Record Store Adventures 1

One of my new favorite things is going to the $1 bargain section of the record store and digging around for a while. Looking exclusively for cool band names, familiar band names, and cool album art, I’ve managed to find some gems, especially on my latest trip. I’ll try to make this a regular feature on the blog, as it’s a nice way, albeit old fashioned, to discover bands that might have just slipped under the radar when they were brand new. Here are some of my favs from my latest haul:

Record Store: Zulu Records Vancouver

The High Strung – Ode to the Inverse of the Dude

The very strange album art made me pick up this CD from the shelf, and I expected the strangeness to carry on into the music. However, what emerged from the speakers caught me by surprise. It’s an album filled with Zeus-esque ballads and silly, nonsensical lyrics. My favorite track is one called “Real Stone,” but because it isn’t online, “Guilt is How I’m Built” will have to suffice. The song is centred on the very catchy, but also very cheesy rhyming chorus of, you guessed it, “guilt is how I’m built.” It’s just a nice rocking track.

Novillero – Aim Right for the Holes in Their Lives

I heard this band a handful of years ago because of their awesome song “The Hypothesist,” a powerful rock song with relentless lead piano riffage and a powerful horn section. It was quite the hit on CBC Radio 3 back when it was released in 2005. However, I never bothered to listen to the rest of the album until now. It’s a magnificent group of songs ranging from straight rock to power-pop, and leans heavily on the influence from other Canadian band like power-pop rock giants Sloan. The song “Abbey” perfectly illustrates the Sloan influence!

Boats – Intercontinental Champion

I don’t really know why I like this album so much. The vocals are incredibly nasally, the lyrics are completely random and nonsensical, and the instrumentation isn’t exactly awe-inspiring. Yet this album is the best of the bunch I grabbed from the store. It’s got those catchy group harmonies you know I love, and a really nice groove throughout the album. It just sounds FUN. And guess what? Their new 2013 album A Fairway Full of Miners rocks too.