Los Angeles, CA | Los Angeles’ oldest record store up for sale: Los Angeles’ oldest record shop is looking for its second act. With over half-a-million vinyls, “The Record Collector” has been a fixture in the Melrose Arts District for decades. Walking into the The Record Collector takes you back in time. Owner Sandy Chase knows a thing or two about music as he’s a trained violinist and comes from a music family, with his mother meeting Thor Johnson, conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony. …Every record in here is sequentially arranged, so we can find anything on demand,” Chase explained. However, Chase said the time is now for someone else to take over the store. “The establishment is up for sale, the business and the building,” Chase added. The building was one of the first built on the stretch of Melrose in the 1920s. “There’s a cultural imperative. A musical imperative that this establishment be kept going,” Chase declared.
Bloomington, IL | Anniversary bash toasts Reverberation Vinyl’s 13 years — as records reasserted themselves: Every spring, John Anderson converts Bloomington’s Reverberation Vinyl into a mini concert venue. It’s his way of marking another turn around the sun for the Main Street record store he opened 13 years ago. It’s as good an excuse as any to get some of Anderson’s favorite bands to play Bloomington-Normal, in what he’s haphazardly labeled Reverberation’s annual anniversary/pre-Milwaukee Psych Fest/general bacchanal. To be clear, Reverberation Vinyl is not a concert venue; their May 9 anniversary bash felt something akin to a house concert with fewer places to sit. A rack filled to the brim with LPs in the center of the store relegates bands to two corners of the room with a small, donut-shaped crowd surrounding them. Stage lights consist of a couple strands of red twinkle lights hung at ceiling level. Craft services is a cooler labeled “band beer.” And yet, it was magical.
Louisville, KY | Underground Sounds moving to new Shelby Park location: A popular independent record store has found a new home in Shelby Park after being forced to close its former location in April, Louisville Business First reports. Craig Rich, owner of Underground Sounds, said he plans to reopen his record store at 1153 Logan St. near Atrium Brewing in a few months. “I’m gonna take a couple months off. It’s going to take me a month to prep it and then probably a couple weeks to put it back together,” Rich said. “We’ve got Underground Sounds in four different storage places. So, I’m hoping to open by the end of spring, at least, by the middle of the summer.” Rich launched Underground Sound in 1995 at 2003 Highland Ave. He moved to the store to the Barret Avenue location in 2019. Rich said he is still tweaking the store hours for the new location, but as the only employee, he no longer plans on working seven days a week.
Liverpool, UK | The Mysterines to rock Jacaranda Baltic as part of record store tour: The Mysterines are gearing up to hit the stage at Jacaranda Baltic as part of their Record Store Tour on June 19, 2024. The Mysterines, from Merseyside, are on the brink of releasing their highly anticipated second album, ‘Afraid of Tomorrows’, the much-awaited follow-up to their critically acclaimed Top 10 debut, ‘Reeling’. Originally slated for release on June 21, via Fiction Records, ‘Afraid of Tomorrows’ will delve into deeper and darker territories within The Mysterines’ psyche, reflecting the band’s maturity and growth. Lead vocalist Lia Metcalfe said: “Afraid of Tomorrows is a mirror where you find you’re nothing more than a formless being, one made from celestial constellations – of traumas, of the old and new, mistakes, addiction, fear and happiness, loneliness, but ultimately a desire for life and the fight to keep living. It’s a collage of what’s been lost and of love unbounded.”
Marquette, MI | A vinyl record take-over is coming up this May at the Ore Dock Brewing Company: A conversation with organizer Jon Teichman. A pop-up record show on Memorial Day weekend will bring a bevy of musical media to the Marquette area. Geoff Walker and Jon Teichman will cart copious crates of vinyl records to Marquette’s Ore Dock Brewing Company to host their occasional pop-up pop culture swap in the inviting atmosphere of the upstairs community room. Attendees can expect a treasure trove of music-related items including vintage vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, books, show posters, and more, available for purchase or trade. The event is a collaboration between Ore Dock Brewing Company and the NMU Vinyl Record Club, providing an engaging, community-focused experience for music enthusiasts and collectors.
Dalton, MA | At the Central Berkshire Record Show, no two vinyl collections—or collectors—are the same: When it comes to collecting vinyl records, the differences in philosophy and approach cannot be understated. The Central Berkshire Record Show, held at the Stationery Factory at 63 Flansburg Ave. in Dalton on Sunday, was the perfect place to see a spectrum of tastes. David Lincoln, a Dalton collector with somewhere around 40,000 45-RPM discs in his collection, is an archeologist of sorts. He searches for lesser-known records that he can place in a historical context, specializing in music from the 1950s — specifically the doo-wop era. “I think it’s more honest than a lot of stuff that’s out now,” Lincoln said of music from that era. “It’s all heart.” But understanding how and why some records were produced can be more important to him than the music itself.
Ed Sheeran gets an ‘EcoRecord’ vinyl version of his ‘X’ album: Vinyl-pressing firm Sonopress teamed up with Warner Music Group last year to develop a sustainable ‘EcoRecord’ format. It’s vinyl that uses recyclable polyethylene terephthalate (PET) as its base material rather than PVC, thus reducing the energy costs of producing it by 85%. A special pressing of Liam Gallagher and John Squire’s collaborative album became the first EcoRecord to be released, in March this year. Now the format is being tested out with one of the most popular artists on WMG’s roster: Ed Sheeran. Fans visiting his online store can pre-order a 10th Anniversary Edition of his ‘X’ album as an “exclusive green EcoRecord LP.” The album will be released on 21 June, complete with nine bonus tracks that have not been released on vinyl before. However, it ain’t cheap: the ‘X’ EcoRecord costs £45.99, although that may be more about other trends in vinyl pricing than the sustainable aspect.
The Sound first three albums to be released on colour vinyl: The first three albums by post-punk pioneers The Sound are to be reissued on coloured vinyl on 13 September. Their classic 1980-’82 run, consisting of Jeopardy, From The Lions Mouth and All Fall Down, will be available again as limited edition single colour vinyl albums, complete with original track listings and artwork. Fronted by cult hero the late Adrian Borland (coincidentally the subject of a newly published biography, Destiny Stopped Screaming), The Sound burst onto the scene with their thrilling, adrenaline-fuelled 1980 debut, Jeopardy, now reissued on white vinyl. The music press heralded a powerful new force, but maybe Brendan Perry of Dead Can Dance summed it up best when years later he described Jeopardy as an, “Existentialist post-punk jewel.” Highlight, I Can’t Escape Myself currently stands at 6.7 million YouTube plays and counting. From The Lions Mouth followed a year later and is arguably their magnum opus.
