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
I met Tina Sugandh nine or so years ago and since then her star has not just been on the rise—it's been stratospheric. But events of a more personal nature have taken center stage recently, and in honor of October's Breast Cancer Awareness month, Tina has been giving away a download of what she calls the most important song she's ever written, “Snake Charmer,” free on her website. (...and it's linked a little while longer exclusively for TVD.)
"I started performing with my family, The Sugandh Family, when I was five years old. My older sister, my mother, my father, and I would all have school or work during the week, and then we would fly off and have these magical weekends where we would perform at all types of Indian events! I started singing on stage at age five, and then when I was eight I began to learn to play the guitar, drums, and tabla (an Indian drum). I am so grateful that my mother introduced music and performance into our lives. As kids, she always reinforced the idea that music is a tool used to bring people together, to uplift their spirits, and to make them smile-and I still retain these musical values today.
I began to heavily pursue a solo career in music while I was in college studying biology. This led to me simultaneously graduating with an honors degree in Bio as well as a scoring a record deal! I chose the record deal since music and performance is in my blood! Since then, I’ve been fortunate enough to have songs on several Hollywood soundtracks as well as on the Billboard Charts, and I’m in the process of releasing a full length album.
My mother introduced music into my life. She will always be my best friend-and the most radiant, beautiful, genuine, energetic, positive, glowing ray of sunlight that I will ever know. I spent the entire last year watching my mom fight cancer, and I did everything I could to save her. Cancer eventually took her from us. Now, I am using her lifelong lessons of ”positivity” and “focusing on only the good in every situation” in order to only focus on how grateful I am to have had such an incredible mother for so long. I’m doing everything in my power to keep her legacy alive and to empower people with music and to make them smile as she did.
My mom actually grew up singing Beatles songs on the radio in India, and very shortly after my mom’s passing, Ringo Starr invited me to his house to sing and play tabla on his album. My relatives say that my mom set that up - and I would like to believe that’s true!
Last month, I had the incredible opportunity of hosting and performing for 18,000 people at the American Cancer Society. I was so grateful to be able to contribute, and now I am giving away a free download of the most important song I’ve ever written. It’s my song for survivors, called “Snake Charmer”. For a free download, please visit my website. "
As I’ve mentioned quite a few times in the past, I grew up not in DC but at the Jersey Shore, NJ. In a town called Neptune to be exact—in a tiny enclave of this tiny enclave called Shark River Hills.
And while we’re huge fans of her here at TVD HQ, it’s not because she’s our hometown girl, but because she’s making music that’s head and shoulders above SO, so many these days.
Find out yourself when she plays The Rock and Roll Hotel this Friday night, 11/6. (...and more on that tomorrow.)
I guess there’s something in the water in NJ, right Nicole?
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I had a friend while I was going to college at UNCC named Daniel Coston. He was a rock photographer and an encyclopedia. We'd sit at this little diner down there called the Penguin and over a plate of fried pickles and ranch talk for hours about bands. I'd take in everything he said like a sponge.
Right before I graduated he was telling me about a band from NYC called Television and how he was excited for their reunion at the Pop Overthrow Festival. I'd never heard of the band before (thinking of that time now makes me laugh) but they sounded like nothing I've ever heard before. We went to his house and he threw Marquee Moon on his turn table and it felt like my entire world opened up.
A week later I graduated and moved back home to Neptune, NJ with my folks. My room was the same as it was 5 years before, but I realized that that shitty little Sony plastic jambox I had had a record player in it. I went to our locals, the Soundwave in Manasquan (RIP) and Silvertunes in Belmar (RIP) and just spent hours talking with the owners and pouring over the plastic boxes underneath the CD bins. It went from "Hey you got any Television?" to them saying "Sure, if you like that you might like...."
All of my friends had either moved away or were at grad school. I'd just started writing my own songs. And so became my love affair with vinyl.
Bands like Circus Maximus, Love, Can, Otis Redding, and Leonard Cohen became my companions while I whiled away in solitude at my folks house writing my first record. Or mini record as I called it back then. During this time I took a job writing a small music column for a local magazine whose content was mostly about where the $2 Bud Light specials were and which coverband was playing where.
We'd get sent CDs from record labels. Mostly buttrock and forgettable singer/songwriters. Sometimes I'd find a couple of gems in the batch but most of the time I'd take the stacks of CDs and trade it in for store credit at Soundwave to buy vinyl. As my collection grew so did the people I was meeting locally at the time. Sitting on the floor of my room at my parents house listening to different albums with my new friends became the new Friday night hang.
Soon as the summer was closing out, I'd finished around 9 of my own songs and moved part time to NYC. From Monday through Wednesday I'd split my time playing open mics, playing songs with other artists in Tompkins Square Park, and drinking cheap beer at the Library on Avenue A listening to Television on the jukebox.
A month after that I would record that first "mini" album at this great little vintage studio in Red Bank, NJ called Retromedia. The Studio owner John Noll, randomly emailed Richard Lloyd of Televison to come down and play on a couple of my songs. All of this within less than a year. Its really strange how things come full circle.
TVD and Comet Ping Pong are excited to continue a new series of ticket giveaway contests where each month you can see your show of choice at Comet—FREE. Simply because we're looking out for you and your good time.
Here's how it works: each month we'll publish Comet's press release and full schedule right here at TVD. You choose the show you'd like to see and be the first person to claim the tickets for that show in the comments to this post (with contact info!) and you're in FREE—no questions asked.
It's just that simple. No long love letters, nothin'.
There will be just ONE winner for a pair of tickets allowed per show and you can't win more than once in a month. (Hey, we gotta have SOME rules...)
The ticket giveaways for November start...right now:
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4 K Records Evening! Jeremy Jay / Heaven / Black Umbrella / DJ Names Names (Ian Svenonius) Jeremy Jay is a mixture of a storyteller, artist and singer. Following a series of 7" singles, he released his debut LP, A Place Where We Could Go on K in Spring 2008. Currently, he lives in Los Angeles, the dream city of films. Similar to films, Jeremy identifies with the visual stories of life and love, and his music touches on everything human. He draws much of his inspiration from American artists like Andy Warhol and iconic teen filmmaker John Hughes, to European French new wave filmmakers like Truffant and Goddard.
When you listen to Black Umbrella, you usually expect a schizophrenic madness to ensue, as if you’re happily running over a bunch of brand new babies with a lawnmower while eating your veggies like a good boy. However, with this record it’s as if you walked to a grand piano shop, found a discarded Steinway, and tipped it over onto your head, and just laid there. You have nothing to do but think about what just happened, and that’s just the way you want it for now.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6 Americans in France / Foul Swoops North Carolina trio, Americans in France has the good kind of musical ADD—songs zig and zag, with scratchy guitars and anxiously shouted vocals, sometimes in unison, sometimes in response. The Chapel Hill area has set a high standard for this type of stuff and Americans in France live up to those expectations. Foul Swoops, are obvious heirs to the local indie rock throne—once they all turn 21, of course. That youth is apparent in the quartet's songs, which are bursts thick guitar, growling vocals from that redhead drummer while the disinterested looking girl on keyboards makes sure there's some melody throughout.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7 Authorization/ Protect U / Maxmillion Dunbar (AFP from Food for Animals) Authorization, if you haven't had the opportunity to hear them yet, is Jeff (from Insect Factory, Plums, Kohoutek) and Dan Caldas (ex-Black Eyes, Horses.) The duo trade off on synth, drum machine, electronics, guitar, and bass. The music they make has elements of dub, kosmische Krautrock, g-funk (of course), with plenty of angularity, and does not disappoint."
Maxmillion Dunbar is one of many positions on this Earth played by Silver Spring Maryland native Andrew F-P. Others include rappin' in MD next-hop trio Food For Animals, DJing and producing in Beautiful Swimmers, and going way way out with Cool Water. He also runs the very graceful Future Times record label. He has a 12"(the "Bare Feet" EP) coming out soon on Ramp Recordings out of the UK. After that he just wants to grow like a plan so be on the lookout.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13 George Smallwood Mr. “Mellow” George Franklin Smallwood’s own personal discography dates back to the early 70s when he started a record company out of the garage in Hyattsville, Maryland. Designed to showcase his original music with the group Marshmellow, Smallwood Records had several vinyl releases; Touching Is My Thing, Funk by The Pound, Mr. Sunshine, Lady Disco.
Records were sold at house parties and shows, and never managed to find their way outside of DC, until EBAY. Records that originally sold for a dollar, now sell for hundreds, even thousands of dollars. Several of the recordings have been reissued by Peoples Potential Unlimited (Washington DC) and Jazzman (UK).
Today, George just winterized the pool, got his keyboard serviced and is tearing cardboard beer boxes into fire starter for the home studio hearth. What seem like strange tasks are the routines of a blind man, who has been impaired even before his love of music began. George recalls, "Music never really took to me till I lost my sight..”
Over the years listening to cassettes and radio, Smallwood has amassed over 300 songs for his mental catalog of music. This human soft rock soul database extends from his originals to the hits of Steve Miller band, Christopher Cross, Michael Jackson, Queen, and Prince. All songs accompanied by Mr. Mellow with his Casio synthesizer, “the personal computer” he calls it. The only instrument in the world that has a fade-in, fade-out button.
Don’t miss this rare opportunity to see the greatest soul artist you’ve never heard of!!! Meet and greet with Mr. Mellow between his sets!
While most of the blogosphere is celebrating the looming Halloween holiday, I thought it best this year to rattle the bones of some FM AOR dinosaurs to exorcize the demonic spectre that has become: ...Rocktober.
(And really, there’s no way I could top last year’s frightful Halloween mix. Truly scary indeed.)
Next week we’ve got something BIG planned that we’ve never—ever—done before! So, see ya back here Monday, right?
During a week when we’re discussing influences, I’m trying to put my finger on just who Seattle’s The Blakes are channeling. Could be Plimsouls...there’s some Beatles in there...The Who...The Kinks too. But it’s all entirely fresh and new as it should be.
Find out yourself when The Blakes play The Red & The Black on November 8th. We chatted with the band’s drummer and resident crate digger Bob Husak, in advance of their DC date:
"Vinyl has become a huge part of my life in recent years. Although I'd been an on-and-off casual collector since high school, a fateful trip to a giant rummage sale on Bainbridge Island in 2007 propelled me headlong into vinyl obsession. At that sale I filled a grocery bag full of any and every LP I could get my hands on, from Liberace to Andy Gibb, and I haven't looked back since.
I'm now dealing vinyl on eBay as my chief means of income, and I've found the act of selling records to be much more rewarding than simply collecting them. I regularly spend uncounted hours sifting through dusty bins and boxes at thrift stores, yard sales and old ladies' garages, obsessing over the condition of each piece I come across. I'm learning to quickly evaluate any given record's worth. I often research labels, pressings, acts, and so forth.
I've noticed that the hyper-detail-oriented approach to vinyl required by turning dealer has essentially demythologized the medium for me. In my opinion, a clean copy of a good pressing played on a good needle through a nice system can sound great, but if you're into analog, reel-to-reel is superior sound-wise. Digital remasters often sound better than vinyl, I believe.
I love vinyl mainly because of the vast amount of music pressed on it that's simply unavailable in any other medium. Entire genres have been practically forgotten, particularly classic easy listening, which I've grown to love. And records are a wonderful link to the past; for example, if you really want to know the sixties, you can't just spin your copies of Pepper, Pet Sounds and Forever Changes, you also need your Herb Alpert, your Man and a Woman soundtrack, your Johnny Mann Singers, your Ray Conniff. Of course, you can always take things to the other extreme and just collect esoterica from the margins, like The Godz or something. It's all fun to me.
Oh yeah, and liner notes. Try reading Maynard Solomon's erudite notes from the early Vanguard releases and tell me you don't suddenly consider yourself a folk expert."
From yesterday’s points for consideration, we have my pal Shamus delighting in the experience of discovering new sounds and new music, film auteur Woody Allen commenting that, "When you first start out you're always striving for greatness and perfection and then after some years reality sets in and you realize that you're not going to get it," and Mika performing at the Palladium with his vocal tracks on hard drive. (Now with youtube’d evidence.)
The first band to snake charm me into music was Sweet. The eight year olds of today being seduced by garbage and I stand like the Native American Indian in the antilittering TV commercial with one tear ...streaming down my cheek.
Three things are informing my thought patterns this morning after yesterday’s post. Firstly, the comment from my long-time friend Shamus from yesterday where he makes fine points, but I think misses what I was striving for. Nonetheless:
“I just love new music. I love finding it, listening to it, devoutly following it and proselytizing it. I can't imagine not. I know some of this is just for the sake of novelty but it's a habit I never broke.As to why bother listening to music. Well, while we're definitely in a post-rock and post-art in general world there is still great innovation, new sounds, new combinations, bands singing about contemporary feelings and topical subjects, new personalities; looks and styles, new cool bands like MGMT, White Stripes, Sufjan Stevens, Spoon, Rattatat, Phoenix, of Montreal, Muse, The Firemen (Paul's fantastic band with Killing Joke's Youth), Fleet Foxes, The Decemberists, and Bright Eyes. And these are all just easily accessible rock bands. I'd rather have them take your $17 or 9.99 itunes purchase than the truly awful sounding Who or Pink Floyd or The Dead sucking $175 dollar concert tickets out of the lazy and confused wouldn't you? To make a statement that no art since time X is as good anymore strikes me as a huge insult to the great bands that have put out music since 1972. It seems you pigeon-holing a genre by the strictures of the styles that developed up to that point neglecting the expansion of the genre by Krautrock, prog, post-punk, rave, mad-chester, dream-pop, brit-pop, electronica, avant-garde, trip-hop. etc, etc, etc. My god where would we be without Kraftwerk, Soft-Machine, Joy Division, Orbital, My Bloody Valentine, Nick Cave, Portishead, Radiohead, Manic Street Preachers, Boards of Canada. All these bands have put out art as valid, as important as will be listened to in 100 years as The Beatles, Led Zep, and Rolling Stones. The smart kidz will grow out of My Chemical Romance and Linkin Park just like I grew out of Men at _Work and U2. I think it's perfectly valid to be a like a specific genre and style of music, I don't have to tell you that. It's personal preference. It's opinion. But to say the expansion of the genre, the great contribution to the art is invalid, inferior and less significant betrays fear and ignorance doesn't it? When I watch Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity I see similar fear. Fear of the new, change and wistful reverence for a past that posits that everything should have stayed the same. If it did everything would be alright forever. BUT things don't stay the same do they? Be ambitious boys, be ambitious girls The beautiful thing about the internet. It's no longer a cadre it's thousand of people worldwide. I belong to many online communities who can agree that something is good and talk of it's merits and demerits. And, I can meet people on line and play in bands and get people to come to my shows who already agree that a genre is valid and move on to enjoying the music. It's okay to make mistakes when listening to new music and enjoying it. Some things don't age well, and sometimes I just plain old had bad taste or got fooled by a fad- that's okay, 'cause some of the stuff remains great. Thankfully I was open to trying it!” —Shamus
Aahh, Youth "When you first start out you're always striving for greatness and perfection and then after some years reality sets in and you realize that you're not going to get it." -- Woody Allen between shots of his latest London-based film (allegedly titled You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger), talking to the Telegraph's John Hiscock in a piece than ran ages ago (i.e., 9.29).
Maybe you're "not going to get it" just so, but urgent creative strivings of talented young (or younger) directors looking to mark their mark tend to produce their best films. Allen seems to be saying he'll never make a film like Manhattan or Annie Hall or even Stardust Memories ever again, and that he's more or less content with that. That's a rather grim attitude. I'll take the young Scorsese (Mean Streets to Raging Bull) over the latter-day version any day of the week. Ditto young Coppola vs. old Coppola. Or young Bertolucci (Before The Revolution, The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris). Or young DePalma (The Phantom of the Paradise, Sisters, Greetings). Or young Jim Cameron (Piranha, Terminator, T2, Aliens) over the silver-haired Avatar techno-maestro he's since become.
Third, Bob Lefsetz’s review of Mika at The Palladium:
"We’re fucked.
I was standing in the back of the Palladium, all jazzed up, when I realized something. Almost this ENTIRE SHOW was on hard drive!"
Last week our lil hometown newspaper, The Washington Post, introduced a redesigned top to bottom print edition, and while I quite like much of the overall redesign—as an art director by day—I’ve got some problems with some of the changes which had me pining away for the ‘old’ and discarded look. The ‘golden days’ if you will. Of a week back.
But I didn’t even realize I was in the halcyon, ‘golden era’ of the Post two weeks back. I was in the present, not fully appreciating something that arrives day in and day out with regularity and familiarity. But yank that away, or better yet allow something to ‘evolve,’ and suddenly there’s a rearview mirror which renders what came before into focus from an entirely new perspective. That of, well, ...the past.
Along with the Post each morning, I’m also reading and scouring the blogs on a daily basis. It’s a routine—pour the coffee, browse the blogs. But it’s become a hollow experience...I mean, who the fuck cares about a Julian Casablancas solo record? Who gives a crap if the four preps of Vampire Weekend have another Paul Simon record in the can? Why would I ever care to read about, be inspired by, or find worthwhile the likes of Male Bonding, Bear Hands, We Are Enfant Terrible, Reni Lane, and Yes Giantess? (Random examples there.) But really, why should I CARE?
And I’m sorta pissed off because ‘fringe’ is the mainstream now of course. You might think you’re an indie kid with your Pitchfork and Stereogum bookmarks (to poke a trite example) but you might as well be reading Rolling Stone or Spin. Despite your Bobby Brady fashion inclinations, you are mainstream, corporatized, and while you were following along perhaps a bit too closely, the world turned on its head, sold you out, and your favorite band from Brooklyn’s in an iPod commercial. Or endorsing a beverage. Or selling you sneakers.
Deride the dinosaurs all day long, mock their reunion tours or their Walmart deals, but there was an authenticity at their genesis that none of the aforementioned acts who graced CMJ stages last week can lay claim to. The classic rock dinosaurs left a weighty footprint—but a rehash of a rehash from the same blueprint smothered in frosty, arty artifice is leaving me cold. Man.
I’m adoring the new Big Star box set that contains the working sketches of brilliance and DESPITE the Beatle influences, offers a newness these many years on. And yes, Big Star’s the blueprint for so many bands that followed—do the list in your head. If you do, that’s a pretty strong coterie of bands there.
So am I laying claim this week to the old adage that everything was better in ‘my day’ with the veneer of a crusty old fuck?
Ahem. And there’s no better way to debut our first 45rpm giveaway than with the new EP from DC’s homegrown heroes, U.S. Royalty.
The ‘Midsommar’ EP features the new single ‘Every Summer’ offered right down there for download. But you don’t care so much for downloaded Mp3’s do you now, which is probably why you’re here. (It sure as hell ain’t for the nifty dog walking tales, no siree.)
The U.S.R. ‘Midsommar’ EP is yours for the asking in the comments to this post, so fire away. Make ‘em good. Make ‘em compelling. And leave us some contact info too, please. We’ll choose a winner by noon, Monday (10/26) for our very first 7”.
Two universes mosey down the street Connected by love and a leash and nothing else. Mostly I look at lamplight through the leaves While he mooches along with tail up and snout down, Getting a secret knowledge through the nose Almost entirely hidden from my sight.
New feature! Have a band? Fill us in directly on the meandering ways of a career in the music industry right here. We want the heartbreaking trials and tribulations and the lofty heights as you wend your way through the music making machinery. Because you need to vent, right?
First up, Adam Bentley from our friends to the north, The Rest.
"I was honoured when Jon first asked me to be a guest blogger on The Vinyl District, and had planned to get to work right away, but life had other plans. The intial reason for me to write this article was the first obstacle that obstructed my path. We’re currently working on a four part illustrated novel/EP titled The Cried Wolf Book. The story revolves around a surrealist take on the adult adventures of the boy who cried wolf. Each month (beginning October 1st) we’re releasing a free downloadable song from this site.
October’s song is a cover of Robyn’s smash hit With Every Heartbeat and on November 1st will see the next part of the story unveiled with the song The Close Western (which I’ve included here for the first time).
So, two weeks ago I was madly trying to complete the second part of the story for the illustrator before the band left to do a mini tour in the UK. I fell behind quickly with flight plans and scheduling issues taking up most of my time. I then promised myself to finish the post in England. Once we arrived in England in was pretty clear I wasn’t going to have much time to be typing away at the computer as shows, BBC interviews, press, photos, videos, and sampling the amazingness that is a foreign country reigned supreme.
I spoke with Jon and promised that would complete the post before the beginning of the week, but almost the minute I touched Canadian soil a brutal, coma inducing sickness attacked my sleep-deprived body. I felt like an aging prizefighter with a sinus problem. Up and down meant nothing and could barely tell you what day it was let alone the time. However, I woke up today and the fog was lifted. Almost comparable to the day after a wicked hangover…I felt alive again!
So, enjoy the songs, and keep checking the site above for a new song and the continuation of the story!" —Adam
I spent a little time up at Som Records last night after a perfectly agreeable walk from the office downtown in some lovely, warm mid-October weather, picked up the new Clientele and Manics LPs AND a bottle of wine, and took the long route home.
True to his newly established schedule, Pete was ready for his last walk of the day shortly after I got back and out we went, the sun down now but still quite balmy indeed. He’s pretty particular about where he does his thing, so I had plenty of time to meander and think. Like a full half hour.
So... I’ll confess something without any hint of irony or sarcasm—I had a great epiphany during last night’s walk. Something crystallized for me, something I knew was churning but hadn’t reached the level of conscious expression:
I realize that I go on and on about this blog being your forum too, so to underscore that a bit, our Art Brut ticket winner Valerie has a thought or five on last Sunday night’s show:
It’s hard not to root for Eddie Argos. Art Brut is like the musical equivalent of the Chicago Cubs: they won’t be on Top of the Pops and despite their assurances, they certainly won’t beat Satan but whenever there’s a new Art Brut album, it’s exciting and whenever they’re in town, it’s even more exciting. Because the kitschy speak-sing over angular guitars can get old on repeated listens but I would shell out fifteen dollars to see them every night if given the option. Here’s why.
1. Eddie Argos has remarkably good stage presence. He looks like Doc Oc with a bad dye job and a stupid earring and he sings about embarrassing things like drinking chocolate milkshakes when nearing thirty and not being able to get it up. But while the rest of us would get up there, sing about those faults and still sound like complete losers, he manages to get up onstage and actually look cool. Oh sure, he does things like play jump rope with the microphone cord (and consequently damage it) that never look cool. He also does things that are clearly canned, like letting the microphone droop pitifully out of his hand during “Rusted Guns of Milan.” But for the most part, he can throw himself around stage (or jump amidst the crowd offstage) and rock out just as hard as his idols. Which brings me to number two.
2. He appreciates all that was great about rock and roll and honestly seeks to emulate it. For starters, Argos is clearly a huge Jonathan Richman fan. If this wasn’t obvious from the offset when he bungled the lyrics to “Roadrunner” before going into “Formed a Band,” it should have been obvious before the end of the set. Before every song he asked, “Ready, Art Brut?” as if channeling the spirit of that first Modern Lovers album where Richman repeatedly asked that same summoning question to his own band. He also recognizes the value of continued rock and roll education or questions like, “How am I just finding out about The Replacements?” wouldn’t show up in his lyrics and he wouldn’t punctuate his set with votes of confidence to The Ramones and Iggy Pop. Iggy Pop brings me to number three.
3. He’s not afraid to poke fun where fun poking is due. He regaled the audience before the start of “The Passenger” that he originally had dedicated the song to Iggy Pop since Iggy had an identically titled song. Then Argos found out that the song was about heroin and can no longer dedicate that song to him. Not because of the heroin use, but rather because they no longer have that appreciation for public transit in common. When poking fun at the titular little brother in “My Little Brother” he said that the first song on the mixtape made by the little brother had the very unoriginal “Karma Police” at the beginning. He actually had to leave stage to remind himself how to sing that song. I don’t know that he necessarily has anything against Radiohead (or the Velvet Underground for that matter) but more so the bands that they’ve inspired who have received great success for derivative music and mediocre energy levels. Which is why having Princeton as a tourmate confuses me greatly. They were pretty boring.
4. He’s just as nerdy as we are. He changed the words to “Modern Art” to make it “DC Comics makes me want to rock out.” And then went on this long story, while hopping up and down in the audience about how he went to the DC Comics headquarters and had the bat signal shined in his face. Among other things. And it was glorious.
5. He’s as much of a purist as we are. He went on a rant in the middle of, I think “Bad Weekend” about how last time he went to a record store he first saw DVDs and computer games...and he hates both.
“...Of all the stupid things I could have thought / This was the worst / I started to believe / That I was born at seventeen / And all the stupid things / The letters and the broken verse / Stayed hidden at the bottom of the drawer / They'd always been / And now I plough through piles / Of bills, receipts and credit cards / And tickets and the Daily News / And sometimes I just . . .Wanna go back to my home town / Though I know it'll never be the same / Back to my home town / 'Cause it's been so long / And I'm wondering if it's still there...
We think we're pretty smart / Us city slickers get around / And when the going's rough / We kill the pain and relocate / We're never married / Never faithful not to any town / But we never leave the past behind / We just accumulate / So sometimes when the music stops / I seem to hear a distant sound / Of waves and seagulls / Football crowds and church bells / And I . . .Wanna go back to my home town / Though I know it'll never be the same / Back to my home town / 'Cause it's been so long / And I'm wondering if it's still there...
Back to my home town / Though I know it'll never be the same / Back to my home town / 'Cause it's been so long / And I'm wondering if it's still there...”
I could have sworn ol’ Pete was singing this song on his walk this morning. Something about it ‘hitting him on some visceral level’ he mumbled with a leaf hanging off his mouth.
Silver Spring stalwarts The Jet Age have a brand new release in "Love" on the shelves later this month, and leading up to its debut, TVD chatted with Eric Tischler, the band's lead singer, songwriter, and guitarist for some thoughts on inspiration of the vinyl variety—and beyond.
"I don't think I could've made in "Love" without vinyl. A collection of songs that asks you to sit down with the sleeve and pay attention? That's a relic of the vinyl age; could you have such an idea today without vinyl's example?
in "Love" is the story of a man and a woman, each otherwise spoken for (he's married with kids; she's got a long-term boyfriend), how and why they fall in love, and the reactions of (and commentary from) those around them. In other words, it's an examination of love, fidelity, and the value of family and personal happiness, and it takes 10 songs to tell the story so, right there, hitting "shuffle" on iTunes brings you diminishing returns (although I wrote the songs so they could stand alone; the test is each one's gotta be suitable for a mix tape, but I guess that's for another blog). As a result, it's a record that asks you to sit down with the lyric sheet and listen (the lyrics are color coded to make it easier to figure out who's "saying" what, when); again, something many of us first learned to do with vinyl.
Even the sound of the record is an attempt to capture the meaty sound of vinyl. My studio is state-of-the-art 1984. The kick drum figures prominently and you don't REALLY get the mix until you're sitting in front of some speakers that can handle it. The record sounds thick and muscular, and deliberately so; it's the sound I grew up with.
As a kid, it felt like my family listened to Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life every weekend; the changing of sides was a ritual unto itself, and the ebb and flow of the record was intrinsic to that. My music always comes before my lyrics, and that's because I need to sequence the record first, establish that same type of ebb and flow.
I remember vividly the thrill of picking up The Kids Are Alright on vinyl: Gatefold, inner sleeves like film cans, and a glossy, heavy stock book for the liner notes. You can't beat it. When we designed the package for in "Love," our designer, Jeffrey Everett of El Jefe Design, was a little concerned about making sure the lyrics were readable; we did some brainstorming, and I think we came up with a package that lives up to vinyl's example (except, y'know, it's smaller).
It all sounds a bit fetishistic when I type it down (and that's after I cut the part about slavishly hunting down Duran Duran 12"s), but then, so's music, right? A somewhat idiosyncratic passion that's personal, intimate. It's why I buy records. And why I make them."
TVD and Comet Ping Pong are excited to launch a new series of ticket giveaway contests where each month you can see your show of choice at Comet—FREE. Simply because we're looking out for you and your good time.
Here's how it'll work: each month we'll publish Comet's full schedule right here at TVD, you choose the show you'd like to see and be the first person to claim the tickets for that show in the comments to this post (with contact info!) and you're in FREE—no questions asked.
It's that simple. No long love letters, nothin'.
There will be just ONE winner for a pair of tickets allowed per show and you can't win more than once in a month. (Hey, we gotta have SOME rules...)
We're starting mid-month this time so the schedule below picks up where we are on the calendar right now. Check back soon for November's full calendar and updates as bands get added.
The giveaways start TODAY, so get to it...
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22 Lovvers/ ZZZ Lovvers Post Punks hailing from the UK. "These kids are alright" Lovvers are a strange mix of music’s forgotten / blank generation, re-calling the spirit of Darby Crashes’ Germs, the weirdness of Flipper, Wipers style pop and the careless attitude of The Replacements; at one show a girl was so confused / annoyed that she wrote to KERRANG describing this music as “highly offensive, wanting to erase them from her mind." Offensive? Then it has to be good...right?
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23 Birds of Avalon/ Loose Lips Birds of Avalon The monsters of North Carolina psycherock blow into the city with howls and roars. Testify. Loose Lips Don't say a word, let the blood shake your heart as DC's own shows you what you need to know.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29 The Heiz (Tokyo, Japan)/Love the Bomb This one's already FREE! The Heiz Shaku and Asako were members of the well-known Tokyo electro-rock band Milkteath while Kimura played drums for indie rock band Outside. Both bands released many CDs and DVDs, toured Japan nationwide numerous times, and appeared on several television shows. But Shaku, Asako, and Kimura couldn’t get any satisfaction…
The three members of “the heiz” first met in 2005 when their respective bands played together for the first time. Three years worth of jam sessions later and “the heiz” were born.
The theme of "the heiz" is "DO NATURALLY”. "the heiz" eat MUSIC and excrete ROCK’N’ROLL. "the heiz" want to make pure music, like the musicians that inspire them. “the heiz” really want you to hear their ROCK’N’ROLL.
Love the Bomb Sal used to be in Blondsai, Mike used to be in the Gamma Rays and still is in Geisha Lightning. One night they got drunk at a lackluster Jay Reatard show and decided to form a band.
Four times a day, often at half hour stretches...there’s plenty of time for reflection and the mind to wander. A song to sing. A record to recall.
Pete just sniffs along too. The perfect spot is here – no, there. Here – no, there. And no perceived lack of shame to be doing it outdoors at the height of the evening’s rush hour. Business men wind their way around Pete’s business.
I recall my dad saying goodbye to Pete the morning he left for the hospital before his heart operation. ‘I’ll be back...’ he said in his best Arnold impersonation, but didn’t return. So Pete became my mom’s dog alone.
My mom had her fall this summer and was yanked from her home by paramedics without, I’m guessing, a farewell Pete. And from what I understand, she hasn’t been asking for him from the Alzheimer’s wing of the nursing home at all.
So, four times a day, often at half hour stretches...he takes his sweet ol’ time.
Punk, Post-Punk, Rock and Roll, Jazz, Avant Garde, Rap and any other genre that sprung up in the 20th century never made a total break from any existing tradition. They only, in their own ways, redefined traditions and/or played with them. Sometimes this was done lovingly; sometimes not so lovingly. But ultimately, by tradition, one of these untraditional new sounds would be pressed up on vinyl as all other sounds before.
These were then circulated to the unsuspecting and unreceptive. Perhaps these unpopular children would languish in total obscurity only receiving a serious audience late at night in an older brother or sister’s room or as heard by a curious ear through the speakers of a radio tuned to a small college radio station. In this way good, but unpopular music hung around as electronic pulses generated off some scratches on a thin, circular piece of vinyl.
The yet-loved song would travel a complicated path through collections and parties and radio stations and families until one day its intended mark was found and a world was turned on its head. But only by physical presence has the innovative spirit of music persisted; perhaps made for the few at the time, but over time proving that the second act is much more important than the first.
Right now, being hip to vinyl is a way to ensure consistency in the way the generations talk to each other. Weird thought, that. But it’s important because there is no earthly way that someone is going to pick up an mp3 at an mp3 fair in 20 years time and CDs have already shown themselves to be simply shiny coasters. The internet has changed the way we all listen to and buy music with literally a whole world of music available at any time. Things move so quickly that some legitimately great pieces of work might be passed over before they have even had a chance to impress.
But without that solid tangibility--that fat chunk of vinyl--brings the chance that a great tradition-defying, transcendent work will escape recognition completely. Today’s artists understand that implicitly and as such, vinyl is again the medium of choice.
So here I am bending the old-time traditions of dissemination and trying to catch the great (and maybe not so great) pieces of forward-thinking vinyl on their way by on limited pressing runs and give them greater exposure via this monthly online column with new-fangled digital sound samples (now you don’t even have to hang out with your jerky older brother!)
Musique Non Pop is its name. I sincerely hope that other people will become excited by what we hear and in turn, also buy the record and then maybe play it for a friend or even their kids someday. Shit, podcast it if you must. Or at very least, if the tunes ultimately fail to excite, sell the record to a nearby shop so that someone might be lucky enough to discover a dollar bin keeper. Everyone knows E-bay is for thieves. The beat goes on.
And with that I say: “Welcome to my electronic living room.”
Dead Luke - Jumpin Jack Flash (Mp3) Record Two 7", Sacred Bones Records. Sometimes a cover is a measure of band (man) even if originals are mandatory in these ego-forward times. To take a rock classic and distort it through some heavy synth seasoning, taking liberties with it before dumping it in an industrial wasteland while somehow never really abusing it is right gentlemanly and pretty brilliant. Dead Luke is the alias of one Luke William Gasper who runs an excellent cassette-only label (a whole other blog) called Jerkwave Tapes. He promises a new album soon, "Cosmic Meltdown" on Troubleman Unlimited Records. Cheveu - Like A Deer in the Headlights (Mp3) Live on Viva Radio, Brooklyn, 2009. From tiny-town, Metz, France. Cheveu, along with such luminaries such as The Anals and A.H. Kraken, make Metz a good bet to unseat Brooklyn as the undisputed capital of world hipster cool. Here is a much more sonically agressive radio version of a song on 7" only from 2009 on Born Bad Records, Paris. Cheveu are one of the best bands out there. Period.
I met Tina Sugandh nine or so years ago and since then her star has not just been on the rise—it's been stratospheric. But events of a more personal nature have taken center stage recently, and in honor of October's Breast Cancer Awareness month, Tina has been giving away a download of what she calls the most important song she's ever written, “Snake Charmer,” free on her website. (...and it's linked a little while longer exclusively for TVD.)
