Category Archives: In The Bins

B-Sides in the Bins – #4 The Mugs US Tour by Brett Tieman

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This week we have a special guest digger contributing to “B-Sides in the Bins!” Brett Tieman is the bass and guitarist for a four-piece band out of Brooklyn called The Mugs whose music can be described as coming from the same sonic place as and often draws comparisons to college rock bands like REM, The Smiths, and The Stone Roses. Brett contacted me before the Mugs departed on their first US Tour asking for advice on Midwestern record stores to visit. Brett sent me a copy of their first full-length album Paper Scissors Rock in 2005 on their own SkinnyFat Records. It’s been a part of my regular rotation of CD’s since I got it and it is a good change of pace from the regular diet of indie rock. The Mugs are going back into the studio shortly to record the follow up. Visit their MySpace page to sample songs from Paper Scissors Rock.

Special Coorespondent Brett, The Mugs (of Brooklyn, NY)

In July, the four of us Mugs decided that after four years of playing almost solely inside NYC, it was time to treat ourselves to a little tour of the States. Since we all juggle the band with our day jobs, we were only able to allot 3 weeks (9/28-10/22) for the journey. And, since we are our own label, we had minimal resources to commit to the project (ie: no booking agent, no publicist). While Ryan (drums) set about booking the tour (it took a month to set 15 dates), I decided to surf the web and find some folks along our path to invite out to the shows. After perusing (literally) hundreds of indie rock blogs touting the next big thing (though I do love live show writeups), I came across Mike’s account of his shopping trip to Spaceboy Music in Philadelphia. I loved it. Being a record junky myself, it was a very enjoyable read; something I understood and could relate to. I spend my hard-earned dollars on very few things: rent, food, booze, my wife, the band, and records. Despite the fact that I was (am) broke, I knew these things would not change on the trip so I decided to take inspiration from Mike and organize a record store tour along side the serious business of delivering rock and roll.

Basically, I gave myself a $100 music budget for the tour. This fit well with my shopping style; I typically hit bargain bins. Random vinyl is so cheap it worked out pretty well. You can get a vague sense of my tastes here. I have a pretty large rock collection on disc so I’m not necessarily a strict jazz head- I just find that jazz is more fun to buy on record. I definitely make my selections based on the cover art.

Stop #1 – Bart’s CD Cellar & Record Shop (Boulder, CO)
www.bartscdcellar.com/vinyl.html

This is the perfect college/small town shop. Great inventory. It’s located in the heart of Boulder’s shopping commons. The ground floor is predominately CD’s. I scanned their ample selection and the prices (~$14.99 for new though I think they had cheaper used discs) and decided to head directly upstairs to the vinyl “attic.”

It was early on a Wednesday so it was just me and the clerk. As I picked through their very excellent and well-organized selection (there is a photo in the link above), he lazily played some Zappa on the house stereo. I spent an hour sifting through the different sections (they have a very large and intriguing soundtrack section), sampled a few tracks on the test turntables, and picked up the following:

Grace Jones – Nightclubbing
McCoy Tyner – Atlantis
Dollar Brand – Capetown Fringe [#3, I buy this record every time I see a copy]
Dollar Brand – Memories
Donald Byrd & 125th St. NYC – Donald Byrd & 125th St. NYC
Total: $30

Last minute decision: Since this was the first stop, I put back B-52’s self-titled debut and Eddy Grant’s Killer on the Rampage to keep costs below $30.

Hindsight: After visiting a few more stores, I realized that they had a very reasonably-priced reggae section. I find most record stores really inflate their reggae prices. Should have put back the Donald Byrd album; not so good despite it being a collaboration with Isaac Hayes.

AMEX? Yes. This place is all convenience.

Stop #2 Amoeba (Haight/Ashbury – San Fran, CA)
http://www.amoebamusic.com/

This is a pretty famous store so I won’t describe it in too much detail. I spent about an hour and half combing through trying to find the right combination of selection and value.

Jazz Suite on the Mass Texts (conducted by Lalo Schifrin)
Midnight Oil – Blue Sky Mining (CD)
Gary Burton/Steve Swallow – Hello Hotel
Gary Burton – A Genuine Tong
Leonard Feather Presents Encyclopedia of Jazz on Records Vol. 1 (20’s) & 2 (30’s)
George Lewis – Memorial Album
Total: $20

Last minute decision: I opted against getting the entire Dire Straits collection on vinyl despite it being one of the few record shopping missions with which I began the tour. I guess I expected their albums to be cheaper.

Hindsight: The Burton albums were definitely inspired by the artwork and album titles. They’re solid, but probably won’t get too much playing time at home. The Jazz Suite, however, is a great Sunday morning record. I saw it a few times at the other stores I visited, and it always seems to be cheap. Recommended.

AMEX? No. Probably for the best.

Stop #3 – Bop Street Records (Ballard – Seattle, WA)

http://www.wahmee.com/bopstreet.html
http://www.ballardnewstribune.com/articles/2006/05/17/news/local_news/news01.prt

This place is a trip. I found it on a blog (forget which) and knew I had to visit. Why? Radiohead dubbed it the greatest record store on the planet. One of the features to the place is the wall of fame on which noteworthy patrons sign their names. Thom Yorke wrote “My credit card got ill here.” Colin wrote “Radiohead got very dirty here.” So, is it the greatest record store on the planet? It very well might be: it’s huge and has a massive selection (over 700,000 records). We asked, Dave, the owner if he organized it himself. He laughed and said that he has about 3-4 people whose job it is to put everything in its right place.

Ryan’s father Joe used our gigs as an excuse to visit Seattle. He is a garrulous lover of rock and immediately engaged Dave in conversation. I missed the majority of the conversation, but I heard a lot of laughter. Apparently after they covered a mutual love for classic rock, Joe informed Dave that we were in a band. I’m generally shy about that fact in record stores, but I’m glad Joe was there to break the ice. Long story short, Dave eventually turned off ‘Eat a Peach’ and began playing our album over the store. He had it nice and loud too. I think I would describe the experience of hearing our music blasting at an international record mecca as “fucking awesome.” It went well. He decided to check out our show later that night at Sunset Tavern which was a very short walk from the store. Oh yeah, we got to sign the wall (but not next to Radiohead).

Meanwhile, before he played our album: I had a hard time shopping at Bop Street because of the sheer volume of choices. In record shopping, I don’t do well so many options. My eyes started to glaze over and my credit card started tapping on my shoulder: DON’T DO IT. I only had $50 left in my budget and a week of tour to go. After a time-foldingly short hour, I took my stack of records and decided to find out how much I was about to spend (none of the records have price tags). Dave flipped through the selection while providing assessments and commentary. Bop Street is not the cheapest store. Deflated by the appraisal, I retreated to the listening booth to sharpen up the selections. After separating the wheat from the chafe, I proceeded to check out fairly exhausted from searching. This is great home-town record store, but a difficult one to pass through. I could easily spend a full day rifling through the bins and shelves. When I returned to the check out, Dave observed good naturedly that I “put back the expensive ones.”

I paid and went to the basement to check on Ryan. The basement is just ridiculous (photo in the links above). Ryan had a huge stack picked out. The moral: the more you buy at Bop Street, the better the per record value. Dave will definitely discount bulk purchases. In fact, I should mention he gave me Bohannon for free since it’s not a very coveted or rare record.

Now, onto the best part: Dave came to the show and hung out all night practically since one of his employees played a few bands after us in the excellent Iceage Cobra. He enjoyed our set well enough and was very kind and congratulatory. He even bought me a drink. But the best part, and one of the highlights of the whole tour, he went back to the store and returned bearing gifts for Ryan and myself: two records (“the expensive ones”) which we had opted against at the last minute: a mint Grateful Dead Europe ’72 (one of my top 10 favorites) for Ryan and a mint Rolling Stones Exile on Main Street. I was absolutely floored and had my faith in the benevolence of mankind restored. Such a simple, but grand gesture.

Bohannon – Too Hot to Hold
Upchurch & Tennyson – Upchurch/Tennyson
Phil Woods & his European Rhythm Machine – Live at the Frankfurt Jazz Festival
Charles Tolliver (w/Gary Bartz, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Joe Chambers) – Paper Man
Total: $40 (all vinyl)

Bonus: Rolling Stones – Exile on Main Street

Last minute decision:Returning Exile on Main Street

Hindsight: Ballard kicks ass. Seattle kicks ass. KEXP kicks ass. Bop Street Records kicks ass. Sunset Tavern kicks ass. Dave kicks ass. Exile on Main Street kicks ass. Touring kicks ass.

AMEX? No (thank god).

Stop #4 – Jazz Mart (Chicago, IL)
http://jazzmart.com/

Chicago was the last stop on our tour so I was feeling pretty broke when we rolled into town. We did have a full day off so I felt compelled to hit up at least one store. I went with Mike’s suggestion and set out for Jazz Mart. It’s a nice, large well-organized store. Since I was questing for vinyl, I skipped through the pricier CD section. Ryan’s budget was a little more resilient so he set about perusing the discs. Their vinyl section is interesting: They have a decent-sized used record section and a large new vinyl reissue section (organized both by label and by artist). Brand new factory-sealed jazz vinyl reissues are great, but they didn’t fit my $10 budget. I was pretty shopped out after the 3 weeks, so I was fine digging up some randoms in the used bin. Meanwhile, Ryan kept chiming in and how amazing the selection is. So:

Joanne Brackeen – Snooze
Claude Goaty w/Gerard Calvi – Chansons de Paris
The Buddy Tate Celebrity Club Orchestra – Unbroken
Total: $10 (all vinyl)

Last minute decision: Deciding the get a drink at the pub we passed on the way to the store.

Hindsight: Jazz Mart advertises itself as the world’s largest jazz & blues store and delivers (though I didn’t see hardly any blues on vinyl). It is a great resource for people looking to fill in the gaps in their collections. Nice vibe, clean, friendly place. Good recommendation by Mike.

AMEX? Not sure. I tendered genuine US currency.

So, start a band, go on tour, support the independent record stores of America. Hope you enjoyed.

B-Sides in the Bins – #3 eBay Edition

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Here are some things that have come in recently from eBay.

The first auction I won was a bargain! I got It’s All Around You and Standards from Tortoise on vinyl and the debut release from Brokeback which was a 7″ called “Brokeback Returns to the Orange Grove”— all in unplayed condition for $16.00 with shipping! I’m going to start trying to get the Tortoise catalog on vinyl.

The next auction was for a new Calexico and Beirut split single on the UK label City Slang as part of their very limited “Mini Slang” singles collection. Side A is a cover of the Clash song “The Guns of Brixton” by Calexico that sounds like the same version that was recently released as an iTunes-only EP. Calexico added this cover to their recent tour– typically as a segue from “Crystal Frontier.” Side AA is “Interior of a Dutch House” by Beirut. According to the label it is from the album Pompeii which must be the name of his next album although I can’t find any other reference to it. This track used to be available for download from the Beirut website and has since been taken down. I got this for the Buy It Now price of US$7.83 with shipping. There are still copies of this available on eBay– get them while they are still available.

The third auction was for a CD of the Black Sessions that Tortoise did in 1998 during the TNT tour. The Black Sessions are like a French version of the Peel Sessions on BBC. The band comes in and records a show specifically for broadcast. There is a bunch of controversy about these releases done by Sangatte Records and whether they are a bootleg or an official release. The catalog number is SANG 021 CD, but I found a Moloko Black Sessions with exactly the same catalog number and with a 2006 release. So, who knows? I paid $27.00 with shipping.

The last auction was for a tour-only Calexico CD called Scraping which was made for their 2002 tour. Scraping is made up of live tracks mostly from their January 2002 show in San Francisco at the Great American Music Hall and one song from the Roskilde Festival in 2000 and two tracks from the Temple of Music and Arts in 2001. I paid $12.90 with shipping for it. Since this release is still available from the official Calexico site, my goal here was to pay less than the $16.00. I also bid on a copy of the Aerocalexico tour-only release, but lost it– this is the last one I need to get to have a full collection of these great tour-only releases. I think it’s great that Calexico caters to their fans with these releases.

Calexico - Live Session - EP Click Here to get the great Calexico iTunes EP (for US iTunes Customers).

Calexico - Live Session - EP Click here to get the Calexico EP if you are in the EU.

B-Sides in the Bins – #2 – Iowa City 11/10/06

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Hello, and welcome to another episode of B-Sides in the Bins where the author deals with the eternal battle of collecting records versus managing a personal budget.

My wife had a doctor’s appointment in Iowa City that Friday, so I took the opportunity to make a run to the Record Collector. It was pouring down rain so that was kind of a bummer, but I set out to make the best of it. I had an hour’s worth of change for the parking meter.

The Record Collector has a prominent used CD table in the middle of the store, so that is usually where I start, and then move to the racks around the sides where the new CD’s and vinyl are. A small haul this time, but some gems, I think.

Aphrodisiac – Andre Williams with The Diplomats of Solid Sound (CD Pravda PR 6383, 2006) ($7.00) This was in the “Recent” section of the used bin. I hadn’t had a chance to hear this record, yet. I know that the guys in the Diplomats have been playing shows with Andre recently. A pretty fun CD, really. Reminds me a lot of RL Burnside. Andre evidently has the distinction of being the earliest recorded rapper with his hit single “Bacon Fat.” He’s had a career that spans 50 years in recording, writing and producing. It’s great that he’s still recording at 70.

“Do You Remember?” b/w “Prove It To Me” – Andre Williams and the Diplomats of Solid Sound ( 7″ VampiSoul 45032, 2006) ($4.00) I had actually not noticed the Andre Williams CD in the bins until I found this 7″ in the singles section of the store. I really like this VampiSoul collection. The Diplomats released a single last year on that label. The label calls it their “jukebox series” so I guess that means they don’t need to have cool sleeve art. No matter it is still cool to get these singles. These two tracks are on the Aphrodisiac CD, no rare b-side, here– too bad. It might have been cool to even get a 2006 version of Andre’s “Bacon Fat” with the Diplomats backing him.

“Hayloft Stomp” b/w “Can Your Frug Do The Boogaloo” – The Monroes split single with The Diplomats of Solid Sound (7″ Speed! Nebraska Records, Speed A-300, 2006) ($4.00) The boys in the Diplomats had been busy in 2006! More 7″ fun. I haven’t had a chance to throw this one on the turntable, yet. Nifty classic purple-on-silver screening on the label. The A side says “Punk!” and the B side says “Funk!”

Manna – Bread (LP Elektra EKS-74086, 1971) ($1.00) While the guys in Bread made their big hits with soft-rock songs like Manna’s “If”, and “Guitar Man, “Make It With You” and “Baby I’m-A Want You” they actually fancied themselves a more edgy rock band than AM Radio would ever have given them credit for. You can tell that the band has a rift in it as the big singles are the ballads penned by vocalist David Gates, and the more uptempo rock songs are written by the partnership of James Griffen and Robb Royer.

This was an album that got a lot of play at the Roeder house in 1972. We had just moved back to my mom and dad’s hometown and into a new house. Both sets of my grandparents lived there and I had a lot of aunts and uncles and cousins there. After a big gap in my dad’s record collection starting around when he was in college in the mid-60’s, he started buying records again and this was one of the first ones he got. This record reminds me of those times and in retrospect it was a new life for our family and a more optimistic time. The track “If” really is still as schmaltzy as it has been– but the great tunes on this record are the uptempo tracks “Let Your Love Go,” “Take Comfort,” and “Truckin’ (not the Grateful Dead song).” Beautiful harmonies layer through the soaring “Too Much Love.” This album was out of print for a long time. In the early 90’s there was a Japanese release on CD. I bought a copy for myself and one for my dad as a gift– complete with OBI strip. In 1995 Elektra released the entire Bread catalog including Manna and it has since fallen back out of print in the US. Apparently a new pressing of Manna occurred in the UK in August.

Download “Let Your Love Go” from Manna

Days to Come – Bonobo (2 CD Ninja Tune ZENCD119, 2006) ($15.00) This was playing in the store and I really liked it. I paid full price for it! I’d heard of Bonobo, but really hadn’t heard anything from him. I would categorize this album as Drum and Bass or maybe Trip Hop. Not to sound all-1997 or anything. The album reminds me of Roni Size and Reprazent’s landmark Newforms album or Morcheeba. The vocals of Bajka have have that lazy, lispy quality that Bahamadia brought to Newforms and a little like Skye the original singer for Morcheeba. I knew that my wife would really like this one, so I picked it up. One of the reviewers on Amazon says that this release– while great– will fall through the cracks of the releases of 2006. I certainly hadn’t heard much about it.

Download Nightlite (featuring Bajka) from Days To Come

What I put back : Pyramids by Pit Er Pat– brand new release, I hadn’t had a chance to hear anything from this, so I held off. In retrospect, I should have grabbed this one. Sherry and I saw Pit Er Pat open for Tortoise on their Minneapolis stop in 2004. Sherry thought the lead singer sounded like Bjork. The couple of tracks I sampled on the Thrill Jockey site sounded like they have matured. Songs and Other Things from Tom Verlaine– another relatively new release on Thrill Jockey. He released two new albums this year– one with vocals and one without. This one is the vocal release.

B-Sides in the Bins – #1 – Minneapolis 11/3/06

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I thought it would be a good idea to keep track of my music purchases, and where I found them as a kind of diary. A friend of mine from the early days of endtroducing.com and The InFlux Mailing list John Book used to post to his website his record purchases from thrift stores and garage sales around the Greater Pasco, WA area. John’s deep and extensive knowledge of music always made for an interesting read. It is from this that I take my inspiration for these articles. I would like to have guest contributors to this section of my site, and have been talking to a couple of people who might be interested.

As you may have read below, my wife and I were in Minneapolis for the Lyrics Born/Cut Chemist show around 11/2. The next morning after the show, Sherry seemed to have come down with the flu and we ended up cancelling our plans with her sister and aunt. We hung out in the very small hotel room at the Millennium for most of the day. Sherry told me I didn’t need to stick around with her and suggested that I should go out for a while. So, I decided that I’d visit the Cheapos in Uptown. I’d been there for a couple of minutes a while back, but ran out of time before I could really dig. My favorite Cheapo’s location is usually the one on Snelling in St. Paul. That one works for us because there is a Whole Foods in that area as well, so we can do something for Sherry, too. She likes to go to the Electric Fetus more than Cheapo’s because they have other things besides records.

This Cheapo’s is set up pretty similarly to the other locations in the Twin Cities. It has an Applause in the basement, which is all vinyl. I didn’t have time this trip to go down there, but I will plan to go next time. My favorite thing about Cheapos is the way they arrange the last week’s worth of Used CD’s by the day of the week that they arrived. I always start there before looking into their other bins that have new and used mingled together by genre and artist. This was a good run for me as I picked up some new stuff that I’d been meaning to get.

Songbird – Willie Nelson ($9.99): Wow! This one was released on that Tuesday! (10/31). This is Willie’s new album produced and performed by Ryan Adams with his band the Cardinals with which he recorded his trilogy of albums last year. Pitchfork didn’t know what to do with this one. I believe that the review called Adams’ production “gloppy.” But, they gave it a 7.4. I think it is well-known that Pitchfork doesn’t like Ryan Adams so probably Willie was penalized a bit due to association. The album is a good listen all the way though. This album is the best that I’ve heard Willie’s voice sound in a long time. I like the choice of the Christine McVie song from Rumours “Songbird,” and I like Gram Parson’s “$1000 Wedding” as well. I question– as the reviewer from Pitchfork does– whether the world needed another cover of “Hallelujah” but it is done with care. “Amazing Grace” is a good wrap-up choice, too.

The Outsider – DJ Shadow ($9.99): Another relatively new release. I’m finally deciding to buy this one to give it a fair shake. I will probably post a review much later. If you’ve been following my blog for long, you are probably aware of my past with DJ Shadow and might be surprised I hadn’t purchased this one, yet. Frankly, I missed the $9.99 sale at Best Buy when it was released and what I’d heard of the album at that point I wasn’t sure I liked. BTW: There were no less than three copies of this CD in pristine condition in the bins this week. If you haven’t purchased this yet, take a look for it used if you are interested.

The Audience Is Listening – Cut Chemist ($8.99) : Another one I missed for $9.99 at Best Buy when it was released. This copy is a stamped promo. A very good effort. It amazes me that Mr. Macfadden waited this long for his first solo record. He has been a mainstay in the Bay Area HipHop scene and has participated in some very notable collaborations over the years: “The Number Song Remix,” Brainfreeze, Product Placement, his own “Lesson 4,” Ozomatli’s first album, Jurassic 5. My favorite tracks are “The Garden,” “What’s the Altitude,” and “The Audience Is Listening Theme Song.” The first two have been singles, and the last one is the new iPod commercial with the guy “painting” with the light of an iPod. A fun album that demonstrates the production and turntable skills of Cut Chemist and doesn’t take itself very seriously. That last part might be the advice I’d give DJ Shadow. Sometimes records need to be fun to listen to.

4th Dimensional Rocketships Going Up – The Gift of Gab ($8.99) : This is one that I’d wanted to pick up for a while. I wasn’t sure what I’d think of The Gift of Gab without Chief Xcel on production, but this album is great! Vitamin D and Jake One take turns producing tracks for Gab, and turn out a fantastic record. I really like what the Quannum “old school” is turning out these days. As they approach their Forties, they seem to be improving. While The Gift of Gab isn’t braving new ground on thie record, his familiar flow and rhyme work on this record.

I hadn’t planned on buying so much HipHop on this trip– or so much Quannum-related for that matter, but I was pretty happy for the haul. At one point in the browsing, I had so much stuff in my hands that I needed to go grab a shopping basket because my back was getting sore! I didn’t want to spend a bunch of money– I gave myself a budget not to exceed $50.

What I put back The Red House Painters 2 CD Retrospective, and Mark Kozelek’s tribute to AC/DC What’s Next To The Moon, The Gorillaz Demon Days (for some reason I haven’t bought this yet– there were many copies of this one), Gnarls Barkley’s St. Elsewhere (I’m waiting on the expanded edition of this one), Lucinda Williams’ Car Wheels (waiting on buying the Deluxe Edition), General Public’s All The Rage, mint copies of the reissues of AC/DC’s For Those About To Rock and Back In Black.

Title I would have bought if I didn’t already own it: Tortoise Standards

New titles to become bin fodder include the new one from Courtney Love (many copies!), DJ Shadow’s The Outsider, anything Coldplay (I still haven’t picked up X&Y, but I could have had many copies of that), Tom Petty’s Highway Companion (there must have been five mint copies of this one), either album from Jet sadly. Scissor Sisters. Phish is hitting the used bins. I saw lots of titles that you wouldn’t have seen three or four years ago during the peak of their popularity.

Stay tuned for another action-packed episode of B-Sides In The Bins!