Damn you, Sister Ray

So, I went a little crazy in Sister Ray this afternoon. Well, not THAT crazy, but with another week until pay day I really shouldn't have bought three albums. But, but, but...I did and despite having had them all as mp3's for ages I'm still very pleased with each purchase.

First one up was Let's Wrestle - In The Court Of The Wrestling Let's, an absolute gem of an album, recorded by the awesome Simon Trought at Soup Studios. The vinyl is limited to 300 copies and comes in a hand screen-printed sleeve, complete with finger marks and everything. My copy is number 287, and since it's been out for a while I'm sure they must be running out. But, if you hurry up you can still order it from the Stolen Records website and so you should. Go! They really are one of the most impressive London bands out there at the moment. I really need to get my shit together and see them live again soon. It just always seems to clash with something. Then, when I tried to catch them at South By South-West, the PA had blown at the stage, so I had to move on. They're still away in the US, now touring with Quasi , which sounds like a pretty amazing combination to me.

Next one was PENS - Hey Friend! What You Doing? I absolutely love this album. It's loud, messy and incredibly fun lo-fi garage noise pop. It sounds absolutely awful and totally awesome at the same time. Here, have a taster before you run and buy it. This is one of the stand-out tracks on the album.

PENS - High In The Cinema

Then, when you've fallen in love with these London girls, head over to any decent record shop and get it. Or pick your favorite online retailer, for example Rough Trade. Yay!

Finally, I got an old favorite. Pit Er Pat - High Time, an album that was made for vinyl. It sounds just lovely. They're so far from everything else I listen to, still I can't help but loving them more and more each listen. Fay's voice might be annoying to some, but to me it's just spell-binding, strong and and fragile at the same time. The record isn't in great condition (which is probably why it only cost seven quid), but it still sounds miles better than my mp3's. The record is a couple of years old now, so it might not be readily available. However, the Thrill Jockey website is selling it for $10 (for some reason $3 cheaper than the CD) and you really can't go wrong with that. Still have no idea why they cancelled their recent London show. I can only hope it wasn't anything serious and that they'll reschedule it.

Hmm...that's about it for now. Tomorrow, I'm gonna have to take a different route home. The new Quasi album looked a bit too tempting today.