Today we announce a partnership that brings you classic indie rock albums at hugely discounted prices. Every week, Amazon.com is letting us select one album from its MP3 store to go on super sale (up to 75% off normal prices). Hopefully you’ll be able to add these must-own LPs to your library without breaking your budget. First deal up: Guided By Voices’ Bee Thousand.
Released in 1994 by Scat, an independent label then located in Cleveland, Bee Thousand was Guided By Voices’ seventh album. The Dayton group, a ragtag lineup of friends centered around Robert Pollard and vast quantities of beer, had been making music together as GBV since 1983. They released a number of other earlier gems (1992’s Propeller, 1993’s Vampire On Titus, etc.), but this 20-track/tidbit collection crystallized their lo-fi collagist approach to pop songwriting and, via Matador’s help with distribution, propelled the band onto stereos far beyond their hometown.
From “Hardcore UFO’s” through “You’re Not An Airplane,” Pollard’s melodic sense, immediate hooks, and catchy cut-up lyricism coupled with Tobin Sprout & Co’s dead-on contributions are uncanny, moving, ecstatic, and ultimately transformative. Flipping between Kinks-esque noise, post-Syd-Barrett nuggets, skeletal psychedelia bursts, cassette-only garage pop, and Who-meets-hiss balladry, Bee Thousand is a rich pop kaleidoscope, a 36-minute patchwork that feels like a Beatles bootleg folding in on itself, or like surfing the radio dial and finding one AM hit after another. (The order of the songs is so important it’s strange unstitching the track list and judging tracks separately.) In line with the buzz Bee Thousand received, it was GBV’s last album for a smaller label: They followed Bee with their official Matador debut and another bonafide classic, 1995’s Alien Lanes, which refined Bee Thousand’s approach without losing much of the fuzz.
As part of the Stereogum x Amazon Garage Sale, for one week Bee Thousand is available at Amazon MP3 for only $3.99, down from the regular price of $9.99.
Help us make great albums available at low prices by suggesting future Friendly Deal selections in the comments.
Related Stories |
|
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post, reply to, or rate a comment.
Cool! I love Amazon’s MP3 store and especially its daily deals. Nice to know they’re going to have some on sale I actually want to buy….
The thoughts that ran through my head while reading this post:
1) WTF. When did Stereogum try to make money so blatantly off its readers? A banner ad could have sufficed…
2) “How many heated comments will this posting get…”
3) “Margaret”s comment score is so going to be in the red…
4) $3.99 isn’t too bad price if they need to play by the rules…
5) This post would have been much cooler if they just linked us to SoulSeek, told us how to install it and what they used as a search query to download the album for free.
Thoughts that ran through my head while reading Michael’s comment:
1) This guy suffers from a serious sense of entitlement.
2) Grow the fuck up.
Yikes, chill out people. I have been a loyal Stereogum reader on a daily basis since college and that loyalty has continued on for the past 5 or so years. I have seen the site grow by leaps and bounds, and look forward each day to reading the latest updates because I readily believe they cover great music news stories that I find interesting / funny / informative. They also have very similar tastes in music as myself (Spotlights on oft-looked over bands like The Forms, Wilderness, Torche and a general love for noisey-punk bands.) If I was a bit caught off guard by seeing a post that is basically an advert, then so be it — It’s not what I visit ‘Gum for. Like I said, $3.99 is not a bad price for an entire MP3 album if you can’t find a way to get it otherwise, but I will just have to skip over this new section I suppose.
…And I still think “Margaret”’s comment was a plant by an Amazon employee due to the use of “!”, the phrase “daily deals” and the last sentence which punctuates their reliability. C’mon, now…
Anyway, sorry
Wait, so if I catch Michael’s point correctly, ‘Gum is selling out if it posts a useful notice to its readers about a good deal to be had on legitimate product. Correct so far? And then he acknowledges that $3.99 isn’t a bad price to pay if you can’t download it illegally from somewhere else, thereby screwing Robert Pollard out of his share of the music *he* created.
Glad people like Michael are out there keeping the Internets real and protecting the rest of us from those who would corrupt …
NO. NO. NO. This is driving me insane. I am saying that I am all for purchasing music but it just so happens that I prefer owning the physical copy (Okay, I am outdated, LOL at me but whatever, that’s my preference…) My point to Stereogum was this: Why bother with this big name partnership — Why not just spotlight an album from the back catalog, then let us decide how to go with it from there (SoulSeek?) Yet, Earth to Michael: They went the extra step, and I stupidly missed the fact that we need to resort to buying it somewhere if we like it, so big mistake on my part for failing to see $3.99 at big name Amazon is a good deal for a download (My bias towards physical albums greatly contributed to that, since I can’t bring myself to feel like I made a worthwhile purchase on something that does not even have tangible liner notes or art.)
Also, had this post redirected us to an online indie record store like Insound who I would much rather support, you probably would not even heard a peep from me.
In all seriousness, is there anything else I clear up hear?
Fellow Americans on Stereogum, there is no right or wrong side in this case. What we need here is to spread the wealth… strengthen the middle class from the ground up. Thus, I am proposing as my top priority once I take office that my administration will reconstruct the way mp3s are purchased… taxed… and distributed. Uh, look… If you are going to steal an mp3 or an entire album for that matter, you are only taking revenue from the lowest man on the totem pole: The artist themself. For the past 8 years under the Bush administration, we have seen many big name label execs charging artists owe more and more money for making an album than they have earned it. What I am proposing is that major labels and independent labels alike do is price their releases according to my tier proposal.
For those in the $13.99 bracket, you will receive an LP or CD version of the release alongside a DRM-free MP3 version of the album. The DRM-free version of the album will arrive weeks and weeks earlier before the physical release of the album, or immediately upon purchasing the album online if the album has already been reeleased.
For those in the $9.99 bracket, you will receive just the LP or CD version of the album. If you decide at a later point that you also need an MP3 version, it will cost you an additional $2.99 — a $1.00 savings compared to the first tier.
Finally, those in the low income $3.99 bracket, you will receive just the DRM-free MP3 version of the album complete with downloadable liner notes and artworks. If you decide at a later point that you would like to purchase a physical copy of the album, it will cost you an additional $7.99 — a $2.00 savings compared to the first tier.
Uh, look… It may not take 1 year, it may not take 4 years, it may not even take 8 years to accomplish. But my fellow Americans here on Stereogum, I believe that if we come together and work as one, we can change the way music is distributed and purchased for our children… our future.
i’ve been interested in grabbing this album for years but none of my friends had it. almost bought it on vinyl but it was a 3LP set and was pricey. thanks SG for hooking this up. $4 is totally worth it.
can you feature Lewis Taylor “Stoned” or Cocteau Twins “Heaven or Las Vegas”
or some Can albums?
need these but no friends have them.
here’s one in reply to #2: you suck
Hi Michael
I understand the cynicism, but no one is being exploited here. We’re not getting paid to take part in this partnership. Amazon asked us if we wanted to create deals in their store with our readers in mind. The Stereogum associates code tagged on to the Amazon URL is fairly common, and you see these affiliate deals in place on many music sites, from P4K to BrooklynVegan. It means we earn a few cents (literally) if someone buys this album from that link. It is negligible. If that offends you, though, here is a link without the affiliate code:
http://www.amazon.com/Bee-Thousand/dp/B001907L9S/
As for whether this album should be free to download, that is between you and Robert Pollard.
Hey Scott,
Thanks for personally responding to my comment. It wasn’t actually expecting that, as I was just making a lightly opinionated joke and not an attack about this posting but I guess everyone else took serious offense to it (That’s the nature of comment boards…) The post just caught me off guard, as I am not used to finding products kind-of-sort-of being sold through your site. If you read further down these comments, you will see I am a huge advocate of purchasing albums — except I just am favorable towards also obtaining a physical copy to ensure its permanence (If you could work out a partnership with Amazon to provide deals on CDs and/or vinyl each week, that would be awesome.) I am glad you cleared up how this came about. From someone who actually does work in e-commerce, I understand where this is opening up benefical avenues for Stereogum and Stereogum readers. In the end, I guess the only thing that matters is the music gets the attention that it deserves, so while it may take some time for me to get used to this new section, I hope it will grow on me.
Thanks.
- Michael
On one final note, I really wish mp3s came with more physical attachment and I think as a culture we are losing that connection to music. I know this condtradicts the downloading of them, and I know I am a minority here with purchasing physical CDs and LPs but I love having the artwork, the case, the CD, the liner notes, etc. with my music. Without that in my hands, an mp3 is disposable and easy to lose (I have had an entire iTunes library of purchased TV shows get deleted. While I was able to get them back after contacting iTunes, it was a hassle.)
2005’s “Alien Lanes”? Well, gee. I hope it was better than the “Alien Lanes” they released in the 90s.
That should’ve said 1995. Fixed, thanks.
Well I think this is pretty great. While on the genre of indie rock classics, how about Sebadoh’s III? I’ve searched for that album in stores and never been able to find it.
III’s my favorite Sebadoh album, for sure. It was reissued a couple of years ago by Domino. Wonder why you haven’t been able to find it?
Dammit. I entered a bunch of stuff and then I forgot to write-in my email address. If you’re serious about taking suggestions, I sold a bunch of CDs back to get through grad school and would like the music back:
Jawbox- For Your Own Special Sweetheart
The Make-Up- Live at Cold RIce
Unrest- Perfect Teeth
Polvo- Cor-crane Secret, Celebrate the New Dark Age
Rocket from the Crypt- Circa Now
Good list. Ah, Unrest. I always liked Imperial f.f.r.r. more than Perfect Teeth, but I realize this is kinda like me thinking III’s the best Sebadoh album. (“I Do Believe You Are Blushing”!) 100% agreed re: Cor-crane Secret….Also, something I was just listening to tonight: Jawbreaker’s 24 Hour Revenge Therapy.
Oh I just put Perfect Teeth because it’s the one I’m missing. It’s out of print and I’m too lazy to go to eBay.
This is my #1 all time favorite…… I’m so glad that you guys picked this album in the beginning. Most of songs came from this “Tobin Sprout” era were very short (between 1~2 minutes), and just incredibly beautiful. Thanks to Stereogum, and hope more people would know about this band. Punk-Pop FOREVER
People pay for MP3s?
Like, with actual money or some kind of Second Life dollars?
I don’t get it.
I’d pay physical dollars for some type of physical product. Isn’t Amazon stocking vinyl now?
Judging by your past posts, the fact that you’re saying exactly what I have been saying and getting ridiculed for (in 50 words or less) and still somehow have a positive comment score, I refuse to believe I have been attacked by real Stereogum readers.
Yeah this is great and all, but I’d much rather spend money on a B1000 vinyl (if they are in print anymore).
Hey Stereogum — I don’t have any specific suggestions but can I propose that it would be nifty if the indie albums selected were not albums that the majority of your readership obviously owns and listens to all the time? Maybe that sort of defeats the purpose — but I’d like to have the chance to actually participate in these offers. More Ecstacy and Wine, less Loveless. Just a thought.
Save yourself the trouble, Ecstacy and Wine is a terrible compilation of two bad albums with piss poor production.
First of all, I think it is great that Amazon puts its music up at a decent bit rate and DRM free, unlike Itunes. Being able to buy MP3’s is great for people who live abroad, or who don’t live in a community with good independent record stores. I understand that artists don’t make a lot of money off of MP3 downloads, but I think downloading music for free is bullshit. At least rip it off from your friends who bought the albums; I guess that is assuming that you do have friends. If the artist really wanted their music to be free, then they would pull a Harvey Danger/Girl Talk/Radiohead.
Yes, but from where I stand, I don’t see a problem with downloading music for free if you are just going to buy the physical release of it anyway after giving it a testdrive, and knowing that you like it enough to have it in your collection. Why buy the album twice — once in MP3 format and the other in a physical format like vinyl or CD? That is silly. I don’t advocate downloading an album and duping the artist out of their paycheck, but not everyone out there downloading is blatantly just freeloading. Call me the minority, but if I download, I will listen to it, give it a few run-throughs, make an opinion, and if it meets my listenability expectations, then I buy a physical copy (which I prefer) and delete the downloaded version off my library. If you think getting an early leaked album makes someone a horrible person, come see my album collection that spans an entire wall and tell me that I am ripping off the artist.
that’s fine just quit acting like you deserve free downloads from everyone like you’re some kind of hero
I already explained a dozen times that I purchase physical copies of albums, and hell — I paid a fair share for Radiohead and Girl Talk with a smile. Stop trying to act like you’re the hero here by putting words in my mouth that I never said. I don’t want anything for free, as hard work deserves to be rewarded monetarily.
“5) This post would have been much cooler if they just linked us to SoulSeek, told us how to install it and what they used as a search query to download the album for free.”
i hate you
this article seemed to promise a sale on the LP. there is no vinyl here. lame
I don’t think you read this post very carefully.
Only for US residents… Blah!
Good idea, bad implemented.
It is a pity
Amazon sells DRM-free songs at affordable prices, but geographic limitations make no sense for an online business selling digital media in the internet age. Every release is a global release. If your store is US-only, YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG. Amazon, learn a lesson or two from bleep.com
Very cool. And an excellent album to kick it off. I mean $3.99. Scoffing at that is like not being willing to pay the 49 cents for Westerberg’s ‘49:00.’
If you want a suggestion bring me your excellent review and a discount on “A Sea of Tiny Lights” by Nathan Lawr and the Minotaurs
This is a really great idea. I’ve always thought digital downloads could be a great way for a band to sell their back catalog in a way that’s convenient for both them and their fans – no expensive extra pressings required, no hunting down cracked jewel cases at the record store. Discounting older albums is a start, but having Stereogum pick out the albums and write about it is just brilliant. The bottom line is I just bought a great album for $4 that I never would have thought to buy previously, even though I own five or six GBV records already(I know, I know, how could I have missed Bee Thousand?). Stereogum has everything to gain by embracing programs like this and nothing to lose by pleasing those indie fans who demand that their fetish hobby be confined to an outdated model.
I’m on your side there. Something about mp3 albums just doesn’t quite do it for me. I go to the record store almost every week. There’s just something really satisfying in opening up a CD or LP and putting it on your stereo.
But I think this Stereogum/Amazon partnership is great. Though I also agree that it’d be great if we could get a discount on the physical album as well.
Well, I bought it. I’d never heard this album, and $4.00 for 20 songs is a good price however you slice it.
I think the whole point of the program is to give people who haven’t done so the chance to pick up the “essentials” at a cheap price. The majority of Stereogum readers probably won’t need it every week, but many will each week.
If I may suggest… some Smiths? Maybe a Pre-Disintegration Cure album?
Huzzah! I’m very excited about this
I am literally listening to Bee Thousand as I write this comment (“Echos Myron”) – and have been literally listening to it on repeat for the last three days – and am happy to hear that Amazon is offering it for such a low price. There is something magical about this album, although it took me a long time to realize it. The whole album is amazing, but “Buzzards and Dreadful Crows” in particular has been living in my head for years. I think I’ll put it on again, and listen to the whole thing one more time!
Don’t take everything so literally.
I hope people take advantage of these deals.
This album hasn’t left my car for the past six months. I’ve wasted so much time dicking around my house playing every song on guitar and singing them poorly at the top of my lungs. They’re all so brilliant and fun.
Gotta love how this mike dude cares about his stereogum thread reputation enough to make 20 posts to save face.
anyway, like i said above, this is cool if youve never heard the record before (then by all means buy it, cos it’s great), but most of us already have the record on our hard drives, so why would i spend four bucks for a second digital form of something i’ve already got?
I count some 50 or so posts, but how many actually suggest any albums to add to this excellent bonus-priced window into awesomeness history? Quit crying about unironic hipster shit and enjoy a good thing!
I suggest the following for this partnership:
My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
Broken Social Scene – You Forgot It In People
The Bird and the Bee – S/T
Elbow – Cast of Thousands
Television – Marquee Moon
Jeff Buckley – Grace
Radiohead – OK Computer
whatever i didn’t even bother reading the other comments because i’m sure they’ll slowly eat my soul. my thoughts: this is actually a really cool deal. im not a GxV fan so i’m not going for it but hey congrats on the ad deal.
are you kids fucking serious with these comments???
I sure hope not — I spent my Veteran’s Day off from work writing fake posts to pass the time instigating trouble all over this thing for and against mp3s under the guise of President-Elect Barack Obama, fake Gary Bang, calvin and a few others that I don’t feel like skimming through to find. I probably should have stopped after Scott responded…
I still do prefer physical releases, to be honest for a second though, but that doesn’t relate to this topic.
i don’t know if this is true or if it is trying to redeem how lame all of your posts were…
but either way it is pathetic. i guess you are looking for some approval or something?
…well i’m going to molest you tonight.
just a few…
Drive Like Jehu – Yank Crime
Magnetic Fields – Holiday
The Pixies – Surfer Rosa
The Breeders – Pod
Mission of Burma – Vs.
The Wrens – Meadowlands
Sunny Day Real Estate – Diary
Low – Things We Lost in the Fire
Red House Painters – Songs for a Blue Guitar
Galaxy 500 – On Fire
Of Montreal – Cherry Peel
Xiu Xiu – Knife Play
Explosions in the Sky – The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place
Sonic Youth – Sister
Archers of Loaf – Icky Mettle
Surfer Rosa and Icky Mettle are a good fit, but I think Meadowlands (although amazing) should be changed to Secaucus. Bee Thousand, which I had never actually heard before, reminds me a lot of Secaucus actually. And Secaucus is still really hard to find.
I would like to request Avalanches – Since I Left You.
Reading these comments made me think of the nature channel for some reason.
Michael’s the antelope that just won’t die.
I love this idea. I am younger, and relatively new to the “indie” music scene, and this seems like a great way to be introduced to epic albums.
Any further recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Do it with Tripping Daisy’s Jesus Hits Like The Atom Bomb! Greatest album ever.
Any Galaxie 500, or Sub Pop classics, or really any other stuff I can’t get from emusic right now.
Built to Spill – Perfect From Now On
Dinosaur Jr. – You’re Living All Over Me
Pavement – Slanted & Enchanted
I like the 90’s future classics thing thats going. I assume I’ll own most albums that you put up, and the others I just dont like. But theres always a chance that people dont have these, and I think thats just a shame.
Galaxie 500 is incredible. I’d shell out serious dough to see them on a reunion tour.
If you folks did vinyl discounts I’d be dowwwwn
Make ‘em available in Canada please.
Amazon has been doing a daily MP3 album deal for a while now and have already done BSS’s “You Forgot It In People”, Radiohead’s “OK Computer” and Elbow’s “The Seldom Seen Kid”.
My requests are as follows:
Joseph Arthur – Come To Where I’m From
Tegan and Sara – So Jealous
Spiritualized – Lazer Guided Melodies
Beck – Mutations
Death Cab For Cutie – Something About Airplanes
Camper Van Beethoven – Key Lime Pie or Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart
I call bullshit on amazon.com for not letting non-US folk in on this, what the fuck difference does it make which country i buy a download from,
Amazon:is shite
Starlite Walker next.
Downloading is my gateway to purchasing, sir. You don’t know how to read, to conceptualized, to be an understanding, fair-arguing human being. You just want to have a reason to hate somebody and impress the rest of the board, as is the general culture of posting. I say “yes”, you say “no.” I say “no,” you say yes. You are a predictable funny fellow. I will reward your comment with +1 so you can dance like a dog on it’s hindlegs after receiving a treat. We can do this softcore if you want, but you should know I take it both ways.
Can someone on stereogum just ban you already? Or burn you at the stake or somethin’. I’d rather proposition 8 be overturned and have to get a gay marriage than see you write another comment, and I’m not even gay.
how about you do it one way by shutting the fucking hell up already you waste of life. go play with your 1998 napster or whatever you corneating retard.
oops i meant to write reatard and not retard. retard would be offensive but reatard is just indie rock pop culture.
those last two comments were left by a fake gary bang i don’t appreciate that