The Rip Tide

Last updated

The Rip Tide
The Rip Tide (Front Cover).png
Studio album by
Beirut
ReleasedAugust 30, 2011
Genre
Length33:11
Label Pompeii Records [1]
Producer
Beirut chronology
March of the Zapotec/Holland EP
(2009)		The Rip Tide
(2011)		 No No No
(2015)
Singles from The Rip Tide
  1. "East Harlem / Goshen"
    Released: June 3, 2011

The Rip Tide is the third studio album by the American indie folk band Beirut, released on August 30, 2011.

Contents

The album debuted at No. 88 on the Billboard 200, [3] and peaked at No. 80 a month later. [4] The album has sold 93,000 copies in the US as of August 2015. [5] The album has received mostly positive reviews. [6]

Recording

Beirut's Zach Condon decided to write the album after a rough tour in Brazil, where he suffered a perforated eardrum and was involved in a stage invasion. Unlike previous Beirut albums, The Rip Tide was more reflective of places closer to home; for example, the song "Santa Fe" was a homage to Condon's hometown. Condon reflected on that, saying "The vagabond thing – that was a teenage fantasy that I lived out in a big way. Music, to me, was escapism. And now I'm doing everything that is the opposite [of that] in my life. I'm married. I've got a house. I've got a dog. So it felt ridiculous, the narrative of what my career was supposed to be, compared to what I was actually trying to attempt in my life." [7]

Influenced by the recording of For Emma, Forever Ago , Condon wrote The Rip Tide while he spent six months in isolation living in a Bethel, New York winter cabin. [7] [8] Unlike Beirut's previous albums, the music was recorded as a band playing together instead of laying down individual tracks one at a time. However, the lyrics were only added by Condon after all the music had been recorded. [9]

Release

The first news that Beirut was recording a new album came in the winter of 2010–11 with an announcement from Ba Da Bing records:

Indeed, the band is recording. Basically, Zach [Condon] is going back and forth between doing recording sessions in a studio with the whole band, then taking the materials back home and editing them as well as working on vocals. He wants to take the rest of the year to make sure it's all up to snuff, so there will definitely be a Beirut record next year, but not sure when yet! [10]

After recording, Beirut toured throughout Europe and the US, playing several songs that would appear on the album, including, "Vagabond," "Santa Fe," and "Port of Call.". [11] On June 3, 2011, the band released The Rip Tide's first single, "East Harlem," with "Goshen" as its B-side, with a physical release on June 6, 2011. [12] On June 7, 2011, Beirut officially announced the existence of the new album, disclosing both the title and track listing. [13]

The Rip Tide was originally going to be released on August 30, 2011. [13] Unlike previous albums, The Rip Tide was self-released on Condon's own Pompeii Records. However, an internet leak pushed the album's iTunes Store released date to August 2, 2011. [8] The physical edition of the album was released in a cloth-bound, embossed package as a thank you gift to people who wanted a physical version. [14]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?7.6/10 [15]
Metacritic 78/100 [6]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [16]
The A.V. Club B [17]
The Guardian Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [18]
The Irish Times Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [19]
Mojo Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [20]
NME 8/10 [21]
The Observer Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [22]
Pitchfork 7.7/10 [23]
Q Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [24]
Uncut Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [25]

The Rip Tide received large acclaim from contemporary music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 78, based on 34 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". [6]

Tim Jonze of The Guardian, in a positive review, wrote "It's less flashy than previous efforts, but the thrill here is of witnessing a songwriter's talent maturing." [18] NME's Laura Snapes also gave the album a positive review, writing "These ideas of acceptance, hope and personal reflection make The Rip Tide an accomplished, restrained record, which sees Condon forgetting his travels, and forging his own native sound." [21] Slant Magazine's Jesse Cataldo wrote that while "The songs are often still a little too cute, too twee and self-satisfied," Cataldo concluded that the songs were nevertheless "just as catchy without the burden of self-reflexive exoticism." [26] AllMusic's James Christopher Monger enjoyed the album's more personal songs, writing "Condon spends much of Rip Tide writing in first person, and it lends an air of much needed intimacy to the always gorgeous, yet historically elusive Beirut sound." [16]

PopMatters' Eric Brown, on the other hand, gave the album a more mixed review, writing "Beirut too often moves away from its world-folk origins into a more generic sound, one that has more in common with an Apple commercial than their breakthrough album. It's not necessarily a bad move — the songs are all well-composed and technically challenging — but The Rip Tide lacks an emotional core, or at the very least, an interesting hook in lieu of something more substantial." Brown continued: "I have to think that as an EP, The Rip Tide would be a rousing success. But as it is, there are just too many bland, uninspiring tracks that drag down the whole experience." [27] Benjamin Boles of NOW was also less receptive to the album's sound, writing "Unfortunately, it all feels a bit too manicured and restrained. As easy as it is to hit repeat when the disc ends, trying to remember standout moments is another story. It’s a solid album, but too conservative to make many converts." [28]

Accolades

The Rip Tide has appeared on a few end-of-year lists. Paste ranked The Rip Tide No. 20 on its list of the top 50 albums of 2011, while Mojo ranked the album No. 22 on its end-of-year list. [29] [30]

The song "Goshen" from the album appeared in the series finale of season 5 of the NBC show Chuck . [31]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Zach Condon

The Rip Tide track listing
No.TitleLength
1."A Candle's Fire"3:19
2."Santa Fe"4:14
3."East Harlem"3:58
4."Goshen"3:20
5."Payne's Bay"3:48
6."The Rip Tide"4:26
7."Vagabond"3:19
8."The Peacock"2:26
9."Port of Call"4:21
Total length:33:10

Personnel

Guest appearances

Charts

Chart performance for The Rip Tide
Chart (2011)Peak
position
Austrian Albums Chart [32] 20
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders) [32] 7
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia) [32] 22
Dutch Albums Chart [32] 28
Finnish Albums Chart [32] 32
French Albums Chart [32] 42
German Albums Chart [33] 69
New Zealand Albums Chart [32] 26
Norwegian Albums Chart [32] 28
Spanish Albums Chart [32] 41
Swedish Albums Chart [32] 52
Swiss Albums Chart [32] 29
UK Albums Chart [34] 49
US Billboard 200 [35] 80

Release history

Release history and formats for The Rip Tide
CountryDateFormatLabel
United StatesAugust 2, 2011Digital download [36] Pompeii Records
August 30, 2011CD
United KingdomAugust 29, 2011

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rogue Wave (band)</span> American indie rock band

Rogue Wave is an indie rock band from Oakland, California, and headed by Zach Schwartz who created the band after losing his job in the dot-com bust. Their first album was Out of the Shadow which was released privately in 2003 and re-released in 2004. In the fall of 2004 they went on a national tour of the United States. Their most recent album, Cover Me, was released on February 17, 2017, through Easy Sound Recording Company.

<i>The Rising Tide</i> (Sunny Day Real Estate album) 2000 studio album by Sunny Day Real Estate

The Rising Tide is the fourth studio album by American rock band Sunny Day Real Estate. Following the release of Live, the group left independent label Sub Pop for major label Time Bomb Recordings, and changed from a quartet to a trio. The band spent a month working on material through jamming, eventually resulting in around 30 songs. They began recording at Dreamland Recording Studios in West Hurley, New York with producer Lou Giordano at the end of 1999. The Rising Tide is an arena rock album, with elements of progressive rock and symphonic rock; the lyrics includes references to rain, angels and the ocean. Individual tracks drew comparison to Rush, Yes and Doves, while frontman Jeremy Enigk's vocals were compared to Yes frontman Jon Anderson and U2 frontman Bono.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beirut (band)</span> American folk band

Beirut is an American band that was originally the solo musical project of Zach Condon. Beirut's music combines elements of indie rock and world music. The band's first performance with the full brass section was in New York, in May 2006, in support of their debut album Gulag Orkestar, though they performed their first show with Condon, Petree, and Collins at the College of Santa Fe earlier that year.

<i>Gulag Orkestar</i> 2006 studio album by Beirut

Gulag Orkestar is the debut album of Beirut. It was recorded in 2005 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Gulag was a Soviet government agency administering criminal justice, while orkestar is the Serbo-Croatian word for "orchestra".

<i>The Flying Club Cup</i> 2007 studio album by Beirut

The Flying Club Cup is the second studio album by Balkan folk-influenced indie folk band Beirut, released on October 9, 2007 on 4AD Records. The album was released on iTunes on September 4, 2007.

<i>Pretty. Odd.</i> 2008 studio album by Panic at the Disco

Pretty. Odd. is the second studio album by American pop rock band Panic at the Disco, first released in the Netherlands on March 21, and released in the US on March 25, 2008 by Decaydance and Fueled by Ramen. Recorded at the Studio at the Palms in Paradise, Nevada with additional production at Abbey Road Studios in London with producer Rob Mathes, the album was inspired by baroque pop and the works of the Beach Boys and the Beatles, with its psychedelic-styled rock sound differing greatly from the techno-influenced pop-punk of the band's previous album A Fever You Can't Sweat Out (2005). It is the band's only major release to not feature an exclamation point in their name, being credited as "Panic at the Disco" for all major activities until summer the following year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bon Iver</span> American indie folk band

Bon Iver is an American indie folk band founded in 2006 by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon. Vernon had originally formed Bon Iver as a solo project, but it eventually became a band consisting of Vernon, Sean Carey, Michael Lewis, Matthew McCaughan, Andrew Fitzpatrick, and Jenn Wasner

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Remedy Drive</span> American alternative rock band

Remedy Drive is an American alternative rock band founded in 1998 in Lincoln, Nebraska. They are now based in Nashville. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist David Zach, bassist Corey Horn, and drummer Timmy Jones. They have recorded ten studio albums, one independent live album, and two EPs. The band was founded as a quartet consisting of the four Zach brothers. Three of the four brothers left the band in late 2010.

<i>Together</i> (The New Pornographers album) 2010 studio album by the New Pornographers

Together is the fifth studio album by Canadian indie rock band the New Pornographers. It was released on May 4, 2010 and debuted at number 18 on the Billboard 200.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sharon Van Etten</span> American singer-songwriter

Sharon Katharine Van Etten is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She has released the albums Because I Was in Love (2009), Epic (2010), Tramp (2012), Are We There (2014), Remind Me Tomorrow (2019) and We've Been Going About This All Wrong (2022).

<i>Helplessness Blues</i> 2011 studio album by Fleet Foxes

Helplessness Blues is the second studio album by American band Fleet Foxes, released on May 3, 2011, by Sub Pop and Bella Union. The album received universal acclaim from critics, going on to be nominated for Best Folk Album at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards. The release peaked at number 4 on the Billboard 200, the band's highest position on the chart to date. To support the album, the Fleet Foxes embarked on a worldwide Helplessness Blues Tour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Best Love Song</span> 2011 single by T-Pain featuring Chris Brown

"Best Love Song" is a single by American recording artist T-Pain. The song features Chris Brown and was released as the first official single from his fourth studio album, RevolveЯ, on March 22, 2011. The song was featured in the pilot of The CW TV series Hart of Dixie.

<i>Attack on Memory</i> 2012 studio album by Cloud Nothings

Attack on Memory is the second studio album by American indie rock band Cloud Nothings, released on January 24, 2012, by Carpark Records. Produced by Steve Albini at his Electrical Audio studio in Chicago, the recording sessions saw frontman Dylan Baldi's live band contributing as full-time members and co-writers. Attack on Memory features a heavier sound and darker songs, a sharp turn from the power pop of previous Cloud Nothings releases.

<i>Centipede Hz</i> 2012 studio album by Animal Collective

Centipede Hz is the ninth studio album by American experimental pop group Animal Collective, released on September 4, 2012, on Domino Records. The album marks the return of band member Deakin, who sat out of the recording and touring of the band's previous album, Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009). On the US Billboard 200, it peaked at No. 16.

<i>III</i> (Crystal Castles album) 2012 studio album by Crystal Castles

III (stylized as (III)) is the third studio album by Canadian electronic music duo Crystal Castles, released on November 7, 2012, by Fiction Records and Polydor Records. Production was handled by Ethan Kath, with additional production by Jacknife Lee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Harlem (song)</span> 2011 single by Beirut

"East Harlem" is a song by indie folk band Beirut, from the band's third studio album The Rip Tide. The song was digitally released as a single on June 3, 2011 with "Goshen" as its B-side. The single was physically released on June 6, 2011 with limited copies and released on June 14, 2011 on Pompeii on blue, white, and red vinyl with a supply of 2,000 copies of each color.

<i>No No No</i> (Beirut album) 2015 studio album by Beirut

No No No is the fourth studio album by indie folk band Beirut. It was released on September 11, 2015 on 4AD.

<i>Away</i> (album) 2016 studio album by Okkervil River

Away is the eighth studio album by American rock band Okkervil River, released on September 9, 2016. This album is the band's second release on ATO Records, following their previous studio album The Silver Gymnasium.

<i>Gallipoli</i> (album) 2019 studio album by Beirut

Gallipoli is the fifth studio album by indie folk band Beirut. It was released on February 1, 2019 by 4AD. The album is named after the Italian town where the title track was written. It is supported by the singles "Gallipoli", "Corfu" and "Landslide". The band toured across North America and Europe in support of the album in 2019.

<i>Hadsel</i> (album) 2023 studio album by Beirut

Hadsel is the sixth studio album by indie folk band Beirut, released on November 10, 2023, through Pompeii Records, the band's own label. Frontman Zach Condon wrote and produced the majority of the album himself. The album was announced alongside the release of the lead single "So Many Plans". It received positive reviews from critics.

References

  1. ↑ "Beirut's Rip Tide". San Diego Reader. August 14, 2011. Retrieved October 29, 2011.
  2. ↑ The Rip Tide – Credits. AllMusic. Retrieved December 11, 2011.
  3. ↑ "Billboard 200: August 20, 2011". Billboard.
  4. ↑ "Billboard 200: September 17, 2011". Billboard.
  5. ↑ "Upcoming Releases". Hits Daily Double. HITS Digital Ventures. Archived from the original on August 25, 2015.
  6. 1 2 3 "Reviews for The Rip Tide by Beirut". Metacritic . Retrieved October 29, 2011.
  7. 1 2 Carnwath, Ally. Beirut: 'I drank cognac and started smoking a pipe next to the fire'. The Observer. September 24, 2011. Retrieved December 11, 2011.
  8. 1 2 Jacobs, Justin. Beirut's Zach Condon on 'Rip Tide': 'I Was Trying to Write a Pop Album'. Billboard.com. August 26, 2011. Retrieved December 11, 2011.
  9. ↑ Beirut On World Cafe. NPR. September 23, 2011. Retrieved December 12, 2011.
  10. ↑ anon (December 23, 2010). "Beirut: side-project Soft Landing; New Beirut album in the works". world-music-instruments-happen.com. Archived from the original on September 2, 2011. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
  11. ↑ Fitzmaurice, Larry (May 11, 2011). "Watch: Beirut Play New Songs Live". Pitchfork. Retrieved October 29, 2011.
  12. ↑ Beirut – “East Harlem”. Stereogum. June 3, 2011. Retrieved December 11, 2011.
  13. 1 2 Fitzmaurice, Larry. New Beirut Album Unveiled. Pitchfork Media. June 7, 2011. Retrieved December 11, 2011.
  14. ↑ The Rip Tide release day! Archived November 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine . Beirutband.com. Retrieved December 11, 2011.
  15. ↑ "The Rip Tide by Beirut reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
  16. 1 2 Monger, James Christopher. "The Rip Tide – Beirut". AllMusic . Retrieved October 29, 2011.
  17. ↑ Murray, Noel (August 9, 2011). "Beirut: The Rip Tide". The A.V. Club . Retrieved October 29, 2011.
  18. 1 2 Jonze, Tim (August 25, 2011). "Beirut: The Rip Tide – review". The Guardian . London. Retrieved October 29, 2011.
  19. ↑ Gleeson, Sinéad (August 26, 2011). "Beirut". The Irish Times . Dublin. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  20. ↑ "Beirut: The Rip Tide". Mojo (214): 96. September 2011.
  21. 1 2 Snapes, Laura (August 24, 2011). "Album Review: Beirut – 'The Rip Tide'". NME . Archived from the original on September 8, 2011. Retrieved December 3, 2012.
  22. ↑ Empire, Kitty (August 21, 2011). "Beirut: The Rip Tide – review". The Observer . London. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  23. ↑ Fitzmaurice, Larry (August 8, 2011). "Beirut: The Rip Tide". Pitchfork . Retrieved October 29, 2011.
  24. ↑ "Beirut: The Rip Tide". Q (302): 109. September 2011.
  25. ↑ "Beirut: The Rip Tide". Uncut (172): 83. September 2011.
  26. ↑ Cataldo, Jesse (August 29, 2011). "REVIEW: Beirut – "The Rip Tide"". Slant Magazine. New York. Retrieved August 29, 2011.
  27. ↑ Brown, Eric. Beirut: The Rip Tide. PopMatters. September 2, 2011. Retrieved December 11, 2011.
  28. ↑ Boles, Benjamin. Beirut – The Rip Tide. NOW. August 4, 2011. Retrieved December 11, 2011.
  29. ↑ Josh, Jackson (November 29, 2011). "The 50 Best Albums of 2011". Paste . Retrieved November 30, 2011.
  30. ↑ MOJO's Top 50 Albums Of 2011. Stereogum. December 2, 2011. Retrieved December 11, 2011.
  31. ↑ "Dance Yrself Clean – Chuck tell me our story..." February 2012. Retrieved March 3, 2012.
  32. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Beirut – The Rip Tide" . Retrieved November 16, 2011.
  33. ↑ "Beirut, The Rip Tide". charts.de. Archived from the original on April 3, 2015. Retrieved November 16, 2011.
  34. ↑ "Beirut". Official Charts Company . Retrieved July 16, 2023.
  35. ↑ "Beirut Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard.
  36. ↑ "Beirut: The Rip Tide". Midheaven.com. Retrieved October 29, 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.