Category Archives: Vinyl

Thrill Jockey 15th Anniversary Shows : Day 1 – 12/14/07 (A Review)

Posted on by
2

In 1992, Bettina Richards– frustrated at the inequity of the handling of artists– left her A&R job at a major label to start her own label with some very clear ideas about how to do it. 15 years later, that label– Thrill Jockey– has become a benchmark against other small independent labels are measured for contracts, quality of recording, packaging and recently digital distribution. It’s certainly a testament to Bettina’s leadership and vision that Thrill Jockey has been around for 15 years. It isn’t unheard of in the industry– its contemporaries like Touch and Go/Quarterstick, Matador and its subsidiaries, and Epitaph have all been around that long, too– but Thrill Jockey is a bit different from those in that it seems more like a tight-knit group of artists. I think maybe the way Blue Note or Stax was in their heyday.

As mentioned earlier, I attended the two-day Thrill Jockey 15th Anniversary Party Shows at Logan Square Auditorium in Chicago. My friend Erik attended the shows with me. Erik’s a pretty big Thrill Jockey fan himself and in particular he was looking forward to the Califone and Sea and Cake shows. I was very happy he came along– it’s always better to see shows with someone else in my opinion. Plus, we split the gas and lodging, so that was helpful.

We took the day off work to drive to Chicago. The plan was to get checked in, get our bearings, get something to eat and get to the venue early enough to give us time to get parked. We were fortunate that there was good parking right by the venue– especially because we showed up before 6PM. As it turned out there was a neat little lunchcounter establishment called Johnny’s Grill where we ordered hamburgers and fries at the corner on the same block as Logan Square. We ate there both nights because the food was inexpensive, good and simplified our plans. On the first night Erik and I were the first people in the door. Security was run by the security for the Empty Bottle who was putting this on with Thrill Jockey and Listen Up Chicago. They also handled the dispensing of the liquor. Pabst was the beer sponsor, so there was Pabst specials, and it appeared that was what most of the bands who were drinking were drinking. They also had Goose Island in bottles, which was what Erik and I were drinking. I think we had the India Pale Ale.

Logan Square Auditorium also known as the Gilbert Building appears to be an old-time ballroom with wood floors and big plaster medallions on the ceiling. To maximize the number of bands that could be fit in, there were two stages opposite of each other. While one band was performing the next act would be setting up. Generally, there was about five or ten minutes between acts and each act got about 45 minutes. No acts got an encore– except for Fred Anderson– and he deserved it. Above the first stage by the entrace was a balcony which was reserved for the bands and their guests.

First stage at Logan Square Auditorium Second Stage at Logan Square Auditorium
Between the two stages was the Thrill Jockey merch counter– a place of bustling activity as you might expect.

Thrill Jockey Merch Table

Thrill Jockey promised to have some rare items for sale that night– I was hoping for OOP Tortoise vinyl but no such luck. They did have some 7 inches that were pretty rare and in the case of Arbouretum there was some vinyl from their personal stash. They did bring some of the cool apparel items, so that was a good night to pick up the Tortoise hoodie or the TJ beanie if you were looking for that. They also had the new Plum 7-inch boxset for sale and they were giving away the Trey Told ‘Em mix CD to pretty much everyone who came in the door.

Before the show at Johnny’s Grill a nice patron let me borrow the latest issue of the Chicago Edition of the Onion which had an interview with Bettina Richards as well as a picture of her so I was able to identify her in the crowd. I talked to her a couple times over the two nights and she was a really friendly and courteous person and seemed really happy that the event kicked off without any noticeable (at least by me) hitches. She was clearly the host of the party and it seemed like she was mingling with the crowd and the bands equally.

Most of the bands throughout the nights wished her a happy anniversary or thanked her. It occurred to me that she’s probably known some of these people for longer than the 15 years of Thrill Jockey– the members of Tortoise and Eleventh Dream Day for sure– and it was clear that she was friends with them. The band lineup pulled equally from the early days of Thrill Jockey– The Sea and Cake, Eleventh Dream Day, Trans Am, Tortoise as well as new acts like School of Language and Arbouretum– and they all got equal billing which shows that the label owes as much to the present bands as to the bands that have been on the label for a while.

One thing Erik and I learned the hard way was that it was imperative that we sat down from time-to-time! Unfortunately, there really wasn’t any place to sit but the floor or lean on the opposing stage for those bands for which we didn’t desire to be close. The first bands started around 7PM and we got to the venue around 6PM. Since the show generally went until 2AM– that meant we were on our feet for the most of EIGHT HOURS! Especially given that there wasn’t much time between sets. Needless to say after the first night’s show were were in a lot of pain.

Another observation I’ve made is about the photographers who were covering the show. I was there with a camera to take pictures for this article as well, but I try to be respectful of the bands as well as the other people who attended the show. I like to hang back a bit, make sure I’m not in the way, and only step in for an occasional picture. Some of these guys were chimping dozens of shots per band and were right up against the stage. One of the photographers for one of the huge not-music-blogs had one of those Sto-Fen Omni Bounce Diffusers on his flash which are used to soften the shadows which sometimes occur from using a flash. For whatever reason this guy was using his with the flash head pointing at the ceiling effectively blinding everyone in 360-degrees around him. Dude, if you’re reading this, it’s something you should know if you didn’t. You could have pointed the flash head at your subject since you were diffusing the flash.

Aside from that, the show was incredible and very much worth the trip and the very reasonable ticket price. I really felt like this show was an opportunity of a lifetime! Out of all of these bands, I’d only seen Tortoise and Pit-Er-Pat previously so it was amazing to see the rest of these acts if only for 45 minutes apiece! I think everyone put on a really good show and seemed to be enjoying being part of this tribute to the label on its home turf.

The first night kicked off with Brokeback. Brokeback is Doug McCombs’s other band in addition to Eleventh Dream Day and Tortoise. Brokeback started as a way to showcase the Fender Bass VI. The Bass VI is a longer-scale 6-string guitar similar to a baritone, and is in fact inspired by the Danelectro Baritone. It’s unique tone inspired Doug to record songs that became the Brokeback catalog. Brokeback put on a characteristically atmospheric set that was enthusiastically cheered by the small early crowd. (Apparently Friday night shows in Chicago have a lot of competition, based on some of the folks I talked to on Saturday who didn’t come to Friday night.)

Brokeback

Across the floor after Brokeback was Thalia Zedek who put on an amazing set. I’m not sure why I hadn’t gotten into her music before– she put on a very impassioned and energetic set. Sort of like a folky version of Patti Smith. I plan to start looking into her back catalog.

Thalia

From the edgy music of Thalia we are turned to the polished guitar pop balladry of Archer Prewitt. Archer was one of the sets I was really looking forward to. I’ve been following Archer since his White Sky album came out. Although he is a member of The Sea and Cake I hadn’t heard his first album I guess because it wasn’t on Thrill Jockey. He is now, of course and his last two albums Three and Wilderness are brilliant. His set focused on those two releases and I was impressed at how his sound works in a live setting. For the whole set he was playing this really nice-looking Jerry Jones Danelectro copy.

Archer Prewitt

One band I was curious about was Arbouretum. I hadn’t heard any of their music before the show was announced, but I visited the streaming tracks from the Thrill Jockey site and really liked what I heard. I’m not sure how to describe it– it’s a bit like folky sea-shanty type songs infected with 90’s grunge influence. Dave Heumann propels the songs with his trusty vintage Danelectro through washes of distortion. Some of the songs are short and to the point while others take a slightly psychedelic jam and solo. Out of the newer music I heard this weekend, this band is one I keep coming back to. Heumann’s side project with Lungfish member Nathan Bell will be releasing their first full length at the end of this month and it is very complimentary to the Arbouretum songs.

As a side note, the second night I wanted to pick up Arbouretum’s new album Rites of Uncovering on vinyl as I’d seen it there on Friday. I was informed that the copies they had for sale actually came from the band as the label had sold out of them! I was pretty bummed, but I reached out to Dave Heumann through the Arbouretum MySpace page and although he wanted to save those copies for their live show merchandise he was feeling the holiday spirit and sold me one. I should be getting my copy this coming week. Thanks Dave!

Arbouretum

Before The Sea and Cake hit the opposing stage we got one of the “surprise” acts– the Lonesome Organist hit the stage with his accordion and played a quick tune. It seemed really spontaneous and a crowd quickly gathered. As he was leaving the stage the crowd shouted for another song, so as he was making his way through the throng he obliged.

The Lonesome Organist

The Sea and Cake came on and did a great set with mostly songs from the new Everybody album. A couple of the songs were a lot more uptempo than the album to which Archer commented that someone gave John McEntire a cappuccino. I was really impressed with the bass playing of Eric Claridge! He plays some really complex bass lines. I was bummed that I didn’t get to see them last Fall when they hit Minneapolis and Madison.

The Sea and Cake

Up next was David Brewis as School of Language. He flew in especially for the event which was his U.S. debut and had only a day to prepare the guys who were stepping in as his band. His band for the night was Nick Macri of the Zincs and Ryan Rabsys of Euphone. They did a great job sitting in for him. This show was much better than I expected. I really didn’t have a chance to hear any of his music since the album wasn’t out. David’s new album Sea from Shore— currently streaming at the Thrill Jockey site– is a quirky guitar pop album which dashes of Prince falsetto and angular beats. David had the distinction of playing one of the few Gibson guitars at the show.

David Brewis

Next up on the same stage was the Fred Anderson Trio. Fred is kind of a local Jazz legend. He is the owner and frequent entertainment at the Velvet Lounge in Chicago and has a very extensive career. For a 78-year-old he sure can wail on the sax! I think that his band was Chad Taylor and bassist Josh Abrams– both Thrill Jockey regulars. When his set was done, the audience was so moved that they cheered for an encore! This was to be the only encore of the entire two-day affair!
Fred Anderson

The Fiery Furnaces used their 45 minutes to play most of their new album Widow City. This is an album I’ve listened to on-and-off since I got it. I like Eleanor Friedberger’s voice– it has a kind of urgency that reminds me of Crissy Hynde of the Pretenders. Overall I think it’s a good album, but it sometimes seems like every song is the same formula– a sort of cut-and-paste feel to it with jarring changes. Impressively, they do a great job performing this live. However, a full set of this seemed numbing to me after a while. A friend of Erik’s saw the Furnaces in Minneapolis last year and his observation was that people either really got in to them or they didn’t. This night I didn’t. Something else I found off-putting was that Eleanor kept walking off stage and seemed irritated about something maybe with the sound. The crowd really got into them it seemed, but by this time of the night the crowd started thinning out.

The Fiery Furnaces

The last act of the night was Bobby Conn. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I saw the pictures on the Thrill Jockey site and read the interview they had so I knew it would be different than the other acts. I like the songs on the King For A Day album a lot and had listened to it a couple of times before the show to become familiar with the songs. So, I wasn’t really prepared for what the show was– it appeared to be tongue in cheek– sort of a cross between Joe’s Garage and “Rocky Horror Picture Show.” Everyone in the band was in costume– I think representing the different characters in the King For A Day concept. Mostly I felt like I was seeing an inside joke. It was clear that they were being ironic with all of the 80’s hairmetal riffing– but really Bobby Conn and his other guitarists were a little too good at playing this style. Maybe they are post-ironic…
Bobby Conn

Erik and I stuck it out until the end of Bobby Conn’s set anticipating that maybe there would be some sort of announcement or comments from the organizers. By the end of the set the venue was pretty much vacated– I think there might have been around ten people left. The band finished, the houselights came up and Erik and I headed back to the hotel.

Coming up: Day 2!

See all the pictures I took on Day 1 of the Thrill Jockey 15th Anniversary Show.

Scion CD Sampler – Volume 19 : Daptone Remixed (review)

Posted on by
4

Scion CD Sampler - Volume 19It seems that 2007 was a year of a resurgence in interest of old-school Soul, Funk and R&B. Maybe it was the unexpected passing of Funk Brother #1 James Brown that caused people to look back at the music he influenced. We also saw the 50th Anniversary of Stax Records and the renewed interest that brought.

This year I reviewed two albums that honored the legacy of this style. On SciFidelity there was the Greyboy Allstars, and the Galactic album’s Nawlins-funk-meets-Indie-Rap. I also discovered the sometime Wu-Tang backing band the El Michels Affair on one of my Bins trips.

This year also saw the noveau-R&B release from gap-toothed, tattooed and beehive coiffed Amy Winehouse. Her producer Mark Ronson– aka the Wedding DJ to the Stars also released an album using the same backing band as the Winehouse record– the fantastic Dap-Kings from New York City for his covers album Version.

It’s the Dap-Kings who serve as the houseband for the temple of retro cool Daptone Records and serve primarily as the band for the amazing soul-diva Sharon Jones, whose 100 Days, 100 Nights is in constant rotation in my car. She’s been in a long tour since summer which included a stop at jamband festival Langerado where she brought the house down and has been selling out venues since.

Daptone is a record collector’s dream. All of their releases are on vinyl, CD and download– so take your pick! They are believers in the 7″ single, too and have quite a catalog of those to chose from. By the way, they have just brought some of the out-of-print 7-inches back into print, so run over there to get your hands on them!

Although I don’t picture a Scion Xb as being the appropriate car to pick Sharon Jones up for a date in– I tend to think of a gold 1969 Cadillac DeVille, really– the little brother division of Toyota has an appreciation for the singular vision of Soul that Sharon and her labelmates on Daptone keep.

Scion has apparently been producing sampler CD’s for a while— most of them about underground hip-hop it seems utilizing the most noted remixers and artists to compile them over their 19 CD run. I’ve been pretty impressed with Scion’s position as an affordable tuner car that attempts to identify with their consumer by providing an identity for the car and its fans/owners. These promotional sampler CD’s are available at Scion sponsored events, which would presumably include Hot Import Nights and maybe the Chicago Auto Show. The tracks are also available via iTunes and Rhapsody. In a really nice move, the production of the music was footed by Scion and all of the proceeds of the digital sales will go directly to Daptone! As cool as that is, I was a bit disappointed that only the Remixed CD and not the Originals was included for digital distribution– so I made an iMix in iTunes compiling the original tracks so you guys can get those, too. See the links below.

Volume 19 of the Scion Sampler series titled Daptone Records Remixed in its CD format is a 2-CD compilation of Daptone artists like Jones, The Budos Band, The Daktaris and the Sugarman Three. The first CD is the Remixes. Nine Daptone tracks manipulated by the likes of Mark Ronson, DJ Spinna, Hank Shocklee, Mad Professor, and Kenny Dope— all noted producers that bring their special flava to these vintage tracks. The second CD is a disc of the original tracks– a very nice touch. It gives you the ability to hear the songs in their original arrangements and places the remixes in the appropriate context. I have to say that the remixers really didn’t do anything dramatic to the tracks in most cases which shows the respect that they had for the songs. Really, the remixes are very nice compliments to the original tracks. Man, a really cool thing would be for Daptone to release 12″ vinyl with the original track on one side with it’s remix on the flip! It’s pretty clear that Daptone recognizes the larger-than-life personality and voice of Sharon Jones as the spokesperson for the label as every other song on this compilation is hers.

The remix of The Budos Band’s “Chicago Falcon” takes the instrumental track and adds Rap MC Wale over the top in a pretty straightforward old school-style sampling of the original track. This remix is done by Mark Ronson who’s partnership with the Dap-Kings I mentioned earlier.

The remix of Jones and the Dap-Kings “Keep On Looking” by Kenny Dope starts with an appropriate sample of Sharon singing “Break it down, break it down” followed by a break before bringing the song back in with a bumped up drum and bass beat. This is one of my favorite remixes on this record.

Appropriately enough, dub mastermind Mad Professor converts the afrobeat “Eltsugh Ibal Lasiti” by the Daktaris into a massive dub track maintaining the guitars and horns as the staples behind the beat. A really fun track that would be great to drop in a mix of reggae.

“Standing in Your Love” is a fun vintage-styled R&B duet between Sharon Jones and Lee Fields where two estranged lovers have to come to terms over a situation involving a stolen car. The “Sweet Nothing Mix” by Queens-native MC Cool Calm Pete transforms the song into a bitter kiss off.

Neal Sugarman is the sax player and leader of the Sugarman Three as well as the founder of Daptone Records. “Take It As It Come” featuring Charles Bradley is one of the label’s classic platters and its driving funk pays tribute to James Brown. Afrodisiac Soundsystem takes the instrumentals and samples them back to a staccato beat and dub stabs of sax and layers Charles’s vocals back over it showing how much of the song’s funk really comes from his delivery of the vocals.

“How Long Do I Have To Wait” by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings from their album Naturally always reminds me of the classic 1967 hit from Brenton Wood “Gimme Little Sign.” The remix by Ticklah aka Victor Axelrod brings the song to its knees in ska time. Victor is a member of the Easy Star All-Stars who put out the fantastic tribute record Dub Side of the Moon from 2003 as well as the Radiodread tribute. Victor is also a member of Antibalas whose 2007 release Security got a post-rock makeover from John McEntire. The vinyl version of their album Who Is This America? is on Daptone records.

Next up is another track from the fantastic Budos Band— the smoky “T.I.B.W.F” and its Ray Manzarek sounding keyboard. The remix is done by none other than Timebomb Squad founding member Hank Shocklee. He extends the song another minute and gives it a loping beat focusing on the horns and guitar. He breaks the song down in the middle and helpfully explains “This is A Remix.”

Sharon comes back exclaiming that her “Man is A Mean Man” with its fast tempo shuffling beat. DJ Spinna samples the drums and pulls them out of the left channel and shifts them front-and-center giving it a more “funky drummer” feel and helping anchor this song in a more dance-friendly form and extending the song out past six minutes. Spinna accomplished this by adding a break-down section pulling in vocals and instruments in pieces. DJ Spinna does one of my favorite remixes from the Quannum catalog. He does a great remix of Lyrics Born’s track with the Poets of Rhythm “I Changed My Mind.” By the way, I noticed that the Poets who were discovered by Lyrics Born moved from Quannum to Daptone!

The final track is the Bull Jun remix of the Sugarman Three and Co’s “Bosco’s Blues” that has Large Professor rapping over the last half of the song. His call out to Daptone and the listeners is a nice way to wrap up, I think. This is the first mix on the record to include scratching, which is odd.

For a cross-marking item like this I am impressed with the quality– it wasn’t thrown together like an afterthought. All of the tracks are quality efforts from the producers and really has some details that make this a real gem! I did my best to provide what I think are important details about this release. Unfortunately, there isn’t much for liner notes to this record other than the press release and the two paragraphs in the CD version.

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - Scion Sampler, Vol. 19 - Daptone Records Remixed
Click Here to Order the Daptone Remixes from iTunes

Daptone Originals iMix icon to Order the Daptone Originals iMix from iTunes

B-Sides in the Bins #19 – Chicago 12/15/07

Posted on by
1

While I was in Chicago for the Thrill Jockey Anniversary shows, I managed to hit a record store. This time I made it to the notorious Reckless Records at 1532 N Milwaukee Avenue. This is one of three locations in Chicago. Overall, a pretty impressive store with a wide variety of new and used CD and vinyl as well as a pretty decent selection of vinyl singles. They also have a video section. The opinion of some that I have talked to is that the staff at Reckless are pretty snobby and generally aren’t very helpful. Thankfully, I didn’t experience anything like that. I didn’t have a lot of time to really dig, but I was looking for some specific things related to Thrill Jockey as well as Daptone Records. I didn’t see any Thrill Jockey that I needed in new or used. I found a Daptone 7-inch, though.

Booker T. & The M.G.’s – “Soul Limbo” b/w “Heads or Tails” (7″ Single, Stax STA-0001, 1968) ($2.99) I was pretty happy to stumble on this very mint copy of this. I think I’d like to collect all of the Booker T and the M.G.’s singles. According to this page, this single is the first release on Stax after their distribution deal with Atlantic ended– hence the “STA-0001” catalog number. Isaac Hayes on piano and cowbell, and Terry Manning on marimba.

The Budos Band – “The Proposition” b/w “Ghost Walk” (7″ single, Daptone DAP-1027, 2006) ($5.99) I think I’m going to start collecting these singles, too. Daptone is a quality label that puts out releases that cater to the collector. The Budos Band have two albums out. “The Proposition” is on The Budos Band II, that was released in August and “Ghost Walk” is off of their previous album titled simply The Budos Band.

Simple Minds – New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) (LP. Virgin/A&M SP 4928 , 1982) ($1.99) I think this was kind of the score-of-the-day aside from the vinyl Califone I picked up at the Thrill Jockey show that night. One of my favorite Simple Minds albums. This copy was in the cut-out bin at Reckless. The copy is pristine. There were actually two copies in the bin and the other was priced $2.99 and didn’t look any better than this copy. Some of the best Simple Minds songs are on this one: “Someone Somewhere (In Summertime)”, “Promised You A Miracle,” “Big Sleep,” and “New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84).” All of these tracks were on the Live in the City of Light album that I listened to quite a bit when it came out. I have a poster hanging in the back garage at my mom’s of that live album. I have acquired a bunch of Simple Minds vinyl over the years– as I see some I pick it up.

I plan to try to hit that store again in the future. I was hoping to pick up some more vintage R&B– I flipped through their small section of it and didn’t see anything that caught my eye.

B-Sides in the Bins #18 – Cedar Rapids 11/07

Posted on by
1

I made a couple of trips to HalfPriceBooks this month. One trip was because I had a 50% off One Item coupon and the second trip was because I had a bunch of books to sell. Nothing crazy rare, but some collection builders.

What I bought:

Hard Promises – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (LP, Backstreet BSR-5160, 1981) ($2.99) This was with the 50% coupon. I got the incredible “Running Down A Dream” documentary DVD/CD set for my birthday in October and it got me thinking I should try to get more Tom Petty vinyl. My daughter bought me Southern Accents last year for one of the gift-giving holidays so I already had a start. There were copies of Damn the Torpedos in the bin, too, but this was in better condition than those. This is the second of the three albums produced by Jimmy Iovine starting with Torpedos and ending with Long After Dark. A pretty good album that shows Petty at the peak of his 80’s game. Of course, “The Waiting” is still a classic, but other standout tracks are “A Woman In Love (It’s Not Me)” and “Insider.” “Insider” is a duet with Stevie Nicks and one of my favorite songs from Petty’s catalog. I especially like the live version on Pack Up the Plantation.

Go Insane – Lindsey Buckingham (LP, Elektra E1-60363, 1984) ($1.00) Unfortunately, this is a Columbia House repressing, but it is really clean and for a buck I can’t complain. It is missing the record sleeve (I think). It has a plain white sleeve. I would have expected other artwork or something. Go Insane was Lindsey’s second solo release. This record was met with mixed reviews due to it’s odd use of sampled sounds like splashes and metal clangs. When Fleetwood Mac reconvened for 1987’s Tango In The Night, Buckingham produced the record and gave it the same sampled textures. When this record came out I listened to it a lot on my Walkman I remember. My family was and are still big fans of Fleetwood Mac and Lindsey Buckingham so when this record came out we bought it right away and it became part of family trips in the car stereo. The finale track– a celtic “D.W. Suite” is a tribute to the late Beach Boys drummer and vocalist Dennis Wilson. There is a sample of Ed Sullivan saying “Ladies and Gentlemen– The Beach Boys!” in it.

Gold – Ryan Adams (CD, Lost Highway P2 70256, 2001) ($5.98) Another one for the Ryan Adams collection. There isn’t much more I can add to what’s been said about Gold. It is probably the most consistent record in Adams’s catalog and likely most accessible. Brilliant and classic tracks like “New York, New York,” “Answering Bell,” “La Cienega Just Smiled,” “Rescue Blues,” and “When the Stars Go Blue” anchor the album and show Adams at the top of his songwriting.

Don’t Sleep on This– Thrill Jockey Online Exclusives: Plum, Mega Massive Mix, and Prekop Book

Posted on by
Reply

As previously mentioned (here, here and here), Thrill Jockey has three items that any fan of the label needs in their collection– and they are mucho limited editions so you should jump on these while they are available. I checked, and as of today these are still available. I’m not going to tell you again!

Super Epic Thrill Jockey Mega Massive Mix by Trey Told ‘Em — This is a mega mix of almost all of the Thrill Jockey artists and is available to anyone who went to either of the 15th Anniversary shows in London on November 12th or coming up in Chicago on December 14th. However, they aren’t denying this to folks who can’t make it to either show so for a limited time you can order this directly from Thrill Jockey. Trey Told ‘Em is a project of Gregg Gillis aka blog-darlings Girl Talk and Frank Musarra from Hearts of Darkness. At $12 this is a deal! I’m sure it will be worth 5x that on eBay later. Available as a pre-order. Will ship after 12/18 following the Chicago show.

Plum 7 Inches Box Set — This is a set of ten 7″ singles of Thrill Jockey artists covering each other. These are 180mg records. Tortoise, Sea and Cake, Califone, Howe Gelb, Zincs, Pullman Pit Er Pat, David Byrne, Mouse on Mars, and the list goes on. Will not be available as a download or on CD. Available as a pre-order. Will ship after 12/4.

If you pre-order these together you get a $2 discount on the order. However, it will hold the shipment until 12/18 when the Mega Mix is released.

“Photographs” book by Sam Prekop – As mentioned earlier, this is a book of black and white photographs by Sam Prekop that he has had in exhibits. Nice hardback book published by Presspop Gallery and is available from Thrill Jockey mailorder. This book comes with a CD of instrumentals by Prekop that are inspired by the pictures. I ordered this one separate from the Box set and megamix last week so I have it. The CD is relatively short (20 minutes) and is comprised of mellow electronic music. Good stuff.

BTW: I am going to the Chicago Anniversary show. Apparently in addition to the surprise guests, there will be some “Rare Merchandise” available. I can see this is going to be an expensive trip! Maybe I can get TNT on vinyl for less than 50 freakin’ dollars!

Upcoming Show: Thrill Jockey 15-Year Anniversary Show in Chicago 12/14 and 12/15

Posted on by
1

Thrill Jockey 15 Poster Per the fine folks at Pitchfork, Thrill Jockey, The Empty Bottle, and Time Out Chicago have announced the details of the US version of the Thrill Jockey Birthday Bash in the UK on November 11th and 12th.

$50 will get partygoers two nights of Thrill Jockey Post-Fun at the Logan Square Auditorium on Friday, December 14th and Saturday, December 15th. The shows will include long-time label acts including Eleventh Dream Day, Brokeback, The Sea and Cake, Califone, Trans Am, Freakwater as well as newer acts School of Language, Thalia Zedek, Frequency, Archer Prewitt, Pit Er Pat and others.

Suspiciously missing from the roster is Tortoise, but maybe the promise of “guaranteed surprises” will get us some kind of appearance.

The sequence of the acts is unknown– so we don’t know which night a particular band might play, and as such the $50 gets you both nights. A deal anyway you look at it, really. Especially when you consider that you will be getting the very cool and very rare Super Epic Thrill Jockey Mega Massive Mix done by Girl Talk side project Trey Told ‘Em. 70-minutes of mashed Thrill Jockey.

According to the PF article, the mix will be available in very limited quantities through Thrill Jockey or Trey Told ‘Em’s online orders.

The PF article also gave us the official name for Thrill 200— Plum. Available 12/4 in the US and 12/3 in the UK.

Click Here to download the Trans Am excerpt from the Super Epic, etc. (hosted by Timeout Chicago).

Visit the Trey Told ‘Em MySpace Page to hear the very cool over-seven-minute Tortoise Mix!

B-Sides in the Bins #17 – Chicago 10/29/07

Posted on by
1

After the Minneapolis trip where Sherry and I saw Lyrics Born, we drove to Chicago so she could attend a class related to her aesthetician profession. While she was in class on Monday I decided to visit some record stores in the area around Lincoln Avenue.

Laurie's Planet of Sound

The first record store I hit was Laurie’s Planet of Sound (4639 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago). Laurie’s is located in the area known as “Lincoln Square” which is a neat little shop area. They opened at 10AM so they were the first place I hit.

In this area parking on the main streets are $.25 per hour with a 1-hour minimum. Either bring your quarters or park on a side street where the parking– albeit rare– is free. According to the guys in the store you could park for free under the El Train tracks, too. I managed to find a meter with an hour and a half still in it.

The store is pretty typical record store in appearance– bins, posters, table-style CD racks. The store sells both new and used records and CD’s as well as DVDs and video cassettes. The CD racks are at the front of the store and are organized by artist name as expected. The used CD’s are interspersed with the new CD’s. The used CD’s are in thin cards that hold the cover art of the CD. The jewel cases are behind the counter. Most of the used CD’s are bunched together in their general areas. The recent arrivals are in the first row and are easy to find. This is pretty convenient and similar to the racks organized by day that Cheapo’s in the Twin Cities does. So, if you are a regular, you might only need to visit that section. The last set of CD racks are the $2.99-and-up clearance CD’s. These are CD’s that they want to get rid of for various reasons and are clearance priced. This might be because the CD’s are slightly blemished or maybe it is a promo title. I picked up my Michael Brook CD from this section. Below some of the CD racks are the dollar bins. This is kind of a grab-bag of titles that the store is looking to dump. I picked up a couple of CD’s out of these bins. I saw some gems in there that I already had, too. Most of it is questionable, but there are a lot of promotional items in there, too.

The vinyl section is at the back of the store and there are two tables of new vinyl– priced fairly. Behind that is the used section with a “recent arrivals” section like the CD section does.

I found the store staff to be friendly, conversational and generally very helpful. I plan to come back.

What I bought:

Heard It On The X – Los Super 7 (CD, Telarc CD-83623, 2005)($6.99) This is the third of this series. The first self-titled Los Super Seven album on RCA was “hosted” by Los Lobos as the band as a tribute to Border Radio songs of the Tex-Mex variety. Heard It On The X has Calexico playing a similar role with some of the same performers including Freddy Fender, Rick Tervino, and Ruben Ramos from the first session. This CD adds Delbert McClinton, John Hiatt, Raul Mao, Rodney Crowell, Joe Ely and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown. This CD features the Doug Sahm classic “The Song of Everything” which I heard Calexico do with members of Oakley Hall in Iowa City. One to add to my expanding Calexico collection.

What’s Wrong With This Picture? – Van Morrison (CD, Blue Note 90167, 2003) ($6.99) On the drive into Chicago XRT played one of Van Morrison’s new albums and Sherry commented that she liked this mellow jazzy version of Van the Man. So, when I ran across this used, I thought I’d pick it up. Very decent CD. I’ll be ripping this one for the in-home mp3 server. I think that Van Morrison on Blue Note is a pretty classy combination. I hope he’s able to continue down this path.

RockPaperScissors – Michael Brook (CD, Canadian Rational CRBHE002, 2006)($2.99) This one was a SCORE! I found this in the $2.99 and up bins in the back. It was still sealed. I didn’t even know that Michael Brook had a new CD. I used to listen to his 1992 release Cobalt Blue all the time. I originally found out about Brook because I was heavily into artists on 4AD (Cocteau Twins, Pixies, Xymox, Throwing Muses, Lush). Brook is mostly an ambient instrumental artist and really a guitarist. He toured with David Sylvian and Robert Fripp as a supporting musician. As I was looking into his career while writing this up, I found out that he was the composer and performer for the film “An Inconvenient Truth!” He has a companion album to this one called BellCurve that is only available through Barnes & Noble. Includes 4AD labelmate Lisa Germano as well as the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan on vocals. Recommended if you like Brian Eno’s ambient work, Robert Fripp’s ambient work, Daniel Lanois’ ambient work, and hate global warming.

The Greatest Hits: Why Try Harder? – Fatboy Slim (CD-R, Astralwerks Promo, 2006)($2.99) This was a CD-R promo for this album which is probably the only thing anyone needs to own from the frequently spotty album releases from Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim. I bought his first album Better Living Through Chemistry because of the breakout track “Rockafeller Skank” in 1997. I also bought the follow on You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby in 1998. Thanks to “Praise You” everyone heard waaay too much of Mr. Slim. I pretty much avoided the next couple of albums as he was sounding a lot like he was imitating Moby and the Chemical Brothers. This collection has all of the tracks anyone cares about or likely will care about. This CD adds two more collaborations with Lateef the Truth Speaker bringing the total to three– “Wonderful Night” (used in a Target commercial last Christmas), “Champion Sound” and the funky “That Old Pair of Jeans.” I wish Lateef would book some solo studio time. I love his collaborations, but he’s due for a solo rekkid. Lyrics Born is doing it and so is the Gift of Gab!

Happy Holidays from EMI Music Marketing – Various Artists (CD, EMI Promo, unknown year) ($1.99) Another score. This time from the bins on the floor. This is a 13-track Christmas compilation from EMI-related labels including Capitol and Blue Note. It came in a nifty metal tin box with gift wrapping graphics on stickers. Includes a lot of tracks I already have in other places, but I couldn’t pass this one up! Nat King Cole on “Christmas Song,” Deano Martin slurring “Silver Bells,” Frank on “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” Peggy Lee on “Winter Wonderland,” “Little Saint Nick” by the Beach Boys, Bing Crosby sans David Bowie on “The Little Drummer Boy,” a sultry “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” by the Rev. Al Green. Includes an unnecessarily stiff reading of “Merry Xmas (War is Over) by the Vienna Boys Choir.

Oceans Apart – The Go-Betweens (CD, YepRock Promo for YEP-2105, 2005) ($1.99) Another one from the floor. A promo for the Oceans Apart album and conveniently includes the 6-tracks from the bonus CD appended to the back of the release. The Go-Betweens were one of those rare bands that transcended genre placement. They sprung onto the scene in the New Wave early 80’s and continued to record albums up until Grant McLennan’s unexpected passing in 2006. Oceans Apart was the critically acclaimed last formal release from the Go-Betweens. I managed to not follow their career, so when I saw this for 2 bones, I figured I’d pick it up. Upon first listen, it seems pretty decent. The bonus tracks are from a concert recorded in 2004 at the Barbican Concert Hall in London.

Radium – Railroad Earth (CD, RRE001 (self-released), 1995)($1.99) One from the floor bins… NOT the jamband Railroad Earth from New Jersey who is on SCIFidelity Records! I picked this up because I thought it might be related. It is not. This is a grunge-y band from the Wilmington, NC area. For some reason there are resellers on GEMM who have this listed for a lot of money ($35?!?!). I suppose being a self-released CD from a fledgling band from NC it is pretty rare. I will probably stick this out on eBay to see what happens. Overall not a bad CD, really. Just kind of dated.

Everybody – Sea and Cake (LP, Thrill Jockey thrill 186, 2007) ($11.99) I finally broke down and bought this on vinyl. I had been debating this, but since TJ vinyl goes up in price as titles go out of print I figured I’d snag one. Very heavy vinyl– possibly 180g? Includes a 16-page booklet of what appears to be lyrics and charts and other scribblings and notes done on graph paper. This is one of my favorite releases from 2007, and I never get tired of listening to it. Their best release so far.

Between the Incident and the Event – Adam Fitz (CD, Is What You Make iwym 001, 2007)($0) Adam Fitz is one of the employees at Laurie’s. He was working while I was there. We talked about a lot of stuff music-related while I was shopping and I mentioned my blog. He asked me if I’d review his CD. I’ve given it a quick listen– not enough for a full-review– a couple of standout tracks. Decent production. He said it was singer/songwriter, which I guess it technically is, but it seems a bit more eclectic (for lack of a better word) than I would define singer/songwriter. Soulful like Adam Durvitz on a good day. Is not like Jackson Browne or James Taylor. Stay tuned for a real review.

What I didn’t Buy:

A whole bunch of Neil Young vinyl.

I asked the guys from Laurie’s what record store I should hit next and they suggested I try Deadwax which is also on Lincoln (3819 N Lincoln Ave). Unfortunately when I got there it was closed. They are closed on Mondays. Instead, I hit Hard Boiled Records in Roscoe Village.

Hard Boiled Records

Hard Boiled Records (2010 W. Roscoe, Chicago) is not on the corner of Lincoln and Roscoe as Google Maps would have you believe– it’s in the middle of the block. With the trees in full foliage you might miss it. It is next to a bicycle store. I figured out the secret to free parking– park on a side street (duh). After a dozen laps around Roscoe Village, I found a spot. A nice little store, limited inventory, but very selectively chosen it appears. Much more esoteric than Laurie’s is. In fact, much more esoteric than any record store I’ve seen that didn’t specialize in a genre. Mark Ferguson, the owner, seems to have quite a few musical tastes in common with me, which makes this kind of a dangerous store. I’m looking for Thrill Jockey stuff and he had some. He also had a great selection of Post-Rock related titles. Mark was celebrating 11 years in business with an 11% off sale, which was cool. One thing I thought was interesting was his approach with me as soon as I came in. He asked me directly what I was looking for– a bold move if the customer wants to browse without being hassled. I told him I was looking for Thrill Jockey on vinyl. So, he came out and pulled everything he had– which he was admittedly low on at the moment, but we started talking about the bands on Thrill Jockey and he made some other recommendations and also started playing some CD’s that were from local acts that he knew where similar to the Thrill Jockey sound. Very cool. If I had hit this store before Laurie’s I might have had to stop shopping for the day! Mark has a really good selection of underground Hip-Hop and Electronica as well. According to online reviews, he has one of the best import film selections around as well.

What I bought:

Hoshi No Koe – Nobukazu Takemura (LP, Thrill Jockey thrill 094, 2001)($9.99) Nobukazu Takemura is an renowned electronic musician and a mainstay on the Thrill Jockey. I’ve never really dug into his catalog, so I thought I’d start with this. Amazingly, still in print.

2 – KTL (2 LP, Thrill Jockey thrill 188, 2007)($19.99) Very out-of-print– limited to 1500 copies with intricate sleeve art. 180g vinyl. Thrill Jockey only released the vinyl and mp3 versions of this album. The compact disc release is under the Editions Mego label. KTL is a collaboration between Death Metal SUNN O))) member Stephen O’Malley and Peter Rehberg. Very very dark ambient electronic music.

Stopsmiling Issue 31 : Ode To The South ($5.95) Stopsmiling is a magazine I hadn’t heard of before this trip. Very lushly printed vivid color and nice paper. Pretty much a literary arts magazine. This issue had a tribute to the Stax Records 50th Anniversary. So there were articles on the history of the label and some of the artists on the label including a lengthy one which had excerpts of a larger interview used in the “Respect Yourself” documentary. I’m bummed to find out that this issue should have had a 10-track sampler of Stax artists with it. It looks like for $8 I can get a back issue that includes that disc.

Stopsmiling Issue 26 : The U.K. Issue ($5.95) This one I bought because it came with an exclusive Thrill Jockey sampler of eight Thrill Jockey artists covering or reinterpreting a British standard “Underneath the Arches.” Pretty cool. I think the standout versions are from Sam Prekop and Howe Gelb.

It seems like almost every issue of Stopsmiling comes with a bonus something-or-other. There are usually multiple covers available as well.

What I Didn’t Buy:

Shaolin Series “C.R.E.A.M” b/w “Glaciers of Ice” – El Michels Affair (7″ TS008, 2007) Okay, I’m *really* stupid for not buying this!!!! Sigh. This is tasty funk ala the Meters or Booker T and the MG’s covering Wu Tang Clan tracks. This is the first release of two releases. These guys toured behind Raekwon, adding old school live instrumentals to his show. Mark? Do you still have this one?? Hello?
So, at the end of the day, it was a successful run even though I only hit two stores. I came back with some interesting stuff including things to read, which always makes me happy.

I was talking with Mark from Hard Boiled about how surprising it is that there are so many record stores in a small geography. He said that is by design, really. The best way to do business is to compete, and to compete you need to be where the business is– namely around other stores. He said that if you can’t compete you shouldn’t be in business. He said that his old location in Hyde Park didn’t do very well and that forced him to move. I guess I’d never though about how the economics of record retail work. It always just seemed to me that a record store needed to bring value beyond what a Big Box retailer did or provide more service than the Internet can in having a personal expert on hand.

When I look at the varied shopping experience I got just from two stores not even five miles from each other. It really seems that neither of these store are redundant– they both serve different purposes and sometimes different shoppers.

Make sure to visit these store and others in this area if you happen to be in this area. These stores are what independent retail is about.

B-Sides in the Bins #16 – Dallas 10/14/07

Posted on by
1

I was in Dallas the week of 10/14 for an I/T conference. While I was there I wanted to visit what is considered the best record store in the area– Bill’s. Bill’s Records has been around for over 20 years and is known for the extensive vinyl collection as well as its in-store performances.

Unfortunately, I visited the store while it was in the middle of moving locations so there was apparently quite a bit of inventory still at the old location. Apparently this new location is a bit smaller, too. I visited on a Sunday night– they are open until 10PM every night of the week. The store was dead the night I was there and the store was staffed by Bill himself and another guy who was busying himself with getting their eBay auctions ready.

Bill’s Records new location is downtown in what seems to be called “Southside” on South Lamar. It does not have a parking lot, so you have to either park in the paid lot next to it or on the street at meters. On Sunday afternoon, however, the parking on the street is free. The store is good sized with rows of library-style stacks of records on the right side of the store and along the right wall. Down the middle of the store are CD racks. At the back of the store is a cozy area with sofas and a small stage where the live performances happen.

As far as inventory is concerned, the focus of the store is really vinyl. There is a selection of used CD’s, but it pales in comparison of the mountain of vinyl. There are some new titles in the CD area as well. The CD section has a dedicated area for country and Americana, which is where I found my copy of Cold Roses. The vinyl is loosely organized by first letter of the artist. I say “loosely” because things are generally organized by the first letter, but you could find a particular artist spread throughout that area. This aspect of the organization makes one need to comb the entire section to make sure you found everything. I understand the challenge of organizing a collection of records, and with the sheer volume of records in stock they would spend every day sorting things. The majority of the vinyl is vintage used titles. I don’t think I saw any new vinyl. Quite a bit of “still sealed” though! Bill is a fan of Depeche Mode, The Cure, and The Smiths– so there is a lot of rare and import vinyl there for those artists– in most cases multiple copies of titles. He also has 10″ records separated onto a couple of shelves and there was quite a selection of those. While I was flipping through those looking for the OOP Stereolab EP that was rumored to be in there I found a very rare import Cure 10″. When I talked to the assistant guy about it he immediately showed it to Bill at which point it went on eBay!! Good thing I didn’t want it!

Another disappointing factor to shopping at Bill’s is that nothing is priced. So, Bill needs to be there to tell you how much something is. In fact, Bill does a quick lookup on the Internet to see what the going rate is for something which pretty much guarantees that you won’t get a “deal” without haggling. While I was there I saw a big collection of Full Fathom Five on Link Records from the 90’s STILL SEALED and MULTIPLE COPIES! Full Fathom Five was an Iowa band from the late 80’s and early 90’s who played a lot in the Eastern Iowa area. With two of the records in hand I asked Bill how he came to have these. He didn’t remember. I was hoping he maybe had some Head Candy vinyl as well– another Eastern Iowa band who was also on Link at the same time. He looked them up on the Internet and said I could have the two records I had in my hands for $25, which he thought was fair– in fact that was probably what they were worth since they were still sealed and out-of-print. Well, that was more than I was willing to spend at that time– I was looking for bargains. Later, when I checked out– purchasing only the Ryan Adams CD– he said I could buy the records for $9 apiece. I was just finishing signing my Visa receipt at that time, so the offer was too late. I might have purchased those instead of the Ryan Adams CD if that offer had been earlier!

So– I think that Bill’s has great potential for finding rare gems, but it takes some work to get there. If I end up in Dallas again with a lot of time on my hands I’ll try my luck again.

What I bought:

Cold Roses – Ryan Adams and the Cardinals (2 CD, Lost Highway 0602498820209, 2005) ($17.99) An import version of the album with the bonus track “Tonight.” Came in jewel case instead of domestic paper cover. At this price it wasn’t a “deal” per se, but convenient and I wanted a copy.

What I Didn’t Buy:

Paingiver – Full Fathom Five (12″ Single, Link, 1988)
The Cry of a Falling Nation – Full Fathom Five (LP, Link, 1987)
Smoke Screen – Full Fathom Five (12″ Single, Link, 1989)
Multinational Pop Conglomerate – Full Fathom Five (LP, Link, 1989)

Thrill 200 7″ Box Set Details

Posted on by
2

No sooner did I get the post together about the Thrill Jockey 7″ Boxset and Pitchfork gets the scoop on the set details. They also have a sample of the Sea and Cake cover of Califone.

Contrary to what the TJ site says currently, there will be 18 songs and 9 records. It will be released on December 4th in the U.S. (3rd in the UK).

Other news from Pitchfork is that there will be a US show similar to the UK anniversary event in Chicago “sometime in December.” Hopefully this means that they will have the Girl Talk/Trey Told ‘Em remix CD at that show!

Box set (covered artist in parentheses) From Pitchfork:

Adult.: “Underwater Wave Game” (Pit er Pat)
Arbouretum [ft. Beach House’s Victoria Legrand]: “Bus Stop” (Thalia Zedek)
David Byrne: “Ex-Guru” (The Fiery Furnaces)
Califone: “Jewel” (Freakwater)
Bobby Conn: “Washed in the Blood” (Freakwater)
Angela Desveaux: “Two Moons” (Arbouretum)
Eleventh Dream Day: “I Like the Name Alice” (Sue Garner)
Freakwater: “Passengers” (The Zincs)
Sue Garner & Rick Brown: “UMO” (OOIOO)
Howe Gelb: “Boxers” (John Parish)
John Parish: “Vampiring Again” (Califone)
Pit er Pat : “Flew Out My Window” (The Lonesome Organist)
Archer Prewitt: “Mrs. Turner” (The National Trust)
Pullman: “3 a.m.” (The Chicago Underground Quartet)
The Sea and Cake: “Spider’s House” (Califone)
Tortoise: “Fallslake” (Nobukazu Takemura)
Thalia Zedek: “Flat Hand” (Freakwater)
The Zincs: “Blue Marble Girl” (Giant Sand)

Thrill 200 Page at Thrilljockey.com

Special Thrill Jockey Releases in Celebration of 15 Years

Posted on by
Reply

This year marks fifteen years of Thrill Jockey Records and to celebrate they are throwing two days of shows at Koko in London with a massive lineup of Thrill Jockey’s stable of artists including Tortoise, The Sea and Cake, Trans Am, Califone and others. These shows are November 11th and 12th. Tortoise headlines the second night.

For those fortunate enough to see this amazing set of shows, they will also get an exclusive CD to mark the occasion. This CD consists of remixes made from the Thrill Jockey catalog by Girl Talk and Trey Told ‘Em! Unfortunately at this time the only way to get this CD will be if you purchase tickets for the show. I guess I’ll have to watch eBay for my copy…

In addition to the show and the remix CD, Thrill Jockey will be releasing catalog number Thrill 200– a box set of eight 180g 7″ records with Thrill Jockey artists covering songs by other Thrill Jockey artists! This will be a limited edition so don’t sleep on this! Some covers include Tortoise covering Nobukazu Takemura, The Sea and Cake covering Califone, and the Fiery Furnaces covered by David Byrne.

Keep watching the Thrill Jockey website for updates– or here…