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Today I went to each of the guys and asked them to tell me their favorite band or album over the last 10 years...
Robbie | Erykah Badu(Vh1's Soulstage Performance) andElbow(The Seldom Seen Kid) This was exactly what I had been wanting to hear for inspiration. This performance has so much energy and feeling. The rhythm section is locked in solid and the bass tone is killer. I've been learning and playing along to it ever since. I just recently realized how great this album is and how impressive the musicianship is.
Jon | Modest MouseandAt the Drive In I was listening to these bands a lot in middle school when I was still new to but still active on the drums. Listening to these drummers gave me an idea of how to approach the instrument. Modest Mouse mainly by how the groove stays so loose and groovy and still folksy. At the Drive In mainly for the intensity they bring all together as a band. Great drumming. Great singing. They had a unique powerful sound.
Joey | Dave BazanandWilco This is another one of those impossible things to distill down to only two bands. But there is only room for two. Dave Bazan because of his dedication to being honest. Wilco because they are entirely what I love about music.
Andrew | Brazilian Girls(Self titled) andBeck(Guero) Brazilian Girls has been the soundtrack to my life for the past 3 years, and Becks album has everything I want in an album. Good grooves and solid melodies.
I had the brilliant (sarcasm…see?) idea that today I would figure out which of my records influenced our recent album “Shallow on the Draft” the most. So, I’ve spent the last three hours rooting around in my vinyl trying to come up with the top 5 albums that directly contributed. This was agonizing torture for me; I just had to put aside Van Morrison’s Moondance to make room for David Bowie. I made the choice. I need to live with it. Oh wait...Leonard...I'm so sorry.
So here it is. The top 5 records in no particular order of importance:
Elvis Costello - King of America
I have all of Elvis’ records on vinyl. How you like me now. This record is my favorite to put on and sing every word. My favorite song on this record is Indoor Fireworks. For me this record marks a change in how he communicated both musically and lyrically.
The Temptations - 3 record Collectors Edition
Man, I love this album. Oh man, I really do. It’s like all five of these men can reach inside and make your heart beat for you. This is the kind of music that moves you in every way.
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
What? Look, I know this record is over used as an influence. There is a good reason for that. You just can’t beat this record. The production, the tones, the composition, the honesty, the love. When I first got this record I let it spin for about two weeks before moving on.
David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
Thank you, dad. This a record I have kept going back to time and again for various reasons and it has always served its purpose.
The Beatles - Abbey Road
I didn’t realize how much this album influenced this record until after it was finished. I put it on and realized that subconsciously I had drawn on the thoughts and ideas that stemmed from this record. It’s just a brilliant piece of work. Supremely cohesive.
Remember to send us your dance videos to our song 'This Dance is Out of Your Hands' as we discussed yesterday. Submit your videos here!
The time, the place and the way you discover music, has a permanent affect on the way you remember it and feel it from that moment on. Just like falling in love or making a new friend- those first impressions sit with the relationship for good.
So to decipher my relationship with vinyl and certain albums in particular, it all comes down to the fact that I grew up in the album (and then, cassette) era. I grew up in the 70's & 80's and like the rest of us evolved into the now, CD and digital era, but my first impression of "MUSIC" was on vinyl…
Once upon a time, in 1969 to be precise, my mother Linda Gaboriau, was the first female rock disc jockey in Montreal, Canada. I was not born yet, but her record collection exploded around then, and I was born and raised on it. I always credit my mother's record collection and her relationship with her generation's music, for the reason I am making music today. The non stop soundtrack around the house, the amazing stories she'd tell me when looking at the album art together "Dylan. He's the greatest poet of our time", "Cohen: He's the sexiest man alive" or the confusing stories about "the one that died". Her connection with her generation emanated from those records, and I was sent on my mission to find my generation and my generation's music.
The first album I bought with my own money, was "Head On The Door" by The Cure. I still listen to it, and it's forever one of my favorite. My record player is front and center in my living room, and that is always the choice ritual and listening choice when hosting or having a party at my house.
My collection also includes a decent amount of those amazing 1970's box sets. I collected them while thrift shopping across the USA in the '90's. Those are epic artifacts! Up to 7 albums in a beautiful sturdy box, with lots of liner notes, cool flaps and art work. The best one is the "Space Shuttle Landing 1969" box set with all the audio and news reports from the journey. The rest are mainly easy listening versions of old standards. Perfect background music, that you have to stay tuned to and flip!
I put myself through college as a "Cassette DJ" : The Bifteck St-Laurent is Montreal's, now legendary, "Grunge" bar. An old Portuguese steak house turned broke musicians bar, that payed me and my friends 40$ a night to flip tapes from 9pm - 3 am 7 days a week. I lived in that bar from 16 till the day I joined Hole in 1994. There was always music playing and most of the time my picks. My mixed tapes were made from all my vinyl. Every month I'd set up my turntable and cassette deck to make my new mix tapes, then I'd play them on auto- reverse while I played pool and drank a pint of local auburn micro brew….. Vinyl is the at the absolute core of everything music in my life.
Of course we all got distracted by CD's for a while, and I have a massive collection still not entirely digitized. I still to this day don't buy MP3s, I usually buy it on CD, because I still need to read the liner notes. Who engineered? Who are the writers? Most of my listening time is in the car listening to CDs and in my living room most often albums.
However, dear reader, it's worth mentioning this recent music "discovery" I made. This past weekend at my friend Steve's birthday / housewarming party, while everyone was in the backyard, I entered the empty living room while someones iPod was on shuffle. Led Zepplin's "Kashmir" came on… it stopped me in my tracks, and I sat in the middle of the floor, and in a strange psychedelic way, I re-discovered that song, and cried (yes it's true) out of my love of music. The next morning back at my house, I went down to my record collection, found my vinyl copy of it. It's the high quality, double album, long play version, with only two songs per side… and I cranked Kashmir.
I must tell you dear Vinyl District… That song remained the same… as good digital, as it is analogue. Music CAN transcend all physical realities, even though vinyl is the coolest format. I Love Music.
Thanks for listening…. Melissa Auf der Maur May 2010
P.S. My new record OUT OF OUR MINDS is available exclusively at my website!
I was holed up a couple of nights back at TVD HQ, jesus juice in a tumbler to one side, when a note zipped into the email box – some guy wants me to hear this band he thinks I’d like. Now, the difference with this email in contrast to the many daily was that it was just from some dude singing the praises of a band. Nothing more. No sell job. Just ‘methinks you’ll like.’
Refreshing.
...and I did, so much so that Fullerton, CA’s The Steelwells are hanging out with us this week. —Ed.
"It's hard to imagine we started this thing almost three years ago. Billy, Andrew, Robbie, and our founding drummer Brian (as well as our current drummer Jon) all grew up playing music together. I, on the other hand, am the outsider to this crew. It took some time but I feel like I have been somewhat accepted at this point. All of us were born and raised in Southern California and I think the music does tend to reflect our surroundings.
Our current EP Shallow on the Draft in hindsight draws on some of our Californian influences like The Beach Boys, Calexico, CCR, Jeff Buckley, Pavement, The Rentals, and Starflyer 59 and on and on really. I definitely grew up loving Elvis Costello, The Beatles, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Van Morrison, Frank Sinatra (the whole damn rat pack really). The list gets long. When asked to define our sound or give our influences we tend to get overwhelmed by the question. If I had to define our sound with a gun to my head I think I would have to just say it’s kind of a sweet and sour indie dish. Hopefully the gunman would get confused and hungry at the same time. What I can say is we do our best to make it honest both musically and lyrically.
Since our record release back in October at The House of Blues in Anaheim we have been pretty happy with the positive response to our music. We feel like we made the right choice to put music out there that isn’t trying to be anything other than a reflection of us. I tend to gravitate toward an artist that can dig around for something more from themselves and the music. My suggestion to anyone making any art at all is be honest and grateful. Right now we are writing and doing preproduction for our next EP. While we are very excited to put out some new music we don’t take it lightly that we owe it to ourselves to feel right about what we are making.
So that’s us in a nut. I hope you will check in this whole week while I try to dissect our bands influence’s into its various parts. I’m going to attempt to understand ourselves better musically since this is something we tend avoid getting into. Let’s just take it one day at a time and see where we end up.
I also thought it would be fun to have a little video contest while we are at it. The winner of the contest will receive two guest list spots at any of our up coming shows, a signed cd, a free t-shirt and stickers, as well as dinner with us. If I have time I will cook but more than likely we will go out for burritos. Either way you win!
To enter the contest simply send us a video of you, your friends, or your loved ones dancing to our song This Dance is Out of Your Hands. The band will vote on the best dance and choose the winner. If you’re from out of town you get all of the above and dinner when we tour through your town. We are going to work out the details this week and let it run for about a month. I will have more info as we go along here as well as a link to upload videos. Now DANCE!!!" —Joey Winter
I imagine that it's no surprise to any of you following along at home that if there was a new Joy Formidable release on vinyl, we'd find a way to get our hands on it and offer a copy of it on the blog.
Well, our Formidable exuberance being what it is, we have—and here it is—your chance to win a copy of The Joy Formidable's EP ‘A Balloon called moaning’ which is getting its official US release today on Black Bell Records.
"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..."
That was Ritzy from our 'First Date' with the band last February.
Your task to win the vinyl copy of‘A Balloon called moaning?’ Give us your backstory in regard to discovering music in general or vinyl specifically. The one that hits our sweet spot as posted to the comments section of this post —with contact info!—wins the EP. Simple, right?
You have until next Tuesday (5/11) to be suitably formidable.
Mayday Fiesta of Sound | Yes, it’s May and here in a LA it’s cause for celebration. This mix was actually created on Cinco De Mayo, a favorite Angelino holiday to simply eat tacos and get drunk on Margaritas. Maybe this should imply a Mexican inspiration but this week is more about new bands than chips and salsa.
I also like the expression “mayday, mayday” it brings to mind planes crashing in black and white WWII flicks. I looked it up and it comes from the French expression, venez m'aider, meaning "come (and) help me." ...Ok, I’ve stumbled onto something here for which I could really use some help and a shot of tequila!
To be honest, Idelic Hour’s “Fiesta Of Sound” is more of afterthought than a muse or vehicle for creating the playlist below. I started off the week driving through the canyon listening to my I-pod on “random shuffle” and in many ways this is the real muse for many of my sets. I love that warm feeling I get when s song unexpectedly enters my psyche, especially while driving a car. I’ve always said I don't believe there's a better DJ than my I-pod on random shuffle. For me as the author, The Idelic Hour, is in fact a taste of my “random shuffle” for you the audience. Ok, maybe I’ve had one too many at El Coyote (mayday, mayday!)
So, my simple plan was to play my I-pod all week and recast the best hour of music I heard. I had a great week of listening but creating this week’s show from let’s say “Monday’s shuffle” just didn’t feel inspiring, random, or spontaneous. Instead I had a little Cinco De Mayo DJ party of my own and I’m calling it a Fiesta of Sound.
In the mix are more new artists and music than I usually drop. Highlights are new Interpol, Harlem, New Villager, Sleigh Bells, The Fall, Dom. I’ve also revisited as few of the stronger April releases with songs from The National, Avi Buffalo and as well as a track from Frightened Rabbit, Julian Casablancas, whose album I’ve been digging these last few months.
Jeffrey James and the Haul is the side project of Snowglobe drummer Jeff Hulett. Snowglobe was featured on MTV's $5 Cover in 2009. —Ed.
Recording at Ardent Studios in Memphis, Tennessee with Jeffrey James and the Haul was an amazing experience that I’ll never forget. How often are you allowed to perform a live show for all of your friends for free? And at the end of the day get a copy of the set you just performed? Let’s just say I’ll always remember it and I brag about it regularly.
People all around the world know about Ardent Studios and I’m lucky enough to live down the street. When I got the call from Rachel Hurley to do an Ardent Sessions I was honestly surprised. At the time we hadn’t been that active and we were trying to finish up our second album “Ride the Wind Carnival.” I think Rachel knew that and wanted to give us an opportunity to get our name out there more, and in a unique way. We are forever grateful and reminisce about that show as a band quite often.
There’s nothing like inviting all of your friends to see you play and they all show up. It was nuts. I think Rachel was even a little bit concerned about how many people we had in studio C. I was very nervous at first because it was such an early and intimate show that was going to be recorded live. But once we got started and began interacting with the crowd everything was great. We even had a bunch of friends/fans in town from Atlanta and Chattanooga that truly relished the opportunity to hang out in such a storied studio. And because it was an early show we were able to go out together afterwards and celebrate.
If I could play the Ardent Sessions again with the Haul or anyone else I would jump at the chance. It was such a fun evening that I think everyone enjoyed.
Enter to win Jeffrey James and the Haul's 'Ride the Wind Carnival' on vinyl by simply leaving a comment, your name, and a contact email address in the comments to this post. We'll choose one winner each Friday for that week's giveaway which ALSO includes the entire Ardent Music catalog. (That's just 2 artists at this point, but who's counting?)
To hear more great Ardent Sessions please visit Ardent Presents.
Sunday evening The Freelance Whales and the Shout Out Louds took the stage at the 9:30 Club. I had never heard The Freelance Whales before but was excited to see another band who once hailed from DC.
It was exactly the type of emo you would expect your fourteen year old little sister to enjoy, and the fourteen year olds that had made it to the front of the state were certainly enjoying it. Their long intros and vocals became monotonous. The chorus of ‘Generator 1st Floor’ was a series of “eheheheheh” that didn’t translate to their live set. It’s always a shame when someone’s recording doesn’t work well on stage, though, to their credit, they are still a young band and it was the first night of the tour.
I have been a Shout Out Louds fan since the summer of 2005 when I was wandering the aisles of a Best Buy in Arizona with my sister-in-law and liked the name of the band – Shout Out Louds. I hadn’t read about them, I was fifteen, I hadn’t yet started actively following new music, let alone new music from Europe, but I had been listening to The Cure – a lot. I bought three cd’s that day, ‘Howl Howl Gaff Gaff’ is the only one that I still listen to (the others were the Garden State soundtrack, and Anna Nalick’s first album – judge away). That album became my high school love life; I could relate each song to a different boy that I had had a crush on. I suppose this was the beginning of my catharsis. They played at the 9:30 Club in 2006, but it was a Sunday, and I wasn’t allowed to go.
They also didn’t curse very often, if at all, so when I was blasting it from my boom box, my parents didn’t mind too much.
In 2007 they released ‘Our Ill Wills’ and this time I bought it on vinyl at Crooked Beat a store my brother had first taken me to earlier that year. ‘Our Ill Wills’ again became an album that I could, and did (and still do) relate to far too many circumstances. ‘Tonight I Have to Leave It,’ ‘Your Parent’s Living Room,’ ‘Impossible’ and ‘Hard Rain’ quickly made it into heavy rotation. They played a second time in the fall of 2008, on another Sunday, and for a second time I wasn’t allowed to go.
When they announced their hiatus in 2008, I was wary of whether there would be another Shout Out Louds album. But after six months apart they came together with a new perspective and a new appreciation for what they do. They created ‘Work,’ it’s more mature and subdued than their previous albums, but in a way I have grown up with them, and it seems to have moved in the appropriate direction.
Seeing them live, on stage, with the lights and the fog was everything I could have hoped for. They opened with ‘1999’ the first track on ‘Work’. It quickly established their presence while inviting the audience to take part. They moved with few pauses through their set. ‘Please Please Please,’ was the first song they played off their debut album, and it became apparent who in the audience had been with them since the beginning – a lot. The movement only grew as they moved to ‘Tonight I have to Leave It.’ At least, the movement in front of the stage increased, I didn’t really bother to look behind me. They spaced the songs at just the right intervals for the crowd to dance, catch our breaths, dance, dance, breathe.
I had not yet heard the entire album ‘Work’ and was quite pleased that people were singing along to even those songs, even some of the parents and fourteen year olds. ‘Show Me Something New’ and the single ‘Fall Hard’ were among the new favorites. They closed their thirteen song set with ‘Very Loud’ a song that could easily be interpreted as being about a lost love, which is only half true, no one would guess it’s actually about the music industry.
They humbly left the stage and lingered just long enough before coming back to play a three song encore - all sing-alongs, all dance numbers. They began with ‘Impossible,’ Then ‘You Are Dreaming.’ They closed with ‘Walls’ the most recent single. It’s chorus - “Whatever they say, we’re the ones building walls. Whatever they say, we’re the ones that never say no. To get to know yourself you have to run away. Never trust anyone, run away, run, run, run.”- was shouted in earnest by fans and performers alike.
Gang of Four. Joy Division. Wire. The Fall. These are all legendary names in the pantheon of post-punk that readers of The Vinyl District blog are hopefully well familiar with by now. But as many of us serious crate-diggers know, those artists are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to understanding this vastly expansive era and the like-minded eras that followed.
The monthly post-punk dj party “We Fought the Big One” was established so DC music fans could have an evening where this extraordinary music is remembered and celebrated. But as much as we champion the widely recognized legends of post-punk, we revel equally if not more so in drawing attention to those brilliant artists that never got the recognition they deserved. Ever hear of The Mo-dettes? How about 48 Chairs?The Homosexuals? Each of those artists recorded material arguably as brilliant as the aforementioned, more recognizable names.)
It’s thanks to crate-digging and great blogs like The Vinyl District that music fans can be exposed to such wonderful, unearthed gems. And really, discovering such songs and being able to share them makes djing even more fun and fulfilling.
When you get a bunch of die-hard record collector geeks together and they start taking turns playing records, it more often than not turns into a game of one-ups-manship. But not only do I not mind when this happens, I love it. I might be a tad biased here, but I believe it’s really the best kind of one-ups-manship—the kind where not just one person wins, but everybody does.
Earlier this year, The Vinyl District’s own Jon Meyers was guest dj at “We Fought the Big One,” and his sets were simply incredible. Track after track, he played songs that I either didn’t know or hadn’t heard in a long time. In some cases, he played songs from bands I knew, but the song altered my perception/opinion of the artist in question. It was pretty revelatory and I know the crowd enjoyed his sets too.
Jon’s djing put even more pressure on myself and Brandon to match or try and better the standard he set. Easier said than done. But I have to say, we definitely fed off each other’s picks, which raised the bar for everyone involved. And ultimately, it’s the denizens of the Marx Cafethat won out—they got to hear the end result of us putting our best picks forward. Like I said, everybody wins.
I am especially excited about the Friday, May 7 “We Fought the Big One.” With two notable post-punk parties in DC, it was only a matter of time before the djs got together to square off. Velodrome djs Scott Bauer and Ed Dudes have incredible music collections and are two of the most genuine and nicest music guys in the city. It’ll be great to feel that pressure of having to equal their selections. So with that said, let the Belgian-beer fueled showdown begin! Hope you can join us! —Rick Taylor
Hey, did you know that I'm / Always going back in time / Rhyming slang, auld lang syne my dears / Through the years / I am the backwards traveler / Ancient wool unraveler / Sailing songs, wailing on the moon
And we were sailing songs, wailing on the moon / Wailing on the moon
I go back to how this whole thing started. Let's just put vinyl into people's hands. They'll recall how cool it is. "The size! The girth!"
...and then give 'em a chance to go see the band live. I mean, that's the formula right? Authenticity.
And man, we have have a window to put both right into your lap. "The size! The... aw - forget it.
...it's a TVD/Minus The Bear 24-Hour Ticket & Vinyl Giveaway!
Minus The Bear's newest 'Omni' hits the store shelves and other outlets this week and the band plays the 9:30 this Friday (5/7). The confluence of events makes the giveaway math a real no-brainer, right?
But you've gotta act fast! You've got 24 hours to let us know why you should receive 'Omni' on vinyl and the tickets to Friday's show. Plead your case in the comments to this post (with contact info!) and the best of the bunch will be awarded the tickets and the LP.
We're choosing the one winner tomorrow (5/6) at 10AM - so, uh...act fast!
While you're contemplating your brilliant contest entry, head here to grab a free mp3 form 'Omni!'
This week marks ten years (ten!) since my friend Anne took her own life.
The dark irony of this week's theme isn't lost on me however although it wasn't in mind as I was cobbling it all together.
You think you know a person and then they're getting dressed up to formally to come to your apartment to tell you it's all over and to retrieve their toothbrush.
You think you know a person when you're closer and even more intimate afterward.
You think you know a person when they can reveal and confide the troubled workings and misfirings of their own brain to you with clarity and humor and candor.
And you know a person when in the end, the final act was, in a way, no surprise at all.
Since yesterday's Lil' Triggers were flashbacks, we've asked TVD staff to tip us off to things they're listening to NOW, which'll become Lil' Triggers in the future. Make sense? —Ed.
Radical Face is a band comprised of one Ben Cooper, who also has many other projects that he records and tours as. I don't even remember how I discovered this guy, but a few years ago I stumbled upon his Ghosts album and fell in love. Apparently he was in DC in March playing in a basement apartment and I totally missed the boat on that one. His music is haunting, sometimes quite literally, such as one song that actually sounds like it was recorded in an old creaky house. I'm pretty sure I heard "Welcome Home" used on television recently, which almost worries me as I would love to keep this music for my own. Keep an eye out for this new album which will hopefully be released this year.
I first saw Dark Dark Dark at the now closed Brian McKenzie Infoshop in 2007. Comprised of members playing accordion, banjo, stand-up bass, clarinet and percussion, amongst other instruments, the group left me completely entranced. They're the type of people who just make beautiful things- sound, art, you name it. The band is in this film Flood, and at one point sail down the Hudson playing on a giant DIY raft. Every song they play sounds absolutely beautiful and raw and heartbreaking. Now Dark Dark Dark, whose members hail from Minneapolis, New York, and New Orleans, has a New EP out, Bright Bright Bright. It's sound is a little more polished than their older stuff, but enjoyable nonetheless. They were at SXSW this year, which means it's only a matter of time before Pitchfork starts adding them to one of their many lists.
I met Socalled* at a hip-hop workshop in the basement of a bar in Krakow, Poland. The workshop spanned two days and basically consisted of Socalled sitting at the front of this tiny dark room with 30 or so mostly Polish and American students watching him explain how a Jewish kid from Montreal took klezmer records and turned them into some of the most creative hip-hop being produced today. His hands moved like lightning across his sampler and his quirky looks had everyone at ease. His story was also pretty inspirational. Two days later he performed to a packed audience in the oldest synagogue in Poland. I have never been to a hip-hop show where I could say at least 30% of the audience were well into their twilight years. Not only did the synagogue allow for some amazing acoustics but the crowd's response was overwhelmingly positive. The place just emanated with good vibes. Three years later there's a documentaryout about him, and his fan base is continuing to expand, which hopefully means he'll start touring more often outside of Canada. *Note: He is not DJ Socalled, just Socalled and seems adamant that people get that.
Sage Francis. I can't emphasize enough how much I love this man. Sure he's been around a while, so you've probably heard of him. If you haven't, great! Start listening to him! And if you have, let this serve as a reminder to continue listening to him! SF attacks his song writing with anger, energy, and playfulness, which he in turn incorporates into his live shows. He hates corporate record labels and how effed up the music industry is and has managed to keep his indie label going while so many others have moved on to the evil recording giants. Also, he's a white dude that can actually rap. I haven't seen him perform in over two years but I'm really looking forward to his tour this summer and his new album Li(f)e.
