Recent Poorchoices/Purchases

Constantly playing the comp 'best Northern soul allnighter EVER'. More heartache, joy and pain in a Kim Weston or Doris Troy track than the entire Slipknot CD.

Not to take out one sole record on a whole genre but I'm becoming wearier of purchasing new indie records nowadays because of this. However I just got my hands on the This is...Beaumont (ex Blueboy) album and it's amazing!!! Siesta has such a lovely way of packaging their records, me thinks.

Bad records I've bought / been given recently:

I Am The World Trade Center: Out of the Loop (feeble St Etienne rip)

Helena: Azul She's married to Philippe Katerine, who is wonderful and produced this, but it's way too slick and normal.

The Ladybug Transistor / Elf Power / All Natural Lemon and Lime Flavors I got given these and found nothing worth playing twice, alas.

Hausmeister: Unser These Cologne types got too laid back and lazy on this release.

Sunaga T Experience: Crouka This guy wants to be Yoshinori Sunahara very badly. Sunahara himself is sounding a bit creaky now anyway (that loungecore thing dated quickly), even if 'Take Off And Landing' was admirably ambitious in conception.

Squarepusher: Go Plastic I can't even listen to this now. I wanted it to take me somewhere fresh, but it led straight back to the heart of 1997.

Quite Good

Eel: Kung Fu Master A Japanese band doing a sort of rap Yukari Fresh thing.

Busy Signals: Pretend Hits Cleverly appealing, geek pop. New Orderish in the way they make fey synthy gestures and sing somewhat feeble silly lyrics, yet manage to charm.

Blond Redhead: Melody Of Certain Damaged Lemons Doesn't sound quite as good as the Best of mp3 version I had earlier in the year. Singer a bit neurotic / narcissistic, methinks.

Joan of Arc: How Can Anything So Little Be Any More Rather fascinating. How can a rock band push so close to the cut and paste avant garde? How can they eschew sense and recognisable structure yet still communicate?

Essential

Scratch Pet Land: Solo Soli iiii I don't know about life changing, but this record will change my work. Work changing! Fresh and friendly. New pathways opened in my brain between Belgium, Cologne and Africa. Electroacoustic and ludic.

Nico: Desertshore Cale produces Nico in 1972. Takes me to another place. Oddly soothing and maternal, though the mother is Death. Die Mutter ist der Tod.

Dymaxion: x4+3=39.21 Trattoria's compilation of Dymaxion 7 inch releases, 95-98. They make lofi sampling sound more fun than anybody else. But they're also dry and erudite. Cartoon formalism.

Pre Fuse 73: Vocal Studies and Uprock Narratives At first this disappointed me, but now I like it. Bits of rap radio cut up (the way MTV cuts up rap vocals to avoid obscenity) until the voices are mere texture.

Yximalloo: Various 'Worst Of' CDs A prophet crying in the wilderness. When he told me these CDs only sell about 100 copies I almost wept. They're full of simply wonderful invention and startling new combinations of texture and sound.

Nobukazu Takemura: Childisc Label Almost everything on Childisc is wonderful. I particularily like Asao Kikuchi and Nobuyasu Sekonda.

Ski-pp Records Compilation Fantastique! This is where I discovered Scratch Pet Land. DAT Politics are also excellent. Cuts, clicks, laptop experimentation.

Tomomi Adachi He processes the sound of springs, vibrating chopsticks, his body and his voice through a laptop using his own software, Max MR. Great! An extraordinary din! I want to start all over again and be this kind of artist.

Has anyone heard Simian? These sound files (from Other Music) sound intriguing (open with RealAudio):

http://64.27.65.90:8080/ramgen/othermusic/simian1.rm http://64.27.65.90:8080/ramgen/othermusic/simian2.rm

That as a recent purchase, also: the new Chameleons (lovely stuff, they haven't lost it but they haven't specifically repeated themselves either), the most recent slew of stuff on Burning Shed, including a great collection of unreleased No-Man songs and Peter Chilvers' He Wrote This. The new Cranes will be arriving shortly as well, and what I've heard of it = sublime. Great to see them still around and doing what they love. New Marc Almond is grand too, but a grower.

No poorchoices recently, to my knowledge. I generally know what to avoid. ;-)

Thanks for those recommendations, actually -- now tell me, Momus, you should know -- given the horrific prices in America for Japanese CDs, what is the best possible outlet to find such things at reasonable cost, either online or in the flesh? I say this because I do want to maybe sneak in a little record shopping around NYC before the wedding I'm there for.

Last good purchase I made: Pink Floyd's "Relics" in the third format I've bought it in. Anything for "Bike."

Last poor choice: NOT having bought "The Ethel Merman Disco Album" in the last century.

probably the only records i have purchased this year that i didn't like.

Also: Prefuse 73! Four Tet!! And the 400% Dynamite compilation, Beta Band, SFA.

And, in the finally category: best of Shangri-Las, Dexys' "Searching for the Young Soul Rebels."

worst recent purchases: Thankfully none, although the most recent Mull Historical Society single is sort of underwhelming.

I also bought a the Boss's Tunnel of Love (a fiver) and Scott Joplin on CD for a mere £1.99. I'm pretty excited about these too.

Blimey, and I thought pop records could never excite me again. Maybe I'd better not play them, just in case.

And a propos nothing: I am going to see DJ Assault tonight :) Hope he plays "Ass 'n Titties" or i'll complain to the manager.

Bad: a three-sided Joe Jackson mid-80s album that shows Joe messing around in the vicinity of world music while still pathetically sounding like a spunky young white kid circa 1979. I have no excuse for this one, except the gimmick of 3 sides.

Bad: a Jimmy Ruffin greatest hits, despite the presence of "I'll Say Forever My Love' (a song that Dexys fans will doubtless recognise). Jimmy may have been a brother of a Temptation, but he sure got the middling to mediocre Motown stuff during the 60s.

Bad: a Captain Sensible double. I don't know what possessed me, and I don't have the strength of will to withdraw it from its sleeve.

Good: Dr Feelgood - Stupidity. Although I wouldn't advies paying more than £2 for this, this live album rocks very hard indeed. lean, mean and with an extra added dosage of Wilko Johnson.

Great: Various - Soul Archive. It's got a beautiful cover, and three Betty Everett songs on. Tip for anyone seeking out 60s soul: if you go for any compilation with Ms Everett on, you ain't going to be too disappointed. This one also has the Impressions' sublime 'Say That You Love Me' on, and some far obscurer stuff - the Willows, anyone? - so I was in soul heaven.

The remainder was bought on CD in HMV...

Middling: Specials - Stereo-Typical. Now don't get me wrong. I'd been looking for this 3CD compilation for some time now, and the price was reduced to 18 quid, but frankly it's unneccessary. The first two albums are what you need, and the singles, and if you have those - even just the first album at a pinch - then you certainly don't need this (there was a reason why 12-inch extended versions were put on the B-side). If you're really looking to bolster your Specials collection, then buy the BBC Sessions instead. I did. And I'm happy.

Killer: Judy Garland, live at Carnegie Hall. Oh yes. Talk about your drama...

Killer: the Undertones singles box set, marked down to 11 quid for a reason that totally escapes me. Obviously I already have them all - er, three times, including all the original picture sleeves - already, but this set is so sweet! I love CDs that just come in a cardboard slip case: begone you nasty jewelled thing.

Likewise killer are the Magazine and Subway Sect compilations I also picked up for a song. The Magazine one is called "Maybe it's right to be nervous now' and is super-fine, especially their version of Boredom. Take it from one who distrusted them back in the day for being art school ponces.

Middling: Neu 2. Good album, overpriced. (But don't buy the third one, eh?)

Now if only I could play some of those damn rags on my piano.

Ace stuff Manitoba "Stop Breaking My Heart". amazing love it. Cannibal Ox "The Cold Vien" Innovative hip hop which is very melodic. I haven't bought it yet but I will as soon as I can get hold of a copy -------Four Tet. I've only got MP3's of his stuff but I want to give the man money anyway.

Neu! 2 is mischievous. That's why I like it. You can't imagine Spiritualised (say) being so naughty.

Today I bought a CD by Chavela Vargas, LE CANTA A MEXICO, which I'm listening to right now. It's live, which wasn't mentioned anywhere on the super-ugly packaging. But I love her voice.

I also illegaly copied onto a CD a bunch of stuff by Jimme Dale Gilmore for my wife. I can't stand him.

I'll go put it on again - wasn't expecting to find such an ardent supporter.

I really do need to get this someday. Soon, soon.

Re: Neu! -- I'm a fan of all three albums and find the varying moods and experiments on each subtly captivating. I still remember when I first heard them back in 1994 or so and realized, "Ah, *that's* what Stereolab was doing!"

PS Jerry: I used to be able to play those rags, 15 years ago. But I certainly can't play them now.

Whatever. I certainly won't be playing sides 1 or 3 again, and fortunately there isn't a side 4. But thanks for turning me onto 'Together'. I'll shove it on a compilation tape shortly.

Piano Magic - Low Birth Weight... will possibly become my most listened to album this year.

V/A - Body & Soul 3... b/c the second one was excellent and this has Aztec Mystic's "Jaguar" on it, which = classic. Still haven't listened to it properly, though.

Aaliyah - Aaliyah... my ardour has cooled slightly (there are definitely a few slightly weaker tracks) but otherwise this is hella good and nicely consistent for an R&B album.

Throwing Muses - University... inspired by the recent discussions here. And lo, it is charming.

The only bad stuff has been review freebies that I feel petty complaining about, but nonetheless: Musiq Soulchild and Real Ibiza 4 are not worthy of your time and money.

About Joe Jackson - OK, OK, I admit defeat, or disagreement. But I am surprised, esp. by that 'showtune' claim. I like showtunes too, but I've never thought of this record this way. (It was recorded live, wasn't it? He's one for the gimmicks.)

Look at the tracklist. 'Wild West' is rock-pop; 'Home Town' is a sort of jangle; 'Right & Wrong' is kind of funk-pop. 'Big World' is (as you said earlier) a kind of World pastiche.

'Shanghai Sky' fits your Show bill - but I really like it! He sings a great melody in a bad falsetto, as I recall. 'Forty Years' - hm - that's a big ballad too. 'Survival', that kind of concept-title sounds ominous from Jackson (cf. 'Discipline' on the Blaze of Glory LP, 1989). Side 3 is the worst, in fact.

Oh, well. The 3-side gimmick is notable, if nothing else.

Started on Berlin: Alma Cogan sings 'Cheek To Cheek'. Best version of 'Cheek To Cheek', anyone? Frank?

1) new unwound. sheer sickness 2) MoM Idiology fantastic as well 3) squarepusher - bleh. was expecting much more from the single i heard. 4) summer hymns - booyah. great summer cd 5) the shins - booyah. great summer cd.

To partially answer the question: I probably shouldn't have bought that Redman LP.

My box from Dusty Groove showed up today as well!

Jon Hassell — Earthquake Island vinyl
Abdullah Ibrahim — Reflections CD
Abdullah Ibrahim — African Space Program

Skids - The Virgin Years box
Barry Andrews - Haunted Box Of Switches Vol. 1&2
Aztec Camera - Knife (expanded)
David Sylvian - Damage (his mix)
Cairo Gang - Goes Missing
David Bowie - Zeit box
Drive-By Truckers - It's Great To Be Alive 3CD
Television - Television
Posies - Dream All Day (Best Of)
Wussy - Attica!
V/A - Mojo's Instant Garage
V/A - The Roots Of Power Pop

hey Austin, glad you are still around. funny thing is i just sold Hail to the Thief and The Bends deluxe collector editions for insane money. still have OK Computer up but upped the price on Amazon. i bought them from BMG Music when they were going under but they are the official release. i sold them because i own every CD single anyways and didn't really need all of them collected on one disc if i could make some cash.

i miss buying CD at Amoeba.

Yeah, believe it or not, there were some tracks on the OK Computer deluxe edition that were new to me, even after all these years. They were fairly expensive ($40 for OK Computer and $30 for Kid A). The live stuff on Kid A is totally killer, so hooray. Good poorchoices.

Last several weeks of acquisitions:

LPs:
The Lines — Hull Down
Andrew Bird — Are You Serious (with bonus 7")
Glenn Jones — Fleeting
Julia Holter — Tragedy

CDs:
KING — We Are KING
James Blake — The Colour in Anything
Bill Evans — Some Other Time
Julia Holter — Ekstasis
David Byrne — The Catherine Wheel
David Byrne + Brian Eno — My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (remastered + expanded)
Talking Heads — Stop Making Sense (remastered + expanded)
Stephen Stills — Manassas

Kvelertak - Nattesferd 2LP
Iron Maiden - Somewhere in Time LP (nice used copy for cheap)
Vektor - Terminal Redux 2LP
King Gizzard & cet. - Nonagon Infinity LP (fancy "Emu Egg" colored vinyl)
Halo of Flies - Music for Insect Minds 2LP reissue
Blood Ceremony - Blood Ceremony LP
Horse Lords - Interventions LP
Bombino - Azel LP
Boredoms - Super Go!!!!! [Shine In * Shine On] 12"
Boredoms - Super Roots 7 12"
Boredoms - Soul Discharge LP
Ulver - Bergtatt LP reissue
Ulver - Kveldssanger LP reissue
Ulver - Nattens Madrigal LP reissue

plus replacement copies of several beloved old deerhoof & stereolab albums

More. Always more.

LPs:
William Tyler — Modern Country
Ben Watt — Fever Dream

CDs:
Talking Heads — The Name of This Band is Talking Heads (remastered + expanded)
Roger Waters — The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking
Roger Waters — Radio K.A.O.S.
Roger Waters — Amused to Death
David Gilmour — self-titled
David Gilmour — About Face
David Gilmour — On An Island
David Gilmour — Rattle That Lock
Pink Floyd — The Endless River
Grimes — Halfaxa
Vampire Weekend — self-titled
Vampire Weekend — Contra
Vampire Weekend — Modern Vampires of the City
Lianne La Havas — Is Your Love Big Enough?
Lianne La Havas — Blood
Neil Young — Live at the Cellar Door
Paul McCartney — McCartney (remastered + expanded)
Paul McCartney — Ram (remastered + expanded)

Made the drive into LA this morning to do some trading at Amoeba. Walked away with:

CDs:
Gang of Four — Solid Gold / Another Day Another Dollar
Bert Jansch — Moonshine
Vashti Bunyan — Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind: Singles and Demos 1964-1967

LPs:
Angel Olsen — Strange Cacti
Bert Jansch — Avocet
Bert Jansch — s/t
Bert Jansch — It Don't Bother Me
Glenn Mercer — Wheels in Motion

The price of vinyl reissues has really gotten out of hand.

spock's original post:
Les Fleur De Lys -- "Retrospective"-- worth every penny. Amazon sells it cheap.

Liar is a particular gem, but there are too many personnel/style changes to get a handle on their thing

Another trip to Hollywood this morning. . .

CDS:
Eyeless in Gaza — Original Album Collection (Photographs As Memories / Caught in Flux / The Eyes of Beautiful Losers EP / Drumming the Beating Heart / Pale Hands I Loved So Well / Recollections + Rarities)
Eyeless in Gaza — Rust Red September
The Names — Swimming
Sad Lovers + Giants — Epic Garden Music
Sad Lovers + Giants — Feeding the Flame
Magazine — The Correct Use of Soap
The Rain Parade — Emergency Third Rail Power Trip / Explosions in the Glass Palace EP

LPs:
Julia Holter — In the Same Room
The Jesus + Mary Chain — Damage + Joy
Spoon — Hot Thoughts

Yes.

hit up an online sale for my birthday week:

porter ricks - shadow boat ep
angelo badalamenti - twin peaks: fire walk with me
second woman - s/w
orphx - archive 93-94

last weeks cd charity shop excess :

chapterhouse - whirlpool. (original cd as opposed to the reissue as there apparently dreadful sound quality issues with the cherry red reissue.)
dj food - kaleidoscope. (been wanting this for years, but all cd copies in charity shops are in dreadful condition (bloody digi-packs!), but this one was perfect.)
evil nine - y4k
crystal castles - amnesty. (i really like this. possibly more than the original line up albums.)

digital - excellent groupees/synthwave bundle that includes, albums by dance with the dead, confrontational, absolute valentine, occams laser, meteor, robert parker and timecop1983.

Took a therapeutic trip into Amoeba this morning, traded a bunch of stuff and got a bunch of other stuff. I went in looking to check out some Section 25 albums, but despite having section cards for the band in both the vinyl and CD racks, both were empty. Oh well. Mostly used my credit to fill holes in my collection and used the opportunity to finally delve properly into Pere Ubu. Here's what I came away with:

LPs:
Cavern of Anti-Matter — Blood Drums (reissue)

CDs:
Sigur Rós — Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do EP
Sigur Rós — Untitled 1 (a.k.a. "Vaka") EP
Talk Talk — The Party's Over
Talk Talk — It's My Life
Pere Ubu — The Hearpen Singles 1975-1977
Pere Ubu — The Modern Dance
Pere Ubu — New Picnic Time
Uncle Tupelo — Still Feel Gone
Uncle Tupelo — March 16-20, 1992
Roger Waters — is this the life we really want?
Lindisfarne — Nicely Out of Tune
Alice Coltrane — Transcendence
Tom Petty — The Last DJ
Tom Petty — Highway Companion
Tom Petty — Mojo

Should've just got the Datapanik box set while you were at it!

Get the other Uncle Tupelo albums if you don't have them.

Recent physical objects I've acquired (mostly via Amazon):
Jane Weaver - Modern Kosmology
Kevin Salem - Box Of Words
Lift - Too Much To Say EP
Captain Beefheart - Strictly Personal
Slowdive - Slowdive
Justin Currie - This Is My Kingdom Now
Wire - Silver/Lead
Gavin Osborn - all 3 albums he's released

I did not see / was not aware of the Datapanik set, though it does look enticing. Need to digest what I've gotten at this point, but holy hell, the initial singles on the `75-`77 set are all kinds of amazing.

I already had No Depression and Anodyne on vinyl, so that completes them for me.

Strictly Personal is rad. But, hoo boy, what a loud bunch of ruckus. Can only take that stuff in small increments.

Ordered from Discogs today:

Fred Anderson, Dark Day/Live in Verona 2CD
Fred Anderson/Kidd Jordan/William Parker/Hamid Drake, 2 Days in April 2CD

Purchased from a Facebook friend:

V/A, Best of House Music, Vol. 1-4 box set (the old Profile Records compilations)

buying CDs in 2017 is embarrassing

thrift shop poorchoices:

Innocence Mission - s/t
Mono - Formica Blues (it's a cutout, but the front cover is autographed by the band: "TO Laurie Love Siobhan De Maré + Martin Virgo")
Lee Perry - Arkology box set
Stereolab - Transient Random-Noise Bursts
Stereolab - Mars Audiac Quintet
Jan Garbarek - Dis
George Russell - Ezz-thetics
Boards of Canada - MHTRTC
Boards of Canada - Campfire Headphase

[there were a ton of krautrock/progressive electronic CDs in the new arrivals bin (early Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Steve Hillage, Edgar Froese) but most of them were priced at $10-$15, so they probably consult discogs]

record store poorchoices:

Max Tundra - Mastered by Guy at the Exchange
Max Tundra - Parallax Error Beheads You
Xela - In Bocca Al Lupo
Boards of Canada - Geogaddi

tack>>head : the lost tapes - 2 cd set, one cd of unreleased tracks from their golden era, another cd of random remixes of their recent comeback album.
tack>>head : the message - a dubstep/jungle/dub reversion album of their recent comeback album by rob bass hi-fi.
kraftwerk : 3d the catalogue - had to be done.
prince far i : cry freedom dub ("come for the voice, stay for the dub")
shy fx and t power : set it of.

Ark-Ology is such an honorable attempt at compiling such a ludicrous amount of great music.

until now the only the only Perry I'd heard was Super Ape, so it's definitely a lot to take in.

Ape-ology is also good as is the Wonderman years and I think there are a couple of other good ones in that Sanctuary Trojan series.

I think there are a couple of other good ones in that Sanctuary Trojan series

the sanctuary era of trojan was a wonderful wonderful thing.
a lot of care and attention went into those releases.
the packaging, the extensive sleevenotes, the deep archive album releases with tons of extra tracks,
the mad themed comps ..
suspect we will never see that kind of reissue program for the catalogue again.

At least the ones that came out at the time seem to have reappeared over the last couple of years after being OOP for several years.

Was in downtown LA this morning for a meeting, so I made a trip over to Amoeba to do some more trading. Here's what I came away with (all CDs):

Bobby Hutcherson — Live at Montreux
Abdullah Ibrahim — Good News From Africa
Alice Coltrane — Translinear Light
Fugazi — 13 Songs
Fugazi — Repeater + 3 Songs
Fugazi — Steady Diet of Nothing
Fugazi — In on the Kill Taker
Fugazi — Red Medicine
Fugazi — End Hits
Fugazi — The Argument

Bought the 2005 2CD reissues of the Stooges' s/t debut and Fun House, just 'cause I didn't have physical copies in the house (though I do have the Complete Fun House Sessions box).

I found the following used records last week and am very happy with them

Ultravox! : s/t
Locust: Morning Light
Pere Ubu: Dub Housing
Tuxedomoon: Half Mute
Danielle Dax: Jesus Egg That Wept

Those Stooges 2CD deals are pretty great.

I also recently got Dub Housing and I like it!

i have kind of a hard time with it (and most pere ubu) to be honest, but I got a deal on it and I'm trying to enjoy it more.

I was wondering what cds that promised to be great ended up stinking up your earholes.

Pumarosa - The Witch
Joan Shelley - s/t

The covers of the Stooges cds seem to have been remastered as well as the audio, quite notably with Funhouse. I think it's even more noticeable on the vinyl version since it's larger would love a poster of that same remastered image.
Is remastered the right word for an image?
Anyway you could feel yourself sinking into the image the quality is that good.
I grew up with a pretty bad reproduction on a single non-gatefold sleeve on my vinyl version and the old cd was as bad

The covers of the Stooges cds seem to have been remastered as well as the audio, quite notably with Funhouse. I think it's even more noticeable on the vinyl version since it's larger would love a poster of that same remastered image.

funny you should say, but a friend of mine emailed me yesterday saying exactly the same thing re the stooges covers.
along with the cover for Led Zep II which he says 'looks like its sun bleached in comparison to the colours on the original.'

i have kind of a hard time with it (and most pere ubu) to be honest, but I got a deal on it and I'm trying to enjoy it more.

I found Dub Housing to be more conventional, and therefore more accessible, than the one after it (New Picnic Time).

But yeah, in general, I've had a hard time getting into Pere Ubu. But, I've come around lately.

Pere Ubu for me has always been about The Modern Dance. That was really a small step for David Thomas but a big step for mankind. Unsettling and attractive at the same time. After that nothing ever really brought back that weird feeling of estrangement. Does that word even exist in English?

Hit a used record store on father's day and picked up:

The Egyptian Lover - Egypt, Egypt 12"
Monk Higgins - What Fah / Ceatrix Did It 7"
JJ Barnes - Baby Please Come Back Home / Chains of Love 7"
The Velvettes - These Things Will Keep Me Loving You / Since You've Been Loving Me 7"

i just picked up a Barbra live cassette and a cassette of native american flute recordings at an outdoor flea market in Woodstock. super cool, both of them

bought a 3-CD lot of In C CDs on ebay from some guy in Wisconsin:

In C (Terry Riley, 1968)
In C (Shanghai Film Orchestra, 1989)
In C (25th Anniversary Concert, 1990)

the Chinese version is fun, although it has sort of a rushed vibe - "this aleatoric stuff is making me nervous -- can we please just get this over with?" and the 25th anniversary version isn't nearly as out-there as I'd hoped it would be, given the personnel involved. maybe I should try the Acid Mothers Temple version, or maybe I should just download 50 versions at random on slsk

L'Infonie, a weird French Canadian prog group, did a version too.

cool, I'll have to check that one out!

Austin & grawlix, I've been finding things to check out through your posts--on the basis of things I've had 30, 40, even 45 years that you are checking out now that you list as successes. So thanks for that, I'll take a chance on things NOT in my collection that you've picked up. Now, I don't think I would've picked up Fugazi & Abdullah Ibrahim or Alice Coltrane on the same trip, but if I recall, the last (only) time I've been to Amoeba & Rasputin in Berkeley, I came away with equally disparate choices.

I have the unique perspective of having bought many of these (on this entire thread) in LP, cassette, and CD--haha, I never got sucked into mini-disc format!!!!

The last several years, I've been in paring down mode, selling off cds as I digitize. Maybe some of my recycles will end up in your hands (though I'm in Michigan, so...)

Cool! Glad to hear it.

Sadly, I did get into minidiscs in the early 2000s.

Indeed, nice to hear.

Just got a copy of Sunn O)))'s Oracle in the mail - bought it on Discogs for $25. It's not easy to come by on CD; the 2-disc version (the one I got) was only 2000 copies, made specifically for an Australian tour in 2007 or so. It's great, though; the main disc is two long tracks that sound like their tribute to Einstürzende Neubauten (James Plotkin plays jackhammer!), and the bonus disc is a 48-minute montage of live clips. It's one of their least-known releases, but one of my favorites.

a buck a pop:

Slipknot Iowa
Gravenhurst Flashlight Season
Cannibal Ox Cold Vein
The Format Dog Problems
Beach House Teen Dream
My Morning Jacket Circuital

From today's visit to Amoeba. . .

CDs:
Stereolab — Oscillons from the Anti-Sun (this was missing the DVD —which I don't really care about anyway— so it was only $5!)
Wire — Pink Flag
Wire — Chairs Missing
Wire — 154
Abdullah Ibrahim — Anatomy of a South African Village
Siouxsie and the Banshees — The John Peel Sessions
Gil Scott-Heron + Jamie xx — We're New Here

LPs:
Modern English — Take Me to the Trees
The Raincoats — The Raincoats
Cluster — Cluster II

I’ve pre-ordered the new King Crimson 3CD/1Blu-Ray live thing. I saw the tour; it was good.

I liked the tour too. But why on earth didn't they play "21st Century Schizoid Man" in Berlin?

Got back in the game yesterday. . .

CDs:
Bert Jansch — Rosemary Lane
Abdullah Ibrahim — No Fear, No Die (S'en Fout La Mort) OST
Abdullah Ibrahim — Cape Town Flowers
McCoy Tyner — Time for Tyner
Terry Callier — First Light
Jon Lucien — Rashida
Gary Burton — Alone At Last

LPs:
Jon Lucien — Song for My Lady
Jon Lucien — Romantico
Bobby Hutcherson — Un Poco Loco
Abdullah Ibrahim — Black Lightning
Weldon Irvine — The Sisters

Jon Lucien's super dope. I remember in the early 2000s, places like Turntable Lab and Dusty Groove were really gushing over some reissues of his. I vaguely recall finding a copy of Song for My Lady at a Salvation Army around the time and checking it out. I remember it being nothing like it actually is. I was way more into early Cure and Radiohead at the time.

Today's haul. . .

LPs:
Ralph Towner / John Abercrombie — Five Years Later
Jan Garbarek Group — Wayfarer
Cal Tjader — Puttin` it Together

CDs:
Gary McFarland / Steve Kuhn — The October Suite
Chick Corea — Return to Forever
Chick Corea — Light as a Feather
Abdullah Ibrahim — African Magic
The Meters — A Message from the Meters
Sonny Rollins — The Bridge
The Free Design — Kites are Fun
The Free Design — You Could Be Born Again