#their self titled album was my first ever cassette

[kerosene-saint]

if I could get at least one of my online friends to listen to even just one of Stepmom's songs I would be so fucking happy do you understand

[munsonkitten]

It starts small.

Steve buys Eddie a handful of cassettes after the whole Upside Down business. Drops them unceremoniously in Eddie’s lap while Eddie’s laid up in the hospital. Eddie pulls them all out of the plastic bag and lays them out in his lap while Steve stands a few feet away, arms crossed protectively over his torn up middle.

“I got things on your vest,” Steve says as Eddie takes in the titles. “I figured everything in your room’s probably gone now, but I still have your vest, and I’ll — I’ll give it back. When you get out of here. It’s safe in my room. But, just — yeah, the tapes are things you have on it.”

Dio’s The Last in Line, Motorhead’s Ace of Spades, Metallica’s Ride the Lightning, Judas Priest’s Screaming for Vengeance, and WASP’s self-titled album.

“I almost bought you more, but I wasn’t sure what else, and I don’t know much about your music, so I just got those. I was going to bring you my Walkman, but I couldn’t find it,” Steve says. “I think one of the kids borrowed it and never gave it back, actually.”

Eddie still hasn’t said anything yet. He’s still taking in the gift in his lap, can’t even comprehend that Steve wanted to give him more.

“Uh,” Eddie says, trying to get his brain working again. “Yeah. Man. Fuck, dude. Thanks. Seriously. Don’t worry about the Walkman, really. This is nice, Harrington.”

“Yeah, no problem, Munson,” Steve says softly. He goes and sits in one of the chairs in Eddie’s hospital room, and stays there until the kids come running from Max’s overcrowded room to ask for a ride home.

Eddie lays there with his tapes spread out over his lap, and he finds himself smiling down at them. He doesn’t even have anything to listen to them on, but he thinks it might be the most thoughtful gift he’s ever gotten from anyone other than Wayne.

It’s nice, he thinks, that he might be becoming friends with Steve Harrington. It’s nice, he thinks, that even when they’re no longer fighting for their lives, Steve might want to stick around.

He didn’t expect that.

Eddie’s in the hospital for two weeks, and Steve stops by almost every day. He sits for a while, sometimes they talk, sometimes they don’t. Sometimes Eddie wakes up and sees Steve sleeping in one of the uncomfortable hospital chairs. He doesn’t wake him, just smiles to himself because Steve’s tired, but he doesn’t want Eddie to be alone.

It’s been a while since Eddie’s had a friend the same age as him. Jeff and Grant are both two years younger than him, Gareth is four years, and Henderson, Wheeler, and Sinclair are all five or six years younger. He has friends, but Steve feels different, just a few months younger but already graduated. In a way, it makes Eddie feel younger, still being in high school and all.

He doesn’t really think that should matter, but it kind of does. All his younger friends look up to him, he’s always the one making plans and making sure everyone sticks to them, he’s the one in charge of it all — the older one. But when Steve’s around — Steve, with his real job, and high school diploma, and his nice car, and the brood of children he chases after, Steve, who’s an adult in all the ways Eddie himself feels like he’s not — Eddie feels like he can sit back and let someone else do all of that.

When Steve’s around, it feels like he has someone to care for him and look out for him the way he’s done for the others.

It starts to ease everything he’s carried for so long.

* * *

The next time Steve buys something for Eddie, it’s even smaller.

In fact, it’s so small that Eddie doesn’t even notice it at first because Steve was actually really sneaky about it. Eddie would almost find it cute, if he were allowed to think about Steve that way. He’s not, to be clear. It goes against his Munson Doctrine to have crushes on the jocks, rich kids, and straight boys, of which Steve is all three, but if he wasn’t, then yeah, Eddie would find it cute that Steve is sneaking him tiny gifts when he isn’t looking.

There’s a keychain on his van keys that he certainly didn’t get for himself. He notices it one day during a get together at Harrington’s house. Eddie just got out of the hospital a few days ago, and everyone insisted on throwing a party. Now kids are running around Steve’s backyard, yelling and hollering and trying not to fall in the freezing cold pool. It’s still too early in the spring to swim.

Even Max, barely out of the hospital herself, is being wheeled around in her wheelchair by nothing more than El’s mind powers.

It’s kind of fucking insane, to be honest.

But Eddie needs to go out to his car to get his pain meds because he’s really starting to feel the length of the day in his aching joints and healing wounds, so he grabs his keys off Steve’s counter where he left them, and that’s when he sees it.

A tiny metal bat dangling from his keys.

He knows it was Steve because Steve was the only one in the house when he got here and set his stuff down in the kitchen, and no one else has gone inside since Eddie found his way to the backyard, so of course it was Steve.

Eddie doesn’t mention it, just smiles to himself and runs his fingers over the pointed wings.

He sees Steve looking at him when he comes back into the kitchen. Eddie raises his hand and shakes his pill bottle at him, and without another word, Steve goes to the cupboard to get a glass that he fills with water.

Eddie sets his keys back down on the kitchen counter as Steve slides the glass of water over to him. Steve nods at the keys, and Eddie grins at him.

“Thank you,” Eddie says.

“I have a matching one,” Steve says, turning back toward the sink to look out the window above it. “Just, you know, because…”

He gestures at his torso, and then over at Eddie, and Eddie nods. He gets it.

It makes him feel a little bit closer to Steve. Even if Eddie isn’t allowed to crush on him, he’s happy to have someone who gets him. Who understands what he went through, and feels similar pain.

It’s like Steve’s saying You’re with me now, we’re connected, and you’re not getting rid of me.

Read on AO3

[scarlettsabetlondongirl]

GQ magazine

By Jimmy Page and Scarlett Sabet

22 January 2021

Scarlett Sabet: So, a year since Catalyst, what are your thoughts?

Jimmy Page: Well, my thoughts on Catalyst being a living entity a year on: I’m really pleased that we did it and relieved that we did a project that I had in my mind. I had it in my head, at various stages, the characters of the poems. To arrive where we arrived, with something that was really avant-garde, that had not been done before, was really thrilling. It was a “catalyst”, but also a milestone that others hadn’t got to yet.

SS: I think that’s it. You were so passionate and fired up about it and your vision was so clear and distinct, so although before we did it I couldn’t fully comprehend it, I never questioned what you wanted to do. During the recording and production of the album I trusted what you were doing implicitly. We created a new language. Each poem on the album was an important landmark. With the exception of “Rocking Underground”, which I wrote in 2012, you were the first person to hear all the other poems.

JP: Yes, yes, that’s a good point. I was the first person to hear all of those poems. But I also had the pleasure to hear you read on numerous occasions, in a variety of circumstances as well. So I got to feel these poems and to recognise the character of each one and certain cadences you would employ during your readings. I don’t think you ever read one poem exactly the same, because you were breathing new life into it every night. All these things were registering with me. What I didn’t want to do was what people assumed it would be: poems with music behind it. Well, that’s what everyone would think. And I certainly didn’t want to think in the normal sort of way. I wanted to think of it in another way altogether. Let’s do what I know is right and that you know is right, so I presented you with something that, yes, will be musical, it will sound orchestral, but it’s all done with the human voice. And that’s where we arrived at the territory of things that hadn’t been done before.

SS: Yes, that’s really well said.

JP: “Rocking Underground”, I heard you read that at your first poetry reading at World’s End Bookshop in Chelsea and that really got to me. I thought, “Wow, she’s really living this,” and not only that, but that’s a really fine poem. It was a narrative and really interesting. From that point on, having seen your writing and your publications, I thought it was really great you self-published so you didn’t have other people getting in the way of it.

SS: Well, that was thanks to you. I took your advice to self-publish.

JP: “Rocking Underground” was the first poem. I got you to record it on an old Sony cassette player and once you’d done a performance you were happy with, then I got you to track it. Now, this is where the unexplained comes into the equations. I’d used the cassette before, but on this occasion, it played back with this noisy, metallic sound, like an announcement on an underground tube, and, of course, it was written on a train.

SS: Yes, it was written on the Tube in London and I think there is a misnomer that “Rocking” in the title is a reference to rock music. It isn’t. The word “Existing” could replace “Rocking” in the title and the meaning would be the same.

JP: Yes, I’m pleased you said that. And what was played back on the cassette gave an atmosphere that gave an identity to the piece, almost like an invocation. I wanted you to double track it. I knew you’d be able to do that. So there was a metallic-sounding voice, then a more natural sounding voice on top. So that was a great start and you could see that my ideas were a bit wacky. Interestingly enough, when Catalyst was released Phil Alexander played “Rocking Underground” on his Kerrang! Radio show and then he played a Led Zeppelin song afterwards and I thought that was really cool.

SS: It was “Dazed And Confused”.

JP: Well, that’s even better, because that’s the more avant-garde side of what I’ve managed to create in the past, something akin.

SS: You really captured the atmosphere of that and, on a personal note, it was the first poem you saw me read at my first ever poetry reading, so in that way it was a landmark. Also, when I wrote it it was unusual compared to what I had previously written, so that poem was the beginning and you were at the beginning with me, in a way. “Rocking Underground” was also the title of my first book, which I self-published on your advice, to keep creative control. So I think we both knew this poem was going to be opening this album.

JP: The other poem I knew I wanted to try with you was "The Fifth Circle Of Hell”. Every time I witnessed you read that poem, there was such a response, people holding their breath and then a spontaneous applause. I knew how strong it was. So for the recording of it, rather than putting too many textures on it, because of the vocal performance and what was being said and what was being covered in it, I wanted a more locked-in double tracking, not just the power of one voice saying this, but two voices riding all the way through, to make the message even stronger. And you felt at home with these experimental techniques.

SS: I remember so clearly writing it. It had been forming in my mind and then it all came out in one sitting.

JP: Yeah, you did do it in one afternoon. You were channelling, like it was inside you and it had to come out and it did come out. The first time you read it to me I was really impressed, I’ve got to say.

SS: I was really excited to read it to you, because it was so different and really long and it was the narrative of what I wanted to say and I caught it in this rhythm. You were in a meeting in another part of the house and I remember once you had finished saying, “I think I’ve written something.” It was a creative landmark for me.

"To arrive where we arrived, with something that was really avant-garde, that had not been done before, was really thrilling. It was a “catalyst”, but also a milestone that others hadn’t got to yet."

JP: The thing is, it’s as relevant now as it was then.

SS: The tone of the poem on Catalyst is very aggressive. It’s almost demonic.

JP: Yes, it is. It takes on a different character from how you read it. “Cut Up” was the third track we recorded and you came out with a way of reading it that I had never heard before.

SS: I realised that I needed to adapt the performance for the format: we were making a record. It wasn’t a live poetry reading, where that poem becomes very impassioned.

JP: It was a totally different pacing and it was incredible, the whole hypnotic, mantric quality to it, and as you were doing it I knew I wanted to use an effect that I had used way back in the days of Led Zeppelin.

SS: On which track?

JP: Well, I did it on “You Shook Me”, which is at the end of the first album. You can hear it, but I used it differently on Catalyst. With “Cut Up”, I wanted it to be there, faintly in the background, and it to be an entity to creep in and become more and more audible as things go on, until at the end it builds and it’s almost like a conflict. Again, I knew this hadn’t been done before with spoken word.

SS: That had started as a super-long draft of a poem, written by hand, and it got to the point it was almost 20 pages. I couldn’t really stand it and felt I wanted to do something radical, destroy and dismantle what I had written, then rebuild it. So I remember I cut it up with scissors and because there was rhythm in the pre-existing phrases, the rhythm remained and it incorporated its own dark rhythm as well.

JP: It was remarkable and you were really on fire at this point. But this is how it was in the studio between the two of us, sparking off ideas.

SS: The actual recording was amazing and we were lucky to do it at home, being so comfortable, literally at home, and being with you: the trust between us, it made me brave. I wanted to meet you in that moment.

JP: And we did that. We arrived at that. To hear you do it in a different vein and rate and tempo, it was inspiring for me to come up with ideas. It was powerful.

SS: The first tracks are intense and really confront the listener and then “Euphoric Kiss” comes in and in the version on the album you can hear me laugh at the beginning. It was May when we recorded it, so after a long British winter, everything was coming alive again and I was filled with the joy of creating this piece of work together and it’s a poem I wrote as I was falling in love with you. It’s a love poem, but defiant, and a code between us and it felt joyous to record it.

JP: Yeah, that was beautiful. This was one of the tracks where the poem alone would speak volumes. It needed just the naked honesty of it.

SS: Yes. When I'd perform that poem live, sometimes I'd improvise parts of it. The audience wouldn't know, necessarily, but you would.

JP: I think improvisation is the key to live performance, the people that know your work can see that you're not content to just go through the motions, that you're really hitting it every night in such a way that you're creating and changing the inflections of the poem, the song, whatever it is. Certainly within your poetry I could see you were capable of doing this and moulding things as you were performing them.

SS: You've created these phenomenal, electrifying live performances throughout your life. Are there some that stand out more distinctly to you, especially in terms of live performances, whether it be in a huge stadium or smaller venues or a studio?

JP: On occasion I've reviewed some work I've done in my own environment, from the home studio I had in the 1970s, where I had the facility to multitrack and layer guitars and other instruments as well. Whatever fires that off is the initial inspiration to create a piece. I'm sure it's the same as writing a poem. You get the inspiration for it and you build it and it takes shape.

SS: Yeah.

JP: And it's not necessarily a really long process. It's something that's really coming out. So under the circumstances of a live situation, I've heard versions of “Dazed And Confused”, for example, four nights a row on tour and I was surprised just how much improvisation there was each night, which I didn't repeat on any other night. To hear them decades later and hear what the mindset was... It was just allowing things to come through. They're unreleased.

SS: Do you have specific memories of when you've walked off stage after a performance or improvisation and just known, "Wow. That one was really..."

JP: Well, I particularly went on stage to do that sort of thing, so even though there was a set list, just walking up the steps to go on stage I knew what the numbers were going to be and I knew that there were little signs for the improvising sections that meant to the other, "Right this is going to change gear," and it was going to be something new, so they were just going to have to pay attention to these signs that would occur. So these whole passages would come out and then I would change it again into another one and that's really living by the seat of your pants, but I really enjoyed doing it and fortunately I was able to. I've really built my whole reputation on improvisation and spontaneous music. I can appreciate it in somebody else, certainly you. I could see you were breathing new life into poems every night.

SS: “Possession” was very intimate. I also adapted the performance of that piece. I wanted it to be intimate and it’s sensual and spiritual. I guess that’s why it’s just presented as it’s recorded.

JP: Yes. Then it goes into “And My Lungs Fill Ecstatic Song”.

SS: Oh, yes! Well, that was written when I was walking by the River Thames in Sonning. I was inspired by the landscape. I wrote some notes. It wasn’t until we went away that December that I started experimenting with those lines and cut them up, rearranged the structure. In that poem I also wanted to evoke almost the muscle memory of writing the poem, the feeling in my legs and the adrenaline, trying to capture it in lines. In poetry readings, I accelerate in the last verse, but in the production of this track you really accomplished what I wanted to convey. But we didn’t even have a conversation about it. You just knew and you did.

JP: Given the way you read this, it felt quite mantric and, as you say, there’s a pacing to it. I definitely wanted to bring all of that out, and make it quite orchestral in the way that it starts and develops and really pulsates. It has such a dynamic to it. And this is really what I meant when I said the album wouldn’t be with instruments, but it will sound orchestral and going into areas no one has done before.

SS: Ah, and then the next is “For Jack”, which is a love poem or eulogy for Jack Kerouac. I started writing it in the months leading up to The Town And The City Festival in Lowell, Massachusetts, which is Kerouac’s birthplace and where he is buried. So the poem’s inaugural reading was in Kerouac’s birthplace. I’m so moved by his work. He was so sensitive and spiritual. He tapped into something in the zeitgeist, expressed it in this new freeform way and he got huge praise and ridicule for it and he bore the brunt of both. He’s always affected me and I wanted to try to capture him. The word “You” is the opening of each line, addressing Kerouac directly. When I read it at City Lights, Peter Marvelis said that I had really captured [Kerouac] and what had happened to him. I think we knew we had to include this poem as part of Catalyst, because this album is kind of in the spirit of the beat writers.

JP: There was this whole movement going on in the 1950s and 1960s in literature and in music.

SS: What was the first poem that stood out to you as a young person ? I remember at primary school age, under ten, I remember Robert Louis Stevenson poems and then, after that, when I was older, WB Yeats and Coleridge. Then I discovered Bob Dylan, then Allen Ginsberg then Kerouac.

JP: Yes, I was introduced to poetry when I was at school and I realised reading poetry in the class room, en masse, that it went into another dimension and then I appreciated the metre of it, the construction. I was quite taken with the Victorian Romantic poets, Byron, Keats, Shelley. When I was in my mid-teens, I paid a lot of attention to Christopher Logue. He released an EP called Red Bird in 1959. I absolutely adored it. I adored what they were doing. It was actually jazz, with Logue reading his poems, but it wasn't freeform, it was really constructed and really exciting.

SS: I remember when you played me that.

JP: I was really impressed with the way that he read his poems, sometimes really fast and other times in a melancholic way. It meant a lot to me when I heard it. I took it in, because it was someone who had done something new and not only that it was absolutely amazing and not many people knew of it. And, of course, Christopher Logue performed at the International Poetry Incarnation in 1965 at the Royal Albert Hall.

SS: You were there that night.

JP: I was there. Allen Ginsburg performed that night with some of the other San Francisco beat poets. I had come across “Howl” and read it and when many people read that poem it changed their life and I was one of them.

SS: Same.

JP: Burroughs and Gysin experimented with cutup and I know they had done work at the BBC, literally cutting up analogue tapes and putting them together. That’s something I considered to be really moving things in a different direction from what they had been before. That was exactly how I thought about music. And at the same time, you had Krzysztof Penderecki, his ode to Threnody, to the victims of Hiroshima. That texture of the orchestra had such an effect on me, all through my work, in Led Zeppelin and what I was trying to do with the bow and sonic waves and my ideas for what we did on Catalyst. I also liked The New Music – a later album of Penderecki. Also during that time in the late 1950s early 1960s, I discovered electronic music records by John Cage, Luciano Berio, Ilhan Mimaroglu. It all had such an effect, these textures. And what they were doing in musique concrète is what I feel we were doing with Catalyst, an extension of that. The whole adventure of Catalyst was done over a few days and I’m really thrilled we did it in such a compact amount of time. We spent exactly the right time on each thing, nothing was laboured. It was all so enthusiastic and inspirational.

SS: Yes, it really was. We knew where we were coming from with this project and your passion for it was like a suit of armour. I’m so proud of what we created. I always want to do something experimental and the one thing I’ve always tried to do is keep challenging myself, push myself creatively, not keep doing the same thing over and over again. To stay “alive” and connected as an artist I think it’s important to keep being brave and do different things.

JP: Yes, that’s absolutely the way to go about one’s work.

SS: You’ve never played it safe and gone down the commercial route.

JP: I think it’s more satisfying to throw down the gauntlet to yourself, take on the challenge and then come out with something where you’ve really pushed yourself. To actually do something unique and new. Les Paul said to me, “You know what you can do? Same picture, different frame.” So you never lose the main part of your character, that’s recognised, but you adjust the framing of the picture.

SS: Wow. You’ve definitely done that.

[omegaremix]

Record Store Victory Tour 2022.

They say that once in a while you should treat yourself. It’s not often I do. After nine months of stay-at-home recovery, I promised myself that, when I was in a better place emotionally and monetarily, I would. So I had a wild idea. I decided to do something for myself I’ve never done before: an island-wide ‘record-store victory tour’. It consisted of hitting up each and every music store I could and buy as many vinyl records, cassettes, and CDs I could.

It started when I received my third paycheck of the month, my tax refund, a monthly store bonus, and our company giving us full-timers an extra $1,000 from national tax breaks and major donations. It was 2018 and the timing was right. I was in a much better place than I was 10 years before and for the first time in a long time I was feeling great.

It was intense and exhausting, but I loved it. It felt great getting back into doing what I loved doing the most; visiting a record store and spending as much as I wanted to on anything and everything I was a fan of or read about. I chased the excitement of finding artists, albums, and sounds I always meant to take home with me and get the most bang for the buck as possible. It became one of the largest excesses of individualism I’ve ever done for myself and I was all the happy for it. In the end, I spent no more than $1,500.00 on 280+ titles across eleven stores. I had fun doing it, and I told myself that if I could, I’d do it again.

It’s now 2022, and a new record-store tour was way overdue.

 I missed the days where I’d get lost in the hunt and have the outside world fall behind me if only for a few hours. I never forgot the fascination of discovering those gems I waited years for and feeling surprised in finding the unexpected. In fact, those feelings never left me. I’m the same way now as I was then. I neglected myself for so long that I had to come back. And I did.

I’d return to all the stops I made last year. Gone are the ones who receded to online selling, and good riddance to the over-priced locations who’d scam anyone for three to four times the price. They would never get my attention from me. I even added a few new locations and then some. From the east end of Long Island to (now) some of Brooklyn and Manhattan’s most appealing stores, this year’s tour would be more extensive than the last - and the most expensive.

I knew I was better off financially than I was four years ago. I had way more in the bank than expected so I knew I could spend and feel guilt-free without the consequences or buyer’s remorse. You cannot even begin to imagine how much I laid out. Chances are it’s more than you ever want to.

And with money comes things I’d ultimately learn about this -tour. I no longer buy blindly and have Discogs at my hip. I’d discover specific albums and remembered searching through certain sections that changed the course of the visit. I’d revisit my Atari / Nintendo childhood via 7” and 12”s and also my alternative days when I told myself all the artists and albums I’ve once dismissed were actually OK. I even quit and cashed it in when I wasn’t feeling a store’s selection. Conversely, I’d go all-in and spend on genres and artists I felt I missed out on, plus insisting on giving my dealers a little extra for free records to keep them in business. That is what you call appreciation.

I’d tell myself to be patient and take all the time in the world for what I loved doing: staying in touch with myself. I’d build up my identity, to score style points, and separate myself from all the other vanilla people around me who “been there, done that”. Each and every record, tape, and disc I’d buy would be a beacon for me to shine on those who want to relate. They would all be ammunition for future playlists, broadcasts, and back-and-forth discussions on who-knows-what and what they don’t know.

In the end, I felt complete. I bought everything I wanted and did it all with no regrets. It’s the ultimate in self-care and the biggest favor I’ve ever done for myself.

Would I do this again? There’s always a shooting star’s possibility. I got it out of my system and things like these take a few years before I have a renewed urge to go for it. For now, there’s lots of titles I know I’ll never find in stores that I’ll find online. Should you ever have the chance to go all out and do a victory tour, do it. Do something guilt-free and with no regrets. Build yourself up, cross boundaries, take chances, and experience something that will stay with you forever. I promise you’ll be glad you did.

Needle & Groove:

Deodato: Artistry LP

Hank Crawford: We Got A Good Thing Going LP

Ronnie Laws: Friends And Strangers LP

Ron Carter: Blues Farm LP

Grandmaster Flash: “Flash To The Beat” 12”

Melle Mel & Duke Booty: “Message II (Survival)” 12”

Solitair ft. Choclair & Cardinal Offishall: “No Doubt” b/w “S.O.T.” 12”

Nu Shooz: “Point Of No Return” 12”

Techno Animal ft. El-P & Vast Aire: “We Can Build You” 12”

Frankie Goes To Hollywood: “Relax” 7”

System, The: “Don’t Desert This Groove” 7”

Academy Records (Manhattan):

Kool Moe Dee: “Death Blow” 12”

Prime Minister Pete Nice & Daddy Rich: “Kick The Bobo” 12”

Professor Griff & The Last Asiatic Disciples: “Pawns In The Game” 12”

Kool Moe Dee: “They Want Money” 12”

Queen Latifah: “Ladies First” 12”

Public Enemy: “Give It Up” 12”

Kool Moe Dee: “Wild Wild West” 12”

Heavy D. & The Boys ft. various artists: “Don’t Curse” 12”

Spoonie Gee: Godfather Of Rap LP

Original Concept: Straight From The Basement Of Cooley High LP

The Men: Devil Music LP

Stepdad SS: Mad About It LP

Vaaska: Ruido Hasta La Muerte LP

Institute: Re-Adjusting The Locks LP

Test Dept.: Compulsion (Machine Run) LP

Boy Harsher: Country Girl (Uncut) LP

Hubert Laws: Then There Was Light LP

Hank Crawford: Tico Rico LP

Richard ‘Groove’ Holmes: Dancing In The Sun LP

Glam: self-titled 7”

Perdition: self-titled 7”

Soaker: self-titled 7”

Strutter: self-titled 7”

Hombrinus Dudes: self-titled 7”

Deformed Conscience: self-titled 7”

25 Rifles: History Of Flags 7”

Funeral Shock: Paint Thinner 7”

Vagra: Refuse 7”

River City Tanlines: “The Devil Made me Do It” b/w “Nothing Means Nothing Anymore” 7”

Shizuo: “Sweat” b/w “Stop It” 7”

Code-13 b/w DS-13 split 7”

Billy Ocean: “Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car” 7”

Stacey Q: “Two Of Hearts” 7”

Miami Sound Machine: “Bad Boy” 7”

Cameo: “Word Up” 7”

Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz: “Deja Vu” CS

Who’s The Man: motion picture soundtrack CS

Ata Kak: Obaa Sima CS

Captured Tracks:

Jon Lucien: Premonition LP

Ron Carter: Peg Leg LP

Ramsey Lewis: Love Notes LP

Hubert Laws & Earl Klugh: How To Beat The High Cost Of Living LP

Weather Report: Tale Spinnin’ LP

Olympic Runners: Don’t Let Up LP

Bootsy’s Rubber Band: Stretchin’ It Out In… LP

Jeff Lorber Fusion, The: self-titled LP

Blackbyrds: Unfinished Business LP

Herbie Mann: Sunbelt LP

Hank Crawford: Cajun Sunrise LP

Kool Moe Dee: Knowledge Is King LP

Blank Stare: self-titled LP

Police, The: “Every Breath You Take” 7”

Simple Minds: “Don’t You Forget About Me” 7”

Bangles, The: “In Your Room” 7”

Thompson Twins: “Hold Me Now” 7”

Janet Jackson: “Let’s Wait A While” 7”

Kim Carnes: “Bette Davis Eyes” b/w “Miss You Tonight” 7”

Alan Vega: Mutator CD

Marissa Nadler: The Path Of The Clouds CD

Record Stop:

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion: Now I Got Worry

Keelhaul: Subject To Change Without Notice

Outrage: Disharmony Brings Harmony

Lost Highway motion picture soundtrack

Candlebox: Lucy

Heavens To Betsy: Calculated

Lou Reed: The Blue Mask

Type O Negative: Life Is Killing Me

Judgment Night motion picture soundtrack

Stabbing Westward: Darkest Days

Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories: Tails

Goo Goo Dolls: A Boy Named Goo

Candlebox: self-titled

Collective Soul: self-titled (clear yellow case)

Mad Season: Above

Sponge: Wax Ecstatic

Collective Soul: Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid

Stabbing Westward: Ungod

Stuttering John: self-titled

Lou Reed: Transformer

Wattstax: The Living World

Beat Street Volume 2

Paul Simon: One-Trick Pony

Expose: Exposure

George Benson: The George Benson Collection Volume Two

Richard Marx: self-titled

Cheapo's (Commack):

Crusaders, The: Southern Comfort

Earl Klugh: Dream Come True

George Benson: Bad Benson

Brecker Bros., The: Straphangin’

Hubert Laws: The San Francisco Concert

Crusaders, The: Images

Richard Tee: Strokin’

Chuck Mangione: Feels So Good

Sonny Fortune: Infinity Is

George Benson: In Flight

Earl Klugh: Heart String

Hank Crawford: Don’t You Worry About A Thing

Tom Scott & The L.A. Express: Tom Cat

Crusaders, The: The Best Of The…

Ralph MacDonald: Counterpoint

Force M.D.’s, The: “Itchin’ For A Scratch”

Brecker Bros., The: self-titled

West Street Mob: “Let’s Dance (Make Your Body Move)” b/w “Monster Jam” (ins.)

Earl Klugh: Finger Paintings

Crusaders, The: Those Southern Nights

Sonny Fortune: Awakening

Depeche Mode: Black Celebration

Pig Destroyer: The Octagonal Stairway

Velvet Underground, The & Nico: self-titled

Rollins Band: Nice

Matthew Sweet: Altered Beast

Death: For The Whole World To See

Crowbar: Symmetry In Black

Cure, The: Disintegration

Menace II Society: original motion picture soundtrack

Run DMC: Greatest Hits

Queen Latifah: Nature Of A Sista’

X-Clan: Xodus

Gin Blossoms: New Miserable Experience

Matthew Sweet: 100% Fun

Indecision: To Live And Die In New York City

Rollins Band: Weight

Big Daddy Kane: Looks Like A Job For…

Pig Destroyer: Phantom Limb

Sisters Of Mercy: A Slight Case Of Overbombing

Sonic Youth: “Bull In The Heather”

Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy: Hypocricy Is The Greatest Luxury

Porno For Pyros: self-titled

Ice-T: “Ricochet”

KRS-One: self-titled

Eric B. & Rakim: Let The Rhythm Hit ‘Em

Boogiemonsters: Riders Of The Storm: The Underwater Album

Vision Of Disorder: The Cursed Remain Cursed

Matthew Sweet: Girlfriend

Fugazi: Repeater + 3 Songs

Grandmaster Flash & Grandmaster Melle Mel & The Furious Five: Greatest Hits

Das EFX: Straight Up Sewaside

Jane’s Addiction: Ritual De Lo Habitual (censored)

Sponge: Rotting Pinata

Lost Boyz: Legal Drug Money

Dead Kennedys: Bedtime For Democracy

Rollins Band: Get Some Go Again

Pig Destroyer: Head Cage

Cure, The: Wish

Depeche Mode: Speak & Spell

New Jack City: original motion picture soundtrack

Ice-T: O.G. Original Gangster

EPMD: Business As Usual

Velvet Underground, The: White Light, White Heat

Depeche Mode: A Broken Frame

Higher Learning: original motion picture soundtrack

Pig Destroyer: Book Burner

Looney Tunes:

Halsey: If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power  

My Bloody Valentine: MBV  

Full Of Hell: Garden Of Burning Apparitions  

Koyo: Painting Words Into Lies  

Every Time I Die: Radical  

Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist: Alfredo  

Pantera: Far Beyond Driven  

Henry Rollins: Think Tank  

Presidents Of The United States Of America, The: self-titled  

Pharcyde: Bizarre Ride II The Far Side  

Public Image Ltd.: Happy?  

Verve Pipe, The: Villains  

Velvet Acid Christ: Fun With Knives  

Psychopomps: Six Six Six Nights In Hell  

Kaada & Patton: Romances  

Parquet Courts / Parkay Quarts: Tally All The Things You Broke  

Nurse With Wound: The Sylvie And Babs High-Thigh Companion  

New York Dolls: self-titled  

Pure Disgust: self-titled

Diat: Positive Energy

Rogers Sisters, The: The Invisible Deck

Crusaders, The: Free As The Wind

Ronnie Laws: Flame

Earl Klugh: self-titled

Adrian Belew: Lone Rhino

Kurtis Blow: “The Bronx”

Flora Purim: Open Your Eyes You Can Fly

Bruce Hornsby & The Range: “Mandolin Rain” 7”

Bruce Springsteen: “My Hometown” 7”

Starship: “Sara” 7”

Rolling Stones: “Harlem Shuffle” 7”

Whitney Houston: “Saving All My Love For You” 7”

Robbie Nevil: “C’est La Vie” 7”

Samantha Foxx: “Touch Me (I Want To Feel Your Body)” 7”

Gloria Estefan & The Miami Sound Machine: “Anything For You” 7”

Bananarama: “I Heard A Rumour” 7”

Joan Jett & The Blackhearts: “I Love Rock ‘N Roll” 7”

Bruce Springsteen: “I’m Going Down” 7”

Pressure: Your Rage EP 7”

Plan A Project: 532 Seconds Of… 7”

Truth Inside: self-titled 7”

Record Reserve:

Def Leopard: “Pour Some Sugar On Me” 7”

Cutting Crew: “I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight” 7”

Kim Carnes: “Bette Davis Eyes” 7”

Eurythmics: “Here Comes The Rain Again” 7”

Huey Lewis & The News: “If This Is It” 7”

Janet Jackson: “Nasty” 7”

OMD: “If You Leave” (Pretty In Pink) 7”

Lita Ford: “Kiss Me Deadly” 7”

Don Henley: “The Boys Of Summer” 7”

Berlin: “Take My Breath Away” (Top Gun) 7”

Starship: “Nothing’s Gonna’ Stop Us Now” (Mannequin) 7”

Glenn Frey: “You Belong To The City” 7”

Make Or Break: Down For Life e.p. 7”

Poverty Bay Saints: self-titled e.p. 7”

American Cheeseburger: self-titled e.p. 7”

Riistetyt: Tuomiopaiva e.p. 7”

Transitions b/w After The Fall: split 7”

Insult: self-titled e.p. 7”

Degenerics, The: self-titled 7”

American Nightmare: “Four Song Demo” 7”

Embrace The Kill / In Defence / Hellmouth / Opposition Rising: split 7”

Wreck: Reap What You Sow e.p. 7”

Asinine Solution: My Dad’s A Goat! e.p. 7”

Sex Vid: Tania e.p. 7”

Steve Khan: Evidence 12”

Billy Cobham: Spectrum 12”

Crusaders, The: Chain Reaction 12”

Cheech & Chong: Los Cochinos@#!!* 12”

David Sanborn: Heart To Heart 12”

Spyro Gyra: Free Time 12”

Pat Metheny Group: self-titled 12”

Cars, The: Candy-O 12”

Paula & Carol: In The Magic Garden 12”

High Score: New Fuel 12”

Murder Suicide Pact: self-titled 12”

Insomnio: Happy Loneliness 12”

Ubasute: Tyranny Garden 12”

Terminal Youth: self-titled 12”

Sedatives: self-titled 12”

Sleeper Cell: self-titled 12”

High Card: Generation Y 12”

Massmord b/w Shades Of Grey: split 12”

Intensity: The Ruins Of Our Future 12”

R’N’R: self-titled 12”

Police Bastard: Traumatized 12”

Mrtva Budounost b/w Left In Ruins: split 12”

Still No Future: Under Pressure 12”

High Fidelity (first visit):

Weather Report: Mysterious Traveller LP

Chuck Mangione: Chase The Clouds Away LP

Urbie Green: Senor Blues LP

Sonny Fortune: With Sound Reason LP

Herbie Mann: Waterbed LP

Hubert Laws: Crying Songs LP

David Newman: Mr. Fathead LP

Al DiMeola: Elegant Gypsy LP

Herbie Mann: Bird In A Silver Cage

Richard Tee: Natural Ingredients LP

Grover Washington. Jr.: Feels So Good LP

David Sanborn: Promise Me The Moon LP

David Newman: Newmanism LP

Herbie Mann & Fire Band: self-titled LP

Roy Ayers Ubiquity: Mystic Voyage LP

Jackie Martling: Goin’ Ape LP

Pop Will Eat Itself: Box Frenzy LP

Freur: Doot Doot LP

Treacherous Three: “Gotta Rock” b/w “Get Up” 12”

Terror: One With The Underdogs CD

Every Time I Die: Gutter Phenomenon CD

Throwdown: Vendetta CD

Talking Heads: More Songs About Buildings And Food CD

Parliament: Up For The Downstroke CD

Joy Division: Closer CD

Cage: Hell’s Winter CD

Tha Alkaholiks: Coast To Coast CD

Goodie Mobb: Soul Food CD

Parliament: Trombipulation CD

Squarepusher: Ultavisitor CD

Batman Forever motion picture soundtrack CD

High School High motion picture soundtrack CD

Babes In Toyland: Painkillers CD

Every Time I Die: New Junk Aesthetic CD

Henry Rollins: A Rollins In The Wry CD

Deftones: Minerva CD

Parliament: Mothership Connection CD

Bootsy’s Rubber Band: Bootsy? Player Of The Year CD

Nitzer Ebb: That Total Age CD

Consolidated: Play More Music CD

Excessive Force: Blitzkrieg CD

Tool: 10,000 Days deluxe CD

Godflesh: Merciless CD

devL: self-titled CD

Parliament: Motorbooty Affair CD

Talking Heads: Stop Making Sense CD

Vfanhthore: Tremebunda Calígine RegionalistaCD

Sakrileg: self-titled CD

Sorgelig: Apostate CD

Rotten Age: Upadek ŚwiatłościCD

Tyrant Goatgaldrakona: Horns In The DarkCD

Sepulchral Cries: Misery Exhibits CD

Lihporcen: Illuminate CD

Sagverk: Sahataan Ne KaikkiCD

Sorgelig: Forever Lost CD

VolkeinBlucht:To Consume The Darkness Whole… CD

Tragedy Begins: Kleos Aenaon CD

Unholy Desolation: The Age Of Lost Souls CD

Torvara: Killing Culture CD

Sacristy: 4444 CD

Svartsorg: Agonie Des LichtsCD

Soundbombing (CS)

Kraftwerk: Autobahn (CS)

Poor Righteous Teachers: Holy Intellect (CS)

Dame: self-titled (7”)

High Fidelity (second visit):

Malcomb McLaren: “Double Dutch” b/w “Hobo Scratch (She’s Looking Like A Hobo)” 12”

2 Live Crew: “Me So Horny” 12”

Jackie Martling: What Do You Expect? LP

Kurtis Blow: self-titled LP

Animal Collective: Centipede Hz CD

Garbage: “When I Grow Up” CD

Filter: Anthems For The Damned CD

Pearl Jam: “Dissident”

Talking Heads: True Stories CD

Blind Melon: self-titled CD

Killing Joke: Democracy CD

Singles: motion picture soundtrack CD

Weezer: Pinkerton CD

Temple Of The Dog: self-titled CD

Filter: “Welcome To The Fold” CD

Seven Mary Three: American Standard CD

Folk Implosion, The: Dare To Be Surprised CD

Murs: 3:16, The 9th Edition CD

Double XX: Ruff, Rugged, & Raw CD

Aanomm: Dragging Hurtful Shame CD

Kveste + Neftaraka: Finis Coronat Opus CD

Alter Of Blood: Rehearsal 2018 CD

Cavus: The New Era CD

Darkness + Oltretomba: Horned, Winged And Grim CD

While They Sleep: La Nausee CD

Doden Grotte + Fullmoon Cult: Summon The Wolves Of War CD

Nostalgic War: self-titled CD

Pestem + Occulator: Bastards From Hell CD

Wraith: Shadows CD

Infernal Blast: Wolves Elitism Speech CD

Mordrean: Under The Black Frost CD

Iugulatus: Call Of The Horned God CD

Thantifaxath: self-titled CD

Basilisk: A Joyless March Through The Cold Lands CD

Darkness Creature: Darkness Do Mal CD

Nephilim: Klandestyn CD

Wolfenburg: self-titled CD

Blasphemus Crucifixion: Crude Burial CD

Dead To Earth + VolkeinBlucht + Idvarp: Three Way Split CD

Berzabum: The Compilation To The Infernorum CD

Lich: Cryptic Stench CD

Hatefrost: Frozen Land CD

Bloodrain: De Vermis Mysteriis CD

Nazghor: Diabolical Teachings CD

Graven Dusk: self-titled CD

Neocortex: Es Liegt Die Welt In Scherben ‎CD

Demonification: Obey The Antichrist CD

Cultus Funeris: Revertere Ad Locum Tuum CD

Liturgia Maleficarum: Totus Tuus CD

Mahdyhell: Conquerors of Hell (An Infernal Journey) CD

Neoheresy: Noc Ktora Dniem Sie Stala CD

Misanthrope: Noctivaga Tempestad De Inerme Conocimiento CD

Gestane: Dedicated To Total Devastation CD

Fornace: Deep Melancholic Wrath CD

Cultus Funeris: Revertere Ad Locum Tuum CD

Beheritbras: Goat Worshipping Blasphemic Metal CD

Freezing Blood + Widmo + The Sons Of Perdition: Desecration Rituals CD

Malaflame: Ca Del Diaol CD

* various artists: Nas Chamas Abismais Em Misantropia Luciferiana CD

Anger: Juvenile Anthems CD

25 Ta Life: Haterz Be Damned CD

Shai Hulud: Misanthropy Pure CD

Flipper: Generic CD

Nobodys: Hussy CD

Laughing Hyenas: Life Of Crime CD

Boysetsfire: After The Eulogy CD

Fugazi: Instrument Soundtrack CD

Toll: Christ Knows CD

Noisex: Over And Out CD

Leaether Strip: The Rebirth Of Agony CD

Hocico: Sangre Hirviente CD

Noisex: Serious Killer CD

Cobra Killer: Six Secs CD

Noisex: Groupieshock CD

Controlled Bleeding: Larva Lumps And Baby Bumps CD

Leaether Strip: Serenade For The Dead CD

Noisex: 1920.00 CD

Wolf Eyes + Black Dice: self-titled CD

Kraftwerk: Tour De France Soundtracks CD

Infinity Records:

Black Dice: Load Blown 12”sampler

Buzzcocks: Spiral Scratch 12″ EP

Deodato: Very Together LP

Jon Lucien: The Best Of… LP

David Sanborn: Taking Off LP

Spyro Gyra: Morning Dance LP

Hubert Laws: Family LP

Gary Bartz: Love Affair LP

Richie Cole: Keeper Of The Flame LP

George Benson: Blue Benson LP

Deodato: First Cuckoo LP

Lovebug Starski: “House Rocker” 12″

Robert Palmer: “I Didn’t Mean To Turn You On” 12″

Lou Reed: “No Money Down” 12″

Sugarhill Gang: “Sugarhill Groove” b/w “8th Wonder” 12″

Father MC: “Everything’s Gonna’ Be Alright” 12″

Billy Ocean: “Carribean Queen” 12″

Raveonettes, The: In And Out Of Control CD

Metallica: Garage Inc. CD

Zola Jesus: Versions CD

Sunday Records:

Prince: “1999” b/w “How Come U Don’t Call” 7”

Re-Flex: “The Politics Of Dancing” b/w “Flex It” 7”

Normal, The: “TV Overdose” b/w “Warm Leatherette” 7”

Gary Numan: “I Die: You Die” b/w “Down In The Park” 7”

Pet Shop Boys: “It’s A Sin” b/w “You Know Where You Went Wrong” 7”

Robert Palmer: “Simply Irresistible” b/w “Nova” 7”

Pet Shop Boys: “What Have I Done To Deserve This” b/w “A New Life” 7”

Bananarama: “Cruel Summer” 7”

Belinda Carlisle: “Heaven Is A Place On Earth” 7”

Dead Or Alive: “Brand New Lover” 7”

Joan Jett: “Little Liar” 7”

Killing Joke: “Adorations” b/w “Exile” 7”

Mike & The Mechanics: “Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground) b/w “Par Avion” 7”

Tone Loc: “Funky Cold Medina” 7”

Suzanne Vega: “Luka” 7”

Human League: “Don’t You Want Me” b/w “Seconds” 7”

Escape Club: “Wild Wild West b/w “We Can Run” 7”

Erasure: “Chains Of Love” b/w “Don’t Suppose” 7”

Don Henley: “All She Wants To Do Is Dance” b/w “Building The Perfect Beast” 7”

Starship: “We Built This City” b/w “Private Room” (ins.) 7”

Todd Rundgren: “Hello It’s Me” b/w “Cold Morning Light” 7”

Huey Lewis: “Stuck With You” b/w “Don’t Ever Tell Me That You Love Me” 7”

Stevie Winwood: “The Finer Things” 7”

Wings: “With A Little Luck” b/w “Backwards” 7”

Robert Palmer: “Addicted To Love” b/w “Let’s Fall In Love Tonight” 7”

Bananarama: “Venus” b/w “White Train” 7”

Joan Jett: “I Hate Myself For Loving You” 7”

Mike & The Mechanics: “Through The Living Years” b/w “Too Many Friends” 7”

Stevie Winwood: “Higher Love” 7”

Don Henley: “Dirty Laundry” b/w “Lilah” 7”

J.J. Fad: “Supersonic” 12”

Black Moon: “I Got Cha Opin” b/w “Reality” 12”

Big Daddy Kane: Raw ‘91 12”

Kurtis Blow: “If I Ruled The World” 12”

Jeru The Damaja: “Come Clean” b/w “D. Original Dirty Rotten Scoundrel” 12”

Fu-Schnickens: “Ring The Alarm” 12”

Young MC: “Bust A Move” 12”

Chaka Khan: “Crush Groove (Can’t Stop The Street)” 12”

Big Daddy Kane: “I Get The Job Done” 12”

Double XX Posse, The: “not Gonna Be Able To Do It” b/w “The Pure Thing” 12”

Domino: “Sweet Potato Pie” 12”

Masta Ace Incorporated: “Jeep Ass Niguh” b/w “Saturday Night Live” 12”

Fonda Rae: “Over Like A Fat Rat” 12”

River Ocean ft. India: The Tribal EP

Grandmaster & Melle Mel: “White Lines” b/w “Melle Mel’s Groove” 12”

DMX: “Born Loser” 12”

Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five: “On The Strength” 12”

Anti Nowhere League, The: The Perfect Crime 12”

Mr. Mister: “Is It Love b/w “Broken Wings” 12”

Thompson Twins: “Lies” 12”

Roxette: “The Look” 12”

T’Pau: “Heart And Soul” 12”

Dire Straits: Extended Dance EP 12”

Flora Purim: “Stories To Tell” 12”

Raveonettes, The: Pe’Ahi 12”

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark: “If You Leave” b/w “La Femme Accident” 12”

Nu Shooz: “Point Of No Return” 12”

Falco: “Vienna Calling” b/w “Rock Me Amadeus” 12”

Shirts, The: self-titled 12”

Belinda Carlisle: “I Get Weak” 12”

Captain Sensible: “Wot!” 12”

Young Gods, The: self-titled 12”

Men Without Hats: “The Safety Dance” 12”

Level 42: “Something About You” 12”

Killing Joke: “Sanity” b/w “Eighties” 12”

Pere Ubu: The Art Of Walking 12”

Kraftwerk: The Man-Machine 12”

Innocent, The: Livin’ In The Street 12”

XBXRX: Gop Ist Minee 12”

Cabaret Voltaire: The Crackdown 12”

Cars, The: Panorama 12”

Cheapo's (Mineola):

Krush Groove: motion picture soundtrack LP

Spyro Gyra: Carnaval LP

David Sanborn: Taking Off LP 

Lee Ritenour: Captain Fingers LP 

Rasa: Everything You See Is Me LP

Ronnie Laws: Fever LP

Hubert Laws: Say It With Silence LP

Earl Klugh: Living Inside Your Love LP

Billy Cobham: Magic LP 

George Benson: Blue Benson LP    

Nas: Life Is Good CD

Salt-N-Pepa: Very Necessary CD

Craig Mack: Project: Funk Da World CD

Notorious B.I.G., The: Ready To Die CD

Tool: 10,000 Days (non-deluxe) CD

Live: Four Songs CD

Bjork: Selmasongs CD

Henry Rollins: Big Ugly Mouth CD

Hole: Live Through This CD

Dead Kennedys: Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables CD

Bad Brains: self-titled CD

Posies, The: Dear 23 CD

Les Savy Fav: Inches CD

Savages: Adore Life CD

Die Krupps: Odyssey Of The Mind CD

Peaches: The Teaches Of Peaches CD

VNV Nation: Matter + Form CD

Cyberaktif: Temper CD

Indecision: Release The Cure CD

Dead Kennedys: In God We Trust, Inc. / Plastic Surgery Disasters CD

Live: Mental Jewelry CD

John Cougar Mellencamp: “Paper In Fire” 7”

Bangles: “Hazy Shade Of Winter” 7”

Mike & The Mechanics: “All I Need Is A Miracle” 7”

‘Til Tuesday: “Voices Carry” 7”

Loverboy: “Working For The Weekend” 7”

Glenn Frey: “The Heat Is On” 7”

Fabulous Thunderbirds: “Wrap It Up” 7”

John Cougar Mellencamp: “Small Town” 7”

Jackie ‘The Joke Man’ Martling: Hot Dogs And Donuts CS

Madonna: The Immaculate Collection CS

Jackie ‘The Joke Man’ Martling: Rollin’ With The Punches CS

Innersleeve Records:

(No purchase.)

[goodbysunball]

Four du jour

Flailing wildly to keep up with music and the embarrassing stacks of sealed records piling up. Here’s an effort to slow down and pay more attention to what’s in house - some really great stuff within. Dig if you will:

Famous Mammals, Instant Pop Expressionism Now! LP (Siltbreeze)

The Bay Area's Famous Mammals follow-up their self-released cassette with an LP on Siltbreeze, a fine pairing if there ever was one. Much like that cassette, the band channels some of the greats - Swell Maps, the Fall, the first two Pere Ubu records - and wraps it up in the warmth of late '80s/early '90s home recorded cassettes. At 18 tracks, this is a bit of a strain on the ol' attention span, but the band seemingly can't stop writing good-to-great tracks, so why not? My favorites are when they get a little stormy and aggressive ("Comets for Poets," "Empty London" and "Quips In Print") and the experimental tracks littered throughout, some instrumental ("Metal Forest") and some not, like Amber Sermeno's great performance over the nimble guitar line on "Charmed Effects" or the absurd and quotable "Crayon World." There is definitely a sense that the Mammals are repeating themselves over 18 tracks, also like the cassette: "Let the Light In," "Soul Without Sound," "Like a Shadow" and "Parachute Traction Excites!" have a lot of overlap, the distorted jangle on each reminding me of the next, even after many runs through. All of these tracks are pleasant enough, with "Like a Shadow" likely emerging as the most pop moment on the record, but they can also sound like filler when placed next to more adventurous tracks. On a record full of questionable sequencing, only one moment stands out as egregious: the steely deadpan of "Thou Art Abstract" falling face first into "Cotton Boy Tuesday" and its goofy nursery rhyme vocal melody, bringing the record to a dead stop only four tracks in. Its two minutes pass and the record regains momentum a few minutes later with "Empty London" and never looks back. I'm unsure if I've listened to Instant Pop Expressionism Now! so much in an attempt to grasp at some hidden thread or because of the record's magnetism; but, I can say that the best tracks, isolated or within the LP's context, are some of the year’s best.

Martin Frawley, The Wannabe LP (Trouble In Mind)

Been back and forth on whether or not to write about Martin Frawley's second LP, The Wannabe, but it's been played much too often in my house to brush aside anymore. Frawley was once a member of Twerps, went through a pretty bad breakup and some self-destructive tendencies were unleashed, released Undone at 31 in 2019 on Merge, and now he's landed on Trouble In Mind for the follow-up. There was an intriguing long-form interview with Frawley on LNWY around the time of the first album's release (link's dead now) that piqued my interest, but I'd never checked him out until now. Where he's at on The Wannabe is a much better place than the interview from a few years ago, but the writing is still biting and sardonic, leveled mostly at himself, though the sparkling title track takes on "the industry" at large. There's definitely that surface-level classic rock feel to The Wannabe, the hits spaced out with bared-soul singer-songwriter schlock and some others that don't take the luster off the hits. At his best, Frawley sounds like Warren Zevon on his Asylum albums, or a David Berman stripped of metaphors, funneling frustration, depression and a sharp sense of humor into his lyrics. That earnestness is something that works to Frawley's advantage for the majority of the album, painfully replaying a chance encounter with an ex on "This Is Gonna Change Your Mind" and admitting to wanting his deceased father's approval on "5th of the 5th." At worst, he's creating objectively beautiful but a bit too literal songs like "Lola" and "I Wish Everyone Would Love Me" that, while certain in their intention, could benefit greatly from a bit of clever obfuscation. For the majority of the album, the band he's assembled works hard to keep Frawley grounded and steady: "Slip Away" churns like Boxer-era National, and "5th of the 5th" chugs and sears like the Velvets on Loaded. But the band never steals the spotlight from Frawley's lyrics, for better or worse. The contradiction at the center of Frawley's lyrics - that he's down on himself but still believes in himself, that he's a mess but worthy of your love and attention - is a hard place to invite listeners, but he makes it pretty comfortable throughout The Wannabe. Parsing out that contradiction, however heart-on-sleeve, is at the core of what makes the record stick. There's probably not a lot of room in the underground for a record as openly emotional as this, but for the most part it feels refreshingly messy and human, a shot in the arm I didn't know I needed. Maybe you could use a boost, too.

Index For Working Musik, Dragging the Needlework for the Kids at Uphole (Tough Love)

Strange brew, this one: Index For Working Musik manage to make a record that's refreshing in its precision, hard to pin down, and slippery enough to evade my feeble memory even after several months of familiarization. The band plays a style of rock that's patient and unflappable, with vocals delivered just above a whisper, and emerge with a sound as lush as it is stark black and white like its cover. There's a Come On Die Young vibe to the opener "Wagner," maybe just in the brittle guitar line and tone, but wholly lacking in tension until feedback wrests control over the final seconds. The closing track "Habanita," maybe my favorite here, rides a slowly picked guitar line to open up new paths, hushed group vocals and phaser guitar (or keyboard?) inflating the proceedings to spectacular heights. In between, I've been stuck playing spot the influence to try and attach a mnemonic device to the meekly presented spread. At points, I hear: Honey Radar's tape hiss-happy and economical approach to classic rock, especially on "ISIS Beatles" and "1871," the latter probably the closest IFWM comes to rocking; Air's "Cherry Blossom Girl" on "Palangana"; Grandaddy, perhaps due to a similarly laid-back presentation, on "Railroad Bulls" and “Athletes of Exile”; and so on. My favorites, "Wagner," "ISIS Beatles” and "Habanita," stretch the ideas out a bit longer, and maybe that's part of my problem: most songs seem too clean, or even risk-averse, choosing to stay within a tidy and neat set of parameters. While I think “1871” is an exception, the tense strumming of “Ambiguous Fauna” is cut short, and it feels like “Athletes of Exile” has just shaken off the rust when it ends. Despite all of the enticing details in the label’s writeup (endless experimental recording sessions, the inclusion of found samples and field recordings, a mysterious text that jump-starts the creative process), I still struggle to connect with the bulk of the record, however much the actual sounds satisfy. It sort of feels like the equivalent of a really elaborate window display for a boutique shop: there’s a high level of skill behind it, and everything is placed just so, but you’re kept at arm’s length by thick glass. Whatever the case, Dragging the Needlework for the Kids at Uphole remains enigmatic - the lyrics, that title - despite being crisply presented and never outstaying its welcome.

Optic Nerve, Angel Numbers LP (Urge)

New-to-me outfit from Sydney, and one with a sound and approach that, as the record's press sheet indicates, sets them apart from their many peers in the city. It's hard for me to hear Optic Nerve, and especially Jackie De Lacy's rough, barked vocals, and not think of the short-lived Rat King, whose sole LP Godsend remains a steady favorite of mine ten-plus years on. Optic Nerve isn't as bleak as Rat King, nor do they have much low end presence on this recording, though Optic Nerve's just about as intense, cold-working punk into new forms through force of will. "Tonic" always drives this point home for me, the song careening toward the finish with few changing parts, a bit of distortion and De Lacy's vocals the engine supplying the power. "Trap Door" initially charges forward in the same manner, but eventually splits open to reveal a bright and rowdy guitar line ripped outta Mikey Young's Eddy Current Suppression Ring playbook. Much like ECSR on their string of singles in the '00s, the band finds a lane and sticks with it throughout most of Angel Numbers. It's a blast to hear them hit the same highs over and over, fists pumping from two minutes into the opener through one minute into the closing track before it's inevitable deterioration. Some detours, like the moody instrumental "Interlude" and the crawling "Basket," as well as the choice to weaponize the shrill notes of the flute on several tracks, point to a broader horizon for Optic Nerve. Though not really similar in sound, there is a palpable energy on Angel Numbers that's present on Unwound's The Future of What and Repetition, all seething records dissatisfied with the present and hungry for something more. Definitely feels like Angel Numbers has flown undeservingly under the radar, but with only 300 copies to go around, I wouldn't take a chance on that being the case for very long. Tops of this batch o' reviews, for those keeping score.

[dealgemeneverwarring]

De Algemene Verwarring #101 - 13 November 2023

Episode one hundred and one of De Algemene Verwarring was broadcast on Monday, November 13, 2023, and you can listen to it by clicking on the link below that will take you directly to the Mixcloud page:

Pictured below are De Portables, the Belgian band from Bruges that played its very last show last Friday. They existed for about 27 years and have always been a part of my musical life. Unfortunately that last show was on the same day as the first day of the Sonic City festival here in Kortrijk, so I missed it, but I've seen them numerous times in the past and I've always thought that they would be around for ever. There are only a few bands like that, the ones that have been around all your life and that you assume will be there forever. Sonic Youth was one of those bands, The Ex is still one of those bands, The Cure is one of those bands, and De Portables was one of those bands. I'm quite sure that there will be more musical output from the different band members (I mean, for instance, listen to Wio's excellent Disintegration cover album), but still, this is the end of a musical era. And there are not a lot of Belgian bands with the same legacy as De Portables. I already played on of their excellent cover songs in the previous episode, and this time I'm playing the opening and title track of their album "Rosegarden". Thank you for the music!

This whole episode has a post festival vibe, there's only one very loud track, there's a lot of slow long tracks, a few drones, and a bit of krautrock. Bands in this episode include The Shifters, Sex Church, Stereolab, Lungfish, PJ Harvey, Hydroplane, Ordeal, K-Group, and a new Blod track to open the show. And beneath the photo you can find the playlist for the show. Enjoy!

Playlist:

Blod: Splittringen (LP “Ondskans Frö”, self-released, 2023)

Sex Church: Hidden Hand (12” “Somnambulist” on Psychic Handshake Recordings & Instant Pleasure Records, 2013)

The Shifters: The American Attitude To Law (LP “The Shifters” on Future Folklore Records, reissue from 2018, originally released on cassette in 2015 on Comfort 35 in 35 copies)

Stereolab: Harmonium (2LP “Refried Ectoplasm (Switched On Volume 2)” on Duophonic Ultra High Frequency Disks, reissue 2018, originally released in 1995)

Cloudland Canyon: Krautwerk (LP “Lie In Light” on Kranky, 2008)

Lewsberg: A Different View (LP “Out And About”, self-released, 2023)

Hydroplane: Failed Adventure (2LP “Selected Songs 1997-2003” on World Of Echo, 2023, originally released on a 7” on Elefant Records, 1997)

PJ Harvey: A Child’s Question, August (LP “I Inside The Old Year Dying” on Partisan Records, 2023)

Lungfish: Ann The Word (CD “Artificial Horizon” on Dischord, 1998)

Twinsistermoon: Black Nebulae (LP “Then Fell The Ashes…” on Blackest Rainbow, 2010)

Loopsel: I En Skog (LP “Öga För Öga : Eye For An Eye” on DFA Records & Mammas Mysteriska Jukebox, 2023)

Ordeal: Falks Grav (LP “Vätterns Pärla” on Aguirre Records, 2023)

K-Group: Remaining Light (LP “New Series 1” on Knotwilg Records, 2023)

De Portables: Rosegarden (CD “Rosegarden” on Kraak, 2001)

[doomedandstoned]

MARGARITA WITCH CULT Summon Chills with “The Witchfinder Comes”

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

Bursting on the scene from Birmingham, England, we welcome to the pages of Doomed & Stoned MARGARITA WITCH CULT. Today the doom rock trio are sharing a new single and music video from their upcoming self-titled debut.

"The Witchfinder Comes" is a menacing number that likely alludes to the Puritan zealots Matthew Hopkins and John Stearne, who hung hundreds of suspected witches during the English Civil War. The song's chorus is as irresistible as its rollicking, Sabbath-style riff-making (and a bit chilling): "Oh son, what you done wrong? All I know is you'd better be gone. Oh son, you'd better run, run. Don't be around when The Witchfinder comes."

In the band's own words, the track is "a macabre tale of an impending witch hunt, climaxing with the subject running in fear over the spiraling coda. The slab of bludgeoning '70s style proto-metal is a stadium sized version of the song which first appeared on the band’s demo cassette that brought the Margarita Witch Cult to the public eye in 2022.”

Margarita Witch Cult is a vibrant, rollicking old-school doomer from edge to center. On April 21st, Heavy Psych Sounds will issue the album in a stunning array of media (pre-order here). Stick it on a playlist with Black Sabbath, Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats, Warlung, Orchid, and Bang.

Give ear...

WATCH & LISTEN: Margarita Witch Cult - "The Witchfinder Comes"

SOME BUZZ

Born from the murky industrial depths of Birmingham, UK, Margarita Witch Cult’s self-titled debut studio album is a tour-de-force in classic metal, hard rock, doom, and mind-melting psych.

A thunderous drum fill propels you into opener "Diabolical Influence" -- a lurching behemoth of a tune that makes easy bedfellows of crushing stoner riffs, Latin incantations, and a simply humongous chorus. The pace quickens with the frantic "Death Lurks at Every Turn" -- a hair-raising thrasher of breakneck snare rolls and unruly guitar solos. "The Witchfinder Comes" only furthers the sense of foreboding, as tales of torture and pleas for exile fall on the ever-deafening ears of the listener. "Be My Witch" comes in hot and heavy as a grungy ode to the forbidden, and the blistering "Annihilation" concludes side A with speed-freak ferocity.

The more adventurous and immersive side B is kick-started with "Theme From Cyclops" –- the deft chops of all three members being undeniable as we gallop into the ambitious, face-melting journey that is "Lord Of The Flies" -- a belting doom groover that culminates in a classic guitar & bass dual to rival even the most virtuosic of axe-wielders. As we near the end of our perilous sonic expedition, "Aradia" serves up an instrumental serving of pure downtuned filth, with sleazy swagger and tasteful shredding that give extra provenance to its author's deep bag of tricks.

MARGARITA WITCH CULT - Margarita Witch Cult by HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS Records

The killer blow comes in the shape of the simply savage "Sacrifice" -- an unholy exhibition of undeniable force. The duality of the track makes for an experience that leaves our sweet listener reeling- the bludgeoning weight of its monstrous main-riff giving way to razor-sharp verses and a tripped-out, mind-bending psych jam- only to come crashing back to crushing reality as the final, fatal notes ring out.

With their debut LP, Margarita Witch Cult have crafted a timeless, merciless beast; one that will chew you up and spit you out, yet somehow keep you crawling back for more. The Sabbath City power trio is serving a heavy handed measure of '80s thrash precision mutated with '90s stoner groove. Infatuated with themes of the occult and proto-metal aesthetics, Margarita Witch Cult tell tales of the village witchfinder, omniscient death, archaic blood rituals.

Follow The Band

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[johnkatsmc5]

N.W.A. "Straight Outta Compton" 1988 US Hip Hop (Top 100 Hip Hop Albums of the 1980's) (500 Greatest Albums Of All Time Rolling Stone)

full spotify

The debut album by N.W.A, "Straight Outta Compton" is now best remembered as the pioneering record of gangsta rap; with its ever-present profanity and violent lyrics, it helped to give birth to this then-new sub-genre of hip hop. It has been considered groundbreaking by music writers and has had an enormous impact on the evolution of West Coast hip hop. "Straight Outta Compton" redefined the direction of hip hop, which resulted in lyricism concerning the gangsta lifestyle becoming the driving force in sales figures. It also helped to shift the power to the West Coast from the East Coast, which had enjoyed a period of prominence in hip hop for most of the 1980s. Despite not being a success at first and the lack of airplay, "Straight Outta Compton" sold over three million copies, thanks to the hits "Straight Outta Compton", "Gangsta Gangsta" and "Express Yourself". The album itself reached number 37 in the Billboard Top 200 in the spring of 1989, while it reached number 9 on Billboard's Top Soul LPs. The original version of "Compton's N The House" was only to be found on the Eazy-Duz-It / Ruthless Villain / Radio cassette single; it was not pressed on the 12" vinyl version of the single....~ “You are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge.” And so begins one of the most influential Hip Hop records of all time. N.W.A., aka Niggaz Wit Attitudes, was led by Eazy-E, but features the iconic producers, Dr. Dre, DJ Yella and Arabian Prince, and lyricists Ice Cube and MC Ren. Self-styled as “the world’s most dangerous group,” ‘Straight Outta Compton’ not only depicts the violence, brutality and racism experienced by those living in the L.A. suburb of Compton, but it threatened to incite it. N.W.A. took the bourgeoning subgenre of Gangsta Rap and made it their own. The production is groundbreaking and the flow of the music is astounding. In a retrospective review, Rolling Stone said that it’s a "bombastic, cacophonous car ride through Los Angeles' burnt-out and ignored hoods," and I couldn’t have said it better myself. Incidentally, upon its release, ‘Straight Outta Compton’ was the first rap album ever to receive a 5-star review from Rolling Stone. Smashing through the gates with the title track, it’s a take-no-prisoners affair, before being smashed in the face with one of the great modern-day protest songs ever, ‘Fuck tha Police.’ The song protests police brutality and racial profiling, and unfortunately it’s still relevant to say, especially in the US. My favourite story about this song is upon its release, triple j had been playing it regularly (swearing is allowed on the station). A senator protested the song, which led to the ABC banning the station from playing it. In protest, the station went on strike and played third single from the record, ‘Express Yourself,’ on repeat for 24 hours. But the biggest middle finger from triple j in all this was that they sampled the scratching from the song and used it in their news jingle effectively playing a part of ‘Fuck The Police’ on air multiple times a day. Highlights of the record include the aforementioned ‘FTP’ and ‘Express Yourself,’ as well as ‘8 Ball,’ ‘Parental Discretion Iz Advised,’ ‘Gangsta Gangsta’ and ‘If It Ain’t Ruff.’ It was the first platinum-certified Gangsta Rap record, and would eventually go on to sell 3x Platinum, helped along by the biopic in 2015. It was the first Rap record to be inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame and it has also been included in the National Recording Registry by the Library Of Congress.....Rolling Stone......~

N.W.A.

Eazy-E – rapping (tracks 1–3, 5, 6, 9, 11–13), spoken word (tracks 1–3, 10 and 12) co-producer (track 6), executive producer Ice Cube – rapping (tracks 1–3, 5, 10 & 11), spoken word (tracks 2 and 8) MC Ren – rapping (tracks 1–5, 7, 9, 12), spoken word (tracks 2, 3, 7 and 9) Dr. Dre – rapping (tracks 5, 7–9, 11 & 13), spoken word (tracks 1–3, 7, 8 and 9) keyboards and drum programming (all tracks) DJ Yella – sampling, turntables and drum programming (all tracks) Arabian Prince – rapping (track 13), keyboards & drum programming (1,2, 3, 7, 9 and 13)

Additional musicians The D.O.C. – rapping (track 5), spoken word (track 2), lyrics (tracks 1, 2 & 5) Krazy Dee – spoken word (tracks 2, 3 &11)

Studio Personnel Big Bass Brian – mastering Donovan Sound – engineer Eric Poppleton – photography Helane Freeman – art direction Tracklist Straight Outta Compton 4:18 _ _ _ _ Tha Police (Fill In The Blanks) 5:46 Gangsta Gangsta 5:36 If It Ain't Ruff 3:34 Parental Discretion Iz Advised 5:15 Express Yourself 4:25 Compton's N The House (Remix) 5:20 I Ain't Tha 1 4:54 Dopeman (Remix) 5:20 Quiet On Tha Set 3:59

N.W.A. "Straight Outta Compton" 1988 US Hip Hop (Top 100 Hip Hop Albums of the 1980's) (500 Greatest Albums Of All Time Rolling Stone)

[mywifeleftme]

128: Swearin' // Swearin'

Swearin' Swearin' 2012, Salinas (Bandcamp)

I never saw Swearin’ at a house show (though the bar I did see them at held maybe 30 people), but in the same way the smell of Sambuca makes my saliva queasily thicken, the second the needle drops on their s/t I get notes of Pabst, cigarette-couch/carpet, hot scalp, the wine of an overworked fan, giggling, keys jingling on carabiners, floor-lamp lighting, amp sizzle. (Pinning this idea for a band name here: Dirty Madeleine.)

Inane tag cloud ideas: loft apartment indie; park drinking punk; bike messenger affirmations; co-opcore; foragestyle; couch surf rock.

Me, as a YouTube commenter in nine years: I made out for the second time with the first girl I ever moved in with at a Swearin’ show! We don’t talk anymore, but I hope she is well.

Anyway, Swearin’ was always my fav of the Crutchfield twins’ many projects, emerging from the breakup of Birmingham, Alabama’s fondly remembered P.S. Eliot when Allison decided to pursue her own voice as a songwriter and move to NYC. She ended up dating and forming a band with Kyle Gilbride of Big Soda, and that band was Swearin’, so now you’re caught up.

The Crutchfield Twins’ Many Projects

Pre-2007: The Ackleys (Allison + Katie) 2007-2011: P.S. Eliot (Allison + Katie) 2011-present: Waxahatchee (Katie) 2012-2015, 2017-present?: Swearin’ (Allison) 2014-2017?: Allison Crutchfield solo 2022: Plains (Katie)

Robert Christgau said of P.S. Eliot, “Always there is the sound of becoming that the young treasure for one reason and the ex-young value for quite another,” and I think he’s on to what makes both Katie and Allison’s ‘00s and early ‘10s music so appealing—though the diaristic lyrics are angsty, sometimes irritable, or glum, there’s a comforting sense that they’re cool young people who are going to be Alright in the end. Even though the people in these songs may not have the details figured out, they know what the life they want feels like—and that translates into the aesthetics of the music. For Swearin’, it’s a form of comfortably broken-in indie rock with its influences (Breeders, the Merge Records catalogue, ‘90s pop punk, Julianna Hatfield etc.) so thoroughly subsumed that it sounds whole. Gilbride’s a big vocal presence here as well, his adenoidal whine a welcome contrast to Allison’s unfussed ‘90s alternative vibe. He takes lead on one of the self-titled’s real winners, the irresistible problem-party-guest narrative “Crashin’,” complete with a riff and solo that’d get a goofy thumbs up from the boys in Superchunk.

An album that is top-to-bottom charming like this one only needs a single stone classic to stay in the rotation for the long haul, and Swearin’ has one in “Just.” It’s an all-time romantic song in my personal canon, headlong as a crazy kiss in an alley, popping ‘60s girl group poses in the verses, with a chorus as elemental as they come. Crutchfield’s lyrics don’t miss either, mingling hesitation (“Closed off from love / I didn’t need the pain”) and dizzy desire (“I knew you had me the night we met / my empty room dripping wet / make believe we’re in my bed”).

Other Choice Words:

“Tennessee River, a drunken relapse / And her new girlfriend, she’s got a new girlfriend now.” (“Movie Star”) “Kings of the Airwaves / deprive and depraved / Fruit from the market / Demo tape cassette” (“Hundreds & Thousands”) “An artist’s mind / is stimulated by the aesthetic / I don’t know about art / but I think your music’s shit.” (“Fat Chance”)

Swearin’ cut a second very good record before calling it quits when Gilbride and Crutchfield broke things off, but they had a fine comeback with 2018’s Fall into the Sun, and I surely wouldn’t mind more from them. Consider this a call for like, Steve Malkmus to dial them up next time Pavement needs an opening act. Let’s do this.

128/365

[friend-through-teenage-nights]

19, 20, 21

19. Have you seen Al live? YES, two dates of the Vanity tour in Europe and I'm still buzzing from it a month after the second one. They were the first concert I've ever been to, and for the second one I traveled to Germany from the UK on my own by train so it was a whole adventure. I'm so glad this was the tour I got to see, also the fact it was a lucky dip kind of thing with what songs you got- I got both of the many (two) Christmas songs and the long songs to finish off the main set. And the joke bits in-between the songs were brilliant...I got tricked into not expecting what was coming next once in each show- Albuquerque ("the biopic is redundant because I already have a song telling my life story...") and Frank's 2000" TV (whole bit about how some of his songs have aged poorly...and you just have to remember this was written at a time when people would actually have been impressed by a 2000" TV). The lead-up for The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota was obvious but still new to me..."oh, Al's going to do a song about the biggest ball of twine in the world- NO! That would be STOOPID...I hate that twine ball...no, this song is not about the biggest ball of twine in the world, but it's the. biggest. ball of twine... in Minnesota" all while the band were playing the intro music on a loop. Also between the main set and the encore they didn't even leave the stage,and just stood around on their phones or talking to each other, Bermuda started cleaning his Drum Cage, until the applause got to a certain volume and speed. The show in Germany they brought out so many truly obscure songs (Airline Amy, I Remember Larry, Generic Blues, When I Was Your Age- all but Generic Blues with NO lead-up so I just had to deal with This Happening), and in You Don't Love Me Any More, Al was picking up but not playing the VIBRASLAP from Close But No Cigar and actually hit it right at the end.

20. Do you own any physic-al media? Last summer I found five cassettes on eBay for quite cheap compared to what they're going for now, so I have the self-titled debut, Dare to Be Stupid (missing its inset), UHF (currently dying :( ), Off the Deep End (which I originally wasn't going to get but it was part of a trio for $5, and it's really grown on me. It's my comfort album now), and Bad Hair Day which is my joint favourite with Running With Scissors.

21. Do you own any Al merchandise? No, I'd quite like the 2018 Vanity tour shirt that has all the "five old men sitting on stools, this might really suck, fun for us, maybe not so much for you" stuff on the back, but it seems to be out of print and noone's selling one on eBay or anything.

[mooodyblue]

elvis tag game by @headfullofpresley 💗

this is gonna be so loong i apologize in advance 😭😭 i have a lot of thoughts and opinions

tagging: @lllsaslll @elvisfatass @prayerstopresley @kiankiwi-blog and whoever wants to do this 😅

questions under the cut bc i rly listed a good chunk of his discography lol

When was the first time you heard of Elvis?

i'm sure my parents have played something of his growing up, i was more into mj than anything else. i wish i could remember like....the first real time i was ever really introduced to him. he's been referenced in so many of my interests that im sure there was i time i was like 10 and being like "oh that's an elvis reference" lol

what's your favorite era?

70s!!!! big daddy era as y'all call it 😅

favorite song(s) from the 50s?

trying to get to you, i'm counting on you, love me, don't be cruel, lawdy miss clawdy, as long as i have you, trouble, crawfish, i want you i need you i love you, one sided love affair, loving you, young and beautiful ...... i should probably stop before i list them all

favorite song(s) from the 60s

fever, such a night, im coming home, pocketful of rainbows, edge of reality, almost in love, can't help falling in love, the walls have ears, do not disturb, cotton candy land, it's now or never, rubberneckin', summer kisses winter tears, crying in the chapel, suspicious minds....literally everything on from elvis in memphis. god i want to list more but i need to STOP!!

favorite song(s) from the 70s

runaway, polk salad annie, you've lost that loving feeling, moody blue(duh), rags to riches, funny how time slips away, american trilogy!!!!!!!!!, hurt, make the world go away, the wonder of you

all time favorite songs that you can't skip?

suspicious minds, an american trilogy, pocketful of rainbows, i'm coming home, rubberneckin', honestly there's so many. i feel bad if i skip sometimes LOL

least favorite song?

im so sorry but tutti frutti💔

favorite gospel song(s)?

i still need to dive more into his gospel music, but i really love crying in the chapel and you never walk alone.

favorite country song(s)?

funny how time slips away, kentucky rain, always on my mind, make the world go away

favorite non english song?

wooden heart <3

a song(s) that make you feel nostalgic?

can't help falling in love 💗

a song(s) that makes you cry?

unchained melody!!!!! lord i can barely listen to it 😭

a song(s) that make you wanna dance?

rubberneckin', im coming home, got a lot o' livin to do, polk salad annie, suspicious minds

favorite song elvis as covered?

any day now and yesterday

what's a modern song you wish you could hear elvis cover?

i think he'd eat up two ghosts or ever since new york by harry styles tbh.

do you prefer vinyl or cd?

vinyl!!! i actually don't own a single elvis cd, just vinyls(cassettes too!)

favorite album?

self titled and from elvis in memphis <3

favorite movie soundtrack?

king creole for SURE

favorite live performance?

the laughing version of are you lonesome tonight 😅 also welcome to my world from aloha from hawaii !!!

a live performance you wish you were present at?

aloha from hawaii 100% but also literally any of his vegas shows in '69 because that entire live album had me laughing my ass off LMAO

favorite jumpsuits?

THIS ONE.

favorite movie(s)?

king creole, loving you, live a little love a little, follow that dream and girl happy(mostly because elvis in a dress)

least favorite movie(s)?

stay away joe, kissin' cousins, and double trouble.

favorite costar?

michele carey <3 i luv bernice

favorite documentary?

that's the way it is

favorite interview?

i didn't even have to THINK about this one. i know this is a press conference but idk. same thing? anyway, june 9th 1972 new york hilton elvis i want you so bad !!!!!! it's iconic and i just love how he is with everyone 😭

favorite car?

idk after i first watched elvis (2022) i wanted a pink cadillac so LOL

do you collect merch? if so, what's the one thing you hold most dear to your heart?

i do!! i have his vinyls mostly. but my tcb necklace is my lucky charm at this point, i just wish i had gotten it in silver instead of gold ��

do you think you'll be a fan of elvis for the rest of your life?

absolutely. ive had a lot of interests and have lost interest in a lot of things but this is so much more different. he truly is everything to me and i've never felt so connected with someone in my whole life. i really do adore him.

[omegaplus]

# 4,107

Infinity Records, 2022.

Here’s some wonderful news from Infinity Records: they just received a a copy of Les Rallize Denudes’ Cable Hogue Soundtrack. Everyone knows the lore of this once-obscure mind-blowing Japanese psych / garage band. The majority of their discography is loaded with unofficial bootlegs and very few official releases which I can only count on one hand. How often is it that I come across their records? Never. I did, however, come across their post on social media about it seven days after the fact. A drive out to Massapequa was in the cards, and seeing that LP up for sale meant it would be a fun game of ‘winner-winner-sushi-dinner or too-bad-so-sad’. So did I win? You’ll see sooner than later.

Every one of the island’s record stores closed during the pandemic. Fortunately, they all survived and are still going. It was only Infinity that was in dire straits. They were in danger of losing their store as they were behind on rent. Their landlord wasn’t too forgiving (that’s never a character trait of theirs), so they set up a GoFundMe to keep it going. They only managed to raise $7,272.00 out of $12,000.00 they wanted. No one knows how they did when they came up short. All that matters is that they’re still here.

I walk in and that bell rings. I see at least 15 different people shopping in Infinity’s bins; the busiest I’ve ever seen it. It’s still their old rundown, disorganized, shabby self. It’s just as ‘lost’ like Brooklyn’s Academy but only larger and they could be related in ugliness and unkempt. You can find plenty of empty bins, piles of records, and unmarked stacks of boxes packed with loads of what-the-fuck-is-it. Deteriorating paper and the smell of old cardboard, dust, and decades-old wood permeate the store with a smell that I can’t pinpoint what year it originates from. It’s the scent that attracts older, loose-skinned men in stained clothing. But I do like coming here as they’re one of the least-expensive places selling music. 99¢ classical records, their $2.76 LP bins, $4.00 CDs, and reasonable prices on used vinyl; making it a great location that offers a lot of bang for the buck. Plus, everywhere you turn, there’s always vintage turntables, receivers, and stereo equipment stacked on top of each other to be found.

Cassettes are still plentiful in this day and age and are considered the cheapest and most cumbersome format to buy. They had two racks of tapes on each side of the store. About 500-600 shells on the wall with the usual pre-handled residue and smudges on its shells. So how many did I pick out? Zero. No hip-hop but what I saw was plenty of Seventies, Eighties, and Nineties pop, jazz, movie soundtracks, classical compilations, greatest hits, and and best-of’s I had no interest in taking.

Some of their best bins were the new used arrivals. Give them a few stars for carrying some rare jazz, folk, psych-, and private pressings I’ve never seen before. Want mid-Oughts indie and hipster LP’s like The Hives, MGMT, and and LCD Soundsystem for no more than $20.00 a pressing? They have plenty of that, too. Knowing me, I wouldn’t throw down that amount of money to own a title unless if it was absolutely necessary. It usually isn’t when there’s a physically unmeasurable sliver of hope that you’ll find it somewhere else for less - which has happened before.

I’d head on over to see the jazz / fusion stock. Of all genres I look for, it’s the most consistent, thrifty, and easiest to stock up on. Starting off, I picked Spyro Gyra’s Morning Dance thanks to John Tropea and a few appearances of Suzzane Ciani. Ask me how many times this year I picked up a Deodato album? Infinity had two of them: First Cuckoo and Very Together with Tropea (again) and Steve Gadd. David Sanborn’s Taking Off also have Steve Gadd but traded in John Tropea for Steve Khan. On a whole separate note, Hubert Laws’ Family featured an all-star line-up of his sister Debra, Bobby Lyle, Earl Klugh, and Chick Corea. I nailed my first Gary Bartz LP and got my hands on Richie Cole’s Keeper Of The Flame featuring Vic Juris and Terry Silverlight. I also copped (The Best Of) Jon Lucien, a familiar format released on Columbia where they give a greatest hits compilation to their best artists.

I know from previous visits that the bargain bin of poppy’s basement collection, Jello party, and The Best Of Dean Martin’s Greatest Hits had nothing for me. What I didn’t do last time was surge through their 12” singles section. Now’s the time to redeem myself. It was a joker’s wild of selections mixed with my Atari childhood, golden era hip-hop, old-school hip-hop, and even peak-hipster era. There was a Black Dice 12” featuring tracks from Load Blown never issued on vinyl (a sampler, maybe?), and both Lovebug Starski and a Sugarhill Gang 12” still keep the classic old-school hip-hop quotient going.

Towards the right side of the store were their used CD bins. Like a badly-played game of keno, it was all great stuff for the majority that wasn’t appealing to me. There had to be 30 to 40 columns of stock and I only found three to my liking. The Raveonettes’ In And Out Of Control and Metallica’s Garage Inc. that was part of the Selden-era (community college). I was surprised to find a Sacred Bones in the mix: Zola Jesus’ Versions. How many more -Bones releases must I have? The answer: never enough!

4PM approached and the customer count dropped dramatically. There wasn’t the crowd of three who hawkeyed the five-wide new vinyl arrivals section as before. It was all mine as I was concerned. Again, I didn’t care to spend full price on a new vinyl LP, but there were plenty of lower-priced ones I could be looking for. The diamond of the day was finding a copy of Buzzcocks’ Spiral Scratch, their first-ever release of theirs. Only two 12” pressings were made and I happened to get a bootleg copy, but the $15.00 asking price was reasonably fair. That LP alone would be the most expensive purchase of the entire day.

**********

Oh, yeah…about that Les Rallize Denudes record. I kept an eye out for it but never popped up in my sights. For the avoidance of all doubt, I showed their post to one of their own who worked there and asked if they saw it. So far, no luck. They did ask me if I looked at the vinyl records on the wall, which I said “no, not yet”. They took a quick glance but they didn’t recognize it and suggested that I comb through the new arrivals section again. I did a second look-through but I still didn’t see it. I assumed someone else got to it before I did, you vicious bastard whoever you are.

I never ever seen a Les Rallize Denudes release in the wild. Those are incredibly scarce outside of Japan. They’re one of those bands of lore which myth became a verified legend because of the internet. I bet that once people discovered them that they started grabbing whatever they could find of theirs. Demand has exceeded supply in their case; more than enough that there couldn’t possibly be anyone else besides myself on this ignoramus island I live on who knows them. Apparently there was. I could imagine that Les Rallize Denudes record didn’t even last a day in the store. Only right before closing was when I was informed by them that someone else did grab it, according to their other co-workers on the phone.

I had only a few minutes to thumb through the small 7” / 45’s bins and came across lots of blank-sleeved singles. No hardcore, no punk, nothing. By then it’s already 5PM. I didn’t have enough time to go through the other larger 7” bins and didn’t even think to thumb through their $2.76 records. I declare myself done and cash out. I didn’t know anyone working there on a first-name basis, nor the kinder older gentleman who tallied up all the things I purchased, but at least he was nice to me and not an arrogant pretentious spiteful scumbag which is considered garden variety on the island. This year’s visit cost me $105.00 and change, which was give or take $2.00 away from my last visit’s purchase. It could’ve been more if I captured that Les Rallize Denude LP. Imagine how proud I might’ve felt if I did. I hand him my card, ran everything through, and I was all good to go.

Then I remembered one more thing: Infinity always has a small candy dish filled with Hershey’s miniatures, Jolly Ranchers, M&M’s, Dum-Dums, and other colorful jollies. No store on the island has one. I look down at the dish to take a piece and there were no more chocolates but plenty of Dum-Dums for the taking. One of their regulars ate all the chocolates before I got to them but I at least got myself a free Infinity badge. Look who’s going to be a little hungry on the way home?

Black Dice: Load Blown 12” sampler

Buzzcocks: Spiral Scratch 12″ EP

Deodato: Very Together LP

Jon Lucien: The Best Of... LP

David Sanborn: Taking Off LP

Spyro Gyra: Morning Dance LP

Hubert Laws: Family LP

Gary Bartz: Love Affair LP

Richie Cole: Keeper Of The Flame LP

George Benson: Blue Benson LP

Deodato: First Cuckoo LP

Lovebug Starski: “House Rocker” 12″

Robert Palmer: “I Didn’t Mean To Turn You On” 12″

Lou Reed: “No Money Down” 12″

Sugarhill Gang: “Sugarhill Groove” b/w “8th Wonder” 12″

Father MC: “Everything’s Gonna’ Be Alright” 12″

Billy Ocean: “Carribean Queen” 12″

Raveonettes, The: In And Out Of Control CD

Metallica: Garage Inc. CD

Zola Jesus: Versions CD

[bbbrianjones]

i was tagged by my babe mia (@officialglenntilbrook) to answer these question!! thank u honeybee!! <3 hope you are well!! i took this way too seriously and answered them like i was getting interviewed so read below <3

1. what is the first song you remember hearing? i mean let’s be real it was probably something by the wiggles, possibly one from the wiggly safari with steve irwin as that one was my favourite <3 first actual rock song i remember was ‘lunatics have taken over the asylum’ by fun boy three because my mama loved the band!!!

2. what is the first band you got into? like many people, the beatles! they have always been apart of my life, starting when i was five and going to see a stage production my brother was in and they played i want to hold your hand! but the big influence was my teacher when i was around eleven, who viewed yellow submarine as a christmas song and played that song on repeat towards the end of the year. i did a bit more research into them and fell deeply in love with them, particularly with george <3

3. do you collect any physical music?

yes!!! one of my favourite memories i had as a child is going down to the the local music/dvd store to buy a cd, though they weren’t anything very exciting. when i got into the beatles, i would buy their cds so i could play them in the car and then transferred to getting records. i don’t know how much records i have but it’s gotta be at least over 100! i love them all so much but i’m broke because of it :^((

4. what is your favourite piece of music memorabilia? any of the posters that come with records i have bought. obviously the beatles white album with the four pictures of the boys and the collage i find pretty cool. 

5. what's your favourite concert you've ever been to? the church always has a special place in my heart because it was the first concert i went alone. i nearly passed out when i saw steve!!! the lady next to me said ‘it is as if the beatles are on stage for you’ and i mean she wasn’t wrong! i guess also the stone roses but i don’t really remember much about it besides john, he smiled at me and it was true love really <3

6. if you could see one artist who is no longer alive in concert, who would it be?

babe. i can’t answer this one. there are too many. obviously the rolling stones with brian but again, i could make a list of the ones i wanted to see!!

7. have you met any musicians?

i met peter noone and karl green of the herman’s hermits becuase they recognised me from instagram. and i also met jarvis cocker because my auntie is friend with his ex-wife and i made myself look like such a fool in the most sexiest way possible <3

8. what is your go to album when you're feeling sad?

there are many but i will name the top three to make it easy; 

crowded house’s self-titled debut which i just realised i didn’t include on that list on my favourite debut albums and i’m going insane how could i forget it!!!!!!!!

the stone roses’ self-titled debut. it’s so full of angst and love and every emotion that i have ever felt.

aftermath by the rolling stones. this is just the album i listen to when i need a pick me up, always make me feel so much better.

9. what is your go to album when you're feeling happy?

again i’m going with the top three because i can’t narrow it down!

odessey and oracle by the zombies. just pure sixties baroque pop that you can’t help but bop your head along to.

hums of the lovin’ spoonful. again for the same reason above, all the songs are just pure ‘good time music’ as steve boone would say.

get wet by the mental as anything. this was an album my dad really loved and some of the songs are just so funny like !! what are they thinking i wanna know!!

10. what is one music documentary you love?

i’m gonna go with the obvious and say the spark brothers (2021). it was basically an excuse for edgar wright the fangirl over his favourite band and i find it very sweet!!

11. what is one concert DVD you love? the rolling stones rock and roll circus!! again obvious but for someone who doesn’t really watch movies often, it’s one i always seem to go back to!

12. do you prefer listening to playlists or albums? oooo toughie!! as you can see by my spotify, it’s practically littered with playlists however a lot of them as just band playlists so in some way it’s album. i will have to go with playlist because i end up listening to them a lot more than albums because i want to listen to a collection of my favourite songs compared to albums but i still think they are groovy!!

13. do you prefer to listen to albums in order or on shuffle? in order! i often feel very strange when i’m listening to one song and then the next song is not the song which would follow on the album. i literally feel so lost!! 

14. what is your favourite deep cut song by your favourite artist? this will be our year by the zombies. no song has created such an uplifting yet very very depressed bar this song and i don’t blame it <3

15. what is your favourite cd/cassette/vinyl you own in terms of packaging?

i do really like their satanic majesties request by the rolling stones with its 3D image on the front. also pulp’s different class. i mean, that’s what vinyl was meant to look like!

i will tag @60sgroove @ohdarlings & @carygrantdyke - of course don’t feel any pressure to do this, i’d just love to know your answers to some of the questions!

[dealgemeneverwarring]

De Algemene Verwarring #96 - 4 September 2023

The ninety-sixth episode of De Algemene Verwarring was broadcast on Monday, September 4, 2023, and you can listen to it by clicking on the link below that will take you directly to the Mixcloud page:

Yes, we're back at it after a long summer break, it's September 4 and it's bleeding hot in the Quindo studio, so nothing has changed. Pictured below is the UK postpunk band The Psychedelic Furs at around 1980, a lineup that wouldn't last long but that was responsible for the self-titled debut album that was released in 1980. The band was brought to my attention again by the Dynamite Hemorrhage radio show. Host Jay Hinman mentioned some reviews that he had read about the debut album being characterized as the ultimate mix of Roxy Music and The Velvet Underground. For me it was also the first time I heard these two bands mentioned when talking about The Psychedelic Furs, but it kinda makes sense. Anyway, the debut album is really really a great record, sexy and groovy and made to dance to. So I played the track "We Love You" from the Furs. There's more old music in this episode from The Prunes, The Vultures, The Peechees, Armitage Shanks, Blod. But moreover, the summer spawned some really great releases, I don't think I have ever bought so many records in the summer months as I did now in 2023, and most of them being new releases. The new Famous Mammals lp is a masterpiece, there's new bands such as Children Maybe Later, The Sheaves and Burnt Envelope, and new releases from bands such as the synth goths from Es and droners Pefkin. So, a great episode, if you ask me. And beneath the photo you can find the playlist for the show. Enjoy!

Playlist:

Armitage Shanks: Are Friends Electric? (7” picture disc “Are Friends Electric?” on Damaged Goods, 1997)

The Vultures: Alcohol (7” “At Home” on La Vida Es Un Mus Discos, 2015, reissue, originally released in 1981, self-released)

Patsy: Heathen (12” “LA Woman” on La Vida Es Un Mus Discos, 2017)

The Peechees: Well Worth Talking About (split 7” met The Drags, “Radio Disappears” on G.I. Productions, 1996)

Burnt Envelope: I’m Immature (LP “I’m Immature: The Singles Volume II” on Hozac Records, 2023)

The Sheaves: Lariat Slung (LP “Excess Death Cult Time” on Minimum Table Stacks, 2023, reissue, originally released on tape by Moone Records in 2022)

Famous Mammals: Empty London (LP “Instant Pop Expressionism Now!” on Siltbreeze Records, 2023)

Children Maybe Later: West Macarthur (LP “What A Flash Kick!” on Slothmate Productions, third pressing 2023)

Liars: Rose And Licorice (Oneida cover) (Split LP met Oneida “Atheists, Reconsider” on Version City Records, 2002)

Es: Emergency (7” “Fantasy” on Upset The Rhythm”, 2023)

The Psychedelic Furs: We Love You (LP “The Psychedelic Furs” on CBS, 1980)

The Prunes: Man Falls Down (LP “Lite Fantastik” on Baby Records, 1988)

The Pheromoans: Wizard Thing (LP “I’m On Nights” on Alter Records, 2015)

Peter Jefferies: Whatever You Want (LP “Closed Circuit” on Grapefruit Records, reissue 2023, originally released in 2001 on Emperor Jones Records)

The Cat’s Miaow: Hollow Inside (LP “Songs ’94-’98” on World Of Echo, 2022) - Ross Cummings ook in The Shapiros en Hydroplane (recent ook compilatie uitgekomen op World Of Echo)

Pefkin: The Lunar Pull (split LP met Roxane Métayer on Morc Records, 2022)

Blod: Leendet Från Helvetet (LP “Leendet Fran Helvetet” on Aguirre Records, 2022, reissue, originally released in 2017 by Forlag For Fri Musik)

De Fabriek: Harrisburg (LP “Blecheintopf - Music For Modern Art Exhibitions, Volume Two” on Futura Resistenza, 2022, reissue, originally released on cassette in 1982 by New Bulwark Records & Tapes)

[sympathyforthegroupie]

Thank you for the tag @daughter-of-aphrodite i’m so sorry i’m so behind on these!!

First song you remember hearing: White Wedding by Billy Idol or Highway to Hell by AC/DC (thanks parents for having a good taste in music 🤘🏻)

First band you got into: Pink Floyd or Fleetwood Mac when i was like 3

Do you collect any physical music: i collected a lot of cds in middle and highschool so i have a huge collection of those and slowly building my vinyl collection

What is your favorite piece of music memorabilia: A signed Cinderella shirt that my mom got in the 90’s, back story she sold their manager a tour bus and she rambled to him how much she loves the band (they’re in her top 3) and so he got the band to sign a shirt from the night songs album and when i was 13 she gave it to me when i really got into them.

What’s your favorite concert you’ve been to: SO MANY but probably Ozz Fest and Bon Jovi are my favorites

If you could see one artist who is no longer alive in concert, who would it be? it’s more like single artists that i would love to see in concert, freddy mercury, kurt cobain, razzle dingley, david bowie, the whole beatles group ect. ect.

Have you met any musicians? yes! Corey Taylor, Zakk Wylde, Warren DeMartini, all of Skid Row, and all of Def Leppard

What’s your go-to album when you’re feeling sad? i don’t think i have a go to album but it’s more of certain artists and sporadical songs

What’s your go-to album when you’re feeling happy? Van Halen self titled, Appetite for Destruction, Too Fast for Love, Master of Puppets, Skid Row’s self titled, Californication, the list goes on and on..

What is one documentary you love? i can’t just pick one 😭😭 i miss a band or want a comfort movie and boom i’m watching some biopic

What is one concert DVD you love? i’ve watched The Beatles at Shea Stadium too many times not to say that one

Do you prefer to listen to playlists or albums? 90% it’s playlists unless i know i want to listen to THAT album

Do you prefer to listen to albums in order or on shuffle? 99% it’s on shuffle i think the only album i really ever play and it’s in order is appetite for destruction and Chinese Democracy

What is your favourite deep cut song by your favorite artist? Oh god so many once again, maybe not so my favorite artists but favorite deep cut songs. I stand Alone by Godsmack, Killing in the Name of by Rage Against The Machine, The Devil in I by slipknot, Sham Pain by Five Finger Death Punch, Head Like A Hole by Nine Inch Nails, Make me Bad by Korn

What is your favorite cd/cassette/vinyl you own in terms of packaging? I have so many original Vinyls and albums from when they first released that i couldn’t name every one of them

i’m so sorry for all the rambles 😭 i love talking about music so, sorry for this.

I have no idea who’s been tagged so sorry if you’re tagged twice!

Tagging: @day-trippin-dreamer @shelickedthebeater @hanoirocksme @emometalhead @axysbbygurl and anyone else that wants to do this!!

[x--daughters-of-darkness--x]

Amy Lee on Evanescence's first all-new album in a decade & moving beyond the "rock'n'roll boys' club"

Today (March 26), Evanescence release The Bitter Truth their first all-new studio album in a decade. In the latest issue of Music Week, Amy Lee guides us through the return of the multi-platinum, Grammy Award-winning band.

Evanescence have a strong UK chart record. Their debut 2003 major label debut Fallen is currently on sales of 1,352,806 according to Official Charts Company data, while 2006’s The Open Door is on 356,803 and 2011’s self-titled record stands on 124,473.

In 2017, Lee told Music Week that some people might still view her as “the girl falling off the building” in the Bring Me To Life video at the height of the nu-metal era – and she is hopeful that The Bitter Truth might change that perception of the band…

“I’m so proud of our work,” she told Music Week. “I wish I could shove our new music in the faces of everybody that’s only ever heard Bring Me To Life. I really wanted to show a lot of different sides of myself, and what we can do as a group. I have an incredible group of musicians around me, and I always want to let us take it all the way and show what we can do, because I always want to feel like we’re growing. I’m very proud of the album. I wanted to show who we are now, and what we’ve been through, and what that sounds like. And I think we accomplished that.”

The Bitter Truth – released via Columbia – is being made available in multiple formats, including a CD edition that comes with a making-of snippets bonus cassette…

“I love it!” Lee told Music Week, before explaining how it came together. “Over the course of all this time, I had recorded little ideas into my voice notes, and I have ProTools so I do a lot of home recording when I’m writing and just creating – some of that turns into Evanescence stuff and some of it doesn’t. It’s this whole world of stuff that nobody hears. There was just all this audio so I just started putting clips together and marrying it together. I love listening to it. You’re hearing real moments when ideas were hatched and pieces were written, plus songs that didn’t make the album that we were jamming on.”

Amy Lee also gave her thoughts on physical music, namely that bands need to offer fans more than ever before when it comes to releases…

“I don’t think we could go 10 years without putting out an album and then not include all the extra fun stuff,” she continued. “And I plan on doing more fun stuff with it, too. I think it would be nice to make a really big book of just cool content, behind the scenes stuff, pieces of paper from composing, there’s a lot of stuff that would be cool to put into something physical. I know we have a lot of fans that have been with us for a long time, and they love collecting the extra deep cut behind-the-scenes type stuff. I’m like that too. I’m a huge Bjork fan, and I have so much cool, collectible weird stuff of hers. A lot of the artists that I’ve really loved over the years are that way.”

A lot has changed in the music industry between Evanescence’s major breakthrough in 2003 and now. Amy Lee shared her reflection on one thing she feels has very much changed for the better…

“It’s not that I’m the first woman on the moon, because many women came before me, in all genres,"  said Lee. "But, in the moment when Fallen came out, it really felt like I was the only girl around, at least in hard rock. When we were initially touring, bands, producers, engineers, LDs, tour managers... everything was men. And I’m not crediting myself for this, but I have watched the change from 2003 to 2021, and it has been so wonderful how it has changed for the better [with] so many badass women, all across the board. Onstage, in rock, in hard rock, in metal, also behind the scenes, it has just slowly grown to be such a more inclusive place than the old-fashioned cliched rock’n’roll boys’ club that it used to feel like. So that’s my favourite positive. And I only feel more and more empowered and inspired every time I see a woman out there, doing it, when I know that they weren’t there before.”