Rolling Record Store comes to town: DES MOINES – It’s like a food truck for music lovers! The Rolling Record Store was set up on Ingersoll Avenue on Wednesday. The record mobile travels all over the country selling exclusive music and merchandise that you can’t find anywhere else. Staffers say driving a mobile record store around is a unique experience. “It’s pretty fun. It doesn’t go quite as fast as a normal car, so it takes some time to get places, but it’s really cool. I get to see places I never thought I would go. I mean I’ve driven through Des Moines before but never stopped, so it’s kind of cool to see some new spots,” said Jessica Artt, Rolling Record Store employee. The Rolling Record Store sells music from all types of genres. It has been in business since 2001.
Cassette tapes return as demand rises among music nerds, disconnected seniors: SEOUL, For fans of rock and heavy metal music, a visit to Dope Records, an independent record store run by Kim Yun-jung in Mapo, western Seoul, evokes a strange feeling. The dim-lit basement shop feels as if time has rewound back to the mid-90s — almost three quarters of the 82-square-meter store is covered wall-to-wall by a huge collection of rock music cassette tapes. With a backlog of around 15,000 tapes (50,000 when including ones in storage), predominantly Western rock, pop music and also classic Korean albums, the store is undoubtedly a treasure trove for those with fond memories of using a Walkman during the 1980s to the late 1990s, when the medium started to phase out. But in the digital age, Dope Records, at first glance, seemed almost suicidal from a business perspective.
Vinyl lounge records anniversary: The National Film and Sound Archives’ (NSFA) Vinyl Lounge, is marking its fourth anniversary on 6 October. To celebrate the occasion music lovers are invited to share in a night of refreshing drinks, good company, and great music. Since its first meeting 2013, Vinyl Lounge has become a popular gathering place amongst a community of dedicated record aficionados. Around 80 music lovers gather on the first Friday of every month to play songs from their favourite records on the NFSA’s pure analogue sound system. Sound Curator at NFSA, Thorsten Kaeding said the event would not have become what it is without its regular attendees.
Enter Shikari fans invade St Albans’ Empire Records for album signing: Rock band Enter Shikari signed copies of their new album at Empire Records in St Albans this week. The band – made up of Rou Reynolds, Chris Batten, Rob Rolfe, and Rory Clewlow – released The Spark last Friday. To coincide with its release, they arranged a series of album signings around the country, including in their home city. Empire Records’ manager Dave Burgess said: “A St Albans band were putting out a new album, so it made sense for us to do something. “They did signings with the larger stores like HMV, so we were the smallest.”
Tuning into Hi-Fi House, The hush-hush private music club finally goes public: On the surface, it seems difficult to explain the concept behind Hi-Fi House, a private club that charges members anywhere from $75 to $1,000 a year for the privilege of playing its record collection on its stereo systems. You might naturally say to yourself, “I could buy a whole bunch of records for $1,000 that I could play whenever I want to in the privacy of my own home,” but you’d be missing the point. The club, located at 3724 Farnam St. in the Blackstone District, has been operating privately for more than a year. I first stepped foot in Hi-Fi House last year during a Record Store Day event where the public was allowed a sneak peek. The facility is first class all the way — a huge open, carpeted space with comfortable furniture arranged in circles throughout, centered around stereo equipment set-ups, including one I was told cost $80,000.
Skyline views, a vinyl room and more: Take a tour of Hines’ new downtown residential tower: Earlier in September, Hines quietly unveiled its latest luxury residential development…The apartment’s ninth floor houses its amenities. There’s three “living room” spaces with fireplaces, three kitchen areas, a conference room, pool and shuffleboard tables and a patio deck with a heated pool, lounge spaces and several grilling stations. A plush, stylish vinyl room is complete with a pre-stocked collection of records and offers a private, circular listening lounge that is also Bluetooth enabled.
Cheap Turntable Sales Are Exploding. Are 70s Boomboxes Next? Earlier this year, the NPD Group published a report showing the rapid growth of vinyl in the United States. The market research group found that the vinyl turntables market had hit the $98 million mark in February. Yet, much to the chagrin of vinyl purists, consumers had mostly purchased inexpensive faux-vintage turntables. Now, sales of another inexpensive vintage device may soon explode around the world. The Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association noted that demand for boomboxes has spiked. According to the Bangkok Post, older generations want to “hear the sounds of cassettes once again.” Younger generations, on the other hand, want to “experience radio-cassette recorders for the first time.”
Sonos now has a connected vinyl record console, too: The world’s music collections may be going increasingly cloud-based, but there’s still nothing like owning a vinyl album, its gatefold artwork a door to an audio getaway. Sonos, in partnership with luxury hi-fi manufacturers Wrensilva, now offers a connected vinyl player along with its speakers, soundbars and subs. The Wrensilva Sonos Edition Record Console will set you back $4,999 (around £3,750, or AU$6,390). It’s a premium product, even by Sonos’s standards. Featuring two integrated Sonos Play:5 speakers, it’s as much a piece of furniture as it is an audio device. Measuring 59.5 inches wide x 30 inches high and 19 inches deep, it’s handcrafted, made with American Walnut hardwood and white lacquered birch.
New Bush retro record player put to the test Vintage-style turntable from Bush brings back the look of the 1950s for less than £100. But is it any good? Like the original Dansette, the Bush player has built-in speakers behind a fabric-front grille and a faux-leather covering. Completing the retro look are the tapered wooden legs – a little reminiscent of a satellite from the space-race era. It will play records at all three common speeds: 33rpm, 45rpm and 78rpm. In our testing we found it fairly easy to use – the record will start spinning automatically when you lift up the needle to put it on the disc. However, the number one thing this record player has to do to be worth buying is sound good.
