Lode/Load: July 5, 2009

EP's:

Beets | Don't Fit in My Head | Captured Tracks | Black
Blank Dogs | Slow Room! b/w Anywhere | Captured Tracks | Black
Cupid Car Club | Join Our Club | Kill Rock Stars | Black
Davila 666 | Pingorocha Y La Diva Rockera | Douchemaster | Black
Der Teenage Panzerkorps | S/T | Captured Tracks | Black
Jump Off a Building | Bird Watching in New Zealand | Lengua Armada | Black
Kid Romance | Fuck Punx b/w I Use Electricity | Captured Tracks | Black
Kolokol | Grundrisse | Nakkeskudd Plater | Black
Kolokol | Tilbake Til Start | Sjakk Matt Plater | White
Little Girls | Youth Tunes b/w Venom | Captured Tracks | Black
Puffy | Come Home to a House Built of Flame | Ratfish | Black
Roman Soldiers | Warmer b/w Yuppie Fires | Captured Tracks | Black
Seesaw | Oculus Sinister | Nervous Wreck Kids | Black
Sleepyhead | Punk Rock City USA | Slumberland | Yellow Swirl
Spider Bags | Hey Delinquents | Daggerman | Marbled Green
This Bike is a Pipe Bomb | S/T | Arkam | Black
Fuel/Angry Son | Split | Skene! | Black

78's:

Slint | S/T | Touch and Go | Black

LP's:

Blank Dogs | Under and Under | In the Red | Black 2xLP
Blues Control | S/T | Holy Mountain | Black
Blues Control | Puff | Woodsist | Black
Das Oath | S/T | Dim Mak | White
Das Oath | Mini LP | Dim Mak | Clear
DC Snipers | S/T | Daggerman | Black
Dinosaur Jr. | Farm | Jagjaguwar | Black 2xLP
Grass Widow | S/T | Make a Mess | Black
Grizzly Bear | Horn of Plenty | Kanine | Black
His Hero is Gone | Monuments to Thieves | Prank | Black
His Hero is Gone | The Plot Sickens: Enslavement Redefined | Great American Steak Religion | Black
Jawbreaker | Bivouac | Communion/Tupelo | Black
Karate Party | Black Helicopter | S-S | Translucent Yellow
Les Savy Fav | The Cat and the Cobra | Frenchkiss/Self-Starter Foundation | Black
Mayyors | Deads EP | Mt. St. Mtn. | Black
Melchior, Dan und Das Menace | Christmas for the Crows | Daggerman | Black
Nation of Ulysses | The Embassy Tapes | Dischord | Black
Raccoo-oo-oon | S/T | Not Not Fun | Black 2xLP
Shadow Ring | Lighthouse | Swill Radio | Black 2xLP
Those Dancing Days | In Our Space Hero Suits | Black
Van Etten, Sharon | Because I Was in Love | Language of Stone | Black
White, Ralph | Navasota River Devil Squirrel | Mystra/Spirit of Orr | Black
Career Suicide/Jed Whitey | Split | Deranged | Black

Lode/Load: June 21, 2009

Free at last. Two weeks to the move. Listening to a lot of Guided by Voices.


EP's:

Cult Ritual | Tour EP | Life's a Rape | Black
Ganglians | Monster Head Room | Weird Forest | Translucent Red
OK? | Everything is Going to Be | Life's a Rape | Black
Tallest Man on Earth | S/T | Mexican Summer | Black
Total Abuse | Demo 06 | Even Worse | Black
Video Disease | Make Me Pure | Cowabunga | White

78's:

Liechtenstein | Survival Strategies in a Modern World | Fraction/Slumberland | Translucent Yellow

LP's:

Animals & Men | S/T | Convulsive | Black
ANS | The Pool | Cowabunga | Translucent Gold | Repress, /100
Ganglians | Monster Head Room | Weird Forest | Translucent Red
Kano Y Los Bulldogs | S/T | Popp | Black
Lightning Bolt | Hypermagic Mountain | Load | Black 2xLP
Loser Life | Friends With a Demon | Life's a Rape | Translucent Red
Love is All | 5 Covers | What's Your Rupture? | Black
Punch in the Face | At War With Everybody | Lengua Armada | Black
Ringers | Hurry Up and Wait | 1-2-3-4 Go! | Clear | 9/150
Shook Ones | The Unquotable A.M.H | Paper + Plastick | Black
Sonic Youth | The Eternal | Matador | Black 2xLP
Tallest Man on Earth | Shallow Grave | Mexican Summer | Black
Tape | Luminarium | Immune | Black
White, Josh | Chain Gang Songs | Elektra | Black

Lode/Load: June 7, 2009

Fell down on the job for the past few weeks. Such is life. This place is to blame. See you there soon.


EP's:

Blank Dogs | Waiting b/w Splitting | In the Red | Black
Cave Weddings | Bring Your Love b/w Let's Drive | Hozac | Translucent Gold | /200
Davila 666 | Primero Muerta b/w Sabes Que Quiero | Hozac | Translucent Gold | /200
Failures | S/T | Painkiller | Black | Test Press, #36/100
Francis Harold and the Holograms | Mirror of Fear b/w Retreat | Hozac | Translucent Gold | /200
Human Mess | Anger Problems | Desensitized | Translucent Red
Nation of Hate | Demo 1983 | Big Heavy World/Breakaway | Black
Tamaryn | S/T | Hell Yes! | Black
Vivian Girls | Moped Girls b/w Death | For Us | Light Blue
Waits, Tom | Live | Anti- | Black
Pink Reason/Electric Bunnies | Split | Die Stasi | Black
Woven Bones/Jacuzzi Boys | Split | Needless | Black

LP's:

A Broken Consort | Box of Birch | Tompkins Square | Black
Bricolage | S/T | Slumberland | Black
Coke Bust | Lines in the Sand | Six Weeks | Black | Record Release Version, 53/120
Cold Cave | Love Comes Close | What’s Your Rupture | Black | /300
Cult Ritual | S/T | Youth Attack! | Pink
Danger Mouse | The Grey Album | S/R | Black 2xLP
Dead at 24 | Blast Off Motherfucker! | Ride the Snake | Black
Dentist | S/T | Memoire Neuve | Black
Destino Final | Atrapados | La Vida Es Un Mus | Black
Ducktails | S/T | Not Not Fun | Black
Eat Skull | Sick to Death | Siltbreeze | Black
Eat Skull | Wild and Inside | Siltbreeze | Black
Emeralds | Allegory of Allergies | Weird Forest | Black 2xLP
Francis Harold and the Holograms | Who Said These Were Happy Times | Going Underground/Square Wave | Translucent Red
Future Dads | 24 Winship | Rave Up | Black
Gown | The Old Line | Divorce | Black
Hecker, Tim | Harmony in Ultraviolet | Kranky | Black 2xLP
Little Girls | Thrills | Mexican Summer | Black
Mirrors | Something That Would Never Do | Violet Times | Black
Mt. Egypt | III | Secret Seven | Black | 76/100
Ofege | Try and Love | Academy | Black
Passion Pit | Manners | Frenchkiss | Black
Russell, Arthur | Is It All Over My Face | Sleeping Bag | Black
Smith Westerns | S/T | Hozac | Translucent Gold | /200
This Will Destroy You & Lymbyc Systym | Field Studies | Magic Bullet | Clear
Toms | S/T | Black Sheep | Black
Shotmaker/Maximillian Colby | Split | Nervous Wreck Kids | Black
V/A | Rocky Mountain Low | Hyperpycnal | Black 2xLP

This actually hurts to read...

Not to be outdone by Brian Williams, CNN stoops to a new low and delivers a fluffy-serious interview with signs-of-the-end-times hypeballs Chester French. Now, there's a lot of reasons to dislike, most rational, some largely irrational. There's the hokey image, the dilletantism, and the excruciatingly painful music. And yet, they're here to show that "If you have whack taste and you work hard, your shit will suck, unavoidably probably" doesn't hold any water when you've got the less-talented half of the Neptunes giving you a piggy back ride.

I don't want to seem bitter, though. I'll let the self-clowning stand for itself:

CNN: What has been the most surprising aspect of the music business so far?

Wallach: I think the biggest surprise has been that people don't really know a hundred percent what they're doing. Everyone is trying to figure out how the music business is going to look in 10 years.

And as a new artist there's not a blueprint. I figured you'd get signed and you're instantly on billboards. And the reality of it is that we find ourselves in a situation where all we can focus on is building our audience one person at a time. And it's just a brick-and-mortar, nose-to-the-grindstone process.

Acumen, insight, and a whole lot of black cookware.

CNN: Why do you think there's been all this interest from hip-hop producers?

Drummey: We're the hottest rappers out.

Wallach: I'm from Milwaukee, he's from Boston. They're both very diverse cities and we grew up with friends and all different kinds of music around us. So the records we make are inspired by a lot of different places.

Failed that joke like he failed at wedlock. At least we've got Milwaukee-Boston corridor o' eclecticism keepin' it real.

CNN: How does it feel to be called the next big thing?

D.A. Wallach: You know what, we actually haven't been called that in those words too often. But if we did, that would be very flattering.

Well, we can at least agree on that.

Lode/Load: May 10, 2009

Happy Mother's Day, y'all.

LP's:

Bird, Andrew | Armchair Apocrypha | Fat Possum | Black
Bird, Andrew | Noble Beast | Fat Possum | Black
Eleanoora Rosenholm | Ala Kyay Kuolleilta, He Sanoivat | Fonal | Black
Eleanoora Rosenholm | Vainajan Muotokuva | Fonal | Black
Ganglians | S/T | Woodsist | Black
Harvey Milk | Life...The Best Game in Town | Hydra Head | White and Purple Haze 2xLP
Joy Division | Closer | Factory | Black
Joy Division | Unknown Pleasures | Factory | Black
Papercuts | You Can Have What You Want | Gnomonsong | Translucent Blue
Psychedelic Horseshit | Golden Oldies | Wasted Vinyl | Black
Psychedelic Horseshit | Shitgaze Anthems | Woodsist | Black
Salvation | Of Unforgiving Wind | Youth Attack! | White | Mail Order Edition, /100
St. Vincent | Actor | 4AD | Black
Tyvek | S/T | Siltbreeze | Black
Vaselines | Enter the Vaselines | Sub Pop | Black 3xLP
Vee Dee | Public Mental Health System | Criminal IQ | Black 2xLP

Lode/Load: May 3, 2009

EP's:

Fresh & Onlys | Imaginary Friends EP | Chuffed | Black
V/A | World's Lousy With Ideas Vol. 7 | Almost Ready | Black

78's:

Mount Eerie | Pts. 6 & 7 | P.W. Elverum & Sun | Picture Disc & Book

LP's:

Audacity | Power Drowning | Burger | White
Canadian Rifle | Visibility Zero | Residue/Squirrel Heart | Trash Vinyl
Crocodiles | Summer of Hate | Fat Possum | Black
Eluvium | Life Through Bombardment | Temporary Residence Ltd. | Black 7xLP | Limited Edition Boxset, No. 694
Flight of the Conchords | S/T | Sub Pop | Black
Fresh & Onlys | S/T | Castle Face | Black
Japandroids | Post-Nothing | Unfamiliar | Black
Jawbreaker | Dear You | Blackball | Black 2xLP
Mountain Goats & John Vanderslice | Moon Colony Bloodbath | Cadmean Dawn | Black
Nadler, Marissa | Ballads of Living and Dying | Mexican Summer | Black | 257/1000
Nadler, Marissa | Little Hells | Kemado | Black
Vile, Kurt | God is Saying This to You | Mexican Summer | Black | 79/500
V/A | World's Lousy With Ideas Vol. 8 | Almost Ready | Black

A lesson in perspective, or, "Dance of Days" reconsidered

This is not okay because major corporations shouldn't be cashing in on the fame and notoriety of underground icons.


This is okay because a man who fought The Man through suburban hardcore music warfare is cashing in on his own fame and notoriety as an underground icon.

This is okay because an original band member and Dischord worker is selling it. From his personal punk archive. "Good luck finding another copy in such pristine condition." Thanks, Jeff Nelson!

Does the first press Minor Threat EP come with a "Pay no more than" stamp? I'm just wondering if the tragic irony of cashing in on the supposedly not-for-sale is as blatantly obvious as it seems.

Bonus points for the nonchalant doublespeak to remind everyone just who the seller was. Punk profiteering while riding the nostalgia wave produced a nice boost to the ol' self-esteem. Not to mention a significant overage on what that record normally fetches.

I guess this is growing up, right?