Speakertree Records

New Releases:
Frightened Rabbit - The Winter of Mixed Drinks (Fat Cat)  - LP and CD
Broken Bells - Broken Bells (Columbia) - LP and CD (Danger Mouse and James Mercer of the Shins)
Jimi Hendrix - Valleys of Neptune (Experience Hendrix) - CD   (LP soon)
Johnny Cash - American VI: Aint no Grave - LP
Liars - Sisterworld (Mute) - CD
Titus Andronicus - The Monitor (XL) - LP
JJ - JJ No. 3  (Secretly Canadian) - LP and CD
Besnard Lakes - Are the Roaring Night (Jagjaguwar) - LP
The Morning Benders - Big Echo (Rough Trade) - LP
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Beat the Devils Tattoo (Vagrant) - CD
 
CD restocks:
Blackroc - Blackroc
Bon Iver - For Emma Forever Ago
Bright Eyes - Letting Off Happiness
(MF) Doom - Unexpected Guest
Explosions in the Sky - All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone
Flaming Lips - Embryonic
Frightened Rabbit - Midnight Organ Fight
Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
Notorious Big - Ready to Die (”The greatest rapper of all time died on March 9th”)
Parliament - Funkentelechy
Surfer Blood - Astro Coast
Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise
 
LP restocks:
Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
Beatles - Abbey Road
Books - Lost and Safe
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
Bright Eyes - Lifted or the Story is in the Soil..
Johnny Cash - American VI: Aint No Grave
Dirty Projectors - Rise Above
Explosions in the Sky - Earth is not a Cold Dead Place
Explosions in the Sky - All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone
Gigi - Maintenant
Rilo Kiley - Execution of All Things
Jens Lekman - Night Falls over Kortedala
Sufjan Stevens - Michigan
Surfer Blood - Astro Coast

New Releases:

Jack Rose - Luck in the Valley (Thrill Jockey) - LP and CD
Johnny Cash - American VI: Ain’t No Grave (American) - CD  (LP soon!)
Album Leaf - Chorus of Storytellers (Sub Pop) - LP and CD
Ruby Suns - Fight Softly (Sub Pop) - LP and CD
Golden Triangle - Double Jointer (Hardly Art) - LP
While Hills - White Hills (Thrill Jockey) - LP 

CDs:
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion 
Beach House - Teen Dream 
The Band - The Band
Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
Herbie Hancock - Headhunters
MF Doom - Operation Doomsday
Midlake - Courage of Others
Ramones - Ramones
Dave Rawlings Machine - A Friend of a Friend
Refused - Shape of Punk to Come
Shellac - Excellent Italian Greyhound
Suicide - First Album

LPs:
Cecil Barfield - South Georgia Blues (on Mississsippi Records!)
Beach House - Teen Dream
Bright Eyes - I’m Wide Awake it’s Morning
Fever Ray - Fever Ray
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Iron & Wine - Around the Well
Iron & Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days
Iron & Wine - Shepard’s Dog
Local Natives - Gorilla Manor
Ra Ra Riot - Rhumb Line
Replacements - Pleased to Meet Me

You really need to hear the song “Summer Holiday” by Blacksburg-based Wild Nothing.  Jack Tatum is the solo man behind this Cocteau Twins inspired dream pop song that is easily one of the best tracks I have heard in months.  It is available on 7″ from captured tracks and while Speakertree has gotten 6 of these in stock, all have sold within moments.  Word is that a Wild Nothing LP is scheduled for release in a month or so (also on captured tracks)…(and well, Jack has expressed some interest  in playing at speakertree…we are just waiting for the proper time/star alignment!).

The wonderful people at Sub Pop just sent over an advance copy of Happy Birthday the new project of Kyle Thomas (King Tuff) with Ruth Garbus and Chris Weisman and man is it awesome!  Borderline cheesy over the top pop that is also totally legit bedroom weirdo-psych pop…and catchy as hell.  My closest comparison would be the juvenile and amazing “Magic Kids” or a grimier version of “of Monteal” with less vanity and more harmony.  Coming mid-march on Sub Pop!

New Releases:
 Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me  - 3 CD & 3 LP   (wow/ambitious/wonderful)
Hot Chip - One Life Stand - CD
Local Natives - Gorilla Manor - CD (LP on its way soon)
Shout Out Louds - Work - LP
Thee Oh Sees - The Master’s Bedroom is Worth Spending a Night In - LP
The Watson Twins - Talking to You, Talking to Me - CD
the Art Museums - Rough Frame - LP
Moon Duo - Escape - LP
Gil Scott-Heron - I’m new Here - LP
Ben Sollee & Daniel Martin Moore - Dear Companion - CD
White Fence - s/t  (on Make-A-Mess)
Wild Nothing - Summer Holiday 7″  (this song is incredible!) 

CDs:  
David Byrne & Brian Eno - Everything that Happens Will Happen Today
Charlotte Gainsbourg - IRM
Girls - Album
Japandroids - Post-Nothing
King Crimson - In the Court of Crimson King (deluxe)
King Khan & the BBQ Show - What’s for Dinner
Public Enemy - It takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
Quasi - American Gong
Jay Reatard - Matador Singles 08
Woods - Songs of Shame
Wrens - Meadowlands 
The XX - xx
Vampire Weekend - Contra
Laura Veirs - July Flame 

LPs:
Beach House - s/t (their first one is finally back on LP!)
Beatles - Abbey Road
Beirut - Gulag Orkestar
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
F*cked Up - Couple Tracks
Ganglians - Monster Head Room  (its back,,,what color is the vinyl??)
Hunx and his Punx - Gay Singles
Kurt Vile - Constant Hitmaker
The Mountain Goats - The Life of the World to Come
Of Montreal - Sunlandic Twins
Radiohead - OK Computer
Raekwon - Only Built for Cuban Linx 2
Rev. Louis Overstreet - s/t  (live funky gospel recording on Mississippi records!)
Elliot Smith - XO
Spoon - Transferrence
Unicorns - Who Will Cut our Hair When We’re Gone
The XX - xx
Vampire Weekend - Contra
Neil Young - After the Gold Rush

Speakertree is SUPER psyched to announce the arrival of our first released album “Turning On” by Cloud Nothings.  The LPs are here in the shop - and come with a free download card.  

I was fortunate enough to catch a cloud nothings set in Cleveland when I went to pick up the records and it was fantastic (as well as the performance by opener swindlella).  I will hopefully post some video from the show and for those VA-area people you can catch cloud nothings in our area April 1st in Charlottesville (w/ Invisible Hand and Drunk Tigers) and/or April 2nd in Harrisonburg at Macrock! (with a bunch of awesome bands - including Best Coast!!)

Big props to Amazement Square for hosting “The Big Read Lynchburg” and encouraging everyone in our town to get into a good book by providing FREE copies of the Maltese Falcon at various spots around town.  Speakertree is host to some of these books and if you have not read it yet you MUST.  It is a highly enjoyable detective novel filled with mystery, lust, a  super-awesome-detective, and violence.

And to commemorate the big read Amazement Square is hosting a party/celebration at Rivermont Pizza this Thursday, Feb. 18th and I will be DJing so would love to see you there!  The theme is a 1920s speakeasy and you need a passcode to get in (…it’s “falcon”).

the first BIG release day for 2010 !!  here is what speakertree got in (as always please get in touch if there is something you are looking for…thanks):

NEW RELEASES

Beach House - Teen Dream - CD and LP  (both come with bonus DVD of music videos)
Animal Collective - Campfire Songs (reissue) CD
Four Tet - There is Love in You - CD  (LP coming soon)
Fucked Up - Couple Tracks - LP (with bonus 7″)
Charlotte Gainsbourg - Irm - CD
Los Campesinos - Romance is Boring - CD
Magnetic Fields - Realism - CD  (LP coming soon)

other restock - CDs:
Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
Big Star - #1 Record/Radio City
Fleet Foxes - s/t
Iron & Wine - Around the Well 
Pavement - Slanted & Enchanted
Postal Service - Give Up
Raveonettes - In and Out of Control
Jay Reatard - Matador Singles 08
Sigur Ros - Med sud i eyrum
Spoon - Transference
They Might Be Giants - Apollo 18
Ugly Casanova - Sharpen Your Teeth
Vampire Weekend - Contra
Laura Veirs - July Flame 

LPs:
Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
Discovery - LP
Fleet Foxes - s/t
Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights 
Iron & Wine - Around the Well
Iron & Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days
Neon Indian - Psychic Chasms
No Age - Nouns
Postal Service - Give Up
Jay Reatard - Matador Singles 08
St. Vincent - Actor
Vampire Weekend - Contra
Wilco - A Ghost is Born
Wilco - Summerteeth

I posted a few days ago about the new Lynchburg-based record label Harding Street Assembly Lab (HSAL) and I recently reviewed each single for our local paper.  (They are also available for sale at speakertree!)

HSAL 01 Herizon / Virgineola split 7”

The first single from Harding Street Assembly lab introduces two Lynchburg-based musical projects that cohabitate the flip sides of a record very nicely together.  The A-side gives us Herizon, the acoustic home recordings of singer/songwriter Tim Condon. The attractive and mysterious collage artwork for the record is also made by Condon.

 Herizon’s “Home Again” is a stripped and somber number carried by gently plucked acoustic guitar and the slow cresting waves of Condon’s mellow voice.  A flowing-water field recording and his wife Kim’s excelling backing vocals provide the final layers to a track that is beautiful yet delicate and hauntingly nostalgic. Condon’s voice is a breeze as he sings “I’ll share this life with you / will you bear it with me too?”

 The second Herizon track, “All Gone” keeps a similar tiptoe pace and tucks Condon’s voice tucked further behind a muffled void.  These recordings are powerful in that they just barely restrain what seems to be unbridled emotion, communicating both the tragedy and awe of life in a way that is as cathartic as tears.

 Next up is the almighty B-side, showcasing the mostly instrumental Virgineola, a several-musician project helmed by drummer/songwriter Nathan McGlothlin.  While their live show can provoke fiercer folk-rock comparisons to Neil Young’s Crazy Horse, Virgineola recordings hold more subtle textures and nuanced emotion.

 “Lorraine,” an acapella number, is the ideal opening track with a build that is perfectly forewarning.  The squeaky vocal whistles temper the pace while layered scats and chants bring out the fullness of vocal possibilities. “Boyd’s Ferry” is a Virgineola live-show staple based around a heartbeat-like guitar riff that gradually unfolds into a larger organic trance.  The keyboards and hand drums fade in effortlessly until the entire song reaches full steam and abruptly closes.  Such is the nature of 7” records – just wonderful enough of a glimpse into an artist’s repertoire to make your mouth water.

HSAL 02 The Late Virginia Summers 7”

Harding Street Assembly Lab’s second release boasts two instrumental tracks from local post-rock duo The Late Virginia Summers (TLVS).  “Pebble Azalea Starfish” is one of the best TLVS songs I have heard to date.  Joe Morgan delivers a trusty, emotional guitar riff that acts as the backbone for a continually building song.  Morgan adds layers of highly affected ambient guitar bursts as Nathan McGlothlin’s drums creep more and more prominently into the mix.  The hearty drum fills mix perfectly with Morgan’s highest pitched moments, providing the emotive peaks of the song.

 “Golden Cypress” is a slower, hazier affair.  Drums meander along with a deep keyboard bass-line and textured guitars shimmer adrift.  The guitar washes are masterful and hypnotizing.  Before you realize it, you are awake.  And you gently lift the record needle just enough to play the song again. 

Got the new Spoon album “Transference” in today on LP and CD

as well as a few other goodies from Merge:

Arcade Fire - Funeral  LP
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible  LP
Neutral Milk Hotel - Aeroplane Over the Sea - LP
She & Him - Volume One - LP
M. Ward - Hold Time - LP & CD
Magnetic Fields - Charm of the Highway Strip - CD