Imagine this: You’re in Tokyo, eagerly awaiting the new iPhone 3G release. Standing in line in the heat, waiting, waiting, waiting…sweating, getting irritable, hungry…the lot. Then, from out of NOWHERE comes THIS GUY.
(Special thanks to Pampelmoose.com for turning me on to this madness.)
Tender Loving Empire recently announced Boy Eats Drum Machine‘s next album, Booomboxxx, due out on vinyl and disc on 10/28. I got an advance copy in the post today and I am happy to report this album is full of sonic treats–especially for those who love their headphone candy. Sure, you could listen to this on the speakers (or studio monitors like I do), but I strongly suggest using a nice pair of headphones to enjoy this one as here is much fun to be had with those sounds up close and personal. Horns, nice soulful vox (without sounding like some kind of Sam Cooke knockoff I might add), plenty of sonic goodness.
Boy Eats Drum Machine is Portland’s Jon Ragel with some kickass guest drummers including Danny Seim from Menomena and several others. Ragel really grabbed my ears with the track “I’m Alive Don’t Bury Me” which instantly made me think of Serpent And The Rainbow, the creepy Wes Craven movie. This album is packed with great, herky-jerky beats and scratches and a nice deep dark analogue synth groove that, on proper equipment, can be felt in your STERNUM. Nice one, BEDM.
Enjoy an advance sampling of five tracks from this hand-crafted vinyl record and CD package (what an undertaking!) at the Boy Eats Drum Machine Downloads page. Free tunes to tease you for the full-blown (and nicely done) package hitting stores on 10/28.
Tender Loving Empire has scored with this album. Click on that link above and fill your weekend with beats. YES.
A quote from RecordStoreReview says it all:”There’s nothing better than finding a new store to search through.” Those are the words of RSR webmaster Gunnar Van Vliet, and I couldn’t have put it better. RecordStoreReview.com has listings for more than 1600 record stores in 53 countries including Iceland, Canada, and Greece. Since 2002, RecordStoreReview has user reviews to complement this listings–always a good thing. Funniest listing was from the dude who wrote “I would bang all three owners of Hyde Park Records.”
Just to see if RecordStoreReview was full of it or not, I looked up my all-time, hands-down favorite record shop in the USA (since 33 Degrees in Austin closed, that is…). Lo and behold, the reviews for Dusty Groove America say what I’ve known for a long time. Dusty Groove is the best! Check them out online, but I beg of you do not buy up all the Easy Tempo albums before I’ve had a chance to fill the gaps in my collection. Leave a FEW left over, eh?
Back to RSR, this is a GREAT idea and I am shocked that I’m just now discovering it. Great site. The best use for this site I can think of? Prepping for overseas travel. The next time you think about hopping a plane for Germany, France, Iceland, Japan, do yourself a favor and check this site out—many stores have maps or you can use Google Maps to find your way to the treasure trove.
I’ve been searching for blogs like this with little success til now, but I am chuffed to see The Vinyl District, another music blog that is focused on the big blackfrisbee as much as Turntabling. Music blogs abound, but very few of us are interested in needles, cover art, and the anachronistic fun of spinning platters when we could be downloading MP3s.
The Vinyl District is a fellow traveler–here’s a blog that recognizes that some of this stuff is either never coming to the shiny disc or download format in any official way. Or what’s worse, if it does, it’s coming tweezed, tweaked, and otherwise interfered with. Bowie’s Diamond Dogs is a beautiful example. There are TONS of things on that vinyl album that just…don’t…sound…the…same on disc. The vinyl really does the job where the CD falls flat.
Besides, any blog that features Big Audio Dynamite tasty vinyl tracks gets my vote. TVD also shares my enthusiasm for the Mick Jones and Tony James project Carbon/Silicon, looks like we have much common ground here sonically. Great stuff. I am loving TVD, and you should too. RECOMMENDED.