saki newsletter 8/21/15!

Hey guys, very excited about the next couple of weekends over here! This weekend we've got an acoustic power pop showcase with Lee from Mooner, Ian from Milwaukee's Sleepwalkers, and Chicago's Wes Hollywood. If you like good-ass songwriting this one's for you! 

Next Saturday we've got another in-store with Kø and Lala Lala, two of our favorite new-ish Chicago acts. You may have seen Kø at our Burlington show a few weeks back with Rebecca Ryskalczyk and Dave Davison. I don't think I've ever seen them play a bad set. We're really hoping Kø does their Ben E. King cover because it's freaking jaw-dropping. We couldn't be more excited that they're bringing Lala Lala along as well!

September 5th we've got a very exciting lineup that we just confirmed. Dave Segedy from Sleeping Bag is going to play some of his solo material with yet another favorite Chicago band, Varsity playing support. Sleeping Bag has released a steady stream of A+ 'slacker' rock over the past few years on Joyful Noise (Kø's new label!), and their set was one of the highlights of Record Store Day 2015 at saki. Dave's solo material is not too far from Sleeping Bag's - sleeping bag was, after all, started as a solo project for Dave - but he definitely takes the opportunity to stretch out a little more from the standard pop/rock template with solo drum experimentations and a few other twists. All of these upcoming in-stores start at 4pm. Don't be late!

We were going to choose our Riot Fest winners today, but since we expect a decent crowd for the in-store this weekend we're going to extend it just one more day. We will pick the winners at the end of the day on Saturday! You can still enter in the store OR you can e-mail us at info@sakistore.net with the subject "Riot Fest Contest." You will still need to be able to pick up your tickets in person at saki. Still no purchase necessary. Still an amazing chance to get FREE RIOT FEST TICKETS!

 Here are some things we were talking about on Instagram, etc. this week! 

 It was serendipitous that we just happened to have a red bowl to match Riot Fest's logo for our ticket giveaway. 

New arrivals from Maximum Pelt! New Vamos and Ego LPs, plus a whole bunch of tapes AND we found out we have the last remaining copies of a few Max Pelt tapes, including older Vamos releases. Come snatch them!

Upcoming events:

Saturday, August 22nd @ 4pm
Acoustic Powerpop: Lee Ketch (Mooner), Ian Olvera (Sleepwalkers - MKE), Wes Hollywood in-store!

Saturday, August 29th @ 4pm
In-store with Lala Lala and Kø! 

Saturday, September 5th @ 4pm
In-store with Dave Segedy (Sleeping Bag0 a

New releases:

Advance Base - Nephew In The Wild CD and LP
AFX - Orphaned DJ Selek 2006-2008 LP 
Avengers - S/T CD
Blind Shake - Live In San Fransisco CD
Olivia Block - Aberration of Light cassette
C418 - Minecraft Volume Alpha CD and LP
The Cell Phones - Taste cassette
Johnny Cash - Sings The Songs That Made Him Famous LP
Dangerdoom - The Mouse and the Mask LP
Dream Eagle - Heavy Dreams cassette
Drinks - Hermits On Holiday LP
Ego - Economy LP
John Fahey - Dance of Death and Other Plantation Favorites LP
Faith No More - Sol Invictus LP
Fredd Velvet - S/T cassette
Gagakarise and EYE - Gagakarise 7"
Herbcraft - Wot Oz LP
Patrick Higgins - Social Death Mixtape cassette
  Holy Sons - Fall of Man CD and LP
Kidda Band - Fighting My Way Back 7"
Tim Kuhl - 1982 LP and cassette
Liquid Idiot/Idiot Orchestra LP
Liquid Liquid - S/T LP
Liquid Liquid - Successive Reflexes LP
Liquid Liquid - Optimo LP
Modern Convenience - Fuck With Fire cassette
Modern Lovers - S/T LP
Music City Sessions - V/A 3LP pack
Normals - So Bad So Bad LP
Qwanqua - Vol. 2 CD and LP
Dan Rico - S/T cassette
Royal Headache - High LP
Scientists - S/T LP
Scientists - Blood Red River LP
Ronnie Stone and the Lonely Riders - Motorcycle Yearbook LP
Tarnation - Naked Labor cassette
Ukiah Drag - In The Reaper's Quarters LP     
Unmanned Ship - Crystal Pepsi 7"
Vamos - Spiderbait LP 

20% off this week:

We'll pick new staff picks for the 20% off rack each day. Come in and see!

Staff Picks:

Anna's Pick of the Week: B.B. King - Singin' The Blues

B.B. King is a rock n’ roll patron saint. With a such a huge body of work, it’s hard to know where to start, but B.B. hits the ground running with a smash of a first album in 1956. There isn’t a track on the album that isn’t filled with killer guitar licks, soulful singing, and toe tapping, heart gripping blues. Not only is his first album great, he was an incredibly dedicated performer, playing 342 shows that year alone. So before you reach for an anthology, give this early collection a whirl - it’s a true classic.

Adam's Pick of the Week: Royal Headache - High

I've been cautiously optimistic about the arrival of this long-awaited sophomore album. The standard set by their early career and debut self-titled LP was a hard one to match. Luckily most of the songs on High were written around the same time their debut was finally being released in the US, and most of High would fit right in with Royal Headache. Even the tracks that wouldn't are only set apart by their pace and slight production flourishes. To be honest those changes are welcome and so subtle that even if they were an issue, they'd be negligible. One of those welcome changes is 'Carolina,' a mid-tempo pop jam that wouldn't be too out of place on a War On Drugs album. To be clear: Royal Headache > War On Drugs, but it's nice to see them branch out a little bit!

The future of Royal Headache is, and always has been questionable. The band has claimed to break up several times, and they've even said recently that they don't know what to expect after this album's release and concurrent tour. There are a lot of people who hope that the future brings nothing but more Royal Headache albums, but even if it doesn't they've done more with two albums than most bands could do in ten.

Ticket giveaways: 

Buy a release from any band playing an upcoming Empty Bottle, Schubas or Lincoln Hall show and we can add you to the guest list. Stop in or give us a call! Keep an eye out for announcements for eligible Metro, Constellation, and Bottom Lounge shows too!