New store aims to be ‘enjoyable for today’s music lovers’: The couple behind a new music shop are promising to provide a friendly alternative to the “unwelcoming and intimidating” atmosphere of record stores. Vinyl Revolution, co-founded by Simon Parker and Rachel Lowe, opens on July 15 in Duke Street, Brighton, and offers two floors of vinyl records as well as clothing, art and home goods. The project has been a long-time ambition for Simon, who played in the rock band Villarreal and ran the Brighton music night Cable Club for 12 years before going to work at a record shop in Oxford. He and Rachel decided to set up their own store a year ago on what she described as a “wine-fuelled evening”.
End of an era as iconic Sheffield shop, Rare and Racy, closes its doors: It was the final chapter of one of Sheffield’s most well-known book stores yesterday, with Rare and Racy closing its doors. The book and record store which Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker once said it would be a crime to destroy, will make way for new development on Devonshire Street. The business has been an institution for almost 50 years – a treasure trove of books and records in a former betting office in Sheffield’s Devonshire Quarter. It was set up by owner Allen Capes’ brother, John, who left the business 19 years ago to establish an online firm.
Uptown beats: Rhino Records store owner Rick Lange tells much, if not all: Richard Fredrick “Rick” Lange Jr. is usually seen hunched over the counter of his North Front Street store, Rhino Records, peering into his laptop’s screen and dropping thinly sliced, paper-dry wit on customers. The shelves of the Uptown Kingston shop are lined with more than the expected vintage albums and CDs. A respectable book collection ranges from tomes on 19th century Danish poetry to rock ’n’ roll journalism to how to start an anarchist movement on a budget. Rhino in Kingston is Lange’s second storefront, as the New Paltz flagship store just moved from its longtime Church Street spot to the Water Street Market. He asked us to let you know that.
Vinyl is never going away, and that’s good news for superfans: Vinyl records are truly a thing of beauty. They were the first thing to bring personal music libraries to the masses, and that’s something we’ll never forget. While cassette tapes, CDs, and streaming services have all succeeded the format, there’s just something about vinyl records that keeps them living on. Sony Music understands this and has decided to start pressing vinyl records again at a Japanese factory by next March. This comes after a 25-year high in record sales, where we bought more than 3.2 million LPs in 2016.
Pizza x Records Collab Coming to Pioneer Square: It’ll be called RPM Pizza and Records, and it looks like it’ll be in the former Il Corvo Pasta Studio/Pizzeria Gabbiano space. There will be pizza, obviously, and the record selection will favor local artists, according to Eater. As sad as I was to see Mike Easton’s venture’s depart, I’m happy to see that space reactivated, and enthusiastically in support of both things they are selling. Also, if you like records and pizza and want to make money by selling those things, they’re hiring.
WA Photographer Tashi Hall Unveils Exhibition At Mills Records: Revered WA photographer and frequent contributor to The Music, Tashi Hall has unveiled details of her debut exhibition along with a GoFundMe campaign in support. Hosted at iconic Fremantle record store Mills, Surgō (meaning “to rise” in Latin) will be on display for two weeks from July 13, showcasing some of her favourite shots after curating an impressive portfolio in recent years from shooting the likes of Florence & The Machine, Macklemore, Ryan Lewis, Troye Sivan, Tame Impala and more. “I feel it’s important that people know that the art of live music photography is often a lot more than realised,” Hall said.
