With downloads and tax-dodging web-retailers gobbling up sales, the humble record store’s obituary had been penned many times by cultural forecasters and economic analysts, gazing at sales trends and predicting only gloom. Record Store Day approaches things from a more optimistic angle, with April 16th marking its third annual celebration in the UK.
As ever, a host of events and product will be vying for your time and pocket money. In the capital, Found are among those DJing in Underground Solu’shn, while the recently relocated Avalanche has Frightened Rabbit appearing in-store on Saturday and Broken Records lined-up to continue the festivities on Sunday. Frightened Rabbit will have to hot-tail down the M8, as they’re also scheduled to appear at Monorail alongside The Membranes and Iain Shaw, while across town LoveMusic host performance art and a ceilidh alongside sets from Admiral Fallow and Woodenbox with a Fistful of Fivers. Also vying for Glasgow punters is Rubadub, who’ll have LuckyMe’s The Blessings and teenage buzz-builder Koreless laying down beats for rack-browsing clientele.
Further north, Dundee institution Groucho’s has found itself front and centre this year thanks to The View, whose cover of The Tweeds’ I Need That Record has been appointed RSD’s “official anthem”. With its opening line amended to “I walked into Groucho’s just the other day” (and its storefront on the sleeve), the band have clearly embraced the message to cherish your local outlet. Or, as Grinderman eloquently put it: “Do yourself a tremendous favour and go to a record shop today. The relatively mild exertion of getting off your fat, computer-shackled ass and venturing out to find the object of your desire, the thrill of moving through actual space and time, through row upon row of records, and the tactile ecstasy of fondling the quested treasure—all this will augment and enrich the mental associations the music invokes in you for the rest of your life.”
Putting their product where their mouth is, Cave and co. have contributed a 12” of Evil remixes, but if dirty punk-blues isn’t your thing there’s plenty more for sale, including album tasters from Explosions in the Sky, Fleet Foxes and Panda Bear. We’ll be queuing for the Twilight Sad/Frightened Rabbit cassette demos (even if we don't have anything to actually play them on) and a collection of Franz Ferdinand covers by LCD Soundsystem, ESG and the Magnetic Fields, but since not every store will stock every item, try not to get your heart set on any one release. If some scoundrel does half-inch the last Deerhoof/Xiu Xiu split 7", leaving nowt but the Tings Tings remixing Dylan (no, we haven’t made that up; yes, it’s bad), at least rest assured you won’t have angered Grinderman.
see www.recordstoreday.co.uk for further announcements, and a full list of the exclusive product that will be available in participating stores on the day
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