With it's cavalcade of guest appearances (Biz Markie, Nick Cave, Yoko Ono, etc.), The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends was arguably the most sought-after Record Store Day 2012 release. (I didn't even see it at any of the stores I went to.) For those who didn't get it, the Lips are making it a legit release, putting it out on CD and digital on June 26th. No new vinyl... for that you're still going to have to go to eBay where it is currently averaging around $40. The tracklist is at the bottom of this post, and if you take a look at it you'll notice that the track with Chris Martin ("I Don't Want You To Die") from the RSD release has been switched with a new song called, "Tasered and Maced," which features Ghostland Observatory's Aaron Behrens.

The band just released a video for, "The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face," the album's colaboration with Erykah Badu. The video features Erykah's sister, Nayrok, naked in a bathtub as she's showered in glitter, blood, and... hair conditioner? Needless to say it's NSFW. Do the Flaming Lips make any other kind of video anymore? You can watch it below.

A press release states they're also working on a new Flaming Lips studio album, which should see a release this fall, followed by a tour. That tour hasn't been announced yet, but the Lips are making the festival rounds this summer, playing the Happy Funtime Fest in Dallas tonight (6/1) and the Free Press Summer Fest in Houston tomorrow (6/2). No NYC date on the horizon but a list of all upcoming appearances are below.

Continue reading "The Flaming Lips re-releasing RSD12 album 'Heady Fwends,' made another NSFW video (watch)"

by Andrew Marinaccio

This Saturday (4/21) marks the 5th annual Record Store Day, and with it comes another chance to procure your favorite band's most exclusive (or oddest) musical releases yet. There will also once again be lots of in-shop events.

No matter where you are located (in the U.S., UK, Germany or Belgium) (like Chicago maybe?), you should be able to find a still-open record store near you that will be selling the good schwag and possibly throwing a party too. As we've been, we'll continue to highlight some of the NYC stores, along with what you might find in them.

Aside from selling fresh rarities, NYC's Other Music is celebrating with a live lineup of DJs featuring Four Tet, Black Dice, The Men (who appear on a Sacred Bones RSD comp), Ex Cops, and Wild Nothing. Other Music will exclusively sell Ex Cops's debut 7", "I Am the Lion, You Are the Lamb," which is relasing on their Other music label. Other Music is set to open to the public at 11 a.m. Saturday morning (which gives you time to hit other record stores who open even earlier, first).

Kim's Video & Music looks to attract the early birds with an 8 a.m.opening and live and/or DJ sets by MUSH1, X-ray Eyeballs, Prince Rama, and more. In addition to the gig there will be discount offers, "over 150" record store day exclusives, pizza and beer. Maybe you'll find a copy of the, a day late for 4/20, Lee "Scratch" Perry Blackboard Jungle Dub Limited Edition Box...

The West Village's Generation Records has a show of their own planned, with The Paul Collins Beat, Supertouch, Night Birds, and Joyce Manor performing, as well as DJ sets by Tom Scharpling, Three Chord Monte, Zachary Lipez, and Mikey Post. They will also be selling a variant of Supertouch's Lost My Way EP, which will feature shop-exclusive cover art. Generation Records is pegged on opening at 10 a.m. this Saturday.

Williamsburg shop Sound Fix will host Mates of State for a gig and meet-and-greet on Saturday night. The band's 2009 covers album, Crushes, will be released for the first time on vinyl as a Record Store Day exclusive. Sound Fix opens at 10:30 a.m.

Amid touring, Portugal. The Man, who have a RSD 7" of their own, are playing an in-store set this Saturday at Fords, New Jersey's Vintage Vinyl. The shop's also opening early at 8 a.m., and their stock's boasting reiusses of Graceland and Raw Power, as well as Iggy and the Stooges' LP picture disc of their ATP 2010 performance of the seminal album.

Long Island's Looney Tunes Records is featuring a trio of free acts by Grace Read, The Lumineers, and JuiceheaD and Osaka Popstar, who are bringing their collaborative 7" "Waiting Room" exclusively to the shop. The show will start at 1 that afternoon, but shoppers can begin at 9 a.m. if they're "VIP Members" (to inquire what that means, check here). Doors will open to the general public at 10 a.m.

Local giant J&R Music World will house acts starting at noon, including Everest, Yann Tiersen, Mike Doughty, and guitarist Doyle Dykes. The insitution will also demonstrate some tech to attendees, showcasing the features of the new audio software suite Roland R-MIX. Miles Davis' (who has a special Record Store Day compilation, "Forever Miles," planned for release) nephew, Vince Wilburn, Jr., will also be making an appearance.

Permanent Records in Brooklyn will host in-stores by Memoryhouse and Mattison.

Cake Shop says "the CAPESHOK RECORD MART back for one day only!" and are hosting a performance by the Hairs at 3pm.

Check Record Store Day's site or call your local record store to find more happenings.

Of course, there will be precious records found at a variety of independent shops across the country, including the more exotic collaborations that have been hyped as blog post oddities. Fiest and Mastodon's (or 'Fiestodon') will be releasing their split 7" featuring both acts covering songs from each other's 2011 studio releases, Metals and The Hunter, respectively. Listeners can look forward to hearing Feist's rendition of "Black Tongue" and Mastodon's turn on "A Commotion".

Mastodon also-- perhaps inevitably-- succumbed to the bidding of current off-kilter audio project warlocks The Flaming Lips for another split 7", where they'll cover the Lip's "A Spoonful Weighs A Ton." While the Lip's contribution to the baby pink record is their original track recording, fear not, for the band has a more outlandish and sprawling album ready for the big day. The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends, the mistifying mega-collaboration they've been working on with Bon Iver, Prefuse 73, Yoko Ono, Chris Martin, Nick Cave, Ke$ha, and more, features new tracks with the aforementioned guests including their previous work with Neon Indian and Lightning Bolt. And, as if the music wasn't enough, Wayne Coyne has been amassing the blood of his fellow collaborators to somehow infuse into the record. At the very least, Alan Palomo, Justin Vernon, The Flaming Lips, and Kesha's blood could be in your copy.

St. Vincent plans on releasing a red 7" sided with two new tracks, "KROKODIL" and "GROT." Reportedly more guitar-driven and aggressive departures from her previous material, her debut of "KROKODIL" at Coachella attests to that, possesing a relentless savagery often only hinted at in her nervous yet controlled guitarwork. It also attempts to channel whatever demons she found covering Big Black for 'Our Band Can be Your Life.' You can download her Coachella performance of "KROKODIL" here.

Speaking of bands playing Coachella, Refused are putting out 1998's The Shape of Punk to Come as a limited edition colored LP on Record Store Day. Pair it with a yellow vinyl Snapcase 12".

Speaking of things to come, Record Store Day is also used to tease what's on the way. Garbage (who are paying a special Record Store Day visit to Austin) are releasing their first new physical single in almost ten years with "Blood For Poppies" in anticipation of their reunion album this spring. Public Image Ltd. came out of the woodwork to present an EP featuring their latest release of new material in 20 years, including single "One Drop." And Faith No More frontman Mike Patton is reissuing his side-project Tomahawk's entire studio output in a boxset designed with space for the band's upcoming summer LP.

Other RSD 2012 releases previously mentioned on BV include Nick Waterhouse/Allah-Lahs, Mark Sultan, Pussy Galore, JEFF the Brotherhood, Sigur Ros, Xiu Xiu/Dirty Beaches, Nobunny and Variety Lights. Others we haven't mentioned yet include the White Stripes, the Black Keys, Regina Spektor, Tortoise, The Hives, Wilco, Animal Collective, Beach House, Bonnie Prince Billy, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Captain Beefheart, Destroyer, Jimmy Fallon, Laura Marling, Leonard Cohen, Luna, M Ward, M83, Mclusky, Minus the Bear, Misfits (red, blue and clear vinyl), Ozzy, Phish, Ryan Adams, T. Rex, Tegan & Sara, The Clash, and many more. For a full list of RSD 2012 releases, with more info on each, check HERE.

For our Chicago readers, you can check out what your local record shops are up to this Saturday, including a BV Chicago-presented event at Saki, here.

Which releases are you most excited for this Record Store Day? Check out what NPR decided to highlight, like the previously mentioned Shabazz Palaces release, HERE. Watch Cris Brown give his annual Record Store Day show and tell, and other videos below...

Continue reading "your guide to Record Store Day 2012"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Nick Waterhouse - Some Place (MP3)

Nick Waterhouse

Meet angel-faced, starched-shirted, vintage glasses-sporting producer and musician Nick Waterhouse, whose driver's license says he's 24 but whose record collection suggests he was born in 1942.

Amy Winehouse might be gone, but old-style soul and R&B lives on via musicians like Charles Bradley, Adele, Sharon Jones and L.A.'s Aloe Blacc. Now, here comes a kid from Huntington Beach with an ear for some of the rawest, most rug-cutting R&B ever pressed to vinyl, his preferred medium. "If I'm going to bother to use a real guitar," he says later, "I want a real sound wave.

He's just starting the first recording session for his debut EP on up-and-coming local label Innovative Leisure, which launched throwback garage-soul rocker Hanni El Khatib into the stratosphere. He's also in possession of a bevy of offers to produce and record, including with Weekly favorites the Allah-Las and a series of plum gigs, including an opening slot for Booker T. (of immortal soul band Booker T. & the M.G.s) and a spot at the Sunset Junction festival this weekend. He has a small but potent and quickly growing collection of fans, many of whom have become enraptured by his self-released 45 rpm vinyl single "Some Place," which sold out in an instant and now changes hands for almost $100 on eBay. [L.A. Weekly]

Nick Waterhouse's debut album Time's All Gone is out May 1 on Innovative Leisure. You can download "Some Place" from the album at the top of this post or stream it below. Around the same time, Nick hits the road with backing band His Tarots, a tour that rolls into NYC on May 19 at Mercury Lounge. All tour dates are below.

I caught a few songs at SXSW and he definitely had the joint jumping with his brand of in-the-red R&B.

--
Allah-Las at SXSW 2012

At the same showcase I saw Waterhouse's fellow Angelenos and labelmates Allah-Las, which was one of my highlights of SXSW 2012, where I wrote:

12-string guitars, Vox bass, bolo ties, nehru collars... Los Angeles' Allah Las are a pristine recreation of '60s West Coast pop with great songs like upcoming single "Tell Me What's on Your Mind." Not pastiche, the real deal.

That single (produced by Waterhouse) came out this week and you can watch video below which is definitely in a mood with song (and slightly NSFW).

The Allah-Las and Waterhouse also share sides of a Record Store Day split single. It's an 8", which I suppose is the vinyl equivalent of "this one goes to 11." Gotta admit it looks pretty cool but good luck fitting it in your singles box.

Click through for Nick Waterhouse tour dates and track stream, as well as that groovy Allah-Las video.

Continue reading "Nick Waterhouse releasing 'Time's All Gone', touring in May, produced new Allah-Las single & RSD 8" (MP3, dates & video)"