Week Four: The Essential Purchase

So we reach week four and what have we got? Not much from sifting through the new release pages on the usual suspects.

There is though Detachments digital download single MESSAGES which is now available to buy from the usual digital stores. Produced by Trevor Jackson. xfm have played it repeatedly the past few weeks. Worth your 79p on itunes!

Apart from that Phonica said it was back to busy times with loads of good stuff this week. I've had a look at what they've been talking about but the main two things are the House Of House 12" and the Food Of The Gods 12". I bought the Food Of The Gods back in November though so it's not exactly new. There's a shedload of edit 12"s out this week. All I say to that is FOR F8CKS sake is that what new releases have been reduced to? A bunch of tracks repressed with a new intro added (well done CTRL Z CTRL Z CTRL Z extended intro). You're not a record label! It's just bootlegging!

Anyway I purchased the House of House 12" to catch up as I missed that the other week. A classic in the making (at over £10 I feel kinda ripped off though).

The lesson this week? Make your own music.

Week Three: The Essential Purchase

So, here we are. Week three and so far I've bought two pieces of music so far this year which is quite impressive. Unfortunately I recommended the Factory Communications 1978-1992 CD compilation last week and typically it's been delayed. So Rhino are still awaiting finished stock. Bah. I should have bought the House Of House 12". Anyways - what have we got this week...?

Salem - Water EP (Merok) 7"

One of the most interesting bands to appear over the past 12 months is Salem who I have obviously written about before singing their praises. This week the Water EP was brought to attention by my friends over at 20jazzfunkgreats so made my decision of whether to get the House Of House 12" or the Salem 7" is the quandry I am now in. THIS IS TRICKY. I'm in week 3 and already I want to buy two releases.

There are a few other things of interest too out this week: Runaway's Alberg 30 on Chinatown is a 12" maybe worth considering....

There is also this. A compilation of music from Dario Argento's films including tracks from Goblin, Ennio Morricone, Claudio Simonetti, Keith Emerson and Signor Wolf.

http://www.juno.co.uk/ppps/products/340349-01.htm

A rather marvellous compilation no less but the limited nature of Salem and House Of House vinyl releases they are the ones that will no doubt form the basis of a decision. Hmmmmmm.

***5 minutes of thinking***

I've bought the Salem 7".

http://merok.bigcartel.com/product/salem-water-ep-pre-order

I've just realised that the Salem release is a pre-order. DAMMIT. This means yet again I've ordered something that hasn't come out yet.

Anyways in other Salem news Heather from Salem has contributed vocals to the Detachments album Thisisnotanexit is putting out later this year. It sounds beautifully dark and doomed and beautiful. You'll have to wait until the Autumn to hear it though.

Anyway, hopefully there'll be some House Of House 12"s left next week. The Telepathe album DANCE MOTHER is also supposed to be out soon too. Hopefully not on vinyl next week.

This isn't as easy as I thought it would be.

WEEK TWO: THE ESSENTIAL PURCHASE

So. The burning question is what did I buy last week? I ended up buying the Nite Jewel LP in the end as I reckon that's the release I'll still be listening to in 5 years time.

I've also heard some of the Fever Ray album from a preview a friend gave me and by god it's good. I cannot wait for that to come out. If you're a fan of the knife then you're not going to be disappointed. Anyways roll on that coming out on vinyl.

This weeks music choice is VERY difficult.

First up is the debut release from HOUSE OF HOUSE on Whatever We Want from New York. This is the new project from Oliver Spencer and Saheer Umar and is rapidly gaining plays after a sneaky video preview appeared of Harvey playing it - you can check it out here:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/HOUSE-OF-HOUSE/34267683965?ref=nf

Liv is part of Still Going who are signed to DFA and released the mighty piano epic STILL GOING THEME a while back (you know the one - pianos, a hint of melancholy, sounds amazing at 3am in a dark club with your friends around you...) so you know this is big. We had talked to House Of House about a remix for Thisisnotanexit but it wasn't to be.

Anyways you can get a copy of this massive vocalled disco track on 12" from No Ordinary Monkey in the US.

http://www.noordinarymonkey.com/stuff.html



The other choice is the new Factory Records boxset that was supposed to come out on the 12th but has now gone back to the 19th. Anyways - 10,000 copies produced, the first 100 get a roll of Factory tape (yes I am Factory obsessed enough to want this), 4 x cds featuring everything from Joy Division through to New Order to Happy Mondays....for £29.99. Bargain. Start your musical education here people.

http://www.rhino.co.uk/rhino-store/products,factory-records-communications-19781992-4cd_2576.htm

Anyways I ordered this over the House Of House 12"as I mentioned above that the first 100 get a roll of Factory tape (FAC 136). I'll get the House Of House 12" next week I reckon.

And for those of a digital persuasion check out the new track from SPECTRAL EMPIRE called LIFE AFTER FUTURE coming soon on Thisisnotanexit. A Sheffield bleep classic in the making? The b-side will be the stunning Chateau Flight Remix of Innerfearence. Wow.

http://www.myspace.com/spectralempire

Keep believing.

Fever Ray - If I Had A Heart

WEEK ONE: THE ESSENTIAL PURCHASE

Week One.

So here we are - I have a crisp £10 ready to spend on a record, cd or mp3. Just one mind. Every week from here on in its just one purchase a week in a bid to not only save my wallet but appreciate music a bit more as well as hopefully highlighting some new and interesting acts, producers and labels. So here we go...this is what most took my eye in one of the quietest weeks for music releases of the year....

Spatial - Infra001 EP (Infrasonics) 12"

Here's the blurb from the Piccadilly Records website: With a debut EP boasting two journeys into rumbling, echoing, haunted dancehall minimalism, each known by a five-figure code number rather than a name, low frequency newcomer Spatial is one of a growing band of post-Burial producers whose attention to evocative detail in their music is as great as their reluctance to self-promote. In some hands this anti-stance could be massaged into an attention-diverting image in itself, but Spatial makes a compelling case for the virtues of less versus more and may well have produced one of 2009's most essential dubstep releases, right at the start of the year. Joe Muggs' review in The Wire tells it like this: '[2008's] clearest trend in dubstep is 'future garage', a technologically-enhanced re-imagining of the sound's 2-step origins by Martyn, 2562, Ramadanman & co. On his debut productions, Londoner Spatial could have risked simply reworking this new formula: the microhouse clicks, Basic Channel washes and clean subs are certainly present and correct. However his understanding of original UK garage's clipped shuffle, snappy woodblock hits and compressed emotion goes way beyond pastiche, and the incorporation of older rave elements like "80723"'s Detroit strings and riffs and "80207"'s contrast between cushioning alto vocal samples and sharp stabs creates a distinctive sound world. Most of all, though, it's the expert manipulation of space to give a sense of buoyancy, of loosened gravity, that make stepping inside these four tracks so inviting."

A limited edition 12" of 500 copies? Mentions of fusing dubstep with Detroit? I'm certainly interested. And it's got a cool sleeve.

You can listen to streams of the tracks here:

http://thefuturist.se/2008/12/31/the-futurist%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%98best-of-2008%e2%80%b2-part-2/

Let's see what else there is...

Fever Ray - If I Had A Heart (Rabid) Digital only

The first solo release from Karin Dreijer Andersson who sings with THE KNIFE sounds like the opening credits to a new David Lynch production. In fact if this was on the Inland Empire soundtrack it wouldn't surprise me (it's not stupid).

The debut album is out on March 23rd. Hopefully it'll be on vinyl.

http://www.myspace.com/feverray

If this was on a 7" or 12" it would be an instant purchase. Unfortunately there is something very depressing about just buying an mp3.

There is also the new Animal Collective album out this week which has been receiving lots of hype and chatter as it sounds alot more focused and like the Panda Bear album which came out. From the soundclips it just sounds too a bit too summery for the current arctic conditions here in London.

My other option would be to pick up the Nite Jewel album I've been meaning to buy for the past few weeks. I bought her cd directly from her a while ago and she has released a 12" on Italians Do It Better but this is the LP on Gloriette. 10 tracks of downtempo female vocalled (one l or two?) electronics taking in Kate Bush amongst other influences.

http://www.myspace.com/nitejewel

Hmmmmm. Not sure what to do. A bit of futuristic detroit inspired dubstep, the nite jewel LP or an mp3 from the singer from one of my favourite bands of the past few years....I'll have a nap and see what I feel like later on I think. Maybe something else will just pop and solve this quandry for me.

A happy new year to you all! Now the festivity and fun of the Christmas party season is over it's a rather despondent time as the realities of what 2009 really holds in store are considered. For the first time in my life it feels as though friends and peers are looking at what they spend and thinking about whether they actually need it or if it is just a piece of plastic - re-reading The Society Of The Spectacle it certainly strikes a chord. We are but spectators within a consumerist nightmare. I sit and look at my record collection and wonder "Do I really need this?" (Generally the answer is YES but I do wonder about some of the things I've purchased over the years! The majority of those are now listed on Discogs though).

It is therefore that I have decided that in 2009 gone are the days of walking into a record shop and blindly spending £50 on the latest hot tracks. Anything I now buy needs to be of substance, hold my attention for longer than 7 days, be more than just a record that I'm bored of VERY quickly. Disposability is at the bottom of my list. As Malcolm McLaren recently said "We are moving from a culture of desire to a culture of necessity". I am therefore going to buy just 1 piece of music a week - whether that be new or old, an mp3 or a 12", a 10" or a deluxe gatefold boxset. This will hopefully allow me to appreciate what I buy more, and hopefully be more considered with my purchasing. I remember saving up for my Michael Jackson Thriller cassette for WEEKS before excitedly buying it (and then wearing it out over 6 months with repeated listens). It will also allow me to spend more on a well put together more expensive purchase (Isomorph or the Portishead Third Boxset for example) than just a load of disco edits.

Thisisnotanexit Records will also be emerging in a new form in 2009 too with a bigger focus on developing highly limited but beautifully put together pieces of music. Say NO to generic run of the mill ideas. Say YES to innovation and labels trying something different. Now is the time to reappraise the underground - the resistance! Look at Pure Groove - they only stock 100 different records at a time and are those that they feel are highly interesting. Support this type of thinking! Racks of minimal house is BORING!

So next week is week one of 2009. I await Mondays new releases with a mixture of trepadation and excitement - join me as I try and develop a bigger appreciation of music purchasing and those artists and producers doing something different.

Reject the majors. Embrace the independents. Everything is permitted!