Celebrate Record Store Day in Charleston at Monster Music and Vinyl Countdown: Y’all ready for Record Store Day (RSD) on Sat. April 21? Though Monster Music & Movies is the only local place where you’ll find official RSD releases, The Vinyl Countdown is hosting a special local release…High Water Festival performers and NOLA five-piece Tank & the Bangas won NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest last year and have traveled the world — including a stop in Charleston on the #TinyDeskConcert tour — wowing fans with their neo-soul, jazz, hip-hop, and spoken word realness ever since. They’ll make a pitstop at Monster Music during High Water weekend as part of the store’s free RSD extravaganza, which also includes a puppy fest from the Charleston Animal Society, Jason’s Jump Castles, the below local acts, and food trucks Dave n Dubs, Towin’ the Dough, and Area 51.
Back in the Day: Suisun’s Retroactive Records and Games a portal to past: There’s a time portal located in downtown Suisun City that can transport people back to the past. Sorta. Locally owned record store Retroactive Records and Games, at 801 Main St., is the portal of which I speak. The open sign on the shop that reads ”Come In, We’re Awesome” represents truth in advertising. The shop is in the same spot where Collins Music and Collectibles was for years. When I visited Wednesday, sweet classic R&B, B-side rock tunes as well as Top 40 hits were blaring on the stereo system while I spoke to manager Steve Maag. “I want people to come here and feel like it’s not some stale corporate atmosphere. People have told me it feels like a place that could be in Berkeley and that’s what I’m trying to cultivate,” Maag said.
Rega’s Record Store Day turntables to be signed by Fatboy Slim, Jethro Tull and others: 2017 saw the likes of Elbow, Noel Gallagher and Placebo lend their signatures to the cause and for 2018 Rega has lined up Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull fame, Jake Bugg, Fatboy Slim, and Rag’n’Bone Man – the official UK ambassador for Record Store Day. As part of this year’s celebrations, Rega has already revealed it will be producing 500 limited edition RSD turntables – the deck is a “unique hybrid” of the company’s Award-winning Planar 1 and Planar 2 models. And now we know that 17 of the 500 will be adorned with an autograph. The only way you can get hold of one is to head to your nearest participating record shop or hi-fi retailer and hope the deck you’ve bought carries a special scribble.
Record Store Day 2018 in Phoenix: Where you can shop for cool records, attend concerts: Last year marked the 10th anniversary of Record Store Day, an awareness-raising celebration of the brick-and-mortar independent record store as a cultural hub for hardcore vinyl geeks and casual music fans alike…This year’s event is coming to a record store near you on Saturday, April 21, with hundreds of acts releasing exclusive RSD product to honor the occasion. Total annual sales for vinyl at indie retailers has grown considerably and consistently since Record Store Day started, jumping from 737,000 units in 2007 to 5.4 million in 2016, or an increase of 637 percent, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Every year since 2009, there’s been a Record Store Day Ambassador. The first was Jesse Hughes of Eagles of Death Metal. Since then, the title has been held by Josh Homme, Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop, Dave Grohl, Jack White, Metallica and St. Vincent.
Sony Music To Host Vinyl Pop Up On Record Store Day: MUMBAI – Sony Music will host a special vinyl pop-up on April 21 – International Record Store Day at The Quarter, Royal Opera House in Mumbai. On what is planned to be a one-day sale of over 2500, rare and exclusive records – the vinyl pop-up will also feature multiple ‘Record Store Day releases’. Limited edition versions of iconic rock and jazz titles, some of which will include Elvis Presley’s – The King in The Ring; albums by Led Zeppelin, Santana, The Doors; Box – sets by Daft Punk, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Iron Maiden and Jimi Hendrix will all be available alongside LPs from the likes of artists that have recently toured India including Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, The Chainsmokers and Alt-J. Limited box sets and autographed vinyl from a whole host of other artists will also be on sale.
Record shop spotlight: Beat Box records: When we go out of town, of course some of the first places we go are record shops. While on the West Coast, we had the distinct pleasure of hitting up one of San Diego’s finest shops, Beat Box Records. Located in Barrio Logan, this art-centric area with deep Mexican American roots has a long history. Housing the world’s largest collection of chicano murals, a visit through the famous Chicano Park is definitely a must as well. The area is real deal SoCal chicano culture, and right in the middle of it is Beat Box. Owned by the super knowledgeable and down to earth Bernie Fishman aka DJ Inform, this three year old shop has both deep crates as well as a great atmosphere. Besides having a wide variety of not just digger specific records, the shop also specializes in that sweet low rider soul as well as many other genres.
UK record labels’ revenue grows at fastest rate since 1995: …UK vinyl sales grew for the 10th consecutive year to a 26-year high of 4.1m units, driven by albums from Liam Gallagher, Fleetwood Mac and the Guardians of the Galaxy film soundtracks, generating £55m in royalties. By contrast, music video streaming, dominated by YouTube, which made ad revenue from more than 25bn UK music video streams last year, funnelled just £27m to the industry. This was a small increase on the £23.3m paid out in 2016. By comparison, revenues from LP sales rose a healthy 23.6% year on year, from £44.6m to £55m.
‘Cover Me’ takes a knowledgeable look at recycled music: Ray Padgett’s “Cover Me,” a collection of the entertaining stories behind popular cover songs, is the most fun a person can have with a book and YouTube open at the same time. The book is an outgrowth of Padgett’s 10-year-old blog that unravels the drama-infused, shade-throwing, diva-whining, money-grubbing, stiff-arming, behind-the-scenes stories that led to much beloved remakes of songs. The blog has 80,000 monthly followers. One can’t help but ask: But, really, who did it better? Nineteen songs are featured in this colorful, amusing, hard-bound book, including Elvis’s “Hound Dog,” Aretha Franklin’s “Respect,” Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You,” and the Gourds’ version of “Gin and Juice,” which was the first song to ever “go viral.”
