The world’s best record shops #057: Bhang Records, Bandung: A record collector since his high school days, Rekti Yoewono of the Indonesian rock band The Sigit established Bhang Records in 2011. Like a vinyl fairy tale, Rekti set about acquiring large quantities of second records and simply opened up shop in his living room. After a few years of trading, he could afford to rent a retail premise and relocated. Then this year the shop moved to a bigger home, which includes a rehearsal, a recording studio and café. “It’s a very creative environment where young bands, DJs, and enthusiasts gather,” says Rekti. “We usually play music on the deck all day long so it’s a pretty awesome place for those who like to listen to music all day long.”
Vinyl Lovers Rejoice! Wax Bodega Opening This Weekend In Lakewood, Madison is on the move! Wax Bodega specializes in vinyl records catering to the indie and punk scene. The grand opening is this Saturday: Kyle and Lauren Roeger have been busy the past several weeks preparing the space at 13339 Madison Ave. in Lakewood for the area’s newest vinyl record store — Wax Bodega. In fact, if you’ve walked down Madison Avenue recently, you may have seen them hard at work with their dog Cali running around the store and their daughter, Dylan, waving at passersby from inside her Pack ‘n Play perched in the storefront window.
Joint Custody Is Open for Business in Occupied D.C.: It’s a shitty, gray day in January, made infinitely shittier due to it being Inauguration Day in Washington D.C., and it takes a couple hours of texting to find Gene Melkisethian, co-owner of Joint Custody, a local record shop and vintage clothing store. The cars on the Metro leading into the city from Arlington, Va., are almost completely empty, save for a couple twitchy-looking folks in MAGA hats, and the main cluster of train stations downtown are closed, but once you do make your way toward the National Mall, there’s still no crowds — just swaths of people looking for where to go.
Earache Records closes chapter on “loudness war” with full dynamic range vinyl reissues: Famed for pioneering the underdog genre of extreme music in the late ’80s and ’90s, Earache Records over the course of the last 30 years has issued some 600+ releases and helped to provide careers for genre-leading names such as Napalm Death, Morbid Angel, Carcass, Entombed, Sleep, At The Gates, Bolt Thrower, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Bring Me The Horizon and countless others. The concept of extreme music isn’t the only facet to Earache Records that it has pioneered however… the concept of FDR (Full Dynamic Range) vinyl pressings has revolutionized the way music fans can enjoy their favorite metal albums.
Oxford, MS Retailer The End Of All Music To Release Benefit Record For The Southern Poverty Law Center: Oxford, MS record store The End of All Music has announced the release of a four-track benefit record to support the SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER on MAY 5th, featuring new songs from DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS’ PATTERSON HOOD, BONNIE “PRINCE” BILLY, WILLIAM TYLER and ADAM TORRES. The record’s artwork is composed of photographs taken from MAUDE SCHUYLER CLAY’s book, “MISSISSIPPI History,” which was published by STEIDL in 2015. The record will contain four tracks on the A-side and a “Resist Fear. Assist Love” etching by artist NATHANIEL RUSSELL as the B-side, and is being pressed in a limited edition of 1,000 copies — with the first 500 copies on colored vinyl. It will only be available for purchase through THE END OF ALL MUSIC website and at the brick and mortar store in Oxford.
