Dolour, "New Old Friends"

This weekend, Vintage Vinyl is having a buy 2, get 1 free sale on our $3.99 used compact discs.

To celebrate, we'll be skimming the bins and posting about some of the gems to be found.

Up now is Dolour's 2004 release New Old Friends.

JT, writing for Doginasweater's Music Reviews said:

Shane Tutmarc is the man behind Dolour, and what a man he is – writing an album that is so instantly likeable that you want to start listening to it again the second it finishes playing. This is pop music exactly the way I like it - full of hooks and reminiscent of Teenage Fanclub and Sloan and Big Star and the dB’s and…whoever else comes to mind when you think of the great Beach Boys and Zombies followers. I’ve listened to some of the older Dolour stuff, and while good, none of it sounds nearly as complete and fleshed out as the music contained in “New Old Friends”. Highly recommended for pop lovers.

Candy Bars, "On Cutting Tigers In Half And Understanding Narravation"

This weekend, Vintage Vinyl is having a buy 2, get 1 free sale on our $3.99 used compact discs.

To celebrate, we'll be skimming the bins and posting about some of the gems to be found.

We have here Candy Bars' On Cutting Tigers In Half And Understanding Narravation released in 2006.

On Coke Machine Glow, Amir Nezar said:

Candy Bars are genuinely gripping, deserving of the double honor of both analytical critical praise and sheer visceral fandom. The group wields indelible technical and emotional power with restraint and wisdom, melding concise pop sensibilities with deft instrumentation, developing personal ghosts and haunted pasts into surreal musical swoons.

A great deal of the group's mesmerizing atmosphere has to do with Daniel Martinez's vocals and lyrics. His heavily-treated voice -- often multitracked -- bleeds into the mix with spectral presence, offsetting the clear delicacy of keys, shuffling drums, cello, and guitars (electric and acoustic) with a tattered beauty and darkly metaphorical lyrical shades. His delivery, over a majestic electric guitar chorus in "Violets," is spine-shaking as he rasps, "I woke up screaming / Pajamas wet with ex-girlfriend / Forced to flee from the chill which she lives in." Frequently, his abstract musings metamorphose into pure poetry; in the gorgeous, muted stomp of "The Flood in your Old Town," he sings with distanced longing, "But the ants will ride / On fallen leaves / like boats / through city streets / and passengers will turn their backs / when you say 'I love you.'" After his melody takes a dour turn, he wryly concludes, "But holding on / to someone's arm / is going to be / the fall of the / twenty-first century / because you are all liars."

Busy Signals, S/T

This weekend, Vintage Vinyl is having a buy 2, get 1 free sale on our $3.99 used compact discs.

To celebrate, we'll be skimming the bins and posting about some of the gems to be found.

Here's the 2007 self-titled release from the Busy Signals.

A review by Jen Cray in Ink 19 says:

Chicago's The Busy Signals torpedo the boundaries of modern music, and bring it all back down to its basics. Their self-titled Dirtnap Records release is 12 songs of fun, catchy, singable words and danceable music. It's got modern shades of punk rock and glam with hints of early R.E.M. mixed in, but in its soul is the powerest of pop.

Frontwoman Ana McGorty leads her boys with the ease of Debbie Harry (complete with the romance with a band member -- she and bassist Jeremy Thompson are dating/have dated), and it's her sexy, darker Belinda Carlisle voice that will be the first element of this band to grab you. Once hooked, "So Pointless," "Got It All Wrong" and "Look the Other Way" are sure to sink you.

Abandoned Pools, "Humanistic"

Vintage Vinyl is currently having a buy 2, get 1 free sale on our $3.99 used compact discs.

To celebrate, we'll be skimming the bins and posting about some of the gems to be found.

Here's Abandoned Pools' Humanistic, released in 2001.

John Murphy writes on the Music OHM blog:

Abandoned Pools is the brainchild of one Tommy Walter, who previously played bass in Eels. They were very much the pet project of Mark 'E' Everett however, and a band as bleak and intense as The Eels could be meant that Walters was soon on the lookout for a solo project. Abandoned Pools is that very solo project, and first impressions are that he could easily follow the success of his former cohorts.

It's easy to see why Walter may have felt frustrated in The Eels. As well as writing, singing and playing the vast majority of the instruments here, he also shares a co-producing credit. He also possesses a keen ear for a melody - this album has more hooks than your average fisherman's basket. The record swings from generic metal through Prince-like funk to midpaced ballads, yet never feels disjointed.

Motown Fan Bag

XTC in New York Rocker, January 1981

Bobby Marchan

Anonymous, "Bobby Marchan," 1963, collage, 8.5" x 7.8".