In what amounts to a total bummer, we lost our local record store last week. OK, we didn’t “lose it,” exactly. It wasn’t misplaced like set of car keys. As is all too common in towns and cities of every size across the country, our beloved local record store shuttered, and was forced to close its doors. The closure is a reminder of the current state of things and the world we live in, and with Southwest Sound closing, we lost so much more.
Now, I’d like to be clear here: I know this isn’t a sign of the “end of days.” I realize that there is so much more happening on a geo-political scale that is, for all intents and purposes, far more important. That said, I’d like to go on record saying, as I did before, that by our local record store closing, we’ve lost more than just a brick-and-mortar, mom-and-pop pillar of the community, and that is a total drag.
We also lost a beacon of irreplaceable solace. We lost a hub where like-minded folks could wax poetic, sometimes for hours, about an art form we care deeply for. We lost a safe place where the weirdos and marginalized could come together. We lost our clubhouse. We lost the opportunity for younger folks to experience the same. We lost so much more than I have space to articulate in this little corner of this particular weekly rag, and for that I am sorry. If you are reading this and live in a town that still has a local independent record store, I beg you to support it.
This week’s record is the self-titled full-length from LA’s The Creation Factory. Front man and bass player Shane Stots (also of Mystic Braves) wanted to bring back the sound of 1960s psychedelic-acid-beat-fuzz. Stots, along with Neil Soiland (guitar/vocals), Gabe Pacheco (guitar/vocals), Iggy Gonzalez (drums/vocals) and Glenn Brigman (organ), use authentic vintage gear from the era in order to spin an old sound, but to make it fresh and new. The album is totally derivative and self-aware, but that is every bit of OK. On the band’s website, it states: “Stots insists the band’s also out to show fans what they’ve been missing. ‘I’m trying to revive music and expose it to a younger generation,’ he says. ‘I’m going backwards to go forward.’” If rehashing the past works to educate otherwise oblivious fans, I’m all for it. Now, if it would only get them into record shops…
The Creation Factory is available now via Lolipop Records as a digital download, cassette, and compact disc. Vinyl pre-orders are underway from the label directly, which is shipping standard black and cream colorways as soon as they are pressed.
Recommended for fans of The Kinks, The Zombies, The Animals, The 13th Floor Elevators, and modern throwback psych artists like The Black Angels, Night Beats, Allah-Las, or The Growlers.
Jon E. Lynch[email protected]
