Nashville, TN | Renderings for The Groove rebuild released: The owner of an East Nashville property is now righting a wrong after he demolished a historic building without a permit. The owner of the property that formerly housed The Groove had the building razed a few months ago. The Groove was a former record store in a historic home on Calvin Avenue. It called East Nashville home for around two decades before closing in 2025 and moving. East Nashvillians were surprised by the sudden change, as the building was in a protected historic area. Local officials, like Metro District 6 Councilmember Clay Capp, called the demolition “unlawful” because it lacked the proper approval. He then worked with Metro Historic Zoning officials to investigate the matter.
Seattle, WA | Congratulations! Easy Street Records honored as America’s best record store: Big smiles last night for Matt Vaughan and Kisha Vaughan as they showed off the big award Easy Street Records just won, honored at the Music Business Association‘s Bizzy Awards in Atlanta as Independent Retailer of the Year. Here’s what the award honors, according to the association’s website: (The award is f)or a retail store who showed exceptional inventiveness and ingenuity in their practices during the past year in their interactions with consumers. Matt Vaughan opened Easy Street in 1988, so its 40th anniversary is in sight! It’s not “just” a record store, but also hosts live, free in-store concerts—some of which have been turned into records!—as well as signings, listening parties, readings, and art exhibits—plus it’s home to a café and bar—all anchoring the heart of The Junction in the city-landmark Hamm Building on the northwest corner of California and Alaska.
Tempe, AZ | After 40 years, iconic Tempe record store owner is ‘ready to move on.’ Michael Pawlicki is coming up fast on the 40th anniversary of the day he left a job at ZIA Records to get it on the ground floor of a new store, Eastside Records, launched by two fellow ZIA employees in a tiny shopping plaza at University Drive and Ash Avenue in Tempe. That store ended its reign as a cultural hub on the Valley underground in 2010. Three years later, Pawlicki was back behind the counter at his own new store, the Ghost of Eastside Records, as part of The Double Nickels collective at Tempe’s Danelle Plaza, a few doors down from Yucca Tap Room. It’s been a good run, but Pawlicki says he is ready to move on.
Miami, FL | Miami’s Best Listening Rooms for Vinyl and Hi-Fi Fans: Miami is obsessed with hi-fi sound, so we rounded up the city’s best spots for audiophiles. The tradition of the listening bar traces back to the Japanese jazz kissas of the 1950s, intimate spaces where high-fidelity audio, vinyl records, and curated selections took priority over conversation and dancing. These rooms became havens for audiophiles, giving people a place to discover new and unique sounds through some of the best audio equipment available. Half a century later, the concept has exploded worldwide, with bar owners and hospitality groups putting their own spin on the format. What was once centered around deep listening has evolved into something broader: carefully designed rooms, elevated cocktails, guest selectors, and sound systems built to make every record feel alive.
Wax Heads review: A cozy record store management game with a lot of heart. I can’t imagine that the guy who ran the local record store in my college town remembers me, but I reckon I’ll never forget him. An aging English punk who wore a tight black tee like a uniform, he was just as responsible for shaping me into the person I am today as my professors. Any time I’d visit the store, something I was doing two times a week minimum for four years, I’d walk away with what would become a personality-defining record hand-picked for me by someone who, to me, was the epitome of cool. More impactful than the recommendations was the fact that I never got the sense he looked down on me as a lowly college kid harshing his vibe. Everyone was cool at Angry Mom Records. The same is true at Repeater Records, the fictional music shop at the center of Wax Heads.
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Orange, CA | Modest Mouse Advance Listening Event: Modest Mouse are back with a new record, and we’re getting to hear it early. Join us at Resident Vinyl on Sunday, May 31 at 1 PM for an advance listening event for An Eraser and a Maze, the new Modest Mouse album arriving June 5. We’ll be playing the album in full a week before release, plus we’ll have special giveaways and a raffle. Come hang, listen with fellow Modest Mouse fans, and get an early first listen before the record hits bins the following Friday.
Melbourne, AU | Everyone said vinyl records were dead. Gen Z had other ideas: ACMI’s Reverb exhibition is a celebration of music’s most iconic object. inyl records appeared doomed when German artist and musician Carsten Nicolai created his interactive art installation bausatz-noto in 1998. Made up of a turntable, sound mixer and brightly coloured 10-inch records, it was conceived as both a hymn and a requiem. …Vinyl LPs, with their pops, crackles and limited capacity (just 20 minutes of music a side) seemed destined to go the way of Betamax and Bakelite telephones. Nicolai, who also owns a record label, is part of the generation that grew up listening to vinyl. His installation invited visitors to put on a pair of headphones, select some discs and create their own music. When bausatz-noto comes to Melbourne as part of The Vinyl Factory: Reverb exhibition opening at ACMI on May 22, locals will be able to do just that.
Thin Lizzy’s Debut Album Gets 55th Anniversary Deluxe Edition: The multi-format reissue includes previously unreleased tracks, rarities, BBC sessions, and more. Thin Lizzy’s debut album will soon be available in robust expanded form. The self-titled full-length, first released by the Dublin rockers in 1971, is getting a deluxe reissue in honor of its 55th anniversary, featuring previously unreleased tracks, rarities, BBC sessions, and more. Set for release on July 10, Thin Lizzy Deluxe Edition will be available in various formats including digital, 3CD/1Blu-Ray, 4LP, 2LP green vinyl with U.S. artwork, and lastly—available only through the official Thin Lizzy shop—2LP blue vinyl with U.K. artwork. The color vinyl editions include the album’s original mix plus the new Richard Whittaker stereo mix.
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