In rotation: 3/27/18

CDs and vinyl are now MORE popular than digital downloads thanks to the rise in popularity of subscription services like Spotify and Apple Music: CDs and vinyls [“Vinyls” is an incorrect usage of the plural for vinyl—which is vinyl. —Ed.] are outselling digital downloads for the first time since 2011 thanks to streaming services, industry figures reveal. Apps like Spotify and Apple Music have seen an astronomical rise in popularity in recent years and this has all but destroyed the digital download market. As more people choose to stream music rather than own it, sales of physical media are now falling at a slower rate than their digital counterparts. This has been driven, in part, by a resurgence in vinyl sales among audiophiles, who prize the format’s unique sound.

The Yorkshire record shop enjoying a vinyl revival: The singer-songwriter Richard Hawley once said of Sheffield’s Record Collector: “It turns my brain to mush and I end up walking out with things I didn’t even know existed.” Opening its doors in 1978, the Broomhill shop is now celebrating 40 years of stocking genre-spanning music and in Yorkshire it is at the forefront of the vinyl revival. “It’s been a labour of love,” says Barry Everard, who has been behind the enterprise ever since it opened its doors one Saturday morning. “It’s filled with incidents of pop stars, stories, accolades and interesting things.” Previously working as a manager at Virgin Records in the city, Everard decided to open up his own shop in the student-heavy area of the city.

Wrigleyville memorabilia shop brings history to life: Tom Boyle can’t help but poke through his shelves. He’s in search of a movie poster that only he can visualize. It’s somewhere among the newspaper clippings, the vinyl records, the buttons and the books. “Let me see,” he says, furrowing his brows and shuffling through his inventory. After searching for a few minutes himself, he sends his colleague over to the other corner of the store, hoping he can help find it. Poking and prodding through the posters, the pair finally pull it out of the pile: “A Stratton Story.” Their eyes glance over the picture depicting the 1949 film about an injured baseball player. They notice the faded red-and-white hues and the way James Stewart embraces June Allyson. “This is it,” Boyle says with a smile.

Crate-digging millennials are seeking out classic East African music at Nairobi’s vinyl master: Tucked between butchers and hair braiders in Nairobi’s Kenyatta Market is the Real Vinyl Guru, a shabby stall that has become a mecca for vinyl lovers. James ‘Jimmy’ Rugami has sold second-hand records from stall 570 since 1989. In the cramped space, hundreds of seven and 12-inch vinyls are tightly packed. Among hit Motown albums is a veritable trove of East African music. Among them is the Kenyan-based Tanzanian duo Simba Wanyika and the recently re-discovered “Sweet as Broken Dates: Lost Somali Tapes from the Horn of Africa.” They’re all mementos of a bygone era, when Nairobi’s record presses created a hub for the regions musicians in the 70s and 80s. Many flocked to Nairobi to lay down their tracks and stayed to become part of a vibrant local scene.

Doc’s Records returns in a funky space at The Foundry that’s a perfect fit: After a long run in west Fort Worth, Doc’s Records & Vintage — the city’s largest record store — closed its doors, with plans to reopen in a new location in the fall of 2017. Music fans waited as fall came and went. Now Doc’s has finally reemerged — bigger and weirder than ever — in an enormous, colorful warehouse at 2632 Weisenberger St. in the Foundry District. The new space is jam-packed with records, CDs, and cassettes — along with an interesting collection of turntables, speakers, and other used stereo equipment for sale. There are mannequins populating the aisles, along with a bizarre collection of T-shirts and posters that all seem to be at least 20 or 30 years old. And of course, there are shirts, stickers, and bags with that disturbing logo of a man in a wheelchair, getting his fix from an IV that is somehow hooked up to a vinyl record — a not-so-subtle representation of people who are addicted to buying records.

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  • SUPPORTING YOUR LOCAL INDIE SHOPS SINCE 2007


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