December 15, 200916 yr I've heard good stuff about the place, but have never been there. It's most definitely a good thing. I'm not sure what your thoughts are on Ear X-tacy in Louisville, but I personally think Shake-It tops Ear X-tacy...although I absolutely still stop in EX every time I'm in the ville. Shake-It has a phenomenal selection of vinly and cd's, they sponser tons of great shows around Greater Cincinnati, they recently started working earnestly on their in-store artist performances, and they've even got their own record label started. Aside from the music, one of the coolest parts, in my humble opionion, is that you can pretty well count on finding folks from whichever bands are playing in town browsing the racks on any given day...I've bumped into Justin Vernon from Bon Iver, Jason Isbell from the Drive-By Truckers, and Ketch Secor from Old Crow Medicine Show there in the last couple of years. It's awesome, to say the least.
December 15, 200916 yr Author It's most definitely a good thing. I'm not sure what your thoughts are on Ear X-tacy in Louisville, but I personally think Shake-It tops Ear X-tacy...although I absolutely still stop in EX every time I'm in the ville. Shake-It has a phenomenal selection of vinly and cd's, they sponser tons of great shows around Greater Cincinnati, they recently started working earnestly on their in-store artist performances, and they've even got their own record label started. Aside from the music, one of the coolest parts, in my humble opionion, is that you can pretty well count on finding folks from whichever bands are playing in town browsing the racks on any given day...I've bumped into Justin Vernon from Bon Iver, Jason Isbell from the Drive-By Truckers, and Ketch Secor from Old Crow Medicine Show there in the last couple of years. It's awesome, to say the least. Totally off subject. But For Emma, Forever Ago is an awesome CD.
December 15, 200916 yr Totally off subject. But For Emma, Forever Ago is an awesome CD. Man, you're not kidding. It's got to be one of the best albums of the decade in my book...easily the best of '08. I'd never heard of him, but one of my good friends got me to go see him play at the Southgate House on 03/08/08. It was unbelievable. I was hooked from the sound check...literally. He didn't do the album straight through, but he played all of the songs...then we left and there was like a half-inch of fresh snow on the ground when we walked out. Perfect.
December 15, 200916 yr It's most definitely a good thing. I'm not sure what your thoughts are on Ear X-tacy in Louisville, but I personally think Shake-It tops Ear X-tacy...although I absolutely still stop in EX every time I'm in the ville. Shake-It has a phenomenal selection of vinly and cd's, they sponser tons of great shows around Greater Cincinnati, they recently started working earnestly on their in-store artist performances, and they've even got their own record label started. Aside from the music, one of the coolest parts, in my humble opionion, is that you can pretty well count on finding folks from whichever bands are playing in town browsing the racks on any given day...I've bumped into Justin Vernon from Bon Iver, Jason Isbell from the Drive-By Truckers, and Ketch Secor from Old Crow Medicine Show there in the last couple of years. It's awesome, to say the least. How long has that place been open? I don't remember hearing much about it when I was still living in Covington. Then again, I last resided in Covington in the spring of 2001, and Phil's Records has moved about four times since then. I used to head across the pond to check out Everybody's and the joints in the University Village from time to time, but maybe only a handful of times a year.
December 15, 200916 yr Author Man, you're not kidding. It's got to be one of the best albums of the decade in my book...easily the best of '08. I'd never heard of him, but one of my good friends got me to go see him play at the Southgate House on 03/08/08. It was unbelievable. I was hooked from the sound check...literally. He didn't do the album straight through, but he played all of the songs...then we left and there was like a half-inch of fresh snow on the ground when we walked out. Perfect. I was listening to the All Songs Considered podcast where they discussed "the decade" and someone chose "Skinny Love". I immediately fell in love. Sounds like an awesome concert. I'll have to check out those videos later. My friend gave me a copy of the EP released this year but I haven't gotten a chance to listen to it yet. Have you heard of it?
December 15, 200916 yr I was listening to the All Songs Considered podcast where they discussed "the decade" and someone chose "Skinny Love". I immediately fell in love. Sounds like an awesome concert. I'll have to check out those videos later. My friend gave me a copy of the EP released this year but I haven't gotten a chance to listen to it yet. Have you heard of it? Yeah, Blood Bank was okay, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little let down by it. Honestly, though, I figured it was going to be really tough to follow up For Emma... I know Blood Bank was only 4 songs, but I kind of felt like he should have taken more time to write and work on what he had. It seemed like a kind of incomplete thought. He was touring nonstop from February '08 until like a month ago, and when anybody is that busy, it's got to be really difficult to make really good music consistently. Vernon did put out an album called Unmap in September with a side project called Volcano Choir, also. I thought it was pretty darn good, actually. He even pulled out a few bits and pieces of songs from Blood Bank. You might want to check that out if you like For Emma. Also...if you like Bon Iver, I'd definitely recommend The Black Atlantic. They actually offer a free download of their first album on their website, and it's quickly becoming one of my favorites.
December 15, 200916 yr Author Yeah, Blood Bank was okay, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little let down by it. Honestly, though, I figured it was going to be really tough to follow up For Emma... I know Blood Bank was only 4 songs, but I kind of felt like he should have taken more time to write and work on what he had. It seemed like a kind of incomplete thought. He was touring nonstop from February '08 until like a month ago, and when anybody is that busy, it's got to be really difficult to make really good music consistently. Vernon did put out an album called Unmap in September with a side project called Volcano Choir, also. I thought it was pretty darn good, actually. He even pulled out a few bits and pieces of songs from Blood Bank. You might want to check that out if you like For Emma. Also...if you like Bon Iver, I'd definitely recommend The Black Atlantic. They actually offer a free download of their first album on their website, and it's quickly becoming one of my favorites. It's downloading right now. I'll check it out later or put it on my iPhone for work listening tomorrow.
December 15, 200916 yr How long has that place been open? I don't remember hearing much about it when I was still living in Covington. Then again, I last resided in Covington in the spring of 2001, and Phil's Records has moved about four times since then. I used to head across the pond to check out Everybody's and the joints in the University Village from time to time, but maybe only a handful of times a year. Well, I've been hitting up Shake-It for maybe 6 or 7 years now, and as I understand it, they were in a smaller location down the street or something for a few years previous to that. I used to go in Everybody's on occasion, but now that I'm a regular at Shake-It and most of their staff knows me, I have a hard time straying. I used to be one of the Phil's faithful, but over the years & a couple of different guys going back and forth with ownership (both named Phil, ironically), the selection really went down hill. I personally tend towards Americana, Folk and Indie/Alternative, whereas Phil's seemed turn towards pop (to try and bring in business, no doubt), metal, and DVD's. They even took on partnership as a Cricket phone dealership for a while. Now they're located up in Highland Heights by NKU, and they're apparently back in the hands of the original "Phil". The store is called Phil's Music & Memories due to some trademark junk that went down. ...I haven't been able to talk myself into going in and checking the place out. I don't want to ruin any of my remaining fond memories of the old stores.
December 15, 200916 yr It's downloading right now. I'll check it out later or put it on my iPhone for work listening tomorrow. :thumb:
December 15, 200916 yr Have you been to Shake-It before? No I have not...I go to CD Central on UK campus for New Stuff and Pops resale for used stuff... Are you into the vinyl?
December 16, 200916 yr No I have not...I go to CD Central on UK campus for New Stuff and Pops resale for used stuff... Are you into the vinyl? Well, I own some vinyl, and I have a turntable (which, frankly, is a pile of junk). I'd love to get more into it, but between the space vinyl can take up, the current amount of music I already have on CD's, and the fact that I don't really need another "hobby" to obsess over, I try to keep my vinyl purchasing to a minimum. I generally flip through all of their recent acquisitions when I go to the record store, but I generally only buy stuff on vinyl when I know I can't get it on CD (which doesn't happen terribly often).
December 16, 200916 yr Another top album from the last year is the self-titled album Rain Machine. Rain Machine is a side project of Kyp Malone, of TV On The Radio notariety. As far as I know, it's his first solo effort. For those who don't think Pitchfork has turned into a cynical, snarky, and overly-critical monster, here's their review of the album.
December 16, 200916 yr Honorable mention to: Justin Townes Earle - Midnight At The Movies Wilco - Wilco (The Album) Levon Helm - Electric Dirt The Avett Brothers - I and Love and You Steve Earle - Townes Haven't listened to much music this year, but this album was very good.
March 29, 201016 yr Author After finally picking up a copy of "I and Love and You" by The Avett Bros., I might have to argue. And you know how much I love JTE. "January Wedding" is my runaway song of the year. Nothing else comes close. I'm so close to switching over myself. My personal goal for 2010 is to see them live.
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.