Cyclical thoughts on music

This post started with a comment I wrote on Facebook yesterday. That was itself born out of a question somebody asked me the day before and, therefore, put me in mind of something that I had half-remembered a few months ago. In some ways it has to do with the forthcoming Record Store Day 2014 (19 April) [RSD] too:

I've just been exploring the dark (often only metaphorically but sometimes also musically), dusty depths of my music collection. I have found plenty of dead woodlice and even more albums that I had forgotten that I owned. This is good - the albums that is, not so much the moribund crustaceans.
To tell the truth a few of the albums would have better remained forgotten in the sense that ignorance (or merely forgetfulness) is bliss and I shall not dwell on them. Libraries should not work on that principle. 
Some of the LPs I was truly glad to discover again; 'Songs About People I Know', Stricken City's 2009 début album, was just one. The small dead spider stuck to the playing face of the CD was easily removed. It really shouldn't have gone there anyway. It did make me wonder, when listening to the CD after its removal, what has happened since the band split in 2010...
That is also how new things are found.

Whilst I am thinking about the direction this theme is heading, be aware that the direction of music was never very predictable when observed in retrospect. With RSD fast approaching, consider this article - 1o UK independent record shops to visit before you die. Of course I was going to mention this; one of the ten, Raves From The Grave, has its original store in my home town of Frome. It has more recently opened stores in Warminster and Bath too.
To be quite honest I got bogged down with this post for a couple of days but, just now that problem evaporated when I remembered about this. It also reminded me about just why the small stages at festivals, as well as support bands in general, are always at the top of my list of things to see. This is Oklahoma City based band Horse Thief playing End of The Road Festival 2012; Cameron Neal on guitar and vocals.

The début album, Fear In Bliss, is released today by Bella Union and Horse Thief is booked to play at End of The Road Festival 2014.
   

It is, of course, available on vinyl.

Even in these digital days...

Once upon a time every town had a record store and they were there for browsing, talking and a source of unbiased (well mostly) advice. They of course reaped their reward by tempting you to buy things!

In these days of digital downloads, Myspace and and the like you might think that they are no more. It is true that they are now rare but they still exist and, along with the ongoing popularity of live music and vinyl, are determined to fight for a place amongst the new order. In fact they are now more valuable than ever and a resource to be cherished. Those that exist remain places where enthusiasm, shared by the staff, exceeds all else - and it is possible to claim that the pub band you saw last night is the next big thing whilst also admitting the need for an old Donovan album; for research purposes only you understand!
Most now also do on-line sales in a very professional way, and it is something in which they can excel, and I have mentioned many as sources of various items, often on vinyl or otherwise unavailable, already on these posts and they are scattered across the UK. Several are, unsurprisingly, in London. Puregrove is one (and now also a label) that I have mentioned before and this is another.

Rough Trade - a record label and also a record store or two.

This one is not a label but it is in fact the oldest continuously trading record store in the world...

Spillers, in Cardiff since 1896.

What I have never done is to mention that, fifteen minutes walk from home, there is just such an establishment. [Click on the images below to enlarge and these were taken by me yesterday morning.]

In fact there are two parts - the above is the one that specializes in physical digital formats - and a couple of doors away is the other branch...

They all deserve, and really need, your support.