New London, CT | Telegraph Record Shop exists to caress your ears: If Rich Martin ever gets a tattoo, he’d prefer the artist use a turntable stylus as opposed to the standard inking needle. That’s because Martin, who has played in several of the area’s seminal bands over the years and booked local rockers and international touring artists for three decades, is a Music Freak. This attitude and passion is reflected in his Telegraph Records Shop, where an abundance of vinyl albums, CDs, cassettes and even an 8-track or six occupy every possible bit of space. Well, to be honest, there’s also a selection of merch and even used books and concert/band doc DVDs. What Martin DOES leave room at the back of the store for the more-than-occasional live music shows. What do Thelonious Monk, the Meters, REO Speedwagon, Ekko Bazz, Black Flag, All Them Witches, Porter Wagner, Jhene Aiko and Buckwheat Zydeco all have in common? As I type this, they live on — recordings-wise — in the bins and on the shelves at the Telegraph. Along with thousands more.
Madison, WI | Q&A: Owner of B-Side Records Steve Manley looks to the future: Steve Manley reflects on his journey owning a record store and opens up about his business’ uncertain future. In the past year, State Street has been a targeted location for redevelopment, a threat to many of Madison’s small businesses. Several State Street businesses were displaced after the development firm Core Spaces submitted plans for a 10-story luxury apartment building at the intersection of State Street and West Gorham Street. In February, JD McCormick proposed demolishing three buildings on the 400 block of State Street to make way for a five-story multi-use structure. B-Side Records, downtown Madison’s only remaining record shop, would be among the shops displaced. Owner Steve Manley fears that his 39 years working at B-Side may be coming to a close in the near future. “…Demand for vinyl has been increasing, especially among young people, ever since that first Record Store Day, even while supplies have decreased over the last few years. The industry cannot come close to keeping up with demand…”
Austin, TX | Waterloo Records Turns 40: In 1982, owner John Kunz turned a gamble on himself into one of the greatest record stores on the planet. On April 1, 1982, John Kunz walked into his boss’s office on Guadalupe Street, and quit his job as store manager at Disc Records (which was owned by Hastings Entertainment), in order to pursue his dream of opening an independent record store. At that moment, he had no idea that across the Colorado River, at 221 South Lamar, Louis Karp had opened the doors to Waterloo Records on the exact same day. Eventually, the store would become one of the Live Music Capital’s most recognizable brands and one of the largest independent record stores in the nation. But at the time, it was a startup project on a shoestring budget. …In a town whose heartbeat is music, Waterloo has been part of the lifeblood that keeps it going. Looking back on 40 years of memories and reflecting on what it means to represent a brand so synonymous with the city, Kunz says, “It makes me incredibly proud of the community here in Austin, incredibly proud of the staff who are making that stuff happen, and the musicians in this town.”
San Diego, CA | The arty, retro, sometimes eccentric world of Cow Records in Ocean Beach: For Greg Hildebrand, crackles and pops make it snap: “Crackles and pops?” says Greg Hildebrand. “They’re the most valuable part of vinyl recordings. They give them individuality.” Hildebrand owns one of the better-known havens of hard-to-find LPs in the county, Cow Records in OB, and he doesn’t apologize for vinyl’s lo-tech imperfections. “I like to repeat something David Peele (of The Lower East Side Band) said, which is, ‘Crackles and pops are natural, because there are crackles and pops in life.’ Vinyl is personal. Take The Wailers,” he says of the Northwest rock band. “My copy of their LP The Fabulous Wailers, ever since I was a kid, was never in great condition. All the crackles and pops defined my album. So the crackles and pops are exactly where they are supposed to be on my version of this album. If I listened to anybody else’s album, no matter what condition it was in, the crackles and pops wouldn’t be in the exact right spot. It wouldn’t be my personalized copy of that album.
Bozeman, MT | Bozeman’s favorite record store officially opens in new location: The wait is almost over! Cactus Records & Gifts just announced a soft opening of its new location. On February 6, Cactus Records closed its downtown location after 35 years. The building where Cactus Records was located was listed for sale. Owner, Mike ‘Bueno’ Good initially hoped to purchase the building, but the price was too far out of reach. Bueno began searching for a new location immediately and found the perfect location and was able to purchase the building. The new Cactus Records & Gifts isn’t downtown anymore, but it’s close. It’s located at 2740 West Main St. Unit B, near the Montana Science Center and Rook’s Games and More. Employees are still working to put the final pieces in place, but Cactus Records is open for business, according to a post on the Cactus Records Facebook page. Cactus Records is loved by many in the Bozeman community, including myself. As a collector of vinyl, I’ve spent quite a bit of money there throughout the years. To assist with the move to a new location, many local Bozeman residents donated money via GoFundMe. The money raised helped employees stay on their feet during the transition to a new location.
US record label uses NFC to authenticate and link vinyl albums to digital NFT assets: Music fans, investors and collectors who purchase exclusive limited edition vinyl albums released by US company Vinylkey can authenticate their purchase, register proof of ownership and link to unique digital assets by tapping an NFC tag embedded in the physical album with their smartphone. The NFC tag enables purchasers to access a blockchain-enabled non-fungible token (NFT) that links to assets such as digital artworks, photographs, videos and other content created to accompany each individual release. Vinylkey launched the technology with a specially designed single copy of the album ‘Live from Blackalachia’ by musician and storyteller Moses Sumney that links to a video NFT showing the artist hand-pressing the vinyl record at a pressing plant. “For artists, Vinylkey serves as a tool for continued royalties and fan connection with NFT owners; and for music fans it provides a unique form of collectible equipped with enduring proof of authenticity and ownership,” Vinylkey says.
UK | Try before you buy: How record stores embraced streaming to drive the vinyl revival: Digital was once a dirty word in record shops – digital-first was even worse. When David Bowie made his 1999 album Hours available to buy as a download ahead of the physical release, HMV declared: “Retailers are not going to stand for it.” But with the vinyl boom continuing in tandem with streaming growth, the two have become increasingly complementary. And with LP prices growing to an average of £24 (many new and catalogue titles are more), try-before-you-buy is a sensible approach for many music fans. It is consumer behaviour that may have been further encouraged during the pandemic when listening in-store was off limits. Rough Trade has turned to Spotify and Apple Music for its Counter Culture, Rough Trade Recommends and albums of the year playlists. Indie retailers including Sister Ray and Phonica have also utilised Spotify to promote new releases. For Banquet Records in Kingston, winners of the Independent Retailer trophy at the Music Week Awards 2021 (and 2022 nominees), TikTok is the promotional platform of choice.
The 50 Greatest Album Covers of All Time: From Elvis Presley to FKA Twigs, here are the 50 greatest album covers of all time. Music isn’t just about the music. Sure, the sounds are certainly the most essential element, but you can’t ignore the role of cover art in making a brilliant album. From the fold-out gatefolds of the vinyl era to pull-out liner notes in CD jewel cases to the small icon on a digital player, cover art has changed over the years, but it still defines how we look at a particular album. Photographic portraits, paintings, collages — all these and more are on Billboard‘s list of the 50 greatest album covers of all time, reaching back to Elvis Presley’s self-titled debut to and going up to present day.
The cartridge worth more than your vinyl collection: Japanese high-end audio brand Luxman has released its first phono cartridge in forty years – and given the hefty price tag on the LMC-5 moving coil cartridge, one would hope you won’t need to replace it for at least another forty years. “This new reference class MC cartridge is the result of two years of research into every aspect of cartridge design,” says Jeff Sigmund, president of Luxman America. “Our LMC-5 is designed and intended to satisfy demanding music listeners with a unique purity of reproduction; the result of painstaking materials evaluations, repeated prototyping and extensive listening tests. “The resulting sound quality must be heard to be appreciated.” The engineering that’s gone into this product is truly world-class. It sports a moving coil design, with each coil thinner than a human hair, a Shibata stylus to capture high frequencies and low frequency bass without any external tracing noise, a diamond stylus, and a 0.5 mm aluminum pipe cantilever with high tracing ability.
