First day of the working week and I take with me some of the
albums I bought over the weekend. These
were all purchased at JB HiFi stores which have been offloading old stock
through bargain bins.
JB is the bane of “M”’s life during weekends. She knows that as soon as I see one that I’m
powerless to resist searching for that elusive bargain. It is a chain that revolutionised the sale of
recorded music in Melbourne. Right from
its earliest days, when it operated out of a single shop in the North Western
suburb of Keilor East, it hit upon a novel idea, one that is only now dawning
on the Australian Record Industry. It is
that if you sell the product for a reasonable price, you stand to have a
greater chance of selling multiple albums per transaction. Most music stores up until JB’s arrival
sought to charge the highest possible price that they could for an album, and
then wondered why people bought no more than a single album per
transaction. To put things into context
consider this; 30 years ago the cost of a top 40 vinyl album hovered around the
8 or 9 dollar mark; today most stores will sell a top 40 CD (that presumably
costs more to produce) for around 20 dollars.
I’m sure that our wages have more than doubled in the meantime. JB was also the first chain to aggressively
discount artist’s back catalogues (especially around the time the act was
releasing a new album) or stock that didn’t move.
More importantly, JB has been prepared to embrace change in
the music marketplace. As far as I’m
aware, it was the first chain to embrace the sale of CDs. It also embraced DVDs as soon as these were
introduced and was astute enough not to be overly enthusiastic about Videodisc
or Digital Audio Tapes. (It wasn’t crazy
about pre-recorded cassettes either.) And unless my eyes are deceiving me, I
think it is beginning to cut back on the amount of space for Blue Rays relative
to DVDs. That could be wishful thinking
on my part. But given I’ve made the
transition from video tape to DVD, there is absolutely no way I’m going to
change again to Blue Ray. I don’t care
how much of an improvement it is, Blue Ray is not going to happen. (In any case, I
don’t know anyone who has made the switch.)
JB ‘s reward is that today, it is just about the only
surviving music chain store in Melbourne, has expanded interstate and is listed on
the Australian Stock Exchange. Sure it
diversified by selling computers, software, digital players and cameras, TV’s
etc but I think it has been rewarded by loyal customers like me. My only gripe is that stock at some stores
can be quite variable; some are quite conservative while others cover a great
range of acts and musical styles. But in
a way that has been a good thing because this has allowed canny independent
music stores to niche market. None of
this, though, means anything to “M” who dismissively refers to it as “The
Yellow Shop” after the stores' distinctive exterior colour scheme.
My first album for the day was the only one I didn’t
purchase via the bargain bin;
(63) Sigur Ros – Valtari
Quite possibly Iceland’s greatest current earner of foreign
currency, Sigur Ros’ most recent album comprises (for them) lush slower tracks
augmented by Jonsi’s distinctive voice.
It sounds very much like an ambient album; a colleague who came into my
0ffice for advice on a matter asked who it was and commented that it sounded
like “spa music” which just about said it all.
Personally, I’d prefer my Sigur Ros albums to contain a bit more tension
and the requisite one or two epics.
(64) The Mountain Goats – The Sunset Trees
This is a folk rock album that addresses the heaviest of
themes. Lyrically most of the tracks relate to John Darnielle’s memories of
childhood abuse. It can be tough going at times but ultimately it is about
survival and triumph. As Darnielle
writes in his dedication to everyone who lives with abuse, “you are going to
make it out of there alive you will live
to tell your story never live hope”.
(65) Black Box Recorder – England Made Me
This is an album I’d wanted to get my hands on for a long
time. BBR was a three piece comprising
Luke Haines (previously of The Auteurs), John Moore (previously of the Jesus
And Mary Chain) and Sarah Nixey. The
songs on this album combined atmospheric rock with basic programming and
Nixey’s vocals to produce a sound not a million miles removed from
Portishead. It also contains their version
of a most unlikely cover, Up Town Top Ranking, a song widely heralded as the
first reggae hit in Britain.
(66) Deerhoof – Friend Opportunity
When I listen to an album like this I wonder about
descriptions such as the one on Wikipedia that characterised Deerhoof as a
“noise-rock” band. Having heard this I’m now not exactly sure what the term means
but this certainly does not sound like My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth or The
Boredoms. On the evidence of this album,
I would pitch their music as akin to the Fiery Furnaces (but with longer songs)
with vocals from Shonen Knife or Sterolab. Having said that, this is an
intriguing album dominated by its lengthy closing track, Look Away. In fact it was so intriguing, I played it
twice.
I get home and, after writing this, start to research how to write a blog. Realising that I’ll need a blog title and a
user name to preserve my anonymity, I give myself 24 hours of thinking time. 
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