Some things about today’s ‘First Date’ Perhapst that perhaps you didn’t know:
John Moen, aka Perhapst, is the former drummer for Elliott Smith and Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks.
John is the current drummer for The Decemberists.
John plays the majority of instruments on the record (and Stephen Malkmus assisted Moen, too.)
The live band consists of: John Moen, Chris Funk (also a current member of The Decemberists), Jonathan Drews (Sunset Valley), and Eric Lovre (Dharma Bums).
“Perhapst” is filled with quirky, catchy, hook-laden indie-pop, experimental folk-rock, and even some twang for flavor, all delivered with a smirk and a smile.
“I am 40. I prefer vinyl records. I assume it is because I grew up with this format, and the fact that it never failed me, that I will still always purchase my music in this way, given a choice. When recording-it is just part of my vernacular to say that “I am making a new record”, or “I am making a new album.” I never say “I am making a new CD” or “I am creating an assemblage of songs for download.” I salivate when faced with a cruddy old box of LPs and have to be forcibly pulled out of moldy old record stores. The idea that there might be a treasure hidden in a stack of records is more than I can stand. Looking for gems amongst the scratched up Montovani Christmas albums is my favorite hobby.
This passion is not so much about ‘analog versus digital’ for me, as a matter of fact my stereo is such that practically everything sounds a little crummy. The whole deal is centered more on what I’d call tangibility. When I own a record of music that I love, I can’t help but feel that I am more connected to that music. It feels less invisible and in fact, I can read the liner notes without resorting to a magnifying glass. I could probably use new glasses… Whatever the format–I bid you, Happy Listening.”
It’s certainly no mystery to us that the readership here at TVD is one creative bunch, and as such we’ve teamed up with our good pals over at LP Cover Lover, the web’s premier site for the appreciation of the diverse and often quite bizarre world of album cover art, to give you the shirt right off our collective backs.
We’re inviting readers of both blogs to supply the best caption to the album cover below – “Jungla” by Leo Soto on Musart. The brightest, wittiest commenter will win a men’s or woman’s LP Cover Lover T-shirt as shown above, courtesy of LP Cover Lover and The Vinyl District.
Head on over to LP Cover Lover to leave your winning caption in the comments section to the TVD/LPCL contest and we’ll choose a winner this coming Friday, 1/16.
The band’s hits and an obscure EP are set for release Twelve Radiohead singles are reportedly set to be reissued on limited-edition vinyl.
After reissuing several of Radiohead’s albums on vinyl last year, Capitol Records intends to release a handful of the band’s singles on 180-gram vinyl, reports Atease.
The vinyl covers will feature the original 5″ CD artwork printed as a sticker on the record jackets. They singles are due out on April 21 in the US, but can be pre-ordered now via Insound.
The titles to be reissued are ‘The Drill EP’, ‘Creep’, ‘My Iron Lung’, ‘Just’, ‘Fake Plastic Trees’, ‘High And Dry’, ‘Street Spirit (Fade Out)’, ‘Paranoid Android’, ‘Karma Police’, ‘No Surprises’, ‘Pyramid Song’, ‘There There’ and ‘2+2=5’. (Via NME)
I get choked up watching award ceremonies, I confess. Seeing surprised award winners wending their way to the podium, gathering their composure, mashing a few coherent words together, struggling with syntax, and wrangling with recalling just who made their singular achievements possible moves me for some reason. I’m not sure why this is, but it is.
The actress from ‘Happy Go Lucky’ just won her Golden Globe trophy. I’ve not seen this movie nor heard of this actress prior, but I’m welling up in a weird, wine-infused way.
To the contrary, I was appalled at the reviews for Animal Collective’s ‘Merriwether Post Pavilion’ last week. I mean, Pitchfork gave it a 9.6. (Cue Seth and Amy: “Really? ..REALLY…!?”) As attributed to John Lennon or Elvis Costello, it’s on par with “dancing about architecture.”
On the positive side, I dig the production and the use of natural, found sounds. Conversely you can neither hum along, sing along, nor dance to any of this. It’s neither evocative nor provocative and bereft of any SOUL, man. Sure, it’s a fine producer’s exercise and one needn’t HAVE to sing along with art, but you should be left with something–ANYthing.
If Pitchfork didn’t have a need to suck the cock of, and create indie ‘stars’ to feather their nests, perhaps they’d give this release what it really deserves, ohh saaay: a 5.6? (6.6?)
Back when I first heard the tracks from newish bands such as Yaz(oo), Soft Cell, or Depeche Mode, somehow innately I seemed to ‘get’ that these were tiny lil’ symphonies composed with the tools at hand, modest as they may be. The arrangements and instrumentation may have been spare, but the SONG was right there. Up front and intoxicating. That an Alison Moyet, or a Marc Almond, or even a Dave Gahan (or Martin Gore) would lend their singular brand of soulfulness to the vocal proceedings infused the cold and spare with LIFE. This stuff breathed despite their seemingly simple origins.
Yet, just like actual Merriwether Post Pavilion, the bland out of the way amphitheatre in the suburbs of Maryland, ‘Merriwether Post Pavilion’ is remote, difficult to find parking, and even harder to fathom once the proceedings are over–despite the OVER abundance of modern machinery and computerized catch-all conveniences. (See last week’s rant.)
As the Manics sing, ‘If you tolerate this/then your children will be next…”
Think I’m nuts? 99% of hip hop is predicated on those thin, tinny beats and along the likes of Yaz, Soft Cell, and Depeche Mode that were decried by ‘purists’ as you might accuse me of being after this bit ‘o ranting. For me, it’s laughable to see those thin, new-wavey beats become the backbone of an entire thugged-up genre. (“Really? ..REALLY…?”)
Which brings me to The Replacements. “We are an audience of individuals,” Steven Spielberg just said in his acceptance speech tonight at the Globes ceremony, and despite being young, punk, and drunk The ‘Mats, and primarily Paul Westerberg, got that intrinsically. And we’re individuals who don’t want to dance to architecture but find love, solace, and compassion in a SONG to which we can sing along, dance along, drink along.
Trouser Press takes stock: “For a time the world’s best rock’n’roll band … Minneapolis’ Replacements began as juvenile punks whose give-a-shit attitude masked the seeds of singer/guitarist/songwriter Paul Westerberg’s self-destructive genius for injecting sensitivity into flat-out chaos. When it all clicked — volume, rawness, speed (velocity and ingested substances), energy and passion — the Mats (short for Placemats) teetered drunkenly at the brink of the abyss and recklessly cracked jokes about it. Onstage and on vinyl, nothing could compare with their unpredictable excitement.”
In their simplicity and their recklessness there were real, honest, SONGS right from the get-go on their very first 7″. Novel, huh?
I confess that over the long break I worried that this whole endeavor was losing its focus. I mean, just what the hell is all this about…all this blogging? We’re not taking photos of our meals for example, or of ourselves (over, and over, and over again…) nor are we following the news, trailing trends, or attempting to be the first on the scene.
Add oddly, it’s not for the love of music alone…perhaps it’s more about how it weaves itself around our heads and throats and takes hold. Old stuff. Spanking new and shiny. What it reveals, conceals, liberates, and enslaves. That’s it.
If you’re reading, you get it. If you’re rolling your eyes, then move on. Nothing to see nor hear here.
But the truth is we’re growing. In readership and scope. And we need you, the members of the silent majority, to come along in concert with us. To write, photograph, interview, review…whatever it is you do best, put it on display here.
Just like the KISS Army, but this time it’s just about the records. Or something.
Feel free to write directly or comment in the bog below.
What to do with all of those email alerts we get that we simply can’t do justice throughout the week? Why, it’s condense them right here in our new weekly bulletin board, ‘plugs.’
We don’t care where you are or what city you’re in–if you’ve got something you wanna promote or think we should be listening to or seeing or reading, this is the place to put it. Got a band? A photo exhibit? DJing some place? A good cause worth promoting? This is the spot for it. (And if you’ve checked that little widget waaay down there bottom left, this is a global forum, indeed.)
We’ll be posting what lands in our in-box right here daily as well as welcoming your tips, and we’ll be refreshing it once a week to stay on top of what we’re both up to.
So, clue us in right here in the comments section to these posts. Weekly.
Sometimes 4 stars in Uncut and 4 stars in Italian Rolling Stone don’t tell the full tale. And oddly, it could have been their list of influences on Hollowblue’s myspace that got me thinking, “Ok, they get it.” Hell, they namecheck David Sylvian…
We chatted with Hollowblue’s vocalist Gianluca Sorace before the holidays and as such, Hollowblue is our very first ‘First Date’ for 2009:
“Hollowblue is an Italian band formed at the end of 2003. We released two albums: the first ep “What you left behind” (Suiteside Records), containing “Io bevo” with the UK singer Anthony Reynolds, and “Stars are crashing (in my backyard)” (Midfinger Records/Warner Chappell) – containing the song “First Avenue” with Dan Fante (American writer, son of John Fante, with whom we also toured and are preparing an entire album of music and poetry). “Stars are crashing” has been recently nominated as one of the best Italian indie debuts.
The band is Gianluca Maria Sorace vocals, guitars and piano, Marco Calderisi guitars, Giancarlo Russo bass, Federico Moi drums and Ellie Young cello and piano.
Probably because I’m not twenty, probably because I like when things are not so perfect… I prefer, when it’s possible, to listen to my favourite albums on the record player at home. Of course the possibilities of mp3, cd-r and everything around all this are grandiose but I love the smell of the cardboard, the sound of the scratches and the pause between the A and the B side. I think it’s more human, more natural.
I’ve got about 300 vinyls (about 100 of them are Bowie albums) and it’s a pleasure to see them with their big artworks. I like that they take up a big space at home. I hope we could release our next albums also in that form.”
Fans of Portishead, Elbow, and even The Bathers take note–this is some gorgeous stuff. Perfect for that last night with a candle or seven.
Sales of LPs have more than doubled online and are regaining overall market share.
Audiophiles have long argued that vinyl records offer better sound quality compared to CDs or MP3s, but their stoic loyalty in the face of change was seen as little more than nostalgia over the 25 years digital recordings has dominated the music industry. In recent years, however, sales of LPs — that’s short for long-playing records — have more than doubled online and are regaining overall market share, thanks to new converts looking for more than they can find in an MP3 selling for 99 cents online.
In 2008, 1.88 million vinyl albums were purchased, more than in any other year in the history of Nielsen SoundScan , which began tracking LP sales in 1991. The previous record was in 2000, when 1.5 million LP albums were sold. More than two out of every three vinyl albums bought in 2008 were purchased at an independent music store, according to SoundScan.
Vinyl record sales rose 14% between 2006 and 2007, from 858,000 to 990,000. In contrast, CD sales plummeted over the past three years, from 553.4 million in 2006 to 360.6 million in 2008. MP3 sales grew from 32.6 million to 65.8 million during the same time period, according to SoundScan.
Industry observers say vinyl record sales have skyrocketed because new buyers are discovering the value of owning albums, with their cover art, large liner notes and warm sound.
Direct from the source: “THIS PAST WEEKEND COMMENCED OUR 2nd ANNUAL “GOING OUT OF BUSINESS SALE”. To Commemorate the occasion ALL THE LPS THAT WE WERE SELLING FOR ONE DOLLAR WILL BE 2 FOR A DOLLAR. We’ll next be open January 9 & 10, our most recent “final days”. MUSIC ALERTS: On Friday January 9 “BOX” will play an acoustic set at 7 PM, come check them out… Then on January 10, 2009 “OUR LAST HURRAH!” A Live Performance to Benefit next Fall’s (2009) SONIC CIRCUITS Festival, at 7PM on Saturday, Orpheus is proud to present Blue Sausage Infant (alias Chester Hawkins) and a one-shot reunion of legendary DC noise/troublemakers NEW CARROLLTON!. Each attendee who donates the suggested donation amount of $5 will receive 10 FREE Lps valued at half a dollar. So come on down and watch great live music and cash in on some great LP bargains! The new release & re-issue lps that have never been part of the sale are on display, still FULL PRICE. MOST OTHER LPS IN THE STORE ARE 2 FOR ONE DOLLAR. THAT MEANS: if the sticker says it’s 99 cents it’s 2 for a dollar, if the sticker says it’s $9.99, it’s 2 for a dollar, if the sticker says it’s $29.99 or even more (not likely) it’s still 2 for a dollar. Come on in, stack ’em up and buy as much as you can afford, or more, 2 for ONE DOLLAR. Please bring boxes if you need them, we’re out. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to those of you who continue to watch this site AND come in to help me divert all this vinyl from my house to yours…”
So, over the hyper-extended break taken here at TVD, there was plenty o’ time spent at the neighborhood haunt, the Fox and Hounds. One evening sitting in front of the big window under the neon sign looking out over the patio, my pal John and I got involved in a conversation about graphic design. John’s a web design/development instructor at the Corcoran and at Catholic U., and as an Art Director in my 9-5 guise, he had a few questions for me about what I look for in a junior designer’s portfolio.
The timing was good for this conversation too as I had hired a very talented junior designer just about a year ago after reviewing literally hundreds of portfolio submissions, at first via an ad posted on craig’s list then afterward in person during interviews.
The thing that struck me then that resonated in our conversation was that student and beginning designer’s portfolios seem to just lack the basic fundamentals–super solid typography, type and image cohesion, individual flair, and a communications capability. Most seem to be extended classroom exercises at best and very basic stabs at ‘just doing it’. Which I understand really…I was there starting from nothing and hoping for the best. Most troubling ultimately though was a basic lack of executing the fundamentals in a professional portfolio…which IS supposed to be your best stuff on display, right?
What seemed to dilute the talent pool we surmised was the computer. We’ve all got one and with the help of a little design software we’re all ‘designers’ with or without formal instruction or innate talent. Some can get there, some can get close, and it’s pretty easy to tell who’s got it and who doesn’t. The computer seems to say ‘yes, you are’ as opposed to ‘you just haven’t earned it yet, baby.’
No surprise then that he topic turned to music and the parallel that can be drawn with the aforementioned. The computer INDEED seems to say ‘yes, you are’ as opposed to ‘you just haven’t earned it yet, baby’ YET all these young shavers have their on-line MUSIC portfolios on-display, via Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, or any other shortcut subsequently made worse by the plethora of bloggers (ding!) in search of content who, in the end, champion acts that barely merit the title of ‘beginner.’
I’ve seen it over and over again the past year exacerbated by the thin talent base that became the fodder for ‘Top Ten Lists’ in vogue at the end of December. I hesitate to point fingers or name names cuz we’re all sweet this a-way…but catch me at happy hour and you can bet your tits I’ll have names and nausea to spare.
So in the coming year, JUST the good shit. Only the acts that somehow have got it (or HAD it) and none of the Gang of Four copyists in reverso skinny jeans and ironic hippy beards peddling half-formed or worse, ill-formed compositions on shiny young auto-tuned kids. Unless they KILL of course. (Our tent is big enough.)
This by the way places a heavy burden on our ‘First Date’ series which returns full-throttle in ’09. Our ‘Daily Wax’ becomes the ‘Weekly Wax’ as we veer more toward the artists as opposed to singular releases. FINALLY I plan to get to the hundreds of LP’s added to the TVD shelves over the course of ’08 that will become our ‘From The Vaults’ series or something similarly named.
We’ve got vinyl LP giveaways already lined up and there will be plenty more than last year. We’ve got ticket giveaways already lined up and there will be plenty more than last year. We’re ramping up our overall vinyl news coverage. AND we have our exclusive Record Store Day 2009 news and updates…so, we anticipate a major bit of blogging over the course of the year. Your continued indulgence is warmly appreciated.
…which brings me to the very first artist this year and the individual I listened to above all others last year: Adrian Borland and more specifically his band, The Sound.
I’ve rambled on a bit for one day, so go forward and download the following five from The Sound’s live 2-LP set, “In The Hothouse.” Close your eyes and imagine this band taking the stage at oh, The Black Cat or The R&R Hotel with this level of energy and passion and song-craft and ask yourselves why we’re settling for…oh, …wait.
What to do with all of those email alerts we get that we simply can’t do justice throughout the week? Why, it’s condense them right here in our new weekly bulletin board, ‘plugs.’
We don’t care where you are or what city you’re in–if you’ve got something you wanna promote or think we should be listening to or seeing or reading, this is the place to put it. Got a band? A photo exhibit? DJing some place? A good cause worth promoting? This is the spot for it. (And if you’ve checked that little widget waaay down there bottom left, this is a global forum, indeed.)
We’ll be posting what lands in our in-box right here daily as well as welcoming your tips, and we’ll be refreshing it once a week to stay on top of what we’re both up to.
So, clue us in right here in the comments section to these posts. Weekly.
Some things about today’s ‘First Date’ Perhapst that perhaps you didn’t know: 
