Vinyl Re-Up: November

San Francisco's Amoeba Music location is a wonderful place. You can go in committed to spending no money and leave spending over $200 on vinyls, posters, DVD's, clothing, or anything in between. That might not sound like a great thing, but the fact that I'm willing to go into debt for these albums tells you how great they are. This recent trip really felt like a record shopping best-case scenario. I had a bunch of albums in the front of my mind that I was able to find right away, along with one I couldn't believe I found. If you haven't heard any of these albums, let me tell you why you really should.

Against All Logic: 2012-2017

The back cover of 2012-2017 reads as follows: "IF YOU DON'T KNOW JACK ABOUT HOUSE, THEN YOU'LL LOVE THIS!" That's probably why I love this album so much: because I don't know jack about house music outside of Daft Punk and LCD Soundsystem (who aren't really even house music after all). That being said, learning about electronic music like those aforementioned artists just made me want to learn what else is out there, and I would consider this album one of the brightest gems I discovered when trying to expand my knowledge of electronica. This album is driving, beautifully layered, and just purely infectious. It effortlessly blends house, trip-hop, techno, and psychedelic music into a crisp electronic cocktail that can hardly be categorized. The man behind the alias Against All Logic is Nicholas Jaar. He's known for his more experimental solo albums under his own name as well as for being a member of the electronic duo DARKSIDE. If you haven't heard any of his other work and are looking for a good starting place, 2012-2017 is perfect. You'd have to be a psychopath to not enjoy this album. Who knows, you just might hear a snippet of track two this week during our Electronic Week!

MGMT: Little Dark Age

Let's go!! That's what my best friend Skyler would say right now if MGMT started playing in front of him. Anyways, chances are you've probably heard a lot of these songs on KSFS when there isn't anyone on air. There's one that goes "You wanna keep us alive, you wanna feel alive." Or the one with the mightiest of chants, "GO FUCK YOURSELF." It seems like these songs are playing every week on the station's autoplay computer when I get in. That along with the band dropping an amazing new song last week ("Mother Nature", check it out!!!) has made me fall deep into an MGMT hole that I'm unable to climb out of. A band that has been misjudged ever since their inception, MGMT is a band whose sound isn't easy to pinpoint when listening past their three breakthrough hits from 2008. This album, however, could be described as a blissful modern tribute to 80's new wave music drowning in the band's signature psychedelic textures. To put it simply, it's synth-pop magic. While the songwriting on this album could be considered simpler than the mind-bending pop music found on the the band's previous two albums, it still manages to constantly ride the line between accessible and unpredictable. They are truly a force to be reckoned with, and I would consider this album the absolute best starting point to get into the duo.

Blur: Modern Life is Rubbish

I can't believe we're here right now doing this. I have been record shopping for years and years and years, and I've more or less given up on looking for Blur records. They're never there. They have a live album I've seen around quite a bit, but never have I found a studio album of theirs out in the wild. I almost didn't even look today. But alas, I was in the realm of the B's and they are one of my favorite bands in the B realm, so I peeped it. And bam. There it was. Not only a studio album, but their breakthrough masterpiece record. Not only a studio album, but the album of theirs I have listened to most this year. LET'S GOOOO!!! This album sees Blur discovering their hallmark sound for the first time as their previous album was more of a shoegaze/dream-pop album. What they made on Modern Life is Rubbish helped define an entire musical movement in 90's England. That being said, no one ever did it the same way Blur did. This album crafted pop anthems and punk tributes in the same breaths while describing life in a way that resonated to the common people of England more than anything ever had before. It set the stage for everything the band would do in the future and remains one of the band's most defining works. Definitely check it out!

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard: The Silver Chord (Extended Version)

There isn't much I can say about King Gizzard that would accurately depict their talent. They're the most prolific band making music right now, with 25 albums released since 2012. And for having so many albums, it's really surprising how few of them are bad. Their 25th record, released around two weeks ago, is no exception. The album could be considered two albums. One is a condensed version consisting of radio-edit versions of the songs, while the other one consists of what I consider the real versions of the songs. That's the version I got. The extended mix of The Silver Chord sees the Gizz in a lane that they haven't spent much time in before. Back in 2021 the band released Butterfly 3000, an album that included more prominent synthesizers than any of the band's other albums at the time. As much as I enjoyed that record, I never considered the album to be much of an electronic record outside of it having a few synth leads. The Silver Chord finally checks that box. This album has breakbeats, vocoders, rap verses, and thick electronic basslines. And the extended mixes are all at least 10 minutes long and have musical and lyrical ties to their previous progressive metal album from earlier this year. In true Gizz fashion, it's over the top in all of the best ways. I would urge everyone to ignore the standard edition of this album and swiftly move to the extended versions. I know it's a lot longer, but I promise it's worth it.