UK | Gen Z buy more vinyl than millennials, new study finds: It comes after sales of vinyl records in the UK in 2020 were the highest on record since the early 1990s. According to a survey conducted by MRC Data, 4,041 people aged 13 and over were questioned over the course of two weeks about their musical influences, inspirations and purchases, with 15 percent of Generation Z respondents – people commonly identified as being born roughly between 1997 and 2012 – claiming to have purchased vinyl albums in the previous 12 months. This compared with only 11 percent of millennials who said that they purchased vinyl over the last year. It comes after sales of vinyl records in the UK in 2020 were the highest on record since the early 1990s. The figures by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) revealed that nearly one in five (18 per cent) of all albums purchased last year were vinyl, with 4.8 million LPs being purchased. The new numbers were up on 2019’s figures, and the highest since the Britpop boom of the early 1990s.
London, UK | UK’s ‘best record shop’ is tucked away in this corner of South London: The famous Banquet Records is owned by a local councillor. A London record shop has been awarded best independent retailer in the UK for the second year in a row – and it’s owned by a local councillor. Banquet Records on Kingston’s Eden Street is owned by Cllr Jon Tolley, who was awarded the prestigious Music Week award on September 14. Big names such as The Who, Stormzy, Bastille and Vampire Weekend have all played gigs organised by Banquet Records at venues in Kingston over the years. With more than 61,000 followers on Twitter, 59,200 on Instagram and over 22,000 on TikTok – it’s no wonder the store is a winner. Craig Austin, a Kingston local who has been visiting the shop for 13 years, said Banquet Records is “at the heart of Kingston and it’s what makes Kingston a little bit different.”
Pittsburgh, PA | Paved Paradise, a vinyl pop-up expo, is coming to Pittsburgh this month: Pittsburgh is a city for music lovers, and as more live music shows return to the city, so do opportunities to buy music. Now the city, which already offers plenty of opportunities to dig through vinyl treasures at places like Jerry’s Records, will welcome even more opportunities to find pressed gems with Paved Paradise. Described in an email as “equal parts pop-up shop, block party and roadside fruit stand,” Paved Paradise will stop in Pittsburgh on Wed., Sept. 22 as part of a nationwide, 15-city tour. The folks at PP will be setting up at Allegheny City Brewing and will sell vinyl from the back of a 24-foot truck and two on-site tents. This pop-up shop, a collaboration between Ghostly International, Numero Group, and Secretly Group record labels Dead Oceans, Jagjaguwar, and Secretly Canadian, will feature local collaborations as well as exclusives from some of your favorite music acts. There will also be live DJ sets from DJ GUVVY, Ali Berger, and more.
New York, NY | Ergot Records is a new record store and venue in the East Village, New York: Ergot Records, a New York-based label run by artist Adrian Rew, is entering the record store business. The Ergot Records shop opens this Friday, September 17th, at 32 East 2nd Street in Manhattan’s East Village. The store’s stock is currently comprised of predominately used vinyl and cassettes, but an expanded selection of new releases, books and other print material are expected soon. To celebrate, the shop is hosting DJ sets all weekend from Whitney Claflin, DatKat, Davide Gualandi, Brandon Ndife, Bob Nickas and Brian Turner. Future in-store events will be announced soon. In a press statement, Rew, a Lot Radio resident and former curator at art gallery Blank Forms, explained how the pandemic impacted his decision to venture into retail. “The events of the last year and a half have brought about the unfortunate closure of crucial downtown hubs of sonic gathering and information transfer such as 2 Bridges Music Arts, the Pyramid Club and Max Fish,” he said.
New York, NY | New York City record store Superior Elevation launches GoFundMe after losing 75% of its stock to flood damage. The shop’s White St. location was flooded with four feet of water. Brooklyn record store Superior Elevation Brooklyn has launched a GoFundMe in the wake of major flooding from Hurricane Ida. The shop, launched by Ellen Kanamori and Tom Noble in 2015, sustained major damage during Hurricane Ida. “During the heavy rains the building’s sewage/drainage system gave out and it released about four feet of water into the store,” reads the account on the shop’s GoFundMe. “After help arrived, they managed to pump all of the water out. They did manage to salvage a small portion of the records, but at least 75% was destroyed in the flood, if not more, it was too late.” While the shop does have insurance, there is no guarantee of a payout and it would be impossible to prove the value of the countless unknown and rare records on site. Regardless, the crew is determined to come back from this loss and are searching for a new location in either East Williamsburg or Bushwick, aiming to improve on the original White Street location.
New York, NY | Earl Moodie of Moodie’s Records in the Bronx has died: Earl Moodie, a pioneer in New York City reggae, died here September 17 at age 69. No cause of death was given, but his son Earl Jr said he had been ailing for some time. Moodie was synonymous with Moodie’s Records, the vinyl-strong retail store he opened along White Plains Road in the Bronx almost 40 years ago. Along with other Jamaican music business stalwarts such as the VP Records label and producer Lloyd “Bullwackie” Barnes, Moodie helped put reggae on the map in the Big Apple. His influence grew during the 1980’s when the Jamaican presence grew rapidly in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens. From the Papine area of Kingston, Moodie migrated to the United States in 1969 and started his entertainment career as lead singer of The Stepping Stones reggae band. He was also a salesman at Brad’s Records, another White Plains Road Jamaican establishment that was a major source of reggae in New York in the 1970’s. One of his colleagues there was Michael Barnett, now a broadcaster with Kool 97 FM in Kingston, Jamaica. He remembers Moodie as a quiet person who was a student of Jamaican music.
Salem, NH | After they were fired, then rehired, NH Bull Moose workers unionize: Workers at a Bull Moose store in New Hampshire voted recently to unionize after they were fired – then rehired – when they complained about the company’s easing of mask restrictions. The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1445 announced the unanimous vote on Wednesday and said they will now work to negotiate a contract on behalf of the workers. “These workers came to us after management ignored their complaints about workplace safety and harassment,” said Local 1445 President Fernando Lemus. “No worker should have to experience this.” The store in Salem, N.H., fired all workers in May when they complained about a decision to drop mask mandates for customers, according to the union. In June, the company offered the workers their jobs back and apologized for the firings. In a statement released Thursday, the company said it is surprised that the workers felt the need to unionize.
Read this: A brief history of “Licorice Pizza,” the L.A. record store that inspired Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest: Formerly named Soggy Bottom, PTA’s upcoming film will premiere this November. Aside from “Martin Scorsese comments on Marvel movies,” there are few things more exciting to cinephiles than “new Paul Thomas Anderson movie.” Anderson is ramping up the excitement for his next film by making a few changes, including updating the title from Soggy Bottom, which is just an astounding title for a movie, to Licorice Pizza, a confusing one. For many, the title Licorice Pizza probably means as much as Chappie or Finch or Soggy Bottom. But as L.A. Mag explains, Licorice Pizza shares its name with a now-shuttered southern California record store. They write: The new name comes from a long-gone chain of L.A. record shops founded in Long Beach by James Greenwood in 1969. By the time the Glendale-based chain was sold in 1985 there were 34 locations in Southern California, including Canoga Park, North Hollywood, Reseda, and the Sherman Oaks Galleria.
