Somerset, UK | Rye Wax opening pop-up record shop in Somerset House this summer: Peckham record shop and event space Rye Wax is launching a 2-week pop-up at Somerset House this July. In addition to showcasing independent labels, Rye Wax will also be selling print magazines that “representing photography, writing and illustration that touches on art, activism, gender, culture, sexuality and music.” The takeover is part of Somerset House’s East Wing Edit – a summer-long series of free workshops, performances, exhibitions and talks focused on creative processes and industry. Independent music and activism group #RealMusicRebels will also hold a week long takeover in the space, with “video installations of iconic jazz musicians exploring the intersection of art and activism,” listening stations and lectures.
Whanganui, NZ | Musically adventurous people come to Whanganui Record Fair for pick of 10,000 records: They were “sonic explorers”, looking for something new to please their ears. At least 200 people went to the Whanganui Record Fair at Lucky Bar + Kitchen on June 2. There were at least 10,000 records there for them to look through, organiser Brian Wafer said. The eight vendors were from Tauranga, Auckland and Palmerston North. The music on offer ranged from classical to punk rock. Many buyers were searching for music from the 1970s to 2000s that they had previously owned but had since sold or dumped. “There were also young people who are discovering, who think this is the best format,” Wafer said.
Bentonville, AK | Arkansas craft brewery starts record label: Bike Rack Brewing’s first album to feature 10 local artists. “…We decided to get out of the ‘stick the artist in the corner’ for background music concept,” said Jerad Sears, Bike Rack’s event curator and community ambassador. Sears coordinates entertainment for the brewery, from musicians to bean bag tournaments. Bike Rack’s first recording, in vinyl, is set to be released in early November. It will feature 10 local artists including Brother Moses, Jamie Lou and The Hullabaloo and Smokey & The Mirror. The recording is being done at Haxton Roads Studio and Ozark Collective is filming a documentary on the new label. Both outfits are based in Bentonville. “It’s going to be a non-traditional record label that’s steeped in our community,” Charlson said.
Chicago’s Wax Trax! Records portrayed as a romance etched in vinyl in new documentary: …Julia Nash, who directed the documentary, is the daughter of Jim Nash, who founded Wax Trax! in the mid-70s with his lover, Dannie Flesher, so her powers of objectivity must be taxed even more than mine. Industrial Accident opens with video footage of her and a friend arriving at a rural home in Hope, Arkansas, to reclaim the mountain of Wax Trax! memorabilia that Flesher left behind in a barn when he died of AIDS in 2010; Nash had succumbed to the same disease 15 years earlier. The movie argues that the store and the internationally beloved dance-music label it spawned were expressions of Nash and Flesher’s personal relationship, and that their own trust in personal relationships led to their commercial downfall. It’s a poignant story, though one limited by the absence of the only two people who really lived it.
A copy of Prince’s rarest and “most expensive album of all time” has been found: Prince’s legendary album from 1987 was initially supposed to be his 16th full length release before the singer experienced a “spiritual epiphany” that led him to believe the album was evil. He immediately stalled the release, recalled all 500,000 copies and demanded that they were destroyed. Later on, the label was allowed to sell the album on CD and cassette, but never again on vinyl, making it one of the most coveted rare waxes to date. In the past US variants of ‘The Black Album’ have been sold via the Discogs Marketplace. In April 2016 it sold for $15,000, but in February 2018 music historian and record dealer Jeff Gold of Recordmecca, who is a former Executive VP at Warner Bros Records who worked with Prince, uncovered five sealed copies of the US variant of the Prince rarity. After selling four copies via his own website, Gold sold the final copy of ‘The Black Album’ through Discogs for a reported $42,000.
