Fugazi: Repeater (1990)

We’re back in Fugazi territory, and with every release I regret more and more not having this band in my life during my childhood. I was 17 when the band’s debut full length Repeater came out, and listening to it now 32 years later I can hear how the intensity, the immediacy of the songs would have taken a hold of me. True, I was listening to Minor Threat and getting my McKaye fix that way, but the space and use of sound as a punctuation rather than a melodic component is so addicting now…I assume I would have mainlined this like a fiend back in the day.

ChrisApril 28, 2022April 28, 20221 Comment

Vinyl

Sweeping Promises: Hunger For A Way Out (2020)

It started, like it usually does, by listening to Rollins’s radio show. It ended, like it usually does, by checking out both a new band – Sweeping Promises – and a new label – Feel It Records – digging deep into the wealth of cool new music. Hunger For A Way Out is the two-piece band’s debut, and it checks off all my happy boxes for this kind of niche rock and roll: mono, 45 rpm, garage-y feel that evokes Joy Division and other post-punk but with a keen sense of pop that’s not overly saccharine.

ChrisApril 25, 2022Leave a comment

Miscellany, Vinyl

Record Store Day 2022

I’m not one to usually get up and get on the line for Record Store Day; I’m more than content to head over to my local shop a few days later and pick through the remains, or order online. But the last few weeks have been a hotbed of anxiety, and I’ve been relying more and more on music in order to detach and decompress (hence the massive influx of incoming vinyl). So this morning I roused myself, showered, and with a hot cup of coffee took myself down to Needle + Groove Records to see if I could nab the few titles I was interested in.

ChrisApril 23, 2022April 23, 20221 Comment

Vinyl

Fugazi: Fugazi/7 Songs (1988)

Confession time. Up until a few weeks ago I never owned any Fugazi on vinyl. Plenty of Ian McKaye – Minor Threat, Embrace, Teen Idles…even his latest band Coriky. Like everyone else my age I certainly had heard the band – I even had for the longest time 13 Songs and Repeater +3 Songs taped on a blank cassette thanks to friends in college who made sure I was aware. But as I got older I branched into other things, and Fugazi was always readily available…a download away. Once Dischord moved to Bandcamp I quickly snatched up digital copies of the albums, but vinyl still eluded me. But it’s never too late (except for certain albums that are INSANELY overpriced and currently out of print) so over the last few weeks I hunted down what I could and we’re starting at the very beginning, with the self-titled debut EP, or as it’s known in some parts 7 Songs.

ChrisApril 20, 2022April 20, 20221 Comment

Vinyl

Ty Segall: Fried Shallots EP (2017)

If we’re moving a bit faster to get through all these new records coming it, it’s fitting to start with a short EP. Released a few months after his eponymous rocker I reviewed a few weeks ago, Fried Shallots is a brief but pleasant attic cleaning from Ty Segall. Six tracks recorded over the past few years, including two new versions of songs from previous albums. Does categorizing this as a diversion, an odds and ends assortment lessen the enjoyment I get out of it? Not really. If anything it gives a little more insight into the man’s process what works and what doesn’t when you’re working to sequence and build an album.

ChrisApril 19, 2022Leave a comment

Miscellany

The Latest Haul / Fast and Furious

About an hour after I took this picture of the albums and CDs that came in the past week, the mail arrived. More boxes. Always a good thing – so much to sift through and digest and just consume. I’ve been on various kicks pouring through Ty Segall and the records from the awesome Dischord label (including the First Six Records boxset I haven’t listened to yet), so there’s a lot of that represented here. But there’s so much more, so this quick blog entry is just a placeholder marking off what came in and what’s on deck fro the next few weeks. The plan is go back to shorter, impressionistic reviews to get all this listened to and logged.

Any chance to enjoy some music, you know?

ChrisApril 17, 2022Leave a comment

Consuming the Tangible

We are what we consume

Month: April 2022

Fugazi: Repeater (1990)

Sweeping Promises: Hunger For A Way Out (2020)

Record Store Day 2022

Fugazi: Fugazi/7 Songs (1988)

Ty Segall: Fried Shallots EP (2017)

The Latest Haul / Fast and Furious