Madison, WI | Missing Record Store Day? How To Get Your Vinyl Fix During A Quarantine. For those of us who still buy vinyl records, there’s nothing quite like slicing open the shrink wrap, taking out a brand new, pristine, shiny vinyl record album, and putting it on the turntable for the first time. It was supposed to be Record Store Day on Saturday, April 18th. It’s been rescheduled for June 20th. That’s a long time to wait, isn’t it? Here are some suggestions to get you through. 1. Experience Hi-Fidelity a different way. Watch the John Cusack movie, the new Hulu version, or better yet, read the book by Nick Hornby. As someone who has hung out in a record store, I can vouch for the book’s authentic feel (even though I didn’t hang out in a British record store!)…
On Record Store Day, fans are buying vinyl to support struggling stores: Despite the existence of smartphones and digital players, true music enthusiasts know the magic that comes from vinyl records. Every year, music fans, artists, and record stores all over the world come together to celebrate Record Store Day. The celebration was scheduled for Saturday but, like many, it has been postponed due to the pandemic. Instead, the organization behind the event launched #RSDFillTheGap as a way to encourage music lovers to “buy a record missing from their collection” to celebrate the event while supporting record stores impacted by the virus. “We’re all looking forward to getting back out into the world and sharing physical space with our fellow humans again,” the London band, and Record Store Day UK ambassadors, The Big Moon said in a statement. “If music and record stores are a part of your life and you have the means to be spending disposable income right now, please keep supporting them so they can be there for you when all this madness is over and the world starts turning again.”
IMPALA Sends Message To Music Fans Across Europe To Help Support Local Record Stores: Ahead of what would have been Record Store Day this weekend, IMPALA has issued a message to music fans across Europe urging them to support local record shops in any way they can during the current crisis. “You can’t see your favourite artists on tour or in your local record store for now, but you can buy online from them!” said the independent music trade association in a statement. The public plea is an extension of the #LoveRecordStores online campaign, which started in the UK and has seen countless music fans and artists across Europe including the likes of Elton John, posting messages of support for their local record shops. The idea is to encourage people to buy music online from these specialist stores who play a vital role in the music community. IMPALA is also urging governments to include record stores in the first wave of shops that are allowed to re-open, subject to the necessary restrictions on the number of customers.
Kansas City, MO | Wax Poetic: The Secret Life of KC Vinyl. …Looking around the tiny shop, it’s easy to see how one could lose an entire afternoon to space. Sitting in front of me is a bowl of candy. (The good kind, none of the dum-dum and lifesaver bullshit banks try to pass off as a treat). To the left of me, water, soda, and beer bob in aluminum tins while boxed wines line a small table adjacent to the front counter. Before anyone asks to see their liquor license, they’re not selling it. It’s free. Records with Merritt doesn’t just want your money, it wants YOU. For Ann and Marion, the best part of this joint endeavor is the community that constantly evolves within the store. They’ve created a family that includes regular customers as well as other record shops. When I ask which record shop they suggest I visit next, I’m met with a list longer than this 3,000-word piece could possibly hope to cover. Overwhelmed, I decide to start with one I know.
Montreal, CA | Record Store Recs: Patrick Holland A.K.A. Project Pablo Shares Montreal’s Vinyl Treasure Troves. To kick off this new record store-focused series, the experimental electronic DJ/producer is here to help you discover where you can support indie record stores in his hometown of Montreal. Experimental Canadian DJ/producer Patrick Holland has gained a steadily growing global following over recent years in the underground house scene with left-of-center releases under his aliases Project Pablo and Jump Source and with his own label Verdicchio Music Publishing. This year is the first time he’s released music under his real name, dropping his third single for the project just last week, a moody, spacey cut called “Sinking Feeling.” The track serves as the lead single for the first Patrick Holland EP, Simstim, due out May 1 on Verdicchio. Based in Montreal, he’s a great resource for the diverse and eclectic sounds coming out of the local underground scenes and the best record shops to go crate-digging. For this new series, Record Store Recs, Holland recommends his top shops, all of which you can shop online, as well as shares the latest record he scored and which new one he has his eyes on.
Niles, OH | Labra Brothers step up for the Record Connection: If we weren’t in the middle of a pandemic, the store would be open and celebrating Record Store Day today. Instead, the Youngstown band that would have played there live is donating album sales proceeds in support. In the 40 years that Jeff Burke has owned the Record Connection, he’s weathered some storms. Today, he is determined to drag the store to the other side of the coronavirus pandemic. “I’ll get through this one, too. I’ll figure out something,” said Burke. “Even though I’m an old man, I’m not ready to quit.” If we weren’t in the middle of a global pandemic, the store would be celebrating Record Store Day today. Burke has celebrated Record Store Day for most years since its inception 13 years ago. “Our idea is we always try to get a local artist that’s just released a new album or CD come play in support of their new effort,” Burke said.
Gilles Peterson’s Arc Records reissues Shirley Scott’s One For Me: A sonic rebellion from the “Queen of the organ.” Shirley Scott’s 1975 album One For Me, is being reissued by Gilles Peterson’s Arc Records this May. Born from a desire to escape the social and aesthetic restrictions placed upon her, Scott self-funded One For Me, and recorded it at Blue Rock Studio in November 1974 with tenor saxophonist Harold Vick and drummer Billy Higgins. “All of the music in this album is both personal and very purposeful to me, because it is the first step toward honesty about what and how I want to play. I’ve done a lot of other albums, a lot of different ways for a lot of different people and now, with the help of the Creator, in whom all things are possible, I have done one for me too,” explained Scott. First released on Strata-East Records in 1975, Arc Records’ release of One For Me marks its first vinyl reissue.
Paul McCartney Gives A Record Store Day Shout Out To Gene Vincent: McCartney recorded a message for BBC 6 Music selecting Vincent’s early rock ‘n’ roll classic, ‘Be-Bop-A-Lula.’ Paul McCartney has sent a message of support for what would have been Record Store Day tomorrow (18) with a shout out for one of his rock ‘n’ roll inspirations, Gene Vincent. …In support of the initiative, McCartney recorded a message that was broadcast by the network this morning. In making his own “mail order” selection, he restated his love for one of the great landmark singles in the formative days of rock ‘n’ roll that were so influential on The Beatles. “Hello music lovers,” he said. “This is Paul McCartney speaking to you with his voice. The song that I would most like to post to the 6 Music listeners is ‘Be-Bop-A-Lula’ by Gene Vincent. Now this is the first record I ever bought when I was a kid, and I saved up my pocket money for months, and then I took the bus downtown to the record shop, and I remember going into the back of the shop and listening to the record and loving it.
