15 Record Store Day items you have to hunt down this weekend
Saturday, April 19, marks the seventh annual Record Store Day, a yearly celebration that takes place the third Saturday of April and packs independent record stores across the nation—and now, the world—full of exclusive releases and hungry customers. Sure, RSD has its problems—telling shops when they can open their doors and threatening to blackball record stores who don’t play ball; allowing major labels to run roughshod on what was once a celebration of not only indie stores but indie labels; willingly watching list prices rise higher and higher without doing anything to try and curb the issue—but at the end of the day, it’s about the music, and RSD continues to deliver that in spades. Here are 15 of the editorial staff’s picks for this Saturday, from the incredibly popular to the wildly influential to the willfully obscure. Of course, this is nowhere near the full list of RSD special titles; download that, mark yours accordingly and happy hunting!
[SH] Scott Heisel
[BM] Brittany Moseley
[JP] Jason Pettigrew
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BREADWINNER
Burner 12-inch
LIMITED TO: 500 copies
ON: Merge Records
SUGGESTED RETAIL PRICE: $10.98
Ever wonder how the term “math rock” was coined to described music with plenty of complex chords, jarring tempos/beats and other forms of short, sharp shocks? I’m going to guess it was after someone had to review Burner, the 1994 EP from Breadwinner, the angular trio formed by guitarist Pen Rollings. Twenty years later, the trio’s crunch remains positively enthralling in a world whose ears are used to the sounds of the Dillinger Escape Plan, Battles and Animals As Leaders. [JP]
CAKE
8LP box set
LIMITED TO: 900 copies
ON: Upbeat Records
SUGGESTED RETAIL PRICE: $124.99
This is the absolute must-buy of this year’s RSD, in this humble editor’s opinion. Cake have never released a bad album, but sadly, they have almost never released any of their albums on vinyl before, and the ones they have sell for exorbitant amounts on eBay—so this box set will hopefully alleviate that problem. Hitting vinyl for the first time are such classics as Comfort Eagle and Prolonging The Magic, as well as a live album recorded in 2003 but unreleased until now. We repeat: Must buy. [SH]
CHVRCHES
Recover 12-inch
LIMITED TO: 2,500 copies
ON: Glassnote Records
SUGGESTED RETAIL PRICE: $19.98
Scottish electronic act Chvrches are a favorite in the AP office, and with good reason: Their debut album The Bones Of What You Believe is synth-pop/electronic gold all topped with frontwoman Lauren Mayberry’s breezy vocals. Although Recover isn’t a new EP (it came out last year, just six months before Bones), it does include two songs that most fans (myself included) probably aren’t familiar with, “ZVVL” and “Now Is Not the Time.” [BM]
CIRCA SURVIVE/SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE
Split 7-inch
LIMITED TO: 2,500 copies
ON: Self-released
SUGGESTED RETAIL PRICE: $9.99
New music from Circa Survive is always welcomed in the AP bungalow, but the promise of the first new Sunny Day Real Estate song in nearly 15 years , “Lipton Witch,” has us practically salivating—and cursing the booking-agent gods who didn’t route SDRE’s reunion tour through Cleveland. [SH]
DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE FEATURING MAGIK*MAGIK ORCHESTRA
Live 2012 2xLP
LIMITED TO: [pressing information unavailable]
ON: Barsuk Records
SUGGESTED RETAIL PRICE: $28.99
Until Death Cab For Cutie get in the studio and release a follow-up to 2011’s Codes And Keys, I’ll have to pass the time with this double LP documenting their 2012 tour with Magik*Magik Orchestra. With fan favorites like “Different Names For The Same Thing,” “Transatlanticism” and “I Will Follow You Into The Dark,” plus older cuts like “Little Fury Bugs,” “Bend To Squares” and “No Joy In Muddville,” this might be just the thing to hold me over until their next album. Visit Death Cab’s Facebook page for the complete tracklisting. [BM]
FISHBONE
Fishbone 12-inch
LIMITED TO: 1,000 copies
ON: Asbestos Records
SUGGESTED RETAIL PRICE: $23.98
It’s really hard to believe that Fishbone’s original serving of tasty aural ska, funk, R&B and wild-hair-up-the-ass punk bouillabaisse is 29 years old. Their self-titled mini-LP is back again, remastered and repressed on red vinyl so you can hear how tracks like “Modern Industry,” “Ugly” and “V.T.T.L.O.T.F.D.G.F.” (aka “Voyage To The Land Of The Freeze-Dried Godzilla Farts”) certainly expanded minds, if not necessarily blowing them outright. Sonically frantic, politically bracing and cool-as-feck, Fishbone’s contribution to the underground is immeasurable. [JP]
GREEN DAY
Demolicious CD/2xLP/cassette
LIMITED TO: 2,400 copies on vinyl
ON: Reprise
SUGGESTED RETAIL PRICE: $18.98/$31.98/$11.98
Given that we just passed Dookie’s 20th anniversary, it’s a bit surprising that Green Day’s contribution to RSD is not some elaborate deluxe edition of one of the most important albums in rock history, but instead an 18-song collection of demos from 2012’s ¡Uno!/¡Dos!/ ¡Tre! trilogy. Included are demo versions of 16 tracks from that series of albums as well as an acoustic version of “Stay The Night” and a previously unreleased demo, “State Of Shock.” We were privileged enough to get an advance of this, and honestly, it sounds pretty much like lo-fi versions of Green Day songs—there’s very little difference between these tracks and the finished product, outside of recording quality and a few small lyrical tweaks. Still, there’s something endearing about knowing that one of the biggest rock bands in the world still takes the time to demo songs. [SH]
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FRANK IERO
For Jamia… 7-inch
LIMITED TO: 500 copies
ON: Photo Finish Records
SUGGESTED RETAIL PRICE: $7.97
It’s quite touching that the former My Chemical Romance guitarist would offer up versions of classic love songs to the love of his life and mother of his children. But these clinically insane versions of Johnny Cash’s “I Walk The Line” and the Ronettes’ “Be My Baby” are the kinds of things you sing karaoke to when you’ve duct-taped your lover to a chair. Because if you can’t have him/her, nobody should, right? Awesome as it is creepy, and completely worthy of your hard-earned cash. [JP]
JOY DIVISION
An Ideal For Living 12-inch
LIMITED TO: 7,500 copies
ON: Rhino Records
SUGGESTED RETAIL PRICE: $13.97
Joy Division’s debut EP An Ideal For Living is getting a makeover for Record Store Day. The four songs were remastered by the band’s longtime engineer Frank Arkwright at Abbey Road Studios earlier this year. Like the original 12-inch, this reissue will feature the scaffolding cover art rather than the original 7-inch cover art which featured a drawing of a Hitler Youth member. Shockingly, I don’t own any Joy Division vinyl, so I figure there’s no better place to start than the beginning. [BM]
KHLYST
Chaos Is My Name LP
LIMITED TO: [pressing information unavailable]
ON: Hydra Head Records
SUGGESTED RETAIL PRICE: $19.99
Another genius release from highly regarded forward-thinking metal label Hydra Head, Khlyst’s Chaos Is My Name is 43 minutes of serious doom-ambient death vibes perpetrated by guitarist/programmer/producer James Plotkin and drummer Tim Wyskida (Khanate). The thing that sounds like a monitor lizard in heat is Runhild Gammelsæter, who was not only the lead singer for the punishing doom band Thorr’s Hammer, but the coolest cellular biologist you will ever meet. Hydra Head are offering this 2006 release on vinyl for the first time, so you can scare the living shit out of people in your life who you care about 30 to 40 percent of the time. [JP]
PARAMORE
Ain’t It Fun 12-inch
LIMITED TO: 2,700 copies
ON: Fueled By Ramen
SUGGESTED RETAIL PRICE: $12.98
Considering the music video for “Ain’t It Fun” has racked up more than 11 million views in two months, we likely don’t have to tell you 1) how good of a song it is and 2) how this custom “broken” record ties into the clip—but man, it is just too cool. The A-side features the single version of the track, with U.K. act Dutch Uncles contributing an exclusive remix for the flipside. Considering how much guitarist Taylor York was gushing to me about how great Dutch Uncles were when I wrote Paramore’s cover story last year, it’s safe to say this is an artist-approved remix. [SH]
SUBURBAN MUTILATION
The Opera Ain’t Over Til The Fat Lady Sings! LP
LIMITED TO: 1,000 copies
ON: Beer City Records
SUGGESTED RETAIL PRICE: [pricing information unavailable]
No, you’ve never heard of this band. Odds are, most of you haven’t heard of the reason why I care about this band, either: Rev. N0rb, Suburban Mutilation’s singer, went on to form one of the wackiest, craziest and downright catchiest punk bands ever, Boris The Sprinkler. (Please go buy all of their albums immediately, thanks.) Suburban Mutilation were different, though; this Green Bay, Wisconsin, band were cut from the ’80s-hardcore cloth, and this, their debut album, has been out of print for 30 years. If you’re one of the collectors lucky enough to have an original press, this is still worth picking up, as the audio has been remastered, making gems like “Daddy Was A Nazi,” “You’re A Dilemma” and “Don’t Psychoanalyze Me” sound even better. [SH]
WHIRLWIND HEAT
Do Rabbits Wonder? LP
LIMITED TO: [pressing information unavailable]
ON: Third Man Records
SUGGESTED RETAIL PRICE: $19.98
Whirlwind Heat were a bass, drums and synthesizer trio hailing from Grand Rapids, Michigan, who were plucked out of Midwestern obscurity by Jack White back in the days before the White Stripes began cashing the Blues Explosion’s checks. Originally issued on White’s Third Man label in 2002, Do Rabbits Wonder? takes up the common space in a Venn diagram referencing jagged underground rock, math-rockin’ bass lines, sprawling electronic weirdness and a singer who vacillated between bored nihilism and weirdo non sequiturs. Third Man is reissuing this sucker on something like 2,000 different colored vinyl copies, but you should get it this weekend because your iPod is looking pretty dull with all that scene-routine you got all over it. [JP]
VARIOUS ARTISTS
In Utero: In Tribute LP
LIMITED TO: [pressing information unavailable]
ON: Robotic Empire
SUGGESTED RETAIL PRICE: $25.97
2014 has been an important year for Nirvana, with highs (the band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ) and lows (the 20th anniversary of frontman Kurt Cobain’s death). This year is also a big one for independent label Robotic Empire, which is celebrating its 15th anniversary and 100th release, which happens to be a Nirvana covers album. In Utero: In Tribute sees bands like Circa Survive, Thursday, Ceremony and more covering all the songs from Nirvana’s third and final album. The album, which comes on maroon vinyl with a RSD-exclusive poster, will also be available on iTunes the same day. [BM]
VARIOUS ARTISTS
The Muppet Movie LP
LIMITED TO: 2,500 copies
ON: Disney
SUGGESTED RETAIL PRICE: $17.98
My dad once informed me that anyone who doesn’t like Willie Nelson, Ray Charles and the Muppets is un-American. Because of that, I take it as my duty as an American citizen to buy this re-release of the original soundtrack to 1979’s The Muppet Movie. No doubt the release is just a total cash grab by Walt Disney, but what can I say? I’m a sucker for a frog with a banjo. [BM]
