As I was in Seattle this past weekend, I made a late-afternoon trip out to Easy Street Records for Record Store Day. Besides taking in most of a fine set from The Moondoggies, I also picked up the following:
Television: Adventure (Elektra/Rhino)
Monks: The Early Years 1964-1965 (Light In the Attic)
Janelle Monáe: Metropolis: The Chase Suite (Bad Boy/Wondaland)
Mulatu Astake/The Heliocentrics: Inspiration Information 3 (Stones Throw)
The Moondoggies: s/t EP (Hardly Art)
Further thoughts on some or all of these are likely to make an appearance here. I will also say that my purchase of The Chase Suite was as a direct result of a Daphne Brooks paper, heard earlier in the day, on the subject of Ms. Monáe. Also shown during said paper was this clip, which falls into the category of “things I absolutely regret having missed”:
Tobes, you gotta gotta gotta watch the video (sorry, short film) for “Many Moons” – lemme see if I can find it right quick. Aha! This is why I fell in love with Ms. Monae after hearing Daphne Brooks mention her last year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHgbzNHVg0c
That’s both an impressive song and an impressive video/short film, I’d say.
(Also, I find the ability of the drummer in her band to repeatedly spin the drumsticks while maintaining the beat to be very, very cool.)