Saturday was Record Store day and I spent the day doing a mini tour through the three most important record stores in Stockholm: Bengans, Pet Sounds (a favourite of Quentin Tarantino) and Record Hunter. Lots of acts played short sets in each store but I didn’t really have time or energy to stay and watch. Caught a little of Anna Järvinen at Bengans and a little of Niclas Frisk at Pet Sounds but nothing else. You see, I was on a hunt for a birthday present for my friend Anton who had a party that very same night. It was tempting to choose DJ Shadow’s Endtroducing….. or Beach House’s Teen Dream on vinyl but decided that it was out of my preferred price range. LCD Soundsystem’s This Is Happening and James Blake’s debut album on CD were also contenders.
In the end, however, it all came down to this album. The Avalanches modern classic Since I Left You. I hope he enjoys it, and if he doesn’t he’s probably crazy in the coconut. It’s one of a handful of albums that I cherish very much, not only for its unique nostalgic-sounding quality but also because it’s a world of its own. Even though it has borrowed from music from all over the place and from all times, this album is still its own little bubble, secluded from the rest of the world and drifting around untouchable. Every time you return to it, you discover something new.
The endlessly clever and hilarious single Frontier Psychiatrist makes Dexter’s truancy and proposed insanity into a mindblowing epic. While still very funny, with vocal samples galore and even bird and parrot scratching, the track does not lack any of the hypnotic mood and warmth that surrounds each track of this album.
Listen to Frontier Psychiatrist on Spotify!
And watch the funny music video below!
