You're In This All Alone

I was pretty friggin' psyched to see the new Million Sellers LP show up in my mailbox yesterday. Kels Koch lives in Nashville now, instead of Texas, and so his last few records have a little more twang added and a little more Buddy Holly taken away, but that's okay because he still cranks out some of the best tunes ever -- like as if a trad songwriter had roots in Alex Chilton, Ward Dotson, and Paul Westerberg, which I'm pretty sure he doesn't but it still sounds like it.

"Music City USA" was released on CD, which I have also, but the really cool part is that in addition to the CD they also pressed up a version on vinyl... in MONO. The download code for the LP gives you the stereo versions of the mp3's, but I think it's pretty wicked that the LP sounds completely different: a nod to the mono LP pressings of the past, as well as a nod, too, to the fact that most people won't ever drop a needle on the vinyl and will just listen to the mp3s, I guess.




Million Sellers -

"Discarded"
(mono version)

Anything That You're Missing You Don't Need

Million Sellers released two jaw-droppingly brilliant 7"-ers back in the mid-90's to relative worldwide disinterest (you can revisit them here and here), but now Kels Koch is back on vinyl again over a decade later with another 4-song EP, released earlier this year on BamaLama. This one rocks a bit harder that the first two, meaning a lot more of the Eddie Cochran comes through while making the Chilton/Westerberg comparisons a little less apt, but you can still picture this as something Chilton might've come up with after "Flies on Sherbert" had he not almost immediately taken a hard right turn to kitschville.

Of course, owning any Million Sellers record is fairly recommended, which you can attempt in this case either through the BamaLamaRecords.com web site, or for a mere 4 bucks direct. I've also ripped a couple of tracks for you to sample by clicking on the links found below (they're not downloadable files this time, just listen-only).




Million Sellers -

(these files are listen-only)

"Fickle-Hearted Lover"

"I Can't Help It"

There's Things In Here That Could Hurt You

The 90's were the beginning of the indie record glut, supposedly, with tons of bands being able to pile up 5 or 6 releases and build a name for themselves without even being all that great. Far to the other end of that spectrum is Million Sellers, who released a handful of some of the greatest songs ever written on two measly 7"-ers and then pretty much sank out of sight.

If there's a formula to a Million Sellers song, it's a pretty simple one: a catchy hook you couldn't possibly forget, with lyrics so sharp they make your head hurt. Like I said before, think Chilton and Westerberg at their finest, with some Buddy Holly thrown in to keep things basic. I posted the second Million Sellers EP back in October; now here's the b-side to the first EP, plus one other song ("Marilyn", from "You Can't Spell Abandonment Without A Band") that I'm adding because I like it a whole lot, though I'm posting it as a low bit rate listen-only file because Kels deserves to sell some songs eventually.




Million Sellers -

"Lorandia"

"When You're Gone"

(both of these files are now listen-only)

extra listen-only file:

Million Sellers, "Marilyn"

I Can Leave 'Em On If It Bothers You

Naming your band Million Sellers might seem like cockiness, but these guys really coulda been huge. Kels Koch's songs are as if Buddy Holly never died and was able to later hook up with Alex Chilton and Paul Westerberg, and the two 7"-ers that Million Sellers put out in the mid-90's are two of the greatest records that practically no one has ever heard.

I first found out about Million Sellers through Pop Culture Press, a crappy Austin mag that used to include a sampler CD with each issue, every so often (and totally by accident) including an actual good song. Once I heard Million Sellers I spent months trying to track down their records through the usual mail order places, eventually buying their two EPs through Mutant Pop. I gave them a big push in the last issue of Brushback ("Million Sellers have now put out two 7-inch records with almost as many brilliant songs on them as any LP put out by Westerberg Stinson Stinson and Mars... If you only buy one record all year, make it a box set or that 74-minute Metallica CD, they have more stuff on them"), but it wasn't all that much help, I'm sure.

Million Sellers started playing out again a couple of years ago, and there's two CDs out now that have most of their output on them-- "Million Sellers' Golden Records" and "You Can't Spell Abandonment Without A Band". The EP that came out the year before this one is even better, by the way, so I should be posting that one in the very near future.




Million Sellers -

"You Don't Have To Worry About Affection"

"Love's Last Laugh"

(these files are now listen-only)