Record Store Day is right around the corner (April 16), and the list of exclusives and special releases just keeps on growing. It’s been about two years since we’ve had a new release from experimental/noise trio Xiu Xiu, but the band have now announced a new album: Plays The Music Of Twin Peaks.
That’s right: Xiu Xiu are released a covers album exclusively featuring music from the cult David Lynch show. With the original music composed by Angelo Badalamenti, the beloved series has almost become as well known for its soundtrack as it has the show itself.
The release was initially commissioned by the Gallery of Modern Art in Australia for a David Lynch exhibition which took place in April last year. The band has gone on to share their covers at a number of special performances around the world. Now, the studio album version will be made available as an RSD exclusive. Only 2000 copies will be available, on a 180 gram double LP in red and blue vinyl.
The album was produced by former band member Jherek Bischoff, who has also worked with Amanda Palmer and Ariel Pink, and was mixed by Greg Saunier of Deerhoof.
The album will be released as a Record Store Day exclusive via Polyvinyl and Bella Union.
Below, listen to the album’s first release, Falling.
Plays the Music of Twin Peaks Track List:
01 Laura Palmer’s Theme
02 Into the Night
03 Audrey’s Dance
04 Packard’s Vibration
05 Nightsea Wind
06 Blue Frank Pink Room
07 Sycamore Tree
08 Harold’s Theme
09 Dance of the Dream Man
10 Falling
11 Love Theme Farewell
12 Josie’s Past
Click here for the full list of Record Store Day exclusives
Image: Joan Chen
When I was about seven or eight, one my my aunties gave me her original copy of Madonna‘s Like a Virgin and Other Hits. I remember the cover as distinctly as I remember waiting for the most opportune moment to sneak into the front room of our house, turn on the record player and dance until my little legs could no longer support me. A few years later, my mother unceremoniously got rid of the monster-sized record player along with the all vinyl records in our house, what I considered to be my Madonna one included.
Me.
A reissue of that record, along with quite a number of others our front room used to house, is just one of the many slated for this year’s Record Store Day exclusives. With April 16th all but right around the corner, the good folks over at Record Store Day have just posted the list of exclusive releases for this year’s event which include exclusive releases from David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Madonna, Patti Smith, Run The Jewels and Record Store Day Ambassadors, Metallica.
Bowie’s exclusives include a 15-inch single of TVC, accompanied by an edit of Wild is the Wind, a reissue of 1970’s The Man Who Sold the World featuring the original German artwork and a 12-inch of I Dig Everything – The Pye Years 1966 in celebration of its 50th anniversary.
Bob Dylan fans can cop a 7-inch EP titled Melancholy Mood that was previously only available in Japan.
Recorded last year, Patti Smith’s Horses Live at Electric Lady Studios, will be available – just one of many live recordings dropping on the third Saturday in April.
Alanis Morissette’s Nineties demos, from her deluxe edition of Jagged Little Pill, are also set for release for Record Store Day, as is a 12 inch picture-disc reissue of Justin Bieber’s Purpose. Other musicians have entirely new records planned specially for the day, like former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante, who will put out a new electronic EP, Foregrow.
While I’m not sure I’ll be lining up to reclaim Like A Virgin And Other Hits, despite it rightfully belonging to me, there are a number of releases I’m planning on parting with my hard earned cash money for once I get my act together and actually save it up.
Also me.
You can check out the entire list on the official website and plan your Record Store Day by checking out which stores near you are participating.
Gifs: Tumblr, Giphy
Image: Consequence Of Sound
The Record Store Day Black Friday lists have just been released, and boy oh boy do they contain some beauties.
A spin-off of the annual celebration of independent record stores, this year, November 27 will see new releases and re-issues of various artists in preparation of the upcoming festive season. The new releases will be separated into three categories: Exclusives, Small Run and RSD Firsts.
This year’s Exclusives list is full of countless goodies, with treats such as The Clash and their self-titled record seeing a limited special edition run, and Phil Collins hit single In The Air Tonight getting a vinyl exclusive with a 12 page comic book (but sadly no gorilla costume for your drum cover). Other gems include a limited edition run out of Funkadelic’s First Ya Gotta Shake The Gate featuring a casual cameo by Kendrick Lamar, and an in-store release of the Jimi Hendrix classic Burning Desire. The full list of releases can be found here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqLMq_Qnaqc
We can only cross our fingers and hope that some more surprises occur on Black Friday this year, after the annual celebration Record Store Day back in April saw signings, in-store performances and Blur hiring an ice cream truck. We already know that Adele is releasing her new album 25 around the same time, so you never know what might be around the corner…
#NEWALBUMALERT @Adele 25 coming to record stores 11/20
— Record Store Day (@recordstoreday) October 22, 2015
Regardless, we are sure that the list will have your Christmas shopping for that pesky in-law sorted. Merry (very early) Xmas!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p00FX3BamdM
Hey vinyl fans, Tuesday may soon be your favourite day of the week. After last year’s 50% rise in vinyl purchases and the success of Record Store Day, independent retailers are interested in making the event a weekly thing. Every Tuesday will be known as ‘Vinyl Tuesday’, where exclusive offers and discounts will be available for fans everywhere.
The American Association of Independent Music says there will be five types of Vinyl Tuesdays. These include “catalog releases, commercial and promotional releases, releases made specifically for the Record Store Day indie community, vinyl editions of albums that were previously released on CD and digitally, and exclusive vinyl releases that drop before their digital editions.”
Indie retailers are running with this idea with the goal “to maintain and grow physical retail while giving music fans more compelling reasons to support this important part of the music business community.”
There is no launch date yet or guarantee that this will be an international initiative, but it’s still early days.
What do we think? Will this cause Record Store Day to lose its hype, or will it be stronger than ever?
Watch the Foo Fighters’ intimate performance at this year’s Record Store Day:
As we all know, it was Record Store Day just this last Saturday, which is a day that music fans can give back to that little store that often goes overlooked or forgotten in this digital age. Each year the releases get better and better, providing exclusive content for fans that are willing to brace the crowds to drop their hard earned dollaz on some official, limited or #rare releases, often packed with hidden, or not so hidden surprises.
One of these releases this year comes from one of our favourites, Run The Jewels. Dropping an exclusive 12″ for the day, it included the filthy-but-so-good Love Again, Blockbuster Night Part 2, the previously shared bonus track Pew Pew Pew and a new, unheard track. Titled Bust A Move, this new number features Arkansas rapper SL Jones, some wavy beats and the typical awe-inspiring lyricism from Killer Mike and El-P. Hear it for yourself below, and whilst you’re at it have a read of our chat with RTJ here.
Saturday April 18th marked the 9th annual Record Store Day. On this day, independent record stores across the world were flooded with music lovers of all tastes who were eager to seek out and discover hidden treasures in the form of beautiful vinyl records.
We were there – it was pretty fantastic day! It seems the rest of the world agrees with us. Twitter was filled with tweets of satisfaction, along with pictures of successful purchases. It’s amazing to see so much pride in vinyl culture and the small (and not so small) record stores who have built up this day over the past eight years.
Here are some of the cool things that went on this Record Store Day:
Blur hired an ice-cream truck
Blur is set to release their new album Magic Whip on April 27. They decided to use this to get into the spirit of Record Store Day by hiring an ice cream truck which they named after the upcoming album. The truck drove around Los Angeles, serving ice cream to the people at the doorways of the crowded record stores.
Posters around the city said that those who presented their receipt would receive a free ice cream AND if they used secret code “THE MAGIC WHIP”, a collective Lonesome Street flexi disc would be coming there way.
How lucky is that?
Exclusive releases
So many artists celebrated this joyous day with exclusive releases of vinyl records and collectible reissues. There were almost 600 of these that could be found by a number of lucky fans.
Some of these included Florence + The Machine’s upcoming album How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful on 12” blue vinyl, Courtney Barnett’s Kim’s Caravan on 12” vinyl, The White Stripes’ Get Behind Me Satan on 12” coloured vinyl, Banks’ The Remixes Part 2 on 12” vinyl and a Run The Jewel 12” vinyl featuring three unreleased songs.
Did you get any of those beauties?
In-store performances
The majority of record stores are quite small so you can just imagine the incredible sound there would have been throughout the room. Foo Fighters performed a 10-song set list for about 150 fans in a record store in Ohio called Record Connection.
They played some early demos from their Record Store Day release Songs From the Laundry Room, and a few classics like Big Me and Everlong. In exchange for this intimate show, Frontman and Record Store Day Ambassador Dave Grohl had one simple request from the small crowd. “I know we’re in a fucking strip mall, but let’s pretend like this is a stadium show,” he yelled.
I’m sure this request was fulfilled.
The hunt for the autographed Paul McCartney vinyls
Word on the street is there were a few autographed Paul McCartney white label promos hidden in a selection of record stores. Copies of the 12” vinyl in a plain white cover were spread out in a bunch of secret locations across America.
Apparently, there were only 109 of these babies that were signed by the man himself. Here’s one of the lucky McCartney fans pictured with her new vinyl.
The Petting Zoo at Peaches Records
Do you have a petting zoo at your #RSD15 celebration? @PeachesRecords did. pic.twitter.com/ovRfUfT6et
— Record Store Day (@recordstoreday) April 18, 2015
Finally, Peaches Records in New Orleans decided to bring in an unusual added bonus for the day. They had a petting zoo inside the store.
Yep, that’s right. As we can see in the tweet above, they bought in what looks like a donkey and a small horse to entertain their customers. Amazing.
Record Store Day is shaping up to be one ridiculous musical frenzy, and I think Amon Tobin‘s just won out the entire damn thing.
Ladies and gentlemen, prepare yourselves for Dark Jovian.
An undisputed pioneer and legend of electronic music, Tobin will be putting out his new EP – his first new music in four years – exclusively for Record Store Day on April 18. Pressed onto two etched white vinyls, with a rubber wheel and a clear plastic storage box, there’ll be five brand new tracks and three remixes to feast upon.
The EP has been inspired by Tobin’s interest in space. According to his website: “I made these tracks a year or two ago after binge-watching space exploration films. People have, from time to time, described things I’ve done as “scores for imaginary movies,” which has always irritated me, but on this occasion it’s sort of true. Even so, what I was really trying to do was to interpret a sense of scale, like moving towards impossibly giant objects until they occupy your whole field of vision, planets turning, or even how it can feel just looking up at night.”
Specifically, he’s been inspired by classic sci-fi composers. “My musical influences are on my sleeve with this EP. Anyone who loves John Williams, Gerry Goldsmith or Gyorgy Ligeti will hopefully see what I’m drawing from, and how it then sits in an electronic context. Dark Jovian is a small personal project which is, nevertheless, dear to me: A one off indulgence into a genre that I love.”
Tracklist
A – Etching
B1. Dark Jovian
B2. In Your Own Time
B3. Adrastea Contact
B4. Io
B5. Encounter on Io
C1. Encounter on Io (Lee Gamble Reshape)
C2. Adrastea Contact (Logos Remix)
C3. In Your Own Time (Eprom Remix)
D – Etching
The album comes out on April 18 via Ninja Tune. In the meantime, watch this immensely tantalising teaser, and check out the images below:
Welcome to the second edition of Flashback Friday. Today we’re gonna take a little trip down memory lane to 2005, and The White Stripes’ fifth album Get Behind Me Satan .
The album has made headlines this week as we fast approach it’s tenth anniversary. Known for his love of all things vinyl, Jack White‘s Third Man Records have announced that for the first time ever, GBMS will be coming out in a special vinyl edition on Record Store Day (April 18). But lets take a moment to reflect on what is still one of the best rock albums of the 2000s.
Much like the majority of my music-loving comrades and football nuts all over the world, I got into The White Stripes via their 2003 album Elephant, and their unfathomably massive single Seven Nation Army. Luckily for me, I figured that with a song like that, there’s surely more good stuff under their belts, so I started delving into the full album, as well as their previous three. it wasn’t long before I was a fanatic.
The mysterious are-they-husband-and-wife-or-sister-brother duo, simply a drummer and guitarist who dressed like a strawberry swirl, and a knack for brash garage rock that not only made you want to jump up and down and break shit, but was actually really fucking good, had me hypnotised. It still does, every time.
Get Behind Me Satan then came out in 2005. It was a surprise for many – myself included. Giving way to the purity of blues-heavy guitar distortion and basic but demanding drums, we were suddenly thrown into a world of marimbas, acoustic guitars, pianos and *gasp* Meg White singing.
It wasn’t bad, not by a long shot, but it sure was a surprise at the time.
Structured to perfection, the album bounces up and down, with almost every heavy song followed by something softer.
GBMS opens with Blue Orchid, an instantly classic riff and the kind of falsetto that is so unique to Jack White’s voice. There’s a small selection of two-piece bands (DZ Deathrays, Royal Blood and Lightning Bolt come to mind) that always leave me with one question: How in hell can two people make THAT much noise?!
But from there, something changed. Enter The Nurse. Out of fucking nowhere, comes this lovely little marimba and incredibly sinister, Agatha Christie-style murder mystery lyrics. Then comes in that relentless distortion. Heavenly.
My favourite song on the record is probably The Denial Twist. Romping, stomping, raunchy blues, this was the perfect blend of ‘old’ and ‘new’ White Stripes, and the kind of garage blues we’re still seeing in Jack White’s solo stuff. This track makes me dance every time – and don’t worry, I know it’s not just about the hips.
There’s a lot of common motifs throughout the album. Sexual frustration runs on at least half the tracks. From unrequited love and devotion to a non-existent ghost on Little Ghost, to the birds and the bees of Forever For Her (Is Over For Me), it really makes you wonder what was going on in their personal lives at the time After all, the album came out around the same time as White’s marriage to his now-ex Karen Elson.
My Doorbell is definitely not actually about a doorbell, let’s just get that out of the way. Acoustic and piano-led Forever For Her (Is Over For Me,) delivers one of the most (unintentionally?) hilariously uplifting choruses on the album. “LET’S DO IT!” he yells. “LIKE THE BIRDS AND THE BEES, LET’S JUST DO IT!” Little Ghost is a funny one, too, but in a different way. Bluegrass-inspired twangs and Meg White’s harmonies (the most monotone harmony humanly possible,) I love the literal insanity. “Noone see this apparition, but because of my condition, I fell in love with a little ghost and that was all!”
Instinct Blues seriously (lyrically) reminds me of The Bloodhound Gang’s Bad Touch, there’s only a very thin veil shielding the angst in this one. “Well, the crickets get it, and the ants get it, I bet you the pigs get it, yeah, even the plants get it, come on now, and get with it, yeah, I want you to get with it.”
Musically, something I love about this album is how they contrast these gorgeous piano, acoustic guitars and marimbas with thrashing, distorted guitars. The Nurse, White Moon and Red Rain use that to full effect. At any point where you might have been thinking, “Hmm, is this going to be something soft or slow?” they suddenly inject pure rock and heavy fucking riffs. They’ve always championed the contrast between soft verses and massive choruses, shifting that difference to instrumental layers is just sublime.
White Moon is about as close to a ballad as a White Stripes track can get, and it still manages to make you jump. That contrast between the soft, echoed pianos and heavy distortion is beautiful. This is a seriously underrated track.
What else is there to love about this album? Well, there’s Passive Manipulation, the 35 second track featuring Meg White singing about women learning the difference between their father and lover. To this day I’m not exactly sure of the precise purpose or meaning. But I guess it’s cool anyway.
Take, Take, Take is one mean motherfucker of a song, a clear spat about fame and celebrity. We all know you’re not really talking about Rita Hayworth. As Ugly As I Seem is a funny little acoustic break-up track with a flowing acoustic melody and self-deprecating lyrics. The perfect down-tempo break before the Red Rain. Probably the most traditionally White Stripes track, I LOVE the Jimmy Page-esque twang of that riff.
We finally reach the end with I’m Lonely (But I Ain’t That Lonely Yet.) Reflective and emotional, with excellent piano work and endless nostalgia, it’s a perfect ending to such a diverse album.
Ten years on, this record has not aged one bit. It’s diverse and beautiful, intricate and interesting. The most ambitious White Stripes album they ever recorded, it showed off a whole myriad new musical roads that they were exploring. And they did it really, really well.
Anyway. On April 18 (Record Store Day), if you’re lucky, you’ll be able to snatch a limited edition multi-coloured vinyl version. A standard black edition will be released later in the year. Disc one of the special edition double LP is pressed on red vinyl, and disc two is white. It also comes with a full sized 12″ jacket, new artwork and a digital download code.
Here’s a trailer for the release: