I have been obsessed with zombies for as long as I can remember and I am not really sure why, but I just can't get enough of them! Not the band -- we're talking actual zombies here! Not that zombies actually exist...but you know what I mean. When I found out there was a band named Zombi, I figured I had to at least check them out and I soon became obsessed with Zombi as well. Zombi are a sort of prog space instrumental rock sort of band from Pittsburgh. You could compare them to Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Goblin, Giorgio Moroder, Yes, Rush, and the soundtracks of John Carpenter. I actually first got into Zombi by listening to Majeure, the project of Zombi drummer A.E. Paterra, which has one album from 2010, Timespan. I was hooked and immediately got all of the Zombi albums that I could find, starting with their last album, Spirit Animal, from 2009, and now I couldn't be happier to have a brand new Zombi album in my life, Escape Velocity, on Relapse. And it is just as good as their last -- dark and spacey. Everyone needs some Zombi in their life.

Listen to "Escape Velocity" by Zombi from their new album Escape Velocity...




I didn't really become an Okkervil River fan until Black Sheep Boy in 2005. Not sure what took me so long but there are a lot of bands out there! It just took me a while to devote some time to them. I already talked about them a bunch in two blogs so I won't waste too much more time on them here. Here I talk about The Stand Ins in 2009. And here I talk about The Stage Names in 2007. I don't want to end up repeating myself but I do still love Okkervil River. And yes, they are still putting out great albums! The new album is called I Am Very Far. I just can't get enough of Will Sheff's voice!

Photos by Kaitlin Layher and Ryan Stark
Words by Spenser Russell-Snyder

At 8am on Saturday, April 16th, crowds began to line up in front of the Berkeley store. They came to get their hands on the hundreds of new and exclusive records released on this year's 4th Annual Record Store Day.

In the first hour of being open, the "Broadway" aisle of the store was jam packed with people picking up 7-inches, LPs and even select 10-inches from the likes of 13th Floor Elevators, Big Star, The Rolling Stones, Nirvana, Grinderman, Phish, Wild Flag, The Beach Boys, as well as countless more from the hottest names in music, past and present.

But Rock 'N' Roll wasn't the only thing Amoeba Berkeley brought to Record Store Day this year. We also debuted a GIGANTIC used Jazz collection, filled with near mint original pressings from Horace Silver, Hank Mobley, Jackie McLean and literally thousands more! No matter what kind of music you were into on Saturday, we had what you wanted!

Amoeba was THE destination for Record Store Day events as well! At noon we had the legendary Al Jardine from the Beach Boys play a few songs and tell a few stories about the old days recording Smile and Pet Sounds. Al brought with him an exclusive 7-inch record to benefit the Red Cross' Japan relief effort. He ended up raising over $1,000 for the organization and thrilled long time fans by signing copies!

It is getting to that point in the year where I am having a hard time keeping up with all the music coming out, so you really should not have that hard of a time finding new albums to listen to this month or the next. I keep finding a new favorite album but it is then overshadowed or replaced by some other album that I get obsessed with. The new Lily Allen album came out last week, and I do love it. If you already love her then go get this album. It is very different than her first album but you will love it for all the same reasons that you loved the first album. Her song writing is still that great combination of cute and brilliant and sassy. I can't really imagine liking any other singer that could get away with her lyrics, but she pulls it off. I might be throwing the word love around a bit too much, but I did fall in love with her voice the first time I listened to Alright, Still. I do also associate that album with Los Angeles. It was one of those albums that I listened to a bunch on trips to LA a couple of years ago, so it is now perfect that I am actually living in LA again for this new album. Lily Allen just has one of those catchy and cute voices that makes me smile. It is what all pop music should sound like. Perfect for those of us still obsessed with British music and culture and a nice pop alternative. The new album is called It's Not Me It's You. She has a brilliant way of switching around some popular phrases, as she does with "Thank You Very Much," one of my favorite tracks on the album. I saw her show for the first album in San Francisco and can't wait to see her again down here. She will be playing at the Wiltern on April 2nd. The album is just as catchy as you want it to be. It does what it sets out to do. The album is pure pop entertainment with that signature Lilly Allen feel to it. I do have a habit of loving the artists that most people either love or hate. It is the better artists that I think have this effect on us. You should love her like I do, but I will not hate you if you don't. She is for sure not for everyone.