Post-Record Store Day Ramblings/Happy Mayday!

RECORD STORE DAY 2010:
A day of broken records (our best day ever...doubled), broken dreams (that goddamned Daytrotter 7:...). good times, great performances, shorted orders, shoplifters and missing cameras and lots of record buying.
We thank y'all again for checking us out, for coming back and buying stuff and supporting Artvoice's least favorite record shop.


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We sure are proud as punch to be carrying a few new local records to get excited about: Mayday (aka Seasonal Geese) 3 song ep and the brand new Sonorous Gale 7", along with a split record that include's Buffalo's Failures Union. The Mayday and S D records are self-released and all our bands to be aware of.
In addition, some stragglers from Record Store Day...Monsters of Folk, Black Keys and REM Chronic Town, to name a few.







New Releases*New Arrivals*ReIssues*ReStocks*ReRun

EDDY CURRENT SUPPRESSION RING - Rush To Relax LP Aussie phenomenon ECSR seem to have the attention of a wide range of music fans at this point Coming together almost on a lark, 4 record plant workers for a band to play a work xmas party...release some singles and the rest is history. Full fledged stars in their home country, ECSR is slowly getting it out to the masses the world over. No trend hopping, no gimmicks, no bullshit--finally the good guys win. A;lso in stock is their second, Primary Colours...and we're expecting the self titled debut back any day now.

TOWNES VAN ZANDT - Live At The Old Quarter, Houston, Texas The mighty Townes Van Zandt--stripped down and laying it all on the line in front of a receptive crowd, recorded in 1973. Van Zandt is candid and away from any studio production here--the way a live album should be. Recorded in 1973, 2x LP pressed to 180 gram vinyl.
We have, in stock now, several other Townes' albums-his second studio album "Our Mother The Mountain", "Delta Momma Blues" and this double-live set.


CIRCLE 1 - Patterns of Force - Here's a rare find and we only managed to get a few. Circle 1 was a early 80s Southern California hardcore band with, along with the brute force of the music, a bit of melody. Infamously led by the hulking John Macias who had his friends and enemies, met an untimely death after being shot by an LAPD officer following him throwing a person off of Santa Monica Pier. Macias, a lot of history reports, was huge, strong and had some screws loose...often a dangerous combination. The band was also known for it's violent shows and a somewhat "creepy" following Macias led.

A few other restocks include BAD BRAINS incredible "Rock For Light" on vinyl, with the superior "euro mix"--different than than the PVC mix and miles above the atrocious CD mix. I know these may seem like slight nuances...but on this classic album, it made a world of difference. Another example, which is also back in stock for a time, is REAGAN YOUTH "often mistaken by the casual browser as a hate band due to the ironic imagery and name", comes a reissue featuring the superior early mix for vinyl--miles for lively than previous reissues. Last, but not least, we have the CRO MAGS "Age of Quarrel-Before the Quarrel" demo lp. Many songs appeared on their legendary debut, some did not. The mix of the demo, ironically, blasts the proper albums sound to pieces in terms of sound quality--a bright, bombastic counterpart to the flatter production which followed.



heres a few more new releases:



SHE & HIM - Volume Two She, Zooey Deschanel, and Him (no, not HIM), M. Ward, return for an appropriately titled follow up to last years equally appropriately titled Volume One. Building off of the acclaim of that first album, Volume Two is no re-write, but picks up where its predecessor left off.
Ghostface/Method Man/Raekwon - WU MASSACRE - It's back to the basics for the core of the legendary WU TANG CLAN. Production by RZA. Read the AV Club Review HERE



Trouble - Psalm 9 - 1984, metal was speeding up or often preceded by the word thrash. Meanwhile, these seminal doomsters were slowing down, creating a template for what we now call doom metal. Strange religious themes are the undercurrents to this out-of-time masterwork of metal that was, unfortunately for the band, decades ahead of it's time. Along with early Saint Vitus (also in stock now!), these bands are now receiving their due praise in the form of beautifully packaged reissues like this one on the usually more restrained Siltbreeze imprint. Clear 70's Sabbath influenced at a time when that was mostly ignored. Ignore it no longer.

Poison Idea - Feel The Darkness A classic of American Hardcore Punk, Poison Idea epitomized sloth and debauchery. Forming in 1980, they were one of the few successful at fusing metal with simple hardcore punk with classic results, as the 90s saw hardcore and punk parting ways for a time...both sides could get down with Poison Idea. Feel The Darkness, originally released in 1990 is one, if not thee, bands high points--chock full of classics. Shadily reissued by Epitaph in 1996 (the band was unhappy with the deal and, reportedly, still is to this day), this vinyl import should do the job for a long lost (but never forgotten) classic hardcore punk document. RIP Pig.




CARIBOU - Swim 2x lp Admittedly, I know little of Caribou other than it earned high marks across the board. Tastemakers Pitchfork dot calm delivered it an 8.4-read all about it here
or you can check out a review here from a less obnoxious, more detailed source (still receiving an 8.5) right here.

CHIN CHIN - Sound of the Westway - All female band formed in Switzerland in 1982, influenced by the Ramones, first wave british punk, 60s girl groups and a flare for pop hooks. Though considering themselves a punk band, these swiss ladies helped set the blueprint for noisy indie pop on this classic album. Another long sought after album reissued (with download) with style.

HARLEM - Hippies - More of the good time jumpy garage that was laden on their debut Free Drugs ;), HARLEM has found themselves signed to the huge Matador Records who probably hope they will be the next Black Lips. As of right now, they are sure as hell more listenable. A fine follow-up and just in time for spring...





PUFFY AREOLAS - In The Army 1981 - From just a few hours left on the 90 west (cleveland!) come these Puffy Areolas and their debut lp on Siltbreeze Records. Careful when searching Google for this band, too...check 'em out HERE. Filthy, dirty with equal parts psych/noise and influence drawn forth from some KBD type bands, In The Army 1981 is a blast o' bombastic punk rock...of the dirty kind.



NICE FACE - Immer Etwas - "Immer Etwas -translated, "Always Something", is the first full length release from this one man bedroom recording project turned full on 5-piece live band. Nice Face (Ian Magee) have been turning out singles, comp tracks, and cassettes at a steady clip over the past two years and change. This LP is a solid thirteen tracks of drum-machine driven blown out hook-laden punk rock." (Sacred Bones). A welcome mix of lo-fi electronics, and guitar driven punk rock...just don't call it garage, cause Magee recorded it in his bedroom. And don't call it "lo-fi, because it is not. This is further proof you can make a lot from just a little. And another example of the cream (of the genre, overcrwded already) rising to the top. Beautiful silkscreened covers and most likely limited to low numbers. Here's a pretty spot-on review to accompany my confused, yet glowing account of this album.

THEE OH SEES - Warm Slime - Another? I'm still digesting the gear change of "Dog Poison" and the weird one song 12" Quadrospazzed when Thee Oh Sees churn out another lp--this time they're back on In The Red and a welcome return to their louder, more rockin' sounds heard on the HELP & MASTERS BEDROOM lp's. Can you keep up? Sure I'm trying to peddle records, especially ones I like, but this band is so prolific and so good, for all the pushing, those pushed always came back for more. Among their best works is Warm Slime. It's not the same record, and i have a feeling this is gonna sound even better when the weather stops it's schizophrenia.

MOUNT CARMEL -s/t Here's a winner, alright. Forget everything you've ever heard about the Siltbreeze Record label and/or the current music scene in Columbus, Ohio. Mount Carmel is a straight forward blues-rock power trio with no attachments.
Drawing inspiration from British and American heavy blues rock from the 1970s, they spend most of side 2 covering TEN YEARS AFTER'S "Hear Me Callin'" It doesn't get overbearing, nor is it some other "stoner rock" band coming down the conveyor belt. They know when to keep things sparse and when to go for the kill. Memorable songs, great riffs--a fantastic lp hopefully we'll be hearing more about soon.


Scratchy Favorite
HOME BLITZ - O.ut O.f P.hase - Yes, this came out late last year and yes it's probably been posted on this blog before, but I'll be goddmaned if it isn't one of the most played records behind the counter.
Danial DiMaggio and his Home Blitz unit, oft compared to Jonathan Richman, Daniel Johnston, Dead Milkmen simply writes these quirky (sometimes) pop songs--sometimes on the sidewalk. This album shows more of hyper approach here and there, field recordings of just....noises. When the songs kick in, its pure joy. The perfect pop songs, loose, an occasional flub...but the charm can't be denied. Watch for a possible June show in Buffalo!

REISSUE of thee UPDATE/MONTH/YEAR/etc...

OZZIE - The Parabolic Rock 1975-1982
Credit Chuck Barrels with this one (and a slew of others). And credit the man behind SS Records. OZZIE were a genre-proof proto punk, proto-glam, wave, art rock...proto ev erything except what was blasting into everyones heads in the early 70's. They found themselves playing with punk bands in their native Northern California, as they were too off center to fit in with the Bowie's, Roxy Music's, BOC's they were clearly influenced by...hard rock with those proto-new wave/artsy/punk/weird tendencies makes for a strange, but fantastic musical garbage plate. Drawing from the bands limited released output and lost tapes, this is a double lp that is packaged with all the fixins' (gatefold with plenty of eye candy: flyers, pictures, etc and a insert sized booklet with extensive notes.) As is standard with SS Records, this shit is taken seriously and done right. An essential piece of rock history I reckon won't be around forever. If you wanna hear it (or anything else mentioned herein), just ask.

More Reissues....
JESUS & MARY CHAIN - Darklands
MAZZY STAR (all 3 albums)
THE FALL - Dragnet/Grotesque
MENTORS - first 12" on Mystic plus extra 7" and other shit. "valu pack"
UNIFORM CHOICE - Screaming For Change
YOUTH OF TODAY - Break Down The Walls
LIFETIME - Jerseys Best Dancers (Hello Bastards & s/t still here)
SPEED, GLUE & SHINIKI - Eve Pounding Japanese Psych/Hard Rock masterwork.
CLASH - London Calling
THEM - Angry Young Them (Mono)
SPACEMEN 3 - Sound of Confusion
SPACEMEN 3 - Perfect Prescription
PUBLIC IMAGE LTD - Second Edition
TROUBLE - PSALM 9 (80s early doom)
THE EAT


OTHER NEW RELEASES/NEW STUFF/SEVEN INCHES/ETC
In addition to some cool stuff from the CREATION, CAN, DESTROYER, ART MUSEUMS, WOODS, WHINES, RAINCOATS, LIMP WRIST, HUNX & HIS PUNX and a long overdue SST Records order full of BLACK FLAG, HUSKER DU, MINUTEMEN, SAINT VITUS & DESCENDENTS.

some incoming 7" records you should know about include, but are not limited to:
VILE GASH POTENTIAL JOHNS, MIND ERASER, PSYCHED TO DIE, DEEP SLEEP, BAD SEED, HOMOSTUPIDS, BLACK FLAG, TY SEGAL, NEBULA/QUEST FOR FIRE split, BORIS #2 & #3, MAYDAY, SONOROUS GALE, FAILURES UNION, ACID REFLUX

well, that's all for now. plenty to absorb. plenty to listen to.

and don't forget SATURDAY NIGHTS on WBNY, listen to thee Men of the Scratch & Scratch & Sniff Quarterly Magazine play these records and more. It streams live at the link there and plays on yer ghetto blasters in the Buffalo area tuned to 91.3 frequency modulation.

5.1.10,5.8.10
-anchovies