April 18 was Record Store Day and I was fortunate enough to spend part of it in an actual record store. Yes, they still exist. Vinyl might currently be the hippest of all music media, but we still have plenty of surface-noise free CDs at the library. As the library’s buyer of music CDs, I want to share with you a few of my idiosyncratic favorites from the recent past:
“Nippon Guitars: Instrumental Surf, Eleki & Tsugaru Rock 1966-1974″ Takeshi Terauchi. I can’t believe Quentin Tarantino hasn’t used any these surf instumentals in his movies yet. They would fit in really well in his Pulp Fiction/Kill Bill-era work. If you are a fan of the Ventures or Dick Dale, the early less-psychedelic tracks on this CD will be especially appealing.
“The Inevitable End” Royksopp. The title indicates that this will be the last LP from this groundbreaking Norwegian electro-pop duo (note: they have not ruled out singles released online). I say take them at their word and put this CD on repeat. This recording features many guest vocalists and some will appeal more to listeners that others. This CD may take more getting used to than some of their earlier releases, but it is well worth the effort.
“Everthing Will Be Alright in The End” Weezer. If you have written off Weezer in the last few years I completely understand. Their last releases have been underwhelming (which I know is an understatement). However, this CD shows them in a return to near-Pinkerton form. They brought back Ric Ocasek (singer from The Cars) to produce and the result is a satisfying collection of 13 solid pop-punk gems with a bonus prog rock trilogy at the end. It is definitely worth a listen.
“While (1<2)” Deadmau5. I don’t pretend to know much about electronic dance music but I know what I like. Deadmau5 might be a polarizing figure in that scene, but this double CD release (clocking in at nearly two and a half hours) includes a wide enough variety of inspired material to make anyone with even a passing interest in the genre a fan.
Please note that all of the titles above except Nippon Guitars are also available via through our online streaming service Hoopla. Happy listening and please feel free to check out our thousands of other CDs to find your own personal favorites.
(Guitar image courtesy of Flick user @Doug88888 under a Creative Commons license.)