Best new indie rock songs, indie news, best bands, reviews
Author: Max Hammer
Discovering and sharing the best DIY/alt/indie/underground music you've never heard. I've been writing about music and other topics since the mid-1990s. We are also music industry professionals - PR; promotion; management; branding; etc.
Baltimore DIY band Joy Classic pumps out catchy, feel good psych pop sounds layered with bright guitar hooks and twangs, reverb-soaked vocals, and punchy bass lines on standout songs like “Ya Know” and “Blossom.” We know when we’ve hit upon a talented, promising band when it’s difficult to pick just a couple of songs to highlight, despite the fact that their discography, thus far, is made up of only a half dozen tracks altogether.
“Ya Know” – Joy Classic from Youth Buzz
Joy Classic’s sound is not easy to pin down, and yet they strive to pack as much intrigue into their compositions as possible, incorporating elements of 60’s-inspired California surf rock; dreamy, 70’s-style sunshine pop and crisp, melodic hooks representative of some of their top musical influences, like Tame Impala, The Strokes, and Beach Fossils.
There are even hints of east coast doo-wop and classic rock that color songs like “Saturday Night.” That track, among others available in this profile, are found on the band’s four-song debut EP, Youth Buzz. The EP was featured on Philadelphia’s XPN.org, along with various associated blogs, and received a good deal of support from Baltimore’s DIY-friendly community. The band continued to write new songs while performing concerts from Baltimore to DC, and opening for artists like Yuck, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, San Fermin, and Deleted Scenes.
“Saturday Night” – Joy Classic from Youth Buzz
The band was originally founded by childhood friends Bob Elder and Justin Link in Portland, Oregon; however, the band moved to Baltimore to link up with Link’s former bass player, Matt Robinson, and to find a more fitting home base that allowed them to pursue their music together and still pay the monthly bills.
After countless attempts to fill an open drummer slot, Robinson’s longtime friend, Chrysta Ghent, secured the role by way of her seemingly effortless on-the-spot transition from guitar to drums. Following many hours of rehearsing and recording in a dark, graffiti-ridden warehouse, the band also released their first music video, the psychedelic-influenced , “Splash.”
“Splash” – Joy Classic from Youth Buzz
Earlier this year, Joy Classic released “Metro,” a single from a rumored 2014 debut LP, which has yet to materialize. As Joy Classic continues to gain the attention within the Baltimore indie music scene, we can only say that we hope more music lovers from around the country recognize a band that really has something special going on.
“Metro” – Joy Classic from Metro 7″
We’re hoping that they’ll be releasing a debut album soon before they become like too many other talented-out-of-the-gate buzz bands who make a splash and then fade from view because they don’t keep pumping out new music, or fail to properly promote themselves to sustain a key component in making it in the music business – momentum.
For indie music lovers, this summer’s flow of new releases successfully fulfilled every vein and niche of sub-genre enjoyment. From the Vampire Weekend-ish jams busted out by Island to Fleet Foxes’ somber folk melodies, all the way to the glitchy electronic drones of Diplo, this summer’s indie rock, folk, electronic drops encompassed the entire spectrum of indie music.
The season also offered music that filled a smaller indie vein, with some artists revealing traces of the struggling rock and roll genre. The term “revival” induces a feeling of living in the past – a way for curmudgeonly old rockers to draw similarities between emerging artists and a time when their music tastes were cutting edge, which is why it’s not exactly fitting to call this a 90’s revival.
Instead, this playlist of top singles from this summer releases is a reimagining of the unpolished 90’s alternative style blended with modern indie rock conventions. These are not new-age Pixies, Replacements, Pavement or Weezer incarnations, but rather a separate, and renewed, iteration of distorted guitars, understated vocals, and demure lyrical content brought to cohesion. The summer of 2014 had something for everyone, even for music lovers in search of something a bit more frenetic.
Some of the bands with summer hits were releasing material as far back as the 1990’s, which is one reason why Denton, Texas’ Centro-Matic is a featured artist. The band was formed nearly 20 years ago in 1995 as a side project of singer, songwriter and drummer Will Johnson, who is also a member of the indie folk super group Monsters of Folk. This track, “Academy of Lunkers,” is a standout track on Centro Matic’s newest album.
“Academy of Lunkers” – Centro Matic from Take Pride in Your Long Odds
Brooklyn and Philadelphia-based band, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (CYHSY), have long been a staple of modern indie rock thanks in part to the notoriously indifferent vocals of Alec Ounsworth. However, the latest iteration of CYSY features more polished and carefully engineered vocals, which, at times, are reminiscent of Thom Yorke.
“Coming Down” – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah from Only Run
Although quickly finding sufficient information via search about the Atlanta-based noise pop outfit Gold Bears requires some effort, becoming hooked on their latest LP does not. Muddled guitars mixed with thoughtful lyrics and infectious pop tendencies fuel their brand of youthful, energetic indie rock.
“For You” – Gold-Bears from Dalliance
Hüsker Dü may have broken up more than 25 years ago, but Bob Mould hasn’t stopped producing stellar music. Being one of the fore fathers of original indie rock, one might expect Mould’s new music to sound archaic and antiquated, but he has proven time and time again his ability to remain stylish and relevant, as the track “Hey Mr. Grey” demonstrates.
“Hey Mr. Grey” – Bob Mould from Beauty & Ruin
After the untimely disbandment of The Smiths in 1987, (before many of their current fans were even born), frontman Steven Patrick Morrissey (better known as Morrissey) continued to write scathing Oscar Wilde-inspired anthems for the down-trodden. Now, with the release of the 20th anniversary definitive edition recording of Vauxhall and I contains some of Morrissey’s most notable works and is the perfect illustration of his unmatched lyrical ability.
“The More You Ignore Me The Closer I Get” – Morrissey from Vauxhall and I (20th anniversary definitive edition)
Bloomington, Indiana’s Stagnant Pools represent what shoegaze enthusiasts have long waited for. Their massively distorted wall of sound and subtle vocal arrangements can only be compared to greats within the vein like Slowdive, Joy Division, and My Bloody Valentine. Although their new album, Geist, places a higher emphasis on the vocals of guitarist/frontman Bryan Enas than their debut LP, Temporary Room, the hazy ambiance of true shoegaze is still very much present.
“You Whir” – Stagnant Pools from Geist
In terms of the post rock genre, few bands are credited with shaping the genre more than Glasgow’s Mogwai. Tasteful arrangements and spare vocals epitomize the ambient landscape of this orchestral vein of indie, and few execute it as well as Mogwai. For many, their 1995 release, Come On Die Young, is the apex of post rock – a sentiment that is difficult to argue.
“Ex-Cowboy” – Mogwai from Come On Die Young (deluxe reissue)
Brooklyn-based indie outfit Beverly is composed of Crystal Stilts, Dum Dum Girls, and Vivian Girls’ member Frankie Rose and former Avan Lava member Drew Citron. Gritty, dirty blues guitar, backed by airy female vocals, perfectly illustrates why the two are at the forefront of the city’s indie music scene. Beverly is a must listen for fans of Dum Dum Girls as well as Rose’s solo work.
“Honey Do” – Beverly from Kanine
Further establishing himself as one of the most relevant figures in modern rock, former White Stripes‘ frontman Jack White’s latest album, Lazaretto, was inspired by plays, poems, and short stories that he wrote when he was 19. In addition to its Detroit garage rock-epitomizing eleven tracks, the album also contains secret songs and holograms designed to fully immerse listeners. White set a world record, supposedly, on Record Store Day in April by recording and releasing the fastest single ever, which was “Lazaretto.”
In what seems to be a do-no-wrong style of releasing albums, the Austin, Texas natives known as Spoon are responsible for some of the most conventional brand of tasteful, finely tuned rock music. At this point, it’s probably safe to consider Spoon one of the bands with universal indie music appeal, something that their new album They Want My Soul reinforces beautifully.
“The Rent I Pay” – Spoon from They Want My Soul
If there were a song on the list that bordered on a ‘happy song,’ it would be Cosines’ “Out of the Fire”. Its bouncy melody and scattered, whirring keyboards, combined with upbeat vocals and lyrics give the song a retro sound that is undeniably infectious. The music of Cosines represents the ideal mix of old and new, physical and synthesized.
“Out of the Fire” – Cosines from Oscillations
Strand of Oaks is considered an indie folk band, but are also reminiscent of a blues rock outfit. Instead of sparse strumming and wistful oohs and ahhs, their self-titled track tells a much more relatable tale with a strong backing melody. Perhaps the two things that have essentially disappeared from indie folk are dark subject matter and guitar solos. Strand of Oaks has both, and will make some wonder when and why these conventions stopped being so widely used.
“Strand of Oaks” – Strand of Oaks from Heal
There are a still a few bands on the indie scene that appreciate the beauty that extremely distorted guitars and vocals can produce. In the vein of No Age, White Reaper is a loud, muddled, aggressive outfit and undoubtedly polarizing band. Some will find their music abrasive, others will wish more bands followed their lead and dare to venture outside of the realm of playing it ‘safe.’
Every week, we try to have either a Band of The Week or an Artist of the Week in order to raise the profile of a DIY band or artist that deserves to be looked at – and listened to – more closely. The Bellegards, an indie rock trio from Selden, New York, originally formed in 2011, but had been making music on the down-low since 2005 when they decided to dedicate to their music full time – Vincent Palmeri (guitar, vocals), twin brother Nic Palmeri (bass, organ), and close friend Kevin Redding (drums). Technically, the band have been playing music together since 2005.
The band’s debut album, Perfect Strangers was released earlier this year after achieving their goal of raising $2,000 from Kickstarter. The album is chock full of energetic, melodic indie rock songs that almost immediately catchy. In the summer of 2012, the band released its debut EP, The Sea & Sand That Drowned The Band, with the terrific single, “Saltwater Serenade”. The Bellegards have opened for bands like The Toasters, Those Mockingbirds, and The Rotaries. Their top musical influences include The Band, The Who, Cold War Kids, The Strokes, Dawes, and Delta Spirit.
“Dead End Street” – The Bellegards from Perfect Strangers
“Sweet Hollow” – The Bellegards from Perfect Strangers
Saltwater Serenade” – The Bellegards from The Sea & Sand That Drowned The Band
Listen to more of the songs from Perfect Strangers and the band’s EPs via The Bellegards Bandcamp page
“Indie music today is like skiffle in the 50’s and 60’s; ordinary people playing extraordinary music that’s very innovative and unique. Talent is everywhere and indie rock has really helped to expose it.” – Nic Palmeri answering the question ‘what is indie rock to you?’
This weekend the second annual First City Festival in Monterey will kick off at the Monterey Fairgrounds, the location of what is largely considered the first major rock music festival in the U.S. – 1967’s Monterey Pop Festival. It’s also the fest where Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin first became international pop stars.
This year’s festival line-up, like last year’s, is packed solid with popular and talented artists and bands, including Beck, The National, Phantogram, Blind Pilot, Cults, Dawes, Liars, Geographer, Tokyo Police Club, Best Coast, Miniature Tigers, Future Islands, Cocorosie, Midlake, Lo-Fang, Sleepy Sun, The Naked & Famous, The Men, Cool Ghouls, among others.
The array of artists is guaranteed to attract a diverse crowd of music lovers seeking indie rock, alternative, folk, pop, techo, and dance. The fairgrounds are comprised of four stages with two large stages at opposite ends of the venue, where the headlining artists will be performing, during which time the smaller third and fourth stages will remain silent so that there is no overlapping.
The festival grounds offer a big benefit that music fans won’t find at any other music festival that we know – an authentic, full-fledged carnival that harkens back to yesteryear, featuring classic canrinval rides like the Zipper and The Scooter, specialty amusement rides like the Haunted House and Mardi Gras, a huge ferris wheel and the Fun Slide. Festival goers have full access to the existing carnival grounds, entertainment, food vendors and of course the rides. This year, festival ticket holders have access to unlimited free rides.
The premiere of the First City Festival last summer was considered a resounding success for the debut of a little-known festival thanks in part to performances from big acts like Passion Pit, MGMT, Beach House, Modest Mouse, Neko Case, and Toro Y Moi.
The two-day music spectacular featured a continuous stream of talented and popular acts that read like a who’s who of alternative and indie rock, folk and pop artists and bands, including The Black Angles, Washed Out, Okkervil River, Dr. Dog, Deerhunter, The Dodos, Akron/Family, The Antlers, Generationals, Purity Ring, Lucero, Devendra Banhart, Capital Cities, Father John Misty, Blitzen Trapper, The Hold Steady, Ernest Greene, Tennis, Guards and many others.
Compared to the much larger and well-known music festival in San Francisco, the Outside Lands Festival that took place earlier in the month, First City is a smaller, more intimate and less chaotic affair, and it is also a much more decidely indie and alternative music festival than Outside Lands as well. The event is organized and managed by Golden Voice productions.
Marsan is a solo project of 21-year-old Chicago musician, Jeremy Marsan, who is currently in the band Acker, and was previously a member of Shy Guy Says. In 2012, Marsan kicked-off a side solo project as a way mainly to channel his “interest in replicating the textures and grooves” with the use of “live instruments” like his favorite electronic artists like Boards of Canada and Four Tet.
“As I proceeded, I was inspired to add pop melodies and folk lines over the dense, harmonic-rich textures. Continuing further, I noticed a theme and loose story line: a character gets lost in a goliath-sized shopping mall, intercepting media signals that misguide and confuse, yet experiencing some awe-inspiring moments along the way,” adding, “you don’t need to follow a story line to enjoy it.”
“Strain Theory” – Marsan from Music For Agoramaniacs
Let’s just say that Marsan – who wrote all of the songs; played all of the instruments; recorded and mixed all the tracks – definitely delivers in more ways than one on his first solo release, Music For Agoramaniacs. As the two singles, “Strain Theory” and “Snow Day” demonstrate, the album is chock full of innovative, experimental and entertaining tracks that combine elements and strokes of electronic, pop, folk, shoegaze, downtempo and jazz, just the sound Marsan indicated he was aiming for on his debut solo album.
These are amazing songs; Marsan has definitely hit on something original even though he openly admits he is emulating other artists. There isn’t a musician in the world who doesn’t emulate another artist and who isn’t influenced by others’ work. The test of talent is what an artist can do with what they’ve learned from others before them, and what they can bring to it to make it pretty much all of their own, and therefore create their identity and sound. That said, there is no question of the enormous influence Boards of Canada appears to have on Marsan’s music.
Ivy Dye is a Chicago band formed in 2011 by Chris Adams, the head songwriter. His best friends, who happened to be the musicians he played with regularly, were going off to college, so he needed a new outlet. Thus, Ivy Dye was born. Blending elements of ’90s alternative and a love for ’80s reverb, Adams has whipped up some songs that are accessible to many. The band’s first EP, Lyme Times, dropped in 2012, is followed up by a second EP, Continuations. The band is currently playing and promoting the current EP release in the Chicago area. The band’s major musical influences include Nirvana, Tokyo Police Club, Passion Pit, Vampire Weekend, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, and The Joy Formidable.
“Repetition” – Ivy Dye from Continuations – Jan. 19th
“Battle Trance” – Ivy Dye from Continuations
“Indie Rock is the freedom to pursue what you want. No sound is off limits and experimentation is openly invited, because if it weren’t then there simply would be no element of wonder in the genre. It exists as an open outlet for creativity.” – The band’s answer to the ‘what is indie rock’ question on the submission form.
For those who have followed IRC for years (and thank you for that), you may be familiar with a profile and playlist series called In Dee Mail, which is a play on words to symbolize music that we receive by email. The In Dee Mail series, first published in 2008, is one of the longest running music series on IRC that introduces a diversity of talented indie artists and bands from around the country, and around the world. Because the sheer volume of music we received, terrific songs sometimes get filed away and are not rediscovered for many months later.
This edition of the In Dee Mail, the 24th, or XXIV, volume of the series, features bands like Scarlet Youth, Brokeback, Santah, Widowspeak, Stellar Young, Javier Dunn, Nick Smith (aka, Gibson), Recorder, and Karma.
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Great Tracks From Scarlet Youth, Brokeback, Santah and Widowspeak
The first track is a follow-up single from the DIY band, Scarlet Youth, that were originally featured back in January. The band’s latest track that we’re digging, “Cool Kids,” is a mellow, emotive song that would be fitting on the soundtrack of a ‘coming of age’ indie film. Brokeback is the long-time musical side project of musician and songwriter Douglas McCombs, who is a member of bands such as Tortoise, Eleventh Dream Day, and Pullman, and has also collaborated with Calexico, Yo La Tengo, Tom Ze, and Azita Youseffi.
Next, the band Santah released a new track from their much lauded EP, You’re Still A Lover. Inspired by the disorientation in his own love life, Stan McConnell penned the Chicago‘s quintet’s newest single, “I Love the Way You Seal A Deal,” a tune full of soaring choruses, lush arrangements and their patented sincere lyricism. McConnell told Rolling Stone: “I was pretty disoriented with my own love life, so I wrote this song to play out a fantasy and to fiercely commit to whatever that was and whatever that entailed.”
“Cool Kids” – Scarlet Youth from The Everchanging View
After spending days in a hundred-year-old barn in upstate New York, the band Widowspeak have returned with a new album, Almanac, featuring the single, “The Golden Hour” from said album. Helped by Kevin McMahon – who has worked with Real Estate and Swans – the new songs from the album feature stronger guitar riffs while never losing the layered lilting of Molly’s voice.
In 2010, New York musicians Erik Flora (guitar), John Glenn (vocals/keys), Kyle Hatch (guitar), Curt Mulick (drums), and Dave Parker (bass), formed the DIY indie rock band, Stellar Young, and last December dropped their new LP, Everything at Once, featuring the singles, “Speak Now (Good Man)” and “Playing With Guns.”
Stellar Young has previously opened for bands like Badfish and The Dangerous Summer, and consider among their top influences Taking Back Sunday, The Wombats, Kid Cudi, Brand New, and The Early November.
Singer/Songwriter and Musician Javier Dunn – Los Angeles
Javier Dunn began his music career playing open mics and small clubs in the San Francisco Bay Area before moving to Los Angeles at the age of 17 to attend UCLA. In addition to his studies, Dunn gigged as a solo artist, and also played bass and guitar in a number of jazz, funk, rap and rock bands over the years. During this time, Dunn also began experimenting with recording, programming and producing. In 2012, Dunn signed with Red Parade Music, the music collective helmed by producer Jim Roach. Dunn began working on his label debut, Trails, a beat-driven and cosmopolitan work converging a number of elements like hip hop, electronic and eclectic elements converge. With its release in June, Javier hopes to have a song or songs that connect with people. Look for it to resonate with a vast audience this summer. ” Dunn top musical influences include Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Prince, and Coldplay. Dunn’s voice reminds many people of Dave Matthews, but in a very subtle way, as evident on the song “If You Go.”
“If You Go” – Javier Dunn with Sarah Bareilles from Trails via Red Parade Music
“Couple of Drinks” – Javier Dunn from Trails via Red Parade Music
Nick Smith, aka Gibson, is a singer/songwriter from Sheffield, UK. Smith’s ‘Gibson’ moniker was also his nickname in college because he owned three Gibson guitars. Since then, the name stuck, even though one downside is that it’s harder to find information and music from Gibson in a Google search, even when adding “band” or “music,” which are the two most common keywords used in addition to a band name when people are trying to refine a search of a common name or word, or even a saying. For a few years, Smith said, he dabbled with recording the songs that he wrote, but it wasn’t until he met Sheffield drummer, Steve O’Brien in 2011, that he was able to record his songs and send them around to any one who would listen. We listened, and have enjoyed what we’ve heard; hopefully many of you will agree.
Gibson has performed live throughout Yorkshire in support of a cover band. Although, Gibson has had lots of experience performing at venues such as West Street Live (Sheffield City Centre), he does admit it is hard to go in front of a crowd with just a guitar and play songs they have never heard before. The bit he hates the most is that walk out to the stage. There is however, no better buzz when the performance works! The re-release of the Tell Me EP in last year was to support a number of local gigs along with the digital release of the radio edit version of “Losing You,” that has already gained some US college radio airplay. Just recently, Gibson has released a new EP, Hope. Nick Smith’s major music influences includes U2, Coldplay, ACDC, Noel Gallagher, and REM.
Recorder is the experiment of a group of established musicians that came together and made an album from scratch over a period of three weeks in France and New York. The album, Mountain, is the result of work from musicians Alexandre Millet (Mangrove), Aakaash Israni (Dawn of Midi), Qasim Naqvi (Dawn of Midi), Shahzad Ismaily (Tom Waits, Cat Power, Bonnie Prince Billy), Indigo Street (Shy Hunters), Willow Gibbons (Bow Ribbons). Mountain was mixed and co-produced by Rusty Santos (Animal Collective, Panda Bear, Born Ruffians). The band’s top musical influences include Sleeping States, Animal Collective, Little Dragon, Joy Division, Radiohead, and Nick Drake.
“Once it (the musical friends recording an album together) was decided, some of us went to Paris for a month. We then sat in a dark and small apartment for about three weeks, where we helped write and arrange the material. Then we went and recorded everything over the course of four days in the French countryside…and in New York, we recorded the vocals, added a few weird psychedelic synth touches and then mixed everything down,” according to Millet.
The problem with bands named after a very common word or phrase is that it makes it hard to find out more about them in a search. Our first attempts at “Recorder” + “Mountain” (album title) along with ‘album’ and another search using ‘band’ found no results about the band. It was only when we plugged in one of the band member names did we find anything about the band, and even then it was very thin and mostly self-promotional.
One of the best pieces of advice we can give a band that wants to be found online is to pick a unique name, and also search for that name to see IF anything else – like another band or a product or whatever – comes up. The more unique the band name, the better they’ll do in as far as making it easy – which is how it should be – for people interested in learning more about the band to find information, more songs, videos, social (Twitter and Facebook in particular) accounts and so on related to the band. Plus, it doesn’t help when there are a few other bands with the same name.
Choosing a common word as a band name will frustrate fans looking for more information, often times most will simply give up. We will often mention in a write-up about a band with such a common name, and how it was impossible, or nearly impossible, to find information about the band, including something as expected as an official website.
A well-done website is a major component of a band’s PR efforts that is especially important to building and maintaining a fan base. The more “wow” factor is involved on every aspect of the site, the bigger a band’s fan base will grow. The opposite often has the opposite affect because people have expectations for the official website from a band. When those expectations are not satisfied, it has a negative affect on the band’s popularity – no question about it.
Need A Band Website? . We can create a professional, fully implemented website for any artist or band. From the design to the content, the SEO and the usability, we’ll discuss with you – whether it’s a new site or an existing site that needs work – the plan, with your input, and then go to work on it. We also have plenty of technical experience, so if you know little about how to create (or improve) a website and get it working right on the web, no worries, we have all the angles covered, and have worked in the web industry for the past 15 years. Talk to us about creating, or improving, your band website, and we’ll put together a plan. Simply fill out the Official Band Website form and we’ll get right back to you.
The formation of the now defunct Ohio DIY band, Karma, came about, ironically, when members from two defunct bands – The Records and Forge – got together to form a band. Their first name was Lithium, but they were threatened with legal action from the existing band, Lithium. So, they choose instead Karma. But they only got to record one album, Rock is Dead and So is Karma. After the release, band member and co-founder, Nicholas Olaya, wrote: “After playing many great shows in Columbus, Dayton, Troy, and even Cincinnati, the band split and went their separate ways, with their recordings the only proof they ever existed.” During their time together, Karma opened for Chemists vs the Computer, Miss May I, Skashank Redemption, and count as their top influences Nirvana, Weezer, Foo Fighters, Stone Temple Pilots and Pearl Jam.
“Kaylyn” – Karma from Rock is Dead and So is Karma
A few days ago, we posted the best singles from the top new albums released in the first part of April. Sure, it may be a bit overdue, but the fact that remains is the quality of the music. Here is the second half of the best singles from new releases for April 15th through April 28th.
Since the week of April 29th releases (Tuesdays are the day most new releases are dropped) only covers two days in April, it will instead be included in the top singles and albums for the month of May (which is also coming up soon). Whenever you’re looking for a comprehensive profile and accompanying playlist of the best indie and alternative rock released for any given month, as well as hundreds of DIY bands a year – most of which are not getting the credit they deserve; some haven’t even been written up before, especially the new artists and bands – IRC is your one stop spot for indie rock.
The Afghan Whigs in February of this year. Photo by Piper Ferguson.
Week of April 15th’s Top Releases and Singles with The Afghan Whigs, Woods, Japanther, Sonic Avenue, Thee Oh Sees and Others
Long-time favorites among cafe patrons, The Afghan Whigs – who are arguably one of the original trailblazing bands in the early days of indie and alternative rock – returned to the spotlight in April with the release of Do To The Beast. It is the legendary band’s first new album following a 15-year hiatus. Also, listen to top singles from new albums by Woods, Japanther, Cloud Cult, Dyland Shearer, Sonic Avenues, Thee Oh Sees, Chuck E. Weiss, Plague Vendor, Horse Thief, Ikebe Shakedown, Rodney Crowell, Bobby Bare Jr., and Gordon Downie with The Sadies.
Note: The ex-FM built-in MP3 streamer was discontinued on May 25th. That’s just 8 months after Yahoo discontinued support for their awesome MP3 player plugin. Obviously, it’s a disappointment to a degree, but you can still play, or download, all of the MP3 tracks by clicking (or to save, right-clicking your mouse and selecting Save As) the song link itself. We are looking for a new MP3 player/streamer.
If you’re a developer and want to build us a custom player (would not require as much code as one might think) and you want to contribute to this resource for indie rock from around the world, and also get credit on our website for your contribution, please send us a Tweet @IndieRockCafe with message: “I can build a streaming player for IRC” and we’ll get right back to you.
“The Lottery” – The Afghan Whigs from Do To The Beast on Sub Pop
Any time the Eels release a new record, it’s a real treat, and it’s no different with the iconic band’s newest release, with its bookish title, The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett. Our pick for a lead single from the album, “Mistakes of My Youth” is one of many terrific songs on the album; if you’re an Eels fan, then it’s a must-have for your music collection.
The popular Athens, Georgia garage rock veterans, The Whigs, have returned with a new album that exudes the band’s mastery for writing and recording organic rock songs, as their impressive new single, “Hit Me,” so aptly depicts. Modern Creation is the follow-up to the band’s 2012 LP, Enjoy The Company.
Watch the glittery official “Hit Me” music video; the band time warped to circa 1974 – those outfits are like a cross between Elvis and The Bay City Rollers – and good for them for going all funkadelic in style and yet retaining their rock edge; definitely a case study in contrasts between music and fashion. Do you spot the Geico cave man dude? How did they pull that off – or did they?
“Mistakes of My Youth” – Eels from The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett on E Works
“Hit Me” – The Whigs from Modern Creation on New West Records
“Pins & Stitches” – Modern Rivals from Cemetery Dares (self-released)
“Preface” – Purling Hiss from Dizzy Polizzy on Drag City
“Let It Out” – Black Prairie from Fortune on Sugar Hill Records
Various Artists Releases featuring My Morning Jack, Spiritualized and The Apache Relay
Next, The Space Project various artists’ compilation is composed of songs that integrate sounds from space as the surprisingly spacey, fuzzy rock track, “Mississippi Space Program,” from Spiritualized demonstrates. My Morning Jacket contributed the meandering, somewhat complex arrangement, “Farewell Transmission,” to the various artists covers compilation album, featuring the songs of Jason Molina.
Next, the Flaming Lips-sounding new band, The Apache Relay, were a pleasant surprise considering that we’d never heard of them, and suppose for many of you, they’re new to you as well. The drifty, mellow song – although it’s more like a composition with it’s orchestral flourishes – “Katie Queen of Tennessee” – is the lead single from the band’s self-titled debut album. We’ve not heard the entire album yet, but you can bet it’s on our list of 2014 debuts to give a close listen to.
“Farewell Transmission” – My Morning Jacket from Farewell Transmission: The Music of Jason Molina compilation on Rock the Cause
But now for a big disappointment. Ordinarily, we do not bother posting songs we don’t like – what’s the point, right? But in this case, we are doing so only to demonstrate what can happen with a great band when they lose their direction and abandon their roots. We’re talking about the newest release from The Kooks – at least in regards to the lead single they – or maybe more so, their label – put out as the lead single from the band’s latest release.
It sounds nothing like The Kooks we fell in love with when they first hit the scene nearly a decade ago. What happened? They don’t sound convincingly indie or alternative, but closer to the repetitious, cookie-cutter electronic pop crap that modern Top 40 radio pumps out on regular rotation – that awful music – that oddly millions of people apparently like; that formulated, over-produced, computer-driven non-sense that cannot be realistically called music and that we hear coming from passing cars, in malls, scenes in movies and TV shows, and so on.
Ordinarily, we avoid Top 40 pop radio because it is just not what we connect to, and most of it does sound essentially unoriginal, like a format that is overly obeyed. But The Kooks fooled us into hearing that type of sound in their new single. But, first, we need to rant a bit more about the heaps of crap music that is somehow popular on Top 40 radio.
Yeah, we get that a lot of teens (especially girls), and soccer Moms too, really love the Katie Perry’s, Miley Cirrus’, Jessica Simpsons and Beyonces, and young guys are on top of the latest ‘cool’ hip hop tracks with the formula of cursing, violence, guns, partying, ‘bitches’ generates hundreds of millions in radio advertising dollars and music sales every year, but compared to the enormous existing catalog of amazing music from the classic rock era to the alternative rock revolution, right up to the indie rock of today, there’s no comparison when it comes to originality, diversity, musical skill, creativity, songwriting abilities, and on and on. You all know it, and that’s why you seek out indie and alternative music.
We do our best, with limited resources, to filter much of it before and present it in a way that is easily accessible as well as to present impressive music from talented musicians and bands that almost no one has ever heard of before, but once they do, they wonder how such terrific music flies so far under the radar.
The Kooks forced us to defend indie rock by the title song of their new album. What happened to a great UK garage rock band that we hailed for so many years on our pages? It’s still unclear. What this lesson has shown us is that it’s even more important than ever to support the hard-working, talented, but under appreciated, or just coming into the picture, artists and bands.
If you spend some time clicking on older posts (we do not take down the songs or playlists from older posts like most music sites and blogs do – we keep them live so that you can always listen to previous posts, special editions, and so on), you will find a treasure trove of fantastic and truly amazing music from both popular indie artist and from amazing small label and DIY artists you’ve likely never heard of before. Plus, all of the songs are free MP3s to download so that you can take them with you anywhere, or just keep your browser opened to IRC.
Big time tangent, but the situation warranted it. The Kooks have gone kooky on their newest single, and we’re only including it so that you can hear what our problems are with it. That said, there are many who apparently like the track – the YouTube audio track alone has been streamed over 800,000 times, and the thumbs up ratio over the thumbs down ratio is not even close. We’re left scratching our heads.
Indie and alternative rock (and the various genres that have branched out as a natural progression) has so much more to offer than the disposable assembly line of ‘modern’ pop and canned hip hop, commercial country, groomed boy bands and the same five female vocalists that dominate the charts. Indie really has saved the integrity music, and that’s why so many have turned to it.
There’s so much more interesting music being made within the realms of the indie and alternative music scenes, especially where there are small, or no, record labels interfering of pop, folk, rock, synth, music.
Anyways, we’re including it – along with an older Kooks’ track – only to demonstrate how far they’ve fallen away from their original sound and brand, or as the ironic title track of their new EP, implies, Down. They were so much better as an indie rock band then whatever this new sound is supposed to be. Even when their fellow UK rockers, Arctic Monkeys, departed from the original ripping riffs sound they unleashed to the world back in the mid-2000’s – and which made them an international sensation in the annals of rock – they at least retained some of their former self.
If you had told us this track was The Kooks, and we didn’t know it for sure, we would have never believed it. What a drag. Will the real Kooks please stand up, and start making authentic indie rock again? We’ll see.
April was a good month for music lovers, and record collectors. That also made it an incredibly laborious task to go through the stacks of releases. In fact, the entire process is symbolic of a larger truth – good things take time to come to fruition. Not only were there dozens upon dozens of fantastic limited edition vinyls, as singles, EPs, LPs, and box sets released on Record Store Day – the most successful RSD since the vinyl holiday started in 2009 – but there was also a flood of new, anticipated and notable albums dropped throughout the month that had nothing to do with RSD.
In fact, the first week of releases for the month kicked off right on April 1st (drop day is always Tuesday, so the date for the first full week of releases in any given month is always the first Tuesday) with some of the best indie rock album releases so far this year, highlighted by standout singles from bands like Cloud Nothings, Small Black, Band of Skulls, Manchester Orchestra, S. Carey, Kaiser Chiefs, Saintseneca, Ausmeteants, and Pure X.
The volume of new music to sift through and review, in addition to the high stacks of official RSD releases, for the month of April was overwhelming, and set us back a bit. Most people don’t have hours and hours and hours that it takes to keep up with half of what is being released in any given month, let alone the time to sift through, listen to, select, code, list, edit, and publish a list of the top singles representing the best albums for a given week, and for all four weeks of the month. It’s a hugely time-consuming task, but well worth it, and because hundreds of thousands of people around the world know that there is really only one place on the web where they can get easy and reliable access to the top indie rock music, from both popular and signed artists to obscure DIY bands, organized into MP3 playlists, meaning that anyone, on any device, can easily play and save the hottest new indie rock and hear for the first time talented new artists with promising futures. No one else does it the way that we do, and we’ve listened to thousands of people’s feedback over the past seven years in order to perfect the posts and playlists to suit the preferences for the vast majority of regular listeners and newer readers.
And just in case you’re wondering about May, which has so quickly passed by, we’re also working diligently on publishing the top singles from new albums released this month too – those playlists of top singles are scheduled to be posted later this week, followed by what will be a steady flow of long posts and playlists profiling incredibly talented DIY artists and bands that many of you have probably never heard before.
In addition to the first two weeks of April releases (weeks of April 1st and April 8th) covered in this post, volume two of the Best New Indie Songs and Albums for April 2014 is just about ready to go, and will be posted in just a few hours from now, so make sure to come back because you don’t want to miss the stunning array of fantastic music released for the weeks of April 15th and April 22th. Plus, our in-depth, extensive hunt for, and review of, the top vinyl singles released on Record Store Day is just about finished. The post is nearly 10,000 words long and features nearly 50 MP3s of new and re-issued songs (as limited editions vinyls) on vinyl released on Record Store Day, including dozens of rarities, some of which have never been heard – as far as we can see – on the web before because they only previously existed on vinyl.
Whether you’re a fan of classic and indie rock (since there are so many similarities between the two), an avid or start-up vinyl collector – especially of limited editions – or a music lover that revels in the historical significance, and novelty, of the ‘vinyl holiday,’ there is something for everyone from Record Store Day, April 19th, 2014, which was also the biggest day for sales of vinyl records nationwide in the past two decades. If you haven’t seen the extensive post and playlist for the Top 30 vinyl album releases on RSD, you’ll definitely want to check that out.
Note: On May 19th, ex-FM unfortunately discontinued their built-in audio player for website publishers, which means we have to find a new option to allow you to stream, uninterrupted, all the songs on a page without having to click on each track to play it. For now, you can still click on the song link to hear it play in your browser or on your iPhone or Android device, as well as download any MP3 with a right-click ‘Save As’ functionality – so the access to songs hasn’t changed, just the format they’re played in. That said, we’re currently testing a number of other options, so stay tuned.
A snapshot of the now discontinued Ex-FM embedded audio player as it used to appear on our playlists posts. We're hoping to find another one just like it, so if you know of one, or want to build one, please let us know via Twitter, Facebook or even using the Comments box below.
Attention Developers: You can make a big difference for hundreds of thousands of people – if you are a developer who can custom build a streaming MP3 player for us for WordPress in either HTML5 or Flash (or a combo of the two), we want to hear from you. Please Twitter @IndieRockCafe with hashtag #audioplayerdev – or let us know on the IRC Facebook page; we will get back to you right away. Needless to say, whoever comes up with what we’re looking for will not only be providing a great service to music lovers around the world, but will also get credit for it and a link to their website and/or portfolio via IRC. Chances are, if it’s really cool, you could get a lot of praise and attention (including requests to build other plugins, widgets and apps) in the music blog world. This is a perfect opportunity for someone who wants to make a big splash on the web and have something fascinating to add to their resume and portfolio, as well as a great booster for advancing a career as a developer, and definitely an edge in competitive job interviews.
“Asleep at the Wheel” – Band of Skulls from Himalayan on Shangri-La Music
“I’m Not Part of Me” – Cloud Nothings from Here and Nowhere Else on Carpark / Mom + Pop
“Lines of Latitude” (ft. Frankie Rose) – Small Black from Real People on Jagjaguwar
“Coming Home” – Kaiser Chiefs from Education, Education, Education & War on ATO
“Tinnitus” – Ausmuteants from Ausmuteants on Aarght / Goner Records
Supergroup Sweet Apple released their new LP on green vinyl - a collector's item for J. Mascis/Dinosaur Jr. fans.
Top Singles from New Releases by Sweet Apple, Avey Tare’s Slasher Flicks, The Fait, De Lux and Others
The top singles from new albums released during the second week of April 2014 come together to form a particularly rich and intriguing playlist, highlighting a spectacular and diverse range of indie and alternative artists and bands, including Sweet Apple, Avey Tare’s Slasher Flicks, Denney and The Jets, De Lux, Sonic Avenue, King of Prussia, Incan Abraham, The Mary Onettes, The Faint, Doug Gillard, Your Friend, Young Boy, Ghetto Ghouls, Black Label Society, School of Language, OFF! and Paul Thomas Saunders.
Terrible Album Covers: 'Parade On' by Doug Gillard
The Pervasive Disrespect For The Value of the Album Cover Art Form
In contrast to the musical quality of new albums released on April 8th was the alarming number of downright awful, ugly and unimaginative album covers that will forever degrade otherwise note-worthy albums. It’s not like you can go back and put a new cover on an album – whether viewing it from a physical vinyl or CD cover or digitally in iTunes or Spotify on iPhones, Android phones, or any other smartphone or tablet. The examples speak for themselves, and all we can wonder is ‘how could they (the people who make or influence the final decision) put out an album they want to appeal to people with such dog-ass ugly covers?” Come on people. Some of these covers were seemingly hacked together in a few minutes – literally. Again, there are the many examples below (and many, as most of you know, throughout any given year in the past 15 or so years especially with the death of the album) to ponder over. It’s especially baffling considering that some of the worst offenders are some of the best bands on some of the most respected labels; that’s like headache-inducing kind of bafflement. We even wanted to believe that some of the covers were just April Fool’s jokes – you know, sort of like: “Of course we wouldn’t slap such a terrible looking cover on one of our biggest releases of the year and then send it out to the world like that – it’s an April Fool’s joke, silly.”
But we know that is not the case and yet it still absolutely signifies something bigger, and more foul, is amidst, which is why we’re really highlighting it. An entire generation does not know the true value of exceptional album cover artwork nor have memories of a time when album covers were regarded as a high art form, topic of conversations – even controversies – and even so iconic at times that albums undoubtably sold more copies because of the artwork, and even became like mini posters on the walls of millions of teenagers.
Terrible Album Covers: 'Mexican Coke' by Denney and The Jets'
We literally struggled to find a flagship album cover – like we do with all of the best new indie rock releases playlists – for this post because there were so few to choose from. Again, that is especially disappointing considering that so many of these albums are are not representative of their awful cover art. As long-time readers of IRC know, we include album cover art in all of our new album releases’ posts and playlists with a deliberate effort to feature the best album covers because they are the most deserving to be displayed.
But it is not always such an easy task to find quality album covers to include in album posts – not just for this week, but for many others. It’s a decline that has been happening almost as long – and during the same time period – as the decline of the once mighty American manufacturing base, and even for some of the same reasons – technology and the demand for cheaper goods. As vinyl album sales fell (although the trend is somewhat headed back in the right direction) off dramatically with the rise in popularity of non-physical – or ‘digital’ – music sales (and thanks in large part to a whole lot of music piracy), labels slashed the budgets for album production, with covers taking the biggest hit, thereby giving way to a general malaise that overcame much of the industry and culture in regards to album covers as more and more people took to downloading music online – and often illegally – and so much of the time, due to the inherent nature of this practice, never even saw the album covers (and in some cases, never even knew the titles of the albums they were poaching singles from). Despite these clear deficits, and disincentives, it’s the cover art for an album that may, or may not (partly based on the intrinsic value of the album cover itself), be around for decades into the future, let alone easily recognizable to people.
One of the most recognizable albums in the history of rock music - The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - heralded an era where album cover art became an integral part of the music culture
During the era when the album ruled, from the late 1960s to the close of the 1980s (with the 1970’s clearly the heyday decade), the artwork that made up the cover of an artists’ newest album was taken very seriously, and mattered enormously. The cover art of The Beatles‘ iconic Sgt. Pepper’s Hearts Club Band is arguably not only the most popular album cover artwork of all time, but it set the standard for album cover artwork for a generation afterwards. Almost over night, labels started to realize the power of the cover (as well as the sleeve and the inserts), and what followed was an age in which albums were in part defined, not only identified, by the cover art. Could you imagine Pink Floyd‘s Dark Side of the Moon without the prism on the midnight black background?
But let’s face it, the song remains the same: it was the Internet that largely killed off – among other great things – the album cover as an integral part of the newest music releases. Sure, before everyone had the Internet, and Napster, the advent, and popularity, of the cassette and CD, started the cookie crumbling when it came to album cover art being respected as a serious art form as it was during the heyday of the vinyl album. In recent years, especially with the resurgence in popularity of vinyl, labels have been giving a bit more consideration to album cover art as part of the packaging to sell vinyls, but the art form itself is far from making a comeback. For the most part, labels and artists, even within the more creative indie and alternative rock genres, often are shockingly indifferent to album cover art. Yes, most of the album sales nowadays are CDs and MP3s, and so the industry, especially among the smaller labels – but even sadly the artists (which is the biggest shame of all) – doesn’t see much reason for spending money on creating alluring album covers. That said, you’re likely to see better album artwork coming from DIY bands, and to some extent, that is exactly the case; in fact, just spend a little time browsing through the DIY posts (and while you’re there discovering great music you’ve likely never heard before) of the past, and you’ll see the trend for yourself.
Terrible Album Covers: Avery Tare's Slasher Flicks' 'Enter The Slasher House'
There have been so many awful and terrible album covers released in recent years by labels that it makes one wonder just what are they thinking? Those of you who have followed music closely for many years know exactly what we’re referring to. Most people can tell the difference between a terrible, or even not very good, album cover and one that is appealing, interesting and memorable. Any one who has closely followed the indie rock music scene over the past 10 to 15 years has seen their fair share of unimpressive album covers. And this week, as mentioned before, is largely symbolic of the mediocrity that has befallen the album cover art form in recent years. This post highlights just a small sampling of the dreary world of album cover art in the modern age, and a glimmer of hope that this largely lost art form will emerge from its mainstay mediocrity, where it has wallowed for too long, to once again become an exciting, creative and integral part of the album release. There is perhaps no better place for that resurrection to happen than within the indie rock genre, and one can only hope that the trend of vinyl sales will continue to climb – and demand for better album covers from music lovers continues to grow – ever so surely on the path of enlightenment towards restoring the integrity of the album cover art form within the alternative music culture.
Sweet Apple’s Sophomore Release Satisfies Rock Sweet Tooth; New LPs from Avey Tare, Mary Onettes, King of Prussia and More
But there were some reasonably good album covers for the week too, including supergroup Sweet Apple‘s over for their sophomore release, The Golden Age of Glitter. That cover, together with a sneak peek at the green colored vinyl, ultimately ended up as the flagship album cover for this week’s top albums. And it it’s available, along with the band’s debut album on blue vinyl, via the following link. Sweet Apple features J. Mascis (Dinosaur Jr., Heavy Blanket), Tim Parnin (Cobra Verde, Chuck Mosley), John Petkovic (Cobra Verde, Death of Samantha,Guided By Voices) and Dave Sweetapple (Witch, Vardlokk).
Yet it was the sheer number of appallingly ugly, particularly atrocious, and even to some degree, mildly insulting (to the fans’ sensibilities), album covers – and especially for albums that are musically great albums – released for the week of April 8th, that practically forced us to bring attention to the issue. You’ll see some of the examples we’re talking about below. As vinyl becomes more popular, this might help the situation somewhat, but it’s really up to the fans, bands and their labels to step it up and vow to put time, consideration, love, creativity, and even money, into the process of coming up with an appealing, or at least half-way decent, cover for their album releases. Afterall, it does matter, and people do care.
Furthermore, it’s almost an insult, especially when the album itself has some amazing music on it – the casual observer would not think so by looking at any of the many terrible album covers that have been released in recent years. We’ll continue to seek out and post the best album covers for our posts, since like awful, or just so-so, music, why would we waste our time, and your time, doing anything less. But, for these purposes, we are deliberately posting some terrible album covers, and we hope, in a small way, that it will shame the people responsible for not putting together fine album covers; these are not DIY artists without access to a graphics department or budget (and still in many of those cases, they manage to come up with suitable album covers). We’re pretty sure you’ll be able to spot which ones are the worst offenders; obviously, they stick out like a sore thumb.
More bad album covers came in from Young Boy and Your Friend, but Young & Sick‘s self-titled debut album cover (above) was not so bad. All things considered, it was a doozy of a week for album cover art, especially considering the artists the covers represent, and the fine albums they serve as the forever-lasting visual for. It sends a message to music listeners, and fans, “we just really don’t care that much.” All of the Internet stories aside, and the fact that most people don’t buy albums anymore (although, again, Record Store Day indicates a trend in the other direction), it still says to just about everyone “we just don’t care that much about our album releases to put much thought or work into it.” For the bands that are handicapped by what the label dictates is the cover, we feel you, but take a stand because that is your work and that’s how it will always be seen because it’s the album’s cover art.
“Secret Place” – Young Boy from Other Summers on Saint Marie Records
“Tame One” – Your Friend from Jekyll/Hyde EP on Domino
“Glass” – Young & Sick from Young & Sick on Harvest
“Kawai Celeste” – Paul Thomas Saunders from Beautiful Desolation on Atlantic
“Hypnotized” – OFF! from Wasted Years on Vice Records
“Dress Up” – School of Language from Old Fears on Memphis Industries
Coming Up Next: The amazing weeks of music releases and top MP3 singles spanning April 15th through April 28th.
Two bi-coastal brothers, who normally worked together from opposite ends of the continent, came together at the mid-point city of Austin last March for the South by Southwest music festival after being invited by the organizers.
The Cake vinyl box set. Photo by thedreamcomparison via InstagramFor rock and vinyl lovers, Record Store Day is like Christmas in April; this year, Christmas came on Saturday, April 19th, and there was plenty to be excited about.
There were hundreds of official RSD limited edition vinyls released this year, and so it obviously took time to go through all of the vinyls, pick our favorites, listen to them, review them and organize this extensive report and playlist. Much of the RSD coverage has been fairly limited to a rehashing of top vinyl picks from staff and bloggers, and Jack White‘s history-making event.
Even though it was historic and exciting, as well as a brilliant promotional tactic, RSD14 wasn’t just about White’s ‘fastest-ever record release’, which conveniently for him, served as his official RSD limited edition vinyl release – the title track from his upcoming sophomore solo album, Lazaretto, set to drop in June. To learn more about the event, read our coverage of White’s record-setting release, listen to the track and watch a video clip of the actual event.
While “Lazaretto” may have received the most media and buzz, it’s not the only vinyl release this RSD sought after by vinyl lovers, collectors and music enthusiasts; in fact, not even close. One of the most popular releases for RSD14 has been Cake’s gorgeously-designed vinyl box set. Only 900 of the eight 12-inch, 175-gram colored vinyl LP sets were pressed. In addition to a live LP and a rarities and singles LP, the box set features six of the band’s studio albums, including classics like Comfort Eagle, Fashion Nugget and Prolonging The Magic.
This post features an extensive look into the top RSD14 vinyl singles and albums, and includes tracks that have only so far been released on vinyl, as well as tracks from dozens of the most popular RSD14 releases; RSD vinyl covers artwork, designs and packaging; RSD releases bidding on eBay; details of, and interesting stories behind, certain releases; and numbers and figures that clearly demonstrate the explosive popularity of RSD and vinyl releases.
That said, let’s browse more of the most popular and unique limited edition RSD vinyls, many of which are also our personal picks in the cafe. There’s so many worthy new vinyls, that we’ll never get to them all, but we will do our level best to present as many as we can in the coming days, including a post to be published very soon that looks at even more top rare, special and novelty vinyl releases, and what they’re going for on eBay.
This is our favorite Top 30 vinyl albums released on RSD that also include vinyls that were the most popular among record lovers and highest on the charts. Tomorrow, we’ll publish the top vinyl singles released exclusively on RSD, and still being sought out online by music lovers and record collectors.
Special: Record Store Day 2014 Spotify Playlist – In addition to the 20+ songs in this playlist, stream 60 songs representative of IRC’s top vinyl picks for RSD14.
The Cake box set is a great example of a collector’s item because no matter what digital does, it can never offer the beauty, uniqueness and intrigue of a vinyl physical release – specially crafted and designed, compelling album and other artwork, liner notes, black and colored vinyl, booklets and inserts, and other goodies. As the ante is upped – which Cake did this year – that means more labels and artists will have to come up with even more quality releases that push the envelope for vinyl quality, design, packaging, price and other goodies – considerations that many thought were a thing of the past due to digital, the Internet, CDs/DVDs. The success of RSD, and the overall resurgence of vinyl is largely being driven by young people who are demonstrating that is a promising as weto see more and more young people, especially, who appreciate the value of a limited edition exclusive release, and have something tangible that they paid for to hold in their hands, and show to friends, and as the years pass, to their children.
The Most Sought-After RSD Box Set: A Lesson in ‘Can You Have Your Cake And Eat It Too’?
As it turned out for many Cake fans, snagging a copy of the limited edition vinyl box set was more elusive than exclusive. Afterall, only 900 were pressed and distributed. We would not be surprised to see the box set re-emerge for Black Friday, when exclusive vinyls are also released. For disappointed Cake fans who actually went to their local indie record store (or to a number of indie stores in their area) on RSD to discover that the few copies the store had were purchased already, or that they did not receive any box sets at all, there is still the eBay option, but it’s going to cost. The mark-up from the original RSD price just goes to show how many people want this Cake box set.
Everyone knows that high demand for a limited supply drives up the price, but it’s safe to say that some Cake fans suffered a case of extreme sticker shock once they looked up the bid prices for the box set. In fact, for the past week, there have been ferocious bidding battles with closing prices ranging from $250 to $300, and Buy It Now prices starting at $300 and going up to $600 dollars, depending on condition and, of course, greed. The latter are playing basically a ‘hold-out’ and ‘wait-and-see’ game, realizing that eventually the other higher, non-bidding copies will sell and then they’ll be only his available, so that if he keeps resubmitting it just the same, some Cake fan who has to have it, and realizing they might miss the chance to get it (one-time limited edition of must 900) will take the plunge and pay the greedy guy the $500 or $600. Plus, there are surely a couple of savvy, and coy, scalp hoarders with editions of the Cake box set who have been watching the bidding of the past week before they even list their own copies online.
The Cake RSD-only limited edition vinyl box set is going for hundreds of dollars more on eBay than its original retail price.
While Cake’s box set is the most expensive of all the RSD14 releases in ‘after hours’ selling by scalpers online, when calculated to determine the price per vinyl unit – it is not; White’s “Lazaretto,” with the B-side cover of Elvis Presley’s “Power of Love,” is the vinyl that really takes the cake, so to speak, with closing bids ranging from $150 to $225 for the past week on eBay, and ‘Buy It Now’ sellers asking between $400 to $600 – for a single 7-inch vinyl. Of course, the price is being mostly driven by the historic value of it, and will likely be re-sold again by others for even higher dollar amounts.
We would not be surprised at all if the label, Legacy Records, struck a deal to press another couple thousand of the Cake box sets to release on Black Friday (or ‘Record Store Day 2’ as some call it – even though that’s a misnomer) due to demand. With that, the following triple play from Cake features some of the band’s most popular, even cult-classic, songs – one each from a successive string of spectacular albums that the band released during a five-year span, from 1996 to 2001.
Top RSD Vinyl Albums According to SoundScan, Billboard and BuzzAngle
The numbers and sales of exclusive RSD vinyls have been coming in for the past week or so, and are unlike anything anyone has ever seen before, greatly exceeding even the most optimistic pre-RSD sales forecasts. In fact, because of RSD, vinyl albums sales hit a historic high for the week ending April 21st, with slightly more than 244,000 vinyl albums sold, the highest that Nielsen’s SoundScan has ever recorded since it began tracking album sales in 1991. The previous record of vinyl sales took place on December 23rd, 2012, when 172,000 vinyl LPs were sold – more evidence of the increasing popularity of vinyl albums.
According to SoundScan, and Border City Media’s BuzzAngle Music, the top-selling albums for the week were all RSD releases, with Tame Impala‘s Live Versions coming out at the top, followed by The Grateful Dead‘s new live album, Live at Hampton Coliseum, and Joy Division‘s reissue of their debut, An Ideal For Living (see below.) Live Versions includes great concert performances of tracks like “Endors Toi,” “Why Won’t You Make Up Your Mind?” and “Apocalypse Dreams,” among others.
Overall, indie record stores’ sales jumped by 646% overall from the previous week; vinyl sales increased 1,855% altogether, and by 2,042% at indie stores. Billboard charts were also dominated by RSD vinyl sales. In fact, “only three albums” of the 25 LP positions on Billboard’s Tastemakers‘ chart – which measures vinyl album sales at independent and small chain stores – for the week ending April 20th were not RSD releases.
That’s stunning: 22 of the hottest vinyl albums on Tastemakers‘ were RSD official releases, including Green Day‘s new album, Demolicious, capturing the top of the chart (more on that below); No. 5, the reissue of Life After Death by Notorious B.I.G.; No. 7, a reissue of American Beauty EP by Bruce Springsteen, with four previously unreleased tracks; No. 8, first-ever vinyl release of a live album, Hampton Coliseum, by The Grateful Dead; and at No 10., Live at Silver Platters by Jake Bugg.. In addition to classic rock artists, popular singer/songwriters and one of the most influential rappers ever, the other indie releases that made the Top 25 included
On Billboard’s Vinyl Albums chart for the week ending April 20th, RSD releases dominated the list (with the exception of Afghan Whigs’ new album, Do To The Beast) with Jimi Hendrix‘s Live At Monterey performance on vinyl ranking at No. 5; Tame Impala’s Live Versions at No. 7; Joy Divisions’ An Ideal For Living EP; The Flaming Lips’ 7 Skies H3 and the first-ever U.S. release of Meltdown With The Ramones EP. Childish Gambino‘s RSD release, Because The Internet, topped the Vinyl Albums‘ chart. Perhaps one of the aspects that drove the Gambino release to the top was its packaging and extras. The official RSD vinyl album came in metallic o-card sleeves and a 72-page booklet. The two LP discography includes “Crawl,” “Worldstar,” “The Worst Guys,” featuring Chance, and “The Party.”
The 2-LP vinyl RSD release for Green Day's new album, 'Demolicious'
According to Neilsen’s SoundScan, and BIllboard’s Tastemakers chart, the top-selling vinyl record on RSD was Green Day‘s Demolicious, which was also dropped simultaneously on a limited number of CDs and cassettes. The special edition, limited release, dropped by Reprise Records, presents 18 unreleased demo recordings by the band recorded from band sessions held at Jingletown Studios in Oakland in 2002. The album, which sold nearly 4,000 on RSD, 42% vinyl, and surprisingly, 42% on CD, while the other 16% were cassettes. The album itself will be available retail on May 19, but will not be the same physical configuration as the RSD release, which is currently bringing in between $35 to $45 on eBay. Demolicious contains one previously unreleased track – “State of Shock” – available to stream below.
Additional evidence of the explosive popularity of Record Store Day, and vinyl releases, has been streaming in for the past 10 days from indie record store owners across the 50 states, with many proclaiming that their best sales day ever was on Saturday, April 19th, the day of Record Store Day 2014. In fact, sales of vinyl LPs alone increased from 244,000 for RSD 2013 to an impressive 369,000 this year – that’s the highest ever percentage increase of vinyl album sales in one week since Neilsen’s SoundScan started tracking vinyl album sales in 1991.
Vinyl Gold: Velvet Underground Reissue Last Album; Built To Spill Reissue Debut and The Ramones First-Ever U.S. Vinyl EP
The reissue of The Velvet Underground‘s accidental last album, Loaded, was pressed on pink, black and white splattered vinyl, and recorded from the 1970 Cotillion Records master tape. The album release spawned classic rock tracks like “Sweet Jane” and “Rock And Roll,” and is listed as No. 109 on Rolling Stone‘s ‘500 Greatest Albums of All-Time.’
Did You Know?: The iconic founding member, singer/songwriter and guitarist, Lou Reed, decided to leave The Velvet Underground shortly before Loaded was released in 1970, truncating the run of one of the most influential American rock bands of the 1960s.
Practically indie gods in our book, and undeniably one of the most significant indie rock trailblazers, Built to Spill, have one of the most exciting releases of RSD14 – the first vinyl (12-inch) pressing of their classic 1993 debut album, Ultimate Alternative Wavers, with the awesome album cover portrait (above) that absolutely qualifies to be posted on the fun, and often hilarious, website, AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com.
“Nowhere Nothin’ Fuckup” – Built to Spill from Ultimate Alternative Wavers (original release: Oct. 7th, 1993)
For the first time ever in the U.S., ironically enough – considering they’re a notorious New York band, Rhino released The Ramones’ rarity, Meltdown With The Ramones, which was pressed and distributed only in the U.K. in 1980 as a promotional sampler. Isn’t that crazy? The Ramones’ RSD EP, re-issued on 10-inch navy vinyl and limited to 3,000 copies, features songs like “Here Today, Gone Tomorrow” and “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend,” and is currently going for about $25 to $35, on average, a pop on eBay.
Another RSD vinyl album worth checking out is Visitors from Dinosaur Jr. The album is in part a tribute to the band’s go-to artist, Maura Jasper, who the band teamed up with from 1985 to 1990, during which time Jasper created the band’s official artwork, inspired by Norwegian expressionist Edvard Munch and English anarchist Gee Vaucher.
The limited vinyl release features the band’s first four singles, and a bonus 7-inch vinyl of “Show Me The Way” with a B-side cover of The Byrds’ “Feel A Whole Lot Better.” The package includes an essay from Jasper and a booklet of unused artwork from those five years. Dinosaur Jr., who will also be featured in our Top Vinyl Singles post on Sunday, were tremendously influential in making ‘noise rock,’ popular, and in adding a harder edge, via heavily distorted, yet melodic, guitar riffs and feedback, to alternative and indie music in the late 1980’s, influencing countless numbers of amazing bands to follow in their footsteps during the ensuing decades, and up to the present time. “Little Fury Things,” the band’s second single released way back in 1987.
Reissues on Vinyl – Man Man, MGMT, Spoon, Bruce Springsteen and Husker Du
The San Francisco band, Man Man, saw the first vinyl release via the label, Ace Fu, of their spectacular 2004 debut album ,The Man in Blue Turban with a Face, and Austin‘s hometown indie favorites, Spoon, reissued the EP, Loveways, which was remastered and pressed to 12-inch limited edition vinyl for the first time. Plus, Bruce Springsteen dropped a vinyl reissue of his American Beauty EP with four previously unreleased songs.
“Zebra” – Man Man from The Man in Blue Turban with a Face
“American Beauty” – Bruce Springsteen from American Beauty EP vinyl (with previously unreleased songs)
Rhino dropped a new grey vinyl of Husker Du‘s amazing 1986 album, Candy Apple Grey, the band’s fifth album, and their first major label debut, with Bob Mould and Grant Hart each contributing their own songs – in addition to their usual method of sharing songwriting duties – that reinforced the band’s evolution from mainly hardcore punk tracks to a decidedly more alternative rock sound at the very time that other bands were fueling the engine of popularity that would help make alternative rock a major new genre. The album does retain, however, their signature frenetic style and features plenty of acoustic guitar parts.
For the first time, the album that made MGMT global rock stars, was released on vinyl on RSD
RSD Vinyls of MGMT’s ‘Oracular Spectacular’ and The Flaming Lips’ Novelty Release
MGMT fans can now listen to the breakthrough album, Oracular Spectacular, like never before thanks to the release of the album as a 12-inch, 180-gram black vinyl pressing. Rather than including the already-heard-a-million-times studio version of “Kids,” the biggest song from the album, we decided to feature a terrific live version instead. In 2011, Oklahoma psych-punk-pop indie rock band, The Flaming Lips, well-known for their unconventional, even flamboyant, alternative music, recorded a 24 hour-long “song” called “7 Skies H3.” Initially, the band only sold a limited number of copies on vinyl, that came inside of a real human skill, for $5,000 a pop – obviously not something for the average Lips fan considering the price, and definitely not for the squeamish, considering the rather morbid delivery method. For RSD, the band cut the song to 50 minutes and sold “7 Skies H3” as an exclusive RSD-only 10-inch vinyl single.
“Kids” (Live) – MGMT from Oracular Spectacular (2008)
“7 Skies H3” – The Flaming Lips from RSD vinyl release – not a streaming link here; click through to listen to the 50-minute song on YouTube.
Excerpt – The RSD14 Playlist: What better way to represent the sounds of RSD14 than to assemble a streaming soundtrack of many of the best songs that appear on official Record Store Day 2014 releasesthere are a good number and one of the best ways to boil it down and represent After diligent research, and flipping through over one hundred of official Record Store Day releases, we created a Record Store Day 2014 Spotify Playlist for all to enjoy; the playlist is also embedded below and some tracks are presented separately.
Limited Edition Vinyls from Joy Division, Mudhoney, Drive-By-Truckers, Chvches, Cults
Die-hard Joy Division fans from New York to Tokyo pillaged record stores last weekend in attempt to get a limited edition 12-inch vinyl reissue of the band’s breakthrough 1978 debut album, An Ideal For Living, featuring remastered tracks like “No Love Lost” and “Warsaw.”
As fervent of fans as Jo Div’s following of both young and old fans in the present time, make no question about it that Mudhoney fans are also clamoring for copies of the limited 12-inch vinly, On Top, that captures the sonic magic of a rare concert the band held last year a the top of Seattle‘s most iconic landmark, the Space Needle, in celebration of the simultaneous 25th birthdays of the band, and their long-time label, Sub Pop (Happy Birthday to one of the best indie bands and indie labels ever!!). The live Mudhoney recording was produced by the famous Seattle radio station, KEXP; so, you know the sound quality will be superior.
Drive-By Truckers offer up a 10-inch vinyl, titled Dragon Pants EP, featuring B-sides and outtakes from the band’s new 2014 album, English Oceans. Songs include the EP title track, “Rock Solid,” and the puzzlingly, yet awesomely-named, “Trying To Be The Boss (On A Beaver Brown Budget).” Watch the band’s live performance on Record Store Day. Chvches pressed 2,000 copies of their popular Recover EP, featuring two new remixes of “Recover;” Cults drop a vinyl of their Upstairs at United EP with live recordings of “Were Before” and “You Know What I Mean.”
“Recover” (Travelogue Mix) – Chvches from Recover EP
Live Concert Vinyl Releases Featuring Guitar Gods Jimmy Page with Black Crowes and Jimi Hendrix with the Experience
Speckled within the sleuth of freshly-minted, limited edition live recordings on vinyl for RSD14 is the rock and rolling blues jammin’ of the legendary Led Zeppelin guitarist, Jimmy Page, and The Black Crowes live at the historic Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. The album, Live at The Greek, was recorded from two sold-out shows at the venue. Page had asked The Crowes to be his back-up band for a mini-tour in 1999.
The Crowes, as this recording demonstrates, were a perfect match for playing Zeppelin songs, and Chris Robinson‘s soulful vocals a suitable pairing for Page’s heavily blues-oriented guitar sound, and part of what easily puts him on the list as one of the greatest rock guitarist of all time. that comes in three vinyl discs inked red, blue and clear with a gold sticker, and also has a number of copies bidding and for sale on eBay and other sites for between $45 and $120. One of the vinyls includes enhanced studio tracks and various multimedia files. For contractual reasons, however, the set does not include any Crowes’ songs, but that’s OK when you consider how amazing Page and the Crowes sounded those two nights in LA.
Live Vinyls from Devo, The Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers, Foals, The Pogues with Joe Strummer
In addition to Page and The Black Crowes, and Jimi Hendrix’s monumental Monterey performance, there were a bunch of other live vinyls dropped on RSD. In fact, Devo‘s Live at Max’s Kansas City: November 15, 1977 RSD vinyl release includes an introduction from Devo-head, Mr. Major Tom, aka, David Bowie. Next, Deadheads – who often have copies of dozens, sometimes even hundreds, of live shows of their idols – have a new double 12-inch vinyl set to seek out, featuring the live recording of The Grateful Dead‘s first-ever performance at the beautiful Hampton Coliseum in Virginia on May 4th, 1979. Highlights include “Truckin”, “Good Lovin'”, “Eyes of The World,” “Passenger,” and a dozen others. The concert opens with “Loser” and closes with “Around And Around.”
LCD Soundsystem, The Pogues and Joe Strummer, The Allman Brothers, Foals and Many Others
One of the biggest live vinyl ‘gets’ of RSD14 is the special four-disc vinyl box set from LCD Soundsystem’s The Long Goodbye (Live at Madison Square Garden farewell concert. Considering this limited edition vinyl set marks the end of an era for a band that has achieved respect among their peers, and more importantly, the adoration of millions of fans worldwide, it’s no surprise that it’s selling for between $150 to $175 on eBay.
“All My Friends” – LCD Soundsystem from The Long Goodbye (Live at Madison Square Garden
The Pogues‘ legendary 1991 concert at the London Forum with Joe Strummer, the former guitarist of one of rock music’s best-ever bands, The Clash, was released for the first time in the U.S. on RSD, and is a must-have for serious fans of The Pogues and The Clash. Strummer was filling in during Shane MacGowan‘s hiatus from the band. Concert goers buzzed for days, weeks, and years afterwards, using words and phrases like historic, magical, amazing, best-ever, pinnacle moment, and so on. Now, anyone can listen to this famous concert on Live with Joe Strummer.
“London Calling” – The Pogues and Joe Strummer from Live with Joe Strummer
Other artists and bands with new live albums dropped on limited edition vinyl for RSD14 include The Allman Brothers (Beacon Theatre); Foals (Royal Albert Hall); The Civil Wars (Eddie’s Attic); Jake Bugg (Silver Platters); Medicine (Part Time Punks), and well as Tame Impala, Death Cab For Cute with Magik Magik Orchestra, Frightened Rabbit and the Dave Matthews Band.
Jimi Hendrix fans are still vying for copies of the newest vinyl of their hero, since it is a brand new, remastered vinyl reissue of a historic performance as well as some one of the most iconic moments in rock history all wrapped into one. Even though pretty much all of Jimi Hendrix‘s legendary, break-through performance at the historic 1967 Monterey Pop Festival in California was extensively recorded and filmed for the movie, and the live album that followed, someone at Legacy/Sony decided it would be a good idea to reissue the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s sizzling nine-track set, Live at Monterey, but with a little touch here and there, to make it more marketable. And while it is definitely proof-positive of the major labels increasingly taking up a larger share of RSD releases with simple reissues, the fact is that Live at Monterey offers fans the chance to get this piece of history on remastered vinyl, including fans who may have an older copy they want to replace (considering the album was first released 45 years ago). If you are a die-hard Hendrix fan – and there are easily millions of you – and must have this RSD vinyl release, there are a number of copies available on eBay going for between $25-$35.
The reissue is pressed on 180-gram black vinyl, re-mastered by renowned analog engineer, Bernie Grundman, and includes an essay from Mitch Mitchell, the original Jimi Hendrix Experience’s drummer. All 3,000 limited editions are numbered and include the original artwork. The stunning performance – which is also viewable, in various clips, on YouTube – of songs like “Foxy Lady,” the Dylan cover, “Like A Rolling Stone,” the riveting “Purple Haze,” and the epic tale of “Hey Joe,” are what made the Jimi Hendrix Experience an immediate rock sensation in the United States, an honor that remains fully in place 45 years later.
“Hey Joe” – Jimi Hendirx from *In this one historic moment from a historic set, Hendrix plays the guitar with his teeth, and does it well.
Another star was made at the ’67 Monterey Pop Fest – Janis Joplin, and The Who’s explosive set propelled them to a higher tier of popularity in the U.S. due in part to the subsequent Monterey Pop Festival album and movie that came out in the ensuing months, on top of the sensational media coverage of the festival in newspapers across the nation. In fact, Monterey Pop is often considered the first major outdoor rock festival. In the video clip below, you can spot Joplin sitting alongside Mama Cats (Mamas and The Papas). But of course the meat and potatoes of the video is Hendrix and his band. At that time, no one had ever heard anything like it, another reason they were just a phenomenon. If you want to watch the full and original Live at Monterey film, it’s available for free streaming, and includes lots of great outtakes besides in addition to stellar footage of the historic performances that took place there.
Monterey achieved a lot of ‘firsts’ in rock and roll, and was a prelude to the youth generation’s musical, political and cultural revolution of the late 1960s. In fact, Live at Monterey is not only an amazing rockumentary, it is widely regarded as the first rockumentary ever – shot and released two years before the Academy Award-winning Woodstock film. If you want to see what the whole rock and roll, flower power and hippie revolution in California was about, no other film encapsulates that time period better than Monterey because it was right there archiving it as it happened. Two years later, in 1969, Woodstock, made headlines around the world, and made Hendrix even more famous, although he would pass away tragically a couple of months later.
“Purple Haze” (Live, Monterey, 1967) – Jimi Hendrix from Live at Monterey
Did You Know? The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 was only the band’s second gig in the United States (and yet it remains of the most historic of all live performances in the history of rock music). Also, Hendrix, a left-hander, played a right-handed by placing strings in opposite order, and he earned his early dues playing backup guitar for the likes of Little Richard and B.B. King.
The British Invasion: 50 Years Later – The Animals, The Zombies, The Stones and The Yardbirds
There are die-hard music fans in their 50’s, 60’s and 70’s who probably have a hard time comprehending, while doing so with great memories of yesteryear, that the world-changing British Invasion – that brought us The Beatles, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, The Who, and many, many others – made landfall on the shores of America 50 years ago, in 1964. The British Invasion brought a wave of new bands and music from England that would change America, not just popular music, forever. It all pretty much started with The Beatles’ historic performance on the Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964, an event that was viewed by 1 out of every 3 Americans at the time.
Unless we missed it somewhere, we were surprised that record labels did not think about releasing compilations of exclusive vinyl releases featuring a compendium of the top hits from British Invasion bands for the 50th anniversary. After seeing the success of the latest Record Store Day, there has to be a record label executive somewhere kicking himself/herself in the ass for not playing up the 50th anniversary of the invasion on RSD. Talk about missed opportunities, especially considering all of the bitching record label execs have done over the years about lost record sales – seriously: helloooo. It just goes to show that labels these days really do not understand the culture and the marketplace – people are hungary for anything but the crap that is played on Top 40 radio over and over again.
Some of the big groups that came over in the original, and subsequent waves, of the British Invasion – The Animals, The Yardbirds, The Rolling Stones, and The Zombies – dropped special vinyls on RSD, and most can still be acquired online, usually for a higher price than the original RSD price (which is the case with just about every RSD vinyl now for sale on sites like eBay).
For admirers of mid and late-60s blues-driven rock by The Animals, headed by frontman, Eric Burdon, the band celebrates its 50th anniversary of breaking through in the U.S. with the reissue of The Animals’ 1964 self-titled debut British EP, featuring the hit single, “Boom Boom,” which was never officially released in the States until now. “Boom Boom” is a cover of the original Johnny Lee Hooker. Many of the bands from the British Invasion were heavily influenced by American rhythm and blues musicians like Hooker, Bo Diddley, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, B.B. King, and others, who were really the the musicians who founded rock and roll, not Elvis Presley or Buddy Holly.
Anyways, if The Animals’ version of “Boom Boom” sounds familiar to you, and you think you’ve heard it sometime in the past couple of years, it’s possible you recognize it from the latest James Bond movie, Skyfall. The song boomed from the loudspeakers during the scene when the helicopters were approaching the island were Bond first met his nemesis.
“Boom Boom” – The Animals from The Animals EP (1964)
For fans of The Zombies, RSD offered a couple of special treats. First, the band’s 1967 album, I Love You, pressed on a 12-inch vinyl, was released on April 19th for the first time in the United States. Previously, it was only available, not just on vinyl, but at all, in Japan and Europe. Another RSD by The Zombies, the band’s classic 1966 album, Odessey and Oracle, was reissued on RSD14 on 12-inch vinyl, including the mega-hit, “Time of the Season,” easily one of the most recognizable songs of the classic rock era, and a track that just never gets old.
Next, the legendary Rolling Stones, who actually celebrated their 50 years as a band in 2013, were still part of the initial 1964 British Invasion, so the fact that they did not go all out and do something really cool for the half of a century mark on American radio and millions of young people’s turntables, seems a bit odd to us, if nothing less than a missed opportunity for their fans. Rather, the band quietly released a reissue vinyl of their second British EP, Got Live If You Want It, which marks the first time the EP has been fully released on vinyl in the U.S.
The live EP, recorded during March of 1965, chronicles the band’s fifth British tour, playing to sold out, and sometimes, hysterical, mobs of amped up teenagers in Manchester, London, and Liverpool. This EP is the third and final of a series of live Rolling Stones’ performances released by ABKCO; for RSD13, the EP, Live By Live, was released exclusively to indie shops. This final EP of the series includes songs like “Every Needs Somebody To Love;” “Route 66,” “I’m Moving On” and “Pain in My Heart.” Check out this live video of “I’m Alright” circa 1965 – the video quality is amazing considering it was nearly 50 years ago, and the historical value to the story of rock and roll from that time cannot be overstated – not to mention the fact that it’s probably one of the best early Stones’ live video footage available anywhere.
Then there is the most strange and unavoidable aspect of the video – can you guess before you read the next sentence? Yes, the screaming girls. What is that all about? Has anyone ever figured it out? No matter how many times most people see footage of the ubiquitous mobs of screaming girls from rock shows between 1964 to 1966, it’s always baffling, strange, other worldly, and even alarming. No wonder the adults at that time were worried about these girls and the media, dumbfounded and unable to explain such behavior, went with ‘mania,’ like Beatlemania – although no one ever said Stones-mania or Kinks-mania. It remains a sociological, psychological and cultural phenomenon to this day, as far as we can tell without dedicating real time to researching it – maybe a post for another time.
The Rolling Stones did not hit it really big like The Beatles did until about the time that Beatlemania – circa 1968 – began to lose some of its previous unrelenting steam, and the Stones obviously went on to become one of the biggest rock and roll bands ever, thanks largely to a string of mind-bogglingly superb rock albums dropped between 1968 and 1978, and sold out worldwide arena and stadium concerts every time.
Rhino Releases Psychedelic Vinyl of The Yardbirds’ Last Studio LP, Little Games
Although they did not arrive in ’64, they were still part of the British Invasion of bands from England that changed rock and roll forever, not just in their homeland and the U.S., but around the world, and to this day. That is, The Yardbirds. The band’s RSD14 release from Rhino Records is a 12-inch psychedelically-splattered vinyl reissue of their 1967 album, Little Games. Unlike the band’s previous three albums, Little Games did not produce a hit single, and is largely considered the band’s least accomplished record; in fact, the closest the band came to a hit was a ranking of No. 45 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 charts for the track, “Ha Ha Said The Clown” – but listening to the song, even the band’s most ardent fans may wonder how it made the Top 100 at all. As a whole, the album is a mess, and practically unlistenable; Page himself later called it “horrible,” while The New Rolling Stone Album Guide added that the LP was “a disastrous attempt at conventional pop.”
In 1992, the same year the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the album was remastered and reissued with new songs, mono and instrumental versions of existing songs, outtakes, demos and stereo mixes, tripling the original number of tracks from 10 to 32. The expanded edition featured perhaps the most stand out track – which is to say a lot – of this recording session, “Think About It,” which encapsulates the Jimmy Page lineup at its best, and demonstrates the signature guitar playing that would, just a couple of years later – and subsequently, forever more – make Page one of the most respected, and critically-acclaimed, guitarists in rock music history.
“Think About It” – The Yardbirds from Little Games (1992 Expanded Edition only)
The members of The Yardbirds, circa 1966, with Harleys and manager Peter Grant as Santa. A young Jimmy Page, who began as a session guitarist at only 16 years old, is to the far right.
It does make you wonder exactly why Rhino dropped this vinyl to begin with, especially since it does not include the expanded edition, which is actually the version that saves the session from total obscurity. The original version does include the notable, “White Summer,” an acoustic instrumental with Page on lead. In listening to the guitar work, it clearly foreshadows the acoustic style of guitar playing that Page became famous for later on. For all of its faults, Little Games, on vinyl and remastered, is a necessity for the most die-hard Yardbirds’ fans, and may even serve nicely as a good study in development of skill and style for guitarists who admire, and emulate, Page’s indisputable guitar wizardry.
“White Summer” (Instrumental) – The Yardbirds from Little Games (1967)
This was the only Yardbirds’ studio album (and the last altogether) that Page, who joined Led Zeppelin the following year, performed on before the band broke up. Previously, the group had two other rock guitar legends – Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton, who had brief stints as well with The Yardbirds, but during those limited times, helped make The Yardbirds one of the best guitar bands – and posthumously you could say a ‘supergroup’ in the aggregate – of the time and even more so in the years since their disbanding. Of course credit also goes to rhythm guitarist/bassist, Chris Dreja; bassist and producer Paul Samwell-Smith; drummer Jim McCarty; and vocalist and harmonica player, Keith Reif.
Did You Know? Jimmy Page was a studio guitarist at the time The Yardbirds approached him to replace Eric Clapton, but he actually ended up playing bass before he teamed up with Jeff Beck as the second lead guitarist.
Legitimate Concerns About Record Store Day’s Wild Popularity and Success
While last week’s event is being reported as the most successful RSD since its inception in 2008, with a 35% jump in vinyl purchases, and RSD releases that invaded the traditionally Top 40 radio-leaning Billboard charts, there is also understandable, and valid, criticism, and concerns about RSD becoming too big, which naturally is posing challenges for RSD organizers, smaller indie labels and indie stores, especially with the major labels flooding RSD with more releases than ever before, and for some critics, many of the releases – remastered or repackaged singles, EPs, LPs, demos and live recordings particularly – are diluting the truly worthwhile and ‘value-added’ releases that are supposed to make RSD special.
While these issues require attention and robust debate, the fact is that labels and bands putting together limited edition vinyl releases with cool-designed colored vinyls, sleeves with album art, liner notes, booklets and inserts, and turning around and selling these special packages to willing, enthusiastic fans to purchase and to cherish can only be a good thing for music, in so many ways, for freedom.
Jack White returns to his studio after pressing the 'fastest' vinyl release ever on Record Store Day. Photo by Steven S. Harman of The Tennessean The prolific rock musician, producer, and record label owner, Jack White, has created yet another milestone in his 20+ year high-profile career.
White, with help from collaborators, released what is said to be the fastest record every made – from the moment of the recording, through the pressing of the vinyl, to the distribution – just under four hours.
As a promotional stunt on Record Store Day, Saturday, April 19th, White assembled a select group of media, friends and fans at his Third Man Records‘ headquarters in Nashville where he put on a live show, and performed and recorded a live version of “Lazaretto,” the title track from his upcoming sophomore solo album, due to drop in June.
White was joined by some of the same band members that worked with him on his critically-acclaimed, and gold-certified, debut solo album, Blunderbuss. The live set started at 10 a.m. with the previously released instrumental track, “High Ball Stepper,” one of the tracks from Lazaretto. The following features clips from the press conference, events of the day and interviews with fans who waited outside Third Man Records on Saturday for copies of the fastest vinyl single ever (that we know of).
As soon as the single, “Lazaretto,” was recorded in studio, the master tape was rushed across town to be pressed to vinyl. White returned, with escorts and an entourage, to his Third Man studio with the still-warm vinyls in hand, and distributed them to eager and excited press folks, area record store owners and others.
“I never even looked into who has the fastest record,” White revealed during the press conference later that afternoon.
It turns out that Guinness World Records’ digital database contains no established category for “fastest released record,” and there were no officials from Guinness present at the event – which we understand means it will not be recorded officially by Guinness since they must have a representative present for any record-breaking milestones. However, some blogs are mistakenly reporting that White’s achievement – which is undeniably impressive and newsworthy – is a new Guinness record.
But White was more focused on making sure the record got recorded, cut and distributed on RSD, than on setting a record for the fastest vinyl recording and release ever.
“I woke up at about 4 in the morning last night [Saturday], and I thought, ‘Wow. I think there’s about 12 or 13 things that could really go wrong tomorrow,’ White said. “I just thought how difficult it was going to be to explain to people if we didn’t pull it off, so thank God we did.”
While we’ve not been able to get an audio copy of the vinyl single quite yet, we’re working on it, and hope to have the full version included in IRC’s full RSD 2014 report and playlist that will be published later today (and will include all kinds of great RSD tracks – many of which are re-mastered classic rock and indie/alternative songs). Follow IRC on Twitter or Facebook to be notified as soon as it’s published.
In the meantime, Al Ford, program director of the Edmonton radio station Sonic 102.9, travelled on an invitation to Nashville from Canada for the event, and returned to explain the experience itself, and to play the vinyl single, in the following YouTube video.
White accomplished his goal to record, press and distribute the “Lazaretto” vinyl in under four hours, shattering the reported previous record held by Swiss polka trio Vollgas Kompanie. White was able to accomplish the goal in approximately three hours, 55 minutes and 21 seconds, just under his initial four hour target.
Two weeks ago, White released the advanced instrumental track, “High Ball Stepper,” with a visually striking music video to compliment the crackling, heavily distorted guitar riffs that smoke and blaze relentlessly throughout, and unlike any other rock song we’ve heard so far in 2014. Leave it up to White to top himself once again in just how far one can push an electric guitar to new heights. Is it too much to say that White is perhaps the closest Gen-X has ever come to having its own Hendrix?
Two bi-coastal brothers, who normally worked together from opposite ends of the continent, came together at the mid-point city of Austin last March for the South by Southwest music festival after being invited by the organizers.
