Record Store Day

Influenced by my good friend Simon Jones blog post about Record Store Day I have been thinking about events that are due to take place up and down the country on April 16th and how my music consumption has changed over recent years. But first a little bit of background...

I have always had what many Radio 1 listeners might call an odd taste in music. Personally I would like to call it adventurous. Where this has come from I have no idea. As a teenager I had many friends who made significant impact on my music selections and their influence could perhaps be seen throughout my collection today. 

I still remember the exact location David Mudie (who was known as Mod) played me Sparklehorse's Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot at a house party sometime around 1996 and introducing me to Mega City Four while we were studying the Baroque era during GCSE Music. 

Jamie Baker (Jim) was the first person who played me Suede, Supergrass, Green Day, The Newcranes, Shed 7, Spiritualized and Blur among many others. 

Simon Hay introduced me to the world of Carter USM, 10,000 Maniacs and rather oddly for a 14 year old Jethro Tull and I will always remember when Mike Hartley playing me Rancid's "And Out Come The Wolves" album while driving his Dad's car round Lichfield.

All of these took place well before I had even commenced the early days of my working life.

From 1998 (a year or so after studying Music Business in Glasgow) I started working in Music retail. This started off in the rather non cool music department of WH Smith in Birmingham where I would get told off for playing Beck and Feeder - this lead me to chance upon a job at Tower Records.

Tower was perhaps one of the best jobs I have ever had, all of the staff were of similar age but with totally varied music tastes, here I was introduced to At The Drive In, Kid Koala, Television, Gram Parsons and so much Punk and Reggae I was made buyer for both departments.

I then was offered a chance to run my own record shop and moved to work for Andy's Records in Ipswich - where the rather excellent Dan Keeble got me to look beyond the surf era Beach Boys while I inflicted all kinds of Reggae into his ears

I then went and worked as a Manager for Music Zone and started to realise that the music industry was facing big problems and personally I started to realise that working in a record shop was really no different to working in Tesco - albeit with much more interesting produce. I left the industry, never to return.

During my years doing other things I have witnessed Tower, Andy's, Music Zone vanish. Most towns are now left with the option of buying from the Top 20 at their local Asda or from the hugely reduced music range now being held by HMV as their emphasis focuses more on DVD, Blu Ray, Ipod accessories and T-Shirts. In my town the only voice you hear now belongs to His Masters.

As sad as the gradual decline of Record Shops has been, looking through my collection of albums I have perhaps had more access to music than I have had before. I have always took advice from my friends and people I trust musically to help me navigate the waters. The explosion of the internet has done exactly that.

Pandora started it all for me back in 2006 when, through the use of a made up US Zip code I was opened up to a whole new world of music discovery - Pela and Micah P Hinson were just two of the artists that were induced into my collection - then along came Last Fm, Spotify, Mflow, Myspace, Amazon's recommendation service, BBC 6 Music, and of course Twitter. 

All of these help me discover music on an almost daily basis - the entire internet is now my record shop and you folks reading this are my Mod's, Jim's, Hay's and Hartley's as bands, songs and albums are shared, commented on and even purchase at quick lightning speed. Potentially I could suggest a band to you now and you could own their latest album in the time it takes you to make a cup of tea.

When I think of all the musical possibilities I feel conflicted. I love record shops - I always have done ever since I pestered my Mum at around 4 years old to buy me my first record but at the same time I also know that there isn't a record shop on earth that could supply me with the music I have discovered over the years - sure I could go into a record store an order the latest Pokey LaFarge album but I am sure that due to distribution and minimum order levels, it would take weeks to arrive and cost me twice as much as I paid for it to buy it direct online.

Don't get me wrong, I love record shops dearly. They are truly wondrous places where good things happen and Record Store Day is something we should all embrace and cherish, but due to lack of music buying options over recent years I have also grown to live without them. It makes me feel sad and a little guilty yet my music purchasing has not suffered as a result - it has grown more than I could ever imagine. 

But I do miss going into a record shop, I miss the rummaging - hours lost flicking through endless racks of CDs and glorious vinyl - the anticipation of the walk home, purchase in hand is much more satisfying than the anticipation of the Postman dropping your latest buy onto your doormat - and all of these are a millions times more wonderful than downloading what is essentially code from a website.

Support you local Record Store Day at http://www.recordstoreday.co.uk/

14th March 2011 7:1:25 & 7:2:7

It's been a busy week or so and I finally realised writing or being part of 3 blogs is rather quite tricky time wise.

The first selection I am going to cover was picked by a wonderful chap from Norway by the name of Preben (also known as @ohpebbles on Twitter). This combination 7:1:25 was picked at random on Monday 7th March.

Sizzla - Royal Son Of Ethiopia



People who knew me well at a certain time in my life would know that I went through a huge reggae phase, which lasted many years. Rather oddly I got in to reggae in an almost chronological order - starting with Ska, working my way through Rocksteady, Dub and ending up in the rather brilliant 1970's roots era.

I really struggled with anything beyond 1979 as Reggae music started to go digital as soon as the 1980's took hold -and this has never sat well with me for some reason.

Sizzla's output is rather prolific by anyone's standards -releasing around 42 albums in a 16 year period. It is fair to say they are of varying quality.

Royal Son of Ethiopia was released in 1999 and is perhaps the album which made the UK reggae audience sit up and notice him a little.

To be honest, this CD starts a little of the weak side, with rather formulaic rhythms which lack any great depth, or bass for that matter. Although once you hit the middle period (mainly tracks 4 to 7) the album really does come into its own. Overall its a good album - but there was much better to come over the next couple of years.

I rarely listen to Sizzla any more, there are a few things that don't sit right with me. Allegations that Sizzla's lyrics incite violence and the murder of homosexuals, which lead him to be refused from entering the UK in 2004. He also had shows cancelled in Canada in 2007, was arrested and deported from Spain in 2008 and had further gigs called off in Germany during 2009 and 2010. Unfortunately this kind of attitude is quite rife within modern Rastafarian music.

In 2010 Sizzla also travelled to Zimbabwe to perform for Robert Mugabe's 86th Birthday celebrations which reportedly damaged his reputation in the country. He has since been given land in the country which has also not gone down well amongst his fan base.




My second selection this week was chosen by Tom (@drwinston001 on twitter). He chose the combination 7:2:7

Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse present Dark Night Of The Soul



Lets start with this. If you have not heard or heard of Sparklehorse go buy yourself a copy of Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot and start from there.

Sparklehorse is essentially one man - Mark Linkous who suffered terribly with his mental health and a terrible addiction to drugs. In 1996, while touring with Radiohead he overdosed on anti-depressants, valium, alcohol and heroin while in London - the upshot of which nearly lost him the use of both legs and left his confined to a wheelchair for 6 months.

This album was released in 2009 and was a collaboration between Linkous, producer Danger Mouse and film maker David Lynch.

Although it is not billed entirely as a Sparklehorse album you can certainly hear the influence and the input he had on it. Dark, moody and a little bit floaty it has some brilliant collaborations with The Flaming Lips, Gruff Rhys, Julian Casablancas, Iggy Pop and more.

This story does not have a happy ending though. Mark Linkous sadly passed away on 6th March 2010 after commiting suicide.

It was a huge loss for the music world.