Friday, April 18

servicey!

so i guess instead of making fun of the times article about it, i should just mention record store day which is tomorrow. it should've been eight years ago if they actually wanted to save this model of business but whatever! it's not like having a special day for it will actually make people support local businesses, just ask every local business ever. i'm also not 100% sure that the type of people they are marketing this to--people who would find a live performance by peanut butter wolf to be a bonus to their shopping experience--are the type of people they need to be marketing this to. i don't think the failure of indie record stores has much to do with people who already go to them, constantly and obsessively. but! stop by your local record store, if you even still have one (n.b. i am aware that the only people reading this are ross and jon--you two go to ian's store--and michael--go to amoeba, i guess? i hate that place--but let's pretend i have many, many readers now).

oh, and the website for record store day is terrible and slow and has multiple dead links in its press section. wtf? way to go, guys. but it does provide the world with some amazing quotes from artists about record store day! i'll excerpt some of the best for you here:

"I buy CDs all the time. I'll go into a record store and just buy $500 worth of CDs. I will! I am singlehandedly supporting what's left of the record business." - Bruce Springsteen, exhibiting a rather bizarre and uncharacteristic delusion of grandeur

"Yes, yes, I know. It's easier to download music, and probably cheaper. But what's playing on your favourite download store when you walk into it?" - Nick Hornby, apparently not realizing that many of us would like to just listen to our own music while we browse the internet, and not be forced to listen to what some jackass at kim's thinks is totally awesome this week (my guess for today: vampire weekend! it'd be a vast improvement over what some jackass at kim's usually listens to, so maybe not)

"God only knows what I would be doing now had it not been for the records that l have loved as a result of buying records." - Mark Gardener, speaking in code

"Buy real records in real shops, or I'll come round your house and scream at your mother." - Ian Gillan (i don't doubt his claim)

"rock'n'roll needs to be seen, touched, smelled, and tasted just as much as heard." - Sammy James of the mooney suzuki, a band that i am 100% certain that i never, ever want to smell or taste

"You can't roll a joint on an iPod - buy vinyl!" - Shelby Lynne (servicey! and that's the word)


in other news, i need to go back to bed.

UPDATE: you know, i picked vampire weekend up there because they are from columbia (finally, someone from my alma matter is striking a blow against the nyu kids' hegemony of the new york cultural landscape! by, um, singing songs about cape cod and sweaters and ivy leaguey shit like that and pretending to not be the talking headsenglish beat. oh dear. well, i like "walcott" and "campus"), and therefore i have this imaginary world where kim's uptown would be playing them nonstop in some kind of solidarity movement, because it was funny to me. but let's be honest, they're still playing the fucking russian futurists.

5 comments:

Hereward said...

I always found the Talking Heads tedious but the English Beat were always a scret shame of mine. Would I like these songs of which you speak?

(hic)

ally said...

here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AI-rf2wVfQ

really, they're fine though some people (internet people) HATE them.

Hereward said...

Youtube blocked at work. *Shakes fist*

ally said...

ooooh! try this link?

Hereward said...

I listened to them at Pandora. There's so much music out ther that's really fuckin' weird for a 40 yr. old to hear. It's like being 15 all over again.

Also, 'Sweater Backlash'!! I am simply speechless.