Friday, January 20, 2006

Just Kill Me!

I'm not going to write up a full Vermont Music Update right now but I wanted to point out the top albums for Buch Spieler in Montpieler this past week.

1. Grace Potter & the Nocturnals — Nothing But the Water
2. Matisyahu — Live at Stubb's
3. Patti Casey — The Edge of Grace
4. Vorcza - Corner of the Morning
5. Rusty Romance — Who Brought the Fun?
6. Neil Young — Prairie Wind
7. Kristina Stykos — In the Earth's Fading Light
8. Susannah Clifford-Blachly — Middle of the Night
9. Thelonius Monk Quartet & John Coltrane — Carnegie Hall Concert
10. Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run 30th Anniversary Edition

A few weeks ago, I went on a rant about the soulless milquetoast crap (as a friend described it) that is "Kristina Casey Blachly". Well, the music gods had a good laugh at my expense. Look who wound up on the list of top albums sold.

Ugh! All three made the list. However, not one of them made the lists for any of the other VT indie record stores. Big fish in a small pond. Plus, they must have a lot of friends.

At least Clap Your Hands Say Yeah was the top album at Burlington's Pure Pop this week.

Thanks to Seven Days for the list.

6 comments:

jds said...

Eminem was number one again in Barre. The number ten spot was taken by Rammstein. I'm thrilled.

K said...

Thelonius Monk Quartet & John Coltrane — Carnegie Hall Concert is an amazing record. Vorcza ain't bad either. I need to check out that rasta man real soon. I sold him short but after hearing his work on myspace I want to take a listen.

Folk sucks.

Well not all but most.

K said...

Matisyahu grooves! Live at Stubbs is really sweet.

Anonymous said...

We at Buch Spieler only wish that a title like Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane was our #1 seller. We could fudge the charts and include a band like Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (an in-store favorite) but we do believe in truth in advertising. The fact that 6 out of 10 of our Top 10 sellers are local artists is very telling about the state of our industry (actual CD sales vs. downloads, among other factors). Or is it that Vermonters just like supporting other Vermonters?

Just for clarification, our biggest selling (and personal favorite) Christmas recording of all time is Vince Guaraldi's Charlie Brown Christmas. If the store was out of it on the particular day you came to buy it, we should have had more the next day. In this day and age of instant gratification, we sometimes fail. It's what makes us human in a faceless, corporate culture of capitalist greed.

The real question is where are the people who will buy more, if any, of the titles you (and we) like? Where are they?

Flatlander said...

Hey Guys,

I think you're misinterpreting my post. I love Buch Spieler. I wasn't complaining about the store. I just dislike a lot of the artists that are popular in the area and use your Top 10 list to show what is popular around here to people outside the area.

You guys do a good job of meeting the demand for music in the area. I just don't care for what people are demanding.

As I've said before, if your racks reflected my tastes the place would go out of business. But that doesn't mean I can't rant, rage and joke about the local music scene.

As for where are the people that will buy the music we love, I think they are all around us. I don't think people dislike the music we love. I think they are just unaware of it. They haven't been exposed to it. So, it my tiny little way, that's a part of this blog...exposing people to music I love.

Most of the people who read this site are from outside the area. However, I know of a few people in town that have learned of bands on this site and bought the CDs in Buch Spieler.

Unfortunately, there are only about 80-100 people visiting this site each day with only about 25% of those readers being from VT (and an even smaller percentage from the Montpelier area).

Anonymous said...

Hey Flatlander, I like your blog. You've got me hooked.

So, what to do about exposing the masses to new music, the kinds of tunes that will never be broadcast by the likes of Clear Channel. You're absolutely right about there being people out there who can and do appreciate the kinds of music we like. Now, if only they had a way to hear it. This is the problem. Poor exposure and complacency. The public, for the most part, seems to accept homogenized mediocrity. It's our cultural plunge towards the lowest common denominator and I don't see any concerted effort to reverse this trend.