Memphis, TN | 15 Memphis albums worth digging for in the record store: While I was having a quick breakfast at French Truck Coffee in Crosstown Concourse, a group of students from the high school just a couple floors up came and asked me a question. “What do you think of when you think of Memphis?” The answer was in the seat next to me: a box of vinyl records, all of which have some connection to Memphis. “Music,” I said, enthusiastically. Memphis music spans all the genres and styles imaginable. And, as a record collector and fan, I am routinely astonished when I spend an afternoon flipping through the racks of a record store, plotting the untold connections between Memphis musicians and labels and the many obscure recordings lost to time. In observance of 901 Day, I want to share some choice selections from Memphis’ lesser known songbooks. It is a list that is not comprehensive in any way. Instead, let it be a legend to help you map out your own Memphis musical treasure hunt. Maybe, like me, you’ll find there are no bounds to Memphis’ musical influence.
Detroit, MI | Record Store-Bar Combo Readies for Downtown Detroit Debut: Paramita Sound starts hosting previews this weekend. More than a year after closing up shop in West Village, record store Paramita Sound preparing to reopening in downtown Detroit with a wine bar. Partners Andrey Douthard, Anna Atanassova, and Zach Poley confirm to the Detroit Free Press that the new location will host previews at the base of the Siren Hotel on this weekend, with an official opening on Friday, September 6. Paramita Sound got its start in 2014 in West Village selling records and holding monthly music events, but noise complaints and low sales forced the shop to move on in 2018. The group is adding a beverage component to the record store to make the business more financially sustainable. At the new 650-square-foot space inside the Siren, Paramita will feature room for DJs, records, and a 15-seat bar serving 30 diverse wines and a handful of beers. Atanassova, whose headed bar programs at Flowers of Vietnam and Rock City Eatery, is taking the lead with the menu.
Ontario, CA | Vinyl rules at The Record Centre, the musical heart of Hintonburg: …The Record Centre has become a place where musicians and music lovers congregate to exchange stories and to connect and to perform. Over the years, he said, hundreds of shows have been played in the tight confines. The performers range from folk singers to rockers to experimental jazz ensembles to classical players. And those shows have been recorded on some of the store’s vintage recording equipment. One day Mike Dubue of the band The Hilotrons approached Thompson. “He was in the store a lot. I started talking with Mike and” one thing led to another and they decided to make a vinyl album. Thompson contacted Quality Record Pressings in Kansas City run by a guy called Chad Kassem to physically produce the record. “He is my hero. He started selling records in his basement. We both started doing the same thing. At the time he had one of the best pressing sites in the U.S. They made that record for us. Phil Bova Jr. mastered it for vinyl and a local guy did the artwork on the record.”
Seattle, WA | Here’s how a Seattle record store unearthed a pre-‘Nevermind’ royalty cheque made out to Kurt Cobain: Easy Street Records sheds more light on the discovery. Yesterday (August 29), Seattle’s Easy Street Records unearthed a precious fragment of rock history: a royalty cheque made out to Kurt Cobain of Nirvana before the release of ‘Nevermind’. The beloved independent record store posted photos of the folded, yellowing cheque to Instagram yesterday. As the caption points out, the cheque from BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc) was dated March 6, 1991, six months before the release of Nirvana’s landmark album, ‘Nevermind’. At that point, the only full-length studio record the band had released was ‘Bleach’. “We’re guessing the next royalty checks were a bit larger than only… $26.57,” Easy Street Records quipped in its post. According to an inflation calculator, $26.57 in 1991 comes up to about $50 in 2019.
Liverpool, UK | 11 iconic Church Street shops that time forgot: How many of these do you remember from back in the day? Penny Lane Records: Penny Lane Records is one of many record stores which have now sadly closed their doors in Liverpool. Once located on Church Street with a sister store on Bold Street, the popular shop sold all kinds of records from rock and pop to jazz and swing. @mrrayswigworld said: “Penny Lane Records – when it was upstairs. I love the Bold Street one too. “They also had a sister record shop called Cheverton Records on Richmond Street that had the best disco imports section in the basement. While David Tudor added: “Yes! I used to go in there and swoon over the imports I couldn’t justify my pocket money on, but that was part of the fun back then!”
The Best Speakers for Vinyl Record Players 2019: Vinyl has made a huge comeback, and many people are finding excellent results and high audio fidelity with turntables and vinyl sound systems. We’re looking at the best speakers for vinyl in this guide as we help you to create your own high-quality system. Whether you’ve got an unlimited budget for an audiophile style system or you need to find the best value for money possible, we’ve included top-rated options at a variety of budgets, with a variety of features. Don’t put up with the tinny audio you will probably get from any inbuilt speakers on your record player. Even a budget pair of speakers can give you a huge upgrade and far more listening pleasure.
Art House Theater Day 2019 keeps it weird with Putney Swope and In Fabric: Art House Theater Day, the cinephile’s answer to Record Store Day that offers special programming hoping to entice viewers into independent movie theaters across the U.S. and Canada, has never been afraid to be weird. It came out swinging in its first year, declaring Don Coscarelli’s 1979 surrealist low-budget horror classic Phantasm to be capital-A Art by association. And it’s kept that reputation intact since, featuring eccentric programming like Dmitrii Kalashnikov’s “fully unhinged” Russian dashboard-cam documentary The Road Movie and a remastered version of John Landis’ goofy-ass 1973 debut Schlock!. Now, the 2019 lineup is out, and the event’s reputation remains intact.
