Nocturnal Koreans
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Rockfield Studios outside Rockfield, Monmouthshire, Wales, UK
- Brighton Electric, Brighton, England, UK
- Swim studio, London, England, UK
| Nocturnal Koreans | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 22 April 2016 | |||
| Recorded | 2014–2015 | |||
| Studio |
| |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 25:55 | |||
| Label | Pinkflag (PF23CD / PF23LP) | |||
| Producer | Colin Newman | |||
| Wire chronology | ||||
| ||||
Nocturnal Koreans is a mini-album and the fifteenth studio album by British post-punk band Wire. It was released on 22 April 2016 through the band's own Pinkflag label.[1]
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AnyDecentMusic? | 7.4/10[2] |
| Metacritic | 78/100[3] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [4] |
| The Arts Desk | [5] |
| Consequence of Sound | B−[6] |
| The Guardian | [7] |
| The Irish Times | [8] |
| The Line of Best Fit | 7.5/10[9] |
| Monsters and Critics |  [10] |
| Pitchfork | 7/10[11] |
| PopMatters | 7/10[12] |
| Spin | 8/10[13] |
| TeamRock | [14] |
| Under the Radar | 8.5/10[15] |
The album grew out of tracks initially recorded for Wire's self-titled 2015 album. At that time, the band had recorded a total of 19 tracks, 11 of which were selected for WIRE.
In a press release for the album, however, guitarist and singer Colin Newman, drew a distinction between the material selected for WIRE and that for Nocturnal Koreans: “The WIRE album was quite respectful of the band, and Nocturnal Koreans is less respectful of the band—or, more accurately, it’s the band being less respectful to itself—in that it’s more created in the studio, rather than recorded basically as the band played it, which was mostly the case with WIRE. A general rule for this record was: any trickery is fair game, if it makes it sound better.”[16]
Accolades
On 21 April 2016, Stereogum named Nocturnal Koreans their album of the week.[17]
| Publication | Accolade | Year | Rank | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Quietus | Albums of the Year 2016 | 2016 | 94 |
Track listing
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Nocturnal Koreans" | Graham Lewis | Colin Newman (song) / Wire (music) | 2:58 |
| 2. | "Internal Exile" | Lewis | Newman (song) / Wire (music) | 2:54 |
| 3. | "Dead Weight" | Newman | Newman (song) / Wire (music) | 3:03 |
| 4. | "Forward Position" | Lewis | Newman (song) / Wire (music) | 4:50 |
| 5. | "Numbered" | Newman | Newman (song) / Wire (music) | 2:30 |
| 6. | "Still" | Lewis | Newman (song) / Wire (music) | 3:29 |
| 7. | "Pilgrim Trade" | Lewis | Newman (song) / Wire (music) | 3:11 |
| 8. | "Fishes Bones" | Lewis | Robert Grey, Lewis, Newman, Matthew Simms (song) / Wire (music) | 3:02 |
| Total length: | 25:55 | |||
Personnel
Adapted from the album liner notes.[19]
- Wire
- Colin Newman – vocals [1–7], electric guitar [1–8], baritone electric guitar [3], acoustic guitar [2, 5, 7], keyboards [1–8], mandola [7], beatbox [1], production, engineering, mixing
- Graham Lewis – bass guitar [1–3, 5–8], vocals [3, 4, 8], MS-10 [3, 5], loops [8], inside photography
- Robert Grey – drums [1–3, 5–8], glass [4], percussion [8]
- Matthew Simms – electric guitar [1–8], lap steel guitar [1, 2, 4], acoustic guitar [2], trumpet [2], modular synth [5], piano [8], fx [4]
- Production
- Sean Douglas – engineering
- Denis Blackham – mastering
- Jon Wozencroft – art direction, photography
