Thursday, March 10, 2011

Stuff I Listened To Last Week – 5 Mar 2011

Every time I listen to a record, I leave it next to the stereo. On Monday, before I go back to work, I re-file them all. Below are the contents of this week's pile.


The Beatles, 1962-1966
Just picked up the red album at Beautiful World for $5; quite a steal. Granted, I have most of these tracks already on other records, but I was missing a couple of the early singles.

Side one is absolutely mind-blowing. Granted, the Beatles' career got of to a bit of an inauspicious start: "Love Me Do" is bland, lethargic and derivative. But from there the next half a dozen singles are just amazing.


The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse
I like both of this band's records a lot. I've had them at the apartment for a while now and I just brought this one home. Another one of those Canadian bands with like eight-plus members. I have a theory that they all do that to save on heat in their rehearsal spaces. Y'know, with body heat.


David BowieHunky Dory
His last hippie record, before he went glam. Mark Spitz considers this the most essential of the bunch, but I'd put at least three before it. Not that it's not great, mind you. Is that a double negative?


Tim BuckleyStarsailor
Supposed to be his furthest out-there record, but I think Lorca's much weirder.


Alice CooperLove It To Death
Fucking awesome. If you don't know about early Cooper, it's time to learn. I'm talking Alice Cooper the band, mind you, before the singer went solo and kept the name. This is the one with "I'm Eighteen" on it. It also has "Long Way To Go" and "Sun Arise", which are even better.


Daft PunkDiscovery
I'd really love to cover this album in its entirety with a three-piece band. I think the first several songs would all translate really well. Problem is, this one crashes hard toward the end. Probably just could have been shorter.


Marvin GayeWhat's Going On
Supposedly Berry Gordy hated this record, partly because he didn't know what "ecology" means.


Glasvegas
New one coming out in April. They look a little glammed up in the photos. Not sure how I feel about this.


Guided By VoicesFor All Good Kids
Bob and the boys are pleasantly hammered for this one, circa 1995 or so. Includes some song from "Clown Prince" I've never heard before.


Hüsker DüLand Speed Record, New Day Rising, Flip Your Wig
Just picked these up along with Andrew Earles's new bio. Probably read that next. Working on Nick Kent's memoir now.

God bless SST, by the way, for keeping these in print on vinyl. They deserve some kind of citation for that invaluable public service.


Led Zeppelin[runes]
I've listened to this record a million times and I still can't tell you what "Four Sticks" sounds like. Most useless filler track on a great album ever?


The Mekons Rock 'n' Roll
Just ran into P—, whom I hadn't seen in about 15 years, at a funeral the other day. I asked him if he was still collecting records. He said yes, occasionally, and had just picked this one up on eBay. Good find.


The New Bomb Turks!!Destroy-Oh-Boy!!
P— recommended this one to me the other day while he was reading the lead singer's new book. P— rarely steers me wrong.


The Only OnesSpecial View
I had this on CD years ago and just picked up a vinyl copy a couple weeks ago. Man, does this hold up well. I remembered it being just the hit and a bunch of lesser tunes, but there's a ton of good tracks on here.


Syd BarrettThe Madcap Laughs/Barrett
If you wrote a song called "I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives", you'd probably go to jail too.


The Pretty ThingsS.F. Sorrow
The first rock opera! Pre-dates Tommy! So they say. Reputed to be a lost classic. Might be.


The Rolling StonesExile On Main Street


Steely DanCan't Buy a Thrill
S— brought a date to dinner last week, and he was way into the Dan. I think he was pretty pumped when I pulled this one out. He also recommended I check out Lou Reed's Street Hassle, but I haven't found a copy yet.


1969 Velvet Underground Live With Lou Reed
The one with the butt on the cover. There was a request for some Lou at the party, and it turns out MMM is the only one I have. This sufficed.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Stuff I Listened To Last Week – 20 Feb 2011

Every time I listen to a record, I leave it next to the stereo. On Monday, before I go back to work, I re-file them all. Below are the contents of this week's pile.


Depeche ModeMusic For the Masses
Reputed to be a lesser effort, but I rather like this one. Peters out a bit towards the end, but the first half is excellent. "Never Let Me Down" really needs a guitar-heavy cover. Smashing Pumpkins did a version years ago for a Mode tribute album that reinvents it as quiet and menacing, but I think you can play this pretty literally, with booming drums and power chords for the main synth riff and it would really rock.


FishboneThe Reality of My Surroundings
Definitely their masterpiece, and a flawed one at that. Fishbone never made a great album, but this one came closest. I just realised I keep writing two-clause sentences with "but" in the middle. The muted power chords, crisp production and super-pro rhythm section sound very dated and very L.A., but the energy and manic ideas shine through.


Buddy HollyThe Crickets 20 Golden Greats
Did I say last week that this one really needs an apostrophe in the title?


The Jesus and Mary ChainPsychocandy
I love that there's a song on side two with the exact same intro as "Just Like Honey". They found a riff that worked, so why not use it twice? These guys did not give a fuck. Shameless and brilliant.


Janelle MonáeSuites II and III: The Archandroid
All the hits are frontloaded, but it doesn't flag a bit in the second half. Solid.


OutKastSpeakerboxxx/The Love Below
Now that Chico Dusty has met with universal praise, can we all just come out and say what we've been thinking all along but were afraid to say for fear of seeming like we just don't get it? Speakerboxxx slays Love Below.


R.E.M.Up, IX
IX is a lot better than I expected, with a few real standout tracks. The title's still the best part, though. Get it?


Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet BandNight Moves
Buckets of hits on here, plus a terrific back cover photo. I don't know who did their wardrobe, but s/he deserves some kind of special citation.


SwirliesThey Spent Their Wild Youthful Days In the Glittering World Of the Salon/Strictly East Coast Sneaky Flute Music
Is it cheating to reissue two old albums as a double-LP in order to claim the prize for longest album title? If not, then I think they passed Marnie Stern, but I'm pretty sure Fiona Apple still has them beat.

Wild Youthful Days, by the way, might be the great forgotten indie rock album of the 90s. That or August Revital. Doesn't even have their best song on it, but it's astounding start to finish. Still in print, too!


Times New VikingDig Yourself
I wonder if Bob Dylan's heard this record. He's on the cover, presumably without permission. I bet he'd like it.


Stevie WonderLooking Back
A triple album of early hits from before he even peaked, and it's still unstoppable.


Neil YoungLe Noise
I feel like this one got kinda overlooked last year, and it's his best in a long time.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Stuff I Listened To Last Week – 13 Feb 2011

Every time I listen to a record, I leave it next to the stereo. On Monday, before I go back to work, I re-file them all. Below are the contents of this week's pile.


Alien Sex FiendToo Much Acid?
"Totally live: no overdubs"

I have no idea if these guys are still around, but I can't imagine what else they might be doing. What else do you do if you're Nik Fiend other than make this music?


The CureKiss me Kiss Me Kiss Me
Robert Smith really is such an underrated guitarist. The solo in "The Kiss" stands alongside anything by the great British rock guitarists of the sixties (Clapton, Page, Green).


The Flaming LipsClouds Taste Metallic


Godspeed You Black Emperor!lift yr skinny fists like antennas to heaven
It should be "antennae", really. They're French.


Guided By VoicesUnder the Bushes, Under the Stars
K— recently defended Mag Earwhig! to me by saying that this album is sonically akin to that one, and that this one really represents the first album in the next phase of GBV. Not sure how I feel about that. Perhaps I'll listen to Mag next week. I've actually been considering putting it on the block.


Buddy HollyThe Crickets 20 Golden Greats
This is the one with the cover photo of a brick wall with the graffito reading "BUDDY HOLLY LIVES". Basically all you need. Totally unstoppable.


Elvis PresleyElvis' Worldwide 50 Gold Award Hits, Vol. 1
I challenge anyone who says Elvis's greatness began and ended in '56 to listen to this and try to resist "Little Sister", "Kissin' Cousins" and "If I Can Dream". And like a dozen others. Elvis rules.


Primal ScreamVanishing Point
One of the weird things about being a fan of both vinyl and experimental electronic music is that sometimes I don't know the correct speed for certain 12" singles. And I have so many that aren't marked either way. I actually own a couple of records which I honestly cannot figure out whether they are supposed to be played at 33 or 45 rpm. This album is clearly labeled as a 33 rpm pressing. It's right there on the record label. And it's a 45. Fuck you guys.


Prince and the RevolutionAround the World In a Day
A lot of people don't realise that there's actually a Prince song called "Paisley Park". It's not just his label/studio name. These people also, for obvious reasons, don't realise that it's a seriously awesome song. Their loss.


Linda RonstadtGreatest Hits
Her vocal performance on "Different Drum" is so sexy it hurts. Have you seen photos of her in the 70s? So hott. Think about this: at one point Jerry Brown was the governer of California and he was banging Linda Ronstadt. Simultaneously. What have you achieved in your life?


Spacemen 3The Perfect Prescription


SpiritualizedLazer Guided Melodies
Off topic, but I just scored a copy of Pure Phase and I'm thrilled. Actually, I got an email alert saying somebody had posted a copy on GEMM and I ordered it right away, but a few more have come up since, so I think it may have just been reissued. About time.


Van Halen II
Not a great album overall, but it has "Dance the Night Away" on it, so the whole thing's worth it.


The WhoLive At Leeds


Neil YoungOn the Beach


ZoroasterMatador

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Stuff I Listened To Last Week – 6 Feb 2011

Every time I listen to a record, I leave it next to the stereo. On Monday, before I go back to work, I re-file them all. Below are the contents of this week's pile.


Dinosaur Jr.Beyond


Dirty ThreeShe Has No Strings Apollo
I remembered this one being not so great, but I had never listened to it much, so I pulled it out. Yeah, not that great. The songs don't really go anywhere, and a lot of the performances just feel really uninspired.


Explosions In the SkyThe Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place
The new one comes out in April, and I've got high hopes even though the last one was kinda weak. This one remains their masterpiece, the only one on which they found their own sound and mined it for all it was worth.


Guided By VoicesCrying Your Knife Away
Where the fuck is Mike Hummel?


Jimi HendrixThe Cry Of Love
The frustrating thing about Hendrix is that his best work was the stuff he really worked over in the studio, adding layer after layer of psychedelic effects. The outtakes just don't cut it because, after you've listened to Ladyland enough times (properly altered), everything else just sounds unfinished.


Iron MaidenPowerslave, Somewhere In Time
So the other night after the Super Bowl party B— and his new girlfriend Br— stuck around late after the game to rip a few more beers before hitting the road. At one point someone asked the time and I looked at my watch and it said 23:58 so I said, "Almost midnight. Two minutes to midnight, actually." Then I realised what I'd just said and was like, "Yo, do we need to listen to "Two Minutes To Midnight" by Maiden right now?" and Br— was like "Hell yeah." So I ran down and grabbed Somewhere, ran back up and realised it was the wrong record, then ran back down and grabbed Powerslave and we rocked out. The next day, since I'd already brought it up anyway, I listened to Somewhere while tidying the house.

Maiden rules.


Kool KeithMatthew
Keith must have been going through some really bad shit with his label when he made this one, because all the lyrics are really pissed-off rants about the music industry. But whereas the similar stuff on First Come is much funnier, here he just sounds angry. Decent record, but the attitude kinda wears you out as a listener.


KyussWelcome To Sky Valley
P— and I were talking about this record at work the other day, and we agreed that it transcends love of the band or even genre: every household really needs to have a copy of Sky Valley. It's just necessary.


Lightning BoltHypermagic Mountain
Probably the weakest Bolt record (although I've never heard the first one with the vocalist from Black Dice), and it's still pretty strong. Are these guys even capable of making a bad record?


Led Zeppelin[runes], aka IV
I went to see Green Hornet in 3D the other day. Yeah, yeah, I know. Is being a Gondry completist a valid excuse? Anyway, after the regular trailers the screen told me to put on my glasses and then they showed the 3D trailers. The first one was for some weird teenage-chicks-kicking-fantasy-monster-ass movie called Sucker Punch, and the trailer opened with "When the Levee Breaks". Then the next two were for Thor and something else I can't remember, and they both had an "original" score that was clearly written to sound like "Kashmir" without having to pay rights. Don't know what this means, really.

Some great songs on this album, but too much filler for it to really be their best.


Meat Puppets"Huevos", Monsters
I know the first couple Pups records are supposed to be the keepers, but I think these two are awesome. Monsters in particular is wildly underrated; so many great tracks on here.

Do you think the quotation marks in the title of "Huevos" are an intentional reference to Bowie's "Heroes"?


Charles MingusNew Tijuana Moods


OutKastStankonia
Still haven't picked up the Big Boi record yet. Yet.


Pink FloydA Nice Pair
Cheapo repackaging of their first two records, complete with naughty cover art to complete the titular pun. I just got a copy of Clinton Heylin's book about Sgt. Pepper's in which he apparently argues that Piper is more historically important that Pepper's. Looking forward to reading it. I really like the contrarian revisionist streak Heylin's been mining recently. Check out Babylon's Burning to see what aspects of accepted punk history he thinks are bullshit. Long, but a good read.


SparksNo. 1 In Heaven
I went through a phase a few years ago where I was listening to this record obsessively, several times a day, back to back to back. Completely addictive record. I love that these guys didn't just a make a token disco record, they went through a several-album-long disco phase.


The Stone Roses

Friday, February 4, 2011

Stuff I Listened To Last Week – 30 Jan 2011

Every time I listen to a record, I leave it next to the stereo. On Monday, before I go back to work, I re-file them all. Below are the contents of this week's pile.


The BeatlesEarly Years (1), Please Please Me, Hey Jude
Just started reading the Bob Spitz bio from a few years back, so I'll be going through a lot of these in the next few weeks. I had the weirdest revelation looking through my Beatles records the other day: I don't have a copy of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" on any album. I don't even know what it's on, other than probably the red album. WTF?


Catching Up With Depeche Mode


The Flaming LipsYoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
Just had occasion to listen to "Do You Realize?" a bunch of times in a row the other day. Brilliant single, but I think the rest of the album's a little overrated. Some interesting arrangements by Drozd, but Coyne kinda phoned a lot of this one in.


Fleetwoof MacTusk
Has a strong cult following that considers it some sort of misunderstood masterpiece (including, but not limited to, members of Camper Van Beethoven), but I'm not buying it. This is just a self-indulgent mess.


GhostLama Rabi Rabi


The HousemartinsLondon o Hull 4
I love that a jangle pop band with overtly communist lyrics and a gay lead singer titled their debut record with a reference to a soccer rivalry. Ah, England.


LCD SoundsystemThis Is Happening
Gave this one another shot since it made just about everybody's year-end top ten list, but I'm still not convinced. This is just not a great album, and this is coming from a thirty-something ex-New Yorker aging-hipster-type, clearly Murphy's primary demographic. Weak year overall for critic-oriented records, sure, but still. The first two are better.


MastodonCrack the Skye
Please, please, please let this actual-singing by metal bands catch on and become a new trend. I just don't know how many more four-band bills I can sit through with one doom-growler after another. This could be the album that helps metal reinvent itself for the new decade, and I really hope it is. Oh, also, sick riffs, sick drumming. Just a fantastic album all around, one of my favourites of the past several years in any genre.


Bonnie 'Prince' BillyI See a Darkness
Why the fuck is my copy of this record so worn out? Did I really listen to it that much? Do I need to just break down and find another copy? The title track is so crucial, and it's really quiet and thus highly susceptible to vinyl wear. Best lyrics about platonic friendship-love between two men ever written.


Pink FloydMeddle


Santogold
I bought this because the wife really liked the single, but I put it on the other day and she didn't comment. Wonder if she recognised it, or if its appeal has faded already. Whatever, I think it's holding up quite nicely.


SavioursInto Abbadon


Public Image Ltd.Second Edition
Every time I've ever gone into the studio with a band in which I'm playing bass, I always tell the recording engineer I want my bass to sound like the second PiL record, even when it's completely inappropriate to the music. Most of the time they have no idea what I'm talking about. What a damn shame. Look, if you're an engineer and you're reading this, go listen to this album right now. Now. Now. Pay attention to the bass.


Silver JewsAmerican Water
I've been listening to a lot of Stones records lately, and I think Jagger's a terrific, underappreciated and really under-examined lyricist. Keef thinks so too, based on what I read in his new book. His lyrics seem simple and obvious, and I don't mean that in a bad way, I mean like they seem to have just been born with the song, like they're perfect and nothing else would fit there, so natural. When I listen to them, I think, "Man, I wish I could write like that."

On the other hand, when I listen to the Jews, I don't think that at all, because I could never, ever write like that. Instead, I think, "Man, I wish my brain worked that way."


SmogWild Love
Oh Prince, you are so alone...


TV On the RadioDesperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
I really hope these guys don't stay on haitus too long. Indie rock needs them. Needs more of them and fewer Arcade Fire knockoffs.

Terrific title, by the way.


The Velvet UndergroundThe Quine Tapes
Sundazed Records really deserve a special Congressional commendation for releasing this set on vinyl. I know it's $100, and that's a pretty penny, but this is truly a valuable public service.

You can talk all you want about how much more avant garde they were with Cale in the band, but this phase is where they peaked as a live act. Even the 17 minutes of "Follow the Leader", which is barely even a song, are awesome.


The Yes Album

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Stuff I Listened To Last Week – 23 Jan 2011

Every time I listen to a record, I leave it next to the stereo. On Monday, before I go back to work, I re-file them all. Below are the contents of this week's pile.


Bad Brains
It's amazing how fierce this sounds. It's thirty years old this year. The Brains top my list of bands I would go back and see in their prime if I had a time machine.


The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse
Finally brought this one back to the house after a long and successful run as a going-to-bed favourite at the apartment. One of my current I'll-preorder-anything-they-put-out bands, and that list gets shorter all the time.


Bee Gees' 1st


DomSun Bronzed Greek Gods EP


EnvyInsomniac Doze


Guided By VoicesJellyfish Reflector
I love live GBV recordings from this era. It's amazing to listen to a show from start to finish and see how they seem to get tighter and more in tune as they get drunker.


Krallice


Lightning BoltRide the Skies


Franz LisztEine Faust-Symphonie (Leonard Bernstein, Conductor)


NirvanaNevermind
This is the 2008 European reissue from Universal's "Back To Black" vinyl series. I got it to replace my 2009 Simply Vinyl issue because I read that the mastering's better (and because I have the "Back To Black" edition of In Utero and it's awesome), but I wound up keeping both. Why? The Simply Vinly one has "Endless Nameless" on it; the Universal one doesn't.

But the Simply Vinyl one doesn't have "Lithium". This makes no sense whatsoever. I understand why "Elephant Stone"'s not on the recent The Stone Roses reissue; it wasn't on the original UK version, and that's the real album. But what version of Nevermind ever came out without "Lithium"? If it wasn't on early European issues then I've never seen one.

To make things weirder, Simply Vinyl's done more than one pressing of the album, and some of them have "Lithium". Was this a mistake? Anyway, I have the song now on the Universal version. Oh well, whatever, never mind.


R.E.M. Live
For a contract-closing greatest-hits-live album with little or no surprises in the setlist, this one's actually pretty good, assuming you like recent R.E.M., which I do. Live albums seem especially unnecessary from bands that don't improvise much, but here the band is tight and energetic, and the appreciative crowd really adds a lot.

Interesting note about buying R.E.M. albums: generally speaking, if you want stuff on vinyl, nowadays you have to buy it within a year or two of its release (or in the case of certain very annoying metal labels, within about a month). The market is resilient but small, and very little catalogue is kept in print. Once the album is gone, its value rises on the used market and you have to pay more for it.

Not so with R.E.M. While their core fan base remains loyal, demand for their work on vinyl must be pretty minimal, because they're the only band I can think of whose vinyl tends to devalue over time on the used marketplace. New releases can be quite expensive, but if you're willing to wait about two years, R.E.M. records can usually be had for two-thirds to a half of their original retail value. Peter Buck, a known collector, weeps, I'm sure.

But hey, works for me. Their more recent monster live set (also, curiously, recorded in Dublin) was about $90 retail when it first came out, but I've seen it hovering in the mid-$50s recently. I'll probably pick it up soon enough.


The Rolling StonesLet It Bleed, Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out, Exile On Main Street
Just about done with the Keef book. Not bad, not great, too long. Kind of worth sticking it out because the parts about what a douchebag Mick is are all towards the end, and they're pretty funny. Actually, scratch that, Keef's assessment of Mick's solo work is downright hilarious.

It's weird, Keef (predictably) goes on about how awesome Exile is, as he's been doing for years. Most of the Stones diehards I know consider that album to be Keef's triumph. And Mick's expressed some skepticism about its greatness over the years. But after reading this Ben Ratliff piece, written on the occasion of the album's recent re-re-(re-?)issue, it starts to sound more and more like Mick is the one who really holds this one together. As strong as the material and overall momentum are, the individual arrangements can be pretty meandering. When I listen closely to "Shine a Light" it sounds disorganised and underrehearsed, like everyone's kind of soloing at once. But it doesn't sound that way to the casual listener, and I think it's Mick's powerful performance that pulls it together and makes it sound like everyone's on the same page. There's a bunch of songs like that on there.

Of course, what makes the album truly great is that this debate could go back and forth for days. Everyone does a great job here, and it all just happens to fit together just right. You can't make an album this perfect on purpose; it just happens.


Run-D.M.C.Raising Hell


Roni Size/ReprazentNew Forms
Once jungle started turning into drum'n'bass on its way to IDM, everybody had to make their double-CD magnum opus. And of course it has to get stretched out on vinyl to about a song a side. New Forms checks in at nine records, all 45 rpm, most of them two songs each. Was this necessary? Were DJs really going to buy this set, or were they going to buy the 2x12" set of "Brown Paper Bag" remixes? I'm going with the latter here.

This was a point in the development of the style when a lot of artists were talking about making music for listening and/instead of dancing. Lots of talk of "from the dancefloor to the living room", lots of invoking jazz as an inspiration in a very non-specific manner (as in, I never read interviews where dudes were like, yeah, early 70s Miles, "On the Corner", that's my jam). So if that's the case, why not format the vinyl for the listener rather than the DJ? Even a double CD could fit easily on four records at the most, maybe even three.


Sonic YouthSister, Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star
So psyched that Sonic's 80s LPs are all getting reissued, finally. So psyched that my Sister's on black vinyl (the purple's actually more expensive!). A little bummed that it's the censored cover art with no Mickey Mouse, but I guess Disney's lawyers don't miss a trick.

Listening to Sister has been an interesting experience, because I hadn't heard it in many years. I always thought of it as Sonic's first accessible, sort-of-approaching-pop album. But that's mostly because what stuck in my head through the years were the vocal melodies in songs like "Schizophrenia", "Cotton Crown" and especially "Tuff Gnarl". But when you go back and listen to it, the guitar sounds are still really harsh. "Stereo Sanctity", for instance, barely even has any notes in it, just rhythmic noise. Even an anthem like "Tuff" devolves into an atonal noise jam that must have been off-putting to all but the most open-minded listeners back in 1987.

Still, it's the balance that makes this one such an important breakthrough. Just when the noise starts getting you down, another great vocal melody cuts through to pull you back up.


Justin TimberlakeFuturesex/Lovesounds
Look, say what you will about Will.I.Am; I like a few of the BEP's pop hits, but not enough to passionately defend them from the legions of haters out there. They're not that bad, but I could take or leave 'em. But the guy's got some terrific production work for other artists on his resumé. "Damn Girl" sticks out like a sore thumb on this record, mostly because of the organic drum sample contrasted against Timbaland's plastic-sounding rhythm machines on all the other tracks, and it's terrific. Shoulda been a hit. Definitely shoulda been picked as a single over "What Goes Around".


Kanye WestMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
OK, first things first: yes, it's that good, believe the hype, etc. The occasionally juvenile and vulgar lyrics (sorry, I'm old) can't hope to derail the majestic production here. It's amazingly solid start to finish, and doesn't even flag toward the end.

Now that we've covered the music: this is probably the worst vinyl mastering job I've ever heard. Right from the start, when the third layer of vocals comes in in the opening seconds, it sounds like there's a chunk of lint the size of a golf ball on my stylus. It sounds like it got mastered for CD in classic loudness war fashion, and that version just got pressed to vinyl. This is, and I can't say this firmly enough, unacceptable.

One of the reasons vinyl has grown so expensive in the past ten years is that albums have to be mastered separately for the format, and with fewer copies being sold, the cost is passed on to a smaller pool of buyers. Fine, I accept this and I pay it. But if you're not going to bother doing it right, just don't put it out. Don't release a vinyl version with special packaging (which, by the way, looks fabulous), charge me the usual vinyl premium for it, and hand me a shitty-sounding copy of the music. The sound is the whole reason I'm buying this format; the elaborate packaging is just gravy.

And the worst part is I keep listening to it anyway. I can't stop myself; the music is that good! But the sound quality will probably keep me from going back to it over the years, and that sucks. I expect better from you, Kanye. Surely a guy who uses that many old-school samples can appreciate the sound of vinyl. Have you even listened to this?


03:00am Eternal


Macro Dub Infection – Volume One
I can't tell you how thrilled I was to finally find this one on vinyl. This might be the defining album of a certain musical moment in the mid-90s when electronic music and (post-)rock were discovering both dub reggae and each other at the same time. It's ostensibly a survey of the far-reaching influence of dub into all musical styles at the time, but it's really just a survey of all cutting-edge electronica and post-rock of the era. Because, let's face it, none of it was left untouched by dub.

I've actually been looking for a vinyl copy for several years now, and it's always over $30. By chance I came upon a cheap copy for sale on discogs.com from a seller called "philadelphiamusic". So I emailed them to find out if they had a storefront and it's Beautiful World, about a dozen blocks from my front door. So I went and picked it up and didn't even have to pay shipping. Score!