Record Store Day buying guide: June 12 and July 17 releases: Record Store Day looks a little different this year. Considering the coronavirus pandemic restrictions, Record Store Day will take the form of “RSD Drops,” taking place on two separate days, June 12 and July 17. Independent stores will remain in charge of their own sales and releases, depending on their particular location’s setup. “The spread of titles over two dates in two months allows some flexibility for the struggling vinyl pressing plants and distribution companies,” reads a statement on the Record Store Day website, “as well as provide stores time to prepare budgets and place the orders that safely get music into the hands of customers on a larger than normal release day.” This year’s class of releases features an impressive array of music. Tom Petty and the Heartbreaker’s She’s the One soundtrack album has been reimagined and retitled as Angel Dream, Pearl Jam will release a new version of “Alive,” the single from their debut album which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year and, for the first time, the estate of Prince will put forth The Truth, the acoustic accompaniment to 1998’s Crystal Ball.
Little Rock, AR | UA Little Rock alum opens vinyl store in Benton: Audra McAnally has been out of school for less than three years, but the 25-year old entrepreneur has already opened her second business – a stylish throwback to the popular era of vinyl stores called Retro Rose. After graduating from Bryant High School in 2014, McAnally joined the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Business. She earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a certificate in sales, all while working around 60 hours a week managing a property preservation company. “I went to UA Little Rock because I wanted to stay local for college,” McAnally said. “It was intense. I was probably getting four hours of sleep a night, and now I can’t stay up past 10 p.m. …I opened Retro Rose Oct. 30, 2020, mid pandemic,” McAnally said. “I didn’t want to lose my space in downtown Benton since it’s becoming a prominent area. My boyfriend Brandon and I both collect records and we are super antiquers. I thought it would be so cool to open a music store where everyone feels welcome. One thing led to another, and I kept finding bulks of used records that fueled the fire.”
UK | Noel Gallagher announced as Record Store Day 2021 ambassador: “Record shops were really important when I was growing up. It’s something that’s in my DNA.” Noel Gallagher has been announced as the official ambassador for Record Store Day 2021. The former Oasis musician will take on the role as well as releasing a limited edition coloured vinyl of his upcoming High Flying Birds Best Of album, ‘Back The Way We Came: Vol 1 (2011-2021)’. Arriving as part of RSD 2021’s first drop on June 12, the numbered hand-pressed LP will come with an art print created exclusively for indie record stores. “Record shops were really important when I was growing up. It’s something that’s in my DNA,” Gallagher explains in an official announcement video, which you can watch now below. “I think if we can keep record shops open for as long as possible, we owe it to the young people of this country. For this year’s Record Store Day I’ll be getting involved. I’ve got something unique coming out.”
Chicago, IL | Bric-A-Brac Records Moving To Avondale, Opening Horror-Themed Coffee Shop Next Door: The coffee shop, which the owners are opening with a friend, will be called The Brewed, a play on David Cronenberg’s horror flick “The Brood.” Since opening Bric-A-Brac Records at Diversey and Kedzie avenues eight years ago, husband-and-wife owners Nick Mayor and Jen Lemasters have had to work other jobs to keep the record and collectibles shop afloat — Mayor at a restaurant and Lemasters selling merch at big venues. But with both industries hit hard during the coronavirus pandemic, the couple has decided to focus solely on Bric-A-Brac in hopes of growing the small business into even more of a community hub. The couple is moving the shop to a bigger space in Avondale, and they’re teaming up with a friend to open an adjoining coffee shop. …The couple has signed a lease on a storefront at 2843 N. Milwaukee Ave. The space is about 20 percent larger than their vibrant current home at 3156 W. Diversey Ave., Mayor said, which is overflowing with records, cassettes, books, collectibles and more.
Seattle, WA | ArtSEA: Putting Seattle’s jazz history on the record: Plus, the Northwest animator bringing Sasquatch to life, and a new sea serpent on the South Lake Union scene. Seattle may not have as many record stores as it used to, but vinyl is back in a big way. The retro-cool resurgence is exemplified by recent LP sales (up 46% from 2019 to 2020 alone) and, more concretely, by a new art installation in the Central District: an oversized turntable embedded in a plaza at 23rd and Jackson. Having recently had the thrill of rediscovering a box of my old records (hello, Donna Summer!), I was excited to find this new work by Seattle musician and multimedia artist Paul Rucker. His realistic design features a volume slider, 45/33 rpm switch (kids, ask your parents) and a playful tonearm that doubles as a bench. Instead of grooves, the record is inscribed with the names of Northwest jazz musicians and clubs that once populated the Central District, such as Evelyn Bundy, Frank Waldron and Copper Kettle. (Jackson Street alone had 34 nightclubs during the heyday.) “People know about Jimi and Quincy,” Rucker told me over the phone, “but there are so many jazz musicians who haven’t had major recognition.” Accompanying the installation is a (still in progress) website, 78 on Jackson, where viewers will learn more about these unsung jazz legends.
New York, NY | The Raybeats’ “The Lost Philip Glass Sessions” Gets First-Ever Vinyl Release On Record Store Day: New York City in the 1980s was a creative caldron where anything could happen. Painting, graffiti, performance and emergent video art, film, dance, theater and music of every conceivable genre were blending into one another, often in unprecedented ways. In the arts, and maybe music first and foremost, boundaries were not for division but blurring and breaking to make the wholly new. So when Philip Glass, the esteemed minimalist composer, teamed with The Raybeats, the neo-surf guitar super combo, it was the kind of collision of seeming opposites that made perfect sense in these freewheeling times. …Philly and NYC based label Ramp Local is now putting out the first-ever vinyl pressing of this incredible collection, called The Lost Philip Glass Sessions, just in time for Record Store Day, June 12. The vinyl package includes new cover art and an insert, with liner notes by Pat Irwin and rare archival photos.
