Odessa, TX | Endless Horizons faces closure, here’s how you can help: Endless Horizons owner Sam Logan issued an “urgent appeal” to the community amid the looming threat of closure. “It is with a heavy heart that Endless Horizons, the beloved local record store and community hub, announces the looming threat of closure due to the relentless challenges posted by the ongoing global economic downturn. As a cherished cornerstone of the community for almost half a century, and as the oldest active record store in Texas, the imminent shutdown of Endless Horizons would not only be a devastating loss for music lovers but also a significant blow to the cultural fabric of our city,” Logan said. Logan and his employees have worked tirelessly through the last few years, adapting to changing times, and facing a sharp decline in businesses because of digital music platforms and the coronavirus pandemic, which delt a harsh blow to many small businesses across the country and the world.
Columbus, GA | Columbus man to open only record shop in the city so people can ‘experience’ music: One day in spring of 2021, Brian Cook was driving home with an obscene amount of vinyl records from an Opelika record shop. A man in his 40s, Cook has lived through the progression of being able to listen to music from records and cassette tapes to CDs and then digital music. He’s bought the same albums multiple times in different media as technology changed over the years. The reason it’s important to listen to and appreciate records for what they are, Cook said, is because they aren’t just a way to listen to music. “It’s an entire experience,” he said. “That’s the beauty of it. You have to actually pay attention to what you’re doing. And I think a lot of young people these days, and people my age, appreciate that experience.” During the trip, Cook found himself wishing that there was a record shop in his hometown of Columbus to cut down on the driving time Alabama or Atlanta in order to indulge in his passion of listening to and collecting vinyl records.
Floyd, VA | County Sales music store celebrates 50 years in Floyd: At a time when few record stores remain in business, County Sales is celebrating 50 years in Floyd. And with its new profile as a non-profit, it plans to continue serving music lovers in the New River Valley and around the world. The town of Floyd has a deep connection to old-time and bluegrass music. Just ask the folks who turn out for the Friday night Jamboree at the Floyd Country Store. But there’s another institution up the street that’s also helping to share the music of this region with the world. Dave Freeman moved County Sales from New York to Floyd in 1973. Corbin Hayslett first visited the shop as a 12-year-old and now he’s the general manager. “To come to County Sales as a young person and just see walls and walls of this music, and especially as a young musician who was just hungry to learn every note, every lick, every song that I could, it was just incredible,” Hayslett told us. “It was the pot of gold at the end of the old-timey rainbow.”
Minneapolis, MN | This Minneapolis library has a hidden gem for record lovers: There’s an impressively extensive vinyl record collection located in downtown Minneapolis that not many know about. Available by reservation, the Vinyl Revival Listening Room is a free listening space open to the public located on the third floor (room N-301) of Minneapolis Central Library. The collection contains more than 15,000 albums, including about 5,000 LPs and singles donated in 2021 by the estate of Minneapolis-born DJ and producer Matthew Marvel. While living in Brooklyn, N.Y., Marvel accumulated records of all genres including electronic, disco, hip-hop, R&B, reggae, soul and more. Each month, local musicians, DJs and library staff pick a selection of albums to feature in the listening room that can be found right outside the actual room, in the reception area of the same floor. As a part-time DJ in the Twin Cities, I was invited to be one of the curators earlier this year.
Washington, DC | Requiem Select Their 3 Favorite Record Stores in the Washington D.C. Area: …The core members—veteran musician and multimedia artist Doug Kallmeyer, visual artist Monica Stroik, and guitarist/soundscape designer/conceptualist Tristan Welch—came together during that heady pandemic summer of 2020, motivated by a desire for a new creative outlet during destabilizing times. Tristan, a lifelong punk kid who grew up listening to bands like Rancid but has more recently become known for a string of acclaimed ambient/drone releases, met Doug, a longtime audio engineer and music lifer who spent decades on the road handling sound for Blonde Redhead, Phantogram and many more, through the D.C. underground music scene. Monica and Doug were running a label, Verses Records. All felt like perennial outsiders. As veterans of the D.C. scene and with their own album just about to drop, the members of Requiem recently shared their favorite crate-digging spots in the region in this special edition of Vinyl Lives.
Dallas, TX | First Look: Ladylove Brings A ’70s-Inspired Listening Lounge to Bishop Arts: The duo behind Spinster Records offers an unpretentious cocktail and vinyl lounge serving light bites in the Bishop Arts District. We recently got a first look and plan to have many more. The aromatics of the Dallas Grilled Cheese Co. have been replaced with Ladylove Lounge & Sound. Drawing inspiration from the conversation pits of the ’70s, this venue is a years-in-the-making passion project from duo David Grover and Kate Siamro of the nearby vinyl shop, Spinster Records. Since opening their record store in 2014, the long-time stalwarts of the local music scene thought it was time to bring more music to Bishop Arts District. A space for live-spun vinyl and stellar audio was the result, and on July 7, Ladylove made its debut. The space is tucked into the back of a small strip along Seventh Street. Muffled music, a patio with a disco ball and a neon sign reading “Ladylove” greet visitors.
Barbie movie soundtrack breaks UK Singles Chart record: Tracks from Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, and Nicki Minaj & Ice Spice are all currently in the top five of the UK charts. The soundtrack for the new Barbie movie has made UK Singles Chart history by landing three top five songs at the same time. ‘Barbie: The Album’ was released on 21st July to accompany the Greta Gerwig-directed movie. From the soundtrack, Billie Eilish’s ‘What Was I Made For?’ placed number three in the UK charts this week, while Dua Lipa’s ‘Dance The Night’ is currently at number four, and in fifth position is the rework of Aqua’s ‘Barbie World’ by American rappers, Nicki Minaj & Ice Spice. Also featured in the UK Top 40 are ‘Speed Drive’ by PC Music affiliate Charlie XCX (at number 19), Lizzo’s ‘Pink’ (at number 39), and ‘I’m Just Ken’, which is performed by American actor Ryan Gosling in the movie (at number 25). The first film soundtrack to score three simultaneous Top 10s was Saturday Night Fever in 1978, with the disco-themed hits, ‘Night Fever’, ‘If I Can’t Have You’, and ‘More Than A Woman’ — which was reworked in 2021 by English producer, SG Lewis on his ‘Paradise Edit’
The Cure’s 1993 live album “Show” to receive 30th anniversary reissue on black vinyl: The Cure will mark the 30th anniversary of the band’s 1993 live album Show — recorded the previous year at two tour stops in Michigan — with a new 2LP vinyl reissue this September, marking the first time the live set has been available on black vinyl since its original release. The new pressing, on heavyweight vinyl, will be released by Rhino Records on Sept. 8 — pre-order it now via Amazon.com — and it follows the picture-disc edition the band released earlier this year on Record Store Day. Show is one of two live albums The Cure released in late 1993 chronicling the band’s tour in support of the previous year’s Wish album. (The less-poppy Paris was the other live album.) The set included on Show was recorded at concerts on July 18 and 19, 1992, at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Michigan. The live set was never released on vinyl in the U.S., though it did receive 2LP pressings in 1993 in Europe and other parts of the world.
Super Furry Animals announce 20th anniversary reissue of ‘Phantom Power.’ …With band archivist, Kliph Scurlock, reprising his role as tape detective and collaborator with the band on compiling unheard mixes, demos and out-takes, Phantom Power’s impressive remastering was undertaken by Donal Whelan at Hafod Mastering. Taking care to preserve the glory of the main album’s track listing, including the intricacies of a range of samples taken from a job-lot of vinyl records featuring incidental TV and film music bought by Cian Ciarán, as well as the raft of unheard song versions, the reissue assures fans old and new of an enhanced listening experience for tracks they know well and the many yet to be revealed.” …“We’ve heard test pressings of the vinyl reissue of Phantom Power and our minds, now well-worn and occasionally more cynical, were completely blown. Isn’t everything amazing these days? Well, in this instance it’s true, this remastered version is amazing. When it comes to rarities, everything’s here for completists but everything here is worth listening to, as much as for what the songs became but for what they were at the time. Come back in time with us again.”
