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
When I was 7 years old until I was about 12, living in Birmingham AL, I had a weekly ritual... I would walk two miles to the little record store called Charlamagne Records (it's still there!) and pour over the stacks of used vinyl... it was really my most valuable musical education... more than any actual schooling... just taking those records home and putting them on my dad's record player while he was at work changed my ears forever.
That's how I first heard Paul Simon, Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Donny Hathaway, Wings, Gram Parsons, The Band, Randy Newman, John Prine, Bonnie Raitt... and the list goes on and on...
Maybe it was something about the dark stairwell leading up to the store which was covered in old posters, or the way place smelled, or just never knowing what I was going to find, or even walking with those LP's in an unmarked brown paper bag... whatever it was, the whole thing had an air of mystery and discovery...
Think you may not be ready to end the weekend this coming this Sunday night? If you're just a bit like me, that's a given.
Madrid’s exciting funk trio Telephunken is making a US tour around its official SXSW 2010 Showcase appearance. The tour begins on March 7th at Bossa in Washington, DC. Combining animated elements of funk, fusion, Latin, jazz, raggamuffin, with a breakbeat background, Telephunken are a band with a long career. Performing a live show with a complete band, and currently presenting their fourth studio album "Que viva el ritmo!!" (Actúa Recordings 2009).
They have toured countries like England, France and Mexico. Ernesto performs with other musicians like Fernando Parrilla (drums) and Sergio Zamarvide (Bass and VJ), with the intention of overcoming the staging somewhat unchanging number of DJ's, providing direct their dynamism.
We've got a pair of tickets and the full length CD "Viva el Ritmo" for two winners ready to party straight into Monday. Plead your case in the comments to this post and we'll choose winners by noon on Saturday (3/6) for Sunday night while you recover from Friday night.
So, I said to the nice folks over at Sarathan Records, try to give me some hook for the big contest giveaway we teased earlier in the week. Something that'll set it apart from the others we do with frequency here.
And they sure did.
Thunder Buffalo's Aaron Schroeder fills us in:
"For the past while I have been drawing this character that I dubbed “Buffalo Bill.” He has been all across the world and even in Outer Space. For Halloween he was a bat, he also once took a voyage on the SS Luv, but it sank…
Every drawing of Buffalo Bill is a one-of-a-kind with no duplicates made. So, the winner of the contest will get an original (not a photo copy) drawing of Buffalo Bill in an environment of your choosing, filtered obviously, through what is known as my brain. It could be anywhere, the moon, alien space craft, your kitchen… the possibilities are endless."
So, put Aaron to work. Where would you have him render Buffalo Bill? The cleverest response in the comments to this post will be awarded the one-of-a-kind, hand-drawn art, along with:
...an autographed Thunder Buffalo CD...
...signed Feral Children CDs of both their 2008 debut 'Second to the Last Frontier' AND their new release 'Brand New Blood'...
Posters for Peter Bradley Adams' 'Leavetaking' ('08) and 'Traces' ('09)...
...Two Two Loons for Tea band T-shirts...
...and last but certainly not least, a pair of earrings hand-made by War Tapes' bassist and backing vocalist Becca Popkin.
You've got til Monday (3/8) to conjure up Buffalo Bill in the scenario of your choice. Let us know where you'd like Aaron to render him in the comments to this contest and remember to leave us some contact info! One winner takes it all...
When I moved out of my parent’s house at the end of high school one of my parting gifts from my dad was two crates of vinyl records and an unused turntable. We had lived in Montana so the only records I had seen were in thrift shops. There was some classics, some jazz, some country. It really gave me something of an appreciation for actively listening to music, whereas CDs seemed easy and of lesser value.
A year after moving here [Seattle], Easy Street Records opened in lower Queen Anne. I always made enough in tips to buy a new (used) record everyday. I made friends that I still have today and my knowledge and passion grew. I spent quite a lot in there and continue to around the greater seattle record stores. These days I find myself at Wall of Sound more than anywhere else, adding to the collection. I think my dad now misses that part of his collection he gave me. Although I thank him almost every time I see him, I probably would be too. —Bill Cole, Drummer
Coming from Maple Valley when we were kids, there wasn't a record store in town at the time. I remember having to drive to Bubble Records in Kent to get my dose of what I needed from music that a simple Fred Meyer couldn't give me. The clerk, maybe he was the owner (he was always there) always smelled like stale cigarettes and was kind of an ass, but it didn't keep me from making the drive to his store.
Once he realized I wasn't coming in all the time for the latest Korn or Bush release he warmed up to me. I would buy Modest Mouse, Elliot Smith, and Mudhoney. The next time I came in the clerk would tell me to pick up 764-Hero, Red Stars Theory, and other local favorites. Maple Valley would eventually get a record store called Rocket Records around 2001. It ended up closing doors shortly after and moving to Tacoma, but Jim [Cotton of Feral Children] actually worked there and met Duff McKagen of Guns 'n Roses fame when he came by for a In-Store performance with his band Loaded.
Even in this digital age we are all still frequent shoppers at our local record stops. Troy Nelson at Easy Street Records in Queen Anne was a big asset to Feral Children's future. Jeff [Keenan of Feral Children] had befriended him in the early days of our band. Troy became a big fan of Feral Children and would later on become the first DJ to play us on the radio (Troy is also a DJ for 90.3FM KEXP in Seattle) as well as direct our first music video for the song "Spy/Glass House". When Bill joined the band, we quickly found that he was an avid vinyl enthusiast and he too shopped from Troy at Easy Street.
When Feral Children are on the road, making a stop at a town's local record shop can always be counted on. You never know what you are going to find in the dusty corners of America, and as any record store fan knows, its about the journey, not necessarily the destination. —Josh Gamble, Guitarist
When we were asked to participate in the official Record Store Day blog we were asked: How have record stores been important to Two Loons for Tea? Well, for one thing, Two Loons for Tea never would have existed had not my musical partner, Sarah Scott, met a clerk at a record store who then introduced us to each other. Since that fated meeting, we have recorded four records and toured the US and Europe. Lovely!
Even more existentially profoundly: I can honestly say that were it not for a record store near New York City, I would not even exist! My future father walked into a record store to buy a symphonic work conducted by Leonard Bernstein; fell in love with my future mother when she sold him the record; and he asked her to marry him on their first date, listening to that same symphony conducted by Leonard Bernstein… and several years later, I was born to these two record lovers, their house teetering under the groaning weight of thousands of vinyl records.
Two Loons for Tea’s exclusive offering to The Vinyl District is a song we wrote and recorded with the members of Critters Buggin’ (Skerik, Brad Houser, Mike Dillon, Matt Chamberlain) as our co-writers and main members of the back-up band. Those of you familiar with Critters Buggin’ or Two Loons for Tea may be shocked to hear an unapologetically romantic R&B ballad that sounds like a Motown / Staxx tribute. But hey, those were glorious days for the record industry and record stores, when songs could be unabashedly about Waiting to meet that-special-someone; and this, dear friends, is our homage to those days when record stores created so many fates.
—Jonathan Kochmer, founder Sarathan Records, member Two Loons for Tea
Record labels. Depending on your point of view, they’re either a hopelessly archaic method of music dissemination in this era of bedroom wizardry, or they’re stalwarts who've adapted to ten million new paradigms and have found a reinvented model for success. Well, some have anyway.
The successful ones have done so in a manner that’s almost gang-like in the sense that the smartest ones have chosen their niche and have run with it. They’ve gathered a family of like minds and set about recording and distributing the bands they love and know. Some of my favorite DC labels, Windian Records,Underwater Peoples, and of course Dischord, are all fine examples of this notion.
For the month of March, The Vinyl District’s going to visit with four labels, one a week, who are not just surviving but flourishing in a wholly different era under very new and different constructs. But the bottom line is the same—they’re promoting and producing and getting the music out there and putting physical product on the shelves of record stores into the bargain.
So, under the banner of Record Store Day 2010, we’ve chosen four diverse labels—new, classic, reinvented—to visit with and wouldn’t you know it, they all have an affinity for the aforementioned record stores and vinyl and the thing that brings you to this blog in general...a love of music.We'll also have tons of free music and giveaways from each one to keep you coming back for more.
First up for the month and this week, indie upstarts, Sarathan Records.
Hi! We'reSarathan Records and we're excited and honored to be kicking off The Vinyl District's March label spotlights.
Although we're waving to you from our little bird's nest in Seattle, WA, the artists you will enjoy from Sarathan Records this week are from all over our hemisphere. In honor of the upcoming Record Store Day, you'll hear how they've all been inspired, changed and even created because of Record Stores! We like to say that Sarathan Records is sweet, its artists eclectic, its music infectious. Hope this week you find something here you love!
It’s the smell that really gets me off. I can walk in any record store and take one breath of the air within to know what kind of record store I’m about to get into. All that cardboard causing a flurry of dust to push past my nasal hairs and into the depths of my mind. The one record in the back, hiding, whispering to my senses to find it.
I get side tracked however, and start pushing my brain to think of the record that I must have. I knew what record it was 5 minutes before walking in, but with every step closer to the doors that record gets pushed aside by all the records I could have. All of them, so close together with equal wanting to be on my turntable, pleasuring my ears. It’s a sex that I can’t live without. The slow pulse of the built up dust on the needle crackling in the grooves of Swell Maps' “Jane from Occupied Europe” or Suicide's “Suicide”, lulling me into a trance that induces chemical reactions in my brain far greater than any drug.
I begin my journey into the depths of a land that has no soundtrack. It is silence, a meditation. I close my eyes and allow my nose to lead to a starting point. I ramble through zigzagging from Blues to Rock to Jazz then back again to Rock to World then back once more to Rock. What was that damn record called! Shit! I knew it before. I could see the cover in my head, a fish eye lens with the young band standing in what seems to be the frame of a building. English gents I believe, I can’t remember, I’m screwed. I decide to forget about it and see what treasures have arrived in the used section.
Thumbing through the J's I find that Tommy James and The Shondells have been marked 20% off. Done. It’s mine… forever. It wasn’t the record I had in mind, but it was the record that came to mind. I push over a few more and find an out of place Captain Beefheart “Safe As Milk”. Hahahaha! There it is, the record, my record, calling for me. I smealt it upon arrival. It was expecting me, and it moved itself to where it knew I would find it. In the one place it didn’t belong. The J's.
The record store is my pusher man, and one that I will always allow to bleed me, and my wallet. Fix me up, sedate me, that’s where I want to be anyway. Sedated, with a punk named Judy. —Aaron Schroeder
Bubblegum is the musical taste of Amanda Pittman. It encompasses all things catchy, that is, the stuff that sticks. Whether it's happy, sad, melodramatic, especially melodramatic, and has a catchy tune, it will be featured here.
Wednesday night, St. Vincent stopped at the 9:30 Club as part of her latest U.S. tour. Opening for her were Swedish experimental pop group Wildbirds and Peacedrums. The duo is vocalist Mariam Wallentin and instrumentalist Andreas Werlin. Werlin creates the cohesive sound that could be called a melody while Wallentin warbles and scats into the mic. Their sound is heavily influenced by jazz, and Werlin’s range is that of a swing-time lounge singer. Most of their sound is created with drums and samples. Their drum solos and duets were intimate and engaging, and seemed welcomed by the audience. As pop is moving into big, overproduced sets, they manage to keep it minimal and still entertaining, if not impossible to understand.
St. Vincent took the stage right on time, 9:30 pm. Front-woman, Annie Clark, was petite and commanding on stage in a tight burgundy mini-dress with sleeves that could have encased her whole body. They opened with ‘The Strangers’ to a very patient and focused audience. As she sang “save me from what I want” she began to go into her familiar trance.
Before breaking into a well anticipated ‘Actor’ she thanked the crowd and later expressed, “I love being in D.C. The last time I was here I went to the Walter Reed Museum…” she paused and asked the lighting engineer to not turn the lights on the crowd as it makes her nervous, but she was kidding, sort of, “…don’t go to it, it’s gross, or do, if you like that. It’s gnarly.” Someone behind me whispered that her voice was soothing. It is, and welcoming. She had a way of making each person feel as though she was speaking directly to them.
She broke into one of her signature solos – always surprising, as she doesn’t look like the person most people would associate with playing the guitar as well as she does, a man. More surprising is how well she combines the hard-edged rock of the seventies with her soft femininity without alienating those with different expectations.
For a second time during her set she filled the room with friendly banter. 'The tour started in British Columbia, it’s great for brunch. We did something this tour that we’ve never had to do on tour before. We had to cancel our Columbus, Ohio show. I don’t know if I can legally talk about this. They didn’t have a PA system…' She went on to explain that the “venue” didn’t really have a dressing room, but they did have a bondage chair, chains, a riding crop, and pictures of women in, umm…unusual positions covering their walls. She followed with a solo cover of Jackson Browne's 'These Days’ – to which she momentarily forgot the lyrics, but managed with a wry smile before continuing.
During ‘Black Rainbow’ she seemed to be keeping a secret, and those singing along were in on it. The lighting became more psychedelic and continued throughout crowd-favorite ‘Marrow.’ She ended the set with a voracious ‘The Party’ and a humble thanks to Wildbirds and Peacedrums and the audience, only to appear a few minutes later with an encore of ‘Your Lips are Red’ a surprise choice for closing the evening.
Afterward, she signed merchandise on the balcony to a few dozen eager fans. Just as she appeared on stage, she was sweet and humble, and completely real.
Ten tracks to kick start your weekend courtesy of Jon Sidel—and just as they should be delivered—on radio:
The Icarus Line - We Sick| Plain and simple, there are not enough “desperados” in rock n roll these days. Joe Cardamone’s message has been simple. We know our lives are fucked but we’re gonna live em anyway. Sickkkk!
Broken Bells - Vaporize| James Mercer and Danger Mouse I just can’t resist! Looking forward to owning this LP!
Luther Russell - Motorbike| Rock n Roll journeyman has moved to Brooklyn and never sounded cooler! There are a few great bits on this release. Coming to Paris soon! Ep 12” out on Wool Records (France).
The Generationals - When They Fight, They Fight| I hear they’re from New Orleans and this record has soul 45 sound! Looking forward to seeing these kids at SXSW.
Bern Eliot and the Fenmen - New Orleans| Speaking of New Orleans this is a “merseybeat” take on the city’s early 60’s sound. The result is HOT!
Creature With The Atom Brain - The Color Of Sundown| At times this band sounds like early Monster Magnet. OK, any friends of Chris Goss & QOTSA, are friends of mine! From Transylvania Master album just out.
Les Blanks - Body Politic| From their new album due this spring. Loving this release! The vibe on this track screams rock n roll hoochie koo!
Paul “Sir Raggedy” Flagg - Moma Papa Romper Stomper| “Papa love mama, mama love papa too. They got a thing going on, call it a bugaloo” OK that’s my idea of Valentines Day records! Georgia soul circa 1967.
Yeasayer - Love Me Girl| Tons of cool songs on “Odd Blood.” Here’s the one I spun for Valentines Day. Their “proggy” use of sampling is very cool.
Active Child - She Was a Vision| This band is really buzzing over here in LA. Gotta say this song and artist are really growing on me. I spun it back to back with a Ted Neely song from Jesus Christ Superstar film soundtrack, those two have vocal skills…indeed! The Idelic Hour [2/23/2010] (Mp3, 83Mg)
The prime mover of The Ruby Suns, Ryan McPhun has literally traveled around the world to arrive at Fight Softly, the band’s 2nd album for Sub Pop, and 3rd overall. McPhun possesses (or is possessed by…) a voracious musical mind and this new album is the kind of head-spinning combination of big-picture vision and sumptuous detail that only comes from an artist with an urgent need to express all the stuff he’s seen. And you can dance to it!
Fight Softly veers from the path set by its predecessor, the 2008 release Sea Lion. Thematically, it’s not as wide-eyed or lighthearted, picking apart the relationships faced as we pass through the world—with our surroundings, each other, ourselves. Sonically, it remains as beat-centric, though these beats are deliciously artificial—stretched and compacted and distorted beyond recognition.
Melodies are scuzzy and digital, no guitars strummed or basses plucked. McPhun’s soulful upper-register croon, swallowed into the mix, replaces group chants and full-throated singalongs. Rather than an album of clearly-drawn influences, Fight Softly is a unique, inscrutable synthesis, more itself than anything else.
The rules can't be any simpler for our Sub Pop LP Giveaways this week: each day this week we'll be launching a new Sub Pop RSD2010 Vinyl Giveaway and 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 (3/1) upon the launch of the next RSD2010 Vinyl Giveaway!
"Kansas City has always been a good place for local businesses to start up in hopes that the city will support and all will thrive. StreetsideRecords in Westport (home of the best bars and a haven for second hand/vintage clothing, great venues, and coffee shops) is where you'll see us chilling out when we're in town.
Though Streetside is a chain (allowing u to get all the new hits) there is also a thorough vinyl and used section, giving the shop a local feel. The staff are all super music lovers so we make it a point to check out their pick's of the week. Along with a grand selection with styles from jazz to hip hop, they also have a local section, supporting new music and giving artists a chance to sell their cds in stores. This is where we sold our very first e.p!!
The last music I picked up was the first Stars album (used, only five bucks), the latest Tegan and Sara, and a vinyl copy of O.K. Computer. I miss home already..." —Kristen May
A little while back I wrote about the odd, frequent occurrence that happens to me when I'm juuuuust getting into a band—and they’ve come and gone, just having played DC. It’s happened too frequently to be believed, unfortunately.
But not so this time as I’m quickly warming up to Philly’s Drink Up Buttercup—and they’re here next week. And we’ve got a pair of tickets for one of you to snatch up.
But seeing how the fates have been unkind to me in the past, we’re going to go easy on you. The loudest voice in the comments to this post who makes their case to attend the show gets the tickets. No puzzles to solve, thesis to write, or pranks to perform.
Just get at us—with contact info!—before noon on Monday (3/1) and we’ll hook up the most eager among you. It’s that simple. Fates be damned.
If you’ve followed her career or even her Twitter postings, there’s an odd ability for some forest through the trees-type thinking, albeit typically couched is some New Age-isms. Minus the latter portion there, I’m thinking I’m on to something by just being able to toss it out on here and have it coincidently make it’s existence known.
Now, I don’t know Jon Sidel personally although we’ve exchanged a bunch of emails this week and last. We’re both products of the New York City area and its sensibilities, not the least of which is radio and its intonations as we were growing up.
Me? I started a blog about vinyl and record stores. Sidel’s got a radio show.
And it’s just the type of show I was pining for earlier this week. To my ears, his taste is music is impeccable and the show is immediate and personal just like the radio of our East Coast-loving roots.
Jon’s show can be heard on KCRW internet radio and I’m happy to announce that each week, TVD will be making a podcast of his show available right here for your office cube or Bat Cave.
So, to get you up to speed, we’ve got two previous shows posted below and Jon’ll be back tomorrow with his newest one.
Now, let’s see...what else can I make happen here by merely posting it?
Our Ten Weeks of Record Store Day Vinyl Giveaways, The Subpop Week marches on with the new '2' from Retribution Gospel Choir.
Retribution Gospel Choir is a rock trio founded in 2007. The group features Alan Sparhawk on guitar and vocals, Steve Garrington on bass and Eric Pollard on drums and vocals. Alan also fronts the band Low with his wife, Mimi Parker, and Steve also plays bass in Low. 2 is Retribution Gospel Choir’s 2nd full-length and Sub Pop debut! Eric Swanson recorded these performances at Sacred Heart Studio in Duluth, Minnesota, and Matt Beckley mixed the recordings at Faux Rock in Sherman Oaks, California.
The rules can't be any simpler for our Sub Pop LP Giveaways this week: each day this week we'll be launching a new Sub Pop RSD2010 Vinyl Giveaway and 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 (3/1) upon the launch of the next RSD2010 Vinyl Giveaway!
Last night while taking in the fabulous Clientele, I started counting the number of bands that exist now, who are currently out there making music—that I just adore. And I got to five.
Rumor has it that the band will make it to DC this year and I urge you to fall in love with them prior as I have, so you all can join me right up front.
We chatted with Ritzy a little while back about her inspiration behind some of the TJF vinylthat frequents the TVD turntable:
"It can go either way when you grow up in a family of bootleggers and record collectors; you either catch the bug and join in or snub music completely. I was in cahoots from the start and absolutely reveled in my parents near library of vinyl, cds, cassettes and reel to reel. The vinyl section covered 2 walls and stacked on top were four large boxes of 7" singles.
I decided that this would be the starting point of my listening habits, I'd try and listen methodically to every single in every box. Black Coffee in Bed, Say a Little Prayer, Sex Machine, Family Affair, Fire, Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart.... so many brilliant tracks. I got quite far in the quest of going through every box; the joy and calamity of being an only child.
My favourite 12" was Elvis Costello's 'Armed Forces,' not only for the musical contents, but for the artwork by Barney Bubbles. I loved the folding flaps of the back panel that peeled out to reveal more artwork and postcards.
Aged 8 I had a musical epiphany whilst listening to Yes' 'Close to the Edge' and roused the warning of Mum and Dad that I'd ruin the needle if I kept lifting it up and down to repeat the phrase. I always was a bit cack - handed when it came to the record player.
I guess with so much choice at hand, buying my own vinyl came a lot later. My first purchase was at a record fair in London, where I no doubt paid over the odds for the Drill E.P by Radiohead. College and University I was minus a turntable, so it was CDs, then downloads and now, in the band, I'm very happy that vinyl makes up a big chunk of our modest back catalogue.
We started with Austere on 7" - and fell about laughing when it dropped through the door in purple rather the midnight blue we'd designed. We upgraded to double 7" vinyl for Cradle , next - it's coloured vinyl and down the line I'm hoping picture disc, vinyl boxset , maybe even something with an expanding back panel , a tribute to Barney. "
It's Day #3 of our Record Store Day Sub Pop Week of vinyl giveaways and next up are the purveyors of Drooling Hillbilly Metal, Sea Urchin Psychedelia, Yukon Freak Thrash, and Beatnik Swamp Drone, or whatever else you want to call them—AFCGT.
The cretinous calliope that is AFCGT descends from a decrepit longhouse on the shores of a dark lake where the self-inflicted wounds from a windy forest of flailing, whipping branches gave birth to the white heat oddities from their self-titled new album on Sub Pop Records.
Conjoined a little over two years ago, the group has already been dishing out vinyl; recording a 10” EP, a full-length LP, and appearing on a 7 inch compilation not to mention a few super-limited CDRs thrown in for kicks. With 3 electric guitars, a bass guitar, and a drum kit they manage to emulate the decaying soundtrack of an international airport with all the trimmings.
The rules can't be any simpler for our Sub Pop LP Giveaways this week: each day this week we'll be launching a new Sub Pop RSD2010 Vinyl Giveaway and 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 (3/1) upon the launch of the next RSD2010 Vinyl Giveaway!
So, let me get this straight...Dawn Landes is a vinyl fan and"Son of Schmilsson" is on heavy rotation?
Um...where do we send the flowers?
"I got a pretty new cherry-red record player for Christmas two years ago and now I only listen to vinyl at home. I can't believe it took me so long to come around to it. I remember leafing through my parents ragtag collection when I was a kid... the albums that stand out in my memory are "Break Out" by the Pointer Sisters and "Traveling Wilburys Vol 1"... go figure. I love the format for artwork, I've used my friend Danica Novgorodoffs illustrations on all of my records, and it's so nice to really showcase the art.
And the fact that it's kind of demanding on the listener. You really have to be a part of the experience... holding the thing, using your arms to even open the sleeve, keepin your eye on the needle. I love listening to records! Excuse the enthusiasm but I'm pretty new to it, and it's changed the way I listen to music.
Most of my 12''s at home were bought from garage and stoop sales around Brooklyn in the past few years. "Son of Schmilsson" and "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" have been on constant rotation for the past few months. I love all the photography in there from the sessions... funny how it satisfies that voyeur impulse without kicking all the mystery out like we do now on the internet.
This is my third album and the first one I've released in 12" vinyl format.... it feels like a real accomplishment! A few years ago I released a couple of 7" singles on a small UK label called Boyscout, run by DJ extraordinaire Tim "Love" Lee, who has the largest vinyl collection I've ever seen.
I've noticed touring around the world that certain areas are really digging in to it- Spain, especially. More people were buying vinyls in Spain on a recent tour than cds. It's awesome. I hope it's contagious. The vinyl we pressed for the Sweetheart Rodeo record comes in all different colors, which really excites me. How do they do it? Each one looks like a sandstorm bowling ball, with its own color wheel. It's incredible! "
