What.cd : News

January Store Update: CD x 3

2015 is off to a sprint, and we're here to momentarily distract you from the race with a shiny pile of store gear. We're using a simple in-house design on each new item: our favicon. The 'CD' design has grown up with us, and the featured version is simple and bold. The logo remains one of the subtler examples of What.CD-related design, and we felt it deserved a place among the other items in our store collection. If you're hesitant to have the tracker's name plastered on the items you buy, but still want to show your support for What.CD, these items provide a happy medium which matches What.CD pride with an unobtrusive, clean aesthetic.

What's more: each item we're launching is something we haven't seen before. We're rolling out beanies, bonded leather coasters, and beer mugs! The logic went something like this: it's still cold out there, and with this update, What.CD furthers its commitment to shielding your skulls from the elements. Once you get inside, pop off the beanie, turn on some music, and pour yourself a nice drink (that won't destroy your furniture when paired with our new coasters). See? An elegant story. So go check out the new stuff! As always, What.CD gear is launched through The What.CD Online Store, and our new products are available for purchase today. Here's the standard rundown about the store, gear, and donor points:

The What.CD Online Store (TWOS) is operated by Port Merch, a full-service merchandising outlet for many major music artists. This means that your transactions are safe and secure! Thanks, Port Merch.

TWOS accepts PayPal and all major credit cards.

You can check out all available TWOS products by visiting the link above, or by scoping out our on-site Store Gallery.

Downloadable products like This CD, The First have very low overhead costs. If you aren't interested in physical gear and your goal is to donate as much of your contribution as is possible, the vast majority of what you spend on downloadable products will directly fund What.CD.

Want to help out, but don't want to buy stuff from the store? Check out one of our approved donation methods by visiting our Donate Page.
You can show your gear off here!

Did you buy stickers? Visit this thread and show us where you've put them!

[Buy Now :: Beanie] — [Buy Now :: Bonded Leather Coasters] — [Buy Now :: Beer Mug]

1 - CD Beanie:
Beanies? Beanies. Yet another way for What.CD to infiltrate your wardrobe. Besides, appreciating music is challenging when your brain is frozen. Keep your cranial contents warm with this black, knit FlexFit beanie (embroidered with a silver-grey What.CD 'CD' favicon).
Limited Edition: Approximately 250 beanies are available.
$16.00 per beanie - 2 Donor Points

2 - CD Bonded Leather Coasters (Pair):
These black, bonded leather coasters are 3.75" in diameter and feature a silver foil What.CD 'CD' favicon imprinted on the front. You'll get two classy coasters per purchase, and you'll finally be able to sleep now that the evil furniture rings can't eat your mahogany babies anymore.
Limited Edition: Approximately 500 coaster two-packs are available (1000 coasters total).
$8.50 per 2-pack - 1 Donor Point

3 - CD Beer Mug:
The (potentially) bad news: you're cold. The good news: What.CD's 12 oz. beer mugs go great with warm - or warming - liquids. You know the drill. Hiccup with What: these heavy glass steins feature a silver What.CD 'CD' favicon printed on the front.
Limited Edition: Approximately 300 mugs are available.
$17.00 per mug - 2 Donor Points


Estimated remaining inventory numbers for products launched in the November 2014 'Native Waveforms' update.

Estimated remaining inventory numbers for products launched in the October 2014 'Keeping Warm' update.

What.CD is funded by user contributions, and all user contributions (including direct donations and store profits) are reinvested in the site or store. Staff members are unpaid volunteers. By participating in What.CD's Donor Rank System, you can earn points which unlock Donor Ranks and Special Ranks. Anyone who unlocks Special Rank #1 gets to share a pick with the entire community. Here are the picks from the sixth batch of Special Donors. You can check out the top donors via the Donor Leaderboard.

Enjoy the picks, and let's give a huge round of applause to the donors who keep What.CD alive!

Nipqer's Special Donor Pick

Shihad - Killjoy

Genre: Hard Rock, Metal

Torrents: torrents.php?id=20130

Review:
Play Loud.



pvcca's Special Donor Pick

James Plotkin & Paal Nilssen-Love - Death Rattle

Genre: Experimental, Rock, Jazz, Noise

Torrents: torrents.php?id=72604410

Review:
One of my favourite albums of 2013.



Littlebiscuit's Special Donor Pick

Tacto - Reflections Of

Genre: electronic, drum.and.bass, bass, uk.garage

Torrents: torrents.php?id=72559508

Review:
A short but sweet, moody trip of percussive and melodic bass music, driven by vocals. It has an indie electronic feel to it, while still being dance music. The melodies are really interesting and playful. Really nice on headphones.



cryptic13's Special Donor Pick

Nação Zumbi - Fome de Tudo

Genre: mangue.beat, brazil, rock, experimental, psychedelic

Torrents: torrents.php?id=71967985

Review:
Nação Zumbi is the sound of "mangue", a tradicionally marginal area of brazilian cities. Philosophy and social critique are always present. Deep beats and angry riffs are their special feature.



sjo's Special Donor Pick

Brigitte Demeyer - Rose of Jericho

Genre: alternative.country, rock, folk, americana, rhythm.and blues

Torrents: torrents.php?id=72450516

Review:
Better than the real thing

Remember when people used to criticize Gillian Welch as a poseur because she grew up in Los Angeles but sang American roots music with an affected Appalachian accent? Five albums later, nobody really cares. What matters is that Welch sings and plays great music. Rose of Jericho is singer/songwriter Brigitte DeMeyer’s fifth album. The sound is drenched in New Orleans style R&B missed with country blues and a whole lot of other folksy Southern ingredients that have nothing to do with her biography as the daughter of Belgian and German immigrants, who was raised in the Midwest and California. As in the case of Welch, so what? We are not determined by circumstance but by our imaginations. The dozen tasty self-penned tracks on DeMeyer’s latest release reveal she has a powerful and creative musical intelligence. She may not be authentic. She’s better than that.
-Steve Horowitz



tvbrain64's Special Donor Pick

Various Artists - Compilations - Prokefiev： Peter & The Wolf; Britten： Young Person's Guide; Strauss (R)： Till Eulenspiegel [2000] [Compilation]

Genre: Classical, Opera, Educational

Torrents: torrents.php?id=72681976

Review: tvbrain64 wrote:
Found this album at my local library and was very excited to get my hands on it. Who doesn't remember seeing "Peter & The Wolf" for the first time? And for a particularly large cherry on top, none other than David Attenborough narrating. To top it off, it is paired with Britten's Young Person's Guide To The Orchestra, recently featured in the latest Wes Andersom movie "Moonlight Kingdom". As the last bonus this bountiful album offers Strauss' "Till Eulenspiegels Lustige Streiche". A beautifully arranged masterpiece, some might say. Truly a bounty I could not pass up. I hope you all enjoy it.



bundy's Special Donor Pick

Various Artists - Country Funk 1969-1975

Genre: country, funk

Torrents: torrents.php?id=72261022

Review:
What in the hell is country funk you ask? The answer is a complicated one, in part due to the fact that Country Funk is an inherently defiant genre, escaping all efforts at easy categorization. The style encompasses the elation of gospel with the sexual thrust of the blues, country hoedown harmony with inner city grit. It is alternately playful and melancholic, slow jammin’, and booty shakin’. It is both studio slick and barroom raw. And while these all may seem unlikely combinations at first glance, upon close listen, it all makes sweet sense. Light In The Attic presents Country Funk 1969-1975, a melting pot concoction of the music of Dale Hawkins, John Randolph Marr, Cherokee, Johnny Adams, Mac Davis, Bob Darin, Jim Ford, Gray Fox, Link Wray, Bobby Charles, Tony Joe White, Dennis The Fox, Larry Jon Wilson, Bobbie Gentry, Gritz, and Johnny Jenkins.



overhappybunny's Special Donor Pick

Fate's Palette - Rule of Thirds

Genre: Dark Chamber Rock, Gothic Rock, Art Rock, Avant-garde

Torrents: torrents.php?id=72666208

Review:
Musically, the two sides of the LP are quite different: the first is approachable, with songs alternating between rhythmic chants reminiscent of Drum's Not Dead-era Liars to metal-tinged songs about Banshees to instrumental noise constructions to creepy, reverby ballads. The instrumentation notably includes violin and clarinet, but these instruments tones are ever-changing as the band has them powerfully routed through amps. The second side of the LP is more experimental: a Bolero-inspired March segues into a striking lament about the corruption of power on The Death of Marat, a stormy interlude moves into a song about a shipwreck, and the enigmatic closer Labyrinthe [sic] seems to batter the listener into a claustrophobic submission.



IAmTheMlkMan's Special Donor Pick

Self - Gizmodgery

Genre: Alternative, Rock, Pop, Twee pop

Torrents: torrents.php?id=20128

Review:
The amazing thing about Gizmodgery is not that it was recorded with toys -- New York-based Pianosaurus did that in the Eighties -- but that Mahaffey was able to sidestep the novelty record landmine and produce an album that not only deserves a second listen, it demands that you hit play repeatedly. The toys used on the album -- including a See & Say, My First Piano and the one-stringed Star Guitar -- never get in the way of the songs, which are the kind of tunes you would expect to hear if Prince and Beck were locked in a nursery together for a few months. - Rolling Stone


Couldn't have said it better myself. A great album from one of my favorite artists. I recommend grabbing the Japanese version, as the bonus track entitled "Resurrect" is fantastic and acts as a more proper album closer.



Kingofpain97's Special Donor Pick

Guided By Voices - Suitcase: Failed Experiments and Trashed Aircraft

Genre: Indie, Rock, Alternative

Torrents: torrents.php?id=227511

Review:
The 1st of 3 "suitcases" that Guided By Voices have put out. Included are 4 discs of rarities and outtakes. Suitcase is crammed with classic Robert Pollard moments - those unique occasions where poorly recorded, sloppily delivered songs somehow become transcendent pop genius. It's moments like this that have made GBV the veritable indie rock icons they are today, and the severe lack of moments like this that have plagued Robert Pollard's recent work.



zootallure's Special Donor Pick

Second Chance Blown - Second Chance Blown

Genre: Electro, electronic, idm, industrial, post.industrial

Torrents: torrents.php?id=72674064

Review:
Second chance blown does not know whether it is some sort of post industrial panicking, an electronic coincidence, a third variation of the aforementioned, or just an occasionally melodic secretion of some semi-controlled chaos, in which it joyfully floats like ulcer in gangrene. It's a musical bastard, a sonic idiot, a pathologically fucked up last chance, all over again, just because it knows how to do it. Simply, Second Chance Blown. As simple as spelling chaos with your mouth full of untold truths and pathetic excuses. (From Youtube)



Decibert's Special Donor Pick

Paul Simon - Songs from The Capeman

Genre: doo-wop, Latin, folk, rock & roll, musical

Torrents: torrents.php?id=433993

Review: Decibert wrote:
This album's subtle bland of warm doo-wop and close harmony vocals with Latin grooves and passionate storytelling is a perfect fit for Simon's playful voice and visual lyrics. This album features tracks from Simon's musical The Capeman, which flopped harder than the album did. And it may seem a disappointing affair compared to the exuberant rhythms of his giant hit records Graceland and The Rhythmn of the Saints. Yet, it deserves rehabilitation as one of Simon's greatest experimental genre-blending releases, as a result of the wonderful execution and songcraft, and use of contrast between musical elements to convey the story's emotions. From the bluesy Killer Wants To Go To College to the vocal acrobatics of Quality, to the schizophrenically festive and melancholy Born in Puerto Rico, this is a subtle album meant to be taken as a whole. TThis not of Simon's many required albums, but it has been undeservedly cast aside when it can just as easily be considered the best of his later-day career.



sonotnaf's Special Donor Pick

My Disco - Cancer

Genre: indie, post.rock, math.rock

Torrents: torrents.php?id=143223

Review:
Minimalist, pounding, agitated sounding post rock that needs to be played loud.



guidebook's Special Donor Pick

Foxes - Glorious

Genre: Pop

Torrents: torrents.php?id=72716455

Review:
Everything about this debut from Southampton singer-songwriter Louisa Rose Allen, better known as Foxes, strains to be huge. Booming drums evoke cavernous spaces, while fist-pumping choruses on songs such as Let Go for Tonight seem designed to fill them. Allen, 24, won a Grammy with dance producer Zedd for their collaboration, Clarity. Glorious ought to deliver more success. Though the album is formulaic and polished, there is enough crackle in its dark, lustrous soundscapes and tales of nocturnal romance to intrigue – and Allen's voice has the power to match those booming drums.

Source: The Guardian



liljim's Special Donor Pick

Ozric Tentacles - Pungent Effulgent

Genre: psychedelic, progressive.rock, space.rock

Torrents: torrents.php?id=68444

Review:
A prime example of what Psychedelic Space Rock is. Ozric Tentacles have a very organic feel in their use of electronic instruments. This coupled with flute, dazzling guitar, drum & bass work create otherworldly yet natural musical landscapes. Pungent Effulgent was my introduction to the band and is my tried and true album for introducing not only Ozric Tentacles but the Space Rock genre. Try it with headphones (and if you're so inclined an altered state of consciousness) and enjoy a trip to another world.