Purchase Brian Jonestown Massacre‘s latest CD Who Killed Sgt. Pepper? at The Record Exchange and get a free ticket to the band’s June 15 show at the Knitting Factory!
We have the CD and the tickets here at the store — one-stop shopping yo, and a great deal to boot.
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.
“Over the course of their four full-lengths albums to date, including their revelatory 2008 Sub Pop release Furr, the Portland band Blitzen Trapper has already made that much clear. Earley’s considerable poetic talents and his band’s hard-earned chops have gained them a growing international audience. The band’s continuing exploration of American music that spans from the 60s folk movement to the country sounds of the 70s, to the pop balladry and prog rock of the 80s has earned it notice ranging from Rolling Stone magazine to late-night network television to Yo Gabba Gabba, among a great many others. This fifth album, Destroyer of the Void, takes Blitzen Trapper one step further, building on the band’s seamless marriage of the familiar and the fantastic to, literally, create an otherworldly experience.” — Sub Pop Records
BUY THE CD HERE
OTHER NEW CD RECOMMENDATIONS:
Tokyo Police Club Champ
Grace Potter & The Nocturnals Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
Delorean Subiza
Here We Go Magic Pigeons
Against Me! White Crosses
BLK JKS Zol!
Henry Clay People Somewhere On the Golden Coast
Hot Hot Heat Future Breeds
Suckers Wild Smile
Teenage Fanclub Shadows
Travie McCoy Lazarus
Deer Tick Black Dirt Sessions
Nada Surf If I Had a Hi-Fi
Villagers Becoming a Jackal
Renee Fleming Dark Hope
Mychildren Mybride Lost Boy
Casiokids Topp Stemning P? Lokal Bar
Cadillac Sky Letters In the Deep
Rooney Eureka
Whitechapel New Era of Corruption
AM Taxi We Don’t Stand a Chance
Kingdom of Sorrow Behind the Blackest Tears
Wye Oak My Neighbor / My Creator
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.
The Record Exchange is pleased as punch to welcome intern Matt Jones to our handsome family for a summer of back-breaking labor (clean basement, here we come!) and idle busy work.
When he’s not fetching us coffee, Matt, a business/marketing major at Boise State, will be learning the finer points of record store marketing and promotions. His first task was helping us sell records by extolling the virtues of the fine and dandy Barsuk debut from Pearly Gate Music, Matt’s Staff Pick of the Week:
Barsuk Records has a history of exciting releases from the likes of Death Cab for Cutie, Nada Surf, Menomena and Rilo Kiley to name a few. They also know how to select great under-the-radar acts, usually from the Seattle area, who have that infectious Northwest sound. Pearly Gate Music is yet another group adding to Barsuk’s constant appeal.
Pearly Gate Music, better known as Zach Tillman, uses his extraordinary, smooth voice alongside great instrumentation. Tillman’s self-titled debut album, released in May, is currently a Record Exchange Listening Station pick. The songs are fairly simple, yet full of vivid storytelling. Amidst the folk vibe, sudden pop outbursts are found in tracks like “Big Escape,” “Oh, What a Time!,” and “Bad Nostalgia.” If you’re looking for a stripped down, acoustic album packed with beautiful melodies while exploring themes like religion, carelessness and the great outdoors, this is your pick.