Category Archives: Retail

Free Download: For The Budos Band The Third Time is a (Snake) Charm

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Last week the mighty instrumental afro-funk band The Budos Band— which bills itself as the “Staten Island’s Undesputed Champions of Afro-Soul” announced the release and details of their new album The Budos Band III. To be released on August 10th on the formidable Daptone Records label the record is the band’s first release since 2009’s The Budos Band EP and the first full length since 2007’s The Budos Band II.

Coincidentally,  I was in Boston this week for work and managed to sneak in a run to Newbury Comics. I was hoping to pick up the new Suckers vinyl, but it has been delayed. Instead I ended up picking up a couple of records I’ve had on my Amazon Wish List for a while– The Budos Band and The Budos Band EP. I still need The Budos Band II. I’ve been a fan of The Budos Band since I did a review of the Scion Daptone Records compilation.

The Budos Band is a band with a distinctive sound– influenced by African– specifically Ethiopian– music coupled with organ and guitars lead melodically by a muscular horn section. The Budos Band shares guitarist Brenneck with the other signature Daptone house band– The Dap-Kings. Other Dap-Kings Neal Sugarman and Binky Griptite were on-board for the first Budos Band album.  It’s clear that the cross-pollination has helped establish them.

The first Budos Band Record featured a volcano in full eruption with the lava coming right for the viewer presumably representing “The Volcano Song.” The second Budos Band featured a scorpion ready to sting, representing the “Scorpion” album track. Continuing the “dangerous” cover art of the Budos Band records, III has a cobra on the cover– likely representing the “Black Venom” track– but I think may also be a sly reference to the expression “The Third Time is a Charm” where the charm would be for that cobra.

“Heading into the studio for Budos III, I really thought we were going to make the first psychedelic, doom-rock record ever recorded at Daptone,” said front man and baritone saxophonist Jared Tankel, “but somehow it ended up sounding like a Budos record.” I’ve had the opportunity to listen to the album and the familiar formula of the Budos Band is continued but I do get the sense of some underlying darkness.

I like the whole album– the songs on III fit comfortably next to the rest of their catalog in my opinion. Early standout tracks for me are “Unbroken, Unshaven” (this has to be a reference to the fact that the band used to be called Los Barbudos or “The Bearded Ones”) with its clean strumming leading the song, “Nature’s Wrath” has a great loping circular beat but has the BEST FLUTE SOLO this side of Ray Thomas’ solos in The Moody Blues! In my mind, Mother Nature is PISSED about the BP oil leak and this song is the warning before she tears us a new one! One nice bonus to this album is “Reppirt Yad” which wraps the album up. For Record Store Day this year, Daptone put out a split 7″ of Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings and The Budos Band. The Budos Band track was an interpretation of The Beatles “Day Tripper.” They seem to have disguised the song with a backwards title for III.

To get a free download of “Unbroken, Unshaven” click on this link to sign up for a Daptone Records e-mail list (that they admit you can unsubscribe from). I’ve been on the Daptone e-mail list for a couple of years now and they aren’t abusive and it’s a good way to stay on top of news from this fantastic label.

The band is off on an extensive tour in support of III and hopefully they bring their snake charming show to a venue near you!

The Budos Band III Tracklisting:

  1. Rite of the Ancients
  2. Black Venom
  3. River Serpentine
  4. Unbroken, Unshaven
  5. Nature’s Wrath
  6. Golden Dunes
  7. Budos Dirge
  8. Raja Haje
  9. Crimson Skies
  10. Mark of the Unnamed
  11. Reppirt Yad

Tour Dates :
Sat June 5 Montclair, NJ Wellmont Theatre (w. Les Claypool)
Fri June 11 New York, NY Rocks Off Concert Cruise
Sat June 26 Vancouver, VC Vancouver Jazz Festival @ Commodore Ballroom
Sun June 27 Calgary, AB Calgary Jazz Festival @ The Whiskey
Tue June 29 Saskatoon, SK Saskatchewan Jazz Festival @ Lydia’s Pub
Wed June 30 Winnipeg, MAN Jazz Winnipeg Festival @ Pyramid Cabaret
Sat July 10 Chicago, IL Chicago Folk & Roots Festival @ Welles Park
Sun July 11 Bloomington, IN Bluebird
Mon July 12 Chicago, IL Millennium Park
Tue July 13 Ann Arbor, MI Blind Pig
Thu July 15 Quebec City, QC Quebec City International Summer Festival
Fri July 16 Ottawa, ON Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest
Sat July 17 Toronto, ON Lee’s Palace
Wed July 21 Philadelphia, PA Johnny Brenda’s
Thu July 22 Harrisburg, PA The Abbey Bar at ABC
Fri July 23 Floyd, VA Floydfest
Sat July 24 Washington, DC Black Cat
Sat Aug 7 Brooklyn, NY Celebrate Brooklyn! @ Prospect Park Bandshell
Thu Aug 12 Los Angeles, CA Levitt Pavilion
Fri Aug 13 Pasadena, CA Levitt Pavilion
Sat Aug 14 San Luis Obispo, CA Downtown Brew
Sun Aug 15 San Francisco, CA Outside Lands @ Golden Gate Park
Tue Aug 17 Phoenix, AZ Sail In
Thu Aug 19 Santa Fe, NM Santa Fe Brew Co
Sun Aug 22 Dallas, TX Granada
Tue Aug 24 Oklahoma City, OK Conservatory
Wed Aug 25 Kansas City, MO Record Bar
Fri Aug 27 Denver, CO Larimer Lounge
Sat Aug 28 Boulder, CO Fox Theater
Tue Aug 31 Salt Lake City, UT State Room
Wed Sept 1 Boise, ID The Grove Plaza
Thu Sept 2 Eugene, OR W.O.W. Hall
Fri Sept 3 Portland, OR Dante’s
Sat Sept 4 Seattle, WA Bumbershoot

Click Here to visit the Wikipedia page on The Budos Band.

Click Here to visit the Budos Band website.

Click Here to visit the Budos Band MySpace page.

Click Here to visit Obscure Sound page on The Budos Band which has some mp3’s.

Click Here to visit The Spinner.com Interface session with video of The Budos Band.


Tortoise Beacons Bonus Track “Ice Ice Gravy” – Why Waste Time? Import Information

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Yesterday Thrill Jockey announced that they are making the Tortoise track “Ice Ice Gravy” available for download for $1.00 from Fina– their online download service. To date, “Ice Ice Gravy” was only available in the U.S. as part of the iTunes version of Beacons of Ancestorship. Outside the U.S. it is available as a bonus track on the Japanese pressing of Beacons of Ancestorship as well as what appears to be a Japanese tour EP release in May titled Why Waste Time?

According to Dan Bitney in this interview with popmatters.com he track “Ice Ice Gravy” is a 13-minute pastiche of some improvisational work Tortoise did to get  inspiration while starting the recordings for what would become Beacons. From the interview at popmatters:

“It was more like experimenting,” he explains, “And we really didn’t get anything out of it. We were doing a lot of improv, just kind of set up a roomful of stuff. It wasn’t focused at all. We weren’t necessarily bringing in song ideas, we were just doing what I would describe as improv experiments. So we started out doing something like that and then we’d say, ‘Oh gee, what the hell are we doing? Is this going to work?’”

According to the article, some of these sessions are in “Ice Ice Gravy.” Ultimately, these sessions were scrapped in favor of the songs that would become Beacons. But, don’t dismiss “Ice Ice Gravy” as a mere toss-away track. It is an interesting view into the creative process that Tortoise works to make their albums.

While I was looking for the interview with Bitney where he talked about “Ice Ice Gravy” I stumbled upon a new Tortoise release titled Why Waste Time?! This is a Japan-only EP released on Commmons Records, which is a label started by Ryuichi Sakamoto. Judging by the little bit of English on the website it appears that Commmons has a relationship with Thrill Jockey to do the Japanese releases of their catalog.

Why Waste Time? contributes the cover art to the download of “Ice Ice Gravy” shown above and is a pretty cool release as it has three tracks not on the U.S. Beacons release (including “Ice Ice Gravy”), one of the Remixes from the recent Beacons Remixes 12″ and has some video content as well! Here is the tracklist:

1. Ruba’iyat
2. Passerine
3. Gigantes Version – Mark Ernestus
4. Ice Ice Gravy

CD Extra Video Content:

1. Charteroak Foundation (Live in Japan, 2009)
2. Seneca (Live in Japan, 2009)
3. Prepare Your Coffin (Music Video)

Updated! Thrill Jockey is carrying the CD for Why Waste Time? for $17! Click Here to order.

Click Here to listen to and purchase “Ice Ice Gravy” for $1.00.
Click Here to see the Why Waste Time? page at Commmons

Rolling Stones – Exile On Main Street Reissue Variations

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Looking through the Sunday fliers in the paper this morning I noticed that Target is going to have an exclusive CD available on Tuesday May 18th in conjunction with the widely-anticipated reissue of the Rolling Stones landmark 1972 album Exile on Main Street. In true fan-exploitative fashion there will be many versions of this release to choose from. Since I was looking into this, I thought I’d help break this down for the casual shopper.

Exile on Main Street in the new century is largely regarded as  influential in popular music as Sgt. Pepper’s or Pet Sounds. I think that the Rock/Country/Soul/Blues fusion on Exile singlehandedly created what would be known as “Americana” or “Alt.Country. According to Wikipedia, Exile quickly hit #1 on the UK Top 50 and the US Billboard charts, and charted into the Top 10 in the Hot 100 with “Tumbling Dice” and tracks like “Happy” and “Loving Cup” are regarded as standards.

I picked up a used copy of Exile on CD used many years ago. The version I have is the CBS CD pressing from the 80’s (CGK 40489) which proudly announces “2 RECORD SET ON 1 COMPACT DISC.” When the Rolling Stones Records catalog went to Virgin Records they did a remaster of Exile along with the rest of the catalog which was released in July 1994 based on Amazon’s information and came in packaging that looked like the original LP. When I heard that a reissue and remaster was forthcoming, I was interested in replacing my CBS copy. The sheer number of options is surprising, but likely caters to anyone’s needs.

Exile on Main Street (1 CD “Original Recording Remastered”) This is the one that should tide over most Rolling Stones fans. This is the original 18-track album remastered and– according to Amazon.com– is in a special jewel case which will allow it to fit in the “Remasters Box” which was missing Exile. Should be $9.99 this week.

Exile on Main Street Deluxe Edition (2 CD “Deluxe Edition, Extra Tracks, Original Recording Remastered”) This release expands the 1 CD version to include a second 10-track CD of previously-unreleased tracks that were recorded around the same time as the music on Exile. Should be $19.99 this week. Note: If you buy the Deluxe Edition from Best Buy you will get a bonus interview CD.

Exile on Main Street Super Deluxe Edition (2 CD, 1 DVD, 2LP, Hard Cover Book, Original Recording Remastered) This release expands the 2 CD Deluxe Edition to include two LP’s and a 30-minute DVD which has a documentary on Exile which includes footage from “lost” documentary Cocksucker Blues and Ladies and Gentlemen… The Rolling Stones and Stones in Exile. The Ladies and Gentlemen film was a film which “toured” movie theaters in 1974. The film was based on the Exile tour. Also included is a 50-page hardcover book. A really nice package for certain. Should be around $179.98 list price, with Amazon listing it at $139.

Exile on Main Street 2 LP (2 LP, Original Recording Remastered) This is the 2 180g vinyl LP edition of Exile on Main Street in a double-gatefold sleeve. These are the same LP’s included in the Super Deluxe Edition. Should be $34.99 or less.

Exile on Main Street Rarities Edition (1 CD Target and iTunes Exclusive) This is a Target and iTunes exclusive release. This is effectively the second CD in the Deluxe and Super Deluxe editions. Ten tracks recorded during the same time as the Exile on Main Street songs. These songs have been produced and mixed by The Glimmer Twins and Don Was especially for the Exile reissues. The Sunday Target flier says that the Rarities Edition will be available for $9.99. Target also is offering a “Limited Edition Exile on Main Street Rarities Fan Pack” which bundles the Rarities Edition with a cool teeshirt and guitar pick– all for $19.99.

The cool thing about the Target Rarities Edition is that I can pick this single disc up and buy the LP edition and I get a kind of blend of the Deluxe and Super Deluxe editions. I get the main album on LP’s and the bonus tracks on a CD.

Whichever version of Exile on Main Street you choose, it is an essential album for anyone’s collection.

Members of Tortoise, Isotope 217 & Causa Sui to Release Chicago Odense Ensemble

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AdLuna Records is a label I’ve been following for a little while due to their ties with Thrill Jockey artists. AdLuna is a boutique-ish label out of France which has a penchant for free jazz and funk (well, and one folk release). They released their first three releases in 2008. Due to the low volume of releases from the label, they are able to focus on the packaging of the releases. All three CD releases are in a unique 5.5″ x 7.75″ book style cover– printed on high-quality card stock with a matte finish. In the case of Rob Mazurek’s Abstractions on Robert D’Arbrissel (AR001CD) release, there was a 10-page full-color booklet included in the cover. In the case of Doug Scharin’s project Activities of Dust, whose sidemen included Jeff Parker (Tortoise), Bill Laswell and Bernie Worrell, in addition to the CD of their release A New Mind (AR003CDDVD), a DVD titled “Return to the Original Matrix” which was produced by Doug Scharin.

Last week AdLuna announced that their next release would be an album from Chicago Odense Ensemble. Chicago Odense Ensemble is a group made up of Rob Mazurek (Chicago Underground, Isotope 217, Exploding Star Orchestra), Jeff Parker (Tortoise, Isotope 217, Exploding Star Orchestra), Dan Bitney (Tortoise, Isotope 217), Matt Lux (Isotope 217, Exploding Star Orchestra), Brian Keigher (aka DJ Warp), Jonas Munk (Causa Sui, Manual) and Jakob Skott (Causa Sui). Evidently derives its name from the fact that Mazurek, Parker, Bitney, Lux and Keigher all call Chicago home and Causa Sui members Skott and Munk are from Odense, Denmark.

I was not aware of Causa Sui until I heard about this release so I checked them out. They are spacy-stoner rockish instrumental group. Kind of Doors-meets-Hawkwind, I suppose. I’ve been listening to it quite a bit in the last week, and the influence of Causa Sui should make for a really great release! From the press release is a quote from Jonas Munk, “The closest reference for this kind of music is probably early-1970’s proto-fusion jazz that strived for a similar synthesis of jazz improvisation, psychedelic rock, Eastern and African sounds and the use of the studio as a musical tool instead of merely a recording facility.”

The release, which doesn’t have a date yet, will come out in CD and 2 180g LP versions as well as digital download. AdLuna sent me some pictures of the proposed packaging which they are still formalizing. I also included the pretty cool teaser trailer for the release.

Stay tuned for more details as they come.

Click Here for AdLuna Records which will release Chicago Odense Ensemble this year.

Click Here for Chicago Odense Ensemble’s MySpace Page.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Get Their ‘Mojo’ Workin’

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The title of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers first collaborative effort in nine years is appropriately-enough Mojo which releases on June 15th. If it seems like we’ve heard from Tom in the last nine years, it is because he had a solo release as well as a “side project.” The “concept album” and last studio release with the Heartbreakers The Last DJ was released in 2002. Highway Companion came out in 2006, and he had a reunion of sorts of his pre-Heartbreakers band Mudcrutch in 2008. It’s important to note, however, that except for the Mudcrutch shows, he tours pretty much exclusively with the Heartbreakers anyway, so even though those releases were considered non-Heartbreakers releases, he never toured with a different band that I know of.

But, it is the Mudcrutch project where Mojo gets its groove-happy roots. Tom was quoted on rollingstone.com, “I knew there was something in the band that hadn’t been brought out. I was listening to early Jeff Beck Group, Peter Green, Muddy Waters and even a little JJ Cale– so that’s kind of the way I was thinking when I was writing.” According to an article in Billboard last week, the album was recorded live in the studio in a similar fashion to the Mudcrutch sessions which add to the immediacy of the tracks I’ve heard so far.

In a pretty smart fashion, the Tom Petty camp has been sneaking out tracks starting with “Good Enough” since the announcement of the album and supporting tour in February. For members of the Highway Companions fanclub who purchased presale tickets for the upcoming tour, they were given free downloads of “Good Enough” and “First Flash of Freedom” (you can listen to it below).

Additionally, Tom previewed Mojo tracks on his XM Radio show “Buried Treasure.” In addition to “First Flash of Freedom” which was played on April 22nd, he also shared the road story track “The Trip to Pirate’s Cove” on April 15th, and “Running Man’s Bible” on April 8th. If you have XM Radio you could hear these songs, and if you are a member of the Highway Companions fanclub, you can stream these shows. If you participated in the pre-sale of the tickets you will also be able to get a free download of the complete Mojo album on 6/15 and will also be able to download a 10-track compilation of songs from the upcoming summer tour.

So, four of the 15 tracks have been “leaked” so far and, in interviews conducted since February we found out about two other tracks. Apparently “Don’t Pull Me Over” is actually a song in a Reggae-style, and a first for the band (at least on album), and the song “I Should Have Known It” is one of three tracks co-written with Heartbreaker/Mudcrutch guitarist Mike Campbell. The other two co-written tracks were the nearly-seven-minute (!!) “First Flash of Freedom” and the nearly-six-minute (!!) “Good Enough.”

I’ve had a chance to hear all four tracks and it was a bit shocking for me. Particularly the acid-trippy nearly Grateful Dead-sounding “First Flash of Freedom” which is pretty much the mission statement for Mojo, I think. It’s sprawling disregard for the typical Heartbreakers economy of melody and composition sort of left me a bit disoriented the first couple of times through! It’s particularly satisfying to hear Campbell flex his soloing muscles on “First Flash” and “Good Enough.” It will be really great to hear what the band does with these songs on tour.

It makes me happy that the nearly-sixty-year old Petty is feeling like it isn’t time to rest on his laurels just yet and is interested in shaking things up a bit. That said, it is a change that isn’t 180-degrees away from his regular sound– no Neil Young Trans, here. The chops he’s bringing out come from the same place the Heartbreakers always come– 60’s blues and rock.

Originally, the album was slated to be released in the Spring, assumedly to coincide with the original May 6th start of the tour. On the 16th, it was announced that the release date of the album was June 15th. At the same time, it was announced that the first nine shows would be moved to the end of the tour which extended the tour into October.

tracklisting for Mojo:

1. Jefferson Jericho Blues
2. First Flash Of Freedom
3. Running Man’s Bible
4. The Trip To Pirate’s Cove
5. Candy
6. No Reason To Cry
7. I Should Have Known It
8. U.S. 41
9. Takin’ My Time
10. Let Yourself Go
11. Don’t Pull Me Over
12. Lover’s Touch
13. High In The Morning
14. Something Good Coming
15. Good Enough

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Summer Tour (from Billboard):

June 5: Oakland, Calif. (Oracle Pavilion)*
June 8: Vancouver, BC (GM Place)*
June 11: Seattle, Wash. (The Gorge)*
June 12: Seattle, Wash. (The Gorge)*
June 15: Calgary, Alberta (Pengrowth Saddledome)*
June 16: Edmonton, Alberta (Rexall Place)*
June 19: Winnipeg, Manitoba (MTS Centre)*
June 22: St Paul, Minn. (Xcel Energy Center)**
June 23: Omaha, Neb. (Qwest Center)**
June 25: Milwaukee, Wis. (Summerfest)***
July 10: Indianapolis, Ind. (Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre)**
July 13: Kansas City, Mo. (Sprint Center)**
July 15: Cincinnati, Ohio (Riverbend Music Center)**
July 17: Chicago, Ill. (United Center)**
July 20: Cleveland, Ohio (Blossom Music Center)**
July 22: Detroit, Mich. (Palace of Auburn Hills)**
July 24: Pittsburgh, Pa. (First Niagra Pavilion)**
July 28: New York, N.Y. (Madison Square Garden) $
July 31: Philadelphia, Pa. (Wachovia Center) $
Aug. 1: Philadelphia, Pa. (Wachovia Center) $
Aug. 11: Atlanta, Ga. (Philips Arena)****
Aug. 12: Nashville, Tenn. (Sommet Center)****
Aug. 14: Darien Lake, N.Y. (Darien Lake Performing Arts Center)****
Aug. 15: Bristow, Va. (Jiffy Lube Live)****
Aug. 17: Hartford, Conn. (Comcast Theater)****
Aug. 19: Boston, Mass. (Comcast Center)*****
Aug. 21: Boston, Mass. (Comcast Center)*****
Aug. 24: East Rutherford, N.J. (IZOD Center)*****
Aug. 25: Toronto, Ontario (Air Canada Center)****
Aug. 27: Saratoga Springs, N.Y. (Saratoga Performing Arts Center)****
Sept. 16: Tampa, Fla. (St. Petersburg Times Forum)
Sept. 18: Raleigh, N.C. (Time Warner Cable Pavilion)
Sept. 19: Charlotte, N.C. (Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre)
Sept. 21: Dallas, Texas (Superpages.com Center)
Sept. 24: Houston, Texas (Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion)
Sept. 26: Phoenix, Ariz. (US Airways Arena)
Sept. 28: San Diego, Calif. (Cricket Wireless Pavilion)
Oct. 1: Los Angeles, Calif. (Hollywood Bowl)
Oct. 2: Irvine, Calif. (Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre)

* with Joe Cocker
** with Drive-by Truckers
*** with ZZ Top $ with Buddy Guy
**** with Crosby, Stills & Nash
***** with My Morning Jacket

Grace Potter & The Nocturnals Live Sessions Videos To Help Kill the Time Until New Album Release

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As we count down to the impossibly-long wait to the release date of June 8th for Grace Potter & The Nocturnals self-titled album, the band is releasing a series of YouTube videos of a series of acoustic versions of some of the songs off the album– one per week starting with the album closer “Things I Never Needed “.

These videos were recorded on a Friday afternoon near San Diego, and the video for “Things I Never Needed” shows an impressive ability for Grace and the band to launch into song– at least it looks like they just decided on the spot to do the song. Some of the videos will be from this “unplugged” session and some of the videos will be from the cool black and white footage shot of the Burlington Waterfront show where the “White Rabbit” video was shot.

Grace and Co. also shot a video for the first single from Grace Potter & The Nocturnals— the smoldering to raging fire track “Tiny Light.” This song kicks off with a Bonnie Raitt-ish midtempo song and builds to an all-stops-out explosive conclusion. This is a video worth watching.

Click Here to go to the official Grace Potter & The Nocturnals YouTube Channel where you can subscribe to be notified when new videos arrive.

Grace Potter & The Nocturnals is scheduled to release on June 8th. You can pre-order from Amazon.com

New EP from Javelin on Thrill Jockey with Limited-Edition Thrift Store Sleeves

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Javelin is an electronic duo from NYC that is steeped in the tradition of old school cratedigging and cut up sampling. They’ve gained a lot of notice over their first self-released cassette Jamz n Jemz which Pitchfork gave a 7.4 rating saying, “At a time when it seems like everyone’s roommate is cooking up bargain-bin symphonies, Javelin stand out like two heady chefs, turning canned food classics into tiny little pieces of inspired, inverted gourmet reimaginings.” They gained the attention of David Byrne who has signed them to Luaka Bop for their first full length to come out next year.

Thrill Jockey will be releasing two EPs from Javelin leading up to their label debut. The first self-titled EP is limited to 500 on vinyl and is part of the amazing Thrill Jockey subscription. The best part is that each of the sleeves are pulled from thrift store vinyl and are screened by Crosshair Screenprinting and Design in Chicago who were responsible for the amazing Spring 2007 Tortoise tour poster. See the streaming player below for closer “TWYCE” to see examples of the covers. I didn’t count them, but maybe all 500 are in the display? Lots of interesting cover selections both obscure and familiar– play “spot the cover” at home!

The tracks on the 5-track EP are new with the exception of “Lindsey Brohan” which was on Jamz n Jemz. The version of “Lindsey Brohan” on this EP is prepended with the Jamz n Jemz opening “skit” “Snow Aorta” where someone is interviewed about jumping expensive bikes into water.

This EP will be followed with another EP on Thrill Jockey early next year.

Click Here to visit the Javelin EP page on Thrill Jockey’s site where you can listen to streaming samples.

Click Here to visit the Javelin MySpace page.



Ryan Adams – Pax-Am Digital Single No. 2 “Allumette” b/w “What Color Is Rain” (Review)

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It’s week #2 of the Pax-Am reboot and we are treated with another digital single from Ryan Adams’s archives. This time we get a track that was dropped from early consideration for Cardinology and another track that surfaced a bit as a “foggy” video. The third track is another demo from Cardinology.

Side A is the track “Allumette” clocking in at 1:43 and according to the Ryan Adams scholars on the ryanadamsarchive.com site was listed on an early proposed tracklisting for Cardinology.

Apparently the song is in reference to the 1974 book by Tomi Ungerer titled Allumette; A Fable, with Due Respect to Hans Christian Andersen, the Grimm Brothers, and the Honorable Ambrose Bierce. The Ungerer book is a re-imagining of the Hans Christian Andersen story “The Little Match Girl” where the girl this time lives and carries out her wish.

Side B is the track “What Color Is Rain” which  showed up as a video on the old version of Ryan’s video blog, affectionately called “Foggy.”

Again we are treated to a home demo of Cardinology– this time “Go Easy.”

All three songs are 160Kbps mp3’s and there aren’t any FLAC’s or cover art.

As you might imagine this caused quite a stir on the boards since this release differred in content from the first single’s inclusion of FLAC’s. Another point that upset some was that these songs weren’t the same quality as the songs on the first single, which were ostensibly multitrack recordings that were mixed for release and these songs were sketches. But for $1.49 who should complain? All of these songs are unreleased and we’re lucky that these songs are seeing the light of day– AND Ryan is excited to release them!

Both “Allumette” and “What Color Is Rain” are relatvely short songs but sound like they might have been written about the same time– both using multitracked guitar picking and utilizing a similar drum track. According to Ryan’s retorts to the complaints he used GarageBand to record them.

Both songs are very pretty songs with Ryan singing in a soft but urgent voice. These are songs that would have fit comfortably on Easy Tiger.

Click Here to purchase Pax-Am Digital Single No. 2

Click Here to read my review of Pax-Am Digital Single No. 1

Thrill Jockey Announces 12″ Subscription Club!

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Thrill Jockey Records has always been very accommodating to it’s collector fans by providing exclusive limited-edition releases– usually in the form of some vinyl pressing. Releases that come to mind are the super-cool Records Toreism release for Record Store Day 2009, The limited-edition Plum boxset of 7″es, well and every vinyl pressing of their albums are limited to 1000 for the first run!

Thrill Jockey has announced a 12″ Subscription Club! The first series (optimistically keeping my fingers crossed for future ones!) will be for 7 very rare 12″es– some of these you can only get in the subscription, some of them guarantee you to get one before they are generally available. The lineup of acts providing releases is great– a mixture of long-time acts on the label and some new and future acts!

Already the demand has been so great that they have had to substitute a release that ran out. Although this isn’t too surprising because some of these releases are less than 500 pressings! In the case of the Pit Er Pat 12″ there was only 300!

The subscription ships in three packages.

Package #1 (Ships immediately)

Pit er Pat – “High Time Remix” (thrill 12.31) Early subscribers got in on the remainder of the 300 hand-numbered pressings of this release which included remixes of tracks off the band’s new album High Time. Cool hand-assembled sleeve with art cards glued to each side.

The Fiery Furnaces – “The End is Near” (thrill 12.32) The rest of the orders will be filled with the remainder of this release– so now this is OOP! One album track, one “radio” edit, an alternate version and an unreleased track make this a great replacement for the Pit er Pat 12.

Tortoise – “Beacons of Ancestorship Remixes – Eye / Mark Ernestus (thrill 12.34) Tortoise’s first new remix 12″ since 1998’s T.N.T. pair of 12″es. This one has a gorgeous cover done by Andrew Paynter who did the cover of Beacons as well as the video for “Prepare Your Coffin.” The Eye remix is the same remix that is available on the Japanese version of Beacons. “Gigantes” remixed by Mark Ernestus. This is a 45 RPM pressing! 1500 copies, so I’m sure this will be available on tour and on the Thrill Jockey store.

Package #2 ( Ships in October)

Thank You – “Pathetic Magic” (thrill 12.35) Limited edition pressing of 300. Two new studio track and three remixes.

Pontiak – “Sea Voids” (thrill 12.33) Limited press of 500 with hand-printed covers. New material recorded before they went on tour with Earthless.

White Hills – “Dead” (thrill 12.36) 1000 copies. Three brand-new songs and a remix of “Oceans of Sound.”

Package #3 (Ships in November)

Javelin – TBA (thrill 12.37) Limited edition of 500. Just found out about Javelin through this club. A pair of guys from NYC who craft J Dilla-influenced electronica (my opinion). Their self-released CD was raved about by Pitchfork. Cool stuff I wouldn’t have expected from Thrill Jockey. 5 song release with covers that are recycled from vintage album jackets they found at thrift stores (hopefully they don’t smell musty!!).

Mi Ami – TBA (thrill 12.38) One of the casualties of the stop of new releases from Quarterstick/Touch and Go was Mi Ami. Their newest album and debut on Quarterstick was released the same day the label announced layoffs and ceasing new releases. It appears that Mi Ami just took their business across town to Thrill Jockey and will have a new release next year.

The price of the subscription is $84 (U.S.–$98 Canadian, $122 International) for the seven 12″es which includes shipping! In addition club member will get one of the Thrill Jockey 15th Anniversary record bags that were sold at the shows in December 2007.

Click Here to Read More about the Thrill Jockey 12″ Subscription Series.

B-Sides in the Bins #48 – Best Buy & Half Price Books – Cedar Rapids 5/19/09

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I was at Best Buy for the release of the Iron and Wine collection of rare and b-sides called Around the Well.  I had a $15 Reward Zone certificate. But, since the 2 CD release was $9.99 I needed to buy something else to bring it over the $15. I picked up Woman King by the Iron and Wine as well which was $7.99.  Ever since I picked up the live Iron and Wine Record Store Day release, I’ve been trying to get caught up with Mr. Beam.

Since I was on that side of town anyway, I stopped in to Half Price Books to see if anything interesting was in the bins.

BestBuy Purchases:

Around the Well – Iron and Wine (2 CD, SubPop SPCD 808, 2009) ($9.99) Great collection and replaces the need to try to track down all of the singles, soundtracks (The “Twilight” soundtrack… “In Good Company”… yikes) as well as the iTunes Exclusives, which have now been pulled down, presumably because of this release. Lots of great songs on here– Sam Beam is so prolific that even his b-sides are quality tracks.

Woman King EP – Iron and Wine (CD, SubPop SPCD 665, 2005)($7.99) This is probably my favorite release next to 2007’s The Shepherd’s Dog. Every song on here is a keeper.  Jim Becker from Califone is on this release which helps fill out the sound of the band.

Half Price Books Purchases:

The Bumper Crop – Pell Mell (LP, SST 158, 1987)($2.98) Holy crap! Certainly wasn’t expecting this in the bins. A corner-cut cut out. The bad cut job also caused a tear in the cover. You might know me in my other internet job as the guy who runs the official Pell Mell website so I collect things Pell Mell. The work for this album started in 1982 after the remaining members of Pell Mell moved to Berkeley, CA following the tour for their debut EP Rhyming Guitars. The songs for this release came from some outtakes recorded for the EP and some new material with new members Greg Freeman and Steve Fisk. This trio of Fisk, Freeman and Bob Beerman would form the basis for the remainder of Pell Mell’s career which ended after their 1997 album Star City. Pell Mell was influenced by the instrumental rock bands of the sixties and a lot of the instrumental rock bands around today (El Ten Eleven, The Six Parts Seven come to mind) owe Pell Mell for blazing the trail for them.

(self titled) – The Cars (LP, Elektra/Asylum 6E-135, 1978)($2.98)

Candy-O – The Cars (LP, Elektra/Asylum 5E-507, 1979)($2.98)

Panorama – The Cars (LP, Elektra/Asylum 5E-514, 1980)($2.98)

Shake It Up – The Cars (LP, Elektra/Asylum 5E-567, 1981($2.98)

Heartbeat City – The Cars (LP, Elektra/Asylum/Nonesuch ST-E-60296-1, 1984)($2.98) This was a pretty impressive haul! Someone dumped their Cars collection apparently. All of the records were in  fantastic shape with little to no cover wear. All inner sleeves were intact and the vinyl was pristine! There was actually two copies of Heartbeat City there, so I picked the best-looking one. The copy of Heartbeat City that was around my house when it came out was a cassette. The vinyl version was a very nice gatefold sleeve. The only records that were missing were the Greatest Hits and their last record Door to Door.

We also had Candy-O on cassette at the house.  With its combination of pop and New Wave sensibilities coupled with the Alberto Vargas pinup cover it was an intriquing album. That was their second album, and  it had the big singles “Let’s Go” and “It’s All I Can Do.” It seemed that the Cars were all over the radio and movie soundtracks. Some of the big hits from The Cars are still some of the great pop songs of all time. This selection of albums represents the peak of The Cars creative output. Just looking at the track list from 1985’s Greatest Hits album proves it: “Just What I Needed,” “My Best Friend’s Girl,” “Good Times Roll”– all from The Cars; “Let’s Go” from Candy-O; “Touch and Go” from Panorama, “Since You’re Gone” and “Shake It Up” from Shake It Up; and “You Might Think,” “Drive,” “Heartbeat City” and “Magic” from Heartbeat City. Quite a run of singles!

Out of these, however, Panorama is probably the one that faired the worst. It only had one single– it was considered The Cars’ “experimental” album. I picked up an 8-Track version in some cutout bin a long time ago and listened to it maybe one time and dismissed it. I think that I’ll give it a fair shake now to see what I think.