Bewitched at first needle drop, "nomadic psychedelic folksinger" Earth Girl Helen Brown owns my heart...
A customer turned me on to this jam as I was ringing up his purchase, the debut record from one of the fictitious artists associated with Sonny Smith's 100 Records project. Considering that more than a few of my favorite bands began as an inside joke (like the Sugarcubes) or some similar spontaneous venture (hello OOIOO) the scheme beneath Earth Girl Helen Brown's Story of an Earth Girl six song EP (on Forest Family) would be easy to miss if it weren't for the intergalactic, martian-love blues that color this collection of stellar musicianship --- a pleasant oddball mix of doo-wop, (earth) girls in the garage, Muscle Shoals soul, and a heady dose of feminine mystique.

"I Walked All Night" - Earth Girl Helen Brown


Captained by Heidi Alexander of the Sandwitches, with sandy sister Grace Cooper also on board along with a crew of SF local hitmakers (including Kelley Stoltz, John Dwyer and Sonny Smith, of course), this infinitely enjoyable record sets the bar way high for future endeavors. Limited to 500 copies on 10" white vinyl, Story of an Earth Girl dredges memories of some of my past loves and style crushes circa 80's (an obvious influence?), 90's (Meryn Cadell's "The Sweater"!!!) and all points beyond: xoxo!

Well, aw shucks, San Francisco stalwart Kelley Stoltz has a new album of his particular brand of melodic pop, To Dreamers, coming out on Sub Pop this Oct 12! To get the buzz going, Sub Pop has released this fun little video with Kelley, following him around our fine city, recording, playing, buying tape out in the Avenues...etc and being his always charming self. Check it out below:

I'm pleased to announce that local San Francisco record company Secret Seven Records has a new release! It's called In A Cloud and it's an exclusive compilation of previously unreleased tracks starring many famed and talented local artists such as Kelley Stoltz, Thee Oh Sees, Sonny & The Sunsets, Fresh & Onlys, Hannah & Raven (of Grass Widow), Jacques Butters, Ty Segall, The Sandwitches, Exrays, Donovan Quinn & the 13^th Month, Trainwreck Riders, Dylan Shearer, and Paula Frazer. This special release comes as a limited edition of 500 on vinyl only. The record was mastered by Paul Oldham, sometime bandmate and always brother to Will Oldham. Listen to The Sandwitches' track "Grey Wizard" right here. You can also hear Kelley Stoltz's sweet "Pinecone" here!  In A Cloud will be for sale at Amoeba starting on Tuesday, March 2! Come an' get it!

Whew, another Record Store Day has been and gone at Amoeba San Francisco, and what a whirlwind it was! The special international holiday created to celebrate the independent record store in all its resplendent glory brought with it special guest DJs galore, prize giveaways and, of course, mega-limited special edition releases by popular, record store-lovin' artists.

Over at the Haight Street store we had a salivating group of customers waiting with bated breath outside our doors for 10:30 am to finally arrive. When the doors opened at last, there was a mad rush for the limited edition 7"s, vinyl, CDs and DVDs that artists such as Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, Pavement, Guided By Voices, Metric, The Flaming Lips, and many more had released in honor of RSD. We sold through almost everything within just a few hours -- some, like the Jesus Lizard singles collection, went in mere minutes! Employees worked like barkers, calling out artists' releases and getting them to the frantic masses as quickly as possible. The Information Counter was lit up with zillions of phone calls, checking on the status of any number of artists' special releases.


At noon we began our giveway drawings, ably hosted by our own spirited Zack, who took to the intercom with game show host-like zeal. Various customers won $50 gift certificates and their choice of a myriad of prizes, including Guitar Hero and a special prize pack from heaviest heavy rock label Southern Lord. These giveaways were met with cheers and screams of delight, both from being caught up in the moment and encouraged by their host!