Old Street Records launches with pizza, cocktails and vinyl on the menu: Old Street Records, which officially opens on June 30, is collaborating with two record labels, Fiction Records and Caroline International, to sell their releases. This will mean vinyls (“Vinyls” is incorrect. —Ed.) from artists including Iggy Pop, Tame Impala, Nick Mulvey, The Maccabees, Ian Brown, Mystery Jets and Supergrass frontman Gaz Coombes will be able to be bought from the bar. The Shoreditch site will also serve pizzas along with cocktails and craft beers, and it’s not all about vinyl — the bar will also have live music six nights a week, with an eclectic programme of soul, funk, jazz, rock and pop.
Why record stores mattered: This Saturday, Other Music—the tiny, beloved, and outré record shop on East Fourth Street—will cease its retail operations. No longer will sealed Belle and Sebastian or Boards of Canada LPs be tentatively placed on its counter. The headline of a Times article last month announcing the store’s finish read, “Other Music Record Shop, Yielding to Trends, Will Close.” What “trends” means in this context is startlingly self-evident. The prevailing trend of our time is, it seems, a disburdening of the past. Things that once appeared immovably vital are now relics to be examined, mourned, and recast as affectations.
Store keeps groovin’ on, T.O. record shop spins into 20th year: Record Outlet has been around for years and is the only record store in Conejo Valley, providing fans of analog media a source for used and new vinyl plus CDs, DVDs and tapes from 8-track to cassette. The store celebrated its 20th anniversary on June 19. Kc Staples, who owns and operates Record Outlet, said part of the appeal to owning vinyl is actually having something to touch and see—especially for people used to downloading their music.
How To Set Up Your Turntable: Judging by the number of new major label LP releases — and the reported backlog at mastering plants — the rediscovery of vinyl is no longer the domain of elite collectors. As frequent Stereophile contributor and longtime vinyl evangelist Ken Micallef explains, the resurgence in vinyl is about the complete experience vinyl offers as well as hearing and feeling the music in the room. And, he says, getting the full impact of that experience requires some effort. “Vinyl takes more work, but it provides better results,” he explains.“
The Resurgence of Vinyl Records: Despite living in the Internet age, with its prominence of digital and streaming music, there has been a growing resurgence of vinyl records in recent years. Vinyl sales have been growing faster than any other music format, partly due to a “retro revival” but also thanks to increasing numbers of youngsters who are buying records in greater numbers, attracted to the superior sound quality of vinyl and the ritual of putting needle to groove.
