MUSIC MILLENNIUM'S BLOG SPOT

The Beatles Remasters

Last night I was able to be part of a special experience. In a hotel room with a $200,000 sound sytem, I heard 3 full tracts of the Beatles remasters that will be coming out 9/9/09. This was after getting to hear about 30 seconds of about 20 Beatles songs A/B'ed against the original and the remasters. They remasters are breath taking! You will want to have them all. It's amazing how great a job they did on thes and they are long overdue. The teasing of just hearing 30 seconds was just that. The people in the room were hard core music fans, mostly independent record store owners and they were all elated beyond belief. They will also be coming on vinyl but it's looking like the original date of November will be pushed into next year with possibly Record Store Day in April being the release date. They were only going to cut them from the originals but after talking to us, agree that they need to be cut from the remasters. The complete version of "Something" is still stuck in my head.

Record Store Day

Saturday April 18th will be the 2nd Annual Record Store Day. Over 500 independent record stores across the country will celebrate.  It was a day put together to let many people know that there are still record stores out there in the world though the media has painted a picture that they are going away. There will be over 100 special releases (most limited editions) coming out just in these indie stores for that day with many of them be vinyl. 7" singles by Bob Dylan, Blitzen Trapper, Leonard Cohen, Gomez, Decemberists, Depeche Mode. The first Queen EP on CD that was never released in the US. My Morning Jacket double 10" with a CD recorded live in Louisville Kentucky, much at my friend John Timmons' record store Ear-X-Tacy. The list just keeps growing. 

I'd like to invite all of you down that day to Music Millennium. We will be giving a free gift bag of goodies to all customers. Each will have free music in them including vinyl if you ask for a vinyl gift bag. At noon you can meet Queensryche as they come to support the store specificly because of Record Store Day. There will be free refreshments throughout the entire day. At present we have 2 live music events scheduled. Mary Flower and Lloyd Jones will play for the first time together at 3pm. Paula Sinclair will celebrate the release of her new album with a live performance at 5pm.

Please pass the word on this event. It was a fun time last year and promises to be an even better time this year. 

Supporting local artists

Portland has amazing amount of musical talent. Sometimes they get taken for granite because they just live here. I encourage you to go out and support the local artists and try and see their shows and check out their recorded music. 

Two such artists I would encourage you to pay attention to are Point Juncture, WA and Laura Gibson. Both have made stunning albums that were released this year.

 Point Juncture,WA. have an interesting sound that is unique all it's out, With your typical guitar, bass and drums this is augmented with keyboards, the occasional trumpet line and vibraphone. The songs on their album "Heart to Elk"  have energy and good life to them. They took great thought and care into the packaging of the CD in it's cardboard paper cover that is ink embossed. There is vinyl coming soon on it soon and the description of the cover alone is an incentive to own. But really, the music will speak for itself. A top 5 album of the year for me so far. 

Laura Gibson's "Beast of Seasons" is about the best album I've listened to so far this year. Not to compare her to anyone but to best describe what she does, I would put her in a league of being a Modern day Joni Mitchell or Laura Nyro. There are elements of a folk singer here but this is far from being a folk album. Her voice is delicate but distinctive. The songs are well written and most are simple in instrumentation. The results are an album that is absolutely beautiful. 

40 years of Music Millennium....The Decemberists

In celebration of being here in Portland for 40 years, it seems appropriate that we get into the modern age and start a blog. I guess we have always been blogging in one form or another whether it's been on paper or the computer. Some of you may remember the couple of print publications we have done over the years, complete with interviews, reviews and full of information about great records. I'll try to continue that tradition onto thi. Hopefully you can find out more about some of the artists that will be playing our store in the near future.

One of the joys of being a record store in Portland, is being able to experience all the great musical arts that our local artists give us. Today we get the new album from the Decemberists called the "Hazards of Love". My first listen was not till yesterday as we did not get an advance from the label. I've since listened to it twice. They did not try to stay on course with making a continuation to"The Crane's Wife", instead taking on new ideas and musical direction with great results. An odd opening of prelude morphs into the title track "The Hazards of Love", which set's a tone to the album. If you are old enough to know the Incrediable String Band, there are some overtures of their sound here but better yet, a favorite British Folk-Rock band from the early 70's called Trees (a masterpiece of an album by this band is "On The Shore" and has been remastered and reissued recently). Let's get this straight, the Decmemberists are not trying to emulate anyone's sound. They have their own unique sound and with "Hazards of Love", they stretched out a little more. You can find quiet and beautiful passages in the album along with some powerful sections that jump right off the turntable or CD player. I'd give this album a 9 on a 10 scale but with it sounding so great the second time I heard it, it could deserve more. 

Just getting this started..

Hello Music Millennium Supporters!

We would like to thank all of you for your support over the years and we would like to let you all know that we are doing our best to fight the economic struggles that face us today.  With your continued support we will have our doors open for years to come!  We appreciate your support and hope to see you very soon!  

In the coming weeks Terry Currier, the owner of Music Millennium will be starting to oversee this blog.  Be prepared..  Until then come in and visit the store or take it to the website (www.musicmillennium.com) for a peek a what's going on with Music Millennium!