Record store day

Today was Record Store Day so I celebrated by going out and buying vinyl. I started the day by going to the Glebe Record Fair, probably Sydney's biggest vinyl event of the year. Technically, it's not an independent record store but a number of stores have stalls there so I reckon it's ok. If I had any illusions that vinyl collecting had become a cool thing to do in the last twelve months, I estimate that there was probably two or three times the crowd there this year than last and it was pretty hard to get around and harder to look through the bins. Even worse, the stall holders have gotten wind of it and there was very few bargains to be had as they'd jacked up the prices on just about everything - good on them for making money but the sheer joy of finding a bargain seems long gone. However, I managed to pick up the Cure's Japanese Whispers, Low's C'mon and Kraftwerk's the Man Machine pretty cheaply. Not a great haul but ok...

I then went to Redeye which is one of the few shops in Sydney that gets the Record Store Day special releases. Being in Australia, they get the records which are left over from the US and the UK so there often isn't a huge choice. I particularly wanted to get the Arctic Monkeys R U Mine 7inch (that song gets better and better), the Feist/Mastodon split 7inch and the Ryan Adams 7inch which featured two Bob Mould covers (here and here) - both great. Unfortunately, they'd sold out of the Monkeys and the Ryan Adams and Feist records weren't available in Australia (just checked ebay - the prices are already extortionate). In the end, I'd got there too late as the clerk said there was a line to get in at 9am, I think I was still in bed at that point. Still good news for the record stores though. Anyhow, I did pick up Mclusky Do Dallas on orange vinyl which is pretty sweet. Still a great album after all this time but my record store day was less fruitful than previous years. Whatever, I've got next year to look forward to.

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Song of the day: Arctic Monkeys - R U Mine?

A while back, the Arctic Monkeys released a record produced by Josh Homme and to be honest, it didn't really work. This was mainly because the Monkeys tried to infuse their signature sound with Queens heaviness but it felt tacked on rather than organic. The key component which was missing is that when Queens are on form, they sound sexy. There is some Homme quote about making 'rock music girls can dance to' but I'd put forward it's more that it's music people want to have sex to (I got this from a friend of mine who said Misfit Love made her want to have sex immediately). Anyhow, on R U Mine?, the Monkeys seemed to have figured out the magical ingredient because this is a thumping tune which grinds in a seductive and sinister way. Welcome back lads...

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In the rock news today...

1. The new Antlers album is quite exceptional.

2. The new My Morning Jacket is quite good.

3. The new Arctic Monkeys album is quite bad.

4. Coldplay have a new single called Every tear is a waterfall. Who the fuck are they trying to kid with this bullshit?

5. Adele has apparently single handedly arrested the decline in record sales. That’s what happens when you release an album both me and my Mum likes.

6. Pulp have reunited. I guess being on the dole finally got boring.

7. Lady Gaga is an artistic visionary with the worst photoshopped front cover of all time. Either it is high irony or it’s just shit.

8. My Bloody Valentine have still not released a new album.

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