Record Store Guy

I still don’t know whether this cover art works for me. Does it matter? Well, on this album, apparently not. Andrew Bird’s Armchair Apocrypha is his best selling album to date at Pure Pop & deservedly so. Maybe I didn’t give his previous efforts my full attention because of his Squirrel Nut Zippers connection but this one stands out as one of the better releases of the year. This is his first album on Fat Possum  which finds him shifting styles into a beautiful, relaxed mix of various instruments including violin & subtle electronic layering. Armchair was recorded with multi-talented Martin Dosh, who’s indie-electronic records on Anticon are also recommended. They will be playing at Higher Ground on Friday, Sept. 28 & we got some free tickets to giveaway. First, let’s plug that we have the cd on sale for $11.99 & the vinyl would be in stock for $14.97 if Sony would pack their boxes better.(Damaged album covers always a sad site) We got 2 pairs of tickets to giveaway. Our first pair will go to readers of this blog. Either post a reply to this blog entry or email us at purepop@verizon.net with the subject line “Andrew Bird Tickets” and you will be entered to win.(winner will be notified on Wed. Sept 19)

listen to live version of “Fiery Crash“

listen to studio version of “Heretics“

Also, will take the opportunity to recommend other titles on Fat Possum Records:

Black Keys Thickfreakness

kings of indie blues

Townes Van Zandt Our Mother The Mountain

one of several reissues from my favorite troubadour

Dinosaur Jr. Beyond

great band returns with great album

Heartless Bastards All This Time

an overlooked gem from 2006

We’re giving away white t-shirts with this logo.

All you gotta do is buy a cd on the stax label.

My 3 favorites are:

1.Albert King-Born under a Bad Sign

-One of the great soul-blues albums.  The Chicago blues guitarist was never better.

2.Carla Thomas-Queen Alone

-Beautiful voice, sweet soul, definitely hits the right spot.

3.Mavis Staples-Only for the Lonely

-I listened to this about for the first time a couple of months back, after her new album”We’ll Never Turn Back” , came out.  While nothing spectacular, it is a very nice set of soul ballads that is sure to put you in a good mood.

Stax records was a popular southern soul label in the 50s & 60s.  There is a PBS special, airing on August 1st, hence the cross-promotion.  We have about 20 different titles to choose from.  Check out the Stax Sale section in between the blues & soul sections, the next time you hit the basement.  Also, if any of you want something on the label we don’t have we will up our standard special order discount from $2 to $3, and if anyone was contemplating the large stax box sets that came out in the early 90’s, I could probably work out a pretty nice price.

This week saw the arrival of Neko Case’s Blacklisted on Lp.

  gatefold lp $19.97

While I am excited about my favorite Neko album being released on vinyl, the fact that it is a canadian import( with none of her albums being pressed stateside)  is somewhat disappointing for vinyl buyers.  The industry is starting to get the message that many people want vinyl new releases & re-issues but the output continues to lag behind demand.  There are several reasons why some artists don’t have vinyl releases:

1. their record label does not do vinyl.

-many artists get around this by having their albums released on lp by different labels than their cd.

2.artist is one that loves to use all 80 minutes allowed on a cd release.

-one lp only fits 45-50 minutes of music, goin’ double vinyl can run the cost up over what artist/labels are willing to do.

3.lack of vinyl pressing facilities

-the back-up(demand raises price) at the limited amount of places that actually make the lps can be inhibitive an artist/label who are on the fence.

-this is also one of the reasons why vinyl is not as cheap as we would want it to be.

But this is why it is surprising that Neko’s albums are not available(at least the last couple).

She is on Anti which does vinyl for the Tom Waits albums.

Her albums are not excessively long.  Who knows, maybe they will come later or maybe the canadians will come thru again.(the final word of the last sentence is pronounced with a canadian accent).

Other vinyl releases this week:

Against Me -Reinventing Axl $7.97

John Coltrane -Inch Worm $16.9

Dinosaur Jr. -Beyond $17.97

Interpol- Our love to Admire $19.99(includes full cd w/purchase)

Iron & Wine - Sea & the Rhythm $8.97

Thelonious Monk  4/8 $16.97

Neurosis  Given to the Rising $17.97

Spoon  Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga $17.97

Von Sudenfed   Tromatic Reflexxions $15.97

Rocky Votalato  Brag & Cuss $16.97.

Our company name is Pure Pop for Now People, Inc. Over the years, this name has thrown off a few people. I have received phone calls inquiring whether we had styles of music besides pop. As most of you know, we really don’t carry much of what would be considered pop music. American Idol contestants are usually not to be found on the shelves. The name comes from the above pictured album by Nick Lowe, c. 1978, which in itself is a tongue-in-cheek album title. The original name of the album in the UK was Jesus of Cool, but this was not allowed in the US because of the use of the word “Jesus”, so Lowe used the name that has always struck me as an album title that would be more appropriate for a second-rate , only sold on TV, compilation of crappy one-hit wonders.

By the way, Lowe is back with his first album of new material in six years with At My Age , in which he continues with the stripped down country-esque pop songs that he has been his style for the last few albums. Highly recommended!

Cd on sale for $13.99. 180 g vinyl is $19.97.

This rainy monday night saw a “weeding” of the rock section. Weeding is the term we use when a cd is removed from the  sale shelves permanently(or at least til the their next album comes out) and prepare to return it. Tonight saw the removal of:

Kasabian, The Stills, Ben Taylor, Graham Parker(I shed a tear), +44, Howie Day, & the Sadies.

So many bands, so little space.

A quick way to stop someone’s enjoyment of a cd is to point out that the vocals sound like a more famous artist.  It does not matter whether the artist being referenced is good or bad, if the comparison is accurate, it can be hard to dismiss it.   On at least a few occasions, I have been enjoying an indie/art rock cd until someone utters the phrase “he’s doin’ that Thom Yorke thing.”  All you can do then is  say “F#!k” and turn it off.   On Saturday, a co-worker was listening to a promo cd for a new band, St. Vincent, which seemed fairly pleasant until Chris came along and pointed out that the vocalist sounded like Alanis Morrissette.  The cd was changed within minutes.  I was in my car listening to cd from Andre Ethier , lead singer of the Deadly Snakes, who released an indie store exclusive solo album last year.  I had enjoyed this cd on several times when it had first arrived but this was my first listen outside of the store.  So I am crusing down the highway in my car, we get to track #4, and the lovely person in the passenger seat says “his voice sounds like Bob Dylan” or something to that effect.  We didn’t get past track #5. I will go back and listen again, but it will probably be a few months,years,etc.  So the moral of the story is that if you are listening to music you don’t like and don’t want to offend the person who is listening to it, just compare it to something that has been done before.  It’s not hard.

New vinyl tomorrow:

Ryan Adams , ltd orange vinyl,$12.97

Social Distortion, Greatest Hits, $19.97

Rasputina , Oh Perilous World , $12.97

Bad Brains, Build a Nation, $16.97

The Beastie Boys lp for the new album is scheduled for July 17.

Dizzee Rascal’s new album “Maths and English” has arrived on the shelf.  It is an import, so the low sale price of $14.99 will only be in effect for a couple of weeks.

The new Tomahawk album is selling very well, we are out of it til tomorrow morning.  Entire album on my space here.

Recent vinyl arrivals are Cure $21.97 and Cat Power $14.97.

Also, Starline Rhythm Boys’ new album “Red’s Place” arrived yesterday, on sale for $12.99.

The website support guys tell me that the special order button is now working on our website, feel free to reserve cds, inquire about vinyl availability, pre-order imports, etc.

As you might imagine, it is very easy for us at the record shop to spend a little too much of our paycheck on music.  One of the leading ways this is accomplished is when we place an order from forced exposure.  It is one of a few places we order from that serve both as a direct-to-consumer website and as a wholesaler, other examples being ernie b. reggae and midheaven.  Why am I telling you this?  Well, the savvy customer can see something on one of these websites and have Pure Pop order it for you.  Not only will you save the shipping charges, but if it something we don’t normally have in stock , you can receive the $2.00 off special order discount.  As I prepare to select a few choice items from forced exposure’s excellent selection of electronic/experimental/world/etc. music, feel free to check out their website and hit us up for a cd/lp that you want/need.  We are going to place the order on thursday for a likely friday arrival.  As our website special order feature still has some bugs, either post a reply to this blog or email me at purepop@verizon.net.

5 top sellers at Pure Pop of records distributed by Forced Exposure:

1. Burial-self titled

2.Squarepusher-Feed me Weird Things

3.4 women No Cry-Various Artists

4.Ellen Allien & Apparat-Orchestra of Bubbles

5.Fennesz/Sakamoto-Cendre

Dungen finally showed up,
We got in a pressing of a classic tropicalia album ,for 19.97

Heard “black velvet” by Alannah Miles on the radio. Gotta get that banned from the airwaves. Switched to another station got Oasis, Got to remember to grap a new cd for the morning commute.
Listened to the new Loudon Wainwright cd , ,which has songs from Knocked Up and other stuff in that vain. It’s a decent record but that “daughter in the water” song which is at the end of the movie as the credits roll,  gets stuck in my head. Of his most recent output , Here Comes the Choppers is good but anybody who likes folk-rock should hear the first two records from 70/71.

(ps , no offense to thoe who like Oasis, but I once had a room-mate who made us listen to morning glory 4 times consectively on a trip to montreal and I get bad flashbacks.)

On Monday, we open boxes with big stickers that read “Don’t sell these cds until such & such date or something untowards will happen to your record store” or something with a similar meaning. After finishing with the razor blade that I can never find, I take out the cds & say “shit, why did I order this or why didn’t I order more of this?”. Usually, the reason for the former is that it’s an indie rock/electronic/avantish thing which when I’m ordering up three weeks prior to street date could get a 8.7 on pitchfork and will be in demand. But more likely it’s a record which will have a shelf-life of 3 &1/2 months and be returned to whence it came. Who ever knows?

So here’s a list of some of the more important titles that were unboxed this week(using the word important, instead of cds that will sell, sounds better):

queens of the stone age - we got a bonus cd with one song to give away with purchase.

traveling wilburys 2cd set- “recommended father’s day gift”

fair to midland-”an up & coming rock band”(more freebies with purchase)

moe -”warts…” vol 5

& the above bannered, sonic youth “daydream nation” deluxe edition

Do you ever notice that you will enjoy cheesy music if the vocalist is singing in a language besides english? I recall, that Westfield, from Video Pigeon, loved the crappiest german pop music, for what reason? just because. For me, it’s more likely to be crappy french pop music. This weekend, I listened to a Francoise Hardy used cd that was sold to us. It was filled with about 4 good songs & 16 songs which ,to be generous, were rather ordinary. But that lovely french voice got 2 cd listens. To be fair, she has several excellent records from the 60s & early 70s , including “La Question” which we have in stock, and are definitely recommended.(maybe to those of you who are enjoying Feist records).

My day is done, though I did see this on pitchfork, about some Jose Gonzalez dates in New York this fall. I smell road trip to see the sister’s fam.

I have re-arranged most of the store, again.  Looking for avant-garde, it’s in the corner.  Jam gets the front row.  I could go on but that would bore you.  Just wanted you’all to be prepared.