VIA PRESS RELEASE | Independent Project Records proudly announced today, the reissue of the 1996 debut shoegaze/dream pop album A Fascination With Heights, by beloved Tempe, Arizona band Half String on September 17 available via Darla Records.
The album, long out-of-print, and originally only available upon initial release via compact disc, will now be released digitally and on vinyl for the first-time. The expanded CD / 2xLP reissue adds more than 35+ minutes of previously unreleased tracks, newly excavated from the original recording sessions. Additionally, the package includes new artwork based on the original album artwork, expanded liner notes by Peter Relic, newly remastered tracks, and features IPR’s iconic hand-letter press printed packaging. Additionally, the vinyl package will add a bonus vinyl 7” and the CD package will include a bonus CD single.
“At the time of the original release in 1996, there was this term ‘shoegaze’ used to describe British bands,” explains Half String’s Brandon Capps. “Half String was the same generation as those bands, and felt a kinship, but we wanted to create our own thing. We coined the term ‘beautiful noise’ to describe what we were doing. Revisiting A Fascination With Heights now, I hear a band totally in tune with itself and what we set out to do.”
“Releasing A Fascination With Heights on vinyl is something I always wanted to do,” said Independent Project Records’ Bruce Licher. “The fact that the music holds up wonderfully after a quarter century is all the incentive we needed to make the album one of the first releases by IPR in our newly revived incarnation. We’ve expanded this album both musically and visually to give the fans of the band a unique experience.”
Boise, ID | The Record Exchange requiring masks again for all customers: The Record Exchange in downtown Boise is requiring masks for everyone, vaccinated against COVID-19 or not, inside their store. According to the announcement, all staff are required to wear masks inside the store as well. “It wouldn’t say its something I wanted to do, but it’s something we felt like we had to do,” Owner Michael Bunnell said. “Transmission rates and vaccination rates in this state are poor. Until we feel like we can fully protect not only our staff but our customers, we’re going to take any precaution necessary.” “…I think that it’s an appropriate response to the current data and they are doing the responsible thing,” Customer Mariana Adams said. “I think it’s great, they have the masks out here for you to take they have a very clear sign on the door. If you don’t wish to wear a mask, you don’t have to. 
San Antonio, TX | Best Record Store: Hogwild Records. If you’ve been involved in the punk, indie or metal music scenes at any point during the past few decades, you know Hogwild. If you’ve attended San Antonio College and have an interest in those music genres, you probably spent some time shopping there between classes. Stop by at any random time and you’re likely to be treated to a full-volume blast of one of the above music genres as its knowledgeable staff road tests new releases. The venerable indie music retailer remains a browsing paradise with its vast selection of vinyl, local and otherwise, as well as music merch including a sea of T-shirts arrayed across its ceiling. And if you don’t see what you’re looking for, just ask, since the store excels at 
Indie Labels Address Vinyl Warping Due to U.S. Heat Waves: As customers report warped and damaged records, labels like Ba Da Bing and Joyful Noise are attempting to mitigate the issue. As punishing, dangerous heat waves have become a massive problem in the United States over the past weeks, one minor consequence is that vinyl record shipments are being warped by extreme weather. Ba Da Bing Records, which released the new Cassandra Jenkins album An Overview on Phenomenal Nature, sent an email to customers noting that multiple people had 
Vinyl Sales Power John Mayer’s ‘Sob Rock’ to Number One: Pop Smoke’s Faith debuts at Number Two. John Mayer’s Sob Rock comes with an old-fashioned price sticker on the cover, as if it’s an LP from the Eighties, and it launched at Number One on the Rolling Stone Top 200 Albums chart thanks to 
Penfolds Designs Rare Record Player To Mark Anniversary of Grange Wine: Only seven of them have been produced globally. Australian winery Penfolds has created a limited-edition record player in celebration of the upcoming 70th anniversary of their flagship wine, Grange. Each record player is individually hand-crafted by Symbol Audio, with only seven pieces produced globally. The record player takes on the classic “all in one” console design from the 1950s, the same decade in which Penfolds’ pioneer Max Schubert made the first vintage of Grange while experimenting with wine-making techniques he observed in Bordeaux. In addition to featuring luxury accessories from Riedel, Chateau Laguiole and Monopole, including a hand-blown glass decanter, the record player comes with a hidden wine compartment that houses two rare investment ‘White Capsule’ Grange magnums from 2010 and 2017, intended to be aged and consumed no earlier than around 2030. The record player’s cabinet design also reserves room for storing eight wine glasses and 
Smashing Pumpkins announce new vinyl release, ‘Live At The Viper Room 1998.’ The band’s second archival release comes from a Billy Corgan acoustic set. Smashing Pumpkins have announced the release of a new vinyl, ‘Live At The Viper Room 1998’, available to pre-order next week. The band’s second archival release was recorded at The Viper Room in West Hollywood, California, on January 15, 1998. The 13-song set saw Corgan perform Smashing Pumpkins songs in acoustic form. “The thing you hear in the Viper Room show is you’re really sort of being allowed into the studio where the songs don’t have the accouterment of all the bells and whistles,” Corgan said in 
Wichita, KS | Former Teacher Explores Love Of Heavy Metal With Wichita Record Store The Gate: Russell Horning began his journey as an educator in Mexico. Then, after teaching high school and middle school in Wichita, he decided to make a career change. Wichitan Russell Horning opened The Gate record store in May 2021. Located at 115 S. Pattie, the shop serves as Wichita’s home for heavy metal records. It’s stocked with a vast array of classic metal albums — looking for Ozzy Osbourne’s long out-of-print Speak of the Devil? Horning has it — as well as new stock from around the globe. The Gate feels less like a retail space and more like a friend’s living room. There are classic metal books and magazines on sale as well as the types of rarities only a true fan would take the time to notice. Horning’s road to opening the shop is an unlikely one. After teaching English for nearly 20 years, he decided to follow his passion for heavy metal and create a space that is uniquely his own and which seems poised to become a destination for 
Bruce Dickinson recalls how the record store was his sanctuary: “Record stores, when I was a kid, before the Internet — you can go and listen to everything for free now on the Internet, but back then it was a bit more difficult. You would have to go into an actual record store and you would ask to listen to a record and you’d listen to probably most of the album and you wouldn’t buy it, ’cause you didn’t have any money. But you were in the store with all these people who loved music, and you’d talk about music and you’d hang out, and just being there was like being recharged when you were a kid. It was just, like, ‘Oh my God. I’ve got school. I’ve got this. I’ve got that. I wanna escape my parents.’ You get on a bus, you go to the record store, you hang out and meet all these people who think and talk music and think like you, and 
UK | HMV at 100: why the beleaguered record store is more vital than you think: It’s easy (and fun!) to take the piss out of the retailer, which may seem like a relic from yesteryear, but we’d miss its accessible approach to music. A couple of years ago, a comedy writer called Laura Crisp went viral with her thread of tweets about working in HMV as a teenager. Anecdotes included a man who came in every week and pretended to faint in order to receive mouth-to-mouth, a staff member who was nicking cash and storing it in a Keeping Up Appearances boxset and, hilariously, a bloke claiming he was Paul Weller and asking if he could have some Jam CDs as he’d “lost” his. The stories were brilliant, but I think the other reason it resonated with so many people was that fact that for many generations, HMV played a role in their adolescence. This week, the store celebrates its 100th birthday – or at least that of its flagship store in central London – so despite the fact this has probably just made you aware that HMV still exists, let’s give it up for them for 
San Antonio, TX | Illness forcing San Antonio-area record collector to find a new home for his 113,000 vinyl albums and singles: On the Facebook page for Stevie Ray Vinyl (@stevierayvinyl), record seller Steve Anderson refers to his collection of more than 113,000 albums and singles as an adoption agency for abandoned and unwanted vinyl. Now the 65-year-old Lakehills resident urgently needs to find a new home for the entire collection. Anderson recently announced on Facebook that he’s selling the Stevie Ray Vinyl inventory because he has been diagnosed with terminal liver disease. He and his wife Suzi run the business but can no longer continue to do so without him being able to work full time. Several callers have expressed interest in buying Anderson’s collection. But after several decades and so many more dollars spent on all those records, he would prefer a buyer whose own love for vinyl is as big as his asking price — about a dollar a disc. “I would like to see somebody take the business and the passion and continue my dream with it. 
