Monthly Archives: October 2021

TVD Radar: Scrap Metal Vol. 1, Rare ’80s metal comp, blood splatter vinyl in stores 11/12

VIA PRESS RELEASE | The curators of the popular Brown Acid compilation series of long-lost vintage ’60s-’70s proto-metal singles share a new track from the first edition of a new series titled Scrap Metal. Following chronologically where Brown Acid leaves off, Scrap Metal scours the world for long-lost, rare and unreleased Heavy Metal from the late-’70s through late-’80s. Brown Acid and Scrap Metal series are created and compiled by L.A. based RidingEasy Records and Permanent Records.

By now you’re probably familiar with our wildly popular Brown Acid series of rare, lost and unreleased proto-metal and stoner rock singles from the ’60s-’70s. In the endless pursuit of those glorious gems, we often uncover equally brilliant rarities from the late-’70s to late-’80s Golden Age of Heavy Metal that also just must be heard, but they don’t fit the series’ aesthetic. Scrap Metal: Volume 1 collects some of the greatest unknown and lost Heavy Metal tracks, long buried beneath the avalanche of the era’s output.

We all know the old adage that history is told by the winners. But sometimes the losers tell the best stories. And while none of these bands found fame and fortune, this artifact and the volumes to come are testament to the enduring power of heavy music. You can hear the blood, sweat and beers that went into each of these singles. The recordings may be low budget, but the inspiration and talent is immutable. Not only are the amps turned up to 11, the boyish sexual innuendo is cranked to 69. You can hear the convergence of influences—NWOBHM, thrash, glam metal, doom, etc—colliding at once as the era birthed a wellspring of subgenres.

Many of these singles are self-released and were thus limited to a small run of copies. Those that remain are hoarded by collectors and sold for exorbitant amounts. We’ve collected the best of the best for you here. As with Brown Acid, all of these tracks are licensed legitimately and the artists all get paid. Because it’s the right thing to do.

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TVD Radar: The Podcast with Evan Toth, Episode 50: Ted Riederer of Never Records

Whenever the mailman delivers a package that looks like a record, there’s no doubt that I become excited.

Such was the case when I received something from Ted Riederer and Never Records. Except, something was off…while the package’s dimensions were correct, the weight was wrong, “This is light,” I thought. The packaging inside was that of a fully designed record sleeve, but—as I was to soon learn—there was no actual record inside, no disc. Intrigued, I began to uncover the story of Never Records and learn its motto which is: you are not listening. My astonishment at the empty sleeve was indicative of the fact that I wasn’t listening; but my attention had been captured and I was ready to open my ears.

Never Records is really an art project and describes itself as, “a combination recording studio and record shop, all operating in one building. The sole proprietor, interior decorator, and engineer is New York-based artist Ted Riederer.” Ted travels to different geographic locations (the UK, New York, New Orleans, Amman, Jordan and more), finds a space that would serve as a temporary and fictional record shop, connects with local performers, records them, and creates two lone lathe cuts of their work on vinyl—one for the artist and one for Ted’s archive. The genre of music doesn’t matter, it’s all part of encapsulating the sounds of the communities that he visits.

Join Ted and I as we get to the bottom of Never Records’ artistic vision and float some lofty dreams and theories. It’s an opportunity to observe how we currently consume music through a different lens. We also discuss his work with Arturo Vega and the art of operating a lathe. In fact, we may even cut this interview to vinyl!

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Graded on a Curve: Mountain, Climbing!

Remembering Leslie West, born on this day in 1945. Ed.

Leslie West is a heavy guy. He weighs like 1,000 lbs and plays heavy music and called his band Mountain because mountains are very heavy, and his song “Mississippi Queen” is so heavy it has to be carried from gig to gig in a specially made truck of the sort the U.S. Army uses to transport intercontinental ballistic missiles. And forget about vinyl. Mountain was so heavy they released their 1970 debut on concrete. It weighed 42 pounds and crushed a whole lot of record players.

Lots of folks dismissed Mountain (West on guitar and vocals, Felix Pappalardi on bass and vocals, Corky Laing on drums, and Steve Knight on keyboards) as Long Island’s answer to Cream, and on songs like “Theme for an Imaginary Western,” “For Yasgur’s Farm,” “The Laird,” and “Boys in the Band” the resemblance is striking. But on Climbing! Mountain escapes their Cream fetish to produce songs as humongous as the whale you keep expecting to show up in “Nantucket Sleighride,” except he never does.

Given Mountain’s reputation as the heaviest beast to ever slouch out of Long Island, Climbing! is far more diverse than you’d expect. Sure, you get some nifty Godzilla stomp along the lines of “Mississippi Queen.” But the band also flirts with acid-prog of the sort that won’t wreak havoc on your tweeters, and tosses in a couple of genre-benders that defy all known ethnomusicological definition. In short, Mountain was no one-trick mastodon.

The band’s division of vocal duties further lent diversity to Mountain’s sound. West’s rhino snort contrasts nicely with Pappalardi’s Jack Bruce, and the duo delegates lead vocal chores accordingly–West sings the speaker-busters, Pappalardi the more Cream-influenced tracks.

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In rotation: 10/22/21

Vinyl sells so well that it becomes difficult to sell vinyl: Joyful Noise Recordings, Indianapolis, a specialist label catering to vinyl-loving underground rock fans, has a corner that employees call the “Cave of Lathes.” There is a Presto 6N record lathe – a 1940s microwave-oven-sized machine that makes records by carving a groove on a blank vinyl disc. Unlike most standard inserts, which are pressed in the hundreds or thousands, each cut-and-turn wheel must be created individually. “It’s incredibly time consuming,” said Karl Hofstetter, founder of the label. “If a song is three minutes long, it takes three minutes for each song.” This ancient technology – worn and cracked, the lathe looks a bit like a WWII submarine – is a key part of Joyful Noise’s strategy to survive amid the record-fueled vinyl surge in popularity. Left to die with the advent of CDs in the 1980s, vinyl records are now the most popular and most profitable physical format in the music industry, and fans choose it for collectibility, sound quality, or simply tactile music in the digital ephemeral era. … After steadily growing for over a decade, LP sales have skyrocketed during the pandemic.

Dallas, TX | Dallas’ Oldest Record Store, Top Ten, Asking for $40,000 to Reinvent Itself as Music Library: Several local record shops that focus on vinyl, such as Josey, Good Records and Spinster, are managing to thrive in the age of streaming; meanwhile Dallas’ oldest store, which has specialized in CDs for the last two decades, is struggling to keep its doors open. But Top Ten Records on West Jefferson Boulevard in Oak Cliff, made famous by its connection to the Kennedy assassination, may receive a second chance at life thanks to its neighbors at the Texas Theatre. “I’ve been thinking that it was time to move on — to either close the store or sell it,” owner Mike Polk says. Top Ten opened in 1956 but it became infamous seven years later as the place where Dallas Police officer J.R. Tippit was last seen making a phone call before he was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald, who had shot and killed President John F. Kennedy earlier that day. But Top Ten Records also has a small but loyal customer base who enjoy its collection of heavy metal, gospel and Tejano, and so will miss the shop if it shutters for completely non-historical reasons.

Denver, CO | Record Store Chain Reaction Opens Today in Lakewood: Somewhere on West Colfax in Lakewood is a strip mall, virtually indistinguishable from all the others on any given stretch of the meandering 26-mile boulevard. The only thing that differentiates this particular strip mall — for music fans, anyhow — is that it is now the home of Chain Reaction Records, Denver’s newest record store. Co-owners Josh Lent and Val Landrum have been nurturing their mutual dream of opening up a record store with a focus on punk and heavy metal for a long time, but it wasn’t until recently that everything seemed to click. “We’d been thinking about it for years, since like 2007,” says Lent, “but it wasn’t the right time. Our bands had been touring to California, and every single town there seemed to have its own punk record store, so why not Denver?” “We actually started because we were just looking for a place for our bands to practice,” adds Landrum. “We kind of just stumbled into the right storefront at the right time.” With rents in Denver proper skyrocketing and seeing no end in sight, a store in suburban Lakewood seemed to make sense to the partners.

Gloucester, UK | New record store to open in Gloucester: Who remembers going into a record shop for a browse, a listen, a free cup of coffee and a chat with like-minded collectors? Vinyl Vital Signs in Eastgate market has always been such a place, and now it’s expanding into a shop. The store, which also sells CDs, cassettes, and other merchandise, is opening in Gloucester’s Eastgate Centre on Saturday, October 23. Owners Darren Franks and Mark Hatten hope to create the same community atmosphere they valued in the market, even creating ‘Malcolm’s Corner’ in homage to Darren’s father who inspired his love of vinyl. The story of Vinyl Vital Signs goes back to Darren Frank’s father Malcolm and his love for vinyl records. Mr Franks said: “I grew up surrounded by, and listening to vinyl records. On joining the forces, I had to give up my own collection, so when I left in 2012, I started to collect records again and found that before long I had too many.”

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TVD Live Shots: Lucy Dacus and Bartees Strange at Beachland Ballroom, 10/14

When Lucy Dacus first announced her 2021 fall tour in support of her latest critically acclaimed release, Home Video, I was sad to see that Cleveland didn’t make the cut. But thanks to the misfortune of our Canadian friends (the Toronto and Montreal shows were postponed), a last minute show at the Beachland Ballroom was added and my wish granted. An added bonus? Bartees Strange opening.

Right off the bat, Bartees Strange took the crowd by surprise. They were captivated. Jumping from genre to genre seamlessly, he impressed. I could literally feel his fanbase growing.

Then it was Lucy’s turn and a similar hush fell over the Ballroom as she began with an acoustic version of “Trust.” Her lead guitarist Jacob Blizard recently tested positive for COVID (but is fortunately fine!) so “we’re changing things up,” she divulged. Bartees Strange’s bandmates took turns joining her band on stage, filling in nicely.

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TVD Radar: The Blasting Room, documentary Kickstarter launching 10/29, in theaters 2022

VIA PRESS RELEASE | Documentary Explores Legendary Punk Rock Studio With Exclusive Interviews, Unseen Photos, Video and More

Over the last 27 years, some of the biggest names in punk music have trusted a tiny, bare-bones, space in Fort Collins, Colorado to record, mix and master their stuff. The Blasting Room, a new documentary from Static Age Productions and Kreativ Media, tells the story of that legendary studio and is offering exclusive giveaways for music fans who support the film.

In 1994, tired of the polluted, expensive, congested Los Angeles area, members of the band ALL took the advance cash they received from their record label and bought an old furniture warehouse to use as their musical home base. Before long, punk’s biggest acts were sweetening their sounds at the Blasting Room. The documentary features decades of never-before-seen behind-the-scenes photos and video, plus interviews with members of more than 25 groups, including Descendents, ALL, Rise Against, Alkaline Trio, Good Riddance, NOFX, Less Than Jake, Hot Water Music and Lagwagon.

Beginning Friday, October 29th, fans can get their hands on exclusive merch, rare releases, and signed stuff when they support the film’s Kickstarter campaign. Perks for backers include a brand-new vinyl compilation of favorite recordings from the Blasting Room staff, including an exclusive song by the Descendents only available through the campaign.

“Just like the studio, the documentary is very DIY,” says producer and cinematographer Kevin Kirchner. “With a crew made up of friends and fans of the studio, the production team is counting on music fans to help bring the story to life and put it on the stage it deserves.”

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Graded on a Curve:
Julian Cope,
Psychedelic Revolution

Celebrating Julian Cope, born on this day in 1957.Ed.

Rock and revolution have always made for odd bedfellows. The MC5 talked a good game, but did mostly nothing, which is more than you can say for The Clash, whose revolution consisted mostly of wearing camouflage pants. And what is one to make of Revolution Girl Style Now or that risible exercise in self-congratulatory futility, DC’s Revolution Summer? They all neglected Mao’s dictum that “Revolution grows out of the barrel of a gun,” and achieved nothing, and I bring all this up because Julian Cope, the so-called “Archdrude” and former front man of The Teardrop Explodes, has spent his recent albums musing about revolution.

Cope, whom I would call a Renaissance Man if Alfred Jarry’s Pere Ubu founded the Renaissance in question, has written numerous songs with revolutionary themes. But in Cope’s case, the question lies in whether he is endorsing revolution or critiquing it. Or whether he’s ambivalent on the issue, in the same way that John Lennon was when he sang both “count me in” and “out” in the slow version of “Revolution.” In some cases Cope seems to endorse violent revolution; in others, he seems to see it as a sort of organized suicide cult, an idea he co-opted from Black Panther ideologue Huey Newton, who entitled his 1973 autobiography Revolutionary Suicide.

In any event, Cope dedicates side one of his 2012 LP Psychedelic Revolution to Cuba’s revolutionary martyr to Che Guevara, and side two to Leila Khaled, the airplane hijacker and member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. So he obviously has some sympathy for the notion of violent revolution, but is he really advocating it? Or just playing revolutionary like the folks in the previous paragraph?

On Psychedelic Revolution Cope at some points seems to be saying that the revolution must be one of the mind, and in one song replaces Mao’s gun with a mass dosing of the population with LSD. He says lots more than that—he’s a chatty fellow, and infuriatingly knowledgeable—but in the end his beliefs are inscrutable, or perhaps simply too complex to communicate on a single LP.

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TVD Radar: Nina Simone, Nina Simone and Her Friends emerald-green reissue in stores 12/3

VIA PRESS RELEASE | Originally released by Bethlehem Records in 1959, Nina Simone and Her Friends was a compilation album comprising the few remaining unreleased tracks from the 1957 Little Girl Blue recording session plus songs recorded by two other former Bethlehem artists, the powerhouse jazz vocalist Carmen McRae and the elegant song stylist Chris Connor.

An RSD-Essentials exclusive “emerald-green” limited-edition 180-gram LP will be available, along with CD and digital/streaming versions (high-definition and standard) on December 3, 2021. The reissue features a fresh stereo master done by four-time Grammy winner Michael Graves as well as a vinyl remastering by the renowned Kevin Gray. Grammy winner Cheryl Pawelski produced the set, which includes a new essay by Daphne A. Brooks, author of Liner Notes for the Revolution.

As Brooks explains in her essay, “Bethlehem clustered their work—tracks that had previously appeared on the label’s Girlfriends compilation—together with the younger, upstart Simone’s and essentially offered up a collection of songs that span a range of genres—folk, jazz, pop song staples, and torch song laments, plus a couple of provocative original compositions by McRae and Simone. Each track is a reminder of the clear-eyed independence, verve, and confidence of three artists whose music, taken together, brims with the majesty and the assured talents of the late 1950s women artists who led with conviction and invention as musicians and song interpreters.”

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Graded on a Curve: New in Stores for October 2021, Part Three

Part three of the TVD Record Store Club’s look at the new and reissued releases presently in stores for October 2021. Part one is here and part two is here.

NEW RELEASE PICKS: Black Marble, Fast Idol (Sacred Bones) Beginning as a duo, with the early exit of TY Kube, Black Marble became the project of Chris Stewart, Brooklyn-based for a while though currently working in Los Angeles. Three full-length records precede Fast Idol in the Black Marble discography, with this set the second LP released by Sacred Bones, who also put out Black Marble’s pink vinyl 12-inch of cover songs last year. I dug that set, and feel the same way about Fast Idol, as Stewart’s approach to techno-pop benefits from vivid multidimensionality of execution. It’s clear by now that scads of folks can regurgitate this sound, but few pull it off as convincingly as Stewart. It comes down to writing as much as timbres and atmospherics. Style descriptors attached to Black Marble include darkwave, minimal synth, and coldwave, none of them inappropriate, but to my ear, the sustained high quality of the songwriting places this album firmly in pop territory, techno- or synth-, take your pick. Highly danceable, but more achily lush. The added guitar in “Say It First” delivers a standout moment. A-

Dinner, Dream Work (Captured Tracks) Dinner is Danish multi-instrumentalist Anders Rhedin, who has a few prior full-lengths out on Captured Tracks, though the man is in fact returning from a sojourn of sorts, as it is divulged that he delved into the potentialities of “ambient and meditation music.” As this is my introduction to Rhedin’s work, it was difficult to discern what kind of impact this break had on his output as Dinner, at least until penultimate track “Born Again” gave way to “Drøm.” There is the sound of running water, there are drifting fields of sound, and there is even a synthetic fluty thingy (maybe two). It’s a nice way to end an album, but leading up to that, Dinner is still squarely about the songs. There are synths, but it’s not synth pop. There are surely guitars, but it’s not exactly guitar pop. Indie? Sure, but it doesn’t easily fit into the old-school or new jack varieties. All of this definitely situates Dream Work as a pop-auteur situation that’s only enhanced by a few neo-’80s-isms, the occasional guy-gal harmonies and the distinctive quality of Rhedin voice, his accent adding value. A-

Kira, S/T (Kitten Robot) Kira Roessler is a bass player of distinction, one of the best I’ve heard in fact, with my esteem directly related to her work in the two-bass duo dos alongside her ex-hubby Mike Watt (her work in other contexts is also worthwhile, in particular her role in Black Flag as she replaced Chuck Dukowski). Kira (as she prefers to be called) is also a fine singer (a talent she sharpened in dos) and crafter of songs (with the bass always at the forefront), making her a triple threat (and even more, as she has multiple credits as sound editor for Hollywood films) who’s only gotten around to releasing her debut solo album in 2021. It’s a good one. A damned good one, even. Although she gets a little help from her friends (and production assistance from her brother Paul), this is firmly Kira’s show, the ten tracks unwinding with a relaxed maturity that still holds the power to captivate. At a few moments, I was reminded of Kim Gordon, though Kira’s work here is pretty firmly rooted in songs. Still her rock bona fides shine through, as she maximizes the potential of her instrument throughout. A-

REISSUE/ARCHIVAL PICK: Lena Platonos, Balancers (Dark Entries) The discography of Greek pianist and composer Platonos is extensive and begins in the early 1980s, with its fruits falling solidly into the electronic basket, but with clear arty and outright experimental tendencies. She’s particularly noted for three releases, Sun’s Masks (’84), Galop (’85), and Lepidoptera (’86), which have all been reissued by Dark Entries, along with three 12-inch EPs devoted to contemporary remixes of her work. Balancers offers 14 tracks, all unreleased and likely to tempt fans of avant-electronics, especially as the timeframe, specifically ’82-’85, overlaps with the above albums. The reality is that without a specific pointer to the age of these recordings, I would’ve been hard pressed to nail down their era. This lack of datedness is appreciated, as is the range; there are rhythms, but they don’t run rampant. I quite like the numerous tracks where Platonos recites poetry in Greek. During “Now, While You Wait for Your Love,” she even breaks into song. A-

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In rotation: 10/21/21

Silver Spring, MD | Bringing People Together for the (Vinyl) Record: In a time when many Americans were forcefully isolated by COVID-19, the Love the Music (LtM) Record Show brought local music lovers together for the purpose of buying, selling and trading records and other items. The inaugural LtM event was held at Rosensteel Hall in Silver Spring on October 2, with vendors lined up both inside and outside of the building, including record store owners and representatives, independent vendors as well as collectors. The event was sponsored by Rick Mulvihill of Kensington, who wanted a way of uniting record shoppers during COVID-19. Mulvihill originally retired from his job in July of 2020 and needed a way of restructuring his life. He wondered how he could get more involved in the music community, as he has a collection of music himself, particularly vinyl records featuring various genres and artists. “I wanted to start rebuilding some of those connections and bridges between people and music, particularly because music is such a big influence and touches people so closely…”

Selinsgrove, PA | Selinsgrove teen opening vinyl record store downtown: Sarah Leason is turning her love of vinyl records and classic rock into a business with Saturday’s opening of Wren Records in downtown Selinsgrove. The 16-year-old Selinsgrove Area High School junior’s mother, Heather McNabb, encouraged her to make use of her passion, so Leason spent a part of last summer visiting record stores throughout New England where she amassed an impressive collection of nearly 2,000 vintage rock and folk albums. “My parents are entrepreneurs,” said Leason, of McNabb and Steven Leason, co-owners of Selins’ Grove Brewing in downtown Selinsgrove, who inspired her entrepreneurial spirit. “I really enjoy talking to people about music. This is a creative way to do it.” Awed by her daughter’s interest and knowledge of music and the amount of money she was spending on records, McNabb suggested opening a record store. “In my mind, she was spending a lot of money and I thought maybe she should earn some,” McNabb said with a laugh. “It’s not that risky since I had the space that had been empty for four years” when a nonprofit group moved out.

Allentown, PA | Inner Groove bringing beers and beats to Allentown: The Verona-based business — named after the spot on a vinyl record where bands lay hidden tracks — will occupy a 1,400-square-foot spot on East Warrington Avenue. The site will also feature a 1,100-square-foot, winterized beer garden in the lot next door. The taproom is expected to open in early 2022. …Inner Groove is already making their brand known in the neighborhood by participating in block parties and other events along the bustling corridor, which boasts a variety of shops and restaurants. Nearby storefronts include Alla Famiglia, Black Forge Coffee House and Dr. Tumblety’s Time-Inspired Specialty Shop. Arlington Beverage Club is opening soon. The owners plan to partner with local food vendors to keep beer lovers happy. Inner Groove’s new site will boast a similar, laidback aesthetic to their Verona production facility on East Railroad Avenue. Customers can rock out to live music and listen to albums play on the turntable.

Chippewa Falls, WI | It sounds better on vinyl: Chippewa Falls couple launch custom vinyl record business: t’s easy enough to buy a heartfelt gift off the shelf at your local Target or Wal-Mart, but putting time and effort into a unique and custom product can be much more intimate. Vinylus, a custom vinyl record cutting company based in Chippewa Falls, is providing the area with a unique outlet to express their love for music. Started in March 2020 by co-owners Eric and Izabella Warner, the couple runs Vinylus out of their home and provides individuals the opportunity to purchase custom cut 7”, 10” and 12” vinyl records complete with custom artwork and track-listings. “We’re at the intersection of people’s relationships with music,” Eric Warner said. “It’s a gift that’s incredibly heartfelt and personal. It’s different than buying something that is mass produced. Like someone at a photo shop sometimes see images only meant for one person to another, the projects can become very personal and very fulfilling.”

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TVD Live Shots:
Sea Girls at Brixton Academy, 10/15

Imagine this. A new band sign a deal with a major record company, records a brilliant debut album, releases it, is praised by critics, then a pandemic hits. The tour is canceled, the record release party is postponed, and the world shuts down. That’s precisely what happened to UK indie-rock darlings Sea Girls. Now, as live music gets back on track across the country, fans who have waited patiently for the tour dates to get rescheduled for a second and third time are ready, and with the pressure on, Sea Girls delivered big time.

The band is playing tour dates initially scheduled for 2020 while their sophomore record waits in the wings with a January 2022 release. These are the types of scenarios that bands have to deal with as the world opens back up—fulfilling previous tour obligations while setting up the release of their new album. One would think that maybe the fans could have lost interest, but it’s had the exact opposite effect. The shows are bigger, and the excitement is peaking, and a sold-out Brixton Academy welcomed Sea Girls back with open arms while singing every song at the top of their lungs.

Due to the unique situation of one tour celebrating two albums, the setlist was a mix of pre-pandemic favorites and a handful of brand new songs. Sea Girls have a bit of an ’80s new wave sound to them while also reminiscent of the early 2000s Britpop movement; songs dripping with emotionally intelligent lyrics. These guys are smart songwriters, and frontman Henry Camamile writes some of the best lyrics of the past decade.

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TVD Radar: The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong All Stars, A Gift to Pops in stores 12/17

VIA PRESS RELEASE | While New Orleans native Louis Armstrong passed away in 1971 at the age of 69, today his legacy as the kingpin of jazz continues to grow.

The most significant example of this is the ensemble The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong All Stars, comprised largely of top-of-the-line Crescent City musicians paying tribute to him with the brilliant album A Gift to Pops. The inventive re-envisioning of music associated with the trumpeter/vocalist during his five-decade career features new arrangements and new performances of stalwart tunes ranging from the “The Peanut Vendor” (recorded by him in 1930) to “What a Wonderful World” (recorded in 1968 and the most successful tune of his career). Special guests include Wynton Marsalis and Common.

Nicholas Payton—who arranged seven of the songs, plays emotive and thrilling trumpet with engaging solos throughout—takes the lead vocals on his modern arrangement of Fats Waller’s “Black and Blue” (available now), a tune about racial consciousness and prejudice that starts out wild and frantic before the bass and drums take it into an R&B-flavored groove. In the midst of the tune, Common delivers his rap poetry on the theme that includes lines such as, “Went through black and blue for the bright day,” and “My school of thought is black openness/To define and redefine what the culture is.”

Co-producer Wycliffe Gordon comments: “Common added a different spin to the tune. It seemed like things we had talked about as a country had changed, but they didn’t, which is why this is important.” Harris adds: “We’re hoping Common will draw young people into Louis Armstrong. We’re out to make changes.”

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Graded on a Curve: Deerhoof,
Actually, You Can

With Actually, You Can, the sustained prolificacy of the esteemed San Francisco four-piece Deerhoof continues. It’s a succinct album that finds them in typically lithe, muscular form across nine tracks that’re intended to be representative of their thunderous capabilities as a live unit. As ever, the intricacy is inviting as they mingle elements of edgy prog rock, punk at its most ambitious, and the catchiness of (art-)pop. Unsurprisingly, the vinyl has been delayed until January of 2022, but the CD, cassette and digital are available October 22 through Joyful Noise Recordings.

I feel safe in calling 2020 an unpleasant and unpredictable year, but it proved to be quite a productive one for bassist-vocalist Satomi Matsuzaki, drummer-vocalist Greg Saunier, guitarist Ed Rodriguez, and guitarist John Dieterich, the four individuals who comprise Deerhoof. To elaborate, they released Future Teenage Cave Artists on multiple formats in May and followed it up with the digital-only stream of covers Love Lore in September.

In between, as a benefit for Black Lives Matter, they issued the digital-only To Be Surrounded by Beautiful, Curious, Breathing, Laughing Flesh Is Enough (title courtesy of Walt Whitman), a live set from the 2018 Winter Jazzfest held at Le Poisson Rouge, that on its final five tracks featured the trumpet of Wadada Leo Smith.

Soaking up that show, one can easily imagine that it would be a frustrating, if not outright stifling, for an outfit of Deerhoof’s vision and sheer ensemble heft to be separated for so long. Building music through the sharing of files can be a remedy (and was in fact part of their creative practice pre-pandemic), but the reality that’s never divorced from Deerhoof in any recorded context is that they are, at core, a working band.

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In rotation: 10/20/21

San Antonio, TX | Batcave Vinyl offers records for every genre: Six-and-a-half years ago, Blaine Pendergraff began selling records out of his garage but was looking to open his own commercial space. After moving to different locations around the area, he settled in his location at The Alley on Bitters last year. Pendergraff said collecting records has been his passion since he was a kid trying to build his Beatles collection. Opening Batcave Vinyl was a way for him to share his passion with others while helping customers grow their collections, he said. “I collect every kind of record,” Pendergraff said. “I collect all kinds of things. My thing was The Beatles and going after that coveted butcher cover. I finally acquired one last year.” Over the last year, business at Batcave Vinyl has improved compared to previous locations, he said. The store receives regular customers who are building their collections and new customers who want to find something by their favorite artist.

Phoenix, AZ | Vinyl’s Never Out at Phoenix Record Shop The ‘In’ Groove: “My background is not in vinyl,” Mike Esposito told me when I called to talk about his record shop last month. “I owned furniture stores, and collecting vinyl was a hobby. I started out really just wanting first crack at records before other collectors got to them. I’d buy a $20,000 collection so I could get some of it for myself, and I ended up with a lot of leftovers. It got to the point where I needed a place to sell the leftovers.” That place became The ‘In’ Groove, Mike’s record store on East Thomas Road. I should probably be embarrassed to admit it, but the first time I walked into the place, my mouth actually watered. Here, at last, was a hyper-tidy, super-organized room full of records in extra-good shape. Sure, Mike’s prices are a little higher than a lot of other record joints, but I defy you to find much in his bins that’s not in near-mint condition. For many of us who’ve been collecting for a long time, that can matter.

Belfast, IE | Boneyard Records: The Omagh vintage record shop proving popular with music fans from near and far: “It amazes me that people travel from all parts of the island to visit the shop.” Avid record collectors Johnnie Lomax and Mark McCausland often discussed the idea of opening their own vinyl shop as they toured the country visiting others. The Co Tyrone men finally realised their dream in 2016 when they opened Boneyard Records in Omagh, which has now been placed on the map for vinyl collectors throughout the UK and Ireland. Johnnie’s love of music was triggered when he heard Bob Dylan sing ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ back in 1966, while Mark comes from a long line of local music legends from the town. Now the pair are glad to see the shop thriving with local music enthusiasts as well as those from further afield. “Being avid vinyl collectors for years or in my case many decades, we often discussed the possibility of opening a shop on our many road trips visiting record shops all over the country,” Johnnie told MyTyrone.

Why I Still Dig for Vinyl in Record Stores: A DJ explains her love of shopping for music in person. …DJs and collectors often refer to this seemingly endless pursuit for records as crate digging. There’s an archaeological connotation to this, like we’re excavating sites on our musical Holy Grail quests. There’s also an implied competition with crate digging, whether it’s finding the obscure track that will heat up a dance floor or a vinyl rarity that somehow ended up with a 99-cent price tag. I’m not completely interested in all that at this point in my life. The records I buy might be hard to find, but sometimes, like that Goldfinger soundtrack, they’re things I’ve encountered many times before but never bothered to grab until that moment when there was an almost instinctual move leading to a purchase. Ultimately, I’m adding pieces to an ever-expanding archive of a very personal history, where records hold stories of travels, friendships, and DJ gigs.

London, UK | Queen Launch Collectable 7” Vinyl Releases At Their Carnaby Street Pop-Up Store: Music lovers and Queen superfans worldwide are set to rejoice as Carnaby Street’s newest addition ‘Queen The Greatest’ store launched the first of four limited edition 7” Vinyl releases on Friday, 8 October at 11am (BST). With only 1,000 copies in circulation – 500 available instore and 500 online – the tracks on each of the records have been personally chosen by Brian May and Roger Taylor with the A-side representing a hit song and the B-side a deep cut written by each individual band member. Launched to celebrate five decades of music, this experiential pop-up store was created in partnership with Bravado, Universal Music Group’s merchandise and brand management company. ‘Queen The Greatest’ is designed to take you on a visually immersive journey through one of the world’s most iconic bands’ contributions to music, culture, and fashion.

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TVD Live Shots: Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats at Jacob’s Pavilion, 10/13

We’ve got ourselves a little bit of a second summer happening here in Cleveland and given how our winters go, I’d say we deserve it.

October has been a bonus month of outdoor shows and boy was the crowd out and ready to party with Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats at Jacob’s Pavilion. Even boats cruising along the Cuyahoga paused to listen to their soulful serenades echoing across the Flats.

The setlist was littered with fan favorites, pulling from all of their critically acclaimed albums. Opener, the lovely Margo Price (who sadly didn’t allow photography), joined the band for “Say It Louder.” After that, there was not a butt in a seat, as the sold-out crowd danced the night away.

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  • SUPPORTING YOUR LOCAL INDIE SHOPS SINCE 2007


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