If you’re asking yourself this morning if we’re openly schilling for ThinkIndie.com, the answer to that question is YES, yes we are.
We’ll blatantly get behind and support any endeavor that keeps alive the independent spirit of the mom and pop record stores—and ThinkIndie’s doing just that.
There are two facets to ThinkIndie that underscore what we’ve been saying for some time now: digital files can coexist peacefully and strategically with vinyl records in the same marketplace—and ThinkIndie has a site for each under one umbrella.
Over the next few weeks, the guys behind the brand will be guest blogging here and shedding some light on the ‘Think Indie Collective’ consisting of ThinkIndie.com, the ThinkIndie stores, customers, record labels and artists whose product is carried by ThinkIndie.
This week, Tony from ThinkIndie gives us a glimpse into the digital side of things and next week we’ll delve into the vinyl end of the spectrum.
"We come to you directly from the engine room of the web ship ThinkIndie.com. Deep in the hull of this ship are two laptops, a rack full of servers, and a table covered with hard drives. Just a year ago, the two of us were both slugging away behind the counter at a large indie record store pushing vinyl, garage rock, DVDs, and digging in the used bins, but mother indie needed a couple able-bodied music fans to go rogue and jump onto their converted digital ship. Indie record stores can't go digital, can they?
I admit, I had already ripped much of my collection to hard drives and had owned several media players. Andrew is a member of Napster, Oink and other torrent sites before they were shut down as well as being an avid music collector. Much like myself he had his fingers glued to the keyboard a good portion of the day.
We both agreed that the current download store choices were a bit milk toast and it really didn't compare to going into a store. In the end, we made the leap to the dark side and the ship set sail for uncharted waters. It was in one of the seedy ports that we met the BlackSheep and hired his left for dead ass to be our mascot. He had not worked for a music related company since his Minor Threat gig back in the day.
This brings us to the here and now. ThinkIndie.com has a growing catalog of 320kbps mp3s, including exclusive stuff from our friends in bands and labels, and not to be outdone, we also give away a ton of tracks we like. Andrew picked out a few albums he’s been listening to that you may not have heard about, or ones he thinks you NEED to hear about. He’ll be back next week with another guest blog about music or something completely random."
—Tony @ ThinkIndie.com
Mariachi El Bronx - S/T
Growing up in SoCal with the Mexican border anywhere from 30-120 minutes (depending on where you live) from your house you get a special appreciation for the Mexican culture. The Bronx, a punk/hardcore band from Los Angeles embraces this culture on their new release as Mariachi El Bronx. When it comes to mariachi music you know you're doing something right when you have David Hidalgo of Los Lobos doing a guest spot on your record. I've been listening to this album a bunch since it came out and it's near the top of my "best of 09" album list for sure.
Kalas - S/T
The self titled and only release from Kalas is a damn good one. It features Matt Pike of High On Fire/Sleep on vocals. It's a little more melodic than the stuff he's done in the past, but that's because of the guys he's working with here. It's sort of a "Super Group" of Bay Area musicians, but I hate using that term. It's still a super heavy album, don't think Pike is capable of doing anything but heavy, and is one of my favorite finds of the year.
The Creepy Creeps - Fink About It
This is the Creepy Creeps 3rd release since 2006, but their first on Dionysus Records even though there had been talks of Dionysus releasing stuff from them as far back as 2007. Think of them as a mix of The Mummies, The Bomboras and The Ghastly Ones rolled up into a chunk of vinyl and pressed for the world to enjoy. Reverb drenched guitar, steady driving drum beats, thumping bass lines and cover it all in an organ glaze. If you are ever in San Diego and the Creeps are playing you have to catch em live. Dance Party U.S.A.
Soulsavers - Broken
The third album from the UK production team the Soulsavers. As with their second album it features vocals from Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees/Queens Of The Stone Age/Gutter Twins), but also features Mike Patton, Jimi Goodwin of Doves, Will Oldham (a.k.a. Bonnie "Prince" Billy), P.W. Long and Richard Warren. This time around they are a little more rock n roll than spiritual like on "It's Not How Far You Fall, It's the Way You Land." I hear their live shows are amazing, but I missed em when they came to town and I've been kicking myself ever since.
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