New Vinyl Mondays

  \28.5.18\  A theme that you may begin to pick up on is a lot of bands start with one main member creating some music, generally messing around, and accidentally making something good. With a history extending all the way back to 1997, when people still talked to each other in person, Ben Gibbard recorded a demo on cassette. This would go on to inspire him to form the band in a more official sense, acquiring lead guitarist Chris Walla, Bassist Nick Harmar, and Nathan Good on drums. As bands usually go, Chris Walla and Nathan Good eventually went their separate ways. Twenty years and seven albums later, Death Cab for Cutie is ready for a slice of the limelight again. Before leaving the group, Walla helped record their eighth studio album.  Kintsugi is an art and a philosophy. In Japanese culture, Kintsugi is the art of fixing broken pottery, as well as the philosophy that mending something back together is part of the object’s story and not something to be covered up. Gib...

  \21.5.18\ This is the second band this month to come back for a follow up on NVM, and I am absolutely not ashamed. The one man rack band turned seven piece garage rock group Car Seat Headrest hits 2018 hard with some “new” tunes. This is technically the first album recorded with the full band, as only parts of the band were recorded for Teens of Denial. And a correction to my review of Teens of Denial: Will did record the album Teens of Style after signing to Matador Records but did not record with his band, they came later. Now to address the quotations earlier. While Will spent time as a solo musician, recording out of his car onto a laptop microphone, he produced an album that came to define his Bandcamp years (spoiler alert, it was this one). Now, with a full band and studio experience, he has decided to return to what he has considered an unfinished project. Going into production, Andrew Katz (the band’s drummer), contributed a little while Will went back to his old recordin...

  \14.5.18\      With an album like Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, I was beckoned to their next, more successful, studio album. I covered most of the bands history up until their last album, but the two years between releases were not so uneventful as you might imagine. After the band let go of Jay Bennett, Jeff Tweedy began to occupy the lead guitar position more. Thus, really helped to evolve their sound on this record and future ones. In the time before YHF was released, Tweedy set up to help Scott McCaughey of The Minus 5 record an album. The recording was meant to happen on September 11th, 2001; however, due to the attacks in New York, the two were reluctant. Later in the day, they finally got to recording, wanting to "create good in the world" said McCaughey.      Tweedy wanted to distinguish themselves from jam bands and have a unique sound. On this album, the group also took advantage of audio mixing software, Pro Tools, to compose the music before reco...

  \7.5.18\ With a safe but boundary-pushing rhythm and harmony, Sir Sly doesn’t surprise anyone when they say they hail from Los Angeles. Lead singer Landon Jacobs, accompanying artists Jason Suwito (a.k.a. Raeko) and Hayden Coplen, make up this group of boundless talent. Much as other bands like Car Seat Headrest, Sir Sly has proven how dangerous they are with their talents. From the get go they established their ability to top charts and make a crowd-pleasing pop hit. “Gold” was released in 2013 and found a chord in popular media being featured in numerous commercials as well as landing 27 on US Alt. charts. Being the band’s first EP, most would agree this was an impressive first impression. The next year the group dropped the first of two albums loaded to the brim with rhythms that infect your brain for weeks. You Haunt Me was released in 2014 on Interscope Records, finding some very comfortable spots on top 100 lists. Following Don’t You Worry, Honey, Sir Sly went off on severa...