We’ve closed up the shop for the holidays. While we’re away, why not fire up our free Record Store Locator app and visit one of your local indie record stores?
Perhaps there’s an interview, review, or feature you might have missed? Catch up and we’ll see you back here on Monday, 1/6.
Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
What can I say on this Friday the 13th?
It’s the final Idelic Hour of the decade and my birthday! I’m so old—my number looks too weird to write. Another bookmark in my rock ‘n’ roll journey. It’s been weird and truly wonderful. Let’s carry on into this second decade of the this new millennium. What a trip it will be.
Thank god for all the musicians and songs that made “the teens” sometimes cool and sometimes bearable. Also thank to all who have checked in and listened. And of course Jon Meyers, props my friend rockkkk!
The tradition began a decade ago when Andrew Bird first announced a special holiday concer—coined “Gezelligheid”—at the beautiful Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago. Since, it’s turned into a multiple night (almost) annual event. It’s a December highlight, no doubt.
This year, I attended night two of his five night sold-out stint and was mesmerized as always by Bird’s music and the grand setting of it all. The lovely Madison Cunningham opened the show and joined Bird halfway through his set.
Every duet was a showstopper, but that’s come to be the Gezelligheid concert series standard. If you know Andrew Bird, you know that his shows are unique, intimate, masterful—and not to be missed.
I’ve always been intrigued by British rock band Temples. They have that perfect mix of nostalgia, mystique, and psychedelia, not only with their late ’60s inspired look but most importantly, with their music. They’ve been on my radar for years, but we’ve never been in the same city at the same time, that is until last Sunday at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire. Having spent quite a bit of time with their latest album Hot Motion, I was thrilled to finally see the live show up close and personal in one of London’s best venues.
After photographing the standard first three songs in some very challenging light, I grabbed a beer and went up to the balcony to watch the show. I quickly found myself thinking, “holy shit, these guys are good.” Each song was getting better than the first. The only other time I’ve seen this was watching Father John Misty for the first time years ago in San Francisco. The setlist was perfect and flowed beautifully to the end—not a dud in sight.
The same thing happened with Temples. New songs such as “Hot Motion” set up the more familiar classics such as “Shelter Song.” It just worked, and the crowd responded accordingly. At one point, there was even a bit of a mosh pit, which makes zero sense to me. Then again, I saw a vicious mosh pit at the My Vitriol show a few weeks back.
In the mess that is the music industry today, talent no longer seems to be the leading indicator of future success. It’s much more about luck, consistency, and building a strong relationship with your fans and advocates. So the question becomes, what the hell do you do with a band like Temples? It’s not like they are going to have a breakthrough “hit” anytime soon, nor should that be the focus, but I think it would be interesting to pair them in 2020 on some interesting tours.
VIA PRESS RELEASE | Real Gone Music grants the wishes of record collectors and TV fans worldwide by releasing, for the first time ever on CD and for the first time on vinyl since its original issue in 1967, the only album Barbara Eden ever recorded!
As you can tell from the cover, she made the record at the height of her fame starring in the TV comedy I Dream of Jeannie, her huge break which came after years of appearing in such series as How to Marry a Millionaire, Burke’s Law, and Route 66 and in films like 7 Faces of Dr. Lao and Flaming Star (opposite Elvis Presley). So, one could be excused from going into this album thinking that Barbara’s chops were more on the acting than the musical side. But she got her start performing while singing in the church choir, and studied at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music long before the camera found her. She subsequently headlined on stage in Las Vegas and appeared in TV music-variety shows and specials as well. So, Miss Barbara Eden is not just a highly sought-after curio from the long career of a TV icon but an irresistible pop platter in its own right!
With Bill Justis conducting and arranging, and songs by Bill Anderson and Ted Daffan among others, there’s a little bit of a country tinge, but it’s definitely not of the cry-in-your-beer variety as Barbara keeps things light and lissome while offering plenty of personality along with the pipes. For our money, the stand-out track is the last one, “Bend It,” which belongs (complete with sitar…it is 1967, after all!) in the bubblegum hall of fame right up there with “Yummy, Yummy, Yummy.”
Our CD reissue includes copious photos and notes by Joe Marchese with fresh quotes from Barbara herself, while our LP reissue comes in pink vinyl limited to 1,000 copies. One more note on the LP: we’re releasing it at 45 r.p.m. to ensure maximum fidelity to “the master” (wink, wink). Remastered by Mike Milchner at SonicVision.
So, we wrap up a calendar year of coverage with ten records in five entries. If your personal favorite of 2019 is not here (or in yesterday’s installment) please fret not; it was most likely unheard in a certifiable avalanche of new music from across the last twelve months. These releases however, struck us as special.
5. Swans, Leaving Meaning (Young God / Mute) & Laurie Anderson, Tenzin Choegyal, Jesse Paris Smith, Songs from the Bardo (Smithsonian Folkways) One of Leaving Meaning’s pertinent facets (and something that relates to prior Swans releases) is that it makes generally worthwhile and even accurate synopsizing difficult. That it is lengthy has little to do with it; rather, it is a work utterly loaded with content, dimension, and with range reflective of this new version of Michael Gira’s long-extant band/ project. But Leaving Meaning can be described as a spiritual record, which isn’t a new development, though it offers this aspect distinctively. Parts of it sound great at Christmastime, even. ‘tis the season!
To call Songs from the Bardo a spiritual record is to spew a banality, at least for folks familiar with Tibetan Buddhism. Even for those with little to no knowledge of the practice, the overall transcendental nature of the collaboration should be easily absorbed. But this isn’t what makes the album special. Instead, it’s in how affecting the contents become for listeners with a casual relationship (or less) to the shared spiritualism it documents. That’s instrumentally (via all three participants), textually (through the persistent calmness of Anderson’s recitation), and vocally (the heartfelt singing by Choegyal). Songs from the Bardo communicates broadly without slipping into the banality mentioned above. That’s special.
4. Bill Orcutt, Odds Against Tomorrow (Palilalia) & Peter Brötzmann, I Surrender Dear (Trost) The beauty motions on guitarist Bill Orcutt’s latest are considerable. We’re talking beauty as a non-contentious property, a facet of the whole that large groups of listeners could (theoretically) agree upon. It’s something of an unexpected development in Orcutt’s trajectory. Not that he didn’t seem capable. It was more like he just wouldn’t be interested in traveling down that particular avenue. Plus, there was an abstract beauty (the kind of beauty people argue over) in his work already. Well, the good news is that Odds Against Tomorrow is a stellar record hovering on the borderline of a sound that’s tangibly rock.
Now, when experimenters and avant-gardists begin migrating toward a recognizably rocking zone, it’s generally time to get nervous. This can also apply to jazz musicians if they are swinging their creative pendulum toward conservatism. In the case of I Surrender Dear, which could be alternately titled Brötzmann Does Ballads except that he’s doing a whole lot more (a few of his own tunes just for starters), there is no need to worry, for the man’s playing, if more clearly intertwined with Tradition than ever before, is still far far away from tuxedos and cocktails. “Brozziman” (a tune by Misha Mengelberg) hits like Albert Ayler decimating a vaguely Mancini-like strip joint number. Glorious.
There are a gazillion holiday albums out there; everybody from Perry Como to Bob Dylan has put one out. Hell, you can even find my holiday-themed 1977 release, Some Nobody Butchers Your Favorite Christmas Carols, on eBay. It’s not bad, if you speak esperanto.
Most holiday LPs are designed to scratch a particular musical itch, and so it goes with 1981’s God Rest Ye Merry Jazzmen. It’s probably not your cup of bebop if you don’t much care for America’s classical music, but it’ll make the perfect stocking stuffer for that loved one whose tastes run to jazzed-up interpretations of their favorite Christmas songs.
The artists on God Rest Ye Merry Jazzmen include such legends as tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon, pianist and John Coltrane Quartet sideman McCoy Tyner, alto saxophonist extraordinaire Arthur Blythe, trumpeter Wyinton Marsalis and more. And its songs include “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “We Three Kings of Orient Are,” “I’ll be Home for Christmas,” and that one with the chestnuts roasting on an open fire whose title I can never remember, amongst others.
The performances are uniformly excellent, and will make for the perfect mood music as you try in vain to put out the house fire caused by roasting said chestnuts in said open fire. And it’s an instrumentals only LP, which means there are no vocals to remind you’ve gone your whole life listening to these songs and still don’t know the words. But so what if you don’t know ‘em? I prefer to scat along like Shooby Taylor, that is until a beloved family member knocks me for a loop with a turkey leg.
Montreal, CA | Mile End record stores uncertain about future as they face fines over business hours: Shops visited by provincial inspector on Record Store Day have now received fines for thousands of dollars. Independent record stores are wondering about their future in Mile End after being fined thousands of dollars for being open past 5 p.m. on the weekend. Four stores — Phonopolis, Sonorama, La Rama and Death of Vinyl — were visited by an inspector from the provincial Economy and Innovation Ministry on Saturday, April 13, and all were given notices saying they were open too late. The fines, issued by the Justice Ministry, arrived this month. They were taking part in Record Store Day, where shops around the world sell exclusive pressings and hold events to promote supporting independent retailers. Eduardo Cabral, co-owner of Sonorama, says it was the first time in his 35 years working at Montreal record stores that he had a visit from a provincial inspector, who arrived around 5:40 p.m. Instead of handing Cabral a warning, the inspector gave him a notice saying his case would be passed on to the Justice Ministry to determine the fine — with the minimum being $1,500.
UPDATE: Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante said she is sensitive to the situation of record stores and that economic development services will propose solutions to ease the stores’ financial struggles.
Bridport, UK | Clocktower Music is voted the best record store in the south: A record store has achieved podium position in a national competition – making it the best in the entire south of England. Clocktower Music, which can be found on Bridport’s St Michael’s Estate, took home the third place accolade in 2019’s independent Record Shop of the Year competition. This competition – which is run by industry magazine Long Live Vinyl – saw more than 280 stores face off against each other for the podium positions. Both stores which won first and second place are up north, meaning that Clocktower Music can boast of being the south of England’s best record store. Owner Roy Gregory said: “A mega thank you to all our customers and supporters for voting for Clocktower Music, we are amazed at the support. “We hope the result will also bring more music fans to Bridport and St Michael’s Trading Estate.”
Springfield, MO | New Record Store Opens in Springfield: City Music is set to provide the Ozarks with vinyl records and CDs. The new store is run by Jeff Moffatt, Ken Childers and Joe Livingston – KSMU’s host of the Roundabout. Livingston says the store fulfills a need in the community for new releases that he would like to see available in town and not just on the internet. “We are selling records, CDs, books, artifacts, furniture, tape decks, record players. Anything that we can sell that’s music related,” said Livingston. City Music will soon host house concerts in the back part of the store, featuring local and touring musicians. City Music is located in Springfield at 2528-A South Campbell and is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9 to 9 and Sundays 10 to 4.
Record Store Day Black Friday 2019 Helps Drive Third-Biggest Sales Week for Vinyl In Nielsen Era: Vinyl helps yield biggest overall album sales week of 2019. Pearl Jam’s “MTV Unplugged” was week’s top Record Store Day Black Friday exclusive album. Record Store Day Black Friday promotions on Nov. 29 helped drive another big win for vinyl album sales — and the largest overall sales week for albums in 2019 — according to Nielsen Music. The data tracking firm reports that 855,000 vinyl albums were sold in the U.S. during the week of Nov. 29 through Dec. 5 — the third-largest sales week for vinyl LPs since Nielsen Music began tracking sales in 1991. The only weeks with larger sales were the frames ending Dec. 20, 2018 (880,000) and Dec. 27, 2018 (905,000). Also goosing sales in the most recent tracking week were Black Friday discounts and promotions on vinyl LPs at both Walmart and Target, where many titles were temporarily marked down to $15. Further, the sizzling vinyl sales around Black Friday helped yield an overall industry haul of 2,819,000 albums sold across all formats (vinyl, CD, download, cassette, etc.) — the biggest sales week for albums in 2019. The last week to generate a larger overall album sales number was the week ending Dec. 27, 2018, when a total of 4,391,000 albums were sold.
VIA PRESS RELEASE | Hank Williams was a star of WSM’s Grand Ole Opry when he began hosting his own radio show for the same station in 1951. Sponsored by Mother’s Best Flour Company, the 15-minute broadcasts aired every weekday. But there was a problem.
Williams was wildly popular and his aggressive touring schedule meant he couldn’t always be at the station to perform the show live. Many of the broadcasts were actually pre-recorded transcription discs that were aired and then forgotten. The discs were re-discovered decades later as they were being hauled to a dumpster! The find more than doubled the number of known Hank Williams recordings. With the popularity of Ken Burns’ Country Music documentary series, interest in Williams’ legacy is currently spiking as a new generation discovers his unparalleled influence on America’s music. Even now, 66 years after his death, there is still more to discover about Hank Williams.
On February 7, 2019, BMG will release Hank Williams: Pictures From Life’s Other Side — The Man and His Music in Rare Photos and Recordings. The six-CD collection features 144 tracks representing the complete rundown of Hank’s performances from the existing transcription discs.
While previous compilations have presented either a selection of the Mother’s Best material or all of the recordings in the context of the individual radio show presentations (along with guest vocalists and instrumental numbers), this is the first collection to gather the entirety of Hank’s Mother’s Best performances and presents them outside the context of self-contained radio programs. The compilation was produced by Cheryl Pawelski, and each track was carefully restored and remastered by Michael Graves. Together, they earned a Best Historical Album Grammy award for their work on Hank Williams’ The Garden Spot Programs, 1950 compilation in 2015.
In 2004, a group of New Orleans musicians and musicians from North Carolina came together and recorded an album that has become a touchstone for inter-genre collaboration.
The Same Pocket Vol.1: Bluegrass Meets the Big Easy featured Trombone Shorty, Woody Wood, and members of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, the Rebirth Brass Band, Acoustic Syndicate and more. The re-release of this seminal album will be celebrated this Friday and Saturday night at the Maple Leaf Bar.
Percussionist, bandleader and producer Chris Jones is the mastermind between the meeting of bluegrass and brass band musicians that began with this album and developed into a semi-regular musical series dubbed the Crescent City Mountain Summit.
This year’s version of the event will feature over 25 musicians from both New Orleans and North Carolina including performances by the BlueBrass Project and longtime North Carolina new grass icons Acoustic Syndicate. New Orleans’ own SOUL Brass Band is also on the bill.
The great thing about rock and roll is that it never goes out of style—it’s absolutely timeless. Artists may come and go, but rock music will always remain one way or another. The newest band on the block are Generation Dude and we are proudly premiering their debut single “Radio Pills” right here at TVD today.
“Radio Pills” is a fun-filled, vibrant classic rock track that will get your toes tapping instantly. Band members Terence Schoshinski (lead vocals and guitars) and Steve Refling’s (drums, guitars, and backing vocals) effortless harmonies are flawless throughout—instantly reminiscent of The Who or The Hollies, but with added blues-infused goodness for extra bite.
“‘Radio Pills’ is a song about reaching a turning point in life where a bonifide personal declaration of independence is made,” Schoshinski explains. “In the tune, the hero wakes up and begins breaking free from the spiderweb of cookie-cutter corporate jive which, up to that point, he’s been participating in and profiting from. Graced with enough clarity and humility to be able to get honest, he is then empowered with the real business of identifying and stomping out the evasive wizard arachnids.”
Generation Dude’s debut EP “Crimes Against Yourself” arrives in stores on 21st February 2019.
Out with the old (reissues), in with the new (releases), y’know? 2019 is rapidly dwindling away, so let’s usher it out with a bang and get right down to the biz.
10. Chuck Cleaver, Send Aid (Shake It) & Joan Shelley, Like the River Loves the Sea (No Quarter) The tendency when compiling annual lists of best new music is toward broken ground and pushed boundaries. Everybody does it. And it makes sense to do it. But the thing is, it doesn’t have to be done all the time. Room can be made for a record that lands securely in the pop-rock pocket while oozing veteran assurance and some heartland verve (plus nifty lyrics). The indie scene once dished out killer platters like this with regularity, so while we’re celebrating the new, this brings back memories. Neat duality.
A similar claim of non-innovation can be made for Joan Shelley’s latest, though a record as flat-out gorgeous as Like the River Loves the Sea can easily register as tapping into the inventive. A substantial percentage of the beauty is directly vocally derived as Shelley engages wholeheartedly but astutely with a rural, subtly Brit-folk approach. That means she never comes off as overly reverent. The result documents the artist breaking significant personal ground on her fifth and finest record yet.
9. Sequoyah Murray, Before You Begin (Thrill Jockey) & Alexander Noice, NOICE (Orenda) The full-length debut (there was a prior EP “Penalties of Love,” also in 2019) of 22-year old Atlanta, GA-based Murray resonates with possibilities through rich hybridization, but it is also a remarkably assured collection of song, and for all its pushing into fresh territory, there is a substantial pop core. Specifically, there is a strong current of contemporary soul and a stated influence of rap that to my ear is implicit but surely there. More explicit are elements of synth-pop, which works well with Murray’s voice. His cello playing has drawn comparisons to Arthur Russell, but this LP is following its own path of promise.
Really, the only disappointing thing about NOICE is that its physical manifestation was CD only. Was? Yeah, it’s sold out. Waaa! But hey, it’s early yet. If enough folks take the digital plunge with this release, a vinyl edition might just emerge. Here’s hoping. The recipe here includes art-rock, prog-rock, its younger niece math-rock, jazz, electronics, noise and the avant-garde, with an emphasis on the operatic through the vocals of Karina Kallas and Argenta Walther. Thoughts of a Downtown NYC Deerhoof persist, though the jazz background of Los Angeles-based guitarist and composer Noice gives the whole a distinct flavor. NOICE is a captivating experience that does not run out of gas.
Latest Physical Music Supply Chain Debacle Offers Opportunities For Entrepreneurs: …This decision to combine and outsource physical distribution has led to a number of issues that have a cascading effect of horrors by the time the snowball reaches the consumer. Why do we care? It’s important to realize that physical configurations contributed to 25% of global recorded music revenues in 2018. Vinyl alone accounts for 3.6% of global revenue. In a world where market share is how major labels measure themselves, I have to believe that if a label president were asked to give up 25% of worldwide billings they would say no thanks–as would their shareholders. So why is the current crisis at retail allowed to continue? Good question. It creates the self-fulfilling prophecy that physical is a silly configuration that only the backward people care about. So why not just let the artists get their own CD and vinyl manufacturing done on their own outside the label distribution system? Oh, no. Can’t do that. Try doing that sometime and you’ll get led around in circles that eventually lead you back into the very system you wanted to get away from. In other words, go nowhere.
Birmingham, AL | Charlemagne Record Exchange is closing after 42 years. Visit this Birmingham legend before Dec 31: By now, you’ve most likely heard the news–after 42 years, Charlemagne Record Exchange is closing their doors. However, there is still time to experience the magic of Birmingham’s oldest record store. Create a lasting memory by visiting Charlemagne Record Exchange before December 31. Since 1977, Charlemagne Record Exchange has been a record-collector’s dream in Five-Points South. The journey to music-heaven begins at the steps of the time-worn staircase. As you make your way up the staircase you see dozens of posters for local concerts, and staples indicating the thousands of posters that had been there before. Inside the record exchange, the wooden floors creak as you make your way through the sections of different genres–country, classics, jazz, punk, rock, blues and more. Then you find a crate that interests you. You flip through vinyl records, just as hundreds before you have done. Finally, you find a record that you want. And just like that, you’re hooked.
Toronto, CA | Sam the Record Man sign shines over Yonge-Dundas for 1st time in over a decade: Toronto‘s landmark Sam the Record Man sign is shining again in the Yonge and Dundas area more than a decade after the iconic music store shut its doors. The enormous sign, featuring red neon writing on two spinning vinyl discs, was re-lit Wednesday evening atop 277 Victoria St. overlooking Yonge-Dundas Square — just steps from its former location. Mayor John Tory, Coun. Josh Matlow, Ryerson University president Mohamed Lachemi and former owner Sam Sniderman‘s family attended the lighting ceremony. Sam the Record Man opened in 1959 and it quickly became a hangout for music lovers in Toronto, becoming a mecca for millions of Toronto music aficionados that lasted almost half a century. The flashing sign that towered over it was regarded as a symbol of Yonge Street and a cultural touchstone of the city‘s music history.
Bellingham, WA | Avalon Records will not return: The iconic record store damaged by a fire in downtown Bellingham this summer will not be back. The devastating three-alarm fire started July 17th at Clark Feed and Seed on Railroad Avenue and quickly spread to Avalon Records next door, causing extensive damage. A post made on Avalon’s Facebook page on Saturday says they will not rebuild or reopen the store, but you still have one more chance to catch owner Chris Lamb and snag some goods. Lamb will be at Wander Brewing this Saturday, December 14, from 2-7pm selling crystals, Avalon shirts and a few LP boxes.
It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster ride of late for Oakland, California’s High On Fire.
Their 2018 release Electric Messiah won a well-deserved Grammy award for Best Metal Performance a matter of weeks after the band was forced to cancel their touring plans (for the second time) due to frontman Matt Pike’s risk of losing part of his foot due to complications from diabetes. Fast forward to December and Pike’s medical issues properly sorted, High On Fire has made their triumphant return for a hometown show at Berkeley’s UC Theatre.
Creeping Death and Devil Master warmed up the sold-out room but things kicked into high gear for Power Trip’s raging set. These Texans’ special brand of thrash has developed a strong following in the Bay Area and the pit was flat-out bonkers. When their set finally wrapped, there was a mass exodus from the pit of sweaty dudes looking for fresh air and maybe a refreshing beverage leaving the question dangling—how the hell is High On Fire going to follow that!?!?
VIA PRESS RELEASE | Sony Music announces the release of Little Women (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) with music by Academy Award®, Golden Globe®, and GRAMMY® Award-winning composer Alexandre Desplat.
Available for preorder now, the album will be available in digital, CD, and vinyl formats beginning Friday, December 13. Recorded in New York City under the leadership of Desplat, who conducted a chamber orchestra to perform his original compositions, the score serves as a sonic companion to the film’s coming-of-age narrative. Making its debut alongside album preorder is the title track from Desplat’s score—listen to “Little Women” now. Directed by Greta Gerwig, Sony Pictures’ Little Women will make its highly-anticipated theatrical debut on December 25.
Of the soundtrack, composer Alexandre Desplat says, “To capture the life of these four young girls on their path to adulthood, I have called in the four hands of two pianists. They are surrounded by a chamber orchestra, which keeps us in the intimate world of these ‘little women.’ We recorded the score in New York City with the most wonderful musicians whose musicality and virtuosity went beyond my expectations.”
