I had a very busy day Saturday, but did not let that stop me from making a visit to the wonderful Toadstool Sounds in lovely Peterborough New Hampshire for Record Store Day 2012. I must admit that I was fairly disappointed in this year's titles, however there were a couple that kept me content.
The faithful repress of Patti Smith's 1975 full length debut Horses takes the prize. The original audio has been tastefully remastered and finds itself now pressed to high-grade, medium-weight vinyl just for RSD. The last US vinyl pressing of Horses was in 1977, so this was long overdue. The remaster was performed with a great attention to detail; we get a bit more bass and the upper midrange distortion has been nearly eliminated. Because we also still get a little bit of the hissing S's, it tells me that rather than risking over-processing the original masters things were performed with a fairly light touch and a devotion to maintain the character of original recording. Arista also did a great job of keeping the classic look and feel of the record with detail right down to the labels on the disc. It has a sweet retro flavor, and I love it.
Be sure to look for Patti's new record, BANGA, due out this June!
When I first read the RSD 2012 list I thought someone may have made an error: a Mastodon/Feist split? Indeed, the Feistodon 7" just seemed too cool to be true yet here it is in my hand. Side A contains Mastodon's cover of Feist's A Commotion, from Metals:
Side B contains Feist's cover of Mastodon's Black Tongue, from The Hunter:
I rather enjoy when a cover is adapted into the performing artist's style and these two are great examples of just that. Here's to hoping that next year we see more interesting titles and/or limited represses of hard-to-find gems. Thank you to Patti, Leslie, and the men of Mastodon for making my RSD 2012 experience worth it, and thank you to Eric and Megan of Toadstool Sounds.
As I write this extremely belated post I am sipping a hemp shake and enjoying the sounds of the new Mogwai record, "Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will"...both are quite good. I've been neglecting my hipster duties for a few weeks now on account of life being a bit more hustley and bustley than I'd have deliberately intended. I've been thrown into an interesting whirlwind of excess stress at work, part of which left me unexpectedly stuck in Detroit for two days. A warning to potential air travelers: avoid Delta. The good news is that while I sat at DTW for hours on end, I fell in love. Patti Smith's Just Kids is a powerful and beautiful testament: a loving memorial to her friend, lover, and soul mate Robert Mapplethorpe. It begins with a heart-wrenching memory, and even though the reader presumably knows not of the history to be described on the next couple of hundred pages, it makes quite an impact...it is raw and unmistakable. You can absolutely feel Patti's emotions shape-shifted into words, vessels of her transmuted energy; they reverberate with the part of yourself that is ever-present, the core of your being. The book is lush with treasures of poetry. Even in a narrative Patti's way with words is astounding, as I suppose one would no doubt expect coming from one of the greatest rock-and-roll poets of all time. As cliche as it might sound, she doesn't bring her history to you but rather brings you into her history; you become part of it through the experience of the book. The focus of Just Kids is to tell the story of Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe, as only Patti can...but it also somewhat serves as a general autobiography. Patti leaves out large portions of her own experience that are separate from Robert's, which is OK since this thread can found and picked up elsewhere (interviews and other books). She fills in nearly all the gaps left by other sources by detailing the journey on which she and Robert embarked: two somewhat shy but inspired kids becoming two successful, powerful, and matured artists. It is a story that constantly tugs on your heartstrings whilst simultaneously inspiring you as a creator in the world to stop seeing what you are doing as a risk and to realize your true calling. If you are an artist you must read this book.
Other than reading in airports and coming home to a very broken car, I've finally set up my turntable again. It's an old belt drive Technics hooked up to a pair of vintage Sony speakers via a Realistic stereo amplifier. I've been spinning alot of Isis, Opeth, Jethro Tull, and Blue Oyster Cult. Rosemary sometimes brings over her Cat Stevens, Simon & Garfunkel, and Joni Mitchell records, which are always welcome. It is really nice to see many new albums are being released on vinyl with free digital downloads. It's a perfect blend for those of us who adore the nostalgia and quality of vinyl records, but also embrace the portability of the digital audio era. I am excited to do a bit of vinyl hunting when my tax return comes in. On the hit list are The Doors' self-titled, Patti Smith's Horses and Easter, Lou Rhode's One Good Thing, and Comus' First Utterance. If you've never heard Comus you're missing out on some very interesting and inspired stuff. Here's a tasty psychedelic treat for you...ripped from vinyl of course...
...so...fucking...good...
Outside of my analog indulgance I've been spinning some Nick Drake, the new and very lullaby-like Radiohead record, the new Mogwai, the The Fountain score/soundtrack, the last couple of Do Make Say Think records, and the Isis/Aereogramme colaboration. I also just found out yesterday that William Fitzsimmons will be playing at The Starving Artist in Keene, NH - a small, homey artists' studio. It is going to be a wonderful, intimate show. If you are in the area I'd highly recommend getting a ticket ASAP. Here's a track from William's forthcoming record...
What's next...
A couple of weeks ago I interviewed Myke Havoc of Dorian Gray, a new New England metal band. They recently released their first EP, which I will be reviewing in my next post with some excerpts from the interview. Hopefully, the fact that I am updating this blog now is a sign that my life is making its way back on track.
