From Friday’s Reuters story, Labels up volume on vinyl releases to meet demand:

It may have seemed like a fad at first, but the resurgence of vinyl is now turning into a nice niche business for the major labels. With EMI’s announcement that it would reissue eight classic albums in the format, all four majors are now onboard the vinyl bandwagon.

and

Universal Music Enterprises will release 20 albums on vinyl this month and an additional 20 at the end of August, while Warner Music Group will issue 24 to 30 albums from its catalog and 10 to 12 new releases from September through the end of the year, according to executives at those companies.

For vinyl aficionados and purveyors, the resurgence of major label vinyl production may seem like too little, too late.

Local reaction ranged from Som Records‘ Al Budd calling the move ironic “Since the majors have been pushing CDs for 20 years while telling consumers vinyl was obsolete,” to Kalani from local label Gypsy Eyes believing it will eventually bring in more listeners, saying, “It’s fantastic. Vinyl’s sound is so much better then other available formats”

“The resurgence of vinyl has made me very happy and I love seeing people, young and old, buying more and more records. I think it’s great that EMI and other major labels are going to be releasing more titles on vinyl.
Unfortunately, they tend to be rather expensive and I think that limits their accessability,” added Red Onion Records’ Joshua Harkavy.

Harkavy continued. “I think it’s funny when labels reissue records that are widely available as original pressings, usually for less money. I don’t like to stock the high priced LPs that EMI and most other major labels release. I prefer to stock the independent labels who can offer a much more affordable product. Overall it’s a great step for the music industry and the music fan.”

Personally, I think the one-two punch of releasing on vinyl and including a free digital download of the release is an act of simple brilliance by bridging audiophile needs with iPod culture. If the major labels can swing that type of transaction, they may stave off extinction yet.

Dischord Records has finally made the leap and created that bridge to the 21st Century, paved its own merge lane onto that information superhighway…In other words, Dischord is now making its records available in a downloadable format:

“This Dischord “digital” site offers a unique hybrid of the direct sale and subscription based download services (as well as the usual CDs, LPs, DVDs, etc). Customers have the option to download entire albums for a set price (usually $7), purchase Digital Credits (15 credits for $10) that can be used to download individual songs, or receive a free album download with the purchase of a 12″ vinyl LP from our store.

We have also added a media player to our site which which features streaming songs and video from Dischord artists. Content for the media player will be updated continually as we find and adapt high quality material from our archives and from users. In the future we will also add more cool features to the player so stay tuned.”

What could be better than buying a $2 CD-R of demos from your favorite local band? Buying their 7-inch record, of course! And for those of us who still have record players, it comes as good news that Food For Animals rapper Vulture Voltaire has pressed a wax single under his solo moniker, Maximillion Dunbar.

Says Voltaire/Dunbar: “Yo dudes/dudettes! Just in time for summer, I got two instrumental cuts, on the cosmic side of hip-hop thangs. HEAVY percussive force mixed with beautiful thick synths on the A Side; romance and bump on the B. Both songs are available to listen to on my myspazzze”

Not sure if these have been consigned to any local record stores, but you can order one by PayPal-ing $7 to biggestofbears@gmail.com. Only 300 pressed, so if you want one…hurry?

Writer Doug Mosurock also included a short review of the 7″ in his bi-monthly “Still Single” column.

So my generation’s Exile gets an unnecessary reissue with only a few bonus tracks and a needless DVD. Sweet. Perhaps the only person who needed this product more than Liz Phair was Liz Phair’s kid. The rest of us should prepare to shovel through the new-and-improved Liz Phair profile and the revisiting of all her missteps and failures. It’s an all-too-familiar cycle for the songwriter only now we get to look back at Phair circa 1993.

Thumbing through her arc now feels kinda sad—same kinda sad one feels when thinking about the Blake Babies‘ Juliana (I should get points for namedropping that band) or reading Dean Wareham’s book or listening to the Breeders‘ new one. And this reissue only reminds one of her sad career arc.

Read the rest of this entry »

…Somehow this is brilliant.

Listening Booth: A series.

I spent months looking for this. I called the record store that put it out. I called them more than once. At the time, it was a) out-of-print and b) the store employees said they don’t do mailorder nor take credit cards. I still nagged and needled the unlucky clerk into making some kind of arrangement via gmail and a personal check. These arrangements failed when the employee never followed up. This didn’t stop me from wearing out the refresh function on my gmail.

I became obsessed with owning this record. You know how you can zero in on an album like your entire being has to have it? Well, I had that kind of lust for this one.

I interviewed a guy who claimed he had a copy of the record. I never saw it in his stacks. And he never got around to sharing it.

I spent a day bidding on it on eBay. I lost out to some jackass who was willing to spend a solid $70 on it….And then finally, the record got reissued. So screw you, collector scum!

I found my copy at True Vine in Baltimore for like $12. So what is it? It’s an African compilation called Love is Love. And yes, it’s another Afro-pop comp to go along with this, this, and this.

I have all the Nigeria Specials, the Fela twofers, and worn out the grooves on my Strut, Soundway, and Honest Jon’s releases. But this compilation is different. It neither dwells on the funk, the nightclub, or swings towards high life. It may be a bootleg of another African comp.

The record is simply one of the most beautiful records I’ve ever heard–eerie faded copy of a copy of early rock and roll, lonely folk picking, and inventive dance steps. Listen for yourself here and here and here.

And then head to Baltimore’s True Vine.

Guillermo Klein played a mind-blowing show at the Library of Congress in February—and, as it turns out, much of his set was comprised of small-band versions of the tunes his big band, Los Guachos, plays on the new disc Filtros (Sunnyside).

“I’m not a jazz composter,” Klein recently told jazz journalist David R. Adler. “The term ‘jazz composition’ is vague.” Indeed, it only covers one aspect of Klein’s music, but a more accurate descriptor is elusive: on Filtros Klein also toys with classical music (”Louange a l’eternite de Jesus”), Andean folk (”Vaca”), torch songs (”Amor Profundo”) and some art-rock (”Volante”). But he also invents his own forms and rhythms, and trying to distinguish the structural patterns in either will accomplish little more than getting you lost–I challenge anyone to listen to “Luz de Liz” and keep up. Nonetheless, it’s one of the best albums I’ve heard this year.

Buy Filtros. As soon as possible. March right up to Melody Records and place a special order (they don’t have it in stock), wait for it to arrive, then take it home confident that both time and money were worth it.

I just got word that Immortal Technique will be making an in-store appearance at DJ Hut on Saturday June 28th and 2 PM. Tech is in town supporting his latest release, The 3rd World, featuring DJ Green Lantern, Pharoahe Monch, and local favorite AKIR.

Over the past decade, Immortal Technique has solidified his position as one of the leading voices of the hip-hop movement for social change. Recently he has branched out and undertaken new projects including an essay contest for high school teens and a Project Green Light, a partnership effort to build an orphanage/clinic in Afghanistan. Stay up to date with latest from Immortal Technique at his MySpace page, and make sure to check him out at the upcoming Rock the Bells show at Merriweather Post Pavillion next month!

The 3rd World is available in stores and online from Viper Records/Koch Entertainment.

DJ Hut is located at 2010 P St NW, Washington DC.

With the release of the Faraquet singles compilation, Dischord has announced that it will offer the record in a digital format and expects to launch a full-on digital site soon:

“This album will represent the first Dischord release to be available in the digital MP3 format directly from the Dischord Records website. Our new “digital” website will launch on or before June 30th and will feature digital downloads of every Dischord album from our catalog as well as free album downloads with 12″ vinyl purchases.”

The label joins other indies who have started selling digital releases like Merge and Thrill Jockey.

Crooked Beat, Adams Morgan’s go-to record store, just sent us an e-mail alerting us to some great used vinyl fresh in their racks. Here’s what’s come in:

My Bloody Valentine - Isn’t Anything ( 2003 Repress)
Neu - S/T
John Lee Hooker - Endless Boogie
Bo Diddley - Got My Own Bag Of Tricks
Mouse On Mars - Idiology
Rockpile - Seconds of Pleasure
Them with Van Morrison - Backtrackin’
Feelies - Time For a Witness
Chuck Brown - Live
Byrds Tribute - With Dinosaur Jr, Barracudas plus other
Vanilla Fudge - Near The Beginning
Johnny Winter - Story
Chills - Submarine Bells
Hot Chip - Coming On Strong
Black Flag - Everything Went Black
John Mayall - several different titles
Byrds - Untitled
Specials - S/T
Peter Tosh - Bush Doctor
Tracy+ Plastics - Culture For Pigeon

The real find has got to be the Chills LP!