Oh man, I love new record day.
I’m starting to realize that my new found love for non digital music is getting kinda spendy. When this whole thing started I found a seller on eBay that would apply a discount for buying more than one record at a time. I started doing the math and most of the time, per record, it ended up being pretty reasonable. Most of this lot came from there. I’m pretty sure I’m keeping them in business at this point.
When I look at this picture I see an evolution of old tastes and new. I don’t necessarily think our musical tastes should exist in a vacuum. If we only ever listen to the bands we loved in high school, we be closed off to new incredible music that might otherwise enhance our lives. I think if you scrolled through my iTunes library or flipped through my record collection, you’d find a pretty wide assortment of music. I’d like to think that a well rounded music collection makes for a well rounded individual. But I digress. Let’s talk records.
Ignition – I have always been an Offspring fan, but I tend to gravitate towards their older music. Ignition was the first Offspring album I ever heard and to this day is my hands down favorite.
Medicine at Midnight – So I’ll admit it. I’m late to the Foo Fighters party. I’ve always known about them, heard and even played some of their hits but never really listened. But then, somewhere in a hotel room boredom induced YouTube rabbit hole, I started listening to Dave Grohl talk about his band and their music and I thought, maybe I should listen to something other than Everlong. So I listened. And listened. Aaaaand listened some more. And I’m hooked. This is their most recent release, on orange vinyl (because I’m a sucker for colored vinyl). I’ve listened through it a few times and what got my attention was that it sounded different than a lot of their other music. From driving rock tunes to interesting rhythms to a semi obvious hat tip to David Bowie’s Let’s Dance. I thought it would be a good candidate for my first Foo Fighters record. There will be more.
Like Clockwork – So I played in this band a while back and the drummer said he was into Queens of the Stone Age. And I was all,”Queens of the what now?” I was pretty sure he was talking about some weirdo band from the 70’s. Turns out I was half right. That was in 2003. Kiiind of a while ago. So here’s how I found them in the last few years: I started getting into the Foo Fighters, which led me to discovering Them Crooked Vultures, which introduced me to Josh Homme, which led me directly to Queens. I think I would describe QOTSA kind of like a single malt scotch. It’s a little weird the first time you try it, but you know it’s good, and you want to like it, so you listen until you do. There are so many good songs on this record, it’s hard to know where to start. If you haven’t heard them yet, I highly recommend that you do.
Rubber Factory & Delta Kream – If you’ve spent anytime around me you’ll know that I’m a a huge fan of The Black Keys. Rubber Factory is one of their earlier records, and if you’re into their older two piece lo-fi sound (which you should be), this one won’t disappoint. Over the years I’ve played their music in the band and finally got to see them play in 2019. My wife scored some pretty amazing seats and it was one hell of a show.
One of my favorite albums by The Black Keys is Chulahoma, a tribute to Junior Kimbrough. It has a mellow delta blues sound that is perfect for a lazy summer afternoon. I’ve never preordered a record before, but when they released the first two songs off Delta Kream and then offered a preorder on the LP, with that Chulahoma vibe, I didn’t think twice. I haven’t listened to it yet so I’ll wait to share any impressions, but I would be surprised if I didn’t love it.
A brief word on new record releases in 2021… A lot of the bands that I follow have been releasing new material this year. In a year full of absurdity I absolutely love that these bands, as well as so many other musicians have taken the forced time off to write and record new music. My own band included (coughshamelessplugcough). Especially those who released records that sound different from the rest of their catalog. I have so much respect for bands that can take a risk and experiment rather than making the same record over and over again. Medicine at Midnight is a good example as is Royal Blood’s new release Typhoons. I’d expect Delta Kream to qualify as well, as Chulahoma was quite a bit different from The Black Keys other records. It does my soul good to be surrounded by so much new music born of a pretty tough year for the world. Things are looking up.
Carry on.
Vertical Separation 