I first heard Seek Magic by Memory Tapes at the end of 2009. I was immediately hooked. I suddenly couldn't imagine how I had lived my life without Memory Tapes. The album was that good. At least I thought so. Combining all my favorite elements of dream pop and shoegaze and electronica. This guy knew the way to my heart. Memory Tapes created some amazingly catchy pop songs for this album. He captured an early 90s sound but somehow made it refreshing and like nothing I had ever heard. I was in love with Memory Tapes. All you need to do is listen to the song "Bicycle." You will immediately fall in love with this song. There seriously must be something wrong with you if you don't like this song. Memory Tapes is Dayve Hawke of New Jersey. He had also released music as Memory Cassette and Weird Tapes. He decided to combine the two into Memory Tapes. His new album is called Player Piano. The second album is always risky undertaking. Especially when you really like the first album. When that first album plays a big part of your life and is listened to over and over again. It is sort of scary to first check out that second album. I worry that I will not like it. I really want to like it. I respect the artist and want to like where they are going with the second album. But it doesn't always work out. Sometimes you are just never going to have that same experience with a second album. The new Memory Tapes album does not disappoint. Another one of my favorites from the last couple of years is Washed Out. I really loved that first album. But the jury is still out on the new album released this week. I like it. But not sure if I am ready to fall in love. But I am not giving up on it yet. I fell in love with the new Memory Tapes album immediately. This new is worth your valuable time. 

       
The line up for this year's bigger and better, eight edition of the Decibel Festival (full name DecibelInternational Festival of Electronic Music Performance, Visual Art and New Media) happening at several venues around Seattle September 28th through October 2nd, has just been announced with advance tickets now available.

Performers in this year's ever expanding annual festival include Amon Tobin, who will be performing his latest piece/current seventh album ISAM (see concert trailer above) Moby, Ladytron, Bonobo, Zomby, Quantic, Mad Professor, Holy Fuck, Martyn, Motor City Drum Ensemble, DJ Krush, Green Velvet, Araab Musik, Ulrich Schnauss, Chateau Flight, Girl Unit, Bok Bok, Atlantic Connection, Egyptrixx, Blondes, Matthewdavid, Salva, and many more.

This year's expanded variety of venues will include The Paramount Theater, The Showbox Market, The Crocodile, Fred Wildlife Refuge, The Baltic Room, Sole Repair, and The Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya. For more details and tickets for the 2011 Decibel Festival, visit here.

      


Recently uploaded on Facebook and YouTube under the description Want to buy a record with Mel Blanc at Wallichs Music City / "Vinage Los Angeles" on Facebook the above 1951 promotional film (half-hour in length) reportedly was never shown to the public until now, been used six decades ago for promotional use only among record executives. Check it out if you are an avid record collector or fan of the recording industry's history including the record pressing process, or if you are interested in seeing some classic Hollywood landmarks from sixty years ago including Capitol Records (the producers of thepromotional film) and Sunset Blvd. Amoeba Hollywood fans and regulars will recognize that the opening segment was shot about a block down the street from the current site of Amoeba Hollywood on Sunset.

As noted in the YouTube description Mel Blanc, "plays a record dealer who is desperately trying to sell anyone a record at the corner of Sunset & Vine streets in Hollywood, California while pestering several people, (including Yogi Yorgeson!!). Billy May approaches playing a regular guy walking down the street, Mel takes him into his record store, (Wallichs Music City) & proceeds to pitch everything in the store to him. In the end Billy won't pay the 85 cents for a record & Mel decides to show him exactly how records are made! They go over to the Capitol Records recording studios on Melrose Avenue & meet with Alan Livingston who takes them on a tour, here is where they run into several famous folks while getting into a little bit of mischief along the way! We get to see rare footage of Dean Martin in the studio actually recording one of his hit records! they run into Les Paul and Mary Ford, a vocal group, a country & western singer (Merle Travis?), and even Bozo the Clown!"

Mastodon's anticipated fifth album The Hunter may not be released for several more months but the ever popular Atlanta heavy metal band's label Reprise/Warner have just unveiled the forthcoming album's arwork (above) which was by done by contemporary American folk artist AJ Fosik.  Still in production the band has announced that new album tracks will include the songs "Blasteroids," "All the Heavy Lifting," "The Octopus Has No Friends," "Stargasm," and "Curl Of The Burl." Slated for a late Summer/early Fall 2011 release  The Hunter is the follow up to their March 2009 studio album Crack the Skye and their CD/DVD live concert package Live At The Aragon  which was released in March this year.

The members of Mastodon are longtime fans of Aqua Teen Hunger Force. In 2007 they performed the opening song ("Cut You Up with a Linoleum Knife") of Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters, and more recently they contributed to the Adult Swim the previously unreleased song "Deathbound." The song, which is from the Crack The Skye sessions, can be found for free download on adultswim.com.  The Mastodon track as well as the video clip is part of the ten week, 2011 Adult Swim Singles Program. This summer the band is part of the Sonisphere Festival touring Europe. For more touring and general band info visit the Mastodon website.  And below is the just released official album trailer video featuring the new album track "Black Tongue."

Amoeba Hollywood's new Directors Section, located on the mezzanine level, gathers directors from across the world in one convenient place. America, Latin America, Asia and Europe are all strongly represented by some of their most praised filmmakers. The genres captured there include horror, drama, comedy, action, cult, documentary, and animation, just to name a few. From A to Z you can find a everything available from director Woody Allen to Zhang Yimou, with cards that list their complete filmography.

We realized that people are more than just curious about the works of certain directors; some look to their work for a distinct and consistent vision that caters to their tastes and standards. In film criticism they call this the "auteur theory." Certain directors have developed a reputation and a prestige that transcends generations. Many see directors as a film's primary artist, using an assemblage of talented cinematographers, musicians and editors to bring their image to the screen. And while some may disagree with the concept, opting to praise a screenwriter or producer instead, who can deny the feeling one gets from a certain director's work? We recognize that film is a collaborative process, but we'd also like to recognize many directors whose technique and style has influenced more than just cinema.

Horror
For horror aficionados there's plenty to discover and revisit. Saturated colors, Giallo influences and dizzy scenarios can be found in practically every Italian horror film. The Directors Section is home to many influential Italian horror directors who inspired several genres of film. Dario Argento is arguably the most popular among them. His films Suspiria and Deep Red were groundbreaking for '70s horror, and the violent surrealism of all his work remains a comparative staple in the genre. Mario Bava and Lucio Fulci are two other Italian directors who share a similar style, though Fulci has a heavy emphasis on gore and Bava, eroticism.

There is a tradition in the Latin section that doesn’t exist in the rest of the store. It’s the autographed bin cards. The bin cards are the separators between the CDS, DVD, and LPS that help you find your favorite releases. When I started working at Amoeba Hollywood several years ago, there was only one autograph bin card. It was from Alex Lora from El Tri. Legend had it he came into the store before a show and some fans recognized him and started a mini-ruckus in the Latin Rock and Pop section. A former co-worker and Amoeba favorite, Joyanne Troutman, decided to get Alex to autograph the bin card. Although being mobbed, he thought it was funny to be asked to autograph his bin card, so he did. That’s how it started.

We now have over two-dozen autograph bin cards throughout the Latin section, most of them, acquired by Paul Vasquez, World Music employee since 2006. I asked him a few questions about why and how this happened.

What was the first autograph bin that you had signed?

It was Rodrigo Y Gabriela. They did an in-store performance and I thought they were so cool that I wanted an excuse to talk to them. By then we had a few autograph bins that Joyanne and other World Music employees have gotten so I told them it was a tradition, which it is now.

How do you get the autographs? Are they all from in-store performances?

Some are, but most of them come from the artists themselves shopping at the store or people they are with introduce us to them. For instance, a friend of Los Tres Reyes introduced the members to me while they were shopping at the store. I love their music but I wouldn’t have recognized them.

Was there anyone that refused to autograph the bin card?

SHOOTING THE PIER -- HUNTINGTON BEACH


This blog entry is about Huntington Beach, a beach city in North Orange County. To Huntington Beach's southwestern edge is the Pacific Ocean. To its north are Seal Beach and Westminster. To the east is Fountain Valley. North and east is the Little Saigon area. To the southeast are the towns of Costa Mesa and Newport Beach.

It's the largest beach city in Orange County. Accompanying me on this installment was a mysterious new traveling companion and HB resident known only as Bao. As is usual, we being with a bit of history.


EARLY HISTORY OF HUNTINGTON BEACH


The area that now constitutes Huntington Beach was for thousands of years a border territory shared by the seafaring Tongva people to the north and the smaller Acagchemem nation to the south. At the time the area was an isolated mesa surrounded by a soggy expanse of bogs and shallow marshes fed by estuaries and artesian wells. At the western foot of the bluff was a large tidal lagoon.

We all know that vinyl was supposed to be long dead by now. But it ain't; far from it in fact. Neither CDs nor MP3s managed to kill off records like we were told that they would. Rather demand for, and sales of, vinyl has grown increasingly in recent years. The Nielsen Company reports that in 2010 US vinyl sales reached 2.8 million units while in 2006 they were only at 900,000 units - a significant increase that is continually growing. 

Just recently Nielsen reported that vinyl sales for 2011 are already up nearly 40% over the same time period for last year. Not surprising then Amoeba Music has been expanding its vinyl sections accordingly to accommodate this increasing demand for records. Recently the vinyl section at the Hollywood Amoeba store grew by about 20% to make room for both used collectible albums (a hot commodity) and the influx of new LP pressings and re-issues of older music.

Similarly to the misguided pronouncement of vinyl's demise, the more recent premature talk of how physical books are fast becoming an obsolete medium - replaced by Kindles and iPads and other digital devices to read E-Books on - is also proving to be an incorrect prediction. Yes it's true that, like with music before it, digital downloads of books are the preferred format for the masses. But, as with music in a physical format vs a digital one, the rapid growth of E-Books is actually helping create a new demand for books and a new smaller, specialized niche market for them; especially certain types of books like reference books, art books, music history books etc. - the sort of book that one likes to pore over its pages. Again Amoeba Music is responding to this new growing niche by slowly but steadily increasing its book sections. At the Hollywood Amoeba the book section (new and used) is gradually expanding and deepening its genres (art, culture, politics as well as music related books) and Amoeba is encouraging more of its customers to bring their cool music and art and film books to sell or trade for this growing new wave of book appreciators.

1) Curren$y Weekend at Burnie's (Warner Bros)

2) Shabazz Palaces Black Up (Sub Pop)

3) Pete Rock/Smif-n-Wessun Monumental (DuckDown)

4) Philthy Rich & Messy Marv Neighborhood Superstar Part 3 (Town Thizzness)

5) Matthew Shipp/Beans/William Parker/Hprizm Knives From Heaven (Thirsty Ear)

6)  Raashan Ahmad For What You've Lost (PID)

Big ups to Luis at Amoeba San Francisco for this latest hip-hop chart that includes in the number one slot the anticipated new release from one of hip-hop's most buzzed about (albeit under the radar) artists these days, New Orleans's underrated rap talent Curren$y and his sixth studio album, Weekend at Burnie's. The album, which is named after the 1989 comedy movie of the same name, is Curren$y's second full length for Warner since his exit from Def Jam. A fuill decade in the rap game Curren$y has the distinction of being simultaneously incredibly well known by a large segment of the hip-hop community (who've followed his career via the free mixtapes and official releases he's been dilegently cranking out) but relatively unknown on a mainstream level. This could all change with Weekend which packs a lot of crossover ready material.

Around 6:30pm on an incredibly warm 4th of July a yellow school bus pulled up on the Cahuenga side of Amoeba Hollywood, ready to take about 40 Amoebites on our third field trip to the Hollywood Bowl.

Our first Amoeba field trip to the Bowl was back in 2007, also to see Hall and Oates, and it became the stuff of legend around the store. See photos from that inaugural trip to the Bowl. Our second trip was to see Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings open for Feist in 2008 (kind of an odd pairing musically, but still a fun trip). This trip to the Hollywood Bowl was set for the 4th of July and included the LA Philharmonic and a fireworks spectacular. In other words, it was going to be a really fun Independence Day!

Amoebite Tuna brought some blue face paint to help us get into the 4th of July spirit. By the time the bus pulled up to the Bowl, most of us had shiny blue paint somewhere on our faces. An unintended, but pleasant side effect of the paint - it helped us identify each other in the sea of people entering and leaving the bowl. Look for the blue paint! Tuna even befriended the people in the rows around us, painting their faces blue as well.

Hall & Oates performed most of their classic hits, opening the show with "Maneater" and closing it with "Private Eyes" accompanied by the LA Philharmonic. We danced, we sang, and we danced some more.

And then there was the fireworks show - most definitely a spectacular, as the Bowl promised. Set off directly behind and on top of the Bowl itself, everyone in the ampitheatre had a fantastic view of some pretty fabulous fireworks.

John Beltran
Ambient Selections 1995-2011 3LP
Delsin

Delsin is proud to present this best-of ambient compilation by one of their all-time producer heroes, John Beltran. The 16 tracks presented here include "Collage Of Dreams," as featured on HBO's Six Feet Under series, and other material from his sought-after albums originally released on Peacefrog and R&S. Beltran is a staple of the Detroit techno scene, releasing records on the Retroactive label that would later develop into his trademark contemplative, melodic style. Includes cuts from Earth & Nightfall (1995), Ten Days Of Blue (1996), Moving Through Here (1997), Going Home (2006), The Sky EP Series No. 2 (2000), his Placid Angles release The Cry (1997) his self-titled Indio release (1999), Americano (2002) and Human Engine (2006). With extensive liner notes from the artist himself.

Purchase Ambient Selections 1995-2011 3LP





Move D
Workshop 13
Workshop

Crafty upbuilding disco.esquer house EP from the Hardwax camp.

Purchase Workshop 13 here:

My interview with KRS-One this time last year at the Hollywood Amoeba has just recently been edited and uploaded (above) to the Amoeba video archives. The interview and audience Q+A session that followed at Amoeba was based around KRS-One's book The Gospel of Hip-Hop which you can buy in store or online from Amoeba.com for just $9.99. The in-depth book, whose full title is The Gospel of Hip Hop: First Instrument presented by KRS One for the Temple of Hip Hop and is published by Powerhouse Books, was written over several years by the veteran hip-hop artist, activist, educator, and author. After spending even a short time in the company of KRS you quickly realize that the man lives and breathes hip-hop culture. His famous line, "rap is something you do, Hip Hop is something to live," are truly words that he lives by. In conversation he mentions Hip Hop (his spelling of the words) continually and clearly never stops thinking about it and its ramifications.

"I think Hip Hop is the savior of American society; Hip Hop itself brings cultures together because it gives people a chance to talk and to really see what the other guy is thinking and in a peaceful way," he told me when I asked about the real meaning of Hip Hop as a culture and a lifestyle in the six-part series of The Gospel of Hip Hop According to KRS- One Amoeblogs with him leading up to the in store interview above. A regular on the lecture circuit KRS-One was never a loss for words or opinion during the unique Amoeba instore (usually artists perform music not talk). And afterwards he stuck around for quite a while signing copies of his book, posing for photos and chopping it up with folks who wanted to talk to the man known as The Teacha. Below is the What's In My Bag video of KRS-One shopping for music with his son Lil Kris aka DJ/producer Predator Prime.  Pick up The Gospel of Hip Hop online for only $9.99 while supplies last.
 

Aloha, bitches! The boyfriend and I have just returned from a luxuriously lengthy leisure-time in Moku’āina o Hawai’i – specifically, the islands of Maui and Moloka’i. What will follow, over a course of weeks, is my travelogue. SPOILER ALERT: I survive to write this paragraph you’re reading.

Thursday. June 16, 2011.

Nothing makes me wistful for days gone by like traveling by plane. I’m old enough to remember a time when you could escape your reasonably comfortable seat for a small, smoking lounge and make small-talk with other passengers. Meals were included and expected, complimentary playing cards were practically forced on you, and bathrooms were more than one square inch larger than my skeleton.

Traveling by plane was a luxury, like taking a limo, pre-ordering a soufflé, or soaking in salt crystals made from blood diamonds. There was an implied dignity – it was something to look forward to: to be seated and be served.

Before the terrorists won.

Cut to: me and my boyfriend frantically racing to gut our backpacks and pockets of anything shiny and throwing them in large, grey tubs – Will my lip balm set off the alarm? Better throw it in, just in case…; stripping ourselves of shoes and spectacles, praying to a God that doesn’t exist we aren’t targeted to be put through the x-ray, knowing we’d refuse and have to succumb to the most unfulfilling massage imaginable; finally making it to our gate to find the two flights before us have been delayed since dawn, so the terminal is as absolutely packed with weary bodies, looking like some alternative concentration camp where people actually gained weight.

So popular was the premier summer LA Street Food Fest last year that they expanded it this year to include the Brookside Park space of the Rose Bowl to add on three soccer fields of additional space, and to include even more culinary specialists than last year. The $60 all inclusive tickets are actually very reasonable considering all you get for it. You get to taste unlimited fine food and drink including alcohol (so you could, if you wish, spend your day say at the Tequila Tasting Tent enjoying over a dozen different Tequilas) and spend the whole day with everything (even parking) included in the one time cost. All attendees need to bring is a picnic blanket and some sunscreen, oh, and an appetite. 


The day long (10am to 10pm) event also features several fun sessions throughout the day. These sessions include the all ages, family friendly Picnic in the Park and the Family Fun Day respectively from 10am to 1pm & 2pm to 5pm, and the 21+ Date Night from 6pm to 9pm. Each of these events are limited to 1500 attendees max to ensure a nice controlled environment. The Gourmet Trucks section will include the Border Grill Truck whose specialty is quinoa fritters, the Dim Sum Truck whose specialty is pork and shrimp shu mai + “baked potato” dumpling, and the Great Balls on Tires truck whose specialty is billed as "Ballywood Indian meatballs on rice."

        
There are very few artists who four full decades into their careers are still consistently making riveting relevant music that still matters to fans old and new alike. Brian Eno is one of those rarities. Eno, who got his introduction to the music world at the start of the 70's as the keyboardist for Roxy Music before soon after going solo, has consistently evolved as an artist (and music theorist) singularly crafting new production styles and musical sounds (creating the genre of ambient music), as a producer (U2, Devo, Talking Heads, Coldplay), and selectively collaborating alongside with such notable artists over the years as Harold Budd, Robert Fripp, David Bowie, John Cale, and David Byrne. Even 30 years after its release Eno and Byrne's landmark My Life in the Bush of Ghosts sounds as fresh as the day it was released in 1981.

Not surprisingly Eno's artistic output and his approach to music continues to influence generation after generation of new electronic artists. So it makes sense that for Eno's latest release, Drums Between the Bells, that the electronic music innovator should again join forces with Warp Records - a label, since its formation 22 years ago has become known for always finding and advocating adventurous new electronic music. Last year Warp released Small Craft on a Milk Sea, Eno's excellent collaborative composition with Jon Hopkins and Leo Abrahams.

I don't know why the Farrelly brothers' Hall Pass wasn't more successful. It's no worse than Kingpin or There's Something About Mary and is about the same thing: men trying to get it up. If you found the previous efforts funny, then there's a recommendation. It was, for me, like spending two hours with a couple of pot-bellied sports radio listeners in a Dallas elevator. Not that I have to like the protagonists in a story, but I do have to find them interesting in some way. And there's nothing interesting about the particular strain of the bourgeoisie know as the sports aficionado. I moved thousands of miles to get away from him. To their credit, I guess, the Farrellys have captured, with a cinéma-vérité authenticity, this khaki-clothed repressed memory of mine ("the 'Boys are back in town": shudder), and without ever explicitly discussing sports. They do, however, frequently turn the camera to old pictures of the leads, Rick (Owen Wilson) and Fred (Jason Sudeikis), in their glory days as high school football stars to reinforce the effects of domesticity on male potency: use it or lose it. The husbands aren't getting enough from their respective wives, Maggie (Jenna Fischer) and Grace (Christina Applegate), which regularly erupts in pornographic disquisitions on what they'd be capable of if not for the ball-and-chain.

After hearing their husbands natter on about sexual defilement one time too many, the wives grant them hall passes at the suggestion of a psychiatrist friend. For one week, the men can pretend not to be married without any repercussions for whatever might happen while the women are away on vacation. For most of the week, the husbands drink with friends and continue to dream about molesting young women while young men are actually flirting with their vacationing wives. If you've seen any romantic comedy about infidelity from the past 80 years, you'll recognize Hollywood's reduction of the hedonic calculus to a ratio: cheating isn't bad so long as (1) the betrayed lover is an asshole, (2) the jilted one is given a replacement, or, as in Hall Pass, (3) both parties are equally unfaithful. Marital bliss (a.k.a. love conquers all) is defined through parity: Rick and Maggie resist the temptation to cheat, while Fred and Grace both give in (but feel awful for doing it afterwards), with both couples renewing their vows by the end. What's perverse about this resolution is that it isn't some satirical undermining of romantic love using utilitarianism, but a moronic conflation of utilitarianism with romantic love. These couples are the libertarian base, supporting any candidate who romanticizes capitalism as naturally just.

         
Care of the always self-effacinging funny rap duo of Foreign Legion (witty & talented Oakland emcees Prozack Turner and Marc Stretch) comes the above latest extended version video for "Travel Lite" from the pair's recommended current album Night Moves - on Hunger Strike Records/Quality Control and available at Amoeba Music.

Without even trying Marc and Zack are just naturally funny and, unlike so much of hip-hop these days, do not take themselves seriously by any means as they trade quips, one liners, and so corny they're funny jokes.  Included in the deliberately silly (including canned laughter) clip are such jokes as Stewardess: "Have you ever been in the Navy?"  Prozack: "Well.. I used to work at Old Navy." Ba-da-boom!

And below is the brand new video for "The Hex" by Random Axe, the latest outing from the rap supergroup comprised of Sean Price, Black Milk, and Guilty Simpson. The song is one of the many audio treats found on the new fifteen track CD simply titled Random Axe that is available at Amoeba and is featured in the new Hip-Hop Top Five found immediately below the video

Conrad Schnitzler
Live ’72
Further

Fantastic Live recording from the Cluster founder.
Beautiful handmade gatefold sleeve.

Purchase Conrad Schnitzler Live '72







Holger Zilske
Acid Test 04
Absurd Recordings

Part 4 in the “ACID TEST” series from ABSURD RECORDINGS drops from Berlin’s HOLGER ZILSKE. “A pure analog jam using just a 303, 101 and a 808″ its a slow pulsing bass heavy acid work out. Comes with remixes from JOHN TEJADA and Stockholm’s AXEL BOMAN. Initial pressing comes with download codes in handpainted sleeves.

Purchase Acid Test 04





Deadbeat
Drawn And Quartered 2LP
BLKRTZ

Scott Monteith aka Deadbeat releases an album for his own label BLKRTZ. It has been 12 years since Monteith quietly launched his Deadbeat music project with an unassuming performance on the street outside a Montreal café as part of the first edition of the city's now internationally-lauded MUTEK festival. And while the venues and audiences have grown steadily and seriously in the years since, the crackling dub sonics, deep grooves, and rumbling bass which characterized that performance have remained a constant in his live and recorded work, and earned him a substantial number of devoted followers the world over in the process. Having worked with a virtual who's-who of the most respected labels in the industry over the last decade, Monteith now takes the plunge into the murky depths of labelhood, launching his BLKRTZ imprint with no less than a full album of new material. "When I received the news a few months ago that ~scape was officially closing its doors, I was incredibly sad to hear it." says Monteith from his new home in Berlin. "Though I hadn't worked with them in a few years, I always saw ~scape as the natural home for a very important part of my work. Not necessarily the more listening side of things per se, but certainly the most unconcerned with genre or function, from a creative standpoint the most free, I guess. Barbara and Stefan worked very hard to promote a great deal of quite marginalized material over the years and did a lot to help me and many other artists out personally who otherwise would have had a much harder time of it. Though I'll be concentrating on my own work for the first few releases, it's my hope that BLKRTZ can serve a similarly honorable purpose in the years to come." In celebration of the label's inaugural release, Monteith has teamed up with long-time friend and world renowned video artist, Lillevan, to create an immersive audio/visual performance quite unlike any other.