March 30th, @ 8pm
"The Bridge" on The Mylene Sheath record release
free in-store performance

With the decline of Western civilization comes a new pilgrimage of musicians looking to carve out their fates from the wreckage of the past. ÆGES are the new breed of California’s creative drifters. ÆGES was founded by Chicago-raised Larry Herweg (Pelican, San Angelus), former Seattleite Mark Holcomb (Undertow, Shift, San Angelus), multi-continent Kemble Walters (The Rise, The Blank Faces, Juliet…te and the Licks), and the sole California native Tony Baumeister (16, Cutthroats 9).

Converging in Southern California across state lines and international waters, ÆGES use their world-wise musical expertise to rebuild the archetype of the heavy rock band. There’s a definite element of desert rock in ÆGES sound—the low-tuned guitars, the sludgy sun-baked riffs, the deceptive pop hook buried in the molasses-thick instrumentation. Yet the diverse backgrounds of the band members create a unique blend of perspectives and a resultantly fresh sound. The common sonic thread between the four individuals in ÆGES—their tenure in bands that explored the darker side of hardcore—manifests itself in the aggressive tonalities of their sound. But their divergent paths, both geographical and musical, broadened the emotional palette beyond the angst of their earlier bands. Their debut full length, “The Bridge”, is set for release via The Mylene Sheath (Caspian, Junius, Constants) on April 17th, 2012. The album was produced and engineered by the bands own Kemble Walters at The Canshaker Studio in Malibu, CA, and mastered by Mark Chalecki at Little Red Book Mastering (Omar Rodriguez Lopez, Goatsnake, Megadeth).

The new millennium ushered in a new, revitalized era of artistic integrity for LA. We saw it in the age of the acid-hazed ‘60s, the age of the nihilistic Regan-era punks, and the current age of abandoned archetypes of a failed economy. It’s creative optimism in a time of hopelessness. It’s the music of ÆGES. -Brian Cook



NEW CASSETTES ON COMPLICATED DANCE STEPS


Ryan McGregor's Orange Confusion - Leaping Off and On

Virtuosic guitar player Ryan McGregor's first cassette release, Leaping Off and On, is a cathartic experimental work. He contorts his guitar's voice to tell soundscape stories of an arduous past and an optimistic future, and it features guest musician Robert Findlater (ex-Young Hunting). The artist himself drew the cover and cassette shell art.



Keepbullfighting - It Never Ends

The prolific LA-based Keepbullfighting (aka Al Heath) creates electronic music rich with curiosity and depth. It Never Ends is his debut cassette, and like his entertaining live show, it's addictive and infused with his melodic touch. The tape was produced by Leaving Records' Matthewdavid and features art by Celeste Byers.


GET WELL SOON
a new Dark & Somber greeting card


"Life is meaningless. Death is the only truth and the only absolution...."
"Get Well Soon!"

In stock now along with all their other great cards!

METALLAGHER
w/ WHITE SHIT
at the ECHOPLEX 3/31/12






MONDAY MARCH 26th @ 8pm
free in-store performance


Siphoned from flying graveyards and fed through giant funnels of navigatory spirits to the haunted outskirts of behavior and all of its rickety platforms, an intuitive, much weirder America is on the rise. One formed from necessity and adaptation. One that won't give up their guns or their souls to the agencies trained to occupy them. Those who can communicate outside of language and direct energy on the inside are the only valid resistance to the creeping tumors of controlled humanity.

MMOB speed now solidified Into a seven piece cosmic psyche force. Like a reverse Dark Side of the New Age sound, on-the Totem series Master Musicians of Bukkake performer ritualistic electric excursions Into the outer and inner reach. Relying more on the electric power of Psyched guitars, analog synth chants, and exotic heavy percussion. Totem one modify "With The Delusions of a West Coast Death cult. Outer spaced Gamelan, dusty fuzz rock from celestial deserts, the meditation of a Deranged Krishna Gathering, And The Blurry acoustic guitar Majesty of the Cascade Mountains all Reveal Themselves here in epic form Totem On One. Every sound and note Played put to tape by a group with a singular purpose purging.

They'll be fresh off a performance at the 1st Annual LA Psych Fest and performing a free show in our store for your listening pleasure!



Better late than never! Our friend Jason Solomon recorded this video at the OFF! 4x7" boxset release party at Vacation Vinyl way back when on December 14, 2010.





SATURDAY, MARCH 24th @ 7PM
MUKNAL & ZOLOA
cassette release
free in-store performances
New cassettes out from these two Crepusculo Negro / Rhinocervs related projects will celebrate with live rituals by both bands this evening. Previous Black Twilight Circle events at the shop have been incredibly memorable and this will be one to check out for sure.
SPLIT CRANIUM - S/T LP


Live fast, die young and leave a good-looking corpse? How about play fast, die old and leave the next round of stiffs wondering what the shit their crusty old grandpop was up to back in the economically vibrant 20-teens when liquid gold flowed down from Finland’s Kemi River and crisp American sawbucks grew on trees? If Split Cranium had a manifesto—which they don’t—they might at least consider endorsing that one, whatever it was, before giving us all the finger and getting on with it.

“It” being a highly satisfying blitzkrieg of Finnish/Amero punk perpetrated by Jussi Lehtisalo (Circle, Pharaoh Overlord), Jukka Kröger, Samae Koskinen (Steel Mammoth) and Aaron Turner (Mamiffer/ex-ISIS), a token American brought in to soften potential US resistance to the Finns’ brash mastery of almost every style of rock worth mastering. Of course, it’s no coincidence that Mr. Turner is also not exactly a fucking slouch in the vocal department, lending his patented monastic chants and feral roars to the band’s stomp n’ burn riffola and death-defying d-beats.

Available Saturday, March 10th at 11am in the limited to 100 Vacation-exclusive CLEAR vinyl, as well as SIMPLE GREEN and BLACK wax. All copies from Vacation come with a poster and screenprinted patches for CIRCLE, SPLIT CRANIUM and HYDRA HEAD RECORDS.


"Noctiluca" LP release in-store
FRIDAY, MARCH 9th @ 8PM



Dunes will be performing at Vacation Vinyl to celebrate the release of their new LP "Noctiluca" on Post Present Medium (PPM)




KCRW took a trip to 3 local record stores: Wombleton, Permanent and Vacation to interview their proprietors about vinyl and the record store scene in LA.



VICE.TV interviews Pete Majors (with a cameo appearance by Mark Thompson) about the shop and some of its records.

Click either title to link to its respective video.



VACATION SPONSORED EVENTS