National Record Store Day Set For April 19; Somewhere The Kids At Empire Records Jump For Joy, And High Fidelity’s Rob Gordon Rolls His Eyes
By Annapocalypse on 02-08-2008
That’s right, record store snobs, a holiday has been invented just for you and your fellow 7-inch-collecting buddies! On April 19, hundreds of U.S. independent record stores will join together for a promotional event titled National Record Store Day. Members of The Coalition of Independent Music Stores, The Alliance of Independent Media Stores, Newbury Comics, the Value Music Concept stores, and The Music Monitor Network, as well as other independent music stores will participate.
So what exactly happens on National Record Store Day? 7-inch record Frisbee throws? CD elbow-drop contests? Not quite. According to the National Record Store Day website: “Music, video and gaming will all take center stage with each store doing something different to celebrate including sales, in store performances, demonstrations, swap meets or an ‘afternoon at a record store’ promotion, as well as, provide info on new formats and releases. The goal is to showcase everything that makes an indie store unique.”
Phew, that’s a mouthful. In the meantime, you can keep yourself updated on the participating list of stores, or if you’re a record store owner, you can follow that link and sign up to participate in the extravaganza.
Mark your calendars, kids; April 19 is just around the corner.
Giddyup! Sons and Daughters Release New Album, Tour America
By Liz Louche on 02-08-2008
I love Americana. Especially when it's made by Scottish people! If you, like me, can't get enough of awesome accents and male-female vocal harmonies, then you're in luck -- because Domino Records artists Sons and Daughters have a new album! And they're going on tour! Entitled This Gift (TMT Review), the album was produced by ex-Suede guitarist Bernard Butler, and released stateside at the end of January.
The Glasgow group performed and recorded with Arab Strap before spreading their country wings and flying into their own vein of energetic, darkly beautiful rock. Since their formation in 2001, Sons and Daughters have opened for The Decemberists, Franz Ferdinand, and -- yes, oh yes -- MORRISSEY. They've been busy touring the UK this past fall, and now they're bringing the show to America, where the band will kick things off with a performance at the Domino Records showcase at the South by Southwest festival. So get out your cowboy boots, your sense of black humor, and a bottle of moonshine, because Sons and Daughters are going to show you how alt-country is done.
WHY? To Release New Album, Tour. I Love Them And You Can Too.
By Nat Towsen on 02-08-2008
I love WHY?. Yet, the last time I wrote about them, I felt the need to obfuscate all of the actual information in the article. I shall now make penance for my misdeeds by explaining why you should buy WHY?’s new LP and see them on tour this spring.
You should do these things because WHY? are goddamn good. WHY? makes music that is abstract, yet relatable. WHY? uses humor in a way that is serious and poetry in a way that is funny. They use indie-style hip-hop vocals in their hip-hop-style indie music. You know what genre WHY? really is? Fuck you, that’s what genre. I’m serious. Fuck you. WHY? are so good that they don’t bend their genre; they transcend genre entirely. One time, they invented a genre, but ended up transcending it later in the same song, so they never even had a chance to decide what it was called.
But if semi-aggressive rants from an unknown music writer who is clearly attempting to make up for some imagined debt aren’t enough for you, perhaps you will respond to music. Their new album’s first single, “The Hollows,” can be freely downloaded here. WHY? also recently covered The Cure’s “Close To Me” for some reason. The track, which will not be on the upcoming album, can be downloaded here.
Is that still not enough for you, hypothetic antagonist? Well then, hear me out once more. WHY?’s third LP, Alopecia, is a shuddering progression of clever, self-deprecating jokes and brutally honest poetry of anguish, accompanied by sparse rhythm and emotionally disjointed instrumentation. This time around, they recorded live as a five-man band, barely using samplers at all. Their upcoming spring tour consists of 39 shows, ending curiously on April 19. They will be accompanied on several dates by myriad other genre-defying artists, such as Br. Danielson.
Fine, don’t trust me. Trust their public relations agency. Here are a few highlights from their press release:
- “...Yoni's voice comes in strong, sweetly soured like a curdling milkshake.”
- “Yoni Wolf has returned with the Art of Songcraft tucked under his arm. Inspired as much by MF Doom and Lil' Wayne as J. Newsom and Big Dylan, his words roll out bent and beautiful, not unlike the musical architecture that sends those words skyward.”
- “...the perfect antithesis to the blunt finality of death is nothing more than claiming the lifeblood that is already yours.”
Well, that does it. You are definitely convinced now. Alopecia comes out March 11. Pick it up and go see them on tour. I’m serious.
Alopecia tracklisting:
[Photo: Sarah Cass]
