Tampa Calling

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 »

For what we assume will be a very limited time, Pitchfork is streaming the entire epic Guided By Voices documentary Watch Me Jumpstart on its site, for free.

The 1998 film tells the story of the unlikeliest of rock stars (featuring Dayton, Ohio born Robert Polllard, an ex-4th-grade teacher) who never actually became rockstars to the general public but still managed to spawn a new sub-genre of DIY music-making, from recording albums on cassettes to printing T-shirts and album covers in their garage.

You can watch the whole thing by following the link below the jump:

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VINYL:

Anti-Flag – People Or The Gun LP+MP3
Their seventh full-length takes aim at those who use the bible to control the masses.

Avenged Sevenfold

• Sounding The Seventh Trumpet
• Waking The Fallen

Limited edition (1000) specially-colored vinyl versions of these classic two albums.

Coalesce – Ox LP+MP3
Coalesce encapsulates over a decade of forward-thinking hardcore that typifies the trend-eschewing band and proves they still have much to say. Just the right touch of bombast and contrast to make the seething aggression all the more engaging.

Dredg – The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion
“Veering between ominous dirges and wide-eyed big sky anthems, they play massive art metal that’s been treated to multi-layered, intricate production in the vein of Radiohead and Pink Floyd; and for a band that can smash and roil like waves against Pacific beaches, they frequently take the subtler road, softening themselves with atmosphere and world music flourishes.” – Pitchfork

Holly Golightly

• Down Gina’s At 3
• Painted On
• Up The Empire

Her Sympathy label back-catalog — re-issued via Damaged Goods.

Guided By Voices – Alien Lanes LP+MP3
Their critically-acclaimed Matador debut and best-selling album is back in print on vinyl for the first time since 1999. HQ-180 virgin vinyl with gatefold sleeve.

The Kills – Keep On Your Mean Side
Vinyl re-issue of The Kills’ 2003 debut.

Pelican – Ephemeral 12”
Over three songs and 20 minutes, the vinyl-only Ephemeral introduces a heavier, darker, more riff-based Pelican for 2009. Includes a cover of Earth’s “Geometry Of Murder” with Dylan Carlson on guitar.

Cake – Motorcade Of Gernerosity LP+MP3

Jarvis Cocker – Further Complication

The Horrors – Primary Colours Read the rest of this entry »

This Saturday marks the second annual Record Store Day, a national salute to the more than 700 indie music stores located across the country and the positive impact they make on their communities. In honor of the event, several Bay area stores are offerings specials and carrying limited edition, exclusive Record Store Day releases.

Daddy Kool gives 10 percent off all new albums and 20 percent off all used inventory, and hosts some yet-to-be-announced activities.

Other area stores, like Sound Exchange, Mojo Books & Music and Vinyl Fever, have stocked up on an array of exclusive Record Store Day releases available only at indie stores. Amid the offerings are an array of split 7”-ers, including a double 7” of live tracks from Atlanta and Edinburgh by Tom Waits and Lucinda Williams, and a split 7” featuring covers of songs from Warner Bros.’ back catalog – Flaming Lips with Stardeath and White Dwarfs performing Madonna’s “Borderline,” and The Black Keys doing Captain Beefheart’s “Her Eyes Are a Blue Million Miles.” Guided By Voices re-releases its Hold On Hope LP with three bonus tracks, My Morning Jacket offers a limited run CD and double 10″ vinyl release recorded live in Louisville at Ear X-tacy record store, and Wilco makes its forthcoming concert DVD, Ashes of American Flags, available solely to indie stores and on its website on Record Store Day. Other exclusive RSD vinyl releases come from Bruce Springsteen, Leonard Cohen, Mastodon, Bob Dylan, Radiohead, Jane’s Addiction, The Stooges, Modest Mouse, Slayer, The Decemberists and Black Kids, among many others. Read the rest of this entry »

In response to Leilani’s “Top 10 Stupid Band Names,” I’d like to point out that, yes, not only are some band names stupid, or bad - sometimes they’re downright stolen.

We’ve all sat around stoned, drunk (even sober) and thought up – or accidentally stumbled upon - the next greatest band name EVER. There’s got to be a list of those names somewhere, right? I seem to remember someone saying, “We’ve got to write that one down!” 

There are plenty of band names inspired by literate source material or that just make sense (Steely Dan, named after a dildo in William S. Burroughs’ Naked Lunch or The L.A. Guns and Hollywood Roses combining to form Guns and Roses). But to lift the name of your group straight out of another artist’s catalog instead of establishing a new identity for your sound, your band, your business? It’s like starting up a fast food chain and calling it “Big Mac’s.”

As my wife pointed out, the only time a tribute should be paid to a band’s song is when you’re actually paying tribute to that band – as is the case with “Paradise City: The Guns N Roses Tribute” or ”Strutter: The Ultimate Tribute to Kiss.”

Here’s my list of offenders (in order of offense taken):

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