Tiffin, OH | Local record spot hosts live music: Local record store hosted a night full of food and live music, packed to the door, Friday. Under the Surface Records just celebrated its grand re-opening last month after owner Jacob Wheeler decided to move locations from E. Market Street, S. Washington Street. According to a social media post from Downtown Tiffin, Wheeler said “My goal is to build a community around music. I think being in Downtown Tiffin is the best way to connect with those who live and visit here.” Opening up for the night was the underground artist Lucius Fox, who traveled from Kalamazoo, Michigan. The band is a duo of Jeremy Cronk (guitar, synth) and Paul Drake Jr. (drums). …“I don’t know if this kind of thing happens often around here, but if it doesn’t it definitely feels like it could,” Bickel said. “Tiffin, we love you, thank you for having us. PLEASE keep supporting local record shops and artists.”
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX | D-FW celebrates Record Store Day: Dallas-Fort Worth will celebrate Record Store Day on April 20. The annual event recognizes independent, local record stores worldwide by promoting special vinyl releases by different artists. To see the complete list of records being released, head to recordstoreday.com. The Record Store Day website has a list of participating stores near you. Here are a few staff picks for record stores participating in Record Store Day: Good Records 9026 Garland Road Dallas, TX 75218, Josey Records 2821 Lyndon B. Johnson Fwy #100 Farmers Branch, TX 75234, and Spinster Records 408 N Bishop Ave #102 Dallas, TX 75208. Contact your favorite record stores to see what they will carry or if you must special order a record. Be sure to arrive early and be ready to wait in line if you have your heart set on a particular purchase.
Clacton, UK | Review of independent music shop Music Mania in Clacton: Independent music shops are hard to come by these days, in the age of online shopping, so I decided to visit one of the last of its kind. As an avid music fan and supporter of independent businesses, I decided to visit Music Mania, in Clacton’s High Street, which is one of the last independent music and record shops in Clacton and the whole of Essex. The store greets you with a yellow front and an eye-catching sign above. Inside, the venue boasts a nicely decorated interior, with all sorts of music memorabilia and posters on shelves and the walls, as well as t-shirts hanging from the ceiling. In the centre of the shop are hundreds of new and preloved CDs and records, which are all neatly displayed in alphabetical rows specified by genre. There are so many music and pop-culture-themed items available throughout the store in all sorts of forms.
Billie Eilish responds to backlash against her vinyl comments: “I wasn’t singling anyone out.” “Stop putting words into my mouth and actually read what I said.” Billie Eilish has responded to the backlash against her recent comments on artists releasing multiple vinyl variants. In an interview with Billboard discussing her climate activism, Eilish made headlines for criticising the practise of releasing multiple vinyl variants to boost album sales, calling it “wasteful”. “It’s irritating to me that we’re still at a point where you care that much about your numbers and you care that much about making money—and it’s all your favorite artists doing that sh-t,” she added. …Now, Eilish has commented on the response to her vinyl remarks, taking to Instagram stories by beginning: “Okay so it would be so awesome if people would stop putting words into my mouth and actually read what I said in that Billboard article.” “I wasn’t singling anyone out,” she continued, “these are industry-wide systemic issues. & when it comes to variants, so many artists release them—including ME! Which I clearly state in the article.”
Northside, OH | Greater Cincinnati ‘Record Fair’ featured 1,000s of records across all genres of music: Music fans from all around showed up on Saturday for one of the best record fairs in the entire Midwest. The Northside Record Fair had thousands and thousands of records to dig through. It was over 40 tables of the finest vinyl records you could find. It didn’t matter what genre of music you were a fan of, the fair had something for everyone. It featured jazz, punk, psych, indie rock, blues, classic rock, world music, classical, garage rock, hip hop, experimental, folk, country, and just about every other genre of music you could think of. According to the fair, it wasn’t just a ‘Beatles and Elvis fair.” Instead, the vendors in attendance brought out the goods with the rare stuff you could only dream of finding. They had everything from LPs, 45s, 7s, cassettes, CDs, posters, t-shirts, and all other kinds of memorabilia.
Legendary Black Uhuru concert at Soledad Prison 1982 gets official release: On May 24, 2024, a Black Uhuru concert recorded in California in 1982 will be released via Tabou1. It will be available as double vinyl and includes restored video footage of the concert. Founded in the mid 70s, Black Uhuru really burst into the reggae scene in the early 80s when Sly & Robbie took over artistic direction duties and produced crucial albums like Showcase, Sinsemilla, Red, Chill Out and Anthem (note that a magnificent collection of their singles for Sly & Robbie’s TAXI label is available on Taxi Trax, released by TABOU1 last year). Not only were the albums groundbreaking from an artistic standpoint, but the live shows were terrific. An avalanche of heavy-as-lead drum and bass, augmented by borderline metal rock guitars courtesy of the late Darryl Thompson, provided a bedrock of rhythm and energy for Michael Rose’s lead vocals and Duckie Simpson’s and Puma Jones’ backing vocals.
Beyoncé Fans Confused Over Five Missing Tracks on ‘Cowboy Carter’ Vinyl, Fueling Theories About Last-Minute Changes: Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” arrived on Friday to critical acclaim, ushering listeners into her new era. But some fans who received their physical copies were confused that tracks included on the digital release were missing, with four omitted from the CD and five from the LP. Throughout the weekend, fans have been complaining online that their “Cowboy Carter” vinyls were missing the songs “Spaghettii,” “Flamenco,” “The Linda Martell Show,” “Ya Ya” and “Oh Louisiana.” On the CD, “Flamenco” was included but the other four were not. Some pointed out that Beyoncé‘s e-commerce store promised an “additional song” on the CD version of the album, but no additional track was included on the disc; fans think that “Flamenco” may just be that “additional song.”
ABBA announce 50th anniversary re-issue of iconic album Waterloo: It’s now 50 years since ABBA won Eurovision with Waterloo. That history book on the shelf? It’s always repeating itself…ABBA have announced a very special re-issue of their iconic album Waterloo. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of both its release and its victory at the Eurovision Song Contest. The second album from Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad saw ABBA get their international breakthrough, thanks to competing (and winning!) Eurovision in 1974. Set to release April 5 via Polar Music/UMG, the re-issue comes to life as a half-speed mastered 45RPM 2LP Vinyl, along with a limited edition box set of the three vinyl singles, originally released in 1974. The three singles issued from the LP – Waterloo, Honey, Honey and Hasta Mañana – will also be re-issued as separate picture disks, plus a very special 10-inch vinyl disk of Waterloo in four (!) different languages.
Ipecac Recordings announces 25th anniversary vinyl reissues: Ipecac Recordings turns 25 this year, and to celebrate the occasion, the label—founded by Greg Werckman and Mike Patton—is planning a series of reissues of albums from its catalog. Today, Ipeac has announced three reissues from Patton’s group Fantômas: 1999’s Fantômas, 2001’s The Director’s Cut, and 2005’s Suspended Animation. They’ll be released on May 19. And next up will be Dälek’s 1998 debut Negro Necro Nekros, out May 10 digitally and June 28 on vinyl. Werckman said in a statement, “A label does not last 25 years without consumer support. We are not the biggest or hippest record label, that was never our goal, but we are so lucky to have such a loyal, adventurous fanbase. We appreciate you and THANK you!” Patton added, “Ipecac was us realizing we needed to start creating our own universe, where albums that didn’t necessarily fit other, more traditional labels, could have a home.”
