Our good friend and Pure Pop compatriot Herb has left the building – and though he is gone, the emotional trauma he inflicted his memory lives on, namely in the music he played instore – and a faint mildewy odor that still lingers on around the bathroom. Below is a list of songs that that have that watery smack of herb we’ve all come to love, albeit in that way you love a retarded child.

Richard Harris – McArthur Park

This is a great example of herb’s ability to look past schmaltzy production staight to the emotional sentiment of a song. Where a lesser music appreciator would only see an obscure reference to mid 20th century poet W. H. Auden’s musings on a long life irrevocably lived – Herb looked deeper stating “Dude, it’s not about a cake. It’s about a girl. Who left his cake out in the rain.”

Sparks – Equator

Herb loved his joke bands. If you wore a hitler mustache and used puns in your album titles Herb’s probably commented on your youtube videos.

Husker Du – Eight Miles High

Any time we’ve ever done lists here on Pure Pop Online herb will inevitably sneak in a Husker Du song. Don’t ask me why. I think he had his first kiss while listening to Zen Arcade, when he was 25.

Guided By Voices – My Valuable Hunting Knife

Herb may be alot of things, but one thing he is not not is a Rob Pollard apologist… Give it a second.

Prefab Sprout – When Love Breaks down

As i said previously, herb has an uncanny knack for seeing right through the trappings of a particular period or genre and right to it’s frosted tip’ed, tear stained, incredibly self indulgently over-emotional core. And his introduction of Prefab Sprout to my life finally allowed me to listen to something other than Kate Bush, for about a week.

Pulp – Common People

Herb: “See lecherous, bitter misanthropes CAN make great music!”

Daft Punk – One More Time

There’s this dance that herb does – it’s sort of like the Carlton Banks but whiter. Sorta like this:

New Order – The Perfect Kiss

Though i may never forgive herb for making me listen to ol’ Berny’s side project Bad Lieutenant, i can never thank him enough to for finally opening my eyes back in the mid aughts to this band. These guys changed my perspective on what “Electronic” and “Punk” and “Dance” meant and much like Herb, introduced me to a whole world of excellent and under appreciated artists.

Thanks buddy, you’ll be missed.

This month marks the end of my six year run at Pure Pop. I’m moving to San Francisco where I will most likely move in with my recently-widowed best friend and his brother-in-law to help him raise his three adorably precocious daughters.

I got my first music-retail job fourteen years ago and the majority of my time since then has been spent in this wonderful business. It’s bitter-sweet to be leaving the game. If you’ll indulge me, I’d like to submit one-last rambling “Pop Five” for this website:

The 5 Things I’ll Miss Most About Music Retail

1. The Pipeline -

Through this work I have been exposed to countless bands and albums I’ve come to cherish. Many were recommended by coworkers. Often, a visible interest by our customers has brought something to my attention. Other times I’ve simply taken a chance on something that looks interesting. The sum result is that on what feels like a daily basis this job has consistently provided me with the joy of musical discovery.

2. There Are No Standards of Appearance at a Record Store -

Don’t feel like shaving for a couple of weeks? Is your hair matted and greasy? Do you dress in clothes most people wouldn’t lower themselves to wear if they were painting their house? Music retail is for you. The only time I ever got shit for my outfit at Pure Pop was when I wore a ratty button-down I came to find bore a striking resemblance to the “puffy shirt” of Seinfeld fame.

3. I Believe in Music -

I don’t think it’s cynical to say a lot of people don’t love their jobs. For most of us, it’s a means to an end. I’ve had plenty of jobs that have left me unfulfilled, unstimulated and a little guilt-ridden. For example, I spent a summer working a movie concession stand and felt awful selling buckets of value-less popcorn to obese people for way too much money. At Pure Pop, I believe our product has value, and I’ve been proud to sell it.

4. The Customers -

It would be disingenuous to suggest that every person who walks through the door at Pure Pop is an expert conversationalist with immaculate taste in music, but by and large the people who walk through our door are an intelligent, agreeable and discerning bunch. I’ve struck up more conversations with strangers here than I’ve had hot meals. Pure Pop customer base, you will be missed.

Not pictured: Our customers

5. My Coworkers -

I’m not one for sentimentality and neither are my coworkers, but dammit, they are a lovable bunch. Pure Pop has its share of slow periods, and thanks to the kind of company our staff provides, what would otherwise be unbearable is rendered as pleasant as most social activities. I’m really gonna miss those fuckers.

I think I’m gonna let Roky Erickson take me out with a song that’s more melancholy than the situation merits.

Books – The Way Out
The Books have a terrific sense of humor– and it makes The Way Out, an album built on eccentric vocal samples, a good-natured discovery instead of a cheap piece of mockery. Imagine if a blog had posted these clips of goofball hypnotherapist and meditation consultants, or found a tape of a boy and a girl swapping violent threats with each other: You’d chuckle and move on. But when the Books use these samples, they give them integrity. You find yourself engrossed with people who are alien but also familiar. The flotsam and jetsam of American culture aren’t a cheap joke to the Books, but a source of endless discovery and joy. Read the full review

Sheryl Crow – 100 Miles From Memphis
If anything, 100 Miles is a sort of spiritual tribute to the Memphis soul and R&B Crow grew up with in the 70s, an album that conveys much of the sensibility and the mindset of those albums without painting itself into the corner of strict emulation. It’s clear from the outset that Crow considers this to be a vital extension of her own art– not, to return to the Detours metaphor, a side trip– and that the album is as much about exploration as it is winning radio hits. Read the full review

Dept of Eagles – Archives
This collection goes some way to confirming why Department of Eagles was seen as the less-important outlet for Rossen in the period between The Cold Nose and Yellow House. While sporadically as magical as the material on In Ear Park, Archive 2003-2006 is more a curio for converts to Grizzly Bear’s superb psych-folk/baroque-pop sound than an album proper. It’s a fragmented listen, several Practice Room Sketches breaking up the finished arrangements. Much doesn’t work – but there’s certainly ambition aplenty on show, which would later be refined into the In Ear Park experience. The first track here actually bypassed the Department of Eagles catalogue altogether until now, achieving completion as Yellow House’s opener Easier. Read the full review

So this is what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna give em to you. Two tickets to see Of Montreal at Higherground on July 31st, to one lucky person, cause we love our fans and we know our fans love Of Montreal. We’ll be choosing the winner at random from our Facebook Fans, so if you’re a fan, thank you – all you need to do is comment on our facebook wall that you want the tickets to be eligible! – if you’re not a facebook fan you might want to be!

The Winner will be decided early next week!

MIA – /\/\/\Y/\
Unsurprisingly (and happily), M.I.A. the insider is more dyspeptic than M.I.A. the outsider. Maya’s opening romp, “Steppin Up,” brings the braggadocio expected from a rapper following a massive hit (“You know who I am, I run this fucking club”), but it’s buried beneath power-drill samples and Ministry guitars. “Teqkilla” allures with a DJ-battle intro and Bollywood-via-Timbaland clank before plunging into a six-minute fever of rude synth burps and an unintelligible, indigestible, unforgettable chorus about “sticky, sticky weeeed.” M.I.A. comes close to recreating the lackadaisical bubblegum sway of “Paper Planes” with “It Iz What It Iz,” but doesn’t bother to enunciate the verses. Even in Maya’s slightly slumping middle third, she wages a pop insurgency by somersaulting between genres, sympathizing with suicide-bomber spouses and obsessing over how technology democratizes and distracts. Conspiracy-addled claustrophobic noises swath the hooks throughout, revealing the intoxicating assuredness of a star who sought the spotlight in order to barrage it with glitter and shrapnel. Read the Full Review

Danger Mouse / Sparklehorse – Dark Night of the Soul
It’s not signaled outright, but Dark Night comprises four sections, and plays like a revue. Linkous has always feared putting himself out there too much, and seeming too “pop.” It makes sense that he’d open this collection with a triptych from Wayne Coyne, Gruff Rhys, and Jason Lytle, all of whom frequently sing in Linkous-like registers shot through with delicate, boyish wonder and play with psychedelia in similarly rewarding ways. On “Revenge”, Coyne works in a wheelhouse he’s not seen since The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi, evangelizing, “Once we become/ The thing we dread/ There’s no way to stop,” in the form of a plangent ballad. For his part, Gruff Rhys works best at the level of empire, and the fuzzy psych-country of “Just War” could fit nicely on Phantom Power. As is his manner, Lytle’s “Jaykub” traces an everyday schlub’s dream of receiving official awards for simply being himself– until the alarm clock wakes him up. Read the Full Review

Sun Kil Moon – Admiral Fell Promises
By opening the album with the line “No this is not my guitar, I’m bringing it to a friend,” Kozelek invites the listener into an intimate space, offering candlelit serenades as haunting and beautiful as the black and white photo adorning the front cover. The song from which that line is pulled, “Alesund” begins the album with a series of gentle flamenco-inflected sweeps and plucks, slowly galloping toward an elegant waltz that starts the album off with a mesmerizing grace. And on “Half Moon Bay,” there’s a dreamlike quality to Kozelek’s naming of places and memories, from the titular bay to the humming highway, which achieves an interesting sort of onomatopoeic effect as his rich baritone creates its own hypnotic hum. Read the Full Review

New Releases:

Janelle Monae – Archandroid $20.97

Talib Kweli/Hi-Tek – Revolutions per Minute $24.97

Melvins/Isis – Split $14.97

MIA – Maya $19.97

Danger Mouse/Sparklehorse – Dark Night of the Soul regular price $19.97(first week sale price of $13.46)

Carolina Chocolate Drops – Genuine Negro Jig $19.97

Chatham County Line – Wildwood $17.97

Maps & Atlases – Perch Patchwork $15.97

Admiral Radley – I Heart California $17.97

Autechre – Move of Ten EP – pt. 1 $9.97 pt.2 $9.97

Reissues:

Walkmen – You & Me $15.97

R.E.M. – Fables of the Reconstruction $19.97



New Stuff:

Roots -How I Got Over $12.97

Rasputina – Sister Kinderhook $14.97

Marco Benevento- Between the Needles & Nightfall $14.97

Palenque Palenque- Champeta Criolla & Afro Roots in Columbia 1975-1991 $26.97

Jazz Stuff that we haven’t had lately:

Hank Mobley-A Slice of the Top $11.97

Sonny Clark- Sonny’s Crib $11.97

Kenny Dorham- Whistle Stop $11.97

Herbie Hancock- Inventions & Dimensions $11.97

Andrew Hill- Point of Departure $11.97

Wayne Shorter- Night Dreamer $11.97