Posts tagged records

Record Store Day 2013, Thoughts Afterward.

So ordinarily this is probably a topic I’d save for one of my Youtube videos, but as I was doing the raw recording today I realized that it just wasn’t coming together the way I’d like it to. This is for one main reason, and that’s because there are just way too many details I’d like to mull over instead and leave open for comment/discussion for fellow vinyl lovers and enthusiasts. I just couldn’t meander around in a video in a way that was going to work right for me, so instead we’re going to go through this route. 

Anyway, I came into Record Store Day 2013 with a heavy dosage of mixed feelings. Last year had a lot of pretty fun stuff, and I had a rather decent success rate picking up the vinyl that I wanted. This time around there were a few “promising” choices, but nothing that screamed for me to be out the door and first in line come April 20th. Nevertheless I’m always eager to support my favorite record shop(Angry Mom Records in Ithaca NY), so I managed to get my morning-hating body out of bed and down into the thick of things about a half hour into the action. Not the ideal time really, but with any luck I was hoping to scout out some Elliott Smith, Black Keys, Justin Townes Earle, Sharon Van Etten/Shearwater, and whatever else happened to come about. 

Unfortunately even being a half hour into the shop opening for the day meant being the 60th person in line, and by then the whole outing was ALMOST a complete swing and miss. No Black Keys, no Sharon, no Justin, no very much of anything really. Thankfully I was able to snag Elliott Smith as planned, as well as Grizzly Bear’s first album as a completely random yet acceptable alternate. This is all well and good of course, but my main points are these: how many pressings are too few when you’re starting to cater to competition over musical enjoyment, how is the highway robbery that is the re-selling on eBay after the event anything but criminal, and to more specifically address who’s lacking enough pressings, when are the bigger bands that really move records going to start issuing higher amounts to really help out these little independent stores? 

I mean in addition to vinyl enthusiast appreciation, the whole purpose of Record Store Day is to help these little shops get a really nice day for business and fresh foot traffic, but the limited amounts and re-selling really seem to do anything but that. Of course the people still come out and that’s going to help no matter what, but to go back to my point about the bigger bands, take Dave Matthews Band for instance. Am I big fan? Not really, but I understand the appeal and why they happen to be as rampantly popular as they are(and have been for quite a while). Needless to say it’s not a broad leap to realize they can move albums, and that having them press something(an expensive $60 something to boot) for RSD would really be a great positive for the shops associated(as well as the fans obviously). Yet what do they do? Issue 500 copies nationwide. NATIONWIDE. 

So not only do you invoke the competitive nature of people when it comes to a known rarity, you also have opportunists who are not only going to sweep copies away from fans who will love and appreciate the music, but will also take the little bit of money the independent record shops make and try to quadruple it for themselves. While a little music store could take in a good bit of money if they had more of these box set type of things to sell in a day, eBay slime takes a $60 profit and tries to escalate it into the $300-$400 range. 

I mean I feel lucky in that I could acquire a post-RSD copy of the Sharon Van Etten/Shearwater 7-inch I wanted to begin with the day after(at a slightly raised price), but situations like the Dave Matthews Band box set should be unacceptable in the industry. Vinyl is growing each year, this has been an undeniable fact since it’s sales began leveling and expanding upward through each yearly set of quarters. More fans keep filling the crowds each year, and it seems as though the pressing anticipation hasn’t even begun to rise and meet it. Even Justin Townes Earle(who is nowhere near as popular) only had a run of about a 1,000 for his first-time issuing of “Yuma”, and as far as I can tell that hasn’t proven to be enough either. 

I love RSD, and I’m only going to continue to go out and support great little businesses like these(and tell anyone I know who’s into records to do it too), but there are fairly evident and obvious gaps in how this system is being conducted. There needs to be a middle ground where the market isn’t being flooded, but where a decent number of people have a chance to acquire and enjoy the music and vinyl they love so much. Make everybody happy here, raise some hell until they start doing just that, and help Record Store Day keeping flourishing well on beyond the horizon. And don’t put out 10 box sets for a billion people to fight over and expect it to end well(or without multiple someone’s getting ripped off). 

Anyway, if you want to continue the conversation in actual video form, head over to the following link where you can see my unboxing of both the Grizzly Bear and Elliott Smith records, as well as a mention of the Sharon Van Etten/Shearwater one I do not possess as of yet.

http://youtu.be/gciODrg10_w

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At long last we have some Youtube video related stuff to share on here once again, and we lead off with a vinyl unboxing of the 2009 Magnolia Electric Co record “Josephine”. As I had spoken of doing in my remembrance to Jason Molina video not too long ago, I wanted to acquire some of his work on physical media and do some extended coverage. I believe it’s very fitting for someone of his talent level, and my own way to keep paying tribute just a little bit. 

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42! And now we move forward on to Blitzen Trapper with their 2011 album “American Goldwing”(on special limited pressing white vinyl). It may have flown a bit under the radar as far as that year was concerned, but there was something about this album with its honey-dripped Americana, slight pop blend and heavy whiskey shot of alt-country that had an all around appeal. There wasn’t much of a moment of weakness on “American Goldwing”, and if anything it’s that kind of album you listen to with the windows down while you cruise with a great highway before you. Promotes groovy happiness!

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And now we move forward on to Blitzen Trapper with their 2011 album “American Goldwing”(on special limited pressing white vinyl). It may have flown a bit under the radar as far as that year was concerned, but there was something about this album with its honey-dripped Americana, slight pop blend and heavy whiskey shot of alt-country that had an all around appeal. There wasn’t much of a moment of weakness on “American Goldwing”, and if anything it’s that kind of album you listen to with the windows down while you cruise with a great highway before you. Promotes groovy happiness!

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41! And here we wrap up the Black Keys section at LONG last with 2003’s followup to “The Big Come Up”, in the form of the picture disc version of “Thickfreakness”. This record basically picked up where the last one left off, right down to that “medium fidelity” recording style, smashing bluesy stomp(with an even richer attack this time around), and that same simple philosophy of less equals more. There are definitely merits to both styles of sound that this band has had, but it’s hard to deny just how fun the crushing intensity of this era was for the Keys. Probably will always be the time I favor most.

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And here we wrap up the Black Keys section at LONG last with 2003’s followup to “The Big Come Up”, in the form of the picture disc version of “Thickfreakness”. This record basically picked up where the last one left off, right down to that “medium fidelity” recording style, smashing bluesy stomp(with an even richer attack this time around), and that same simple philosophy of less equals more.

There are definitely merits to both styles of sound that this band has had, but it’s hard to deny just how fun the crushing intensity of this era was for the Keys. Probably will always be the time I favor most.

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40! And here we have more Black Keys, this time with their 2002 debut record “The Big Come Up”. Everything about this fuzzy unpolished basement tapes style introduction to Dan Auerbach and Pat Carney screamed of their deeply tied influences to various bluesmen, from lyrics to jiving grooves right down to the faded presentation of the cover. It was a sound they’d only continue to enrich in the years to follow, but whether doing originals or covering artists like The Beatles, Junior Kimbrough or The Stooges, it didn’t take very long for these Akron boys to establish themselves as ones to watch.

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And here we have more Black Keys, this time with their 2002 debut record “The Big Come Up”. Everything about this fuzzy unpolished basement tapes style introduction to Dan Auerbach and Pat Carney screamed of their deeply tied influences to various bluesmen, from lyrics to jiving grooves right down to the faded presentation of the cover. It was a sound they’d only continue to enrich in the years to follow, but whether doing originals or covering artists like The Beatles, Junior Kimbrough or The Stooges, it didn’t take very long for these Akron boys to establish themselves as ones to watch.

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39! And we’re back after a bit of delay with more Black Keys and their 2006 album “Magic Potion”. There isn’t much to be said that hasn’t already been said here in regard to the Keys, though it must be stated without a doubt that “Potion” is one of the best in their catalogue. It represents the period that came just before the band jumped into new territory in terms of production and sound, and what a fine finale that was! With “Just Got To Be”, “Your Touch”, and “Modern Times”(arguably the most ripping jam they’ve created) to name a few, “Magic Potion” really stands out as some great hard nosed blues rock.

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And we’re back after a bit of delay with more Black Keys and their 2006 album “Magic Potion”. There isn’t much to be said that hasn’t already been said here in regard to the Keys, though it must be stated without a doubt that “Potion” is one of the best in their catalogue. It represents the period that came just before the band jumped into new territory in terms of production and sound, and what a fine finale that was! With “Just Got To Be”, “Your Touch”, and “Modern Times”(arguably the most ripping jam they’ve created) to name a few, “Magic Potion” really stands out as some great hard nosed blues rock.

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And, of course, we also have a vinyl unboxing installment for Josh Ritter’s album “The Beast In It’s Tracks”, which was one I’d been highly anticipating and definitely could not wait to start talking about. So here it is! 

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#38! We continue the Black Keys section of this project with their 2011 album “El Camino”. By now the Keys have fully gone down the rabbit hole of transition that began with the increased production style on “Attack & Release”, and it must honestly be said that it represents a portrait of a different band these days compared to when they started. It’s an evolution that’s bound to happen in all groups should they stick around long enough, but all the same it’s hard not to miss the dirtier blues of albums past. Nevertheless everything the Keys do seems to have some element of catchy memorableness to it, and that’s no exception with smash single “Lonely Boy”, or the quietly building anthem “Little Black Submarines”. It’s more like blues-pop these days, but it works. 

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We continue the Black Keys section of this project with their 2011 album “El Camino”. By now the Keys have fully gone down the rabbit hole of transition that began with the increased production style on “Attack & Release”, and it must honestly be said that it represents a portrait of a different band these days compared to when they started. It’s an evolution that’s bound to happen in all groups should they stick around long enough, but all the same it’s hard not to miss the dirtier blues of albums past. Nevertheless everything the Keys do seems to have some element of catchy memorableness to it, and that’s no exception with smash single “Lonely Boy”, or the quietly building anthem “Little Black Submarines”. It’s more like blues-pop these days, but it works. 

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Yet another new vinyl unboxing video, in which I cover Thurston Moore’s new group Chelsea Light Moving, and have time to do an older extra with Thom Yorke’s 2006 solo record “The Eraser”. Very good(if altogether pretty standard) stuff.

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Yet another new video I did today, where I made quite a few points and spoke at length about the new Atoms For Peace album “AMOK”. It’s the followup to the early review I did last week, and I had my share of….  criticisms with this. So it ran long. 

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