Trip #3: Struck Me Like a Chord
We're talking Black Country New Road, M83, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Yves Tumor, The Strokes, Phoebe Bridgers, Run the Jewels, Rick Rubin, and so much more. Get in here!
Welcome to The Wax Museum, where we help beef up your vinyl collection through music discovery. Enjoy your stay, new trips every Wednesday!
The Museum Guide for Wednesday March 22, 2023
The FUTURE Exhibit (Upcoming Vinyl Releases)
The PRESENT Exhibit (Best New Albums)
The PAST Exhibit (2020 Hall of Fame)
The RABBIT HOLE Exhibit
Exit Through the Gift Shop (Vinyl Giveaway!)
🎧 Listen to this Trip on Spotify and Apple.
The FUTURE Exhibit
Discover what’s upcoming in the world of vinyl / streaming music.
Black Country, New Road - Live at Bush Hall | When frontman Isaac Wood and his signature voice left Black Country, New Road days before release of their 2022 AOTY candidate Ants From Up There, the band announced they were cancelling their tour. However they would not be breaking up and would continue to work on new BC,NR material.
The now sextet (Lewis Evans, May Kershaw, Georgia Ellery, Luke Mark, Tyler Hyde and Charlie Wayne) quickly wrote an entire new set, and soon headed back on tour performing songs that were just weeks old. We know they are killer live, but how would they fare under such circumstances?
Well they put all questions to rest, with a concert film so good it’s currently #5 all time on the best reviewed list on Letterboxd. The footage chronicles three shows at London’s Bush Hall, with each night featuring a different visual theme, like a haunted pizza parlor called I Ain’t Alfredo No Ghosts. The show highlight is the ten minute piano ballad “Turbines/Pigs” around the 32 minute mark.
Live at Bush Hall will be out on streaming services this Friday. Mixed by John Parish and mastered by Christian Wright at Abbey Road, the vinyl is available
in black at Amazon and Bandcamp with a late May release date.
Upcoming Vinyl Releases
Full list of vinyl releases, reissues, compilations
Coming Out This Friday March 24
Angel Bat Dawid - Requiem for Jazz
Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily - Love In Exile
The Beths - Future Me Hates Me (Green and White Marble Vinyl)
Bob Marley - Twelve Jamaican reissues
Depeche Mode - Memento Mori (Crystal Clear Vinyl)
Elton John - Honky Chateau (50th Anniversary)
Black Vinyl | VMP Cream and Beige Vinyl | Gold Vinyl
Fall Out Boy - So Much (For) Stardust
Black Vinyl | Target Gold Vinyl | UO Clear Vinyl | Cobalt Vinyl
Grandaddy - The Sophtware Slump (Green Vinyl, reissue)
Lana Del Rey – Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd
Black Vinyl | Pink Vinyl | White Vinyl | UO Green Vinyl | Target Red Vinyl
Lucinda Chua - Yian (Clear Vinyl)
Omar Apollo - Ivory
Pink Floyd - The Dark Side Of The Moon: Live At Wembley
Pink Floyd - The Dark Side Of The Moon (50th Anniversary Deluxe Remaster)
The PRESENT Exhibit
Tracking Album of the Year 2023. Two tracks from three new albums added each week!
This week features M83, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, and Yves Tumor.
♫ Full AOTY 2023 Playlist: Spotify / Apple ♫
M83 - Fantasy | French synth master Anthony Gonzalez is back with Fantasy, and I have good news: If you enjoyed 2011’s Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, you’ll find a lot to love here. Highlights include “Oceans Niagara”, “Amnesia”, and “Earth to Sea”, all of which hypnotize you into a blissful trance.
Buy Vinyl: Amazon | Indie Exclusive (blue) | Discogs
Unknown Mortal Orchestra - V | Hawaiian-New Zealand artist Ruban Nielson has graced us with a double album filled with tasty guitar licks and charming melodies. V is smooth as butter, and the stretch of songs from #6 “That Life” to #11 “Nadja” is extremely my shit. Mastapiece.
Yves Tumor - Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) | Yves Tumor fifth album is his catchiest yet, with “Meteora Blues” the clear standout. This will bring stadiums to their feet this year. It sounds like some sort of Prince, Lenny Kravitz, Smashing Pumpkins fusion. *chefs kiss*
The PAST Exhibit
Ten songs from a previous year get inducted into The Wax Museum Hall of Fame. The following albums are all vinyl collection essentials.
2022 | 2021 | This week is 2020
♫ Full Hall of Fame Playlist: Spotify / Apple ♫
The Strokes - “At The Door” | The New Abnormal - “We’re in an invisible war my friend”, whispers Julian Casablancas to a taken aback James Corden. This prophetic and awkward interview from 2018 gets referenced in The Strokes’ first song in seven years, “At The Door” with the lyrics “hard to fight what I can’t see, not tryna build no dynasty.” (Corden also suggests Julian and his two sons should become the new Von Trapp family).
For The New Abnormal, The Strokes brought in wizard Rick Rubin (more on him later), who helped craft nine tight tracks at Rick Rubin's Shangri-la studio in Malibu. This wasn’t just a return to form, but an instant classic that was eerily prescient, soundtracking the first few scary months of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tame Impala - “Borderline” | The Slow Rush - This is the other album associated with the beginning of the pandemic. The concept album about time could not have been more timely, being released in February 2020. I think Vincent Arrieta of the Dallas Observer said it best in his year end review:
"The Slow Rush expresses anxiety about the nature of the year itself; the fact that our time was robbed from us while we had more time than ever.”
Tennis - “Runner” | Swimmer - Biblical imagery galore layered over an elite guitar riff in Tennis’ “Runner”. Singer Alaina Moore was homeschooled in conservative, evangelical milieu, and she works out her complicated feelings of religion and femininity on this track by reminding us that Lot’s (unnamed) wife is the villain in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Christine and the Queens - “People, I’ve been sad” | La vita nuova - This half French half English stunner by Christine and the Queens is filled to the brim with raw, palpable sadness. I’m excited for what comes next: Paranoïa, Angels, True Love, with multiple features from Madonna and 070 Shake, will arrive June 9th.
Run the Jewels - “JU$T” feat. Pharrell Williams & Zack de la Rocha | RTJ4 - Here we have another example of perfect timing. RTJ4 dropped nine days after a Minneapolis cop kneeled on the neck of George Floyd and killed him, and nine days before Atlanta police shot and killed Rayshard Brooks in a Wendy’s parking lot. The fury we were feeling could not have been summed up better than the 1-2 punch of “walking in the snow” (RIP Gangsta Boo) and “JU$T”.
Speaking of raging against the machine, Zack De La Rocha is 50 years old and his flow is aging like fine wine, my goodness he crushes it here on a bouncy beat that would sound at home at The White Lotus. Be sure to peep the “JU$T” lyric video, one of the best I’ve ever seen.
Glass Animals - “Heat Waves” | Dreamland - Glass Animals’ biggest hit to date. When asked why, founder Dave Bayley said:
“This song is about memories and it's very nostalgic.. maybe that's part of the reason this song's hung around for so bloody long – everyone's locked inside and trapped in their own thoughts.”
Beach Bunny - “Promises” | Honeymoon - High energy track about loving and hating someone after a breakup. Lili Trifilio’s vocals take this heartbreak anthem to the next level.
Fleet Foxes - “Can I Believe You” | Shore - “Can I Believe You” is one of my favorite Fleet Foxes songs and that’s saying something. All those oooh’s you hear throughout is actually 500ish people from Instagram that sent in clips of them signing, edited into a mass of people surrounding the lead vocalist, adding to the song’s trust motif.
Phoebe Bridgers - “Chinese Satellite” | Punisher - While “Kyoto” and “I Know The End” get all the love off Punisher, I keep going back to “Chinese Satellite”, a tearjerker about agnosticism.
Phoebe also released Copycat Killer in 2020, where she reimagined four songs from Punisher with heart pounding orchestral arrangements by Rob Moose who elevates “Chinese Satellite” even higher.
The Avalanches, MGMT, Johnny Marr - “The Divine Chord | We Will Always Love You - A lot of sad songs this year, and for good reason. Let’s end this playlist with a song and video that makes it feel like everything’s gonna be alright.
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. Shuffle for optimal enjoyment. 🔀
MOVIE: Eighth Grade - Bo Burnham’s theatrical directorial debut just arrived on HBO Max and rewatching as a new girl dad made it even more gut-wrenching. Bo does a great job evoking uncomfortable nostalgia, but it also feels urgently current. We’re just scratching the surface on what being permanently online is doing to young brains. I give this five bags of popcorn 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿 and three gucci’s 👌👌👌.
SHOW: Atlanta Season 4 - Donald Glover’s FX show Atlanta finishes on a high note with a wild Season 4. If you are on the fence or jumped off during an uneven Season 3, you can really just watch the last two or three episodes of Season 4, as it’s not always the most linear show, and you won’t miss much plot-wise.
No other show in recent memory differed so much week to week. For example Episode 8 features none of the main cast and is presented as a straight documentary about the blackest Disney movie of all time: A Goofy Movie. Episode 9 involves Paper Boi buying a farm in the middle of nowhere and almost dying (multiple times). Lastly the finale takes place entirely in a sensory deprivation floatation tank (or does it?). You never knew what was coming, and we need more shows like it. Stream it on Hulu.
BOOK: The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin - Rick Rubin has been involved in creating some of the greatest music of all time for the past 40 years. I mean, just look at this list!
In his new book, the producer shares techniques that he’s developed and used to help musicians be more creative, usually through discipline, experimentation, and self-reflection. If you are about to embark on a creative project, I highly recommend you give this a read or a listen.
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Vinyl giveaway from my personal collection to a paid subscriber.
Thank you for visiting The Wax Museum. Before you go, if you thought this trip was worth $1.25 a week, become a donator! As an added bonus, you’ll be put in the running for a new vinyl giveaway each month. A private Discord, DJ room, and WhatNot auctions are also coming soon to paid subscribers.
The winner will be picked in April, and will chose one of four vinyl from my collection. These vinyl are all autographed, sealed, and have long sold out.
Alvvays - Blue Rev | This Newbury Comics exclusive was limited to /300 and signed by the whole band.
Magdalena Bay - Mercurial World | Deluxe edition pressed on silver with black swirl "mercury" colored vinyl, limited to /500 and autographed by the duo.
Alex G - God Save The Animals | The album that landed on plenty of Best Of 2022 lists, signed by Alex G.
Soccer Mommy - Sometimes, Forever | Limited edition pink splatter vinyl with a signed postcard by Sophie Allison.
There’s only a few paid subscribers so far; your odds will never be better!
Thanks for visiting, fill out a comment card on the way out, and we’ll see ya next Wax Wednesday!
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The new abnormal was recorded at Rick Rubin's Shangri-la studio in Malibu, not in the mountains of Costa Rica as you stated. The Strokes and Rubin did however record material for a new, unreleased album in the mountains Costa Rica last year