Monthly Archives: March 2018

Graded on a Curve: Dungen & Woods,
“Myths 003” EP

Marfa Myths is a multi-day music festival that’s been held annually in Marfa, TX since 2014. Where many extended fests are about listening to a succession of acts in a field while staying hydrated and succumbing to sunburn, Marfa Myths strives for a refreshing and memorable experience by establishing yearly artists in residence and encouraging creative interaction. And through Mexican Summer’s series of Marfa Myths documents, the fest’s collaborative aims can be engaged with from the comfort of one’s listening room. For “Myths 003,” the participants are Stockholm’s Dungen and Brooklyn’s Woods. If expectedly psych-imbued, the results are quite disciplined. It’s out March 16 on vinyl and digital.

I’ve never been to Marfa, but any city that hosts a yearly film festival that chooses to screen its program one film at a time, holds outdoor showings in the desert, and aligns silent films with the performance of new scores (as per Mary Lattimore and Jeff Zeigler’s recent LP of music for Philippe Garrel’s Le Révélateur) sounds like my kinda place. Marfa Myths only intensifies this notion. The fest, founded by the nonprofit Ballroom Marfa and Brooklyn’s Mexican Summer, aims to be a “multidisciplinary cultural program” (including music, film, and visual arts) rather than just another pileup of performances.

Live music is a big part of the event to be sure, but so are collaborative recording residencies designed to produce results that endure as something other than just snapshots and shaky phone video footage from those holding a festival lanyard. Last year Marfa paired up Dungen and Woods, a combo that highlights how the Myths crew isn’t merely throwing together random participants and hoping for a spark, as the Stockholmers and Brooklynites toured together and struck up a rapport way back in 2009.

Furthermore, both outfits, and especially Dungen, are aptly described as psychedelic (Woods has been tagged more than once as freak-folk, though they strain against tidy categorization), which likely applies to why they hit the road together in the first place. Of course, the term psychedelia sometimes gets attached to meandering formlessness, but not in the case of these groups and ditto for “Myths 003,” which, like the prior two releases in the series, is an EP, with this installment consisting of seven tracks lasting just shy of 31 minutes.

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In rotation: 3/14/18

Don’t panic, Square Records in Wimborne WON’T be closing this month: A popular record store in Wimborne has been saved from closure by the owner of a family-run independent book store. Square Records was set to close this month, much to the dismay of loyal customers and music lovers not only in Dorset but across the country. But, thanks to owner of Gullivers Bookshop, Malcolm Angel, the well-loved record store, will continue to operate. Paul Holman, whose family opened Square Records in 1974, said he was approached by Mr Angel after customers told bookshop staff about the closure. He says the store will continue to trade from their current location in Wimborne High Street until June, when it will relocate just round the corner.

Boulder’s Absolute Vinyl Records & Stereo to close at the end of March: Independent record shop Absolute Vinyl Records & Stereo is saying goodbye and closing its doors for good after 10 years of business. The Boulder record store will close at the end of March. Owners Doug and Annie Gaddy opened the store in 2008, and it’s been serving the community of Boulder with classic records, equipment, and so much more ever since then. The Gaddys announced the closing on the store’s Facebook page. The post, in part, stated, “Well, Annie and I would like to make it official. We are gonna close Absolute at the end of this month. We each have different things we want to do. So, this is the conclusion of a ten-year plan I had for our dear creation/experiment Absolute Vinyl Records & Stereo…”

Vinyl fans, SLO County is about to get a new record store: Manuel Barba thinks records can change the world — or at least the North County. The therapist-turned entrepreneur is preparing to open Traffic Records, a new record shop on Traffic Way in Atascadero. The store will be the only vinyl purveyor in the county north of San Luis Obispo, and Barba thinks North County residents are ready to set aside their digital music and embrace a richer analog sound. “I think people are getting kind of bored of the ‘I’m gonna stream it, I’m gonna download it,’” he said. Barba and his business parter, Dawn Neill, plan to make their 400-square-foot space a community gathering spot, both for record-lovers and those looking to dip their toes into the world of vinyl.

John Cusack is hosting a ‘High Fidelity’ screening at the Chicago Theatre: For a movie adapted from a novel set in North London, High Fidelity sure feels Chicago born-and-bred. John Cusack nabbed the rights to Nick Hornby’s book and transferred the story, about a commitment-shy record-store owner coping with a breakup by revisiting his Top Five previous relationships, to his hometown…Nearly two decades after the movie’s release, Cusack is set to host a hometown screening at the Chicago Theatre on Friday, May 4, followed by an audience Q&A session. If you have burning questions about the making of High Fidelity—or anything else on Cusack’s résumé, from Say Anything… to Hot Tub Time Machine—now’s your chance.

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TVD Live Shots: P!nk at the United Center, 3/9

P!ink’s “Beautiful Trauma World Tour” hit Chicago last week for two stellar, sold-out performances at the United Center.

When P!nk began the show dangling, flipping, and twirling from a chandelier all while belting “Get the Party Started,” I wondered how she could possibly top her opener. But, of course, she did. P!nk has never been one to shy away from challenges, especially in regard to her live shows.

She continues to set the standards high for her performances, which is why her concerts continue to top those of any other pop star. A couple decades into her career, P!nk continues to reach new heights. She is well worth the price of admission, as no one can put on a show quite like P!nk.

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TVD Radar: 5-LP Jerry Garcia box set Before the Dead in stores 5/11

VIA PRESS RELEASE | On May 11th, Round Records will release its most ambitious project to date with the long-awaited Jerry Garcia boxed set Before The Dead.

The project features a meticulously researched and curated compilation of recordings the iconic Grateful Dead founder made prior to forming the legendary band. Before The Dead includes never before heard performances, recordings that have never been commercially released, and a small selection that have. From intimate live recordings to live studio recordings to field recordings, Before The Dead serves as a historical document in the spirit of renowned releases by Smithsonian Folkways and influential field recordings by Alan Lomax. The music on Before The Dead was selected and co-produced by longtime Grateful Dead publicist/author Dennis McNally and documentarian Brian Miksis. The audio was restored and mastered by Fred Kevorkian.

The first release from Before The Dead features the Black Mountain Boys (Garcia, Robert Hunter, David Nelson, and Eric Thompson) in a rare 1964 live recording of “Rosa Lee McFall.” Written by Charlie Monroe, the song would remain with Garcia throughout his career, reinterpreted later on with The Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band, and Garcia/Grisman. This is the first time this track has ever been released.

Before The Dead will be released in two physical formats: a 4-CD set and a limited-edition 5-LP boxed set. The 5-LP boxed set is pressed to 180-gram vinyl in a limited edition of 2,500 pieces and includes a special in-depth 32-page book featuring essays by McNally and Miksis, rare photos and memorabilia along with detailed listening notes and commentary on each track by Dr. Neil V. Rosenberg. Aside from being a renowned musicologist, Rosenberg was part of the Redwood Canyon Ramblers, an influential Bay Area bluegrass ensemble that would inspire a younger generation of players, including Garcia.

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McLovins,
The TVD First Date

“I find myself in constant pursuit of nostalgia. If you were to ask me what I enjoy most about music, I would respond in a cluttered medley of words about how I believe it is the most honest way of expressing human emotion. As a songwriter, lyricist, and performer, I feel that my job is to transport the listener for a moment into a separate space as a spellbinding film or book would.”

“With that being said… I was rather stoned in the midst of a high school rebellious phase when I heard my very first record. It was mid-day at my buddy Dan O’s apartment in Hartford, CT when he placed a weathered Bob Dylan vinyl on this vintage record player. I don’t remember specifically what record it was, but I remember falling in love with music all over again.

Unlike scrolling through playlists on my iPod mini, this was different. It felt sonically organic in a way that allowed me to experience what listening to music might have felt like in and earlier time. I could hear the dust sifting past the needle as I watched the diamond glide across the vinyl like a merry-go-round. I remember asking Dan if the record was spinning fast enough, perplexed by how warm and slow it sounded. Needless to say, I was sold. My first record player was purchased that night.

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UK Artist of the Week: Monks In The Wood

Since forming back in 2015, South London band Monks In The Wood have received acclaim from the likes of BBC Introducing and When The Horn Blows, and have now released a stirring new single.

“No Love” offers an emotion-strewn grandeur as impassioned vocals are perfectly interwoven with soaring guitar hooks and sweeping layers of instrumentation.

Reflecting on the contrasting feelings that can emerge within relationships, it’s a cinematic slice of indie-pop showcasing not only the admirable musicianship, but the thought-provoking lyrical storytelling of this upcoming band. With shades of Broken Bells, it’ll tug at the heartstrings whilst uplifting one’s spirits with its unique and infectious groove.

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Graded on a Curve: Memphis Rent Party

If one chooses to dig deep into the uncut gusto of 20th century American music, then one will assuredly engage with the work, either in print or on film, of Robert Gordon. His latest book, fresh out in hardcover, is Memphis Rent Party, and the subject of its 20 collected profiles is concisely encapsulated by the dust jacket’s subtitle: Blues, Rock & Soul. For Gordon, it’s familiar if seemingly inexhaustible territory, and in a sweet move, Fat Possum is releasing a companion compilation to illuminate just how wild, raw, twisted, and smooth Bluff City could get. A few of the names might be well-known, but the verve on display across the 12 tracks is rare and inspiring. Both the book and the vinyl are out now.

The corner posts of the Memphis musical experience are surely deserving of their placement, but there’s no doubt that if not necessarily polished, the defining framework does possess a certain welcoming charm in execution that’s been enhanced, but also somewhat tamed, by time and stature. Robert Gordon likes to dig underneath that stuff, and not in a reactionary way, but simply to establish the sheer value of sounds that have been largely confined to the city’s limits.

Sure, today’s music hounds the globe over might know much of Memphis’ subterranean stuff, but that’s in no small part due to Gordon’s passion. I’ve yet to read Memphis Rent Party, as it just came out March 6, but I have soaked up Gordon’s first book It Came from Memphis, and it remains an all-time favorite. Since then, amongst other writerly achievements, he’s authored the ace Muddy Waters biography I Can’t Be Satisfied, a couple of books on Elvis, and won a Grammy for the notes to the Big Star box set Keep an Eye on the Sky.

He’s also made a bunch of films, including Best of Enemies, a documentary on the televised ’68 debates between Gore Vidal and William Buckley, for which he won an Emmy. If Memphis Rent Party makes it seem like Gordon’s simply returning to previously trod ground, wipe away those thoughts right quick; about Memphis music there’s always more to say, and in terms of this accompanying LP, a lot more to hear, with half of its tracks previously unreleased.

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In rotation: 3/13/18

30 years for this ever-popular Newcastle city centre music store: Newcastle city centre music store that started up in 1988 is celebrating 30 years in the business. It’s Newcastle’s foremost independent music shop and this year it celebrates its 30th anniversary. The store is RPM Music – the long-time popular outlet that sits in Old George Yard in the city centre. Owner, Marek Norvid, remembers the chance meeting in 1988 between himself and Newcastle University Students’ Union that led to the opening of the first RPM Music shop in the Union Building. He says: “They had decided running a record and tape lending library had become too onerous and expensive. They were converting one of floors in the building to shops and wondered whether I would be interested in selling off the collection.”

I had the coolest job on the planet … at Tower Records: I was just 16 when I walked into Tower Records in San Diego in 1986 and showed them I could count. I was a musician in those days, training on clarinet and sax to possibly go professional (newspapers later intervened.) I was making all the mixtapes that tortured teenagers made in the 1980s before CDs and the Internet, and Tower Records was the coolest place to work on the planet. Who cared if their pay was dismal? I had no resume besides babysitting the neighborhood kids, but Tower’s manager invited anyone who wanted a job to come into the store on inventory days and count. Apparently, I did well.

A fitting tribute for Tower Records’ Russ Solomon? This artist has the perfect idea: It was back in September that Russ Solomon made his way over to 18th and L streets to claim his spot on Sacramento’s Walk of Stars. He got a personal plaque of glittery black, purple and gold, and unveiled a matching one already set in the sidewalk. It was a nice gesture, for sure. But given that this isn’t Hollywood, it has always seemed an ill-fitting honor. A knockoff of the real-deal Walk of Fame that wasn’t quite authentic enough for the defiantly original Sacramentan, who, before his death on Sunday night, turned a tiny business selling jukebox records into the celebrity-backed behemoth that was Tower Records. No, what Solomon deserves is something big, something personal, something distinctly Sacramento. He deserves a mural – and, apparently, he’s about to get one.

As Tower Records grew, so did employees’ love for founder Russ Solomon: After 92 years of working overtime, Tower Records founder Russ Solomon’s heart finally gave out March 4. Solomon and his stores inspired the kind of employee loyalty that retailers fantasize about. People who worked for him as teenagers made their careers at Tower Records, and many who moved on looked back at the store as a highlight of their youth. Former employees recalled Solomon as a “philosopher” with an immense capacity for forgiveness who they “loved for 100 years.” His visionary streak built a billion-dollar company out of a Sacramento drugstore before it ultimately ran out as the world entered the digital age.

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TVD Live Shots: OMD at the 9:30 Club, 3/6

In what seemed like a vivid, overly luscious synth-pop dream, famed British new wave outfit Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark (OMD) performed at the 9:30 Club last Tuesday after a two-year absence from the metro area. In fact, other than a few LA gigs, they haven’t toured the US at all since 2016. For their DC engagement, OMD delivered a solid performance with the highest caliber of showmanship.

For a band who nearly birthed the synth pop genre, OMD’s audience expects quite a lot—and make no mistake about it, this band delivers. OMD pours every bit of their heart, energy, and talent into their live show, and hearing their dreamy, synthesized layers come together in a live setting is intoxicating.

Right out of the box, lead vocalist and founding member Andy McCluskey was on fire with the set opener “Ghost Star” from the new record—even dropping some expressive dance moves across the stage like he was a man on a mission. Trading vocal duties throughout the night with the band’s co-founder Paul Humphreys on tracks like
“(Forever) Live and Die,” OMD took the venue through their catalog while highlighting new tracks “Isotype,” “What Have We Done,”and “One More Time.” Cell phones were held high to record the band’s ever famous hit from 1986, “If You Leave.”

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TVD Radar: Jack Kerouac, Blues & Haikus limited edition, colored vinyl in stores 4/6

VIA PRESS RELEASE | Hey cool cats, we’re on cloud 9 with this new Jack Kerouac vinyl reissue.

Just like its predecessor, Poetry for the Beat Generation, legendary beatnik writer Jack Kerouac’s second album, Blues and Haikus, teamed him with producer Bob Thiele and came out on Thiele’s Douglas label in 1959. But this time around, instead of the debut’s dilettante-ish jazz piano flourishes from Steve Allen, Kerouac insisted on bona fide jazz musicians to accompany his stream of-consciousness prose. And boy, did he get them–big-time post-bop saxophonists Al Cohn and Zoot Sims provide effective counterpoint commentary to Kerouac’s readings.

As for those who approach this release from a more literary angle, Blues and Haikus reflects Kerouac’s interest in Eastern religion and meditative practices as expressed in his novel The Dharma Bums as opposed to the more On the Road-like exultations of Poetry for the Beat Generation. But whatever your interest, boppish or bookish, Blues and Haikus is an essential document from one of our most iconic American authors. This cult classic comes in “blues” and yellow starburst vinyl and is limited to 1000 copies!

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Ghost & the City,
The TVD First Date

“I remember the first time I ever heard a record; I was in my early teens when my brother played Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here while my parents were out. As the opening guitar line started, one thing become clear: this was the way music was supposed to sound. There was a warmth and allurement that had been absent in my life until that moment.”

“From there I began to explore more. My parents’ vinyl collection became a treasure trove of undiscovered music; The Animals, Roy Orbison, Tina Turner, and Led Zeppelin became my after school tutors, they were my inspiration for songwriting well before I ever picked up my first Tascam. I realized that when I put on vinyl, I was listening to the full scope of an artist. I made the decision to flip the record over and delve deeper. I was making the choice to listen again.

As I got older and continued to write and produce, I began to understand why it is that vinyl sounds different. There are dynamics there that are lost in other formats, there are tones and spectrums that I just can’t digest in any other way. This is why I think we’ve seen a resurgence of vinyl by modern artists; it’s why I own the NxWorries EP “Yes Lawd!” and Tricky’s Maxinquaye on vinyl as opposed to just listening to the tracks on Spotify. It’s on a 180 gram–it sounds incredible.

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TVD’s Press Play

Press Play is our Monday recap of the new and FREE tracks received last week to inform the next trip to your local indie record store.

Words In Flight – The Ravenous Affair
Youth in a Roman Field – I Saw You
No Name Hotel – Blood on Sky
Noble Son – Aces
HI Lo Ha – Cold Weather Clothes
Red Wanting Blue – Ulysses
MADAM WEST – Warm Bodies
Joel Levi – Will We Ever Change?
Parker Longbough – RNC 2000

TVD SINGLE OF THE WEEK:
THYLA – I Was Biting

The Incredible Vickers Brothers – Mirrors
Rush Week – Feelings
Bassline Drift – Give + Take
TIDES – Don’t Let Me Down
32Stitches – Remember This
Jodee Lewis – It Ain’t Killed Me Yet
Deelanz – Snake In The Grass
Chris Rivers – New Frieza
Lil Texas – Club Storm

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In rotation: 3/12/18

Record Store Day: Why vinyl gimmicks alone won’t save local shops: …The event was created in 2007 with the aim of celebrating the culture, enthusiasts and community behind record shops, and to drive people into stores during those fallow spring months. To be clear: Record Store Day is also about making money, and as a retailer it’d be pretty disingenuous to make out like I hate the event. It’s the one time of year where people queue up outside our premises and manically shop with seemingly little to no regard to the impending total cost. So why, then, is there such a burgeoning rift between passionate music supporters like me, and this annual delivery of increasingly deranged fetish objects? The big problem with the vinyl resurgence is this bizarre effort to derail its legitimacy with gimmicky releases.

Full circle: Iko’s Music thrives again as millennials discover vinyl: Ten years ago, Paul Hamilton stoically prepared himself for the death of his dream. Compact disc sales, the bedrock of Iko’s Music Trade, a fixture in Springettsbury Township for decades, were vanishing as MP3s upended the music market. Digital music was taking the same toll on CDs that the shiny silver discs had taken on cassette tapes and Hamilton’s beloved records, which were relegated to a backroom at Iko’s. Then something unexpected happened. An ever-growing influx of customers began visiting his store on a quest for black vinyl, only to walk away empty-handed, never noticing the bins in the back. Much to Hamilton’s surprise, the majority weren’t nostalgic baby boomers. These were millennials, born into a digital world but now embracing an analog one.

Vinyl Records go on sale at Tannum Sands: Music lovers can purchase a piece of history this weekend, with a vinyl record sale being held at the Tannum Sands CWA Hall. Phil Brown has put together a collection of 4000 records over the past 46 years. Now he has decided to part ways with some of that collection – mostly albums of which he has multiple copies. The collection spans music from the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Mr Brown said his collection came from this period simply because it comprises the music he likes…The quality of sound from vinyl records also led Mr Brown to amass his collection. He still listens to many of his records. “There is so much more sound in vinyl than there is in CDs or MP3’s,” he said.

HMV on Above Bar Street in Southampton to close after 24 years: IT’S the legendary music shop which has welcomed some of the biggest names in music over the last two-and-a-half decades. Boomtown Rats frontman Sir Bob Geldof even cut the ribbon on Southampton’s HMV store on Above Bar Street when it opened in 1994. But the record shop is set to close, the Echo can reveal. Bosses at HMV say the move is “necessary” to secure the firm’s long term future. However, the company, which originally opened a Southampton store in the Bargate, could still keep a presence in the city. A spokesman for HMV said the chain was “actively looking” at relocating to a new store in Southampton.

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TVD’s The Idelic Hour with Jon Sidel

Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

Is there anybody going to listen to my story / All about the girl who came to stay? / She’s the kind of girl / You want so much, it makes you sorry / Still you don’t regret a single day / Ah, girl, girl

When I think of all the times / I tried so hard to leave her / She will turn to me and start to cry / And she promises the earth to me / And I believe her / After all this time I don’t know why / Ah, girl, girl

This week’s Idelic Hour features more songs about girls. It’s really a playlist with one very special girl in mind. She’s young, beautiful, talented, wild, and in danger.

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TVD Radar: Rock doc Mind Over Matter to premiere at ReelAbilities Film Fest, 3/10–3/14

VIA PRESS RELEASE | The award-winning feature documentary, Mind Over Matter, with a New York premiere at the 10th Annual ReelAbilities Film Festival, March 10-14 during National Disability Awareness Month, tells the unbelievable story of Brandon Mendenhall who was born with cerebral palsy, a neurological condition that affects movement, coordination, and balance.

It’s an incurable disorder, and one that could have greatly limited Mendenhall’s life. But he had other plans. The film shows how Mendenhall worked strenuously to rehabilitate his hand, found mentorship with the members of the Grammy-award winning band Korn and eventually formed The Mendenhall Experiment, a 5-piece that has shared the stage with the likes of Suicide Silence, John 5, POD, Prong, Smile Empty Soul, and Fear Factory and released their debut eponymous EP in May 2017 on Lucent/Universal.

A great supporter of Mendenhall’s has been James “Munky” Shaffer, of the Grammy-Award winning metal group Korn who have sold 35-plus million records over the course of 25 years. Of Mendenhall, he says, “[He] is a big inspiration, not only for myself but for lots of people that not only want to get into music but that want to follow their dreams in anything.”

Mind Over Matter is directed by Sébastien Paquet, a French filmmaker behind the award-winning short film Wounded Warriors and critically acclaimed short doc Korn and the Prodigy Son, about the 12-year-old son of Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo. Mind Over Matter is produced by Sean E. Demott (American Satan), Nate Adams (24 Hour War) and Shian Storm. Dillon Jordan (As I AM: The Life and Times of DJ AM), Marco Vicini, Jordan Schur, Gregg Journigan, Daniel Wagner (Miles Ahead), Steve Kofsky and Russell Emanuel serve as executive producers.

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  • SUPPORTING YOUR LOCAL INDIE SHOPS SINCE 2007


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