Heavy Rotation - Week of Jan. 13th

In our new weekly series, I will write about the five records I have been spinning regularly over the last week. There is not an expiration date. The records included can be from any time period at all. All entries are eligible to appear for multiple weeks. In fact, repetition is likely due to the fact that while I listen to a fair amount of music, it's not as much as I'd like to make time for. Also, as some of you may know, we have a vinyl only policy around our house, so as expected, all entries on the list are being listened to via turntable.

Ladies and germs, I give week one of Heavy Rotation . . .

Real Estate | Days
Domino Records | 2011

A little gem of a jangly pop record from this New Jersey outfit. The songs are compact, catchy as hell and damned fun to listen to. The band also seem to have developed a pretty great sense of humor as evidenced by their new video for the forthcoming single for the album lead-off track, Easy.

If you like The Shins, The Fruit Bats or The Byrds, this is probably for you.



Real Estate - It's Real by DominoRecordCo

Youth Lagoon | The Year Of Hibernation
Fat Possum Records | 2011

I just recently posted a review of this terrific debut from 22 year old Boise, Idaho native Trevor Powers. Yet, even after listening to the album multiple times for the review I was still happy to slap it on the deck again the following day. A record that gets more interesting with each successive listen.





Youth Lagoon - Bobby by overmuziek

David Bowie | Low
RCA | 1977

My favorite record of the David Bowie/Brian Eno collaboration. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this LP is its ability to simultaneously be of its time and still somehow timeless. There is a warmth about the recordings that feel like an old blankey you could just crawl right inside. But leave it to Eno and Bowie to also make it seem incredibly pioneering and just plain awesome. It remains one of the very best records of the 1970s. If Blade Runner were a David Bowie record, it would be this one.

Les Paul and Mary Ford | Hits Of Les And Mary
Capitol Records | 1960

What is not to love? There are great songs like The World Is Waiting For A Sunrise, I'm A Fool To Care and How High The Moon. Les Paul (you know the guy that invented the prototypical rock guitar, multi-tracking and about a thousand other awesome musical things you take for granted) is a staggeringly beautiful player. His style isn't just unique or impressive, it's amazing, in that you are amazed by it. You hear it and stop in your tracks even when you've heard the record a dozen times. Mary Ford's vocals are just sweetly heartbreaking. If you think that standards aren't for you, drop the needle on this and listen to yourself start to feel stupid.

Grandaddy | Sumday
V2 Records | 2003

Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, the vinyl reissue of Grandaddy's Sumday arrived in my mailbox. Since then, it has been subject to myriad revolutions on the turntable. I have always had a soft spot for this album, but the vinyl reissue was done in all the right ways, and throwing it on the turntable now brings on the sense of sitting down for a beer with an old friend. Jason Lytle's hummable melodies, junkyard production techniques and anachronistic narratives weave together in an album that begs repeated listens.