Rough Trade Album Club

[yuc7zhd2]

Thought I'd drop a line to all of the EU and UK people on here... not sure if any of you are familiar with the Rough Trade Album Club (http://www.thealbumclub.com/site/index.lasso) but it seems to be an excellent service from the description. Anyways, I'd want to know about it if it was available in the US (which it isn't yet) so I thought I'd at least plug it. It's a bit expensive with the weak US dollar, but it'd probably be a good way to find new music. Anyone have any experience with it?

[dvshooter]

I like the idea, but it really is money for old rope. I don't see too much advantage over reading reviews yourself and purchasing at a local store or via online retailers. After all, Rough Trade's newsletter and website provide the information they will base their recomendations on. Having said that, at £50 a month for 5 albums, it's actually not too bad.

[yuc7zhd2]

I can't stand music mags, or periodicals in general, and I don't like to watch television, and I don't listen to any radio stations besides NPR, so that's why I'm sold on it. Amazon's and iTunes recommendations are nice, but the robots aren't always right, and they can really put you into a genre rut... if you're in a certain mood one month and buy a few folk or acoustic albums, it won't give you any electronic, hip hop, alternative, classical or jazz recommendations. I've always been a fan of the record store nerd, and that species, along with the record store (at least in the states) is dying, and making way for clear channel and best buy's **** record collection. You can't even find Belle & Sebastian at that place: Come on!

[Abstract]

I'd rather read music reviews from DiS. Pitchfork sucks, and their reviews are just irrelevent ramblings and pretentious crap, but they're important to me because they describe the music from most new albums. Drowned in Sound (DiS) does the same, and I generally like their taste more than anyone elses. Too bad they're too small to cover all the new music.

And I generally don't like Rough Trade music, although I do like what they're generally trying to do.