Last week I headed up to Easy Street (QA) which is usually a weekly to bi-weekly trip for me over to Uptown from Fremont. Easily my favorite record store in Seattle, they always have something for me there. I do miss Sonic Boom and their vinyl annex or general store in Fremont though, they always had obscure used stuff, and it was only a couple blocks away. My only gripe about Easy Street, is finding obscure used treasures in their vinyl section is sometimes a little hard, but I suppose it’s all relative. Anyways I knew I wanted to pick up the new Dinosaur Jr record “Farm”, which I did. It’s a great record, I love the artwork , and pretty sweet double LP gatefold packaging as well. Next I was searching for something new and previously unheard. I love going into a record store and picking up something I may have never heard but may have read about somewhere. I think I found The Black Keys this way back when “Thickfreakness” came out, then I just so happened to see them at Bumbershoot that same year playing a small side stage. Pretty sweet!
The record that caught my eye was from a band that I have seen live but not heard any recordings from; horror punk band Black Eyes and Neckties (BENt)from Bellingham. They just released a new split 12” with another Bellingham band The Russians. It’s a limited print released on Krazy Keith Records and is screen printed on one side. They are an awesome local band, and I recommend checking them out. I only picked two records this trip, I try to purchase records in moderation, and have been doing a pretty good job of that lately. It would be all too easy for me to blow a couple hundred bucks at a time.As far as other additions go, I constantly go through this battle in my head of whether I still should buy CD’s or not. It’s a battle of whether I ought to keep adding to my already massive collection of compact discs, a surely soon to be extinct format or limit my stuff intake by downloading new music that I can’t find on vinyl. I’ve gone the digital way for some time now and think I might stay that way. I went from carrying giant books of CD’s in my car to carrying around my iPhone and iPod Nano, and now clearly I travel much lighter. My only complaint is missing out on album art and inserts. I used get a new CD and read every page while listening to the album. That’s probably why I spend the time and make sure every album at least has artwork on my idevices, almost to extent of a person with OCD.
Back to the new music, I’ve picked up quite a bit of new digital music lately as well as vinyl. The highlights include Sub Pop’s Pissed Jeans’ new album “King of Jeans”. These guys play brash, heavy, chaotic punk music and are even better in a live setting. “King of Jeans” is a very solid rock record and adds welcome heaviness to Sub Pop’s ever growing folk lineup.
Next on the list is Yim Yames’ Tribute to George Harrison. Of course Yim Yames is a pseudonym for Jim James, frontman of My Morning Jacket. He recorded 6 beautiful covers of classic George Harrison songs including “Long, Long, Long” and “All Must Pass”. It was released digitally first but looks like a Vinyl and CD version are on their way. I couldn't wait and got it when it was made available digitally.
The next record I acquired is not a brand new record but was actually released in 2008, Tweak Bird’s “Reservations” (EP). I heard of this band when they opened for Big Business in town awhile back. They are a heavy experimental, progressive stoner band that has toured with the likes of the Melvins and most recently Tool. If you like those bands I’m certain you’ll dig their stuff. 
The next band came to me via my new brother in law. He is an obscure music enthusiast that seems to only listen to the most obscure off the radar stuff he can find. He has been on this ambient music kick lately and has given me quite a bit of excellent new music to check out. One of the best bands that he brought my way is Real Estate from I believe the New Jersey area. They play amazing ambient music that can best be described as stoner beach rock? Palmer thought it was the perfect soundtrack for our trip to Hawaii recently and I agree. They even made a list of the bands to watch out on Stereogum. I have their self-titled 7” single at the moment plus a few other tracks but am trying to find more, I want vinyl!
The last band I’m going to mention on this drawn out mess of a post is Delta Spirit and their recent release “Ode to Sunshine”. Delta Spirit are an indie band mixing blues, country, and roots-rock. They are known for their theatrical live performances, as I witnessed when they opened up for The Shins back in May. In my opinion they are 10 times the musicians and performers than The Shins are. They were the highlight of the evening and I have had their album on steady rotation for awhile now. I like singers who sing with passion and exert emotion in their lyrics, that’s why some of my favorite singers such as Eddie, Layne, Neil and more recently Peter Quirk of The Cave Singers have grabbed my attention over the years. Matthew Vasquez of Delta Spirit has a similar quality.
Well these are just a few of the recent additions to my ever growing music library, thought I’d share a few of them with you. Keep an eye on my "What's Spinning?" section for other recent additions and suggestions.
-SRG
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