Best Christmas Present Ever!

Posted on February 13, 2013 by waxramble

It’s been months since posting over here, but I thought I’d write something up for an amazing present I got recently from someone very special to me. Back in November it was announced that Donuts would be re-released as a 7 inch box set and at the time I wasn’t really sure what to think about it. I’ve listened to the album a billion times and it’s probably one of my favorites albums ever made, but I was ready to sleep on it since I already have the original 2LP and was just going to buy the updated cover version of it. I also figured I’d be able to grab it pretty easily when it was released last month if I wanted to…

I am so happy that I have someone that was thinking with way more sense than I have (she’s never wrong!). I got a really cool Christmas card and inside she let me know what was on the way. I was very excited about this as even before receiving it I would put it right up there in top three presents I have ever received (and the first time I have ever gotten wax as a gift!). It arrived in the mail a few weeks ago and it’s incredible. It’s now sold out everywhere and on eBay for $100+, so I’m especially fortunate I have someone looking out for me!

As you can see in the photos above, the package they put together is really great. Better than that though, it sounds amazing. Jeff Jank mentioned over on STMB that this set sounds a little better than the LP version and after listening to the whole thing a few times I think I’d have to agree. It might also help that I’m using my new turntable setup which includes a nice Pro-Ject Debut Carbon + awesome Audio-Technica ATH-M50s (I will show this off eventually…). This is easily the best Donuts has ever sounded to me and this release just reinforces how truly important and amazing it was when it first came out. It definitely deserves every 10 it receives.

Thank you again Brooke! Every time I hear this album now I will think of you 🙂

Here’s a cool video they made using all the records from the set by the way:

Happy Dilla Month!

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Albums of the Year – 2012

Posted on December 30, 2012 by waxramble

albums of the year 2012

These are my favorite albums from 2012 (2013 list will be more detailed!):

      1. Flying Lotus – Until the Quiet Comes

 

      2. Kendrick Lamar – good kid, m.A.A.d city

 

      3. Gangrene (Oh No + The Alchemist) – Vodka & Ayahuasca

 

      4. Oddisee – People Hear What They See

 

      5. Tame Impala – Lonerism

 

      6. Captain Murphy – Duality

 

      7. DOOM & Jneiro Jarel – JJDOOM

 

      8. Karriem Riggins – Alone Together

 

      9. Crystal Castles – III

 

    10. Apollo Brown & OC – Trophies
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Hiatus

Posted on November 24, 2012 by waxramble

cat headphones

It has been quite some time since I’ve posted anything over here, so I thought it would be nice to give a little update for any folks who are wondering what is going on. Between work, life, and other various things I’ve just been far too busy to focus on any of my writings here. I started this blog when I was looking for work as a means of keeping myself busy during the incredibly boring and depressing job hunt (which I’m sure many folks can relate to these days). This site helped me a lot during these times. I hope that some day I will be able to find some time to continue writing here as it has always been enjoyable. I may still post about things occasionally but the level of regularity will be far less in comparison to when I first started the site. I’ve been procrastinating about doing this post as I was hoping I might be able to start writing more again, but I figure I might as well just give it up for the time being anyway.

So with that said I suppose I should thank any of you who have visited my site. I’ve written what I think are a lot of cool posts that share some great music and I promise these will always be available to anyone that happens to come across this site somehow. You can always feel free to contact me at waxramble AT gmail.com or shoot me a message on Twitter @waxramble if you’d like to. I’m hoping that this will not be taken as my last post ever, but more of just my Jay-Z retirement for now. I’m looking forward to the time when I am able to work on this site more actively once more.

Thank you for reading!

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Until The Quiet Comes (Video)

Posted on September 30, 2012 by waxramble

It’s been a little while since I’ve posted some actual music over here! Been busy listening to all these records I’m buying and with Turntable.fm which I’ve been frequenting a lot these days. Here’s a video that came out earlier this month with some selections from Flying Lotus’ new album Until the Quiet Comes. The full album can be streamed over on NPR right now. The record is incredible, I imagine after listening to this one a little more it will be my pick of the year (which up to this point had been Gangrene’s new album). This one is still on the Cosmogramma end, which is a bit more electronic and layered in comparison to Flylo’s earlier work and I am actually glad about this. I really enjoyed Cosmogramma and I think I would say this new album will even surpass it. This is something I am definitely going to get on wax, think I will go for the deluxe one that will be coming out. Even if I hadn’t listened to the whole thing on NPR, I think the 20-30 seconds from the first song of this video (which is from the ending of a track featuring Erykah Badu) would have sold me. Just listen to it, simply incredible.

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Another visit to Easy Street!

Posted on September 29, 2012 by waxramble

easy street 3

Well I was checking out that sale over at Jive Time today, so I figured I might as well drop by Easy Street while I was in the area. Was very happy to see them carrying the new Brother Ali, wanted to pick this up on last Tuesday but didn’t see it there. Picked up Flying Lotus’ Los Angeles (great album!) and Peanut Butter Wolf’s PB Breaks which I wouldn’t have ever known about if it wasn’t for that cool Jsand mix I posted about a little while back. Spent enough money on those that I filled out my LP Club punch card for a free record which was sweet, decided to get RJD2’s Deadringer with it. I even got a few extra stamps after mentioning how I didn’t know about the LP Club until after my first trip there which was very nice (and if you are reading this and want proof, see my post about this trip!). Will have to try coming here less frequently, otherwise I’m going to spend too much money. All of these records I picked up today are going to sound great on my new turntable that will be coming in the mail early next week… Can’t wait!

(By the way, I think I’ve decided I like the Queen Anne store a little more. Their hip hop selection is a bit better and the parking is much easier!)

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Jive Time Records 11th Anniversary!

Posted on September 29, 2012 by waxramble

jive time anniversary

Went over to Jive Time Records in Seattle today to check out their 11th anniversary sale. Found some great stuff as you can see in the photo above. Everything was 25% off today and I guess I spent enough money to get a free t-shirt too which was cool. All of this for under $30 was a great deal I think. Peter Gunn for $1 was sweet, one of my favorite songs from Blues Brothers. They have a great selection of used records, would highly recommend checking them out if you are ever digging in Seattle!

PS: They even had an OP copy of Lootpack’s Soundpieces: Da Antidote (the 3LP!) for under $15 in great shape. Almost picked it up since it was such a nice deal, but I figured I would let someone else grab it. You can thank me for putting it in front of all the other records in the hip hop section! Someone better pick it up now.

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Easy Street – West Seattle

Posted on September 26, 2012 by waxramble

easy street visit 2

Payday today! To celebrate the new gear I bought online tonight (some great stuff coming next week!), I decided to go look for the West Seattle Easy Street. It’s been quite some time since I’ve been around the West Seattle area, fortunately I was able to find the shop this time around. Got there around 6-7pm and the shop was pretty much empty. This location has vinyl upstairs, so I had that whole area to myself which was kinda nice. As I wrote a few weeks ago, I came in here tonight thinking the hip hop selection would be a little bigger. To my surprise, I think I would say that the Queen Anne shop had more! It’s disappointing to see the lack of hip hop in these shops, but maybe it is for the best. With the limited selection I was still able to burn through $140 quick. Can’t imagine how bad it would be if they had everything I wanted!

Still found some great stuff in the shop tonight. Picked up the last two Pixies albums I needed to complete my collection. They also had the Welcome 2 Detroit instrumentals which I was very happy about. Almost bought it online the other night, was pleasantly surprised to see a copy while shopping tonight. The RJD2 and Modest Mouse pickups are albums I played the crap out of back in the day, it’s nice to finally have them on wax. The A-Trak 12″ I mainly bought because of the cool colored vinyl but the tracks are also pretty good. Didn’t see that Danny Brown was on it, would have been enough right there to convince me to grab it.

easy street lp club card

After paying for my records tonight I was given a little stamp card that is part of their “LP Club”. I really like this, gives me incentive to come back again! I only wish I had gotten credit when I went to the Queen Anne store a few weeks ago, I would have a free LP by now! Edit: Mentioned this when I picked up some records today, got a few bonus stamps! Appreciate it a lot, very cool of them to do that.

Overall I’m happy with my shopping experience at Easy Street. I appreciate the fact that they are not constantly bothering you, asking if you need help like at some other bigger stores. They just let you dig around and find what you are looking for. My only wish is that they would stock up on some more hip hop, though I suppose there isn’t a huge demand here in the Seattle area which is too bad. Completely understand why the pickings are slim. Like I said in my last post about Easy Street, I would recommend these shops to people looking for new vinyl. Just realize they stock far more Rock/Pop than anything else.

Edit: I completely forgot to mention that I could not find a copy of Brother Ali’s new album tonight!!! This was very disappointing, thought they would be carrying it here of all places considering Seattle native Jake One produced the entire album. Guess they might not have distribution with Rhymesayers or something, was too bad though since I really wanted to pick it up. Will have to buy this one online I guess. They had it at the Queen Anne store tonight, picked it up!

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New iPad!

Posted on September 23, 2012 by waxramble

new ipad

Was walking around Fred Meyer yesterday and noticed they were having a pretty big sale on iPads ($50 off the 16GB!). Ditched my old iPad 2 last night on Craigslist and finally made the upgrade. The Retina Display looks excellent, really makes a difference in many apps and videos. Also noticed that Apple has changed the way iTunes Match works now which I’m a fan of. Before iOS 6 you would have to download all the songs to your device to listen, but now it allows for streaming of any music like Amazon/Google allow on their cloud music services. Overall I’m pretty happy about the upgrade, it’s a bit nicer than my old one.

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Record Junky

Posted on September 20, 2012 by waxramble

harvey pekar robert crumb

Cool panel from a Robert Crumb illustrated American Splendor comic. Saw this on Jive Times’ Facebook earlier tonight, Harvey Pekar sums up what it’s like collecting records perfectly. Was looking into Pekar’s collection online and ran into the video below which is great little story about how far he’d go for records he wanted:

Robert Crumb who was a buddy of Pekar’s also has quite an impressive collection that could be seen in the documentary Crumb (which I would highly recommend viewing!). Below is a good discussion with Crumb about his collecting more recently:

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Jet Set Radio HD

Posted on September 19, 2012 by waxramble

This has finally hit Steam! Bought it immediately when I got home, happy to say that Sega did a fantastic job on making this HD. Looks great on my computer and it sounds even better! They have 99% of the original soundtrack which is really important for the Jet Set games. Definitely recommend picking it up if you remember enjoying this back in the day on Dreamcast! Now if Sega would only do an HD remake of Jet Set Radio Future…. I would be in heaven (JSRF is one of my favorite games of all time and has the best soundtrack of any game I have ever played). Hopefully this does well enough for Sega to think about that in the future.

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