Agusta, GA | Grantski Records reflects on community support from the past seven years: Grantski Records has been helping people find vinyl records for seven years, and for the past few years they’ve been in Downtown Augusta. Not only can you find records but they also have musical performances at the venue as well. For “Your Hometown Road Trip” we caught up with owner, Evan Grantski and talked with him about his journey, and what it’s like working his dream job. “…I’ve always been a lover of music and a collector. My parents collected, my brother collected, both my brothers, and, so, I just got into to it, and I thought that Augusta needed something where, you could go and buy records from newer bands. I just started buying collections and I would set up at Sky City, which was a venue a couple years ago. We would do like little popups. I would do porch sales and sell online.”
Lincoln, UK | Spinning through time with vinyl, tapes and CDs: How Lincoln keeps analogue music alive: Local music collectors champion physical formats: In the buzzing era of instantaneous digital music streaming, where Spotify and Apple Music dominate the auditory landscape, a resilient and passionate tribe finds solace in the evocative crackles and pops of vinyl, the tactile familiarity of tapes, and the durable charm of CDs. We spoke to a Lincoln record store owner and four other music fans about changing trends and what they love most about rotational media. Jim Penistan is the owner of Back to Mono on Guildhall Street in Lincoln and owns around 5,000 vinyls and thousands of CDs. …A move to a different location on Guildhall Street followed in 2015 before he relocated back to his original spot four years ago, selling new releases on vinyl as well as old favourites, tapes, CDs and more.
Spokane, WA | Rewind: Local music lovers are hitting play for the cassette tape: Move aside vinyl, another retro music format has spun back into the local spotlight. As emblematic to 1980s culture as the boom boxes and Sony Walkmans that played them, cassette tapes are back in vogue. With modern recording artists such as Taylor Swift embracing the trend, a younger generation of music fans has jumped on board this old-school bandwagon and some local music stores are now seeing a surge in requests for cassette tapes and their vintage playback devices. “I think the demand for cassettes is starting to really kick in. We’re going to start buying more and more of them,” said Mike Messinger, who owns Big Foot Records in Spokane. “It’s like vinyl right now. The demand is so heavy that a lot of stuff is coming out from the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Canada, United States, it’s all over the world right now,” said Messinger, who has been selling cassette tapes faster than he can unbox them.
Blacksburg, VA | Physical media is important in the streaming age: If you use the internet, you probably use some sort of streaming service. Whether you stream movies on a platform like Netflix, or you’re checking out a new album on Spotify, streaming has impacted physical media in some way. While the sale of vinyl records has steadily increased since the late 2000s, it still pales in comparison to the “sale” of music through streaming services. The same goes for movies as well. Why wouldn’t you partake in streaming? It’s cheap and convenient, and all the media you could ever want is at your fingertips for the price of one CD or Blu-Ray once a month. Streaming is useful and has its perks, but there’s a world in which streaming and the collection of CDs, vinyl and DVDs can be used in tandem with one another.
Former Underground Resistance member DJ Rolando has put his vinyl collection up for sale: Former Underground Resistance member DJ Rolando is selling part of his record collection. The artist, also known as Aztec Mystic, announced that he is selling a number of records via Instagram, writing: “Selling off some of my collection. DM if interested,” alongside images of a number of white label records and test pressings. Rolando, a former member of legendary Detroit techno collective Underground Resistance (UR), is best known for producing the anthemic ‘Knights of Jaguar.’ Inspired by a Jeff Mills set in Detroit, DJ Rolando began DJing hip hop, electro and Latin freestyle in 1987. During the early 90s he started going to house and techno raves, which is where he became familiar with Underground Resistance. In 1994 he joined the collective and not-soon-after, following encouragement from Mad Mike, the Aztec Mystic began producing. In 1999 DJ Rolando released ‘Knights of Jaguar’ on Underground Resistance. The track became an immediate favourite of Jeff Mills, and then the world.
This wireless turntable looks and sounds great: House of Marley recently launched a luxury wireless turntable, The Stir It Up Lux. Like everything else from HOM, you admire the looks and modern craftsmanship before you plug it in or turn it on. In true Marley branding style, their products are all about sustainability. The Stir It Up Lux has that HOM look with a natural bamboo base, a double-sided cork slip mat and first-ever HOM features. One side is black, and the other has a vibrant zoetrope. This zoetrope side creates the illusion of motion when the turntable is spinning. The turntable design includes aluminum, glass, and cork. The reason, as stated on the HOM site: “One of the world’s fastest-growing plants, bamboo can grow up to a meter in height in just 24 hours – making it extremely renewable. Aluminum and glass are both infinitely recyclable, while cork is made from stripped-down bark as opposed to cut-down trees.”
Verve Unveils A New Nina Simone Compilation Four Women: Complete Recordings 1964-1967. The record was released in honor of what would have been Simone’s 90th birthday. Verve Records has released Four Women: The Nina Simone Complete Recordings 1964-1967. In honor of what would have been Nina Simone’s 90th birthday, Verve has meticulously curated this limited-edition vinyl boxed set that celebrates the legendary Nina Simone’s most prolific period, highlighting her timeless contribution to jazz. The years 1964 to 1967 marked the pinnacle of Nina Simone’s illustrious career, and “Four Women” is a testament to that remarkable period. This deluxe seven-LP collection includes all seven albums Nina Simone recorded for Philips between 1964 and 1967, each remastered and cut by Kevin Reeves from the original analog tapes. The albums featured are Nina Simone in Concert (1964); Broadway-Blues-Ballads (1964) that features the first LP release of the track “A Monster;” I Put A Spell On You (1965); Pastel Blues (1965); Let It All Out (1966); Wild Is the Wind (1966); and High Priestess of Soul (1967).
X-Ray Spex’s ‘Conscious Consumer’ to be released on vinyl for the first-time ever: Out 15th December via DYI Records / Cargo Records. Today, DYI Records have announced the reissue of X-Ray Spex’s 1995 lost classic ‘Conscious Consumer’. The highly sought after album originally received a very limited CD only release in 1995 on Receiver Records in the UK and has been officially unavailable for the past 27 years. Now it has been remastered from the original master tape and will land on vinyl for the first-time ever with unpublished lyrics and original sleeve notes from the iconic vocalist Poly Styrene. The reissue follows the recently re-release of ‘Germ Free Adolescents’ on day-glo pink vinyl and CD on 29th September via Secret Records, which was put out via Poly Styrene’s estate. Notable for reuniting Poly Styrene with the original X-Ray Spex saxophonist Lora Logic and bassist Paul Dean, as well as featuring guitar from Crispian Mills and drums from Paul Winterhart (under their respective pseudonyms Red Spectre and Pauli OhAirt) of the band Kula Shaker.
