Saturday, June 30, 2007

Summer of Love party - this Friday!

Above: Bublé is psyched.

This Friday, folks. July 6th. That's when you had better get yourselves here, as we have quite an event. Starting around 7pm on Friday night, in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love, we'll have free beer (for those of age, natch), a sale on select Rhino (the evening's sponsor...thanks, Rhino!) and psych-esque titles and a special in-store performance from a local Yardbirds tribute band. These guys call themselves The Back Yardbirds, and let us tell you, they're fantastic. Here's what Warren had to say about the group after seeing them at a recent gig:

"They're all excellent musicians. Just excellent. People were dancing their asses off. The guitar player is unreal. Everything about them is just straight on. If you didn't know the Yardbirds and this was your first exposure to their music, you'd think the Back Yardbirds wrote these songs. They're that good."

Phew. Sounds fun, right? We can't wait. So that's the scoop, then. This Friday, July 6th, free beer, a special sale and a fantastic in-store performance. We'll even offer extra savings to folks who decide to dress as if we were currently living during the original Summer of Love. Do your best, and we'll happily reward your efforts. See you then!

Labels: , , , ,

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Get out of the house, wouldya?

Normally in the intro to our semi-regular show calendar, we say something about the weather being warm and there being good shows to see nonetheless. We were going to try and avoid that this time, but then, while pointing it out, we said it again. Sigh. At any rate, it's true, and here are just a few of the worthy gigs coming in the next week or so. Naturally, you can click on any of the venue links below for more. Enjoy:

June 29 - Sovus Radio/Colour Revolt/Morning State @ The EARL
June 30 - The Selmanaires/Dark Meat @ Drunken Unicorn
June 30 - Tinsley Ellis @ Variety
July 4 - The Coathangers @ Lenny's
July 6 - The Back Yardbirds @ Decatur CD with a sale and FREE BEER*
July 7 - Deerhunter/Fiery Furnaces @ The EARL
July 7 - Robinella @ Eddie's Attic
July 7 - Kelly Willis @ Smith's

*Details to come, unless you're on our e-mail list, and then you already know.

Labels: ,

Monday, June 25, 2007

New release Tuesday - 6/26/07

Three guesses what shaggy-haired, overly-prolific, sometimes-rock-sometimes-country singer-songwriter drops his new album tomorrow. All right, so maybe we gave it away with that big ol' album cover image above. And for what it's worth, we think it's pretty good. But much like LeVar Burton taught us, you don't have to take our word for it. Plenty of other folks are also loving Easy Tiger.

However, the former denizen of Whiskeytown is far from the only worthy artist putting out some new material tomorrow. In fact, it's actually a fairly big Tuesday. Have a look at this list; we think you'll be inclined to agree:

Ryan Adams
Beastie Boys
Kelly Clarkson
Carolina Chocolate Drops
Nick Lowe
Pharoahe Monch
Metric
Nels Cline Singers
Paul Simon (best of)
Bad Brains
Kelly Willis
Pearl Jam (box set)
Frank Black (best of)
Marc Broussard
The Click Five
Jerry Lee Lewis (live)
Lisa Germano
Tinsley Ellis
Sinead O'Connor

Let us know if you're looking for anything, and we'll see you soon...

Labels: ,

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Young Eliot's Bonnaroo recap

Bonnaroo has a lot in common with the sixties: Hippies run the show and if you were there you probably don’t remember. With The Police headlining and a cozy jazz club on the fairground, the whole festival seems like a bizarre time warp. Young artists like indie songstress Feist and rapper El-P, however, entrench Bonnaroo just as firmly in the present. In 2007, as dreadlocked hippies and mohawked Tool fans stood side by unwashed side, Bonnaroo featured a strikingly diverse line-up.

After Decatur’s own Ryan Shaw kicked the festival off, the opening night was dominated by solid sets from modern rock bands like post-rockin’ Mutemath, indie icons The National, and the droning, psychedelic Black Angels, who blew more than a few minds with their sunset show. The buzz of the evening, however, centered on Rodrigo y Gabriela. This young acoustic guitar duo from Mexico wowed the crowd by playing slide guitar with a bottle of Jack Daniels and generally showing more skill with the instrument than anyone this side of John Fahey. It all added up to easily Bonnaroo’s best opening night in its six year history.

Friday saw the youth movement bucked early on as James Blood Ulmer got the hippies up and moving with his blues-infused jazz, while Ravi Coltrane recalled both of his parents with a fiery, chaotic set. Make no mistake, though: Ravi made it clear that he is a fine musician in his own right. The festivities then turned back to the modern—Tortoise was propulsive (and quite good), the Black Keys were grimy (and quite good), Aesop Rock was sharp (and quite good) and Tool was bombastic (and quite, um, bombastic). The day belonged, however, to one of the old guard, legendary guitarist Richard Thompson and his band. Mixing songs from Sweet Warrior with some classics, Thompson turned in a picture-perfect set full of wit, passion, and, of course, absolutely killer guitar solos. Thompson’s supremely powerful stage presence will be one the enduring memories of Bonnaroo 2007 for many, myself included.

Saturday was easily the festival’s weakest day. Though headliners The Police impressed (Sting provided the festival’s definitive moment as he ripped his shirt off), the rest of the day largely treaded water at best. The Flaming Lips, for example, may have amazed with their visual gimmickry, but the Lips fell utterly flat musically and lost further momentum as frontman Wayne Coyne descended into long, preachy diatribes between songs. Their massive audience would have been much better served in the jazz tent with Scott Amendola and Nels Cline. The day’s saving grace, however, was The Hold Steady. The Minnesotan rockers won the crowd immediately with their rollicking, catchy tunes and kept their energy on overdrive throughout. Craig Finn and Co. ended their American tour in style and had more than a few hippies putting out their joints and hoisting beers.

Atypical of previous years, Sunday may well have been Bonnaroo’s finest day. Mavis Staples and Charlie Louvin got things going, setting a standard for the day’s classic acts that would be continued by fine saxophonist David Murray. Even with he jazz-heads abuzz about the day’s impending performance from the legendary Ornette Coleman, Murray’s eruptive set managed to capture everyone’s ears. After a predictably intense and awesome set from Wilco, the aforementioned Coleman took the stage. Following fifty minutes of amazingly chaotic, complex and beautiful playing on trumpet, violin, and, of course, his white plastic alto, the jazz legend collapsed due to the extreme heat. It was a sobering reminder that he always gives absolutely everything he has. After ascertaining that Coleman was okay, I joined the tens of thousands watching the White Stripes, but as good as Jack and Meg were, my mind remained on Coleman’s set, which was easily the most pure form of human expression I have ever experienced.

When it was all done, the festival ground was littered with beer bottles, cigarette butts, and all kinds of trash. The sixties destroyed themselves with excess and, with more and more partiers, every year, Bonnaroo threatens to do the same. If you cut through all that crap, however, there’s tons of great music—just like the sixties.

Labels: ,

Friday, June 22, 2007

Feist @ Variety Playhouse on 6/15/07?

In the last Decatur CD Newsletter, we asked y'all what you thought about Feist's recent show at the Variety. Warren attended, and thought it was pretty great, if a little poppy. In fact, we've hardly heard an ill word about the gig. That is, until one of our subscribers replied to the newsletter and let fly on the former Broken Social Scene member. Here is their rant, unedited:

"Feist was an utter bore at the Variety Playhouse. GRIZZLY BEAR was great and I can't wait to see them again in Chicago at the Pitchfork fest. Here's what it seemed to me how Feist prepared for the show: She went to the last Cat Power show at the Variety and went home blown away, wanting to be like her. She then went to the salon and got her hair did like Chan. She then practiced being funny on stage in between songs (failed miserably). She thought, if Cat Power can get a crowd to do things at my command (like have everyone sit down on the floor - Earl a few years ago) maybe I can too. She can't. And her stage antics were not at all funny. And the band was weak. And the disco ball was beamed with square light instead of a narrow beam and it looked bad. One song was going well and was building up then all of a sudden...nothing. It ended prematurely before sounding like it was actually going to be a good song. Then the crowd went crazy. NONE of us (me + 3 friends) got it. I'd rather see her sing with BSS again - in the background of good songs.

Grizzly Bear: $15 and worth it!"

As usual, we'd like to open this up to everyone. Is this concert-goer insane, or was Feist really not that impressive? We're curious, and would love to hear your argument or agreement in the comments below...

PS - Eliot is still working on his Bonnaroo post, but it will be up tomorrow. Look forward to it!

Labels: , , ,

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Get your hate on.

Normally we don't encourage negativity in others, but we almost always enjoy listening to musical opinions, be they in favor of or against any particular artist or album. After all, if we don't talk about this thing that we all obsess over so frequently, then what good is all the obsessing? Recently, The Tripwire pointed us toward an article in The Guardian which featured several musical figures (Wayne Coyne of Flaming Lips and Peter Hook of New Order/Joy Division, to name just a couple) sounding off on classic albums that they really, really don't like.

"Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" the story begins. "It's meant to be a classic album, but all you can hear is a load of boring tripe." Check out the rest of the article:

Sgt Pepper must die!

While we're at it, since this is a pretty interesting poll topic, please feel free to list a "classic" album you think is overrated in the comments below. Thanks!

Labels: , , , , , ,

Monday, June 18, 2007

New release Tuesday - 6/19/07


Anyone go play in the dust in Manchester, Tenn. this weekend? Our very own Eliot did, and with a little gentle encouragement, perhaps we can convince him to say a few words on it later in the week. Of course, you'll read those right here if he agrees, so stay tuned. In the meantime, check out all the awesome Bonnaroo shots (three days' worth so far) on Paste's new photo blog, and don't forget to stop by tomorrow for new releases from all the following artists:

White Stripes
The Polyphonic Spree
Van Morrison (best of)
Art Brut
Mandy Moore
Von Sudenfed
Nouvelle Vague
The Aliens (featuring members of the now-defunct Beta Band)
The Hackensaw Boys
Bumps (Tortoise side project)
Burning Brides
Chromeo
Digitalism
Fridge
Jaylib (reissue)
Jennifer Gentle
Rocky Votolato
The Mooney Suzuki
Straylight Run
Brad Paisley
Tomahawk
Two Gallants (EP)
David Vandervelde
Lightning Dust
The Long Blondes
Matt Pond PA
Sir Richard Bishop
Maserati
...and more!

You know the drill. Hit us up if you need something or don't see something listed. Thanks, and see you soon!

Labels: , ,

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Got Decatur CD newsletter?

Take a look over there on the right hand side of this here website you're visiting. See that box that reads "Sign Up For Our Email Newsletter"? Well, we'd like you to do just that if you're not already on our list. See, the Decatur CD Newsletter is the best way to find out about sales, in-store performances and other special goodies we reserve for our best customers. And the thing is, we almost NEVER send more than one a week (sometimes we don't even send them that often), so it's not like we're going to clog up your inbox. Sign up today, and reap the benefits!

Also, some of you who have signed up in the past have fallen through the cracks due to past e-mail problems, handwriting we couldn't read and the like, so if you haven't gotten a newsletter from us in the last couple weeks, you're not on the list. Sign up again! As always, we're just looking for more ways to be your favorite music store. Thanks for reading...

Labels: , ,

Monday, June 11, 2007

New release Tuesday - 6/12/07

What a leak! No, we're not talking about the new album from Rollercoaster Mondo* or some such other "next big thing" of indie rock that made its way onto file-sharing servers across the globe. Rather, we're speaking of the actual, physical, dripping-water-onto-the-counters leak that just sprung in our ceiling moments ago. You should have seen Eliot and Austin scurrying about trying to find trash cans and paper towels to catch all the drops. It was a hoot! Luckily, our music-loving heroes won out in the end. Nevertheless, sounds like it's time for a call to the landlord.

Oh, and you know what else? Tomorrow is Tuesday, which means it's time to get your fix at ye olde Decatur CD. Stop by and check out fresh discs from all of the below artists and more:

Traveling Wilburys (reissue)
Sonic Youth (reissue)
Queens of the Stone Age
Toby Keith
Mark Olson
v/a (Atlantic Records: House that Ahmet Built)
Sarah Borges
Paula Cole
John Doe
Joan as Police Woman
moe.
My Morning Jacket (reissue)
Bitter Bitter Weeks
Peter Case
Danzig (lost tracks)
Dynamites ft. Charles Walker
Fabolous
v/a (Instant Karma: Darfur)

See you tomorrow!


* not a real band

Labels: , ,

Monday, June 04, 2007

New release Tuesday - 6/5/07

Another week, another set of new releases, another tired turn of phrase, etc., so on and so forth, other various whatnot, ahem, ahem, yes indeedy. Uhh, huh? Our apologies, but we're a little out of it. What's that they say about having a case of the Mondays? At any rate, in the above shot (courtesy of our big, blue, Easternmost wall), you can see one of tomorrow's primary releases, a tribute to the most iconic Ella Fitzgerald. Below the following list (which includes a number of other goodies), you can see another new edition to our wall which will be coming out on June 19th. For now, though, here are tomorrow's artists:

Ella Fitzgerald (v/a tribute)
Shellac
Porter Wagoner
Sun Ra (reissue)
Paul McCartney
A Band of Bees
The Clash (singles)
Chris Cornell
King Curtis
Bruce Springsteen (live)
Moterrey Pop Festival (v/a compilation)
Marilyn Manson
Get Him Eat Him
Frank Foster
Tord Gustaven
Jesus Lizard (live DVD)
Lynyrd Skynyrd (live)
David Bowie (reissue and best of)
Eccentric Soul (v/a - Big Mack label)
Ladybug Transistor
Pelican
George Benson
Richie Furay
Hector Zazou
The Rubinoos
Roy Wood
Pissed Jeans
Sister Hazel (compilation)
Cowboy Troy
Afghan Whigs (compilation)
Pretenders (expanded reissue)
O.A.R. (live)
Jonathan Butler
Bonde do Role
Junior Boys (deluxe)
Cinematic Orchestra
Sean Na Na
Dappled Cities
...and several others! Just ask below, as usual. And now, your reward for reading this far (or at least scrolling past all of the above words impatiently without reading a single one - sheesh, just relax!), another photo. Enjoy:

Labels: , ,