Celebrating RSD23, New In Store The National, Yves Tumor, Larry June, Nina Simone, The Church

First of all big thanks to all those of you who queued from the chilly early hours and came along and made Record Store Day so special again this year. It was a pleasure to see so many of you lovely folk - the regulars and those of you who came to see us for the first time from near and far.

We hope you have been enjoying your new vinyl!

Big thanks also goes to the Off The Beaten Tracks team - Andy, Lee, Iris, Elsa and Ben.

Live music is a vital part of RSD for us. It wouldn't be the same without Experimental Sonic Machines entertaining us with hand built instruments and Ernie the robot drummer.

 

We were over the moon that The Rum Jiggers funk/soul band played a blinding debut gig for us in the afternoon and drew a great crowd (more news on them later) and thanks too to Tim O' Connor and Phil Middleton who played an impromptu set for us before their gig at St James church on Saturday.

We were also joined by Expressive Audio who put in a long shift demonstrating their Rega and Fyne HiFi equipment and Okki Nokki record cleaner. It was great to have them on board for the day.

Check out their blog post to find out if you were the lucky winner of a Rega Planar 1 turntable!

We stayed open over Sunday and Monday and it was great to see so many of you at the shop then too.

As with all UK indie stores our remaining RSD stock went for sale online at 8pm on Monday 24th and we are really grateful to have been so busy getting orders in the post for you this week. And thanks to our local village post office for processing all these parcels for us.

So all in all it was a fabulous day, even the sun shone and we hope you enjoyed it too! 

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Nina Simone's A Very Rare Evening 

'One of the most sought after Nina Simone albums is now back available as a deluxe limited vinyl edition for the first time since 1979...Included on these European sessions from 1969 you’ll find Nina classics and rare versions of recordings written by Aretha Franklin, Barry Gibb, Randy Newman and Pete Seeger.'

And on the subject of Nina Simone we highly recommend the book Nina Simone's Gum. Written by Nick Cave's sidekick Warren Ellis. 

It came out a couple of years ago and is an interesting read for music fans and collectors alike - available at all good bookshops! Or if listening is more your thing it's available as an audio book read by Warren himself with a foreword written and read by Nick Cave. 

We've been after this one for a while...

Various - Bob Stanley/Pete Wiggs present Winter of Discontent

'There was plenty of genuine discontent in Britain at the tail end of the 1970s, and it had little to do with bin strikes or dark rumours about overflowing morgues. In the world of popular music, the most liberating after-effect of the Sex Pistols was that anyone with something to say now felt they could make a 7” single. Winter Of Discontent is the sound of truly DIY music, made by people who maybe hadn’t written a song until a day or two before they went into the studio. It’s spontaneous and genuinely free in a way the British music scene has rarely been before or since.

Winter of Discontent has been compiled by Saint Etienne’s Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs, the latest in their highly acclaimed series of albums that includes The Daisy Age, Fell From The Sun and English Weather. The era's bigger DIY names (Scritti Politti, TV Personalities, the Fall) and the lesser-known (Exhibit A, Digital Dinosaurs, Frankie’s Crew) are side by side on Winter Of Discontent. '

'San Francisco legend and entrepreneur Larry June is back with his next solo offering, Spaceships on the Blade. The 18-track album features the previously released singles, “Private Valet” and “In My Pockets,” and sees production from a wide range of producers, such as Jake One, DJ Khalil, Cardo, DJ Fresh, Chuck Inglish, Turbo and more. With an eye on always expanding and diversifying his income streams, it’s clear to see that Uncle Larry is going to continue to do numbers for a long time.'

Orange and Bone Quad Vinyl.

'In 2012 a strange, masked collective from Sweden called Goat released World Music one of the unexpected and most talked about albums of the year. Mixing heavy fuzz-psych with tribal Afro grooves, head nod funk, the repetitions of krautrock and the pop of post-punk to create something completely unique.'

10th Anniversary Edition - limited coloured vinyl

'A month after passing their BBC audition, the Beatles’ first actual broadcast session took place at the Playhouse Theatre in Hulme, Manchester on March 7th, 1962.

Producer Peter Pilbeam booked them in for a slot on Teenagers Turn, which was recorded in front of a live audience and transmitted nationally the following day on BBC’s Light Programme. They returned to the same venue for their second BBC session on Whit Monday, June 11th; this would be the last to feature their original drummer, Pete Best. A coach full of fans accompanied them from Liverpool for the occasion. Before their third appearance on Teenagers Turn, the Beatles had made their debut TV appearance, also in Manchester, for Granada’s People And Places. They had a new single to promote and duly performed both sides, Love Me Do and P.S. I Love You on the show that was aired on October 26th. The group can also be heard here singing songs recorded at the Cavern, notably a version of Some Other Guy that was broadcast on Granada TV in 1963. Tracks recorded for Granada TV and BBC Radio with dates where known listed on the rear. Through careful remastering we have done our very best to make these tracks sound as good as possible, but the sound quality does reflect contemporary broadcast standards.'

'Over fifty years since the release of their eponymous debut album in 1967, Ten Years After has returned with a new studio album containing twelve tracks titled A Sting In The Tale. The beginning of their meteoric rise to fame can be pinpointed to their performance at The Woodstock Music and Arts Festival in August 1969. The audience were blown away by the intensity of the band’s performance and their unique combination of Jazz, Blues and Rock, and their enigmatic frontman Alvin Lee. This made them one of the biggest bands of the early 70’s.'

Limited edition silver vinyl - 500 copies

After an epic return to homeland stages, Australian psych-rock legends The Church release their new studio album The Hypnogogue. 

"Let it first be said that the title track of The Hypnogogue, the first new album from The Church in six years, is one of the most breath-taking singles they’ve released in years, a darkly psychedelic six minutes that slowly spirals into a menacing descent. That alone is reason to keep this one on your radar; the Australian neo-psych band have been going for over 40 years, with around a half dozen classic albums and zero bad ones, yet their ability to keep evolving and uncovering new aspects to their sound and approach only serves as a reminder of how vital they remain after four decades."

Neon purple 2LP

'David Tattersall, the Wave Pictures guitarist and frontman releases a solo album of interpretations of John Fahey tunes, recorded live in the studio.

On The Sunny Side of the Ocean is out now.

"I have been a fan of John Fahey's music since I was very young; it has always been with me and I can't remember a time when I wasn't affected by it. It is weird music, and very good. Of course, Fahey is an important cult figure in the history of music: as the first man to find a language for steel string guitar that can stand proudly alongside the established tradition of nylon string classical guitar; as one of many men who rediscovered obscure old blues musicians and recorded them for a new generation in the 1960s; as one uniquely able to reconcile 20th century avant-garde music with folk tradition; as an early indie-label DIY pioneer.'

Folk duo Bisarr treated us to a live set in store recently.

Bisarr is a folk-duo formed by Nicholas Konradsen and James Noble, who play contemporary folk and traditional-style music, primarily inspired by Scandinavian and other European folk traditions, featuring cittern, bagpipes, oud, hurdy gurdy, and more.

You can buy their debut self titled album on CD online or at the shop now.

 

(Image by Sandy Pustelnik)

The Rum Jiggers are a 10 piece funk/soul band, only recently formed. If you missed their debut gig at the shop for RSD on Saturday you can catch them again at The Kings Head in Louth on Sunday 7th May.

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Spectrum Arts Collective 'is a newly created collective of like-minded creatives based in Louth, Lincolnshire. Coming together for contemporary art and heritage projects that engage the community, providing opportunities to collaborate and create new work.'

Work has already begun with local primary schools on a project called Intermission leading to a new artwork structure which will be presented during Zero Degrees Festival.

There will be performances, paintings, workshops, silent disco headsets and drumming by Keith Angel.

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New Lincs band (O) have released a CD, 'If you like Electro-Rock / Pop well rooted in the early 80s New Wave, this is for you!'

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All the best, Mark