Lindstrøm
It's Alright Between Us as It Is
Release Date: Oct 20, 2017
Genre(s): Electronic
Record label: Smalltown Supersound
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Album Review: It's Alright Between Us as It Is by Lindstrøm
Very Good, Based on 10 Critics
Based on rating 8/10
Hans-Peter Lindstrøm tends to switch between a few different modes for his full-length and EP releases. While he's best known for his gliding, shimmering space disco tracks, he's also explored glittery disco-pop on Real Life Is No Cool (with Christabelle) and wacked-out prog on albums like Six Cups of Rebel and the Todd Rundgren collaboration Runddans. The 2017 full-length It's Alright Between Us as It Is arrives a year after Windings, a fine three-song EP of straight-ahead floor-fillers, but the Norwegian producer had delved into a few more pop-oriented productions during the preceding years, such as the single "Home Tonight" (with Grace Hall) and a remix of "I Know There's Something Going On" by Frida (ABBA's Anni-Frid Lyngstad).
Based on rating 4/5
O slo producer Hans-Peter Lindstrøm, already known for being pretty cosmic, went further out than ever before with his last album, a collaboration with Todd Rundgren that turned them both to spaghetti in a psychedelic black hole. He's now back out the other side, making his traditional "space disco", but with some beautiful acid-flashback flourishes. Spire and Tensions evoke cocktail hour at an Ibizan villa, before But Isn't It and Shinin nicely showcase house and Italo songcraft.
Based on rating 7.5/10
Many artists need at least a couple releases to find their footing, but some knock it out of the park with their first album. A smaller number don't just have celebrated debuts, they have even-more-celebrated opening tracks to those debuts. Think Violent Femmes, with 'Blister in the Sun' on their self-titled album, or 'Just Like Honey' from The Jesus and Mary Chain's Psychocandy.
Based on rating 7/10
It may seem odd to UK/US audiences, but Hans-Peter Lindstrøm is a legit star in his native Norway. A four-time Spellemannsprisen (Norwegian Grammys, three as a solo act, one collaboration) winner in the Electronica category, Lindstrøm's disco-indebted style has entertained and worked with practically every Scandinavian DJ there is to work with, including, notably, Olsen Records label-mate and recent breakout star Todd Terje. In a post-It's Album Time world too, it would be hard for Terje fans to not hear the clear parallels between two, however, it is Lindstrøm that has very much been leading the way for dance music in Norway for the past decade.
Based on rating 6.5/10
The heyday of "space disco"--in its Scandinavian, endurance-length format--is a decade behind us now, but the brightest stars in that galaxy have demonstrated some serious longevity. Between his dotty collaboration with fellow disconaut Todd Terje ("Lanzarote"), 2012's perfectly formed Smalhans, and last year's colossal "Closing Shot," there's an argument that Hans-Peter Lindstrøm's most dazzling dancefloor moments have all arrived at a rather advanced stage of his career, more than a decade after his first 12". It's Alright Between Us as It Is marks the Oslo artist's first solo full-length since 2012's Six Cups of Rebel, a wacky, inscrutable epic which left dancers perplexed rather than perspiring.
Based on rating 6.5/10
Hans-Peter Lindstrøm is one of the rare few in electronic dance music who has maintained his underground credibility, achieved mainstream recognition, and not compromised his creativity, all the while releasing his music independently. The Norwegian producer is on his fifth solo album, It's Alright Between Us As It Is. This comes five years after his last full-length, Smalhans, during which time he has steadily been releasing collaborative singles and been very busy with remixes for the likes of Foals, Grizzly Bear, Best Coast, and Mark Ronson.
Based on rating 6/10
Like judging a book by its cover, or a man by his shoes, album titles are constructed to offer a jumping-off point, a kind of vague feeling, without delving much deeper. That said (and you may realise where this is going), the more I listen to Lindstrøm 's new studio album, the more I'm convinced that it's the perfect summary of what he's created. Norwegian electronica producer Hans-Peter Lindstrøm is often lazily misattributed to 'disco', when in fact he's never produced a disco record in his life.
Based on rating 3/5
H ans-Peter Lindstrøm has more than a decade's easy-going electronic percolation to his name. Lumbered with the "space disco" tag thanks to his love of an analogue synth wobble, Lindstrøm's output can include 10-minute workouts of an avant-garde Boredoms track or the sort of polite female vocals people expect to hear on unthreatening dance tunes - Grace Hall's pleasantries on Shinin' fit that bill on his fourth solo album while the infinitely more interesting Jenny Hval crops up on a superior Bungl (Like a Ghost). Strip away the vocals, though, and these tracks - even Shinin' - are powerful perpetual motion machines indebted as much to jazz (Under Trees) and house (Tensions) as disco; you want to start singing Don't You Want Me by the Human League at the start of Spire.
Based on rating 6/10
Norwegian producer Hans-Peter Lindstrøm, usually so sure-footed, has made a rare misstep with his latest long-player, the awkwardly titled It's Alright Between Us As It Is. It's a thoughtful and textured album, but it's also safe and at times even boring — and will almost certainly disappoint those weaned on the starry-eyed exuberance of 2012's Smallhans, or Windings, his outstanding EP from 2016. That an artist's latest work differs from what preceded it certainly isn't grounds for criticism in and of itself, and this should go ….
Opinion: Fairly Good
There are many musical genres in the world, and most have brilliantly ridiculous names, but none quite like Space Disco. To be fair it does exactly what it says on the tin, marrying the groove and danceability of disco with the futuristic tones and soundscapes of…well, 'space'. It's something that Norway's Hans-Peter Lindstrøm is a deft hand at, spending the past 15 years taking listeners on synth-heavy journeys that get the feet shuffling.
'It's Alright Between Us as It Is'
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