Record Store Day 2014

This year’s Record Store Day sponsors are Red Bull, Red Eye, Universal, and WB records (along with others.) Plus, with bands like Aerosmith and Linkin Park getting in on the celebration, I’m just about done with Record Store Day. It was cool that they developed this ‘holiday’ to drum up sales for the dying brick+mortar music store industry. It might have been corporate from the start and I’ve only just now noticed. But in 2014, I’m not as enthusiastic about it as I usually am. Of course, who am I to badmouth the day when I haven’t owned a functioning turntable since 2006?

Anyway, if you head over to RecordStoreDay.com, you can find a store and see the listing of exclusives being released tomorrow or today, whenever you’re reading this. (April 19th)  A few of my suggestions?

Cancerous Growth – 80’s Hardcore/Thrash crossover. Can’t go wrong with that (actually, it can go wrong ALL SORTS of ways so listen to this before you buy it.)

Christian Death – Death Rock. Good stuff for your proto-goth collection.

Drive By Truckers have something out and they usually do on Record Store Day. The band is a bit prolific lately. I haven’t checked them out since The Big To Do which came out four years ago. That means they’ve probably released six more albums and two different solo projects and three members have both quit, rejoined and quit the group again.

Devo and The Flaming Lips are doing an edition of the ‘side by side’ series. Last year, it was Evan Dando doing a version of The Misfits “Skulls” (released under the name Lemonskulls or Lemonfits, I can’t remember.) This time, Devo and the Flaming Lips have recorded a live version of “Gates of Steel.”

Do the Flaming Lips get a lot of shit? I ask because I don’t know and in my humble opinion, they do a lot of stuff that should earn them a lot of shit.  In between lead-singer Wayne Coyne pitching for Virgin Mobile and the pretentious/awkward format releases (the song that can only be heard if you play twelve YouTube videos simultaneously, the four-song-flashdrive encased in a seven pound gummy skull, the 24-hour song) does anyone say “All right. That’s fucking enough, Flaming Lips.” Also, there’s the hippie factor. Take a look at the video the band released for their Devo cover, and you see – if these are the people who GO to a Flaming Lips concert, why the fuck do I want to risk get covered in gold dust, Bacardi and stupid?  When you get sick of the video, go listen to Psycho Charger’s version of the song.

 

The Flaming Lips – “Gates Of Steel” (Devo cover) from stereogum on Vimeo.
 

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion –  their release contains a live mash-up of Run-DMC’s “She’s On It” and Link Wray’s “Jack The Ripper.” If that sucks, you can get the Link Wray release that’s going out. Frank Zappa‘s ‘Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow’ is going to be released because lord knows the Zappa Family Trust needs more money.  And Southern Culture On The Skids team up with Fred Schnieder form the B-52s in a “why hasn’t this happened sooner?” collaboration.

And that’s it. Enjoy Music!

1 comment

    • MoistV on April 29, 2014 at 3:02 pm
    • Reply

    epic quote “why the fuck do I want to risk get covered in gold dust, Bacardi and stupid”. Well said sir

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