Fords, NJ | New Jersey’s Vintage Vinyl is Closing: The record shop served as a crucial hub for New Jersey’s punk and metal scenes for decades. Vintage Vinyl, the Fords, New Jersey record shop that sat at the nexus of the state’s punk and metal scenes for decades, is closing next month. Owner Rob Roth announced today (June 21) in the shop’s newsletter that it would shut its doors permanently on July 31 after 42 years of business. In addition to hosting one of the state’s largest collections of new and used punk and metal records, the shop also played host to scores of in-store performances over the years, both from local acts like Thursday, Saves the Day, Midtown, Titus Andronicus, and My Chemical Romance, as well as national acts such as Queens of the Stone Age, the Get Up Kids, Jimmy Eat World, and many, many more. Roth opened the first iteration of the store at 23 years old in Irvington, New Jersey in 1979. It has been at its current location since 1984. “I couldn’t get the music I wanted in the chain stores,” Roth told NJ Advanced Media. “It was the era of punk and you couldn’t get those records anywhere. I wanted to fill that void and bring the obscure, selling the punk and British records, and the stuff that was being ignored.”
Eugene, OR | Last Ones Standing: House of Records. House of Records lives in a sage-green house finished with a copper-red trim on 13th Avenue in Downtown Eugene. Inside on May 3rd, 55-year-old Greg Sutherland stood polishing a record with scraps from an old cotton T-shirt. He calls records artifacts and says polishing them is his favorite part of the job. That morning, he finished sifting through 500 disks. It took him a few days to get through them all. He liked about 300 of them. For Sutherland, this is routine. “I’ve done the same thing every day for a decade,” Sutherland says. Sutherland has been the manager of the House of Records for 35 years. He was a big fan of the store while he was in college at the University of Oregon. After three years of being a dedicated customer, the store hired him in 1986. Records have been important to Sutherland for decades. And House of Records has a special charm that Sutherland can’t quite put his finger on. But it drew him in 38 years ago. He thinks it’s one of the best in the Pacific Northwest, right up there with popular shops in Portland and Seattle. The House of Records has had some success in its sales since the pandemic hit Eugene. Sutherland says that a lot of that can be attributed to stay-at-home orders.
London, ON | Forked River Brewing and Speed City Records Release Sparton Press Pils: Forked River Brewing has announced the release of a new beer in collaboration with local record shop Speed City Records. Sparton Press Pils (4.7% abv) is named after a record company and pressing plant that operated in London from the 1930s to 1960s, and is described as follows: It’s our latest Pilsner, this time dry hopped with some of your fav American hops. We dry hopped with Cascade, Amarillo and Mosaic and used more Mosaic and Citra in the kettle. Dry, crispy, light biscuit malt profile with clean hop finish. This beer clocks in at a friendly 4.7%ABV, a patio beer if there ever was one! Sparton Press Pils is available now, along with a co-branded Forked River/Speed City glass and a Forked River turntable slipmat, at the brewery retail store and online shop.
Lorde Is Doing Away with CDs for the Release of Her Third Album, Solar Power: “I didn’t wanna make something that would end up in a landfill in 2 years.” Lorde’s return to the top of the charts is eminent with her third studio album, Solar Power, slated for an August 20 release. But this time around, the New Zealand–based pop star is taking a sustainable approach to sharing her music with the world. Per Billboard, the singer released a statement expressing why she will not have her upcoming album pressed into CDs this time around. The entire project was inspired by the importance of taking care of the environment and preserving the world—and it wouldn’t make sense for her to release her music in a way that would eventually go against that mantra. Instead, Lorde will give fans the option to purchase an eco-friendly “music box” if they desire something physical in addition to the streamable album; it’ll come with handwritten notes, exclusive photographs, and a download card. Lorde will be selling copies of the record in vinyl form also.
Forget Prime Day, these are the best hi-fi and audio deals that aren’t on Amazon: If you’re in deal-hunting mode then remember that specialist independent retailers are the best place for hi-fi bargains. You have probably noticed it’s Prime Day, Amazon’s annual sales extravaganza. But while that’s great for bagging discounts on Echo speakers and Fire TV Sticks, it’s not so successful at delivering great deals on hi-fi separates, speakers and audio gear. But, lest we forget, there are a whole world of specialist retailers ready to cater to your specialist needs with great deals on some of our favourite turntables, DACs, amplifiers and plenty more besides. We’ve done our level best to deliver you a selection of the best hi-fi and audio deals to be found on Prime Day… but far from the madding crowds of Amazon.
