One of my favorite ritual pastimes, which began as a preteen, was loitering after school in one of a handful of local records stores each and every Tuesday to celebrate new release day. For those of you who are too young to remember, new release day was the weekly influx of new stock, new PHYSICAL music releases, at your local record store. This went for the massive chain music stores and the mom and pops alike. This was the day new cassette tapes, compact discs, and vinyl LPs arrived at your favorite record store. I’d switch it up and rotate stores like Homer’s, The Antiquarium, and Drastic Plastic, and later on, when I could loiter before, after, and between classes, it was 7th Heaven, Kief’s, and Love Garden. A few years back, new release day switched to Friday, and this time last year, I’d have been at our very own Southwest Sound, but alas…
If you are lucky enough to live in a town that doesn’t gouge local tenants on Main Street and still have a beloved record store to call your own, there are a handful of titles you’d see gracing the shelves and listening stations on Friday, September 21.
Carl Broemel, “Washed Out,” Asia/Thirty Tigers – My Morning Jacket multi-instrumentalist Carl Broemel releases his fourth solo record. The record was recorded at his home studio in Nashville and features guest appearances from Robbie Crowell (Deer Tick), Russ Pollard (Sebadoh), Bo Koster, and Tom Blankenship (My Morning Jacket). The album artwork features photographs from former Durango resident and musician Eric Hopper.
Sloks, “Holy Motor,” Voodoo Rhythm Records – Swiss record label Voodoo Rhythm drops an amazing album of “super raw power ultra primitive dirty suicide destructive garage punk no-wave trashed out rock ‘n’ roll.” The trio hails from Turin, Italy, and I hope someday will tour the States.
Broken Baby, “Broken Baby,” Poor Man/Palo Santo – The female-fronted post-punk duo from LA has a sound that meshes The Pretenders, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Jesus Lizard, with melodies reminiscent of Eurythmics.
Sumac, “Love In Shadow,” Thrill Jockey Records – An hour worth of heavy, pummeling, experimental metal spread over four tracks. This is the third full-length album from Aaron Turner (Old Man Gloom, Mamiffer, ISIS), drummer Nick Yacyshyn (Baptists, Erosion), and bassist Brian Cook (Russian Circles, Botch).
Supersuckers, “Suck It,” Acetate – This is the 12th studio album from the self-anointed “greatest rock ‘n’ roll band in the world”. The year 2018 marks 30 years Eddie Spaghetti and Co. have been a rock and roll band. Little has changed since a car accident and throat cancer threatened to halt them a few years back. Recorded over four days in Austin, this sounds exactly like the Supersuckers doing what they do.
These are by no means the only records out this week. What albums did I miss, and what are you looking forward to in the coming months?
Jon E. Lynch[email protected]