“10 Inches Of Pleasure” week continues today with a split record by Mogwai and Bardo Pond. For the longest time, this sucker eluded me. It was the kind of unobtainable rarity (this is back in 2002/2003, when out-of-print Mogwai titles fetched good money) I would see on the wall at Other Music for $40. And I’d think to myself, “That’s $10 a song — I can find it cheaper someday” and eventually I did. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves…
I believe it was Ian who introduced me to Mogwai for the first time. It was back during my freshman year of college and he recommended their latest album, Rock Action. So one Sunday morning I strolled down from UVM’s central campus to Church Street and Pure Pop — which technically is on S. Winooski not Church — and grabbed the CD. I would listen to that disc quite often during the remainder of the schoolyear, usually while walking across campus or down to Church Street. It, along with Godspeed You! Black Emperor‘s Lift Your Skinny Fists… were in very heavy rotation at the time. I think the summer after freshman year was when I got into vinyl, so those two albums were immediate additions to my little starter collection. I filled in the rest of Mogwai’s discography rather quickly. Come On Die Young and Young Team took some time (one I eventually found at the sadly closed Sound Fix in Brooklyn, the other was a $40 eBay nailbiter). My Father My King was shockingly easy to track down. Ironically I still don’t own Ten Rapid, the singles compilation that was issued as a 2×10″ set by Jetset. That would’ve made for a nice An Album A Day this week. And yet the Bardo Pond split — like much of their discography — eluded me.
Then in the fall of 2008 a guy called up the store and asked if we bought record collections that had newer releases in them. I told him yes, and he said he’d come down to the store later that evening. He arrived with a few boxes shortly before closing, and I immediately started salivating as I — along with my boss — started checking condition and pricing his vinyl. He had previously worked for Matador Records, and those boxes contained all kinds of titles I needed to fill out various parts of my own collection. Every original pressing of the Pavement studio albums. All of Bardo Pond‘s studio albums, including sealed copies of Amanita and Dialate and Lapsed. All of The Frogs’ albums. And, of course, there were some 10″ records I needed. There was the Mogwai/Bardo Pond split, and a live recording (two-tracks) of guitar drones by the Carl Hultgren (Windy & Carl), Dave Pearce (Flying Saucer Attack), the two Jasons in The Azusa Plane, and the Gibbons boys from Bardo Pond. So, yeah, I grabbed ’em both. And — FINALLY — the Mogwai/Bardo Pond split was obtained. October 3rd, 2008 was the date of purchase. And, yeah, I grabbed all the other stuff too. It took some time, but I paid it off and my collection was made much more impressive because of it. Thanks, guy who I’m now friends with on Facebook but haven’t seen since I bought your records!
Mogwai / Bardo Pond
Untitled
(Matador – OLE 522-1, 2001)
01. Mogwai – D to E [MP3]
02. Mogwai – Drum Machine
03. Bardo Pond – Despite The Roar (In Spite Of Themselves) Alternate Take
04. Bardo Pond – Highlands
