Part one of the TVD Record Store Club’s look at the new and reissued releases presently in stores for November 2021.
NEW RELEASE PICKS: Patrick Shiroishi, Hidemi (American Dreams) Los Angeles-based Japanese-American multi-instrumentalist & composer Shiroishi named this record in memory of his grandfather Hidemi Patrick Shiroishi, with its contents directly related to his 2020 album Descension, which was primarily an expression of life inside the Japanese-American concentration camps of WWII. That set, featuring saxophone and electronics, stands as an uncompromising yet cathartic experience, but Hidemi, with its more personal focus on his grandfather’s post-camp life, offers great beauty amid passages of raucous power as Shiroishi plays C-melody, soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones, multitracking the horns in studio to often startling effect. While there are elements of free jazz abstraction in the mix, this is a highly structured record that is further elevated by Shiroishi’s vocals on the final track, “The Long Bright Dark.” Vinyl has been pushed back to February/March. There is an accompanying chapbook of essays from Asian-American artists including Susie Ibarra, Jon Irabagon, and Eyvind Kang. A
Sally Anne Morgan, Cups (Thrill Jockey) As a member of the Black Twig Pickers and as half of House and Land, multi-instrumentalist Morgan has amassed a considerable body of work, but it was only last year that her terrific solo debut Thread was released. Cups is its follow-up, released on cassette October 1 with the digital available tomorrow, 11/12. No mention is made of additional contributors, so it’s safe to assume that Morgan is using the studio to its full advantage and playing fiddle, banjo, guitar, dulcimer, and assorted percussion. What might be lost in interactive spontaneity is replaced with intensity of personal vision; Cups is a recording that’s inextricably connected to Appalachian old-time tradition, but with an expansiveness (Thrill Jockey describes it as psychedelic) elevating the contents into the realms of the experimental. In “Hori Hori” the guitar is reminiscent of prime early Fahey (in terms of pure beauty, not dexterity), while closer “Angeline” exudes some tremendous raga vibes. In between there are elements of drone and cyclical maneuvers that are subtly Minimalist. An altogether superb excursion. A
Ross Goldstein, Chutes & Ladders (Odd Cat) This is the third LP in Goldstein’s trilogy for mellotron (preceded by The Eighth House in 2018 and Timoka last year), a highly satisfying culmination that, like the prior two albums, avoids disintegrating into a faux-orchestral swamp. It’s important to note that the entirety of the LP’s sounds derive from the mellotron’s soundcard library (the same is true of The Eighth House and Timoka, with the exception of a field recording of a hot springs on the former and the sound of Goldstein’s cat on the later), and also that Goldstein is using a digital simulation of an original modal. Much of Chutes & Ladders radiates like extracts of film soundtracks, and especially the recording of Beethoven’s “Allegretto,” which sounds like it could’ve been culled from an obscure Eastern European art film from the late ’60s, and a closing reading of Shostakovich’s “Largo.” Many of the original pieces, and particularly so with “Socorro” and “Journey to the End of the Night” (nice Céline reference there) delver a sort of mystical sci-fi atmosphere that brought Tarkovsky to mind, which is fantastic. A-
REISSUE/ARCHIVAL PICK: The Bootheels, 1988: The Original Demos (Omnivore Recordings) Doubtlessly some folks who are hip to the background of this band but have yet to soak up the 13 tracks (plus three extra on the CD and digital) have glanced downward just a bit on their screens, absorbed the given grade and are sure the mark’s just too kind: “They were just teenagers, how can it be that good.” Well, for one thing, some of the best R&R ever was made by teens, and The Bootheels are unabashedly R&R in orientation. Second, the lineup doesn’t just feature one musician who went on to proverbial bigger and better, there are four, namely future Freewheeler Luther Russell (also half of Those Pretty Wrongs with Jody Stephens), Jakob Dylan and Tobi Miller, later of The Wallflowers, and Aaron A. Brooks who went on to play with Moby and Lana Del Rey. This isn’t one budding talent surrounded by modest cohorts, it’s four skilled guys bursting with energy. Yes, their stuff sounds a lot like the Replacements, but had these songs came out in ’88 I would’ve played them a helluva lot more than Don’t Tell a Soul. A-
Syracuse, NY | Vinyl lovers rally behind local record businesses: Music shops in Syracuse are thriving due to a resurgence in the popularity of albums. A group of Syracuse vinyl enthusiasts gather in front of Syracuse Vintage Vinyl on a rainy Sunday to sift through a boxful of dusty 45 rpm records. There’s laughter, a hum of music coming from inside the doors and chatter about old memories, the records scenting the air with nostalgia. The group gathers at the store every Sunday, come rain or shine. “They keep me going; 
UK | Opinion: The vinyl issue: Delays, costs, pandemic, booked up pressing plants, and Brexit: Following Brexit and then a pandemic, independent labels and artists were already being crippled by the costs and delays to their vinyl releases, now they have been compounded by major artists block booking pressing plants. Last week Variety reported Sony insiders discussing the vinyl run of Adele‘s new album 30, which includes a 500,000 strong initial pressing in the run-up to release. Demand for vinyl LPs is now far outstripping supply with the UK’s small capacity vinyl pressing plants with just six in this country and one hundred worldwide, unable to turn out records fast enough. Most of the vinyl sold in the UK is shipped from Germany. Vinyl records have also seen their average price spiral. Ed Sheeran‘s smug boasts to Australian radio last week, discussing his own ‘=’ album, back up the news of block booking of scarce pressing plants by major label name acts. “There’s like three vinyl factories in the world… so you have to do it like really upfront — and Adele had basically booked out all the vinyl factories, so we had to get a slot and 
Phoenixville, PA | Phoenixville’s New Shop Inspired By Iconic Philly Record Store: Shawn Cephas will open Forever Changes later this month. Cephas’ father owned the legendary King James Records for over 30 years. At his new store in Phoenixville, Shawn Cephas plans to sell vinyl records — which have come back into fashion —while also trying to recapture the vibe of a legendary chain of Philadelphia record stores once owned by his father. Forever Changes is scheduled to open on Nov. 27 at 28. S. Main St. The store, named after an album by 1960s psychedelic band Love, will be a 1,200-square-foot shop offering a curated collection of new and used vinyl records, record players and music-inspired local art. There also are plans to hold in-store performances. Two years ago, Cephas began Forever Changes as a pop-up vinyl shop in Phoenixville. The idea was inspired King James Records, the one-time iconic chain of Philly record stores Cephas’ dad James owned 
Belfast, IE | Belfast has a new record store, Sound Advice: A vinyl store specialising in dance music recently opened in Northern Ireland’s capital city. Sound Advice, founded by local DJ and producer Marion Hawkes, is located in the east of the city at Banana Block in the Portview Trade Centre. In addition to used and new records of electronic music, a diverse range of reissues spanning soul, nu jazz and indie rock are also available. In an Instagram post, Hawkes explained why she opened the store. “Having a kind of social hub that people can come browse records, hang about for a bit, and meet with like minds has been missing in Belfast and 
Los Angeles, CA | A Store Visit with Barry Perlman of L.A.’s Supervinyl: “…I thought, when I open up Supervinyl, it’s going to be friendly and easy. I’m here almost every day, seven days a week. And when I or anyone else who works here, including my son Jesse, see someone come into the store, we always say hello, but not in a canned “how can I help you” way. It’s very relaxed; we have comfortable chairs in the store. We’re here to help people and talk anybody through any of the turntables and the McIntosh stuff; we know them all pretty well now. Let’s say it’s someone’s first time buying something, and they want to step up to a McIntosh. I’ll have somebody go to their house and install the whole thing, show them how to work everything. I get letters and texts and emails from customers who have bought them from us. One lady said she started crying because 
Evanston, IL | Vintage Vinyl makes grooves in Evanston for 42 years: The “King of Rock and Roll” launched Steve Kay’s interest in music at the age of five. Several decades later, pink and black — Elvis’s favorite colors — adorn the walls of Kay’s record store, Evanston shop Vintage Vinyl. “I had an aunt who got me my first record player and my first 45s, and that was it,” Kay said. “They were records by Elvis Presley. And that just changed the world.” A New York native and avid music lover, Kay came to Chicago in the 1970s to complete his master’s degree at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1979, he opened Vintage Vinyl in Evanston because he felt the city lacked a business that served a “specialized” community of record collectors. “…We’ve always specialized in looking for records that are long out of print, but also 
