Fort Collins, CO | With resurgence in vinyl, record store opens in Old Town Fort Collins: A longtime Fort Collins disc jockey has fulfilled a long-held dream by opening Driver 8 Records in Old Town. Owner Charles Hale, currently a volunteer disc jockey, has been a DJ at KRFC and KCSU while attending Colorado State University. He said his love for records and collecting began in 2001 at Rocks Off Records, a long gone Fort Collins record store. “Much like every homebrewer wants to open a brewery to have their beers tasted, I’ve always wanted to have a record store where great music can be shared and heard,” he said. Driver 8 Records, 246 Pine St., stocks a selection new and classic vinyl across musical genres including Americana, punk, Indie rock, jazz and hip-hop. Hale said he noticed during the COVID quarantine in 2020 record stores across the country were doing well while other businesses struggled.
Madison, WI | Boneset Records, Madison’s newest record shop, is proudly woman-owned: Maggie Denman knew she wanted to open a record shop, but she wasn’t planning to do it right away. “It’s something that I thought about doing for a long time … but I wasn’t planning to do it for another couple of years,” said Denman, a musician who’s played in Madison bands No Question, Proud Parents, According to What and solo project Margerat Dryer. In February, Gary John Feest, her former boss at Sugar Shack Records announced that the 41-year-old shop’s final location at 2301 Atwood Ave. had been sold, forcing the business out. Rather than haul all the records, cassette tapes, CDs and VHS tapes to yet another location — the shop had already had six — Feest planned to retire. It was an opportunity Denman couldn’t pass up. She told Feest she could take the shop’s remaining inventory when it closed in April. Feest, who’d planned to donate what was left to a St. Vincent de Paul thrift shop, said he’d much rather give it to her.
Rhythm and Booze: Vinyl Bars Are Making a Comeback (Again): Prior to the pandemic, Japanese-style “listening bars” had a moment. Modeled after a bar style popularized in Japan following the Second World War, these establishments prioritized listening to vinyl records, often via stellar sound systems. They weren’t all hushed experiences—as anyone who ever visited NYC’s lively Tokyo Record Bar can attest—but it was definitely all about the sound, often accompanied by creative drink and food offerings. After a pandemic-induced hiatus, bars centered on vinyl experiences are back. Many are decidedly less formal, and they’re certainly not all “listening bars.” But they’re all welcoming spaces to enjoy music, drink in hand. “The vinyl market has gone up exponentially,” explains Zach Ashton, co-owner of In Between Days, a saké-focused listening bar that opened in August 2021 in St. Petersburg, Florida, in a breezy blue shack. “People are talking more about vinyl than they have in the last five years,” particularly Millennials who have nostalgic memories of their parents’ collections and Gen Zers getting back in touch with the analog format.
Mariah Carey’s ‘Honey: The Remixes’ Getting Vinyl Release for the First Time: Naturally, the 2-LP set comes dripping on honey-colored vinyl. Ready for another taste of honey? On Sunday (Sept. 18), Mariah Carey unveiled a new vinyl for Honey: The Remixes in celebration of her seminal Butterfly album’s 25th anniversary. “More #Butterfly25 goodies!” the singer announced on Twitter. “Pre-Order Honey: The Remixes – for the first time on vinyl! 2LP’s on honey colored vinyl.” (For the time being, the new vinyl is available exclusively through Urban Outfitters and is expected to ship in February 2023, because production delays are still a very real thing, dahhling.) Across a dozen tracks, the album features different interpretations of Butterfly‘s smash lead single like the “Bad Boy Remix” with Puff Daddy, Mase and The Lox, the “So So Def Mix” with pals Da Brat and Jermaine Dupri, the extended seven-minute “Mo’ Honey Dub” and more. The brand-new remix by David Morales will also be included on Side C of the two-LP set.
Kylie Minogue celebrates 25 years of ‘Impossible Princess’ with first ever vinyl edition: The album included ‘Some Kind of Bliss’ Unbelievably it’s a been a quarter century since the release of Kylie Minogue’s sixth studio album ‘Impossible Princess’. Released on 22nd October 1997, the album spawned hits ‘Some Kind of Bliss’, ‘Did It Again’, and ‘Breathe’, and became a Top 10 album in the UK. Now, the singer has decided to mark the album’s 25th anniversary by releasing a vinyl edition of the album for the very first time. Taking to Instagram to share the news, Kylie posted clips from some of the album’s music videos. The singer captioned the video: ‘LOVERS, we’re celebrating TWENTY FIVE years of Impossible Princess by releasing it on vinyl for the first time!
The Alan Parsons Project remastered vinyl box set on the way: The Alan Parsons Project’s The Complete Albums Collection 11LP box set will be released in November. The Alan Parsons Project are to release an 11 album vinyl box set featuring all the band’s albums, from 1976’s Tales Of Mystery And Imagination debut through to 1987’s Gaudi, as well as 2014’s The Sicilian Defence. The Alan Parsons Project – The Complete Collection will be released through Cooking Vinyl records on November 18, initially in a run of 1500 copies. The collection is a vinyl version of the CD box set that was released in 2014. The set features every studio album released by Alan Parsons and musical partner Eric Woolfson as The Alan Parsons Project, including the curio The Sicilian Defence, which has never been available on vinyl before. Released as a contactual obligation album, and used by Woolfson to secure the group a new deal with their then label Arista following the release of Eve in 1979, The Sicilian Defence and its song titles reflect the game of chess, an allusion to the negotiations with the label. It was finally released as part of the CD box set in 2014.
Daniel Johnston’s Welcome to My World compilation set for first vinyl release: True Love Will Find You In The End. Eternal Yip Eye Music’s Daniel Johnston compilation, called Welcome To My World, is being released on vinyl for the first time this September. Designed as an introduction to the labyrinthine world of Johnston, Welcome To My World features some of his most beloved tunes. It includes: ‘True Love Will Find You In The End’, ‘Some Things Last A Long Time’, ‘Story Of An Artist’, and ‘The Sun Shines Down On Me’. Originally released on CD in 2006, the compilation is now making its vinyl debut. Johnston’s artwork — arguably as influential as his music — was also the subject of an exhibition at NYC’s Electric Lady Studios last year.
