Welcome Abroad by People Like Us
Continuing our ambitious People Like Us vinyl reissue program with Welcome Aboard – a strangely relevant 10-year-old album (originally released in May 2011) when People Like Us aka Vicki Bennett became stranded in the US after the Icelandic Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption closed much of northern Europe’s airspace.
Volcanically marooned in Baltimore and NYC, Bennett utilized some of her “free” time to work on the album and even gained audio contributions from fellow experimental musicians Jason Willett (of Half Japanese) and M.C. Schmidt (of Matmos) via her extended stay
Bennett derived thematic material of displacement, travel, and a longing for elsewhere from the natural disaster that caused her own predicament. Now strangely echoed by the Covid-19 outbreak and the various grounding of planes and stay at home policies worldwide.
While the general mashup culture often centres on the instant gratification of seamlessly juxtaposing hooks, People Like Us tracks transform the source material into collages that are equal parts dissonance and pleasure, making artful commentaries on our culture and Bennett’s own existential amusement within such a wondrous world. No one could have predicted how relevant this album would have been 10 years later.
Volcanoes or Viruses, Welcome Abroad is what happens when you’re stranded due to a freak natural occurrence trapping people all over the world and causing mass plane cancellations.
Tracklist
| 1. | Sing | 3:25 |
| 2. | Happy Lost Songs (CD/Digital only) | 3:09 |
| 3. | Stuck in USSR (CD/Digital only) | 0:37 |
| 4. | The Look (CD/Digital only) | 7:38 |
| 5. | Help Me To Help Myself (CD/Digital only) | 1:49 |
| 6. | What Will I Do | 4:47 |
| 7. | Lost In The Dark (CD/Digital only) | 2:36 |
| 8. | Push The Clouds Away | 2:57 |
| 9. | The Sound Of The End Of Music | 3:38 |
| 10. | Wonderful Wonderful | 5:59 |
| 11. | Driving Flying Rising Falling | 5:34 |
| 12. | Ever | 2:36 |
| 13. | Hush | 2:15 |
| 14. | Wandering | 7:34 |
| 15. | The Seven Hills Of Rome (CD/Digital only) | 4:47 |
| 16. | You've Got To Know When (CD/Digital only) | 1:34 |
| 17. | The Atlantic Conveyor | 2:51 |
Credits
*the Digital/CD version has more tracks than the vinyl. Everyone ordering the vinyl will get the extra bonus tracks as digital download.
License
All rights reserved.Tags
Discrepant: inconsistent; conflicting; at variance [from Latin discrepāns, from discrepāre to differ in sound, from dis-1 + crepāre to be noisy]