One of my favorite records ever

McG trades in crappy books, gets non-crappy LPs

Traded in a bunch of garage sale / flea market book finds and got some LPs including:

-Radiohead - In Rainbows
-Elliott Smith - XO
-Slayer - Christ Illusion

Nothing groundbreaking, but nice way to fill in some gaps in the collection without coughing up much cash at all.

Return of the Sub Pop Singles Club

Yup, the Sub Pop Singles Club has been revived once again.

For those of us who were in on the first wave of the Singles Club, it was an exciting time indeed.

Sure, ya ended up with many useless 45s such as the Big Damn Crazyweight 7" that ya can't even get a buck for on eBay. (And don't even get me started on Big Chief.)

But many of those Singles Club records such as the Unsane and Rapeman 7"s were pretty fuckin' righteous.

Anyway, this round of subscription-only is limited to 1,500 copies of each 7". The club runs for twelve months only and will set you back $75, which ain't a bad deal at all.

The singles will also come with a coupon for digital download, which means some asshole will have already posted it on indietorrents before you even lay eyes on the vinyl.

Nine of the 12 bands have been announced: Om, Unnatural Helpers, Tyvek, Black Mountain, Black Lips, Arthur & Yu, Mika Miko, Blues Control and Notwist.

That leaves three bands up in the air. My guess is that at least one of those bands will be a huge name and their 7" will be worth the price of admission alone. I'm also guessing there'll be a bonus 7" of some sort, featuring one of Sub Pop's roster acts.

From Wilmington, DE to Wilmington, NC

I was on vacation last week in North Carolina.

One day I trekked into Wilmington, NC.

First stop was Flaming Amy's Burrito Barn.

This joint was awesome. Cute punk chicks with tattoos workin' the registers, nice salsa bar and burritos the size of an NFL football. Dee-lish!

Then I went over to Gravity Records, where I scored a bunch of Stereolab LPs! Woo hoo.

Strolled around downtown Wilmington some and stopped off at The Front Street Brewery, which I went to about 10 years ago on a road trip with Caterpillar.

Nice workout today

Had a very solid workout today. Did 30 minutes of cardio and had my heart rate up there.

This is in prep for a climb the stairs fundraiser I'm doing in Philly in two months.

2008 Climb the Stairs fundraiser

I sussed out the stair machine at the gym. I may take that sucker on soon.

Listening to some jazz on vinyl this afternoon and working on some super secret projects.

My new fave Web site is meebo.com.

One of my favorite records ever: Come - 'Eleven: Eleven'

I picked up a copy of this on vinyl on my recent London trip.

Gawd, what a beatiful record. It is definitely one record that moves me every time I hear it.

Jay over at Agony Shorthand has done a much better job than I could ever do describing why this record is so damn beautiful:

THE MOST UNDERRATED RECORD OF THE 90s

Here's the song "Fast Piss Blues," which was the single from the album.

Come - Fast Piss Blues

And here's Come's cover of The Only Ones' "City of Fun," from a 1993 Peel Session:

Come - City of Fun

Come has long since broken up, and Thalia Zedek and Chris Brokaw have released a ton of solo records between the two of them.

Thalia and Chris even got back together in November 2007 to play a few Come songs.

Thalia Zedek and Chris Brokaw reunite Come at the Middle East

Rediscovering the magic of Low

When I was out in L.A. earlier this year, I picked up Low's "Things We Lost in the Fire" on vinyl.

It had been a while since I listened to Low. I quickly rediscovered the band's awesome vocal harmonies, gentle songs and overall brilliance.

I got a box of records in the mail from Sub Pop today, including Low's "The Great Destroyer."

Here's the video for the song, "Monkey," from that 2005 album.



I know I'm not saying anything that everyone doesn't already know, but I felt compelled to give Low a shout out. What a special band, what special music.

This is the kind of stuff that makes you think, "Yeah, you know what? Life IS good."

I think I really like The Besnard Lakes

I've heard their song "Disaster" on Sirius 26 Left of Center several times now and each instance I think ... wow, that is _really_ exceptional.

They kinda remind me of Galaxie 500 as well as Damon and Naomi, Sigur Ros and The Beach Boys with perhaps even a hint of Spacemen 3 or Spiritualized.

I just ordered their album, "The Besnard Lakes are the Dark Horse" on vinyl.

Here's their intriguing video for the song "For Agent 13" ...



Of course, you will now check out The Besnard Lakes on MySpace

London: Your suggestions?

I'm going to London next month.

If you have any recommendations on fun stuff to do, drop me a line.

Mostly interested in good cheap food, record stores (vinyl), book stores, markets, museums, culture and maybe a decent band/venue to see some live music.

Drop me a line if you have any suggestions.

McG's Spring 2007 vinyl & CD sale

Hey folks, just got a bunch of great NEW vinyl in (and a few CDs too).

Everything is SEALED and NEW with the exception of The Nomads which is an unsealed, but new import.

E-mail to reserve and I'll send you total with shipping.
Combine items to save on shipping.

12"s:
LCD Soundsystem - Yeah - $5.00
LCD Soundsystem - Yr City's a Sucker - $5.00

LPs:
The 101ers (Joe Strummer) - Elgin Avenue Revisited - $10.75
Apples in Stereo - New Magnetic Wonder - $12.75
Arbouretum - Rites of Uncovering (Thrill Jockey ) - $9.75
Chris Bell - I am the Cosmos (180 gram remaster) - $13.75
Chemical Brothers - Push the Button (2 LPs) - $14.75
Mission of Burma - The Obliterati (2 LPs, 180 gram) - $15.00
The Nomads - Nomadic Dementia (2 LPs, heavy wax, import) - $24.00
Thurston Moore - Psychic Hearts (2 LPs, with LP bonux trks) - $13.75
The Pogues - Rum Sodomy & The Lash (Rhino, 180 gram) - $13.75
Sparklehorse - Dreamt For Light Years ... (new 2006 LP) - $11.50
The Warlocks - The Warlocks 12" EP (actually LP length) - $5.50
Wire - 154 (180 gram remaster on 4 Men With Beards) - $12.00
Wire - Pink Flag (180 gram remaster on 4 Men With Beards) - $12.00

CDs:
Cocteau Twins - Lullabies to Violaine Vol. 1 (2 CDs) - $12.00
Cocteau Twins - Lullabies to Violaine Vol. 2 (2 CDs) - $12.00
*special: buy both Cocteau Twins CDs for $22.00!*
Sunno & Boris - Altar (2 CDs, ltd #1254/5000) - $15.00

BOX SET CDs:
Andy Partridge (XTC) - Fuzzy Warbles Collectors Box (9 CDs) - $60.00 (includes free media mail shipping & delivery confirmation - USA only for free shipping, Non-USA buyers e-mail for shipping info)

***And then I have some more stuff on eBay.

Shipping:

United States:
Media Mail: $2.95
Priority Mail: $5.75

Canada and Mexico:
Air Mail: $6.00

All other countries:
Air Mail: $12.50

More vinyl mayhem

Yesterday was a great day for flea marketing in March.

Hit the FM didn't find much - just two LPs by The Fugs on ESP Disk. The records will clean up OK with pass through the VPI record cleaning machine, but the jackets are severely damaged. Hard to pass up for a buck though.

Traded in some clutter from the attic over at Tequila Sunrise and was able to get Joy Division's Peel Sessions LP and the reissue of PIL's Metal Box.

While I was up that way in Philly, I went by the Record Exchange. Man, I remember when that store used to be great. I found a couple of things including Lee Morgan's "Caramba" and Sonny Stitt's "Stitt Plays Bird."

The Record Exchange is now full of CDs and while there is some interesting vinyl there, it's a fraction of what it used to be in terms of a decent record store.

I know, I'm getting all geeked up about record stores. What can I tell you?

Went to Siren Records in Doylestown to catch a live set by The Photon Band. My pal Pat Berkery was sitting in on drums with them. They played a decent batch of songs including a couple of new ones that were really hot.

By the way, in case you haven't heard, PB is now working with me once again. He's a content editor over at phillyBurbs.com. He sits a few desks away from me and yes, hilarity does ensue.

Found a few LPs at Siren as well. The Delgados' "Hate," Tortoise's "All Around You" and the Volcano Suns' "All Night Lotus Party."

The vinyl selection at Siren is fairly good. They had a lot of the contemporary punk stuff hyped by MRR (Government Warning, Feral Ward stuff, Career Suicide, Lemuria, etc.) and a few nice jazz lps.

Some of the prices on their rock stuff was hilarious though. $10 and $15 on some of the most common rock stuff you see at every flea market and garage sale. Still, it's worth a trip every now and then I suppose.

Kabobs and vinyl

I was in Philly over the weekend.

My pal Shash took me to a great restaurant, Kabobeesh. It’s an authentic middle eastern food joint with a blend of Afghan, Pakistani, Turkish, Indian, Iranian and Bengali foods.

I had the Chicken Resham Kabob, which is spiced with their house seasoning. It came with a side of veggies and the biggest piece of naan I’ve ever laid eyes on. Price is right too – about $10 per person for an overly generous portion. I’m a fan!

I stopped by Tequila Sunrise records to trade in some vinyl I had collecting dust in the attic. Got a nice $25 store credit, which I put towards an original pressing of Miles Davis’ “Bitches Brew.” Also picked up Miles’ “Get Up With It” on vinyl as well as The Urinals’ “Negative Capability … Check it Out” on CD.

I hadn’t traded in vinyl in quite some time, as usually I can eBay the stuff. But this was a lot of records that didn’t sell on eBay, but wasn’t exactly dollar-a-record fare either. I really like the clean design and sparse layout of Tequila Sunrise. It reminds me of the Philadelphia Record Exchange during its glory days.

Only thing Tequila Sunrise could use is a rack for select new releases, but other than that, it’s a great store with a small, but quality stock of new and used vintage punk, electronic, avant, jazz and super weird out-there music. I’ll be headed back there soon.

UPDATE: Heard back from Anthony at Tequila Sunrise with the following info:

"i still have to build more record bins, which will tighten the place up a
bit, but should enable me to have a proper new arrivals section/selection.

i try to direct customers to check the my space updates for new arrivals when possible (which usually go out thursday night/friday morning, but also on tuesdays mornings as of late) before coming in. i try to give a pretty good run down of new titles in stock with descriptions, albeit terse in
many cases, but i've been expanding them."

Nice!

McG's farmer's market scores

Was very mild weather here for late December (50 degrees and kinda sunny), so I headed out to the farmer's market. Here's what I found:

John Fahey - Old Fashioned Love LP
Billie Holiday - A Rare Live Recording LP
Yusef Lateef - Psychicemotus LP
Miles Davis - Friday Night in Person at the Blackhawk, SF Vol. 1 LP
J.J. Johnson - Trombone and Voices LP
Sonny Rollins - East Broadway Run Down LP
Jimmy Smith - Bashin' LP
Pete Shelley - On Your Own 12"

plus...

Henry Miller - Opus Pistorum (book)