Record Store Day

thomnottom

You guys know about Record Story Day, right? This is only the 5th year, but I've yet to make it to any stores for it. But lately I've been all about forcing myself to get out there for music-related things.

I told my wife last night that we should head down to Princeton that day and meet up with some friends of hers so that I can finally check out the Princeton Record Exchange. They've already got a nice list up of what they've ordered, but who knows what will actually be available.

Anybody else planning on checking anything out that day? Hear about any cool releases?

cafreema

I always want to get out for it, but never want to deal with the crowds. So I haven't yet participated. Probably won't this year either. Sigh.

Craig

cafreema

Man, Low is playing an in store at the Electric Fetus for Record Store Day. I'm seriously tempted to fight the crowd.

Craig

anose

There's too much emphasis on vinyl for my taste. The White Stripes are offering some reissues of some early 45s. But again, it's on vinyl, so I'll probably pass. Plus, I'll be visiting my Mom in Oneonta, NY, not exactly a hotbed of indie music.

choiceweb0pen0

I probably won't make it due to the end of the semester crunch, but Good Records in Dallas is having live acts all day on Saturday, including Midlake.

Kenny

There's too much emphasis on vinyl on Record Store Day, really? (That made me smile.)

I love RSD, but I always hear about great stuff that isn't at my store. I would love to find:

Frightened Rabbit/Twilight Sad demos
James Blake's debut
Nirvana - Hormoaning
Damien Jurado live

Nirvana is probably the only one my store will have. I hope I can find the Damien Jurado, since he lives in town.

thomnottom

Happy Record Store Day!

It looks like I won't make it to Princeton this year, but I'm aiming for one of the closer Scotti's Record Shops instead. I'm really hoping to score at least one of the releases from Merge (Superchunk, Polvo, or Caribou). The Flaming Lips boxset looks amazing, but I have a funny feeling it'll be out of my price range. Since they're also doing 20% off, I'll be looking for other recent releases I missed out on.

thomnottom

Oh well, so much for trying. Got there late with a toddler in tow. I don't even know if they had any of the stuff I wanted. Maybe next year...

Daniel, Esq.

I always want to get out for it, but never want to deal with the crowds. So I haven't yet participated. Probably won't this year either. Sigh.

This is me. Missed it again this year. Maybe next year.

Craig, you should totally see Low!!!

Kenny

We brought the 17-month old and got there fifteen minutes before doors opened, so they had all three I wanted (Frightened Rabbit, James Blake, and Damien Jurado). JB and DJ were in mass abundance, but the FR was a bit rare. It was definitely a madhouse, but I am really happy.

I avoided the Peter Buck signing and all the in-store performances.

amclark2

I managed to get 45 minutes toddler free this morning. I skipped all the special event stuff - to be honest I found it confusing - there was a big crowd of people around a table, and they'd shout something out and all these people would call for it. At first I thought it was free stuff - but I guess it was just collector stuff. I didn't really hear anything I wanted anyway - if I'd heard James Blake I probably would have jumped for it.

But they had crates and crates of $1 vinyl, which is where I spent my time - I got Van Halen, the Cars, Oscar Peterson Trio, Sibelius and a John Dowland 2x album, plus I found two used Muddy Waters cd's.

Been trying to figure out how to digitally rip vinyl - think I've finally got it. Who needs emu?

jonahpwll

I'm not sure I ever made it to a record store day when I lived in Chicago. Hell, considering I hit those stores at least once a week, often more, every day was pretty much record store day for me. Of course, all that's changed now.

Kenny

It was kind of like what I imagine Wal-Mart is like on Black Friday.

thomnottom

Anyone hit RSD yesterday? I tried Scotti's first thing in the morning but the line was too long, so I came back later. Managed to grab Feistodon as well as 7"s from Marco Benevento, Sufjan Stevens/Rosie Thomas, The Flaming Lips and a 10" from The Dave Brubeck Octet. Later on I was visiting my parents and hit the Newtown Book and Record Exchange (which can be seen in the movie Signs) and scored the new Esperanza Spalding - as well as a non-RSD single from The Avett Brothers and the new M83).

Biggest disappointment was not seeing the St. Vincent or Eddie Vedder 7"s.

Plong42

I bought a dozen from the "dollar bin," turns out they were 50 cents each. A few guilty pleasures in that lot, a couple of albums which I probably had on vinyl originally but have lost over the years. I did get a copy of a Dave Brubeck religious piece I have not heard before, although that one was $10. Nothing too attractive in the new bins, by the time I got there anyway.

greg

RSD here too this weekend. The problem is that the nearest independent store is about 60 miles or so away....Oh, how I long for the days when I could go and spend a hour or so just browsing, maybe buying a couple of CDs, maybe more. And that was only four or five years ago. In fact the closure of that store caused me to join emusic.

amclark2

I stopped in, but didn't have a whole lot of time. I couldn't find the Flaming Lips with Heavy Friends thing, which was the only vinyl I really wanted; it wasn't on my store's list either. I did make some great $1 finds - Ayuo Takahashi; Japanese guitarist and early member of Fushitsusha (I love having google available while searching the record store), Those Darlins, and Eliza Carthy, who I think I've seen Greg recommend. So overall glad I went.

bremble

Went to RSD at Bull Moose (claims to be the store that thought of RSD) - 3 hours after it opened all the stuff I wanted was gone (or they never got). I was going through the stacks with another guy around my age (50-ish) and we both wondered where everything was. One of the people working at Bull Moose said that the line to get into the store at 9:30 AM was incredible, and that they sold out of anything that looked rare.

Oh well - I picked up a couple of things that had been discounted for the day (Syl Johnson's Complete Mythology was 25% off; ...For the Ghosts Within - Robert Wyatt, Ros Stephen, Gilad Atzmon - was 50% off) and called it a day.

greg

Hope you like Eliza Carthy, amclark! She is steeped in the English folk music tradition - both her parents are major folk artists. But some of her music has moved away from traditional folk with touches of both rock and jazz, but still folk.

thomnottom

That reminds me, I should upload Eliza Carthy's Red Rice to Google Music...

Lowlife

Her last record Neptune is really good, I saw her play a few years ago in London one of the best shows I saw in a long time.

greg

Yes I saw her perhaps three, maybe four now, years ago and really liked her music and I too rate Neptune

greg

Interesting article in today's Guardian –  Record Store Day is thriving – but could it kill our independent shops? The summary at the top says

What began as an event for indie labels and stores to flourish has been hijacked by major labels. Now, shops and customers suffer jacked-up prices, says Sonic Cathedral label boss, Nathaniel Cramp

thomnottom

Some very good points there. And it certainly explains why so many releases (especially from the majors) can be picked up on the cheap months later - those shops get stuck with a lot of extra stock. I bet Cassette Day doesn't have this problem.

Germanprof

Interesting piece. Maybe we need a "rarities" record store day that only sells things that have never been in the charts or on a major label. If it's true that it is not about Aha re-releases then it sounds much less interesting than it seemed a few years ago.

Personally, mainly because of musical tastes, I have never cared about the Record Store Day Releases, but have enjoyed dropping in and picking up something I liked that I could have bought any other day to show support for the store (and check out the live music).

Germanprof

Very interesting article here on the current problems in vinyl production and how the majors (and Record Store Day) are involved.

tl:dnr: there is very little vinyl manufacturing capacity worldwide, the machinery is old, the majors helped dismantle it when CDs came out, now that vinyl is hip the majors are muscling in on the manufacturing capacity and pre-buying production slots at the expense of the small labels who kept vinyl manufacturing going in the interim.

Interesting details about the challenges of the production process.

Doofy

Here in Chicago, the world has ended.

rostasi

Great memories from shopping there,
but Bob could be a real asshole on a personal basis.

Doofy

@rostasi He's back! Jazz Record Mart founder opens new store

We'll see how he does - The location is basically an industrial strip on this side of town. I wasn't aware there was any Delmark "studio" there...assumed it was just offices

jonahpwll

I love Chicago streets like that stretch of Rockwell and pretty much all of streets like Ravenswood... so much character and strangely hidden right smack dab in the middle of the city.

I'm excited to check out the new digs when next I'm in Chicago.

Doofy

...And he's back again! Jazz Record Mart's Bob Koester celebrates 84th birthday and a new store.  Basically sounds like he doesn't know what to do with himself if he's not running a record store.

This is like 2 blocks from my house...Not all that coincidentally, as rents are pretty reasonable around here. I think will be supporting this local business.