Car Crash
“Execution”, “I Don’t Care” b/w “Bright Future”
scum stats: 200 copies on black vinyl
I am shocked to see that this record was released in 2015. That feels like eons ago. I’m pretty sure I was hipped to this by the K Records email list but instead of buying it straight from the source I put it on a running list of “need to purchase” items that I kept in my pocket for a few months. This copy came straight from Grimey’s, the record store down the street from TMR that is always happy to special order items of this nature when I request them on the regular. These three tracks have been sitting contently in my “to listen to” pile for at least a year. I’ll get better, I promise.
Jams here are gems, all high energy punk ’n’ roll, a vibe that feels properly updated from the mid-90’s heyday when Rip Off Records was king. Tight, lockstep, there is absolutely nothing wrong or out of place on this record. I could (and should) listen to shit like this for days without ever tiring. I feel like my tastes exist in a previously undefined ether-region where something of the approach/style/tone needs to be vaguely familiar, yet anything slavishly rehashed or redundant throws up immediate red flags and shade. Such a fine line and Car Crash is on the proper side of it. Sold out from the label, it’s worth the troll around to find one elsewhere in the bottomless pit internet. I believe the band is Japan and that should only further your appreciation.
I love 45’s existing as 8 minute time capsules into an exact period. No fussing about, make a statement, make it quick and leave it behind for the rest of the world to uncover. I’m STILL turning up wonderfully brilliant 45’s, forgotten for decades, quite regularly. Outside of love for my family and time spent with them, it is no doubt my absolute favorite thing to do.
I’ve no indication that this band is not absolutely killing it live. In my mind, they do. Highly recommended you search this one out..
SIDE NOTE: I guess I’ve been writing about records here for just about 52 weeks, only missing a handful of times when travel or fatherhood became prohibitive. Hooray for me, hooray for you. I’ve got an extra copy of a wonderful book called “Why Vinyl Matters” by Jen Otter Bickerdike that features stellar interviews with all sorts of folks in the “biz” speaking about vinyl. Including yours truly. So in the comments here, in the spirit of the book, these weekly missives and everything we do at Third Man, let us know your thoughts on WHY VINYL MATTERS. I’ll pick the winner, as objectively as possible, and they’ll get the book mailed right to their door. How cool is that?
Thanks for reading for the past year and here’s to another 52 weeks.
vinyl is the final solution…
Vinyl junkie in the house….
I listen to and buy vinyl because it scientifically is better for my ears, it provides greater frequency thus decreasing the amount of stress on the eardrum better protection my hearing, also when the apocalypse occurs and we lose electricity I will be able to listen to music when I convert a bicycle wheel into a turntable
Vinyl matters because it was engineered with flexibility in mind. At an outing and forgot to pack a frisbee? No fear! Whip out that dusty old triple-decker and toss away. Forgot the paper plates? Just crack that sucker open and you’ve got yourself a handful of plates! It just works.
Vinyl matters to me, because it connects back to my childhood. A time when I had the luxury of being able to sit in front of the speakers all afternoon with the sleeve in one hand to sing along with the lyrics and the cover in the other hand to look at the artwork. No other format can take credit for my love and appreciation of music. It’s so much more personal.
Vinyl matters because it makes listening to music an even more immersive act of participation.
Vinyl matters ’cause without it there would be no Third Man Records ’nuff said.
Vinyl matters, sound on a platter, needle makes it work, spinning in an endless circle is it’s quirk. To hear such depth from a seemingly flat surface, fills my soul and gives it purpose.
Vinyl matters at the end of a long day when you’ve been pushing paper in the glass office tower all day. When you’ve answered phones and stared at screens full of excel spreadsheets and don’t feel human anymore. When you feel so disconnected and tired and lonely. You come home to a silent house and look to your records, the sunlight hitting the turntable just so, the open window allowing a breeze to hit your cheek, wake you up – because those work windows don’t open, the air is stale and still. But here, at home, dropping your bag, reaching for the piles of well loved records, you breathe deeper. The feeling of a record sleeve in your hand, soft and smooth, waking up your fingertips with the promise of sound. The eyes of your favorite musician glowering up at you. The vinyl slides out, blue and black or yellow or purple or just blessed black – blow the dust off, put that vinyl on the turntable. Drop the needle, close your eyes. The tension in your body melts away and something in your chest finally feels heard. Guitars and wailing and the warmth of emotion pull your still heart out of an office slump. You are alive. And your thoughts and dreams are still there. This group of musicians making a noise, a song, an album that somehow makes you feel not so alone. You aren’t the only one whose soul cries out. Music makes us brave. The vinyl evening ritual inspires you to write again, create again. Vinyl is important because the ritual of music inspires a still heart to keep beating, to keep making art, making noise, stretch forward and dream a better future.
Pull it out
a paper sleeve
Oh my joy
only you deserve conceit
Oh I’m so big
and my whole world
I’d rather you
rather you, than her
Vinyl matters! For me, physical media makes all the difference. I’ve owned all types of musical physical media and the resurgence of vinyl was too long in the coming. It was the Third Man Records team that sealed the deal for me and my family. When I discovered the Vault I immediately subscribed and vinyl was back with a vengeance in our home. Thank you all for that! Now our (two) turntables feature prominently in our home. When we listen to music it’s only on vinyl. So that’s why it matters to me, my wife, and my 3 year old son. And when we have visitors they get the vinyl treatment too. So far everyone has been sucked in too!
Ps my son took my U-Turn apart when he was one….and did a good job! He didn’t break anything!! I think he is ready for vinyl matters too! Good boy!