Upon viewing any given Pure Pop employee one might not immediately think of passion or virility. Suspend your disbelief for a moment and accept that we’ve all enjoyed a tender moment or two. The following list are albums we like to set the tone, enhance the mood or stave the inevitable disappointment we inspire.

Herb: Roxy Music – Avalon: The final album of Roxy Music’s career (provided they never release the reunion album they’ve been threatening us with for the last five years) is an interesting beast. It’s sort of the illogical successor to their previous two efforts. All three represent Roxy’s abandoning of the art-rock grandeur of their earlier albums for sheeny synth-pop. However, while Manifesto and Flesh + Blood are playful and aloof, Avalon is drenched in emotion and sincerity. To be honest, it first occurred to me to put it on during an intimate moment when I read a review that described the album as “yuppie make-out music”. The next rare chance I had to try it out for myself, something clicked and I’ve since alienated a handful of women with this sensuous sonic souflee.

Matt – DJ Funk – Booty House Anthems: DJ Funk is criminally written off as a novelty artist in many circles, partly because of the themes contained in his music but more so because the man is a genre unto himself. Ghetto house may be comparable to similar genre hybrids, but it is unique nonetheless. It also primal and sexually charged, the perfect companion to rapturous relations.

Brandon - Dave Matthews Band-Crash – To be fair, I don’t really need a full-length album for making love. A thirty-second itunes song preview is sufficient, but if pressed, as I am, I’d have to go with DMB’s 1996 masterpiece Crash. Rich in moments that are both tender and exuberant, this album evokes the kind of love-making I aspire to, as opposed my irregular rituals of humiliation.

Mike Breiner — Since i never can find my “Is It All Over My Face? / Why Don’t We Do it in the Road? / Love Comes in Spurts / Too Many Creeps / Pump It Up / What Does Sex Mean To Me?” mix in time, any ambient wallpaper disc or open will do.

Amy — Lil’ Kim – The Notorious K.I.M. Talk about one bad-azz freaky lady!  This album is full of provocative and explicit pornographic lyrics that create an attitude rather than an atmosphere.  Once those beats start bumpin’ there is no turning back, you know you’re in for a “wild” ride.   Track #2, “Custom Made”, is always a good one for getting those creative juices flowing.   Lil’ Kim truly is the “Queen Bee” of setting the mood.

Tanner – M83 – Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts - This is the soundtrack to really epic sex – as a skilled and multi-faceted maker of love, i need music accompanyment that at points matches the grand, arcing crescendos of my craft, and then in a turn, plays like a quiet supporting soundtrack to my more tender, (yet fierce!) emotionally vulnerable moments.  And as an added bonus, after me and my lover have finished and returned from our trip around the sun, we can listen to this album again while watching Ladyhawke with the sound off. It sync’s up perfectly!

Mike Crandall – Van Morrison- Late 80s albums. First, this gets you away from the classic rock hits.  Second, there is calm, warm spirituality to this period that can set the right mood but with enough jazzy pep at times that makes it not completely fade away.  No Guru, No Method, No Teacher, very laid-back, would be a good choice or you could go with Avalon Sunset, which has a few big time love songs.  Heck, go with Hymns to the Silence , that’s a double album. OR Sam Cooke “Night Beat”.  One of my favorite albums of all time.  This is his stripped down, late night album is fairly different and the most intimate outing of his career.  The simple arrangements put his fantastic voice front and center where he belts out some great tunes about love and lost.

Higher Ground and Pure Pop Records are giving away 2 free tickets to see David Byrne this summer, Monday June 1st at the Shelburne Museum. All you need to do is post a photo to the Pure Pop Records Facebook page of your homemade sidewalk chalk graffiti featuring the words David Byrne, Shelburne Museum, 6/1/09 and, for extra credit: www.highergroundmusic.com.  Be Creative!

Here are the details for all you detail lovers:

…and spilled my cocktail on the edge of the merch table at the Akron Family show the other night. Man, I’m never that guy – luckily they had a rubberish tablecloth so it spilled right off, no damage done, other than a drop that spilled on one or two of Greg Davis‘s CDs. Seeing the look of perturbation on his merch-girl’s face, I kindly asked to buy one of the narrowly dampened discs.

Now I couldn’t remember if I had ever really seen Greg Davis perform live before. I know he opens up at numerous local concerts I attend, but I’m notoriously late for everything so I don’t think I’ve ever caught his set. Wait, maybe once. I know I saw Akron play when he was with them. Anywho, I had a vision of him being some completely aloof noise manipulator guy without any depth, and I have to apologize. For I really enjoy this album I picked up.

Northern Songs with Chris Weisman and Greg Davis only touches on the aloof noise manipulation scene. It’s really more of a modern folk-sonic vibe with a touch of bipolar psychedelics. It drifts, but never gets dull or too self-indulgent. A few tracks remind me of mellow Animal Collective or maybe an Akron Family meets Blind Melon feel. There’s moments of Byrne-ish Africana, and flips of 8-bit burnouts, and sometimes the weird sounds seem thrown in just for the sake of being weird. The tunes are at their best when they’re more straight forward folk, and “It’s All Too Much” works a perfect balance of everything they’re trying to do. However, the few times they take it out in a more layered, cycling, and focused rabbit-hole drop, it really makes me want to get out to some of these shows earlier.

WCAX News Channel 3 interviewed Herb yesterday on a piece they were doing on the increased interest in vinyl -

“The numbers are there to support it,” said Herb van der Poll, assistant manager of Pure Pop. “I think it was from 2000 to 2008, there was a 900 percent increase in vinyl sales nationwide. So there’s indisputably a lot of interest in vinyl right now.”

Pure Pop has sold music for 30 years, and began selling used vinyl about a year and a half ago in response to consumer demand. Herb van der Poll says he doesn’t see the four stores competing — each has its own niche, and the exposure could build interest as more people take vinyl for a spin.

“Owning vinyl just puts the value back into the music,” he said. “It makes it a more intimate experience and makes it a more enjoyable experience.”

The full article and video can be viewed here.

IF you haven’t already heard, Burlington’s been home to the members of one of punk’s major unsung progenitors – “Death” and their current champions (and offpsring) Rough Francis, for quite sometime now. But lately – With the glut of coverage in local and national News their recently reissued full length … For The Whole World To See on the Drag City label has been reportedly hard to come by in some circles.  *Cough* Brooklyn *Cough* – We got our hands on another 6 copies of the vinyl – So if for some reason you havn’t picked it up, now would be a good time.

Via Michael Carney @ State of Mind.

Myself and my fellow band mates are partial to the new Kanye album, so we did this cover. Enjoy:

So Aether Everywhere is curating a Kranky Label Showcase this weekend, Saturday the 29th at The Bakery (North end, near the corner of Archibald and N. Winooski) and i highly recommend anyone who’s a fan of the Kranky Records sound (you know… hazy, ambient, slightly menacing, a tad sad, always inspired and engaging… that sound) to attend. It’s going to be good.

Here are some sound bites to wet your appetite:

Boduf Songs – “There’s a thread of unease running through these eight minimalist reveries, a hint of supernatural dread, and yet also serenity and loveliness. They are so quiet that you really have to listen—no car CD, this one—but once you do, you are drawn in to a mysterious other space. ” – Jennifer Kelly (Dusted)

To Kill a Petty Bourgeouisie – “The Patron’s best moments. “The Man With the Shovel is the Man I’m Going to Marry” slowly evolves from a soothing synth pattern into swirl of chattering drum machines and effect-heavy layered loop-cannons of Wilhelm’s tiny voice. On “Long Arms”, buzzing samples and distortions give way to a swelling march that recalls the spacey-headed crescendo rock bands.” – Pitchfork

Ben Vida & Greg Davis – Now a Burlington resident Greg Davis will be playing with long time friend & collaborator Ben Vida (Birdshow, Town and Country)

“Vida has concocted a rich, febrile soundscape populated with buzzing, droning, scything strings, wheezy harmoniums, distant voices and the chatter of insects.” – BBC Music

“Davis is a Carpark vet and a former Keith Fullerton Whitman collaborator, a computer musician with a varied background in classical guitar, jazz, hip-hop, and improv.” -Pitchfork