Author Archives: TVD HQ

Gloucestershire, UK | Vinyl record store closes: A popular music shop which has grown a loyal fan base in the Five Valleys and beyond has closed its doors for the last time. Sanctuary Music made the announcement on Facebook and its following 50 per cent off sale to move on its stock saw the business almost cleaned out. Ash Hunt and Adrian Coubrough, who ran the haven for vinyl record-lovers from the shop on the Nailsworth Mills Estate, posted a message to customers on their social media channel. “A huge THANK YOU to all of our loyal customers! News of our closing down spread far and wide and our 50 per cent sale has gone so well that we have sold out of ALL new vinyl! What is left of our pre-owned records will be going to Stroud Auctions for their next sale of Vinyl on 1st April,” said the Facebook post. The message followed the initial shock news earlier this month: “We are very sad to announce that after a period of uncertainty due to personal circumstances, Sanctuary Music will be closing down…

Melbourne, AU | Melbourne’s Polyester Records to close after 37 years: Polyester Records, one of Melbourne’s most beloved and longest-running record stores, has announced it will cease operations this coming March. In a statement posted to its social media accounts yesterday (January 22), the store’s management noted there were “many mixed emotions” about their time coming to a close after nearly four decades of service. “Polyester has endured in its Fitzroy home for an extraordinary period since 1983,” it reads. The store goes on to note “fond memories of the celebration of a seemingly endless amount of incredible music,” brought to them care of “[a]rtists, labels and personalities which we have surrounded ourselves with and enjoyed involvement with from not only around the world, but – particularly important for us and our community – from within Melbourne music.” …While the official closing date will be Friday, March 13, Polyester has also announced that “a series of very special event announcements to celebrate our history” are to come…

Chicago, IL | New Hegewisch Record Store Would Let Neighbors Listen To Music, Drink Coffee — If Owner Can Get It Funded: Owner Kevin Beauchamp wanted the store to be a place where music lovers can gather and share their interests. Tucked away at the southeast corner of Chicago, the working-class Hegewisch neighborhood isn’t known for record stores or coffee shops — but if Kevin Beauchamp has his way, that’s just what’s coming to the area. Beauchamp hopes his tentatively named Katalyst Coffee Lounge/Music Gallery at 13257 S. Baltimore Ave. will give residents a place they can listen to albums together while enjoying coffee. Beauchamp hopes to have it open by Hegewisch Fest on Aug. 1. The concept for the cafe and store has evolved over time, reflecting Beauchamp’s interests and his desire to reflect the needs of the community. Beauchamp originally planned for a record store only, but agreed to add a coffee shop component at the urging of the Hegewisch Business Association. Although not a Chicago native, Beauchamp grew up in the city and has lived “all over” the North and South sides. He runs the Woodlawn-based Katalyst Entertainment independent jazz and world music record label, which grew out of his experience as a house music DJ.

Washington, DC | DC Is Getting a Hotel With a Record Store, a Rotating Lineup of DJs, and Food by the Timber Pizza Co. Team: Starting in March, the Wink Hotel in the West End will become Yours Truly. There’s a new hotel concept coming to DC that’s jockeying for a spot alongside places like the Line and Eaton, which aren’t just high-end spots to stay but also spaces for locals to grab a meal or take a yoga class. Launching in March, Yours Truly is the new concept replacing the existing Wink Hotel in the West End. And it has many of the traits that have almost become de-facto in boutique hotels these days: an open-concept “living room” instead of a lobby, popular local chefs manning the dining space, yoga classes in the courtyard and, yes, Insta-friendly plants. (It’s also pet-friendly.) …The open main floor will flow into Mercy Me, the all-day, South American-inspired restaurant and bar from the Timber Pizza and Call Your Mother team. Also in the “living room:” the first DC location of Uncle Tony’s Donut Shoppe, an Orlando used-and-new vinyl store. Visitors can shop for records, as well as record players, headphones, and other gear. A rotating list of DJs will come into the store to spin, says Segal, and their music will be piped throughout the hotel.

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Corvallis, OR | Best of 2020: Corvallis music stores: First place: Happy Trails. Happy Trails is Corvallis, Ore.’s most beloved vintage music shop. Upon walking in, the walls are covered with posters and records, CD’s fill the narrow hallways and music is always playing. The store has been open since 1973 and the current owners bought it and 1988. The store offers 12-inch vinyl, cassettes, stickers, t-shirts, trades, collectables and more. Located on the corner of Third Street and Monroe Avenue. Dave Trenkel has worked at Happy Trails for decades and has seen the store change and become what it is today. He works a few evenings a week and enjoys picking out what record he’s going to throw on the record player each day. He was stumped when trying to come up with his top three favorite band of all time. “You have to understand, I’ve been an avid music collector for over 40 years, that’s kind of an impossible question,” Trenkel said. “Well I’m currently listening to Miles Davis, he’d probably be there, King Crimson, gosh I don’t know, it’s so hard. The Weather Report, maybe.”

Mankato, MN | Music Man: Carl Nordmeier gives customers more than music, he gives them an experience. On the corner of Rock Street and Riverfront Drive in Old Town Mankato sits the only shop in town dedicated to selling vinyl records. TuneTown’s owner, Carl Nordmeier, is a veteran of the music sales business, working in the music department at Target for years before the birth of the record store in his home town of Faribault, Minnesota, in 1993. It was his passion for music that inspired the now-26-year-old business. As many Americans do, Nordmeier saw an opportunity in the area and seized it. “What got me into the business, growing up in that area, there really wasn’t anything available for record stores,” says Nordmeier. “We had to go up to the Twin Cities if I wanted to go to a decent record store. Faribault only had a Walmart, and there was a music-instrument shop that sold CDs and tapes on the side, so there wasn’t a whole lot of competition.” Nordmeier capitalized on the wave of music censorship pushed by the Parents Music Resource Center during the mid-1980s and early ‘90s. He says Walmart’s decision to only carry “clean” albums opened a door for his store to sell music deemed “explicit” by advocates of a more “family-friendly” industry.

Lawrenceville, GA | Third annual Lawrenceville Record Show brings back memories for many: Brad Erbesfield has been buying records for four or five years now. The Athens resident said he collects so many, that the only furniture he buys from Ikea is for his records. On Saturday, despite some light rain, he took the opportunity while visiting family in the area to stop by the third annual Lawrenceville Record Show at Slow Pour Brewing Company. The record show was hosted by Slow Pour’s next-door neighbor, Depot Records, which is owned by Tony and Stacey Seminara. Depot Records opened in Lawrenceville about four years ago. “We do it partially to offer service for vinyl fans,” Tony said about the record show. “It’s basically a convenient place to shop, especially for more pricier records, harder to find records, and enjoy some fine craft beer.” Tony estimated there were about 10,000 albums for sale at the show on Saturday. They came from about seven local dealers in the Atlanta area, as well as one from South Carolina. “I hope that everybody here this evening gets to sit in their living room with a new piece of vinyl that they purchased today just enjoying the evening,” Tony said. “For me personally, and I believe a lot of people here would agree, there’s just a warmness to the music when you play it on vinyl.”

Bronx, NY | This Bronx Restaurant Pays Tribute to Hip-Hop & the Black and Latino Kids Who Created the Genre: When you first open the door at 135 Alexander Ave., you seemingly find yourself in a vinyl record shop. Filled with posters of Bob Marley, LL Cool J and Wu Tang Clan as well as a Casio keyboard with a missing key, it’s not unlike other record stores. But when you get to the tall red velvet curtain directly across the entrance, the muffled music playing behind it invites you to cross the threshold. Four MTV Cribs-esque chandeliers shed light on the scene: A crowd forms as the DJ dances to a Migos song. Beside them, a group of friends laughs hysterically as they pour a glass of mouth-watering sangria, reminiscing about the good old days while sharing plates of crispy chicken, perfectly melted mac ‘n’ cheese,locrio and tres golpes. This is Beatstro⁠ – the Bronx’s first hip-hop restaurant.

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Nailsworth, UK | Popular record shop Sanctuary Music in Nailsworth has closed: A popular record shop in Nailsworth has closed ‘due to personal circumstances’. The closure of Sanctuary Music, in Nailsworth Mills Estate, was announced on Facebook. Owners Ash Hunt and Adrian Coubrough posted: “We are very sad to announce that after a period of uncertainty due to personal circumstances, Sanctuary Music will be closing down. “We are so grateful for all the fantastic support we’ve had from everyone in Nailsworth and the local area over the past two years.” The shop specialised in vintage, rare and contemporary vinyl and music memorabilia, and was a magnet for vinyl lovers. Following the announcement of the closure, the shop’s Facebook page was flooded with messages of sadness at the news and support for the owners.

Shawnee, KS | Review: Brothers Music KC: With the vinyl industry seemingly being resurrected from the dead after not doing much since the late ‘70s, it is important to know where to go when looking for records. After getting my very own record player, I had no idea where to look to find some records at a decent price. It just so happened that just down the street from where I work was Brothers Music KC. This store is located in the heart of downtown Mission, Kansas right on Johnson Drive which is an easy drive for students living in the Mill Valley area. When looking for a record store, you really must take into consideration how is the store laid out because it needs to be easy to find what you want and do the employees have the ability to help you find what you are looking for if you need some help.

Las Vegas, NV | On The Record shines in 1st-anniversary fete on Las Vegas Strip: One of the VIP guests showed up with a shiner, but Jonnie and Mark Houston made it through the night unscathed. The party-purveying twin brothers celebrated the first anniversary of On The Record speakeasy and club at Park MGM late Saturday. The event also served as the site of Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone’s post-UFC 246 party. Cerrone arrived with his wife, Lindsay. He also showed up with a purple welt under his left eye, a parting gift from Conor McGregor from T-Mobile Arena earlier in the night. The zestful Houston brothers, and their multileveled nightspot, have been a column favorite since the club opened in December 2018. Love the 1963 Bristol Lodekka double-decker bus converted into a DJ booth, the vinyl parlor with real albums, and the speakeasy room lined with vintage cassette tapes.

Wrexham, UK | Wrexham film and music shop will be ‘sorely missed’ say shoppers and residents: Readers say a ‘great store’ will be ‘sorely missed’ after a long-standing Wrexham trader announced plans to close his shop. The Leader reported last week how Alun Hughes, owner of the popular Alun Hughes Film, Music and Nostalgia shop on Bank Street, will be closing his business at the end of February. Social media users shared their views on the Leader’s Facebook page. Robert Fell said: “Good luck Alun, with what ever you do. “Always put your heart and soul into things. Top man.” Ian Purviss posted: “A great store that will be sorely missed. I remember buying Guns N’ Roses cassette single from you all them years ago when it was Phase One – the most diverse record store I have ever known. Good luck Alun.” John Griffiths said: “All the best Alun, and wish ya all the luck in the world.”

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Tokyo, JP | Vinyl shopping in Tokyo: Building a record collection in this day and age can often be a daunting and expensive experience. Aside from picking up new issues or reprints from your neighbourhood record store or via online vendors, one is often at the mercy of used record traders. Of course, one can always opt for buying used records off Discogs. My personal experience on the Discogs record trading platform has been a mixed bag. Some trades with above-board vendors have been most pleasant but I’ve also received records which were tagged as NM (Near Mint) with clear scratches from unscrupulous vendors. Thus, the appeal of record shopping in Japan. There is a proliferation of high quality, well-cared-for used records available there. On my first visit to Japan, I spent a fair bit of time exploring record stores in various parts of Tokyo. It was great fun but also tiring as the stores were geographically spread out and not easy to get to. So, if your permissible time for record store visits is limited, focus your attention on two areas within Greater Tokyo; namely Shinjuku and Shibuya.

Saint Paul, MN | The best vinyl record outlets in Saint Paul: Looking to score vinyl records? Hoodline crunched the numbers to find the top vinyl record sources in Saint Paul, using both Yelp data and our own secret sauce to produce a ranked list of where to venture next time you’re in the market for vinyl records. Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in this article may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions. 1. Caydence Records and Coffee: First on the list is Caydence Records and Coffee. Located at 900 Payne Ave. in Payne Phalen, the spot to score coffee and tea and vinyl records is the highest-rated vinyl record spot in Saint Paul, boasting 4.5 stars out of 36 reviews on Yelp.

Salina, KS | Main Street Kansas: From digital to original, Salina record company presses into the future: What was once a mass-market music medium is now making its comeback, topping its competition. The Recording Industry Association of America projects records will top CD sales for the first time, which one Salina business owner credits to the musical wonders that are vinyl records, not CDs. “In 1984 the CD came out and I started collecting records at the same time,” said Chad Kassem, owner of Quality Record Pressings. “The whole world was getting out of vinyl and everybody going towards CD, but I kept collecting vinyl and I went in the opposite direction than the rest of the world.” Kassem’s company has been going strong for more than three decades. He says despite the digital era, his company hasn’t seen any signs of business slowing down. “The younger people are rediscovering album covers and they are liking to collect, It’s kind of trendy and a cool thing,” said Kassem. “It’s like new to them, it’s like wow, this is cool, the records are cool.”

Glasgow, UK | Record store embraces censorship, bans Morrissey: Yet another woke record store has decided to ban British pop icon Morrissey from its shelves. This time, the Glasgow Evening Times reports that Glasgow’s “Monorail Music said it would continue to sell records by the Smiths but ‘like many of our colleagues’ would not be selling the singer’s 13th studio album, ‘I am not a dog on a chain.’” This follows last year’s indie music store ban on Morrissey’s last album, “California Son.” Cardiff’s Spillers, which calls itself “the oldest record shop in the world,” declined to carry the record in retaliation for Morrissey’s political views. These views include support for Brexit, saying that the word “racist” is meaningless because it’s used so liberally, and that crime in London cannot be properly dealt with if the perpetrators are viewed as victims…Fans know that Morrissey being able to speak his mind means that they are free to speak theirs, to hold opposing views, and to still listen to the new tracks Morrissey releases with consistent quality year after year.

These are the best album covers of 2019: Every January, ArtVinyl reveals the winners of its best album art poll – which this year has been won by covers for Klone, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Efterklang. 40 years ago, the album was vinyl. Since then we’ve been through the takeovers of tapes, CDs and now streaming – with vinyl making resurgence and now the happy coexistence of digital and vinyl for different audiences. But through the format wars the 12-inch vinyl album cover has remained the artistic canvas of choice – challenged perhaps by T-shirts and gig posters, but those don’t asked to contemplated while you listen intently to a series of songs in order. Vinyl albums also make perfect artworks, which is why Art Vinyl sells frames to display your favourites – and celebrating the best new covers every year is good marketing for their products too.

San Antonio, TX | Flip Side Record Parlor Owner Clarisa Peña Has Died, Creating Questions About Longtime Music Store’s Future: Clarisa Peña, the owner of Flip Side Record Parlor, died Monday, leaving questions about the fate of the 46-year-old South Side independent music and memorabilia store. The mother of two had been battling colon cancer, according to Facebook posts, and the disease had metastasized to her liver, lungs and brain. Peña’s daughter, Jessica Erevia, has not decided whether to keep the store in operation, News4 reports. Her mother didn’t leave a will. “Honestly, it’s something that I’m still praying about and, still, I wish I could talk to her about it,” Erevia told the news station. The Current was unable to reach Erevia for immediate comment Wednesday. “Thank you for being the best mom I could ever ask for,” Erevia wrote on her Facebook page. “There are so many things I wish I could talk to you about, things we still needed to do together, but I know your spirit will never leave me.”

Chicago, IL | Interstellar Space brings far-out old records to Lincoln Square: Michael Gaertner has been buying music for so long that he had to start selling it to make room for more—and yes, he’ll talk to you for an hour about those Pharoah Sanders LPs. A week before Christmas, Michael Gaertner opened his new shop, Interstellar Space Used and Rare Records, for the first time. But he didn’t make a production of it: he just strolled over to his sparsely decorated Lincoln Square storefront, on Montrose just west of Damen. “I didn’t tell anyone,” he says. “I just opened the door, and people in the neighborhood started walking in. It was like a Field of Dreams kind of thing.” A few days after Christmas, he got as close to making a formal announcement as he has so far: he posted a photo of the storefront on his Instagram account, which now bears the shop’s name. He’d previously used the handle “Vinyl Voyage” to share exquisitely clean photos of rare LPs and cassettes he found on record digs across the country, along with occasional photos of the shops he’s visited—Antone’s in Austin, Record City in Las Vegas, Planet Score Records in Saint Louis, Euclid Records in New Orleans. “Buying records is my passion,” Gaertner says. “I had to start selling records, ’cause I don’t want to stop buying records. Buying records is the fun part.”

Birmingham, AL | Say goodbye to Charlemagne; Birmingham’s oldest record store closed Wednesday: For more than 40 years, music has been flowing from Charlemagne records in Five Points. It’s been a staple since 1977, but now it’s time to say goodbye. The store is officially closing for good on Wednesday January 15th. Well wishers, supporters, and bargain hunters all flowing through the doors on Tuesday. “I am sad to see it go. It’s a local institution, I just want to support it and get some deals, everything is a dollar or 50 cents. I hate to loose this piece of the community,” says Burgin Mathews. He’s been shopping at Charlemagne for 15 years. “Charlemagne is as old as I am, It opened the year I was born, i started coming here when I moved Birmingham 15 years ago, and the first thing I did was find Charlemagne.” Says Mathews. The owner, Marian McKay, announced the store’s closing back in December. She is a musician herself, and her love of music comes through in the store’s décor and ambiance. She’s inviting everyone who loves the store to come say goodbye, and celebrate its story as the doors close for the last time. She will be performing at the store from 5:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. on January 15th, with the celebration continuing afterwards at Brennan’s Irish pub across the street.

Austin, TX | Daniel Johnston’s ‘Hi, How Are You’ mural endures as construction reshapes Austin: It started with a simple request. “They gave Daniel Johnston, a local musician, $90, a ladder, a paint brush, and said do what you want to do,” said Hi, How Are You Project co-founder Tom Gimbel. At the corner of 21st and Guadalupe, the singer-songwriter painted on the exterior wall of an indie record store Sound Exchange one of his cassette covers — a frog-like creature and the words: Hi How Are You? “It was a record that came out in 1983,” explained Gimbel. The image got international notoriety when Nirvana’s front man Kurt Cobain wore it to the 1992 VMA’s. “Cobain was known to like Daniel’s music,” said Gimbel. But the frog remains closes to Austinites. It’s where fans connected when Johnston died last year at the age of 58 of natural causes, according to his family. “It’s become this unofficial friendly ambassador for Austin…”

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Lawrenceville, GA | Calling all vinyl lovers to the brewery: Annual Lawrenceville record show set for this Saturday, Jan. 18 from 12pm – 5pm. Depot Records is getting ready to rock out this weekend with their third annual record show. The shop located in the Depot District of Lawrenceville launched the event three years ago to promote area vendors and those passionate about vinyl records. The show will take place right next door to the shop at Slow Pour Brewing Company on North Clayton Street. The event is free for attendees and will last until 5pm. Booths featuring vinyl records, cassettes, and other music memorabilia will be set up throughout the day. Featured beers will also be available for purchase at Slow Pour Brewery. Vendors interested in setting up a booth can rent an 8-foot table for $50 and pay $40 for each additional table. Depot Records is located at 470 North Clayton St., Suite 200, Lawrenceville. The store is open on weekends only — from noon to 10 p.m. Saturday and noon to 8 p.m. Sunday.

Chicago, IL | Longtime Reckless Records buyer Jim Magas quits to spend more time with his music: If you’re a Chicago record hound, you’ve probably bought an LP from Jim Magas: in the early 2000s he co-owned Weekend Records & Soap, and for the past 15 years he’s been slinging wax at the Wicker Park Reckless Records. But late last month, Magas announced that he’s leaving the record-store life—his last day at Reckless is Saturday, January 18. “I’ve absolutely loved all my years behind the counter, but I feel like I’ve got a lot of potential and want to challenge myself in new ways,” Magas says. He’s also a fixture on the midwestern experimental scene, and he owns the label Midwich Productions—pursuits he’d like to devote more of himself to. “Creatively, I feel like I’m firing on all cylinders, and I want to see where that energy takes me. I just want total freedom to pursue what life has to offer.” His first album as James Marlon Magas drops via Midwich in the spring.

Plastics News: Kickstart: The vinyl revolution, now available in hotels: Back in 2007, I interviewed a record store owner about the unexpected resurgence of vinyl records. Steve Bergman, who owned Schoolkids Records in Ann Arbor, Mich., for 31 years, said: “Vinyl is still the most romantic manifestation of music that you’ve got out there.” Sales have only climbed since then — growing 131.8 percent 2011-12 even prompting machinery makers to begin producing equipment specifically to make vinyl albums. Here in Detroit, Jack White’s Third Man Record began producing vinyl albums on new Newbilt Machinery presses in 2017. So would vinyl tempt you to pick one hotel over another? Clarion Highlander Hotel in Iowa City, Iowa, is including a record player in every room as part of a renovation. When you check in, you can also check out vinyl albums from the hotel’s front desk, according to a new story from The Gazette. Vinyl not your thing? That’s OK. The record player also has bluetooth so you could stream your music instead.

Tool’s Fear Inoculum was the best-selling rock record of 2019: When Tool released Fear Inoculum last year after 13 years of false-starts, rumors, and conjecture, the rock world knew it would be a massive hit. That said, the album was coming out in the same year as huge records from Slipknot and Rammstein, making it part of a crop of big-name releases. But now, a new report shows that Fear Inoculum not only sold more than those albums, it was the best-selling rock album of last year. A report by BuzzAngle Music about consumer trends within the music industry showed that Fear Inoculum was easily the top-selling rock album of 2019, coming in as the #8 best-selling album of the year with 344,285 albums sold, which only came up short of artists like Billie Eilish and BTS. The next-closest rock album on the list was Queen, who came in at #15 and #18 for the Bohemian Rhapsody soundtrack and their Greatest Hits album respectively. That said, Queen’s Greatest Hits came in at #3 on the Vinyl Album Sales list.

Los Angeles, CA | Innovative Leisure Records celebrates 10-year anniversary: From Jamie Strong / co-founder Innovative Leisure Records: “There was a time in the not so distant past when Nate Nelson & I decided to leave our well paid jobs and health insurance working for a legendary label (Stones Throw Records), in order to explore greener pastures – aka starting our own label. At first, we were working out of an apartment in the un-gentrified era of Echo Park, packing up orders of artists that nobody ever heard of in an unbearably hot month-to-month storage unit. No seed money… no salary and no health insurance. At least we had a pocket full of drink tickets from The Echo and a vision to pursue what we believed in. That good music can come in all forms… psych-rock to soul, house to hip-hop, jazz to electronica. Our ethos was as long as we continued to put out the music and artists that we believed in, the business side of things would work itself out. Shortly thereafter, Hanni El Khatib left his job as Creative Director for skate/streetwear brand HUF to focus full-time on music and partner up with us. Welcome to the pillars of Innovative Leisure Records…”