Dublin, IE | Boutique coffee and record store opening on the northside later this month: Wavetable is a new speciality coffee and record store opening in Drumcondra later this month. New coffee spots have been popping up all around Dublin in recent months and another one is about to add its name to the list, with Wavetable – Ireland’s first boutique specialty coffee and record store – due to open over on the northside later this month. A venture born out of a shared love for music and coffee, the new spot draws inspiration from minimalist, Nordic design and will offer customers a space where they can enjoy both at the same time. Serving up a range of specialty coffees, they’ll also have plenty of delicious vegan cakes and groovy records to help keep you on the straight and narrow. Oh, and they’re pet-friendly too. So, win-win-win. Starting out with takeaway service only, owners are hopeful they’ll be able to welcome customers inside as soon as restrictions allow.
London, UK | New book celebrates London’s best-loved record stores: London’s Record Shops is a new book celebrating physical music stores in the English capital. The 128 page book is a collaboration between writer Garth Cartwright and photographer Quintina Valero and is set to be published by The History Press Ltd on April 1. Although the specific record shops included has not yet revealed, the publisher’s synopsis notes: “From Brixton dub shacks to Hackney vinyl boutiques, Camden’s rockabilly ravers to Southall’s last Bollywood shop, underground Peckham outlets to Soho’s legendary dance music hub, these brilliantly eccentric and engaging emporiums are documented with striking photographs and incisive interviews.”
Barrie, ON | Entrepreneurs rewind the tape on music mediums: Barrie duo launches Tarantula Tapes as a way for bands to get their music out to the masses; ‘It’s almost like what happened with vinyl 10 or 15 years ago is now happening with cassettes’ They’re back! Or maybe they never even really left. For almost 60 years, cassette tapes have been one of the formats music fans — and musicians — have used to hear their favourite tunes. Now a Barrie company is helping punk bands — who may or may not have had their music previously released on CDs and/or vinyl — spread the word about their music in a format invented the same year Ringo Starr joined The Beatles. Tarantula Tapes, a cassette tape-only record label that started up near the end of summer 2020, is the brainchild of Casey Cuff and partner Core (pronounced Kor-Ree) Bee. While they both work full-time, they are also musicians and recent events over the last 10 months (Hmmm, what could that be?) and some extra spare time helped spawn the idea of creating cassettes for their fellow punk musicians.
50th anniversary of Janis Joplin’s ‘Pearl’ album to be celebrated with vinyl reissues, other special releases: Today marks the 50th anniversary of the release of Janis Joplin’s posthumous final studio album, Pearl. To commemorate the milestone, a series of special releases are planned for 2021, included a limited-edition colored-vinyl reissue that’s due out in April. The Pearl reissue, which will be pressed on pearl-white vinyl, can be pre-ordered now from the Vinyl Me, Please record club. In addition, a high-fidelity 180-gram two-LP box set reissue of Pearl, mastered from the original tapes and cut at 45 r.p.m., will be released in July as part of Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab’s “UltraDisc One-Step” series. You can pre-order that now, too. Pearl was released about three months after Joplin’s October 1970 death from a heroin overdose and spent nine consecutive weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200 in early ’71. The album features Janis’ chart-topping cover of Kris Kristofferson’s “Me and Bobby McGee,” as well as such other classic tunes as “Mercedes Benz,” “Move Over” and “Cry Baby.”
Jack White to release 2014 Detroit Masonic Temple show on vinyl: It will arrive with a bonus 7″ single of White’s ‘Saturday Night Live’ performance from last year. Jack White is set to release a new live album recorded at Detroit’s Masonic Temple back in 2014. The show, which took place on July 30, 2014, saw the Detroit native run through 38 songs over the course of three-and-a-half hours which included covers of Beck’s ‘Devil’s Haircut’, Led Zeppelin‘s ‘The Lemon Song’ and Hank Williams’ ‘Ramblin Man’. Released via White’s own Third Man Records, ‘Jack White: Live At The Masonic Temple’ will be available on four 180-gram coloured vinyl LPs, with a slipcase cover with custom printed photo inner sleeves and will include shots from the night by official tour photographer David Swanson. In addition, the album will include a 7″ single of White’s October 2020 performance on SNL, where he filled in for Morgan Wallen and paid tribute to Eddie Van Halen.
Grammy-Winning The Color Purple Cast Album to be Released as Purple Vinyl Broadway Records has announced the upcoming special edition release of the Grammy Award-winning The Color Purple cast recording. A double record set, printed on purple vinyl, will be available beginning February 5, 2021, in honor of the five-year anniversary of the recording’s original release. The special album also comes with photos from the Broadway production and full billing, plus a gatefold cover. The 2015 revival of The Color Purple starred Cynthia Erivo, Jennifer Hudson, and Danielle Brooks. It won the 2016 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical and Erivo won Best Actress in a Musical. The limited-edition album is now available for preorder.
