July Music

Music I’ve bought in July.

Hey, I bought a lot of stuff in July, and the reason is that I decided to buy everything from 99 Records and Spy Records that I didn’t already have.

These are two Downtown New York labels that only survived for a short time. Spy Records was run by John Cale, and 99 Records by Ed Bahlman and was known for Liquid Liquid, Bush Tetras, ESG and all sorts of goodness.

Of course, I already have all that stuff, so what I got was … er… the stuff that hasn’t been extensively re-released over the years. So no huge finds here, but some pretty good stuff.

And this fun “engraved” 7″ from Hose.

While doing New York stuff, I also got Madonna’s first album to try to see whether I liked it better now than in the 80s, and… er… not really? I mean, it’s fine. But…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG28ju7aHBw

And still Downtown…

I got off on the wrong foot with Nirosta Steel. I saw people on Twitter being all aflutter about how this was the best album ever. EVER! And it’s made by a friend of Arthur Russell, and Russell is indeed featured on several tracks (the album was made over decades, starting in the 80s).

But.

It’s fine? It’s perfectly fine. But this is not some stunning rediscovery. I mean, I like it? But people. C’mon. People! Don’t oversell albums this way!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA7zg6uH1hk

But I also got other stuff, like this old Little Barrie album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuhQ7FoN2G0

And Laurie Anderson’s live album with Sex Mob. (I saw them live on that tour…)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X_5Ka6xuFo

And once again I bought an album by Kokoroko thinking that it was a new album by Kokoko!, and once again, it’s not.

But I’ve been finding myself listening to this anyway, and… it’s very smooth? And nice? I’m starting to like it? It’s not really the sort of thing I’d usually go for, but I’m enjoying this album.

And that’s all I’ve got to say about this month’s batch of albums.