Newsletter #1

Newsletter #1

Welcome all those who opted to receive Artrockstore’s newsletter. We put the needle in the groove back in December 2016 and this is our first Newsletter 10 months later, hope you enjoy it.

Here at Artrockstore Central in Coledale we’ve been busy researching and cataloguing thousands of great albums (old and new) to create what we hope will become the world’s largest curated collection of rock music albums complete with links to artist websites & merchandise stores and iTunes links. It’s a labour of love to research through fifty years of rock history and select the “best” most iconic works of that period, as well as keeping up with great new releases coming out every month.

Let’s define what I mean by the “best” albums, which is what makes the difference between simply a list of one guy’s favorite albums, versus a list of albums that has universal appeal based on broad popularity and expert critique. In deciding what albums to choose, Artrockstore uses the following sources to make the call: 

  • RateYourMusic.com (RYM) rating of 3.5 and above (out of 5.0), and
  • Allmusic.com rating of 4.0 and above (out of 5.0), and
  • Discogs.com reviews (they don’t have ratings), and
  • Critical reviews in journals such as The Quietus and Pitchfork, and
  • The visual appeal of the album’s artwork

So, you can see that the albums are chosen objectively and are not just my favorites – although many are! I should also point out that I try to listen to every album that gets catalogued. Many of them are old friends but many of them I’m discovering and enjoying for the first time. 

Recent Highlights

We’ve worked hard to catalogue forgotten gems from Australia and New Zealand. Country lists can be seen using the ‘Country’ drop-down option in the Catalogue. Check out these links..

Australia              http://artrockstore.com/collections/australia

New Zealand       http://artrockstore.com/collections/new-zealand

Also we’ve made a big push to catalogue rare Italian Progressive Rock albums from the 1970’s. Italy was a hot-spot for amazing Prog bands during this period. There were the relatively well know bands like PFM and Goblin, but these are just the tip of the iceberg. Check out the following link for some mind-expanding Prog gems:

Italy                     http://artrockstore.com/collections/italy

We introduced a new category for “poetry” related albums. The idea is to catalogue iconic albums of spoken-word poetry or poetry set to music. So far catalogued we have the major “Beat” poets: Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs, etc. plus more recent word-music artists such as John Cooper Clarke and Ghostpoet. Check out..

Poetry                 http://artrockstore.com/collections/all/poetry

Random stats

Albums catalogued 7,500

Artists catalogued 1,500

Most popular searches (so far this year)

  1. King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard
  2. Panic! at the Disco
  3. Tame Impala
  4. My Chemical Romance
  5. Paramore
  6. Lana del Ray
  7. Nine Inch Nails
  8. Fleet Foxes
  9. Thee Oh Sees
  10. Godspeed you! Black Emperor

Customer orders of rare vinyl LP's shipped to 9 countries: Australia, NZ, USA, Canada, UK, Netherlands, Germany, France and Spain.

New Features

In the past month we added the ‘Favorites’ feature on the Artrockstore.com site. This is a great way to tag albums that interest you and maybe build a personalized themed set.

iTunes links are being added to every Album catalogued. Some of the earlier ones don’t have iTunes yet but we’re working our way through the back-catalogue to complete them all (where available).

The best way to view all the new stuff that’s been added since your last visit is to use the ‘Sort By – Date New to Old’ feature, which will show the most recently added albums and collections. 

Recent Additions

Steve Earle                                      Rory Gallagher (great!)

Threshold                                         Lilly Hiatt (John’s daughter)

Kris Kristofferson                             Link Wray

Ian Hunter                                       The Hard-ons (great covers)

Customer Special Requests

Groundhogs (all 7 albums)

Various on 4AD label (20 albums)

Classic Jazz Albums (12 album set)

Coming up

The Selecter                                    Megadeth

Be-bop Deluxe                                Orbital

Beirut                                               Lightnin’ Hopkins

Sonny Rollins                                   Polar Bear

Forest Swords                                  Run The Jewels

UFO                                                  UNKLE

Wolves In The Throne Room            Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

It’s Popademic!

Q: What was the first band/album George Martin produced after the Beatles?

A: Seatrain           http://artrockstore.com/search?q=seatrain  

Peace & Stay tuned for more…

Ross
September 2017

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