Tomorrow, Saturday April 16, annual Record Store Day takes place in small towns, in big cities, spanning across the U.S. and internationally. In Colorado alone we have 32 stores participating, with exclusive vinyl and special releases, and in-store performances planned.
Here in Denver, Twist & Shout, which was recently named “One of the Best Record Stores in the U.S.” by Rolling Stone Magazine, will have DJ sets with JAZZ89 KUVO, KGNU Colorado, Radio 1190, DJ Peter Black 4-5pm and a slew of Record Store Day specials.
A few that caught the eye include:
Big Star Third Test Pressing Edition
Yardbirds Goodnight Sweet Josephine 7”
Death Cab For Cutie Home Is A Fire/You Are a Tourist 7”
Green Day/ Husker Du Don’t Want To Know If You Are Lonely Orange 7”
Joy Formidable Whirring/Chwyrlio 7”
New York Dolls Fool For You Baby 7”
Queen Keep Yourself Alive 7”
Tron Legacy (Daft Punk) Translucence 10” picture disc
Glasvegas Euphoric Heartbreak 12” double vinyl
The Naked and Famous This Machine/ No Light LP
Independent Records, down the street on Colfax, has a their own Record Store Day plans, including daylong in-store performance schedule rolling:
1:00pm – MTHDS
2:00pm – Dustin Edge
3:00pm – Council of Word 4:00pm – The Submarines (the band plays Saturday night at Larimer Lounge)
5:00pm – Take to the Oars
6:00pm – Repercussions
7:00pm – No 1 Left Standing
Wax Traxx over in Cap Hill is also listed as a participating store. But they didn’t seem to have anything of note on their website. You’ll just need to find out the old fashioned way, before the internet came along and changed the way people bought and discovered music – walk, ride, or have your mom drive your ass down there and find out.
Speaking of flash to the past, MTV brought Matt Pinfield back years later to host once again, 120 Minutes…except now because we have the attention span of a pea, it’s called 120 Seconds. In a recent episode Matt visits a record store owner in New York City in honor of Record Store Day.
Over in the U.K. Record Store Day has 180 stores participating, with 250+ exclusive releases and over 200 performances planned. UK organizer Spencer Hickman said, “This is a grass roots event showing the passion and vitality of independent stores which are rooted in their local communities. With over 200 performances, Record Store Day will be one of the biggest free festivals of music ever seen in the UK. It is like an urban Glastonbury taking in every corner of the UK.”
If you love music, use this day to remember back (or learn how it was) to a time that still exists in your local, independent record store; sifting through new releases, making snarky comments about how a band sounds now that they’re signed to a major, reference how you can really hear the influence of X producer and how it made the band suck/rock on their latest album. You know. Carry the music snob badge proudly, away from the computer and among the living.
