In August, I admitted budgetary defeat and greatly limited my purchasing. So there are only four vinyl finds this month. A roadtrip south to Mississippi Records this month and a special column coming soon, I hope, make up for that.

1. Le Sang Song - s /t
Where: Sonic Boom (Capitol Hill)
How Much: $7.99 (and 25% off)

Since being introduced to Le Sang Song almost exactly a year ago, I’ve looked diligently for this vinyl only release every time I’ve combed the used bins or hit up a new local record store. Every record store clerk I’ve come into contact with over the last year has been asked about this record and all of them always told me they’d sold out of their copies and there was no plan on getting more in. So imagine my glee when a used copy in wonderful condition was staring back at me in the “New Used Arrivals” during my last visit to Sonic Boom’s Capitol Hill location.

A solo project of Craig Chambers formerly of The Lights, this self-titled release was recorded in 2007 but only released in 2010, it’s a record that’s hard to pinpoint with words. Finest Kiss describes the album well by saying it is “sparse and claustrophobic at the same time.” It does feel a bit like climbing the walls of an empty room, the same chord maddeningly struck on repeat in your brain — both hypnotically soothing and crazy tic-inducing. Folksy at times, sometimes soulfully sparse, it is always fucked up and more often than not, in a very good way. The record is worth buying for stand out track “War” alone, which sounds like some long lost classic … astounding in its perfection, but the rest of the record is no slouch either. If you ever see it in a used bin or if you see Le Sang Song on a bill, pony up the cash and check them out.

See the rest of my favorite vinyl finds

2. S -I’m Not As Good As You
Where: Sonic Boom (Capitol Hill)
How Much: $18.99 (and 25% off)

Coming in at #7 on our 25 Favorite Northwest Records of 2010 and #4 on my personal list, finding a copy of the Import only I’m Not As Good As You was a bit like discovering unicorns exist by stumbling on one in the wild. I had no idea this beautiful bummer was ever pressed to wax and while $18.99 was a bit steep for the reality of my bank account, there was no way this record wasn’t coming home with me. Because I’m Not As Good As You has only gotten better with time, more devastating in its honesty, more lovely in its loneliness. And were I writing that Best of 2010 list today, I would fight for it to be ranked much higher.

Since her days with Carissa’s Wierd (who, don’t forget, you can see live this Saturday at Neumos) Jen Ghetto has been writing the best sad songs in all of Seattle, if not the country. She continues to do so solo as “S.” I’m Not As Good As You is an album so good, I’d recommend buying it however you can, even on CD. But if you ever do find it staring back at you in a used bin, bite the bullet and pay the price to own it on vinyl.

3. Elvis Perkins - “All The Night Without Love” EP
Where: Easy Street (Queen Anne)
How Much: $3.00

It seems strange now, but when I first wrote about Elvis Perkins in 2006 I confessed I had a “predilection for folk music” and it was a genuine revelation. At that time, Sound on the Sound was focused on local rock, I’d written about Iceage Cobra, Thee Emergency, The Whore Moans and whoever was riling up a pit at The Blue Moon, The Funhouse and local basements. Today, if I said I had a “predilection for folk music” I believe I’d get a resounding DUH from you, but a lot has changed in five years.

What hasn’t changed is my love for Elvis Perkins and his debut record Ash Wednesday, which remains painfully perfect to my ears. Finding the full length Ash Wednesday on vinyl has become my personal Holy Grail quest, but to date I’ve had to settle for finding the random EPs released from the album; my favorite certainly being “All the Night Without Love,” which is accompanied by a couple otherwise unreleased b-sides “The Dumps” and “A Question.” Listening to these songs, it feels as Perkins peaked a little too early, that had Ash Wednesday come out in 2009 or 2010 instead of 2006, it would’ve been one of the biggest records in the world. And I’m still hopeful, despite radio silence from Perkins and Dearland for the last year or two, that there’s more to come from this gifted poet. And that somewhere, someday, I’ll find Ash Wednesday in a used bin.

4. John Prine - Sweet Revenge
Where: Easy Street (West Seattle)
How Much: $5.99

I believe Zoe Muth said it best, “When you said you’d never heard of John Prine, well I knew right away you weren’t worth my time.” One of America’s cleverest song-writers, penning tunes both irreverent and insightful, Prine has a rare way with words which should have garnered him fame beyond the measure he has found. A cynical humanist, in the vein of Vonnegut, Sweet Revenge will make you laugh, well-up and teach you something at the same time.