.record haul / bucket list finds practically

What I have purchased and acquired in the month of May is not normal. It's like my own version of Rex Manning Day only with vinyl. I think what sparked this was a rare find of a friend, then that sparked the interest of another friend, then that friend rubbing off on me. Basically it let me to discogs purchasing shit tons of albums along with going crazy in the Vinyl Me Please Membership Store. The apocalypse is coming? Maybe! What treasure troves did I find / order? Well....

From the Vinyl Me Please Membership Store I purchased Nick Cave's "The Boatman's Call." This is my first Nick Cave album AND it came in a smoky red and black color. Figured it would be a collector's item down the line, picked it up. Next is Sylvan Esso's latest album in cherry red, "What Next." One word: fire! Such a fantastic array of songs. Next is Beach House "Teen Dream" which I've wanted to own for a while and the first album of their's I discovered. It's depressing but so is life sometimes ;P To round out my Gorillaz collection "Plastic Beach" and the new one "Humanz." Haven't listened to it yet, next on my list. Slowdive, a favorite of my best friend. The album is silver and very beautiful to listen to. Last but not least Julien Baker's "Funeral Pyre" 7" because anything by Julien is golden.

On Ebay someone was selling a copy of Liz Phair's "Juvenilia" where I nearly screamed. Plus they are two 7" lps! Interesting. No clue this even existed. Bonus? The seller lives in my state so shipping was super fast!

Now for Discogs! Lots of European sellers for some of these. Otherwise I would NEVER find any of these in the US. First off was Ex Hex's 7" "Hot Cold." I tried in the past for that on Ebay but the seller wanted too much money for it. Next I completed my Le Tigre collection with their self-titled, Feminist Sweepstakes, and This Island ALL on vinyl! Not only that, I nabbed a copy of Kathleen's Viva Knieval 7" where only 1,000 copies are made! My copy is 527. Wow! Rounding out the rest of my purchases I found Mary Timony's "Mountains" and holla!!! PJ Harvey's "Uh Huh Her" from someone in Greece. If only "Is This Desire" or "Dry" were more reasonably priced :(

Lastly I pre-ordered the Helium bundle pack in late March which came in the mail this month. It comes with all of Helium's albums and a special edition album of demos and live tracks. Plus you get a Helium tote as a bonus. Mary Timony rules!

So I'll be holding off on major vinyl purchases for a while as you can see. Most of this was birthday money and some good deals. 

.julien baker

I bought my tickets for this concert towards the very end of January. It ended up being a sold out show. The thing that made me nervous was the timing of it all (especially on a week day); hauling ass from work to the train station, heading into Penn Station and connecting to the A and finally the J to the Bowery! What a crazy adventure that was! Arriving at the venue maybe an hour before the doors opened was a smart move. About 20th in line I did nab a spot towards the left side of the stage. I must say this show was an excellent line-up of bands / artists. Petal and Phoebe Bridgers, fan of both now. Before Julien Baker came out there was a massive pedal board placed in front of her mic. I mean it was quadruple the size of what I've normally seen. To navigate through all of that?@! Of course the waterworks happened listening to her play the first song. She ended with "Something" before her encore but the song that really knocked it out of the park was "Vessels." There was something so beautiful about how she plucked away at those chords, something in my heart reverberated to feeling joy and beauty intertwined. Her first encore "Good News" had Sharon Van Etten join her on stage. Julien also covered an Elliot Smith song.

After the show I hung out for a little bit. At the merch table all of her vinyl sold out for the past 2 weeks so a CD had to suffice. I ended up going back to the merch table to pick up another copy. Bob Boilen's book talk was a few days later and I was hoping to meet Carrie Brownstein. Wouldn't it be awesome to give her a copy of Julien's cd? I know she would LOVE her music. A few minutes later Julien came out. She was very tiny in person but seemed grander on stage. I wanted to see if she wouldn't mind signing my cd. I politely waited for her to finish conversations and hugs with friends / fans. My turn came and she graciously accepted. I told her to come to Philly and she said she was there earlier in the year. To this I replied "Damn it! I missed it!" and she told me she'd be back. "I played at Boot and Saddle. I LOOOOOVE Philly! Philly is awesome!" That made my night. On the subway home I watched my video footage as tears almost streamed down my eyes. People probably thought a) I was going through an existential crisis or b) had a very bad day. Actually it's c) "Nooooo....I'm just listening to Julien Baker's music punch me in the heart right now." Here's her set list....

BLACKTOP
SPRAINED ANKLE
VESSELS
EVERYBODY DOES
REJOICE
BALLAD OF BIG NOTHING
FUNERAL PYRE
BRITTLE BONED
SOMETHING

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GOOD NEWS
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