Monday, March 15, 2010

TVD's Record Store Day 2010 Label Showcase | Vanguard Records


After a brief hiatus last week, we’re back with our record label spotlight series in anticipation of the day that celebrates the purveyors of their product—Record Store Dayarriving on April 17, 2010 this year.

First up in our series was Seattle’s indie upstarts, Sarathan Records, and we’re delighted to spend this week with the venerable Vanguard Records.


Founded in 1950 in New York City by brothers Maynard and Seymour Soloman, Vanguard Records has long held a reputation for eclectic, distinctive, and groundbreaking recordings, a tradition that holds strong today. The Vanguard Records catalog reads like a chronicle of American popular culture since the 1950s. The blues of Chicago, the folk of Greenwich Village, the earliest electronic experiments, the dance music that inspired a generation of DJs, and the most renowned singer-songwriters of today all trace their roots to Vanguard.


The number of historic and influential Vanguard releases is far too great to be discussed, or even listed, individually, but several landmark projects do demand special mention. In the mid-sixties, "Chicago/the Blues/Today" exposed the fiery urban blues of Chicago's clubs to a national audience for the first time, introducing prodigious talents such as Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, and influencing a generation of blues players including Bonnie Raitt, Eric Clapton, and Jimi Hendrix. Likewise, John Hammond's landmark "Jazz Showcase Series" spotlighted some of the most gifted practitioners of this quintessentially American genre.


Vanguard artists Joan Baez, Ian & Sylvia, Buffy Saint Marie, and Mimi & Richard Farina spearheaded the folk music revival in the 1960s, with Baez becoming the genre’s first true superstar. Baez, alongside Johnny Cash, Earl Scruggs, Bob Dylan, and many others, gave some of the most famous and lasting performances of the era at the Newport Folk Festival all of which were captured by Vanguard Records (to include Dylan's infamous "plugging in," a moment which ushered in a new era of pop music). Finally, dance and proto electronic records from Vanguard artists like,Jean-Jacque Perrey, Twilight 22, Camille Yarborough, and Alisha would later provide the indelible hooks for artists such as the Beastie Boys, Fatboy Slim, and DJ Shadow, helping to usher in the sampling revolution in hip-hop.


In recent years, Vanguard has continued its tradition of developing talented songwriters and performers within the music marketplace. Artists such as Matt Nathanson, Mindy Smith, Greg Laswell, and The Watson Twins, amongst others, have risen to national prominence on the strength of their respective Vanguard debuts. That tradition of artist development, alongside the continued viability of iconic Vanguard artists such as Levon Helm, Merle Haggard, and Robert Cray, form the basis for what Vanguard Records is in 2010.

TVD's Ten Weeks of Record Store Day Vinyl Giveaways - Week 6


We’ve been Fanfarlo fans since their First Date with us last summer and now you have your opportunity to catch them on the road at the moment with Robert Francis in tow.

As an homage of sorts to the teamed tour, our second Record Store Day Vinyl 2010 Giveaway this week is the pairing of Fanfarlo’s debut LP, ‘Reservoir’ and an autographed 7” of Robert Francis’ ‘Junebug’ single off his ‘Before Nightfall’ album.




The rules can't be any simpler for our RSD2010 Vinyl Giveaways. All you need to do to enter to win is to leave a comment in the comments section to that week's giveaway letting us know why you deserve to win that week's LP.

Be creative, funny, incisive—whatever it takes to grab our attention to deem you the winner. Most important however is to leave us a contact email address! You can be brilliant as hell, but if we can't track ya' down, you're out of the running.

All winners will all be notified on Monday (3/22) upon the launch of the next RSD2010 Vinyl Giveaway!

TVD Fresh Track | New(ish) Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros


9:14 EST. Many of you are probably just left yours, but what the hell.

Some newish Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros to commence your week...

Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros - Home [RAC Mix] (Mp3)

TVD's Ten Weeks of Record Store Day Vinyl Giveaways - Week 6


Feel that? It's the shifting sands of the music industry bending and bowing under your feet.


For further evidence that indie is mainstream and transparently so, Pitchfork - Pitchfork! - has not just offered a review of the new Sade LP, 'Soldier of Love' but they've lauded it with a strong 7.0. Wha?

"...Soldier of Love is unsurprisingly of a piece with the five previous Sade albums. Songwriting-wise, it could have been released at any point in the band's career. The production only occasionally draws attention to itself—the dub-esque snare crashes on "Babyfather" are a bit of a surprise—and you can forget any gauche stabs at currently hip sonic tricks. The idea of singer Sade Adu robo-warbling through Auto-Tune would be laughable if it weren't impossible even to conceive. Even the album's curveball first single, title track "Soldier of Love", with its strident marching band snare rolls, doesn't so much deviate from Sade's core sound as cast it in a new light: What better to emphasize Adu's sense of control than a rhythm with the stiffly regimented forward momentum of a parade ground drill? And if "Soldier of Love" seems "hard," it's only because the surrounding tunes are once again delicate to the point where nuance is all..."

For me, you could even slide Sade right between The Blue Nile and The Bathers seamlessly.

You needn't take my (or Pitchfork's) word for it, find out yourself as 'Soldier of Love' is our first LP giveaway this week in our Record Store Day 2010 Vinyl Giveaways.


The rules can't be any simpler for our
RSD2010 Vinyl Giveaways. All you need to do to enter to win is to leave a comment in the comments section to that week's giveaway letting us know why you deserve to win that week's LP.

Be creative, funny, incisive—whatever it takes to grab our attention to deem you the winner. Most important however is to leave us a contact email address! You can be brilliant as hell, but if we can't track ya' down, you're out of the running.

All winners will all be notified on Monday (3/22) upon the launch of the next RSD2010 Vinyl Giveaway!