2003 suddenly seems like a long, long time ago.
I took a week off in Feb 2003, to basically follow Low around the country for a week, partly with my friend Jason. We saw them play four times and had a great time touring record shops in the cities we visited. Almost all of those record shops are now closed. I also remember discovering a couple of new magazines back then...
'Comes With A Smile' was a terrific fanzine, which seemed to focus mainly on bands I really liked...or bands that I would learn to love after reading about them in CWAS. I became a subscriber and was so upset when CWAS folded back in 2006.
'Foggy Notions' was a decent indie mag from Ireland. No new issues have appeared since 2008 although it is to relaunch as an online mag soon.
'Careless Talk Costs Lives', edited by Everett True, became 'Plan B' which was the last bastion of quality alternative music mags. It was sometimes a little too alternative for my own tastes (I often hadn't heard of a lot of the artists featured) but I discovered several new bands through it and always bought it. It was a magazine that reviewed albums honestly and passionately, which is more than can be said about certain other more mainstream magazines that I have heard various horror stories about.
June's Plan B will be the last. Its another sad day.
Keep buying records people, before this gets even worse.
Showing posts with label record shops. Show all posts
Showing posts with label record shops. Show all posts
Friday, 22 May 2009
Thursday, 16 April 2009
Record Store Day reminder
There will be a reviews of the Fanfarlo and Camera Obscura albums in the next day or two, but just a reminder that this saturday is RECORD STORE DAY. There's loads of limited edition vinyl being released on the day and loads of bands playing in shops. It should be a brilliant day. TracksandGigs will be at Rough Trade East, Pure Groove and Sister Ray and will report back on Sunday. Find your nearest participating shop here:
http://www.recordstoreday.com/Home
I'm currently reading a great book called 'Last Shop Standing - whatever happened to record shops' and, despite being a brilliant read, it is enough to make you weep. Get out and support your local record shop on Saturday - they need all the help they can get.
http://www.recordstoreday.com/Home
I'm currently reading a great book called 'Last Shop Standing - whatever happened to record shops' and, despite being a brilliant read, it is enough to make you weep. Get out and support your local record shop on Saturday - they need all the help they can get.
Wednesday, 1 April 2009
Stephen Malkmus - Daytrotter Session
He recorded one of the albums of 2008, he plays a mean game of scrabble....and he is going to reform Pavement soon (I sincerely believe), yet Stephen Malkmus has still found time to record a Daytrotter session! Hurrah.
Awfully good it is too. You can listen to it right here:
http://www.daytrotter.com/dt/stephen-malkmus-and-the-jicks-captain-of-the-puzzle-gang-concert/20030557-6729.html
Track 1 doesn't count. Track 3 is 'Wicked Wanda' from 'Real Emotional Trash' which is a slight disappointment because he could've gone for the title track, 'Baltimore' or 'Gardenia' (my favourites basically), but still. Track 2 is a super version of 'Vanessa For Queens' from 'Pig Lib' and the last track 'Funk 49' is a brand NEW song, which is really groovy and loose and Malk sounds just great. As do The Jicks of course.
In nearly-related news, one of the vinyl only releases coming out on the fantastic RECORD STORE DAY (April 18th) is a Pavement live LP from Germany in 1997. Still awaiting news on whether this will be available in UK RSD-supporting record stores, but I hope so, since I will be spending the whole of that day in London looking for rare items and just spending as much time as possible in as many record shops as I can find!
Awfully good it is too. You can listen to it right here:
http://www.daytrotter.com/dt/stephen-malkmus-and-the-jicks-captain-of-the-puzzle-gang-concert/20030557-6729.html
Track 1 doesn't count. Track 3 is 'Wicked Wanda' from 'Real Emotional Trash' which is a slight disappointment because he could've gone for the title track, 'Baltimore' or 'Gardenia' (my favourites basically), but still. Track 2 is a super version of 'Vanessa For Queens' from 'Pig Lib' and the last track 'Funk 49' is a brand NEW song, which is really groovy and loose and Malk sounds just great. As do The Jicks of course.
In nearly-related news, one of the vinyl only releases coming out on the fantastic RECORD STORE DAY (April 18th) is a Pavement live LP from Germany in 1997. Still awaiting news on whether this will be available in UK RSD-supporting record stores, but I hope so, since I will be spending the whole of that day in London looking for rare items and just spending as much time as possible in as many record shops as I can find!
Monday, 8 December 2008
mutterings
- How am I supposed to get more of the T&G Albums of the Year list done, when all I can do (apart from work of course..) is listen to the incredibly good Tindersticks 'Live in Glasgow' and the unbelievably comprehensive Pavement 'Brighten The Corners' re-issue. I have to admit, I have not yet found time to listen to the vinyl live album, but the second cd is keeping me very occupied. Loving the session tracks and the early versions of 'The Hexx'.
- Heard some lousy news today. Pinnacle Records, one of the biggest UK indie music distributors has gone into administration. Pinnacle distribute(d) for a huge number of quality indie labels including Rough Trade, Fat Cat, Bella Union and Drag City. A lot of quality releases are going to be delayed. This is really sad, as well as worrying. Keep buying records folks, and buy them from independent shops.
I'll continue the top 20 of the year, tomorrow...
- Heard some lousy news today. Pinnacle Records, one of the biggest UK indie music distributors has gone into administration. Pinnacle distribute(d) for a huge number of quality indie labels including Rough Trade, Fat Cat, Bella Union and Drag City. A lot of quality releases are going to be delayed. This is really sad, as well as worrying. Keep buying records folks, and buy them from independent shops.
I'll continue the top 20 of the year, tomorrow...
Wednesday, 6 August 2008
Record Shops Part 2 - Rough Trade East
Inexplicably, TracksandGigs had yet to visit the all new Rough Trade shop in Brick Lane which has now been open a year. I was a regular visitor to Rough Trade Covent Garden before it sadly closed but despite loving the whole concept of Rough Trade East, I had never managed to get down there. It was mainly the 'East' that was the problem. Brick Lane is 13 tube stops from where I work so I can't pop there at lunchtime and it is a million miles from where I live (not quite, but a long way) so getting there really required an effort to me made. And until today sadly, for me, I had not made that effort.
But a half day's annual leave was taken and a visit was made. I spent a good 45 minutes in there and could happily have been there all day. It was so nice to visit a proper record shop again. There are so few around these days (see previous post) and of those most are struggling but Rough Trade East is great. It has everything you could want....well stocked racks that unlike the old days at Neals Yard, you could actually get to without having to form a queue, listening posts with interesting choices of albums, a coffee bar no less, a seating area to sit while pondering purchases, a wireless computer area and the same old helpful, friendly Rough Trade staff.
It would be the future of record shops if actually buying records hadn't become such an old fashioned thing in some people's eyes. TracksandGigs has decided to take a half day every month to make that journey to Brick Lane. I recommend you do too, its good for the soul.
[reviews of my purchases coming soon]
But a half day's annual leave was taken and a visit was made. I spent a good 45 minutes in there and could happily have been there all day. It was so nice to visit a proper record shop again. There are so few around these days (see previous post) and of those most are struggling but Rough Trade East is great. It has everything you could want....well stocked racks that unlike the old days at Neals Yard, you could actually get to without having to form a queue, listening posts with interesting choices of albums, a coffee bar no less, a seating area to sit while pondering purchases, a wireless computer area and the same old helpful, friendly Rough Trade staff.
It would be the future of record shops if actually buying records hadn't become such an old fashioned thing in some people's eyes. TracksandGigs has decided to take a half day every month to make that journey to Brick Lane. I recommend you do too, its good for the soul.
[reviews of my purchases coming soon]
Friday, 1 August 2008
Record Shops
Not much in the way of new releases during these harsh Summer months. We do have a couple of reviews coming soon but first I want to get on my soapbox.
The news arrived this week that Sister Ray have gone into administration and may have to close. For those that don't know, Sister Ray is a record shop (go to Wikipedia kids) in Berwick Street, London. It used to be Selectadisc which formed part of the TracksandGigs London Record Shop Crawl (which included... Rough Trade Covent Garden, Fopp, (HMV), Selectadisc and Reckless Records), a crawl which has ceased to exist. As recently as ten years ago, my home town of Bedford had two great independent record shops (Andys and Sounds Good To Me), now the only place to buy music in Bedford is WHSmiths and even they seem to be phasing it out.
Its a sad state of affairs and we all know and hate the reasons for it, but what can be done? Probably...not a lot. The record shop as we knew it will die. Rough Trade East and Pure Groove are the last bastions and will go down fighting. In the meantime you, music lover, can do this:-
- Buy from online indy record shops. There are some great ones out there. TracksandGigs supports Norman Records in Leeds and Piccadilly Records in Manchester. Most of the stuff reviewed here are bought from them. Don't give Amazon or HMV your money, they don't need it. If you buy from NR or PR you get a friendly, fast, efficient service and you get a great email every week with lots of recommendations.
Find them here...
www.normanrecords.com
www.piccadillyrecords.com
- Rediscover sound quality. MP3 sounds awful. You know it does, I know it does, sometimes we put up with it but if you buy something on itunes and like it, surely its better to buy it on vinyl or even cd so that you can hear it properly, as the artist intended it to sound, not compressed out of all recognition.
- Don't steal music. If you like the sort of artists that are reviewed on this page, every sale does actually matter to artists like this.
What can record companies do? They seem to be doing very little, but some do and TracksandGigs likes these ideas...
- Some record companies (Secretly Canadian and Jagjaguwar) will give you a free mp3 download of an album when you pre-order it. This is a great idea as it stops people who cannot wait for an album to be released 'needing' to turn to illegal downloads.
- The new Beck album on vinyl comes with a free 320kps high quality download that sounds like it is being played on vinyl, with the sound of the needle hitting the record included. This is one of the best ideas I have ever heard. We all prefer the quality of vinyl, but we like to have an album on our ipods too, so this gives you both and with a neat twist.
In the meantime, lets hope Sister Ray finds a buyer.
The news arrived this week that Sister Ray have gone into administration and may have to close. For those that don't know, Sister Ray is a record shop (go to Wikipedia kids) in Berwick Street, London. It used to be Selectadisc which formed part of the TracksandGigs London Record Shop Crawl (which included... Rough Trade Covent Garden, Fopp, (HMV), Selectadisc and Reckless Records), a crawl which has ceased to exist. As recently as ten years ago, my home town of Bedford had two great independent record shops (Andys and Sounds Good To Me), now the only place to buy music in Bedford is WHSmiths and even they seem to be phasing it out.
Its a sad state of affairs and we all know and hate the reasons for it, but what can be done? Probably...not a lot. The record shop as we knew it will die. Rough Trade East and Pure Groove are the last bastions and will go down fighting. In the meantime you, music lover, can do this:-
- Buy from online indy record shops. There are some great ones out there. TracksandGigs supports Norman Records in Leeds and Piccadilly Records in Manchester. Most of the stuff reviewed here are bought from them. Don't give Amazon or HMV your money, they don't need it. If you buy from NR or PR you get a friendly, fast, efficient service and you get a great email every week with lots of recommendations.
Find them here...
www.normanrecords.com
www.piccadillyrecords.com
- Rediscover sound quality. MP3 sounds awful. You know it does, I know it does, sometimes we put up with it but if you buy something on itunes and like it, surely its better to buy it on vinyl or even cd so that you can hear it properly, as the artist intended it to sound, not compressed out of all recognition.
- Don't steal music. If you like the sort of artists that are reviewed on this page, every sale does actually matter to artists like this.
What can record companies do? They seem to be doing very little, but some do and TracksandGigs likes these ideas...
- Some record companies (Secretly Canadian and Jagjaguwar) will give you a free mp3 download of an album when you pre-order it. This is a great idea as it stops people who cannot wait for an album to be released 'needing' to turn to illegal downloads.
- The new Beck album on vinyl comes with a free 320kps high quality download that sounds like it is being played on vinyl, with the sound of the needle hitting the record included. This is one of the best ideas I have ever heard. We all prefer the quality of vinyl, but we like to have an album on our ipods too, so this gives you both and with a neat twist.
In the meantime, lets hope Sister Ray finds a buyer.
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