Amoeaba Records, thursday afternoon. I had been on the fence about whether or not to drive over seeing as my car is on the fritz (lazy O2 sensor is my guess.) But there was an itch in me that I don't think anything else would have scratched, so I went anyway. I went straight for the "New Arrivals" section which was a move I mistakenly omitted last time. Immediately up front was Hüsker Dü "New Day Rising" which I carried with me for a little while, but I simply couldn't remember if I had that one already in my collection. I ended up leaving it, something I'll come to regret, I'm sure.

So a week and some change ago, I was asked to DJ my first all-vinyl session at the bar I work at. It went well! I'm in the process of transcribing or even making a playlist on youtube of the tracks I spun. A lot of noisier stuff, indie rock, punk. Notable favorites were:

• My Bloody Valentine's cover of "Map Ref. 41N 93W" by Wire that I realized was on this B-Sides and rarities comp of theirs that I picked up in a record shop in Baltimore(?) on tour over 10 years ago with Leverett.


• Jawbreaker's cover of "Into You Like A Train" by The Psych Furs. The original version has pretty much been my song of the year thus far. I borrowed a few records from my friend Emily (the one who asked me to DJ in the first place) as I was worried I wouldn't have enough. I was hoping they had "Talk Talk Talk," the record that had the original song, but I was surprised to find they didn't. I put it out of my mind and kept digging through their killer collection. Up comes Jawbreaker's "Dear You." I love this record and spent countless hours crying in my teenhood to "Accident Prone." Not wanting to bum out the whole room, I checked the track list to see what I would play off it instead ("Save Your Generation" maybe? a safe pick.) I grazed all the way to the bottom and there I found a track called "Into You Like A Train." Serendipity.


• Ah yes, the hometown heroes. Metal Feathers. From my hometown of Portland, ME; this record is in my top 5 all time I think. Criminally undercelebrated outside of the Portland sphere, I played a few tracks off this one that night. I know that's a bit of a faux pas, but seeing as they're virtually unheard of out here I figured it couldn't hurt. It took every ounce of my restraint to not just play side A all the way through.

Anyway, I didn't expect that it was going to go as well as it did, let alone that it would pay. So I took that $150 and decided to expand my collection for the first time in a long time. Something was reawakened, and crate digging was suddenly the only thing I wanted to do. Something about not having infinite choice at my fingertips, but browsing. Letting myself be actually surprised by something, forced to consider, reminisce, and discover.

So I'm going to start posting my Record Hauls here. The next post will be my latest haul from Amoeba and (hopefully) quick reviews of each. Let's see if I can keep it up!