Madison, WI | B-Side Records relocates to a new State Street storefront following highrise proposal: B-Side Records left its original location of 40 years after rumors of demolition and construction of a five-story-building became a reality. B-Side Records is the only record shop left in downtown Madison. However, development company JD McCormick proposed demolishing three buildings to make room for a five-story development on the 400 block on State Street. JD McCormick’s proposed project will displace three small State Street businesses which have been there for decades, including B-Side Records which resided at 416 State Street. B-Side Records owner Steve Manley spoke to the Daily Cardinal about the store’s history, transition to the new storefront and his thoughts on property companies adding new highrises to State Street. B-Side Records opened at 436 State Street in 1982 by two recent University of Michigan graduates who were former record store clerks. Manley recalled shopping at B-Side immediately as a fellow college student big on record collecting.
Haarlem, NL | Haarlem Vinyl Festival set for Netherlands next year: The festival will run from September 29 to October 1, 2023. A vinyl festival will take place across the city of Haarlem, Netherlands next September. Pitted as “the world’s first-ever city-wide vinyl festival”, the Haarlem Vinyl Festival will feature over 100 acts across different genres playing venues throughout the city. The programme will also include listening sessions, a vinyl fair, exclusive releases and industry talks. “In Haarlem, we aim to create a leading vinyl festival that attracts visitors from all around the globe looking to immerse in vinyl culture”, explains co-initiator Richard Zijlma (formerly ADE). “The city of Haarlem is the home base for a wide range of artists, venues and Record Industry, one of the world’s biggest vinyl pressing plants responsible for over 11 million records a year.” The lineup is soon to be announced.
Southsea, UK | Sports Team at Pie & Vinyl, Southsea: ‘Alex Rice is a consummate frontman.’ Over the years Pie and Vinyl in Castle Road, Southsea, has hosted some major bands – significantly Wolf Alice and Idles. The latest appearance was by indie hot ticket from London, Sports Team, who were finishing off a gruelling sprint round the UK with in a series of in-store performances and record signing to promote new album Gulp. All the hard work was worthwhile as they were rewarded with number three in the album charts. With only 50 or so fans able to squeeze into the cafe/shop, fans were queuing for more than two hours to secure a spot at the front among the racks of vinyl records. There is an expectant buzz to see this up-and-coming band who graced the Castle Stage at last month’s Victorious Festival. Lead singer Alex Rice has the air of a young Julian Casablancas from The Strokes, even down to the leather jacket. Annoyingly good looking he is a consummate frontman who will grace much bigger stages in the future.
St. Albans, UK | Pocket Gods issue one copy of new album for £1m: A record-breaking band that campaigns for higher online royalties is selling just one copy of their new album – for £1m. The Pocket Gods, from St Albans, said the copy of Vegetal Digital, on vinyl, would go on sale at a record store in the Hertfordshire city at 14:00 BST If sold, they planned to use the money to fund a rival streaming platform that pledges to pay artists more than Spotify and other streaming services. Spotify has been contacted for comment. The four-piece band said Spotify currently paid it a royalty of £0.002 per stream, but a track had to reach 30 seconds in length to qualify. Frontman Mark Christopher Lee said musicians routinely get underpaid for their work by the music industry and they have released albums of 30-second songs since 2015 to highlight the lack of what they call fair royalties.
Pro-Ject’s Vinyl NRS Box S3 is the cure for damaged records: Don’t throw out that bad copy of Frampton Comes Alive just yet… “…”The digital domain houses the main processes of the Vinyl NRS Box S3. The signal is filtered to avoid interference by the processing itself. In action, high-frequency artifacts are used as a marker for crackles, the dedicated algorithm identifies such peaks and users can adjust the sensitivity with the potentiometer on the front based on the targeted noise they are aiming to achieve. The signal is first separated into two frequency bands before being sent to two expanders to increase the signal-to-noise ratio. There are no audible noise modulations with this technique, and the process reduces noise by up to 8dB. Working between your amplifier and phono preamplifier, the Vinyl NRS Box S3 is a sleek and compact solution to enhance the listener’s enjoyment.”
Mondo announces New York Comic Con exclusive Ghostbusters II vinyl LP: With New York Comic Con set to take place this weekend, Mondo just revealed a limited vinyl release of the Ghostbusters II score will be made available, complete with an original cover design and pressed to look as if it was doused in psychomagnotheric mood slime! With artwork by Paul Mann, the cover depicts the four Ghostbusters, along with franchise favorites Louis Tully, Janine Melnitz, and Dana Barrett with son Oscar. There’s also imagery of a ghost trap, Ecto-1, the Statue of Liberty, with New York City’s skyline seen behind. Containing the once thought to be lost Randy Edelman score, the LP includes an identical tracklist to last year’s standard release, making the limited $30 release an excellent accompaniment for fans and vinyl collectors. In a quirky tidbit, as a callback to the film’s theatrical release, precisely 1989 copies of this 180-gram pink “slime” vinyl have been pressed.
Seattle, WA | Seattle Is Home To The Largest Video Rental Store In The World: Seattle has a fantastic film resource, Scarecrow Video, which is the biggest independent video store in the world! For many years, the only place Americans could get thousands of films, from recent blockbusters to international classics, was in video stores. If visitors are fortunate, a video store with a wide selection and competent employees will be close by. The act of going to the video shop, browsing the aisles, analyzing the cover art, and reading narrative summaries developed into their own, can be an outstanding experience. The internet and the ease of supermarket kiosks upended Blockbuster and Hollywood Video’s own business when they pushed mom-and-pop shops out of business by displacing them. The few physical stores that have survived the large chains are now struggling to survive. Seattle is renowned for having a fantastic film community. A fantastic film resource they have here, besides the outstanding Seattle International Film Festival, is Scarecrow Video, which is the biggest independent video store on the globe.
