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RECORD EXCHANGE STAFF PICK: MATT THE INTERN ON WILD NOTHING’S ‘GEMINI’

July 22, 2010 - Recommended , staff pick , The Record Exchange Blog - by - No Comments

Wild Nothing‘s Gemini — you may have heard about it in the blogosphere — has been on heavy rotation at The Record Exchange, and Matt the Intern is here to tell you why:

So far 2010 has been a big year for bedroom pop, yet nothing has been quite as magical as Wild Nothing’s Gemini.

Meet Jack Tatum, the early twenty-year-old behind Wild Nothing who draws influences from his daydreams and the time of the ’80s. Tatum centers around his dreams, which tend to be gloomy, singing of love, loss, and escape. Musically, Wild Nothing’s sound is ethereal, dreamy guitar pop, hinting back to the styles of My Bloody Valentine, Cocteau Twins and Johnny Marr.

Tatum’s congenital songcrafting could be the greatest element about Wild Nothing. From the first listen, it’s striking to hear such wonderful arrangements, and soon the songs make their way into everyday life. Gemini is an instant classic. It’s an album for the hopeful and the sad. Though this record is usually found in my daily rotation, I find it best on a drive through the rain or on a night walk in the pleasant summer air.

The Record Exchange has Gemini available in the store on CD and vinyl, or you can download it from our ThinkIndie Digital Store HERE.

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RECORD EXCHANGE STAFF PICK: BRION ON ‘BREAKING ATOMS’

June 24, 2010 - Recommended , staff pick , The Record Exchange Blog - by - No Comments

Heard of Main Source? If not, well, if you’re into hip-hop, especially its Golden Age, you’ll want to read Brion Rushton‘s Staff Pick of the Week on Main Source’s Breaking Atoms:

Even though I haven’t heard a single beat from it, I considered waxing poetic and telling you how amazing Revolutions Per Minute is, the first album by Reflection Eternal (Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek) in ten years. That’s just how unassailable their chemistry is. But I was sidetracked when all this First-Day-Of-Summer business got me thinking about barbecues, which then got me thinking about (and eventually listening to) “Live at the Barbeque,” a cut from Breaking Atoms, the debut from unheralded hip-hop greats Main Source.

Released in 1991, Breaking Atoms should have brought Main Source the same notoriety granted to contemporaries De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest. Instead it’s that old, woeful music industry tale: a label that’s sketchily run; a distribution system that’s even sketchier; a promising young group growing quickly disillusioned. But the music. Prime ’70s soul and jazz given seamless sampling treatment one moment, unexpected scratching the next. Wordplay that’s sometimes playful and sometimes angry, but all the time assertive and incisive. Check the aforementioned “Live at the Barbeque,” featuring the lyrical spitfire of a 16 year old Nas — completely unknown and completely brash — for further proof. Back in print and perfect for playing at your summer get-togethers. Like, say, your barbecue.

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RECORD EXCHANGE STAFF PICK OF THE WEEK: ERIN ON CATE LE BON’S LATEST

June 11, 2010 - staff pick , The Record Exchange Blog - by - No Comments

The Record Exchange is happy to welcome back Erin Cunningham, and with this week’s Staff Pick of the Week, she tells us about her recent infatuation with Cate Le Bon‘s Me Oh My.

This week and last week and the week before, I have been pretty much freebasing Cate Le Bon‘s Me Oh My for 24/7. That is, until my boyfriend stole it from me.

It will be good when I get it back, because I won’t have to worry about hearing the layers of her voice in my head even though the album isn’t present. The songs are that haunting. Her voice is like a beautiful glimmering cave filled with sorrow, echoing back and forth against itself. She layers her voice over simple and sometimes playful synthesizer accompaniment.

It’s a little psychedelic at times and her lyrics often seem like abstract compositions in sounds, or even like teenage girl pining — but all together, it draws you in and drowns you in mystical lessons that you’ll probably never understand.

RECORD EXCHANGE STAFF PICK: ERIN ON CATE LE BON

June 8, 2010 - Recommended , staff pick , The Record Exchange Blog - by - No Comments

The Record Exchange is happy to welcome back Erin Cunningham, and with this week’s Staff Pick of the Week, she tells us about her recent infatuation with Cate Le Bon‘s Me Oh My.

This week and last week and the week before, I have been pretty much freebasing Cate Le Bon‘s Me Oh My for 24/7. That is, until my boyfriend stole it from me.

It will be good when I get it back, because I won’t have to worry about hearing the layers of her voice in my head even though the album isn’t present. The songs are that haunting. Her voice is like a beautiful glimmering cave filled with sorrow, echoing back and forth against itself. She layers her voice over simple and sometimes playful synthesizer accompaniment.

It’s a little psychedelic at times and her lyrics often seem like abstract compositions in sounds, or even like teenage girl pining — but all together, it draws you in and drowns you in mystical lessons that you’ll probably never understand.

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RECORD EXCHANGE STAFF PICK: JOE POLLARD ON FOUR TET

June 1, 2010 - Recommended , staff pick , The Record Exchange Blog - by - No Comments

Every now and then the wind blows the right way and Joe Pollard can be found workin’ it behind the Record Exchange counter just like old times. Record Store Day was one of them. (Joe wears the Devo energy dome well, don’t he?) We used the occasion to bug Joe to contribute a Staff Pick of the Week, and he chose a good one, Four Tet‘s latest There is Love in You:

It’s been nearly five years since the last proper Four Tet release Everything Ecstatic, but I dare say it has been well worth the wait, especially since Four Tet’s Kieran Hebden has actually released quite a few singles, EPs and remixes; along with hooking up with old bandmates (Fridge) and legendary jazz drummer Steve Reid (with whom Kieran has recorded several jazz-oriented albums).

It’s not too often that an artist can be equally skilled at creating their own uniquely brilliant songs and can also remix someone else’s work into something even more impressive; but original albums like Everything Ecstatic and the reworked cuts from 2006’s Remixes are testaments to Hebden’s talents in both of these regards.

There is Love in You is an album that would go over equally well among the dance club crowd in the wee hours of the morning or the early afternoon Sunday brunch mimosa sippers. Songs like “Love Cry” and “Sing” are super beat-happy cuts that pulse and throb, but have a softer edge than some of Four Tet’s earlier originals. Other songs like opener “Angel Echos” or “Reversing” may not be quite so dance-centric, but they do swirl about one’s brain very nicely, with lots of gently little bleeps and blips as well as gooey layers of ethereal sonic haze.

Despite the subtle nature of There is Love in You, the album is addictively easy to play over and over and over; it’s one that you can throw in the CD changer for weeks on end and not ever feel overly compelled to take it back out. 

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