In the Randomised Record series, I take us both on an adventure to (re)discover my record collection. Fate decides: whether it be that obscure grunge album I bought recently or that emo rap record from 2017. Nothing is safe from the hands of the randomiser! I will listen to the entire album and highlight my favourite song off of it here on the blog. Do I still enjoy my records as much as when I bought ‘em? Let’s find out. Today, episode 17: ‘Our Earthly Pleasures’ (2007) by Maxïmo Park.

Right, back to something more normal now. Maxïmo Park’s ‘Our Earthly Pleasures’ is a record I’d hunted for quite some time. Much in line with Ash’s ‘Free All Angels’ (the pilot episode of this series!), it’s one of a few albums I own that strongly remind me of my childhood. At some point during my adult years, I figured it would be fun to try and own a copy of each of my personal classics on vinyl and here we are. Back when I was younger, we used to own a bunch of these records on CD and I have fond memories of us playing these specific albums when I was a kid. It’s funny how these songs just kind of stayed with me throughout all these years. Having been and still being a bit of an indie fan myself, I must add that I’ve never shied away from the fact that I quite like landfill indie. And Maxïmo Park seems to be kind of the endboss when it comes down to this specific sub-sub-genre.

Funny enough, the last time I talked about Maxïmo Park on this blog (during the December special of 2024) I was comparing the Newcastle band’s latest with ‘Our Earthly Pleasures’. I remember writing something along the lines of “yeah, it’s all fun and games you make this kind of music but it’s 2024 so you should probably create something that sounds a bit less dated”. While I still stand by that, I do think the term ‘dated’ is always somewhat arbitrary. To give another example, me and my partner were recently talking about The Wombats, and how I think their albums ‘A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation’ (2007) and ‘This Modern Glitch’ (2011) are classics rather than dated indie albums. However, if we take it back 2 episodes, there’s flor’s ‘come out. you’re hiding’. And while I have some fond memories of listening to that album too, it also screams “Dated!” to me. This album by Maxïmo Park is a little in the middle of that all. While I certainly consider this to be landfill indie to the max, I also think this might be one of the top albums within that category, therefore making it somewhat of a classic. It’s a bit of a conundrum, really! Either way, if I take it back to a personal level, I would definitely classify this as a classic album and even after hearing it loads of times, I still enjoy pretty much every song on this album. In fact, I have some very specific memories to some songs, too!

‘The Unshockable’, for example, was part of football videogame FIFA 2008’s soundtrack. Let this be one of the games I’ve probably played the most in my life! Hearing this song instantly takes me back to sitting at the desk in front of our old computer back home, playing the hell out of some random team’s career mode. Haha! On the flip side, ‘Sandblasted And Set Free’ vividly remembers of 16-year-old me being heartbroken by my (then) love of my life calling it quits for us together. Man, did I brawl my eyes out listening to this song. Such times! Yeah, looking back at ‘Our Earthly Pleasures’, I think this album will forever haunt me. And you know, I’m totally fine with that. Because, when I finally acquired a copy of its 2022 re-issue, I was absolutely stoked I finally owned this album on vinyl. And I still am.