Tampa Calling

Vinyl:

10 Ft. Ganja Plant – Bush Rock
The band’s first studio recording in five years, Bush Rock includes vocals by Kyle McDonald of Slightly Stoopid. A well-rounded reggae/dub excursion that features both heavy dub tracks and silky sweet songs.

Deceh – Deceh
Deceh is a fine drone quartet utilizing traditional ethnic drone instruments as well as vintage analog synthesizers.

Green Day – Warning
Latest vinyl reissue of Green Day’s back catalog.

Holy Modal Rounders – Good Taste is Timeless
From the Greenwich Village acid-folkies — a 1971 cult classic.

Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart 12″
Newly remastered with a 12″ bonus remix.

Al Kooper & Mike Bloomfield – Super Session
This historic 1968 summit meeting features three of the era’s greatest musical talents: blues guitar hero extraordinaire Mike Bloomfield, multi-talented keyboard visionary Al Kooper and Buffalo Springfield/CSNY founder Stephen Stills.

Morphine – Yes
HQ-180 audiophile vinyl reissue of Morphine’s third album, originally released in 1995. Read the rest of this entry »

VINYL:

311 – Uplifter
Free 7″ w/ purchase at Vinyl Fever (while supplies last)!

Amadou & Mariam – Welcome To Mali (2LP w/bonus CD)
Pressed on 140-gram vinyl.

Beck – One Foot in the Grave 2xLP
Expanded 15th anniversary edition of the 1994 album includes 16 bonus tracks (13 of them previously unreleased).

Ryan Bingham – Roadhouse Sun
Produced by Marc Ford, formerly of The Black Crowes.

Delaney & Bonnie & Friends – On Tour with Eric Clapton

J Dilla - J Stay Paid

Faces - A Nod Is as Good As A Wink… To a Blind Horse

Lee Fields and the Expressions – My World
Lee Fields is a bona-fide, 100%, unadulterated, pure, gut-bucket soul singer. Click for more.

Franz Ferdinand – Blood
Upon completion of Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, the album’s co-producer, Dan Carey, began to conduct a dub experiment with the tracks. Carey’s own experience included an apprenticeship of sorts with legendary South London dub specialist The Mad Professor. And thusly, Blood was born. Comprised of eight radical revisions from Franz Ferdinand’s third album, and a bonus ninth track, “Be Afraid.” Read the rest of this entry »

There’s something magical about waking up to strange birds singing unfamiliar songs. In the quiet of Austin’s East Side, this is how day two began.

And the morning of day two was difficult. My lower back was definitely still in pain and my right ear wasn’t fully functioning yet. (Later, a passing ambulance would prove it was back to normal). But, a hot shower, some good stretching and the fact that there was no coffee in the house was enough to get me motivated.

If for purely economical reasons, I decided to walk from the house to the convention center downtown - a distance described to me as “around ten blocks.” Very long blocks. It was still a brisk 40 degrees, and I could see my breath as I passed the businesses on Comal St. Several places in the predominantly Latin community offered party rental services (pinatas, moonwalks, table and chair rental) and were staging their colorful wares (yes, even the moonwalks) sometimes dangerously close to traffic on the dingy, gray curbside.

I arrived back at the ACC just in time to catch the first workshop of the day, ”Profit by Mobilizing your Online Community.” Definitely a disappointment. When I think “mobilize,” I think “inspire to action” or “cause to move in an excited and motivated manner.” The panel from Unwired Nation apparently understood the word “mobilize” to mean “sell them a mobile API with a voice and messaging plan.” I should’ve known.
Read the rest of this entry »

A new weekly roundup of what the CL team is listening to right now.

Wild Sweet Orange
We Have Cause To Be Uneasy (2008)
This is one the most well-rounded albums I’ve heard in a long time. It came in a press packet to me last year, and my loyalty and love for this album has not faded since. In fact, while grocery shopping yesterday, it was all I listened to on my iPod and it made selecting vegetables a shit-ton of fun. The album is very deep lyrically, and I appreciate the diversity in the song selection. Some songs are surprising because the intro doesn’t give you any indication of what the bulk of the song is going to sound like, other songs are slow but pick up at the end, and some songs simply rock out with screaming and drums. Warning: Don’t listen to this album if you aren’t in the mood to be forced to contemplate the meaning of life.
Recommended tracks: “Tilt,” “House of Regret,” “Land of No Return”
–Aly

Big L
Lifestylez Ov da Poor & Dangerous (1995)
Big L’s wordplay is still impressive more than a dozen years later. The rhyme scheme and wit of his verse on “Da Graveyard” (which features a very young sounding Jay-Z) would embarrass most of today’s so-called heavy hitters. The title track and “All Black” have that explicit, self-assured swagger your inner alpha male loves. Big L definitely deserves to be on the Brooklyn Hip Hop Mount Rushmore and that’s saying something.
–Infinite Skillz

Plants and Animals
Parc Avenue (2008)
Montreal trio Plants and Animals put out their full-length debut last February, got nominated for the 2008 Polaris Music Prize (a coveted Canadian award with $20,000 in booty for the winner), earned top marks from PopMatters and Pitchfork, and somehow flew completely under my radar. Sad because this album is indie rock gold with its warm and majestic balladry, sometimes bolstered by grandiose choral arrangements, other times gently meandering into the rootsy poignancy of ‘70s folk psychedelia.
Recommended tracks: “Bye Bye Bye” and “Faerie Dance”
–Leilani Read the rest of this entry »