I hit up the great indie record shop Stinkweeds on Saturday. And I found the new Half-Handed Cloud (aka John Ringhofer) What’s the Remedy? EP on Asthmatic Kitty, which features Sufjan Stevens’ assistance. Hallelujah! Judging by my Web stats, getting Sufjan’s name into posts is a boon for traffic.

The EP has five tracks (Sufjan) on a 7″ vinyl (Sufjan) with pretty cool cover art (Sufjan). From Asthmatic Kitty:

“In addition to lots of piano, they both sing, play organ (including its foot pedal bass notes), and occasional acoustic guitar. Sufjan recorded the drums on another day. He created and tracked some additional embellishments (toy piano, banjo, recorder flute, tambourine) a few months after that, and sent the results to John. John was pleased–he trusts Sufjan’s ears pretty well!”

All Sufjan, all the time. Glorious! By the way, I ripped these tracks immediately after taking off the shrinkwrap, thus avoiding the dreaded dust on the vinyl. The longest track on this EP is 2:16. Amazing.

And this post is dedicated to my boy Justin at Aquarium Drunkard, who gave me a major shout-out in his Q&A with Muzzle of Bees. Go get to know him!

(In case anyone was wondering, I use this turntable for my rips.)

Half-Handed Cloud | I Got a Letter
Half-Handed Cloud | Here’s a List

OK, so we’re a little (read: a lot) drunk. It’s 2:42 a.m. and we’re ripping records with my wife and my boy Royce and drinking vokda/gin and tonics. We had sushi and we’re digging in the 45s.

So, this Otis Redding 45 has all sorts of crackling and excellent analog warmth. Love it. You like the crackling. You do. We’re drunk. You like Kriss Kross, too.

By the way, the Iron and Wine/Calexico concert was recorded from NPR. Those mp3s are coming soon. Very soon.

Otis Redding | (Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay
Kris Kross | Warm it Up (Dupri’s Mix)
New Edition | Cool it Now

Wow. A man doesn’t post for one night, and the traffic takes a noticeable drop. OK, I get it. I can take a hint. Sheesh.

Anyway, my new cartridge/stylus came in the mail last week from KAB, a great and helpful resource for all things phonograph. At the advice of KAB’s guru, I picked up the Stanton Discmaster II, which is modified with a hi-fi elliptical stylus, for my Technics 1200. Yes, I’ve totally geeked out.

But this comes with benefits for you, like more vinyl-to-mp3 conversions. The new cartridge/stylus combo is a big improvement in sound. The only downside is some of the pops and clicks seem more pronounced.

That said, here are the first two conversions with the new setup. The first is from a Soul Meets Body 45 that I got as a random freebie at my local Zia. The second is the b-side to a 12″ single for Bloc Party’s Tulips, which was part of an excellent birthday gift from my brother and his wife.

Death Cab for Cutie | Jealousy Rides With Me
Bloc Party | Tulips (club version)

Any record hunter will tell you that persistence pays off. And I struck a little gold mine when I was shopping last week at Zia Records in Phoenix. I found a few 45s on the cheap, including a Kaiser Chiefs single for I Predict a Riot. There were two copies, each at 99 cents. I bought both.

The B-side, Take My Temperature, is actually kind of ironic. Vocalist Ricky Wilson sings: “You can take my temperature because I’m 100 degrees in the shade.” In Austin at the ACL Festival, it was Wilson who damn near passed out (see below photo) after their fantastic set because of the oppressive heat. Seems like a fitting tune.

Kaiser Chiefs | Take My Temperature

Today I have a blind taste test for you. I’m trying to perfect (or at least improve) my vinyl-to-mp3 conversions. To do so, I have to use an external sound card because my Mac lacks a line-in port.

I have been using the Griffin iMic. But my boy Royce has turned me on to the M-Audio line, especially this bad boy. The price difference is extreme, but I think it probably parallels the sound difference, too.

This is where you, my loyal reader, comes in. I converted two tracks twice apiece — using the iMic for one and the M-Audio for the other. Would you be so kind as to sample both tracks and leave a reply as to which sounds better? You get something out of this. For starters, a pretty f-ing cool Jungle Bros. B-side from a 1989 45 for Beyond This World. And you’ll get high-quality vinyl tracks delivered to you in mp3 format in the future.

Just vote No. 1 or 2 for each test. Or perhaps you can’t tell the difference. Any comments would be appreciated.

Thanks!

1.) Flaming Lips | She Don’t Use Jelly (from 45 single)
2.) Flaming Lips | She Don’t Use Jelly

1.) Jungle Bros. | Promo No. 2 (Mind Review ’89)
2.) Jungle Bros. | Promo No. 2 (Mind Review ’89)

Patrick Carney kills it at ACL.
If Chris, Dodge or I didn’t get our point across from our ACL reviews, let me say it again: The Black Keys are g-damn ridiculously cool. I’ve spent a lot of time with Rubber Factory after we were lucky enough to see them twice in three days in Austin.

Even better, I found their album The Big Come Up on white vinyl a couple of months ago in Los Angeles. The record includes a “vinyl only” track, No Fun (which I believe later has popped up on a CD single for The Moan).

Since the glow of ACL hasn’t worn off yet, I converted this track into an mp3 for your listening enjoyment.

The Black Keys | No Fun
The Black Keys | Heavy Soul (alternate version)

Do I really need to say anything to preface this one? We all liked Word Up — yeah, I’m talking to you. The synthesizer overload reeks of the ’80s, and Larry Blackmon’s nasaly and somewhat over-the-top vocal style was more than slightly irritating. Yet here I am, posting on it. What the hell did the song mean anyway? “Word Up everybody say / when you hear the call you’ve got to get it on your way.” And apparently it was the “code word”; for what, I’m not exactly sure. If any Cameo fans would care to enlighten us …

What I really like about this 45 single is the B-side, Urban Warrior. It seemed like a grab at street cred with the old-school beat and lyrical stylings. Love the dramatic chorus: “He’s an urban warrior.”

Alas, All Music has everything you wanted to know about Cameo but were afraid to ask.

Cameo | Word Up
Cameo | Urban Warrior