LWA Blog

Welcome back to Record of the Week. Two months of the year nearly done with and we just keep on rolling, no matter how awful everything is. Let's get to this record, it's Fever Ray's excellent self-titled debut album from 2009 (thank you, Randomizer). This is the copy that's on my turntable as I type this.  Though the album was released in March of 2009, I first got a taste of this around the end of 2008. A group of friends had decided to go to Mexico for a long New Year weekend. The plan was to meet at a...

Record of the Week is back! If you've read any (or even all) of these, thank you. I'm mostly out here doing it for myself as something creative to do, but it would be pretty cool if anyone else connects with it. So here we are. This week, the Randomizer serves up something a little more recent, it's Bat for Lashes' 2024 release, The Dream of Delphi. This translucent marble brown copy is the one on my turntable today. I pretty much ordered this straight away when it was announced. I've been a fan of hers since Fur & Gold,...

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...