Couch Slut: Take a Chance on Rock and Roll (2020)

There are a lot of fantastic independent labels I could have spoken about for Day 13 of the #mayvinylchallenge, and if you take anything away from this entry, it’s that you should support the labels that bring you the music you love. So shower some love on Castle Face, Drag City, Touch and Go, Dischord, RidingEasy…in the meantime I went with a small indie label I’ve been subscribing to for three years: Gilead Media. I’ve reviewed a number of their releases over the years for Nine Circles, and today it’s time for a quick word or two on Take a Chance on Rock and Roll, the stellar 2020 release from Couch Slut.

ChrisMay 13, 2021May 13, 2021Leave a comment

Vinyl

Iggy Pop: Post Pop Depression Live at the Royal Albert Hall (2017)

What’s your favorite live album? That’s the conceit for Day 12 of the #mayvinylchallenge, and my brain spun with so many choices I had to take a pic of five (and that was trimming it) for the daily Instagram pic. But when it comes to this site I like to only focus on one, and while my child’s heart would probably scream that Live After Death is my all-time favorite (it was the first live album I ever owned), I thought I’d focus on the most recent live album in my collection: the so-good-it’s-kind-of-ridiculous Post Pop Depression: Live at the Royal Albert Hall from the godfather of punk, rock, and everything else under the sun…Iggy Pop.

ChrisMay 12, 2021May 12, 2021Leave a comment

Vinyl

Kamasi Washington: Heaven and Earth (2018)

Day 11 of the #mayvinylchallenge is the Best Total Package, and the fact is that in my relatively brief time collecting vinyl (about three years) I never purchased any box sets. It’s only recently that I started focusing on new vinyl at all; most of my vinyl was purchased used. So I’ll twist this a little bit to talk about the wonder I experienced with Heaven and Earth, the massive multi-record set from jazz saxophonist and composer Kamasi Washington. Beautiful packaging, and a sweet surprise I never would have known about hidden in the seams.

ChrisMay 11, 2021Leave a comment

Vinyl

Thundercat: Drunk (2017)

Day 10 of the #mayvinylchallenge is your favorite 10″, and that guideline makes it pretty easy for me, since I have only one 10″ in my record collection. It’s a doozy, though: the third full length from the Space Ace of Bass, Thundercat. Although I had heard his distinctive style of playing on projects from Flying Lotus, Kendrick Lamar, and even Suicidal Tendencies, Drunk was my first exposure to the man as a solo artist and composer, and it was on of those pivotal “aha!” discoveries on my musical journey.

ChrisMay 10, 2021May 10, 20211 Comment

Vinyl

Harry Nilsson: Nilsson Schmilsson (1971)

Day 9 is a quick #mayvinylchallenege for my wife, since I spent the day with her and her family for Mother’s Day. She’s slowly gotten into the vinyl addiction with me, but she sticks to a few of her favorite records to listen to: Van Morrison, Paul Cauthen, the Beatles…and Harry Nilsson, whose Nilsson Schmilsson not only contains the ubiquitous “Coconut” which has been used in dozens upon dozens of movies and television shows, thus working out for today’s theme of “music discovered via movies or TV” but also happens to be one of those perfect classic pop/rock records, full of brain burrowing hooks, inventive melodies and musical flourishes that adventurous hooks and production flourishes that feel like the lost cousin to the Beatles without ever really imitating them. It’s a stone classic, and for much more than “Coconut.”

ChrisMay 9, 2021May 9, 2021Leave a comment

Vinyl

Tricky: Maxinquaye (1995)

I woke up this too early this morning, startled out of bed by the sound of my son screaming downstairs over his headset to his friends over whatever just happened during the masters round of Apex: Legends. After appropriately responding by taking his controller and throwing it outside, I made a pot of coffee, headed up to the office and looked for a record to put that would suitably chill me out and put me in a reflective mood suitable to the cold, wet day ahead. That album was Maxinquaye by trip-hop progenitor Tricky, and it counts for my Day 8 entry for the #mayvinylchallenge, which is the first album you put on this morning.

ChrisMay 8, 2021May 8, 20211 Comment

Consuming the Tangible

We are what we consume

Month: May 2021

Couch Slut: Take a Chance on Rock and Roll (2020)

Iggy Pop: Post Pop Depression Live at the Royal Albert Hall (2017)

Kamasi Washington: Heaven and Earth (2018)

Thundercat: Drunk (2017)

Harry Nilsson: Nilsson Schmilsson (1971)

Tricky: Maxinquaye (1995)