RECORD EXCHANGE ’10 PICKS: CHAD

Tis the season for year-end best-of lists, and The Record Exchange is pleased to bring you our 2010 Staff Picks!

Take a gander at Chad‘s list:

THE NATIONAL High Violet
RYAN BINGHAM AND THE DEAD HORSES Junky Star
THE RAVENNA COLT Slight Spell
LLOYD MILLER AND THE HELIOCENTRICS Lloyd Miller and the Heliocentrics
PHANTOGRAM Eyelid Movies
FLYING LOTUS Cosmogramma
THE BUDOS BAND The Budos Band III
HILLFOLK NOIR Live at the Old Idaho Penitentiary/Skinny Mammy’s Revenge
ORGONE Cali Fever
VARIOUS ARTISTS Next Stop … Soweto, Vol. 2: Soul, Funk and Organ Grooves from the Townships 1969-1976
EVEREST On Approach

RECORD EXCHANGE ’10 PICKS: RYAN

Tis the season for year-end best-of lists, and The Record Exchange is pleased to bring you our 2010 Staff Picks!

Take a gander at Ryan‘s list:

DRAKE Thank Me Later
MIDLAKE The Courage of Others
KANYE WEST My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
ELECTRIC WIZARD Black Masses
CATE LE BON Me Oh My
SALEM King Night
ENVY Recitation
HORSEBACK Invisible Mountain
HIGH ON FIRE Snakes for the Divine
BEACH HOUSE Teen Dream
DAX RIGGS Say Goodnight to the World
WARPAINT The Fool

RECORD EXCHANGE ’10 PICKS: ERIC

Tis the season for year-end best-of lists, and The Record Exchange is pleased to bring you our 2010 Staff Picks!

Take a gander at Eric‘s list:

BROKEN BELLS Broken Bells
DANGER MOUSE AND SPARKLEHORSE Dark Night of the Soul
GORILLAZ Plastic Beach
VAMPIRE WEEKEND Contra
THE BLACK KEYS Brothers
BLITZEN TRAPPER Destroyer of the Void
MGMT Congratulations
ARCADE FIRE The Suburbs
EELS Tomorrow Morning
THE NATIONAL High Violet

NEW DVD/BLU-RAY: DESPICABLE ME IN LIKE A GAZILLION DIFFERENT FORMATS

BUY DVD HERE
BUY BLU-RAY HERE
BUY 3D BLU-RAY HERE
BUY DOUBLE PACK (WITH MINION MADNESS) HERE

Despicable Me is a compelling animated comedy about an aging supervillain’s falling popularity at the hands of a younger supervillain and three young orphan girls. Gru is a true, bad-to-the-core evildoer who’s earned the title of the world’s No. 1 supervillain. But when young upstart Vector steals the Pyramid of Giza, Gru’s status suddenly sinks to No. 2.

Gru counters his fall by speeding up his plan to shrink and steal the moon, enlisting the help of his army of minions and the elderly Dr. Nefario, but a lack of funding and the difficulties involved in stealing the needed shrink-ray gun threaten to derail everything. Adopting three young orphan girls is an unlikely, but seemingly effective means to further Gru’s evil mission, but Gru quickly discovers that caring for three young girls is more work, and distraction, than he could ever have anticipated.

What unfolds is an unexpected shift in attitude that will forever change the lives of Gru, Vector, and all three young girls. A visually appealing film produced by Chris Meledandri (Ice Age, Ice Age 2: The Meltdown, Horton Hears a Who), Despicable Me is full of weirdly shaped characters and settings that are somehow a perfect fit for Sergio Pablos’s story.

What’s especially refreshing is that in this film, 3-D effects are used skillfully and effectively: even when the effects are exploited for comic reasons, they don’t become a distraction, as is all too common in many recent movies. The film is full of corny banter and silly antics that inspire plenty of spontaneous laughter, and the minions, while not the best-developed characters, sure are comical. Ultimately, there’s also a wholesome message about following one’s heart.

Steve Carell is the perfect villain-gone-soft in his role as Gru, Jason Segal is quite funny as Vector, and Julie Andrews makes a surprising appearance as Gru’s very un-motherly mom. Despicable Me celebrates silliness in a way that’s satisfying and highly entertaining.

OTHER NEW DVD/BLU-RAY RELEASES:

The Other Guys DVD and Blu-ray
Cyrus DVD
Micmacs DVD
Exit Through the Gift Shop DVD
Frank Sinatra Concert for the Americas DVD
Nanny McPhee Returns DVD
The A-Team DVD
The Nature of Existence DVD

RECORD EXCHANGE THINKINDIE DIGITAL STORE: FULL RYAN ADAMS STREAM!

• NEW RELEASES:

Ryan Adams III/IV FULL ALBUM STREAM! Click HERE
New Years Evil EP only $3.99 (ThinkIndie exclusive!)
Christine Owman Throwing Knives $9.99 (ThinkIndie exclusive!)
Shadow Shadow Shade Shadow Shadow Shade
Panda Bear Last Night at the Jetty
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart Heart in Your Heartbreak
Phish Alpine Valley 2010
Various Artists 100 Best of Blue Note (only $49.99!)
Various Artists 50 Best of Blue Note (only $24.99!)
R. Kelly Love Letter
MORE HERE

• NEW RELEASE OF THE WEEK: RYAN ADAMS EASY TIGER OUTTAKES – FULL ALBUM STREAM!

Easy Tiger was Ryan Adams‘ first release post-sobriety. The sessions for that album with his band, The Cardinals, produced a ton of music. III/IV is a double album that grabs much of the material that didn’t make the Easy Tiger album. You could call it an outtakes album. The music is more rock and new wave sounding than his country or acoustic stuff. I think most fans will like what they hear. We have a full album stream the first week, so checking it out before you buy is the thing to do. -Tony@Thinkindie

STREAM/BUY ALBUM HERE

• NEW YEARS EVIL THINKINDIE EXCLUSIVE EP!

UK bands seem to be getting back in the rock mode. New Years Evil are young lads into Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr. and My Bloody Valentine. At least that is my best guess after hearing them.

The drummer is my kind of stick magician. He is keeping the pace rolling forward while throwing in as much fill as possible. Guitarist, as noted, must give some credit to Thurston and Lee as he grinds the strings together. Bass player hugs the kick to make it all punchy.

This Think Indie Exclusive release comes to us via our friends at River Jones Music, who usually stick with local Arizona talent. But, after hearing these guys, they agreed to help bring them over the pond. EP is available as a full album stream, so try it before you buy it. — ThinkIndie Tony

PREVIEW/BUY EP ($3.99) HERE

• RECOMMENDED: OFF! FIRST FOUR EPs

We are more than super excited to be the first download store to offer the first full group of songs from the band OFF! Inspired by bands like Black Flag and California punk bands of yore, they are pushing an honest and straightforward dose of punk rock.

The band formed by Keith Morris (Circle Jerks/Black Flag) also features Burning Brides guitarist Dimitri Coats on guitar, Redd Kross bassist Steven Shane Mcdonald and Hot Snakes/Earthless/Rocket From The Crypt drummer Mario Rubalcaba. All of these players bring real skills and the proper attitude to this project. The songs are short bursts of pure energy with no interference or overthinking getting in the way. Find out more info on the physical box set by checking out the blog.

PREVIEW/BUY ALBUM HERE
DOWNLOAD FREE TRACK HERE

• THINKINDIE EXCLUSIVE: CHRISTINE OWMAN

This young lady has already started to build up a reputation of explosive live shows: headbanging to obscure movie projections from the ’20s and ’30s, playing the saw, the cello, the ukulele and singing through effect pedals.

Born in Sweden, Christine Owman lived a couple of years in the States as a child. She has worked and toured with a number of talented, well-known artists in different constallations throughout the years; members of the Cardigans (Magnus Svenningsson, Lasse Johansson and Bengt Lagerberg), Bebe Risenfors (Tom Waits and Elvis Costello’s bands), Erik Nilsson (Irya’s Playground, Ane Brun’s and Nina Kinert’s bands), Conny Nimmersjo (Bob Hund), Ebbot Lundberg (The Soundtrack of Our Lives), Ola Frick (Moonbabies), Cecilia Nordlund (Cilihili, Fever Ray), Irya Gmeyner and Andi Almqvist.

Owman has been touring all over Europe these past months – from Russia to the UK to Iceland. She recently toured Canada for the first time, where she played at Calgary Opera Centre (during Sled Island) and sold out all her merch on her first show in Canada!

BUY ALBUM HERE

• ARTIST TO WATCH: SHADOW SHADOW SHADE (ONLY $5.99!)

L.A. buzz band Shadow Shadow Shade release their debut album Shadow Shadow Shade on Public Records. It jumps out the gate with “Is This A Tempest In The Shape Of A Bell,” which sounds like Brian Eno fronting early Pink Floyd.

I guess it’s no wonder that this seven-piece band see themselves as a big art project more than a rock group. The members include a producer, an opera singer (you can’t miss her) and various other art type folks. The vocal arrangements are quite startling in their complexity and tonal quality.

I guess the thing that really gets me about this group, is the depth of the music and the vision put into the entire project. From the cover art to individual notes, you can tell they give a shit. They conjure bands like the Mama’s And Papas, Queen, Roxy Music and the already mentioned Pink Floyd. The new album’s on sale for $5.99, which makes it easy to afford. I promise the music is not cheap and it will keep you wondering where these guys have been hiding all these years. – radiofreedavis@thinkindie

BUY ALBUM HERE
DOWNLOAD FREE TRACK HERE

• A FEAST OF FABULOUS FREELOADS!

One of the coolest things about the Record Exchange ThinkIndie Digital Store is the crazy amount of free downloads.

Seriously, each week new freebies are added to the Freeloads section, and these aren’t just streams — we’re talking fully downloadable and burnable 320KB DRM-free files.

Here’s a look at some new additions:
KORT (Kurt Wagner/Courtney Tidwell) Wild Mountain Berries
Cave Singers Swim Club
Dark Horses Alone
Buffalo Tom Arise Watch
Deerhoof vs. Kasai Allstars Travel Broadens
Nicole Atkins Vitamin C (Can cover)
Joe Pug To Ohio (Low Anthem cover)
Shadow Shadow Shade Is This a Tempest
OFF! (Keith Morris of Black Flag/Circle Jerks) Upside Down
Many more HERE

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