Poole, UK | Boiler Room Records at Kingland Crescent to close: A business described as a ‘vibrant member’ of a Poole shopping village is closing. The Boiler Room Records shop at Kingland Crescent will have its last day on Friday, July 5, before closing its doors. Boiler Room Records, an independent record shop specialising in vinyl and CDs, has only been trading at Kingland Crescent since March 2023. A social media post by neighbouring shopping centre The Dolphin said: “Last chance to visit Boiler Room Records. “Boiler Room Records will be leaving Kingland Crescent this week, with their last day being Friday 5th July. “We’re sorry to see them go, as Boiler Room Records have been an active and vibrant member of our Kingland community since March 2023.” Boiler Room Records has a second store at 27 High Street in Poole, which will remain open as usual.
Camarillo, CA | Getting groovy on the boulevard: American Pie Records expanding into coffee house and jazz club. Michael Curtis was able to turn a soul-satisfying habit into a successful business venture, right on Ventura Boulevard. Curtis owns and operates American Pie Records, a vinyl record shop he opened in 2022 when the practicing attorney was looking for a new groove. Prior to opening the shop, Curtis’ personal collection of records amounted to nearly 2,000. “I still practice law, but I have much more fun playing in my record store,” Curtis said. “My goal was to open a business on Ventura Boulevard that would add something to the neighborhood.” The longtime Camarillo resident was on the right track about that. Aside from the average, old-school vinyl record collector, Curtis said the shop is especially popular among younger people. “Compressed music sounds louder and bigger when you hear it on the radio,” the 45-year-old said. “But it’s not sonically correct to how the music sounded when it was actually recorded.”
Grand Rapids, MI | First Black woman-owned record store in Grand Rapids off to a great start: On a Thursday afternoon, Della Marie Levi and her staff are doing inventory at Della Soul Records. It’s a task they’re happy to tackle after celebrating one month in business earlier this week. Della Soul Records became a dream for Della after she learned to DJ on vinyl during the COVID 19 pandemic. “I love vinyl, and my dad used to listen to it growing up. He was an avid collector. And so I decided I was going to start collecting vinyl as well. And so one day, I thought ‘I don’t want to work my nine to five forever. I want to do something. I want to chase my dreams,'” she said. “I wanted to sell vinyl because that was my dream. That was my bucket list thing. And to hear that I’m the first Black woman to own a record shop in Grand Rapids is phenomenal. I might be the first, but I definitely will not be the last.”
Louisville, KY | Chappell Roan left signed copies of her album for Louisville fans after headlining pride festival: Chappell Roan left a few surprises for fans after her huge performance at the Kentuckiana Pride Festival earlier this month. Rising singer Chappell Roan left a few surprises for fans after her massive performance in Louisville earlier this month. Guestroom Records, located at 1806 Frankfort Avenue, said Roan signed copies of her debut album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” after headlining the 2024 Kentuckiana Pride Festival nearly two weeks ago. Fans waited outside the record store for hours Friday morning hoping to snag a signed copy of the album on vinyl or CD when the store opened at 11:30 a.m. Ashley Brumback knew she would likely be the first person in line after reading the store’s post on social media Thursday. “I kind of tend to over plan, so I thought there was a good chance,” she said, adding that she arrived just before 6AM.
Marquette, MI | 4-day vinyl show at Ore Dock: From noon July 4 through 5 p.m. July 7, a four-day vinyl record show will be held in the second floor community room of Ore Dock Brewing Company, at 114 W. Spring St., in downtown Marquette. Thousands of new and used vinyl records, CDs, posters, cassettes, books and t-shirts will be available. Talk with Jon and Geoff about trading old records and tapes for new favorites, or finding an unused media collection a new home.
Athens, GA | Classic City Vinyl Works pushes boundaries with unique pressing techniques: Athens music enthusiasts can expect a variety of patterned and colored vinyl at record stores this summer thanks to Classic City Vinyl Works’ experimentation with new splattered prints. Mainstream artists, such as Taylor Swift, have caught on to vinyl trends. Swift has released different variants of the same record, including colored, patterned and standard black pressings. The sale of vinyl singles have increased from about $6.2 million in revenue in 2016 to about $8.4 million in 2023, according to the Record Industry Association of America. “I think it’s an attractive way for people to have a thing to collect,” Matthew Kovacevich, a store clerk at Lo Yo Yo Stuff Records, said. Consumer preferences are shifting as a result of these trends, and record sales continue to climb for the 17th consecutive year in 2022, according to Billboard. Though the rapidly growing trend is beginning to plateau, the allure of owned and tangible music stands, despite the age of digital streaming.
UK | Vinyl Vault record storage system comes to UK: Furniture and storage specialist Glorious has announced its Vinyl Vault, a modular design which displays and protects your records. Featuring a smoothly operational drawer system, the German company explains the Vinyl Vault: “offers an effortless way to browse your record collection while displaying it in style. Open a drawer, flick through your albums and, unlike Bono, you soon find what you’re looking for.” The drawers are soft-closing, each offering space for up to 80 12in records with the LPs at the back of the drawer accessible thanks to a telescopic full-extension runner. The rear of the drawer is also adjustable for flexible record loading. With a total capacity of up to 160 12ins, the modular storage solution has been designed for vinyl lovers with growing collections. Special mounting holes have been pre-drilled with a view to ensuring secure wall mounting and stability, and the company says installation of the Vault is straightforward.
Godsmack to release 2003’s ‘Faceless’ on vinyl for the first time: Godsmack will release their third album, ‘Faceless’, on vinyl for the first time on August 9th. The album features the No. 1 rock hits “I Stand Alone” and “Straight Out Of Line”, giving the band its first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200. Originally released in 2003, Faceless sold 269,000 copies in its first week. Faceless was preceded by the group’s 1998 self-titled debut record and its follow-up, 2000’s Awake. At the time of the album’s release, lead singer Sully Erna explained, “It’s a bit more musical at times, it’s a bit more melodic, but it’s still raw. It’s still tough. It’s still got that Godsmack edge to it, but it’s not quite as angry, maybe, as the past stuff has been… all in all I think it’s just really, I think, some well written stuff. I’m really proud of it.”
Lost and almost forgotten Davy Jones album ‘Incredible!’ gets official release—reviewed: Criminally under-acknowledged, Jones’ virtual lost album of the ’80s can’t be described properly even by its own title—’Incredible!’ is a serious understatement. Now, however, it is a true ’80s classic, thanks to 7a Records. …In mid-May of 2024, 7a Records released Incredible!, by former Monkee, the late Davy Jones. It is an album that half-way falls into the realm of a reissue, and half-way falls into the realm of an archival recording, with a slightly ‘lost & found’ qualification that has brought that much more clout to the 7a Records catalog. This is essentially a lost and rediscovered 1980’s Davy Jones recording, that was held back by the artist himself, and only released in miniscule amounts via mail-order, in essence, to his then, active fan club. Moreover, and to make things more intriguing, it was only ever released on the cassette tape format.
