The Hold Steady’s Craig Finn is the Poet Laureate of America’s post-teenage wasteland. He also happens to be the second coming of Bruce Springsteen. Oh, and I’m betting he owns the bigger collection of classic rock albums in his neighborhood. And on 2016’s Boys and Girls in America Finn does what he does best–sings about fucked-up kids doing fucked-up things while fucked up. They get fucked up at proms, killer parties and all-ages hardcore shows, and sometimes they get so fucked up they end up in hospitals and the chillout tents at rock festivals.
The Hold Steady’s oversized hard rock gives you the impression punk never happened–never mind the Sex Pistols, here come The Hold Steady. The band’s big sound dates back to Springsteen’s“Born to Run,” and The Hold Steady don’t try to hide his influence. Springsteen is also the obvious comparison when it comes to subject matter, but while the Boss of Born to Run went in for mythopoeic anthems about symbolic characters attempting to escape the swampland of New Jersey, The Hold Steady offer up detailed and anything but inspirational tales about real kids with real names (many of whom show up from song to song) looking less to escape their hometowns (Minneapolis Minnesota being the most often mentioned) but themselves. No myths and anthems for these guys.
The Hold Steady spell out the album’s theme on opening track “Stuck Between Stations,” which begins with the lines “There are nights when I think Sal Paradise [Jack Kerouac’s alter ego in On the Road] was right/Boys and girls in America have such a sad time together.” “Stuck Between Station” sets the LP’s musical tone as well, what with its big sound, megaton guitar riff and Franz Nicolay’s keyboards, which bring to mind the E Street Band’s Roy Bittan. And over it all you get Finn’s gruff and blustery talk-sing; he sounds like a big guy who can push you around, but in real life he wears glasses.
“Stuck Between Stations” is a template for what follows. “Chips Ahoy” is ostensibly about a woman who knows how to pick her horses, but its real subject is unbridgeable emotional distance: “How am I supposed to know that you’re high,” sings Finn, “if you won’t let me touch you?” The very Thin Lizzy “Hot Soft Light” is about a guy in an unstated legal predicament who lays out one very unconvincing alibi; he couldn’t have done it, it seems, because “I’ve been straight since the Cinco de Mayo/But before that I was blotto/I was blacked out/I was cracked out/I was caved in/You should have seen all these portals that I’ve powered up in.”
Here’s the full list of Record Store Day 2021 releases: What’s on your shopping list? Amy Winehouse, Wolf Alice, Rage Against The Machine, St. Vincent, Elastica, Lady Gaga, The Cure, Rolling Stones and AC/DC are among the artists with special releases due for this year’s Record Store Day. Check out the full list of releases below. Following on from last year’s triple event spread out due to coronavirus concerns, RSD will return for two dates this summer and see hundreds of vinyl, CD and cassette releases sold exclusively through independent record shops – with over 250 stores from every corner of the UK and thousands around the world taking part in the celebrations. Following yesterday’s announcement of special War Child charity releases from the likes of The Clash and The Cranberries, now the full list has been revealed of limited releases coming on the two ‘drop’ dates on Saturday June 12 and Saturday July 17. “
UK | The Julien Dubuque International Film Festival preview: ‘Vinyl Nation’ …In the 1980s, sales of vinyl records plunged when compact discs arrived on the scene, and thousands of record shops, once the bastion of the record industry, were shuttered. The arrival of the Sony Walkman replaced the turntable as the preferred method of listening to music. CDs were small and easily stored, and the Walkman and others like it made music portable. The iPod, which came along in 2001, appeared to be the kiss of death for vinyl records. But, as one vinyl fan says in the film, “The thrill of what might be behind the door of that little shop — you know — I’ve never been stunned to find an MP3.” Director and producer Smokler emphasized that “Vinyl Nation” isn’t just for record collectors. “We made a movie about records that ended up being a movie about how music is the universal human language that connects us all,” he said. Smokler said everyone from hardcore collectors to those with a passing interest will find a lot to like about “Vinyl Nation.” “Really, we hope anyone who sees our movies realizes that if they like records or are even curious about records, they probably have a lot of friends out there they haven’t met yet,” he said. “And you’ll 
NEW RELEASE PICKS: El Michels Affair, Yeti Season (Big Crown) Funk is a constant in this enduring band/ studio project spearheaded by Big Crown cofounder Leon Michels, and funk reliably of a cinematic stripe; think boldly composed ’70s soundtracks. So it is with Yeti Season, the Affair’s third LP of original material (Michels is also noted for instrumental reworkings of Wu-Tang Clan and Isaac Hayes), though there is a sweet gravitation toward Turkish pop aided by Piya Malik (she of Big Crown act 79.5) singing in Hindi on four selections evenly distributed throughout the record. The non-vocal tracks are totally worthy however, particularly the Bill Conti-brassiness of “Ala Vida.” But nothing on this set beats the Malik sung “Zaharita,” which is sequenced late and suggests a ’70s Turkish movie where beaucoup psychedelics are consumed, and then some seriously bad shit happens. And while on the subject of film, I’ll add in conclusion that the cover of this record is persistently reminding me of the Michael Findlay-directed grindhouse non-classic Shriek of the Mutilated, a movie as duff as Yeti Season is swank. A-
Thomas Fehlmann, Böser Herbst (Kompakt) Zurich-born composer-producer Fehlmann has been at it for decades, first as part of the noted Neue Deutsche Welle act Palais Schaumburg, later as the founder of the Teutonic Beats label, and after that, contributions to The Orb. Along the way, there has been numerous other projects and solo work, with Böser Herbst the follow-up of sorts to 1929 – Das Jahr Babylon, Fehlmann’s 2018 soundtrack to the documentary of the same name by Volker Heise. This album is the OST to Heise’s Herbst 1929, Schatten Über Babylon; both docs offer historical insight for those watching the German TV series Babylon Berlin, which brings us to Fehlmann’s work here. On the prior record and this one, sounds were taken from 1920s-era recordings, with the samples looped, layered, stretched and otherwise distorted in a manner that’s surprisingly subtle. To put it another way, there’s an abundance of hazy hiss on Böser Herbst, but no clichéd crackle. Think ocean tides rather than rotating shellac. The set is atmospheric, but there’s also drive and strangeness. A-
REISSUE/ARCHIVAL PICK: Allen Ginsberg, At Reed College – The First Recorded Reading of Howl and Other Poems (Omnivore) Note that this isn’t the first public reading of “Howl”; that occasion was the famous Gallery Six event from October 1955 that featured Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen, Philip Lamantia, and Michael McClure (Lawrence Ferlinghetti was in attendance. So was Kerouac and Neal Cassady. Kenneth Rexroth was emcee). This Reed College performance was from the following February, held at the liberal arts-focused school located in Portland, OR. In his notes for this tremendous archival find, Dr. Pancho Savery (Professor of English & Humanities at Reed) mentions that the version of “Howl” that’s nearest to what’s heard on this release (available on vinyl, CD, and digital) is found in Howl: Original Draft Facsimile, Transcript & Variant Versions (first published in 1986), and he adds that it’s worthwhile (advisable, even) to have a copy of it (specifically, “Draft 5”) and the text of the City Lights edition handy to read while listening.
Columbus, OH | The Needle Exchange finds its niche in a crowded record store scene: In addition to used LPs and cassettes, Ian Graham will partner with Harm Reduction Ohio to offer literature and free Narcan on-site at his new North Clintonville shop. As a record collector, I often feel blessed to live in Columbus. Save a few major metropolitan areas, our city has to have one of the finest concentrations of quality record stores anywhere in the nation. What’s one more going to hurt? That certainly had to be a question local musician, radio personality and record clerk Ian Graham asked during his pursuit to open the newly christened Needle Exchange Records & Tapes in North Clintonville. He’s spent the last five years behind the counter at Lost Weekend Records, and has learned a thing or two about the ins and outs of keeping a store afloat from owner and mentor Kyle Siegrist. “A piece of record store philosophy that Kyle passed on is that stores 
Nederland, CO | Boogie Records Celebrates Two Year Anniversary: Arthur DeVitalis, Nederland. Ryan Blackwell has continued the tradition of hits, one-offs and B sides with Boogie Records. He’s looking forward to a big celebration of the shop’s second anniversary. Blackwell just finished remodeling the store just in time for the two-year birthday this April 4. The shop has been buying and selling vinyl records, record players and more in Ned since April 2019. “Business is good. I’d like to invite people to come down and check it out if they haven’t been before,” he said. The store looks out onto the community garden, which features a grassy area and picnic tables. He’s been in talks with the owner of the building, and they’ve envisioned Friday night concerts starting in the summertime, provided Covid-19 restrictions continue to 
But don’t think for a moment that all of that heavy lifting has gone to Daryl’s head. He’s still the humble at heart guy who once told an interviewer, “I’m 90% and John’s 10%, and that’s the way it is.”
Toronto, CA | Toronto record store that supported local music scene to close doors by June: Soundscapes, in business for 22 years, drew lineups on Saturday and Sunday for closing sale. A much-loved Toronto record store that supported the local independent music scene will close by June 1. Soundscapes, located at 572 College Street, drew lineups on Saturday and Sunday for its closing sale, which began on Wednesday and will continue until the store closes its doors. It has been in business for 22 years. Owner Greg Davis opened the store in 1999. “A big thank you to all of our loyal customers through the years! You have made it all worthwhile and we so appreciate your support for us through the good times and lean times,” a note on the store window reads. “We are all lucky to be living in 
Mornington Peninsula, AU | Vinyl store on the foreshore: Record collectors will find plenty of albums to get their hands on in Frankston this month. The Frankston Foreshore Pop Up Record Fair will take place on 17 April. Event organiser Leif van den Dungen, of Melbourne Record Club, said “I’m really looking forward to being by the water with this one. There’s going to be marquees over about 12 tables and I’ve got some bunting for some colour – it’s going to be an old-school type of fair.” “People talk fondly of the crackle, hiss and pop. You’ve got to interact with a record – getting up to turn it over – and you’re not inclined to skip through tracks so you’re listening to more music than you might otherwise. “Any mainstream band pressed on vinyl is going to 
