beattheindiedrum:

RECORD STORE DAY ‘12

This year’s Record Store Day was hands-down the most enjoyable experience in its 5 year existence. It might have had something to do with being accompanied by a small but fierce squadron of fellow record-shopping homies - in years past I’ve pretty much gone it alone. This year’s roster of exclusive releases seemed thin in quality (a sentiment echoed pretty much everywhere) but the handful of items I did want weren’t mere wants, they were gotta-fucking-haves - Mclusky, both Luna re-issues, Matt Pond and the Empire Records soundtrack.

It seemed like my best bet on getting my hands on the lot was to sully off early to Philly’s best-kept record shopping secret - Long In The Tooth. So that’s where we were standing around 9:30 until the gates opened up at 10:30. (*side-note - while waiting in line with coffee containers and other various wrappers/junk the reason Philly is so damn filthy hit me square in the brain like a runaway street sweeper - at any given time/place you can look up/down/left/right to the each side until you hit the horizon….and not find one single trashcan in sight!)

There were about 15 or so of us waiting outside and the owner (Perry?) handled this tiny throng rather adeptly - you shouted out your RSD exclusive needs in the order you waited in line. When you were done - it skipped along to the next person in line. Fair enough. I was 3rd in line so I got everything I wanted but the Matt Pond LP (he didn’t order/get any). I happily moved on to browsing the voluminous used section/standard new stock, leaving everyone else to fight for their needs. I figured I would browse the remaining RSD swag when I was done and sure enough there were a few secondary wants leftover - those being JEFF The Brotherhood and the Shores/Creepoid 7”. The RSD releases were nice but the catches of the day here were a NM copy of Graceland (one of my favorite albums ever) and a VG-NM copy of The Hollies’ King Midas. Long story short - this place rocks in every way imaginable and I will definitely be returning next year (and many times before assuredly).

Long In The Tooth

Shores/Creepoid - Split 7” (maroon marble vinyl)
JEFF The Brotherhood - Live - Upstairs At United 12” (RSD exclusive)
Mclusky - Mclusky Do Dallas LP (white vinyl) (RSD exclusive)
VA - Empire Records OST 2LP (gold vinyl) (RSD exclusive)
Luna - Rendezvous LP (180g) (RSD exclusive)
Luna - Romantica LP (180g) (RSD exclusive)
VA - Good Feeling LP (80’s comp feat. Vaselines, Sonic Youth, Beat Happening, Pastels. etc.)
Paul Simon - Graceland LP (finally a copy in NM condition!)
Parenthetical Girls - Safe As Houses LP
King Khan & His Shrines - The Supreme Genius Of… 2LP
The Hollies - Dear Eloise/King Midas In Reverse LP

We decided to hit up AKA next instead of Repo, mainly because Repo was so jam-packed last RSD it was impossible to move around and look at anything with the line wrapping around the store and out the door. As expected, AKA was pretty much wiped clean of RSD exclusives upon our arrival (12:30ish) but I did manage to pick up my last need - Matt Pond PA’s Measure LP - the last of his albums to see vinyl release and coincidentally my favorite from his catalog. Snatched up the Brendan Benson United 12” as I’ve always kept up with BB’s solo output even though everything else pales in comparison to his pretty-much-perfect debut, One Mississippi (someone please issue this on vinyl!). I’ve also picked up tickets to finally see him at World Cafe in a few weeks. The Wuxtry LP is a swath of exclusive songs offered up by Athens-based bands and made available during last year’s RSD. Glad it made it’s way up this far north and into my collection.

AKA Music

Brendan Benson - Live - Upstairs At United 12” (RSD exclusive)
Matt Pond PA - Measure LP (180g)
VA - Wuxtry Record LP (feat. Elf Power, REM, Marshmallow Coast, Grape Soda etc.) (2011 RSD exclusive)

Time was nearing for us to bail on the Philly area to spend the rest of the day in Princeton, not for a frat party but Princeton Record’s Exchange vaunted halls of vinyl, movies and cheap-as-hell CD’s. However, on the way out we stumbled upon a cozy little shop (Noise Pollution) of eclectic vinyl ranging from jazz to pop to bins and bins of punk, power-pop, garage, noise 7” (the real treasure here). We were pressed for time so we more or less had to quickly scour through the offerings. Managed to snatch up the debut King Biscuit Time 12” - featuring members of the Beta Band (remember them?) and the CMJ-heralded college hit - I Walk The Earth. And just as we were about to walk up to pay there was a very tiny ‘new indie’ section of which the impossible-to-find Portastatic Slow Note From A Sinking Ship LP beamed out like a pot of waxy gold. Turns out this was a very limited mail-order only release on vinyl. I immediately felt bad knowing that my partner-in-crime has recently been on a non-stop tear through the Superchunk catalog so…I offered it to him. He politely (foolishly?) declined and I hesitated not to tuck it under my arm and gleefully spend $7 for it. Chit-chat yielded that the shop had existed for like 20-something years but somehow it’s eluded my attention (and pretty much everyone else’s too…) but, rest assured, I will be returning to thoroughly scour those punk/garage/power-pop singles….

Noise Pollution

King Biscuit Time - No Style 12”
Portastatic - Slow Note From A Sinking Ship LP

Fleeing Philly in a timely manner was of the utmost importance given we chose Princeton Record Exchange as our last destination not only because it was out of the way, but moreso because They Might Be Giants(!) were playing a free show at 6pm with a signing to follow. As you can see I scored a few solid older releases and a re-issue of my favorite Shearwater record. I remember really digging that Jennifer Gentle album a few years back but for some reason I never picked it up so it was nice to see it sealed for a cool $5. Much to our delight TMBG did not play inside PREX - imagine the disastrous outcome - but outside under a tent in front of the Princeton public library. I’d say a solid 500 people attended, ranging from strollers on up to the grey-bearded (yours truly). They played a half-and-half array of old faves (Mesopotamians, Birdhouse, Pencil Red) and new tunes (yes, they still put out adult records!) but skipped the undeniable classics (Ana Ng, Don’t Let’s Start, Istanbul, SEXXY, Malcolm In The Middle theme song….) so it was an up and down performance as far as I was concerned but who’s complaining - it was free. Exhaustion set in as the sun beat down on us during the set so we passed on the signing - though it might have had more to do with I was packing a self-titled TMBG LP and I realized that the other non-John members of the band were barely alive and kicking back in ‘86. Awkward.

Princeton Record Exchange

Landing - Gravitational IV LP
Jennifer Gentle - Valende LP
Shudder To Think - Get Your Goat LP
Shudder To Think - Ten Spot LP
Shudder To Think - Funeral At The Movies LP
Shearwater - Winged Life LP

All in all the day was a major success and on top of finding great records, emptying out the wallet and hangin’ with fellow vinyl enthusiasts it was great to hear the constant ching of cash register transactin’ in every place we visited. I still feel strongly for the case of brick ‘n mortar record shops and what they ultimately bring to the music community - a place for music nerds to converge and commune and support the artists they admire and love.

obpi:

Miss listening to albums with your friends? First edition of OBPI’s album therapy is THIS THURSDAY at 9 EST/6 PST. Be there, and bring your friends!

pseudofailure:

Something Awful forum member Kuuenbu; This is an audio file of him as a DJ. At about 30 or 40% through the file he starts having a meltdown and fights with his dad.

M83 nebula lives up to its name! Amazing.

A great band that you aren’t listening to yet. From France.

HitchcockGoHome! - How To Stop It Now

So lately I have found a new addiction, and that is this new site called Turntable.fm Right now you do need to have a facebook profile to sign up or it is invite only I believe. It is still kinda in beta mode so they are still rolling out the kinks.

It’s basically a site where you can internet DJ for live people, all as different avatars (though right now the avatar picking is slim). Each room can only have 3 or 5 DJs, each taking a turn to play their song.

What makes it fun is that you can upload your own music and once it is uploaded, other people can pick that song to play. People in the audience, along with the other DJs, can either lame your song or awesome it. Each time you get an awesome, you get a point. The more points you get, the more avatar choices are available to you.

As with anything, people take the points system way too fucking seriously. But it is fun to be a DJ, especially when you find a good room. I tend to favor the smaller rooms.

Today I was all up in the shoegaze/dream pop room. I heard this Blonde Redhead song and had an eargasam. I hadn’t heard it in years! HUGE favorite of mine. SO ENJOY! And check out Turntable! I’m GotMilk? on there :)

Blonde Redhead - 23

beattheindiedrum:

One of my favorite songs of the year thus far and a great vid to accompany it. Makes me really, really miss The Breeders….

This band is worth checking out if you like The Church. Modern alt-gothy rock. Good stuff.

Dead Snares - These Dirty Streets

SA goon BastardySkull’s cover of the Iain M Bank’s book Matter. Pretty!

I was so excited to hear new material by this guy. It had been AGES. His first album Humanistic was listened to very heavily my senior year of high school. Makes me think of late night aimless driving with friends…

The new song is nice, and I’ve always liked his voice which is very distinctive.

Abandoned Pools - In Silence

Her Space Holiday is one duder, Marc Bianchi. I love his lyrics, he knows how to craft some gems.

He has been around since the 90s and has toured with basically everyone, but he’s still pretty unknown, which is a damn shame.

His music style is pretty eclectic and ranges from indie rock pop to indie electronic “indietronic” soundscapes. I’m more familiar with the latter, which mostly is his earlier work. Audio Astronomy is a great album. I need to get around and check out his latter stuff.

He also does really good mixes for various bands and has come out with a couple remix albums.

Her Space Holiday - A Match Made In Texas

beattheindiedrum:

CONTEST!

To commemorate my 100th follower here on Tumblr (shanks) I’ve decided to let my T-posse in on the details of this contest first before posting about it on the mothership .com. It involves one of my favorite record labels, Graveface Records. I’ve pretty much come to expect nothing but quality from every single release Ryan has ever set to wax so it brings me great pleasure to be able to give the following items away to one lucky winner:

1. The Appleseed Cast - Middle States EP CD

2. The Loose Salute - Getting Over Being Under CD

3. Black Moth Super Rainbow - Dandelion Gum (re-issue) CD

4. Hospital Ships - Lonely Twin CD

5. (4) Freddy Points - entitles you to (1) CD or LP of your choice from the Graveface catalog (good for life!)

DETAILS!

Simply reblog this on Tumblr, tweet about it (referencing @btidmatt), send an e-mail to matthew@beattheindiedrum.com with ‘GIMME DAT LOOT’ in the subject line or all 3 to triple your chances. In a few weeks I’ll randomly pick the winner out of a hat and notify them via their outlet of choice. Luck be to you!

(P.S. If you have a spare $120 lying around to spend on records may I suggest the priceless Graveface Record Club?)

I want to go to the backyard party that smells of salivating bbq and smokey burning torches. Where your friends mingle, telling funny stories, in the shadow of twilight. All the while in the background is hypnotic, sexy music like this setting a perfect mood.

Damn. I’m going to go catch me some lightning bugs now. I love you summer!

Dengue Fever - Uku

thedreamcomparison:

don’t forget, you can still get your grubby little mits on my 90’s mix, dudes

thedreamcomparison:

I HEART THE 90s (a mix by me!)

(Click the picture or click HERE to download this mix!)

1.Elf Power - Needles In The Camel’s Eye (from When The Red King Comes - 1998)
2.Lilys - Any Place I’ve Lived (from A Brief History Of Amazing Letdowns - 1994)
3.Sebadoh - License To Confuse (from Bakesale - 1994)
4.Guided By Voices - Big School (from Static Airplane Jive - 1993)
5.The Halo Benders - On A Tip (from God Don’t Make No Junk - 1994)
6.Sparklehorse - Rainmaker (from Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot - 1995)
7.The Olivia Tremor Control - Jumping Fences (from Music From The Unrealized Film Script: Dusk At Cubist Castle - 1996)
8.Teenage Fanclub - Don’t Look Back (from Grand Prix - 1995)
9.Built To Spill - Joyride (from The Normal Years - 1994)
10.Silver Jews - Advice To The Graduate (from Starlite Walker - 1994)
11.Sloan - I Am The Cancer (from Smeared - 1992)
12.The Apples In Stereo - Tidal Wave (from Science Faire - 1996)
13.Cap’n Jazz - Paddle Splashers (from Burritos, Inspiration Point, Fork Balloon Sports, Cards in the Spokes, Automatic Biographies, Kites, Kung Fu, Trophies, Banana Peels We’ve Slipped on and Egg Shells We’ve Tippy Toed Over - 1994)
14.The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Mary, Please (from Take It From The Man! - 1996)
15.Spacemen 3 - Revolution (from Playing With Fire - 1994)
16.The Gerbils - Is She Fiona (from Are You Sleepy? - 1998)
17.Kleenex Girl Wonder - Ain’t A Damn Thing Changed (from After Mathematics - 1996)
18.Archers Of Loaf - Fat (from Icky Mettle - 1994)
19.Superchunk - Like A Fool (from Foolish - 1993)
20.Palace Music - New Partner (from Viva Last Blues - 1995)
21.Portastatic - Beer and Chocolate Bars (from I Hope Your Heart Is Not Brittle - 1994)
22.Yo La Tengo - From a Motel 6 (from From a Motel 6 - 1994)
23.Pavement - Box Elder (from Westing (By Musket & Sextant) - 1993)

Check out my new digs