Type

7 albums of the week?

6 singles of the week?

I seem to remember last week they had even more. Do they have even a hint of quality / editorial control, or any sense of self-awareness?

And on a slightly more serious note, if a member of the Boomkat staff, or the staff collectively, found a real, proper gem of a record, something truly outstanding, from the present day or the past...how would anyone know? And why would anyone believe them, when every week there's ten records that are killer, that you can't live without, that are unmissable.

It's a joke. And it's a shame, cos it shouldn't be.

indeed it would be better if they made some choices. Also you can predict exactly what releases will be album of the week.

Not that I really care, I just buy what I want to buy and ignore the rest.

I have to say i've been thinking the same myself recently - a bit more selectivity wouldn't go amiss! In Boomkat's defence though, they do deal with a diverse range of music and i'm guessing members of staff have similarly diverse taste.  

Thought I'd chime in here.  I think boomkat is 100% better than Forced Exposure.  They are reliable (I think in the 2 years I've been ordered vinyl from them, they only had 1 record that they didn't have in stock as compaired to over 1/2 my orders for FE).  I get sooo pissed off when I find something I like at FE then I need to legitimize the shipping so I buy 3-4 more records and they only have 1-2 actually in stock.  I quit buying from them years ago.

I understand what you're saying, and every album gets a positive review which can make decision making more difficult, but I love them!!  Them and Norman are where it's at imo, and I live in the states ...

I agree, it can sometimes be a bit frustrating to read but they are a shop, not a on-line magazine. Plus, i think pretty much everyone who reads this site, for example, are way clued up as to what they want to hear/buy anyway - regardless of any reviews. I think, on balance, that they really support a core and brilliant rosta of small labels and that can only be a good thing. However, what I think is unforgivable is their review of the new Massive Attack album...where is Damon Albarn from then lads?

http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=255139

one thing about Boomkat is that there are sound samples for every release. this way, you can look past the predictability of their picks and ALWAYS judge for yourself.

who really cares? they have loads of good stuff, are reliable and ship quickly...

I agree - they're fast, efficient and very reliable, and that's about all that matters. Yes, they can be a bit predictable at times but the sound clips are indespensable and they often dig out some real gems from acts I've never even heard of. Just ignor the recommendations if they bother you and keep an eye on the recent arrivals page, plenty there which is equally well represented.

One complaint though - they should be banned from using the phrases "extremely limited" (so much stuff is these days and we all kinda know it) and "achingly beautiful" (surely the most over used description in music writing).

Keep up all the good work.

haha, and most of the releases aren't even THAT extremely limited. I mean 500 for the world...about half I buy is like that :p

I've always wanted to know what a "bass reduction" is as well.

Yours,

Confused of South Wales : )

Couldn't resist weighing in on this one.  I've been shopping at Boomkat for many years now (and Norman Records for even longer), and have always found them remarkably reliable, fast and efficient.  They also provide a valuable outlet for smaller labels (such as Type, of course) which should be applauded.

But their reviews do often verge on the ridiculous - they are always overly positive and always pushing for the sale.  As has already been pointed out, they ARE a shop and like all indie record stores they need to survive by whatever means they can.  So I think they can be forgiven for trying to push for the hard sell sometimes, and besides, to any regular viewer of their pages it quickly becomes quite obvious that their reviews should be taken with more than a pinch of salt. 

However, I have noticed more recently that Boomkat have been cynically increasing their prices on certain sought-after items.  They know what is going to sell out immediately and inflate their price accordingly.  Take for example the recent Grouper/Montgomery LP - Norman Records listed it at £12.99, whilst Boomkat bumped it up to £16.99.  Again, there's nothing particularly wrong with this - they are a shop and people are definitely willing to pay higher rates for rare releases - but it further erodes any trust I had in them.

Let me clarify some of the pricing problems - there's nothing cynical about this. In the last couple of years the customs people have hit hard on packages going to Boomkat (it must have been 'listed' or something) and packages sent from the USA are -always- taxed highly, which is reflected in the price. Packages going to other places can totally avoid the customs charge - hence the unbalance in prices. In fact the only thing that doesn't get hit by customs is cassettes - you can imagine a dude opening up the package and thinking 'who the fuck is gonna sell these'. But yeah the Grouper was taxed and also the Digitalis packages... which explains their pretty heavy pricing. It's not in Boomkat's interest to charge high prices, in fact when I work with them to set prices on Type stuff, we're always trying to keep it down as much as we possibly can.

Ah, well that does explain things.  I'm glad to hear there is nothing cynical going on.  You're right, customs taxes for items from the US are completely irregular.  I've been hit once or twice (although it is rare) with a customs charge for single LPs I've ordered from the US and the charge is enormous.  I once ordered something from Temporary Residence, who always label their overseas parcels as 'gifts' for customs, but it got singled out for some reason.  I then had to go and collect it from a depot and pay a customs charge of around £8.00, PLUS their handling charge of another £8.00!!  So yeah, it is unfair and often seems to be based on little more than chance, so I can only sympathise with Boomkat in this case.

John, That is a very good point about working with a distributor in setting the price of releases. Boomkat and Norman are always very good value for money - just look at what juno charge for type vinyl releases!

Yes - I just had my first experience dealing with the customs tax issue in getting the Asura record out to Boomkat : - / not fun for any party.

this week I received 4 (FOUR) packages from Boomkat. Really weird when the oldest was 4 weeks and the youngest not even a week old. 

One thing is a shame though...I ordered the Beach House 2LP + DVD, but the DVD was not included. But that is not something Boomkat can do anything about...Hope they can fix it for me though (or else the label).

The mail's been super weird from (and to) the UK for the last few weeks... had packages sent priority mail taking over a month... ridiculous. You should be able to get a replacement from Boomkat for the Beach House too - it must have been a facory error (it happens) and is super easy to mark out.

Yeah Norman Recs said the Beach House DVD was a cock up so shipped the vinyl without it with a view to ship later.

I actually had my first summons to the PO for illegally importing vinyl.  Before Xmas bought the first M83 LP on vinyl from the states for 9 quid plus 1.50 postage.  Marked as gift.  PO opened it and then I had to pay 12 pounds to get it.  In 15 years of getting large square "gifts" it's the first time I've ever had a package opened and been charged.

UK post is in a bad way at the moment, in fact there was a tv documentary all about the mess it's in just the other night (the usual Dispatches one-sided & sensationalist undercover journalism but I won't go into all that now). I sometimes get stuff from overseas faster than from the north of England! Must be causing so much trouble for all the mail order shops and labels.

Larry I think they're scrabbling for pennies at the moment - this stuff's happening so often at the moment. When I worked at BK only packages with the value marked up would be seized, now it's almost everything that's delivered that has customs charges on it. It's going to start really buggering up sites like Ebay if it continues. I always found it a lot of fun ordering stuff straight from the labels in the US, now I guess it's more and more difficult. Still haven't had any UK>USA packages taxed... fingers crossed eh? :)

when did you work at Burger King??

Black Country life, yo. Times was tough.

>>Still haven't had any UK>USA packages taxed... fingers crossed eh? <<

been at this for 6 years now and haven't had one taxed... but i keep getting paranoid.  i guess the whole america-hating-taxes thing has worked out well for me this time!

i never got anything taxed yet, and my package from Southern Lord got a big stamp on it saying "no taxes needed" (or something like that, but in Dutch).

And indeed Boomkat send me a mail I am getting the DVD at a later time. Label also replied, but I liked the Boomkat deal better...label wanted me to send my vinyl to them and they would send me a new package...don't think so...they screw-up, they pay (IMHO).

Sucks for Boomkat though...but guess I will mail them to send it with my next order (probably next week...)