LWA Blog

We're still here and still spinning records we love. This week, the Randomizer serves up the 1993 hip hop classic, Wu-Tang Clan's Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). This gorgeous gold VMP pressing will be on my turntable today. Combining hip hop and Chinese kung fu movies, 36 Chambers came in a few years after my absolute faves (Public Enemy's Nation of Millions, Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique and De La Soul's 3 Feet High), but is no less important. Wu-Tang brought New York back into the larger hip hop picture. I think west coast was a little more popular at the...

How the hell is it already February? Wasn't New Year's like last week? Anyways, welcome back to Record of the Week. This week, the Randomizer is serving up Weyes Blood's Cardamom Times, which was originally released in 2015. The version on my turntable is the 2021 reissue, which you can find here.  I first became aware of Weyes Blood about 10 years ago when she released Front Row Seat to Earth (2016). So this 4-track EP (Cardamom Times) precedes that album by about a year. These tracks have a lot going on in terms of genres. Kinda space-rock, psychedelic, folk and...

Welcome back. The world is absolute chaos but hopefully you're focusing on the things you can control and settling into the year as best you can. This week, the Randomizer serves up a bit of old school, Steely Dan's The Royal Scam. This is the copy that'll be on my turntable. It's a record club pressing, if you remember Columbia House. In the lockdown summer of 2020, I made it my mission to pick up every Steely Dan release from the 70s/80s and not pay more than $10 each. Took me about a month or month and a half. They're out...

It's time for Record of the Week, so pull up your chairs, kids. This week, the Randomizer serves us Holy Diver, the 1983 debut from Dio. This is the copy that'll be on my turntable, a 2013 RSD reissue. Prior to this era, Ronnie James Dio came up with Elf, Rainbow and Black Sabbath. After some disagreements in 1982, Ronnie James Dio and Vinny Appice left Black Sabbath to form Dio. The first Dio album, Holy Diver showed up in 1983 like the Kool Aid man running through a wall. It's a fantastic album from start to finish. And that cover art,...

Are you still stumbling into the new year and trying to find your footing? Record of the Week is here to help you sit and spend a little time with yourself and take a break from negotiating the horrors of the world outside. This week, the Randomizer is suggesting you take some comfort in a stone cold classic, Tom Waits' Nighthawks at the Diner (1975). I'm spinning this lovely red copy that I was able to pick up when ANTI Records posted when an intern apparently "found" a box of them hidden away somewhere. This album has been in my...