Monday, April 18, 2011

Vinyl Record News & Music Notes

Record Store Day News

on saturday, hours after the record stores opened, i took a quick look at eBay to see if any of the special vinyl record releases were up for sale. Yep, over 900 of them. i looked sunday and there were exactly 2,085 record store day items up for sale at 6pm (cst). and today, there are close to 2,200 items up for sale. how does this benefit the physical retail outlet when everything just shows up on the auction giant? do the record stores actually make a profit, when they only get a limited number of copies anyway? i guess everyone has the right to be a 'flipper'.....

i love the concept of rsd, however, as i stated before, they should include online retailers as well. if it is a celebration of vinyl, let's include all the vinyl vendors and quit drawing lines in the sand. it all ends up online anyway......

i found some interesting takes on this self-proclaimed 'vinyl holiday,' read on:

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speaking of flippers:

Record Store Day Fallout 2011: How Much Those Exclusives Will Cost You Now

By Josiah Hughes

Following much fanfare and lead-up time, the 2011 edition of Record Store Day attracted droves of eager vinyl lovers to record stores across the globe as they sought exclusive releases on Saturday (April 16). There was, however, also a large pocket of record collectors looking to flip the exclusive releases, many of whom already made a pretty penny this weekend.

Just like last year, a quick search over on eBay reveals that some collector scum have made big bucks off of some Record Store Day exclusives. The biggest sale, by far, was Ed Banger Records' The Bee Sides, a box of five seven-inches featuring new and rare tracks from Justice, SebastiAn, Busy P and others. Of the few completed auctions with this set, someone in the UK shelled out approximately $485 Canadian. That's nearly $100 per seven-inch!

Read more 'flipping' news at exclaim.ca

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judge for yourself....

Actually, false rarities are saving vinyl

Author - Bryan C. Reed

“False rarities are killing vinyl.”

An anonymous internet comment is hardly something to pay much heed, but for some reason those five words have been rattling around my skull since I first encountered them a day ago.

The commenter was responding to an announcement of the split 7-inch Superchunk and Coliseum released for this year’s Record Store Day. The two songs, both Misfits covers, were released as free downloads long before the record was pressed in its edition of 2,000 copies. The record, this commenter seemed to believe, is utterly unnecessary.

But, I mean, of course it is. Isn’t every record? And isn’t every limited-edition collector’s piece an example of false rarity? They could press more, but they didn’t.

Read more, it only gets better fracture-compound.com

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Jack White hails Record Store Day, new releases

By CHRIS TALBOTT - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Music fans started lining up outside Jack White's Third Man Records shortly after midnight, vying for something special on Record Store Day.

White was more than willing to accommodate them, opening his store a little early Saturday for vinyl enthusiasts.

"Record stores are closing all over the place, yet vinyl record sales are the only thing growing in the music industry," White told The Associated Press. "So it's a beautiful thing that everyone can come together and release these special releases, whether they're brand new or old or obscure or never released tracks, whatever they are, it's really cool that people can get out and buy them. I mean look at how many people are here to buy records. That's pretty cool. Very cool."

Read more: bellinghamherald.com

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interesting take on rsd in the uk:

Record Store Day: how was it for you?

There were early morning queues, a scramble for 7ins and at least one broken foot. But in the melee of Record Store Day, did anyone else notice a lack of women?

For all the bluster that's surrounded Record Store Day this year, the 800-strong queue that curled around London's Rough Trade East at 9.30am on Saturday was eerily quiet. Blame mild manners, hangovers and pre-emptive disillusionment for the calm.

Adam Shoesmith joined the queue at 7.45am. "I'm after the Radiohead 12in, Beth Ditto's EP and Danger Mouse's single for a friend." The hugely limited Radiohead single eluded him – at present, there are 65 copies for sale on eBay – but he did manage to pick up Ditto's EP with Simian Mobile Disco.

Read the rest at guardian.co.uk

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very good behind-the-scenes look written up at the nytimes.com

In Age of Digital Music, Vinyl Gets Second Life in a Brooklyn Factory

By KRISTOFER RÍOS

In an industrial and uninviting stretch of Brooklyn, near several strip clubs and a factory that makes electrical tubing, Thomas Bernich’s small plant recycles vinyl and preserves a fading piece of history.

In fact, Mr. Bernich’s workplace in Sunset Park is one of the few of its kind in New York City and in the country.

Inside the one-story, red-brick factory on 42nd Street, boxes of discarded albums from used-record stores are piled high on wooden pallets, awaiting their end and a new beginning

Please read the rest at nytimes.com

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i loved this article, well written and i can get the vibe, love record conventions (when i can afford to go! because i never leave empty-handed!)

Discology 101

At the SCAD Record Fair, a new generation gets hip to vinyl

By Bill DeYoung

Video killed the radio star, the compact disc killed the vinyl record, downloading killed the compact disc.

Vinyl, once thought to be as extinct as the passenger pigeon, is making a surprise comeback. According to Nielsen's SoundScan, vinyl record sales have increased significantly over the past four years. In 2009, 2.5 million albums were sold in this country, up from 1.88 million in 2008.

Back in 2001, when the CD reigned supreme, the numbers for vinyl barely registered at all.

At last weekend's third Savannah Record Fair, hundreds of young people - college students, from all appearances, kids who probably weren't even born when those 12-inch slabs of plastic were already starting to disappear from retail racks - combed through boxes and boxes of vintage vinyl LPs. There were very few CDs for sale

Read the rest of this compelling article at connectsavannah.com

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vinyl doing well up north of the border!

Vinyl diehards find their groove

By Ryan Cormier, edmontonjournal.com

EDMONTON — Dwight Young has collected records since 1964, since the night his Mother marched him to a neighbour’s television to watch the Beatles perform on the Ed Sullivan Show. He was six years old.

As he flicks through albums in fruit crates, elbow-to-elbow with fellow collectors, Young has never lost his love for the needle and vinyl.

“There’s just something about the sound of vinyl, especially the originals, there’s just something magical about it,” he said Sunday at the Edmonton Music Collectors Show.

Read the rest at edmontonjournal.com

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great story about the seminal band and what it means to other musicians:

Slash, Korn, Slayer, Slipknot, Anthrax, Hollywood Undead, Asking Alexandria, Five Finger Death Punch, Michelle Rodriguez and More Talk When They Discovered Metallica

Every hard rock fan has a Metallica story.

There was that moment of discovery either via a friend who had already seen the light, the radio, MTV back when they actually played music videos, the Heshers in the last row of math class, or one of the million VH1 specials about the band. There's nothing quite like the first time hearing Metallica either. It's life-changing for anyone who keeps themselves open to the music. No one will ever forget seeing the music video for "One", hearing the intro to "Enter Sandman", or falling under Master of Puppets' spell. Even for people who aren't fans, the first Metallica experience is paramount. However, for those of us who get it (and there are millions upon millions worldwide), it's a landmark moment.

Given the significance of discovering Metallica and with The Big Four taking over Indio next Saturday April 23, ARTISTdirect.com editor and Dolorauthor Rick Florino spoke to numerous musicians and celebrities about the first time they heard Metallica and what the band means to them.

Read the rest at artistdirect.com

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Topshelf Records Release Debut LP From By Surprise

Topshelf Records has announced the debut 12" from By Surprise (Haddon Heights, NJ), "Mountain Smashers," is now available. First pressing of the vinyl will be limited to 500 (400 Black and 100 Smoke).

Safely guarded behind four pairs of glasses and an arsenal of awkward tendencies, the members of By Surprise have spent an equal amount of time combing through the forgotten dust-filled grooves of 7-inch records released during the '90s indie label boom, as they have with the off-beat and inspirational works of Henry David Thoreau, Jack Kerouac, and Douglas Adams.

Read more at pluginmusic.com

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Grimey’s Vinyl Best Sellers 4/4 - 4/10/2011

1. Amos Lee – Mission Bell
2. The Kills – Blood Pressures
3. The Raveonettes – Raven In The Grave
4. Panda Bear – Surfer’s Hymn 7"
5. D Watusi – Summer Nights 7"
6. Warpaint – The Fool
7. War On Drugs – Future Weather
8. War On Drugs – Wagonwheel Blues
9. Those Darlins – Screws Get Loose
10. Radiohead – King Of Limbs
11. Paperhead – Paperhead
12. The Strokes – Angles
13. Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring For My Halo
14. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Live In London
15. Diarrhea Planet – Aloha 7"
16. The National – Boxer
17. Burial – Street Halo 12"
18. The Residents – Meet The Residents
19. Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears – Scandalous
20. Hunx & His Punx – Too Young To Be In Love
21. Natural Child – White Man’s Burden 7"
22. The White Stripes – White Blood Cells
23. Spacemen 3 – Take Me To The Other Side
24. Brian Eno – Another Green World
25. My Morning Jacket – It Still Moves

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from our friends at http://www.vinylcollective.com/:

Top 10 Records at ShopRadioCast for the week of April 11 – April 18, 2011:

1.  Rise Against / Face To Face Split 7″
2.  Deftones – Adrenaline LP
3.  Blink 182 – Dude Ranch LP (EXCLUSIVE Clear Green)
4.  Deftones – Around The Fur LP
5.  The Menzingers – Chamberlain Waits LP
6.  La Dispute / Koji – Never Come Undone LP
7.  Fake Problems – Songs For Teenagers 7″
9.  Silverstein – Rescue
10. NOFX/The Spits 7″


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this just amazes me, maybe because i don't have a cell phone taped to my ear (heck, i don't even own one!). a program or 'app' that attempts to recreate the sound of a vinyl record playing your favorite song. and it sells......go figure....

VinylLove enhances your music with gramophone record crackle and pops

The fondest memories of my childhood involve listening to my uncle’s vinyl record collection (gramophone records we used to call them). A few decades later, our music is delivered as crystal clear digital files, but many audiophiles (rightfully) point out that digital lacks the warmth, depth and texture of analogue.

If that wasn’t the case, there would be no cottage industry of limited vinyl releases for niche markets such as DJing, audiophiles, hobbyists, etc. You’d think that in the 21st century there would be an app to recreate the magic of vinyl. Enter VinylLove, an iPad music player from Swedish developers Color Monkey and BinaryPeak.

Read the rest of this incredible story at 9to5mac.com

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pitchfork has this great album cover:

Thee Oh Sees Announce New Album

The San Franciscan garage-punk noisemakers Thee Oh Sees have been steadily cranking out slabs of messy psychedelic spaz for years. Their new album comes just a year after their last one, Warm Slime, and a few months after the band knocked me on my ass at SXSW. The 16-track new album comes bearing the awesome title Castlemania, and In the Red will release it on June 14. That's the cover art above.

Read more at pitchfork.com

i love the cover art!













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and in music history for the day:

Gene Autry recorded "Back in the Saddle Again" in 1939.



The Neil Young movie "Journey Through the Past" debuted at the Dallas Film Festival in 1973.

Alice Cooper's first TV special, "Welcome To My Nightmare: The Making Of A Record Album" aired in 1975.

In 1981, Yes temporarily split up when bassist Chris Squire and drummer Alan White left the group to rehearse with Robert Plant and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin fame. The intended super group never got off the ground and Yes would reform 2½ years later, releasing "90125", which contained the number 1 single, "Owner of a Lonely Heart".

In 1984, Michael Jackson went into surgery in Los Angeles. Doctors performed scalp surgery to repair damage done after Jackson's hair caught fire during the filming of a Pepsi commercial on January 27

In 1985, Liberace grossed more than $2,000,000 for his engagement at New York City's Radio City Music Hall. He broke his own record of $1.6 million.

Also in 1985 - Wham! became the first Western act to release a pop album, "Make It Big," in China.

In 1988, the Motown song writing team of Holland-Dozier-Holland is inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. what took them so long???

The album "Twice Shy" was released in 1989 by Great White.

In 1997, Bernard Edwards, bass guitarist for Chic, died of pneumonia in a Tokyo Hotel room while touring Japan. He had also worked with Sister Sledge, Diana Ross, Johnny Mathis, Debbie Harry, Air Supply, Rod Stewart and many others.

In 2006, a sale of clothing owned by Elton John raised more than $700,000 for the singer's AIDS charity. Over 10,000 pieces were sold during a five-day sale in New York City at the specially-created shop, Elton's Closet, at New York's Rockefeller Centre.

celebrating birthdays today include Mike Vickers of Manfred Mann (1941) and Mark Thomas Tremonti of Creed (1974), among others.

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