Pick Your Poison: Wednesday 4-9-14

When it comes to owning music, while I’ve fully embraced the digital age, a large part of me still loves the physical side of things. Specifically, vinyl records. Like so many music obsessives, I have been collecting vinyl records for quite awhile now, to the point where there’s seemingly never enough storage space to hold it all. For me, owning vinyl goes beyond the superior sound quality and into more tactile pleasures such as the weight of it, the large artwork and fascinating inserts. In a sense, you feel like you own a piece of history, perhaps because our parents owned vinyl records long before we ever did. That’s not something you can say about an mp3. And while I love walking into a local independent record store and browsing their vinyl for hours, one of the greater pleasures of collectors is also the occasional record fair. There’s a great one happening this upcoming Saturday, April 12th in Chicago that I want to encourage you to check out should you be in the area. The 12th annual CHIRP Record Fair & Other Delights will be taking place at the Chicago Journeymen Plumber’s Union (1340 W. Washington Blvd.) this Saturday from 8 a.m. until 7 p.m. More than 50 independent record vendors will have thousands of records for sale, including used, rare and out of print titles. In addition to selling some great vinyl, there will also be DJ sets, a music quiz, plus food, drinks and alcohol. It’s $7 to get in the door after 10 a.m., but $5 if you have a flyer. $25 will get you early access between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. so you can browse and buy stuff before the masses get their hands on it. I’ve been before and it’s a really fun event that raises money for the non-profit, independent CHIRP Radio. Learn more about the event by going here. Okay then, let’s get to some mid-week Pick Your Poison. There’s some gems in this set of music, including tracks from HM Hammarin, Japan Soul, Midnite on Pearl Beach, Stars in Coma, Unicycle Loves You and What Moon Things. In the Soundcloud section after the jump, stream songs from Brett, Cheap Girls (ft. The Hold Steady’s Craig Finn), Haley Bonar, PHOX, Total Control and White Reaper.