Bristol, UK | Signs go up at new Bristol venue selling Mexican food and vinyl records: And the opening day is just days away. Signs are up at a new venue which will soon be serving up Mexican street food and vinyl records in Bristol. Alta Loma is ‘opening soon’ on Upper Maudlin Street, according to its Instagram page. No official opening date has yet been confirmed, however the team say they are aiming for June 7. Work is under way to get the new venue ready. The team said Instagram back in April to say: “The front has been painted. Though we’re nearly done, we have some commitments in May that means we’re aiming for a June 7th opening date. Stick it in the diary!” …The space will be shared, with Alta Loma in the restaurant above, and the record shop, Coffin Wax, in the basement selling music and merch from Bristol independent record label Stolen Body Records.
Lancashire, UK | Lancashire Retro: 21 favourite record shops where we’d buy our records and CDs back in the day. It seems such a long-ago thing to do—flicking through rows of records, searching for the latest from your favourite band. There was magic in seeing the Top Ten Singles change their place in the charts, losing yourself for hours browsing the vinyl, looking for one-offs and rare finds. Now as playlists shuffle endlessly, we miss the tangiblity of record, they were real. These pictures are the record shops you remember…
San Francisco, CA | How one of San Francisco’s most successful new chains ‘just kind of happened.’ In 8 years, Tunnel Records grew from a Sunset shop to a chain and fledgling record label. Ben Wintroub can’t find what he’s looking for. “King Tubby … King Tubby …” he murmurs to himself, standing over a wooden record bin. “Where’s the King Tubby?” We’re standing in the back corner of his shop, Tunnel Records, at 46th and Taraval. A minute earlier, I had asked Wintroub for help picking out an accessible dub record. Now, he’s flipping through the bin with practiced, mechanical speed, searching for a record by one of the pioneers of 1970s dub music. Tunnel Records opened eight years ago and has grown to epitomize a certain strain of “west side cool” in San Francisco. If you’re driving along Fulton Street, you might see its bumper sticker plastered on the back of an old Toyota: “TUNNEL RECORDS. Westernmost record shop on PLANET EARTH.”
London, UK | Monkey Shoulder Records Enlists DJ Target, Katy B & Arthi For Communal Listening Experience At KEF Music Gallery London: Commemorating World Music Day (June 21st), Monkey Shoulder Whisky has curated the ultimate listening experience. Bringing together the best elements of a lived-in record store and a listening bar, Monkey Shoulder Records is a crate-digging playground featuring DJ legends, state-of-the-art audio technology and premium cocktails at KEF Music Gallery London, alongside a collection of vinyl handpicked by seven of the most influential record stores in the UK. Monkey Shoulder Records opens its doors on Tuesday 17th June in Central London. Revered grime pioneer DJ Target, nocturnal RnB singer-songwriter Katy B, and club maven DJ Arthi have curated an exclusive ‘vibe-only’ vinyl collection for the KEF listening rooms.
San Francisco, CA | San Francisco’s Bar Part Time launches record label: The label’s debut release, a new EP from Toronto’s Cal-C, is out June 13th. San Francisco’s Bar Part Time is evolving into a record label. The natural wine bar and venue shared the news over the weekend, writing: “The wine hole now ALSO serves records, which are basically like bottled music if you really think about it.” Bar Part Time’s inaugural release is a four-track EP from Toronto-based DJ Cal-C, Bath Bomb. A lead single, “Wine 69,” is out now—the full record arrives in both digital and vinyl formats on June 13th. Launched in September 2021, Bar Part Time has hosted the likes of Colored Craig, Yu Su, Bored Lord, DJ Hermano, Carlos Souffront and many more over the years. The bar also runs a podcast series, sharing live recordings and curated mixes via SoundCloud and a dedicated website.
Sequim, WA | Record Show turns volume to 11 for third year: Event runs June 7 in the Guy Cole Event Center. Sequim runs the gamut in its musical tastes, according to Gary Butler, organizer of the Sequim Record Show. Heavy metal, ’90s alternative and rap, jazz, punk, and reggae are the genres local fans have sought out on vinyl the last two years. For second-year vendor Vinny Robbins, Bremerton store owner of Beats N’ Cats Records, metal and hip-hop did very well in Sequim. “I can only bring a finite amount of records to fit on a table, but I try to bring every genre I can,” he said. “A lot of vendors will have a specific area of interest and as I’ve gotten to know a lot of vendors I try to fill some of the gaps.” Robbins is one of 25-plus vendors set for the third-annual Sequim Record Show scheduled for 9 a.m.- 5 p.m. Saturday, June 7 in the Guy Cole Event Center, 144 N. Blake Ave. in Sequim. Admission is free with vinyl, CDs, cassettes and more for sale.
Lisbon, PT | Lisbon Open Vinyl Experiment—Sunday Rooftop Sessions: Line Up TBA – 8 DJ’s playing vinyl only and digging deep into their collections. We return for a Sunday Session to the amazing rooftop at Miradouro de Baixo with a FREE PARTY, sunshine vibes and great music from the L.O.V.E. Selektah’s. Come and enjoy the now legendary L.O.V.E. Vinyl sessions, which have been bringing the most diverse music nights to Lisbon for over 6 years now. The L.O.V.E. crew will be 8 strong on the night and guaranteed bags of fresh vinyl for your listening pleasure, joining the dots between Funk, Latin, Disco Brasilian, House, Afrobeat, Jazz and more. No boundaries or genre essentials, just good music to let everyone get lost in as our DJ’s dig deep into their record collections to bring you the best sounds in town.
Mumbai, IN | Experience An Afternoon Of Vinyl, Culture, & Community At Journal, Santacruz This Sunday: Once a relic of the past relegated to collectors and enthusiasts, vinyl has quietly become the soundtrack of a new kind of urban nostalgia in India. As algorithms dominate our Spotify playlists and compressed audio takes over the airwaves, more of us are turning to the warm, tactile charm of old-fashioned vinyl records. This resurgence is about something more than fleeting nostalgia for retro aesthetics; it’s about reclaiming the slowness, ceremony, and intimacy of listening to music together, in real life. The result of this analogue revival is most evident in the rise of local vinyl listening events that blend culture, community, and creative expression. On Sunday, June 8, Journal Café in Santacruz is joining this vinyl resurgence by swapping out its usual sound system for turntables.
When Elvis and Ella Were Pressed Onto X-Rays—The Subversive Legacy of Soviet ‘Bone Music.’ This rather bizarre, homemade technology became a way to skirt censors in the Soviet Union—and even played an indirect role in its dissolution. When Western Electric invented electrical sound recording 100 years ago, it completely transformed the public’s relationship to music. …By using electrical microphones, amplifiers and electromechanical recorders, record companies could capture a far wider range of sound frequencies, with much higher fidelity. For the first time, recorded sound closely resembled what a live listener would hear. Over the ensuing years, sales of vinyl records and record players boomed. The technology also allowed some enterprising music fans to make recordings in surprising and innovative ways. As a physician and scholar in the medical humanities, I am fascinated by the use of X-ray film to make recordings—what was known as “bone music,” or “ribs.”
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