Pure Pop YearEnders: Willie Strausser

It’s list season! The best time of the year as far as I’m concerned. That actually might be because I get to stuff my face with delicious food and spend time with family, but whatever.

I usually agree fairly well with the critical consensus and year-end lists that come out, but I have to say that this year I think there’s been a lot of shit tossed around (no offense to everyone else posting lists here…). Almost all of the major releases that came out in 2013 were horrendous or at the very least forgettable. There were a few good ones in there – I must say that I do like the new Sigur Ros and Daft Punk albums – but even those didn’t have the staying power through the end of the year. There was a ton of good metal that came out this year but I feel like the rest of the music world was a bit of a desert. Oh well. Here are my honorable mentions anyway:

Fire! Orchestra – Exit!
Gris – À l’âme enflammée, l’äme constellée…
Wardruna – Runaljod: Yggdrasil
Eluvium – Nightmare Ending
Kayo Dot – Hubardo
Lycus – Tempest
Laura Marling – Once I Was an Eagle
Progenie Terrestre Pura – UMA

Pure Pop YearEnders: Sarah Moylan

If you encountered a blue-eyed Lady Pure Popper behind the counter before, say, late May of this year– well, it sure as hell wasn’t me.

The above five albums are my five absolute least favorite from this year, but I also found Arcade Fire’s “Reflekor”, Ryan Power’s “Identity Picks”, Fuzz’s self-titled debut, and King Tuff’s “Was Dead” reissue to be particularly despicable. Among many others. Boy, 2013–what a crappy year for music.

About me? Well, I truly despise Ty Segall, college radio, eating hummus, drinking Darjeeling, sleeping in, and traversing by bicycle around my new digs (just outside Boston, Mass).

Oh, and I’m never sarcastic.

Pure Pop YearEnders: Phil Yates

Phil Yates is a local musician who plays in Phil Yates & the Affiliates, a former DJ at WWPV 88.7 FM The Mike, and teaches mathematics at Saint Michael’s College. He is relieved that he didn’t have to count past 5 for this “Best of 2013” list.

Black Friday at Pure Pop

Hey Folks!

Time again to get some special releases that are only available at your favorite indie record stores.

We will be opening on Friday at 10 a.m. People will enter on a first come, first serve basis.  As always, we do like to provide everyone in line the opportunity to get their most desired items.  We will conduct a wish list drawing similar to what we did on Record Store Day.

If you are in line by 9:30 a.m., you will be able to hand in a wish list of up to 10 items that you would like to purchase.  We will randomly draw from the collected wish lists & reserve the top 2 items available from each drawn wish list.  These 2 items will be reserved for you behind the counter.

So please remember, first in line means first in the store but doesn’t guarantee that you will get all the items you desire.  First in line does mean that you will get first access to items that are not reserved thru the wish list drawing.

Thanks again for your understanding.  The wish list drawing went really well on Record Store Day, it allows  everyone a chance to get their hands on the items they desire without having to camp out in line for 4 hours.

I know many people are away for the holiday week.  If you are unable to make it to the store on Friday, we will start taking requests by phone/email on items beginning at 11 am.

There is a list below that Meg prepared that details all the special releases that Pure Pop has received for Black Friday.

Please note that will be having a sale on all non-Black Friday titles.*

10% vinyl/new cds/dvds/t-shirts/posters

20 % used cds

*does not include already discounted/sale items

 

Black Friday at Pure Pop list

Pure Pop is here for you today to address that big elephant in the room.

That’s right, folks, Black Friday is in the all-too-near future. To celebrate, we offer below a list of the better things to think about purchasing.

Joseph Arthur $14.97

Atlas Genius: $16.97

Bad Things: $6.97

Band of Horses: $4.97

Beat Box Book: $59.97

Blackberry Smoke/Lynyrd Skynyrd $5.97

Blind Boys of Alabam/Isbell/JP White $5.97

Brendan Benson $19.97

Blood Ceremony $22.97

Brandi Carlile $7.97

Charles Bradley: $6.47

Billy Bragg & Wilco Mermaid Ave $37.97

Billy Bragg & Wilco Vol 2 $37.97

Billy Bragg & Wilco Vol. 3: $37.97

Carcass $24.97

Nick Cave: $22.97 (LP)/$12.97(CD)

Chris Robinson Band $74.97

Church of Misery $24.97

Civil Wars: $9.97

The Clash-Self-titled: $13.97

The Clash- Combat Rock: $13.97

The Clash-Give ‘Em Enough Rope: $13.97

The Clash-London Calling: $19.97

The Clash-Sadinista: $22.97

Gene Clark: $18.97

Cold War Kids $9.97

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.: $21.97

Miles Davis-Jazz Track: $24.97

Miles Davis- Kind of Blue: $24.97

Miles Davis: Miles + Monk: $24.97

Dawes cd $6.97

Dawes lp $12.97

Lana Del Ray: $21.97

Devin Townsend Project $12.97

The Doors: $24.97

Duran Duran: $16.97

John Denver and His Muppet Friends: $24.97

Bob Dylan: $39.97

Fallout Boy: $14.97

A Tribute to John Fahey: $24.97

Failure: $24.97

Flaming Lips (CD): $9.97

Flaming Lips (LP): $18.97

Fleshtones: $7.97

Foals: $19.97

Ghost BC $22.97

Robert Glasper: $10.97

Grateful Dead: $39.97

Jackie Greene: $12.97

Vince Guaraldi: $8.97

Hardworking Americans: $5.97

Jimi Hendrix: $9.97

Hot Wacks VA: $5.97

Michael Hurley: $19.97

Jethro Tull: $24.97

Jack Johnson: $14.97

Ernie Kovacs: $14.97

Lady Gaga: $21.97

Ladytron: $21.97

Sondre Lerche: $11.97

Life of Agony $27.97

Low/Shearwater: $5.97

Nick Lowe: $24.97

Dave Matthews Band: $77.97-$89.97

Metallica: $39.97 reg. ($54.97 for 45rpm edition)

Mystical Weapons: $19.97

Nas:$16.97

Harry Nilsson: $24.97

Nirvana: $44.97

Nonono: $8.97

Roy Orbison: $109.97

Van Dyke Parks $9.97

Lullaby Renditions of Pearl Jam: $17.97

Puscifer: $19.97

Vitamin String Quartet performs Radiohead: $17.97

Red Hot Chili Peppers: $34.97

Replacements: $24.97

Rolling Stones: $9.97

Rush: $12.97

A Tribute to Shel Silverstein: $24.97

Silversun Pickups: $12.97

Paul Simon-Self-titled: $24.97

Paul Simon-Still Crazy After All These Years: $24.97

Paul Simon-There Goes Rhymin’ Simon: $24.97

Skaters: $6.97

Sly and the Family Stone: $9.97

Stone Temple Pilots: $22.97

Sunn O.: $26.97

Surfaris $9.97

Tegan & Sara: $6.97

Ten Big Stiffs: $89.97

Josh Tillman $15.97

Trigger Hippy: $11.97

Truth & Soul Box: $54.97

U2: $15.97

Uncle Tupelo: $9.97

Upsetters/Lee Scratch Perry: $28.97

Townes Van Zandt: $49.97

Widespread Panic: $74.97

Xiu Xiu: $21.97

Zabriskie Point Soundtrack: $29.97

See? Despite its appropriately ominous name, Black Friday doesn’t have to be so bad!

More information on these titles is available on the record store day site, click here.

Pure Pop YearEnders: Justin Gonyea

Hi! I am Justin Gonyea. I teach visual art in the Burlington School District. I am the vocalist/guitarist for Vultures of Cult http://www.vulturesofcult.com. I produce, engineer, mix and master records for bands here in Burlington (Vultures of Cult, Paper Castles, Trapper Keeper, Mass of Tharsis, Cloudeyes, Iron Sword, In Memory of Pluto, Romans, ETC..). I own and operate a small record label with my wife, Audra, called Prolific Summer http://www.prolificsummer.com http://justingonyea.tumblr.com

Pure Pop YearEnders: Jordan Posner

I am really glad Vinyl seems to still be going strong, if not gaining strength, in these tough times for the music business. (Maybe the world really does have a way of evening things out?) I enjoy the fact that the new Lo-Fi trend seems here to stay, even if it has to compete for airplay with the Auto-Tuned and digitized sounds that seem to be so prevalent.

Pure Pop YearEnders: Jackson Balling

2013 was an amazing year for music, and narrowing down my top 5 of a year that isn’t over yet was a daunting task. I couldn’t recommend these records more, as well as many others, to anyone and everyone. Also definitely check out these records:

Touche Amore – “Is Survived By”
Defeater – “Letters Home”
Have Mercy – “The Earth Pushed Back”
Citizen – “Youth”
Turnover – “Magnolia”

Here’s to another great year of music!

Pure Pop YearEnders: Rian Henry

Hey this is Rian. If you had enough time to waste clicking on these links and reading my list, and in the end, thought it was worth your time, then cool. I’m glad.

If you liked any of the punk bands, check out the labels I mentioned for other releases.
If you liked the Charles Bradley stuff and want to discover similar soul music, check out Daptone Records and Ubiquity Records and listen to some of the bands they promote.
I promise it’ll be worth your time.

Here are a few releases that came close to my top five:
-Boards Of Canada- Tomorrow’s Harvest
-Nervosas- Nervosas
-Big Eyes- Almost Famous
-Give- Singles Going Confetti

Feel free to send hate-mail here: [email protected] (Send pix plz)