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.
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Right. That's not the actual Gary & the Hornets 45 that Ken gets into below. But pretty sweet looking, hm? (Courtesy of So Many Records, So Little Time.) It's day #2 of The Posies Vinyl District Takeover...
Fuck iTunes. I paid the most I have ever paid, via an ad in Goldmine, for one single. TWO SONGS. $40. I didn’t use the internet, I mailed a fucking check and got the thing. Why? Because I’d played a cover of a song called ‘Patty Girl’ by an Ohio group called Gary & the Hornets with Alex Chilton, who had heard about the song from Teenage Fanclub, who had heard about the song from Calvin Johnson. And I had to hear the original.
The story was too good: Gary & the Hornets were three kids—age 9, 11, & 12—who had a record deal and did these amazing, beat group-era songs, maybe just a little too sweet for the consciousness-bending preamble to the Summer of Love, so they didn’t have too long to enjoy the spotlight before looking quaint. ‘Patty Girl’ is not on iTunes. The band never released any album that I can find, so there’s no CD reissue. Basically, except for this 45 and some youtube videos, this music is extinct. And what a crime! Two and half minutes of chimey, glorious 60's pop, with a chorus that defies the laws of gravity in terms of melody—it was shocking to hear Alex pick off the high notes with such ease—we played it the last time that Alex and I played together, in Brooklyn last year.
So, now, iTunes saving grace: As a kid, I dutifully picked up Robert Plant’s solo music after the demise of Led Zeppelin, and was somewhat nonplussed by the mellow, unfocused and puzzling ‘Big Log’ 45 that I surely got at a drugstore or something. But, as one did, I flipped it over and found another enigmatic title—'Far Post', a non-album B side and a far more interesting piece of music. The recording sounded so deluxe back in the day and now I can hear it’s possibly a really well recorded live take; just one guitar, bass, drums, piano and voice.
The song is fast, but dreamy too—it seems to be about the tug between regret and letting go over a lost love—or something. It’s pretty haunting, and was a good soundtrack for the intangibles of fog and mist and early sunsets that were part of life in Bellingham c. 1982. Blazing piano solo, stereo chorus/modulating slapback delay on everything, awesome. And you know what? It’s on iTunes. A B-side. I bought it recently, and was happy not to have to dig thru my storage space 9,000 miles from my home to look for it.
Just a thought here: we were all told when we signed our record deals in the late 80's that due to the excessive packaging costs of the CD vs. the LP, that our royalty rate for CD's would be significantly lower than for LPs. And guess what? The LP's were a fraction of sales shortly thereafter. Duped. I think an LP is roughly twice as expensive to make and package as a CD now.
Along comes iTunes and offers even LOWER rates for selling something that DOESN’T EVEN EXIST. It’s not like there’s a factory banging out all those files. You upload your master, and you’re allowed to make a copy and store that somewhere. It’s like charging more for a bunch of photo copies than for a book. So, now, that I reach the end of this paragraph, I’m mad again and can say fuck you, iTunes.
Virgin Festival at Merriweather is what I imagine my heaven to be like. The day was a dusty journey through an indie wonderland with all of my favorite artists at every destination. Scattered between the three music stages was a psychedelic array all of the delightful things in life: a giant ferris wheel, fire-works, karma bars (with booze and delicious food), random teepees with (!!!) free massages inside, giant beds for randomly napping, dj tents spinning tunes ranging from Billy Jean to Aloe Baac. UMM. HEAVEN. I happily stumbled across old friends, danced with current friends and made a few new friends.
For me, the day started at the Dance Forest where I unfortunately missed hometown DJ, Will Eastman, but made it in time to catch Pitchfork favorite, Neon Indian. Likely you know the ‘chill-wave’ pioneers by now (first LP, Psychic Chasms, was released just this time last year), but if not then perhaps you recognize them from their recent Apple appearance. 22 year-old Alan Palomo is the virtuoso behind the electronic sound, expertly crafting sound that immediately shifts your mindframe into some sort of 70’s sci-fi digital existence. His music is like a video game on acid.
“Deadbeat Summer” was easily the most popular track of the set, and fell between both new and old tunes including “Local Joke”, “Mind, Drips”, “Don’t Sleep” and a very-crucial version of “Should Have Taken Acid With You” (soooo good). Transitions between songs were frequently filled with Palomo’s own experimental-sound melding; where he was able to show off his innate musical palate by turning noise into paralyzing sound. With the set starting at 3:45 and the festival buzz just kicking in for most, this was a perfect way to leap into the euphoric afternoon and the procession of amazing sets to follow.
Although Yeasayer overlapped directly with NI, I heard several reports that the Baltimore based indie-band definitely did not disappoint. Other local favorite’s, Thievery Corporation, took the West Stage afterward giving me a brief second to chill-out to the familiar and tranquil beats, soaking-up the zen before trying to jump from stage to stage in the next few hours.
If you are a fan of Pavement then you already know that this set was inexplicably great. Cult legends in the the indie-music genre, and just recently starting to play shows again after a 10-year hiatus. Pavement’s under-attended show on the main pavilion stage seemed to echo their niche in the popular music scene of the 90’s; underappreciated but ultimately proving to be good news for those fans that are lucky enough to love them. Stephen Malkmus’ unmistakable voice undoubtedly gave all of use indie-nerds a bit of a… umm…. well, you know.
Although the main-stage generally houses the ‘headliners,’ it seemed that many of the festival-goers flocked to the West Stage for bands such as Ludacris and M.I.A. This, in turn, allowed the VIP ticket-holders a chance to get to see Pavement and LCD Soundsystem surprisingly up-close and personal. VIP tickets were clearly the way to go for those of us who were interested in these acts (thank you indie gods!) and I was able to sit only a couple rows back in the center of the seated pavilion with an AMAZING view and very minimal elbow jabs.
Trying to get remotely close to the West Stage for M.I.A. would have been nearly impossible without staking a spot far before the dissident diva took the mic. If you were one of those dedicated to the mission, you got a chance to see MIA in all her badass glory, dark wild hair flowing, rockin gold shades and eventually shedding a gold jacket to reveal a metallic mini-dress. With vibrant dancers adorning the stage and a sea of devoted fans, MIA has clearly become a superstar.
The night ended perfectly with LCD Soundsystem’s mind-blowing performance. As a huge LCD fan and never having had a chance to catch the band in real-life, I was completely captivated by the live show and despite my near exhaustion, danced recklessly for the entire hour-long set. Starting with “Dance Yrself Clean,” James Murphy, dressed simply in a flannel and jeans, unassumingly screamed all of his electro-classics to the elated crowd. Backed by Hot Chip bassist Al Doyle (!!!) and the rest of his dynamic team, Murphy effortlessly delivered hit after hit until finally ending with an encore of “Losing My Edge” and “Home” (love). Murphy had the pavilion bursting with an uncommon energy, reminding us all what it is that we love about music.
All in all, the Virgin Free Fest this year was exceptional, and the day couldn't have proved to be more perfect. Much love to Richard Branson, the virgin founder and philanthropist, for putting on this Free Festival to help fight youth homelessness. And thanks to all of the artists, and definitely the I.M.P. staff at Merriweather who were all really awesome.
Big shoutout to my sister CARA for providing these fine pics.
This is truly world-stopping news: One’s taste in music is linked to one’s personality. It is a fact of science, according to Professor Adrian North of Heriot-Watt University, who undertook a large study examining the relationship between taste in music and personality traits.
BBC News reported on this study here, and you should read the article if only for the description of heavy metal fans as “quite delicate things,” who are neither “suicidally depressed” nor “a danger to themselves and society in general.” Phew! The article also presents a handy rubric of musical tastes and their corresponding personality traits. I thought it might be fun to look through some #musicmonday tweets and find ones that exemplify these important findings.
First up: Indie. According to the study, people who listen to indie have low self esteem, an abundance of creativity, do not work hard, and are not gentle. (Excuse me, I have to go throw my Vampire Weekend albums into a bonfire now.)
What luck! The first indie #musicmonday message I’ve come across is by Twitter user @party_sloth. Sloth! This is too easy. Partying is often a pretty creative activity, especially if, like mine, your parties involve a lot of Pictionary. And partying is certainly never gentle. @party_sloth tweets that he is “addicted to Menomena – Mines right now.” Addiction is generally contra-indicative of self-confidence, so there you have it. With one tweet and one user name, we see the truth behind Professor North’s study.
Let’s move on to “chart pop” next. Twitter user @bellavalentine2 wants her followers to listen to Eminem and Rihanna’s “Love the Way You Lie,” and adds that “Boys should never, NEVER hit girls.” (No snark: Endorsed. Maybe not the song, I haven’t heard it because I am not, apparently, a “chart pop.”)
The music/personality study says that chart pops have high self esteem, are not creative, are hardworking, outgoing, gentle, and not at ease. Based exclusively on one tweet and a username, I’d say we have conclusive proof that all chart pops are as the study describes. Bellavalentine clearly thinks she’s hot stuff, or she wouldn’t call herself “Bellavalentine,” no? And the “2” at the end indicates someone else had that username first, so there’s your lack of creativity. Her tweet suggests that she is working hard to push her gentle message, and is doing so in an outgoing way. And she’s tweeting about something she doesn’t like in the world, so she’s clearly not at ease. Professor North has done it again!
I think one more tweet from one more genre should provide conclusive evidence that North’s findings are correct. How about the “gentle creatures” listening to rock/heavy metal? (I’d do opera, but not many Twitter folk are #musicmonday-ing the Magic Flute, believe it or not.) Rockers, according to the study, are characterized more by what they don’t have than by what they do: low self-esteem, not hard-working, and not outgoing are hallmarks of the heavy metal type. But they are also creative, gentle, and at ease. They’re manatees, basically, is what this study is saying.
Twitter user @BLOODTREES certainly seems to fit the type! First of all, his username is in all caps, which suggests a low-self esteem need to assert himself. BLOODTREES recommends “Putrid Blood (Thrash Metal from Serbia) http://youtu.be/5hAzO5DzQ9s #metalmonday #musicmonday #metal.” I appreciate the extra hashtags—I would never have guessed that Putrid Blood was in any way a metal song without them. She’s tweeting instead of working, so she must have a poor work ethic, and Twitter is inherently not an outgoing activity. The pieces are certainly falling into place. She’s listening to music from Serbia, which is definitely creative, unless of course she is from Serbia. Blood is associated with menstruation, and menstruation is a feminine, and therefore gentle, trait, so the repeated use of the word “blood” seems to indicate a gentle spirit. As for at ease: Her username has the word “trees,” which reminds me of hammocks, and everyone knows that lying in a hammock is a great way to feel at ease. Thus proved! Hooray science! Role #mmodel: @EricGM, describing my Thursday and Friday: “Bouncing Souls ‘Anchors Aweigh’ and ‘Ghosts on the Boardwalk.’ Gaslight Anthem ‘American Slang.’ #musicmonday,” If you’re nice, I’ll tell you about my Gaslight Anthem concert experience.
My #musicmonday pick: Sometimes I’m a manatee and listen to metal. Today: Sin Dios’s Alerta Antifascista. (h/t to the brilliant, profane No Gods No Vegetables for this band and, honestly, any metal I find my manatee brain enjoying.)
Things seem to be manifesting themselves in odd arcs for me recently. For example, last Friday afternoon I was invited to do a short spot on local TV—NewsChannel 8/TBD Network for those of you in DC (which was bizarre as you can imagine) to promote yesterday’s DC Record Fair. I was asked to bring a few diverse records to hold up and chatter through, and in a calculated arc I brought the first record I ever purchased with my own dinero at the Two Guys in Neptune, NJ with my dear ol’ dad. Seemed like a karmic, completed circle at the time.
In addition, if you had asked me way back when at the inception of this time suck – er, blog – what I’d aspire to, it’d be having my absolute favorite bands chiming in about the music they dig and revealing the ins and outs of their own record collections. Big goals set, you’d think.
Well, allow me to present another of those karmic, completed circles:
This week The Posies release their first LP in seven years, the simply stellar BLOOD/CANDY (which you’ll have a chance to win later today) and in full 360-degree mode for us at TVD, they’ll be with us all week discussing the ins and outs of their own record collections. All this week, it’s The Posies’ Vinyl District—and Ken Stringfellow kicks us off...
The Hobbit. On Vinyl. We had a few good record stores growing up in the small city of Bellingham, WA. I moved there with my mom in 1978, and it was there that I started to choose my own records, as opposed to just listening to my parents’ collection or accepting the children’s records they bought me. I went into a pretty cool record store in downtown Bellingham with my mom, and asked the guy behind the counter about a soundtrack album to a movie I’d seen. Yep, it was the Rankin-Bass animated film of The Hobbit, and it came in a multi-LP box that had not only the songs from the movie (“the greatest adventuuuure....is what lies aheaaaaad”) but dialogue etc.
People had their heads down in the crates, flipping thru titles of Jethro Tull and Donna Summer. The guy behind the counter shouted out to a colleague “man, this kid wants, like, the Hobbit Soundtrack—do we even HAVE that?” All heads in the shop in unison raise up and turn, smirks emerge. Yes, I am the fat kid with glasses who wants to listen to Hobbit music instead of Houses of the Holy.
I immediately detect that I have crossed over into a magical kingdom called LOSER LAND. But I stuck to my guns and walked out with the thing, but still, like, completely ashamed. Even my mom was affected—somehow my subsequent trips to the record store were done alone and with pocket money. I’d get on the bus, go downtown, and come back with precious cardboard squares that had seductive, black discs inside, all importantly sheathed in plastic (if you bought the Japanese imports) so it was like, “should I be opening this in a clean room?” or at least paper, like...this was an Important Cultural Artifact.
ELO’s disco masterpiece Discovery was the first purchase I made with my own will and my own money combined. It was rock, of a sort. I had left behind the comfortable colors and shapes of childhood, and was piloting a course into darker waters—soon burning Zeppelins, the withered hand on “Plastic Surgery Disasters,” the wail of “Zen Arcade,” etc. would be the portholes thru which I could look beyond the confines of a small town and imagine what kind of weird, fantastical possibilities might be out there.
More than 20 record dealers from up and down the east coast will be present, plus Guest DJs Sam “The Man” Burns, John Davis (Title Tracks), Larry Grogan (Funky16Corners), Matty Taylor (Tennis System), Ryan Walker (Beanstalk Library) and David Malitz (The Cheniers) on the U-Hall decks.
Also—for the very first time—we'll have turntables on site for purchase.
The day kicks off at 11AM with a with a special $5 “early bird” hour and continues from noon to 5PM at our regular entry fee of $2. U Hall’s full menu will be available and full bar for those 21+. Download the high-res poster here and feel free to repost it any place you wish.
This week I’ve been visiting my home town, New York City. Walking the streets these past few Indian summer days gave me time to reflect on this week’s Idelic Hour muse, The Big Apple. This city will always be at the core of my musical make up. What keeps coming to mind is just how much the town has changed while still staying the same.
Yesterday I had a New York Day. Getting off the shuttle at Times Square I ran into Cliff, an old friend from my schoolyards delinquent days. We embraced and laughed about growing old. It’s been 35 years since we were kids jumping turnstyles. I got off at Penn Station sitting below Madison Square Garden, the building that houses many of the greatest rock shows I’ve ever seen.
I will never forget that feeling when I realized I was in the same room as The Rolling Stones playing Honky Tonk Woman! Headed west for lunch with my sister then downtown to 23nd street where I took in an exhibit of photos of Max’s Kansas City. Max’s was the 1st club I ever fell into. With these images stuck in my head I walked over the new High Line and strolled downtown carrying a state of mind I liken to this City, unchanged.
The Big Apple dig it is on this week’s Idelic Hour.
Today marks my last day of the TVD blog takeover. I'm pretty sad about it, honestly. It's hard to make time to write or give yourself some space to think and process what you're experiencing when you're on the road. I've brought two different journals with me: one for thoughts/musings/straight diary entries, the other for little moments in the day—revelations, experiences, street scenes— that have made me smile or laugh out loud. But in the day-to-day driving, unloading, sound-checking, singing, reloading, driving, sleeping and starting it all over again, those journals have been completely untouched. So this has been good for me in so many ways. Hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have. I only wish I'd been writing each note at an old mechanical typewriter looking out the window of a cabin in upstate New York at a slope of autumnal leaves thatching me up under the sky with a mug of hot black coffee at my fingertips and an old yellow dog at my feet—instead of in the backseat of a van, typing with my thumbs. No, wait. I wouldn't change a thing! I wouldn't be on my way to DC tomorrow if I were sitting in one spot somewhere.
I can't tell you how excited I am to be back in DC on Saturday. Even though I moved out of town a year and a half ago, DC will always be home for me. Can't wait to see my friends and family and get back to play one of my favorite venues in the entire world. Oh, Black Cat, how I love you (and have missed you!) so...
While I haven't been writing anything on paper, I have tried to keep up with the photojournalism for my memory books. I'll leave you with a story, strung together with haiku explanations. I started something I called a "haiku project" years back that I haven't quite kept up with: one photo for each day accompanied by a strict haiku (lines of 5/7/5). It was a great way of documenting each day. And it was funny the way that certain unassuming scenes were the ones that warranted the entry for the day -- they were the ones that told the very best story. It was a great way of getting new perspective. Anyway, here goes. Hope you enjoy it. And hope to see you in DC tomorrow.
Love, Laura.
OMAHA, NE: Kaneko's sculptures Backdropped Rosanne, Dan and I: Our brains on music
CHICAGO, IL: Family Portrait Post ode to Gene Smith, singing our song: "Shit Happens"
DETROIT, MI: Bowling and border Crossing. Sadly no time for The Motown Museum
TORONTO, ON: Lights in a line like Planets, tying us to Neil, The first Mynah Birds
TORONTO, ON: Home with the Rural Alberta Advantage, beers Til the sun came up
UPSTATE NEW YORK Missed Montreal in The shuffle. Too quick a trip! Zut zut zut alors!!
WATERBURY, VT Dear Ben and Jerry: Resurrect this flavor. Name It "Mynabird Mud"?
BURLINGTON, VT Woke up in a scene For an MC Escher sketch. Good morning, indeed
CAMBRIDGE, MA Making a little Sense of the alphabet soup: Slumber party shows
CAMBRIDGE, MA Silkscreened ties and scarves; Or, how to make thrift shopping Tax deductible
BROOKLYN, NY Oh Brooklyn, your trees Grow everywhere—Zen contrast To the BQE
NEW YORK, NY The past is present, All time at once: Pavement sings For a shady lane
For close to a year now we've been privileged to present the fruits of the labor of Ardent Studios—specifically The Ardent Sessions—in this spot each Friday morning. These efforts howeveraren't self-supporting and assistance is needed to keep these sounds alive. Ardent Studios founder, John Fry fills us in:
Rachel Hurley and I decided to kick off The Ardent Sessions on BreakThruRadio.com 3 years ago this December. The idea was to give up-and-coming bands some internet radio exposure, and to give them an introduction to the Memphis music tradition and current scene by performing in front of a small live audience in one of our studios.
When possible, I enjoy combining that experience with a personal tour of the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, as Stax is such a huge part of Ardent's early history. It's always fun for me to meet these young artists, and I am always amazed at how much they know about what all of us were doing in Memphis almost 50 years ago, not to mention how much they seem to enjoy some of that music.
Ardent Sessions, and its companion show, Ardent Presents (singer/songwriter acoustic) is now available on Ardentsessions.com in addition to BreakThruRadio.com.
Although this may seem like a new idea, it really goes back to the early 70s at Ardent. That's when we had a pair of 15kHz equalized telephone lines to WMC-FM100, and we would originate live broadcasts from our Studio A with artists like Lynard Skynard, Pure Prairie League, Martin Mull, Big Star, Cargoe, The Groundhogs, Stories, Hookfoot, Elton John’srecording band on Tumbleweed Connection,Ry Cooder with JLD,Wishbone Ash, Nazareth, and Charlie Daniels.
Yes, I do mean live - no delay, no opportunity to bleep or re-mix - no need to, really.
We started The Ardent Sessions because we thought it would be helpful to young musicians, and we have managed to keep it totally free of cost to the artists.
However, in the current economic conditions, this is becoming harder to do. At the moment we have no offsetting advertising income from the shows, so we thought we might ask fans to help us keep this a free service by donating to our Kickstarter Campaign. Let us know what you think. —John Fry, 9/22/2010
Today's note is getting to you so much later than I was hoping it would. Had a full day of sitting in traffic on the way from Boston to New York. But I can't complain. We had a fun time of playing 90's playlist in the van with our iPods. It was a combination of things we were listening to on repeat alone in our bedrooms and everything that was on the radio and MTV. (I know it's an overstated complaint, but hey—remember the days when MTV played videos? I think the 90's were the decade when they slid past the 50% mark.)
Here's a hot selection of some picks we hit: Nirvana, Bjork, Weezer, Blur, NIN, Tool, Beck, the Breeders, Pearl Jam (Vs. is the first CD I ever bought when I was 13, along with a cassingle—how I miss the cassingle!—of Janet Jackson's "Again"), the Cranberries, Smashing Pumpkins, and My Bloody Valentine. We had some really good (and surprising) things handy in our iPods, things some people might want to be filed under "embarrassing picks." But what the hell. I don't believe in being embarrassed about music you like, or once liked, or once hated but have found a soft spot for because it reminds you of a certain time or person or something you can't quite put your finger on, but are glad to have in your back pocket of experiences.
Here are some bands we discussed, but missed out on either because our iPods were missing some serious links or because we got out of traffic before we could finish our 90's love fest: Operation Ivy, PJ Harvey (I could not get enough of Rid of Me and still regret not buying a "50 Foot Queenie" 7" from a small record shop in Frederick, Maryland, when I was 15), L7, Tori Amos, Portishead, Crash Test Dummies, the Pixies, the Verve and a whole heap of 90's R&B that I've been craving like mad recently. (Where's my Diamonds and Pearls-era Prince, PM Dawn, En Vogue, SWV, Boyz II Men—and on and on?)
All in all, we really just scratched the surface. If we had more time, we'd get deep into our psyches and memories and pull out some really great picks—I'll call them "bedroom picks" (as in, these are the bands that somehow knew my every single thought when I was in high school—or middle school, as was the case with the baby of the band). Who were your favorites in those formative years? God, I have so many memories directly tied to songs. All kindsa trouble I've gotten into (or narrowly escaped) that wouldn't be the same without being tied to a song in my memory. Put on Portishead or My Bloody Valentine, and I'm 15 all over again, having a really amazing time making mistakes that I only got to make once. It's hell to grow up and get less fearless as the years go by.
Speaking of the 90's and songs being tied to memories, I'm happy to have a night off in New York and a ticket to see Pavement in Central Park. My friend Amanda said she just saw them on Tuesday and relived her entire teen years—every boyfriend and crazy teen-hood memory—in the span of a single set. I'm so looking forward to having that happen for me tonight.
We were talking about it a bit and seeing that we've already given away The Mynabirds'wonderful debut LP What We Lose in the Fire We Gain in the Flood earlier in the year, why not mix it up a bit and offer you guys some other stuff? (And if you're hungry from some free vinyl, we suggest you scroll down a bit lower...)
So, for TVD's Mynabirds Giveaway we've got the lovely poster at the top of this post (signed by Ms. Burhenn) and the tee shirt shown below in the size that best fits your male or female frame.
These items will take flight and be sent to the person who comments in this post as to why she or he should win the aforementioned swag. Plead your case for these and the most convincing of the lot shall be named the winner.
Remember to leave us a contact email address, and we'll choose one winner for both items a week from today, 9/30.
Well, it's the first full day of Fall (despite it being 90 degrees out there today...) and it's our very first Fall Vinyl Giveaway—and we've got a great one to kick off the our Season O' Giving:
In support of LCD Soundsytem's upcoming tour with Hot Chip and Sleigh Bells we've put together a stellar prize package which includes the following items:
(1) LCD Soundsystem Tour Poster (1) LCD Soundsystem - "I Can Change" 12" (1) Hot Chip Tour shirt (1) Hot Chip - "One Life Stand/Do Not Want" 7"
We'll make it easy to win this one seeing that it's our first of the season. Hit us up in the comments to this post letting us know why you deserve to win our first Fall Vinyl (and miscellaneous swag) contest. The most convincing up the bunch will find the aforementioned bag of swag crammed into his or her mailbox.
Remember to leave us a contact email address and we'll pull our winner a week from today, 9/30. Simple, right?
Purchase LCD Soundsystem's This is Happening at Amazon and iTunes.
It's week #2 our new Thursday fix culled from the rare and (ultra) obscure crates of 80’s vinyl:
Kelley Hunt & The Kinetics - Blue Light Special LP
Kelley Hunt & The Kinetics was a female fronted power pop rock band based out of Kansas City back in the early 80’s. They were popular in the regional club and radio scene, but didn’t manage to break out nationally. This foursome pulled their resources together both musically and financially to self produce one album on the private indie label Awake Records.
The album didn’t make any major waves upon its release and vanished into obscurity with many other power pop bands during the same time frame. They did however have some creativity under their belt with respect to the album and song titles. The album title “Blue Light Special” pokes fun at the venerable discount store chain Kmart and what is now the legendary discount practice that helped put Kmart stores on the map – the Blue Light Special.
The band even takes it a step further and incorporates quirky lyrics about the frenzy this discount practice used to cause during the 1980’s. Check out the songs “Discount Store” and “Don’t Put Up A Fight”, which provide blow by blow details of the chaos that would ensue during these specials. The overall album does hit some peaks with crafty arrangements and these lyrically amusing songs.
