Monthly Archives: January 2013

“Vinyl has always been really important in Blood Red Shoes. When we started the band, the first thing we did was release a string of self-recorded limited 7″s, and since then we’ve made sure every release has a vinyl version.”

“In fact increasingly, we’re not even doing a CD version, just a download and vinyl of our releases. I guess it’s always been important to us because coming from an underground scene, vinyl was always prized the highest. I have fond memories of buying my first Fugazi LPs (which were really cheap) in Brighton indie shops, and every band aspired to releasing a 7” or LP, not a download or CD or whatever.

Vinyl always just seemed that bit more “real,” maybe it’s something about taking it out the sleeve, lifting the needle yourself, having to turn it over halfway through…it’s a more engaging process to listen to, rather than just clicking on a screen and letting it go.”
—Steven Ansell

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“I can’t remember exactly when I got interested in vinyl, it was so commonplace in my young life.”

“My parents were always playing something on a record. I think I thought every body listened to music that way. As I got older I got into vinyl just because it was available in my house. My dad has always had such an overwhelming collection of music from every era—from classical to jazz and blues, but my mom had the bulk of the classic rock records that really sparked my interest.

I remember finding a cardboard box in my basement that stunk of mildew. It was full of all my moms records from the ’60s and early ’70s. It was from this pile of old records that I first heard the White Album, Cheap Thrills from Big Brother and the Holding Company, Sly and the Family Stone, Neil Young, Simon and Garfunkel, Cream, and John Mayall. I was also lucky since my dad, being such an audiophile, had no less than 2 great turntables in my house at one time. So, I would bounce between “Cinnamon Girl” and “Girl from Ipanema.”

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The records of Wild Man Fischer were once a warped fixture in well stocked record bins all over the globe. He’s left this mortal coil, but as an early example of the often fascinating and sometimes frustrating world of “outsider music,” his reputation is assured. An Evening with Wild Man Fischer was his first stab at immortality, and to this day it remains his best. Never reissued, it’s a 2LP that’s more talked about than heard, but once experienced it’ll certainly never be forgotten.

These days, the desire to take a plunge into the backlog of musical eccentricity that’s accumulated over the years can provide a crazy trip, man, but there’s frankly so much of the out-there residing out there in the nooks and crannies of recording history that trying to gather a full picture of Weirdsville can be more than a little daunting, even for those with a few decades of listening experience under their belts.

Cynical views regarding outbursts of the weird often express how they are mainly attempts at gaining attention in a crowded musical landscape (and sometimes that’s correct), but a general truth regarding expressions of the artistically bizarre is that for every example that rises to prominence, there are many more that never make it beyond the fringe. Indeed, quite a few only find the smallest release or even remain in the vault to be discovered years later through the insatiable thirst of obscurantist researchers.

That’s not the case with Larry “Wild Man” Fischer, one of the first “outsider” musicians and a one-time oddball fixture in the Los Angeles scene. In a sense he was in the right place at the right time, specifically the second half of the ‘60’s, an environment that placed a high value on strangeness, considering it all rather “far-out.”

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“Buying records was such an intimate part of my childhood. Saving coins to buy my first single (Bee Gees’ “Jive Talking”) or first LP (Elton John’s Greatest Hits) was a rite of passage. Sitting in the backseat of the car looking at the cover, reading the liner notes and imagining what it would sound like once you got home and dropped the needle was the ultimate foreplay. No wonder so many ofthose records changed my life.”

“As I entered my teenage years, those trips to the record store became like weekly worship. I took up residence in the bins around Cleveland at stores like Wax Stax, Record Revolution, and Record Exchange. I loved spending hours going through all the releases. Wax Stax had bins filled with radio promos that must have magically turned into cocaine for the local DJs every week when they dropped them off. I didn’t know you could buy an album without “For Promotional Use Only” stamped on it for years.

Record stores were magnets for eccentrics, freaks, and philosophers. Some of the most curious characters were the clerks behind the counter. They’d set the mood, playing records, drinking beer and mercilessly laying into the unfortunate kid who tried to buy the “wrong” record. Yelling at kids is what you consider “benefits” when you’re working for minimum wage at a record store.

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Tunabunny has released three records in a relatively brief span of time and while knowledge of their work is increasing they’ve still received nowhere near the attention they deserve. The newest one from the band is titled Genius Fatigue and it finds them successfully elevating their often clamorous and at times quite melodious femme-voiced post-punk to a higher plateau. In so doing they pull off a difficult trick; in taking a big step onto a larger stage they easily avoid creating any disconnect with their excellent past.

While certain rock genres either fall out of favor or simply hold a limited lifespan and influence, folks have been nicking from the sturdy precedent of post-punk for a few decades now, and it doesn’t look like the situation is going to curtail any time soon. Like the blues, ‘60s garage, and guitar-based pop-rock, post-punk possesses an enduring allure, particularly for youthful bands.

This is in part due to post-punk’s general retention of one big lesson taught by its unhyphenated predecessor, that being an emphasis on energy and imagination over chops. And this directly relates to how a well-absorbed post-punk influence can still sound very up-to-date.

This is the case with Athens, GA’s Tunabunny. In a manner similar to Brooklyn’s Talk Normal, they avoid the rather blatant style-cribs that made some of the post-punk focused activity from last decade register as decidedly underwhelming. Instead of connecting like mere copyists, Tunabunny find success by not recalling the sound of any specific band. Where they differ from Talk Normal however, is through an initial impact that, at least to this listener, was distinctly ‘90s in orientation.

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So, I’m totally gonna be that girl awkwardly dancing at the Toro Y Moi show, kinda like Chazwick Bundick does in his “Say That” video. I mean, I already awkward dance on my bike when I’m riding along listening to Anything in Return. I’m kinda surprised I haven’t flipped backwards because I bounce kinda hard to every single song. 

Better known as Toro Y Moi, Chazwick Bundick has been making music since he graduated from the University of South Carolina in 2009. A close friend with Washed Out’s Ernest Greene, he has helped shape the chillwave movement, along with other bands such as Small Black and Memory Tapes. These bands share a love of the ’80s, with heavy synths that inspire me to make a lot of trippy cat art on Instagram.

Toro Y Moi has released three studio albums and is touring to promote the latest, Anything in Return, via Carpark Records, released earlier this month. If you haven’t heard it yet, it’s really amazing. You’re going to dance your way to high heaven if you are lucky enough to win the LP that we’re giving away right here.

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