Messages

1681

Used Records For Sale/Auctions/Wantlists / Re: Psychedelic Horseshit

« on: November 30, 2007, 04:26:37 PM »

Surprisingly no - I'm talking about Records (that's the whole name). They've since lowered their prices & become a pretty great store. The Beat is like Records' polar opposite. They don't know what to do with anything PRE-80's! I've scored so much good old shit at The Beat but then yeah, something like a later Dire Straits record will be insanely priced.

The Beat is a weird story - it used to be really tiny & it modeled itself of off killer stores like Rough Trade & Record Finder - places with a small but really compact, focused selection. In the 80's it was almost strictly UK punk & indie imports. I was 15 in '86 & was getting really in to the early Creation Records stuff & Jesus & Marychain & shit like that & The Beat would get it all the week it came out. A lot of that stuff sat there forever too. Over the years, as I'd get in to bands, I'd just be like "oh, The Raincoats rule - I bet the Beat still has those records" & sure enough, all 3 Raincoats records, sealed for $5.99. It's finally been pretty picked but I still go there a lot. Then they grew & had no idea how to do it. They don't give you ANYTHING for used records - like maybe 50 cents each - and they've somewhat stuck to their "we're an import store" philosophy by ordering imports of shit that's out domestically. Like, instead of getting something on Matador, they'll get the Domino UK version & charge $28. I think the only reason they're still in business is because they can't afford to go out of business. They owe too much to their distributors but they make enough to stay open, pay their monthly bills & pay their employees. If they closed they'd probably have to declare bankruptcy. It's kinda sad now to see the same owners in there who used to be so stoked on music in the 80's looking so bummed to own that store now. Then again, they could also just get a clue.

1682

Used Records For Sale/Auctions/Wantlists / Re: Psychedelic Horseshit

« on: November 30, 2007, 02:47:44 PM »

Tally Ho! is probably The Clean's single most exhilarating moment but Boodle Boodle Boodle is my favorite thing by them. 6 perfect songs. It's definitely worth tracking down but there's a Clean comp called Compilation that's easier to find (even on LP) & I'm pretty sure the whole Boodle EP is on there. The whole comp is great. Also try & track down the "Dumb" EP by a short lived David Kilgour band called Steven. It's on Flying Nun & is very Clean-sounding. It seems kinda overlooked in the NZ pop category & you might be able to find one for somewhat cheap. Or maybe none of that shit is cheap anymore.

Years & years ago I was in this record shop in Sacramento & was looking through the "Misc A" section & found an Axemen record & an Able Tasmans record & I moved on to "B" & found some early Bats EPs & some Bailter Space, moved on to "C", found the Clean Boodle EP & some Chills records & realized "someone dumped their entire  New Zealand pop collection here!". I just sat there thinking of every NZ band I liked & 80% of the time it was there & there were tons of the earlier Flying Nun records that were even hard-ish to find back then.  They were all $3 which ruled since this was this was THE most overpriced store on the planet but they didn't know what to do with 80's shit. Years later I met this total NZ pop fanatic & told him that story & he goes "dude those were my records! I sold them all when I got in to crank". I felt pretty shitty but he seemed cool with it said he was glad someone who appreciated them got them.

1683

Music Shit / Re: united record pressing and i just broke up.

« on: November 26, 2007, 10:55:48 AM »

One more chime-in for Prarie Cat. I overnighted him the recording, he called me the next day to tell me he got it and called me the day after that to say he'd finished mastering it & had sent it off to Musicol. It made the whole process a lot quicker.

As for Musicol, they did a good job for me. I feel like I have insanely bad luck with record pressing though. I've had skips, warps, pressed at the wrong speed, labels reversed, "lost" payments, wrong label art colors, wrong hole size, etc - so the fact that Musicol just did it right made them seem good to me.

I once pressed a 7" where the place just stopped answering their phone & never sent my records. A year & a half later the owner called me all stressed out & somehow seemed to not know that his business had stopped running & was asking me among other things how to check HIS email because he had heard that people were trying to get in touch with him about their records.

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Used Records For Sale/Auctions/Wantlists / Someone sell me The Mekons Story LP

« on: November 16, 2007, 11:56:23 AM »

I found one of these on Gemm for a reasonable price ($19) but the seller hadn't updated his stock list since March so I emailed him first & asked if he still had it. He did but he decided to almost double the price so...fuck that. What a shitty move. Shoulda just bought it & taken my chances that he stil had it. So yeah, I want it but for around $20. Someone help me out please.

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Music Shit / Re: WEIRD POWER POP

« on: October 25, 2007, 01:25:49 PM »

Ha! I'll yell it out at your Sac show next month.

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Music Shit / Re: WEIRD POWER POP

« on: October 25, 2007, 01:17:33 PM »

I hate to break the news but I think those bands might be "weird indie rock".

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Music Shit / Re: What is everybody listening to? Part II

« on: October 25, 2007, 09:02:52 AM »

Cannanes & Tronics - excellent combo! I was just riding around yesterday & started thinking about The Cannanes out of nowhere. Their first 2 records are so fucking good. Exactly what I want from pop music. They took a page outta the Go Betweens early stuff & went their own shambling way with it. And I've often wondered why Love Backed By Force by Tronics hasn't had the reissue treatment - it's so awesome. That guy had a singular vision. Not so in to What's The Hubbub Bub?. It's OK but no Love Backed By Force.

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Music Shit / Re: Lance Hahn

« on: October 22, 2007, 08:35:50 AM »

Shitty.

A month or so ago Lance emailed my friend Dave asking if he knew where to get the Nar comp CDR (an old band of mine) because it contained this split LP we did & he had lost that record when his house burned down & wanted to get it back. I still have copies of that split LP so I sent him one. I was initially gonna email him but I thought shit, I never write letters anymore but this just seems like a time to do it. I only knew Lance as an aquaintance but he would always come to early Nar shows in SF & he wrote some really nice things about us in MRR & at a time when Sacramento bands were pretty much roundly mocked in the SF/East Bay so I just wrote & told him that those things meant a lot to me. I'm really glad I did that.

Also, just to know that someone could be doing pretty badly but that they're still trying to track down old records makes me feel, I don't know, not happy but just fucking glad that music exists. RIP.

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Music Shit / Re: What is everybody listening to? Part II

« on: October 15, 2007, 10:01:18 AM »

Am I right that McGuinn re-did Gram Parsons original vocals for Sweetheart of the Rodeo after Parsons quit?

Been listening a lot to the tape Eat Skull was selling when they plyed here last week - really really good. I like it better than the 7".

Also The Equals, Bongo Randy, Hole Class, some Bee Gees comp & Make It Happen by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles.

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Music Shit / Re: MOONDOGS question

« on: October 15, 2007, 09:50:13 AM »

I really like the Moondogs record. I would say, more than the production, that the songwriting is the biggest difference from the singles. They really sound like they're pushing themselves to write more complex songs without sacrificing catchiness. More often than not it works. Who's Gonna Tell Mary fits on the record (it's a different version than the single I think) if that makes sense. They sound really wide eyed - like this was their big chance. The record's on Sire but I think it only came out in Germany or something lilke that. Todd Rungren produces it which isn't that strange seeing as how Ray Davies & Andrew Loog Oldham both recorded singles for them as well. (if Ray Davies was producing my band I'd probably be too fucking nervous to play a note!). They did have a TV show called, I think, Moondogs Matinee which doesn't seem to have made it to YouTube. I'd love to see it!

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Music Shit / Re: big game (record) hunting

« on: October 02, 2007, 04:09:57 PM »

It's an uncanny resemblance! I hesitated to post this because it's long but it's a pretty entertaining foreign record hunting story by my friend Josh who is currently living in Liberia. Same dude from the Brazil trip.

So we're in dowtown dakar, senegal, "the capital of west africa", home of the most persisitent pestering hustler kids in the world. They follow you like crazy.  One day early in our trip i had managed to find some records, and my appetite was whetted, so a few days later I decide to go out again on foot. 

I don't want to get robbed so i leave everything at the hotel, includeing wedding ring.  I go out in shorts and tshirt with only a record cover in my hand to show what i'mm looking for, cause my french sucks.  Of course i am followed and hounded by a little hustler kid the whole time.  The money is in my shoe, 30 bucks or so.

After a long walk in the insane heat i go to a CD guy in the main market of downtown and show him my album cover. He tells me oh you have to go to the black market. 

Imagine, this is a street market in central Senegal, total chaos in every direction, thousand sof pepol e buying and selling everything imaginable, nobody's paying taxes here, this is totally informal commerce, and one of the sellers tells me to go to the black market!?!?!  Im like, if this guy thinks it's the black market, it must really be the black market.  So I am a little scared, but the hustler kid shows me the way. 

We get there, a whole city block of shanty buildings and narrow alleys full of shit and grey water, totally fucking horribly scary fucking shithole.  I approach the entrance and am just mobbed by young loud dirty crazy-looking dudes asking me what I need, shoving each other to get my business.  I show them the record cover and they start bickering over who's going to get credit for the sale, who's going to lead me around, etc.  heated discussion.  Eventually the main dude shows up, total ice-cold look in his eye, tells them to go away and leads me into the center of the block, which is like the freakiest walk I have ever taken.

The place is like the Senegalese version of a thirift store, lots of different sellers hawking used furninture, washing machines, you name it.  Broken shit everywhere, Salvaged goods.  But of course there's also a little baby mosque in there, and guys praying. 

We get into the inner sanctum, which is a furniture factory of sorts, a shop really, where the main dude has people building couches and stuff.  So it's kind of nice in there, all this new furniture to sit on.  And It's nice to get out of the insane heat, but my nerves are pretty raw in this place.  Everyone is yelling at each other, looking at me like a piece of meat.  The head guy offeres me a cigarette, whchi I refuse politely, so he sends someone to get me a stick of gum!  Proceeds to roll himself a joint, but am  in no mood to be stoned. 

By this time I am like, there's no way I am getting out of here with any of my possessions.  I am also thinking, if I get out of here in one piece, this will be a great story someday.  There's like 5-10 people milling around me, staring at me, chatting in Wolof and French, looking hella menacing, while the main Mafioso dude and I are negotiating prices, him totally stoned, running these dudes like they're his personal army. 

Senegalese are GENIUSES at the price war, and this was a conversation seriously impaired by the language barrier.  So I end up agreeing after like 20 of the longest minutes of my life that I will pay him 12 bucks a piece for the records.  He sends his minions off in all directions, and after a few minutes they start coming back with various bags and boxes of records in all states of disarray, mildew and fuckedupedness.  I go through them as fast as I can and pull out about 10, knowing I can't afford them all at his price.  But there are some real finds in there, including orch baobab and some other 70's Senegalese, even a Haitian record by this guy Coupe Cloue who I've been looking for forever. 

Anyway, I take off my shoe, pull out my sweaty money and buy the few records I can afford off this guy, and I am really bummed I can't get the rest.  So since I have nothing to lose I ask him if he'll just let me have the other 5 or so as a gift, trying to convince him that nobody is ever going to come along again, asking him for old LPs. 

He's like, "Do you have any more money?", all angry.  I tell him no and he barks, "Stand up."  I stand up and pull out my empty pockets, and get this, the dude fucking frisks me!  I'm thinking, "Man, I am so glad I don't have my wedding ring on right now, or anything else of value on me."  The records are like meaningless to him, and all he cares about is cleaning me out. 

But then in the end he did show a little bit of humanity, gives me the other records out of the kindness of his heart.  So i end up with about 12 of them, total gems, if dirty and scratched and water damaged.  We both agree that we wish we could speak English (him) and Wolof (me) so that we could have a real conversation.  On my way out I have to beg him to give me 1000 francs for a taxi to get to my hotel, and he did!   

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Music Shit / Re: big game (record) hunting

« on: October 02, 2007, 03:16:28 PM »

I can only speak for buying records in Brazil but when I went there (Nov '01) I got a lot of great stuff. But I wouldn't have gotten shit if my friend hadn't been living there for 5 months when I came to visit. He had picked up pretty good conversational Portugese & that's absolutely key to getting good stuff there cuz you have to know how to haggle or you'll get shafted. And this was at the height of Brazilian mania in the US so there were a lot of foreigners coming through looking for records so the sellers were definitely hip to it. I was only in Rio but I think there were maybe 2 good record stores there. Everyone sells on the street & there are people who have as good if not better stuff than the stores. It was pretty fun doing it that way - my friend had to get to know their schedules so it would be like "it's Thursday so this one guy will be on this one corner today". I picked out what I wanted & he would haggle & he always got a fair price. It helped that he kind of fit in physically there - he's sort of racially indeterminate looking - compared to me anyway. I mean, you're not gonna get the first Mutantes record for cheap there but that shit's all reissued anyway. I was mainly looking for weird stuff that I hadn't heard of (I have a theory that most Brazilian records between 65 & 74 have at least 1 or 2 good songs on them) and a handful of things that were more psych that had been overlooked in the reissue wave.  And the record stores weren't a TOTAL rip or anything - especially with the exchange rate. I dropped maybe $50 in one & got some good Tom Ze & Jorge Ben & stuff like that. They can only charge so much because that stuff was pressed in fairly large perssings there - the main problem is finding stuff in good condition. The weather is shit there for records so a lot of stuff is moldy. Anyway, I came home with 75 good-to-great records & averaged paying maybe $3 apiece for them. I hear Sao Paulo is even better for records than Rio too. Oh yeah, and if you're ever in Portugal, there's a lot of good Brazilian records that made it there & they're in way better shape!

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Music Shit / Re: go betweens?

« on: September 28, 2007, 01:21:21 PM »

Get The Lost Album - it rules. It has both the Able label singles (those are also comped on some weird double 12" on I think Beggars Banquet if you'd rather have vinly) and a bunch of great semi-rough takes of unreleased songs. Rough in a good way - not like some bad live-quality recording. You hear the So Cow single get compared to the Go Betweens & it's this early stuff that they're talking about. The Postcard single is kind of a missed opportunity for them - they picked some fairly unremarkable songs for that - worst of the classic Postcard singles I'd say.

They all but abandoned their early sound when they signed to Rough Trade - those records are more off kilter sounding. The pop songs are still  in there but they're wrapped in more arty RT song structures. Of the early "proper" records, I'd say Before Hollywood is the most classic. It's a fantastic record. But whatever, they're one of my very favorite bands so you're not exactly getting any objectivity here. But regardless, get The Lost Album.

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Music Shit / Re: What is everybody listening to? Part II

« on: September 28, 2007, 09:38:05 AM »

Henry Badowski - My Face/Making Love With my Wife - 7" on Deptford Fun City. I'm way in to both these songs. Kind of like a collision of the Television Personalities & good OMD.

The Wind - "Where It's At With The Wind" - not all great (it's power pop so no surprise there) but some really good songs & sincere as hell.

True West - "Hollywood Holiday". One of the only songs I really like on their record but it makes the whole thing worth it. Was this a single?

Orange Juice - Ostrich Churchyard. I never get tired of Postcard Records stuff.

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Music Shit / Re: What is everybody listening to? Part II

« on: September 25, 2007, 01:17:35 PM »

I always push Notorious Byrd Brothers on people - best Byrds record in my opinion and yeah, totally underrated. Side 1 is such a perfect record side. I came home from work yesterday & my girlfriend was listening to it & I was reminded for the millionth time how great it is. Easy as hell to find too.