Liverpool’s The Room in the Wood features vocalist Dave Jackson and guitarist-bassist Paul Cavanagh, and their project’s self-titled debut marks the first time they’ve worked together since the breakup of their noted post-punk outfit The Room back in 1985. Both have been musically active since, so the limited vinyl’s 11 songs (a dozen on the CD) show no traces of rust as the contents imbue a mature post-punk-descended melodic rock with folk and acoustic blues influences. Altogether, it’s a winning combination, and it’s out June 22 through the reignited A Turntable Friend Records.
I first heard The Room long after they’d called it a day, during one of my periodic dives into the labyrinthine nooks of the post-punk wave, with my lingering impression of a solid band with a handful of great songs (maybe the greatest being “Things Have Learnt to Walk that Ought to Crawl”) and a few characteristics in common with their country’s indie pop impulse.
If critically adored while extant (at least reportedly so), in the years since they’ve become somewhat underrated, though far from forgotten; the high-volume discography of the post-punk retrospective label LTM holds two CD collections of The Room’s work, one a Best of (No Dream) and the other an LP/ mini-album combo (In Evil Hour/Clear!)
After the breakup Dave Jackson went on to sing and write songs in Benny Profane along with a bunch of other bands and projects, while Paul Cavanagh took part in a slew of activities as well, amongst them recording solo as Cabin in the Woods. The Room in the Woods finds them rejoining forces, but in a positive development, not attempting to fall back into the motions of their former band.
North Jersey, NJ | Happy 70th Birthday to the LP — and to think they declared vinyl dead: Progress, by definition, is forward movement. That’s why we speak of “The March of Progress.” That’s why the Walt Disney World attraction that spins viewers forward in time, from the carpet sweeper to the robot vacuum, is called “The Carousel of Progress.” Progress doesn’t go in reverse. Except in one case. The LP, or long-playing record, which turns 70 on Monday, is the outlier — the river that runs backward. “It’s made a big comeback,” says John Schlapak, the owner of Music Merchant, a Westwood New Jersey music store. He estimates that his business is two-thirds new and used LPs, and one-third CDs. Who’d have thought it? Certainly not the music industry, which embraced the CD format in 1982, and — somewhat less willingly — the MP3 player in 1997. Each one, in turn, was supposed to be the wave of the future. Each format was supposed to render 
This Bluetooth-enabled record player will play vinyl and online playlists seamlessly: Audiophiles can argue all day long which sounds better, an analog record player or a high-tech speaker system. But why not have the 
Queensland, AU | Record heads get their fix troving for musical treasure: FOR Paul Kelly, this weekend’s Butter Beats record fair was the definition of a treasure hunt. Trawling through the records of years gone by there more than a few classics to be had. Especially considering Mr Kelly planned to meticulously comb through all the crates on display for hours on end. He had set aside the better part of his weekend to troving for musical gold, dedicating the hours of 9am to 2pm on Saturday to finding the next gem to add to his already growing collection. One of his most impressive finds was a medley recording from The Beatles, a rarity according to vinyl veteran Mr Kelly. Butter Beats owner Jason Woodward said Mr Kelly was one of hundreds of record heads getting stuck in to the thousand-large collection on offer. Most of whom’s passion for vinly had consumed the 
Gold Coast, AU | Grandad leaves behind treasure trove of 80,000 records, believed to be Australia’s biggest collection: What is thought to be Australia’s biggest record collection is up for grabs. The collection belonged to Gold Coast grandfather, Ken Perkins, who left behind a treasure trove of more than 80,000 records after his death. Mr Perkins spent more than 50 years building the archive, which would take more than six-and-a-half years to listen to in its entirety. “If anyone knew my dad, they would know he had this little black book,” his daughter Natalie Perkins said. “He would pull it out of his little jacket pocket and he had just the catalogue numbers of the missing pieces, the gems he was looking for.” Ms Perkins has been left with the mammoth task of clearing out 
South Shields, ENG | Friends unite to open business ventures in South Shields: A group of friends have seen their business dreams turned into a reality after joining forces to revamp a former South Tyneside housing office. Goldie, Jill palmer and Paul Kidney worked flat out for nine weeks to give the old rent place in Charlotte Terrace a new lease of life. One half of the building is now home to Goldie’s music hub and coffee shop while the other half has been turned into The Cask Lounge – a micro bar run by Jill and Paul. The businesses opened to the public simultaneously on May 12. The music hub provides a place for fans of vinyl records to go, with a dedicated media room where they can listen to 
Clinton Township, MI | The graphic impact of punk on display at Cranbrook: Nothin’ to do and nowhere to go? Don’t let the summer heat make you feel sedated. Running through Oct. 7, Cranbrook Art Museum debuts the exhibition “Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die: Punk Graphics, 1976-1986,” the largest exhibition of its kind, exploring the unique visual language of the punk movement as it evolved in the United States and the United Kingdom through hundreds of its most memorable graphics — flyers, posters, albums, promotions, and ’zines. Drawn predominantly from the extensive collection of collector Andrew Krivine, “Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die” also includes a nod to 
