Chris MartinsIn the unpredictable wake of music's digital rebirth, vinyl has experienced a modest boom in popularity, seen by many (with delicious irony) as a replacement for the awkward middleman that is the compact disc. INCHES seeks not only to review the output of L.A.'s healthy vinyl community (artists and labels, indie or otherwise), but to pay dap to those who continue to tend the flame, believing that good music deserves much more than a handful of ones and zeros.
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Artist: HEALTH
Label: Lovepump United (Brooklyn)
Title: Get Color
Format: LP (+ download card, sticker, poster), clear vinyl, 500 pressed
It seems fitting that as Nine Inch Nails waves goodbye to Los Angeles, HEALTH says hello again. Better than any other noisenik outfit out there (local or otherwise), HEALTH weaves electronics into its spooky soundscapes to devastating effect. On the group's sophomore LP, Get Color, atonal ringing and busted-bitrate thumps move the music in strange ways, through moments that are genuinely pop-ish (“Die Slow”) and passages that are extremely disorienting (“Death+”), while Jake Duzsik's vocals float in the resultant atmosphere. Equally fitting: Get Color comes on clear vinyl, if — that is — you're quick enough to grab it.
HEALTH – “Before Tigers (CFCF Remix)” (MP3)
Purchase a deluxe package via the Love Pump web store.
Credit: Chris Martins
Artist: Mayer Hawthorne
Label: Stones Throw (Mt. Washington)
Title: A Strange Arrangement
Format: CD with bonus 4-inch single, 2000 pressed
Stones Throw's bio for Mayer Hawthorne boasts that the rising R&B talent is an “admitted vinyl junkie who never planned on taking his crooning public.” While the second part of that statement may seem less plausible with each passing day, the first is being proven again and again. First, Hawthorne hit us with a heart-shaped 7-inch, and now this: a limited run of his full-length debut, A Strange Arrangement, on CD with a 4-inch slab containing two exclusive tracks. The Michigan native's pitch-perfect throwback soul is absolutely meant for the juke, and the bonus tracks – a cover of Jesse James' “Love Is All Right” and a demo version of “When I Said Goodbye” – crackle, warble and snap in all the right places. Available in 2LP also.
Mayer Hawthorne – “Just Ain't Gonna Work Out” (MP3)
Purchase now via the Stones Throw web store.
Credit: Chris Martins
Artist: White Shit
Label: Post Present Medium (Hollywood)
Title: Sculpted Beef
Format: LP (+ poster), 1000 pressed, vinyl only
As PPM says it, “The world of hardcore crossover dropped a big loaf in our laps and we are very pleased.” So are we. The White Shit supergroup is masterminded by Andy Coronado (he of Wrangler Brutes, Monorchid and Skull Kontrol) and executed by Big Business/Melvins players Jared Warren and Coady Willis, along with a dude called TITS. Awesome. Better yet, their debut “mini LP” (one side, nine songs, B-side left blank), Sculpted Beef, is chock full of chugging, shredding, pummeling, and snarl, all delivered at a breakneck pace. Lyrical sample: “Women women women / Shriek shriek shriek / Nag nag nag.” This vinyl-only release isn't out until September 21, but PPM is shipping now.
White Shit – “Homeopathic Valtrex” (MP3)
Purchase now via the PPM web store.
Origami Vinyl's Top Ten Best-Sellers: August 22 – September 4
01. Kissing Cousins – Pillar Of Salt LP (VBM)
02. The Mountain Goats & John Vanderslice – Moon Colony Bloodbath 12-inch
03. The Flaming Lips – The Soft Bulletin 180-gram reissue (Warner)
04. Wilco – Summerteeth 180-gram reissue (Nonesuch)
05. Arthur Russell – The Sleeping Bag Sessions (Traffic)
06. Dan Deacon – Bromst LP (Carpark)
07. John Vanderslice – Romanian Names (Dead Oceans)
08. Megafaun – Gather, Form & Fly (Hometapes)
09. Grizzly Bear – Horn of Plenty (Kanine)
10. Expo '70 – Psychosis (Peasant Magik)
Origami Vinyl is located at 1816 W. Sunset Blvd., 90026 (213.413.3030).
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