COLLECTION SELECTION: Carrie Weston
In front of her summer-soaked secret garden, meet Carrie Weston, the 29th featured collector of our Collection Selection series and the slated vibe claimer for Monday September 9th at Trenchermen. Weston is a proud home-owner, a radio DJ for WLUW (88.7 FM), and a clutch hitter in the Toast and Jam DJs lineup, titles that only partially explain the radness of her record, CD, and tape collection to which we were privy on a recent Wednesday afternoon. Here below, preview her personality and the sound she’ll bring to the bar at Trenchermen next Monday.
We’ll begin with this beautiful rarity, a lost and found LP by the ancient British psych band Dark, which has the delightfully dead drum sound of all my favorite proto-metal recordings, plus a gorgeous high-resolution cover photograph that is both spellbinding and sublimely congruous with our portrait of Weston in front of her garden.
Before going any further, we have to talk about the sweet-as-shit hifi setup in her home. A prisine VPI piece, with what appears a substantial Crown phono preamp, plus…
…Sound Technology tube-powered Mini Amps for Bowers & Wilkins speakers, plus…
…a VPI brand RECORD VACUUM (wtf???!!!) used for cleaning and destaticizing vinyl records before playback. So badass. Weston and I had a brief discussion about how tactilely satisfying toggle switches are.
Weston’s espresso machine also has some pretty satisfying toggle switches.
Okay, back to the music…a killer 30th Anniversary compilation of material by Dutch underground collective The Ex.
Great music, great pressing, and great statistics listed in the liners, including details on cities, shows, members, and bands they worked with over the years. It was kind of shocking to learn that The Ex played with Chumbawamba 38 times.
Weston had a great story about a journey she and friend made to New Zealand because they were so in to Flying Nun Records at the time. Apparently the label offices were less than fantasy-fulfilling, but they did manage to scoop up some great records, including this reversible gatefold LP by The Chills.
An excellent Frenchy punk record by Snipers, Weston scavenged this LP at one of her favorite stores, Jerry’s Records in Pittsburgh.
Not a magic eye; this is an EP by one of Weston’s more current band crushes, Fuck Buttons. Her favorite cut on this record features vocals by Suicide’s Alan Vega.
The subject of Suicide prompted a discussion of Neneh Cherry’s recent cover of “Dream Baby Dream,” which is driven by the gnarly-as-hell double bass playing of Norwegian expatriate Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, a residual member of the Chicago free jazz family who was all over town last weekend during Jazz Fest. Discussion of The Cherry Thing prompted Weston to share this New Age Steppers album, an old punky reggae record that features vocals by Neneh Cherry and Ari Up of The Slits.
“Better Than an iPod” is the title of this oil-on-canvas portrait of Weston that she commissioned and gifted to her husband Bob for a Christmas passed. Bob asked for an iPod that year, he got this painting instead.