Here at THE VINYL DISTRICTwe're good consumers. All Mp3's are posted to promote and give exposure to the music and are linked for a limited time. Please download to preview, then head promptly to your local vinyl vendor (or - OK, CD store too) and fork over your hard earned cash. You'll appreciate the piece of mind.
Got something you think we should be listening to or reading? thevinyldistrict (at) gmail.com
Our Best (and Worst) LPs | There are always certain albums that hold a special spot in a collector's heart. Usually, that's because they're particularly exceptional and probably have some sentimental value. Sometimes, however, it's because they're especially terrible but we just can't bare to part with them. We decided to list both.
BRENDAN POLMER, Drums | 3 Favorite LPs: Beatles - Revolver It's just an awesome record all around. I think of "Tax Man" every time I look at my paycheck and "Eleanor Rigby" every time I ride the Metro. The iconic black and white cover illustration is particularly cool, and it's just one of my "go-to" records when I don't want to think for more than 15 seconds on what piece of wax I want to listen to.
Dr. John - Destively Bonnaroo Perhaps not as well known as some of his other gems, but this record is positively funky and reeks of 1970's classic New Orleans Meters. One of my all-time favorite drummers—Joseph "Zigaboo" Modeliste of the Meters—is all over this record. He plays so deep in the pocket that you can't even find your keys OR your lighter.
Cannonball Adderley Quintet - Mercy Mercy Mercy All you need to know about this recording is that, while it certainly sounds like it was recorded in a nightclub, it was actually done in a studio with an invited audience and, perhaps most importantly, an open bar—giving the jazz-soul classic the perfect tinge of "nat sound" WHOO!'s, YEAA!'s, catcall whistles, and sporadic applause. It'll take you back to church in an instant—even if you're an atheist.
Awful Album I Can't Part With: Herbie Hancock - Futures Shock Of course I love me some Herbie Hancock, he's a genius after all. But this record is just terrible. Sure it was revolutionary in 1983, what with its futuristic synthesizers and sample-worthy "Rockit" breakbeats, but to me it's just not listenable. Unless perhaps you happen to be on LSD and think you've been turned into a robot, in which case it's the most awesome record EVER.
THOMAS ORGREN, Bassist/Guitarist | 3 Favorite LPs: Arcade Fire - Funeral Besides the sonic advantages of vinyl, sometimes the biggest advantage is the packaging. The 12" vinyl version of Funeral features a lyric / credits sheet that actually looks like a program from a funeral.
Grandaddy - Sumday I just love this record, and playing it on vinyl seems to up the whole people vs. technology theme that runs throughout the album.
Awful Album I Can't Part With: Shaquille O'Neal - ??? All my records are packed away right now and I can't remember the name of the song, but I have a Shaq single that's as good as it sounds like it would be. Which means not really. But what's not to love about Shaq rapping instead of learning to shoot free throws or conditioning himself so that he can actually run up and down the court?
RYAN LITTLE, Singer/Guitarist | 3 Favorite LPs: My Bloody Valentine - Loveless This is not an every day record; I don't just throw it on at a party. I usually put it on when I'm by myself and can turn it up loud, at which point the whole thing just sucks me into it's dreamy vortex completely. It's massive and unearthly and absolutely unmatched. It sounds better on vinyl, period, and because it's such a "special occasion" type of record for me, having a physical object is important. That ritual of picking it up and putting it on makes the trip that much more immersive.
The Byrds - Sweetheart of the Rodeo / The Louvin Brothers - Satan Is Real So when my former bandmate/roommate Adam started getting into Gram Parsons really hard, Sweetheart of the Rodeo started getting a lot of play in the house. In fact, all of us who lived there loved it, and anytime people would come over to drink, it would get played. I can't listen to it on an iPod or whatever because if I put it on I immediately want to grab a cheap beer and hang out. It's like a Pavlovian response at this point, and digitizing the album just seems pointless to me.
After hearing that record so many times, I really wanted to know where some of the songs came from. That lead me to The Louvin Brothers, and I promptly picked up Satan Is Real. It's a classic bizarre album cover (and possibly racist? I'm not sure, but the devil looks disconcertingly similar to an Asian caricature...), and the music is great. Awesome harmonies, deeply religious "we'll scare the devil out of you" lyrics, and it just captures a specific era/mentality so perfectly.
Bob Dylan - Freewheelin' This was the first LP I ever bought, as well as the first proper Dylan album I owned (aside from greatest hits and such), and when the needle hit the wax that first time, it felt like pure fucking magic all the way through. "Bob Dylan's Dream" left me in tears, and I actually laughed out loud during "Talkin' World War III Blues." I think most musicians, or at least most songwriters, have had that Dylan moment (or moments), and this was mine.
Awful Album I Can't Part With: Phil Keaggy - Ph'lip Side In the days of my youth, when I was still a part of the Christian music world (it still exists, and it's still enormous I think), there was this ongoing completely fabricated story that when some journalist asked Jimmy Hendrix what it was like to be the best guitarist in the world, he responded, "I don't know, you'll have to ask Phil Keaggy." For some reason, in that world, it was somehow a persistent and believable story. Phil Keaggy is in fact an incredible virtuoso, but most of his songs are about as corny as they come. This record is no exception.
...and they're giving you a shirt right off their backs. (Well, from the merch table - but you get the idea.)
The mightySolar Powered Sun Destroyerjoins North Carolina'sHammer No More The FingersMonday night over at Velvet Lounge in advance of new releases from both bands—SPSD's J. Robbins produced "Sender/Receiver" and HNMTF's "Black Shark."
And with a little twist on a popular theme around here, the guys in SPSD have come up with the hoops you need to jump through to win this one:
"To celebrate this historic night of rock, Solar Powered Sun Destroyer and the guys in Hammer No More The Fingers have decided to give away a couple shirts as well as a pair of tickets to see them at Velvet Lounge on July 26th.
The rules are simple—tell us who you feel deserves a Solar Powered Sun Destroyer shirt and why . . . and the best answer wins.
You can say "my grandmother, because she doesn't understand irony." You could suggest "the wolf kid from Twilight cuz homeboy needs to get in the habit of wearing a shirt to work at Quiznos as soon as his 'acting' career ends." Or, you can say "Megan Fox because she is not talented and is married to the white rapper from 90210."
It's up to you, be as creative as you want or, if you are a fan of lame, be as sincere as you want.
Winner gets a choice of shirts for themselves or having us personally send the shirt to the person you choose a shirt for with a note saying why they deserve that shirt . . . oh, and remember, you get a free pair of tickets to the show.
That's one Solar Powered Sun Destroyer shirt, one Hammer No More the Fingers shirt, and one pair of tickets . . . FOR FREE. Be sure to leave your name in the comments section and enter your email in so we can contact you if you do win. Best of luck."
Our Favorite Ridiculously Gratuitous Guitar Solos | While we all love good pop songs, as a musician it's hard to deny the power of a really sick solo. These are our favorite moments where someone said, "You know what this needs? A guitar solo. From me. It's gonna be awesome." And awesome it was...
BRENDAN (drummer): The Knack - My Sharona (from Get The Knack) Everyone knows this song, but most people only know the shortened radio version. The album version is 4:52 long, mostly thanks to one of the longest, most-badass guitar solos on a pop-rock album for its time (1979). If you ever get the chance to get your hands on this record, it's well worth a listen.
Do You Feel (Like I Do) - Peter Frampton (from Frampton Comes Alive!) If your parents liked rock and roll in the 70's, chances are Frampton Comes Alive! lives in their record collection somewhere. My dad absolutely loved Frampton, or rather "Do You Feel (Like I Do)", simply because he could talk through his guitar during his solos. "He made his guitar talk! Amazing!" Pretty cool, dad. Pretty cool.
Mountain Jam - Allman Brothers (from Eat a Peach) This track, featuring Duane Allman and Dicky Betts having a musical conversation with their guitars, takes up the entire Side II of "Eat a Peach." It can get a bit intense, but something tells me that was the intention. And the drum solo at the end is pretty spectacular as well.
THOMAS ORGREN (bassist/guitarist): Lynyrd Skynyrd - Freebird It's THE classic guitar solo, and I love it to death. When I was a freshman in high school, my band learned it so that we could actually play it when that asshole in the crowd yelled for it. Somewhere in my house I have a cassette tape recording of us playing it - I was playing rhythm guitar, using a Boss Metal Zone for distortion, and when the solo rolls around it sounds like aliens landed in the swamps of Florida. I still sing the solo note for note whenever I hear it on the radio. People think I'm crazy...
In A Gadda Da Vida - Iron Butterfly Another song that I learned freshman year of high school for little reason at all. This one I actually learned without ever having heard the song before. During the guitar solo our drummer's bass drum pedal broke so I put down my bass and climbed underneath the drum set and fixed the pedal as the drummer launched into his solo. I'll probably lose my hearing before I'm 50 years old because of that.
Derek & The Dominoes - Layla This song makes me a little embarassed for Eric Clapton, because Duane Allman was just that much better than him (read: more tasteful). I still hardly believe the first part of the song exists (you know, "Layla, you got me on my knees") because whenever I hear it on the radio it's always the outro that's on.
RYAN LITTLE (vocalist/guitarist/singer): Wilco - Ashes of American Flags (live) It's almost impossible to choose the best Nels Cline guitar solo, but on the live Wilco album Kicking Television, he pretty much destroys the end of Ashes of American Flags. It's heartbreaking and pure and technical and abstract and just one more reason he is my favorite guitar player of all time. Of course, I do have to give some props to Glen Kotche on this one because his signature drumming really deeply reinforces the splendor of the moment.
Yo La Tengo - We're An American Band As much as I enjoy "My Little Corner of the World," this should really be the last song on I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One. It's epic. The solo is the culmination of Ira Kaplan's face-destroying noisy proclivities, his patient and moving sentimentality, and his incredible sense of melody. Ira takes a really solid, structured song and rides it out for a while before really pushing it out into another dimension.
The Velvet Underground - I Heard Her Call My Name There's the line "And then my mind split open!" and the subsequent guitar solo proves it to be true.
Is it OK to say you grew up in the '70s and somehow never really got into Bruce Springsteen?
None of my hometown friends were into Springsteen when he hit it big in the mid-'70s. But when I went away to college, I started working at the newspaper and found myself one desk over from a guy who was a hardcore Springsteen fan. You did anything with that guy and you got the gospel according to Bruce.
Somehow, perhaps by hearing it played at Truckers Union (our local record store), I was introduced to Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, the great R&B big band that thundered out of Asbury Park, New Jersey, not long after Springsteen hit it big.
Part of Southside Johnny Lyon's appeal (to me, at least) was that he was not Springsteen, yet he was one of Springsteen's pals, doing any number of Springsteen songs and sharing a collaborator in Miami Steve Van Zandt. That gave my friend and I some common ground.
Part of the Jukes' appeal (again, to me) was that their music was more consistently upbeat and joyous than that of Springsteen, especially on "This Time It's For Real." That was their second album, released in 1977. It was arranged and produced by Van Zandt, who wrote eight of its 10 songs.
Side 1 is an extended nod to classic R&B, with a cover of Aretha Franklin's "Without Love" and tunes on which the Coasters and the Satins sing backup.
Side 2 gives way to five original R&B workouts, all written by Van Zandt (and three with Springsteen as his co-writer).
We have three of the latter for you. Finishing out Side 2, they go from laid-back, stripped-down blues ("I Ain't Got The Fever No More") to Brill Building-inspired orchestration ("Love On The Wrong Side Of Town") to primal, thundering drums, piano and guitars ("When You Dance").
(Note to Springsteen fans: I appreciate your passion and I appreciate his greatness. I have some of his records. But I am far from a hardcore fan like you, or like my old friend from the newsroom.)
"I have encountered Vinyl: I have encountered Vinyl at many pivotal moments in my development as an audio-attentive human. Of the records I can call my own, one that is very special to me, is my Monorchid 7” that my friend Paul gave me long ago. I remember the singer was the door guy at our local venue, the Black Cat. They sang a song called Red Red Meat that I heard on vinyl as a youngin’ and is probably one of my favorite songs in the world… I still sing it.
We grew up in the DC area, the nation’s capital of vinyl-releasing delinquents, and Paul was in a band called the Better Automatic for a time – they released their music on Vinyl. The place where I grew up seems to spawn musicians that both appreciate, and release their music on Vinyl . . . an inarguable fact of this universe, so I’m especially delighted to share some stories about Vinyl’s involvement in my life. Kids from the area who released music on Vinyl in the DC area include, and to whom I looked up to a lot were Mike Kanan of the Black Eyes, Jason Simon of Dead Meadow, and Dan & Hugh of Q and Not U among others. They put on great shows and had neat record releases, many of which I have held in my hands and inspected myself.
Living the high life the way I do, coming and going at all hours, in and out of town in an unpredictable fashion, never knowing what’s happening next, I store most of my records and delicate possessions 3000 miles away in my parents’ basement. It was in that house that I heard the greatest records of all, my Dad’s collection from the 60’s, which sits in near-mint condition on a shelf over the player in their family room. He and his friend were Martin and Gibson guitar dealers for a time in the early 70’s, so growing up we listened to lots of Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, CSN, guitarists like Leo Kottke, and all kinds of magical-realm-level shit like that.
The poetry, the visual art, the sense of purpose and journey on those records all fired my imagination. Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s record “Tarkus” was the one I always reached for on the shelf. It was beautiful. The cover was an armadillo/tank, and the inside were these ferocious animal/weapon/machines that were going to battle… they were some of the coolest illustrations I saw as a kid, alongside Shel Silverstein and Dr. Suess, that Tarkus record was one of the most awe-inspiring visual masterpieces of my life. The music on it was crazy and mysterious beyond words, it would take a lifetime to grasp all that was on that thing. Illustration has since been as much a part of my life as music and writing songs, and I cite that particular record in a lot of conversations I have about album art.
As early as 8 years old I remember being across the street in my buddy Paul’s basement, listening to the Magical Mystery Tour a million times and playing BattleTech. I think that as my big brother-figure on the block, he felt responsible for introducing me to all the best rock and roll in the world before I could be corrupted by anything else, and I will always appreciate that. Praise the Lord, I done been saved. The Stones “Sympathy for the Devil” and Dire Straits “Sultans of Swing” were other songs I heard on that old, clunky, silver record player down there.
It was dark down there and it was like operating heavy machinery. Soon enough it was cool to skip school and release a vinyl record all around town, and there were kids with their new vinyl records everywhere. I watched, listened, and participated in their vinyl-centric shenanigans with glee – it was like a duty in my home town. It was the code.
I later encountered many vinyl-weilding musicians in Boston, where many of us worked on Emerson College’s WERS 88.9fm, a fantastic college radio station to have been involved in. My friend Fakts One would take a record and make it make noises unknown to humans…. He was a master at the turntables, I’ll never forget watching him do his thing. He gave me the healthiest respect one could have for the existence of and many uses of vinyl.
The music of Aphex Twin, Doctor Octogon, DJ Shadow, and DJ Spooky played in my room a lot. I remember hanging with friends, digging though weird useless piles of old records, finding the strangest thing for them to use later in something they were making…. Just the weirdest stuff sometimes. Vinyl became synonymous with treasure hunting, in a way, during my time in Boston." —Gabriel Mintz
DC's Jukebox The Ghost return in September with the brand new "Everything Under The Sun" on YepRoc and we've got the first track to be released, "Empire" which Filter magazine is calling "the catchiest song of the summer."
We post. You decide.
Catch JTG this Saturday, July 24th, at the Tarara Winery in Leesburg, VA, at the FLO Fest, an all day music and wine event.
Organization Hell | How do you organize your records? Or perhaps I should be asking; DO you organize your records? Certainly there are obvious benefits to taking on such a feat. Knowing exactly where something is so you can go to it on a moment's notice is probably pretty helpful. Keeping multiple records by the same artist in the same spot also seems like a good idea. You can even break it down by genre, keeping all your classic rock records on one shelf, jazz records on another, funk and soul somewhere else...
I've tried them all. At one point I even tried keeping a spreadsheet inventory of every record I collected. It felt good to be so organized, everything was in its right place. But then after a while, for no reason in particular, I started getting sloppy.
When the inspiration to make a new mixtape would hit, I'd start making stacks of records that I thought in my mind would go well together. Then when I choose the first song, I hit record on my computer and don't stop spinning until it's finished. I don't choose the next song until the song before it has started to play. Then when I'm finished recording a track from a record, it goes back into a random stack.
After a while these stacks of records don't get put back in their respective places on the record shelves. Suddenly stacks of records end up all over my living room, on top of windowsills, radiators, and other audio equipment. Yet somehow in all the clutter, I know exactly where everything is. In fact, I can find any given record in a random stack much quicker than I ever could digging through my "organized" record shelves. Why is that? I have no idea.
So I'm asking you, dear reader– How do YOU organize your records? Or do you even care? —Brendan Polmer
By now I'm certain you've noticed the pattern—if we've got a blog takeover, we've got a contest running in tandem with it, and this week we're certainly not breaking from any of those well worn (and much loved) devices.
In celebration of their Phoenix-like return from departing members and the ensuing uncertainties, Tereu Tereu hit the road for a 9-date mini-tour revamped and refreshed with a new rhythm section and a brand new vinyl pressing of last year's "All That Keeps Us Together" (...no irony there of course.)
The band doesn't play the DC area just yet, but that's not stopping us from offering tickets for any of the dates on the upcoming tour. Check out the list of live dates and the cities the band will hit below and let us know where you want to check them out in the comments to this post.
Tereu Tereu will play:
7/26 - Fredericksburg, VA (Chidester House) 7/27 - Richmond, VA (The Camel) 7/28 - Charlottesville, VA (Tea Bazaar w/ Drink Up Buttercup) 7/29 - Roanoke, VA (The Bazaar) 7/30 - Cincinnati, OH (Northside Tavern w/ Enlou and Sacred Spirits) 7/31 - Fort Wayne, IN (Dash In w/ Darkroom and Metavari) 8/1 - Chicago, IL (Beat Kitchen) 8/2 - Detroit, MI (PJ's Lagerhouse) 8/3 - Pittsburgh, PA (Ed's)
We'll have two winners for this contest—a grand prize winner will receive a pair of tickets to any one date on the tour of his or her choosing and a vinyl copy of "All That Keeps Us Together" and onerunner up will receive a vinyl copy of "All That Keeps Us Together."
Again, shoot us a note in the comments to this post with the city in which you'd like to see the band and y'know...make it stand out from the others. We'll choose the most compelling comments this Friday (7/23) at 5PM. And remember to leave us a contact email address - important!
My Life Summed Up In Seven Inches | These days I might pick up an old Motown single or something by The Rolling Stones now and then, but oddly enough, my prime years for buying 45s were in late high school and early college (when I had my cheap record player rigged up through a series of converters to play through the shitty computer speakers in my tiny dorm room). Because of that, I've got a lot of '90s emo records that I don't listen to anymore. Don't get me wrong, I still put on Nothing Feels Good now and then, but that old Texas Is The Reason / Promise Ring split doesn't really hold up for me at this point. Neither does that first Rainer Maria single, even though I do still pop on some of Rainer Maria's later stuff now and then (especially that Atlantic EP, which for some reason was never pressed on vinyl).
So what 45s do hold up? Well, this one comes down to a battle between my early childhood and my teenage self. I still have a single by Ray Stevens called The Streak that I used to listen to as a kid on one of those fisher price record players. It's funny in a stupid but clean way that reminds me of my youth, and if I heard it for the first time today, I'm not sure how I'd feel about it.
However, the best 45 from my teenage years, I still really enjoy listening to. It's an EP called Firecracker by the band Unwed Sailor. It was their first (and best) release, and it features David Bazan (Pedro The Lion) on drums. David Bazan—the melancholic singer/songwriter—is surprisingly one of my favorite drummers, and I think I even sampled the drums on this song to make some kind of beat while I was in college (unlike Brendan's MPC skills, it was definitely not gangsta).
My life came somewhat full circle when Unwed Sailor actually played in my living room a few years back, and I got to drink whiskey with Johnathan Ford. Oddly enough, after so many years of playing house shows in post-rock obscurity, it looks like Unwed Sailor is going on tour with Owl City in the late Fall... here's hoping some young kid winds up with an Unwed Sailor EP and falls in love with it too. —Ryan Little
#musicmonday is predictably trending hard on Twitter as I type this, on Monday night, because it’s Monday, and “monday” is in the hashtag and all. But you know what else is trending? #oldpeoplenames. I love this. Can we talk about this instead of music? Why is no one named Gladys anymore???
Also, in true Twitter spirit, no one who is using this hashtag seems to fully understand it. Amy? Come on. That is not an old person name. Dolores, Gaylord, Agatha, and Wilmer are. Tweeps clearly need to waste more time at work looking up baby name trends since the 1880s using ridiculously cool live-updating graphs. Not that I do this. To find cat names. What? Let’s talk about music!
I would like to put on my Old Auntie Myrtle bonnet for this column, and talk about #musicmonday etiquette. (Disclaimer: The following harshly worded mandates reflect my own preferences, and may not be actual Twitter best practices.)
Rule 1: #musicmonday more. When I joined Twitter, so many moons ago (er, 3?), the Music Monday tradition was all about sharing new music with friends. Now, every week, the Twitter transcripts are overrun with scalpers using #musicmonday to hawk tickets to concerts. I can’t remember the last time I saw a #musicmonday suggestion in my own Twitter feed. I miss them. I learned things from those Tweets. Y'all have good taste—sock it to me.
Rule 1a: Experiment. Make up new alternative music-related hashtags. Let’s get #punkrockfriday off the ground, yes? I’m partial to #rainydaypowerpop, too, although I’m pretty sure I’m the only person on the planet who has ever used that hashtag. Take it! Make it your own! Give it the life that I cannot!
When you’re giving life to all these hashtags, remember Rule #2: Please include a link. Preferably a shortened link. I am lazy, and I assume 99.9% of Twitter users are also lazy. A tweet like “OMG cannot stop listening to the new Mark Ronson single! #musicmonday” is frustrating, because then I have to laboriously highlight alllllllll the relevant words, copppppppy them, mouse allllllllll the way over to my Google search bar, passsssste them, and scan through alllllll the results before I get to hear the music you so graciously recommended.
It’s important to include the link, but (Rule #3), it’s equally important to explain what you’re linking to. Unless you’re trying for a #musicmonday Rickroll. (Rule #4: Never Rickroll.) If I see a tweet in the middle of the work day that reads “OMG #musicmonday blast from the past!! [link],” I will be grumpy for hours if I click and get ambushed by the Spice Girls. Include the artist and song name. No one actually likes internet surprises. (Except for thisone.)
So, all you Blanches, Ednas, Lelands, and Clarences, you are now empowered to give new life to a dying hashtag. Give me music to listen to! But do it properly. According to me.
Role #mmodel: “YouCanAnswerNow: Where can i read high school musical the manga? #MusicMonday #comics http://www.linkati.com/q/index.php?i=207291” Wow, now I sort of want to know, too.
My #musicmonday pick: An oldie, in honor of all those names—Otis Williams and The Charms’ “Hearts Made of Stone.” I love this song so much, and maybe I should have named my cat Otis.
One of our favorite venues, the Rock & Roll Hotelis hosting what they're calling "The First Annual Summer New Year's Eve Party" this coming Friday night and they've hooked us up with a pair of tickets to get into the hands of one of you guys.
From the press accompanying the tickets: We here at Rock and Roll Hotel are hosting a killer party on July, 23rd that we're calling "The First Annual Summer New Year's Eve Party." Yes, it's the middle of summer, but what greater party is there than a New Years one? So we're bringing that sparkle and shine to the club on the 23rd from 6 pm to 3 am."
The line up of DJs is pretty damn impressive too: Yes Giantess, Audio Ammo, DJ Chris Burns, DJ Autorock, DJ Metaphysical and DJ Phil Real.
Not too shabby, hm? Plus, there's free food, free leis, and tons of free stuff.
As mentioned, we've got a pair of tickets to giveaway in exchange for simply asking for them in the comments to this post. Plead your case, offer your first born children—we don't care. Just make it so your comment stands out from the rest and that person'll get one pair of General Admission tickets on us and the Hotel.
We're choosing our winner at 5PM this coming Thursday (7/22) to give you plenty of time to stock up on the Advil.
And finally: remember to leave us a contact email address!
I've been a fan of DC's Tereu Tereu for quite a while now and so, with the impending release of some fresh vinyl and the launch of a summer tour, an opportune moment arrived to spend some quality time with the band for a full week.
We'll get you up to speed on the vinyl and the tour tomorrow (with ways to win some stuff into the bargain) but to kick things off Brendan Polmer, the band's drummer and resident vinyl enthusiast weaves a lucky tale that has me more than a bit envious... —Ed.
Dumpster Diving for Vinyl | About a year ago, I stumbled upon a vinyl goldmine in the unlikeliest of places– a dumpster inside a freight elevator of a self-storage facility on H St NE, Washington, DC.
I was in between apartments and checking out a storage unit to hold some of my crap while I searched for a new place to live. The building had once been used for storing cars, and thus had two large, industrial car-sized elevators that were now being used to haul large, heavy items to the storage units on multiple floors. As the storage employee who was showing me my potential unit lead me onto one of the elevators, he apologized for the mess that greeted us as he opened the elevator’s vertical barn-door gate. There was a mattress or two, a broken chest of drawers, a portable clothing rack and a large plastic dumpster on wheels, about five-feet high and equally wide, filled to the top with a ton of crap. “What happened? Someone didn’t pay their storage bill?” I asked jokingly.
“Yea, it’s all goin’ to the dump man,” he said. “Happens all the time. Sometimes people fall behind on their rent and can’t pay no more. Sometimes they just die and nobody comes to claim their stuff. Either way, we gotta toss it.”
As the elevator jerked upward, I peered over the ledge of the dumpster to take a look at what exactly was being thrown out. The first thing that caught my eye was a vintage AKAI reel-to-reel tape recorder. Now, I’m quite the hi-fi nerd, so my first instinct was to ask if I could check out this obsolete yet glorious instrument of music playback technology. “Yea, go ‘head man, it’s all goin’ to tha dump anyway.” I reached into the dumpster and pulled out the ancient relic. It was heavy as shit, about 40 pounds, but it was gorgeous. I then looked back into the dumpster and what I saw next gave me the chills—a painting of Stevie Wonder’s face peering up at me in front of a bright orange background, smiling behind a pair of sunglasses. It was the LP cover of his 1980 release “Hotter Than July.”
“Woah! There’s vinyl in here!” I yelled. I was so excited, all I could think about was what else could be underneath all the layers inside the dumpster of what appeared to be books, newspapers, old photographs and other personal items. The elevator stopped. I didn’t want to leave the dumpster, but I had to look at a storage unit. Five minutes later, after checking out the unit, I asked the employee if I could hang out for a while so I could, um, dumpster dive for vinyl. He said it was cool, as long as I put everything I didn’t want back in the dumpster when I was through.
Two hours later, covered in sweat and sneezing from the dust I stirred up, I salvaged an impressive 150+ records! The poor bastard who couldn’t pay his storage bill (or, for all I know, was dead) had quite the collection at one point in his life, with most of it ranging from blues, funk, sixties and seventies soul, and r&b, as well as some early go-go and hip-hop.
Most of the records were in decent shape, others not so much. But from what I was able to save, I created several mixtapes of epic proportions, recorded samples into an MPC for my amateur attempt at beat production, and kept others solely for their glorious album artwork appeal.
So now, without further ado, I present to The Vinyl District with my Dumpster Diving 4 Vinyl! mixtape. Enjoy! —Brendan Polmer, Drummer, Tereu Tereu
(Ed. Note: Stream with option to download each Mp3 by clicking links.)
Bon Jour! | We’re having yet another BBQ here in Laurel Canyon. I’ll call it Part 2 in what looks to become a mini series of fun mixes dedicated to an “Idelic” kind of summer feast! This week we toast to all things French! After all, Wednesday was Bastille Day—the French equivalent of our July 4th.
I put this mix together with a day dream. Bastille Day being an 18th century version of our LA riots on the Sunset Strip during summer of 1966! I can picture these decked out French aristocrats in wigs roasting hot dogs in big bon fire made from thrashed rococo furniture. Of course there was an old record player with a stack old, now coveted, French “chanson” 7 inch 45’s.
Maybe a Ray Charles or soul record found itself into the pile? Maybe a new record or two to kick around into the mix?
As editor here, I’m amazed at how much stuff we’re offered that I turn down. Actually, the turndowns wildly outpace the things we cover or the stuff we giveaway. We could be supremely busy and chock full of content if it weren’t for the damn filter that’s often employed.
Which is why I’m pleased this morning to recommend Sunday’s ‘No Love Lost’ at Velvet Lounge, curated by Fan Death’s Sean Gray and No Control!’s Denman Anderson. Short of all the vinyl and record store chatter, this is the stuff we planned on spotlighting nearly three years ago at the inception of this thing—the good taste bar continually high (and rising.)
So, Sunday? See you there. —Ed.
All words by Sean Gray and Denman C. Anderson
As an oversimplification, it’s easy to define Cold Wave as, “synth music.” And while there may be nothing wrong with that, the subtleties that carve out cold wave merge in a place that is darker and more bleak than simply using synthesizers to define a particular sound. The artists that emerged in late 70’s to early 80’s in a way, created a sound of acceptance. Acceptance of a way of living that is not organic, but is made by humans, and expressed by machines. An acceptance containing within it, all of the existential crises and fears of that reality. This acceptance feeds into every aspect of life from the political, to personal and human. It is this bleakness that we connect to. A problem with neither quantifiable solution, nor discernible definition. While other, similar genres may have tackled this continuum in their own way, for example, the violence and anger of industrial music, Cold Wave and much of its offshoots leave us with the idea of acceptance of the bleak sociological effects of technology.
The resurgence of this music and the progression it has taken in the past few years, in many ways, has much to do with the idea that the listener is always surrounded by technology that continually, and ironically, leaves them with less and less control. The hollow spaces gnawed within us by this life directly relate to the dark tones that both the first cold wave, and the “new wave” of today have brought us.
Many of its fans and followers would have nothing to do with this analysis, simply staking their claims to cold wave as, “good music.” Of course the first step in any audio exploration is to simply ask, “Who should I be listening to?” Here then, are three both noteworthy albums in the scene, all excellent starting points.
Kas Product – Try Out Upon hearing this LP for the first time, the average listener might not be sure what to make of it. However, once you hit the song So Young So Cold, there’s a surging energy that can't be denied. Their debut album, released on RCA in 1982, “Try Out” sent an influential shot across the movement, and Mona Soyoc’s vocals were the blue print for all cold wave. Standout tracks include the obvious, “So Young But So Cold,” but also, “Break lose,” which utilizes the low ends of the synth and creates something more of a dance track that treads the line from poppy to morose.
Asylum Party – Borderline Compared to the Kas Product LP above, the 1989 release on Lively Art, “Borderline,” finds Asylum Party harnessing a much richer and more fleshed out sound. This album gives a fresh perspective on a scene that sometimes can become too redundant. Stand out tracks include, “Pictures,” which is a haunting song built on the foundation of a pounding beat that lands, not too far off the influence of industrial music of the time. Other songs, like, “Julia,” are the very definition of pop, but maintain their own wispy beauty. The dark romance of, “Borderline,” stands up strong, even today.
Neutral Project – Comme Un Oiseau De Proie... 1989 was apparently a very good year for this type of music, as Olivier Champeau, of other noteworthy band, Little Nemo, helped Yvon Million and Dominique Oudiou, (before the appearance of Kristian Dernoncour), produce a truly noteworthy slab of cold wave, “Comme Un Oiseau De Proie...,” on the Aspect D'Une Certaine Industrie label. This album goes much farther into the exploration of darkness than the other two mentions, utilizing the lower ends of the sound spectrum to create this atmosphere. It’s interesting to note that Neutral Project rely, by and large on only the beat to craft their music, but that’s just part and parcel for a genre that likes to let simple, bleak sounds bleed through. Tracks such as, “J'appelle,” are both amazing and a good representation of this sound, while a track such as, “Future,” almost become an out and out dance numbers. Of course, “Sodeil de Nuit (2eme Eclipse),” may well be one of the best cold wave songs ever written.
All of these albums helped form the ice-cubed building blocks of the genre we now look back on today, and yet, with everything mentioned above in mind, they seem more relevant than ever. Come out to Velvet Lounge this Sunday the 18th to experience and share in these sounds across eras. Let’s be empty together.
"I've been to Memphis many times over the last few years to perform in coffee bars and at the International Folk Alliance Showcase. However, I can say with authority that I did not really know Memphis until I came to do the Ardent Sessions recording in August 2008. I had been homeless and living in my car for over a year and a half at that point, touring the country, and playing music. I was just coming off a long and very manic-depressive tour with a bluegrass band and I was heading to Minnesota to see my family and take a break before a crazy fall schedule. I was completely exhausted.
There was an energy all around in the studio that night. It was obvious that Ardent Studios is a special place where special things happen. The records on the walls and the stories people tell you when you're there back it up big time. It was a safe place to be in a summer of storms and Rachel was the perfect host. I felt like people really wanted to listen to me play my songs there and that felt good. The entire vibe transcended any negative weight I carried into the studio with me. The music flowed through me and I felt free.
Brad Bailey, Nick Pagliari and Blair Combest played before me and blew me away. The room was filled with an eager audience. It was silent during the songs and intimate the whole time. The lights were dim and candles were lit. I played mostly long, sad songs. It was amazing to be able to play on the Steinway, it's not an opportunity that I get very often.
Ardent was a bright spot in a dark time for me. I can see it in my eyes in the video. I look like someone who needs a week of sleep and maybe a heart transplant because that's who I was that day.
Currently I am still touring and making a new album in Atlanta. Hope to see you on the road..." —John Elliott
Enter to win John Elliott's LP "Too Many Ghosts" by simply leaving a comment, your name, and a contact email address in the comments to this post. We'll choose one winner each Friday for that week's giveaway which ALSO includes the entire Ardent Music catalog. (That's just 2 artists at this point, but hey, who's counting?)
To hear more great Ardent Sessions please visit Ardent Presents.
