On Saturday, December 8th, all Amoeba locations will hold a sale with 20% off all turntables (plus get a $10 coupon and goodie bag with your turntable purchase), 20% off all T-shirts and 20% off all headphones! It's the perfect chance to stock up on your holiday gifts, and save some cash while you're doing it.

And get this! Amoeba Berkeley is EXTENDING their sale into Sunday as well! So save big at Amoeba Berkeley all weekend long!

 

Also on December 8th, Amoeba Hollywood is having a Sidewalk Sale from noon-5 p.m. Check out the great deals on CDs, DVD box sets, vinyl and more right outside the store on Sunset Blvd.

All sidewalk sales are final. Store credit cannot be used to purchase items from the sidewalk sale. Prices apply to sidewalk sale stock only and this offer is only while supplies last.

 

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Western-themed rockers dressed for the part Lord Huron began their set Nov. 19 at Amoeba Hollywood with “Ends of the Earth,” the opener of Lonesome Dreams, the band’s recently released debut record. The fact that the band brought the bongos that appear on the song to the crowded stage shows what detail means for the band, who didn’t skimp on additional instrumentation beyond the typical guitars-and-drums setup. That attention paid off, as Ben Schneider and his band’s music was nicely layered without sounding cluttered. The set made the most of the band’s five-man makeup, utilizing starry guitar lines and soaring harmonies to great effect. The band turned in a splashier version of “I Will Be Back One Day,” rocking out a bit harder while making the vocals less of a priority. The sound of ocean opened to the galloping rhythm of “Time to Run,” a clear crowd favorite. “The Man Who Lives Forever” proved the band’s most impressive song live, beautifully syncopated and stuffed with gorgeous guitar work, complete with slide guitar and harmonic playing. It was amazing to hear what they could accomplish with just a handful of guitars, echoing the sounds of banjo, southern rock and Eastern-influenced tonality. See more photos of the show here. Read my interview with Schneider here.

Friday I caught Tame Impala at The El Rey Theatre. I’ve been sick for over a week with a stupid head cold that makes my eyes start to shut around 10 p.m., but I was determined to see my favorite current band — and El Rey shows end early. The first thing I noticed was that the show was packed, and not entirely with your garden-variety hipsters. Older folks and lots of BROS. But like, cool, sensitive ones. Cause Tame Impala have left their Australian lily pad of coolness with their latest album, Lonerism, which has garnered the band great widespread acclaim and support from Pitchfork, KCRW and the like. So they upgrade to The El Rey from The Echo, where I think they played the last time they were in these parts.

The day after Thanksgiving perennially brings the biggest shopping day of the year, Black Friday. This year Amoeba will hold a sale with limited Record Store Day vinyl releases (see a list of highlights here, or download the full list [pdf file] here). And the sale goes through Sunday, Nov. 25, though if you want any of the exclusive RSD releases, you better get in early!
 

All headphones will be 15% off the regular ticket price. A special sale will be held on Skullcandy Ink'd Buds, which will be on sale for $12.98 (normally $19.98), while Skullycandy’s Lowrider headphones will be on sale for $29.98 (normally $39.98).

Select models of turntables will be on sale for up to 25% off.

Turntables on sale include:

 

The Audio Technica LP 60 (Non USB) –  $99.98 (regularly $139.98) Continue reading...

On Lonesome Dreams, Lord Huron’s Ben Schneider creates a soundtrack for travel. Opener “Ends of the Earth” finds him telling his lover “There’s an island where everything is silent/I’m gonna whistle a tune,” among other evocative lines about getting the hell out of dodge. From there his Americana-fueled journey touches on hints of the exotic — the clanging percussion of “Time to Run” calling to mind the East while he sings concurrently about finding a life way out West. Along the way he discovers the loneliness of wide-open space on the spare title track; harmonicas haunt him on “The Ghost on the Shore,” hinting at nostalgia born from hitting the edge of the land and looking back. The whole thing gallops along with country jangle, nightsky atmosphere and Schneider’s throaty, impassioned vocals, and it’s nearly impossible not to get swept in its romanticism.

The whole thing could be thought of as a travelogue for Schneider’s own journey out west, travelling from his home in Michigan to New York, around the world and eventually to Los Angeles, where while pursuing a career in visual arts, his Lord Huron project took off. Comprising songs he recorded back in Michigan at Lake Huron, where he formatively would strum the guitar in his youth, his first EP Yours, Truly gained traction in the blogosphere, and Schneider formed a band to begin playing live in 2010. His debut record, Lonesome Dreams, is out now via IAMSOUND. Lord Huron play Amoeba Hollywood Monday Nov. 19 at 7:00 p.m. I took a minute to speak with Schneider about his journeys, musical and otherwise.

Thanks to Arizona based vinyl artist Daniel Edlen stumbling upon the recent Amoeblog on the work done by fellow vinyl artist / Amoeba Hollywood customer Colton Tran (Making Art Out of Records with Colton Tran of TransylVinyl & Broken Vinyl Record Art) I was introduced to the equally (although very different in composition) vinyl art of the SoCal born and raised Edlen. "Good to see someone else do something distinctive with records," posted Edlen in the comments of that Amoeblog on Colton Tran. Since then I have been fully introduced to Edlen's amazing vinyl art, like the Prince piece above, for which he utilizes straight acrylic paint and, as he jokes, "a cheap brush" to painstakingly create this beautiful art on 12" records. Edlen, who accurately describes his work as "creating art on the artifacts of creativity,"  has much of his art on view via his main website.

Dave Paul (Bomb Hip-Hop/The Prince & Experience) is among the vinyl artist's many fans/collectors. "The appeal to me of Elden's work was the artist's face hand painted on the record," said Paul who has bought two pieces of Edlen's art. Like fellow vinyl artist Colton Tran, Edlen is also a major Amoeba Music fan: one of the things I asked him about when I caught up with him recently to talk to the Amoeblog. In that interview, that follows below the video clip of him making his art, I also asked him about the details of creation of his vinyl art, his musician subjects, and his work with both the David Lynch Foundation and VH1 Save The Music.