Best of 2011 by Calvin Johnson

Here are some recordings I listened to over and over again in 2011:

Sewn Leather CS (Friends and Relations Records)
Erin McKinney Earthling CS (Killer Plum)
Psychic Feline “Blood Dolphin” 45 (High Fives and Handshakes)
Lindsay Schief Islinds: Many Minis 2011 CS
Watch It Sparkle 7” EP (Like a Shooting Star)
Love Cuts 7” EP (Nominal Records)
Man the Hunter “Less for You”  45 (Ginko Records)
Mom Greatest Shits CS (Burger)
Hysterics 7” EP (M’Lady Records)
Brave Irene 12” EP (Slumberland)
Flexions Golden Fjord LP (Cairo)
Secret Twin Ill Fit LP
Shana Cleveland & the Sandcastles Oh Man, Cover the Ground CS
Son Skull Birth Scene/Rewind 12” EP (Perennial)
Mansion Music CS (Radical Clatter)
Old Night CS (Ginko)
Margy Pepper CS
The Maxines Queer Mods 7” EP (La-Ti-Da)
The Whines 7” EP (Just for the Hell of It Records)
Katie & the Lichen Kiss and Run CD (Greenbelt Collective)
Stickers 7” EP
Mount Eerie Dawn LP (P.W. Elverum & Sun)
Black Lips Arabia Mountain LP (Vice)
KMVP Sweatbands Understand CS
Point Juncture WA Handsome Orders LP (Mt. Fuji)
Swimsuit Swimsuit LP (Speakertree)

K Zip Pack: The Hive Dwellers

K Records is doing a cool subscription-only MP3 series called the K Singles Zip Pack. Check it out:

The K Singles Zip-Pak is a series of downloadables available exclusively by subscription. The songs are drawn from our upcoming hardcopy releases like the International Pop Underground series of 7” records, the Dub Narcotic Disco Plate singles and the regular album releases and show up in your in-box as MP3s. A year’s subscription to the K Singles Zip-Pak means hundreds of new favorite songs, six or more weeks ahead of their regularly scheduled street date. It’s a noisy pop rockin’ overdose: no post-rock, no Dad-rock, just endless screaming, crying and carrying on compressed into bite-sized chunks of three minute pop songs. Passionate music for passionate people, the K Singles Zip-Pak features the latest in K MP3 delectability, new songs by Chain & the Gang, LAKE, Karl Blau, the Hive Dwellers, Strange Boys, Jeremy Jay, and so many more. Subscribers hear the songs weeks before the rest of the civilized world has gotten an inkling of what the future has in store because the K Singles Zip-Pak is the future, in a neat pak-ette.

I like the idea a lot but keep forgetting to write about it. You get a link to click on, download your songs and then drag it into yr music playing program. It's easy to kind of forget about it until one of the songs randomly plays and you are like, "hey wait, what the heck is this?"...call me old fashioned, but I'm still in the mindset where a record is a tangible object you hold in your hand.

This week I got a few MP3's by Calvin Johnson's latest act, The Hive Dwellers. I was listening to the song Lazy Mondays and thinking, hey what does this remind me of? I was like oh yeah, The Go Team song Three Ways to Sunday and then I remembered that in the late 80's The Go Team tried to have a monthly subscription series of 7" releases and how stressful it was to get all the records out on time and in the mail. I think the MP3 world makes this idea a more doable project. It just took the world 21 years to catch up to Calvin's idea! He is a visionary after all!

I wonder if this kind of thing will catch on. It's a good idea and cool to see independent record labels getting creative, thinking of new sustainable ways to distribute music that actually benefit the artist.

Best of 2008 by Calvin Johnson

Dear Tobi,

Here is a list of recordings from 2008 that are special.

Calvin

Nucular Aminals Nucular Aminals CS (Ick Ick)

Flexions "ExBoss" 45 (Forever Yours)

Jeffrey Lewis 12 Crass Songs LP (Rough Trade)

Vermillion Sands "Mary" 45 (Rijapov)

Ten Little Indians Ten Little Indians CS (Ick Ick)

Octagon Control Wang Copter 7" EP (Krazy Kieth)

Cap Pas Cap Not Not Is Fine 12" EP (Skinny Wolves)


Broken Strings Broken Strings LP (True Panther Sounds)

Wild Billy Childish and the Musicians of the British Empire "Thatcher's Children" 45 (Damaged Goods)

Mount Eerie with Julie Doiron and Fred Squire Lost Wisdom LP (P.W. Elverum & Sun)

The Vibrarians Get Out of Town! Cs (Ick Ick)


Lazer Crystal 12"

Quintron Too Thirsty 4 Love LP (Rhinestone)

Love Is All A Hundred Things Keep Me Up All Night LP (What's Your Rupture?)

Hooray for Humans "Already Sleeping" 45

Valet Naked Acid LP (Marriage)

Tyvek "Sidewalk" 45 (M'Lady)