IT Came from Kickstarter: Strange Kids Club Magazine #5

There were few things cooler growing up then being the owner of a Mad or Cracked Magazine. Possessing one was like owning a Playboy (for those who truly didn't understand what a Playboy was) and sneaking Cracked into school was like...sneaking crack into school. We imagined that the manic energy and childish parody contained within the pages was the secret formula to incite anarchy onto the patriarchal school administration.

Yeah, we didn't know anything but Mad and Cracked were still cool. Strange Kids Club has tried to re-create that zany and anti-authoritative tone with a healthy dose of nostalgia through  their publication SKC Magazine. On this, their fifth issue, they tackle that cherished trope that we all from the last two decades can identify with:

Afternoon Live-Action Adventure Shows.  

Brazil Connection #3 - Pin Ups

This week we are going to talk about a classic Brazilian indie band, instead of a current one. This is the first time I do that, and probably won't be the last. And there's no better way to start talking about the past than with the band that started it all, at least as far as I'm concerned: Pin Ups.

Pin Ups, ca. 1993(?)

The band, which started out in 1987, certainly wasn't the first Brazilian independent act, but it was arguably the first in a certain scene, one that was never named but left its mark on many people, many of which have bands today. A scene of guitar-driven bands who sang in English and sounded like they'd just come from London, Manchester, or New York. It was a scene that was ahead of its time, taking cues from influences that were known to very few at the time, trailing a path that would later be taken by many.

Pop Culture Enamel Pins from Clark Orr Design Co.

 I recently have gotten into collecting lapel pins. Yeah, that thing that was once saved for politicians and obsessive Disney fans has become the new Patch Game. So when I heard that Clark Orr Design Co. had released some pop culture centered pins I had to take note and I was not disappointed.

Now, Clark Orr has been unleashing amazing design and brand work for quite some time now, most of it with a heaping helping of popular culture, but for the most part his own personal output has been in the print and sticker field with small runs of stylish t-shirt designs and cool things like 'The Goonies' sport pendents.

So I was going through my Instagram feed one day and found out about Clark's most release. One thing lead to another and I had ordered one of the coolest designed enamel pins ever. Being that Clark Orr is located almost in my backyard turnaround was super short and behold what I received.

Teaser Trailer Tuesday: Batman Vs Superman IMAX Teaser

M.E. Strange here. I've been trying to get the man named Quit to write on the blog FOREVER. There is no man who has his pulse on upcoming pop culture like Quit so when he told me about the special Batman vs Superman IMAX trailer that he was able to go to I begged him post about it. Hopefully this the first in a long line of posts from him. Let him finish it off...

Brazil Connection #2 - Lê Almeida

I consider myself a fairly eclectic person. If you browse through my Last.fm profile, you will see I have played music by many different artists, each with their own distinct sound, and I can say I at least like about 95% of those. Still, some things just speak to us so directly that every time we hear something like that, we are instantly grabbed. To me, that’s good pop music played with loud guitars.

When I started liking music “for real”, I started listening to indie guitar bands from the 90’s. Nirvana probably started it all for me, and from thereon I got into Pavement, Dinosaur Jr., Guided by Voices, Yo La Tengo, and what not. It helped that at the time the Brazilian MTV had a great show dedicated to bands like that. It would go on at 2, 3 AM, but I would watch it, every chance I got. The beautiful pop melodies led by distorted, many times roughly recorded guitars fascinated me. As I started to learn English, I also fell in love with the lyrics of most of those songs. And that’s still going strong to this day.

When I first listened to Lê Almeida’s music, I could relate to it instantly, I could tell this was someone who was into that same stuff. And he was good! Immediately I thought of Guided By Voices. The melodies, the lo-fi, DIY ethos, it was all there. And indeed, I later discovered that Robert Pollard is a major influence on Almeida.

Lê Almeida started his own independent record label in 2004, Transfusão Noise Records, out of the backyard of a small house in a Rio de Janeiro suburb. He would record his own music and friends’ bands right out on the yard, under a blue canvas. They would together records that from the beginning showed how much care went into them, inside and out.

Ten years later, Transfusão Noise moved into a building in downtown Rio de Janeiro, where they continue to record lo-fi records, as well as promote shows and other activities. They have an impressive catalog of releases, all by other excellent guitar-driven acts. Almeida himself plays on many of them as well.

His latest LP, Paraleloplasmos, just came out recently, and was recorded at the new space. The change of setting did change Lê Ameida’s music: it seems to have opened the possibility for more experimentation, with more instruments and some new tricks. Underneath it all, however, the spirit is still the same: the guitar is still loud and the hooks will still get you. And although non-Portuguese speakers won’t know it, his lyrics are even better this time around; full of honesty and emotion. The last track of the record, Lindomavel, is a little masterpiece, both lyrically and musically.

But even those who don’t speak Portuguese will have a great time with Le Almeida’s music. He has a knack for creating pop melodies and dressing them up in distortion that should appeal to anyone who loves that kind of music. If you like any of the bands I’ve mentioned here, you owe it to yourself to give it a listen. Paraleloplasmos is being released in the US via Lost Sound Tapes and Jigsaw Records. You can also get his released on Bandcamp. 

Here's a couple of my favourite tracks, one from each of his LPs:

Record Store Day 2015 Live!

  

6:40 AM

Well once again that time of the year has come and I once again ask myself: "Why the hell am I doing this." Sure, I could be asleep in my bed with my lovely life partner or dog. Perhaps waking late to drink craft press pot coffee while watching old Law & Order episodes. Maybe we decide to go get breakfast at a small bistro just off the way. Soufflé eggs with Frech pastries. Where am I instead? Standing in a line 100 deep on the side of a busy road waiting for my local record store to open, hoping that the one limited LP I desire won't be snatched up only to end up on Ebay an hour later for four times its retail price. 

Yes, it's Record Store Day. 

For those of you not in the know this is the annual celebration of returned physical media when independent record stores sell specially made releases of all variety. Due to the small printing size of some of these releases waiting lines begin up to 10 hours before opening in some locations. My record store, Park Ave CDs in Orlando, is one of those. Last year I had a...unpleasant experience with camping out, so this year I decided to rise before the sun and get in line where Fate falls. Here's how it fell...

Mind you that's not my record store but the gas station down the street. *sigh*. 

One hour till opening, hours left in line. I'll keep posting as best I can. Till then...

7:33 AM

One thing that is, thankfully, great about overnight lines is that once everyone starts rousting from a unpleasant nice sleep the line gets shorter. The polite personal space that many have cultivated is abandoned for desperate closeness. You are now standing in a Disney line and one thing that Floridians know what to do is stand in Disney lines (make cheap meth is the other). 

At this point you may be wondering, "Hey Strange, what are you looking to get?" 

MIND OUR OWN DAMN BUISNESS!!! 

Sorry...no sleep. I will be more then happy to post images of my haul when it's safely at the secret volcano fort but until then I will remain tight-lipped. 

Why? Easy, fear. You don't talk about your vinyl list in line not because you have a fear that someone in front of you will take your one holy grail. No, you keep your list secret in your heart because of a irrational fear that by saying your dream picks outloud will make them disappear. 

It's completely silly and unscientific, if they are only so many records in a set you will not get them if you are later in line, but this is largely a game of hope. Hope that someone will overlook something. Hope that your taste is too obscure to prove fatal. Hope that maybe you will get that one-in-a-thousand release. 

It's a lie, but a pretty lie. 

8:05 AM

The doors have opened and the first customers are having their way with he fresh, prestine copies of beautiful LPs. 

This is the worst part of RSD. It's the long wait as you slowly begin to panic. You imagine every single one of your picks stolen away. All your waiting, the purpose for standing for three plus hours, will be for nothing. To paraphrase Comic Book Guy, you have wasted your life. 

And the sun is out now. 

Screw Florida summers.  

9:00 AM

30 deep now to the door. This line has moved faster ten any RSD line I have waited in. I had my doubts about getting up this morning an getting in line, but things are working out pretty good. Maybe luck will indeed smile on me...but I doubt it.

The thing is, I have no "Need" albums this year. Everything falls into that "I could own this but can live without" category. This makes the stress so much easier.

Last year I got in line so early for the Glow-in-the-Dark ParaNorman OST from Mondo. Three hours away from the "unpleasntness" I decide to spark a conversation with my line neighbor. We exchange niceties and such which eventually leads to what we're planning to pick up once inside. This was my mistake. He proceeded to tell me how not only was he going to get the only copy of ParaNorman (I already knew he was going to get in before me) but that his ultimate endgame was to flip it later online. 

Here's the thing about flippers, we all hate them. The second market for vinyl is down right demonic at times with flippers quoting hundreds of dollars on promised LPs. Records that they don't even own yet. But here's the thing: we make the market. We give the flippers money and make this sinister deed stronger. It's like paying ransom or blackmail. This all, or course, is my humble opinion.

This no sleep is really starting to kick in. 

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Teaser

So, this happened today...