Fort Collins, TX | Old Town Fort Collins welcomes new spot for vintage vinyl: Joining Bizarre Bazaar and All Sales Vinyl in the Fort Collins record store fam is the ‘new’ Little Horse Vintage — although, the location is really the only thing new about it. Little Horse originally opened in Downtown Louisville, but expanded with the recently-opened Little Horse North on Pine Street in Old Town. Their new home is the historic Asmus Sign building, where they carry vintage vinyl, stereo equipment, musical instruments and more. And, if they’d let me live in there, I would.
Alexandria, VA | A Look Inside One of the Country’s Biggest Vinyl Record Plants. We went behind the scenes at Alexandria’s Furnace Record Pressing. From the outside, Furnace Record Pressing looks like any other nondescript Alexandria warehouse. But once you get past the glass front doors, a whole music-geek world unfolds before you: thousands of freshly pressed records in all sorts of enticing colors. This 50,000-square-foot facility can right now crank out 11,000 records a day. Some hold tunes from superstars such as Led Zeppelin and Fleetwood Mac, while others feature more esoteric fare. Furnace was founded as a much smaller operation in 1996 by Eric Astor, who’s also a musician and label co-owner. But this new plant—which started making disks in November—has recently transformed it into one of the country’s biggest vinyl-manufacturing outfits.
Austin, TX | UT student keeps collection of vinyl records worth $12,600: Over a year’s worth of tuition in the form of records lies in Michael West’s home. For the past 10 years, architecture junior West has collected over 400 vinyl records ranging from Aerosmith to Manchester Orchestra. Now, he catalogs them through an online database. Although the collection currently resides with his family in Plano, Texas, he continues searching for records to fill his collection. West began collecting around sixth grade when his father gave him a broken turntable. After West fixed it, his father gave him his first five records: two KISS records, two Beatles and Elton John. From the beginning, West said he’s always viewed his records as a collection. “(Collecting records) was different, especially in middle school when nobody had money or collecting hobbies,” West said.
Berlin, DE | Berlin club Griessmuehle is opening a record store. The new shop is right next door to the Neukölln club. Berlin club Griessmuehle is opening a record shop called Latitude. It’s located at Sonnenallee 221, next door to the Neukölln club, in the building that the Record Loft briefly occupied before closing last year. The club’s programming includes a range of genres, including house, techno, disco and UK bass, which will likely be reflected in the record shop’s stock. Latitude is hosting an opening party to celebrate the launch this weekend. It goes down Friday, February 15th, from 2 PM to midnight. There’s currently no lineup listed.
David Bowie 7-inch vinyl box set of demos and unreleased songs available in April: With 2019 marking 50 years since David Bowie’s first hit, “Space Oddity,” Parlophone is set to release a 7″ vinyl singles boxed set of nine previously unreleased recordings* from the era during which “Space Oddity” was first conceived. The title SPYING THROUGH A KEYHOLE is a lyric taken from the previously unknown song “Love All Around” and though most of the other titles are known, these versions have never been officially released until late last year (see footnote). Most of the recordings are solo vocal and acoustic home demo performances, unless otherwise stated. The photography that adorns the box front and the print inside is by Ray Stevenson and was taken in Tony Visconti’s flat in the summer of 1968.
