Category Archives: editorial

WTF: At Play With The Playmates

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WTF BAD ALBUM COVERS AT PLAY WITH THE PLAYMATES

I don’t want to know what the boys in THIS band were thinking when they approved this unfortunately candid shot for At Play With The Playmates. The facial expressions alone are priceless. Look at “Lucky Pierre” in the middle there, he’s clearly the only one enjoying himself here…take that however you please, but the guy in the rear has “new hernia” written all over his face, while the gent in the front seems to have a sort of Glenn Beck outrage going on, combined with a case of sudden nausea. “Did you just touch my buttocks?”

At Play With The Playmates? This album has a sort of sub-par Four Seasons vibe to it, and it quickly wears out its welcome unless you’re a fan of the genre–and I’m definitely not. I’ll pass on the adenoidal shrieking, thanks very much. This album cover is damn amusing though. Just what ARE The Playmates playing at? It look suspiciously as though they’re all trying to cop a cheap jolly off the vibrations of a poorly tuned up moped.

–Joe Wallace

Can You Sell Vinyl on CD Baby?

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new vinyl

A while back, I sent a query out to CDBaby asking about the possibility of selling a vinyl album or in addition to digital downloads and compact discs. Vinyl junkies take note, the official word from CD Baby is good news–vinyl is most welcome. From the CD Baby rep, Deena:

“Sure, we can list vinyl at CDBaby. We prefer if it matches an album on CD that is already for sale or will be for sale here, but isn’t required. Just makes things easier for the set up, as you’ll see.”

According to CD Baby, if you already have an album for sale on CD Baby and want to start selling vinyl copies, all you have to do is send five copies (contact CD Baby directly for details about sending more for in-store distro, etc.).

Vinyl submitted as a “stand alone submission” (as in, there are no other formats to be sold) must be signed up in the same way as a new CD or digital download. You’ll need a UPC code or you can purchase one from CDBaby. Again from the rep:

“Then, we’ll need an audio cd that matches the audio on the record so that we can post your clips and/or digitally distribute the album. You can send that with the first five records you send us. Please keep in mind, we might have to take a different cut than $4 per physical copy sold, shipping costs are sometimes more than it is for CDs.  We’ll have our receiving manager check it out once it arrives.”

Don’t forget about the cover art!  Just like with CD Baby CDs, you’ll need to send  a 1000 x 1000 pixel tiff file at 300dpi (with no compression) to CD Baby. This is great news for anyone who wants to get more ears on their vinyl release but doesn’t know where to start with distribution, etc. This CD Baby page has plenty of information on signing up and getting started. And, yes, Turntabling Records does have some material distributed via CD Baby, including all the titles found in the upper right corner of our site under “Download Turntabling Records albums”



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WTF: Bad Metal Album Covers

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Metal bands seem to be particularly challenged when it comes to the cover art. It’s hard to find a truly GOOD album cover by a metal band. Some bands are so impressed with themselves for actually having the stick to finish the album that the artwork is pure afterthought…and it shows.

“Dude! We were so drunk when we made this record! How did we finish? I don’t know how we did it! Party on, Wayne! Party on, Garth!”

The first mistake the band Exciter made was naming themselves after a piece of studio equipment. There are two cliches that noob bands fall into–one is having a band photo of themselves with a brick wall in the background, the other is naming a song or the band itself after a piece of studio gear in a non-ironic or unintentionally amusing way. (The exception to this rule is keyboard references, for some reason, especially when it comes to Moogs.)

Depeche Mode is probably the most high profile band to make this painful gaffe..and strangely enough their mistake is the same as this band’s. Why would ANYONE call a song, album or entity, “Exciter”? It sounds like a 4th rate sex toy imported from Malaysia in a broken carton.

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Exhibit B–the name of this album is “Warmasters”. But instead of seeing an actual warmaster (whatever that is) what you GET is this dork who lives in his mom’s basement pretending that it’s Halloween for the 99th straight day in a row. Hey, bud, that scowl on your face does NOT disguise the fact that it takes you all day to get out of bed and that you’re completely out of breath by the time you’re done tuning your guitar. Warmaster? Try a THIGHMASTER.

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Witchfinder General? More like, Adam Ant. These guys aren’t “Friends of Hell”. They’re friends of SATIN. And taffeta.

There are far too many bad metal album covers to include in one post…this could go on all YEAR, this stuff is PRICELESS. I love these bands for having the balls to be so damn corny. Rock on, dudes. I wouldn’t listen to these albums for pleasure, but they’re an endless source of entertainment and America is a better place because of them. More, please.

Suspiria LP Temporarily Sold Out

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suspiria soundtrack LP vinyl record for sale

Demand has gone crazy for the Argento titles…the Suspiria vinyl album is temporarily sold out (more are on the way) and there aren’t many copies left of a few of the other Argento LPs–the vinyl is going fast lately, probably thanks in part to an excellent post today on Listverse.com called 10 Brilliant Giallo Films.

MikeR wrote up a very nice collection of films including one of my  favorites–Death Walks On High Heels.  Not very keen at all on A Blade In The Dark, but his other selections are spot on…more posts like these, please!

–Joe Wallace