Tower Records -- the continuing collapse

there were about 10 copies of this at my tower, plus some more under the racks. not the breakout hit they had anticipated.

ned, which days are you in seattle? was there a fap planned?

re the six degrees stuff, what's good on that label beside bebel gilberto? the tower by me mostly has latin travels comps, which my natural instinct is to avoid, but maybe they're awesome. what about celso fonseca or that suba tribute comp? others? etc?

Evening of the 14th thru morning of the 17th. Keep an eye on ILE for any FAP talk but actually myspace might be handier for talk on that -- send me an invite if you're on (along with a message saying who you are if that isn't clear). 16th is probably when something bigger might happen depending.

i have an exam the morning of sat the 16, and then my dad is going to be in town after that. i'll see what happens.

and Greil Marcus's Dead Elvis for $7.

i grabbed

get physical - "comp vol 2" - $5
booka shade - "in white rooms" - $6
chelonis r jones - "dislocated genius" - $4
dj t - "boogie playground" - $5
osunlade - "five years on" - $6
dj food - "jazz brakes v 4" - $4
ammoncontact - "with voices" - $4
sun ra - "other planes of there" - $4
gong - "magick brother" - $4
"big apple rappin" - $2
"soul gospel" - $8
"soul gospel 2" - $10

all told the damage came out to about $75. not bad!

still waiting for bigger markdowns on reggae, which is the only section left with anything respectable in it. jazz is pretty shot, and new age is completely picked over! not a single tangerine dream or schulze disc anywhere. int'l and latin sections are also pretty dead. rock has BEEN dead for a while now, but inexplicably there are like 5 copies of this suburban base comp in the rock comps section.

Haha, we have about ten of those! I'm waiting for the price to collapse further. Still at a general 60% for everything except rap at my store but I made some good finds tonight -- rock is definitely starting to hit the skids but all sorts of oddities are turning up with inspection.

this is the mountain view store! there are still several copies of most of the soul jazz discs and get physical discs. if you are into mersh house there are a ton of discs from labels like azuli and ministry. there is also quite a bit of rephlex stuff floating around ... multiple copies of amen andrews, kerrier district, dj shitmat, grime, etc etc

it's the ipoddening of music and culture. also too much disposable income = willingness to pay $15 for nothing but some electrons.

x-post

Well, Amazon and other online retailers will still be selling cds for awhile. But I guess some folks will never have the experience of being in a large bricks and mortar establishment with all kinds of diverse cds to flip through (yea some mom and pop operations are holding on). Borders Books and Barnes and Nobles prices for cds aren't much better than Tower. I wonder how their music-selling practices will change in the immediate future. I do not see Best Buy and Circuit City and Target and Walmart deciding to expand the range of their cd offerings.

Hip hop is practically a wasteland now. Everything else varies by store, but at 60% MOST of the good and non-expensive stuff is gone (some very interesting imports remain, but Tower's insane import prices will keep 'em around for a while.)

Comps:
Before There was Crunk (Splack Pack, Clay D)
Dirty South - Tha Beginning (Three 6, Trick Daddy, Magic Mike)
Spread Yo' Hustle (Mac Dre, RBL Posse)

for $18

"Notes to the Luniz's debut CD posit the duo as crown-princes of the 'crazy, comical, wild-side of gangsta hip-hop,' but it's fair to say they're not loony in the Bugs Bunny sense of the word. The group's logo is a scowling cartoon figure draped in a used condom and wielding a handgun."

Latin music - 70% off

Voltio: s/t - $3.90
Larry Harlow: Hommy - $4.20*
Azuquita: Pura Salsa - $4.50*
Xiomara: s/t - $5.70
Enrique Chia: La Musica de Ernesto Lecuona - $7.80 (2 CD)

*Both of which I had the bad luck to buy a few years before these new reissues.

Also, I like the two Bossacucanova albums, which, along with the rest of the Six Degrees catalog, should be priced down to a buck as well.