Impractical Cockpit

Continuing my list of music I picked up last month on Record Store Day is an album by a New Orleans group Impractical Cockpit called, To Be Treated. This one I got from my third stop at Everyday music (Downtown Portland location). Because I had been living in California for 14 months I have not had the chance to go record shopping since back in Portland, Everyday Music had changed their whole store around. The checkout area had moved, the genres moved, pretty much the only thing that seemed to be in the same place was the classical music section and the listening station. I did my rounds, looking through the electronic music section first, select artists in the Hip-Hop section, and then ventured my way to the Experimental vinyl section after browsing through the Record Sore Day releases. Here in the Experimental section I found Impractical Cockpit. I had never heard of this band though supposedly they have released five albums before To Be Treated, the one I stumbled upon. The listening station had a line, and I did not feel like waiting, so for $6.00 I decided to give it a try based on it's cover and it saying on the vinyl it self that it featured a track with a trumpet, I love trumpet! I am split on this album, most of it is grungy, crappy singing, and simple drum beats. On the other hand, there is wonderful noise, beautiful soundscapes, and some fun randomness. The most abstract yet my favorite of the album is called North 41° 53' 0" - Longitude: West 70° 45" 46' some noise and other weird sounds, while a small group of people yell out what seems to be random numbers, you can listen to that song and some of their other, here. There is defiantly way better noise and experimental music out there. I would not recommend this record to anyone at least not as a great release. But for six dollars it was worth the risk and from the enjoyment I get from North 41° 53' 0" - Longitude: West 70° 45" 46', I am happy.

Also at Everyday Music that day I picked up the Quakers album I blogged about weeks ago "They're here to shake the foundations". I was super excited for the instrumental versions and they did not disappoint. But I must say I was pleasantly impressed by the originals as well. Great album, plus I found the double CD for $8.50 used!

Portland Cello Project

The Portland Cello Project's Record Store Day release Homage is amazing! Plus it is on orange marble vinyl and limited to 350 copies worldwide. I stopped at Music Millennium early in the morning and could barely make it upstairs to the vinyl section. The already narrow aisles of the store had now turned into squirming, snaking, lines of music lovers all waiting to purchase the music they had carefully yet hurriedly selected. After browsing the vinyl for a few minutes I realized I did not want to stand in the ever growing line that was already at least a forty-five minutes long. Because of this, I passed up on the Portland Cello Project (PCP) vinyl as well a few other selections, assuming that I would find them elsewhere. After visiting Anthem Records, Everyday Music (which I figured would have PCP), I was lucky enough to get one of the last copies at Jackpot Records. I am excited I found it, it was the only record on my list that I really "needed". It is that good. Portland Cello Project has three other albums on Compact Disc, Homage is their first on vinyl. A non-limited version of the vinyl, plus a CD copy can be found on their web store. PCP's style is based on upon the idea of playing cellos in a way your normally wouldn't hear cellos being played. For Homage specifically the idea was to interrupt Hip-Hop instrumentals. On this album a few of the songs they tackle are by OutKast, Talib Kweli, even Lil Wayne's hit Lollipop is covered. Most of the songs stick to the original, however certain tracks take on a life of their own and you would never realize it was a play on another song. Many of the songs feature drums, trombones and other orchestra like instruments. PCP's crew is always changing depending on who is available for tour, and it is rumored that they have over 900 songs to choose from when they play shows, therefore no show is ever the same set. Earlier this month they played a concert of Pantera covers exclusively. I could go on and on about the group, but if you would like ore info about Portland Cello Project it can be found here and here. Homage, best buy of the year so far, will probably finish out the year as the best buy.
Next review will be on John Haughm.