You probably thought we ditched our computers, seeing as our last entry was when we were only just starting to watch season 1 of Designing Women on DVD. Now we've finished our obsession with the Sugarbaker Women and it's time to get back on track. Actually, we had a computer meltdown here at Missing Link and have only just begun to have reliable computer access again, we're sorry for leaving you for awhile but baby, we're back.
AFROBEAT AIRWAVES
Come shake a tailfeather for this special night of boiling hot Afrobeat. Featuring solo sets by Matt n' Adam, the madness of King Maxwell, but our special surprise is the addition of our guest dj. All the way from the island of Wales, we are lucky to be hosting a longtime U.K. cratedigger and dj, Mr. Ian Pope. Traveling up the coast with his wife, he's agreed to stop off and play a set with us. Tickets are at the door and are five dollars, show starts at 9pm.
Ok everybody, our 3rd annual American Roots celebration is set for July 7th and we're gearing up for a big one. Not only are we excited to have the wonderful folks from HUMBOLDT HOT DOGS coming to feed y'all but this year, we're renting a giant fan so we don't sweat ourselves silly! Tickets are on sale now at Missing Link Records for $10, with $12 tickets available at the door. Beer will be there if you've got your IDs handy and, as we mentioned, there will be food right out front. We're lighting this candle at 8pm, with doors at around 7:30, so take a nap if you have to, because you wont want to miss a minute of the fun. Here is peek at this year's line up...
You've boogied down at Soul Night to the sounds of Missing Link Records' owners Adam Pokorski & Matt Jackson, now watch as they set the turntables to 78 and blast you with a set of old fashioned dance music. "If you ain't right, get right."
Formed in the fogs of Humboldt County in the spring of 2008, the No Good Redwood Ramblers came together as a ragtag musicians with a common love of the jug. Along with captivating local audiences, their cover of 'The Storms are on the Ocean' has been featured on the compilation album "America Salutes the Carter Family."
The Blackberry Bushes are a Contemporary Stringband from the rain-drenched forests of Olympia, Washington. They take a bluegrass instrumentation, draw from the deep roots of American folk music and add influences from Bluegrass, Appalachian old-time, Indie Rock, jazz, and pop.
A mix of old-time, gypsy, bluegrass, jazz, Irish and ragtime, this eclectic, acoustic dance band plays everything from Appalachian Hymns to Harlem Swing. After blowing the doors clean off Humboldt audiences at this year's Summer Arts Festival, their driving back up from Oakland just to serve you all a second taste.
Growing up listening to Tom Waits, Hank Williams Sr., and the Avett Brothers, these ambitious youngsters combine the best of the old and new to make bonafide foot stomping roots music with a flurry of beards, howling harmonies, and raucous, break-neck banjo licks.
He's been called "a one-man folk revival" by NPR but 26 year old Frank Fairfield seems to buck that notion, instead seeing himself simply as curator of the rich history of American popular music. Playing fiddle, banjo, guitar, as well as his signature foot stomp, this young man can make even the staunchest arm-crossing audience members begin to hoop and holler.
Oooh chile it's almost April and things are heatin' up as the shop prepares to turn another year older (CUE APPLAUSE). We've been riding the crest of a wave what with the whirlwind of Soul Night, Seun Kuti, Frank Fairfield AND Orgone, only to discover the goatload of things we have planned for April staring us right in the face! Expect us to be checking in ALOT over the coming weeks to tell you all about in-stores, music events and what we'll have planned for Record Store Day 5. Since we opened the doors what seems so long ago we've been your town stop for Record Store Day shenanigans. Expect us to keep it up the tradition again this year, pouring over all the emails and lists, whittling out the useless re-issues and fake rarities in order to bringing you a spit shined silver platter this April 21st. For starters though, here's a taste of what's to come for us here at Missing Link.
RABBIT FOOT DUO - INSTORE APRIL 3RD 7PM We've started planning on this year's Jefferson State Old TIme Revue and that means the roots and country records have creeped back into our listening piles again and we find the fiddles and banjoes fighting the horns and strings for airplay. In an effort to promote this battle for musical concentration, we've invited the Rabbit Foot Duo to come down all the way from the far off city of Portland to entertain you. Friends of Arcata's latest musical transplant Corey Goldman (who together with Colin Vance make up Arcata's newest variation on the Smothers Brothers), the team of Sally Jablonsky and Lynne Piper are formerly of the Rabbit Foot Stringband started back in 2009. Now on their own, the two multi-instrumentalists sing hamonies while performing old country songs, traditional folk songs, bluegrass standards & their own original material. Take a listen by clicking HERE.
BEACH BALL AT ATL - APRIL 7TH A benefit for Friends of the Dunes & Humboldt Surfrider, join us after Arts Alive the first Saturday in April for the 2nd annual Beach Ball. We're packing up a set full of classic soul, RnB and surf goodies alongside DJ Red and Humboldt's own Grass Band. It's a chance for us to pull out some of the more garage-y dance numbers in our crates and we can't wait. With door prizes, a light show and enough room for those of you who might have been skunked out of our last Soul Night, the Beach Ball is $10 in advance and $15 at the door and starts at 7pm. TIckets are available right here at the shop!
A NOTE TO OUR SOUL NIGHT FANS Speaking of those who got skunked out of this month's Soul Night, we'd like to apologize to you for not being able to get in, we wish everyone could fit inside and dance with us but it isn't physically possible. So when the sold out sign comes up, please don't ask one of the managers, or the performers to try and sneak you in or work some kind of door magic, at that point there isn't anything they can do. The next soul night will be April 20th....yes that 420...and yes we probably will break out the fog machine.
Also, we've been listening to feedback from the community & the venue and we've hit an impass. Each night seems to be selling out earlier and more and more people are getting turned away. We love doing Soul Night at HUMBREWS and, until we learn magic, the room won't get any bigger. So, we're going to be printing advance tickets to ensure that those of you who can't get there at 9 for one reason or another won't have to worry so much. That being said, the other suggestion has been to raise the door price by a few dollars in an attempt to deter some of incoming crowd. These dollars, we've all decided, would go towards making more elaborate door prizes, light shows, james brown masks/fans and other ante-upping ideas but of course, we're hesitant to ask anyone for more money to come see our five asses geek out onstage. Seeing as this is just as much your party as it is ours, we thought we'd open the discussion up and ask you all what you think. Would you fret at paying more knowing that advance tickets would stay at the five funky dollars? Is the $5 price tag an indivisible part of what makes this party so special? Would you pay a little more if it might increase the chances of spots left at the door? Do you think it would work? Inquiring minds want to know...
APRIL 28th AT HSU Man oh man are we excited for this show, we even washed our hoodies so we wouldn't look like slobs in from of the Turn Keys (Waterhouse's band). April 28th at the Depot will be the amazing Nick Waterhouse. Many of you have already had us harangue you about listening to this guy's music and even some of you went out and found the 45 but please EVERYBODY get out and catch this show. Beyond the fact that it's five dollars, it's also free for students meaning it might very well might sell out before you can get there, just like Charles Bradley did. Don't miss your chance to witness live and in stereophonic sound the power of rock saxophone.
RECORD STORE DAY - SO IT BEGINS
This is our first little alert about the day the will not speak its name just to tell you a few reminders of the rules. 1. NOT ALL STORES WILL GET WHAT THEY ORDER We all order the same time from the same guys and some ancient Babylonian goddess gets to decide who will receive the Phish Box sets. 2. WE CANNOT RESERVE ANYTHING FOR YOU All items are put out that morning and are first come first serve, we also encourage you to limit the amount of an item you grab to 2 in order to give everyone a chance to get something. 3. WE DON'T CARE WHAT THE WEBSITE SAYS We ARE a participating store for record store day, have been since we opened, but that does not mean that since we are listed on some website that we are definitely getting a title you are hoping for (no store can say that with certainty until orders are shipped), or any of the promotional material that they might be listing (that is unless you ponied up the dough and did the right dance in front of the volcano). 4. WE OFFER SPECIAL RELEASES & LIMITED STUFF ALL YEAR LONG As our friends at Aquarius Records in San Francisco pointed out, you can come down to your local record store ANY day of the year and find some amazing rare and limited stuff in our bins...and you don't even have to wait for the third week of April to do it.
CHARLES BRADLEY HELPS US RE-DISCOVER NIRVANA Coming soon from the fine folks at Daptone, the cover that made you wet during the sound checks of their last tour, Mister Bradley and the Menehan Street Band originally took on this tune for a SPIN magazine tribute to the Seattle giants and the cover shone so brilliantly that it had to be pressed on wax like lightning has to be trapped in a jar.
THAT'S ALL FOR NOW FOLKS keep diggin' those crates, --Matt n' Adam.
WE HAVE OUR STREET BACK O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! Construction has finally finished up out front and we are ecstatic about being able to once again lollygag out front smoking cigarettes. Come down and check out the result of two months of heinous construction.
SOUL NIGHT AT HUMBREWS A ginormous thanks to all 152 of you who came out to support the Missing Link's Got Soul Night. We had an amazing time and can't wait to do it all over again. To the people who asked us for a copy of our set...sorry but honestly, we don't remember since everything was done on the fly. Come on back for our next night, tentatively set for the Saturday after Thanksgiving featuring JAYMORG - King Maxwell - MANTEASE & MATT n ADAM, what a perfect way to work off that extra helping of yams. SOULED OUT AT BLONDIE'S If you missed your chance to dance to the soul at Humbews, either because you weren't 21 or you had to work, get yourself a second shot at Blondie's this November 11th. Hosted by DJ Spaceman Spliff, and featuring JAYMORG, Adam n' Matt, we'll be setting the wheels in motion for this all-ages fandango around 9pm. P.S. there is beer P.S.S. you must pay for said beer.
INSTORE WITH THE DAPPER CADAVERS Check out their page by clicking here. November 26th join us for an evening of traditional bluegrass, old time and original songwriting with Portland's The Dapper Cadavers. The Dapper Cadavers consists of Hazel Rickard on vocals, guitar, and banjo, Tom Fenollosa on upright bass, Kyle Butz, on guitar and banjo, and Will Munger on fiddle, and perform a classic mix of American folk and dance genres highlighted by the original songwriting of lead vocalist and Arcata native, Hazel. After five years of recording and performing in the United States and having just returned from a summer touring in Europe, They now excitedly return to the West Coast in support of our most recent EP, "Regarde," recorded in A Coruña, Spain, in June of this year. The show starts at 5:00pm and as always is all ages and no cover.
MISSING LINK PRESENTS "SHUT THE F@#K UP: an evening with frank fairfield" So the last few times Frank has come to town we always end up hearing bellyaching the whole rest of the week about how loud the crowd was, the feedback issues or just that the crowd was slightly too bro-ish. To address these elitist concerns we're tickled pink to be hosting a night with Frank here at the shop. This will be a not-to-be-missed, all-ages, suggested donation show with limited room. The catch is you have to shut the f#$k up and let Frank do his thing or you will be asked to leave. Starting at 7:30 on either November 15th or 17th, you can call to get more info or hold your reservations at 707-826-0590.
BRIAN WOIDA PREPARES FOR UPCOMING SHOW! Over the last year or so, local artist barista and DJ Brian Woida has been making record nerds everywhere jealous with his art. His record album photos has gone from prints to tapestries and even skateboards, so what's the logical next step? start making your own covers. At the end of November, First Street Gallery in Eureka will be hosting Brian's latest work featuring album covers he re-created using his own photos. Each record is a laborious work of art, created with painstaking detail, and comes packaged with a screened artist statement plus a randomly selected poster showing other works from the collection. According to Brian, there will be an original copy as well as two prints of each album scattered within the installation, people are encouraged to dig through them all in search of the one they're after but since the records are sealed you'll need a careful eye to tell the prints from the original. Check out his photo album here.
SHARON JONES TO RELEASE "SOUL TIME" FOR BLACK FRIDAY Why has Black Friday suddenly become a reason for limited vinyl releases? We don't rightly know but like you we're wringing our hands towards the sky and cursing whomever came up with this alt-record store day event. We have to admit though, one good thing coming of this is a new(ish) release from Sharon Jones and her super team of musicians. Soul Time is a kind of rare comp. featuring tracks from singles, compilations and bonus tracks from online vendors. While only one of the songs seems to be completely new, for those who've bought all the other studio albums this is a great collection you could only previously enjoy by being a diehard completist.
EL REGO, BENIN'S GODFATHER OF FUNK. It seems like every order that comes in, there's one record that just sweeps in and dominates our turntable for at least a week and this week it is, without a doubt, El Rego. Brought to us by Frank Gossner of Voodoo Funk via the always fabulous Daptone Records, El Rego is packed full of painfully deep, beautifully slow brain melting funk. First heard by us on Analog Africa's 2008 compilation African Scream Contest, Benin's Theophile Do Rego looms large among the lost giants of the West African funk scene. Filled with fatback bass lines and James brown style " Unghhs" and "Ahhs." This record is not to be slept on. On top of being an unstoppable collection of funk, this Lp comes with a bonus download AND a 45 single to play on the go!
RADIO MOSCOW - "THE GREAT ESCAPE OF LESLIE MAGNAFUZZ" The joyous return of our friendly neighborhood power trio! Written during their stay on the West Coast and recorded down at Prairie Sun, Leslie Magnafuzz is the kind of vicious guitar madness that can only be written while taking psychedelics in an A-frame in the woods and shows again why Radio Moscow's been one of Alive Record's top selling bands for the last two years.
PATTON OSWALT - "FINEST HOUR" Another gut busting offering from one of America's greatest living funnymen. For hardcore Patton fans, this album, taken from a live show in Seattle, contains some material you've heard before (such as his rant on the way his parent's raised him or how he got out of his last parking ticket) but along with this comes a slew of hilarious new bits that will have you saying "I want ALL the ham" for weeks.
NOW THE ANSWER TO THE POPULAR QUESTION "WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO?"
Matt: I can always tell it's about to be winter when I'm digging through my record stacks and suddenly wonder where those Elliott Smith LPs got to. The weather goes grey and with it, men everywhere swim upstream to rediscover the sad bastard music of their past. For me, that means time to pull out my long red underwear and three albums that have always paired well with coffee and cold mornings. Pavement "Slanted & Enchanted"
ADAM: As a parent of a 17 month old monster, repetition is key. Every morning I start my day with side one of Pokey Lafarge and the South City Three's latest "Middle of Everywhere." Fuck you Raffi, my kid has taste! When I get to choose what I listen to i always turn to some other fall weather favorites.
Riley Pucket "Evening Mail"-A compilation of rare 78 sides from Gid Tanners blind ugly guitar player.
That's it, what with all the concrete in the air, we're still trying to get fully back in the saddle. Prepare for alot of new posts coming up as the year gets closer to closing out and the end-of-the-year lists begin to get tallied from music nerds everywhere but until then, keep diggin' those crates --Matt n Adam
Well it look like they're only a few short weeks away from being done with construction of our new sidewalks and not a moment too soon. We'd like to thank all our diehard customers who have braved the snaking construction, lack of parking and sudden dust storms to continue shopping at the store. As a token of thanks (and as fundraiser during these sidewalk-less times), we'll be hosting a vinyl only night showcasing some of the knowledgeable music heads who can often be found lounging on our couch.
MISSING LINK's GOT SOUL Join us at Humbrews this Thursday at 9pm for an all vinyl soul party featuring DJs Jason Morgan, Mantease, King Maxwell, and yours truly, Matt n' Adam. For a simple $5 you can come out and get sweaty while showing your support for Missing Link. If we get some heads then the folks at HUMBREWS might just make this a once a month thing so put down your fiskars, get a ride down the hill, put on a clean pair of pants and join us, won't you?
BLOCK PARTY STYLE STREET OPENING Halloween is going to be even more disturbing this year as the official H st opening will kick off at 4:20 with a ribbon cutting, Samba band explosion and plenty of candy for chillins big and small. As if that wasn't reason enough to come check out the newly finished street how about Pacific Paradise having their anniversary? Still on the fence, how about Henry dressed as a Bigfoot?
A NOTE TO OUR CUSTOMERS So you may have already noticed the construction trucks mounting H St. Over the course of the next 2 months, Arcata will be getting a sidewalk style facelift. What this means is that our streets from 11th to the plaza will be ripped up and our existing sidewalks reduced to about 18 inches, while they work to extend the sidewalks and create a single lane road towards the plaza. WE ASSURE YOU WE ARE OPEN throughout construction and though the street may be dusty, we do believe that when the dust settles you're going to be pleasantly surprised at how nice it will look...or we'll take to city hall wielding flaming torches like in the good old days. Also bear with us as the blog takes on a bit of construction as well, we figured after two years and some change it was time.
This month we had to have a long talk with ourselves about trying something new. Ever since Pickathon, the only records we've been playing are Clifford Hayes, Darby & Tarlton, Charlie Poole and other gems you can't just stroll on in and pick up anytime. To our customers who've asked us 'what's this?' only to discover the record in question was some relic from our private stash...we're sorry. As penance, we decided to each search out something new, as well as something we've had around the store, and give you our 2 cents about a few records you can actually buy. First though, we would be remiss in our duties if we didn't hep you to some of the events coming up in our own little hamlet. SUBLIME FREQUENCIES @ ARCATA THEATRE LOUNGE When La Dolce Video called us about helping making this event really happen, first we cleaned up the puddle of pee, then in our best Rudy Ray Moore voice replied, "hell yes." Get your chance to meet Hisham Mayet, videographer of the amazing DVD series put out by Sublime Frequencies. When not traveling all over the world filming amazing musicians, apparently he likes to travel all over the coast. Come join La Dolce Video, Missing Link Records, DJ Mantease and Sublime Frequencies for two films, a Q&A session and a world dance party! Films and Q&A are all ages and the afterdoings (10pm) are +21. Admission is $5 and doors open at 7pm.
MAMA ROUX + BITCHDOCTOR @ ARTS ARCATA This month we're honored to have our walls gussied up by HSU alumni and 3 year champion of the Pawtucket County Fair Tractor Pull, Ms. Gina Tuzzi. Now residing in the uber-hip land of the Bay, she's kindly agreed to venture back to the old oak tree for a show she's calling, "MaMa Roux: New Art & Old Gris-Gris." Oh but wait, as if the incredible arts wasn't enough, we're makin' an all out sandwich! Starting at 6, The mighty Bitchdoctor takes the invisible stage. If you haven't already caught this trio of fine young lads, they serve up the kind of simple yet refreshing garage rock that this town needed. Afterwards, let the funky cutoffs of DJ Mantease teach you how to booty clap in a short set of soul stomp, dedicated to the MaMa herself.
THE PACK A.D. SEPT.12TH @ THE ALIBI Two hard rockin' women combine to form Canada's greatest living garage duo. After first rocking the Alibi about four years ago, they find themselves unable to further ignore Humboldt County's siren song...plus, they emailed Ian. If you didn't catch them the first time around, make sure not to miss this so in another four years you can brag about being at the last one, when Arcata was cool.
THE ALLAH-LAs Remember how awesome it was when bands like Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Go, Greenhorns and The Rosewood Thieves were making that jangly throwback rock? After what has seemed like a pretty long drought, a light rain begins to fall in the form of San Francisco's The Allah-Las. A big thanks to the folks at Aquarium Drunkard for turning us onto this one, we're definitely going to try and catch them the next time we're in the bay.
NICK WATERHOUSE L.A. Weekly described this 24 year old Huntington Beach native as, 'The young man who makes old R&B". Nick Waterhouse is the New Breed - An R&B fanatic who combines an uncanny old-school sensibility with a charged, contemporary style. You know we are suckers for this type of stuff. He only has a couple of expensive self released 7"s and an EP out at the moment, but you best believe we are on the hunt to bring some into the store (we even emailed the guy already). We'll keep you posted!
STARVING WIERDOS With their latest "Rolled in the Midst of Never-Ceasing Currents Flowing Without a Rest Forever Onward"...( damn say that three times fast!), local floor core stalwarts The Starving Wierdos step it up a notch. Crushed rap-tempo beats echo and tumble over knocking percussion, high pitched wails and the distant rattle of electrical ghosts create a mass of drone. Total mind-fuck bliss type stuff here, featuring a beautifully screen printed photo of Gregg DeVaney's Great Grandmother in front of her Topanga Canyon homestead. This is a one time pressing of 350 on Bo'Weavil records. Don't sleep on this one they won't last long.
VERMILLION SANDS Things you should know about the Vermillion Sands... 1) They are from Treviso Italy (so that explains the accent). 2) Their stuff is damn hard to get in stock. 3) If we had to make a 'sounds like' list we'd say Fabienne DelSol or early Holly Golightly.
Ever since we stumbled upon the 45 Fat Possum put out by these guys a few years ago, we've kept our peepers peeled for any releases other they might send stateside. Finally after a long wait, we got ahold of their 12" EP. With a simple photo on the cover and no real listing on the back, it's been sitting on the shelf waiting for someone to discover this awesome band.
OTHER NEW RELEASES Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks "MIRROR TRAFFIC" Primus "GREEN NAUGHAHYDE" 9/13 Beirut "THE RIP TIDE"
BEARDY SESSIONS Our new friends over at Natural Beardy have compiled a whole bunch of candid recordings from all over the festival. If you didn't make it this year, then sit back and enjoy a little of what the weekend was like.
OH BUT THERE'S MORE... we the stout-hearted staff of Fort Dave also manned our portable recorder through three days of liquor and doobs, managing to capture a few of our more memorable moments this time around.
With the summer weather holding steady, expect us to be keeping the afro-jams and soul collections on both the racks and the turntable. C'mon by and we'll tell you all about them.
After another glorious Pickathon, we return to the shop with our craws stuffed full of new music to tell you about. Sure we had our brains melted by Lee Fields & The Expression and we got tears in our eyes when Mavis Staples hit the stage but there sure was a whole hell of alot of magical moments on the stage and we thought now would be the perfect time to share some of them with you.
Dock Ellis Band Named for the infamous baseball player who pitched a no-hitter on acid, we were clued into this amazing band by the boys of Pokey LaFarge & South City 3. A mix of honkey tonk and humor, Jesse and his talented band almost seem like the country Spike Jones. Coming from the Show Me state and beloved by every Missourian musician we met last weekend, download their free live album on their website and make sure not to miss the soon-to-be nationwide hit 'I Cheated on you with your Mom.'
Ray Wylie Hubbard Pickathon kicked off this year with a name we've heard before but never checked out his records. Like a dirty version of Guy Clark, Mr. Hubbard is a true Texas country star. Led by Ray's 17 year old son on blazing lead guitar, the band brought a perfect blend of country blues and honky tonk to the Woods stage. Henry went nuclear, we were pleased. Pickathon started strong!
Eileen Jewell, Queen of the Minor Key Before the festival we had checked out many of the acts and truth be told, we were unsure whether or not this self professed 'Queen of the Minor Key' would be able to keep her crown during the live shows. Let us be the first to eat our doubts. Eileen Jewell and her AMAZING backup band really showed their stuff, tossin' rocking tunes into the crowd the way big breasted women throw t-shirts at a NASCAR rally. But Missing Link, you say, that doesn't discribe the music at all, and we would answer, "have you listened to their version of 'Shakin' All Over' yet?"
Whitey Morgan & The 78's This last January we first heard about the awesome honkey-tonk hutzpah put out by Whitey Morgan and the 78's and ever since then it hasn't been far from our record players. Many of you have already had us jam a copy into your hands and tell you 'just buy this' but since it has been awhile, we thought a little reminder might be in order. While picking up our jaws during the show, we were struck by 2 things: 1)Whitey looks like Ian from the Alibi's long lost twin brother and 2)This is what Country is supposed to sound like. We definitely agree with the qoute from their website, "they haven't re-invented the wheel they just picked it up and started it rolling all over again." In terms of today's country bands, these Michigan based boys could mop the floor with their gussied-up competition.
The Wilders Another set of folks from Missouri, The Wilders have been going strong since 1996. Featuring Lush's home girl Betsee Ellis slaying it on fiddle, these fine folks are light years ahead of the competition, performing their own songs and Kansas City standards with a rock n' roll edge. This year they put out a whole new album of original material that's Pure Ozark Mountain craziness at its finest. As lush would say "SHOW ME!!!!"
Groupo Fantasma Another surprise act of this years' lineup was hipshakers Grupo Fantasma. 11 funky Tejanos banded together on a quest to shake every hip in the lower 48. Even people walking by these guys on the main stage found their converse hitting the ground in time with the cumbia beat. Let us be the first to say that 'Burnin' Down the House' may have been written by the Talking Heads but was meant to be played by Grupo Fantasma.
Brownout A side project of the afore mentioned Grupo Fantasmo, We were stunned when we heard the fuzz tone dirty funk coming out of the barn at about 1:00 in the morning. Brownout can be called Grupo Fantasma's psychedelic Latin funk little brother, a more-than-just side project of that regularly backs Prince Simply said "Damn!" Do yourself a favor and find these guys out on the road, you won't be disapointed.
LC Ulmer If you've never heard an 80 year old bluesman play the guitar behind his back, then you haven't lived. L.C. Ulmer may not be the most famous of the Mississippi bluesers but just because you haven't heard of it doesn't mean diddly squat. With that dirty, slightly out of tune style, L.C. Ulmer doesn't just harken back to the delta blues, he is the delta blues. After his show L.C. saw a man loading in a fold up bass. "the hell is that?" he asked. "That's a standup bass that folds into intself" a fellow musician replied. "Damn," L.C. said while mopping his brown, "they done made EVERYTHING there is to make."
We've closing in on less than a week until our hootenanny and I think we've just about smoked every pack of Pall Mall's Arcata Liqours has. Our pre-sale tickets are down to the last 15, so grab them fast. Adam and Matt's mothers will be there so everyone on their best behavior. Summer is in effect here in Humboldt and it seems every time the same thing happens, just when we get in a new order of stuff and start to tell you about our favorites, the horde descends and we're left with just one or two of them left. Worry not though, we've got another order coming in to re-stock our summer jam picks and there's still alot of awesome stuff we've stuffed into our newly expanded CD section.
GHOSTFUNK Aw man, this here is a release so good, we wish we could pay for it. Available as a free download, this masterpiece released this year from Max Tannone is a free download on his website. Here is a small description of Mr. Tannone from his website. "Max burst onto the scene in early 2009 with “Jaydiohead”, combining the sounds of rap king Jay-Z and British rockers Radiohead. Catching the ears of MTV, NBC, hundreds of blogs, music news sites, and vinyl bootleggers, the project had Jay-Z himself even tweeting “There are 3 or 4 real gems on Jaydiohead.” After listening to this ten times in a row, we finally had to say thank you Brian Woida for finding this one. Ghostfunk by Max Tannone
JEFF THE BROTHERHOOD "We Are The Champions" Last year, Jeff the Brotherhood came out of nowhere. After playing a life changing in store at our old spot, we loaded up on merch. and "Heavy Days" wound up one of our top 5 records of the year. It was seriously like some kind of modern-day Seabiscuit story. Recently, Rolling Stone named this one of the up and coming bands to look out for. What they didn't realize was that these guys already have a 5 awesome albums, a slew of limited splits and even their own label with other rad artists as well. Then again, we all know nothing is ever really discovered musically until Jack White catches on.
IKEBE SHAKEDOWN This is another one of those, 'you don't like it, bring it back' albums, we tore through all 10 of our first batch in 24 hours. Based out of Brooklyn, which has seemingly become the center of cinematic soul, this amazing seven piece was named after their favorite Nigerian boogie record. Congas, Horns, fuck man this one almost had me thinking this was some kind of Daptone/Truth & Soul/Ubiquity supergroup. Right now we're waiting for our companies to re-stock but they should be back this week and until then we still have the CD.
NEXT STOP SOWETO VOL 3 Though not a brand new release, the 3rd volume in the incredible Soweto trilogy goes deep into the mines of South African jazz to compile a collection of what they call, "Giants, Ministers and Makers." Taken from the years 63-78, this double LP set is nothing to scoff at. As our friend King Maxwell might say, this is some real adult shit.
CIAN NUGENT "Doubles" Last post, we mentioned how we were gonna clue you into a new emerging genre Adam's calling 'Apocalyptic Appalachia.' In the vein of such American Primitve legends such as Fahey, Basho,and Sandy Bull, Cian, takes his roots in Pre-war blues, Appalachian folk, and Irish traditional music and flips it into something much darker and completely his own. We first got clued into this guy a few years ago by Anthony of Goat Eater Arts, but up until now his stuff was nearly impossible to find. Now finally easily available from the great folks at VHF records, his latest full length "Doubles" showcases this major talent in an audacious setting of two side-long epics. Cian has ample technique, but the virtuosity here is all in service of the mood and the build up. His guitar has a darker, more intimate sound than many current players, without the brittle ring common to fingerstyle. The emergence of a deep drone after 15 minutes shakes up the track, like a swarm of bees spilling out of the speakers. There is not much better on those foggy early Humboldt morning than a fine cup of coffee and "Doubles" on the stereo
AND SPEAKING OF DOUBLES, HAVE YOU TRIED THE NEW CART ON THE PLAZA "QUEENIES DOUBLES?" WE HERE AT MISSING LINK ARE NOW RABIDLY ADDICTED TO THESE DELICIOUS TRINIDAD STREET TACOS. BRAVO TO JADA BRATMAN FOR SERVING THIS TOWN AN AWESOME NEW OPTION FOR THE POPULAR QUESTION "I'M HUNGRY BUT I DON'T KNOW WHAT AREN'T I SICK OF THIS WEEK?"
RISQUE BLUES "Big 10 Inch" Here at Missing Link we got a big ole soft spot for old tunes about drug, sex and various other illicit activities and this here is right up our alley. Originally released as a 5 CD collection, the individual volumes have been coming back in small stock so we struck quickly and got in a few volumes for our fans.
UPCOMING SHOWS BUFFALO KILLERS AT JAMBALAYA Coming to the Jambalaya August 2nd, the return of the Buffalo Killers to Humboldt County. Many of you probably remember how they and the Ravens blew the doors clean off of Large Peter's Pizza Emporium a few years back. Their country psych rock style has been expanding since their last release and with a new album dropping that very day, this show promises to be epic.
PINE HILL HAINTS AT THE ALIBI One of our favorite country bands around today, the Haints have been droppin' jaws around these parts for a few years now. We were lucky enough to have them play in our old shop and are keeping our fingers crossed that they'll be able to make another appearance at our new digs. Regardless, don't miss them as they rip roar their way through the Alibi August 13th.
JEFFERSON STATE OLD TIME REVUE JULY 23RD Just a few more weeks until the big hootenanny, make sure to come grab your tickets here at the shop before pre-sale tickets are gone. We've recently heard an advance copy of the new album by our headliners Pokey LaFarge & The South City 3 on NPR and man oh man, this is going to be good.
Keep an eye out, we'll be posting one more time this month as we prepare ourselves for our yearly pilgrimage to Pickathon. We'll be closed from Aug. 4th and re-open the afternoon of Aug. 9th and if you should see us wandering around Pickathon, visit our camp (Fort Dave) across from the Woods Stage and shoot the shit with us.
