the lunatics have taken over the asylum

OHO.

*cackles*

guess who just stumbled into an earcandy shop with LOADS of imports marked down to stupidly low prices?

*^___________________________________^*

Crow's Nest (the downtown location, at least) is apparently attempting to clear out a bunch of their import singles. they're not getting rid of the imports entirely, as there are still plenty around and they've still got their own section apart from the stuff that's on sale. so that's good. it'd be far more bittersweet if they were completely axing the entire section, you see. but since they're not, it's just plain sweet.

import 7"s are $2.98/ea. or 4/$10, as are the import CD singles in the designated section. one can also mix-and-match as one sees fit betwixt the two formats. 12"s and 10"s are $3.98/ea.

so, erm, i ended up getting a slightly later train, due mostly in part to madly pawing through all the goodies on display just for me. ^^

and surprisingly, i came out of it having only spent around $14. there's a few other things i'm interested in, and there was really far too much to take in all at once. but here's what i grabbed:

7"s (which i haven't listened to yet):

"Thank God for the Rain" c/w "You Never Will Be." Graham Coxon.

actually, i haven't picked up any of his solo stuff before. and i haven't really heard good things about it, i'll admit. but...but...but...it's Graham! and he was cheap. so i bought him. and besides, it's pretty fire-engine-red marbly vinyl! how can one go wrong? brown sleeve with a drawing of a bird in a bush on the front and a flaming acoustic guitar (with no strings! :O) on the back. Transcopic Records.

"Uneasy (edit)" c/w "Lie Low." Laika.

anyone who knows much about me at all should know how much i adore Laika. Margaret Fiedler is absolutely BRILLIANT---at least, her contributions to Moonshake and to Laika have been. actually haven't poked much into the God Is My Copilot stuff. should. hrr. XD anyrate, er---i didn't previously have "Lie Low," as it's only available here. and i don't have the editted version of "Uneasy," although i do of course have the album version. and god, the sleeve art is pretty. i could show you pictures, but they wouldn't do it justice. it's got this prismy green/blue holographic stuff as the background. v. nice. Too Pure.

"Panda Eyes" c/w "Office Party." Sing-Sing.

let me just state for the record that this is yet another in my ever-expanding collection of jellybean vinyl. it is candy apple red. and translucent. v. pretty. simple sleeve; white with the Sing-Sing logo on in black and a little red heart off to the left. Elefant Records.

CD singles (which i have listened to):

"Re:volution." Coldcut (and the guilty party).

also has an instrumental version at the end, and in between is the rather nifty "Space Journey," which apparently is an intermusic.com competition winner by Nautilis. had seen the video to this ages ago, and seen the single too---but not for $3. it is a pretty great song, and goddamn them and their prescience! XD the instrumental is appreciated, and i know why it's included and see many points to it (not the least of which is actually paying more attention to the instrumentation and cuts and such), but really---it loses all the fun of the Blair sampling. hee. unfortunately, of course, guiltyparty.cc is no longer theirs. d'oh. the credits given on the inside are amusing as well. anytime someone can be referred to as "the Right Dishonourable Sir," you know i'll be amused. oh, and "Minister of Bass." yes. XD

"Beached." Orbital and Angelo Badalamenti.

i saw this and my eyes popped out of my head. i swear. i had difficulty putting them back in, too---good thing the right eye's so wonky or else i might not have been able to tell them apart well enough to put them back in the right places. this has got the radio edit of "Beached" (which is nearly Perfect Pop Song Length at 3:34! XD) and the long version of same (nearly 8:00), as well as a just-Orbital composition called "Doctor Look Out." as for the combination of Orbital and Badalamenti: two great tastes that taste great together? actually---yes. i was a bit skeptical, i'll admit. although i was WAY too curious not to pick it up, especially at such a price. this brings up a problem i usually have, though---that of things that have "radio edits" done for them. in recent time, there are two things i've noticed commonly wrong with a lot of them. scenario one, the "edit" is in fact done very choppily and jarringly, thus distracting you from being able to enjoy the song at all---regardless of whether or not you've actually heard the full-length version. hearing the full-length version of course only exacerbates this problem. it's either this or scenario two, wherein the radio edit is merely the hookiest bits of the song (not to be confused with the Hookiest bits, of course)---repeated over and over and over again with all the subtlety of using a jackhammer to crack open an egg for poaching. and the main problem with this is, a hook very quickly ceases to be a hook when it's what the entire listening experience is composed of. if there's no differentiation between it and the rest of the song, there's a problem. it gets boring, and thusly Loses Its Point.

it's scenario two that's present with the radio edit of "Beached," unfortunately. it's not bad, and not nearly as annoying as it could be due mostly in part to its (relatively) short length. but the full-length version is actually really quite good. i really like it quite a bit, in fact. and "Doctor Look Out" is quite fun as well. definitely worth the $3, and maybe worth full price as well. i hadn't known it existed previous to tonight---that Badalementi boy certain does get around, doesn't he?

(reminds me. i never did pick up Booth and the Bad Angel after moving out of my sister's. hrrm. XD)

what else was there? a couple different versions of Pulp's "Bad Cover Version" on CD (not sure how many CD singles were released, but i saw two there), some Pet Shop Boys, some Erasure, some JJ72, some Libertines, a Hefner split with Murray the Hump (or was it Murphy...don't know this band...^^;;;), a Funky Monkey 7" featuring Her Out Of St. Etienne, Mazarin's "Suicide Will Make You Happy," some Oarsis from the last album, and i think "Get Ur 9lb Cock On." although i'm not sure. it's all a bit of a blur, honestly. i know i got the only Sing-Sing there, as well as the only Graham. there were a couple more copies of the Laika 7". and a couple more of the Coldcut and Orbitalamenti CDs as well. some BRMC singles. loads of this one JSBX single on both 7" and CD which i forget the name of. Garbage's "Androgyny" in every format listed above except 10". no interesting 10"s, BTW. as for 12"s, some Oarsis from the last album, and loads of both of New Order's "Someone Like You" 12"s (which i didn't grab, as i don't really care for the mixes involved---and was trying to retain some small bit of self-control XD).

there was probably other stuff as well. it took me nearly an hour to get out of there once i was in, and most of the time was indeed spent pawing happily through everything in the bins. there was even some of The Brit to make certain people happy. XD

if any of you who i know and adore are interested in any of this, let me know and perhaps we can work something out. (as though i need an excuse to go back in and look again. XD) i was too overwhelmed to remember much in the way of song titles, but if you've got something specific you'd like me to watch for, let me know. and if you're in the area and interested, i'd suggest you get your arse down there immediately.