Eureka, KS | New Record Store Coming to Old Town, Eureka: Humboldt’s newest record store, Friends of Sound, will open to the public on Thursday December 15th. Located at 335 E Street in Eureka it will be open from 12-7 pm every day of the week. A grand opening will follow in early 2023 at a date to be announced soon. …The store is a joint venture of local nice guy Jimmy Howard and recent Humboldt transplant David Haffner. Haffner, a long-time record dealer, DJ, archivist, tastemaker, and label owner, opened the original Friends of Sound in Austin, TX almost 17 years ago. The current iteration of the store has been open in San Antonio for the last 6 years. Haffner moved here shortly before the pandemic from Portland and met Howard at the flea market, where Howard had been selling vinyl for 5 years. They bonded over their lifelong love of records and their mutual dilemma of having too darn many of them. The decision to open the store here was a natural confluence of events.
Dayton, OH | Record growth: Vinyl specialty shops on the rise in Dayton: “Having more variety for people is just going to make everything better for everybody,” said Skeleton Dust owner Luke Tandy. Growing up as a vinyl-buying obsessive in Centerville in the late 1970s and early 1980s, there was at least one record store in every suburban Dayton community. There were chain stores like Camelot Music, but most were locally owned like Gem City Records, Dingleberry’s, Renaissance Music Media, Second Time Around, Bullfrog Records, Peaches and Record Warehouse. They were retail outlets, sure, but these stores were a magical meeting place for music obsessives. They employed hometown music enthusiasts, who fostered a sense of community through critical feedback, background information and purchase recommendations. Omega Music, which has been selling vinyl since the early 1980s, is the lone outlier from those days still carrying on that tradition.
London, UK | Banquet Records send fans camping for Louis Tomlinson gig to back of queue: The Kingston-upon-Thames record store has been widely praised on social media. Banquet Records have attempted to discourage fans attending Louis Tomlinson‘s shows at PRYZM from camping outside the store by introducing a system which will put campers at the back of the queue. Gig-goers are being given wristbands of different colours depending on what time they arrive at the Kingston-upon-Thames record shop. People camping outside or queuing very early are being given red wristbands, those in the queue before 8pm get silver ones, and those in the queue for 8:30 will have blue wristbands. Those will blue wristbands will get in first, followed by those with silver wristbands, and only then will those who have been camping or queuing for a long time will be allowed entry.
Cumbria, UK | $60 Nirvana single nets Cumbrian collector £2,600 at auction: A rare vinyl record – sold by a Penrith collector – has made £2,600 at auction. The 45in single by American band Nirvana went under the hammer at an online auction by 1818 Auctioneers on the Cumbria Lancashire border. The single is numbered 215 of 1,000 and was produced by record label Sub Pop. It was sold to someone in Lancaster. Expert valuer, Simon Norfolk of 1818 Auctioneers, said: “This is a holy grail of singles. It was in brilliant condition. With only 1,000 produced it is highly sought after. “On one side the track is Love Buzz and on the other is Big Cheese. This is a record price for a single vinyl sold by us at auction. So we’re delighted with the result.”
Berlin, DE | Berlin’s Dubplates & Mastering forced to relocate after 26 years: The building owned by the Kottbusser Tor-based cutting and mastering studio has been sold to an investment group. Berlin’s Dublates & Mastering studio is being forced to relocate after learning that its current building has been sold to a German investment group. Announcing the news on Instagram on Thursday (December 8) the cutting and audio mastering studio said: “Ok, it happened. The building our studio has been in for the past 25 years has been sold.” D&M added that its contract now ends in October next year, meaning the studio will now need to relocate and find a new home in Berlin. “The new owner terminated our lease after October 2023 and we are looking for a new place,” they said. “If you hear about anything, let us know!” Dubplates & Mastering has been a permanent resident of Berlin’s Paul-Lincke-Ufer next to Kottbusser Tor station since 1996. According to mastering engineer Kassian Troyer, the building has been sold by a Danish real estate company to a German investment group.
How the first double album in history changed music forever: When pop culture first got moving in the 1950s, long-play records were pretty much redundant. The birth of rock ‘n’ roll and the rise of public radio led to a period where singles were king. With the portable radio reaching the masses in the mid-1950s as new affordable models made the 1941 invention mainstream, tracks now had to be punchy enough to sting the ears of the public in the short window of airtime available. Anything over two minutes cut down on the patter time available to presenters so they simply wouldn’t play it. A certain quiff sporting, hip-snaking singer was well aware of this. So, he rattled off hooky howitzers in rapid-fire time. With the charts being consistently topped by the likes of ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ (1:58), ‘Great Balls of Fire’ (1:51), and ‘Tutti Frutti’ (2:22), an era of short, snappy hits became prevalent. This lent itself to shorter records too. And following their invention in 1949, little 45s became the vogue way for kids to swap these new hits around the playground in a hurry.
Philadelphia, PA | A Philly Special Christmas Third Vinyl Pressing Available on December 16th: Due to an overwhelming demand, A Philly Special Christmas has announced that fans will be able to order a third pressing of the limited-edition vinyl on December 16th, for 24 hours only via the official website. Following the two minute sellout of the second batch of vinyl on December 9th, a third exclusive round on green vinyl will be available for purchase on December 16th at 9:00am EST via the official website. Proceeds from the third round of pressings will be donated to Philadelphia area charities in addition to the pledged $100k+ to Children’s Crisis Treatment Center of Philadelphia. While this round of albums will not be pressed and in mailboxes in time for the holidays, fans will receive an exclusive postcard as a placeholder for the LP until it arrives which can be used as an “it’s on the way” gift for loved ones.
