayPal claims come through because of a record being "new" but not sealed). When the records are NEW, but not sealed, the record is not removed from the inner sleeve to inspect for quality. The first time it is pulled out will be when the buyer pulls it out. This is important to note as increasingly, new records frequently come with light surface marks, finger prints - etc - doesn't matter if it's DIY release or a professionally packaged-at-the-plant release, these things are packaged by hand. If you're unhappy with the quality of a NEW release, the suggestion will be to contact the label that released it. There is always the potential for minor wear to the corners to occur during shipping even though the Bags Unlimited mailers are heavy duty and nice. If a release arrives from a distributor with observable wear, it will be noted in the listing.
Price: 27 USD
Location: Tempe, Arizona
End Time: 2024-12-17T03:47:45.000Z
Shipping Cost: 5.5 USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
All returns accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted
Artist: After Dinner
Record Label: Aguirre Records
Format: Record
Release Year: 2022
Release Title: Paradise of Replica
Genre: Rock