Canada | National record store chain marks 1st anniversary: Sunrise Records in Kelowna’s Orchard Park mall is joining a cross-country celebration of record stores still existing. Saturday, the 82 stores in the chain have food and giveaways, sales and discounts, and coupons for future use. Sunrise Records started in 1977 near Hamilton, Ont., but it became a national chain when it took over spaces previously occupied by HMV. That takeover was a year ago, so Saturday’s festivities are also a first birthday party. While record sales are miniscule compared to what they used to be, Sunrise has found a niche with those who still want to buy vinyl. Its stores also sell movies, games and pop culture items.
Wheeling, WV | Nail City Records Will Get You Into the Groove: Owner Sees Store As A Way to Preserve Culture and History. A new record store in downtown Wheeling isn’t just about the music, but also about local culture, history and making Wheeling a destination location for serious album collectors. Nail City Record opened last fall in Elm Grove, and has moved to the third floor of the McLain Building at 40-12th St., Wheeling. There are more than 100,000 pieces of recorded sound available at the shop, according to owner Jonathan Napier. He said the store is not just “about selling records, but archiving history.” …Napier said a major goal of the store is to get old records out of warehouses, basements and garages and back into circulation.
Des Moines, IA | Vinyl Cup, Des Moines’ newest record store, opens in Beaverdale this weekend: Luke Dickens started a Facebook group last summer to share his love for music with a few dozen friends. He posted the group’s first photo last August — a coffee mug placed on top of a turntable. “Vinyl Cup,” he called it. A nod to a collector’s familiar morning ritual of music and a morning cup. No price tag, no first-come, first-serve sales. Just a conversation starter with like-minded music collectors. That was until he posted a photo last September of a half-dozen or so albums and someone asked a question that would rocket-launch a business he hadn’t yet known he started: “How much?” So, he started buying and selling records. Fast.
Ann Arbor, MI | Unreleased Underground Resistance 12″ surfaces at Michigan record store: Two rare ’90s cuts from Jeff Mills and Mike Banks. Technical Equipment Supply – the Michigan-based record store operated by Ghostly International artist Todd Osborn – has announced that they are putting out an previously unreleased Underground Resistance record. The two-track 12-inch, titled ‘Electronic Emotions / Like That’, contains music that was produced between 1993 and 1994 by the seminal Detroit techno icons Jeff Mills and Mike Banks – the two founding members of Underground Resistance. This rare record is only available for purchase in the store, which is located close to Ann Arbor, Michigan in the town of Ypsilanti.
Treat Your Ears To This Stunning Okami Soundtrack Vinyl Boxset: To celebrate the release of Okami HD on Switch, Data Discs has partnered with Capcom to release a remastered version of the original soundtrack on vinyl, and it’s available to pre-order as we speak. Originally released in 2006 and composed by Masami Ueda, Hiroshi Yamaguchi, Rei Kondoh and Akari Groves, the Okami soundtrack is known for suiting the game perfectly; the pieces act as a natural fit to the recurring themes of restoration and resolve. Using traditional Japanese instruments, and inspired by distant folklore, the score moves between peacefulness and danger effortlessly…This new release is presented as a quadruple LP box set, featuring over two hours of newly remastered music and a 40-page artbook. There is also a double-sided lithographic print featuring original illustrations from the Capcom archives in Japan. A lossless download code for the album is also included…
Louisville, KY | Louisville’s Funhouse Records might be the biggest little record store in America: Five years ago, Bill Barriger had little interest in used vinyl records and couldn’t tell the difference between an LP worth $1 and one worth $100. Now he owns one of the most well-stocked record stores in the United States. Barriger, who opened Funhouse Records & Audio in the Highlands earlier this year, traveled to Texas two weeks ago to buy a collection of approximately 280,000 LPs and 45s. That’s a lot of records. Check that: It’s a crazy amount and the final count may be higher. Even more remarkable, a number of them are new old stock dating back to the 1980s, including unopened shipping boxes from distributors. In the world of record collectors — and retailers — this is 
UAE | Vinyl memories: Of cricket, mutton curry and a gruffy Dylan: …Growing up in Dum Dum, in the northern fringes of the eastern Indian metropolis of Kolkata, in the early 1970s, the sheer proximity to the His Master’s Voice (HMV) factory was something to brag about. HMV, then the largest music company in India, was quite a household name and very much a brand to reckon with in an age and time when brand-loyalties were more esoteric in terms of their association with life as it was and not quite dictated by a gadget freak’s now-or-never push for a ‘been-there-done-that’ proclamation. The day father brought home the HMV radiogram, it marked my initiation into 
NEW RELEASE PICKS: Tomberlin, At Weddings (Saddle Creek) An earlier edition of Sarah-Beth Tomberlin’s debut, which held seven tracks, emerged last autumn in a hand-numbered edition of 500 through Joyful Noise’s White Label series, an artist-picked affair with At Weddings selected by Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn. As the music resides in an introspective indie folk zone, the stylistic connections between chooser and chosen are minor, and within the parameters of the style, Tomberlin has her own thing happening; assured of voice and warm instrumentally, the whole goes down really well. Saddle Creek’s release isn’t limited, and adds three tracks, smartly not tacked onto the end, as the final three songs, “Self-Help” into “Untitled 2” into “February,” offer a striking culminating progression. A-
Walter Salas-Humara, Walterio (Rhyme and Reason) Salas-Humara co-founded The Silos in mid-’80s NYC, the still extant band sometimes classified as a progenitor of alt-country, though they always struck me (especially on their first couple records) as rock with a classic sensibility and an edgy spark. He was also in The Setters with Alejandro Escovedo and Wild Seed Michael Hall, and has dished a few solo records, of which Walterio is the latest. Unsurprisingly, the ten tracks here are fairly rootsy, but this attribute is nicely counterbalanced with songwriting smarts reflecting his diverse background; born in Florida to Cuban parents, Salas-Humara studied visual art in NYC before choosing music (that’s one of his popular dog paintings on the cover). What is surprising is the enduring high quality of his stuff. A-
REISSUE/ARCHIVAL PICKS: The Vulgar Boatmen, You and Your Sister, Please Panic & Opposite Sex (Play Loud!) Before he was in The Silos, Walter Salas-Humara was part of the Gainesville, FL outfit The Vulgar Boatmen. While he contributes a bit instrumentally to 1989’s You and Your Sister, his main role is sharing the co-producer chair with member Robert Ray. Alongside ex-Gizmo Dale Lawrence (based in Indiana), Ray (who continued to live in Florida) served as the band’s songwriting core, with each fronting a distinct lineup 800 miles apart. An unusual mode of operation in the pre-internet days, but fruitful, as all three of the group’s releases are stellar; much of the contents extend from a VU/ Feelies place, but with an utter lack of big city attitude. This is the sound of College Rock’s promise fulfilled. A / A / A-
The Fall, 458489 A-Sides (Beggars Arkive) There are numerous collections in The Fall’s myriad discography, and this one covering what’s known as the ’80s “Brix Smith” era, is essential, even if you already own all the albums and/ or the singles from which this 17-track LP derives. As I was getting acquainted with the output of Mark E. Smith’s lineup-shifting band of soon to be logic-defying endurance, this music was still fresh in the bins, and while some older heads were inclined to rake The Fall of this vintage over the critical coals, as the days of “Live At the Witch Trials” or “Grotesque” were over (though really, a lot of folks just didn’t like Brix), this summary sounds even better on the occasion of its white wax reissue by Beggars Arkive as it ever has to me before. First time on vinyl in the USA. A
Racine, WA | Harbor PC Music record shop plays to the tune of variety: Kevin Conrad smiles as he looks at the makeup-covered face of KISS front man Gene Simmons, printed on the jacket for his 1978 self-titled album. At age 9, “Gene Simmons” became the first album Conrad ever owned. Thirty-nine years later, Conrad has more than 20,000. About 4,000 of Conrad’s albums are on display in his record store, Harbor PC Music, 3208 Washington Ave., with another 16,000 stacked 
Grandview Heights, OH | Pub, studio put new spin on record store: The combination record store, pub and recording suite will open Wednesday, Aug. 15, at 1806 W. Fifth Ave. in Columbus, just outside Grandview Heights. Stacy has spent the past year renovating the former thrift shop into an open and airy storefront. “It’s 
