Album:
Music Has the Right to Children

Artist:
Boards of Canada

Lable/Year:
Warp Records, 1998

How I Came by It/Why I Purchased It:
I came by this before I came by The Campfire Headphase - another in the stack of CDs I got when M. divested himself of his collection. It has its Other Music import price sticker ($21.99!) still on it.
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Album:
Chemistry is What We Are

Artist:
Simian

Lable/Year:
Source, 2001

How I Came by It/Why I Purchased It:
I think I got this in the pile from my friend when he divested his CDs. A still-exploring-electronic-music era acquisition.
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Album:
Silent Alarm Remixed

Artist:
Bloc Party

Lable/Year:
Vice, 2005

How I Came by It/Why I Purchased It:
You know if I was younger by 15 years I would have loved Bloc Party. As it is, I appreciate what is tight and inventive and familiar about them but I’ve heard this band so many times by this point it’s not like they’re that original. So I never felt the need to buy the album.

But an album re-envisioned as a remixes. That sounded cool, so I got it at the New Release discount price.
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Album:
Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts [Enhanced]

Artist:
M83

Lable/Year:
Mute, 2004

How I Came by It/Why I Purchased It:
To be honest, I think I first read about M83 on pitchfork.com. A couple of MP3 online was enough to convince me. I looked for a while to find this used and snapped it up when I did.
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Album:
For Nearby Stars

Artist:
VPN

Lable/Year:
Evil Teen, 2001

How I Came by It/Why I Purchased It:
Through an odd set of circumstances not worth going into here, I was friends with Austin and his band/siblings in my last years in NYC. Great people. Great band. I had fallen out of touch by the time this was released, but when I saw this on half.com for a sadly low price I had to pick it.
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Album:
16 Greatest Hits/Compact Command Performances

Artist:
Al Green

Lable/Year:
Motow, 1972/1984

How I Came by It/Why I Purchased It:
I’m not sure where or when I picked this up. Maybe from a record club back in the 80s, or at a used/discount bin somewhere along the line.

5 Reasons I might have purchased an Al Green Greatest Hits CD:

1. Big date that night and was in the mood for some seducing.
2. Tired of owning mostly music no one had heard of or cared about.
3. Writing a Rom-Com screenplay and need music to get the mood right.
4. At a truck stop and I was sick of country music.
5. It’s frickin’ Al Green!

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Album:
Loud

Artist:
Timo Maas

Lable/Year:
Kinetic Records, 2001

How I Came by It/Why I Purchased It:
A couple of years ago. It was in a Newbury Records “Dance/Electronica” used bin, a notoriously under- trafficked section of the store. So it was cheap.
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Album:
You in Reverse

Artist:
Built to Spill

Lable/Year:
Warner Brothers, 2006

How I Came by It/Why I Purchased It:
This may well be the last major label released I’ve purchased new. If not it was certainly among the last.

At one time Built to Spill might have presented a quandary in my boycott of all major label releases. I can think of a few other releases I might have picked up (Decemberists) if it weren’t for the fact that I can’t in good conscience support major record labels at this time. But I enjoyed Built to Spill as much as I have enjoyed any band and a lot more than some. I thought their music was so superlative that I even saw them more than I’ve seen most non-local acts, and if you’ve ever seen a BtS show you know what I mean. There’s really not a lot to, you know, see. Though they can be mighty in concert.
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Album:
Run to Ruin

Artist:
Nina Nastasia

Lable/Year:
Touch and Go, 2003

How I Came by It/Why I Purchased It:
Well, after hearing her vocal turn on the Boom Bip album, I was intrigued about her music. And I’m always interested in Steve Albini’s work, and since he was behind the boards on this one I figured it’d be at least interesting production wise.
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Album:
Blue Eyed in the Red Room (Special Edition)

Artist:
Boom Bip

Lable/Year:
Lex, 2005

How I Came by It/Why I Purchased It:
I was deep into exploring electronic music by the time I came to Boom Bip. I pretty sure I first heard the song “The Matter (of our discussion)” on pitchfork (back when I was reading that site) but I loved it so much I began searching for this album. Loved it so much I spent a little extra and got the bonus edition, which consists of a fancy cardboard package and a little bonus CD; little, literally, one of those 3″ CDs that never really caught on, though they sure are cute.
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