Bowling Green, OH | Downtown institution Finders Records closes: The time has come for a downtown institution. In a social media post, Greg Halamay, founder and owner of Finders Records announced today that the store is closed. And in sitting fashion he evoked a classic song, The Chambers Brothers’ “The Time Has Come.” Since April, the 52-year-old shop was opened only on Saturdays. Now it is closed even then. Halamay said that gift certificates can still redeemed by contacting him at 419-352-7677. Shoppers may still arrange “private shopping sessions” by calling that number. And Finders may have special pop-up openings at unannounced times. Those will be announced on a sign outside the door. Halamay said in 2022 that he’d been contemplating retiring for five years or so. Then the pandemic gave him a chance to think it over, and he decided it was time. The “for sale or lease” banners appeared in the window. Now he has moved a step further into “retirement and vacation mode.”
Dulwich Hill, AU | Browse records during dinner at this inner-west institution turned old-school dive bar: Lazy Thinking has transformed The Sausage Factory site in Dulwich Hill into a music store and restaurant in on. Dulwich Hill’s former institution The Sausage Factory, which closed in December, has been transformed into Lazy Thinking, a record store and restaurant helmed by the site’s co-owner Jim Flanagan. This time, the sausages have taken a back seat to the local music scene. Inspired by the gritty, old-school dive bars of New York and his small record label (of the same name), Flanagan has spent months plastering the walls with posters of Sydney bands. A custom-made record stand runs through the middle of the restaurant, inviting diners to browse as they eat. And there are plans to host live music on Sunday afternoons. “To me, food and music go hand in hand,” Flanagan says.
Record Roundup Volume 21: 3 New Turntables Priced From $300 To $60,000: We are well into the summer doldrums, when new consumer electronics releases tend to slow. Good news for record fans, though. With August approaching, I have news about three new turntables to share. First, if you happened to miss the last edition of Record roundup (with news on smash vinyl sales and counterfeit records), you can catch up here. Linn Sondek LP12-50: If you have £50,000 (around $64,000 at current exchange rates) to spend and a burning desire for handmade artisanal audio equipment, iconic Scottish audio brands, or Sir Jony Ive’s design flourish, then you’ll want to get your name on the list for one of 250 limited edition Sondek LP12-50 turntables. Handcrafted in Linn’s Glasgow factory, each of these 50th anniversary Sondek turntables bears an embossed aluminum plaque certifying that it was built in collaboration with the former Apple design guru’s LoveFrom studio.
Fluance launches the RT81+ High Fidelity turntable: An upgrade to the flagship RT81 turntable. Fluance has launched its RT81+ High Fidelity Vinyl Turntable. Designed as an upgrade to the RT81 turntable, the RT81+ is the latest in Fluance’s Elite range. Improvements to the turntable include an Audio Technica VM95E cartridge, an upgraded dampened aluminium anti-resonant platter, and a built-in preamp. “This turntable is designed to stand out and last for decades to come. It incorporates a number of unique features that reflect Fluance’s commitment to superior sound quality, upgradeability, and customer accessibility,” says Justin Koetsier, Product Manager at Fluance. In essence, the RT81+ aims to deliver an accessible, yet sophisticated and upgradeable, high-fidelity audio experience, embodying our vision of inclusivity.”
SME 60 record player: …Two types of companies make turntables, I’ve found: the type that assembles them from outsourced parts and the kind that manufactures them. Most high-end turntable companies fall into the first group: They use subcontractors to make most if not all of the ‘table’s component parts, to the turntable company’s specific design and specifications. Turntable manufacturers, on the other hand, build the individual parts themselves—most of the parts anyway, including the key parts—then assemble them to create a finished product. Usually only bigger companies with deep pockets can manage this; larger production numbers justify the investment in costly machine tools. SME, on the other hand, has survived as one of a handful of small, specialist turntable and tonearm manufacturers that build the mechanical parts for themselves, in part by continuing to take on subcontracting jobs, much as the company did when it was founded more than 75 years ago.
Record Rebound: Swervedriver reissue their classic debut album ‘Raise.’ In the late 1980s, the British press coined the term shoegazing to categorise a burgeoning movement in alternative rock music. Thanks to bands like Spacemen 3 and The Jesus and Mary Chain, neo-psychedelia was on the rise; this latest kaleidoscopic injection would be adorned with effect pedals and moody guitarists staring vacantly towards the ground. Today, we’re rebounding to 1991, the peak of shoegaze and the year that bore Raise, the debut album of Oxford-based band Swervedriver. Releasing this masterpiece debut album in September 1991, Swervedriver put themselves up against the fierce competition exerted by My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless, Slowdive’s Just for a Day, Chapterhouse’s Whirlpool and Blur’s Leisure. Despite such prominent neighbouring releases, not to mention Ride’s classic debut of 1990, Swervedriver carved themselves a bold niche in the mire of swirling, warping guitars.
BTS’s RM Sets New Record On Billboard 200 As “Indigo” Re-Enters Chart After Vinyl Release: BTS’s RM has just made history on the Billboard 200! On July 25 local time, Billboard announced that RM’s 2022 solo album “Indigo” had re-entered its Top 200 Albums chart (which ranks the most popular albums in the United States) at No. 53 following its release on vinyl this month. With this achievement, “Indigo” has now spent a total of seven non-consecutive weeks on the Billboard 200, making RM the first Korean soloist ever to chart an album for seven weeks. “Indigo” also debuted at No. 2 on Billboard’s Vinyl Albums chart, making it the highest-ranking album by any Korean soloist in the history of the chart. Outside of the Billboard 200, the album’s vinyl release propelled “Indigo” back onto several other Billboard charts this week as well. “Indigo” re-entered the World Albums chart at No. 2, in addition to sweeping the No. 3 spot on both the Top Album Sales chart and the Top Current Album Sales chart.
Produced by Tony Visconti: Various Artists 4CD or 6LP compilation. Produced by Tony Visconti is a new multi-disc box set available on CD and vinyl that spans the producer’s six decades and features famous material from David Bowie, T.Rex, U2, Joe Cocker and many more, alongside lesser-known gems from the likes of The Good, The Bad & The Queen, Thin Lizzy, The Radiators, Zaine Griff, Gentle Giant, Manic Street Preachers and more from Tony’s fifty years of production credits. In total, there’s 77 tracks on the 4CD box set edition, curated by Visconti himself. The 6LP vinyl variant delivers 60 tracks and there’s also a 2LP vinyl highlights which offers 14 songs. Of the set, Tony says, “This boxset covers five and a half decades of my efforts in the art of making iconic recordings. Some of it is familiar and some will have a eureka moment, ‘I didn’t know Visconti produced that one!’”
