This week in Wilmington we're celebrating the annual Azalea Festival, a colorful parade and street fair with more than a 60 year history. The town is ablaze with colorful azaleas, the dogwoods are blooming, and people are happy to put winter behind them and enjoy the day. With festivals in mind, we're getting ready for next week's Record Store Day. This year we're opening at noon with our own festivities planned, including live experimental music, viideo presentations from our own history, and viewings of great DVD releases we've carried. Colorful music will fill the air, and ears will be ablaze with the fiery sounds of great experimental musicians from the region. Of course we'll have specials in-store and online, but if you can make it to our store for the day we'll be happy to meet and entertain you.
Our local alternative newspaper, Encore Magazine, asked us a few questions about our Record Store Day activities, and the importance of the day to us. Here's the Q&A:
1) What does Squidco have planned for RSD 2015?
We are open at noon on Saturday, we'll have experimental music performances, music videos, snacks and give-aways during the day. We'll also have a selection of used LPs that are reserved for record shows available for sale. If you can make it to our physical store that day you'll also find hundreds of items that aren't available online, and we'll offer
2) Any releases you're most looking forward to and why?
Brian Eno: My Squelchy Life LP
-A great record that's finally issued on vinyl.
Sun Ra: Planets of Life or Death: Amiens '73 LP
-What Record Store Day would be complete without a Sun Ra issue?
Arto Lindsay: Encyclopedia of Arto (Northern Spy)
- A great collection from Arto's discography, including both his Brazilian-influenced songs and his Downtown NY improvised work.
Kullrusk "Spring Spring Spring Spring Spring" (Moserobie) red 180g vinyl
- We'll probably be the only store in the US carrying this reissue of Sweden's Kullrusk's 2006 jazz album borrowing elements from pop and rock.
3) For folks unfamiliar with RSD, how does it work at Squidco? When do you know what you'll get in?
We don't carry the full lineup of RSD releases, we select items that fit with our catalog. The RSD pledge won't allow us to take pre-orders on any RSD items, and we arent't guaranteed to receive stock on the items we've requested. We will know early this week which titles are going to arrive, and we'll have them on our website on RSD.
4) Tell me why this day is important to Squidco?
It's important that record stores around the world are highlighted, and that people recognize the value that record stores bring to their communities. Squidco uses its store not just to sell music, but also to organize people for concert performances, presenting both local musicians and intrepid improvisers touring on the coast. We work hard to inform our customers on new music they might not be familiar with. With so many streaming services people have become very passive about listening to music, and we hope that Record Store Day will help bring people back to more active listening, choosing music for themselves instead of having it programmed for them.
5) What labels are you guys working with specifically for anything, including any non-sanctioned releases? What are the goodies involved here?
We're not really about goodies or non-sanctioned releases, we sell independent improvised music from artists, labels, and small distributors around the world. Our catalog has 7,000 items currently, and we're proud of the relationships we've built up with the music community and our customers over 12 years in business.
6) Any other surprises?
I think people who haven't been to North 4th St [of Wilmington, NC] recently will be surprised at the changes on the street! But that's not answering your question. People will have to come in to see what we have planned for the day, but expect unusual and exciting music that will no doubt surprise and entertain.
Live In-Store @ Squidco:
Last Saturday, Jacob Wick's show here showed the trumpeter to be increasingly a master of his unique style of performance. Sitting quietly, occasionally speaking with the audience, Wick never sounds like a trumpeter from the traditional school of playing, but instead plays the hell out of tangential aspects of the horn. He methodically and meditatively removes valves and tubes from the trumpet, while using circular breathing to create a constant flow of unusual ideas. From hisses to squeals, his array of sounds has expanded since his last visit here 5 years ago, and his confidence in spinning a story using these tools has increased. I was struck with the idea that he could play this way for hours and still captivate; in fact, when I told him the length of the show even he was surprised. The communication with the audience was complete, and the silence and awe in the room was palpable. He gave the room an excercise to use the extraneous sounds bleeding from the outside while listening to his playing, and we all sat with our eyes closed listening intently. This was a small tour, as Wick is now located in Mexico City and involved with what he describes as a very active free improvisation scene little known outside of Mexico. If Wick comes to your town for a concert (you wouldn't want to hear him in a loud room) make sure to check him out. Meanwhile, look for a new cassette release of Wick and guitarist Shane Perlowin titled Objet a arriving in the next week.
New Releases this week:
Leading this week's are 3 new reissues from the great UK free improvising label Emanem:
Mattos, Marcio- SOL[os]
Solo double bass, cello and electronics form 1990.
Russell, John / Phil Durrant / John Butcher - Conceits (1987/1992)
A great set of studio recordings and one live track from 1987 from three superb UK innovators.
Fine, Milo Free Jazz Ensemble - Earlier Outbreaks of Iconoclasm (1976 (8) [2 CDs]
1976 & 1978 studio and live recordings, this duo pushes the idea of an "ensemble" but still make a huge sound on keys, drums, guitar, and clarinet.
Also Evan Parker's label psi, which is pressed and distributed by Emanem, reissued the amazing Evan Parker album Monoceros, recorded in 1978 and showing a very young Evan Parker on the cover, playing with ferocity and style.
Tim Berne's Snakeoil continues its amazing journey with You've Been Watching Me on the ECM label with a great lineup of Downtown NY players: Tim Berne (alto saxophone, composer), Oscar Noriega (clarinet, bass clarinet), Ryan Ferreira (electric guitar, acoustic guitar), Matt Mitchell (piano, electronics), Ches Smith (drums, vibes, percussion, timpani). Berne's arrangements are both sophisticated, requiring dexterity from his players, and his ambitions are ably met with the band - you won't want to skip this album!
We also added 4 remastered/reissues from Alga Marghen:
Charlemagne Palestine - Bells Studies [VINYL])
Charlemagne Palestine - Four Manifestations On Six Elements (Golden 5) [CD]
Robert Ashley - The Wolfman
David Behrman - Wave Train
We also added two titles on John Zorn's Tzadik label:
Zorn's Simulacrum, an intense organ trio performed by Kenny Grohowski (drums), Matt Hollenberg (guitar) and John Medeski (organ).
Per Bloland also presents a Chamber Industrial, a set of acoustic and electroacoustic compositions.
Other releases of note: two releases from Jamie Newton, thick slabs of sophisticated soundscape; Umlaut reissues the trio of Nordstrom / Johansson / Schlippenbach, Stockholm Connection on 3 CDs; Michel Banabila & Oene Van Geel release their second Music For Viola And Electronics II, and Banabila releases a solo Float and a retrospective Precious Images - Data Files 1999-2008 on 2 CDs; a great Italian quart, No Pair (Chiapperini / Elia / Trapani / Fusco) releases a great album titled Chaos and Order which blends jazz, rock and other forms in lyrical and exciting ways. We've caught up with The Wire magazine, one issue of which includes a Wire Tapper various artists CD well worth the listen; we've added some back catalog from Nuscope Records; guitarist James Blackshaw's new release on Important Records, on both CD & LP, with Blackshaw contributing vocals for the first time; and we've restocked a number of cassettes on AMK's Banned Production label.
Squid Tech
You'll see the first glimpse of our new audio sample players, which showed up in our "New In" sections (ie "New In Improv"). These players no longer require Adobe Flash, and should work on mobile and tablet devices. With our new audio server and expanded bandwidth we hope you'll take the time to listen to releases you're not familiar with, and that it will prompt you to order some new music you might never have considered before. Expect the players to show up on all category listings over the next few weeks, and to see a new audio player on our detailed product pages giving you access to all samples for any release.
If you had trouble calling us this week, our phone number is the same, but we've switched to a service that's far cheaper than the Time Warner business phone we previously used. Everything should be working correctly now, but for a short while we held the same number as a (presumably closed) beauty salon, making for a few interesting conversations during the week. It's sad that Time Warner, with all their resources, charges 5 times what they ought to for basic phone service, but I guess that's why they're one of the most hated companies in the country.
Upcoming Soon
We've placed order for the following titles, which should arrive over the next couple of weeks or so:
Unsounds (The Netherlands):
Yannis Kyriakides + Andy Moor: A Life Is A Billion Heartbeats (unsounds)
Butcher, John / Andy Moor: Experiments With A Leaf (unsounds)
Alessandro Bosetti & Chris Abrahams: A Heart That Responds From Schooling (unsounds)
Libra (Japan):
Satoko Fujii Orchestra Berlin: Ichigo Ichie
Satoko Fujii Tobira: Yamiyo Ni Karasu
KAZE: Uminari (Circum-Libra)
Another Timbre (UK):
Common Objects: Butcher / Davies / Davies / Patterson: Whitewashed with Lines
Frank Denyer: Whispers
Fraufraulein (Billy Gomberg & Anne Guthrie): Extinguishment
Magnus Granberg: Would Fall from the Sky, would Wither and Die
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