Chicago, IL | The Top 10 Vinyl Records of 2019 (so far): See how Billie Eilish stacks up against the classics: August 12th was National Vinyl Record Day, a holiday for music lovers who appreciate the well-worn groove of a good tune. For those that know that the real sound can only be captured once you drop the needle. For those that don’t mind getting up to flip the side. Happy National Vinyl Record Day to you, with your refined taste and extra income, we salute you. According to Neilsen, vinyl record sales are continuing their resurgence this year, already up nearly 10 percent from last year and selling over 7 million copies so far this year. As digital downloads and other physical music declines in sales, vinyl is one of the few areas seeing a rise. …Check out the top 10 vinyl albums of 2019 so far.
St. Louis, MO | New Punk-Focused Record Shop, Wax Rats, Opens on Cherokee Street: Standing out on a wall behind the counter of Cherokee Street’s newest record shop is a particularly eye-catching album. Its cover art features an anthropomorphic beast with the head of a cat and the body of a man, wearing a belt but no pants, and carrying a knife. The band’s name is spelled out in near bubble-letter font across the top: Pantera. “Oh yeah, that’s Metal Magic,” remarks the store’s owner, Gus Theodorow. “That’s before Phil Anselmo. We can listen to it if you want. It kinda sucks.” Theodorow tosses the slab of wax onto a record player. And it’s true: Pantera’s debut studio album does indeed kind of suck. Released in 1983, the record sees the band still in its hair-metal days, back when drummer Vinnie Paul and guitarist Dimebag Darrell were in their teens and plainly obsessed with the music of bands like Kiss and Ratt. Aside from its ridiculous cover art, Metal Magic is a wholly unremarkable affair.
Denver, CO | Twist & Shout Hosts a Free Mumford & Sons In-Store Concert: With three nights booked at Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre starting Thursday, August 15, folk-rock giant Mumford & Sons could easily zip in and out of Denver without doing much for the local scene. Instead, the band’s management reached out to Twist & Shout, the famous Colfax Avenue record shop, back in May to set up an in-store concert, which will take place at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, August 16. “We had to completely keep everything a secret until yesterday,” store owner Paul Epstein told Westword today, August 13. “That’s hard in a record store. We’re not promoters. We’re used to hyping things up.” Such intimate performances are a rarity for Mumford & Sons. The group played and recorded a show at Bull Moose Music in Portland, Maine, which made history for the business and the group, too. Epstein expects the Twist & Shout concert, which will take place in the vinyl room, to be similarly memorable. The set will be entirely acoustic, with nobody plugging in – a first for Twist & Shout. Instead of a record-signing, the band will offer photo opportunities for groups of fans.
Dundee, UK | PICTURES: Hundreds attend final farewell to Groucho’s owner Alastair ‘Breeks’ Brodie: Hundreds of mourners gathered for the funeral of an iconic Dundee record store owner on Tuesday. Alastair “Breeks” Brodie, the owner of Groucho’s on the Nethergate, passed away in late July surrounded by his friends and family. The 65-year-old sold vinyl records in the city for 43 years. Mr Brodie had been suffering from various health issues for some time but took a turn for the worse in July. His funeral took place at Dundee Crematorium on Tuesday at noon. Mourners were instructed to wear “something colourful” instead of black clothing. Groucho’s has been closed as the funeral takes place. Posting to Facebook ahead of the funeral, staff wrote: “All of us here at Groucho’s would like to take a moment this morning to extend an enormous thank you for the overwhelming response to the sad news of the passing of our long time boss and friend Alastair “Breeks” Brodie.
UK | JB Hi-Fi posts huge yearly profits despite ‘retail recession’ devastating Myer and David Jones – as CEO reveals the unexpected product seeing huge growth. He said more are buying vinyl albums from the company than ever before: Tech giant JB Hi-Fi has revealed an increase in profit despite the ‘retail recession’ bringing down department store empires such as Myer and David Jones. The company revealed on Monday their net profit was up by 7.1 per cent to $249.8 million, with a total of $7.1 billion in sales. This is compared to $233.2 million in the previous financial year. The company’s CEO Richard Murray said he was pleased with the record sales and earnings, adding JB Hi-Fi New Zealand and The Good Guys showed similar results. He thanked the team and said he hoped the 2019-2020 financial year would reveal similar growth. Mr Murray said that DVD and CDs have fallen thanks to streaming services – but vinyl record sales are booming.
Michael Bunnell, Coalition of Independent Music Stores Founder, Announces Retirement: Coalition’s general manager, Andrea Paschal, will succeed Bunnell in 2020. Michael Bunnell, who served as the executive director of the Coalition of Independent Music Stores (CIMS) since 2009, said he will retire at the end of 2019. Andrea Paschal, CIMS’ longtime general manager, will succeed Bunnell in January 2020. “I’m very proud of the work I have done over the last 11 years at CIMS, and I hope that I have represented my group of stores and the independent physical retail sector in a favorable light,” Bunnell said. “Managing the organization during the recession and all the dramatic changes in the music industry presented many difficult challenges which myself and the CIMS Board worked vigorously to overcome.” Bunnell was a founding member of CIMS, which he established in 1995, to liaise between independent record stores and record labels. He also ran CIMS-owned independent distribution company ThinkIndie Distribution and served on the board for Record Store Day, which CIMS co-founded.
Kenora, ON | Opinion: One less bookstore in Edmonton is a very bad thing, full stop: The loss of the monolithic Chapters on Whyte by year’s end is a real bummer for book browsers — yet for some, accusations of international big lion Amazon stealing its dwindling meat are not felt without irony. As the chain’s Old Strathcona flagship was getting ready to open its doors in 1998, an act of vandalism sawed off bones of the h in Chapters to read “Crapters,” a big laugh at the Black Dog down the street — if not the suits at head office. At the time, many Edmotonians reasonably feared Toronto-based Chapters on Whyte would demolish the local bookseller scene. And indeed, non-scientifically, a number of local giants fell in the corner store’s lifetime. This included family-affair Greenwoods — which while a fierce and beloved indie, perhaps too-closely resembled the big C in having a substantial selection of everyday international bestsellers, alongside its braver and deeper-curated titles. Without question lacking the central buying (and markdown) power of a national entity, among other factors Greenwoods Bookshoppe — established in 1979 — shut its doors in 2012.
