New Division, The / Shadows
Album: Shadows   Collection:General
Artist:New Division, The   Added:Nov 2011
Label:Division 87  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2011-11-27 Pull Date: 2012-01-29
Week Ending: Jan 29 Jan 22 Jan 15 Jan 8 Dec 25 Dec 18 Dec 11 Dec 4
Airplays: 3 1 1 1 3 3 1 1

Recent Airplay
1. Aug 11, 2023: KZSU Time Traveler
Opium
4. Sep 20, 2019: KZSU Time Traveler
Opium
2. May 28, 2021: KZSU Time Traveler
Opium
5. May 17, 2019: KZSU Time Traveler
Opium
3. Feb 07, 2020: KZSU Time Traveler
Opium
6. Jan 05, 2018: KZSU Time Traveler
Opium

Album Review
Trent Kay
Reviewed 2011-11-22
Warm 80s goth club electro, minor melodies, wide open spaces. Danceable. Dark, gloomy, gothy, with a heavy synthpop backbone. Low tone moody Brit-addled vox that borrow muchly from Depeche Mode. Of course all these cuts belong on the Donnie Darko soundtrack. There's nothing remotely 21st century going on here. These guys are from Riverside. Show our SoCal neighbours some love.

Note: Lest you sound like a fool, the band name is a conflation of Joy Division and New Order, who are the same band, plus or minus the dead guy.

RIYL: Starfucker, New Monarchs, Depeche Mode, New Order

no FCCs
try: 1, 5, 10, 11

*1. (5:20) gear-up warm brassy synth, drum machine, low vox, swirling keys. tight, classic, dark and dreamy. "it just comes in handy for a bad day." see: title.
2. (3:58) low strings, padded crash drums. slow sliding achey vox. high-reg lyricless vox steal the track.
3. (5:01) starts with annoying sound. then. clashy midtempo. busy timekeeping bass under swirling harsh sky-high soundwaves.
4. (0:45) throwaway interlude. all the baby tracks are.
*5. (4:27) glitchy easy dance with nice horn tropes, windswept effects. just add vox and bash.
6. (3:49) clang bells riff, slow-approach span vox. very trebly. vamps "i had it all figured out".
7. (4:25) assailing hard-hitting bashy drums + light rudder guitar. fast! pure 80s exuberance. think the cars at double time, with a huge arena chorus.
8. (6:37) goth goth goth. ominous high thin synth, deep descending bass and snapping drum machine. eerie 'ooooh' vox trail on "i can't trust you". ends with a repeated keys melody.
9. (0:41) loud and harsh wall of sound. glitches, then catches, then fades.
*10. (5:33) funk shuffle, funk bass. melty reach-across vox. the vocal line descends and descends into melancholia. keys match the vocal melody and vamp it. sounds like splintering shards. early fade.
*11. (4:49) high butterfly synth, chord-on low-but-thin digital bass. smart, powerful keys melody in the chorus.
12. (8:48) starts gloomy. ominous creep-keys circular riff. then: hooky rockish groove 1 min in. then: rapid low chords and sky-high vox. then: funky disco lite. then: dark dance. ends with effects noise. totally convincing mood changes. this track just keeps going places.
13. (1:10) echoes, windchimes, music boxes, wind, water.
14. (5:36) abrupt ambient start. throbby midtempo bass, dreamy downcycling keys, on-and-off house loop. probably the most upbeat track here.

Track Listing
1. Opium   8. True Lies
2. Shallow Play   9. L.A. Noire
3. Sense   10. Hearts For Sale
4. Shadows   11. Special
5. Violent   12. Memento
6. Soft   13. Shadows Ii
7. Munich   14. Saturday Night