Monthly Archives: July 2008

Fun Used Vinyl Finds

album, Featured, , , ,

While out shopping for vinyl tonight I ran across these two delicious finds.I have a huge weakness for anything so wonderfully perverse as Switched-On Rock/The Moog Machine’s old hippie classics re-worked into Moog-synthesized mini-masterpieces. You thought your stereo was broken when you listened to Nine Inch Nails The Fragile, try the super-freaked out synth patches on “You Just Keep Me Hangin’ On”. I actually checked the monitors to make sure I hadn’t lost the tweeters. Hah!

With stuff like this, first you listen cuz it’s cheesy fun. After a few go rounds with it, you actually start hearing how it…could…be…good somehow. This stuff is brilliant. Like eating a brick of jalapeno Velveeta. You know you shouldn’t, but you can’t stop yourself. My favorite part of this two-dollar purchase is actually the liner notes, by “Album conceiver and macrobopper” Russ Barnard. Check out this hilariously dated bit:

“One thing must be stressed: This album is virtually 100% Moog–only two instruments are live. One is the drum set; Moog drums are possible, but in this stage of the art, sound kind of mechanical and ricky-tick.”

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! That’s 1967 thinking for you…

The Isaac Hayes Juicy Fruit (Disco Freak) is just as great in its own way. This is a long way from Shaft, folks–a disco-infected album (hence the name) that starts off with Isaac Hayes singing about picking up hotties at his favorite disco-teria, and wrapping up the album lamenting about a woman who must “love me…or lose me” My man Isaac is either picking up strict Catholic girls who also love to boogie down but not GET down, or Hayes was just at the end of his lyrical rope by the end of this 1976 coke-n-amyl nitrate soaked leisure suit fest.

I love this cheesy shit. Hayes ain’t phoning this in–he’s going for it on every single track, so there’s this great vibe running through the record. While it’s spinning, you can just see the ABC Records exec snorting coke off the mixing desk, nodding to the beat thinking it was going to be HUGE. “We can shift a million units and get Isaac down to 54 to say hi to Steve Rubell and give Andy Warhol his Polaroids. Then we’ll hit the big time…AMERICAN BANDSTAND.”

Favorite part of this album–the “Solid Gold Dancers” chorus on Thank You Love where the ladies are sing/shrieking “Makin Loooooove” and “Girl, I thank you”.

I ain’t NEVER head Isaac Hayes THANKING a woman for having sex, but it sure sounds like that’s what’s going on here…great stuff. It’s just too wrong NOT to enjoy. “We’ll make love every day…and weeeeeeeellll buh-loowww each other’s MINNNNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSS”

Chicago Vinyl Haunts: Laurie’s Planet of Sound

Record Shops, ,

Laurie’s Planet of Sound is literally half a block away from Turntabling.net HQ, and is a favorite of mine for many reasons. The vinyl section is a combination of scratchy-but-great bargain bin albums (all the bad hair, 70s clothes and obscure weirdness you could hope for) and new releases. The new stuff is of particular interest as it is also a great hodgepodge of sounds from Nigerian disco to classic French new wave. If you are in the area or planning a visit, I quote directly from the Laurie’s site: “4639 N Lincoln Ave. We’re right off the Western Brown Line Stop. Call (773) 271-3569 if you have questions, or just want to chat.”

Go ahead, get chatty. Ask them about stocking some more vinyl by Mystic Moods Orchestra, Ornette Coleman and anything at all on the ESL label while you’re at it. If you come to Chi-town, pay them a visit.

Side One Track One

Blogs

John Laird runs Side One Track One from my favorite city, Austin, Texas. It’s my old stomping grounds having lived in San Antonio for seven years…I played shows there, dropped a small fortune in music and media there, and shot part of my as-of-yet-unfinished documentary on America and the Iraq war there. So I gotta give John Laird props if for no other reason than he’s music blogging in one of the greatest places in the world to run a music blog from. In case you have been living under a rock, Austin is the live music capital of the world and it’s fertile territory to be a creative type in.

Side One Track One doesn’t seem to be exclusively about vinyl, but I was sucked in by the cool turntable graphic and the content of the posts themselves. I’ve been kicking about off and on at this great music blog, and I’m happy to recommend this one.

Too bad John didn’t start this one back when I was playing gigs with Pink Filth, Crevice and with my solo project Paisley Babylon in Austin…but alas SOTO was started in 2006, a few years too late for me to hobnob with SOTO at the late, great 33 Degrees, Hole in the Wall, Sound Exchange or any of the other fun Austin places that have slipped into history. Check out this great Austin-based blog, if for no other reason than the fact that he rails against Pitchfork. I was an instant fan after reading that…

Chasing Lions Presents The Soft Drugs

EP, Featured, , , , ,

Chasing Lions (formerly Puddlegum) has launched as the first blog label. There will, no doubt, be differences of opinion on who the actual “first” blog/label combo is or was–Dave Allen ran Pampelmoose.com for a time with an indie label section by the same name, but Pampelmoose the label seems to have disappeared from P-Moose the blog at present (unless I am just a sightless doink). But I digress…it doesn’t really matter.

Forget labels, the proof is in the music. Chasing Lions has partnered with The Soft Drugs, who offer Side A of their forthcoming vinly/CD release Get Back as a free download.

After having a go at Side A (four times in a row, back to back) I see good things for both the Chasing Lions and The Soft Drugs. I was a bit doubtful of the obvious Beatles tie-in (which are usually dreadful), but fortunately the Let It Be track has nothing whatsoever to do with the Fab Four’s song–except as a lyrical reference. “It could be your Hey Jude. . . It could be your Let It Be…”

The best of this mid-tempo, laid back four-song download is also the most energetic of the bunch. Comparisons are odious, but I Need Space manages to somehow channel GBV in the vocal department, but not in a derivative way…it just sounds –at first listen, anyway– like these two bands belong together on a mix disc in spite of the fact that The Soft Drugs aren’t into the minimal, lo-fi vibe. There’s a healthy energy running through this that holds up well on repeated listens. My only gripe with I Need Space is that the track feels truncated…it’s begging for another round at the end instead of trailing off the way it does. Still, that’s showbiz–always leave ’em wanting more. In this case gents, mission accomplished.

 This Boston outfit features former Pedro the Lion member T.W. Walsh. The sounds are described in the press kit as being a cross between indie rock and trad rock…but you won’t hear any of those Jurassic rockers singing about feeling like a “baby on speed”. Nice! Grab the freebie while you can, and we’ll see how that full-length vinyl sounds when it drops this fall. Click below to hear the great I Need Space cut off the freebie Side A download of Let It Be.

 

I Need Space – The Soft Drugs