Music Haul: Heartthrob & As I Am

Ironically enough, right after coming from the bank to deposit some cha-chings, I ended up spending a lot of hard-earned cha-chings at a record store in SM Southmall (I forgot what it's called but it wasn't Odyssey). It's been years since I've properly browsed through the music store because a lot of the music store chains don't bother updating their collections, unless it's something popular like something by Adele or Bruno Mars (for the record, I like their music as well--for the most part). And the main reason why I dropped by this store was that I was in here a couple of weeks ago, and I noticed that they had Tegan & Sara's Heartthrob in stock. I wanted to buy it, but had no cash then so I decided to put it off until I did have some money on me. 

 I was very, very pleasantly surprised when I saw that they had so many awesome records in stock and (get this) on sale! I ended up getting T&S's Heartthrob (this wasn't on sale, but I know it's a good record so I didn't mind paying full price, really) and Alicia Keys's As I Am but there were so many great albums on sale like Come Around Sundown (Kings of Leon) and Save Me, San Francisco (Train) that I found myself standing there like an idiot for a good forty minutes, just trying to decide what to get.

 I am very, very, very pleased (maybe too pleased for a normal person, actually) with how the T&S album looks. The feel of this record very (in a good way) 80s and is reminiscent of the Molly Ringwald era so I love how the disc looks "homemade" without looking tacky or like they've tried too hard to convince us that this is an 80s record. Emy Storey has just absolutely outdone herself this time. :)

 The in-lay is a satin finish and is fold-out. It has these lyrics set on a collage background on one side and a poster of Tegan and Sara on the other. I find myself liking fold-out inlays better than booklet ones because I like how particular it is (kind of like reading maps) and how you have to fold it a certain way to put it back the way it was.

If any of you are interested in listening to this, it's P450 at the big music/video store in SM (and probably elsewhere). I've already listened to this and it's muy excellente. :) Not a bad track on this.

 As I Am was real bargain; it was on sale for only P200. It's a 2-disc set and comes with a DVD of live performances. I really, really love Alicia Keys but I just haven't been able to keep up with the albums that she's put out because well--it just really hadn't been on my mind. But I was thinking of maybe getting her more recent albums because I listened to Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart and that was really good. 

 I also really like the color scheme of this; it's very 70s and kind of reminds me of the men's fashion in Almost Famous. I'm at my parents' office at the moment (because it's summer and there's strong air-conditioning and wifi here hahaha) so I haven't watched the DVD yet, but I'm listening to the record right now and it's so, so, so, so, so good. I want to memorize all 17 songs on this thang. 

 Right off the batt, a couple of favorites are Like You'll Never See Me Again, Lesson Learned (feat John Mayer) and Wreckless Love. :D 

Finally, I've finally been able to reconcile buying records and downloading music to myself (surprisingly) in a Facebook status I wrote today: I love how file sharing and YouTube have allowed us to go to the record store with something already in mind. I remember hawking my phone when I was 14 to buy The Strokes' Room On Fire and I was so nervous because the only track I'd heard was "Reptilia". :) It also makes researching about and archiving records way easier. I went into trying to learn about music history pretty blindly--I bought a Led Zeppelin anthology and had no idea as to what discrepancies in era and length and feel to expect from the songs. So. In short, I'm happy that I've finally been able to rationalize my illegal file sharing and impractical record-buying to my confused and conflicted self.