A few weeks back Jon Sidel spun Jonneine Zapata’s ‘Good Looking’ on what’s become my favorite TVD feature, the brilliant ‘Idelic Hour’ which broadcasts here each Friday at the close of the week.
For the better part of the weekend I was singing to myself, “I’m good looking/you’re good looking/What are we gonna do…?”
Now you’ll be.
We’re swooning, I tell you.
Jonneine Zapata – Good Looking (Mp3)
Authorized for download!
How can you walk around the streets of Memphis and not write a soul song? It’s almost as if the oxygen there has been permanently bonded to sharp horn stabs floating in the air. As Canasta made our way down I-40 and crossed the Arkansas-Tennessee border, it was as if the ghosts of soul past and present jumped in the car and started humming in our ears.
Our good friend Rachel Hurley (aka Rachelandthecity) had set up an in-studio performance/webcast at Ardent Studios, as well as a show at the Hi-Tone for the evening. We hadn’t played Memphis before, and weren’t sure exactly what to expect. The strong musical history of Memphis was definitely well known by the band, so we were excited to see famous landmarks. But it didn’t truly speak to us till we walked through the hallways of Ardent Studios. Hanging on the walls were gold records by the like of Al Green, Sam and Dave, Isaac Hayes, Booker T. and the MGs , and The Bar-Kays.
The owner and founder of Ardent, John Fry, was soon introduced to us and immediately he made you feel like you were best buds from back in the day. He showed us some the classic equipment used on some of those gold albums, including a vintage vinyl mastering console. For techies, it was like the gold star-backstage pass. We soon found out that it wasn’t just Mr. Fry who made you feel at ease and comfortable, but the people and surroundings of Memphis itself. There’s something to this soul thing.
The next day we were treated to a personal tour of the Stax Museum by John. He had done work on so many of the these artists these great albums, and had the personal insight you couldn’t get from reading biographies. Each exhibits brought together live recordings and videotape from Stax’s top artists. Something about the combination of the mood of the town and people, along with music we were hearing connected everything flawlessly.
I have always been a fan of the Memphis horns, but I was blown away by the work ethic and creativity these guys had. They would hang around the studio day and night, and whoever happened to be recording would ultimately need horns at some point. They were the gold stamp on many of the best soul albums from the 70’s. You couldn’t help but be inspired, and the entire band knew when we returned to Chicago, priority 1 was writing a soul song.
Our next song writing session found us working something upbeat. Something that made you feel like summertime and nodding your head to the groove. We eventually came up with the name “Summer Soul Song” that was pretty literal in the mood of the tune. That song went through so many incarnations, but didn’t really capture what we felt.
During one of our retreats we revisited the tune and started experimenting with different variation. A smooth flowing organ and pulsing hammer-on guitar lick soon set the tone for that mood we sought so hard to capture in Memphis. Studio time brought the appearance of our much needed horns, and that gave us “Reading the Map Upside Down”. Listen, and you can’t help but let your head rock back and forth with a sly smile. Thanks Memphis!!
The Ardent Sessions Presents: Canasta | The Vinyl District Podcast [108Mgs]
Enter to win Canasta’s ‘The Fakeout, the Tease and the Breather’ on CD by simply leaving a comment, your name, and a contact email address in the comments to this post. We’ll choose one winner each Friday for that week’s giveaway which ALSO includes the entire Ardent Music catalog. (That’s just 2 artists at this point, but who’s counting?)
To hear more great Ardent Sessions please visit Ardent Presents.
“…Customers at Sunday’s D.C. Record Fair at the Black Cat were looking for more variety in their playlist. They delved back into music from years gone by and discovered that rare find after thumbing through crates of records.
“A lot of the new music nowadays is just crappy. So if you didn’t have the old school Chaka Khan, it’s still new to you,” DJ Adrian Loving of Southwest said of why vinyl records have begun to regain popularity. “You can still buy vinyl for pretty cheap; you can buy an album for, like, a dollar. Also, the idea of being retro and nostalgic comes in waves, and it’s like, ‘Oh, yeah, let’s get vinyl and record players, let’s go old school.’ ” Loving bought five records to add to his 5,000-plus collection, which he said he is hoping to trim to about 2,500 of his absolute loves.“
Full article with photos here.
I saw The Reverend Horton Heat a few years back and they were that shit hot I think I’m still trying to get over it. No, really – simply amazing live.
And in the spirit of passing along the badass musical goodness, we’re got a pair of tickets to see The Reverend—who are touring in support of their new release “Laughin’ & Cryin'”—along with Cracker and Miss Derringer, this Saturday night at the 9:30.
You have to act fast however! We need to close this one out on Friday morning at 10am, so the person who get at us in the comments with their spectacular plea for the tickets (with contact info!) will win the pair. That’s it – we’re going easy on you this time around.
So – go!
The Reverend Horton Heat – Drinkin’ and Smokin’ Cigarettes (Mp3)
(Authorized for download!)
Authenticity. You either have it or you don’t. And being the recipient of tens upon tens of emails from PR firms and artists inquiring about coverage here each week, I can tell you it’s in short supply.
Which is why I’m delighted to keep banging the drum for The Mynabirds, DC expatriate Laura Burhenn’s latest incarnation with what is quickly becoming my favorite release so far this year.
It’d do the record a disservice to compare it to something contemporary and I mean that as the highest compliment. It’s so otherworldly as to become an immediate classic. It’s eerie how ‘right’ all of this feels—like when I heard Nilsson for the first time—I’ve known these songs forever it seems yet they’re just appearing and making themselves known to me. Transcending perhaps.
And yes, this is high praise but don’t take my word for it. OK – do take my word for it. We’ve got ‘What We Lose in the Fire We Gain in the Flood’ to give away in advance of The Mynabirds’ homecoming appearance at The Black Cat next Wednesday, 6/2.
How do you get your hands on the record you’re asking? Give us something authentic in the comments to this post—either about the band, Laura, or its short supply these days. Or where you find it thriving.
We’ll choose one winner for the LP on the day The Mynabirds play the Cat—next Wednesday, 6/2. Remember to leave us contact info too!
The Mynabirds – Numbers Don’t Lie (Mp3)
The Mynabirds – Let the Record Go (Mp3)
Authorized for download!
Courtesy of Paul Collins himself and our friends over at Alive Records, we’ve pulled two gems from the vaults to offer you guys this week while we have Paul blogging with us.
We’ll have two winners for this giveaway who will win both of the following:
The Nerves – Live At The Pirate’s Cove, Cleveland OH, May 26th 1977
Remastered from an analog tape recently discovered by Jack Lee in an unmarked box, this 1977 previously unreleased performance showcases the trio live in Cleveland during their infamous Magic Blistering Tour.
Comes with inner sleeve featuring a collage with Nerves memorabilia, rare photos, notes by Jack Lee, and Paul Collins original tour diary entry related to the show.
All the classics are here, “Hanging On The Telephone,” “Walking Out On Love,” “When You Find Out,” “Stand Up And Take A Good Look,” etc, all delivered with blistering energy in front of a small audience of enlightened scensters that included Dave Thomas of Pere Ubu, and with Devo as the opening band.
This is a VINYL ONLY release on YELLOW VINYL, LIMITED to 500 copies.
Breakaways – Walking Out On Love/The Lost Sessions
After spending nearly 30 years gathering dust in a closet The Breakaways makes its worldwide debut!
Born in 1978 after the demise of The Nerves, this short lived combo was formed by Paul Collins and Peter Case, just prior to the formation of The Plimsouls and The Beat. “Walking Out On Love – The Lost Sessions” compiles all the band’s known material, including studio recordings, demos, and acoustic rehearsals.
“This is the sound of pop on the streets of Los Angeles circa 1978.”
—Paul Collins
“I’d forgotten these tapes even existed. We were definitely homing in on something.”
—Peter Case
Enter to win the pair of unearthed vinyl gems by simply leaving a comment to this post and let us know why you deserve to win these classics. The two most convincing pleas who leave us some contact info (which for some reason is typically the hurdle) will be awarded the vinyl.
You’ve got until next Tuesday (6/1) so make ’em good!
Washington, DC’s creative community is uniting in force over the innovative arts initiative, the ‘Twelve Days Project.’ The ‘Twelve Days Project’ is a unique twelve month long campaign which focuses on artistic collaborations, charitable partnerships and media exclusives surrounding the monthly release of tracks from DC folk-rockers The Dreamscapes Project.
This month the band will be releasing their new single “Hymn” via The Vinyl District for twelve days. Artistic “re-imaginations” will be provided by visual artist Kayti Welsh, producer and remixer Blake9 and creative writer Janice Kephart. A single release show will take place on June 3rd at the Light Horse Tavern, with all proceeds going to local charity Dance4Peace.
Since its launch in January 2010, The Dreamscapes Project have raised nearly $3,000 for local charities including N Street Village, Food and Friends, Pink Jams and Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Each month the band have released a new track via local DC media sources such as metromusicscene.com, TGRIonline, K Street Kate and revolution magazine. Artistic interpretations of the tracks have been converted into short films, creative writing pieces, re-mixes and visual artwork created by a variety of local DC artists, including school children from H-B Woodlawn school in Arlington.
This month’s single ‘Hymn’ will be exclusively available for twelve days on The Vinyl District from May 24th 2010. Artistic interpretations of this track, provided by local DC artists, will be showcased via the Twelve Days Project as one collective virtual installation piece.
A single release show will be taking place on June 3rd at the Light Horse Tavern, in partnership with Socialize Better. Socialize Better is a nonprofit organization that raises awareness and inspires service by providing social opportunities for young adults in Washington, D.C. The organization specifically aims to support the efforts of philanthropic causes that have limited resources to fundraise for themselves. The ‘Socialize Better’ chosen charity of the month is Dance4Peace, an organization which implements programs in Washington, DC public schools and community centers, encouraging social responsibility and understanding through dance.
We’re honored to have been selected.
Hello Folks, Paul Collins here! I am happy to have been asked to do a 5 part blog series for The Vinyl District. I want to start with a bit of a recap of my career in music for those of you who may not know me.
I knew from a very early age that I wanted to be a musician, even before I knew how to play an instrument. When I heard “Big Girls Don’t Cry” by Frankie Valli and “Lightning Strikes” by Lou Christie when I was just a tike in Saigon, Vietnam of all places I was hooked! Later on I fine-tuned my musical tastes by listening to WABC Radio in Long Island, NY every night as I went to sleep.
When I was 17 I left home and went to California to seek my fortune and that is where I met Jack Lee and Peter Case and we formed The Nerves and I was on my way! I never looked back and I have been making music ever since. It has been a blast and I have had the good fortune to be apart of some fantastic bands, The Nerves, one of the founders of the DIY movement in America and then the short lived transitional band with Pete Case, The Breakaways and then onto The Beat one of power pop’s most enduring groups!
I love playing music and as I started as a fan I never thought I would have the opportunity to tour and make records so for me it has really been a dream come true. Nowadays I am very busy recording, writing and touring after a long absence from America (I lived in Madrid, Spain for almost 8 years.)
I have a new record I just recorded with Jim Diamond at his studio Ghetto Recorders in Detroit, which will come out on Bomp/Alive Records in August. All in all it has been a fantastic trip, from rehearsing in burnt out basements to performing on world famous stages with world famous bands like The Jam, Eddie Money, Joe Jackson, The Cure, Devo, The Police, South Side Johnny all the way up to new bands like Gentlemen Jesse and Reigning Sound!
The one thing that has remained a constant for me is that I love music and I am a fan! I hope to see some of you out there when I tour the US this summer…if I do please come up and introduce yourself as that is why we do this…for the fans!
The Beat – Rock N Roll Girl (Mp3)
The Beat – Wait Up For Me (Mp3)
(Downloads authorized by the artist. Got that Google?)
Typically this is where I do my Record Fair sales pitch, but for this go-around I thought I’d let the Washington City Paper handle the duties seeing as the Fair took a ‘Best of DC Award’ last March.
(And is it me or did they just make up a category for us?)
(Click to enlarge!)
The Washington, DC Record Fair | Sunday, May 23rd | The Black Cat (1811 14th St., NW, Washington, DC 20009) | Mainfloor & Mainstage area (Upstairs) | 12pm-6pm | $2 entry fee per person | 32+ Record Dealers (coming to you from FL, NC, PA, VA, MD, NY as well as DC) | Full Bar upstairs and downstairs! | Food (available in the downstairs cafe)
Confirmed DJ Set Times:
Noon to 1: Alec MacKaye
1-2: Cobruhhh (Windian)
2-3: Emily/Susan from Exit Clov
3-4: DJ Dredd
4-5: Fort Knox Five
5-6: John Foster (BYT)
Brought to you by Som Records, DC Soul Recordings, and…us!
Our experience with the Ardent Sessions was just awful. (Completely joking!)
We had an amazing time. The tour through Stax was incredible. The history behind the place is magical and I felt like some of the good vibes wore off on us for the performance. I know that I personally felt like there was a positive energy to the place.
However, I will say that Tom was sick as a dog that day. Sick with a flu that we all caught just before our next tour. Thanks Tom. The people couldn’t have been more hospitable and professional toward us. They gave the run down of how the session was to go down and we felt comfortable with what they were asking of us. I had the privilege of playing on their grand piano, something that rarely happens for me when playing live. I think I can actually count on my hands how many times it’s happened.
When we got the recordings back from the show and sent them to some friends we heard a lot of the same comments: you should release this as a live album. We’re not really at that stage in the game and have a lot of other material to release, but the quality of the recordings is that good and I would be proud to put that out on the market. I am thankful to their great staff, the wonderful coffee and the wizard store across the street. Thank you for an experience that I will never forget.
—Josh Foster, Parachute Musical
The Ardent Sessions Presents: Parachute Musical | The Vinyl District Podcast [86Mgs] (Mp3)
You can purchase Parachute Musical’s latest album Everything is Working Out Fine in Some Town for just $8.99.
Enter to win a Parachute Musical T-shirt by simply leaving a comment, your name, and a contact email address in the comments to this post. We’ll choose one winner each Friday for that week’s giveaway which ALSO includes the entire Ardent Music catalog. (That’s just 2 artists at this point, but who’s counting?)
To hear more great Ardent Sessions please visit Ardent Presents.
Forty years from now when people look back on our generation’s music consumption (providing we haven’t all drowned in oil by then) I wonder what musical artifacts will be remembered fondly… I certainly can’t imagine anyone lining their shelves with old iPhones, iPods and external hard drives and proudly saying “I stored a good 2,000 songs on this bad boy and another 10,000 on this one here!
If it still turned on I’d play you Lisztomania, I used to love that song and the cover looks great at 600×600 pixels!”
On the flip side, anytime a friend comes over to my place they always gravitate towards the shelves lined with vinyl records in my living room. They enjoy taking the time to look through them, admire the cover art, peruse the liner notes and make a conscious decision (keep that thought in mind, I’ll come back to it in a bit) of what music they’d like to listen to.
The White Album, a favorite of mine and my guests, is certainly more striking at 12”x12” with it’s yellowing corners, pullout headshots of the Fab Four and my mom’s maiden name inscribed on the cover in blue ballpoint pen (yes, I did appropriate it from her) than it is on my iPhone. Sound quality aside–as we all know how delicious vinyl sounds–when I take The White Album off the shelf and hold it in my hands I get it. The juxtaposition between the minimalist art offsetting the fact that The Beatles had caught Ryan Adams syndrome some 35 or so years early in India circa 1968. That kind of immediacy certainly isn’t there in digital form, no matter how quickly it can be acquired. Hipgnosis’ darkroom tricks on Houses of the Holy and Ummagumma are drastically more impressive when they don’t look like photoshopped thumbnails. Ralph Steadman’s art for Oasis’ latest Dig Out Your Soul comes to life in the vinyl size and Emma Richardson’s paintings not only adorn Band of Skulls’ album cover, but also now hang on my wall in the form of a poster kindly included in the vinyl release… and all of that, well it makes me love music even more.
Okay, so I’m talking a lot about “art” and not “music”, but I think it’s quite unfortunate that the two get separated. As “zenned out” as I’d like to imagine I am, I like physical things. I like sitting down with a record to digest it and I like the concept of an album as unified work, a complete thought from start to finish; sonically, lyrically and the same goes for its visual accompaniments. I like to see the whole package, the whole picture presented in the way the band intended rather than fragmented pieces floating around in some high-tech little enclosure. Sure, I’m guilty of downloading some stuff illegally (thanks Vuze!), but the albums that I love I need to have on vinyl.
To continue a thought that I started earlier, something else that I truly appreciate is people making conscious decisions. For example the conscious decision to put on a record and listen to it from start to finish as an entire piece rather than to hit shuffle in iTunes or bounce from track to track as the chorus ends at a minute and nineteen seconds to another tune for the outro at two minutes – thirty eight. As we all know, we’re the ADD Generation: between the tools at our fingertips and all that we’re constantly bombarded with via these tools, it’s increasingly easy for our experiences to be fragmented.
At this point music is essentially available a la carte, take a piece of this and have a piece of that. Even individual songs have been marginalized to 30-second clips with their value determined by whether or not they can be used in a promo spot. *Note to anyone who would like to license our songs, yes they are available as we need to pay off our van, but please be trying to sell something chill. Yet at the same time as the musical landscape becomes more and more fragmented, it’s both fascinating and encouraging as a music lover and musician to see how many people still do appreciate “the record” as a complete piece of work.
Every morning when I wake up I check my email on my phone while I listen to music. When I get to my computer I’ll have one tab open for gmail, one for YouTube and another for Facebook. I’d like to think of it as multi-tasking, but in reality it’s all part of the constant stimulation that I think we’ve all grown accustomed to, where one thing at a time is never enough and the realms of music, art, commerce and socializing have all blended into one. Every once in a while it’s nice to step away from this and enjoy music for being music as a complete all-encompassing experience and for me vinyl certainly helps do this. No offense dear iPhone, because I do love you, you make my life very convenient, but when I want to get serious about some music there’s nothing like putting on a vinyl record.
With love to everyone, especially those who love vinyl.
—Ben Rice | Blackbells, Guitar/Vocals
Blackbells play DC9 on Tuesday (5/25) with Crash Kings and we’ve got a pair of tickets just for the asking. Get at us in the comments to this post, tell us why we should pick you, and the most convincing get in on us. Remember to leave us some contact info! We’re closing this one by noon on Monday (5/24.)
Blackbells – This Is Home (Mp3)
Blackbells – High Healer (Mp3)
Blackbells – Young Again (Mp3)
Blackbells – Before the Flood (Mp3)
Is it me or is Bluebrain—brothers Ryan and Hays Holladay—continuously raising the creative bar around DC?
We heard from Ryan earlier in the week about their latest endeavor:
“Bluebrain have created an audio companion to the Sant Ocean Hall in the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum. It’s a twenty minute piece of music that we’ve written to be played while exploring this section of the museum.
It’s not an event, per se, as it isn’t happening on a specific time or date…rather we will be putting the Mp3 on our website starting Thursday morning (5/20) so that people can download it and tour the exhibit at their leisure, by themselves or with others using a set of headphones and an mp3 player. It’s a free download and will remain on our site for the entire summer.”
Grab the Mp3 here, info on Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum is here, and more Bluebrain music is here.
(…and between you and me, Bluebrain’s audio companion sounds just as fine coming out of your home speakers. —Ed.)
I was fortunate to be introduced to The Fab Faux, the brilliant Beatles tribute band, in the most perfect manner—on the radio. On the Howard Stern Show to be exact where they performed tracks from Sgt. Pepper …flawlesssly.
And it’s not just a performance of the classic Beatles music alone, it’s a performance of the recordings, the musicianship and the personal nuances of the players, the vocal harmonies and the sound effects such as the menagerie of barnyard animal noises tagged onto the end of ‘Good Morning, Good Morning” for example. It’s all there. Performed live.
Tell you what – don’t rely on my word. Check out the band doing the classic, side 2 medley on Abbey Road in its entirety and we’ll meet you below when you’re done.
Go ahead, I’ll wait.
The Fab Faux will return to Washington, D.C. for the fourth year in a row, with a May 22nd concert at Lisner Auditorium. The May 22nd event will feature a ‘Glorious Hodgepodge’ of Beatles music, as The Fab Faux are joined by Creme Tangerine Strings and Hogshead Horns.
TVD’s got a pair of tickets to offer one person in exchange for your cheeky note in the comments to this post. Keep it Beatles-centric and the one that moves us most will be attending Saturday night’s show on us. Contest ends Friday (5/21) at noon and remember to leave us your contact email address!
There was a point during the very first Record Fair in February ‘09 that I realized we were onto something.
It was when I was waiting in line to wait in line to browse through the crates of records. I mean, I knew there’d be enthusiasm for the event – just not that much.
That’s also the first flier up there too rendered by yours truly before we really had a sense of the vibe these would ultimately take on. I wouldn’t risk that DC-shaped LP on your needle by the way.
I guess with all the hassles Google and Blogger have thrown my way recently with the take down notices and the disappearing posts, I’ve gotten a bit down on this endeavor and the irony hasn’t eluded me—this blog exists to promote the purchase of physical product—records!—and to enlist the masses in supporting the brick and mortar record stores.
The last thing we want to do is obscure that mission so I/we go out of our way to make sure any current act with new music authorizes the downloads. We honestly do want you to buy the thing.
That said, between setting up and breaking down the fairs, I actually found time to buy some records along the way and we’ll be sharing the fruits of those crate dives this week as we count down to the fifth Washington, DC Record Fair on Sunday.
You’ll note the mystery tracks too …lest the bastards win.
Track 1 (Mp3)
Track 2 (Mp3)
Track 3 (Mp3)
Track 4 (Mp3)
Track 5 (Mp3)
Every morning recently I wake in fear of clicking onto TVD and seeing this:
…which happened to one of the very best music blogs out there last week and the one perhaps most responsible for the blog you’re reading this very moment, Retro Music Snob.
It’s said that sites like the Hype Machine or Elbows are music aggregators, crawling through the music blogs and linking to live Mp3s from whoever’s hosting them at the moment. Retro Music Snob on the other hand is/was an individual, the Snob, who’d do this work personally. With unerring good taste.
So, upon my daily check-in to see if he’d returned from a brief self-imposed hiatus, I was met with the above sad screen and shot the Snob a note.
“Uh, what happened, man?”
“Blogger…blew it up unfortunately. They came after me after I stopped posting. I wasn’t checking the blog regularly because I started a new job, and I am back and forth on the move between Dallas, and California. I cleaned up a few notices on some old stuff…but I guess they figured they warned me enough…funny in all of my years of doing the blog…I probably had 2-3 takedown notices.
When I started RMS…I had no idea what I was doing when it came to blogging. Finally I found my niche where I could find music, and music websites that caught my interest. Websites that like the old stuff…music from our childhood, from high school, and tunes only found on good old vinyl…I liked it so much I had to tell people about these sites, and give them a “heads up” about a tune that they probably haven’t though about in awhile. I also hoped that my little blog made other blogs stronger by sending people their way. Allowing the network of music blogs (that I liked) to get the appreciation they deserved.”
…and they did and this one in particular.
And TVD in particular has been the recipient of quite a few takedown notices in the past two weeks and methinks Blogger might have its sights set on this site. In close to three years, I’ve never had one – now I’m in receipt of many.
Even more aggravating is that the tracks posted which seemingly violate the DCMA copyright law have been OK’d and sanctioned for posting by either the label, the PR firm pushing the band, and/or the band itself.
Feel like you’d want to dispute the charges of copyright infringement? Google, Blogger’s backbone, makes the process akin to a legal brief, in writing, while they sanctimoniously yank an offending post or in the case of Retro Music Snob, the blog entirely.
Options? Well, you can cease posting music despite the OK from the people behind the track.
Or you can move somewhere else entirely.
(Ahem.)
