2012 Record Store Day - NYC Events & Goodies!

 Saturday April 21st is Record Store Day for 2012, and that means plenty of live events at your local music shops as well as special vinyl releases. This year's RSD offerings include Bruce Springsteen "Rocky Ground," Iggy & the Stooges live at All Tomorrow's Parties, the David Bowie "Starman" picture disc, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals' "Live from the Legendary Sun Studios" CD & LP, and the Joey Ramone "Rock and Roll is the Answer" seven-inch.

And of course there's the much talked-about "Feistodon," a split seven-inch that features Feist covering a tune by metal band Mastodon on one side, and Mastodon covering Feist on the other. (Listen to Feist's Mastodon cover, "Black Tongue," here at Soundcloud.)

See the full Record Store Day release listing as a downloadable PDF or as a webpage.

Get ready for special vinyl releases galore at Record Store Day.

ScoutMob in New York lists its top five ways to celebrate Record Store Day in NYC. Among its choices (see websites for times, etc.):

• Generation Records in Greenwich Village has live music by The Paul Collins Beat (of The Nerves), Supertouch, and Joyce Manor (pop punk), as well as DJ sets by WFMU's Tom Scharpling and Three Chord Monte.
• Mates of State plays at Soundfix in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (7:30 p.m.)
• The Men perform at Other Music, where you'll also find Four Tet doing a DJ set

One of ScoutMob's choices deserves special attention, and that's J&R, NYC's huge (but still family owned) music/electronics complex. See the Record Store Day releases you'll find at J&R, and check out their live performances for Saturday, including:

• 12 Noon: Everest
• 1 p.m.: French musician Yann Tiersen
• 2 p.m.: Mike Doughty

J&R says it will have hundreds of RSD titles (some available for pre-order), including ...
Also, J&R will have a listening party for Jack White's new album "Blunderbuss"at 11 a.m.

Over in Jersey, Princeton Record Exchange will feature a performance by They Might Be Giants (in front of the town's public library) from 6 to 6:45 p.m., with record signing back at the store from around 7 to 8.

Also, see Paste Magazine's "21 Albums You Should Buy on Record Store Day" and its article "101 Musicians Discuss their Favorite Record Stores." And NPR Music weighs in with its "13 Reasons to Visit Your Local Record Store," surveying releases including the Iggy/Stooges offering, a Deerhoof/Of Montreal split seven-inch, and the T. Rex "Electric Warrior" seven-inch box set.

What are you doing for Record Store Day? Where will you be, and what special releases are you looking forward to picking up?

Free Album Streaming: New Music from Kathleen Edwards, Cate Le Bon, Howler, Laura Gibson, & More

New CDs from singer-songwriters Kathleen Edwards, Cate Le Bon, and Laura Gibson are most notable of the relatively small crop of albums available for streaming this week. Edwards burst on the scene a few years back with her song "Six O'Clock News," and the Canadian has gotten some solid critical and commercial success with her debut album "Failer" and subsequent efforts. You can hear her latest album "Voyageur" (produced by Edwards and Bon Iver's Justin Vernon) at NPR Music below.


"Change the Sheets" by Kathleen Edwards from "Voyageur," streaming free at NPR Music. 


Welsh singer Cate Le Bon has a new album, "CYRK," coming out on next week, which coincides nicely with her first headlining tour beginning early in February (she plays at the Mercury Lounge on Feb. 9th and at Maxwell’s in Hoboken the next night.) You can hear"CYRK" at the at the Paste Magazine preview below.

The Minneapolis band Howler has been racking up critical acclaim despite its youth (in the age of its members, and in its existence as a group). On the heels of EP earlier this year, it's out with a full-length, "America Give Up," that's full of short, catchy power pop tunes.

Singer-songwriter Laura Gibson hails from the Portland, Oregon area and has appeared with other well-regarded performers from that area, including Colin Meloy of The Decemberists and Laura Veirs. Her latest album, "La Grande," is also streaming at NPR Music, and the title song is today's free song download from Minnesota Public Radio's The Current (download the song "La Grande" here).

There's a modest number of other albums for free preview, most from artists I haven't heard of, but I'll check out some of them. Based on a quick first listen I enjoyed the self-titled album from Grand & Noble and "Normal" by Run Dan Run.

NPR First Listen:
"Voyageur" by Kathleen Edwards
"La Grande" by Laura Gibson
"America Give Up" by Howler

Paste Magazine Album Stream:
"CYRK" by Cate Le Bon

Spinner.com's Listening Party:
"Dark Matters" by Expensive Looks
"Normal" by Run Dan Run
"Grand & Noble" by Grand & Noble
"Passenger" by Kalyn Rock

AOL Music Listening Party:
"From the Vanishing Point" by Red Wanting Blue
"Peace of Mind" by Rebelution
"Garden Window" by O'Brother

Best (or Favorite) Music of 2011: A Roundup of the Critics' Picks

What was the best music to come out in 2011? Such lists are all over the Internet and print media this time of year, so I thought I'd present a look at some of the opinions from some major music critics and journalists, as well as music fans who I follow. (Note: I've never really done a list of top 10 or so best or favorite songs/albums/artists of the year, because it's always been too hard to narrow them down to such a small number, and to quantify what makes one album or band with a certain sound "better" than another with a different sound or approach.)


PJ Harvey's "The Last Living Rose," from "Let England Shake."

Here are links to some opinions of the best (or favorite) music of 2011, many of which include streaming songs from the artists:

• Paste's 50 best albums of 2011 (#1: "Bon Iver" by Bon Iver) 
• The Sound Opinions top picks of 2011, with separate lists from hosts Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis. (Kot's #1 album: Wild Flag's self-titled debut album; DeRogatis had "Sin Sin Sin" by Le Butcherettes in the top spot)
• NME's 50 best albums of the year (link is to top 10; #1: "Let England Shake: by PJ Harvey)
• Pitchfork's top 50 albums (link is to top 10; #1: "Bon Iver" by Bon Iver)
• NPR Music's top 50 albums (list presented in alphabetical order, for some reason. They also have an equally baffling version, two letters of the alphabet at a time, with audio clips)
• WFUV's best of 2011, staff picks and listener picks (listeners' #1 album: "The King is Dead" by The Decemberists)
• Ken Tucker (of Entertainment Weekly and NPR's "Fresh Air") top 9 albums (#1: "Hot Sauce Committee, Part Two" by the Beastie Boys)
• The No Depression community's 50 favorite albums (Americana/roots music) (#1: "The Harrow and the Harvest" by Gillian Welch) 
• Fellow music blogger Ben at I Have 19 Voices: his best songs, albums, and gigs of 2011 (#1 album: "Go Tell Fire to the Mountain" by WU LYF)
• List by music blogger Will of We All Want Someone to Shout For, with 31 best albums of the year (#1: "The Year of Hibernation" by Youth Lagoon)

Besides hearing songs from many of the artists at some of the links above, the hosts of Sound Opinion have put up their annual mixtape podcast, which features some of their favorite new songs from 2011. The podcast has excerpts of the songs, but you can stream full versions from the shownotes page.

As usual, I love poring over these year-end lists not because I care about the scorekeeping of who made it onto the most lists, but because they're valuable for discovering new albums and artists that I may have overlooked.

OK, those are the opinions of some music critics, fans, and bloggers. What are your favorites?

South by Southwest 2011 (SXSW): Free Music for Download and Streaming

The music part of the South by Southwest festival gets underway in Austin, Texas tomorrow, but you can enjoy a lot of the music in the comfort of your home with free podcasts and online streaming. Here are some of the choices available. The SXSW Music festival runs from March 15th through the 20th.

* The official 2011 SXSW Music website has links to free iTunes downloads and the SXSW Shoutcast radio stations. You can also subscribe to the SXW Music Blog feed and get updates by connecting to SXSW on Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace.

* As usual, there's a huge collection of songs by SXSW artists to download via torrent (this year's is over 6.5 GB). (From what I've been told this download is legal, though I can't find any statement explicitly stating that.)

* NPR Music will once again be offering extensive SXSW coverage, including live concert webcasts (mostly audio, but there may be some video) that are usually archived for streaming or podcast download later. See their SXSW Music site for the Austin 100 Mix, a streaming collection of new songs by artists playing the festival, and see their SXSW preview (streaming or podcast) for the artists the NPR Music staff is most looking forward to.

* L.A. radio station KCRW will have a big presence in Austin as well, and you can find their schedule, a free SXSW sampler, and more at their SXSW site. "Morning Becomes Eclectic" host Jason Bentley will be broadcasting the show live from Austin, too.

* Amazon.com has a selection of free SXSW music samplers, including Bloodshot Records and Saddle Creek Records.

* Pitchfork has a link to a compilation Bandcamp has done of  "467 SXSW artists that host their music on the site, complete with a huge grid of images assigned to said bands, a streaming player, and a counter telling you the amount of music you still have yet to listen to." I haven't checked that out yet, but it sounds very promising.

* Due to its location, it's not usual that SXSW has a decent selection of Latin music. As a fan of Latin rock and pop music, I was glad to see that the Remezlca Music website has a free 10-song SXSW Latin music sampler that you can stream or download. Artists include Mexican Institute of Sound and David Garza.

* Paste has an article covering "20 SXSW Bands You Might Not Know (But Should)," with links to free MP3 downloads for each one.

* Also check out Spinner.com's SXSW free song sampler and AOL Music's SXSW website.

There are plenty of ways to enjoy SXSW with free podcasts, webcasts, and downloads—no need to catch a plane and deal with lines, crowds, heat, or spilled beer!

The Campaign to Save Paste Magazine Gets Musician Support; Give Yours and Get Great Music

Paste Magazine has for years been a favorite source of new music and stories about the people who make it. But now Paste is facing hard times because of the economic downturn, and some top musicians are offering their tunes in order to help keep the magazine afloat.

More than 100 artists have agreed to contribute rare tunes to people who donate to the campaign to save Paste, including The Decemberists, Neko Case, She & Him, Cowboy Junkies, the Jayhawks, The Hives, Matthew Sweet, The Avett Brothers, Joe Henry, John Roderick of The Long Winters, Over the Rhine, Bob Mould, and many more. (If additional songs are added, contributors will get those, too.)

Paste is an every-other-month printed magazine that comes with a CD sampler (though many subscribers now get the sampler tunes via digital download).

Paste says that its current financial problems are caused by a drop in advertisers, and they expect it to be just a short-term problem. "We just need a little cash infusion to make up for running at a loss for a while" they write. "We’re excited about finally getting to a sustainable level that puts us in a great position when the economy comes back—whenever that is."

You can get all the answers at the Save Paste FAQ.

You can also follow news from Paste at its Twitter page, www.twitter.com/pastemagazine.