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Vinyl

Amazon’s Frustration Free Packaging

Amazon's Frustration Free Packaging

“Certified” to be frustration free. Especially when they tape over the easy open pull tab when you’re trying to get to your new shiny vinyl record.

(It’s Volcano Choir’s first album, Unmap, if you were curious.)

August Vinyl

Summer is the slow time for new music releases and August saw a number of great new releases, with even more coming later this fall.

Here’s some of the new releases I picked up on vinyl in August:

  • Superchunk – I Hate Music:  The alt rockers have been around since 1989(!) and I Hate Music is their tenth album.  The album is short and sweet, clocking in at just over 37 minutes.  If you’re a fan of Superchunk there isn’t anything new here, and that’s a good thing.  (I also picked up the Divine Fits 12″ at the same time featured in the picture below).
  • Volcano Choir – Repave: Justin Vernon of Bon Iver joins up with Wisconsin’s Collection of a Colony of Bees for their second album.  Mr. Vernon says he didn’t write any of the music – the one chord he wrote the band didn’t use.  But to me, this could easily be a 3rd Bon Iver album.  Barb Abney of The Current wrote a fantastic review a couple weeks back when it was The Current’s Album of the Week.  Highly recommended.
  • Neko Case – The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, The More I Love You:  Neko Case released her 6th solo album and it’s fantastic.  The alt-country darling follows up 2009’s Middle Cyclone with an album that works through her recent depression after recently losing her grandmother and both parents – and it works.  The pacing of the album is fantastic and she clearly opens her soul and bares it all.  The vinyl release is stunning – both the artwork and Side D of the vinyl release, which doesn’t have any music, features a stunning etching that covers the album.  Middle Cyclone was the first new vinyl album I bought on Record Store Day 2010 in clear vinyl and holds a special place in my heart.

August Vinyl

  1. Superchunk – I Hate Music, 2. Volcano Choir – Repave, 3. Volcano Choir – Repave, 4. Now Now – Threads, 5. Superchunk – I Hate Music, 6. Superchunk – I Hate Music, 7. Superchunk – I Hate Music, 8. Neko Case – The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, The More I Love You, 9. Neko Case – The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, The More I Love You
  • in Vinyl
  • 2 min read

My Mid-Life Crisis

Since I turned 40 earlier this year, it was time my mid-life crisis kicked in.

Ok, that’s not true – two years ago my wife and I each set some goals, with the reward of getting a tattoo.  She set a running goal (I don’t remember how many miles she had to run over the course of the year) and my goal was to get under 200 pounds.  In just over 2 years, I’ve lost 40 pounds, and that was mostly stopping and starting running and working out.  I lost about 20 pounds that way and got more serious about it this summer and have been consistently watching my diet, working out, biking, and running and have been under 200 pounds now for about 6 weeks.  I still have 15 more pounds to go, but I’m getting there.

A friend who has had a lot of work done recommended Electric Dragonland in Hopkins, MN.  I finally worked up the courage to call and make an appointment for a consultation – and of course they had an opening that day.  I got lucky as they’re usually a few months booked out and Damion did a great job:

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If you’re not familiar with the symbol, it’s a 45 adapter for a turntable.  A little bigger than I had planned, but I’m very happy with how it turned out.  My backup tattoo was the Pearl Jam stick man from their first single, Alive.  Coincidentally, Gimme Noise had an article yesterday with the writer talking about his first and only tattoo – the Pearl Jam stick man.

Chvrches – The Bones of What You Believe In

One of the albums I’ve been looking forward to the most this year is finally out today.  The Bones of What You Believe In by the Glasgow band Chvrches has had singles released all summer long and the wait has been killing me.  I’m only half way through my first listen on Rdio and it’s everything I wanted and more.

UPS will be delivering my vinyl copy later today and I can’t wait to give it a spin.

Chvrches recently played First Avenue here in Minneapolis.  City Pages’ Gimme Noise blog did an interview and recapped the concert (complete with a Prince cover!)- those who were there swear it will be the last time you’ll be able to see the band in such in intimate setting as they are going to break big.

 

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

Kicking off a week about Kickstarter (and how I became a loyal Polyvinyl Records customer)

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You can’t turn around these days without hearing about Kickstarter. From movies, music, books or technology products, it seems everyone is using Kickstarter to raise funds to start a project. Over the course of the next week, I’ll be blogging about some of the projects I’ve backed, reviews, and thoughts about how Kickstarter may be used in the future.

What is Kickstarter? From their frequently asked questions:

_Kickstarter is a funding platform for creative projects. Everything from films, games, and music to art, design, and technology. Kickstarter is full of ambitious, innovative, and imaginative projects that are brought to life through the direct support of others.

Since our launch on April 28, 2009, over $500 million has been pledged by more than 3 million people, funding more than 35,000 creative projects.

I first heard about Kickstarter in 2009 when Polyvinyl, a small music label out of Champaign, Illinois, started a Kickstarter to save some records:

Polyvinyl needs your help! Some of our distributor’s warehouses around the world are being downsized or consolidated and we either need to destroy over 10,000 records or face some high storage costs.

Destroying the records is not an option (it’s too wasteful and besides, these are great records, they’re just overstocked)! Storing the records at our warehouse is not an option (we cannot afford the storage costs). So to keep them from destruction, we’re hoping to have all the records shipped back to our office.

I had heard of a few Polyvinyl artists from listening to The Current, most notably of Montreal, and supporting their Kickstarter seemed like a great way to support them and to be introduced to some new artists.

The Kickstarter worked great. I received my CDs after the Kickstarter closed, but more importantly, I became a loyal Polyvinyl customer.

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I would go on to buy vinyl from Polyvinyl fairly frequently, buying artists I had heard on the radio (of Montreal, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin) to taking chances on new artists or artists I hadn’t heard of (Deerhoof, Stagnant Pools, Japandroids) because I knew Polyvinyl was a quality label and did a good job of curating artists. The best part? Polyvinyl always throws something extra in to each order. They’re famous for including a piece of Airheads candy with each order and always throw in an extra CD to introduce you to another artist on their label. Their vinyl records are high quality 180g releases, the album art and posters are printed on high quality stock, and they also usually have extras you can order, from buttons to t-shirts and more.

This is just one way using Kickstarter can introduce you to a new brand or company and hopefully I’m not the only person who became a loyal customer because of their Kickstarter.

Roundup 6/17/11

A few links to wrap up your week:

This week in music – January 4th – 11th 2011

I had an interesting week in music this last week.

I started the week taking advantage of Amazon’s $5.00 MP3 albums and picked up two celebrated releases from Minneapolis bands:

  • Gayngs – Relayted: This new Minneapolis 23 member  supergroup, featuring members of Bon Iver, Solid Gold and rapper P.O.S, creates a unique sound that is guaranteed to mellow you out.  Perfect msuic to play in the background while cooking or reading, Gayngs will relax and soothe you.
  • Trampled by Turtles – Palomino: I’ve said it a few times before, but especially after Mumford and Sons exploded on the scene, is that indie rock needs more banjos and fiddles.  Trampled by Turtles (along with Carolina Chocolate Drop) definitely filled that quota in 2010.  Filled with catchy alt-country hooks, Palomino will get your foot tapping and, with songs averaging right around 3 minutes, you’ll be pressing play to listen to it again before you know it.

I hit up Discland on Saturday.  It’s been close to 6 months since I’ve been there and their used vinyl selection keeps on growing.  My main goal was to pick up some used Van Halen (which is a story for another time) and the trip was successful.

I was able to pick up Van Halen II, Women and Children First and Diver Down, completing my collection of David Lee Roth era Van Halen.  They also had a surprising amount of pop – usually all I find is 70s and 80s rock when visiting used record stores and, while I’m not a huge Madonna fan, I found myself buying Madonna’s True Blue and Like a Prayer albums.  Both albums take me back to my childhood and I gave them a spin on Sunday and they’re both great pop albums.  Lastly, I went back to my hair band roots, and picked up White Lion’s Pride as the last used album.  Discland also had a rare copy of Alejandro Escovedo’s 2001 re-issue, A Man Under the Influence.  One of 1000 vinyl copies pressed, I snatched that up.  His 2008 album, Real Animals, was one of my favorite albums of the year, and 2010’s Street Songs of Love was a solid release, though it didn’t crack my top 10.

  • Polyvinyl emailed me that my Deerhoof vs. Evil pre-order shipped on Friday and the MP3s were available for download.  I’ve given that a couple listens and I’ll put a review up once the vinyl comes.
  • Social Distortion’s Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes comes out next Tuesday, January 18th, and I pre-ordered one of 1000 yellow vinyl copies.  They have yellow or red available.  I would have preferred the red, but yellow was limited to 1000 and red was limited to 2500.  I’m a sucker for “rare” and limited editions.  The long time punk rockers are also running a contest on their website – the more people who stream their new album, the lower the price will be in the Amazon MP3 store.  I’ll definitely be giving that a listen tomorrow.  I also plan to review the album once it arrives.

I closed out the week today with another Minneapolis band, Tapes ‘N Tapes, new release, Outside.  My friend and former co-worker Steve reviews the album here, and I would agree with him.  It’s a solid B.  Outside is available for only $3.99 at Amazon for a few more hours.

2010 Music Sales

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Photo licensed under a CC BY-SA-2.0 license by freeloosedirt via Flickr. Picture taken outside Buffalo Records in Ventura.

Get ready to listen to the same annual cry from the music industry – “The sky is falling!” NPR’s music blog, The Record, has the details.

For the first time, all music sales, when adding CD, LP, cassette and digital – declined as a total. Digital tracks grew 1%. One thing the article and Soundscan’s numbers don’t cover is how digital sales break down. I would have to guess that the trend of individual track sales is still growing – which continues to impact albums sold via digital. Total albums sales fell to 326 million, the lowest since 1993, a drop of 13%, which was the same decline as 2009 for total album sales.

NPR’s article goes on to say that the “”return of vinyl” has hit the brakes.” Contrast that with a Rolling Stone article, also released yesterday, whose headline says “Vinyl Sales Increase Despite Industry Slump”. So whose spin are you going to believe? After reading the NPR article, which points out how terrible the music industry is doing, I’ll take the Rolling Stone’s more positive headline. I would think the music industry and their PR flacks would want to jump on any positive news, and the fact that vinyl sales grew 14% year over year, especially when compared to the other declining numbers, is definitely a positive.

Total vinyl sales were the highest they’ve been since 1991, and for a format most people would consider dead, this growth should be good news to the industry, especially when you consider the average selling price for a vinyl album is significantly higher than a digital album or CD.

Best selling new vinyl albums, in order, for 2010 were:

  • Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
  • The Black Keys – Brothers
  • Vampire Weekend – Contra
  • The National – High Violet

The best selling overall vinyl album was The Beatles’ Abbey Road.

I believe in quality over quantity and if the record industry would focus on longevity and the quality of the artists rather than hit machines, it would be a different story.  But that’s an article for another time.

Here’s to another year of growth for vinyl in 2011!

Heard it on the Radio

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Hall & Oates play a sold out show tonight in Minneapolis at the State Theater.   I fondly remember growing up listening to my father’s lite rock station as their hits were played.  With six #1 songs, it’s good to see Hall & Oates music celebrated for the pop genius that it is.  No one is going to pretend that their songs will change the world, but they are catchy and stay with you long after you hear them – which is exactly what a good pop song should do.  Hall & Oates have never pretended to be anything other than what they are.

One of my favorite album’s this year was The Bird and the Bee’s Interpreting the Masters Volume 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates.  Covering 9 of their hits and clocking in at over just 30 minutes, they do a note for note rendition of Hall and Oates’ greatest hits. Inara George’s ethereal voice does a wonderful job adding nuance and depth to these timeless pop hits.

I originally bought the album earlier this year on a whim when it was featured for less than $5 as an Amazon deal of the day.  I own The Bird and the Bee’s earlier albums and you may know their hit Diamond Dave about David Lee Roth, which has received airplay on The Current and other indie rock stations.  For $5 and a return to my youth, I couldn’t go wrong.  It quickly became one of my favorite albums of the year – when I need something poppy or to get me going it made great background music.

Two weeks ago on Black Friday and Record Store Day, I came across a vinyl copy (pictured above) on sale at the Exclusive Company.  For $12, how could I say no?  And now I’ve bought two copies of a cover album and continue to enjoy it.

With the show tonight, Hall and Oates are receiving some good press in the Twin Cities.  The Star Tribune’s entertainment section, Vita.MN, takes a look at what continues to make Hall and Oates relevant.  The City Pages looks at eight awesome moments we have Hall and Oates to thank for.

Rolling Stone’s 25 best record stores

Rolling Stone released their list of the 25 best record stores in the United States yesterday.

Minneapolis was well represented with Electric Fetus coming in as the sixth best record store in the U.S. and Hymie’s Vintage Records rounded out the list at twenty-five.

In July I went on a bit of a shopping spree at Electric Fetus, which is also where I spent Record Store Day 2009.  There is no question that Electric Fetus has one of, if not the best, selection in the Twin Cities, though Cheapo gives them a pretty strong run for selection.  I have to say I was disappointed in the service at Electric Fetus in July.  I asked two different clerks questions about the vinyl I was buying and both times they couldn’t answer my question (and they weren’t hard questions – it’s not like I was trying to play stump the clerk).

I’m embarrassed to admit I hadn’t heard of Hymies until now – I definitely know where my next round of shopping is going to be!