Almost Ready Records offers wide selection: A new record store seeks to spin out enough tunes to meet the local demand for old-school vinyl in Carroll Gardens. Almost Ready Records held its grand opening on Sunday. It offers a stockpile of records ranging from classic rock to 1990s hip-hop, alongside country music and reggae. And the prices are as ranged as the selection. Some records cost just a dollar — rare collectors’ items as much as $600. Co-owner Harry Howes says he also carries albums from his own record label.
Moody Lords rides wave of vinyl’s revival: Andrew Chang, co-owner of Moody Lords Vinyl/Vintage record and clothing store on Portland’s Congress Street, smiles as he hovers over a turntable, carefully lowering an album by its edges and gently setting the needle on it. Surrounded by stands of plastic-encased used albums neatly labeled by genre, he extols the merits of vinyl records, including the social experience of buying them and having a physical item to play in a digital world, crackles and all. The store has the relaxed, ethereal feel of both a library and a museum. It’s the type of experience that’s drawing in more people in Maine and elsewhere.
Edmonton’s indie music stores optimistic despite HMV bankruptcy: With the country’s mightiest music chain limping into oblivion, independent retailers in Edmonton are not ready to sing their swan song just yet. HMV Canada has gone bankrupt. The retailer was hemorrhaging cash, losing $100,000 a day as customers turned towards digital media for their music and videos. Though the timbre of the Canadian music industry has changed, its clear Peter Ferguson hasn’t changed his tune about the future of his own business. Revolver Inc, which has two locations in Edmonton, specializes in hard-to-find and out-of-print DVDs, CDs and vinyl.
Vino & Vinyl wine bar and record store opening a second location on Sugar Land’s City Walk: Vino & Vinyl will open a second location at 15977 City Walk, Sugar Land, this month. Like his original store in Missouri City, owner Paul Killingsworth said the new location will have a wine bar and record store. It will also have community tables for customers, a full kitchen and sell menu items, including sandwiches, pizzas, desserts and meal specials. Vino & Vinyl will also expand its craft beer selection to about 40 varieties at both locations.
Baby’s on Fire, a combo record store-cafe, offers harmonious experience: With the renewed popularity of vinyl records, David Koslowski had a plan. Instead of the standard bookstore/cafe, he would combine his coffee shop with a record store. His wife, Shirlé Hale-Koslowski, was a willing partner. She has run a personal-chef business, Four Corners Cuisine, for 15 years. Together, the couple turned a Mount Vernon carriage house into Baby’s on Fire, where they showcase Hale-Koslowski’s food and bins of vinyl records for sale. The cafe, which opened in June, is named after a Brian Eno song. “It’s one of our favorites,” Koslowski said. “It’s catchy.”
Vinyl Imprint Paper Bag Vintage Launches: With its launch officially announced Monday, Paper Bag Vintage is up and running, or pressing. An offshoot of well-established and highly-regarded independent label Paper Bag Records, PBV is a new vinyl-only imprint with a very focused mandate. In an interview with FYI last week, Paper Bag Vintage head Noah Fralick explained that the label “will focus on Canadian artists only. We will have a very carefully curated selection of Canadian releases that have either never been pressed to vinyl or have been out of print for a long time.” The first PBV release will be a reissue of The Dears’ acclaimed debut album End Of A Hollywood Bedtime Story, out for the first time on vinyl on April 21.
Vinyl solution to the record industry woes? There’s no doubt about it. Vinyl is having a resurgence – and it’s not just older people trying to reclaim their youth or hipsters looking for another slice of ‘authenticity’. You might be surprised by the tender years of those perusing the vinyl sections today, and record shops are devoting more and more floor space to meet the demand. Records are selling at greater numbers now than at any time over the last quarter century. You have to go back to the days of Nevermind and Achtung Baby for a time when vinyl shifted quite as much as it did last year.
