Vinyl Collective

I am really excited to share with you a photo of the Salmon colored vinyl for Look Mexico’s To Bed to Battle. We received 2 boxes today in time to get copies to Look Mexico for their tour with Weatherbox. If you are in Denver tomorrow, please come out to the show. The photo I took doesn’t quite do the color justice as there are pinks in the orange. We will begin shipping pre-orders, but we won’t be able to ship them all until we receive all of our copies. If you haven’t pre-ordered this, make sure you order a copy from Interpunk or the band on tour as the colored vinyl will soon be out of print.

I will be posting photos of the deluxe set for “To Bed To Battle” later this week.

LOOK MEXICO UPCOMING TOUR DATES (please mark a date near you on your calendar)

5/18/2010 Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room w/Weatherbox
5/19/2010 Denver, CO @ The Summit – Front Bar w/Weatherbox
5/20/2010 Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court w/Weatherbox
5/21/2010 Las Vegas, NV @ Yayo Taco w/Weatherbox & Caravels
5/22/2010 San Diego, CA @ Che Cafe w/Weatherbox
5/23/2010 Los Angeles, CA @ Syncspace
5/24/2010 El Sereno, CA @ Eastside Cafe
5/25/2010 Stockton, CA @ Plea for Peace
5/26/2010 Sacramento, CA @ Ironsides
5/27/2010 San Francisco, CA @ Thee Parkside
5/30/2010 Portland, OR @ Backspace
5/31/2010 Seattle, WA @ Studio Sevem
6/1/2010 Vancouver, BC @ The Railway Club
6/3/2010 Calgary, Alberta @ Broken City
6/4/2010 Red Deer, Alberta @ The Vat
6/5/2010 Edmonton, Alberta @ The Haven Social Club
6/6/2010 Leduc, Alberta @ Burnsy O’Flannagans
6/9/2010 Winnipeg, Mantiba @ The Royal Albert Arms
6/10/2010 St Paul, MN @ Eclipse Records
6/11/2010 La Crosse, WI @ The Warehouse w/ Destry
6/13/2010 Chicago, IL @ Subterranean w/ Destry
6/16/2010 St Louis, MO @ Firebird w/ Destry
7/2/2010 Austin, TX @ Emo’s (acoustic show) w/ Andrew Jackson Jihad

Our Noise, The Story of Merge Records

From time to time, i have considered putting together an online book club through Vinyl Collective. While I don’t have as much time as I would like these days to read, I try to read whenever possible. As one might suspect, some of my favorite books involve topics of music industry and history. I recently read a book that would be a perfect first book for our imaginary book club: Our Noise, The Story of Merge Records.

“Our Noise” is a fantastic book that details the humble beginnings and prosperous future of Merge Records through the eyes of Mac and Laura (of Merge and Superchunk). I think the book explains that you don’t have to sign with a major or sell half of your label to a major to find success. While I am a fan of Superchunk, I was never a super fan and never really new their story, but this book has me looking to explore more. Did you know that Superchunk put out their early records on Matador? They later opted to put out their own records with their own label, but there was a time when the majors were bidding high to sign the North Carolina band. For many years, Merge was known only as Superchunk’s label, but as the years passed, Merge signed acts like Magnetic Fields, Spoon, Arcade Fire, Neutral Milk Hotel, and more. This book explains each of the bands’ stories along with a number of lesser known acts, Merge’s former distribution deal with Touch and Go (now with ADA), and lots of examples of major label excesses (and shortcomings). I thoroughly enjoyed the book. And while I can’t find it, there is a great quote about a good 7″ single by Mac.

Has anyone read this book? What did you think?

If we had a book club, what book would you recommend next?

HELP FUND FIFTEEN – BUZZ VINYL LP 12″

Our friends at Solidarity Recordings have recently set up a Kickstarter page to put together the funding to re-issue Fifteen’s “Buzz” on vinyl. “Buzz” was originally released by Grass Records (a label that was later purchased by Wind Up Records). Grass put out a number of releases including “Buzz” (on vinyl and CD). When I worked at Hopeless Records, Louis (Hopeless’ owner), introduced the album to me. The album is incredible and could be my favorite of Fifteen’s discography. I was actually surprised to see that Solidarity got the license to press this on vinyl, but that is only because I figured having Wind Up/Grass license the vinyl rights might not be so easy. Little did I know that Plan It X had previously re-issued the album on CD.

So Solidarity has a number of Pledge amounts that can get you a copy of the album on the most limited variant of the pressing all the way to getting all 3 colors of the album and a test pressing. Remember that your card is only charged if the goal amount (in this case $2,000) is reached.

If you want to see this album re-issued, visit the above link. Good luck Solidarity. Make sure you hold onto a copy for me. I can’t wait to listen to this reissue on vinyl.

Stephen Egerton – The Seven Degrees Of… LP / CD (yes a CD)

Stephen Egerton’s ambitious new album, “The Seven Degrees Of…” is now out. Have you heard it? Do you have a favorite track? Obviously I am partial to tracks by Chad Price, Jon Snodgrass, Joey Cape, and Milo Aukerman, but some of the most surprising tracks to me were John Moreland and Bill McShane. I have to commend Stephen Egerton on such an outstanding job on this release. I could not imagine how long this album took to put together.

I was surprised to see that this album is available on CD as Paper and Plastick were pretty vocal about not releasing CDs. Will there be more Paper and Plastick titles on CD? I should interview Vinnie as I have been thinking about putting out less CDs with Paper and Plastick as my inspiration.

If you haven’t seen the track listing, it is listed below. Interpunk now has the album available on 3 different colors of vinyl and CD. Get a copy while you can. I expect this to sell out.

1 Flip (Feat. John Speck Of The Fags)
2 Fire’s On (Feat. Jon Snodgrass Of Drag The River)
3 Abundance Of Fluff (Feat. John Moreland Of The Black Gold Band)
4 South For The Winter (Feat. Tim McIlrath Of Rise Against)
5 Funny Face (Feat. Chad Price Of All/Drag The River)
6 Never Again (Feat. Bill McShane Of Ultimate Fakebook)
7 On The Avenue (Feat. Jesse Cole Of In Stereo/Le Fang)
8 Our Last Song (Feat. Dan Andriano Of Alkaline Trio)
9 She’s Got Everything (Feat. Milo Aukerman Of The Descendents)
10 Cut Me Down To Size (Feat. Mike Herrera Of MXPX)
11 Sunny Disposition (Feat. Scott Reynolds of All)
12 When They Roam (Feat. Joey Cape Of Lagwagon/Me First And The Gimme Gimmes)
13 Print On Paper (Feat. Chris DeMakes Of Less Than Jake)
14 Falling Out (Feat. Frank Daly Of Big Drill Car)
15 Silencer (Feat. Mark Vecchiarelli Of Shades Apart)
16 Willie Wicked (Feat. Abe Brenna Of My Name/Wretch Like Me)

Band Of Horses “Infinite Arms” LP

Band of Horses have a brand new album out today, their first for a major label and their first not with Subpop. I might also add that this is also their first not so amazing album. I was a pretty big fan after their first album, “Everything All the Time”. I became an even bigger fan with “Cease to Begin”. I was really excited for the release of this new album and only time will tell if the album grows on me, but at this point, I think the album just doesn’t have the edge that their first two albums have. It’s just missing something. What are your thoughts on the new album? I love this band and look forward to seeing them live again, it might take seeing these songs performed live to make the difference.

Here are my Band of Horses’ album rankings:

1. “Cease to Begin”
2. “Everything All The Time”
3. “Infinite Arms”

How about you?

Other Band of Horses releases available through Interpunk

FALLEN FROM THE SKY / WONDER YEARS Under the Influence Vol 13 7″ Transparent Brown vinyl

FALLEN FROM THE SKY / WONDER YEARS Under the Influence Vol 13 7″ Transparent Blue vinyl

We are excited to announce the thirteenth release of our Under the Influence series. The series finds bands we love recording songs that have influenced their song writing. The artwork has been put together by the very talented Mitch Clem and Nation of Amanda who have been asked to make their own renditions of the album art that the song being covered originally appeared. For this thirteenth release, Fallen From The Sky cover “This Is A Call” by Foo Fighters and Wonders Years cover “Zip Lock” by Lit. The 7″s will come with a coupon that will allow you to download the tracks as mp3s. We expect to receive the 7″s by the end of May, early June.

Pressing info for this release will be out of edition of 1,000 copies (300 pressed on transparent brown (whiskey coke colored) vinyl, 700 pressed on transparent blue vinyl. I expect the brown vinyl to sell out really quickly.

We are happy to share with you the full album stream of Austin Lucas’ Collection record. The album compiles tracks from previous vinyl-only tracks from Austin’s “At War With Freak Folk” 10″, and his splits with Chuck Ragan, the Takers, and Frank Turner. An unreleased track rounds out the 11 track album. I absolutely love these songs as the At War With Freak Folk tracks were the first new tracks I heard from Austin prior to putting out “Somebody Loves You”. Between you and me, I favor a number of these tracks due to their raw, warm recording qualities. The album is the perfect record to round out your Austin Lucas collection and to hold you over til his next album which he is working on now. While it isn’t yet available on vinyl, it will be soon. You can buy it from Interpunk and your favorite indie retailer on CD though.

And later today, we will be announcing the Austin Lucas Mix Tape. We will let you know how you can get it FREE by purchasing any Suburban Home full length from Interpunk or by sending us a few dollars for postage.

Please give the album a listen and please share it with someone you think might like it. thanks.

A little while back, Bad Religion announced the release of a free live album to commemorate 30 years as a band. “30 Years Live” can be heard in its entirety on Spinner. And you can sign up for a free copy of the album here. I assume a link will be sent out this week (hopefully tomorrow since that is the release date of the album). The band are currently recording a brand new album due out later this year. If you haven’t signed up for the free album download, do so today.

How does your Bad Religion vinyl collection look? What is your favorite Bad Religion album? I think that “Suffer” will forever be my favorite album, but I love so many albums from their early years (except for Into the Unknown, what the hell was that).

Interpunk currently stocks a lot of the Bad Relgion catalog. Round out your collection by visiting this link.

PO: Good Old War “Good Old War” LP

When Good Old War released their first album, “Only Way to be Alone”, it took my ears by storm. It had been some time since I heard an album with so many hooks with dead on harmonies with songs that were just fun. It was one of my top 10 listens of last year. I saw them live at the Marquis Theater and they were just as fantastic live as they were on the recordings. You can tell the guys have an absolutely blast when they play and the crowd has just as much fun feeding off the energy. I remember talking to their merch guy and he said that they had already finished recording a second album and it was better than the first. I could not believe what I was hearing. Fast forward to now and I have to say that their 2nd self-titled album is just as fantastic and depending on the day even better than their debut. I don’t know what they put in the water in Pennsylvania, but whatever it is, it helps to create some of the most infectious songs and gives Simon and Garfunkel a serious run for their money.

If you haven’t pre-ordered this from their label Sargent House, consider picking it up through Interpunk. The release date is June 1st.

The Black Keys “Brothers” Double LP With Bonus CD / Free Poster

The Black Keys have a brand new album in stores tomorrow. I am listening to the album for the first time right now and once again, it sounds like a keeper. Their last album “Attack and Release” found them working with Danger Mouse and man, that record was the best 70′s record released in the 2000′s and my favorite of the band’s since “Thickfreakness” which may forever be my favorite album of theirs. I still remember seeing them at South By Southwest and to me, they were the best band that year. I can’t remember the year, but it was round the release of Thickfreakness. Only a 2 piece, The Black Keys play loud and driving. The songs are so well written giving the band a bit of a timeless sound incorporating garage rock and blues. Danger Mouse again helps out with the production on “Brothers”. I’ve read that this album is a bit of a breakup album as the drummer recently went through a really difficult divorce. Songs like “Next Girl” and “I’m Not The One” give you an idea of the album’s overlying theme. Regardless of where you are at with your own relationship, this is going to be one of the albums of the summer. i can’t wait til my next BBQ where I will be playing this loud.

While supplies last, Interpunk has free posters with the order of “Brothers” which is being pressed as a double LP w/ Bonus CD.

You can listen to the album right now at Spinner. Check it out, so far, it is sounding pretty amazing.

And if you don’t own “Thickfreakness”, I highly encourage you to add that record to your collection. It is absolutely essential.