Orlando, FL | Orlando’s final Record Store Day drop of 2020 is Saturday: After the original April date was pushed back because of the coronavirus pandemic, Record Store Day – the annual celebration and spendfest for all things vinyl – was broken up into a series of drop dates from August through October. Oct. 24 will be the final “drop” for 2020. Local record stores participating in this year’s RSD have been doing their very best to pull off the delicate balancing act of getting exclusive LP releases into customers’ hands while also trying to discourage the clustered-together crowds flipping through stacks of vinyl that was once the heart of this event. But, as with most things this year, it’s been way more low-key than the usual celebratory blowout. Participating area stores are: Park Ave CDs, Remix Record Shop, Rock & Roll Heaven, Retro Records and East West Music & More. As always, stores are unable to reserve or hold items for customers beforehand. Check stores’ social media for queue and purchasing information. If you still haven’t gotten enough of Record Store Day for 2020, organizers are pushing ahead with the RSD ‘Black Friday’ (“It’s not Record Store Day 2, honest”) event…
The Latest Startups in Music Are Banking on Analog Technology: A growing number of entrepreneurs are alleviating the bottleneck in pressing vinyl records. Federico Casanova was booking rock shows in Philadelphia a few years ago when he noticed the tendency of bands to play songs that were a year or two old instead of newer fare. The musicians told him it was because they needed to sell their records: Fans preferred to buy them on vinyl, but it could take a year to get a new release pressed and shrink-wrapped in the retro format. So Casanova, who’s now 28, set out to start his own record-pressing plant. In January he and two partners opened Softwax Record Pressing. It was intended to serve local acts, but the news spread quickly, and now he’s fielding requests from bands in New York and Pittsburgh, too. “I’m getting emails every day,” Casanova says. “People say, ‘Yo, we just found out about you! Let me put an order in right now!’” Even in the age of Spotify, vinyl sales are soaring in the U.S. From January to June of this year, they surpassed those of CDs for the first time since 1986, reaching $232 million, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. The surge has led to a rebirth of the pressing industry, which digital had crushed.
Cleveland, OH | Celebrate This Year’s Last Record Store Day With These Three Hubs: My Mind’s Eye, Record Den and Square Records are hot spots for vintage and modern records from local and national artists. In a world where Spotify and Apple Music rule the airwaves, there are still a large number of music fans dedicated to the pop, crackle and snap of vinyl records. That high-quality sound and delicate artistry portrayed on an album’s cover inspires people to travel far and wide to hunt down rare and must-have collector’s items for Record Store Day each April. But when COVID-19 resulted in stores temporarily closing, the day was split across three months starting in August. Make the most out of the last of those three days Oct. 24 by picking up a local album from our favorite record shops. …My Mind’s Eye: This record store is a no-frills catchall, with a large collection of rock ‘n’ roll, R&B and jazz. The owner, who only goes by Charles, is a bit of a connoisseur. He first opened his store in 1999 on Madison Avenue in Lakewood, then relocated to a new storefront on Detroit Avenue after 13 years. Today, Charles still doles out a handful of knowledge. “That’s something a physical store can offer that the online sellers don’t…”
Disney Music Group to Release “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery” Special Edition Vinyl for Record Store Day: This year’s Record Store Day is going to feel a little groovy, baby, especially for fans of the Austin Powers films. October 24th, Disney Music Group will be releasing a special edition double LP of the Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery soundtrack that’s sure to get the blood pumping, hips swaying, and toes tapping. Fans of New Line Cinema’s Austin Powers can commemorate this year’s Record Store Day (RSD) by bringing home a copy of the original film’s soundtrack on vinyl. The film may not be tied to Disney, but Disney Music Group’s Hollywood Records is releasing the rhythmic record that features from and inspired by the smooth sounds of Burt Bacharach, Quincy Jones and Henry Mancini. The soundtrack balances and wryly reworks pop hits from the 1960’s and 1990s with original Burt Bacharach songs as well as some retro-style gems, from the funky acid jazz of the James Taylor Quartet to the Lightning Seeds’ trip-hop reworking of the Turtles’ “You Showed Me.”
Between The Buried And Me’s Colors set for double vinyl reissue: North Carolina prog metallers Between The Buried And Me’s groundbreaking 2007 album Colors gets double vinyl reissue. US prog metal quintet Between The Buried And Me are to have their 2007 album Colors reissued as a double vinyl by Craft Recordings on December 11. The new reissue has been remixed and remastered by its original producer, Jamie King, at his Raleigh, North Carolina-based Basement Studio. The innovative Colors is widely regarded as a highlight of the North Carolina quintet’s releases, featuring 64 minutes of continuous music, split seamlessly between eight tracks: from the opening piano lines of Foam Born, Pt. A to the cornerstone Informal Gluttony to the epic, 14-minute closing opus, White Walls. “Colors was the moment we decided to put all of our creative energy on the line and just go for it,” says singer Tommy Rogers. “We wanted to create the most unique and diverse record we could possibly make, and at the same time, create something that represented us as a group more than we had ever done before…”
