Limerick City, IE | New dance-focused record shop opening in Limerick City: Downbeat Records, which opens on August 3rd, will stock dance music records of all varieties. Ireland’s Limerick City is getting a new, dance-focused record shop this Saturday (8/3). Downbeat Records, which opens its Wickham Way store front on August 3rd, is a new endeavor from former Idle Hands employee Frankie O’Mahoney. In addition to stocking a diverse range of genres, the store will feature a dedicated listening deck for customer use. “We hope to welcome anyone with an interest in records and music to stop by and hang out, chat music, buy music and meet other people interested in a wide variety of sounds,” Mahoney told Hot Press earlier this month. “We want to provide that space to the local music community.”
Minneapolis, MN | Hymie’s Records, a famed spot for vinyl in Minneapolis, is for sale: The owners are pledging to sell it only to someone who wants to keep the music spinning there. One of the Twin Cities’ best-loved record stores is for sale, but the owners are pledging to sell it only to someone who wants to keep the music spinning there. Dave and Laura Hoenack, who bought Hymie’s Records in Minneapolis nine years ago, want to spend more time with their two kids. So they are fielding offers to sell their vinyl specialty store, located on a revived stretch of East Lake Street in south Minneapolis. They are not interested in just liquidating their stock of vinyl records, however. “I want to still be able to go to a neighborhood record store in my own neighborhood,” Dave Hoenack said. In 2010, the Hoenacks moved the shop five blocks east, from its crumbling original location to the current site at 3820 E. Lake St.
Grand Haven, MI | Grand Haven record store packed as people support cancer patients: A fundraiser on Thursday night was held in memory of Angie Stone, who co-owned Off The Record with her husband Benji. Angie recently passed away of cancer. A record store called “Off The Record” was packed on Thursday night with people enjoying music. The man at the center of it all was owner Benji Stone who sang and played guitar for dozens in attendance. We first introduced you to Benji and his wife Angie back in February when the couple bought the record store. Since then, Angie has passed away after a battle with stage four breast cancer. Thursday night’s event was for Angie, and it benefitted “Bucs Pride.” The organization works with Grand Haven High School, hosting Bucs Pride games for every sport at the school. They sell “Bucs Pride” shirts every year and that helps them make a great deal of their money.
The Stories Behind Six Iconic Album Cover Shots Taken in America—and Where to Recreate Them: These picture-perfect album covers have turned unassuming street corners, empty beach stretches and looming buildings into musical monuments. In the early days of vinyl records, album covers were nothing more than a safety feature, blank paper jackets meant to protect the fragile content inside. That is, until, designer Alex Steinweiss at Columbia Records decided to photograph the Imperial Theater in New York City to fill the blank canvas encompassing the 1940 album Smash Hits by Rodgers & Hart—and permanently altered the face of music consumption. Since then, countless cover shots—the visual identities of formative albums—have been photographed across the United States. The country’s dynamic cityscapes and diverse terrain adorn records and the galleries of music populating streaming platforms. Whether decorated with a photo of a bustling subway stop or a striking Andy Warhol painting, album cover designs can constitute masterpieces in their own right, amplifying the artistry of the music they envelop.
What Makes Vintage Turntables So Special? Two Hi-Fi Experts Weigh In. Should you buy a used Thorens and have it restored to its original glory? Yes. Vinyl’s unexpected resurgence has been a welcome shot in the arm for the music industry, and one that has even surprised even the most passionate audiophiles who have never given up on turntables but understood that digital was the future. High-end digital playback had come a long way from the days of “perfect sound forever,” when it was nothing more than below-average sound reproduction wrapped in a layer of convenience. Today, lossless services like Tidal, Qobuz and Apple Music have legitimized high-res digital streaming as a format that both the mass market and audiophiles can enjoy. If he were alive today, Thomas Edison would consider us unjustifiably spoiled with so many ways of listening to high-fidelity audio — vinyl, streaming and even CDs — but he would also find comfort in the knowledge that there are passionate artisans and engineers in our midst who are raising the bar in the art of vintage turntable restoration.
Wales, UK | Welsh artists come together for limited vinyl release: Sain Records and independent music website Klust have collaborated to release a bespoke compilation album featuring some of the most exciting artists working in Wales today – released on an ultra-limited vinyl pressing. As part of a new collaborative project, launched by Sain under the title ‘Stafell Sbâr Sain’ (Sain’s Spare Room), the ten track album is carefully curated by Klust and released on Sain Records. The first record of the series includes original works by some of Wales’ most exciting artists, including Talulah, WRKHOUSE, Malan, Siula, and Sywel Nyw, and will be released as part of an exclusive bundle with the latest edition of Klust magazine. All ten tracks were recorded at Studio 1 in Sain, Llandwrog, over a six-month period, with film director and long-time Klust collaborator, Aled Victor, creating a series of behind the scenes videos to accompany each of the five live sessions. Klust is a multimedia platform, launched in 2022, to celebrate and promote new music from Wales.
38 unreleased Hendrix tracks feature on film and CD/vinyl box set celebrating Electric Lady Studios: Jimi Hendrix fans are in for a treat on 13 September with the launch of a deluxe Blu-ray and CD/vinyl box set that features 38 unreleased tracks and a film documenting the creation of Electric Lady Studios. Released by Experience Hendrix/Legacy Recordings, Electric Lady Studios: A Jimi Hendrix Vision takes us back to the summer of 1970, when Hendrix was ensconced in the New York studio with his new backing band of Billy Cox on bass guitar and the returning Mitch Mitchell on drums (after a brief interregnum when Buddy Miles sat in for Band Of Gypsys). It collects all the tracks intended for Hendrix’s fourth studio album, posthumously released in 1997 as First Rays Of The New Rising Sun, plus bonus tracks Valleys Of Neptune, Pali Gap, and Lover Man. All have been given a new 5.1 surround sound mix. Inside the box, the give LPs or three CDs are accompanied by extensive liner notes and Hendrix’s own handwritten song drafts.
Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo to release new vinyl versions of Crimes of Passion, In the Heat of the Night, Precious Time in September: Multi-Grammy Award-winning Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees, Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo, announce new vinyl reissues of three seminal albums, Crimes Of Passion, In The Heat Of The Night, and Precious Time, out September 13 via UMe. Pre-order here. Each LP will be available in various limited-edition configurations: In The Heat Of The Night will be pressed on either Black or Tangerine Vinyl, Crimes Of Passion on either Black or Opaque Magenta Vinyl, and Precious Time on either Black or Opaque Fruit Punch Vinyl. “We know how much you’ve wanted reissues of the early records on vinyl. Finally, here they are! Happy listening, enjoy!” —Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo
Remastered vinyl version of Egg’s 1970 debut album to be released: Withdrawn track Symphony No. 2 – Third Movement reinstated to new Egg reissue. The 1970 debut album from Canterbury band Egg is to be reissued through Esoteric Records on October 25. Egg has been remasterd and cut at Abbey Road studios and the new reissues fully restores the original album artwork. Not only that, but it also restores the track Symphony No. 2 – Third Movement, which was withdrawn from the original release due to the piece borrowing from themes by composer Igor Stravinsky. Egg grew out to the band Uriel, but when guitarist and vocalist Steve Hillage quit that band, the remaining three musicians Mont Campbell (bass, vocals), Dave Stewart (organ, piano, tone generator), and Clive Brookes (drums), chose to continue as Egg. The band’s self-titled debut was originally released through Decca’s Deram Nova label in January 1970.
