JP | Vinyl Records Shopping in Japan 2024: Hakata, Kichijoji, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Akihabara: After my first Japan record shopping experience in 2023, I was more prepared for my Japan trip in 2024, though I wondered if I was going to get any more records because I don’t have a long want list. Ever since my last trip, I found an online site, Record City, that offers so much convenience because their website offers access to hundreds of thousands of their catalog, which beats going to a physical record store and dig. The only drawback is that I was unable to see and feel the real record nor to test whether they sound good. But for over a year of shopping, they have largely not disappointed me. The shipping price is also reasonable and their packaging is first-rate. As it turns out, I have had the best gains at the most unexpected places.
Bowling Green, KY | Mellow Matt’s Music & More: How local businesses prepare for homecoming crowds. “Mellow” Matt Pfefferkorn, owner of the record shop on 1200 Smallhouse Road, said it will be “fully staffed” homecoming weekend. “You would think stuff like Western football games or homecoming would detour people from getting out and about,” Pfefferkorn said. That’s hardly the truth, according to Pfefferkorn. “Those have actually been some of our bigger days because there’s more people in town, people that used to live here and go to Western,” Pfefferkorn said. Mellow Matt’s specializes in vinyl records despite offering a plethora of physical media such as CDs, stereo equipment, cassettes and DVDs. Mellow Matt’s has established ties to the WKU community throughout its 11 years of business aside from just selling to students and alumni.
IE | Jerry Fish announces November record store album launch gigs in Dublin, Kilkenny and Cork: The gigs come in support of Fish’s Daniel Johnston cover album Dreaming of Daniel out November 15. Irish indie icon Jerry Fish has announced a series of five free record store album launch gigs in Dublin, Kilkenny and Cork throughout November. It comes in support of Fish’s upcoming Daniel Johnston cover album Dreaming of Daniel, out November 15. It will kick off in Dublin’s Golden Discs Central Plaza on November 15 and wrap up on November 21 at Spindizzy, with stops in Cork and Kilkenny along the way. It follows the release of the single ‘Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Your Grievances’ last week, a cover of the Johnston song in collaboration with singer MayKay (Fight Like Apes). Speaking of the release, Fish says: “This is my first vinyl record in thirty-four years and my first LP in fifteen years. A labour of love, five years in the making. I am very proud of it.”
Brisbane, AU | Beloved West End Record Store Jet Black Cat Music Is Closing Its Bricks-and-Mortar Shop After 13 Years: The Vulture Street shop will shut on Saturday, December 28, 2024 — but its online store will remain open. In a year that’s already seen The Zoo say goodbye (ahead of its space reopening as the new Crowbar), another go-to for Brisbane’s music fans is also bidding farewell. A West End favourite for over a decade, record store Jet Black Cat Music is shutting up shop before 2024 is out. More than just a place to buy tunes, the Vulture Street venue has also hosted gigs and parties — and held its own music festival over at The Tivoli. Your last day to head by: Saturday, December 28, 2024, which gives you somewhere to splash your Christmas cash to send off this inner-city haunt. While its physical digs are closing, Jet Black Cat Music will live on, however, thankfully keeping its website up and running.
Bergen, NO | Utflod annihilated The Apollon Record Store in Bergen: The exceptionally aggressive and all-out riveting musical force of nature known as Utflod recently released their face-melting yet perfectly atmospheric debut album titled Efterdønn via the wonderful Apollon Records. …On a surprisingly warm Thursday evening in November, the quartet performed a 25-minute set at Bergen’s best and cosiest record store, a so-called mini-concert in an intimate environment, and I could not have been happier with what I witnessed. The strong turnout coupled with the tight, gut-piercing band made for a deftly executed gig and a memorable event where an exchange in energy between the crowd and Utflod took place, almost akin to a synergy, if that makes sense.
San Francisco, CA | Book Release: “Tales From Your Record Collection: SF Bay Area Edition.” Tales From Your Record Collection: SF Bay Area Edition documents the important recording studios, music venues, and records produced throughout the Bay Area from the 1950s-1970s. The 100-page book features articles with interviews and commentary from key players of the period. Included are lists of must-have albums recorded live at historic Bay Area Jazz clubs and the essential psychedelic rock recordings to add to your record collection. The book is available digitally on November 1st via Kindle, and will be available in paperback on Black Friday November, 29, aka Record Store Day via Amazon Books and at Marin County Record Stores including Red Devil Records in San Rafael and Watts Music in Novato.
I tested 3 vinyl record cleaning systems—and the results were both revelatory and depressing: A clean-looking record is nice, but a clean-sounding one is what really interests me. …The best thing you can do to ensure pristine record playback is, of course, to keep your records clean. The less dust in their grooves, the less dust will be picked up by your stylus – and your whole system will sound much better. What Hi-Fi? has a guide explaining how to easily clean vinyl records at home (and keep them clean in the first place). But if this advice comes to you too late, or your records simply need some TLC in their life no matter how well you have treated them, I have some good news: when it comes to dirt at least, you can often clean records with positive results.
‘Star Trek: The Motion Picture — The Director’s Edition’ Score Reissued on Deluxe Vinyl: …On Nov. 15, Enjoy the Ride Records, in conjunction with Paramount Music, will release the 45th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of composer Jerry Goldsmith’s score for “Star Trek: The Motion Picture — The Director’s Edition.” Restored, remixed, and mastered from first-generation multi-track masters by Bruce Botnick, Goldsmith’s longtime engineer and the original album executive producer, 80 minutes of music from Robert Wise’s inaugural big-screen update of the iconic television series will be pressed onto double 140-gram vinyl. Reissue label La-La Land restoration expert Mike Matessino coproduced the album with Botnick, coordinating the new release’s editing and track assembly. The pressing, which is limited to 1,000 copies across five color vinyl variants to be distributed across different online retailers, is housed in a foil-laminated gatefold jacket with a double-sided full-color insert.
Jethro Tull reissues its Christmas album for the holidays: Tull will release an expanded and remixed edition of 2003’s ‘The Jethro Tull Christmas Album’ via InsideOutMusic on December 6, 2024. Jethro Tull’s relationship with the Christmas season goes all the way back to the band’s early days. Now it’s to be renewed for modern-day admirers and longtime fans alike, with the release of an expanded and remixed edition of 2003’s The Jethro Tull Christmas Album via InsideOutMusic on December 6, 2024. Under the title The Jethro Tull Christmas Album – Fresh Snow At Christmas, the bands 21st studio album has been remixed from the original masters by Bruce Soord (The Pineapple Thief), as well as being given the surround sound treatment in both Dolby Atmos & 5.1. The limited deluxe 4-CD + Blu-ray book-set collection features all-new artwork, as well as live material.
