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I’ve added 6 new titles to my vinyl library in the last 48 hours.
Love As Laughter: Laughter's Fifth
My first order from Insound.com arrived on Friday, which was a pleasant surprise given that I only ordered it a week earlier. I think that’s a pretty impressive service for transatlantic delivery, especially at the very reasonable price they charge. My order consisted of the debut albums from the Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Vivian Girls, along with Love As Laughter’s 2005 release, Laughter’s Fifth. They’re all great, of course, but I’ve particularly enjoyed re-acquainting myself with the latter after being without a copy for the best part of two years. Alan Shulman awarded it a rare 10/10 rating on No Ripcord and I can still understand why. Here’s a snippet from his review:
“This album has everything in the rock canon. Slow burners, volcanic eruptions, blues, goddamnit, its even got a great “geography” song called Canal Street. Which is sad really, because so many people are going to miss it; even the ones who hear it once or twice. Just like Television’s breakthrough 30 years ago went almost completely under the radar, this album is destined to be a lost classic.”
Today I made a rare trip up to Broomhill with the specific invention of spending a good hour or so browsing the racks in Record Collector. In my student days, I practically lived in this shop, and I must have spent thousands of pounds there over the last nine years. I haven’t visited it often enough recently, which is a shame when you consider the fragile state of the music retail business. I’m determined to make more of an effort to support my local independent stores, though, and after today’s experience I don’t think that’s going to be too much of an inconvenience.
Pylon: Chomp
I bought two 12″ singles by Swervedriver, Sandblasted and Rave Down; both are classic tunes from the band’s debut album, Raise, which I reviewed here. My other purchase, and the one I’m most excited about was Pylon’s second full-length, Chomp (a bargain at £8). I haven’t really immersed myself in its charms yet (I only bought it today) but early signs are promising. The Athens, GA band was a big influence on the likes of R.E.M and Gang Of Four, and its music laid the foundations for a lot of dance-rock as we know it today. Indeed, Chomp’s predecessor Gyrate was re-issued by DFA in 2007. George Booker, in his very positive review for No Ripcord, wrote:
“Their fingerprints can be felt all over the better American college rock of the 80s, particularly in dark, insistent bass lines and clean, subtly infectious guitar strums that REM clearly had quite an ear for. Where that band carried these sounds into Byrdsian jangle and harmony, Pylon keeps their attention here strictly on the driving rhythm that makes the whole thing constantly danceable and isolates all the instruments into short, repetitive stabs.”
I haven’t heard Gyrate yet, but I have a feeling I’ll be working my way on to that one soon…
Rock'n'Reel #14
I’m pleased to infrom you that Rock’n'Reel #14 is now available at a newsagents near you.
Aside from a great piece on the Grateful Dead, the issue features an article I put together on Okkervil River. I also supplied two of the photos that accompany the feature.
And if that’s not enough David Coleman writing for you (and I’m sure it is), there are also two reviews of mine to enjoy: Deerhunter’s “Microcastle” and the Sea and Cake’s “Car Alarm”. Both great albums, too.
I’m currently putting the final touches to reviews of the Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Dan Auerbach for issue #15. I was supposed to do the new Bob Mould one too, but my promo hasn’t arrived yet.
I’ve been without a turntable for a good few years now and my small collection of LPs is 
packed away in storage in my parents’ house in Cumbria. It’s a sad situation for a music fan.
Over the past few months, however, I’ve found myself gripped by a determination to rediscover vinyl – to build my collection and to fall in love with finding and buying music again. You don’t get a buzz from buying MP3s, and CDs feel increasingly cheap and inadequate.
All my CDs are packed away, too, actually, their contents stored on my computer’s hard drive in a compressed format. Again, it’s sad, but when you live in a fairly cramped city centre flat, something of a necessity.
Last week I took the plunge and bought a Project Debut III USB turntable from the online store, Superfi.
It cost me a reasonable £194 and can be connected to either my PC or the hi-fi/surround system in my living room. In other words, it’s a versatile solution. And I’ve wasted no time in assembling a small collection of new LPs.
My old favourites (including some classic albums by the Pale Saints, the Mekons, Neil Young and Pink Floyd) continue to wait patiently in a cardboard box in a Whitehaven bedroom; my new acquisitions include Curtis Mayfield’s Superfly, Gil Scott-Heron’s The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (Zavvi, £3.50 each) and Fennesz’s Black Sea (a local store called Rare ‘n’ Racy, £12.95).
I’m looking forward to visiting more second hand vinyl stockists and picking up rare and interesting bargains, as well as picking up my absolute favourites on 12″. One of the perks of second hand vinyl is that you can take more risks, picking something up because the sleeve looks interesting, or because you think you might have read something about the artist once. It’s more expensive and somehow less rewarding to do that on CD.
I’ll be posting intermittently about my new discoveries on vinyl over the coming months. I’m thrilled to be excited about going into physical record stores and searching for new sounds again.
After years of quietly blowing people’s minds, Animal Collective have suddenly exploded in popularity/notoriety. Their latest full-length (numero 9, incidentally) has split the blogosphere right down the middle – is it the best album ever, or merely the best album of the decade? Or is it an over-hyped turkey? No, not many takers there.
I like to spend a bit of time getting into my AC records and Merriweather is no different. I want to love it – and I’m sure I will – but I’m taking it one song at a time at the present. My Girls is undoubtedly my favourite; it’s the archetypal immediate AC stand-out (like Peacebone, Grass, and Who Could Win a Rabbit before it) with a hook to rival crystal meth in the dependency stakes. This could be the tune that sucks Panda Bear fans who don’t love the Collective (they do exist, I know a few…) into Merriweather’s elaborate web of kaleidoscopic psychedelia. Let’s hope so. My Girls is going to take some beating in 2009.
I’m particularly proud of this year’s list. I think its strength and diversity provides adequate proof that 2008 was as good a year for new music as any in recent memory. Well, maybe not for hip-hop, but every other genre seemed to come up with the goods.
http://www.noripcord.com/features/top-50-albums-2008-1
http://www.noripcord.com/features/top-50-albums-2008-2
Regarding my personal picks, having had the chance to do some serious listening while compiling the overall No Ripcord list, I’d definitely have to add Amadou & Mariam’s Welcome To Mali and Hercules and Love Affair’s self-titled album. I’m sure there will be more late additions; maybe I’ll re-publish an amended list in January?
These are favourites; I do not view this as a definitive top 29 (!) of the year, because I’m fully aware that there’s a lot of stuff I should have listened to more. More on those at the foot of the list.
1. Fleet Foxes: Fleet Foxes
2. Fleet Foxes: Sun Giant EP
3. The Hold Steady: Stay Positive
4. Okkervil River: The Stand Ins
5. Bon Iver: For Emma, Forever Ago
6. Of Montreal: Skeletal Lamping
7. Bowerbirds: Hymns for a Dark Horse
8. Shearwater: Rook
9. Jay Reatard: Matador Singles 08
10. The Mountain Goats: Heretic Pride
11. Vetiver: Thing of the Past
12. Deerhunter: Microcastle
13. M83: Saturdays = Youth
14. Vampire Weekend: Vampire Weekend
15. The Sea and Cake: Car Alarm
16. Evangelicals: The Evening Descends
17. Wire: Object 47
18. Whatfor: Sooner Later Than Never
19. The Last Shadow Puppets: The Age of the Understatement
20. Ladyhawk: Shots
21. Circus Animals’ Desertion: Circus Animals’ Desertion
22. Dodos: Visiter
23. Fucked Up: The Chemistry of Common Life
24. Magnetic Fields: Distortion
25. Melodium: My Mind Is Falling To Pieces
26. Pale Young Gentlemen: Black Forest (Tra La La)
27. Girl Talk: Feed The Animals
28. White Hinterland: Phylactery Factory
29. Bersarin Quartett: Bersarin Quartett
I really regret not being able to include the likes of Marnie Stern, Amadou and Mariam, Parts and Labor, Portishead, TV On The Radio, Atlas Sound and more – while I’ve heard very good things about all of these records, I simply haven’t been able to listen to them enough to forge an opinion either way. Oh well, there’s always next year.
American Folk Music Anthology
I count myself very fortunate to receive more free music than I can possibly contemplate listening to. This has been the case for several years. Currently the only music I actually need to pay for is older music, limited edition stuff, or the odd interesting release that the record companies / PR agencies have neglected to send my way.
It’s a great perk of the music critic’s job, granted, but it also comes with a downside: buying music has begun to feel overly extravagant, a waste of money even. Why pay £10 for something that will be competing for precious stereo time with hundreds of worthy promo releases? The same rule applies to concert tickets. Because I’ve grown accustomed to not paying over the course of nearly ten years, gigs feel like a strange thing to pay money for. I know it doesn’t make a lot of sense, but that’s the way it has, rather strangely, become.
I haven’t really loved going to a real, physical record store and buying a CD for some time, however last Thursday I felt that buzz again, as I handed over my battered Visa to pay £64.99 for Harry Smith’s legendary Anthology of American Folk Music. An 84-track, 6-CD guide to American folk music of 1927-1932, Harry Smith’s anthology is an inspirational snapshot of the era, and listening to the songs it’s possible to hear the roots of almost every strand of Americana released over the last 80 years. I’m not an American citizen and I’m not particularly acquainted with the more traditional strands US folk and country music, but discovering this music and piecing together some of the gaps in my cultural knowledge is a thrilling experience and I know it’s going to push my listening in all kinds of new directions, which can only be a good thing.
That the anthology is currently jostling for position in my life with Steinski’s What Does It All Mean? retrospective is frankly odd, but perhaps it illustrates the excitement I’m finding in non-independent rock music these days. After all, a man can only take so many angular guitar riffs…
Okkervil River in Wolverhampton
It was my great pleasure to see Okkervil River in Wolverhampton last night and as an added bonus I also got to interview frontman Will Sheff for around twenty minutes before the show. The resulting features (one for Rock ‘n’ Reel, one for No Ripcord) will be published here in due course, along with some additional photos of the band’s performance.
Okkervil River's Will Sheff
Earlier this week, No Ripcord published a less than glowing review of TV On The Radio’s otherwise acclaimed Dear Science album. Of the 36 reviews on Metacritic, it’s one of only three that awarded the record less than 7/10 (or equivalent). At the other end of the spectrum, five publications felt it deserved a perfect 10.
I’ve always had an odd relationship with TV On The Radio. I appreciate the band’s talent, but I seldom feel an urge to listen to their records. When No Ripcord named Return to Cookie Mountain the #1 album of 2006, I genuinely agreed that it was a deserving choice. For some reason, though, I haven’t listened to it since.
I can imagine readers thinking our review is part of some new anti-TVOTR agenda, but the truth is far less interesting: Alan wanted to review Dear Science because he enjoyed Cookie Mountain so much but he just didn’t find it particularly interesting. I know some of staff disagree with his words – indeed the record may well find itself sitting high on our end of year list – but I appreciate the honesty and thought that’s gone into his review. After all, isn’t arriving at an opinion and expressing it articulately what music criticism is all about?
First Impressions of Spotify
March 19, 2009 in Comment, Music | Tags: Scott Walker, Shop Assistants, Spotify, X | Leave a comment
I’m generally a bit slow on the uptake when it comes to new technologies and web tools. I still don’t see the point of Twitter (yet I feel a strange compulsion to open an account, anyway) and I was very sceptical about Spotify when I first heard about it.
I mean, just look at it’s slogan: A world of music. Instant, simple and free
Should listening to music really be that easy?
When I was a kid, discovering music used to involve the following:
1) Save up pocket money
2) Go to some horrible chain store – W H Smith’s, Woolworths etc.
3) Pay £10-15 for a CD album
4) Devour liner notes on the way home in parent’s car
5) Play chosen to death, while simultaneously convincing yourself that is the best thing ever
Now it goes something like this:
1) Install Spotify
2) Search for a band, any band
3) Listen for two minutes
4) Get bored. Search for something else…
5) Continue ad nauseam until random advert interrupts listening experience
Of course, this is a gross oversimplification; it’s what the precious record collector inside of me thinks. The ‘realistic adult’ portion of my brain thinks Spotify could be a useful tool for listening to (fairly low quality) streams of old/reasonably obscure music that I don’t own and can’t afford to risk buying. I’m intending to use it as a try-before-I-buy tool. And rather than hopping around aimlessly, I’m trying to force myself to listen to whole albums.
I’ve just enjoyed Scott Walker’s Scott 3 and X’s Los Angeles, and last night I spent a good thirty minutes in the company of the Shop Assistants. These are great examples of how Spotify can be a force for good. Don’t ditch your record collection just yet, though.