In rotation: 2/10/17

Colby Cosh: So farewell then, HMV. Don’t let the door to hell hit you in the bum: After the advent of the compact disc, chain music stores like HMV kept independent and used record stores on the defensive for 30 years or more — but the surviving ones have now prevailed. HMV’s bankruptcy practically makes it official. It is the indie shop’s V-E Day. If you are reading the news this week you are probably running across quotes from the indie owners in your town, counting the revenue from new vinyl releases and trying not to sound too triumphant.

Stephen Butchard: Lorenzo’s record store keeps music in groove: On a cold night in mid-January, LP Records is open after hours. In the daylight, the small record shop off Great Western Road usually has few people in at once. Passers-by wander in to flick through the racks (mostly comprised of new releases), staying for five minutes to make an impulse buy or a bit longer if they chat about tunes with its owner, Lorenzo. Tonight, the shop is crammed for a listening party of RTJ3, the new album by hip-hop duo Run the Jewels.

Uff da: Record store returns to Central Minnesota: Reality is slowly sinking in for Jeff Pederson. And that is both exciting and terrifying. “It’s been my dream job for my whole life,” he said. “And now my dream is coming true.” Last spring, Pederson had taken a job working for one of his lifelong friends, Shaun Hagglund, at a small sports memorabilia store in Crossroads Center. By June, Pederson was diversifying the store’s merchandise through the sale of vinyl. By November, the small collection of records in the Fan HQ Rock N Jock store just outside of Target generated about 50 percent of the store’s business.

Where To Shop Vinyl Records In Singapore (And How To Get Started): Listening to vinyl has always been cool, right? But when new stores keep popping up, EDM acts and the Biebs get in on the movement, and even Gen Z It girls rave about it (watch Stranger Things’ Millie Bobby Brown on Colbert), it’s you-can’t-miss-this cool. We break down what to know to get on the inside track.

The mystery of sound: “Vinyl was supposed to be dead,” said Scott Soriano, owner of the local labels S.S. and Sol Re Sol Records. “Now that vinyl is ‘back alive’—though it’s never been dead to me—I know a lot about this stuff.” Soriano shared the lot that he knows about vinyl to an audience of roughly 40 people at Verge Center for the Arts on February 2. The event, titled “In the Groove: The Art & Science of Vinyl Records,” set out to answer why collectors and music lovers are “so fond of this ‘obsolete technology,’” according to the Facebook event page. Ultimately, Soriano shared his reverence for the mystery of vibration—the engine behind all sound.

At the largest vinyl record show in Minnesota, vendors welcome peak resurgence, The Record Show in Richfield is proving vinyl isn’t dead: There are hundreds of sights and sounds at the Record Show, the largest and longest-lasting vinyl record fair in Minnesota. One thing you won’t find there: pretentious personalities. “Like most niche markets, you get a lot of really devoted — I don’t want to call them weirdos or anything, but you get characters,” said Tom Novak, 56, who runs the show. The Record Show held its first fair of the year Saturday at the Minneapolis/Richfield American Legion. Since 1992, the bimonthly show has been a home for curious and devoted record buyers, and for vendors who want to share their music knowledge and make some cash while they’re at it.

Gregor Hildebrandt at Almine Rech: “The grooves on vinyl records are like brush strokes”: German artist Gregor Hildrebrandt has a labyrinthine exhibition at the Almine Rech gallery in Paris until 25 February. In his new works, he continues to explore his fascination with music and its recording media. He cuts up and reassembles magnetic tapes and vinyl records to invent a new, impenetrable, sinuous musical grammar that reflects the collective memory that humanity has assembled over the years. His massive floor juxtaposed chessboards is part of a heady reflection on duality and his title painting Alle Schläge sind erlaubt is inspired by the pattern on the drapes of a New York hotel. We asked Gregor Hildebrandt to decipher his new works for us, and to tell us about his passion for music and his fascination with chessboards.

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  • SUPPORTING YOUR LOCAL INDIE SHOPS SINCE 2007


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