This blog domain is where New and Used Records got started and I will always keep this one up if only for nostalgia's sake. I've since imported all of this blog's post into what is now our main blog:
I've decided not to try and maintain several different blogs but to consolidate them into one. Check back to our label site for soon we will unveil a new look with new features:
Of Montreal have a new record due October 21, and I could not be more excited. On the heels of last year's brilliant Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer, Skeletal Lamping continues the experimental mix of sounds that recall Bowie, funk, disco, and the Beatles. Here is a video for the first single, "Id Engager"...
Did I mention that I loved 2007's Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer. What I said then: "I don't know how much time Kevin Barnes actually spends at dance parties, but he's certainly created a pop record that sounds just too for cool for just about everyone. Even him." Here's the video for that album's hit, "Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse"...
The Of Montreal catalog is deep and worth a good deal of exploration. "Disconnect the Dots" was the first track of there's I ever heard. It is just a cute indie pop number. Do yourself a serious favor and explore everything the Of Montreal catalog has to offer - you will not be disappointed.
Fulton Lights - "Sideways Glances and Coded Speech"
Fulton Lights is New York-based recording artist Andrew Spencer Goldman. Ninian Doff is a London-based artist, and director of this video. The two have, in fact, never met, but were able to create this video - which starts Goldman. "Through the magic of the internet machine and technology we overcame that slight geographical hitch," Doff says. Fulton Lights' new record, The Way We Ride was released last month and is available through Catbird Records in a 7" sleeve or as a pay-what-you-want download. You can read my review of the album at The Label Blog.
Why did it take me so long to post this? I have no idea. This is absolutely one of my favorite songs from 2008. Absolutely catchy, I also love the lyrical content of sisterhood and taking out an abusive spouse. In case you didn't know, CSS are a quintet from São Paulo currently signed to Sub Pop. Their full name is Cansei de Ser Sexy wich is Portuguese for "Tired of Being Sexy." "Rat is Dead" comes from their latest release, Donkey.
No Age - "Eraser" (live on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson)
These are tense political times we live in. While taping their appearance on CBS's Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, No Age guitarist Randy Randall was told he could not wear his Barack Obama t-shirt. "I have recently come under what can only be called extreme censorship," Randall wrote afterwards, the reason being that it would apparently violate the Equal Time Rule entitled to both candidates. "I felt it was important to voice my choice for presidential candidate, Barack Obama, seeing as the episode would air eight days before election day," he says. Instead, Randall obscured Obama's face and wrote "Free Health Care" on his shirt. "Dean and I decided that it would be better to take advantage of the stage we had at our disposal." When the clip aired last week, Ferguson candidly acknowledged the situation.
Friday Flashback: Bob Dylan - "Not Dark Yet" (1997)
Bob Dylan released The Bootleg Series Vol. 8 earlier this week, collecting unreleased work from 1989 to 2006. This period chronicles Dylan's recent late career resurgence, largely built around the three brilliant albums, Time Out of Mind, Love and Theft, and Modern Times. Watch the video for "Not Dark Yet" from Time Out of Mind, and then head over to Web in Front to read a review and download "Dreamin' of You."
Everything is Borrowed - the fourth album from The Streets - is out this week, a perfect time to celebrate the career of musical auteur Mike Skinner. Four records in, there is certainly a story being told across the albums. In Skinner's own words...
Original Pirate Material (Video: "Push Things Forward") "This was an album of rapping that was more like talking, about being young over kind of indie garage beats. It was different at the time because it was so normal and not glamorous in any way. It got me a lot of respect at the time and really allowed me to chase my dreams, which I'd dreamed of doing all my life, which is what Im still able to be doing, if that makes sense."
A Grand Don't Come For Free (Video: "Dry Your Eyes") "This was a concept album about a young man trying to make it in the world, trying to find something or someone to depend on. It featured my biggest hit, Dry Your Eyes, and was quite down tempo and darker sounding than previous stuff."
The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living" (Video: "When You Wasn't Famous") "A piece of truth served up on a platter of pop culture. You may not be able to identify with some of it, but if you want to know what it's really like then this is it. Despite political perception, this is the bravest of my albums."
Everything is Borrowed (Video: "Everything is Borrowed") "It's the sound of an inner monologue and imagined beach-like new horizons. It has 11 songs on it which, of course, is the number that solves life itself. Not sure whether 11 is in the Fibonacci sequence but it should be."
Hey! We need to get back to posting music videos. Hey! We need to get back to posting music videos. Not everyone likes Kanye West's "Love Lockdown" - the song he premiered at the VMAs a week after he wrote it, then leaked it, pulled the leak to rerecord the vocals and put it on iTunes where it shot to number one. We think its an interesting and bold departure for West, whose new record - 808's and Heartbreak - is slated for a November release. West premiered the video for "Love Lockdown" on Ellen yesterday - showing just how far his appeal reaches. Seriously, can you think of another artist (Coldplay - maybe) who reaches across so many demographics? In another "Love Lockdown" news - want to remix it? West is making it easy. Want to just listen to remixes of it? Check out the "Electro Remix" by LMFAO at Notes From a Different Kitchen.
We spotlighted Saul Williams with a Thursday Block a few weeks back. Williams returns now with "DNA" - another innovative video collaboration with Greg Brunkalla (who also directed "List of Demands"). Word is, the video was shot rather quickly - "All shot in a hotel room, in slow motion, and out of focus."
This here was the first New and Used Records blog. We set up shop on January 1, 2006. Since that time we have grown - first a video podcast series and then to a record label. We've added three other blogs to our arsenal dealing with the music business, indie film, and the San Francisco Giants. We'd suggest checking those regularly as this one is not updated as frequently. We wanted to keep it up in celebration of how we started - this blog helped lay the groundwork for everything we are doing now. We now are using this space as our own music video channel.
