This Saturday is Record Store Day and while I highlighted some memories from the past events here at Music Farmers last week, this week I’m using the counter culture column to highlight some of my personal picks from this years RSD releases. All these releases will be available in store this Saturday April 20th from when we open at 9am. Any left over stock will be available on-line from Monday April 22nd at 9am.
Time Capsule Australian Sounds 1985 – 1994 is a compilation put together by Craig Kamber for his Zen Arcade label. In the nineties Craig was one of the main A&R people who picked up a number of the countries finest indie bands and took them to a whole new audience via the Polydor label. Some of these bands are featured here including Wollongong’s own Tumbleweed. The compilation in general is an eclectic mix of tunes from the time period featured with the Australian punk rock classic My Pal from God kicking it off and being followed up by fellow Geelong crew Magic Dirt. Elsewhere you’ll fine live scene staples such at Hard Ons and The Meanies, legendary acts including Died Pretty and Falling Joys, but also many others you’ve probably forgotten about.
I’m a sucker for the many garage and psych compilations that seem to be constantly emerging from all over the world. I’m looking forward to Los Nuggetz: Garage & Psyche From Latin America, a scene that I’ve barely ventured into but I’ve been checking out a bunch of the tunes featured here and look forward to it’s release.
Blur’s Parklife is one of my favourites from the 90’s Britpop scene and for Record Store Day this year it returns to vinyl after being out of print for sometime, and it’s a special 30th anniversary Zoetrope picture disc. If you haven’t seen these before they are essentially animated picture discs (a nightmare to DJ with but a nice collector piece!).
Lost In Translation is one of my favourite soundtracks ever and every time a vinyl version is reissued it disappears quickly, it is back once again for Record Store Day this year. The classic early 2000’s film from Sofia Coppola features an incredible soundtrack compiled by My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields. The whole thing is worth it for his amazing solo track City Girl but there is so much more here. The psych folk tune Kaze wo Atsumet captures the whole Japanese vibe perfectly, it features contributions from Squarepusher and Death In Vegas, while the huge Phoenix anthem Too Young and the legendary Jesus & Mary Chain track Just Like Honey also make an appearance.
There have been a lot of labels emerge in recent years compiling compilations of incredible music from across the world, but one of the original labels of the incredibly curated compilation is London’s Soul Jazz Records. I’ve really been loving their Punk 45 series in recent years where they collect iconic punk singles (mainly from the late 70’s and early 80’s) from various parts of the world. For Record Store Day this year they are making 2013 compilation Kill The Hippies ! Kill Yourself ! available again. It collects singles from across North America from 1973 to 1980. It includes artists such as Pere Ubu, Flamin Groovies, Johnny Thunders, The Pagans and plenty more across two records and as usual with informative liner notes.
I hope to see a bunch of you here on Saturday, we’re open from 9am til 5pm and I’ll be at the counter all day, hope to see a bunch of you then!