It’s as simple as searching for someone’s record online, that I stumble on a label that’s pushing some amazing vinyl. Case in point: Electric Cowbell Records out of New York. I went on their site looking for this Superhuman Happiness 7″, and came out with a handful of other 45’s. Can’t complain. I damn near fell out of my chair when I heard this Sway Machinery track. Had to get it.
I was searching for some Alabama Shakes vinyl, and it looks like Third Man, Jack White’s own record label, released a live 7″ of a couple of tracks from this southern soul-rock band.
Then I happened upon this really cool iPhone case, made out of die-cut 45’s from Third Man Records! Just when you thought people ran out of creative ideas for records (besides actually playing them, of course).
Now, if you haven’t had a chance to witness the Alabama Shakes, check out their live session on KCRW back in January. Big up to my man, Nate Martel, for putting me on to this fresh group.
Calling all vinyl junkies! If you do not buy this box set, you are stupid, dumb, and lame. 10 7inch singles, plus downloads, plus a bonus CD, plus a BOOK?! At a freakishly low price of $50?! This was released in November 2011, and I’m completely baffled as to why they are not sold out already. “Wheedle’s Groove” is an extremely well told story of the Seattle funk scene of the 1970’s. Thanks to Mr. Supreme aka Supreme La Rock for doing the digging, and Light in The Attic for putting this out. Again, for $50, you get the following:
Stumbled on this group, killin the reggae covers. Not only do they have their 45’s selling for SUPER CHEAP, but they also have a free download of their steppers version of Vince Guaraldi’s “Christmas Time Is Here.” You can’t go wrong with a reggae version of anything, and it’s good to see Redbud putting this out.
Peep their cover of Nu Shooz’s “I Can’t Wait,” featuring one of my favorite vocalists, Cecilia Stalin.
My man Endo came through The Straight Ahead last week and mentioned that he had some 45’s in the car for sale, so I politely exited the spot and proceeded to follow the man to a parking structure down the street. After sifting through some goodness, he handed me this 7-inch. A fine cover of The Jackson Sisters rare groove classic. UK soul & latin bands always come with the heat. Hearing this record reminded me how excited I was when I heard about Grupo X quite a few years back.
I stumbled on this LP a few weeks back at my local record shop in Long Beach, and was delightfully surprised! These dudes are very young, all 22 and younger, based out of Amsterdam. Check out this video, which pretty much sums them up better than I can. If you love afrobeat music, this record, which is, in essence, a one-take studio session, will make you bug out. I’ve been reccomending this to everyone I know. Enjoy!
You can get the vinyl or digital version at the Kindred Spirits label shop.
Although I’ve never made a purchase, I’m a sucker for informercials and “as seen on TV” stores, I finally could no longer resist. Was at Walgreen’s the other day looking for Halloween stuff, and I found a certified tool of the trade for vinyl collectors and diggers who like to go to swap meets and flea markets: The Pocket Chair!
Got this for 10 bucks. It fits in a pretty small pouch, and while it COULD fit in your pocket, it probably wouldn’t be that comfortable. But with the handle on the pouch, it’s extremely easy to carry around.
If you’re not familiar with the painful process of looking for records at flea markets, let me break it down. Often, vendors will have crates or boxes of records on the ground instead of on tables. So you have to kneel down, often for quite a long time. There’s two options: Squat or actually get on your knees. Either way, after about 5 minutes of holding the same position, you get tired. You can switch back and forth, change weight to different feet/knees, but either way, it sucks.
You can try utilizing another crate or box to sit on, but then you’re sitting on records….not cool. As you can see here, sometimes it’s not easy sifting through a stack of records. You can spend hours going through one vendor’s piles of gems. Enter the pocket chair. Next time you’re at a swap meet and see something like this, pull out your pocket chair, and laugh at the other collectors cursing their knees for getting scraped on the cement.
Went digging yesterday and found this Olatunji record. How can you pass up a record that says Afro-Percussion?! Listened to it on the Crosley at the store, took it to the counter, bagged it up, went home, and it’s been sitting there until this evening. While looking over the art work, I noticed an interesting thing embedded in the cover. Check it out…
