Daily Loaf

Go indie music store shopping with CL Music Editor Leilani Polk and get six records plus a player for the price of a charitable donation. Three local independent record stores — Daddy Kool in St. Petersburg, Mojo Books & Music in North Tampa and Vinyl Fever in South Tampa — offer two records apiece. At each store, you pick one record of your choice, and based on your musical tastes, Leilani will pick the other (with your okay, of course). To sweeten the deal, Audio Visions South is throwing in a Vintage Refurbished Thorens TD 126 MK-III Turntable (retail value $400). Sound good enough for ya? (Note: This offer excludes box sets, imports and/or limited/special releases; and if the winning bidder prefers to purchase CDs rather than vinyl despite getting a pimp-ass record player in the deal, we can certainly oblige.)

Estimated value: $550.

Current High Bid: $130.

Place your bid below:

Between 1968 and 1975, Big Star was America’s answer to the demise of the Beatles. Sadly, no one noticed this at the time. It was not entirely Big Star’s fault. They wrote the right songs and performed them with edgy soul. All the right ingredients collided in one of those musical miracles that seems impossible today, yet they were commercially squashed by an equal and opposite reaction within the scummy confines of the music business (note: this was before Vinyl Fever). I’m not saying it was malicious. Big Star just didn’t get the break they so clearly deserved because business concerns were – perhaps necessarily – considered more important than the art. They screamed into the void and the sound was vacuumed into near-oblivion. And to be fair, despite their obvious talents, maybe they were also just a bit too raw for the average radio listener of the time.

So many years later and thanks to endless kudos piled on by every alt-rocker you’ve ever heard of, anyone interested has already heard their first and most accessible albums, #1 Record and Radio City. These two are so jammed full of masterful emo-pop that you may not wish to dig any further. But for the inquisitive, the band had one more dispatch, the ramshackle-yet-riveting Third, also known as Sister Lovers. This album was halfheartedly released once, then several more times in various configurations. It is a dark trip into the broken heart of Alex Chilton, the surviving songwriter at the time. It actually hurts to listen to it; I don’t care who you are or why you hurt. Read the rest of this entry »

Baltimore’s Wye Oak (made up of Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack) produces big beat ’60s-influenced indie folk rock with dreamy melodies, washes of swirling symphonics and electro-psychedelia, and vocals rising in blissful choral harmony. The duo signed to Merge Records (Neutral Milk Hotel, M. Ward, Conor Oberst, Camera Obscura) last year and released their Merge debut and sophomore effort, The Knot, this past July.

The band is currently on tour with Blitzen Trapper but stages a free acoustic in-store at Vinyl Fever today, and plays a special one-off set (their only headlining show of the tour) later tonight at New World. Locals Zillionaire and The Holy Slow Train (Will Quinlan’s new Diviners side project) provide support.

Wed., Oct. 7: 5:30 p.m. in-store at Vinyl Fever, 4110 Henderson Blvd., Tampa, 813-289-8399, and 9:30 p.m. show at New New World Brewery, 1313 E. 8th Ave., Ybor City, $8.

VINYL:

David Bazan – Curse Your Branches

Lou Barlow – Goodnight Unknown
Lou describes this as, “a cross between my later work with Folk Implosion and my earlier work with Sebadoh.”

Boston Spaceships – Zero To 99
Robert Pollard.

Califone – All My Friends Are Funeral Singers

The Clientele – Bonfires on the Health
The Clientele are cited as an influence by bands such as Spoon and the Fleet Foxes.

Feelies – Crazy Rhythms
Feelies – Good Earth
Each with downloadable bonus tracks.

The Jesus Lizard - Goat
The Jesus Lizard – Head
The Jesus Lizard – Liar
The Jesus Lizard – Down
HQ-120 vinyl editions have also been packaged in deluxe gatefold album jackets with 12” x 24” double-sided color inserts. All editions feature bonus tracks.

Read the rest of this entry »

VINYL:

Beastie Boys – Hello Nasty
Now available on HQ-180 gatefold double vinyl.

Fugazi – End Hits
Fugazi – Steady Diet of Nothing
Remastered reissues, with each containing a bonus download.

Mudhoney – Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge LP+MP3
Mudhoney – Mudhoney LP+MP3
Mudhoney – Superfuzz Bigmuff LP+MP3
Reissued on HQ-180 vinyl with MP3 download..

Willie Nelson – Phases and Stages
Nelson’s first “concept album,” the Jerry Wexler-produced (at Muscle Shoals) Phases and Stages, provides both a man and a woman’s viewpoints on a crumbling marriage.

Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band – Between My Head and the Sky
Between My Head and the Sky is resplendent with mind-melting blend of styles and sharpening themes while, like its forward-thinking author, plunging into the always-mysterious future.

Pearl Jam – Backspacer
Available on deluxe double vinyl.

Various Artists – Wheedles Groove: Seattle Funk & Soul 1965-1975
On the quality Light in the Attic label.

CDs:

Basement Jaxx – Scars
They have remixed the likes of Justin Timberlake, Missy Elliot, N.E.R.D, Daft Punk, and are back with a new album.

Beastie Boys – Hello Nasty
Digitally remastered. The CD includes a bonus disc of B-sides and rarities including seven never before released tracks. Read the rest of this entry »

CDs:

Big Star – Keep an Eye on the Sky 4xCD
This four-disc collection spanning 1968-1975 offers a trove of unreleased demos, unused mixes, alternate versions of songs, and a 1973 concert recorded in Memphis. The lavish packaging includes extensive liner notes, rare and never-before-seen photos, and insightful essays about the cult of Big Star and the band’s history.

Karl Denson – Brother’s Keeper
Denson is joined by an all-star line-up, including Meshell Ndegeocello (bass), Marc Ford (guitar, The Black Crowes, Ben Harper), Jon Foreman (Switchfoot), Kenneth Crouch (Eric Clapton, Lenny Kravitz), Zak Najor (drums, The Greyboy Allstars), Cochemea Gastelum (baritone sax, Dap Kings, Antibalas), and many others.

The Dynamites featuring Charles Walker – Burn It Down
Charles Walker doesn’t emulate or try to resuscitate a bygone nostalgic era. He is soul, the real deal, carrying the flaming torch of funk and soul originally lit in the late ’60s.

Mark Knopfler – Get Lucky
Recorded at Knopfler’s award-winning British Grove Studios in West London.

KRS One & Buckshot – Survival Skills
New album features guests Mary J. Blige, Slug (Atmosphere), K’NAAN, Talib Kweli, Immortal Technique, Sean Price, Pharoahe Monch, and others.

Read the rest of this entry »

Capitol/EMI has done little with the Beatles’ music since 1987, when it first re-released the foursome’s catalog and did little to ensure the sound quality stood up to the transfer from vinyl to disc; 2004’s The Capitol Albums, Vol. 1 and the soundtrack to Cirque de Soleil’s Love revealed just how good the Beatles’ songs could sound when given the right treatment.

This Wednesday, September 9, 2009 (9-9-09) is an important date for Fab Four fans – The Beatles: Rock Band hits the racks along with long-awaited, much-anticipated digitally-remastered versions of all of the Beatles’ studio albums. This re-release encompasses Please Please Me, With the Beatles, A Hard Day’s Night, Beatles for Sale, Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The White Album, Abbey Road, Let It Be, Yellow Submarine as well as Magical Mystery Tour and Past Masters Vol. I and II packaged as a single collection. Each album features the songs and artwork as they were originally released in the U.K. and come with expanded booklets of rare photos and original and newly-inked liner notes. For a limited time, each of the 14 albums will also be “embedded” with a brief documentary about its making. There are all kinds of other tasty bonuses that I won’t go into here, but I will tell share some info with you about some special events being held all over town in honor of the re-release. Read the rest of this entry »

The warm, breezy pop of Tampa native Matt Hires isn’t just something to hum along to on your way to the beach. Hires’s debut album, Take Us To The Start (F-Stop/Atlantic), is cleverly-crafted and interesting, full of sincerity and catchy melodies highlighted by his enveloping, gravelly tenor.

The album’s single, “Honey, Let Me Sing You A Song,” begins quietly then bursts into the chorus as Hires begs his lady not to run away, to listen to his words (as they come out wrong). It’s sweeping and expressive, but — as cute as Hires is — watching the completely unrelated music video kinda warps the experience. (Check it out after the jump.) Read the rest of this entry »

This week’s recommended releases as well as a breakdown of other worthy albums available now.

Vinyl:

Arctic Monkeys – Humbug
The band’s third album is a set of songs both heavier and lush than in previous efforts but still full of the Monkeys’ punch and vitality.

Jeff Beck – Beck-Ola
Jeff Beck – Truth
Exact replicas now available on pristine HQ-180 vinyl. Taken from the original analog master tapes.

Chocolate Watch Band – No Way Out
Chocolate Watch Band – Inner Mystique
Hailing from San Jose, Calif., the Watch Band — featuring the pouting, Mick Jagger-influenced lead vocals of Dave Aguilar, the thrilling guitars of Sean Tolby and Mark Loomis, the solid bass of Bill Flores and the thumping drums of Gary Andrijasevich — made all the right scenes in San Jose, including appearances with the Syndicate of Sound and Count Five.

John Fogerty – Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again
Among the special guests are Bruce Springsteen.

Fugazi – 3 Songs 7″
Remastered.

Woody Guthrie – Woody, Cisco And Sonny
Woody Guthrie – Woody The Agitator
Woody Guthrie – Woody’s Roots
Woody Guthrie – Woody’s Greatest Hits
Classic Guthrie vinyl reissues — now available.

Jet – Shaka Rock
bass, drums, guitars and vocals.

Willie Nelson – American Classic

Pearl Jam – The Fixer 7″
Two new tracks from their upcoming album on white vinyl with glow-in-the-dark ink on the label!

Chuck Ragan/Brian Fallon split 7″
They of Hot Water Music and Gaslight Anthem fame, respectively.

Reigning Sound – Love and Curses
New release — now available on vinyl.

The Smiths – The Smiths
The Smiths – Meat Is Murder
The Smiths – Queen is Dead
The Smiths – Strangeways Here We Come
180 gram vinyl reissues. Remastering supervised by Johnny Marr. Read the rest of this entry »

CDs:

Joe Henry – Blood From Stars
With his work as both producer and a songwriter overlapping and informing one another, it’s only natural that the blues found their way onto Henry’s latest album after he most recently produced albums for Allen Toussaint and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. The album features veteran musicians including guitarist Marc Ribot and pianist Jason Moran.

Delbert McClinton – Acquired Taste
The 19th album in the career of a Texas roots music legend. He doesn’t change the musical formula on the album (a juke-joint blend of country, blues, soul, and rock & roll).

The Popes Featuring Shane MacGowan – Outlaw Heaven
The Popes are back with Shane MacGowan on three songs.

Sun Ra & His Solar Arkestra – Live In Helsinki 1971
Sun Ra was a jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet and philosopher known for his “cosmic philosophy”, musical compositions and performances. Claiming that he was of the “Angel Race” and not from Earth, but from Saturn, Sun Ra developed a complex persona that made him a pioneer of afrofuturism as he preached awareness and peace above all. Read the rest of this entry »

Recommended New Releases for August 11, 2009

We’re doing something a little different and recommending some of what we consider to be the better and/or more unusual new music you’ll find at Vinyl Fever this week.

Del Close & John Brent – How To Speak Hip

I’d been on the hunt for this record ever since hearing “Basic Hip” on The Beat Generation box set that Rhino put out 20 or so years ago. Finally found one on eBay last year for a mere $80 only to have Vinyl Feverite Gabe E. tell me, “I think I have that.” And he generously gave it to me!

Timeless while still very much of its time, this brilliant disc both satirized and cashed in on the “How To…” and “Teach Yourself…” album craze that hit America in the late 1950’s, combining some great “knowing” humor with a couple of fantastic characters and concepts.  John Belushi called Del Close “My biggest influence in comedy“

Del Close plays the “square” instructor who relies on the guidance of a Mr. Geetz Romo, beatnik. Here’s a clip: “Ladies and gentlemen … each hip word or phrase carries with it an implication of the speaker’s background and involvement in hip society. In other words the phrase, ‘I dig’ not only means ‘I understand,’ but ‘I am a special sort of person who understands in a very special way.’ In other words saying, ‘I am hip.’”

The CD even comes on with a “mini-book,” the “Hip Manual,” which came with the original 1959 side. It’s a ball, and nutty to imagine that this album is FIFTY years old!

Fall in — here’s a stream.

Some other recommended CD releases of this week:

Read the rest of this entry »

Vinyl:

Antony & the Johnsons – Aeon 7”
New single from ‘The Crying Light’. Includes the earnest and impassioned cover of Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love.”

Assjack – Assjack
Death-metal band founded and fronted by Hank III.

Fruit Bats – The Ruminant Band
Using bright melodies, defiantly major-key chord structures, natural imagery mixed with the occasional blazing insight and tender observation, The Ruminant Band marks a further crystallization of singer/songwriter Eric Johnson’s own melodic instincts and overall vision.

Guided By Voices – Under the Bushes, Under the Stars 2xLP+MP3
The last GBV album with the original lineup of Pollard-Sprout-Mitchell-Fennell. Beautiful original gatefold packaging. Double HQ-180 vinyl includes download code.

Gus Gus – 24 / 7
Sixth album from the Icelandic electronic/dance collective.

Jimi Hendrix – Live at Woodstock
2XHQ-180gram LPs.

Julian Plenty – Julian Plenty is Skyscraper
Solo album from Paul Banks — lead singer of Interpol. This varied album runs the gamut from folk-tinged acoustic songs to orchestral guitar anthems.

Jay Reatard – Watch Me Fall LP+MP3
Vinyl now, CD due August 18.

Sian Alice Group – Troubled, Shaken, Etc.
You get your minimalist trances, electronic experimentation, techno thump, jazz motifs and Eastern music tropes. A complete listening experience. Read the rest of this entry »