London Record Shops: A Comprehensive Guide: Whether you’re a seasoned crate digger or making your first entry into the world of vinyl, this is the comprehensive low-down on London’s greatest record stores; from the old favourites in Soho to the new ventures in need of your attention. You will need: an Oyster card, a tube map, and a lot of cash.
HMV’s Vinyl Week 2018 set for June, special releases announced, Check out what exclusive vinyl pressings are coming soon. High street retailer HMV are bringing back their special vinyl season for a third consecutive year, and will run for 10 days from Friday June 8 to Sunday June 17. Akin to Record Store Day, HMV Vinyl Week 2018 will bring attention to the music industry’s phoenix format, which has risen from the ashes in recent years. In 2017, industry revenues from the vinyl sector rose 24% year-on-year; 4.1 million LPs were purchased last year, the highest volume since 1991. Liam Gallagher leads the first wave of special releases announced, which will be made available for the first time as part of the event. Liam’s Number 1 album As You Were, the fastest-selling vinyl product of the past 25 years, will be released on picture disc exclusively as part of the initiative.
Jersey City Record Sale At Stan’s 5.18-5.20: Next weekend from Friday to Sunday in Jersey City (5.18 to 5.20), there will be a record sale at what was once the oldest record store in JC. Stan’s Square Records, founded and run by Stan Krause was in business for over fifty years. He was not just an owner, but a record producer as well, that put out records on his Catamount label (doo wop, soul, hip hop). Sadly and unfortunately, Stan passed in 2016. Some friends have put together a proper close out sale for the store. There are thousands of 45s and Lps, CDs, cassettes, DVDs, posters, magazines, and more that will be up for sale on these dates.
York: Record collectors in a spin at city vinyl event: Vinyl record collectors were in a spin at an event in York city centre this weekend. A record collectors’ fair was held in The Basement at the City Screen cinema on Coney Street on Saturday. Dealers from across the country brought thousands of LPs, rare CDs and other collectible items to the event. An expert was on hand to offer free valuations of customers’ records and there were displays of rare LP sleeves. People were invited to bring along their unwanted records and CDs for cash or exchange.
Como Audio debuts a new streaming Wi-Fi music system and a turntable to match: …Como Audio is aware of the resurgence in vinyl record sales and wanted SpeakEasy buyers to be able to play their records everywhere they’d play other music. To that end, the company is introducing its first-ever turntable, simply named the Como Audio Turntable. The trick here is that this turntable features wireless streaming, letting you easily play your records over your SpeakEasy system…The Como Audio Turntable will also come in walnut, hickory, piano black, and piano white finishes and will arrive this fall. So far, no pricing information for the turntable is available.
How to build a great starter turntable system for $1000 (or so): This is how a can of worms opens. A reader in Shepparton, Victoria, wants to buy his daughter a ‘record player’ for her 30th birthday and asks for suggestions. He nominates a budget of $1000. She has been brought up listening to dad’s vinyl and loves it. I warn him that if she truly loves music I’m going to blow the budget because he really should be thinking about an amplifier, a turntable and a pair of speakers. I have certain standards…It’s easy to become overwhelmed in audio stores. There’s some equipment that costs as much as your car and plenty of other stuff well into four figures, but the folk in these shops enjoy nothing more than getting a new convert to hi-fi, even when they’re not spending much.
Tucson entrepreneur finds his groove cutting records out of unusual materials: Michael Dixon has been interested in music for as long as he can remember. First, it was listening to his parents’ Creedence Clearwater Revival albums. Then, it was performing in bands that “weren’t very good.” Today, the Tucson entrepreneur owns five music-related businesses. Dixon has worked with such popular artists as Justin Timberlake, Lil Yachty and the Flaming Lips. But his biggest passion involves lathe-cutting records – sometimes on Plexiglas, sometimes on anything he can find: old X-rays, plastic plates, mirrors and even CDs…“After a couple years of experimentation, I started to get kind of good at it,” Dixon said. “I’m obsessed with the machines. I’m obsessed with the technology.”
