Monthly Archives: July 2012

“My vinyl collection is a mixed bag, the origins of which can be traced to three distinct sources, each one representing a different era of my life.”

“Shortly after my father passed away, my stepmother offered me their combined vinyl collection, as well as a beautiful Linn Axis turntable. There was some choice rock stuff in there, maybe a little Grace Jones here, a little Rolling Stones there, but mostly it was blues and soul and jazz records. These are not my genres per se, but at this point I don’t know where I’d be without the sounds of Taj Majal, Stanley Turrentine, Chet Baker, and Nina Simone that I was introduced to through these records.

Somewhere along the way I even uncovered the classic 70’s era stash of weed in the sleeve of The Wild Tchoupitoulas, or was it in a Lou Reed record, I can’t quite recall. Even with some trade-in’s of a fair amount of Chicago style electric blues albums, which is not, and I don’t believe will ever be, my thing, these albums are still the “meat” of my collection.

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The phenomenon of the Comeback Album used to be a cringe inducing occurrence, largely because the results would succeed far too frequently in simply getting it wrong. However, as a testament to human development the last few decades have seen a gradual increase in actually getting it right. Happily, Jimmy Cliff’s Rebirth falls onto the successful side of the comeback street, mainly because it picks a smart strategy and then sticks with it. Modestly scaled, it would be hyperbole to call it a true return to form, but it does prove that Mr. Cliff still has the goods.

Yes, the road to a wickedly hot musical eternity is paved with good intentions. No musician deliberately sets out to make a record that’s truly, non-ironically bad, after all. And nobody that loves The Shaggs’ Philosophy of the World, a record often cited by journalists scribing for list-happy magazines or websites as one of the Worst of All Time (a musical cousin to Ed Wood’s film Plan 9 From Outer Space essentially), I mean sincerely values it as a musical document and not as the aural equivalent to a velvet painting, would describe it as a “bad” record. And the Wiggins’ Sisters sure as hell weren’t trying to make music that would fall under the (admittedly ambiguous) definition of “bad”.

Again, back in the day comeback records were often just filthy with benevolent intentions. Somebody with contacts in the industry couldn’t shake the nagging insistence that it would be a great idea if a certain artist or band got back into the studio with the aim of recapturing the special magic that for numerous reasons had been lost; maybe the act was a huge commercial entity that somehow lost their way, perhaps a cult musician or group getting a belated push after being afflicted with indifference, or possibly just a name that was around for so long that total disfavor befell them on the road to inevitable rediscovery.

Whatever the circumstance, everything usually moves along rather sweetly until someone has the bright idea to bring in that dude who played bass for a week with Paul Shaffer in The World’s Most Dangerous Band. Things quickly deteriorate from there, and then it’s all over except for the hell and the hand baskets.

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The guys in Everest love independent record shops and the sound of 180-gram vinyl as much as we do. We’re excited to have the band guest blogging all week about their lifelong love affair with the LP, the culture of vinyl, and why independent record stores mean so much to them.

Continuing our week with Everest, frontman Russ Pollard checks in with some of his greatest finds at his favorite record stores from LA to Tokyo. (You can find his Q&A from Monday here.)

“The independent record store has long been a provider for me in many ways. A place of discovery, a place to hang out, a job, a hobby. I am in the habit of spending some cash on records.

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My Fake Plastic First Love

“I’ll never forget my first record player. It was a hand-me-down Fisher-Price “toy” that came with brightly coloured plastic “records” containing all the hits I was fond of at the time including such classics as “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” It never ceased to amaze me how the jaggedy little groves turned into sound as soon as the needle went over them.

Although it was cheap, thick plastic, to me it was a serious piece of kit that enabled me to spin tunes that I could dance and sing to all day long, right up until sleepy bye bye time.

Today’s kids though, don’t have a clue what a record is. Take my friend’s teenage daughter for example who actually asked her mum what a vinyl record was. I was shocked! I couldn’t believe such a massive part of my childhood has been lost to the next generation in my lifetime.

I know what you’re saying, it’s all about the digital, man. But don’t give me that while you’re putting a sepia filter on your Polaroid-shaped Instagram. Retro is in. Vinyl is still selling, albeit to a niche market of audiophiles and old-school DJs. It’s a good thing too because think what you would lose—in fact, what a whole generation of MP3 listeners are missing out on, when vinyl is taken out of the picture.

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Fans of Stereolab know Laetitia Sadier as one of that group’s most crucial assets. And those partisans of the band that haven’t already investigated her solo career should remedy the situation at the earliest opportunity. It’s early yet, but she’s already crafted Silencio, a stellar sophomore LP that’s shaping up as one of the young decade’s best politically themed albums.

Okay, right out front I’ll admit it. I have a definite predilection for the sound of a woman’s voice speaking or especially singing in the French language. A person could go so far as to surmise that I think it’s sexy. Some will say that’s predictable, others will decry it as obnoxious, still more will shrug their shoulders in indifference, and a select few might actually find this acknowledgement to be an endearing one, but in the end it’s just a plain fact; I am what I am.

Yeah sure, France Gall and the other yé-yé girls, especially Françoise Hardy and that grand muse of the Nouvelle Vague Anna Karina with her rolling-R tour de force “Roller Girl”; I’ll confess to deeply enjoying it all. But much as that’s so, I will proudly state that I greatly prefer the far more progressively inclined Brigitte Fontaine, particularly her late ’60’s/early-‘70’s work with American avant-jazz expats The Art Ensemble of Chicago; I’m not just a sucker for a pretty voice, after all.

And Brigitte Fontaine also notably worked with post-rock experimental-lounge long-servers Stereolab, a group that featured as a founding member singer/guitarist Laetitia Sadier, she of French decent and a distinctive bilingual vocal approach. Right from the beginning Sadier served as one of the best qualities about a group loaded with good angles, with her rich, at times husky voice interweaving with the tones of the late Mary Hansen to present a tapestry that was identifiable nearly instantly, and as the co-vocalists were also co-guitarists, Stereolab shaped up as one of the ‘90s least hierarchical bands, an attribute that helped make them one of the most refreshing.

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It’s difficult to describe Everest in simple terms. The Los Angeles-based band is so much more than your everyday rock and roll band. 

Everest happily defy classification in favor of having the freedom to stretch out musically. Authenticity is everything for them, and it shows. The way they approach their albums – recording on analog tapes, lauding the vinyl record format, committing themselves to “honesty and beauty and vulnerability” – flies in the face of everything that’s popular. But that’s part of the allure of the band. It’s easy to see why Neil Young poached them from a short-sighted big label and signed them to his own Vapor Records.

Their latest album, Ownerless, is the work of a band that’s been through the music industry gauntlet and come out the other side better for it. To kick off TVD’s week with the guys from Everest, we chatted with frontman Russ Pollard about the new album, why vinyl and record stores are so important to the band, and how they inspired them to make music.

You guys have been out on tour for a while now. How’s life on the road?

Things are going good. It’s nice to be out playing this record live. We like to be out in general. It’s been very hot in the middle of the country, but we’re headed out west now and it feels good to be headed out toward California.

Reading your manifesto of sorts, it’s clear that what you’re about as a band is as important as the music. What do you think it is that draws people to Everest?

I don’t know… maybe honesty and an approach that’s genuine. We love records and buying records and we’ve grown up in that culture. It influenced us really heavily in how we feel about what we do – that really heart-felt, honest and unique, artistic music and art. All of that has been a huge influence on us and we wanted to present that in what we do. I think that in a sort of spoon-fed single-oriented iTunes culture it’s nice to know there are bands out there that are still doing their own thing and presenting albums in their complete state and trying to do something that maybe makes a difference.

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