i had a blast at record store day 2011! i went to decatur cd, which worked out perfectly. they had all of the records i was looking for and lacked the long lines i would have dealt with at criminal records, where i went last year. there were live bands, free beer, community q bbq, king of pops, contests and a ton of cool vinyl to be had.

i heart record store day!

i ended up grabbing architecture in helsiki – places like this on pink vinyl and an of montreal 12″ from polyvinyl records, as well as a new franz ferdinand covers 12″ on orange vinyl from domino records.

i have to admit i’m a little disappointed that record store day is becoming so reissue heavy though. here’s to more new releases on future record store days!

– ryan

don’t forget tomorrow is record store day! there will be lots of rare vinyl treats up for grabs, including items listed here. in atlanta, you can hit up criminal records and wax ‘n’ facts or wuxtry and decatur cd in decatur.

see you there!

– ryan

who would have thought that a two-piece band featuring a live harp and bass player would be one of the more impressive shows i’ve seen in a long time. on monday night i discovered a great new band called active child opening for school of seven bells. i first heard school of seven bells opening up for m83, so i had a feeling their opening band would be worth checking out as well. i was not let down!

active child is the project of “choirboy-turned-indie pop musician” pat grossi. they play music that sounds like old 80s movie soundtracks, riding the line between dancey and atmospheric. pat’s falsetto vocals were very compelling and at times reminiscent of bon iver or antony and the johnsons. other songs were more in line with old crowded house or joy division, like on their amazing cover of ceremony, a highlight of the night. you can get their debut ep from their website for super cheap or on 10″ white vinyl! it’s totally worth grabbing.

after reading more about active child, i realized i am not alone in thinking they are awesome. npr, pitchfork, and stereogum have already featured these guys.

school of seven bells were very impressive as well! i had talked up the twin sister singers to a friend before the show and was surprised to only find one up on stage. i didn’t realize until after the show that claudia, one of the sisters, had left the band a week before. besides a couple of songs though, you wouldn’t have even noticed. although i definitely would have preferred the dueling female vocals, they still rocked live and filled in the gaps quite well. they played all of the hits i wanted to hear from both of their albums and their encore sounded like a classic mogwai concert with the distortion levels cranked to deafening volumes.

– ryan

we really enjoyed the ola podrida show last wednesday night at the drunken unicorn! they played a steady stream of hits from their two albums and left you wanting more. seeing the songs played by a full band was great as well, we had only seen david wingo play solo before. with a full array of instruments, the songs were loud and rocking. highlights were jordanna, your father’s basement, and cindy, which closed the night.

i picked up belly of the lion on soda bottle colored vinyl and also grabbed a cool split 7″ ola podrida put out with xoxo panda, aka her space holiday. the packaging for the split 7″ is really amazing, plus it’s on blue and white swirled vinyl. order the belly of the lion vinyl here before they are all gone, only 250 were pressed.

listen to some ola podrida songs on their myspace page.

– ryan & gub

we went to see sleigh bells last night at vinyl in atlanta. their live show definitely lived up to the hype; it was insanely loud with lots of strobe lights and arms/iphones up in the air. to say the least, we had a lot of fun! alexis, the female lead singer, sang from the audience at times and had the crowd singing along on other hits. there was lots of dancing and everyone seemed to know all of the lyrics. highlights were rill rill, crown on the ground and a/b machines.

i picked up sleigh bells debut album treats on picture disc vinyl at the show. it is really awesome!

– ryan