Vestal, NY | Local Music Store Remembers Van Halen: Music City store owner Benny Fiacco has already seen an uptick in Van Halen sales, with locals trying to get a record to remember the late guitarist Eddie Van Halen. Van Halen passed away October 6th from a long battle with cancer. The late guitarist inspired generations of kids to pick up the guitar and start to learn, with lighting fast licks, thundering riffs, and intricate tapping techniques. Fiacco says that “that’s the beauty of music you take an iconic player and he influences other players they influence other musicians and it gets sent on down the line and for generations on it inspires other young musicians.”
UK | Proper Music’s Pat Howe looks ahead to National Album Day 2020: The first year to boast a theme – the 1980s – and exclusive releases for the day, with pandemic restrictions the event celebrating the cultural status of the LP has undergone some significant evolution in 2020. Pat Howe, head of sales at Proper Music Distribution, gives us the UK’s biggest independent physical perspective on this growing tradition… “For me, the important thing is that the industry commits to the idea and makes it happen every year. It may take a while before having a major impact on sales, and I think that is a secondary goal. The objective is to take pride in the artistic worth of ‘the album’ and to celebrate that by provoking a national dialogue about music. It’s probably more akin to National Book Day than a conventional sales driver for the industry…”
Record Store Recs: Darius & Wayne Snow Take Us To Paris, Berlin, Tokyo & Beyond: …The powerhouse pair’s latest release, “APOLOGY,” is an emotive, thumping track where the singer’s angelic voice is backed by a gospel-inspired chorus asking for forgiveness in a dark world. The powerful, poignant track is the follow-up and B-side to “EQUILIBRIUM,” and was just dropped on Paris’ Roche Musique on Oct. 1. For the latest Record Store Recs, Snow and Darius invite us into their musical world, sharing some of the music that inspires them (including jazz, bossa nova and experimental electronic music artists). They also invite us to crate dig for vinyl with them in their hometowns of Berlin and Paris and while on in Seoul, Tokyo and Los Angeles.
Bang & Olufsen’s latest turntable harks back to the golden age of vinyl – but it’ll cost you: A classic turntable with dreamy looks. If you’re yearning for a blast from the past, dusting off your old vinyls and giving them a spin on your turntable is one of the best ways to tap into that nostalgia – and the latest record player from Bang & Olufsen could be the best turntable for the job. The Beogram 4000c was originally launched in the 1970s, and a select number of existing models have been refurbished for 2020 – without losing its striking retro looks. It’s part of Bang & Olufsen’s new Classics initiative, in which the Danish audio company is “restoring and reimagining classic products” …Mads Kogsgaard Hansen, who is leading the initiative, explains: “In a world of consumer electronics, most products are regarded as disposable commodities. At Bang & Olufsen our products are built to stand the test of time. That is what differentiates us as a brand, what the Beogram 4000c so beautifully embodies and what we want to build on in the future.”
Best record player for 2020: Rega, Pro-ject, Audio Technica, more turntable reviews: Looking for a high-quality record player to listen to your precious vinyl collection? These are the top turntables we’ve reviewed from $100 and up. There’s never been a better time to get a great-sounding budget hi-fi system, including amazing, cheap speakers and a high-quality turntable for vinyl records. But how much should you spend if you want to find the best turntable? There’s a record player to fit pretty much any budget if you consider everything from vintage turntables to the newest fully automatic and Bluetooth options. The Audio Technica LP60, for example, is a great little turntable for $100. The following is broken up into two sections: the best turntables between $100 and $1,000; and a shootout between the best turntables under $300, which is a sweet spot. Spending more will often get you better sound, but you don’t need to — any of our picks should have you spinning vinyl for decades to come. Let’s dive in.
