V/A - Have It Or Grab It Or Go? (Clowny Clown, 1996?)

DJ Pete Hothead - Split


I grabbed this one at the Record Exchange in Salem on Record Store Day based almost solely on the album art. I mean look at that. A white kid with a white afro and a black kid with a black afro wearing a shirt that says "Soul On Ice"? There was no way I wasn't buying that. But the more I looked at the record itself, the more I realized I had no idea wtf it was. There's no artist info and no pressing or release info. What I got is an album title (Have It Or Grab It Or Go?), a label (Clowny Clown Productions), and some song titles. That's it. So now I had an album with ridiculously cool art and a shit ton of mystery. Sweet!

From what I gathered on this site, Have It Or Grab It is somewhat like a cross between a split and a mixtape. The A side features a bunch of badass beats from DJ Pete Hothead. And they are fucking slick. Due to my utter lack of knowledge in the genre, the best comparison I can make is Clutchy Hopkins. They're instrumental and repetitive, kinda jazzy, kinda funky, and they got plenty of soul. Perfect music for pretty much anything.

The B side is the mixtape part, with Hothead picking some of his favorite "lost breaks." Luckily, the site I found listed the artists for 4 of the 6 tracks on the flip side, narrowing my labor intensive Google searching to 2 songs. My best guess is that "You Tried To Warn Me" is by Piero Umiliani (which strangely enough is the B side to the "Máh Ná Máh Ná" single) and "Sunday Morning" is most likely The Velvet Underground. Other than that, the only other artist I'm familiar with is the Moog master Gershon Kingsley who does the title track. Then there's Pool Pah (did the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film The Flasher), Ralph Carmichael (whose "Switchblade Theme" is from The Cross And The Switchblade), and The Glimmer Twins, who are actually Keith Richards and Mick Jagger. Their song on here is "Aladdin's Story," which may sound familiar because Death In Vegas covered it on The Contino Sessions. I mean, this all sounds about right but I have no real way of knowing. All I know is that these tracks are all fucking killer and I've been listening to them nonstop. They fit perfectly with Hothead's style.

Since I doubt you'll find this available anywhere, I have no problem letting you download the whole thing, which I highly recommend. You won't regret it. Just an fyi, I'm not super picky with the clicks and pops when transferring vinyl so you're just gonna hafta deal. The record is in great shape and sounds fine, with the exception of the second track by Hothead ("Snack Food"). There's a skip in it that I tried to fix a little but it's still noticeable. I don't want any complaints, though, 'cause you're getting this fucking sweet ass gem for free.

Eluvium - Life Through Bombardment Pictures

see more images on my Flickr page
I just received Eluvium's Life Through Bombardment in the mail yesterday and it is fucking gorgeous. It's a 7xLP boxset, with each record housed in an individual page. From the Temporary Residence site, "The seven jackets are then bound into a beautiful dark green hardbound, linen-cover book, with metallic gold foil stamping and embossed text on the spine, and a beautiful full-color print embossed into the front cover." So, yeah. This is epic.

I saw that this set contained "a bunch of rare and unreleased non-album tracks" and I'd like to clear up any confusion people might have about this. Life Through Bombardment puts Lambent Material, An Accidental Memory In The Case Of Death, Talk Amongst The Trees, When I Live By The Garden And The Sea, and Copia all on vinyl for the first time. So, by "a bunch", they mean 5 extra tracks. And as far as the "unreleased" bit goes, every single song on here has been released in some form before.

At the end of the Talk Amongst The Trees record (side H), there is a track called "Swallows In The Bath." This is probably the rarest song in the boxset, because it was only available on a limited edition compilation from Keepsake Records (Keepsake Volume 1), which may or may not even be around anymore.

Then on the back of When I Live By The Garden And The Sea (side J), there's the other 4 rare tracks. 3 untitled songs (one each for piano, orchestra, and Rhodes & tape) that were only found on the Australian release called Indecipherable Text, which was a 2-disc set containing those 3 tracks plus Lambent Material and Talk Amongst The Trees (neither of which were available in Australia before that came out).

And finally, you have "Carousel" which was on the 100th Temporary Residence release, a compilation called Thankful.

Not that I'm complaining (because I'm definitely not) but I would not consider these "rare" tracks all that rare, nor would I consider this collecting (according to TR) "virtually every Eluvium song ever released." The two notable exclusions are Travels In Constants (Vol. 20) and the split with Jesu. There's also a bunch of various remixes that could have been put on too for comprehensiveness but that might be stretching it.

But, if you're an Eluvium fan, this is a must. You might already have everything that this comes with, but you don't have it on vinyl. And that's what this is about. Sexy, black vinyl, packaged in a hardbound book. Hell yes.

Sweet Vinyl Goodness

I'm back from visiting my family and I return with a new turntable. Despite the cripplingly small nature of our apartment, I still need to collect music in all of it's glorious analog and digital ways. Tapes, CDs, and vinyl all have their special place in my heart and now, NOW! I can transfer my record collection of new and old with the Audio Technica AT-LP2D USB Turntable. Thanks Mom!

As we speak, Hototogisu & Burning Star Core's self titled collaboration on Yik Yak is making it's way from vinyl to iPod. Soon to be followed is the recent purchase of Black Moth Super Rainbow's burnt bacon scented Scratch-N-Sniff Drippers 10".

I didn't get to listen to too much new music over the holidays, so it might be a bit before I start posting any reviews. But I also received a gift card to Aquarius Records. I've been home for less than a day and it's already spent. Some good stuff is coming my way and I'll be sure to let you all know how awesome it is. Until then, I'll be digitizing as quickly as this turntable allows.

Best Release Date Ever

Both Matthew Robert Cooper and Belong have new releases coming out very soon. Like, 3 weeks soon.

Belong has their Same Places (Slow Version) one sided 12" for the Table Of The Elements Guitar Series (check out the Pitchfork article for more info). The opposite side of the record will have a laser-etched image from UK artist Savage Pencil. Right now, CD Universe is taking pre-orders for those who live in the US. So if you want one (and why wouldn't you) you should do so quickly because that shit will sell out.

And not to be one-upped, Matthew Robert Cooper (aka Eluvium) is also releasing a new 12" under his own name (instead of Eluvium), titled Miniatures. You can hear "Miniature 3" at Pitchfork and "Miniature 7" at Gaarden Records (who is releasing the record). And although Gaarden isn't doing pre-orders at the moment, they are "taking names." So shoot 'em an e-mail and get in line if you want a copy, as there will only be 2000 of them.

Oh yeah, the best part is that both records are being released on August 5. That's only 3 weeks from now! That is seriously going to be the best day ever.