Posted by: Laura Witkowski + Elle Sawa on April 14, 2009 at 10:38 am
Record Store Day is coming up on Saturday, April 18th, and a handful of our favorite local indie stores are taking part. Now, some of you might be asking, “What is this ‘record store’ you speak of, and why should I care about a ‘record store day?’ I get all my musics on the interwebz for free at 3am by myself after I’m too exhausted to write any more mean, anonymous comments on blogs I hate but read every day anyway. Also, I wish my dad and mom didn’t fight so much.” Well kids, as much as the digital age has changed the music world forever, one thing that you can’t replicate online is the atmosphere and sense of community offered up by a trip to your local indie record shop. There’s an art and culture that goes along with music that goes beyond just sound. But the indie record store is a dying breed. Record Store Day is a chance to remind yourself, or find out for yourself how rad and important to the world of music these places and the people who make ‘em happen are. Here are some places you might want to check out this Saturday:
Flat Black and Circular (Lansing)
541 E. Grand River
East Lansing, Michigan 48823
(517) 351-0838
www.flatblackandcircular.com
Because you’re all like, in love with MSU now and stuff, who not take a trip to East Lansing this Saturday and visit the city’s jewel of an indie record store? FB&C has been around since 1977. These are people that care about music and their store is older than your mom. We asked owner/manager Dave Bernath to impart some indie store wisdom…
Detour: Why is record store day important?
Dave Bernath: Records are our livelihood - we have been in business for 32 years. Records have always been in the forefront, even though we now sell CDs and DVDs. Vinyl is important. It’s a bigger piece of art to hold in your hand than a four inch booklet, and it’s way more interesting than a CD. It’s also more permanent. Records have become trendy now, and we get a lot of 14 to 24 year olds who come in to swap stories and compare collections. They are buying a lot of new stuff, but they are still interested in vinyl from the 70s. Simon and Garfunkel are a huge seller for us, oddly enough.
DT: Anything special happening at FBC on RSD?
DB: Yes! We will have bands playing, like RaRa Riot. They are opening for Death Cab For Cutie later that day, so that’s cool that they are in town and willing to play.
Record Time (Roseville)
27360 Gratiot Ave.
Roseville, MI 48066
(586)775-1550
www.recordtime.com
Independent since 1983, Record Time sure has been around the block with former second locations in Rochester and Ferndale. Now back to the one and only original location, the store is known for having a super music-smart staff, awesome used stock and a great selection of dance/electronic vinyl. We talked to owner Mike Himes about their Record Store Day plans…
Detour: Is Record Time doing anything special for Record Store Day?
Mike Himes: Last year, had a bunch of local bands play in our store, but we decided not to do that this year. This will be our biggest sale ever in our history, and we are doing it by honoring our customer rather than entertain them. It’s the customers that made us a record store. No hoopla, no bands, just records. We will have free stuff to hand out like samplers and posters, as well as a drawing to win a $100 gift certificate to Record Time.
DT: Why do you think Record Store Day is important?
MH: We are the real deal a dying breed. The idea was to gather us all together and celebrate all the good things about the record store. Records stores are where bands get their start. We have an educated staff and we can special order anything in the world. We are still relevant because a record store is an experience that people will enjoy. The internet is just an easier, faster route to acquire music. By missing the physical experience, you are missing the interaction with the people, which is really what the music community should be about. Acquiring free music… It doesn’t mean anything to you, it’s disposable. You will respect it more if you have it in your hands.
Stormy Records (Dearborn)
13210 Michigan Ave
Dearborn, MI 48126
(313) 581-9322
www.stormyrecords.com
Stormy Records specializes in what they like to call “weirdo music” – hard to find specialty items on independent labels. They also have a kick ass selection of used vinyl of all genres that has obviously been hand picked by people who really care about and know used records. Run by music makers Windy & Carl, a trip to Stormy Records is perfect for a rainy or clear blue day. We asked Windy to give us the RSD low down…
Detour: Why do you think Record Store Day is important?
Windy: I think through all of my years at shopping at record stores, it’s a place to find out about new music, upcoming shows, and to listen to discussions about bands that you haven’t heard of and you should know about it. I’m hoping [Record Store Day] will get more people into the store itself. There is more community happening in the physical building of a record store than you can find on the Internet.
DT: Any really cool stuff that you’ll have available on RSD?
W: We did buy a pretty cool, early-80s new wave collection from someone recently. That’s the stuff our customers really appreciate.
Underground Sounds (Ann Arbor)
255 E Liberty St
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
(734) 327-9239
www.myspace.com/undergroundsoundsmi
Underground Sounds is fairly new to the scene – owner Matt Bradish has a serious love of music and a seriously cute black lab pup who will ask you to toss her rope bone while you’re pouring through his smartly stocked indie vinyl selection. She’ll drool over the toy, you drool over that new Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy 10” you haven’t seen anywhere else. He’s got some cool and rare stuff for you come this Saturday that will certainly be worth dipping into your weekend whiskey dollars for…
Detour: Any cool, collectible stuff that will be available on Record Store Day?
Matt Bradish: I’m getting lots of stuff specific for the occasion actually - Pavement Live in Germany LP, Akron/Family, Silversun Pickups, a comp of Domino artists including Franz Ferdinand and Junior Boys, Tom Waits live tracks on 7”, Bad Religion 7”, Cursive 7”, Gaslight Anthem 10”, Flight of the Conchords 7”, Soft Bulletin by Flaming Lips on vinyl (one of my favorite records!), also Jane’s Addiction, Walk Among Us by Misfits, Begin To Hope by Regina Spektor, ‘77 by Talking Heads…
DT: Why do you think vinyl is important?
MB: People who buy vinyl care more about the music, the artwork, knowing about it.
They generally have a longer attention span, and they more interested in listening to the entire record. It’s more participatory. The artwork is just much more fitting. You can engross yourself in it, and it’s more engaging.
Record store images courtesy: Donnie Robot
Tags: Flat Black and Circular, Record Store Day, Record Time, Stormy Records, Underground Sounds
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7 Responses to “Record Store Day”
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I celebrate Record Store Day every saturday.
The couple making out is hot. You can’t get that on Napster.
I’m so amped for this! I think its awesome that they do special content just for this and have tons of artist appearances and signings. I’ll definitely be dropping some green
Here’s the link to the main page if you’re interested:
http://www.gotdownloads.com/recordstoreday/
I’m still waiting for Sams Jams Livonia to come back.
Speaking of classic vinyl shops, anyone out there know anything about St. Louis Missouri’s “Record Bar”? It was in suburban Clayton, and was in business from about the time of WWII to the early 80s. The owner loved classical and opera, but also sold jazz, and rock-and-roll in the 60s and 70s.
Very cool record store feature! These shops deserve the attention.
Without them its FYE and iTunes. Fuck that shit.
Hope everybody spent some time digging through dusty records this past Saturday. I spent at least two hours doing just that at Record Time. Among my favorite finds was Liza Minnelli’s 1970’s release “New Feelin’” in near perfect shape for TEN CENTS! My favorite RSD exclusive I picked up was the new Arthur Russell compilation “Love Is Overtaking Me” on vinyl. Can’t wait to listen to it.