Tulsa, OK | New locally owned record store opens in east Tulsa: Led Zeppelin, Bruce Springsteen and Stevie Nicks once again rock the record bins at an east Tulsa music store. Once a staple of the 1970’s and 1980’s, the vinyl records all but disappeared in the 1990’s and now Oil Capital Vinyl is bringing them back. The store is in its second week of operation at its new location near South Memorial Drive and East 27th Street South. The record store hopes to capitalize on a resurgence in records and record players. It’s also the longtime dream of its owner Daniel Vandurmen who said now just happened to be the perfect time. My previous job ended, they closed our plant recently and we saw it coming so I decided this was a good time, if I was ever going to do this to start a record store,” said Vandurmen. FOX23 did some checking and there is a spike in record sales. Last year Buzz Angle Music reported a nearly 12% increase in vinyl record sales but Vandurmen told us most of his sales right now are records that were printed decades ago.
New Bedford, MA | Hitting their groove: Local musicians going vinyl with help of Purchase Street Records: Another local musician has gone vinyl. With the release of J Kelley’s “Burning Season” the vinyl records renaissance is taking a greater hold in SouthCoast. The record is the second to be funded and released by Purchase Street Records, a downtown New Bedford business devoted primarily to the sale of vinyl albums. In September of 2017 the store supported a split EP with the local bands The Pourmen and Black Kennedys. It has sold more than 200 copies. The release of “Burning Season” will be celebrated on Friday, June 14 with a performance by Kelley and his band at the Pour Farm Tavern, conveniently across the street from Purchase Street Records. The Pour Farm gig will be the second event dedicated to this recording – in April the band launched the CD edition of the songs with a show at Paul’s Sports Corner in Fairhaven. “If you’re into Tom Petty, Goo Goo Dolls or 90′s Aerosmith you’ll like this record,” said Roger Chouinard, owner of Purchase Street Records.
Mount Kisco, NY | Record Store a Treasure Trove for Music Lovers: …Originally, Gibson, a collector who has been in the record business for most of the past 35 years, was going to use that space to run his mail order record business. But the retail side flourished forcing Gibson to find more room. “There hadn’t been a record store in the area for a long time,” he said. “I didn’t know how many people would be interested and there’s still a lot of people that are (interested) quite a lot, and it’s been a great time so far.” Between the two locations, Gibson estimates that he has about 40,000 records, with almost any genre of music represented at all price points, starting at under $5. However, his bread and butter are the rock albums from the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s, mostly the 33 rpm records, although he does carry a small collection of 45s and CDs. His merchandise also includes concert posters and other memorabilia. Much of Gibson’s inventory of used records he’s collected over the years he bought from other collectors or the public.
Seattle, WA | Capitol Hill gets a new bar: Life On Mars: Looking for a new bar to check out? Look no further than this new arrival. Called Life On Mars, the fresh arrival is located at 722 E. Pike St. in Capitol Hill. Life On Mars provides drinks and music in a laid back, retro atmosphere. The bar has a food and drink menu with bar fare like burgers, fries and mac and cheese. Drinks range from creative cocktails to draft and canned beer and wine. You can also purchase vinyl from the wide selection of more than 5,800 vinyl records the bar has displayed like a library of books. From 4-6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, you can peruse the vinyl collection, pick a record and ask the bartender to play it during Vinyl Happy Hour. The newcomer has already attracted fans thus far, with a 4.5-star rating out of seven reviews on Yelp. Interested? Stop by to welcome the new business to the neighborhood. Life On Mars is open from 4 p.m.–2 a.m. daily.
Akron, OH | Shuffle: Akron DIY Pioneers Look to ‘Break the Mold’ of the Record Label Formula: Akron is known nationwide for its vibrant do-it-yourself music scene. But artists are finding it’s getting harder to take their music beyond their own homes and those of their friends. CityCop, one of the pioneers of Akron’s DIY community, is taking a different approach that it hopes will “break the mold” of how lesser-known bands get record deals. Toledo-based Little Elephant, which began as a team of filmmakers producing videos for underground bands across the globe, has branched out to start its own record label. The independent label’s team specializes in tracking, mixing and mastering music with its own studio located in Toledo. CityCop, an Akron emo-punk band, is the first band signed to Little Elephant’s new label. CityCop guitarist and vocalist Max Adams approached Rob Courtney from Little Elephant about starting a record label after the band’s relationship with its previous label fell through. “I was like, ‘Can you please start a label so we can put this record out on it?’” Adams said. “I ran into [Rob] a year later at a house show in Akron, and he’s just like, ‘Hey, that record label thing… We want to do it.’”
Betoota, QLD | Local Woman’s Hunt For Aesthetically-Pleasing Vinyl Records To Resume At Weekend Market: Cassandra Summers’ day job isn’t part of her dream for the future; it’s a means to an end that keeps her off the street. The 23-year-old’s real passion is music – in particular, music journalism. Spellbound by Rolling Stone magazine, enchanted by Cameron Crowe’s turn-of-the-millennium classic, Almost Famous, the ‘with-it’ Cancerian knows it’s an uphill and competitive industry to crack but she doesn’t care. Speaking to The Advocate this morning via telephone, Cassandra said she lives and breathes music. “I’ve got a large collection of vinyl records, posters, t-shirts and stuff,” she said. “On the weekends, I love going to places like markets, car boot sales and record shops to find the coolest-looking records to put around my flat.”
Dark Entries announces five-LP box set from German New Age artist Suzanne Doucet: New Age Box Set 1982-84 consists of five albums that have previously only been available on cassette. San Francisco label Dark Entries has announced its next reissue undertaking—a five-LP box set from Suzanne Doucet. New Age Box Set 1982-84 marks the first vinyl release of cassette albums Doucet recorded between 1982 and 1984. Born in Tuebingen, Germany, Doucet had several #1 hits in her home country before undergoing a spiritual odyssey and embracing New Age music starting in 1970, when “she released a triple LP of field recordings and mind-expanding psychedelia under the name Zweistein,” reads the press release… The new box set includes all of these albums on vinyl in a limited run of 300. They are each stamped with a rainbow foil of the goddess Isis. The set also comes with a eight-page color magazine as well as liner notes, photos and reflections from Doucet. Limited copies of each full-length will also be available.
