Chicago, IL | Record Store Culture Celebrated At Beverly Records: Crate diggers gathered at Beverly Records for Record Store Day, celebrating the special role indie record shops play in their communities. It was one of those rare confluences of holidays, like having two solar eclipses seven years apart, when the (wink-wink) 4/20 and Record Store Day fell on the same Saturday. It won’t happen again until 2030. Beverly Records, 11612 S. Western Ave., Chicago, kicked off its first RSD party in the parking lot. Although it was 43 degrees and there was a stiff Chicago wind, the vibes were warm once the music started. …There was the blacklight-lit shop in my hometown that I went to as a young teen to buy Cowsills records entering through a beaded curtain where a haze of marijuana smoke hung over the shop. The freaks who ran the place always had big smiles on their faces. My parents would have been horrified knowing I was walking into such a den of iniquity.
Kingston, ON | Call him Kingston’s real record keeper: store owner marks 44 years of music: As vinyl records enjoy resurgence thanks in part to Record Store Day, Brian Lipsin recounts 44 years of musical challenges and changes. Record Store Day is always a special day at Brian’s Record Option, the iconic and old school record store that has been a staple in downtown Kingston almost as long as the limestone itself. Only this year, the annual day of vinyl appreciation—which began in 2007 in a bid to keep the medium alive against the emerging digital music world—happened to fall on the anniversary of the day Brian’s owner, Brian Lipsin, opened his shop on April 20, 1980. Forty-four years to the day, and in many ways, for the last four-plus decades, every day has been Record Store Day for Lipsin, 72. “I planned to open at 8,” Lipsin said on Saturday inside his shop, which was bustling with activity as customers scrambled to collect the limited edition albums that have become synonymous with Record Store Day. “I didn’t want a lineup.”
Glasgow, UK | Blitzkrieg record shop in Glasgow’s East End celebrates Record Store Day: Blitzkrieg were one of several shops in Glasgow which welcomed record hunters to their shop at the weekend. Blitzkrieg shop on London Road was one of several Glasgow record shops which celebrated Record Store Day at the weekend. Shop owner Tony Gaughan spoke about his recommended albums and a bit about how Blitzkrieg were celebrating the big day. The event has been running since April 2008 and has been a huge success as it is celebrated by thousands of record shops all over the globe in what’s become the biggest new music event of the past decade. At the beginning of March, the shop in the shadows of the Barrowland Ballroom even had a special guest pop in as Kevin Armstrong was spotted at the store. Armstrong is best known for co-writing with David Bowie and also playing guitar for Iggy Pop and is not the only famous face to have popped in with Glasvegas playing a short set at Blitzkrieg to celebrate Record Store Day a couple of years ago.
Paris, FR | Paris Vinyl Sale 2024, the giant vinyl sale at the Bastille Design Center: Attention Parisian music lovers! The Paris Vinyle Sale returns to the Bastille Design Center on Sunday, May 19, 2024, with nearly 50,000 vinyl records of all kinds at low prices. For its sixth edition, the Paris Vinyl Sale returns to the Bastille Design Center, over three floors, on Sunday May 19, 2024 from 10am to 6pm. This giant vinyl braderie is an opportunity to discover incredible nuggets in all genres, eras and formats! For its sixth edition, the Paris Vinyl Sale returns to the Bastille Design Center, over three floors, on Sunday May 19, 2024 from 10am to 6pm. This giant vinyl braderie is an opportunity to discover incredible nuggets in all genres, eras and formats! At this mass destocking event, you’ll find jazz, electronic music, rock, but also pop, funk or metal, from great artists or unknown musicians, on all formats.
Chicago, IL | Chicago public library selling off 9,000 records for $1 apiece: The sale starts April 25 2024 at the Harold Washington Library. If you still have any room in your racks and Ikea cubbies after Record Store Day, the City of Chicago would like to help. The city’s flagship Harold Washington Library wants to move over 9,000 LPs from its collection. They’re offering them up for just $1 each at a four day sale happening this week. The Arts & Music LP Sale takes place starting Thursday, April 25 2024 at the Harold Washington Library (400 S. State Street, 8th Floor Room 8s-10) from 10am to 4pm and continuing on Friday April 26 (10am-4pm), Saturday April 27 (10am-4pm) and concluding Sunday April 28 2024 (1pm-4pm). The sale consists of “over 9,000 unneeded or discarded LP records” from the library’s collection. There’s no telling what you’ll find, but given the kind of records libraries have stored over they years, you’re likely to find something unusual and maybe even just weird. Each record is priced at $1, cash only.
Minneapolis, MN | New south Minneapolis vinyl pressing plant aims to make records for local artists and labels: Saturday was Record Store Day, a day meant to drive people to independent stores where records are sold and recommended around the country. But this is a story about the places where records are made. A new vinyl pressing plant is set to open in the Phillips neighborhood of south Minneapolis this year. It’s called Outta Wax. Sara Pette and Alex Stillman are two of its three founders. They joined MPR News host Nina Moini to talk about the impact of the vinyl boom on independent artists and how they are bringing their connections in the DIY music scene into plastic manufacturing.
CY | Vinyl Records Make a Comeback in Cyprus: From Dusty Boxes to a New Generation of Fans, Vinyl Returns to the Forefront. For many, vinyl records are seen as a retro relic tied to nostalgia for past decades. In Cyprus, however, that perception has changed over the past decade, following a trend that began earlier abroad. Vinyl records have returned in full force to record store shelves, drawing in teenagers and young adults aged 20 to 30, even though they grew up in the digital music era. …Around 2010-2011, some collectors in Cyprus noticed a growing interest among younger people to reconnect with vinyl records. They dusted off the old records, brought them out of storage, and began attracting public attention through emerging record fairs. Soon, the first record stores specializing in selling vinyl emerged, initially focusing on second-hand records.
Atticus Ross’ ‘Shōgun’ Soundtrack Debuts on Vinyl From Mutant: Vinyl, poster and collectible company Mutant will release Atticus Ross, Leopold Ross and Nick Chuba’s soundtrack to the critically acclaimed FX series “Shōgun” for the first time on vinyl. On April 25, one day after the 10-episode series’ finale, Mutant will issue the trio’s score, which they worked on for over two years. Ross, Ross and Chuba collaborated with Japanese arranger Taro Ishida to record traditional Gakaku instruments, which were then manipulated using samplers and electronics. The combination of authentic Japanese instruments and modern digital production creates a unique and mesmerizing sonic landscape. The physical release, which is pressed on crimson red 140gm vinyl, evoking the Japanese flag, features exclusive artwork by award-winning illustrator Yuko Shimizu, and an eight-page booklet with a forward by co-composer Leopold Ross.
