A couple of weeks ago I heard an interview with the founders of a new LP subscription here in NZ, Restless Soul. Each month they send an album to subscribers. You don’t know what it will be and can’t return it except if damaged, so have to trust it will be something cool.
I signed up for a year. My first record arrived today: Arlo Parks - Collapsed In Sunbeams.
Very cool! A new artist to me. Nice collection of bits in the package, as it’s my first.
I used to work in a CD shop in the 90s. Occasionally, a punter would ask us to choose a selection of CDs for them, just something new to me, they’d say, any genre. I’ve always enjoyed surprises from people since, books, etc. Part of receiving a gift is understanding what made someone choose it for you and I guess this is a bit like that.
The founders say their plans are one day to have a physical store at which subscribers could perhaps swap unwanted records or that sort of thing. And maybe facilitate online contract to help with that. Meanwhile I’m happy to take a punt, lucky that I have the money to give it a go.
No. I guess they’d need a pretty sizeable subscriber base to accommodate this. For now it’s a way to get exposed to music you might not otherwise hear. That’s actually exactly what appeals to me about it.
No, although they apparently want a store someday. I think the general idea is that they select one album each month, buy lots of copies and distribute it. Aiming to support relatively lesser known artists.
Two records today to catch up the delivery delayed by Auckland’s recent lockdown.
Avantdale Bowling Club - Avantdale Bowling Club
Hip-hop/jazz album by Tom Scott from 2018. I remember this getting a lot of attention on release, and I’ve it this on my must listen list for a while but tonight’s the first time I’ve actually heard it. It’s a strong album. Excellent musicians, clever and quite confronting lyrics. Recommended.
Amyl and the Sniffers - Comfort To Me
I’d never heard of this group. They are described as "an Australian pub rock and punk rock band based in Melbourne. Too late to listen tonight, I’ll let you know what I think over the weekend!
