Well, it seems that today is officially Beach House day! After receiving a screaming 9.1 and Best New Music on Pitchfork yesterday, the album hits record store shelves today. If you’re lucky, you live in a town on this list compiled by Sub Pop Records and if that’s the case (and you love Beach House), I’d get to one of those stores today.

Beach House – Bloom Album Stream via NPR.

Thanks to Sub Pop, Bull City Records made the list! It’s a ridiculous honor to be on a list curated by a label you’ve been following since age 13 among some of the greatest indie record shops. We’re each giving away a copy of the new double LP on uber-limited glow-in-the-dark vinyl. It’s limited to 250 worldwide and is only available from those shops and at the band’s show at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC tonight.

When you swing in to buy the new Beach House CD and/or 2LP, you’ll be entered to win one of these by the end of the day:

- Beach House’s Bloom 2LP on glow-in-the-dark vinyl!!
- Beach House’s completely sold out / limited Record Store Day 7″!
- A Sub Pop Records t-shirt!!

I also have posters to hand out with purchase the record while they last. Don’t forget to ask about these while purchasing the record today! The giveaways will only last until the end of the day (7pm). Thanks for reading!

THURSDAY, MAY 17TH @ Bull City Records, Durham, NC.
7pm. OPEN TO PUBLIC. (shop info)

SIGUR ROS LP LISTENING PARTY

On Thursday, May 17th, Sigur Ros’ new record Valtari will hit each time zone at precisely 7PM. It’s set – quite literally – to sweep the world. Radio stations will play it, a live stream will open up for personal listening and indie record shops everywhere will be broadcasting the release. In addition to stealing a glimpse of this release before its May 29th release date, this hour record stores will also have…

A PRIZE PACK INCLUDING: 1) An ultra rare test press of the Valtari LP, 2) A copy of the sold out Record Store Day release of the Hvarf/Heim clear vinyl 2LP and 3) A custom, limited 11×14 poster of the record for one super lucky customer.

A COPY OF THE LIMITED POSTER: for the first 15 pre-orderers.

Hope to see some folks out! This will be the only chance to pre-order the CD or LP from the shop before release date, so please swing by between 7PM-8PM on Thursday if you’re interested!

The Cantwell Gomez & Jordan / Phil Cook & His Feat split cassette (released by Bull City Tapes) closed out its first week of release as #3 on WXDU‘s play charts!

Here are the charts:

WXDU Charts for the Week Ending: May 6, 2012
WXDU Top 88.7

1. 17…Various Artists…Personal Space: Electronic Soul 1974-1984…Chocolate Industries
2. 16…Wendy Rene…After Laughter Comes Tears: Complete Stax & Volt Singles + Rarities 1964-65…Light In The Attic
3. 13…Cantwell, Gomez & Jordan/Phil Cook & His Feat…The John Tapes…Bull City Tapes
4. 11…T0W3RS…If All We Have Is Time…DiggUp Tapes
5. 10…Battles…Dross Glop…Warp
6. 9…Carolina Chocolate Drops…Leaving Eden…Nonesuch
7. 9…Charles “Packy” Axton…Late Late Party 1965-1967…Light in the Attic
8. 9…Holy Wave…Knife Hits…self-released
9. 9…Magic Bullets…Much Ado About…Mon Amie
10. 9…Toro y Moi…June 2009…Carpark
11. 9…The Funkees…Dancing Time: The Best of Eastern Nigeria’s Afro Rock Exponents 1973-77…Soundway
12. 9…Screaming Females…Ugly…Don Giovanni
13. 8…Mount Carmel…Real Women…Siltbreeze

Thanks WXDU!

MONDAY, MAY 14TH @ Bull City Records, Durham, NC.
6pm. FREE. (shop info)

LEE RANALDO (New York | Matador Records, Geffen, SST, etc)

Lee Ranaldo – Off the Wall (Video)

The shop will be opening special for this one. Swing on out to Bull City Records for a rare Monday appearance next week, as we anxiously welcome Sonic Youth guitarist/songwriter Lee Ranaldo into our space. Sonic Youth was one of the first bands to usher me into the world of non-commercial rock in the early 90s, so I am so beyond honored to have him play the floor. With his new record on Matador Records, Ranaldo continues to push his melodic post-rock into the realms of abstract – though highly infectious – pop. I have been tasked to find three acoustic guitars, so it sounds like it’s going to be a rare acoustic trio performance.

Ranaldo plays as a part of the Duke Performances series the following night with M Ward. He just released a track on Three Lobed Recordings’ limited Record Store Day LP and has another experimental LP coming out with Three Lobed later in the year. Pleae join us this Monday!

One more announcement coming…

If you have not seen this yet, please take two minutes to watch. This is about basic human rights, people’s rights. This will affect you, your neighbors and loved ones.

And another…

Friends…comedians…musicians…family members…against!

Please vote today – your family, neighbors, friends, loved ones are counting you. Every single person knows someone who this amendment negatively affects. If you’re reading this blog, you presumably know me. Rachael Price, my partner of ten years, and I are about to lose our rights together. We will lose hospital visitation rights, our wills basically won’t matter, one of us could legally not be viewed by the state as a parent or guardian to a child, adoption becomes needlessly complicated, shared property does not exist, healthcare becomes an issue and the list goes on….

We share friends who this piece of paper will hit even harder – friends who already have children (who could lose healthcare), friends who have built a stable life together (whose foundation will be broken), friends who already can’t get married (while we embarrassingly have the option). I can’t stand to see my friends and fellow North Carolinians saddened or hurt.

PLEASE VOTE NO. Please think about this and read between the lines. Please look up the implications from an unbiased source if you are confused. Please do this for you and the people around you. Please vote today.

The Protect All NC Families Coalition just sent around another inspiring blast of information. Following an outspoken message from Chelsea Clinton, President Bill Clinton sent in his own statement on the matter of Amendment One and its negative affect on the State of North Carolina. PLEASE VOTE ON MAY 8TH – if not for you, then for your friends please.

This is true, these are not political over-exaggerations…

“Hello, this is President Bill Clinton. I’m calling to urge you to vote against Amendment One on Tuesday May 8. If it passes, it won’t change North Carolina’s law on marriage. What it will change is North Carolina’s ability to keep good businesses, attract new jobs, and attract and keep talented entrepreneurs. If it passes, your ability to keep those businesses, get those jobs, and get those talented entrepreneurs will be weakened. And losing even one job to Amendment One is too big of a risk. Its passage will also take away health insurance from children and could even take away domestic violence protections from women. So the real effect of the law is not to keep the traditional definition of marriage, you’ve already done that. The real effect of the law will be to hurt families and drive away jobs. North Carolina can do better. Again, this is Bill Clinton asking you to please vote against Amendment One. Thanks.”

This amendment will negatively affect EVERY SINGLE UNWED COUPLE in the State – no matter what configuration of people who mean the world to each other it may be. It will take basic rights (hospital visitation, health insurance, adoption, domestic violence protection, etc) away from people.

If you’re confused on the subject please please take a second and read about it from an unbiased perspective, even original supporters who got the bill pushed through in the first place have gone on record saying they made a mistake.

The heat is on. Even after a three week delay in production, this LP could not be any more appropriately timed. It’s hitting shelves and record players right as the sun is starting to lay into the south here.

Sun Araw / Congos / M. Geddes Gengras – The Happy Song

As the claustrophobic heat starts to fizzle down into our brains during the day, it’s a breezy, airy sound that we’re gonna need on the record player in the night at home. This crossbreeding of warble-psych and stoned-dub on Icon Give Thanks is, for obvious reasons, a perfect match up for Rving Intl’s FRKWYS collaboration series – of which this is Vol. 9. As if echoed spiritual dub couldn’t get any more heady, Sun Araw woozes and filters the legendary group’s sounds behind a pair of hazed goggles with effected synth and wah-ed guitar tones bubbling at his fingertips. Prominent hand-drum rhythms still push the haze forward, but for the most part this is a record meant for a quiet come-down or reflective sitting. The sheer oddity of a modern psych/experimental artist like Sun Araw even having a chance to write with the Congos, makes this LP a must-listen.

There are 7 songs here with only two falling short of the six minute mark. Both the CD and LP come with a DVD documenting their collaboration project down in Jamaica. It’s sunny day music for the onslaught of our stifling, but still perfect, summer.

THURSDAY, MAY 3RD @ The Pinhook, Durham, NC.
9pm. 8bucks. (club info)

BOB LOG III (Tuscon, AZ | Fat Possum, Epitaph, Birdman, SFTRI)
MR. FREE & THE SATELLITE FREAKOUT (Tuscon, AZ | Bloat)

Bob Log III Live @ BOKPOP 2011 (Video)
Bob Log III @ Blackhouse Session Dec. 2011 (Video)

It’s gonna get grimy tonight. It’s gonna get real sweat-stained, wild-eyed and loose around the Pinhook in Durham a few hours after we get off work. Bob Log III is a moonshine-fried madman in a cannonball jumpsuit who plays a one-man-band blues punk so ferocious the only way he can keep his thoughts collected onstage is in a helmet/telephone microphone contraption. As a legendary performer who leaves “didja see when…” stories in his wake, Log is a flailing, hot wire on the stage too electric to describe. I was lucky enough to catch him years ago in Denver and haven’t been able to shake the images since – and the poster still proudly hangs on my record store wall.

Mr. Free is described by his label as “Zappa, Devo and Oingo Boingo meet MC5 fronted by a younger Les Savy Fav’s Tim Harrington at the circus….” Into it.

We just got in a Mississippi shipment yesterday…which means there’s a stack of exciting new stuff to sit down with and absorb. As always, their skills for uncovering and archiving lost music is seriously mind-stutteringly astounding.

Here’s a quick preview of some of the new Mississippi titles, some restocks and some distributed releases…

BOYD RIVERS – YOU CAN’T MAKE ME DOUBT LP = Great lo-fi gospel blues. This is supposedly his first full length collection and all tracks are unreleased with the exception of “Fire in My Bones” – the song for which Tompkins Square’s staggering 3CD compilation is named. One side showcases his gritty electric style and the other his acoustic.

VARIOUS – BED OF PAIN LP = Classic Greek songs revolving around death, crime and drugs pulled from various old 78s. Haunted, eerie and extremely intriguing.

VARIOUS – STICKS OVER MY SHOULDER = A collection of blues players from Georgia. The songs showcased here were all recorded between 1979 and 1981 by George Mitchell as he worked his way through the South with a mobile recorder.

VARIOUS – WEDDING SONGS LP (Domino Sounds) = Originally released on Philips Ethiopia in 1973, this LP collects a series of songs which pull the listener through an Ethiopian Amhara wedding. It’s a pretty intriguing snapshot of a time and place. Hand-screened covers!

ALKIBAR GIGNOR – LA PAIX LP = Fuzzed-down, modern lo-fi rock’n'roll from Mali. The album ranges from tradition-inspired ballads and African soul to weird adaptions of American rock. It’s a glimpse into the garage rock of Mali.

VARIOUS – TIME WILL MAKE A CHANGE LP + 7″ = Here Mississippi has compiled a stack of hard-to-find gospel 7″s and made one hell of a mix tape for us…so, you know, we don’t have to search for something we’ll never find. It’s a pretty raw-rockin’ set here.

ABNER JAY – TRUE STORY OF ABNER JAY LP = Restocked! Raw, frantic one-man-band blues from a man raunchier than all the Cramps combined. There’s absolutely no way that this man did not influence the swampiest of the swamp rawk garage bands. Ridiculously essential stuff here.

FRED MCDOWELL – THE ALAN LOMAX RECORDINGS LP = Restocked! No need to write anything on this one – it is what it says. The classic bluesman himself as recorded by the legendary Lomax collected once again for us to own it in all its bleedin’ glory on a single LP.

…plus a few more you’ll just have to swing in to see!

TUESDAY, MAY 1ST @ Bull City Records, Durham, NC.
5:30pm. FREE. (shop info)

(photo by Jason Ellis)

FUTURE KINGS OF NOWHERE (Durham, NC | Churchkey, 307 Knox)

Tomorrow (Tuesday), Churchkey Records releases the brand new Pirates CDEP from celebrated Durhamites, The Future Kings of Nowhere and as always, they know how to throw a party. Shayne will be leading a stripped down crew through amped up classics, new tunes and even a few covers – rumor has it Lyle Lovett, Leonard Cohen and the Misfits might be involved – guaranteeing the appearance to be rare and memorable.

Pirates is the first release by the group since 2007′s self-titled debut full length. I honestly can’t believe it’s been that long, considering how active the band has been in the years between. The dynamics within the band and their writing style have shifted since that release and the songs have become more brightly focused and slightly more serious overall. Even with the foundation of Shayne’s songwriting slowly drifting from carefree to heavy in recent years, his music still maintains that characteristic playful, blindly anthemic drive and hook. It might be heavy, yes, but it’s poisoned with a grin.

Swing on by and hang out! Happy Hour Rock’N'Roll is on for tomorrow! They’ll start promptly at 5:30pm, so I would not recommend being late!

See ya Tuesday!