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  • 1 min read

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Vinyl Re-Release

The Phantom Menace Vinyl

Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace may be the worst of the six Star Wars movies (for a number of reasons we will not get into here), but the soundtrack is one of the best of the six. Duel of the Fates is one of the best songs written by John Williams for any of the six films.

A tiny imprint named I Am Shark has licensed the soundtrack for re-release on vinyl. They are featuring four special editions of 2000 each, as well as a normal black release for retail not limited to 2000:

  • 2000 – Hyperdrive (Black w/ White Splatter)
  • 2000 – Darth Maul (Black w/ Red/Gold stripe)
  • 2000 – Qui-Gon Jinn (Green / Brown Marble)
  • 2000 – Obi-Wan Kenobi (Blue)
  • Black / 180 Gram Versions will be constantly kept in stock and distributed to retail stores as well.

They will be doing limited edition releases of all three Star Wars prequels. I ordered the Obi-Wan blue.

You can pre-order here and the album will be released on March 4th.

Via Slashfilm

Happy 8th Birthday 89.3 The Current!

sdc10186.jpg

It feels like yesterday that Minnesota Public Radio announced they would be launching their own indie rock station with a focus on local music. 89.3 The Current hired a number well known of on-air personalities who had worked in the Twin Cities for years, with experience at Rev105, RadioK and more, which just added to the excitement. Giddy with anticipation, I donated to MPR, becoming a founding member even before the station had launched. (Getting a free vinyl record to celebrate from The Current was just a bonus – who knew that I would get back into vinyl just a few years later and would make this the first record I would listen to after I bought a turntable).

And here we are eight years later already! For the last few years The Current throws a big birthday bash at the legendary First Avenue. I had to pass up tickets to the second night show on Saturday (twice) and as I followed the event on Twitter, I had to kick myself. In addition to an awesome line-up of Now, Now, Dave Pirner (of Soul Asylum), and Cloud Cult, the special surprise guest was the YN Rich Kids, the summer’s hottest local sensation.

You haven’t heard of them? A good friend of mine hadn’t either as I texted him at the show.

Hot Takis and Cheetos

If you missed it over the summer, this video went viral in the Twin Cities in a big way. Time Magazine even named it the #7 best music video of 2012 and The Current gave it some radio coverage, too.

I knew I should have bought tickets when I had the chance! Well, there is always next year…

Happy Birthday 89.3! Keep on rockin’!

[http://www.youtube.com/embed/7YLy4j8EZIk]

  • in music
  • 2 min read

Amazon Introduces AutoRip

CD collection

Amazon made a splash this morning by announcing that they are now offering MP3s of albums you buy on CD – for free. But the even bigger surprise was that if you had purchased a CD from them going back to 1998(!), and it’s one of the 50,000 albums in their catalog that features AutoRip, they automatically added that album to your Amazon Cloud Player.

It was quite a pleasant surprise to wake up to find about 30 albums added to my Cloud Player, especially the Pearl Jam Twenty soundtrack, which features a number of different artists, which I could never seem to get ripped properly with the right artist names.

Amazon has three videos up on the AutoRip page, including an overview, how to, and a video about Cloud Player.

I don’t know how much (or if) they’re paying the labels for this service, but I love it. I still like my shiny discs, especially from my core favorite artists, and this is a great service to provide (even if it a shrinking business). I buy most of new music on vinyl these days, and since I started collecting vinyl a few years, almost every vinyl album has come with an MP3 download card.

Now I can’t wait for the day I buy a book and can get the ebook…

Via Lifehacker

[https://rd.io/i/QAAKPkxN3w]

  • in music
  • 3 min read

Favorite Albums of 2012

Polica - Give You the Ghost

With 2012 here and gone, I wanted to share my favorite albums of 2012. These aren’t necessarily the “best” albums of 2012, but these were the ones I enjoyed immensely over the past year. Almost every single one I bought on vinyl and streamed on Rdio. I tried to condense the list to a top 10, but I just couldn’t do it. I’m not going to do a major review of each one – there are plenty of sites out there from Paste to Pitchfork that can give you more information on the artists and albums below.

  • UntitledJapandroids – Celebration Rock – Released on one of my favorite labels, Polyvinyl, Japandroids rock the house and don’t stop the whole album. As I trained for some 5k races this summer, I listened to this over and over again.
  • Bob Mould – Silver Age – Bob Mould returns to early 90’s form with a rocking album reminiscent of his early solo work and with Sugar. (And the two Sugar re-issues are awesome!) The best concert I saw this year, with Bob playing Sugar’s Copper Blue in its entirety followed by songs from Silver Age and songs from his whole career.
  • Divine Fits – A Thing Called Divine Fits – This supergroup with members from Spoon and Wolf Parade nailed it.
  • Father John Misty – Fear Fun – I loved this album and my wife hated it as I made her listen to it non-stop on a drive to Milwaukee. Haunting, with beautiful lyrics.
  • Metric – Synthetica – Metric follows-up their 2009 smash album Fantasies with a return that is slightly darker.
  • RNDM – Acts – Another “supergroup”, featuring Joseph Arthur and Pearl Jam’s Jeff Ament. Jeff Ament challenged Joseph Arthur to write some up tempo songs, and they delivered.
  • Poliça – Give You the Ghost – This Minneapolis band (almost a local supergroup) exploded on to the scene in Minneapolis in 2011 and quickly built a national following. The formal release date for the album was Valentine’s Day 2012, but they dropped it digitally in December 2011. Channy’s vocals, combined with the only use of autotune I’ve ever liked, are a breath of fresh air. The beats by two drummers are unique and this is probably my album of the year.
  • A.C. Newman – Shut Down the Streets – The frontman for the New Pornographers releases another solo record – if you’re a fan of his solo or New Pornographers work, you’ll love it. Nothing new, but it works.
  • The Shins - Port of MorrowThe Shins – Port of Morrow – Even with an all new band backing James Mercer up, the sound is the same. Again, like A.C. Newman above, nothing new but it works.
  • P.O.S. – We Don’t Even Live Here – The Minneapolis rapper explodes on his latest album. There wasn’t a better hip-hop record released last year. Here is to hoping his upcoming kidney transplant goes well – you can help here.
  • JD McPherson – Signs and Signifiers – I love rockabilly and JD McPherson resurrects a lost art form.
  • Django Django – Django Django – The one album I can’t describe – but I know what I like.
  • Ladyhawke – Anxiety – Another album I listened to while running and one of my favorites to chill to on a long plane ride.
  • Stagnant Pools – Temporary Room – Another Polyvinyl release, this duo of brothers out of Indiana have a throwback sound in the vein of Joy Division or The Jesus and Mary Chain.
  • in music
  • 1 min read

Vinyl Will Never Die

Via Reddit, music sales (by type) over the last 30 years. Spoiler alert: vinyl never dies!

vinyl

Burning Down the House

I saw this posted on Boing Boing last month and forgot how great it was until Amanda Palmer linked to it in her latest Kickstarter update.

I love how much fun Amanda Palmer and her band are having jamming with David Byrne – and it’s great to see him playing an old Talking Heads tune.

Enjoy.

[http://www.youtube.com/embed/sh5ZDv13_mM]

What I’m Listening to: New Music Releases 7/25

Welcome back!

July 25th is a big day for new music. If you’re not reading the Largeheartedboy blog for new music releases, including where you can stream the new releases for free before buying (which usually comes out on Wednesdays), you should be. The list of today’s releases can be found here.

Albums I’ve purchased this week include:

Passion Pit’s Gossamer: If you’re a fan of the first album, you’ll love their second album. Not a lot has changed since their breakthrough debut album Manners. The same upbeat tempo, falsetto – a great summer album.

[https://rd.io/i/QAAKPlkiMQ]

The next album I’ll be listening to is the latest from The Gaslight Anthem, Handwritten. I haven’t given it a spin, but the first single, 45, released a while back shows the New Jersey rockers haven’t changed much from their last few releases. If you’re a fan of good old-fashioned rock and roll, give it a listen. The vinyl is available from Amazon for only $13.99!

[https://rd.io/i/QAAKPlksjw]

Stagnant Pools release their debut album on Polyvinyl today. One of the things I love about Polyvinyl is they often give you the digital release weeks before the physical albums come out. I’ve given this a few spins, and their artist page sums them up quite well:

Stagnant Pools are Bryan and Douglass Enas, two brothers (21 and 22) from Bloomington, Indiana. With just one guitar and a drum kit, they make music which the Chicago Reader describes as “drone-heavy, slate-gray art-rock that should appeal to fans of Disappears, Joy Division, and Sonic Youth records from back when they were still actually scary.”

Lastly, Bob Mould of Hüsker Dü and Sugar fame, has signed on with the ultimate indie label Merge for his upcoming solo release. Before that comes out, he has remastered and re-released the Sugar catalog today on Merge. Featuring the first album, Copper Blue, along with the Beaster EP as well as the follow-up File Under Listening, they are available from Merge with a bonus content featuring live songs and B-sides on MP3, CD or vinyl.

[https://rd.io/i/QAAKPloMjQ]

[https://rd.io/i/QAAKPloMjA]

I’ve ordered all of the above albums on vinyl and am looking forward to giving them a spin.

You can follow me on Rdio at http://www.rdio.com/people/prcutler

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  • 1 min read

Round-Up

Some links to get you through your day:

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  • 1 min read

Round-Up

Here’s some music news from the last few months you may have missed while I was being a slacker and not blogging.