“When your light goes out, what is there?” Sometimes loss can emerge in songs before we know it’s there. At least that’s how it felt to Seattle-based musician Craig Klein, who asked himself this question.
Last August, Klein, who records music under the name Ohr and formerly fronted The Race, was deep into the recording of his new album, Afterglow, when his father got sick and died unexpectedly. It all happened in the span of a month, and Klein found himself reeling. “It rocked my world,” the songwriter recalls. “All I could really do to keep from losing it was to just work on music.”
In a haze of anxiety and grief, Klein returned to his music and found that the record’s themes resonated eerily well with his new reality. He had already intended Afterglow to be a loose song cycle exploring themes of daybreak and sunset: What does it mean to find light in the darkness? When darkness comes on, is the sun simply going up somewhere else?
Finding renewed purpose, Klein poured his grief into completing Afterglow, set for an August 30th release via Headstate Records. The resulting album is anything but defeated; it’s stirring and hopeful. Drawing on his love of ’90s electronica, Klein channels psychedelic textures, sampled rhythms, and woozy hooks into a cathartic meld that spans from the trance-infused pulses and anthemic roars.
Ahead of the album’s official release this Friday, we invited Klein to join us for a very special edition of our Vinyl Lives column where he highlights some of his favorite Seattle-area record stores as well as a couple of favorites in the Midwest where he originally hails from.
You won’t find a lot of standard fare or reissues here, just cool nuggets you didn’t even know existed or you needed til you walked through the doors. It’s a very relaxed atmosphere in a cool part of Seattle a lot of people don’t know about. Great dollar bins as well. Last purchase was a copy of Spectrum’s Songs for Owsley. Sonic Boom / Spacemen 3 are big influences so this was a major major score. I was able to get Sonic Boom to do a remix for me of the Afterglow album track Red Pill which was super cool.
This is a little place in the south end of Seattle opened by my friend Ian Peters because there really aren’t any other record shops in the area and he had the space available above his cafe. The only place to grab some great coffee and a record in the neighborhood. Last purchase was Ian special ordering me Julianna Barwick’s Healing is a Miracle and a reissue of Terry Riley’s A Rainbow in Curved Air, two amazing albums.
Classic record store experience, cramped and crammed full of good shit. It’s a place where you could as easily find obscure dance 12 inches as psych records, which is basically my wheelhouse. Last purchase was a copy of My Bloody Valentine’s Isn’t Anything.
One of the better curated used selections you’ll find anywhere. You’ll always find something you didn’t even know you wanted. Last time I was there I picked up a double disc of The Beach Boys’ Wild Honey and Surfs Up LPs.
A great shop with a good mix of new and used at reasonable prices. It’s in the north end and I think the last thing I found might have been either Veedon Fleece or Tupelo Honey by Van Morrison.
Another cool spot for used records. The last purchase I recall was a used copy of the Grateful Dead’s first album.
Small but meticulously curated shop. Lots of cool and obscure stuff. Last thing I bought was Rhythm and Sound, which is a dub project of Basic Channel. Such good stuff. I listened to a lot of Basic Channel while I was making this record.
Also totally worth mentioning…
Easy Street Records in West Seattle with a huge used selection, Silver Platters is a great constantly changing inventory and has lots of books on music and and DVDs, Jive Time Records (thanks for the original press of Neil Young On the Beach before it got reissued).
I live in Seattle now but can’t not give a little glow to my hometown of Chicago, an amazing record city.
I worked here for a short time and still have friends who work there. When I get back to Chicago I always make a point to stop in. I don’t think there is a better shop any place.I don’t know how they do it but there is always something that I want. And if you are just looking online, they always hype new releases they are genuinely into on the website.
You asked for any other gems and I do have one quite off the beaten path.
If you ever find yourself cruising along Interstate 80 in the middle of the country, take a detour and roll into Iowa City, Iowa. There is a place called Record Collector that is well worth the detour. I’m not sure who is running it now but the original owner was a guy named Kurt and he turned me on to many great records when I was young.
