Mixtape #17: Snacking On The 7-inch

The latest installment of our mixtape series highlights the 7" vinyl single—a format that was introduced in 1949 by RCA and is still alive and thriving today. The tracklist below features 21 different 7"s put out by some of our favorite artists and labels.*

Review: Bill Baird :: Goodbye Vibrations

After Sound Team’s Capitol Records debut Movie Monster was panned by Pitchfork in 2006, founding member Bill Baird hilariously reenacted the review with homemade footage of a dummy being literally stabbed with a pitchfork, thrown off a cliff, and lit on fire. The video is a surprisingly accurate snapshot of Baird as an artist, with its do-it-yourself approach and aesthetic, dead-pan humor, and eye for detail, like the comically dramatic piano score he composed for the video. After Sound Team's breakup in 2007, that DIY mentality became Baird's M.O.: he founded his own studio in Austin out of an old blues bar and Fish R Us called Baby Blue, where he now hosts shows, has recorded bands like Jesse Woods and Generationals, and records and releases his own material, including a string of releases by his band Sunset.

Must-Have Vinyl: Bill Baird :: Goodbye Vibrations

Just last month I wrote about Bill Baird's excellent Bandcamp-delivered, woozy, psych-rock single "Wino Strut." Now, the former Sound Team bandmate and Sunset auteur is set to release an 8-song LP August 1st dubbed Goodbye Vibrations. Recorded on 1/2" 8 track and mixed to cassette tape, the album will be offered as a digital download via Bandcamp or on 12" vinyl with handmade cover art. If you dig Baird's music, this an opportunity to procure a seriously rare piece of art, as only 50 are being pressed and each cover comes with its own Polaroid. Take a listen to the first taste of the album below: the intimate finger-plucked "We'll Meet Again Someday, or We Won't."

Bill Baird - "Wino Strut"

Matt Oliver of the great TV Torso recently linked via Twitter to the Bandcamp page of his former Sound Team bandmate, Bill Baird. Waiting for me there was "Wino Strut," a woozy, warm, and ambient bit of psych-rock. This song has seriously crept it's way under my skin. I don't know much about Baird, just that he releases songs under his own name as well as the Sunset moniker, and has a serious knack for experimenting with analog recording. "Wino Strut," uploaded to Bandcamp just last week, was recorded in Austin at Baby Blue Studio by Quentin Stoltzfus of the band Mazarin (Stoltzfus wrote the incredible "Another One Goes By," popularized by The Walkmen). I highly recommend snagging Baird's "Wino Strut" from his Bandcamp and then exploring the musician's rich and eclectic catalogue over at Autobus Records.

Bill Baird - "Wino Strut"

Sunset - "Loveshines II" (from Loveshines But The Moon Is Shining Too)

After the jump, watch two absolutely far-out Baird videos, one of which is wonderfully lo-fi.