News and updates from the Staff at Repo Records, based in Philadelphia PA. Selling new, used, vinyl, LPs and more since 1988...! Visit us online at www.reporecords.com
Every week we here at Repo like to pick one record that we can all agree on as being the one thing we can't stop listening to. This week's pick is.....
The Intelligence - Males (In the Red)
Lars Finberg comes back after Fake Surfers, which we loved, with Males. Rock'n and filled with nice little hooks but still packed with all those amazing odd/off kilter/dissonant/creepy moments that it can't be helped but to call it an Intelligence album. Lars usually records solo but he decided to have his whole touring band record with him this time. Compared to the sometimes sparse sounding Fake Surfers this new album comes across fuller and full of energy.
This isn't from the album (no one wants to post new Intelligence videos, or something) but it's a great song none the less.
We love our customers, every last one. That being said we love when they come in and start telling us about all the new music that they love. And today we have a real treat, say hello and listen to the deep wisdom of....
Ash Helio
Hey guys, Ash Helio here, ready to drop some baby knowledge on your grow'd up dairy airs! So from what I've gathered in my four and a half months on this here earth, people like themes. So lets piece together a themed write-up for you all. Seeing that sweet picture of me just chillin' I'm sure you can not help but think about the circle of life. Below are some new nicenesses and old nicenesses, and no mentionings of Elton John songs.
First up I've got to express my love for old school hip hop. It appears that I, Ash Helio, may very well be B-FAB ("Born From a Boombox" to all you foolish enough not to have rocked "Step Up 3-D" as of yet). After diggin' on the sweetness of "Step Up 3-D" I needed to enjoy an old school dance party myself, and nothing was satisfying quite like 1986's "Mantronix - The Album" from Sleeping Bag Records (who knew Arthur Russell was responsible for getting "Needle to the Groove" out there?). Great stuff to pop and lock it to. Very excellent and chill beats. At about 35 minutes, though, you are going to need some more beats to keep that party going. I've been feeling the album "No Mas" by Javelin a lot lately, and since it jams in a totally chill way as well, I'd say it is pretty perfect to keep on dancing. Their 8-bit sounding keys match nicely with the old school sound of Mantronix, and at one point they tell you they'd like to see you "monkey foot"...and who can resist that request? Really fun, breezy dance music that has a beautiful low-tech sound to it.
We should really keep on dancing when it comes down to it. So I think it is time to talk about some Sublime Frequencies amazing-ness. Sometimes pops is like "Should we save money for you to go to college, or should we make sure to buy every Sublime Frequencies record that comes out?" and I'm all like "Who even knows if colleges will exist in 18 years? Sweet jams, though, they're eternal!". So pops buys the newest CD and the record of a CD he already owns by Omar Souleyman. Good thinking! That dude jams as hard as his moustache and sunglasses do! His beats are crazy, and he looks so chill rockin' those beats. Boy am I glad that pops took me to see Omar up in Central Park for my first concert! I'm gonna have to find me a really rich Syrian bride one day so that I can get this dude to MC my wedding and we will party at breakneck speed. Now for the old side of this coin, the Sublime Frequencies options are pretty stacked. The one I've been diggin' hardest of late is another Omar: Omar Khorshid and the record "Guitar El Chark". The record is OOP, but I'm sure SF will put out a CD of it in the near future, and you totally need to pick that up. It's like middle-eastern surf rock or something. Crazy instrumental guitar/keyboard jams that will make your head spin. You'll be quietly rockin' out, and your roommate will walk into the room all "Holy jebus! Is Linda Blair listening to the sweetest tunes in my living room?!". Cuz, you see, your head will be spinning. Like in the Exorcist.
Oh man, and I almost forgot: thinking about my first concert reminds me to let you all know that the greatest concert is getting a DVD release on 9/7! I will now be able to watch "77 Boa Drum"! Pops tells me it was pretty amazing, and I believe it! Boredoms + 77 Drum Sets + 7 Neck Guitar + Beautiful Summer Sunset = infinity. There really is no way to add up all those excellences using the meager number system we have available to us.
Now, I am a baby, so all this excitement is getting me a bit too riled up. I think it is about time I try to chill a little with the help of my kraut friends. Lets throw on "Harmonia Live '74", "Harmonia w/ Brian Eno - Tracks & Traces", or "Faust - So Far" and get totally chilled out. Such niceness here. All the Harmonia mentioned will still the most restless of baby souls, and the title track of "So Far" lets worries melt away, and naptime comes quite easily. These are the sounds of the world I am excited to have entered! And if I start to wake a bit, all of these are jams I can still get my dance on to! Once I wake up, I might still be in the mood for some nice repetition...something similar to these recordings that keeps the mind clear. I'm going to want something that is more raucous, though. I've had my nap, see! So it's time to throw on any of the Wooden Shjips or Moon Duo records. Personally I am partial to the Moon Duo EP "Killing Time"...nice repetitive riffs, and an ending song purdy enough to sound like Yo La Tengo. But mostly I'm rockin! From "Wooden Shjips" I'd have to go with "Volume 1", the first collection of singles and such. The songs sound are droney, feedback drenched rockers. Single riffs that go on forever. These dudes are totally reliable, too. I've been diggin' all their records a good bit!
Lastly lets move on to the album "Rhizomes" by Effi Briest. This is some excellence! A little tougher to describe I would say...similar in spirit to the Raincoats, but not a carbon copy at all. There are some great rhythms going on here, some really nice repeated interlocking guitar lines, all making you totally excited about folks making music. And the cover art is awesome to this record. For an older item to pair up with it, lets just make sure anyone who didn't have the first Raincoats record due to its OOPness over the last few years has made sure to snatch up the nice new issue of it. Impossible not to love! Or maybe "Cut" by the Slits...I definitely feel that vibe from Effi Briest as well.
Alright, baby dude signing off. Listen to the sweetness. -Ash Helio
Every week we here at Repo like to pick one record that we can all agree on as being the one thing we can't stop listening to. This week's pick is.....
Wavves - King of the Beach (Fat Possum)
I think it's needless to say that Nathan Williams needed a win after the disasters (fist fights, lost band members and drugged out shows) that followed him after the release of his second album. Well... here's that win. "King of the Beach" feels like it was made by some bored, fresh out of high school pot head and so do all his other records, but that's part of why we like Wavves. It reminds you of all those sophomore-ish emotions that you love to recall, thinking about those days you had nothing better to do but get high and think about girls, all while rocking your head. That being said "King of the Beach" is not simply another installment of Wavves brand bored fuzz punk, it's a beast all it's own. Most notably the production is way, way better. It still sounds low-fi enough to make you feel the scuzz but the new layers of sound and use of an actual backing band makes you wanna listen to everything that's going on in each song. The lyrics are still straight out of someone's depressing dairy but even there you can hear the start of something different. If you listen to the title track's lyrics they seem fairly angry for Wavves but in a "I'll persevere over all you a**holes" sort of way. And you know what, he sorta did.
Also I feel it should be mentioned that the album cover is kinda great, a bling sport'n cat with a joint. Just wonderful.
Name Dropping: Thee Oh Sees, a punker Dum Dum Girls
