Groups that made you say WOW!!!

The Ventures
Primus
Modest Mouse

Modest Mouse isn't too bad. For me, their stuff is either really good or really bad.

I gotta add Jack Johnson.
I love his laid back style.

And also a couple obscure ones that I got to see live in smaller venues, where they make a big impression.
Dread Clampett (Fort Walton Beach FL, gritty bluegrass style)
Mudcat (Atlanta, hard driving blues)

How I left the Lee Morgan Quintet's "Live at the Lighthouse" (1970) off my original response to this, heaven only knows. Either I WASN'T thinking or WAS drinking. Or both.

Ever want to flashback to 1985? Me neither.... but damn if this song doesn't take me there. Fitz & the Tantrums, (She's) Out of My League (2012)....

Love retro, especially when done well.... so infectious you may need penicillin.

http://a.tumblr.com/tumblr_mhxiu9J3CU1rp5mq4o1.mp3

Ty, that song is pretty good!

Here is one that is a few years old but that I like a lot:

Did not know about this collaboration between James Mercer & Danger Mouse, thanks Jamie.

Is that a nod to Grant Lee Buffalo I hear?

Thanks Ty, to be honest, I had no idea who those guys were... just liked the song. Of course, I had heard of Danger Mouse and listened to the Gorillaz... just not that good with studying the names of these guys. In fact, I was an earlier listener of The Shins... I bought "Oh, Inverted World" when it came out in 2001. I hadn't even listened to the CD before I bought it. I just liked the cover and there was a synopsis of the CD written below. Back then we had a cool music store called Other Music in Harvard Sq. It still exists in NYC, I think. Other Music only carried indie music and stuff like that and never the popular sh*t. So it was really cool and you could go and listen to all the cool sh*t at the same time. Great service, too. But they got taken out by Amazon and also by a chain called Newbury Comics which still exists but started carrying the same stuff for two bucks cheaper.

It sucks because Harvard Sq. used to be cool and have all these small stores like Other Music, but now there is very little left. Just a bunch of chains. There is one cool remaining bookstore and that is it. Well, there is my gripe for the day.

Sorry to hear of the loss of yet another indie store. Those types of places are gold, and a dying breed.

Same in Ellensburg... Rodeo Records was the place in town here. Not like it sounds, "we have both kinds of music; country and western." Instead, Mark Pickerel, former drummer of the Screaming Trees owned and operated that place. Awesome store with a MASSIVE vinyl selection, everything from early blues & jazz 78's to the latest indie releases. I'd go in there, thumb threw records/CD's and just listen to their selections of the day. Best DJ's in town.

They also used to host shows in the back of the store. Remember seeing the Reverend Horton Heat there in 1992. The store closed a few years back, and no one has replaced it. Just big boxes with bad artists.

miss the warm sound of vinyl, like tea with honey going down your throat.

There are so many reasons to prefer vinyl to CD's or digital files. They have to be cared for, practically LOVED. I've seen CD's used for ashtrays and they still play. I was hurt when my Man or Astromans' 10" Glow-In-The-Dark vinyl was warped due to overexposure to a light source, and now wobbles like a drunk on a barstool. I can tell you when my Nirvana "Dive" 45 was scratched, and by whom, and that I still hold a grudge.

It's a different medium and many don't get it, but many more don't know what they're missing.

Quan's got the Rocket Ismail card going. That sh*t is sick. Those were the days, man, those WERE the days.

(also I hated how the message board is editing profanities with an asterisk now. what's wrong with a little foul language? spices things up a bit.)

Records are neat and I guess I don't know what I am missing. I recently received a Bose portable speaker as a birthday gift and it kicks butt for such a tiny speaker. I use Pandora via bluetooth and that is quite a modern system. But it does lack the organic feel of a record player.

if you're discussing rock n roll and vinyls...a little profanity is not only essential, but necessary! my first vinyl was pearl jam's TEN. i used to belong to their TEN members fanclub where they'd mail you a vinyl record every xmas, not sure if they're still doing that. no idea where that record player is now since i got married, think i sold it during a garage sale a few years back  .

..and YES raghib rocket ismail was the man, he was probably solely responsible for notre dame's 30yr contract with NBC. sadly his brother the missile quadry had more of an nfl career. i was a big domer but they died for me during the ron paulus era.