First things first, the excellent electronic music label Kompakt has jumped on the best bandwagon possible – the benefit record for Japan bandwagon. If you like minimal techno and have 10 bucks to spare then you should get it. It’s 34 tracks and almost four hours of music!
Now where was I? Oh yes, Saturday was Record Store Day! I hope you all got a made out with a good haul. Over the next few days I’ll be sharing a good deal of what I scored and I hope you all enjoy as I share my limited edition vinyl happiness with you all.
Tonight’s happy music share time has a little bit of vitriol though. Sorry about that.
Update 4/18/11: Most of these links were removed early for a reason. See the comments section to find out why.
Update 5/12/11: Someone Great is now available on iTunes and Amazon. Buy it.
Toadies
Someone Great (Live) (LCD Soundsystem Cover)
No Deliverance (Live)
The Toadies covering LCD Soundsystem! Crazy huh? Now, if you’re like me, then you think that’s a great idea, and really brave of the Toadies. It’s not easy to take a song that’s entirely in another genre and rework it to fit your musical style. But I think the Toadies pull it off with this cover, which re-imagines the tune as a down-home, lo-fi country jam. It’s really impressive, and the Toadies deserve credit for taking a risk and having it pay off so well.
Some LCD Soundsystem fans seem to disagree, however. Here are some snippets of comments from the Spin article that posted a sneak preview of the Toadies track:
“I just threw up in my mouth….”
“wow way to butcher an amazing song…I hope they go down in a blazing plane crash.”
“Honestly this is a bad cover, I wonder if they are aware what this song is about. I’m sorry Toadies, but you should have been a one hit wonder and stayed in the 90’s. This cover is insulting to LCD and their fans.”
“People actually listen to the toadies??? and go to their shows???? Oh joy for mainstream crap bands doing live covers of actual real musicians. Thankfully their fans are so lame, most didn’t even know it was a cover and just thought it was finally a song with depth.”
Wow. Stay classy hipsters!
I just don’t get the hate. So a band you know almost nothing about covered a song you like? Why go off on a rampage about it?I love me some Pearl Jam, but I didn’t wish Staind die a painful death when they decided to mutilate “Black.” If anything, I was happy that they were exposing a classic PJ track to a younger crowd.
I’m willing to bet that the die-hard Toadies fanbase and the die-hard LCD Soundsystem fanbase doesn’t have a big overlap. Maybe some Toadies fans will be encouraged to check out LCD after hearing this fantastic cover. As a fan, shouldn’t that make you happy? That more people might be interested the band you like? Oh, but are Toadies fans the wrong people? Is the LCD fanbase an exclusive club?
This is not my first exposure to the dickery of LCD Soundsystem fans. When I lambasted This Is Happening for being at best a collection of forgettable drivel and at worst a collection of forgettable drivel that ripped off Lou Reed, I got more than my fair share of insults from self-righteous asshats who were personally insulted that I called an album by their favorite band a pile of shit. But they seemed to be even more insulted that I called LCD Soundsystem fans a bunch of  “self-righteous musical-know-it-alls-by-way-of-Wikipedia.”
They then proceeded to explain to me all the obvious Brian Eno, Bowie and Talking Heads references I “missed” because I didn’t mention them in my review.
Maybe they were just being ironic? Do hipsters still do stuff to be ironic? I’ve been out of that scene for a while, it’s hard to keep up.
Even when I liked LCD Soundsystem (and I still think their first two albums are incredible), I thought that a significant portion of the group’s fanbase represented the absolute worst of hipster culture – mean-spirited pricks who are still stuck in that late-90s “my forgettable bullshit music is better than your forgettable bullshit music because its less popular” mode – and it seems  that I was probably right.
Also, I’m sure that there are thousands of LCD Soundsystem fans who are not complete dicks – unfortunately nice people are usually quieter than assholes.
Anyways, these two tracks are from a Toadies 7″ that was part of Record Store Day. Enjoy.
Franz Ferdinand Covers
Debbie Harry & Franz Ferdinand – Live Alone
Stephen Merritt – Dream Again
LCD Soundsystem – Live Alone
ESG – What She Came For
Peaches – Turn It On
And look an LCD Soundsystem track! Â It’s a great cover too, even though its a little overlong at 7 and a half minutes. It’s better than Stephen Merritt’s take on “Dream Again” though, which is just a little too mellow for my tastes. ESG’s interpretation of “What She Came For” is great though, as is Peaches’ surprisingly low-key turn on “Turn It On.” However, Debbie Harry kicks everyone’s ass with her amazing version on “Live Alone,” and proves that at 65-years-old she still rocks harder than any other motherfucker on Earth.
All these tracks are from the Franz Ferdinand Covers E.P.
Hey, I’ve followed and enjoyed your blog for years, but haven’t written. Your taste is exceptional and your rips are really meaty. We seem to have come up at the same time & it’s fun, sometimes, to not dig through the archives for that b-side.
(I use a Pro-Ject Debut III USB as well, Soundsmith head, iMerge DAC)
I know I’m not the average internet person, ’cause I own a record store and would only download a 12″ that I personally own. That’s just me, whatever, but c’mon man. Leave a little mystery on the Record Store Day stuff, like, I don’t know, a month?
I’m sure I’m going to get flamed all up, or whatever, but a big part of the treasure hunt is the hunt. Right?
Anyways, keep up the good work. I love what yr doing.
Best,
— Eric Levin
Criminal Records, Owner
Record Store Day, Co-Founder
Oh man. I totally got busted!
Man, I don’t agree with you…but damn it, you had to go and be nice.
I’ll compromise. I’ll take down everything from this post except the cover of “Someone Great” because I can’t not let people hear that. On my next post I’m going to put up one more track from one RSD 7″ and then I’ll call it a day on these releases until later in the year.
However, since I now know that someone in charge of RSD is reading what I’m saying, allow me to get on my soapbox and tell you one thing.
Chill.
Seriously. The first Record Store Day had like what, 10-20 records? This one had well over 100, maybe even 200. That’s insane. That’s too much vinyl, and it reeks of a cash grab. There’s a reason why I didn’t pimp the event on my blog this year.
And which ones are really “limited” and which feature previously unreleased material? It’s becoming very hard to tell. I picked up that Medium Rare compilation because I love the Foo Fighters, I knew most of what was on it was previously released, but I would have been pissed if I bought it thinking it was an album of previously unavailable material.
And those awesome Daft Punk singles? Sure, they look AMAZING (which is why I bought mine), but they were advertised as having an “exclusive” track. They don’t. “Castor” is on the Special Edition of the CD and on the upcoming full-length vinyl release. There’s nothing exclusive about it. I don’t know how many other examples of that there are, but that’s really frustrating. I buy vinyl because I want to discover hard-to-find music, and when I find out the “exclusive” track I bought was anything but, I get really pissed. It happens all the time with iTunes, and I expect better from indie record stores.
Finally, it seemed that with the near endless multitude of releases, this year’s Record Store Day wasn’t about the music, it was about speculation. People were buying singles and LPs on the off chance that they might be worth money. Go on eBay and search for “Medium Rare.” Is that album really worth 70 bucks?
That’s why I don’t feel too terribly bad about posting tracks so soon after. I’m not stopping anyone from walking into a store and buying the single they wanted, I’m stopping someone from being ripped off on eBay. Especially poor bastards who live in the middle of nowhere or in Europe (about half of my readers are European).
Shit like that is why Record Store Day needs to calm down a bit next year. Catering to the speculators is suicide. Ask the comic book industry how their age of special editions and alternate covers worked out for them. They won’t tell you a happy story. If you keep doing that then Record Store Day will die, and its death will come sooner rather than later.
And I would hate that dude, because Record Store Day is awesome.
Keep up the good work, don’t let it die.
I thought I’d weigh in on Eric and LT’s comments. I stood in line at 6:30 AM for RSD Seattle and was WAY in the back of the line. I was there for one reason (Foo Fighters, Medium Rare), possibly two (that Nirvana reissue). But since I was 100-people back, I figured I’d be SOL. Once I inched closer to the bin (an hour later), I would have been SOL had it not been for a kind giant of a man who was closer and reached in to grab the two records I wanted (there goes MY hero). Once they were in hand, I left the frenzy and calmed down. Later, once the masses had inhaled the carcass, I went back to the bin to see what treasure, if any remained. I had that Franz Ferdinand Covers EP in my hands, but then put it back. I figured, it was the last one and someone likely would want it more. I did the same with The Kills’ 10-inch. I did, however, add Lady Gaga’s picture disc to my purchase because everyone else there was too hip to touch it.
That said – now that the Franz album is again “out of print” I don’t see what it needs to be a secret society to listen to it. I’d gladly pay for an Amazon download, but sure as hell wont pay $25 for an import CD single (coming in May). I see nothing wrong with a free vinyl rip on The Lost Turntable.
Perhaps the next move for RSD to get back on track (catering to fans and stores instead of eBay vendors) is a steady stream of unannounced exclusives trickled into to indie stores -so the actual weekly shoppers can be first to actually “discover” them.
Any why does that blue shingled big box retailer (unnamed so this does not draw their lawyers here) get access to exclusive tracks when they don’t even STOCK their own exclusive titles? I’ve been burned three times in a row, ordering their versions of the Cee Lo Green, Duran Duran and Foo Fighters expanded albums, only to have them “backordered” in-store and online from Day #1. The local store manager admitted, at the most, each store gets 5 of these titles. I’m guessing their useless, blue-polo’d employees snap those up, because I get there when they open and those titles are gone. I thought those deals were to made to ensure strong big box retailer sell through
Why can’t indie distributors make these same deals so the best versions of these albums are in-stock where sales still matter?
For starters, indie shops should get Medium Rare on CD just like European magazine subscribers are getting.
Chiming in on the Big Blue – trust me, the employees aren’t snapping them up. They most likely are underneath something, on a cart somewhere or just in the wrong spot. You’re giving the employees too much credit (and i’m one of them). New releases (unless major major release) have long been a problem I experienced there.
And I agree – why the hell do they get these exclusive tracks? And the online order – I pre-ordered the new Cut Copy album and waited for it to arrive the day it came out. When it did not I went online only to see it was backordered. Ended up canceling a few weeks later and in the meantime bought the regular version.
I like your idea of not announcing RSD releases and just having people come in. Unfortunately in todays world this will never happen.
HA! Not busted in the least, I’m just a record store day dude, a guy who has volunteered, like the rest of the RSD crew. Which is kind of the problem, sadly (very sadly) we have no say in any of the things you mentioned, we’re just three folks with email and cell phone trying to help our industry. Shit, I wish I could tell the record industry what to do, we’d all be in much better shape. LULZ. Seriously, I agree with all of what you’re saying, but can only ask people to act cool.
“Shit like that is why Record Store Day needs to calm down a bit next year. Catering to the speculators is suicide. Ask the comic book industry how their age of special editions and alternate covers worked out for them. They won’t tell you a happy story. If you keep doing that then Record Store Day will die, and its death will come sooner rather than later.”
My store, Criminal Records has been a comic shop, too, for almost twenty years now. Record Store Day is 100% based on my great experience with Free Comic Book Day, I understand what happens when you alienate speculators, which is why my shop is for readers exclusively, no comic book above list price.
What we need, is the fans to speak to the artists and record labels, and we’ll continue to message great practices to the industry. This is kind of the solution, if customers act with their dollars, they will provide the solutions, i.e. “don’t buy the shitty stuff,” “don’t reward the eBay flippers” and “shop local whenever possible.”
I’m always around for talking, and you can see a lot of my bullshit on the internet. Interview me. This guy asked good questions: http://new-vinyl.blogspot.com/2011/03/exclusive-interview-with-rsd-co-founder.html, or rather, he just let me talk at length.
I rarely comment online, ’cause it’s stupid, and I have my own blog, but I love talking to my contemporaries and not just every entitled complainer with a keyboard. You’re actually doing something.
e
May 15, 2013
I see you already have heard that FISH STORY is on Netflix Instant–ready to stream. Couldn’t decide if I wanted to watch this movie based on the cryptic Netflix blurb, so Googled Gekirin. I was interested in knowing if this was a real band, a real song, and if they influenced punk and the Sex Pistils. Found your link, and based on your much enjoyed comments and synopsis, I have decided I want/need to see this movie.
cyndi