Summertime Blues

Summer's almost over, but Rocking out is still possible. At least, if you know where to get vinyl:

PLAY IT LOUD.

Lemme be Honest...

I like Andrew Earles a lot. He's funny, and he's forgotten more about popular music than I'll ever know. But I can't pretend that I have the slightest idea what he's talking about in this piece, because he's forgotten more about popular music than I'll ever know. And I'm pretty sure I'm older than he is. Hell, I still think it's kinda funny that the Feelies covered "Everyone Has Something To Hide 'Cept for Me and My Monkey." My record collection is abysmal compared to the "perfect" one he's been building. Here it is, in it's entirety:

Actually, I think the whole song is pretty funny...

So I can't claim claim the kind of authority that's necessary to denounce other people's tastes as objectively ridiculous. And I'm not sure I even want to. Sure, damning the folly of others hasn't stopped being fun, and there's certainly a fair bit of pretentious hipsterism that I will hold as a sacred task to slap around like the proverbial red-head stepchild. But I can't possibly say that the stuff I review here is truly, objectively, good. Or bad. Or indifferent. This is all about me, and what I like. I will never be an expert. Just a fan.

Record Store Day: Rain Edition.

I stumbled into the Record and Tape Traders in Towson on the second Record Store Day back in 2008, unaware of the event. The clerks filled me in on the details and I excitedley purchased a Dead Weather single. I've been wanting to hit up Soundgarden in Fells Point -- a participating store, which R&TT technically isn't -- ever since. But for the last two years, circumstances have kept me away. I don't remember the details; it's the kind of nonsense that married people have to deal with. My wife would know.

Yesterday, I was determined. I'd primed wifey with the idea that This Was Going To Happen. I'd budgeted the cash. I'd printed my Amazon Wish List. All was ready for me to breath record store air.

Record Store Day Releases: The Spin List

Spin is lame at best, but any info about Record Store Day releases are welcome, especially as I don't find RSD's web site terribly user-friendly. In fact, from a content-design point of view, main-page navigation kind of sucks.

What I might want:

1. 13th Floor Elevators 
2. White Stripes
3. Nirvana
4. The Dangermouse/Jack White/Norah Jones thing
5. Freddy King might be good
6. Mastodon's ZZ Top cover might be tempting
7. Pink Floyd
8. Velvet Underground

The Vinyl Moneypit

Interesting commisseration amid vinyl afficionados at Amazon. Obsession has its costs.

Also, Record Store Day has this list of releases. Shop well, my friends.

Deep in the Night I'm Lost in Love

It became clear to me on my last birthday, when a friend suggested that I crank some Stooges on vinyl, that I don't have any vinyl Stooges. This unpleasant realization yielded another: I don't have any live Stooges either. So I've set my heart on picking up a vinyl copy of Metallic KO, because it seems so necessary.

But vinyl Metallic KO is like to be expensive. So I thought this might do. But Amazon only sells it in the pricey limited edition form. So I thought Thousand Lights might be interesting. But how many different versions of "1970" do I want to listen to?

The mass of unreleased/unofficial stuff intimidates me. Insight? Because at this point I'm prepared to just go home and listen to Raw Power for the 800th time.

Mark Your Calendars, Fools

Record Store Day is April 16th this year. One Day after Tax Day, which works for me for some reason.

We aren't all digitized yet.

2.8 million vinyl records were sold last year, the highest since 1991. The Beatles sold the most, but Arcade Fire and Black Keys did respectable sales.

Personally, I can't get enough of the stuff.

Record Store Day is Coming!!

A week from Saturday. I am excited. My plan is to hit up the Soundgarden in Baltimore. There's some stuff I really really want, and my plan is to photoblog the day's events.

Irony sells, man.

MmmmmmmmFree Vinyl...

Having slagged poor Pitchfork and Magnet enough of late, I thought to return to Filter and see what suckitude I could find there. Instead, I find serendipity: a free giveaway of turntable & records.

I mean, I've already got a turntable (two, actually), and already have It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back on CD, and am not super interested in any of the rest save Pavement and Bad Brains, but still. Free. Expletive. Vinyl. I'm so excited, I'm creating an all new blog tag.

Vinyl Love...Denied!

So I called SST and wondered what the dilly-yo was up with my January order. The guy was really helpful, but it turns out the Bad Brains LP is STILL out of stock. So I said "Just ship me the Black Flag CD and be done with it." I'll check on it again in a month or five, but in the meantime, I still need to review the Rites of Spring album. For the moment, all I can say is WOW. I can also say, oh, looky, I've got a new source of RIAA-free music.