Dundee, UK | ‘One of my favourite places’: Smiths legend Johnny Marr would be ‘saddened’ if Groucho’s closed: Rock star Johnny Marr has said he would be “saddened” if Dundee’s Groucho’s record store is forced to close. The legendary Smiths guitarist joined the Tayside music community and hundreds of locals in sharing their love of the iconic store as owner Alastair “Breeks” Brodie confirmed he will retire in August 2019. After the 64-year-old made the announcement in The Courier on Saturday, hundreds of people took to social media to express their sadness – with many determined to help find a buyer to keep the Nethergate shop going. Others also shared their favourite memories of the store, which has been a Dundee institution for more than 40 years.
Los Angeles, CA | Amoeba Music Shop Fires Shots At “Lil” Rappers By Placing Them All Together: Amoeba Music has no time for rapper’s unoriginality with their names. Imagine making a section in your store for every single “Lil” rapper in the world. While not many people purchase physical copies of their music anymore, Amoeba Music still operates on a daily basis in Los Angeles, welcoming visitors from around the world to cop vintage records from the landmark. You may remember that one of the first golden Travis Scott heads that popped up in anticipation of Astroworld was actually atop the famous record store. The staff at Amoeba decided to have some fun today, echoing many people’s sentiments by calling for more originality with rap names as they classified ever “Lil” rapper in one section at the shop.
Austin, TX | Waterloo vs. Waterloo: Downtown Austin record store sues upstart music festival over name: Downtown store Waterloo Records has sued Waterloo Music Festival over its name, according to multiple reports. Waterloo Records, located at 600 N. Lamar Blvd. and in business since 1982, said in a statement it took legal action against Jam Fest LLC, the promoter of the festival, after the two sides failed to reach a solution, the Austin American-Statesman reports. The suit was filed Aug. 31 and is intended to protect the store’s trademark rights, Waterloo Records President John Kunz told KXAN-TV. In a statement sent to the Statesman, a spokesperson for Waterloo Music Festival said the lawsuit is without merit.
Cleveland, OH | Brittany’s Record Shop owner Brittany Benton chooses three albums you should check out: Looking for some new music to spin? Cleveland’s record store owners have their own thoughts about what they think you should be listening to–and it’s all available in their shops. Brittany Benton (aka DJ Red-I and one-half of hip-hop duo FreshProduce.) owns the newly-opened Brittany’s Record Shop, located at 6410 Fleet Ave., Cleveland. Previously, she ran the Young Kings record store along with Samantha Flowers. Here are her three picks of music you should check out…
Red Bluff, CA | Sierra Sound ends 40-year run: A long-time business, Sierra Sound on South Main Street, closed its doors Friday after 40 years in business and multiple locations in Red Bluff. Paul Hagen, who owned the business first with his brother, Dave Hagen, and more recently with friend Lionel Rodriguez, said it started as a record store and ended as a record store, a fact that was noted by a sign over the door announcing a retirement sale. “We were here for 40 years,” Paul Hagen said. “We met a lot of rock stars and had a lot of ups and downs.”…“He had the new music, the old and he would special order if he didn’t have what you were looking for,” Sforsini said. “He had all the good stuff.”
Athens, GA | A Triple Dawg pressing vinyl in Athens: …The petroleum-based vinyl that has been used for over 100 years needs an upgrade, and Kindercore hopes to be the first company to replace it with something that can be grown on a farm. Geller, who works as a research engineer at UGA developing plant-based alternatives to fuels and other products, wants to revolutionize the materials of the records themselves. While this involves several disciplines in addition to Geller’s, he is working with other engineers, chemists and Georgia industry to develop a new kind of polymer so that Kindercore can become the first pressing plant to offer petroleum-free records. The company is using new record pressing machines too, which they purchased from an innovative Canadian company called Viryl. Before Viryl created a modernized record press, the machines making records hadn’t been updated since the 1950s. On top of being old, they were difficult to find.
DJ Shadow is selling records from his personal collection for a third year: Vinyl from DJ Shadow’s private collection is being sold this September, at The Third Annual DJ Shadow Storage Sale. Co-hosted by the producer and Los Angeles record shop Rappcats, the third instalment is a two-day event featuring “thousands of used vinyl LPs, 45s, and 12″s culled from Shadow’s private collection, an exclusive DJ Shadow 7″ of ‘Systematic’ featuring Nas, deleted DJ Shadow web-store product, including limited items and rarities, CDs, cassettes, posters, and other oddities, plus unique stock on both days,” shares Rappcats. “Will he be bringing around the same batch of records that didn’t sell last year?” asks Rappcats. “NEVER,” says Shadow. “Everything I’m bringing is fresh stock and new to the sale. There’s probably more for me to get to than I’ll be able to in my lifetime. I overbought for decades, and still do to some extent. But these sales really do help unclog the aisles.”
Listen to your records wirelessly with Yamaha’s new MusicCast VINYL 500 turntable: Yamaha recently unveiled its MusicCast VINYL 500 turntable. Premiering at a retail price of $699.95, this record player is set for the future with Bluetooth capability, Wi-Fi connectivity, and more. You may already be familiar with Yamaha’s line of MusicCast wireless speakers. If you’re lucky enough to already own a few yourself, this turntable would make for a good addition as it can connect wirelessly to any MusicCast speaker; you can even create a stereo system depending on the speakers you purchase. MusicCast is great because you can add on to your setup one speaker at a time if you wish, and even create a multi-room setup. At a price like this, you’ll likely be looking for Hi-Fi quality, and MusicCast doesn’t disappoint…
