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Wham! - Make It Big (1984)⠀
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Starting off Monday with something that's maybe slightly out of character for me. I was a child of the 70s and 80s and a lot of chart pop music formed the first soundtracks to my life. Although I don't often collect the mainstream pop albums I grew up with, that doesn't mean I don't enjoy them. As a 13 year old, Wham! and their British contemporaries were ubiquitous whether you were a music fan in the 80s. Their music played ceaselessly on radio, their music videos popped up on TV every now and then and the music magazines I started reading then would plaster them on the pages every other month. After a while, you get numbed by them and seek some solace away from the acts that dominated all the available media then. That's how I started stretching and becoming almost deliberately contrary in my choices. Of course I was still just a pop loving teenager, but I would often gravitate towards more left-field pop acts just for the heck of it. ⠀
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George Michael would eventually prove to be a supremely talented songwriter and performer but here, aside from the pop schmaltz such as Heartbeat and Careless Whisper, there is the sublime Everything She Wants. It grooves in a funky fashion that would later form much of his work. It showed the talent burgeoning but which I was probably too skeptical then to recognize. It might have taken me decades to overcome the disdain of familiarity to fully appreciate some of his finest moments, but at least I came round to it. ⠀
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Sadly he left us too soon but his wonderful music lives on. ⠀
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#wham#makeitbig#georgemichael#popmusic#80spop#iloveDiscogs#ihaveathingforvinyl#instavinyl#vinyljunkie#vinyladdict#vinylgram#vinylcommunity#vinyl
Location: Singapore / Singapura / 新加坡 / சிங்கப்பூர்
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Scott Walker - Scott 3 (1969)⠀
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If there's a record I almost always reach out for when it's a rainy afternoon, its Scott 3. It is probably a cliche, but the opener It's Raining Today is just the perfect soundtrack for long extended tropical afternoon rain. I'm washed over with melancholic lethargy, and an inability to motivate myself to get any work done. I could just spend the rest of the day letting Scott croon to me while I drift away. ⠀
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#scottwalker#scott3#rainyday#itsrainingtoday#iloveDiscogs#ihaveathingforvinyl#instavinyl#dreampop#vinyljunkie#vinyladdict#vinylgram#vinylcommunity#vinyl
Location: Singapore / Singapura / 新加坡 / சிங்கப்பூர்
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Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique (25 July 1989)⠀
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I'm no B-Boy. I never was but that never stopped me from letting this album from becoming a part of life for the past 33 years. Even though I have developed a greater appreciation for rap in recent years, I had never been a fan of any sort except for Beastie Boys and this was where it began for me. I remember how I had to keep my jaw from scraping the ground as I listened to this on my Walkman. The inescapable feeling that this was something unlike anything I had heard up to that moment in time. Yes it was rap, but the ideas, creativity and musicality of the boys and their production team was simply on a whole other level. The sampling, the rhymes, the references, the sheer audacity. It is unbelievable this is more than 3 decades old and yet still amaze me each time I play it. ⠀
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#beastieboys#paulsboutique#rap#hiphop#bboy#iloveDiscogs#ihaveathingforvinyl#instavinyl#vinyljunkie#vinyladdict#vinylgram#vinylcommunity#vinyl
Location: Singapore / Singapura / 新加坡 / சிங்கப்பூர்
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The Dave Brubeck Quartet ⠀
- Time Out (1959)⠀
- Time Further Out (1961)⠀
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Going with this pairing of Dave Brubeck and gang exploring the wonderful world of time signatures. It's amazing how many people know the songs here without even knowing Dave Brubeck. From an exploration of weird shifts in time signatures in jazz to becoming a Top 40 hit. It doesn't take away how good the performances are on this album that most of your grandparents probably had a copy of in their homes. It's also one of my favourite records to wind down with at night. The follow up is not too shabby either. ⠀
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Enjoy your Thursday evening everyone. ⠀
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#thedavebrubeckquartet#timeout#davebrubeck#jazz#jazzvinyl#iloveDiscogs#ihaveathingforvinyl#instavinyl#vinyljunkie#vinyladdict#vinylgram#vinylcommunity#vinyl#chillout
Location: Singapore / Singapura / 新加坡 / சிங்கப்பூர்
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East Village - Back Between Places (1988/2022)⠀
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East Village are one of my favourite bands ever. They are one of the great lost bands of the C86 era. Even though I wasn't hip to their music back in 1988, when I finally heard them more than a decade later, I wondered how I had never heard of them earlier. I'm sure most will just scroll past this 7" I'm holding up here because it's not something that's immediately recognizable. It probably means nothing to most people but having this new reissue means a lot to me. It is one of the realities of the Instagram vinyl community (and Instagram at large) where certain metrics in the post determine how well it connects with most people. Familiarity, aesthetics, relevance (but mostly it helps if you are young and attractive). How many see your post depends on how many decides to interact with it. So in the music niche, something by an obscure artist would probably not do as well as a Pink Floyd album (preferably held up by a young lady). Indiepop jangle bands who made a few singles and a couple of albums...not so much. And yet, I will always try my best to bring their music to the attention of as many as possible who are willing to give such unheard gems a chance. ⠀
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East Village stood out from most of the C86 crowd because there was always a sense of polish to their songs. Be it the way their guitars chimed, their vocal harmonies or how they felt like a proper tight band. They eschewed the shambolic indie aesthetics of the era to make songs inspired by the past (think Byrds in the 60s) but with their own distinct character and style. It is hard to find an East Village song I don't like. So when Optic Nerve chose to reissue these two singles of theirs, I had to add them to the original 12" singles I managed to find after much digging. Hopefully, its a chance for them to gain a new and wider audience because they deserve it thoroughly. ⠀
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#eastvillage#indie#indiepop#C86#janglepop#iloveDiscogs#ihaveathingforvinyl#instavinyl#vinyljunkie#vinyladdict#vinylgram#vinylcommunity#vinyl
Location: Singapore / Singapura / 新加坡 / சிங்கப்பூர்
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Dusty Springfield - The Silver Collection (1988)⠀
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Most of you would know I'm a Dusty Springfield fan by now. My collection of her albums has grown quite a bit over the years but nowhere near complete. Apart from loving her music in her golden era of the late 60s and early 70s, I have also come to love the cover designs for some reason. To be honest, I have most of the songs here on various other albums, but I have always loved this cover design for its faux-Warhol look. Even the picture in the gatefold is a copy of Warhol's Icons series of portraits with its signature screen print style colour palette. So when I finally found this cheap, it was a no-brainer to add this. The added bonus is having some of her best songs in one place. ⠀
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#dustyspringfield#sleeveface#icon#andywarhol#iloveDiscogs#ihaveathingforvinyl#instavinyl#vinyljunkie#vinyladdict#vinylgram#vinylcommunity#vinyl#popmusic#popart
Location: Singapore / Singapura / 新加坡 / சிங்கப்பூர்