Time to get a wee bit o' the green ready for your St. Paddy's Day celebrations! During the month of March we're giving out FREE LIMITED EDITION Easy Street shamrock stickers with any purchase, in-store or online, while supplies last! Your friends will be green with envy when they see 'em!

Join us tonight at our Queen Anne store @ 7pm for a special in-store performance by Seattle Christian metal band Demon Hunter! Their new album, The World Is a Thorn, is out now on Solid State Records. 

OK Go Ditches EMI Over Video Policy

OK Go has left EMI by mutual agreement after feuding with the label over their no-embedding policy for music videos. The band launched to stardom after their video for "Here It Goes Again" became a viral smash. Naturally, they wanted to spread their new clip around with the same methods - an embeddable YouTube video. However, EMI implemented a "no embedding" policy, since the label only gets paid if the viewer watches the clip on the YouTube site itself. The band claimed that after the policy went into effect, the number of views for the "Here It Goes Again" video dropped from about 10,000 views a day to about 1,000. After OK Go wrote several articles and open letters complaining about the ban, EMI rescinded the policy for their new video, "This Too Shall Pass," (see it above) but the damage was done, and the band is starting their own label called Paracadute Records. More fun EMI stuff below!

Pink Floyd Does Not Do Songs

No sirree, the inventors of album rock do not want us to waste our "Time" and "Money" on mere songs. The Floyd believe that all of their albums should be sold as, well, albums, while their label, EMI, insists on offering digital downloads of those individual, bite-sized morsels that make up the whole. Y'see, way back before iTunes, EMI agreed to a clause in Floyd's contract prohibiting the sale of individual songs. They clearly were not interested in being a singles band. Now, however, sneaky EMI argues that the word "record" in the band's contract "plainly applies to the physical thing - there is nothing to suggest it applies to online distribution." (Well, duh, there was no such thing as online distribution back then.) The judge sided with Pink and ordered EMI to pay $40,000 in court costs with damages costs to be determined later. With head firmly in clouds, EMI issued a statement saying that "today's ruling does not require EMI to cease making Pink Floyd's catalogue available as single track downloads, and EMI continues to sell Pink Floyd's music digitally and in other formats." 

Pearl Jam To Hit the Road Again, Play SNL

Pearl Jam is preparing for a month-long US tour in May, which will kick off with an appearance at the New Orleans Jazz Festival on 5/1. They then will hit ten midwest and east coast cities, before wrapping things up with a two-night stint at New York's Madison Square Garden on 5/20-21. You can also check out PJ this Saturday on Saturday Night Live. Band of Horses has been tapped as the opening act for a few dates, including one of the MSG shows.

The Strokes To Headline Lollapalooza

The Chicago Tribune reports The Strokes will headline the Lollapalooza Festival, taking place on August 6-8 in Chicago's Grant Park. Still no word on other acts, except for a flurry of rumors. More later...

Owners Spin Record Stores in The Stranger

Pretty cool pair of articles in this week's Stranger about the state of indie record stores in this here town. Dave Segal interviewed five record store owners (and one manager), including our own Matt Vaughan (who gets not just one, but two photos). Happily, the vibe is pretty optimistic all the way around. And, yes, vinyl is a big reason why things are good as they are. Links to the articles are below.

Download, But Not Out

Are We In a Music Retailspin?

Out and About This Weekend

Friday

Demon Hunter - Easy Street Records, QA (7pm)

Mike Doughty - Triple Door

Supersuckers, Zeke, Hollowpoints - El Corazon

The Big Pink, A Place to Bury Strangers, Grave Babies - Neumos

Gumshen, Chris Ballew - Rendezvous

Mike Watt & the Missing Men, Lite, Sandrider - Chop Suey

Hypatia Lake, Electric Jellyfish, Scriptures - Comet Tavern

The Clientele, Wooden Birds, Surf City - Tractor Tavern

F-Holes, Kamikazes, Villians - Slim's Last Chance

Satchel, George Stanford, My Favorite Girl - Sunset Tavern

The Fuzz, Groggy Bikini - Shipwreck Tavern (WS)

Saturday

Valis, Sassy, Misirecords, Boo Frog - Comet Tavern

Manchester Orchestra, The Features - Showbox Market

Hollow Earth Radio's Magma Festival 2010: Sir Richard Bishop, Arrington de Dionyso, Jason Webley - Fremont Abbey Arts Center

Gomez, Buddy - Crocodile

Rocky Votolato, Adam H. Stephens, Terrordactyls - Neumos

The DT's, Banzai Surf - Shanty Tavern

Laura Veirs, Old Believers, Cataldo - Tractor Tavern

Atomic Bride, Autolite Strike, Rad Touch, Si Si Si - Funhouse

Sunday

Gomez, One Eskimo - Crocodile

Winter is baaaack! Warm up with our latest vinyl picks for your lonely needle! 

Pavement LP (Low Price) Reissues

The budget LP returns! If you're OK with no-frills, medium-weight vinyl with a price averaging about $10 per record, you will be happy as hell to pick up these new Pavement LP reissues. Buy all five for the same price as two of them fancy-pants, "limited," "200-gram," "audiophile" vinyl jobbers. Now available: Slanted and Enchanted, Crooked Rain Crooked Rain, Wowee Zowee, Terror Twilight, Watery Domestic and Brighten the Corners.

Various Artists - The Minimal Waves Tapes, Vol. 1

Minimal Wave was a genre of underground, DIY electronic music primarily made with analog synths and drum machines during the 1970s & 1980s. Cassette tapes were recorded in basements, promoted in fanzines, and traded and sold via snail mail. The Minimal Wave label was launched in 2005 with the purpose of unearthing the many lost treasures of this time. Now, Stones Throw Records' head Peanut Butter Wolf has teamed up with Minimal Wave to release this sampler. Double LP, only 500 numbered copies.

Various Artists - More Dirty Laundry: The Soul of Black Country, Vol. 2

Although technically not a new release (it was released in '09), this is definitely worth a major shout-out. While Ray Charles is generally recognized as the progenitor of "country soul," due to his groundbreaking 1962 album, Modern Sounds in Country & Western, it didn't end with him, as this compilation (and its equally outstanding first volume) certainly proves. This 24-track double LP provides example after example by the likes of Sammy Davis, Jr, Joe Tex, Arthur Alexander, Clyde McPhatter, James Brown, Andre Williams and many more.

Field Music - Field Music

Following a self-imposed three-year hiatus, the UK's Field Music returns with a new 20-track double-album of artful English pop. The new album is a gloriously rich LP that entwines the brothers' renewed love of the rock music canon with a rediscovery of some of pop's overlooked adventurers. 

Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath (Out 3/23)

180-gram exact reproduction of this groundbreaking 1970 classic. You already know how this album shaped the yet-to-be-named genre of heavy metal and was the foundation upon which grunge was built. So go buy it!

Here's a new batch of free downloads from this week's new releases - plus a bonus preview of new MGMT. Enjoy!

The Besnard Lakes - "Albatross" - from The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night (Jagjaguwar)

jj - "Let Go" - from jj no.3 (Secretly Canadian)

Titus Andronicus - "A More Perfect Union" - from The Monitor (XL) 

MGMT - "Flash Delirium" - from Congratulations - out 4/13 (Sony)

The local media was out in force last night as crews from KOMO, KING, KIRO and Q13 FOX all converged on our West Seattle store to cover our Jimi Hendrix Valleys of Neptune Listening Party! Thanks to all for coming out - we had a great time, and hope you did too. KIRO will be airing their footage tonight at 6pm; here's a nice clip from Q13.

Sunny Day Real Estate to Record New Album in May?

Ear Candy brings us the good news that Sunny Day Real Estate is getting ready to record a new album in May. EC reports that KEXP DJ Marco Collins tweeted the news Monday night, saying that he received an e-mail from SDRE member Nate Mendel confirming the plans. Sunny Day reunited last year for a short fall tour of the states, which was followed by February performances in Australia. We'll let you know when more details become available.

Flaming Lips to Release Vinyl Dark Side of the Moon on Record Store Day

From the Flaming Lips website:  "Our beloved Flaming Lips are pleased to announce that the physical release of “THE FLAMING LIPS, ALONG WITH STARDEATH AND WHITE DWARFS WITH HENRY ROLLINS AND PEACHES DOING ‘THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON’ will be available for sale on Limited Edition vinyl beginning April 17th 2010, National Record Store Day. The CD version will go on sale on May 4."

The Lips' Dark Side was released digitally on iTunes in December 2009. Rollins was featured on seven songs and Peaches tackled Clare Torry's vocal gymnastics at the end of "The Great Gig In the Sky," which I really wish Hank would have done instead. 

R.I.P. Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse

Sad news, which most of you already know by now. Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse committed suicide over the past weekend. Linkous's story seems similar to Vic Chesnutt's, who took his own life last year. Both were respected, gifted songwriters who made prior suicide attempts during long battles with depression. Both were confined to wheelchairs (Linkous for six months after an overdose, Chesnutt for decades after a car accident). While I'm not qualified to comment on the man's music, as I am unfamiliar with it, the various accounts and tributes I have read make it clear that Linkous, like Chesnutt, was a uniquely talented songwriter, much beloved by his peers and his fans. Patti Smith wrote on her website: "Mark Linkous gave us so many dark and beautiful songs. They were dark like coal compressed into diamonds and they sparkled in the deep night like spattering morning stars."

Great Waves Win Sound Off!

Congratulations to Sammamish band Great Waves who won the Sound Off! competition on Saturday at EMP. The band describes their sound as "a unique blend of alternative rock and folk, that has been likened to everything from Allison Krauss to The Pixies," while others hear shades of the Decemberists and Arcade Fire in their music. Great Waves went up against Candysound and Hooves and Beak in the finals of EMP's annual underage battle of the bands competition. This year's winners get a performance slot at Bumbershoot, a live on-air performance on 107.7 The End, two days of recording studio time, gear, advice, and more.

D'Angelo Busted for Soliciting Sex

R&B singer D'Angelo was popped in New York's West Village on March 6 after allegedly offering an undercover policewoman $40 for oral sex. D'Angelo, who reportedly had $12,000 squirreled away in the SUV he was driving at time, was arrested and charged with solicitation. In a statement, he said he pleaded not guilty, intends to fight the charge and asks that people "let the justice system resolve the matter before jumping to any conclusions." Of course, we will honor his wishes, but c'mon, dude, 40 bucks? Oops...

Animal Collective Movie Screening in Seattle

In the wake of the Oscars, we have plenty of movie news in this edition of the Word. On March 30, Animal Collective and director Danny Perez will present two screenings of their movie Oddsac at the Egyptian Theatre. Described as a "visual album," Oddsac will feature new AC music and visuals, and members of the band and Perez will be on hand at the screening. Buy tickets here.

Neil Young Trunk Show Out This Month

Jonathan Demme's concert film of Neil Young's 2007 Chrome Dreams II tour will finally see the light of day this month. Filmed during two shows in Pennsylvania, the Neil Young Trunk Show will be screened in eleven US cities, including Seattle, where it is scheduled to roll at the Varsity Theatre on March 19. According to the press release, "There are delicately offered acoustic numbers like 'Sad Movies' and 'Mexico'; mesmerizing electric travelogues into the artist's psyche ('No Hidden Path'); searing, chaotic anthems including 'Like a Hurricane' and 'Cinnamon Girl'; and rarely performed pieces like 'Kansas' and 'Ambulance Blues' that provide glimpses of Young's less public persona."

Flaming Lips Planning New Film

Flaming Lips leader Wayne Coyne is beginning work on a new Flaming Lips movie, but on a somewhat smaller scale than 2008's Christmas on Mars, which took a mere seven years to make. Coyne tells Billboard, "My only goal was that I didn't have to build space station-looking sets every time I wanted to have someone say something, only because I built those sets myself every time we shot something for Christmas on Mars over the seven years we took to make it. This one is set in someone's house and in a back yard and in a slaughterhouse; all those are available to me right here, so I don't have to build everything this time." Coyne also revealed that he plans to get celebrities ("real actors") involved, and that he's currently in the process of begging Justin Timberlake to be a part of the flick. Man, just the thought of seeing JT bustin' moves in a slaughterhouse is totally making my day!

The Complete Spin, Now On Google Books

OK, so it ain't Creem or Crawdaddy or even Rolling Stone, but now anyone with an Internet connection can read every issue of Spin magazine for free on Google Books....and that's kinda cool! Check it out here.