Trip #11: Can I Get Some Green with My Blues?
Art by The Lemon Twigs, Algiers, Circles Around the Sun, Beach House, Gregory Porter, Passion Pit, Bear in Heaven, Benzi, Alex Lahey, and much more!
Welcome to The Wax Museum, where we showcase albums worthy of your record collection. Enjoy a new trip right in your inbox every Wednesday!
Your Museum Guide for Wednesday May 17, 2023
The FUTURE Exhibit (Upcoming Vinyl Releases)
The PRESENT Exhibit (Tracking 2023 Album of the Year)
The PAST Exhibit (2012 Hall of Fame Induction)
The RABBIT HOLE Exhibit (Bear in Heaven, Benzi)
Exit Through The Gift Shop
🎧 Listen to this Trip on Spotify and Apple.
Hey thanks for stopping by. Let’s start this newsletter with the best thing I heard this week and that honor goes to Daft Punk’s last song ever!
“Infinity Repeating” featuring Julian Casablancas and his band The Voidz was cut from Random Access Memories but has been unearthed for the 10th anniversary.
The hypnotic video, created by Warren Fu, tracks human evolution from the beginning to our AI present and back to the beginning. What a beautiful sendoff to the legends. Thanks for all the fantastic music!
Now on to the exhibits…
The FUTURE Exhibit
Here are the notable new albums and vinyl coming out this Friday, May 19th.
New Albums
Alex Lahey - The Answer Is Always Yes | Australian rocker Alex Lahey promises plenty of fun, weird songs on her third album The Answer Is Always Yes, available in Coke bottle green vinyl.
Beach House - Become EP | Beach House’s dreamy 5 song EP Become, featuring outtakes from last year’s Once Twice Melody, is available on black wax.
Bear McCreary - God of War Ragnarök | The award-winning soundtrack to God of War Ragnarök is arriving via three 150 gram blue smoke colored vinyl.
Dave Matthews Band - Walk Around the Moon | DMB is back with their 10th album, their first since 2018’s Come Tomorrow. A bunch of vinyl variants to choose from: Target red, Walmart blue, Barnes & Noble green, and black.
Lewis Capaldi - Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent | Scotland’s Lewis Capaldi’s sophomore album is coming to turntables on white and black vinyl. You can also get a signed cover copy from his store.
Mega Bog - End of Everything | End of Everything is experimental pop from Los Angeles’ Erin Birgy aka Mega Bog and recorded with James Krivchenia of Big Thief. Grab the album on neon orange and black vinyl.
SZA - SOS | SZA’s SOS, last year’s ambitious follow up to 2017’s Ctrl, is finally out on vinyl in standard black. Huge feature list on this one, including Travis Scott, Don Toliver, Phoebe Bridgers, and the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard.
Tanlines - The Big Mess | What a pleasant surprise to see Tanlines back with a new record. Go have a listen to their 2010 catchy and danceable debut Mixed Emotions if you are unaware. The new album is pressed on multicolor swirl and black wax.
Tom Odell - Best Day of My Life | Sometimes you just need to throw some sad piano songs on the turntable. Odell’s fifth album is here on yellow vinyl.
Yellowcard - Ocean Avenue Acoustic | Yellowcard re-released Ocean Avenue as an acoustic album for their ten year anniversary, but what the people really want is an Ocean Avenue repress or reissue; OG copies are going for hundreds of dollars.
Vinyl Reissues
Born Ruffians - Birthmarks | Canadian indie rockers Born Ruffians are reissuing their 2013 album acclaimed Birthmarks on transparent blue vinyl.
Elliott Smith - An Introduction To Elliott Smith | The 2010 Elliott Smith compilation gets a 500 unit Amazon Exclusive pressing on black and silver splatter vinyl. Great pickup if you don’t have any Elliott Smith in your collection.
Miles Davis - Volume 1 (Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series) | Miles Davis joints from the early ‘50s are included here in mono on 180 gram vinyl, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original masters.
Motion City Soundtrack - I Am the Movie | It’s been 20 years since the debut of Motion City Soundtrack. Get the pop punk classic on tangerine and black splatter vinyl.
Paul Cherry - Flavour | Psychedelic yacht rock vibes from Paul Cherry’s 2018 debut Flavour, which gets a fourth small unit reissue on milky clear vinyl.
They Might Be Giants - Lincoln | Lincoln, the second album by the band They Might Be Giants, was released way back in 1988 and finally gets a first pressing on black wax (red sold out).
📋 Full list of vinyl releases, reissues, compilations.
The PRESENT Exhibit
Behold the 2023 Album of the Year leaderboard. Three new albums get added each week. Standings change throughout the year.
🎧 Full AOTY 2023 Playlist: Spotify | Apple (66 Songs and Counting…)
This week features The Lemon Twigs, Algiers, and Circles Around the Sun.
The Lemon Twigs - Everything Harmony
Get Vinyl: All variants currently sold out, check Discogs for peer selling.
Vintage sound with modern twists sum up The Lemon Twigs’ fourth and best album Everything Harmony. The Long Island brothers may have you experiencing the Mandela Effect because you’d swear you were hearing forgotten 60’s and 70’s classics.
Fun fact, The Lemon Twigs was my one year old daughter’s first concert! We just happened to pop into Austin’s Hotel San Jose right as they were taking the stage. It was also the first time she jumped in the air, so thanks for that core memory Lemon Twigs!
Algiers - Shook
Get Vinyl: Gold | Black | Discogs
We take a hard turn from sunny pop to the aggressive sounds of post-punk, hip hop hybrid Algiers. The Atlanta band made an Atlanta concept album and put together a who’s who of contemporary artists like Zack de la Rocha (Rage Against the Machine), Samuel T. Herring (Future Islands), billy woods, Big Rube (The Dungeon Family) and Jae Matthews (Boy Harsher) to name a few.
The expansive album demands your attention and keeps you on your toes; breakneck speed bangers like “Irreversible Damage” and “Bite Back” rub shoulders with chopped and screwed beats, spoken vignettes, and ambient instrumental segues. Shoutout to Matt Tong of Bloc Party on drums, hammering away behind the urgent, thought-provoking political lyrics. Who needs an espresso when you could throw this on instead?
Circles Around the Sun - Language
Get Vinyl: Translucent Teal | Discogs
I found Circles Around the Sun through Kiley Larsen’s great Check This Out substack, where you can read more about the supergroup’s origin story. What started as a project to create Grateful Dead intermission music for their 50th Anniversary concerts has evolved into a touring band with multiple instrumental albums. Strap on the headphones and melt into 40 minutes of space disco grooviness.
The PAST Exhibit
Each week we look at a year gone by to find 10 timeless albums that are must-haves in your vinyl collection. We started at 2022, we’re at 2012, and we’re going all the way back to the ‘60s! Yeah baby!
2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | This week is 2012
🎧 Full Essential Vinyl Playlist: Spotify | Apple (110 Albums and Counting…)
Gregory Porter - Be Good
Get Vinyl: Black | Discogs
Let’s start the 2012 Hall of Fame with jazz vocalist Gregory Porter, who wears his heart on his sleeve in his second album Be Good. Marvel at the songwriting, or the seamless blend of blues, R&B, gospel, and soul, especially on the A-side. This is a great vinyl to test on a new turntable sound system, perhaps with a nice scotch or bourbon in hand.
Beach House - Bloom
Get Vinyl: Black | Discogs
It’s safe to say Beach House’s 2010 Teen Dream and 2012’s Bloom will go down as some of the greatest dream pop albums of all time. You gotta love music that still gives you goosebumps after hundreds of listens. The album also gave us this classic video starring Ray Wise (Twin Peaks) and directed by Eric Wareheim of Tim & Eric.
Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d city
Get Vinyl: 10th Anniversary | Black | Discogs
Billed as a "short film by Kendrick Lamar" on the record cover, good kid, m.A.A.d city is a concept album following teenage K-Dot through the crime and drug infested streets of his hometown of Compton. The album produced five singles that still have staying power: "The Recipe", "Swimming Pools (Drank)", "Backseat Freestyle", "Poetic Justice", and "Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe".
Speaking of Beach House, I included “Money Trees” in the 2012 playlist, which features a sample from Beach House’s "Silver Soul" off Teen Dream. You wouldn’t think Beach House would be utilized as a hip hop beat, but the result is money, so much so that Rolling Stone recently ranked “Money Trees” number one on the list of “The 50 Best Kendrick Lamar Songs.”
Tame Impala - Lonerism
Get Vinyl: 10th Anniversary | Black | Discogs
Kevin Parker’s second album taps into 70’s psych rock, specifically Todd Rundgren's A Wizard / A True Star, to create a new timeless sort of cosmic synth pop. Singles "Apocalypse Dreams", "Elephant", "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards”, and "Mind Mischief" are all still live show staples.
Lonerism is being reissued with a 10th Anniversary triple vinyl set dropping later this month, featuring a full side of album demos and a 24-page booklet.
Divine Fits - A Thing Called Divine Fits
Get Vinyl: Bandbox Yellow | Black | Discogs
A Thing Called Divine Fits is the only album by supergroup Divine Fits. The group combined Spoon frontman Britt Daniel and Dan Boeckner of Wolf Parade and Handsome Furs, with Sam Brown of New Bomb Turks on drums. If anyone from Divine Fits is reading this and I know you are, we want another record dammit!
Grimes - Visions
Get Vinyl: Black | Discogs
Grimes’ Visions is an absolute blast of an album. “Oblivion” and “Genesis” are the best songs on the record, and likely the highlights of Claire Boucher’s career.
Passion Pit - Gossamer
Get Vinyl: Bone | Pink Splatter | Discogs
Gossamer is Passion Pit’s second album and perhaps his last great collection of tunes. Michael Angelakos' signature falsetto and euphoric synths clash with the brutally honest and dark subject matter.
Gossamer is getting a much needed repress next month on colored vinyl for the first time. OG pressings were going as high as $300 before the announcement. The vinyl will include two Gossamer outtakes: “Almost There” and “American Blood”.
Lana Del Rey - Born to Die
Get Vinyl: Target Red | Black | Discogs
Upon release, everyone had a thinkpiece on Lana Del Rey and whether her aesthetic was authentic or label created. Luckily hindsight has been kind to Lana, as Born to Die is now recognized as one of the most distinctive debut albums this century. Her inventive use of sultry pop ballads over trip hop beats laid the groundwork for artists like Billie Eilish and Lorde.
Purity Ring - shrines
Get Vinyl: Black | Discogs
We move on to another fully formed debut, shrines by Canadian electropop duo Purity Ring. Megan James’ childlike vocals juxtapose against Corin Roddick’s glitchy, danceable beats. Highlights are littered throughout the album including “fineshrine”, “belispeak”, and “lofticries”. Single “obedear” has gained a second life as the theme song for the fantastic show Search Party (streaming on HBO Max) and the notes end up being a musical motif throughout the series run.
Frank Ocean - channel ORANGE
Get Vinyl: Discogs for bootlegs
Back in 2012, Frank Ocean was still mostly known as an enigmatic member of hip hop collective Odd Future. He pops up in this cypher by the whole Odd Future crew, which has become a cult classic.
Sure he put out a mixtape (Nostalgia, Ultra) and had a feature on Watch The Throne. But we didn’t truly know who we were dealing with until the one-two punch of singles “Thinkin’ Bout You” and “Pyramids”, the latter being a 10-minute epic going back to 30 BC at the Egyptian pyramids to modern day Las Vegas strip clubs.
When it was all said and done, channel ORANGE topped year and decade best of lists, and is now considered a masterpiece. But here’s the bad news for us vinyl nerds: there’s no official vinyl release. This is likely due to the bad blood with Def Jam, who would balk at paying Frank royalties. So for now, we’re stuck with bootlegs.
The RABBIT HOLE Exhibit
Get sucked down the pop culture rabbit hole with new recommendations each week.
📺 Videos from all trips can be found here.
Bear in Heaven - “The Reflection of You” | Speaking of 2012, I must share one of funniest music videos from that year. John Lee, director of two of my favorite absurdist comedy shows Wonder Showzen and Xavier: Renegade Angel, set a record for most zoom in’s in a music video. You’ll either love or hate this, but we can all agree the song rocks.
Benzi - Girl Trapz | The Los Angeles DJ has blessed us with the 20th installment of his remix series Girl Trapz. These 15-20 hours of EDM mixes are the ideal soundtrack for a run or the gym. My personal highlights from the new mix include a RL Grime “I Wanna Know” rise and drop into Eiffel 65 in the 7:00-9:00 minute range and the Childish Gambino Culdesac sample around 24:45.
Exit Through The Gift Shop
Thanks for visiting! Hopefully there’s enough musical rabbit holes and vinyl recommendations to get you through the week.
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Leave a comment card on your way out, and we’ll see ya next Wax Wednesday!
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So many anticipated albums on the way! Really looking forward to the new Mega Bog and Tanlines (yay, they're back!) tomorrow. I'm also obsessed with the new Lemon Twigs record. They really kicked up about ten notches on this new one!
That Warren Fu video reminded me of the live visuals for Phoenix’s Love Like A Sunset I & II https://youtu.be/rPLWfPiWJxM