I made a quick run to Iowa City last week- mostly with the intention of picking up the August issue of Little Village Magazine so I could have a hard copy of the review I wrote for it (Rockygrass band Finnders & Youngberg's new album FY5 ). While I was there, I stopped into the Record Collector to see if there was anything worth picking up. Of course, there was. One great aspect about the Record Collector is that they have a pretty extensive used vinyl section that has a lot of 902s college rock in it! Like a [...]
My wife had a wedding makeup gig in Mt. Vernon on Saturday and since I didn't have a lot going on I offered to come along and help her load in and out. I figured I'd check out the antique shops to see what books or vinyl they might have. Unfortunately, there used to be a really great record store in Mt. Vernon above one of the art stores. I guess the father of one of the owners of the store had a large record collection that they wanted to sell, so they ran a store for a while. [...]
Over the long weekend, I was hoping to get in on some of the sales that were going on- specifically Guitar Center in Cedar Rapids, and the full-weekend 20% sale at Half-Price Books. While I didn't actually get over to Guitar Center, I did hit HPB, but also managed to see David Lowery and Johnny Hickman tape a Java Blend session in Iowa City with my friend Erik , which also resulted in a great trip to The Record Collector. I also visited Moondog Music in Dubuque on Thursday and picked up some "missing titles" and hit a Half [...]
Sherry and I were back in Chicago last weekend for her yearly America's Beauty Show conference at McCormick Place. My goal was to spend some time working on some writing and possibly do some record shopping. We were also planning to see The Right Now open for L.A. R&B band Orgone at Schuba's . Because I was concentrating on some writing, I primarily stayed holed up in our hotel room in Oak Park, but I ventured out on Sunday morning after dropping Sherry off at the show. I had been meaning to hit [...]
Over Christmas I took on a project- the restoration of a Mono Beatles Rubber Soul . A couple of years ago, my sister-in-law Sarah gave me a stack of LP's that she picked up at a thrift store in the Twin Cities. The stack was a colorful collection of 602s, 702s and 802s pop, tropicalia, hair metal and Phil Collins. I pulled out the records that I thought I'd want to keep and got ready to carry the lot of discards to Half-Price Books. Thankfully, I looked closer at the Firefall sleeve in [...]
I was out running a bunch of errands today and ended up at Half-Price Books. When I arrived I didn't find anything in the used vinyl bins that I absolutely needed- they had a couple of new Donna's LP's which was interesting, but I'm not familiar with their music enough for me to jump in. I was just about out the door when the girl who is the most knowledgable about the vinyl happened to be bringing a pile of newly-priced records to the bins to put away. Thankfully I stayed! I found the King Crimson LP from the pile [...]
I was in Chicago the weekend of 11/19 to see DJ Shadow with Pigeon John at Park West. My friend Erik came along. Before the show. We both walked out with some good finds. Here are mine: The Moody Blues - Caught Live + 5 (2 LP, London Records, 2 PS 690/1, 1977)($2.99) Kind of a controversial album in the Moodies catalog in that it was released without the band's permission. The "Live" part was a concert recorded in December, 1969 at The Royal Albert Hall during the To Our [...]
This week the Ryan Adams fans of the world got some news that has been anticipated since the release of Orion earlier this year . The storefront for Ryan's vanity record label PaxAm got a serious makeover in the form of some great vintage video arcade-themed navigation as well as a bunch of new places to keep track of the world of Ryan- a video page , a page for mp3 downloads - the first things up are some jams from the beginning of the Easy Tiger sessions, future [...]
Last February I reported about former Iowa City band Death Ship s- a show at the Mill and a new EP that he was going to release on iTunes. Titled Maybe Arkansas , it was a 4-track EP of some really great guitar rock. I said that it was, "a flat-out charmer – hook-filled and standing out in my mind as a testament to the great music that comes from the Midwest. These guitar pop songs draw easy and complimentary comparisons to other Midwest greats like The Jayhawks , The Honeydogs and, [...]
I'm really happy about the number of great new releases coming out this fall! One release that I've been waiting on for I think two years, is the new album from Iowa City's own Diplomats of Solid Sound ! I first heard songs that would make up What Goes Around Comes Around ( Record Kicks , October 28) back in August 2008 when they performed at KCCK's Jazz Under the Stars . In fact, I'm pretty sure I remember the title song from that show. In the shows I've seen since then, [...]
In early April, Sherry and I were in the Twin Cities visiting relatives and I managed to get a trip to the Mecca of Records known as the Electric Fetus . While I was flipping through their used vinyl and discount bins an unfamiliar soundtrack was playing overhead. Sherry asked me what it was, and I wasn't sure but I was as enthralled as she was with the very mellow and groovy music. At one point I found myself singing along with one of the tracks, "You don't know how to ease my pain, you don't know..." I asked the [...]
Looking through the Sunday fliers in the paper this morning I noticed that Target is going to have an exclusive CD available on Tuesday May 18th in conjunction with the widely-anticipated reissue of the Rolling Stones landmark 1972 album Exile on Main Street . In true fan-exploitative fashion there will be many versions of this release to choose from. Since I was looking into this, I thought I'd help break this down for the casual shopper. Exile on Main Street in the new century is largely regarded as influential in popular music as [...]
Last weekend Sherry attended America's Beauty Show for the third year running and I got the opportunity to have some quality time with Chicago's record stores. Friday night we went down to a bar called This Must Be The Place in Lemont, IL to see Chicago R&B phenom The Right Now . We got into town late, so we needed to scoot to try and get there in time to get something to eat. Thankfully the folks there were very accommodating and the food was excellent! [...]
With the eventual release of the Neil Young Archives Volume One this year which spanned the years 1963 to 1972, that meant that it was time for Warner's to work on the remasters of Neil's releases on vinyl. Most of his popular (sold lots of) back catalog and all of his recent releases have been in print in vinyl for a number of years, but with the work done to release the Archives releases it was time to revisit the vinyl. On December 1st, a limited edition (3000 worldwide) box set of 180g LP's [...]
If you saw my post about the 123 subscription series on the Chicago-based Thrill Jockey label , you saw that the Brooklyn-based electronic group Javelin provided covers for their release by custom screening LP sleeves they found in bargain bins. The one I got was an early Nonesuch release- a Scott Joplin compilation. For the band's follow-up 123 due to drop on February 16, 2010 they are offering a unique opportunity. If you send in an album cover before January 18th you can have your copy of the 123 screened in a cover [...]
Doug Roberson of the Diplomats of Solid Sound posted a Facebook event for a yard sale he was having. He was moving across town in Iowa City and decided, like many of us would, that he had some things he didn't want to move so he decided to have a yard sale. Knowing that Doug is a record collector and having talked with him the night before when the band played Coctails and Company in Cedar Rapids about what he might have, I made the trip down. It was a drizzly day which was sort of concerning, but [...]
It's week #2 of the Pax-Am reboot and we are treated with another digital single from Ryan Adams's archives. This time we get a track that was dropped from early consideration for Cardinology and another track that surfaced a bit as a "foggy" video . The third track is another demo from Cardinology. Side A is the track "Allumette" clocking in at 1:43 and according to the Ryan Adams scholars on the ryanadamsarchive.com site was listed on an early proposed tracklisting for Cardinology . Apparently [...]
In what seems to be a gobsmackingly obvious move, the major labels in conjunction with digital music retailers like Zune Store, Amazon, Rhapsody and iTunes have announced "Digital 45s" on the 60th anniversary of the 73 45 record. The big announcements are really in conjunction with Apple's iTunes Store that they are calling "D453 and use that nifty logo pictured on the left. Digging through the press-releases shows that Warner Music Group is represented by Rhino which should represent the full compliment of WMG labels which includes Atlantic/Atco, Elektra/Asylum, Warner Brothers, Reprise and Sire- so [...]
I was at Best Buy for the release of the Iron and Wine collection of rare and b-sides called Around the Well . I had a $15 Reward Zone certificate. But, since the 2 CD release was $9.99 I needed to buy something else to bring it over the $15. I picked up Woman King by the Iron and Wine as well which was $7.99. Ever since I picked up the live Iron and Wine Record Store Day release, I've been trying to get caught up with Mr. Beam. Since I was on that side [...]
I was in Pennsylvania for work in March, and I typically stay at the Mariott in Conshohocken because it is very close to work. I had to stay over a weekend and happened to stumble upon a record store literally up the street from the hotel! I was out for lunch with a co-worker when I spotted Disc World out the window of the restaurant. We decided to check it out. Disc World (201 West Ridge Pike, Conshohocken, PA 19428 610-828-8434) is run by Michael and Terry Weiss a really nice couple who seem very devoted to their [...]
Time to play b-sides
![Niki & The Dove - The Fox [OFFICIAL VIDEO]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/youtube/l2f6UbMnlq4_130.jpg)
The Best Whitney Houston Covers: A Tribute
The Weeknd – D.D. (Chi Duly Remix)
