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Hey there everyone reading! Thanks for giving us your time again this week. As well as can be expected in the world today, how are you doing? Here in the southern part of the United States, we have come out from the other side of our winter storm conditions and as I write, we are back to spring-like weather today. I’ll take it. Enough of the weather and on with the music.
As a lover of so many different musical styles and forms, I never struggle to find something to listen to, but it seems in the last few weeks I have been hit by a tsunami of cool new to me records and new releases. There’s a healthy stack of vinyl in the listening queue at home and at the store I am doing my best to catch up on a ton more. It’s hard to know where to begin.
I’ll quickly mention some records that deserve your attention and that I believe Daniel and maybe Jeff will talk about elsewhere in the newsletter or that we have had in the store. Some may be sold out currently, but we’ll get ‘em back.
The new album from our cool Finnish friends Modem is out. It’s called Interface. If you liked their previous album and love 80s synth-pop and the like, then you’ll love this new one. We were lucky to hear some of these new tunes when the guys visited the States last year and played here in Raleigh. Great stuff.
Staying in Finland, the two albums from Eppu Normaali that Svart Records have beautifully reissued, are amazing. I bought my copies out of the box despite never having heard of them or their music. I was blown away. I’m sure Daniel will describe these albums in a way that will be way more learned and articulate than I can muster, but my first impression on hearing the records was that they sounded like a mix of Doctor Feelgood and Buzzcocks, fronted by a Welshman. I didn’t understand what the lyrics were saying, but I could feel the music. Good times 70s power pop punk with r&b and rock ‘n’ roll roots. Check them out.
Daniel mentioned that we have been trying to beef up our international sections and bring in other interesting rock, pop and soul titles whenever we can find them at a good price for you guys. It’s not as easy as you’d think. There are a lot of reissues and compilation series out there. Some are better than others, and some just end up being too expensive. One series of compilations that never disappoints and is always value for money are those released by Soul Jazz Records. Their latest selection of Cumbia and Latin music originally released on the Fuentes label in the latter half of the last century is pure fire. If you have tried finding original Cumbia and related singles and LPs, you’ll know it is not easy or cheap. You’ll probably be familiar with the Fuentes label and know that it’s a mark of quality similar to what Blue Note is to jazz. Watch out for this one when we restock it.
Another sold-out item that hopefully we’ll restock is the Adverts 45 that featured earlier versions of We Who Wait b/w New Boys, that had remained unissued until being specially remastered for this new 7”. They did a great job; the music sounds awesome, and they come in different random colors matching the sleeves that are inspired by the original single release.
If anyone was inspired to check out the band Dry Cleaning that I mentioned recently and ended up liking them, you might want to investigate their earlier records. 4AD have just reissued their first album and put together a compilation of their EPs which I would thoroughly recommend. They’re not for everyone, I get that, but the deadpan delivery and clever wordsmithery is hitting me in the right spot.
We are always out there trying to buy good record collections, and you our customers tend to bring us the best stuff. It’s a good setup. We sell you cool shit; you sell us cool shit, and someone else buys your cool shit. The music lives on and gets to bring joy or whatever other emotion you look for in music to another person. One recent collection buy brought in a slew of cool records that our local customers have been snapping up. There’s still lots of them left, btw. I did have to do the uncool record store clerk thing and snag a couple. I know, I’m sorry. I feel bad about even talking about it. LoL. Hey, we sacrifice a lot for rock ‘n roll and deserve a few perks. So yeah, I grabbed two records by the Dischord-related band Gray Matter.
Gray Matter was a DC-based band together for a few years in the early to mid-1980s. They formed in ’83, split in ’86 and then reformed in 1990 and lasted another three years. Their first record was the full-length called Food For Thought and it came out in 1985. Originally on the R&B label and recorded at Inner Ear Studios. It’s a fab blast of DC post punk-ish music with a touch of late sixties influence perhaps. It was still the 80s, so bands like MC5 and Stooges were just as much an influence as later 70s punk music. Maybe I get the MC5 thing from the back cover of the album, where one of the guys is wrapped in the stars ‘n bars. The sixties influence is confirmed though by the last track on the record, a cover of I Am The Walrus. Say what you want about The Beatles, but Walrus is a brilliant song. When Oasis started out, they would end their live sets with a version too. Both bands tackle the song well. My favorite track so far on the album is Caffeine Blues. It rips.
In 1986, the band released an EP titled Take It Back. Again, recorded at Inner Ear, but this time released on Dischord itself. This 12” is killer. I’ve been blasting it repeatedly. Six tunes, with Burn No Bridges being a particular banger of a song. Thanks to our Jeff here at Sorry State for pointing me towards this one. I was looking through the records from the collection that Jeff had priced and saw the Gray Matter album. I mentioned that Danny and I had just been playing a reissue we had in the store the other day and that how much I liked it. Jeff, rightly, said that I needed the EP just as much. How right he is. I’ve lost count of how many amazing records and bands he has steered me towards. The man knows his records.
I can’t really say much more about the band that can’t be found on the internet and that you hip guys don’t already know, and I certainly don’t want to sound like a poser and come off like I know all about them. All I know is that I trust my ears, and when I hear cool shit, I want it in my life. Btw, the copy I snagged was the first Dischord reissue and not the first press on R & B, so nerds can untwist their panties, and the EP did not have the insert. So basically, almost suckers’ copies. LoL. Jeff said he’d photocopy his insert for me, though.
Thanks for your attention and reading. Perhaps there’s something I mentioned that you’ll enjoy. Cheers to my buddy John Scott, who is out this week on Billy Strings duty in Asheville. I’ve been watching along on Nugs but haven’t spotted him in the crowd yet.
Cheers and catch up with you next time - Dom