Trip #8: Save Me, White Jesus
Exhibits include a stacked release week, AOTY 2023 candidates The Arcs, Dinner Party, and Silver Moth, a CHVRCHES remix playlist, 2015 Hall of Fame, Mads Mikkelsen, John Mulaney, and much more!
Welcome to The Wax Museum, where we showcase vinyl from the past, present, and future worth having in your record collection.
Your Museum Guide for Wednesday April 26, 2023
The FUTURE Exhibit (Upcoming Vinyl Releases)
The PRESENT Exhibit (Tracking 2023 Album of the Year)
The PAST Exhibit (2015 Hall of Fame Induction)
The RABBIT HOLE Exhibit (Riders of Justice, John Mulaney’s Baby J)
Exit Through The Gift Shop
🎧 Listen to this Trip on Spotify and Apple.
The FUTURE Exhibit
Discover what’s upcoming this week in the world of streaming and vinyl.
Hi there, I hope you had a great Record Store Day; I lucked out and got everything I wanted (London Grammar, Broken Social Scene, Larry Lovestein, and Jazz Dispensary) at my local spot Park Ave CDs in Orlando!
Here’s what we got coming out this Friday, April 28.
Death Cab for Cutie is reissuing Codes and Keys and Plans, which have been tough to find on wax the last few years.
Fever Ray’s third album Radical Romantics, released back in March, is now arriving on vinyl in standard black and limited edition red.
The National’s highly anticipated new album First Two Pages Of Frankenstein drops on streaming and vinyl in standard black, turquoise, and red variants.
ILLENIUM leans into electro-rock with his self-titled fifth album; all variants are sold out except standard orange, pressed on double vinyl.
If the singles are any indiction, Indigo De Souza’s All of This Will End will be an AOTY contender. Check her Frank Ocean cover to get hyped. It’s out Friday on streaming and a bunch of vinyl color options: crimson sundown, blood orange, and UO exclusive purple.
Jessie Ware's fifth studio album That! Feels Good! is the follow-up to 2020's What's Your Pleasure? and you can snag it on standard black vinyl.
Sing Me a Lullaby, My Sweet Temptation is the third studio album by hip hop duo $uicideboy$. Released back in July 2022, it’s now available in green vinyl.
Superheaven is commemorating the 10th anniversary edition of Jar with colored vinyl; half purple/half blue and violet variants are still available.
Canadian composer Tim Hecker’s No Highs was released earlier this month: the ambient album gets a physical release on black vinyl Friday.
In celebration of Disney’s 100th anniversary, we are graced with a silver double vinyl featuring 29 favorite songs from a wide range of Disney features.
The Weakerthans’ Reconstruction Site is honoring 20 years with a limited edition apple/black vinyl pressing.
Yves Tumor mouthful of an album Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds, released in March and featured on our 2023 AOTY playlist, is out Friday on transparent yellow, VMP exclusive clear vinyl, and standard black variants.
📋 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
This week features The Arcs, Dinner Party, and Silver Moth.
The Arcs - Electrophonic Chronic
Electrophonic Chronic is the long awaited second studio album by The Arcs, a supergroup side project of Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys featuring Leon Michels of El Michels Affair, Nick Movshon, side player of Charles Bradley, and Homer Steinweiss, founder of Lee Fields & The Expressions. This psych-rock album is an ode to primary member Richard Swift, who passed between albums, but his talent lives on here with co-songwriter and player credit; “Heaven is a Place” acts as his touching eulogy.
Get Vinyl: Neon Coral Splatter vinyl | Neon Yellow Splatter vinyl | Standard black vinyl | Discogs
Dinner Party - Enigmatic Society
The jazzy trio of Kamasi Washington, Robert Glasper, Terrace Martin drop third album Enigmatic Society, clocking in at 24 minutes of silky smooth R&B jams. Short and sweet but don’t go sleeping on it. Album highlights include the Hall and Oates’ sampled “Can’t Go” and the chilled-out “For Granted”.
Get Vinyl: Black with White Splatter vinyl (August pre-order)
Silver Moth - Black Bay
Black Bay by Silver Moth is the sound of seven artists meeting for the first time on an isle in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. The 7 piece, featuring Stuart Braithwaite of Mogwai, met online during early lockdown and booked a trip to the faraway Black Bay Studios as something to look forward to. None of the album had been written beforehand and was recorded in just four days. Impressive shit; the infectious creative energy is apparent on these post-rock soundscapes. These tracks slow burn into eventual layered crescendos of guitars and synths, with singer/songwriters Evi Vine and Elizabeth Elektra’s vocals matching the intensity. I can see myself returning to this one often, thanks Silver Moth!
Get Vinyl: Clear vinyl with signed print | Standard black vinyl | Discogs
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 2015, and we’re going all the way back to the ‘60s! Yeah baby!
2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | This week is 2015
🎧 Full Essential Vinyl Playlist: Spotify | Apple
Father John Misty - “Bored in the USA” | I Love You, Honeybear
“Bored in the USA”, a biting condemnation of the lies American society sold us, fittingly debuted on Late Show with David Letterman the night before the 2014 USA general election aka the red wave election during Obama’s second term.
The iconic performance is an all-timer, featuring a ghost piano gag, classic FJM poses, and a haunting canned audience laugh track.
Eight years later, this tragicomedy of materialism, overmedication, apathy, and debt is still a fitting anthem for a nation coping with a broken political system strangled by organized religion and late stage capitalistic greed.
Get Vinyl: Standard black vinyl | Discogs
Grimes - “Realiti” | Art Angels
We go from President Jesus in the last song to future President X Æ A-12 Musk. Grimes’ maximalist pop album “Art Angels” features the Canadian musician in the zone, laying down stadium filling tracks like “Realiti”, “Flesh without Blood” and “Kill V. Maim”.
Get Vinyl: Standard black vinyl | VMP Red and blue vinyl | Discogs
Tame Impala - “The Less I Know The Better” | Currents
Perhaps one of the albums of the decade, Tame Impala’s Currents is 13 tracks of all killer no filler that catapulted Kevin Parker to the top of the psychedelic rock mountain. To be the sole producer, arranger, songwriter, mixer and vocalist behind these classics is such an impressive tour de force of talent.
Get Vinyl: Standard black vinyl | Discogs
Madeon feat Passion Pit - “Pay No Mind” | Adventure
Adventure is the debut studio album by French DJ and record producer Madeon, who released this when he was 21 years old. The young prodigy created a beautiful landscape of feel-good hits that showed off his versatility. The deluxe album was pressed on colored vinyl for the first time last year and has been a hot item, with restocks selling out within hours.
Get Vinyl: Red and white double vinyl | Discogs
Vince Staples - “Norf Norf” | Summertime ‘06
One thing that Donald Glover’s Atlanta TV show did exceptionally well was riffing on Worldstar memes, and none executed funnier than the Christian mother who had a meltdown hearing Vince Staples’ “Norf Norf” on the radio with her child.
Get Vinyl: Standard black vinyl | Discogs
Kendrick Lamar - “King Kunta” | To Pimp a Butterfly
Another album of the decade candidate, Compton artist Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly spans the history of African-American music with soul, funk, and jazz bursting at the seams. Lamar listened to a ton of Miles Davis and Parliament during production, and the On the Corner-esque jazz funk is all over the album. The outro of “King Kunta” is a nod to Parliament’s “Give Up the Funk” that doubles as a justifiably angry call to action. Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Tamir Rice were all recent tragedies. Says producer Sounwave:
"To me, the album is perfect for right now. If the world was happy, maybe we'd give you a happy album. But right now, we are not happy."
Get Vinyl: Standard black vinyl | Discogs
CHVRCHES - “Bury It” | Every Open Eye
I love when artists release their stems so others can put their own spin on a song, and there’s very few artists out there with better remixes than CHVRCHES. So here is a Hall of Fame first: a playlist within a playlist. Playlistception! Enjoy a baker’s dozen of my favorite CHVRCHES remixes from a star studded lineup of producers.
Get Vinyl: Standard black vinyl | Discogs
Jamie xx, Romy - “Loud Places” | In Colour
Insert the “I don’t know why I’m crying in the club right now” meme when listening to “Loud Places”, the bittersweet masterpiece by London producer Jamie xx, with vocal help from The xx bandmate Romy Madley Craft. Another classic from In Colour is “Gosh” which boasts a remarkable music video.
Get Vinyl: Standard black vinyl | Discogs
Leon Bridges - “Coming Home” | Coming Home
Coming Home is the debut studio album by Texas singer Leon Bridges. The Sam Cooke-esque crooner provides the nostalgia with 1950s and '60s-style soul music that sounds tailor-made for a turntable. Also proving he’s not a one trick pony, his collaborations with psychedelic rockers Khruangbin on Texas Sun and Texas Moon are worth seeking out.
Get Vinyl: Standard black vinyl | Discogs
Beach House - “Space Song” | Depression Cherry
Depression Cherry is the fifth studio album by the American dream pop duo Beach House. It’s softer and more dream-like than previous albums Bloom and Teen Dream, with a notable lack of heavy drums. This works best on “Space Song”, by far the most popular song in their extensive discography due to recent TikTok success.
Get Vinyl: Standard black vinyl | Discogs
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. 🔀
Riders of Justice | Apparently 2020 was the year of Mads Mikkelsen Danish black comedies with Another Round and Riders of Justice, the latter of which I got around to watching this week.
I didn’t think they made ‘em like this anymore! The plot is simple: a deployed military man goes home to his teenage daughter after a tragic accident. Go in blind if you can, as the trailer doesn’t capture the surprisingly hilarious tone of the film. I give Riders of Justice five bags of popcorn, and I’ll have to track down more of director Anders Thomas Jensen’s work. Streaming on Hulu.
John Mulaney: Baby J | Comedian John Mulaney’s fifth standup special dropped last night on Netflix and it’s by far his most personal. After relapsing and becoming addicted to cocaine, Adderall, Xanax, Klonopin and Percocet, Mulaney’s friends (Seth Meyers, Fred Armisen, Nick Kroll, etc) staged an intervention and sent him to a 60-day program at a rehab facility.
Now just two years later, Mulaney mined these struggles into a raw and laugh out loud special that’s relentlessly self-deprecating. This may all be too soon, depending on the insight he has into himself, but taken on the surface, it’s a clever balancing act of introspection into addiction while still being an easy, light-hearted watch.
Exit Through The Gift Shop
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That Eric Prydz rework of Tether 👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼