Lexington, SC | A well-known Midlands record shop is closing its current location. Here’s what to know: A record shop that has for years been situated in the heart of Lexington said it will close its current storefront at the end of the month, but added that it is planning a new location. Turntable City, the record shop that offers music across a number of genes, has been located at 202-A West Main St. in Lexington for the last five years. That’s in the midst of the town’s main downtown district, next door to M. Gallery Interior Designs and not far from the Icehouse Amphitheatre. The record shop said in a July 3 Facebook post that this month will be its last at 202-A West Main. “We have definitely outgrown our lovely space and are moving up to a BIGGER location (to be announced soon) to fully and properly accommodate our ever growing and loving customer base,” the record shop posted. Turntable City said that, as the change is happening, the shop will be online only beginning Aug. 1 at www.turntable-city.com.
Liverpool, UK | A Vinyl Club is launching in Liverpool where you can DJ your favourite records: A new vinyl club night is launching in Liverpool city centre where music fans can bring along their favourite records and get on the decks to play them. Vinyl Club is the idea of DJs Ivan Thunders and Pete Martin who are better known as Coffee and Turntables. They want people to be able to share the tunes they love and, even if they’ve never DJed before, they can get a quick lesson and have a go. Ivan explains: “We always have friends asking to do a set and we also thought it would be great to have a night where random people we don’t know show up and we discover new records as well. “We love to find new music and different artists and that’s what we hope will happen at Vinyl Club… We used to do a bring your own record night at Hobo Kiosk in the Baltic and people would always bring stuff that we’d never heard of before, so it’s a similar concept but with Vinyl Club we’ll actually have proper turntables and decks and mixer.”
Evansville, IN | With the resurgence of vinyl records, Space Monkey Records offers nostalgic music experience: As the ways people enjoy music have shifted over the years, vinyl records have enjoyed a resurgence, with modern artists increasingly releasing albums of their latest work in this analog medium. An area record store cashing in on this renewed popularity is getting ready to celebrate its fourth anniversary next month. “I got into the record store business, or actually records, at the age of about 13. Alice Cooper and Kiss were my first albums, and when I got older, and fell into a place called Foltzcity Boutique, which made a powerful, powerful, impression on me,” says owner Patrick Holl. Folzcity Boutique was located in downtown Evansville before it closed in 1980. Holl says it is the Folzcity atmosphere and legacy that Space monkey strives to continue. The first physical Space Monkey store opened on Riverside Drive in August of 2019 followed, by eight vendor mall locations throughout the Tristate.
UK | PIAS founders Michel Lambot and Kenny Gates honoured with IMPALA’s Outstanding Contribution award: International independent music pioneers Michel Lambot and Kenny Gates have been presented with IMPALA’s Outstanding Contribution award to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the PIAS group The indie was established from a basement in Brussels, when it was known as Play It Again Sam. Over the last four decades, PIAS has grown from a vinyl record importer on behalf of UK independent record labels into a key European and global recording, marketing and distribution outlet. It currently has 19 offices and 280 employees globally. Last year it sold 49% of the company to UMG. They founded IMPALA in 2000 to develop a single voice for the independent music sector in Europe. They were also instrumental in creating Merlin as well as WIN, with a view to supporting and expanding the independent music ecosystem internationally.
Bowers & Wilkins launches Signature editions of of 801 D4 and 805 D4 speakers: Taking influence from Bowers & Wilkins’ 1991 Silver Signature loudspeaker. Bowers & Wilkins has launched a new series of speakers called the luxury 800 Series Signature. The first two speakers in the series are two home speakers–the floorstanding 801 D4 Signature and the 805 D4 Signature. Taking influence from Bowers & Wilkins’ 1991 Silver Signature loudspeaker, the 801 D4 and 805 D4 Signature models build upon the existing flagship 801 D4 and D5 speakers. Changes include new Midnight Blue Metallic and California Burl Gloss finishes and redesigned aluminum top panel design. “The new Bowers & Wilkins 801 D4 Signature speaker builds on a heritage that stretches back to the acclaimed Silver Signature loudspeaker of 1991, originally developed as a posthumous tribute to the founder of the company, John Bowers,” says Bowers & Wilkins. “The new models build on the already exceptional performance and aesthetic benchmarks of the 801 D4 and 805 D4 models that form the basis of their respective designs, featuring carefully upgraded componentry plus luxurious and beautiful new finishes.”
Elegant and Functional, the Open 45 Credenza Is An All-In-One Home For Your Vinyl Setup: Created by LA-based Geology Studio, the modular credenza was made to “promote the use of your vinyl collection.” If you’re a vinyl record collector — especially an avid one, with hundreds or thousands of titles in your collection — you’ve likely ran into the never-ending push and pull between storage and display. Some of your best or most-listened wax may be tucked away, suffering from anonymity on a shelf or placed in an awkward position where it can’t easily be seen by visitors. The team at Geology Studio set out to solve that problem, and the solution they came up with was the Open 45 Credenza, a modular home base for records that Geology Studio says “promotes the use of your vinyl collection.” “I’ve had a record player since I was a kid … I’ve carried [the collection] around for years and rarely played it,” Geology Studio designer Adam Friedman told Designboom when discussing the inspiration for creating the Open 45 and making vinyl easier to access.
Limited Edition Google Pixel Fold Hip Hop 50 Smartphone Includes Working Victrola Portable Record Player: This limited edition Google Pixel Fold Hip Hop 50 smartphone was sent to 400 people that are a part of the company’s #GiftFromGoogle program including fashion photographer Nestor Pool and filmmaker Courtney Hill. The bundle also includes a working Victrola portable record player, Pixel Watch, Pixel Buds Pro as well as a Mass Apeal vinyl box set with five 45RPM records. Aside from the Hip Hop 50 engraving on the rear, this appears to be a standard Pixel Fold with a 7.6-inch foldable OLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, a 5.8-inch OLED cover display, a Google Tensor G2 chip, 12GB of RAM, 512GB of UFS 3.1 internal storage, a triple rear camera array (48MP Wide + 10.8MP Telephoto + 10.8MP Ultra-Wide), an 8MP cover camera, a 9.5MP selfie camera, and a 4,821mAh battery.
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope soundtrack coming to vinyl: Laced Records has announced that pre-orders are open for the Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope soundtrack on vinyl, and that it’ll be a triple-LP full of music from the “legendary team-up of Yoko Shimomura, Grant Kirkhope & Gareth Coker”. The Galactic Edition features sky blue, orange, and blurple (!) galaxy-effect discs, and is exclusive to Laced Records, and both versions will set you back £50, regardless of edition. It’s a 52-track soundtrack, and Laced says it has “been specially remastered for the vinyl format and will be pressed onto heavyweight discs”. The vinyl for Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope will come in “spined inner sleeves, all contained in a widespined slipcase”. Nintendo composer Koji Kondo and his co-composer on Super Mario Galaxy, Mahito Yokota, supervised the soundtrack, and it won “Best Original Video Game Score” at the Ivor Novello Awards 2023.
