Monthly Archives: February 2010

One of the happy coincidences to being The Official Blog for Record Store Day 2010 is that we’re afforded the opportunity to underscore one of our main themes—namely that vinyl is a contemporary medium, one that’s never really gone away, and is perhaps thriving and more vital than it has been in some time (DJ’s, purists, and collectors notwithstanding.)

So, to that end, we’re spending the next ten weeks straight putting records into the hands of TVD readers as we count down to April 19, 2010—Record Store Day.

The rules can’t be any simpler: each Monday for the next ten weeks we’ll be launching a new RSD2010 Vinyl Giveaway and all you need to do to enter to win is to leave a comment in the comments section to that week’s giveaway letting us know why you deserve to win that week’s LP.

Be creative, funny, incisive—whatever it takes to grab our attention to deem you the winner. Most important however is to leave us a contact email address! You can be brilliant as hell, but if we can’t track ya’ down, you’re out of the running. Winners will be notified upon the launch of the next giveaway.

And with that, we’re launching the the very first of our LP giveaways with Charlotte Gainsbourg’s Beck-produced, ‘IRM.‘ (Check back with us later today because we have another for you too…)

What started as a brief recording session between Charlotte Gainsbourg and Beck ended up to be the body of work that is IRM. Over the course of a year and a half of writing and recording together, Beck’s role grew to encompass all aspects of the creative process. He worked seamlessly with Charlotte co writing the lyrics and produced and mixed the recording. (This is the first time he has ever been so involved in another artist’s work.)

The official first single off the album is “Heaven Can Wait” featuring Beck. Sonically, the album is a new direction for Charlotte Gainsbourg and her first in nearly four years. Beck’s iconic and spacey production blends flawlessly with Charlotte’s unique vocals and delivery.

The Watson Twins’ Vinyl District blog takeover simply wouldn’t be complete without a chance to win the brand new ‘Talking To You, Talking To Me’ on vinyl—the LP sliding out of the sleeve over there to the right. And being the completists that we are, Leigh and Chandra have given us a copy to award one reader of this blog.

As we mentioned yesterday, the rules for our vinyl giveaways can’t be any simpler: all you need to do to enter to win is to leave a comment in the comments section of the giveaway letting us know why you deserve to win the LP.

Be creative, funny, incisive—whatever it takes to grab our attention to deem you the winner. Most important however is to leave us a contact email address! You can be brilliant as hell, but if we can’t track ya’ down, you’re out of the running. Winners will be notified on Friday!

The Watson Twins – U-N-Me (Mp3)

BRMC’s new album, Beat The Devil’s Tattoo, is available today for pre-order on iTunes and we’re debating which we like more – the vinyl-centric cover or the title track itself. Hm.

Your take?

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Beat The Devil’s Tattoo (Mp3)

This week The Watson Twins have selected our First Date:

We’ve spent the last few years collaborating and recording with music producers, musicians and friends Russell Pollard and J. Soda from the band Everest. Playing music and making records with folks is much like being married… you fight, you laugh, you cry, you pull your hair out…

But over the years you begin to form a language that helps you communicate creatively. We have certainly reached this point with J. and Russ, in fact they could probably produce our songs without hearing a single note. Ok, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the drift.

Just coming off the heels of producing and playing on our new record Talking To You, Talking To Me… the fellas went almost directly back into the studio to record their second full length On Approach, the follow up to their 2008 release Ghost Notes, both on Neil Young’s Vapor Records. Since their first release much has happened for the Everest boys, they’ve been all over the world pretty much touring with Neil, Wilco, My Morning Jacket… just to name a few, while also playing and producing records for other musicians.

As friends and fans of Everest we highly recommend that if you haven’t heard their music you check it out and certainly keep your eyes peeled for their April 2010 release On Approach.

Everest – Rebels In The Roses (Mp3)
(Live in Lethbridge, AB, Canada)

So, on Friday night I’m supposed to be seeing the Queen of Rockabilly herself, Ms. Wanda Jackson, at the Black Cat and if the snow this week creates an environment in our nation’s capital in which Ms. Jackson cannot make her own concert, I will be absolutely heartbroken.

Why? She is a legend and seeing her live is something anyone would kick themselves forever if they missed it. Ms. Jackson, is, in the music world, as hardcore as they come.

She had her own radio show and was being courted by record producers by the time she was fifteen. Her first song, “You Can’t Buy My Love” was recorded with Billy Gray and she toured with Elvis Presley (who got her to start singing rockabilly) twice before the age of twenty. Although the story goes that Ken Nelson, a producer with Capitol Records didn’t originally sign Jackson because, as he put it, “girls don’t sell records” it didn’t stop him from signing her a few years later after her short stint with Decca Records.

During Jackson’s time at Capitol, which ended in the early 1970s, she recorded and toured her backside off. (Sidenote: Wanda’s backside was covered in costumes designed and made by her mother and Jackson credits herself with bringing glamour to country music due to being decked out in ” fringe dresses, high heels, [and] long earrings.”)

Because her sound vacillated between country and rockabilly, Ms. Jackson would often put one type of song on each side of a single. She toured with a mixed-race band during the same year the Little Rock Nine were challenging segregation in Arkansas. They loved her in Japan. They loved her in Germany. They loved her on the US pop charts AND the US country charts. And when Wanda got married, she didn’t quit her job. Instead, her IBM-supervisor husband quit HIS job to become her manager—something completely unheard of at the time.

After becoming a Christian in 1971, Ms. Jackson recorded her first gospel album, which was to be her last recording with Capitol. Throughout the 1970s she recorded more gospel albums with several labels but after wanting to record both gospel and country music the religious labels lost interest.

In the years since, Ms. Jackson has continued to tour all over the world. In 2009 she was (finally!) admitted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And now, at the age of 73, has released a double-A side single, produced by Jack White of the White Stripes, containing covers of Amy Winehouses’s “You Know I’m No Good” and Johnny Kidd’s “Shakin’ All Over.” The full album will be released on White’s Third Man Records which is also currently selling Jackson’s 7 inch single.

Nick Touches describes Ms. Jackson “as simply and without contest the greatest menstruating rock ‘n’ roll singer whom the world has ever known” but I don’t see any reason to compartmentalize her—I’d put her up there as one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll singers, male or female, the world has ever known and I suspect a little 10 or 20 inches of snow ain’t gonna stop her on Friday.

Wanda Jackson – There’s A Party Goin’ On (Mp3)
Wanda Jackson – Fujiyama Mama (Mp3)
Wanda Jackson – Hard Headed Woman (Mp3)
Wanda Jackson – Makin’ Believe (Mp3)

Hugh Cornwell is a man with equal parts grit and wit. He has been an acclaimed writer and live performer since his time as the primary songwriter, singer, and guitarist of punk and new wave legends The Stranglers.

His recently released eighth album, Hooverdam, is an eloquent and exciting mix of rhythm & blues, rock and post-punk. Hugh will also cross the Atlantic this Spring and treat his US fans to his fiery live show. Though he may be one of the UK’s finest talents, Hugh’s music has always reached far beyond his homeland. Fittingly, Hooverdam is now available worldwide from his website.

Hugh Cornwell – Please Don’t Put Me On A Slow Boat To Trowbridge (Mp3)

Whether on their own or backing Ms. Jenny Lewis, Leigh and Chandra, The Watson Twins’ warm harmonies have long been favorites of ours here at TVD and we’re delighted to say that they’ve braved the elements to join us in the TVD offices all this week to blog away with us.

And it’s a big week for them indeed:

The Watson Twins are taking over The Vinyl District for the week of 2.9.10 as our new record ‘Talking To You, Talking To Me’ DROPS! So everyday this week you’ll be getting a daily dose of TWT as we write about venues we love, top vinyl picks, ladies who rock and more.

A couple things before we get started. This is our sophomore release and for the second time around we stuck tried and true to our analog roots. Recording on a 16 track 2” tape machine and of course we had to press this puppy up on vinyl. Some things are just NOT meant to go away, and records… real 12”, 7” and maybe even 45’s of wax are here to stay.

For this week of release, we’ve got a lot of stuff going on. We’ll be back in our hometown of Louisville, KY playing our local indie record store Ear-X-Tacy, in Philly visiting David Dye at NPR’s World Café, a show at the Bellhouse in Brooklyn, and much more… so stay tuned to The Vinyl District this week!!!

This is gonna be fun… we never “taken over” anything before!

FEMALE SINGERS THAT HAVE INSPIRED | There are so many lovely ladies in the world of music, who continue to pave the way for the rest of us. Sarah Vaughan has a record entitled, It’s A Man’s World, and ya know what… she ain’t lying. So when the world seems a little overwhelming and we need some songs to inspire these are just a handful of the ladies we turn to.

Emmylou Harris | We got a chance to meet this “Singer/Writer/Back-up Vocalist Extraordinaire” and perform the classic “Blue Kentucky Girl” in her presence… wow, talk about nerve-racking! But her southern charm and grace we a complete comfort… not to mention the fact she’s absolutely stunning.

Dolly Parton | “Nine To Five” the movie… the classic song Jolene and her famous quote “Do you know how much it costs to look this cheap?” Big personality, big voice and big… well for a little lady, let’s just say she’s got a lot going on… not to mention a theme park.

Shirley Brown | Years ago, on a radio station called “The Wave” we heard Shirley’s song “Woman to Woman.” It blew our mind so much that we went out and bought the record the next day. Shirley can put a monolog in any song, any time, and make it work. If only we had a couple moments like that on “Talking To You, Talking To Me”… don’t worry we decided to spare you the inner monologs on this new record, but maybe next time!

Neko Case | Like a bird powered by the winds of a natural disaster, her voice soars telling stories of cyclones and favorites. We’re fans! Saw her not too long ago, 7th row at The Greek Theater here in Los Angeles, what was an hour and half show flew by in what seemed like minutes.

Cat Power | A woman who knows how to nail a cover like nobody’s business and her originals stand on their own. From “Moon Pix” to “Juke Box” we like it all.

Carole King | “Tapestry” seems to sum up all of Carole’s talents… soulful, honest, sweet and beautiful. She’s got her heart on her sleeve and it’s driving each piano chord… “It’s Too Late” is a song that demands to be sung at the top of your lungs. Love it.

Erykah Badu | “Baduizm.” Yes we are fans of Ms. Erykah and having seen her live show a number of times, believe us, it is something you will not forget. She’s a performer from head to toe and she’s got the moves and pipes to prove it.

Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris – Love And Happiness (Mp3)
Dolly Parton – I Will Always Love You (Mp3)
Neko Case – Middle Cyclone (Mp3)
Cat Power – (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction (Mp3)
Erykah Badu – Window Seat (Mp3)

Right. I hadn’t heard of Patrick & Eugene either up until recently and now I can’t get the tunes of these post-modern vaudevillians out of my head. If “precious” weren’t such a pugnaciously pleasant word, I’d probably go straight for it in describing the music of UK duo P&E.

After all, when you string together banjos and ukes, then top the charming scrum off with SPF100 pop vocals and a polka dotted display of whistles, bleeps, bloops and bongos it’s hard not to fall squarely into the adorable category, right?

Decide for yourself as we’ve got a rare P&E import to give away—a double-A-side 12″ with their covers of Beyonce’s “Crazy In Love” and Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head” as we chug along with our Ten Weeks of Record Store Vinyl Giveaways.

As we mentioned earlier, the rules for these Vinyl Giveaways can’t be any simpler: each Monday for the next ten weeks we’ll be launching a new RSD2010 Vinyl Giveaway and all you need to do to enter to win is to leave a comment in the comments section to that week’s giveaway letting us know why you deserve to win the LP.

Be creative, funny, incisive—whatever it takes to grab our attention to deem you the winner. Most important however is to leave us a contact email address! You can be brilliant as hell, but if we can’t track ya’ down, you’re out of the running. Winners will be notified upon the launch of the next giveaway.

Now, …go!

Patrick & Eugene – Don’t Stop (Mp3)

…I think there’s some snow coming—anybody hear anything?

(I kid.)

But if you’re reading us from anyplace outside of the DC/Baltimore area, that header’s right—we’re getting two feet of snow at minimum. (Which is fine with me. I got some records to listen to.)

We’re closing shop a bit early today but make sure you’re back here on Monday when we kick off our Record Store Day Ten Weeks of Vinyl Giveaways and we’ll also be joined all week by two lovely co-hosts (co-bloggers?) Hm.

See ya then.

Weather Prophets – Almost Prayed (Mp3)
Icicle Works – When It All Comes Down (Mp3)
Aztec Camera – Walk Out To Winter (Mp3)
The Hussy – Winter Daze (Mp3)
Tall Hands – Fifteen On Ice (Mp3)
The Clientele – Winter On Victoria Street (Mp3)
Sea Wolf – Winter’s Heir (Mp3)
David Mead – Blackberry Winters (Mp3)
Icehouse – Hey Little Girl (Mp3)
Snowden – Good News (Mp3)

I admit that it’s not so easy to come up with an angle for these contests each week. I mean, why bother making it difficult? We want to put tickets in your hands – we don’t need you jumping through any hoops.

But this week, we kinda do.

The mighty Solar Powered Sun Destroyer plays the Rock and Roll Hotel Friday night (2/5) and we’ve got a pair of tickets to give away—along with a SPSD T-shirt, a CD Package, and some stickers for good measure.

But, as I mentioned, it’s not going to be your typical call and response contest. The band’s assembled five questions to inspire your entries in the comments section to this post. The smartest and perhaps the most accurate comment takes home the prizes.

The questions are:

1. All five members of Solar Powered Sun Destroyer have been associated with other bands and acts—name three of their other musical projects.
2. Every member of Solar Powered Sun Destroyer owns an LP from one particular band—which band?
3. There is a picture floating around of a member of SPSD wearing a Solar Powered Sun Destroyer shirt posing with a celebrity—who is the celebrity?
4. If Rambo owed you a big personal favor and would even take someone out for you—who would it be, and how would he do it?
5. Write a Haiku using the words Solar Powered Sun Destroyer in it.

You’ve got until Friday at noon to solve one or more of these head-scratchers. We’re choosing our winner then and leave us some contact info!

Solar Powered Sun Destroyer – The Roulette Year (Mp3)
Solar Powered Sun Destroyer – Ghost Light (Mp3)
Solar Powered Sun Destroyer – Intromission (Mp3)

We’ve been big fans of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes since ’40 Day Dream’ made itself known to us last summer. But we tend to handle our records carefully by the sides to avoid fingerprints (and more.) Nora Kirkpatrick, ES&TMZ’s accordion player, turns out to be a bit more…shall we say… free-wheeling:

“In college, my roommates and I, yet unwise to the immense value and pleasure of vinyl, would use our parent’s old records as plates for parties, or melt them in the oven to use as bowls. I kick myself every time I walk by my Neil Young “On the Beach” party bowl, which is great for chips, but not nearly as great as actually hearing the songs!

Although I have known about the best hidden record store in Los Angeles for a few years now, I didn’t own my own record player or have what could be considered a bonafide collection until two months ago. Now that I have finally seen the light, I am working very hard to retire every digital album I have and replace it with its vinyl counterpart. My first and best stop is Music Man Murray on Exposition Boulevard.

It has been run for decades by 87-year-old Murray Gershenz, a former opera singer turned character actor. (You may recognize him from The Hangover as the half-naked patient in the hospital scene.) Murray has about every album you could ever want, and about 10,000 you’ve never heard of, but should want anyway. Music Man Murray is an experience in and of itself, and if you are looking for rare or interesting records, I suggest giving his store a try.

When I am on the hunt for records I never knew I wanted, I often go to thrift stores such as St. Vincent’s downtown or Oasis thrift shop in Indio, California. I’ve gotten such gems as “The Baja Marimba Band’ (greatest hits, of course), Perry Como “So Smooth,” and some that I have come to cherish, such as “The Art of Charles Mingus,” Little Richard “Gospel” and “The Piano Music of Erik Satie.”

Although my descent into the wild world of vinyl is relatively new, I have come full circle from my neglectful college years, and can’t wait for the day when I can delete iTunes, throw my iPod to the wind, and sit back with my new, much flatter and more sonic version of Neil Young’s “On the Beach.”“

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes – Home (Mp3)
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes – 40 Day Dream (Mp3)

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings will return with their new album ‘I Learned The Hard Way’ on April 6th and anticipation of the new release, Daptone Records is giving away the title track—free!

Although we happen to have the track for download below—an exclusive I might add—we want you to head over to Daptone anyway and leave your email address to join the mailing list.

Fans who follow on Twitter, Facebook, and on the mailing list will receive exclusive pre-sale information for show tickets including the record release party at The Apollo Theatre on April 30th. And you do want to be there.

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings – I Learned The Hard Way (Mp3)

Our friend Brandon, one half of the dynamic DJ duo behind We Fought The Big One returns with our first Musique Non Pop of the new decade. —Ed.

Teepee – Morals (Sensei, 2009 LP only)

So much of modern criticism is skewed toward the comparative. It’s a lazy and sometimes thuggish situation geared more towards the display of the critic’s own hierophant-like knowledge of the modern record. But, besides being somewhat petty, this approach fails on at least two major levels.

First, the writerly one—which is that the product is unreadable (the English major in me gets more upset by this than most, probably.) But the other, more important failure is that it fails completely to capture the process, the craft and the spirit of the work it was intent on translating into the written word.

Thus the comparative review can only ever truly minimize by association that what it might want to lionize and really fucking miss the boat on what it’s like to struggle with something just to get it right. This, the best of the bands do, laboring long hours on a record, only to get Velvet Underground dropped in their laps by someone still living at Hotel Mom.

I have to admit to having come up short when trying to review the new album by Teepee, the alias of Miami’s own, Eric Lopez-Delgado. I haven’t been able to do it justice in any way. I toyed with a scissor kick off a Marshall stack while fist-pumping “it’s fucking awesome” approach—including rampaging through the thesaurus, picking out every juicy synonym for moody, rocking, opaque, blastular etc. I even thought of being the lazy shit and name-dropping a certain mid-eighties art-rock band from Illinois, but killed that immediately (See paragraph 1.)

I settled ultimately on the narrative. In this case, in the depth of the night, there came the realization. How can one write about sensibility? How can you properly capture, in words the thing that allows an artist to simply know how long the cues between songs should be and just what order those songs should be in? And how those songs should be so haunting way beyond the coolness you feel about owning a labor of love record by someone obviously without an ounce of rock star cynicism?

I should shut up now and let you listen to the song. But allow me to end this review in an ellipsis and question mark…..?

Teepee – I Told You So (Mp3)

…my Mom used to say that. She’d be upstairs primping before a holiday gathering or something and while the guests amassed and made their way clear to cocktail #3, she’d descend down the spiral steps aglow and all smiles.

And if someone said, “Oh Ruth, you look lovely…” she’d point out, “Powder and paint make ya what ya ain’t.”

That one sort of stuck with me.

I’m not sure how many of you have taken note, but we’ve given ourselves a bit of a face lift over the past month or more. We even tried out a few new mastheads up there and have settled on this one as the new TVD logo and brand. Ta daa – all fresh faced.

I realize that the content too had shifted a bit with the revised look. Less me opining about bullshit and more general in a sense – and I love it.

At some point last year, this being largely a one-Jon endeavor, I was sorta ready to pull the plug. I know I’ve made mention of this before but there are only so many childhood memories to upheave and records to marry to said upheaval. I lost interest, and if I should lose interest, the whole thing would suffer – hence dreams of plug pulling.

I found that by removing the burden of writing from my perspective and giving the artists more voice here, the more interested I am in the endeavor. And it’s opened doors far beyond my dreams, not just at the outset, but from, well… last December!

Opportunities have arisen that will unfold over the next few months—more to the general in scope but still square in the vinyl realm—that hell, I even want to read and I know what’s coming.

So, this week it’s a bit of a ‘State of the Blog’ address while we ponder the ‘powder n’ paint.’

You’re welcome to opine as well in regard to the shifting seas…

Del Amitri – Former Owner (Mp3)
The Room – Things That Have Learnt To Walk That Ought To Crawl (Mp3)
Bee And Flower – Two Makes One (Mp3)
The Pastels – Somethings Going On (Mp3)
David Bowie – The Prettiest Star (Mp3)